Catch Me If I Fall (PJO/Avengers Crossover)

27

He packed his backpack with two flasks of nectar, two airtight bags of ambrosia squares, one hundred mortal dollars, twelve drachmas and a notebook. That was all he needed to hunt down Thanos, along with a few knives, Riptide and a gun. He intended for this to be quick as possible, so he could get back to Olympus for the summer solstice as though nothing happened. That gave him about a month and ten days, which was more than enough time in Percy's opinion.

The plan was to find this Padraig Murphy guy, interrogate him and eventually get some information on where to find Thanos. Then, once he'd found him, he'd kill him. No questions asked, no prisoners taken. Just a slow, painful death courtesy of Percy. He didn't plan to show any mercy.

He said his goodbyes to the team, providing Fury with a few drachmas in case he needed him, before using his powers to teleport just outside one of S.H.I.E.L.D's top-secret facilities in Dublin, Ireland that Fury had given him authorised access to. He entered the building and approached a young man at the reception desk not much older than Percy would be if he was still mortal, who backed away a little at the god's intimidating expression which he'd chosen not to tone down. If looks could kill that day, there'd be a massacre on Percy's behalf, preferably one that involved killing Thanos and his goons.

"Excuse me," he showed the receptionist a card from Director Fury that gave him access to the holding cells in this facility. "I'm looking for a certain Padraig Murphy, arrested for ownership of suspicious extraterrestrial objects and mass murder. I have questions for him."

"Sure, sir," the other replied, typing something into his computer. "Agent O'Hara is coming to escort you in a few moments. I'm going to need some form of identification before you go to the holding cells, though."

Percy nodded and pulled his passport out from his pocket, having brought it just in case something like this would happen. He smiled a little, dropping his terrifying demeanour for a moment. The receptionist smiled back and handed back the passport. "A pleasure to meet you, Perseus. Agent O'Hara will be with you in a moment."

Just then, a woman in her mid-to-late forties with platinum blonde hair and dark brown eyes entered the hall and smiled at Percy. "Perseus Jackson, I'm Agent Síle O'Hara- of course, this is an alias, I'm sure you understand why. We've been expecting you."

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you," Percy smiled and shook her hand. "I'm looking for Padraig Murphy; I believe he's in custody here?"

"He is," Agent O'Hara nodded. "Please follow me."

And so Percy followed the agent through countless corridors that all looked the same, without any sense of time or location, until the two of them came to a pair of double doors with two heavily armed guarded at either end. Agent O'Hara held up her identification before being granted access, along with Percy, and they made their way to a cell.

"Good luck making him talk," she said, folding her arms. "He hasn't said a word since the day we took him in."

"I'm allowed to threaten him and stuff, right?" Percy asked, fidgeting with Riptide.

"As long as he doesn't suffer from any major injuries, sure," the agent nodded.

"Then I think I'll do just fine," Percy smiled before opening the door to the cell and catching the attention of the man inside.

He sat on the bed, a shaved head and his arms bulging with muscles. He had blue eyes and a permanent scowl. Percy, on the other hand, smiled warmly.

"Hello," he said, pulling up a chair, sitting down and facing Padraig Murphy. "I'm Perseus, my friends call me Percy- and since you and I are going to be friends now, I'm Percy. I'm here to ask you a few questions."

"If it's about the wood incident in Cork, believe me, I had nothing to do with it!" Padraig protested, and Percy raised an eyebrow.

"It has nothing to do with that, actually," he said. "It's actually about an old boss of yours. His name was Thanos, I believe?"

At this, Padraig recoiled back in fear of the name being spoken, almost like he believed that saying the name would trigger Thanos to come down to Earth and pulverise the both of them. "Please, ask me anything but something about him!" Padraig begged. "I swore I'd never tell a single soul about him."

"Well then, we're lucky I don't have a soul, aren't we?" Percy smiled, opening his backpack and taking out a knife. "Do you like this? It was a gift from my father. A thank-you for saving the world and whatnot at least four times in the last decade. It's tainted with some pretty nasty poison, designed to cause twelve hours of excruciating pain on whichever part of skin comes in contact with the blade. I don't even have to stab you. Neat, huh?"

Padraig followed Percy as he stood up with fearful eyes, and Percy couldn't help but wonder how Thanos- he, who had tortured Loki so mercilessly- had seen anything in this man. Was it an act? No. Percy would sense it.

"Look," he said after a pause. "We can do this two ways-"

"Let me guess: the easy way and the hard way?" Padraig shot back, making Percy grin sadistically.

"Spot on!" His smile was that of a madman; and even afterwards, Percy was unsure if he had done it on purpose or not. "See, the easy way is that you can tell me where Thanos is, and anything else I ought to know- or, we can do the way I prefer," he threw a knife at the wall, breaking the only mirror, which was angled so that Percy could see Padraig's reflection from where he was standing. He turned back to the man he was intimidating, not losing that chilling smile. "I can torture you to the point of near insanity to get the information I need. I can show your deepest fears, your most dreaded horrors- I can show you things you didn't even know you were afraid of. I'm desperate for this information, Padraig Murphy," he spat, finally losing his smile. "And I'll do anything to get it. Even if it gets you and this whole organisation killed."

There was silence between the god and man, and the air was thick with tension. Percy knew he had let the criminal know who was boss in this situation. "Now," he laughed lightly before retrieving his knife. "What will it be, my friend?"

"I'll tell you!" He was deathly afraid of Percy, who was trying his best not to laugh again. Padraig knew the man in front of him was not of this world by the way he spoke and moved; his words came out perfectly accentuated, and he moved so slowly and deliberately it was almost as if he was a god- that, and he'd casually mentioned he didn't have a soul. "I don't know where he is now, but I do know someone who does."

"Go on," Percy raised an eyebrow, leaning against the wall.

"His name is Evan McNeill- he's like Thanos' top guy on earth, tells him everything he needs to know. Lives in an apartment in London, England. He's bound to be keeping tabs on Thanos, he'll tell you everything," Padraig blurted out all at once. "But, please, he'll kill me if he finds out I told you-"

But Percy was already shutting the door behind him. Agent O'Hara raised an eyebrow. "That was fast. Did you get the info you needed?"

Percy smiled. "I did. I'm afraid I'll have to leave immediately, if that's alright with you."

The Agent smiled back. "I'm impressed. Also, yes, I'll escort you outside."

And, about twenty minutes later, he was outside the facility, ready to teleport a good few hundred miles to London. He closed his eyes, dissolving into nothing but water particles in the air and, upon opening his eyes, found himself just outside said apartment. He grinned. He was getting better at this.

Time to get the real information he needed.

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My teacher called on me while I was writing this and I didn't have an answer for her nrbfibiobfhbeh

I don't recommend.

Also we're gonna get some dark Percy in the next few chapters so yeah :)