The Family of a Hero

We Hail the Taxi of Damnation

Percy's POV

"This one will."

Soon were all standing outside Avengers Tower.

So who's gonna call the cab? Tony asks as he slides sunglasses onto his face.

Don't worry. Ill take care of it. I reply, finally digging out 3 drachmas. One to actually call the taxi and the other two because there's a lot more than three people riding. I hope they can do something about that. I should've checked first but honestly what's the point of a magic taxi if it cant have more than three people in the back.

"Anakoche," I begin to say relatively loudly in Greek, "Harma epitribeios!" then flick my first drachma into the street and it sinks into the pavement. Though no one seemed to notice it disappear, they certainly did everything else. The Avengers look at me with confusion.

"Percy, have you ever called a cab before?" Tony asks, cocking his brow behind his glasses.

"You'll see you just-" I get cut off by Bruce's nervous screech.

"Eh-Percy!" Bruce and Tony freak out a bit behind me. Tonys glasses going crooked in his panic.

I turn back to the street. The pavement bubbling a hot blood red the size of a parking space.

"They're here." I state as a smokey gray taxi rises from the New York road in front of us.

Steve's POV

"They're here." Percy says as a smoky gray taxi rises from the bubbling red substance that was once asphalt. On the door of the taxi there were white letters reading GRAY SISTERS. The passenger window rolls down revealing three women in the front of the taxi. They all have stringy white hair that hides their eyes. Their black sack dresses hanging loose on their seemingly small frame.

The woman in the passenger seat begins to say something before the one in the middle cries, "Perseus Jackson?"

Percy begins fiddling with his pen as he chuckles awkwardly, "In the flesh. I was hoping you ladies could give my friends and I a ride."

"How many?" The driver grumbled out as she seemed to glance at us all. It was hard to tell with her hair in her eyes but her mouth was a firm line as her head turned to us.

"7" Percy replied. Protests erupt from the car, "But, I have 2 extra drachmas if you do it."

The women in the taxi seem to think it over.

"I vote yes." says the driver with a confident tone.

"Yes, yes me too!" screeches the one in the middle.

"Fine!" exclaims the woman in the passenger seat, "but I want the first bite." She argues with other women. I see her reach for the woman in the middles mouth before the smoke around the taxi swirls and grows. When it seemed to be done, with what I can only describe as a growth spurt, it resembled some sort of van or SUV.

Percy slides the door open after handing the passenger 2 gold coins, talking as he slides into the seat. "With the one from the street, there should be one for all of you."

The women obsess over the gold coins as we follow behind Percy. There's two rows of three seats. They were cracked, gray leather, and looking for the seatbelt only led to finding metal chains near the seat instead.

"Percy-" I start to say but get interrupted as he turns to the backseat with his own chain in hand.

"Make sure everyone holds onto the chain tight and keep a hold of your stuff. Be ready to get put as soon as we stop."

"What?" Bruce asks questionably while being squished between Thor and Tony.

"Trust me just-" but before Percy can finish, the taxi screeches away from the curb. The force pushing me back against my seat. I watch through the window as we weave between cars and taxis at an alarming speed that is definitely illegal.

"I'm surprised to see you still alive, Perseus." The one in the passenger seat says as she turns to look at us.

"You cant even see, Anger! Wasp has the eye." The one in the middle screeched.

"Its a figure of speech Tempest!" Anger, it seems, exclaims back.

"Will you both shut up! I'm driving." Wasp demands.

"I should be the one driving." mumbles Anger as she brings a gold coin to her mouth. The coin looked identical to the coins Percy had earlier. She bites onto the coin, just missing her bony finger with her single stained tooth.

"You drove last time, Anger! You just want to drive again for the eye."

The blurry signs of a city turn into stretches of undisturbed country.

"Now I want the eye!" Tempest cries as she reaches for Wasps face. A gurgle sound comes from Wasp as she screeches and swerves the car back and forth. Tempest, with an eye now in hand, pushes back one side of her bangs and squeezes the eye into place in her own head.

"I cant see! I can't see!" Wasp screams repeatedly.

"I want it, I want it!" Anger demands. At the same time she reaches for Tempests hands not knowing it was already in Tempests eye socket.

"Right, Wasp! Turn Right!" Tempest exclaims.

The force of the turn pushes Tempest into Anger, and me into the side of the car. Natasha being forced into my side and Percy into hers. I can only imagine the back seat.

Anger had somehow gotten the eye she wanted before shouting, "We're here! Stop, STOP, STOP!"

The car lurches as Wasp slams on the breaks.

"I'm gonna be sick." Tony mumbles from the back. As soon as the car completely stops, Percy slides the door open.

"Thank you for the ride ladies." He says and rushes us all out of the vehicle.

"Perseus!" Tempest exclaims, getting Percy's attention.

The rest of us put as much space between ourselves and the smoky taxi as possible. Tony using a tree to stabilize himself with Bruce watching him not too far away. I turn back to see Percy still listening to the women through the window. The smoking taxi now back to the size it first came out of the ground in. I see him tense before the taxi speeds off.

When Tony was done collecting himself, Percy was still standing there.

"Percy!" I shout to get his attention. I see his shoulders rise and fall before he tightens his grip on his backpack. He jogs up to us with a smirk as if nothing happened.

"Let's get a move on guys. Don't wanna be late." Percy says before starting up a hill that I didn't even realize was there.

"Why did we have to come out here again?" Tony asks as he steps over a root. "I thought you guys were trying to limit contact." The last two words come out sarcastically.

"We were," Percy responds, not looking back, "but I didn't want to risk Nico's safety. So we're going to him instead." Tony hums in response as we continue to walk up the hill.

Reaching the top, we were met by tall evergreen with healthy sage green needles exploding from each branch. The other side of the hill dipped into a strawberry field that stretched to a sandy cove meeting cerulean blue waves. One large white building stood by the edge of the field, but beside that there was nothing. No cabins. No people. Nothing.

"Welcome to Camp." Percy says as he walks forward.

"Percy this is very beautiful but-" Bruce is interrupted as Percy walks past the pine tree and disappears.