Just Not Ready (A Female Percy Jackson/ Avengers Crossover)

XVII

The demigod trio was stumped. The were trapped in some kind of a pocket dimension where they couldn't leave a never ending road. It wasn't even an option to movie in a different direction because there were bounds that ended on each side of the street.

Percy was tired. She had been for a long time and not just physically from the walking. All she wanted to to was go home, to Tommy and May and her stable job. At the same time some part of her missed her uncle and family, but that was a painful road she couldn't go down yet.

"I can't do this."

Conner and Nate seemed surprised though she didn't know how they could be. They watched her drop her bags and take a seat on the ground.

"Why?" Conner asked her.

"I'm tired." And with that, the floodgates broke. A huff of breath escaped her before she gasped in another. "You know when you break a bone and it heals before you set it right and it gets even more damaged? That's how I feel." Percy pulled in another desperate breath before continuing. "I was 7 when I started. My entire life was tragic because they were molding me to be what they needed. I could have been a fine kid- I might've been a normal adult if I wasn't this abomination. Then the gods would've had no use for me."

The sons of Hermes seemed taken aback at her word choice. Conner wore a particularly horrified expression.

"You look appalled but you know it's right, Conner." She looked him dead in the eyes, but he couldn't hold the intense gaze. "Nate might not, but you do. Or maybe you just know I'm right and thats why you gave me that look. We are monsters because of the gods. I've killed people and that falls on the gods. They shaped me this way. So I could win their wars, kill their enemies. And I did it all, didn't I? I let them drag me in every time."

"Why are you saying all this? They're our family!" Nate argued.

"Thats their trick; its how they get you on their side. They made me think the same thing, but what kind of family would willingly let their children suffer? My father didn't blink an eye or do anything for years while I was being tortured! And I'm not just talking about the stuff after I enlisted because that was a choice and I'm proud of that. The gods set me on a path to be brutalized from childhood so that I would be just damaged enough to carry them out of their fucked up wars with each other! Take note that every time, we the children did most of the killing and did all of the dying! I want out!" Percy was only somewhat aware of exactly what she was saying, but she needed to say it. "The only gods that work in our favor are doing it for their own personal motivations." The anger pulsing through her veins became to cool into sadness. Percy pulled her knees to her chest and pressed her hands to her eyes. "After all I've done for them they couldn't just give me time let me heal right and how I'm broken beyond repair." And she began crying.

Conner took her hands from her eyes and helped Percy her feet. She had to fight to stop crying. "We should find a way out of here so we can get you home."

Percy felt like she was going to break down again when she felt the weight in his words. 'Get you home' or more specifically, what he really meant to say- "We'll take care of this one, you take a break."

There weren't any words to express her gratitude, so she just nodded and moved to grab her bags which Nate had already picked up.

Nate gazed at her in dread, knowing this was the consequence of heroism. He wasn't quite so happy to be part of a quest anymore, but he would always be thankful for having seen this, a hero begging for a way out.

---

P

ercy used to like being in the light over the dark, but she no longer felt that way. The only time she saw light was when the guards dragged her out of her cell and brought her to another room for unspeakable acts.

Just seeing light became a source of misery for her. They would come to her cell every so often and take her. First she would hear the cold metallic clanks of the locks turning, then the door opened and light would spill in. She would inch into the corner, arms wrapped around her knees, which were pulled tight against her chest. Resistance resulted in severe punishments, so Percy never stopped the guards from seizing her arms and dragging her to her feet.

There were always two of them. One was a tall aggressive woman who never spoke to Percy. The other was a large man with dark hair and light eyes seemed less intense. When she'd plead with him to stop her go, she saw sympathy in his eyes, however little. And he wasn't quite as rough in handling her as the woman. Early on when she fought, the woman never hesitated to hit her; the man never hit her. By this point though, her fight had burned out and they usually ended up dragging her. She liked to pretend that was her way of fighting, not walking to inconvenience them, but that wasn't true; she was just tired.

Sometimes during  transportation Percy saw another soldier, Brian Dorin. He looked worse each time she saw him, but just being able to see a familiar face rejuvenated her fight, have her the strength to face what was in the next room. This time however he didn't look at Percy;he fixed his eyes on the angry woman escorting her. Unfortunately she saw what Percy didn't and when Dorin quickly shoved his guards off the aggressive woman fired one shot between his eyes to avoid his attack.

And for the first time since her imprisonment began,  Percy screamed, a bloodcurdling agonized scream. She found the strength to look at the woman and briefly considered attacking her, but before she even had the chance to look away from Dorin there was a voice in her ears, that of the man with the sympathetic blue eyes. "You're not there yet, you haven't broken, dont let yourself get there."

There was a brief moment of nothing, then there was a quiet chuckle from the woman before she put away her gun and grabbed Percy's arm again. Percy didn't move her eyes from Brian as they pulled her past him, they were glued on the visible tattoo on his chest which read 'Malia', his daughter's name. Blood ran down past his dogtags to the curly black letters.

'You're not there yet, you haven't broken, don't let yourself get there.' She repeated his words again and again, hoping they would give her strength to face what was behind the next door. Gods know she didn't get any strength from seeing Dorin.

Then she went in and came out some time later, a little weaker than the woman she was before. When escorting her back, she felt a metal hand press something into her palm, Dorin's dogtags. They felt heavier than iron chains when she slipped them over her neck to rest by her own. It provided her with no strength, but she could pull strength from the words 'You're not there yet, you haven't broken, don't let yourself get there'.

AN hello sorry for the long wait. I'm going through some things emotionally. I enjoyed writing this chapter so I hope you enjoyed it. I can't make any promises on when the next update will be.