CALM BEFORE THE STORM | PERCY JACKSON

Chapter Fifteen

Junior Year: Second Semester

Matt's chest felt oddly constricted as he stood in the dim light of Fogwell's Gym. He was wearing some old boxing sweats and an even older black mask. He wasn't sure how tonight was going to go but he thought that maybe he wanted it to go... well? It was strange how easily he had gotten attached to the kid, with only a thirty-minute interaction and a handful of texts.

Matt twitched as he heard one of the skylights in the building creak open but didn't move otherwise. There was a strange sort of scurrying on the wall that he assumed was the kid climbing down. The anger as he thought about the types of experiments the kid must have been forced through was a familiar one. He had spent the last month or so coming up with different scenarios, each being worse than the last, of how he had gotten his powers. The mildest one was that he was a mutant born with powers while the darkest made his blood boil.

"You're late," he commented.

The kid cursed and there was a crashing and Matt assumed that he had fallen off of the wall. "Yeah, sorry. My aunt wouldn't let me go out till I finished my Spanish homework, so..." The silence at the end indicated that he had made some sort of body gesture that he couldn't see. He ignored the actual contents of the reason; thinking about how young he was would just make him angry again. When it became clear that Matt wasn't going to say anything the kid cleared his throat awkwardly and tried again. "I'm going to go change into some sweats."

Matt just tilted his head in acquiescence. His heartbeat got fainter as the wall and door of the locker room muffled it, but sound still carried well in the silent gym and his advanced hearing took care of any other noises. As such, it was easy to hear the kid as he rambled.

"You know, I was thinking and judging by the way you seemed hung-up on the 'whole underage vigilante' thing- which, rude- you've probably just been calling me kid or something in your head." Matt didn't flinch. He didn't. "You can call me Percy for now"

The name was way too uncommon to be random but Matt wasn't going to pry. "Call me Mike then," he returned.

"Awesome!"

The exclamation came from much closer and it disturbed Matt that he hadn't heard the kid move. He nodded to where he knew the boxing ring was. "Come on, all we're going to do tonight is fight; I want to see what you know."

Once they were both in the ring, Matt took up a basic stance and waited as he heard Percy do the same. The air to his left shifted and he dodged to the right, ducking underneath the blow and coming up behind Percy.

The kid was better than he thought, not a blank slate working off of instinct like he first expected. It was obvious in the way that he kept out of Matt's reach that he was used to long-range fighting. And something about the way he fought when he got closer seemed... off. Like he was used to the space he kept between them being occupied by something. Matt's first thought was that the kid knew his way around a knife but there was too much space for that. He would have said a staff or even a sword if the idea hadn't been ridiculous. Why would a kid be decent at sword fighting?

Still, his hand-to-hand needed some work. His footwork seemed solid, there had barely been any stumbling though he wasn't able to tell for certain. He grimaced at the thought of it but maybe it would be best if he could convince Jessica to come at least once. His form definitely needed work. He was putting too much power behind his punches and instinct seemed to play a large role while he was dodging.

Matt put an end to the fight by grabbing the kid by the wrist and flipping him over his shoulder. Percy made to get back up but he shook his head. There was a groan of relief and the muffled thump of a body hitting the floor. Matt chuckled and walked to the edge of the ring where he had a water bottle waiting.