Chapter 9: Irresponsibility is an Art

Warnings: Major character death, OCs, OOC, GAYS, swearing, assassins, crack

Disclaimer: I know you may think otherwise but I don't actually have any rights to PJO, HP or Marvel

≈Ωne Fandom Is Not Enough≈

Previously-

"Technology and magic. My past and my present." Harry closed his eyes disbelievingly as he was still trying to take it all in. "I never even tried to comprehend what would happen if the two mixed." He opened them and stared at Percy with his sparkling emerald eyes. "And yet here we are."

Percy felt a smile tug on his lips as he looked at Harry's smiling face. "And yet here we are." He agreed as a huge grin overtook the twitching of his lips. "Now let's see where the future will take us."

Percy Jackson-

The quinjet jerked, Percy gripped the overhead handle. His stomach lurched and his jaw clenched instinctively; despite decades having passed since he was made into a God and allowed into Zeus' territory, he still really hated travelling in the air.

Especially in the weather as it was now.

The room lit up as a bright flash of lightning came suspiciously close.

Thankfully now that it was known that he could teleport, he rarely had to travel in such a fashion.

Alas when he was visiting top secret bases that he had never been to before, he had no choice.

A little thing that was keeping him going was Fury's hint earlier that Harry would be at the base.

However, he knew that Harry had recently had to go up to Michigan for some reason and Percy was fairly sure that he had started the helicopter ride somewhere in Mississippi, so he wasn't too sure whether Fury was just making some crap up to get Percy to stop whining.

But it wasn't impossible; with Harry's magic, anything seemed possible.

Since the mission to England after retrieving the currently-still-in-an-ice-induced-coma Captain America, Harry and Percy had been on several missions together as Basilisk and Kraken. Not many, and mostly internal. They hadn't felt the need to leave the US just yet - they still had to train together and understand each other's fighting styles.

As they discovered, both of their fighting styles were very unpredictable. Percy's had developed out of necessity; his wild ducking and dodging learned through experience. He had immediately left sword fighting behind when he left the mythological Olympic world and now favoured guns, fortunately it was not distressing to work with Harry as his katanas bore no resemblance to the heavy broadswords that the Greeks had used. Thus, he had no painful memories of any dual blade wielders.

Harry's style with his two swords had developed through a route of self discovery in Japan, that whilst flashy and impressive, only really worked in close quarters. Thus he combined it with magic to work long range.

Harry had no delusions on his ability in magic, so it had taken years of practice of fine control to achieve anything like he had now. It had helped that the swordmaster that had made him his student had been open to magic as his wife was magical.

His master used to take every opportunity to lecture him on the fact that many of his traditionalist friends would not even consider minor alterations to stances or movements, let alone incorporate a complete new attack system - he should consider himself fortunate (he really did). Especially given that magical duelling included approximately no actual fighting technique.

His master's wife had been an expert at transfiguration and whilst not genius level at charms, was certainly a lot better than Harry. She had helped Harry achieve the nigh invincible weapons he had now.

The arm braces he permanently had strapped on his arms produced a never evening supply of knive hilts that slotted into his hands with the briefest touch of magic. With another pulse of magic either the short blade of a perfectly balanced throwing knife, or with another, the hilt would thicken and a long katana blade would extend.

After he threw the knives, he could easily dispel them, summon them back to him or simply retract the blades so that they were essentially useless to the opponent.

Carefully controlled summoning and banishing charms also allowed Harry to operate the knives remotely as well. Of course not that remotely, it wasn't like Harry could see his knives if they were miles away - but he could track their magic if they were close enough, so he could still use them when blindfolded.

There was obviously no set way to fight as it was completely new; thus Harry's fighting style was not something in any way predictable.

When combined with Percy's, the two entirely erratic solo techniques were very effective and useful...against the enemy. When trying to combine the two...not so much.

Quite simply, a partner than was impossible to anticipate, was a partner that was impossible to work with. You could not protect their back or fill in the gaps in their fight style if they weren't consistent.

It had taken a while - a very long while - to understand the extent of each other's fighting ability and discover the disguised regularity hidden within the other's movements, but by now the duo made very a very competent team. Their two code names had appeared together on many, many recent mission report sheets.

Neither Harry nor Percy wanted to know Hawkeye's thoughts on the matter.

Now Percy was on his way to...somewhere after a short break.

Harry Potter-

"Really, an abandoned warehouse? At night?"

"Barton."

"I mean, it's not like you could have picked a creepier place."

"Barton."

"I swear that this isn't even necessary though. Surely it would be much more secure in HQ than in some rusty old building with what looks like no security systems."

"Clint I'll give you one more chance."

Harry dutifully ignored Clint Barton (aka Hawkeye) 's incessant chatter as he lead him and the Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff) through the door.

To two had been paired together to train and they were making headway in the S.H.I.E.L.D record books. Of course not nearly as much as Basilisk and Kraken.

There was a lull in Clint's babbling as they climbed some old creaky stairs; Harry was relieved but Natasha braced herself as she knew that he was just preparing himself to restart a steady stream of nonsense.

"You know Tasha, I've been thinking more about Kraken and Basilisk." He said thoughtfully.

Only Harry's extensive experience of dealing with Percy stopped him from choking or stumbling or something equally embarrassing at that statement.

