PERCY HADN'T BEEN WRONG.
The hurried footsteps making their way down the corridor had been looking for him; just not in the malevolent way he had expected. If he would have waited, Coulson would have very nearly run him over.
Minutes before, Nico had all but plopped the modge podge monstrosity of a team into the most isolated area of the compound they could figure- that being the cafeteria. Luck was in their favor; the cafeteria was empty at nine pm, save for a wide eyed agent munching on a hot pocket. May wasted no time in subduing him with an ICER.
Leo steadied the son of Hades when he wavered. He found himself thankful they'd taken the exhaustion associated with shadow traveling and entire team of people five floors underground into account. They'd all decided Nico would be most useful getting them in unseen before letting them find their own escape routes out; he didn't have the stamina to shadow travel them all twice without risking his life (and/or ears, with a guaranteed lecture from Will).
The son of Hephaestus looked around the plain room, eerily empty, with unease. They'd spent hours going over the plan, figuring out the best way to pull the rescue off. It was relatively solid, if you ignored the fact that most of it relied on heavy possibilities and assumptions. Still, the plan had sounded better when he was standing safely above land and not in the heart of the organization that had taken his friends. Florescent lights buzzed overhead, reflecting off the ugly linoleum flooring that had more than enough suspicious reddish brown stains to make him weary.
May and Bobbi worked quickly to secure the area while Harriet focused on keeping them hidden from the cameras (Stark had confirmed that the Hydra base had yet to invest in the infrared cameras that had exposed them the first time). Leo kind of wished he had that job; he understood the point in blowing up the base, but there was a sick feeling in his stomach associated with it. The people here were evil, sure, but what if someone innocent got hurt because of him? Visions of his mother danced behind his eyes.
Coulson cleared his throat, thankfully bringing him back to reality. Leo blinked a few times to refocus as the man's gaze scoured over the group.
"Everyone ready?"
The words were simple but definitive; He'd done the larger pep talk before they teleported down, crash landing into the middle of their suicide mission. Leo kind of wished he'd go ahead and do another, but to no avail. The agents around him nodded solemnly; scarily. He found solace in that they at least looked prepared and experienced.
Gods, he couldn't wait until this was all over.
Just as easily as they came together, the group split. They followed their plan like clockwork; Nico inhaled deeply before fading back into the darkness, shadow travelling back to the waiting QuinJet with Malcolm and Fitz. May, Harriet and Bobbi shimmered behind a veil of the mist. May nodded to Coulson before leading the three out into the halls. The older man held in a stressed sigh before turning to the son of Hephaestus and Hunter.
They were both donned in Hydra gear, matching Lincoln and the Director's get ups.
"Hunter, you stick with Leo the entire time. No tangents. Light the place up, immediately head towards the exit."
"Aye aye, Captain."
Coulson didn't look amused. Leo felt a little more than unsure at the flicker of distrust across the man's features. Great, he thought bitterly. I'm paired with the flight risk.
He must have looked miserable, because there was soon a heavy hand on his shoulder. "You'll do great. Just follow Hunter. If you two happen to run into our men, take them with you- only if it doesn't slow you down. It'd do no good having you get captured as well."
Leo pursed his lips. "Yeah, wouldn't want to grab the people we came to save, huh?"
The director straightened. "Just stay safe. I'm on coms, you have Fitz and the rest up top."
The British mercenary slapped a hand on the demigod's shoulders. "Stop worrying. Everything's A-Okay. Just your average Hydra raid. See you on the outside, director."
The director in question let them go hesitantly, feeling unsure. He hated feeling unsure, especially when so many lives were at risk. Was he doing the right thing? He knew for a fact it was too late to be debating these things.
Lincoln called his name. Coulson blinked to clear his vision before turning around. "Right. Let's go."
The blonde shifted uncomfortably. They were donned in Hydra apparel, a fact Coulson had to ignore; any association to the twisted organization made him sick. It was necessary though, to hopefully not get recognized and compromise the mission.
They didn't speak as they began navigating the halls, walking with their heads high past stray personnel as they subtly surveyed their surroundings. It was hard to get a sense of their location, thanks to the endless rows of silver metal doors and gray tiling. It was only Fitz's direction that led them closer and closer to where they assumed Ward had been keeping Daisy, Mack, and the kids.
To his honest surprise (and relief), Stark's intel was accurate. After ten minutes of sneaking through the base, the two men found themselves staked out near a room in which a clear glass window revealed one of their targets: Annabeth Chase. One strong guard stood near the door, arms taut by her side. Lincoln swallowed.
