Heroes of New York

EIGHT - FIGHT

Chapter Eight

~Percy Jackson~

"JARVIS?" I asked into the open air, "When Pepper gets back, can you tell her that I went to meet up with a friend? I should be back tonight."

"Of course, sir," replied the AI.

I told him thanks, and looked back down at the message displayed on my phone screen (in Greek, of course, because none of us can spell or read in English).

Prissy, come to base and teach the recruits a lesson. They're getting arrogant.

Of course, Clarisse would only text me for something 'work' related. It was likely she needed something else as well, but she'd never say that outright unless it was literally life or death. I smiled and shook my head a little.

After the Second Giant War, both the Greek and Roman camps had been approached by a government organization called SHIELD (we all had our guesses about what the acronym actually stood for, but the general consensus among demigods was that someone just really wanted to spell 'shield'). Apparently they'd been monitoring us for decades, even occasionally contacting us through various ways, making sure that we cleaned up our messes and kept the general public from taking notice of the gods' presence on Earth. Their current director had even had a hand in keeping the Greek and Roman camps apart to avoid conflict - so when we came together, they finally revealed themselves and explained a strange concept.

It was proposed that - should a demigod, legacy, or otherwise supernatural being from either pantheon choose - there would be available positions within SHIELD for them to occupy, provided they passed basic training and general examinations. From there, we'd be able to rise through the ranks as usual, go on missions as field agents, work on top secret projects and other (super cool) stuff. If you didn't make it in, they'd help you get a job elsewhere.

This was a great opportunity for people like me, because we'd usually never be able to get a regular job due to our limited experience in the school system and our generally suspicious records.

So, of course, many demigods had taken up positions such as these, including the majority of the Ares/Mars kids (and also including me, though I was more of a consultant than anything, at least until I graduated high school).

Thus (ooh, Annabeth would be proud!), I was often called in to either some training facility, a super-secret base or the helicarrier (which, though Zeus mostly ignored my presence in the sky now, I was still tentative of). Clarisse was my main contact within SHIELD - and she mostly just called me in to spar with trainees and make witty remarks - but I had also been called in to work with various other agents from largely different fields.

The elevator doors opened and I stepped out into the lobby, still tentative about the clearly upper-class business people milling about (growing up below the poverty line had made me rather wary of anyone who had a vacation home, Chanel purse or spent weekends shopping on Fifth Avenue). I made my way out to the streets as quickly as I could without drawing too much attention.

Two blocks down, one left and down a secluded alley, I came to a door in the side of a building. It had no handle on my side, but that wasn't currently an issue.

I knocked twice, paused, knocked twice again, and after another pause, knocked once. The door opened and I was greeted by a bright blue light. The light swooped over my face a few times before beeping and turning green. There was a click, and a manhole cover popped open, revealing a ladder that I knew led down to a vast network of underground tunnels and rooms that was occupied by SHIELD operatives.

Down the ladder (the manhole cover closed automatically once I reached a certain point - sensors were probably involved), first tunnel on the left, down a set of stairs, one turn right, and then following the path until I reached a red door marked 'GYM'.

I opened the door and sure enough, Clarisse was in there, yelling at her students to hit harder, faster, and with more variation. The rest of the gym was occupied by agents doing their own workouts, while the class took up the centre.

As I came closer, Clarisse noticed me and stomped over to drag me forward.

"Alright whelps, this loser is Percy Jackson, my cousin and a fellow soldier. He's gonna show you how a real fight works," she announced.  (The soldier part was mostly true, but also part of our cover, to explain to mortals about our skills and experiences).

Clarisse and I faced one another, dropping into battle stances. She got impatient and lunged at me, trying to land a hit on my stomach, but I easily moved back and to the side, causing her to lose balance. I swiped a foot past her unsteady feet, knocking her forward, and Clarisse tucked into a somersault to avoid face-planting. I kicked up toward her head as she got back up, and when she caught it, I used her grip to twist and hit her in the face with my other foot, forcing her to release me.

Attempting to knock me down with a tackle, Clarisse charged at me, but I dropped and rolled out of the way. Before she could turn around to come at me again, I landed a precise hit to a nerve in her arm, causing (temporary) paralysis. She growled at me and aimed a kick at my knees, trying to force me down. I caught her leg in between mine and - using her own momentum against her - punched her in the nose.

There was a loud crack, and the agents and trainees gathered around to watch winced. While Clarisse was occupied with her nose, I twisted her leg and stepped on the back of her calf, forcing her to go down on one knee. I then pulled her into a headlock and muttered, 'yield'.

She grimaced, but tapped my arm in defeat. I let Clarisse go and helped her up, offering a tissue from my pocket for her nose.

"Now you can all see why Prissy here was the commander of my formation," Clarisse said, and her trainees started to look fearful. I imagined it was because they had fought against Clarisse themselves and seen how good she was - and then I had gone and beaten her. "It's time to teach you kids some moves."

I spent another hour in that gym teaching them how to defend themselves.

Happy (super belated) birthday, Perce!

Sorry all for the late chapter. It was meant to have some other stuff in there too, but I think that can wait for the next one.

There's just so much going on right now and I haven't really gotten the chance to write. Like even right now, I have an hour before I have to go to work (sorry if the end is a bit sloppy).

Until next time ~~