Natasha nailed the archer with a very unimpressed look that would would have made lesser men weep. As it was, Clint still shrunk slightly but continued on regardless. "It wouldn't make sense for one to be a female."

Thank Merlin, thought Harry. Maybe Clint would stop his ridiculous rumours about-

"But what would make far more sense would be..." Harry wondered why he felt unsettled like something the most definitely wouldn't like was about to exit Clint's mouth. "... if the were both female."

This time Harry did stop, in sync with Natasha, to stare disbelievingly at Clint.

Clint shrugged nervously "Just sharing my opinions here okay. I thought it was a free country."

Harry shook his head and strode away, wishing to get to the meeting room as quick as possible. Hadn't Clint seen both him and Percy though- oh wait, Harry remembered the sneaky confundus he threw at Clint after leaving the training room after they had introduced themselves as Basilisk and Kraken respectively. Maybe he overpowered it a bit much, he didn't remember Clint being this ditzy.

"So you're theory of them being in a relationship is a bust then?" Natasha picked the completely idiot subject back up. Really Natasha, Harry had thought you were better than that.

"What? No. I'm still certain on that one. Would bet my life on it. Yours too." Clint had something right he supposed. "They should really come out about it, there should be more open LGBT support in S.H.I.E.L.D. "

Harry tensed slightly as they reached the top floor. Did Clint know more than he thought? Was he mocking him?

Either way Harry was sure he'd find out Basilisk and Kraken's true identities in the meeting that he was about the enter.

He crouched down in front of a locked, dusty door, making his eye level with the doorknob. Pressing his finger against a concealed fingerprint scanner at the back caused a red laser beam to scan his retina from the doorknob.

Clint gave a low whistle. "Ok so I take back the thing I said about security. Man, this place seems lit AF!"

Natasha pinched the bridge of her nose, Harry was pretty certain that he saw despair and disappointment in her eyes. "That didn't even make sense. We need to keep you away from urban dictionary."

"Fo shizzle ma nizzle."

"I don't even want to know."

The door swung open and they were lead into a clean white, modern corridor. Harry walked purposefully away from the duo, eager to see Percy again.

He wondered whether Clint's attitude was genuine or actually due to an overpowered confundus or whether it was an off putting mask he wore to confuse people. Because Harry knew that although he may appear scatterbrained in person, he was deadly in the field.

Hawkeye was one of the best known marksmen on the planet for a reason.

Harry loved messing with people like him. When he drew his swords, especially in katana form, those that had no idea what was happening were suitably impressed but those who knew how to fight immediately thought they knew his abilities and dismissed him. He could see them think katanas = short range amateur, no professional would carry such bulky, limiting weapons.

However unfortunately (for them) no one else alive could understand his skill set (his sword master had passed away a few years ago). So they were unpleasantly surprised. He liked to knock those with oversized egos down a few pegs.

Although Clint may not be the same of course, he did fight with a fucking bow.

Percy Jackson-

The meeting room consisted of only Fury and Phil Coulson at this point in time.

"Is this really a good idea?"

"We can't know unless we start it."

"Yes but once you start it...I don't really think there's anyway of stopping it. It will be-"

"Hey Phil! My main man."

"...too late."

Percy stilled suddenly under the piercing gazes of the two other men. "Ok so why do I feel like the conversation that you were having before I entered the room was about me."

Director Fury sat down heavily in a chair as Percy wondered whether he had done anything recently that was against S.H.I.E.L.D protocol.

Probably.

"Coulson, you're almost definitely right but we've gotta have some back up plan for when shit hits the fan - which is inevitable. I have decided this is gonna be it so you two sit yo asses down on the chairs before the others get here." He gestured to the orange swivel chairs that sat around a large, circular meeting table covered in (probably irrelevant) paperwork.

Percy pursed his lips.

Before he could get as far as wondering if illegally downloading music and streaming anime was flagged by S.H.I.E.L.D systems, the door reopened and in walked a familiar black mop of hair followed by the rumour starting archer and a former Soviet redhead.

Percy launched himself at Harry. "Honey you're home!"

Harry down looked at him longsufferingly, Percy had pinned his arms to his chest with his bear hug, but his lips twitched.

Because that was really necessary.

Uh-huh.

In front of Clint and Natasha though?

You know as well as I do that we'll be working with them after this meeting. May as well give them some PDA to set the tone.

...I don't think that's the best first impression one could make.

PDA FTW

Shut up Percy, also after this they'll know our aliases. Won't that be a problem?

No, in fact it'll set Clint on the right track. I have this whole thing planned out, don't you worry your pretty little head - my strategy is flawless.

...really? You want to encourage Clint?

Percy had been dropped on the floor by now, where he sat, pouting.

To the rest of the people in the room their entire interaction had been a few exaggerated eyebrow raises and smirks. Completely silent.

"Ok what the fuck, how are they doing that?" Clint asked warily.

Coulson shook his head. "No idea. You get used to it though. However, don't tell them anything that annoys, irritates or otherwise vexes you because they will exploit it. They are demons."

"You wound me Phil!"

"Sit in the fucking chairs." Fury exploded, fed up of being ignored.

"Agent Barton and Romanoff, several thing that will be revealed today are a little above your pay grade. Today we propose the idea of the Avengers Initiative."