"Now what?"
Coulson raised a hand to his coms in response. "Everyone in position?"
He waited for their confirmation before clenching his jaw in anticipation. "Valdez? It's a go."
Within minutes, alarms were blaring- just as he'd envisioned. The guard talked quickly into a walkie talkie before she was quickly flanked by a slew of other Hydra agents. The second they opened the door, taking Annabeth by her arms, Coulson fired a series of well placed ICERs into their necks.
They went down like the Titanic.
"Oh my gods," Annabeth breathed out, gray eyes wide. Her curls were frizzy and flat. The girl heavily favored her left foot when she limped towards them. "You guys came. The alarms-"
Coulson reached forward uselessly, eyebrows furrowed. "That's on purpose. You're hurt."
She shook her head, dodging his worried hands. "I'm fine, just an old sprain that flared up. Did you guys find Percy? Where-"
"Duck," Coulson raised his gun above his head before firing three shots in quick succession. Annabeth whipped around on her heel, heart in her throat at the sight of the three fallen agents that had come to intercept them.
"Uh, thanks. What-"
His earpiece buzzed with excitement. "Hell, Coulson, these are stairs."
Couslon frowned as Lincoln fried the electronics of the metal gate behind them, shutting out the opposition. "And?"
"They go down, and we're supposedly on the lowest floor. Stark didn't say there were more floors than these three. We're screwed."
It wasn't good news. It meant they'd greatly underestimated the staffing here. It meant they were about to be overwhelmed. It meant they had a lot more ground to cover to find their men, and finding Annabeth was pure luck. Coulson pursed his lips together, eyeing the blonde in question as she tried and failed to hide the pained expression on her face. "Can you hold you own for the next four minutes? Keep moving north?"
"As long as seven extra floors of Hydra asshole's don't come out this door." Hunter snarked in his ear.
"Burn up the staircase, lock the door-"
"And what if Daisy and them are under us? "
The director sighed haggardly. The agent had a point, and he was almost humiliated for suggesting the idea now. He hoped their men would be on this floor or higher; if they weren't, the whole fabric of the quest unraveled. "Good point. Keep a low profile by the north exit. Lincoln will take Chase to you, and you get out. ETA four minutes if there aren't complications."
The Inhuman shook his head in disgust. "I'm going after Daisy. You take Annabeth."
"Lincoln-"
"I'm here for Daisy. I'm not leaving until I know she's okay," the man insisted.
The girl wore an appalled expression. "First of all, I don't need an escort. I'm fine on my own, and I'm not leaving here without Percy. Did you find him?"
Coulson didn't have time for this. Damn Lincoln, damn this young love self sacrifice nonsense. The longer they waited, the worse this was going to get. Agents were already trying to break down the door, if the shouts and thuds were any indication. "We're working on getting everyone, but we need you to leave so we can do that."
The blonde scoffed. "So no, you haven't. He's hurt, I'm not-"
"You're unarmed, you're not going alone-"
"Then give me a gun!"
"No," Coulson edged in her direction. He resisted flinching at a bang on the door. Fifteen minutes in and he was already having to improvise. That wasn't good. With a sigh, he turned to Lincoln. "You find Daisy, and you leave. Stay on coms. Hear me? Annabeth... stick with me, and we'll go after Percy. What do I need to know?"
Lincoln nodded briskly, pleasantly surprised he'd been able to change the man's mind so quickly. He figured it had to do with the panic surrounding Annabeth's safety; Daisy could handle herself for the most part, and had chosen the life as an agent. The teen had been thrown into a world she didn't belong in to her own detriment. He heard her arguing viciously with the director as he made his escape.
The blonde sprinted around the corner, haphazardly taking out agents as he went along. There wasn't really a plan other than move forward and check the rooms. Blind luck had him skidding to a stop outside an open gym sized floor with essentially a glass box in the middle.
A transparent cage, holding the one person he was looking for.
Maybe it was too easy, but there it was. He wasn't going to waste time second guessing it. Electricity arced from his fingertips. He slammed a bolt of energy into the ground. Agents flew back into the walls as it rebounded into them, leaving the clear door they stood in the way of clear. It groaned as he focused electricity at the hingers until they snapped; his friend worked together to rip the door away.
"Daisy," Lincoln breathed out in relief. "Are you okay?" She was wearing what she had left in- dark tactical gear. Her hair was messier, with a dried trail of blood down her forehead. It appeared Ward had left her relatively unharmed, save for some other bruises and shallow scrapes along her cheeks.
