Remedy Rescue (Remedy Series #2)

Chapter Eight

"So you're... a demigod? Like Thor?" They'd sat in silence for minutes, the Avengers and Percy. Around a table with a plate of cookies in the middle nobody had moved to touch.

"Thor's a god. There's a big difference," Percy mumbled, giving in to temptation and retrieving a treat from the plate. He frowned as he examined the number of chocolate chips embedded in the surface. It was a distraction, an excuse not to look up and an act to appear indifferent.

"Why wouldn't you tell us?" Clint asked in a quiet voice. He had children of his own, and was a friendly guy despite his profession. Percy had become another member of the family to look out for, somebody trusted.

"Because I liked being treated... normally for once. I'm not a freak, or weird, or alien, or somebody's hope. I'm just... Percy. Me. There was nothing depending on me here," he answered honestly. He'd never really thought about it in the past, but speaking now, he realised it was true. Here even if things went wrong he wasn't expected to know how to fix it. Nobody demanded a leader out of him, nobody pushed him around, nobody sought him out because he could do a few tricks with the water. It was nice, to go back to a time before 12. Here was a place seperate from guilt - or it was.

Natasha broke the silence, "Are there more like you?"

"Somewhere... I don't really talk to them anymore."

"Why not?"

"Because a lot of them died, and I left. Their deaths proved that I made no difference, and it's no safer there than it is here."

"Safer? Who killed them?"

Percy nibbled on the edge of his cookie. "In summary, there's Greek monsters and we smell strongly like lunch. I don't want to talk about it."

And that was it. Anybody could put two and two together from that. "Oh.."

"Yep, anyway, I found this shoe-"

Tony interrupted, "We're gonna move on, just like that?"

With wide eyes, Percy replied, "I thought you said it wasn't a big deal? We can mull over it for a week or we can move on. I know which one I prefer."

He received a chorus of hesitant agreement from around the table but Tony was still unsatisfied. "I said no such thing!"

However, there was still a storm brewing from the end seated furthest from the demigod. "And we are fine with what happened to my brother?"

"Thor we went over this already," Steve began. "Percy was drugged. He didn't know anything until he woke up."

The god waved a dismissive hand. "I understood that part. I meant we are fine with his murder? I demand we seek justice."

Nobody wanted to say it, but Loki didn't exactly have the best reputation and none of them were particularly enthused by the prospect of hunting a god killer. If it weren't for their second youngest Avenger and the effect his passing had had, most of them might've even said they were better off with him gone.

"I said I found a shoe," Percy piped. "Belongs to an alien that knows about what happened. He got away, but I got his shoe. Do all aliens wear the same shoes?"

"Where is this shoe?" Thor asked.

"Better question, how did you get this shoe?" Natasha interrupted.

Percy tactfully avoided the second question. "It's in my room."

But Tony, ever so helpful, decided to fill in the gaps. "He got jumped by an alien on his way here."

"You what?"

Waving his hand dismissively Percy shrugged it off. "Practically a Tuesday for me. It's fine." He stood up and banged his fists on the table. He stared straight at Thor, allowing the bitter in him to crawl to the surface. "What do you say we hunt this son of a bitch down?"

"Percy, language," somebody spoke and honestly, Percy didn't know if it was Tony or Steve.

"I'm twenty-one!"

Tony sighed in dismay. "Go get the shoe, Percy."

So he went and got the shoe.

~~~~

Hello! It's December! Exams are finished now and I wanted to update sooner but a lot of stuff changed for me so I couldn't. And I need to not fail Ficmas this year but working on that was a good way to get back into groove. The chapter feels a little awkward, and short, but hey, update!

Peace,

BTSWD