Fury threw 5 files on the desk in front of them. He had put them in bright yellow folders so that they could be distinguished from the masses of paperwork already on the desk - he did have some foresight thank you very much. "Avengers initiative?"

"How to describe it...let's say...a group of highly specialised individuals who can fight the fights that normal S.H.I.E.L.D agents can't."

"Hate to break it to you Fury," Clint said as the flicked through the file in front of him on Tony Stark. "But I am a normal S.H.I.E.L.D agent. I haven't got a fancy suit of armour or an injection to give me special muscles."

"We need S.H.I.E.L.D inside this team-"

"Director, I agree with Agent Barton. If those two there are who I think they are, we are unnecessary." Natasha looked over at the two black haired agents. "I understand that you need S.H.I.E.L.D agents on the team but we aren't on their level.". She may be the Black Widow but she had no delusions of grandeur. She knew her standing in the assassin and espionage world was well below the likes of Basilisk and Kraken.

"Correct and as astute as ever Agent Romanoff. You and Clint have been called in primarily as points of contact within S.H.I.E.L.D. The only people who know and will know about the Avengers Initiative are in this room or on those files. You are to help Agent Coulson manage and organise the team. He is to be Avengers Handler." Fury explained.

"Don't tell me you're giving Phil authority over me?" Percy cried. "He'll become power crazy. He'll have one upped me in our running competition-"

"Shut your goddamn mouth Agent Jackson we haven't even discussed the files yet." Fury did not have time to put up with Percy's shit. "Before you do that though, introduce yourself to Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff. I didn't bring your files because there's basically nothing on them."

"Really? I thought you still had the paper files." The first thing Harry had said out loud.

"Nope, they were burned once you hit Level 13. Knowledge of your identities can only be shared on a strictly need to know basis." Fury explained.

"Yes! I knew it!" Percy crowed, punching the air. " Wait 'till I tell Solander! I told her she was nowhere near cool enough to have her files destroyed! She's only level 12." He added for the benefit for anyone in the room that didn't already know (no one).

"Shut your fucking piehole Jackson." Fury snapped. He paused and rubbed his head tiredly. "Introduce yourself you two." He muttered under his breath. "Until something very unfortunate happens to Jackson.

"I'd like to see you try old man!" Percy exclaimed, holding up his fists, conveniently forgetting that it was very likely that he was older than Fury. "You and me, outside, right now. I'd take you any-"

Harry interrupted mentally before Percy could embarrass himself (although Percy was completely unrepentant and didn't dwell for very long on others' opinions of him) and by extension Harry (even more). You clearly have the wrong idea of what a first impression should be. If all of them are of a similar vein to this then frankly I'm surprised anyone in S.H.I.E.L.D talks to you.

I am so offended right now. I'm a very likable person. Percy pouted. My first impression to you wasn't terrible!

Harry dutifully ignored him and addressed Fury. "Everything below level 14? Or everything?"

"Everything." Fury replied without hesitation. "They can hardly hope to handle you if they don't understand the extent of your powers."

"I don't need a handler." Percy muttered mutinously under his breath.

Harry arched an eyebrow at him. "I think that alone proves that you do."

"Shut up." Percy hissed.

Fury's cough wasn't even remotely subtle, but then he wasn't trying to be. "Anytime today would be good."

Harry looked at the three other agents in the room he cleared his throat before he started. "I am Dr James Evans, I was an astrophysicist primarily and my S.H.I.E.L.D qualifications are as follows: Agent, Special Agent, Research Scientist, Doctor, Astrophysics Department Head, Marksman, Tracker, Spy and Wizard. My r-"

"Wizard? What is that?" Coulson asked, eyes narrowing in confusion due to the fact that he thought he knew all the S.H.I.E.L.D qualifications.

Harry considered the question, wondering how best to answer it.

Fury spoke before he could. "Wait until after the introductions to explain you powers."

Harry nodded in understanding and agreement. He continued. "My real name is Harry Potter, James Evans was the alias I used when I first joined S.H.I.E.L.D."

Natasha was suitably impressed that Harry had managed to keep his identity from S.H.I.E.L.D and yet still be recruited.

Clint wondered how trustworthy Harry was if he had kept a secret as big as his identity from S.H.I.E.L.D, how would they know if he had more.

"It isn't the only alias I have though, my Secret Agent codename is Basilisk."

Percy's chair squeaked as he twisted slowly in the stunned silence left in the wake of Harry's words. He snickered at the expression on Clint's face. Natasha looked faintly smug as if she had known it all along (she had).

Percy decided to pick up the pace before Clint could start spouting gibberish. "So...y'all clever clogs will probably have worked out who I am." He winked at Coulson. "Basilisk has a partner...you guessed it! I'm Kraken, the better half of our assassin-y duet. He's like a grumpy baby kitten but I-ow! Why, Harry?" He whined and leveled a glare at the man in question, rubbing the cheek (face or ass? We will never know…) that had just been hit with a silent, wandless stinging hex.

As if I am the one being childish. Harry's raised eyebrow greeted him. Please show that you at least have the capability of being serious.

I'm always serious! Percy huffed. "I'm also known as Commander Jackson, I have the S.H.I.E.L.D qualifications Hacker, Agent, Special Agent, Soldier...um...Spy...uh…" He racked his brain trying to remember the other random things he was qualified as.