She shook her head, a small smile tugging at her lips despite the immediate danger they were in. "Fine. God, Took you long enough," she jaunted before rushing forward, hugging him gratefully. Alarms were still blaring; they didn't have much time, even with the distraction the Leo kid had formed with the fire alarm. One of the agents he had just incapacitated squirmed on the ground, reaching for his gun- Daisy was quick to kick him hard in the side. He fell limp with a squeal of pain.
"Who all is here?" she demanded before she noticed the Hydra logo stitched to his arm. Her dark eyes flashed dangerously. "Is Coulson-"
The blonde nodded, glancing over his shoulder at the sound of gunshots. He reached into his waistband to pull out an ICER he'd brought for her. "Coulson's got Annabeth, May and them have Mack," he rushed out, shoving the weapon into her hands. "We have to go. This way."
"What about Percy?" Daisy huffed, the sounds of their footsteps and heavy breathing echoing off the blank walls that narrowed around them. "You got Percy? Ward said-"
She moved, flattening against the wall at the sound of fighting ahead. Lincoln copied her. "Said what?"
The brunette wrinkled her nose in disgust at the memory. At everything the creep had said to her, and implied. His hot breath in her face, forever amused by having her restrained in front of him. His laughter when she tried to appease him, uselessly trying to bring some sense to the psychopath- Ward they're only kids, his retort that she and Coulson hadn't thought so, plucking them off the street-"
"Daisy? You okay?" Lincoln whispered, his worried eyes flickering over her face. "Ward-"
"Ward's obsessed with him, and his powers," she summarized quickly. The words were sour on her tongue. "So I'd feel better if you had him safe, because I don't know what the asshole's been doing to him. Did you-"
He shook his head regretfully. "No one's seen him yet. We-" Lincoln's eyes widened suddenly. Daisy watched in confusion as he turned his head to the side, listening.
"What is it?" Daisy demanded.
"Listen," Lincoln whispered, shifting backwards. Daisy went silent, not daring to speak. Her headache (compliments of the concussion she'd earned when their transport vehicle went airborne) must have been louder than the voices, because she only realized what was happening when she spotted a shadow rounding the corner. The two of them dove behind a cart for cover.
It was a taller, buff man in Hydra gear. One hand was wrapped around a walkie talkie, the other firmly around Percy Jackson's upper arm. A Percy Jackson that was pitifully weak and struggling to struggle. The demigod's bare feet kicked at the ground in a useless attempt to slow his captor down. In his pain he looked so young, so small. Lincoln frowned deeply. How had Coulson ever have justified locking this kid up?
"This is Johnson, I've got Jackson. Are we still proceeding north?"
"North? They're supposed to go west," Lincoln muttered worriedly.
"Is it just the two of them?" Daisy whispered hurriedly, cocking the ICER with practiced ease and taking aim. "How could they only have one guard on him?"
"He looks out of it. Maybe he's drugged, or something."
The man turned. With his back fully exposed to the Inhuman, Daisy wasted no time in taking the shot. She winced at Percy's yelp of surprise when 250 pounds of muscle fell limp on top of him. He scrambled away from underneath the unconscious body and leapt to unsteady feet. Lincoln remembered what Annabeth had said. "He's hurt."
"Woah woah woah, Jackson, it's us, it's us!" the agent held out her hands warily before he could bolt. The teen's pupils were blown, and she didn't know if it was from a concussion, drugs, fear, or a combination of the three. "It's Daisy. And Lincoln. We're getting out of here, are you good to run?"
"Daisy" he said slowly, as if the word was foreign in his mouth. The woman in question shared a concerned look with the blonde next to her.
"Yeah, fishboy," Daisy stepped out, surveying the kid. "It's good to see you in one piece."
She said it liberally. Percy looked about two seconds from joining their sleeping friend on the floor. Blood seeped from his shoulder, arm, and knuckles; a huge dark bruise wrapped around his shirtless side (probably a broken rib or two). A fresh cut sat on high on his cheek from where a punch must have broken the skin. His left eye was already darkening as it swelled.
Lincoln looked nervously down the hall. "Sorry," he said softly, "but we've got to keep moving."
