The Reluctant Hero

The giant green ogre wants to know if I'm crazy.

Percy P.O.V

That was horrible.

I should've known better, toying with them, trying to go easy on them. All it got me was a fucking flashback and now, of course, I woke up tied to a bed. After what I'd been through that did not decrease the panic I felt when I 'woke up'.

Once I'd regained my senses I surveyed the room: one exit, one bed (I was currently occupying), strapped on; thick leather straps made to confine someone of Asgardian strength, so easily broken, and no other furniture. Smell of disinfectant and obviously new sheets. Great. I did find cameras in every corner so I decided not to break the straps for the time being,they already knew I could fight, they didn't need to know I was unnaturally strong just yet.

So I just laid back, waiting for someone to come and either talk to me or move me.

It didn't take long, although it felt like hours due to my ADHD and being tied down certainly didn't help with my paranoia or PTSD (I was the God of it, I could tell if I had it, I may suppress my Godly powers but I can't suppress the instincts they bring) but in actuality, I could tell from my internal clock (these things develop in war zones) that it was only about 45 minutes, the Fates know I've spent much longer in much worse conditions.

When someone did come in, it was a man, I recognised him as the one who turned into the ogre. Wearing a grey-blue lab coat he walked into my room, carrying a plastic chair, and sat by my bed.

"Hello." From his voice and appearance I could tell he was in his early forties, normally that would lead me to believe his fighting would take at least a slight toll due to age's affect on reflex time and the like, however, as he could turn into a giant green ogre, I deemed his age redundant. Although, unfortunately, it would mean experience and, judging by his lab coat, knowledge, considering my level of combat skill even that wouldn't work in his favour overmuch and I knew I could still defeat him relatively easily.

I didn't say any of this though.

"Hello." I was going to try to act normal, give them no more reason to fear me and they might leave me alone, I might even learn something from them, it was unlikely, but worth a shot. Anyway, I had nothing better to do and I could easily get out if I needed to, as much as I hated it, I was still a God. An Olympian no less.

I think he could hear the slightly guarded tone that slipped into my voice though, I'd need to work on that in the future.

"It's nice to meet you, what's your name?" Really? He was going to play it like that?

"You and your team were sent after me, that means you know information about me leading to the apparent need for capture, although I've done nothing wrong, so I think you know my name." I wasn't really in the mood for games.

He cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Yes, well then Perseus-"
"Percy."
"What?"
"I. Prefer. Percy." I spoke as if addressing a small, dimwitted child.

"Alright, Percy, according to our files, you have committed multiple acts of terrorism, what do you say to that?" Minator dung!

"Bullshit." I wasn't a terrorist!

He sighed, seeming resigned.

"I was hoping to get you to take the easy road before we got to base and the others got to interrogate you, but oh well." He did look genuinely sad so I decided to try to be a bit nicer. No promises though.

"If you weren't sent to interrogate me, what were you sent here for?"
"I was sent to do a psych eval." Oh Styxe.

"Why?"
"You're a suspect, it's procedure and when you collapsed Thor said it was a flashback caused by PTSD so we thought it'd be best to confirm things." Really Thor? why don't you just tell them all my secrets! It'd save time!

"Who's we?"
"S.H.I.E.L.D" I just raised an eyebrow and stared at him, unblinking. He looked surprised at my reaction. "You don't know what S.H.I.E.L.D is?"
"If I did, would I be looking at you like this?" I said I would be nice, I never said I wouldn't be snarky.

"It's a government agency," Well Hades, "We find and secure paranormal threats so as to defend the general public." Even better.

"And why are you, an agency for the supernatural, going after a completely normal teenage kid?" You never know, the innocent act might work.

"Because you are suspected of inexplicable acts of terrorism."
"If you can't explain them, how do you know it's terrorism. Maybe its swamp gas?" This was actually mildly amusing.

"Because you are the only link between multiple disasters, some of which look like acts of terrorism no kid could pull off alone, others which look like natural disasters, all of which you are right in the centre of." He had a point. Ergh.

"Fine, lets say for a moment that I'm actually a terrorist with some kind of magical, mystical powers from beyond the grave, what would your plan be? Surely no normal human could contain me."
"We're not normal humans."

"Yes, I saw. You can turn into a giant ogre and your friends can fly."
"What do you actually know about my team. I can tell you've analysed everything you've come into contact with from the leather currently tying you down," Worn from use but still strong, "to the cameras in the room," state of the art technology, most likely Stark industries, hooked up to satellites with back up connections and multiple copies of the recorded footage and some of the best video clarity of the age, "to my teammates and our clothes."
"Yes well, you do look like cosplay rejects, what do you expect?"
"Answer the question please." He definitely knew I was experienced with this sort of thing.
"Ergh fine, you're a smart man who has the apparently inexplicable ability to turn into a giant green ogre, your friend wears a flying suit which it more flashy than Apollo's sun chariot, Thor is just what his name suggests, the woman in black is a spy who's deadly with her weapons,same for the tree hugging archer, and the living flag of patriotism personified has some kind of super strength. Happy?" I didn't tell him even nearly everything, he still looked vaguely startled.

"Umm...yes. Well done." I'd barely gone into detail and he was already impressed, all I did was state the obvious! "That was very impressive." I resisted the urge to snort. "Now that we've established you have experience analysing people and situations I'm going to run some mental evaluation tests."
"You mean you want to know if I'm crazy."
"No, we just need to know how to..."
"Classify or characterise me so that you know how to handle me." I raised an eyebrow, "You can try, but you should know I have a reputation for being surprising."
"That's fine, let's proceed. I'll say a word then you have to say what the first thing that comes into you head is, OK?"
"Sure."
"Freedom."
"Trick." My answer was instant, reflexive.  His brow furrowed.

"Family."
"Duty."
"Friends."
"Death." He looked confused now, I could tell he wasn't expecting these answers.

He though for a moment.

"Hurt."
"Inconsequential."
"Leader."

"Responsibility."
"War."
"Sacrifice."
"Pain."
"Hidden."
"Red."
"Blood."
"Fighting."
"Survival."
"Death."
"Inevitable, unavoidable." He was looking more troubled with every answer.

"Happiness."
"Naivety."

"Childhood."
"Non-existent."
"God." I almost laughed.
"Unhelpful."

"Enemies."
"Monsters."

"Dead friends." That couldn't have been on the list of standard questions. I answered regardless.

"Guilt. My fault."
"Loss."
"Everything."
"Dreams."
"Torture." He gave one more try.

"Hope." I almost scoffed.

"Delusional."

"Well.......that was.....enlightening."
And with that he walked out, looking quite disturbed. Maybe I should have tried to answer normally.

'Great,' I thought,  'I broke him.'