For the love of Morgana! Look at your S.H.I.E.L.D ID card if you can't remember.

"Good shout." Percy nodded agreeably in Harry's direction (much to the confusion of the the rest of the room). He pulled said card out of his pocket. "Ah, Tracker, Marksman, Bodyguard, Spy, Division Commander and Mutant."

"Aha! Mutant. That was what was CLASSIFIED on your S.H.I.E.L.D IS card." Coulson exclaimed. "That had been bugging me for ages."

"Phil! Your youthful intelligence and incredible perception blossoms once more! It surely exposes the weakness in our own flowers of-"

"Oh my God, I thought you stopped watching Naruto." Harry's voice was muffled from where he had buried his head in his hands, giving up using the mental link to berate Percy. He had been doing it for the god's benefit but clearly he gave not a single fuck about what the others thought of him.

"Never! That on swear on my honour to Konoha. Believe it!" Percy proclaimed, giving and enthusiastic thumbs up with a beaming smile.

Clint gaped at the black haired 'mutant'. He mouthed to himself (but everyone could hear/read it) "What is happening? Wizards? Mutants? Naruto?...Are you high?...Am I high?"

"Well as entertaining and…" Fury cleared his throat, clearly searching for an applicable word. "...highly relevant this all is. I think it's time that we moved onto greener pastures. Please give the three a run down of your powers as concisely as you can with as few deviations as possible." His pointed look at Percy went amiss as he was on the floor doing the 100 press ups that he said he would do to...prove something or other.

"What is this, Just a Minute?" grumbled Percy, still doing press ups "Alright, so I'm a mutant so I have some freaky powers. These include the ability to teleport, control water - so hydrokinesis - and...nngh..."

A pair of midnight blue wings burst suddenly from his back, going through the clothes on his back as if they weren't there (some weird, obscuring, godly ability). They extended out, roughly 3 meters wide each, fluttering gently and rolling as he stretched them.

"That is sick."

"I mean no offence," Natasha said with a calculating and somewhat disdainful look in her eye and Percy got the feeling that whatever she was going to say next would be offensive. That was the problem with that saying, Percy mused, it was like a free pass to be rude. No one ever said 'no offence' unless what would follow it was very offensive. "But how can wings aid you or be helpful in any way shape or form if you can teleport?"

"They look cool." Percy stuck his tongue out in response, which was pretty ineffectual because he was still facing the floor. He flicked his wings so that they caught the light, shimmering.

"They're beautiful." whispered Harry reverently.

An awkward silence settled in the room as Harry became absorbed in the sight of the wings in front of him. Percy studiously continued his press ups. Emerald eyes traced the delicate feathers, from the wingtips to where they disappeared into his shirt.

Coulson rubbed his forehead tiredly. "And you, Evans? What can you do?"

Harry blinked several times, coming out of his stupor. "Uh...as I said earlier, I am a wizard, thus I can perform magic. Magic is a very...um...broad term. The basic rundown is that I can enchant things, so change its properties temporarily or permanently - the latter much more complicated; transfigure things, so change them into something else entirely, this includes living things, including myself; and manipulate objects, e.g. their position like telekinesis - once again including myself. However I can also control a sort of energy, with this I can do things like direct it at people and knock them unconscious or alternatively create a shield around myself."

Percy was interested to hear how Harry would describe his powers. He knew from experience how complex and diverse Harry's powers were. And he only knew his powers applicable and relevant to fighting.

"Magic?" Clint stared at Harry disbelievingly.

Harry's returning stare was brimming with exasperation. Surely Clint wasn't always this slow?

"What do you mean by 'including myself' when you speak of...uh transfiguring or manipulating an object?" Natasha asked, tilting her head as she tried to process the completely new information.

"As in, human transfiguration is possible, difficult but definitely possible. One example being animagi - people who can transform into animals at will. For example my animagi a form is a griffin, which I would demonstrate for you but there isn't much space in this room."

"Wait hold up!" Percy's voice was nearly a shriek (although he'd deny it vehemently) "You're saying you can turn into a mythical creature whenever you want and you never showed me!"

"There has been no reason-"

"Harry you don't understand how much you have hurt me."

"You don't know half of my powers! I haven't had time to-"

"I'm never speaking to you again."

Harry sighed as he flicked through the file on Dr Bruce Banner, leaving Percy to his dramatics

"A griffin must be pretty goddamn big if there's not enough space in here." Fury growled, regretting his decision to hold the meeting with every passing second.

"So this is great and everything, don't get me wrong Captain Hook," Percy absently dogged out the way of knife thrown at him as Fury glared murderously at him from the eye not covered by his eyepatch. "Go team go and all that. But...why? Because I think it's all gonna blow up."

Fury's glare wavered slightly as the confusion became evident on his face.

Harry rolled his eyes at Percy's communicative incompetence. "What this idjit means, is: what terrible thing happened recently of which we are unaware or have overlooked - because something truly catastrophic must have happened for you to think it's a good idea to have Tony fucking Stark who has a ton of emotional baggage due to his absent father, to be on a team with Captain America, Howard Stark's best friend, who was inadvertently basically the reason why Tony didn't have a childhood?" Harry paused and looked at Fury searchingly. "Do you seriously see nothing wrong with this plan?"

