Catch Me If I Fall (PJO/Avengers Crossover)

42

Percy gasped as he was snapped back into what was real.

He was back in the HYDRA base, he realised. It had been a hallucination.

"Percy?" Steve's voice came through the comms. How long had he been out? "Percy, Tony has the sceptre. Let's go."

"Oh, uh, right," Percy nodded, still quite distraught. He met Steve and Tony outside just as the quinjet was flown over by Natasha and opened it's door. The three of them got inside, and Tony looked at Percy.

"You look like you haven't slept in days," Percy noticed. "You okay?"

"I could say the same thing about you," Tony said, then lowered his voice. "Do you want to talk about what you saw?"

Percy looked at Tony, who was staring at him seriously. He shook his head and walked to the sceptre, looking at it. Loki had held this, he remembered. He smiled at the memory of the gala, when Loki had walked in. The relief he had felt when he saw him was immeasurable- there he was, after being missing and 'dead' for a full year, alive, in front of him. Of course, he had then proceeded to gouge someone's eye out, but Percy chose not to dwell on the negative.

"You alright?" Thor walked over and looked at Percy worriedly, and he realised he'd been smiling like an idiot. Percy looked up.

"Of course," he nodded, then lost his smile, sighing. "I just miss him."

Thor put a hand on Percy's shoulder. "So do I, Percy, so do I..." he paused, in deep thought, and then smiled a little at Percy. "You know, he'd be so proud of you. If he saw the progress you've made, if he saw how happy you are now. I can almost imagine the smile on his face."

Percy smiled at that, too. Of course, Thor still thought Loki was dead, whereas Percy knew he was just a world away, and it had been Percy's choice to leave Loki, but he still couldn't help but miss him dearly. "Thanks, Thor. He'd be proud of you, too. He'd be proud of all of us," he assured him. It was the first time they'd spoken about Loki since the funeral two and a half years ago, and Percy was glad to speak with someone who knew Loki. Not Tony, who had an automatic bias because of New York, not Sally, who had never met him. But Thor, who had been raised alongside him. They smiled at each other for a minute, then fell silent, diverting their attention back to the sceptre.

It caused Percy to ask himself a lot of questions. Was Loki bitter now? If Percy was to go back to Asgard, would Loki ask him to leave? A thousand thoughts spun around his head, and he closed his eyes, sighing, trying to calm himself down.

"Thor, report on the Hulk?" Natasha looked at Percy and Thor.

"The gates of Hel are filled with the screams of his victims!" Thor raised a fist in the air, a smile on his face. Percy and Natasha both shot him a look, and Bruce groaned in despair, putting his head in his hands. Noticing he'd made a mistake, Thor corrected himself. "Not the screams of the dead, of course," he said. "No no, um, wounded screams- mainly whimpering, a great deal of complaining, and tales of sprained deltoids, er... and gout."

"Awesome save, Thor," Percy rolled his eyes.

"Why thank you!" The Asgardian grinned, clearly pleased with himself.

"No- I didn't mean-" Percy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "yeah, you're welcome."

"Hey Banner, Dr Cho's on her way in from Seoul," Tony said, putting the quinjet on autopilot. "Is it okay if she sets up in your lab?"

"Oh, yeah. She knows her way around," Bruce nodded.

"It feels good, yeah?" Tony walked over to Thor, Percy and Steve. "I mean, you've been after this thing since SHIELD collapsed. Not that I haven't enjoyed our little raiding parties, but..."