For we once so loved the world by HowlingDarkness95

Chapter 12

Percy lounged on the bed for all of thirty seconds before he decided that he had stayed in the infirmary for far too long. He shifted on the bed, placing his feet on the ground, heaving himself up. Percy grabbed onto one of the monitors beside his bed, feeling his legs quiver like they were made of jelly. He scowled, glaring accusingly at his legs, he knew it was due to his extended time in bed, but that only proved how much he hated hospitals. Granted, this wasn't exactly a hospital, but the idea was the same. He took a tentative step forward, and when he didn't immediately collapse, he quickly scurried out of the infirmary.

He paused at the door, listening intently for the doctor/Hulk, keeping an eye out for any sign of him. He breathed a sigh of relief when Bruce didn't appear, he had bad experiences with doctors trying to catch their escaping patients after all, and if Bruce was anything like the Apollo campers... Well, Percy quickly made his way to the lift, ignoring JARVIS wry comment of "you're not supposed to leave the infirmary Mr Jackson."

He shrugged noncommittally, absently wondering how JARVIS could sound wry when he was technically speaking, a machine.

He'd almost made it to the lift when- "Are you sure you are supposed to be up and walking?"

He yelped and jumped up in the air, whirling around to glare at the smirking trickster god. Clutching his hand to his chest, he growled, "And aren't you supposed to be upstairs?"

Loki smirked, moving off from the wall he had been leaning on, "Please," the god drawled, "The mortals are as bad as Asgard's council. They have been deciding on my lodgings and my...fate, since the night before. I have no wish to sit idly and wait for them to arrive at a conclusion."

Percy stared at him, raising an eyebrow, "Lodging? Who says that anymore?" he blurted before he could help himself.

Loki just scowled at him. The boy-hero raised his hands in surrender, "Not my problem, and if you're bored, why the hell did you come down here anyway?"

Loki grinned, leaning forward, "Perhaps I just find you...interesting."

Percy raised a dubious eyebrow, "Me? Interesting? Nope. Nothing interesting here. Just completely normal."

The god snorted, moving to the lift, Percy following him, he did need to make an escape to his room anyway, "There is nothing normal about you half-blood," he said, stepping into the lift. Percy instructed JARVIS to take them to his floor. "In fact," the god continued, "I should not have been surprised you are with the avengers."

Percy shook his head, "Nah, I'm not part of the avengers, I'm only here on some private business. And please, don't call me half-blood."

Loki gave him a shrewd look, "Private business? I would hardly call dealing with the power gem, private business."

Percy started, looking at the other raven head in surprise, "How...?"

They both stepped out of the lift, Loki looking around at the-still- sparsely decorated place. Percy had not thought to decorate a place which he would be staying in temporarily (in his defense, at the time, he thought it was only for a short while) and it wasn't as though he had a lot of possessions anyway.

The god whirled around and grabbed Percy's right wrist and dragged it up to eye level, ignoring the boy's indignant cry. Percy tried to yank his hand back, shifting instinctively into a defensive position, but the god had a firm grip on his wrist, and no matter how hard he pulled, he couldn't get out of the iron grip.

Percy was one hairsbreadth away from summoning a weapon when Loki held his captured hand up, carefully not touching the red artifact encircled around Percy's wrist, "You have the power gem on your wrist, you were taken by the chitauri, in a manner of speaking, and this gem is active. It is not hard, as you mortals say, to put two and two together."