Fury nodded tiredly. "Trust me Evans, I see the problems." He sagged in his seat, throwing Tony Stark's file back onto the desk from where he had been leafing through it. "Unfortunately, we don't have a choice in the matter. We need a team that can fight super-powered hostiles. You were both there in New Mexico when Thor Odinson had a family spat - him and his brother destroyed the entire town. Buildings destroyed with irreparable damage, inhabitants moved out, too scared to live there, businesses collapsed. We need to even the playing field if it happens again. There's no guarantee that the next extraterrestrial that will be stopped by his brother."

Percy and Harry stewed in mild guilt as they knew that either of them could have stopped Loki's Destroyer before it got too far. But they hadn't. And now that small town in New Mexico didn't even exist any more.

Harry Potter-

"So in all seriousness, how have-"

"Oh now you're serious?"

"Hush child. How have you been?" Percy continued, ignoring Harry's mildly incredulous splutter at being called a child.

Harry's glare softened as he regarded Percy over the edge of his drink. They were sat in a bar, taking a (maybe unwarranted [maybe]) break.

Percy was looking better than when Harry had last seen him on the mission to England. He hoped that he did as well. He was curious as to what Percy had been doing, but he'd satisfy Percy's curiosity first (otherwise he wouldn't get an answer).

"I've been playing with this artifact that was fished out from the plane wreck with Captain America."

Percy ate a couple of chips from his plate, raising an eyebrow. "There were other viable things on that mess? I would have thought all the machinery would have broken or cracked due to the ice. Water expands on solidifying."

Harry hummed in agreement, he mentally scolded himself for being surprised at Percy's insight - he was the son of Poseidon after all. "True. But it's not exactly a machine...it's like…"

He pondered how to describe it. He had been working with the Tesseract for perhaps just under a week. The electric blue cube of energy seemed to have a mind of its own and limitless power; indeed it seemed like a power source itself - it needed no fuel. The possibilities with a self sustaining energy source were endless. If they could find a way to harness the energy then it could solve hundreds of problems. That was what he was trying to work on - he had been called in because they were fairly sure that it was an extraterrestrial object and he was somewhat of a professional space nerd, as well as his extensive physics knowledge. "Imagine a bright blue star condensed down into a cube that you could hold in your hand."

"Probably burn your hand." Percy remarked helpfully.

"It's like an autonomous energy source." Harry said, disregarding Percy. "Hydra's Red Skull, Captain America's opponent in WWII, managed to harness its energy and use it to power weapons - thus why it was on the plane wreck. S.H.I.E.L.D is trying to work out how they achieved it."

Percy rolled his eyes. "What so we can become the next Hydra?"

"I really hope not." Harry sighed, despite knowing that S.H.I.E.L.D making weapons from the Tesseract was probably inevitable. "As long as I'm supervising the project I'm trying to focus it on clean energy. But sooner or later I'll be moved off it."

Percy nodded grimly. "I suppose nothing else can be expected from an international spying agency on a self proclaimed mission to protect the earth."

Harry leaned back on his chair, slowly sipping from his drink. "Yeah, as long as S.H.I.E.L.D have the Tesseract in their possession, they're not going to stop researching ways to use it as a weapon. Hades, they may even continue trying even if it was taken from them."

Harry watched a smile creep onto Percy's face.

He watched him warily. "What did I say? Did I say something wrong?"

Percy shook his head. "No, no...you just said...Hades…" He shrugged his shoulders a little helplessly, was that the lighting or were his cheeks slightly more flushed than usual? "That's something I say...I don't know it just seemed...cute...that you're saying it now..."

Harry felt the the corners of his mouth twitch up. Merlin, he was adorable. What a fluffball. He hadn't noticed that pieces of Percy's vocabulary were slipping into his own. That was actually quite cute.

He smiled broadly at the god in front of him. They ate in comfortable silence for a while, listening to the low background music.

"So whilst you've been playing with martian technology, I've been stuck inside HQ for ages. I was originally working with Dr Solander but Fury moved me after she destroyed half a room of explosive prototypes."

"She destroyed half a room?" Snorted Harry, skeptical.

Percy pointedly looked at his down at his plate. "Okay so maybe it was a little bit my fault."

"A little bit." Harry echoed flatly.

"And…" Percy shrugged, wide eyed and failing miserably to look innocent. "Maybe it was the whole room."

Harry sniggered. "You're like a rebellious teenager who has been grounded. Honestly you'd think that Fury would know by now that giving you paper pusher jobs as punishment does much more harm to him than it does to you."

"Punishment? What did I do to deserve a punishment?" Percy protested.

"Oh, I don't know…" Harry pretended to think hard. "What about when you disabled all of Coulson's override codes? And then set the fire alarm off whilst he was trying to intimidate a new bunch of rookies? A few weeks ago? Ringing any bells?"

Percy pouted. It had been (mostly) Coulson's fault. Phil had started their impromptu prank war when had decided to replace the cartridges in Percy's demonstration gun with paint pellets. Percy couldn't actually remember what he had done to make Phil retaliate with that but from then on it became a sort of competition. Who can embarrass the other the most in front of the rookies.

