The Reluctant Hero

Fighting the teenager.

Tony P.O.V

We'd all suited up and were on our way to pick up the kid. I didn't see how an eighteen year old kid could be a threat and why they'd need all the avengers (or any of us) to get him, it's not like he could fight us.

Bruce's homing beacon thingie said he was at the local grave yard. It was quite a nice one, with well maintained greenery, cleaned stones and a sparkling WW2 memorial at its centre. The kid probably defiling graves, considering the fact that he has a file with SHIELD of all agencies. I didn't think someone so young would have a legitimate reason to be at a graveyard for mass burials. So I was surprised, when we got there, to see him kneeling in front of a grave and crying, the graves he was by looked fresh too.

Percy P.O.V

"I'm sorry Wise Girl," I'd never be able to apologise enough, "I should've saved you. If I'd just been quicker, better, then you'd still be alive today. You should have lived, I'm the one who deserves to have died not you. My wonderful, perfect Wise Girl. My Annabeth." I whipped salty tears from my eyes, my voice cracking as I said her name. I could only speak it when talking to he grave, "If G-she-" I couldn't say her name, too many memories, too much pain, "Hadn't attacked I would have fulfilled my promise to you and married you as soon as I could. I promised to love you forever Annabeth and I still will. I don't care if I have to be alone for an eternity to do it, I will never stop loving you. If only it had been me who'd been killed, the world would've been better off with you as the survivor."

Clint P.O.V

I watched the team from my position in the tree, they were getting ready to approach the target. I was never going to get used to this, he was eighteen and they'd sent the 'world's mightiest heroes' to capture him. What could he possibly have done to deserve that?

We watched him for a minute before starting, he was kneeling in front of a grave, a relatively fresh one, and talking to it. I was too far away to make out the words, but his voice was heartbreaking, it was the voice of someone who'd lost and seen too much and finally been broken by something unimaginable. The voice of a war veteran or guilty survivor. What was it doing on a child?

But that was stupid. No eighteen year old could've gone through anything like that. For Christ's sake, he was a child! Only just old enough to enlist! I looked back at the team and tried to ignore the tear streaked face to my left.

They were in position. Stark was in the air, ready to provide back up if needed (he'd grumbled, saying it was a waste of power when the kid wasn't even a threat, but orders were orders), I was in this tree, also for back up, Thor was standing to the side (he was still refusing to help saying 'such a mighty hero didn't deserve to be treated like a common Midgardian criminal' whatever that means) Bruce was at HQ because we'd decided it wouldn't be a 'code green' assignment, whatever Fury said the boy was only a kid, and, finally, Natasha  and Steve were standing ready to approach him.

Natasha was going to be the one to actually go up and speak to him and incapacitate him if need be. This wasn't going to be hard, we'd probably be back in an hour or so without a scratch on us, I mean there was no way he'd even be able to land a hit on Nat, as much as we respect Fury, none of us really saw the point of us all being here. Well, except Thor, but he refused to say anything though, stubborn Asgardian.

Natasha walked up to him. He turned around.

"What do you want?" His voice had gone from utterly heartbroken to cold as ice in seconds. I saw a hint of surprise briefly flash through the red haired assassin's green viper eyes.

"We need you to come with us."  Percy's expression hardened even more. It was scary to see an eighteen year old wearing an expression I'd only ever seen on the hardest of assassins, and it'd chilled me to the core then, seeing it on a child was just wrong.