Percy's head jolted up, showing more life than Daisy thought possible. "Annabeth-"
"Is okay. Coulson has her. Can you stay in the game long enough to see her? We've got hell to go through first," Lincoln comforted, with the kind of tone that made Daisy blink twice. It reminded her of waking up in Afterlife, confused and upset and scared. Lincoln searched Percy's face and tried not to wince at how beat up he looked. What kind of sick bastard tortured a seventeen year old kid?
"I've done it before," he joked flatly, shivering. "Walk in the park."
Lincoln shed his jacket and passed it to the teen when he noticed the goosebumps running up and down his arms. The demigod opened his mouth to argue, but a stern nod from the older guy had him throwing it over his shoulders with a soft thanks.
They moved towards the exit, mostly without incident. But they should have known everything was going much too well to make it out unscathed.
Hydra and Ward weren't stupid. Coulson and the others had managed to escape- at least, that's what Lincoln gathered through the snippets he heard over the earpiece (he thought that his powers might have been causing them to malfunction). But now, with the fire extinguished and breach exposed, nearly the whole power of the base sat waiting for them at the garage they planned to make their getaway out of. They were barely concealed behind a door frame, hidden only by shadows. They had but moments until they were found.
"Daisy," Lincoln whispered urgently, eyes trained on the pacing agents ahead. It was a long way to the QuinJet, and they had no chance of making it through the security waiting for them. It was just them, and near the entire force of the building was looking for them and closing in fast. "I have an idea."
"I'd love to hear it," the agent answered back, staring at the road that led out of the cursed underground building. "I'd love to hear anything at this point." She didn't know what Coulson's extraction plan had been, but this couldn't have been part of it. The three of them were as good as trapped, with Percy ready to pass out at any moment. She was honestly still surprised his eyes were still open. The others were unaccounted for, and she had no idea where or how deep underground they were. Daisy was terrified to use her powers in fear she might take the whole base down with her, especially without her gauntlets to help focus the energy.
Lincoln turned to Percy, who was still shaking something awful with the overexertion of running through the halls. What Ward had done to him, they didn't know, but the dark bags under his eyes suggested sleep deprivation may be part of the problem. "Daisy said you flooded the plane, but you stayed dry."
He coughed weakly. "On accident."
"Could you flood the floor? Keep us away from the water. I can spit an electrical current through it, fry all of the power and hopefully some of their security as well. We can hijack a car, and go."
Daisy bit her lip. "Lincoln, I don't know if-"
"I can do it," Percy cut Daisy off with a lazy turn of his head. "Yeah. Just-" he paused as a tremor ran down his spine- "Just give me a second."
"Percy," Daisy scolded lightly, turning to meet his tired green eyes. It scared her how young he looked in the artificial lighting. She remembered questioning Coulson what felt like so long ago why he was interested in a twelve year old. "You're already dead on your feet. There's no way you'll have the energy-"
"I might pass out," he agreed hoarsely, swallowing thickly. "Especially to hold it back. You'll have to be quick, Mr. President, do your little zappy thing fast just in case I can't hold the water long."
The agent wanted to disagree. She didn't want to tell this teen to risk his health for their escape. But a quick look between her company confirmed that they'd all come to the same conclusion: this was the only way. It was only a matter of time before they were found, and she knew Ward wouldn't take a potential escape lightly. She might make it out of this, but Lincoln would certainly be tortured if not executed. Percy... well, the poor kid was already haunted. She didn't know how long he could stay sane without Annabeth in a place like this.
Lincoln shifted next to her. His face was knit in concentration. "We have to go now. There's not time-"
"Okay. Okay. If you're sure-"
Percy nodded with closed eyes. "Yeah. Where are we running to after?"
"That black jeep."
"They're all black."
Daisy would have laughed if the situation wasn't so tense. "Just follow us, Jackson."
Percy slowly shifted to his knees. Daisy watched in fascination while his hands slowly raised by his sides, presumably feeling for the water rushing through the pipes and plumbing around them. A slight groaning was heard overhead, before an ugly growl. Quiet, and then a hissing noise. The whole area of people seemed to freeze. Everyone looked up in confusion. Before she knew what was happening, a tidal wave of water dropped through the ceiling.
Lincoln and Daisy both ducked in the anticipation of getting a sheet of water broken over their heads. Miraculously, Percy managed to direct the current away from them with a short yell. The wave pushed away from them, barreling into the Hydra agents and forcing them and spare weapons and vehicles into the wall with a deafening boom. Shouts and screams filled the winding walkway as water pounded through the ceiling and doors with a power Daisy and Lincoln nearly couldn't comprehend; they were frozen, taken aback by the pure show of power the teen was exhibiting. Pure adrenaline pushed the demigod to his feet. When he opened his eyes, Daisy saw in the green irises the fiercest of the oceans: tsunamis, hurricanes, cyclones. She saw immediately how dangerous Percy was. The Percy they'd set out to capture two weeks ago. Only anger and desperation kept him moving forward.