Phil of course would definitely deny any involvement.

"Anyhow, moving on, what I was trying to say was that I had loads of free time."

Harry rolled his eyes, stacking their empty plates on the table to be collected. "So get on with it then. Tell me your very important story."

Percy beamed, ignoring Harry's scathing sarcasm. Haters gonna hate. "I managed to manifest Life!"

"Uh...life?" Harry sat there for a while, blinking, trying to comprehend the words that Percy just said. "You finally got a life?"

"So rude. No, I mean Life as in Lord of Life, like Death as in Master of Death." He huffed.

"Oh!" Harry went from bemused to excited. "Finally!"

Percy had been trying to manifest the deity since Death had explained the concept of Lord of Life to him. But it was insanely difficult seeing as he had literally no idea a) what he was supposed to be doing and/or b) what he was trying to achieve. So essentially he just spent hours at a time trying to concentrate really hard on...Life to give it a corporeal form and feeling like an idiot.

When Harry and Percy had been in Britain, a voice had spoken to him. It only said the word 'Calm' but it resonated from deep within Percy's very being. He had known intrinsically that it was said by some sort of deity because of how overwhelmingly massive the presence had been (for the very short while that Percy had experienced it). It had not been until he reflected upon it afterwards that he put two and two together and realised that it was Life that had been speaking.

After that experience, he make much stronger headway into the connection because he knew what the feeling he was aiming for was.

"Life is...incredible. So much more powerful than anything I've ever felt before. They know so much, I've only ever spoken to Life once, but it was enough to feel how overwhelmingly...immense their presence was." Percy could not articulate the depth of what he had felt.

"They?" Harry frowned, he had thought Percy was talking about Life.

Percy shrugged in response. "Deities don't have genders. Life hasn't told me whether they're a 'he' or a 'she' like Death told you so I didn't want to label them wrongly, they don't seem to mind either way though. Life is...every living thing so it seems strange using a singular pronoun."

Percy Jackson-

"No."

"Why? It'll be-"

"Nope."

"-fun"

"Nada."

"C'mon Harry-"

"Nope."

"Live a little!"

Harry rubbed his face tiredly. "Percy, what on God's green earth makes you think this would be a good idea."

"It's a great idea! You-" Percy pointed wildly at one of the younger scientists in the room. "You agree with me don't you?"

The poor girl spluttered as her eyes darted between the two black haired men.

"Stop terrorising my interns." Harry snapped as he toggled with something on a machine. "Run your idea by me again because I am certain that nothing that I just heard was a good idea."

Percy cleared his throat. "So, we go to India and find the green rage doctor and make friends and...that's actually as far as I got with the plan. I think that's about it."

"There are so many things wrong with your plan - I don't even have time to tell you all of them. But first of all, how are we going to get clearance to go to India in the first place?"

Percy snorted. "Who needs clearance? Fury likes as far away from him as possible, If I just mention wanting to go to India when I next speak to him, he'll leap at the chance to send me away. And then I can tell Phil to let you come with me."

He beamed. His plan was gonna work.

"Percy, this is a terrible plan for a terrible idea."

"C'mon Harry, I bet he's really lonely."

"I can't believe this." Harry muttered as he blinked in the sun.

The heat of the Indian sun beat against their backs - but it was not a problem for the God or the Wizard as they were impervious to most weather conditions.

"Hey, you're the one that got us here."

"Against my will."

"You were plenty willing, I got consent and everything." Percy turned and looked dramatically into empty space. "Remember kids, consent is key."

"Acceptance in the face of emotional blackmail is not consent Percy. And I only used the apparation points to get us here because I had a hunch that you would do something really dumb if I didn't. Like steal one of S.H.I.E.L.D's helicopters."

Percy sweated nervously. "What- no- I wouldn't-!"

"Or submarines,"

"Wait! S.H.I.E.L.D have submarines?"

Harry paused and considered all that could go wrong if Percy was in charge of a submarine. What had he unleashed.

"Man, I gotta get me one of those."

"Point me, Bruce Banner."

Percy watched in rapture as the piece of wood spun in Harry's hand.

"Seriously? I've done this at least 7 times today - what is fascinating you so much?"

"Stop the judgement, I'm feeling so attacked right now." Percy said as he continued to stare at Harry's palm.

They flattened themselves against the side of a building as a tram forced its way past.

The pair found themselves in a refreshingly sparse park after forcing their way through the overflowing streets. Wincing as loud, abrasive shrieks emanated from children threw water balloons at each other they hurried in the direction that the wand pointed.

Despite having exited the market place, the scent of spices was heavy in the air and the vibrant, bustling city was full of colour. It was so unlike anything that Harry could recall in England, or even the US.

"This place is so removed from Western civilization." he remarked to Percy as the strolled past a river full of blooming, beautiful lotuses. During the 15 minutes or so that the two had been in the city, they had not seen anything but very rudimentary technology. The occasional tram wheezed past but everything else (that they had seen) was couriered via bicycle. Some of the houses where they had first arrived were beautiful, a few had pillars and rich, architectural detail; however, they were moving away from the delicately stylised buildings into what seemed more like slums. The houses were rickety, built of mud and the sporadic sheet of metal. Some looked so poorly put together that if they hadn't been packed together so tightly, they would have collapsed. The local people stared at the pair of them with undisguised suspicion.

"I can see why Dr Banner came here." Percy replied with a heavy sigh, for once completely serious. "If I was trying to escape technology, this would definitely be a good choice."

Crouched over one of the many beds of people was a tired figure. He checked their heartbeat as he listened to their shallow, fevered breathing. He rummaged through his pockets and then pressed a few pills into the hand of the desperate eyed husband next to the bed. He ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head and brushing off the money the man tried to give him. He then turned to the next bed.

Coming to Calcutta was one of the best decisions he had ever made. Here he helped people, he gave them the means to heal and get better. Here, people didn't know of the Hulk. They didn't know of the destruction and death he could cause. Here, instead of causing pain, he could give life.

His current patient had no one standing at their bedside but the doctor was not moved by the imploring mother a few beds down. This person here was like him. Alone in the word. They had no one else. But that didn't make it okay for them to be forgotten and die when he could have helped them. Their life was not worth less.

He had to work systematically otherwise he would miss out people like that. People with no one else in the world looking out for them.

The barely conscious man in the bed blinked at him, unfocused.

He helped the man curl his fingers around a few pills after aiding him in swallowing the first one. "One every day, okay?" He said softly to the man. The dosage should really be more complicated than that, but his Bengali wasn't good enough for him to articulate it to a semi-conscious man.

"Thank you." The man rasped.

He continued his work steadily, helping however he could.

"Doctor Banner."

He froze. No one here should know that name. Most people here called him Doctor at most, he'd only ever revealed his first name.

He lifted his head slowly to see two young men in front of him. They both had black hair, but one had slightly longer, curlier hair than the other. He also had a slimmer build than his broad shouldered, muscular companion (although he wasn't weak looking) . Despite their harmless appearance and civilian clothing, Bruce could tell from just their posture that they were much more than that.

"What do you want from me?" Bruce whispered.

"Hey at ease Doctor, we don't want to remove you from here or anything." The broader man smiled and Bruce felt himself relax a bit. Being who he was, he had a lot of experience with fake smiles and so he could safely say that this man was sincere. There was something dangerous about the pair of them, but it was accompanied with a genuine warmth that made intrinsically trust them.

"Then why else would S.H.I.E.L.D be looking for me." Bruce swallowed nervously. S.H.I.E.L.D were the good guys, but they were also dangerous and Bruce had been trying to evade them as much as anyone else.

"Ok, first things first, S.H.I.E.L.D doesn't even know that we're here, but either way, S.H.I.E.L.D never lost y-"

"Ahem, first things first, I am Harry Potter and my partner is Percy Jackson." The other man interrupted with a pointed glance.

Bruce stared at them. He had been packing away his bag when they arrived, getting ready to call it a night. He wanted to believe them but he couldn't work out why anyone would look for him if not to use him.

"We are from S.H.I.E.L.D, but as my colleague mentioned, they are not aware of our presence here." Harry continued. "We came because we recently discovered that we are likely to be working together in the future and would rather meet you in a calm, relaxed environment before things become a little...less so."

Bruce's eyes darted between them. For what reason would he work with them? Why do they want the Hulk? They must be very skilled or high up in S.H.I.E.L.D command if they could evade S.H.I.E.L.D enough to come to a remote Indian city just to see him. Or they were lying."Why should I trust anything you say."

"You don't have to. We just want to talk to you. If you won't have us, that's fine, we just thought we'd give it a try." Percy said softly.

"'Have' you? What do you mean? I barely have anywhere to sleep here, where do you want me to take you to talk?" Bruce asked, bewildered.

"Here's fine." Harry said with a serene smile. "We just don't want to impose on you if you don't want us here."

Bruce nodded slowly. He looked around at the grimy, room full of diseased sheets and clothes left behind by his patients. "I have no qualms with talking here. But it's not the most comfortable or welcoming place."

"That's easily fixed." Harry winked at him. "You have secrets Doctor, but they're nowhere near as weird as mine."

With a wave of his hand the room was clean, dirt eradicated and previously strewn sheets and clothes folded neatly. Bruce stared open mouthed as a table and three comfy chairs appeared out of thin air.

Percy collapsed in one of them, his hair flopping as he slouched.

A bottle of a deep, honey coloured liquid, looking suspiciously of alcoholic nature appeared on the table with 3 glasses.

"Thank Merlin, I needed this." said Percy, pouring himself some of the drink and downing it immediately.

Harry smiled warmly at Bruce and gestured for him to take a seat.

"What...the hell?" Bruce touched the chair gingerly, not entirely sure whether he was hallucinating. Once convinced of its apparent solidity, he sat hesitantly.

Harry poured himself some and then questioningly held up the final glass at Bruce. "Would you like some before we start?"

Bruce looked vaguely appalled until he remembered the impossible things that had just occurred in front of his eyes. "I'll probably need it." He said with a sigh.

"Where the ever loving fuck is Jackson?" Fury yelled at the assembled people. "And Evans? Potter? Or whatever his goddamn name is."

Maria Hill's cough sounded suspicious. "The last time they were seen inside a S.H.I.E.L.D facility was over 2 weeks ago Director, no one here knows."

The elite S.H.I.E.L.D members floundered under Fury's enraged stare.

"Erm… as essentially the highest ranked members of S.H.I.E.L.D no one apart from you-"

The man speaking snapped his jaw shut as a vein throbbed on Fury's forehead.

"Coulson!" Fury bellowed.

The group split apart like the red sea. Coulson smiled serenely at his Director through the now unobstructed gap. "Sir?"

"I thought you were their handler. How, for the love of Nelson Mandela, are they handled if you have no idea where they are?"

"Actually Director," The man had the gall to look down at his Starkphone whilst talking to him. "I believe they are just about to-"

The door slammed open.

"Sup lads!"

None other than Perseus fucking Jackson stood in the doorway, chest heaving as though he had sprinted. The following sentence exited his mouth very quickly as though he was trying to finish it before something happened. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I present to you, none other than the 1st member of our Truly Epic Squad-"

"Percy for Merlin's sake-"

"There is no need for caution ladies and gentlemen, he has already undergone our initiation and successfully survived a week in my presence. So, a drum roll please..."

As Percy provided himself with his own hasty drum roll, several very passionate and very violent emotions were experienced by the S.H.I.E.L.D elite.

To name a few: Fury felt the passionate urge to kill himself: deeply regretting all his life choices, especially anything and everything that meant he met the particular mutant in front of him.

Harry, in the corridor, having to run because he couldn't apparate with Bruce and risk him 'going green', felt the passionate urge to kill Percy. Just because.

(cue incoherent screaming)

Bruce (now part of S.H.I.E.L.D as a member the the Truly Epic Squad [as obviously named by Percy]) who also had to sprint, felt the passionate urge to self combust in embarrassment because of the introduction Percy was giving him.

When Harry and Bruce finally made it into the room, Harry immediately launched himself at Percy to try and shut him up (he would have shot a silencing spell but he didn't know the if the other people into room had the clearance to witness magic and even a wandless, nonverbal muffilato would have been obvious).

Unfortunately Harry's mouth didn't cover Percy's mouth before he screamed "Bruce Banner!" and clapped his hands. Somehow, at some point, he must have hacked the systems because promptly the John Cena theme tune was blaring out of the speakers in the room.

Chaos reigned in the meeting room as Harry and Percy scrabbled like primary school children.

"My idol." Clint whispered reverently. "When I grow up Tasha, I want to be just like him."

That seemed to snap Fury out of his self pity - why did I chose this life dear God - and to the realisation that his resident wizard seemed to by trying to put a blood choke on his resident mutant.

"EVERYBODY GET THE SHIT OUT OF HERE! I CAN'T REMEMBER WHY I CALLED YOU IN HERE BUT I'VE HAD ENOUGH." As the sane(r) people in the room dashed for the door, Percy made a little love heart sign at Fury from where Harry was (not really) trying to strangle him and drag him out the room. Solander cackled and high fived him as she walked past. "JACKSON! IF I SEE YOUR ASS IN S.H.I.E.L.D HQ IN THE NEXT 2 YEARS IT WILL BE TOO SOON."

A/N: Maybe I had too much fun writing this chapter. Sorry if they became a bit OOC, but man, they're going immortal, of course they're gonna start losing the odd marble.

Reviews give me life y'all.

Next chapter: Harry and Percy decide to split up the induct the next two members of the Truly Epic Squad. Once Captain America and Iron Man are in the mix, the plot can start rolling!

Sup. A short summary:

How long has it been? Too long. This has actually been sitting on my google drive with like 6000 words but uncompleted since summer.

Do I feel bad? YEs I feel terrible *cue apologetic screaming*

Will it happen again? Probably because school has no respect for hobbies n shit

If it's any consolation (which I'm sure it's not I'm so sorry people -_-) in the time that I didn't update I revised for and got 11 A*s

Reviews:

Thanks to y'all who follow, favourite and review this story - even a little one goes a long way. Even if it seems like I don't appreciate it. Shoutout today to the Guest who persistently pestered me recently to update - cuz you're the 500th review! 500 reviews guise I am super proud.

Omake:

Bruce hoped that he'd chosen the right life for himself. Although being in Calcutta had been fulfilling and safe. It had been very lonely.

Not that that was new to Bruce.

Loneliness was something he'd always had to deal with. Being an overly precocious child meant he was labelled eccentric and left to his own devices.

After meeting Harry and Percy, he realised that they were like him, they were ultimately, so very lonely.

And they could all help each other.

But it had to be said, that they took the word 'eccentric' to another level.

He stood awkwardly in the now abandoned meeting room with the sound of synthesised trumpets reverberating around the room.

"How do you even turn this off?" He mumbled searching for the source of the obnoxious sound.

"You can't."

Bruce shrieked as a head popped out of the ceiling grate above him. It was a sandy haired man who had been in the room before.

It observed him before continuing. "Once Commander Jackson hacks something. You're not gonna unhack it. You can't. It's like the law."

Confusion was clear on Bruce's face. "Do you get punished?"

The ensuing laugh echoed throughout the ventilation system. "No, of course not. It's just basically impossible. Like...not the actual laws...but like the laws of physics."

Seemingly content with his explanation, the head retracted and the grate swung shut.

Eccentric was the right word alright.

Bruce smiled despite his confusion.

Maybe he'd actually fit in here.

See you next time!

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