And this was him nearly dead out of exhaustion. Her heart stopped at the sudden thought that she never wanted to see what he could do at full power.
Lincoln blasted an arc of electricity into the epicenter of the store, effectively taking out the majority of their enemies. Daisy barely had the time to think Wow, that was hot before he was grabbing her hand and tugging her along.
They'd made it halfway when Percy gasped, dropping to his knees. Miraculously, he managed to keep the rushing torrent from so much as touching them. How he was keeping his focus on that while also forcing back the remaining Hydra operatives, Lincoln couldn't figure out. It seemed to be leeching his energy though, as small streams of water escaped and flowed towards the center of the path he'd created in the middle of his personal cyclone. Percy tremored. "GO!" he shouted at their hesitating forms. "JUST GO!"
"Hell no," Daisy grunted, turning back to grab him under the arms and pull him towards their getaway car. "Come on, Jackson."
Seconds from the door he went limp; with him came the downfall of the tons of water he'd been holding back. Daisy yelped, instinctively throwing up her hands as it tried to come crashing down onto them. The waves of vibrations from her hands hurt, but she managed to keep the tsunami from washing them away. A bubble of sorts deflected the water to move around them. She had to stop running to focus, with only a part of her registering Lincoln darting off to grab a vehicle. Gently, painfully, she dispersed the liquid until it lapped uselessly at her ankles.
Daisy cursed, shaking out her hands. Using her powers without gauntlets always made her wrists feel like they'd been flattened under a ton of cement before being sewn back together again. Her hair was plastered to her face with the sprays of mist that had escaped her control. Both her and Percy were now soaked to the bone; she pulled the teen's head off of the floor and onto her thigh to keep him from accidentally inhaling water. "That sucked."
"Uh-huh," Lincoln breathed out in agreement. They were all exhausted from using their powers. "But I got us a car. It's running." He moved towards their younger member's pale, unconscious form. He ran his fingers behind the guy's ears, relieved to find a pulse, albeit much too fast for his liking. Irregular breaths escaped the demigod's lips.
"He okay?" Daisy asked quietly.
"For now, but I'm not really sure," the doctor spoke honestly. "What he just did-"
"Was insane."
"Yeah. I- I don't know. I saw people do too much too fast with their powers in Afterlife. It never..."
"He'll be okay," Daisy assured him, despite not knowing.
"If he's not it's my fault. I asked him to do it."
"He's fine, Lincoln. And we need to move out, probably. I don't want to stick around for our friends to wake up."
Lincoln shook his head and gently gestured for Daisy to move. He grunted as he shifted the son of Poseidon over his shoulders, faltering a bit before rising to a stand with Percy strung over him in a fireman's carry.
"I didn't know you knew how to do that," Daisy said with wide eyes.
"Boy scout badge," he grunted.
She couldn't help but laugh. "You did boy scouts?"
"For like, two years," he smirked despite the very real chance they could still die at any moment. Daisy rose to a stand.
"I want the full story once this is over."
"Yeah, let's get out alive first, huh?"
"Such a pessimist. Cheer up, Eeyore."
"After the bullets stop flying, maybe."
They launched themselves into the matte black Jeep Lincoln had jump started before barreling through the garage doors Daisy tore away with waves of vibrations. They cursed and shouted as sudden bullets rang out around them. Gravel spit from the tires as they careened towards the hidden Quinjet.
The next ten minutes were a whirlwind. Neither of the two could explain what had happened, or do justice in explaining how'd they'd barreled past a legion of HYDRA operatives with an unconscious Percy Jackson on their backs. Daisy may have taken a chance and used her powers, sending tons upon tons of dirt and rock down upon their pursuers. She could only hope Ward was buried somewhere under all the mess.
It was a high speed car chase in the dark, in the rain, in pure adrenaline and fear. Somewhere in the madness Daisy had ripped the coms out of Lincoln's ear and placed it in hers. "Coulson! Open the doors! OPEN THE DOORS!"
Lincoln's stomach jumped to his throat when Daisy hit the brakes, hard. The tires hit a patch of mud and spun the vehicle. When it gained traction not a second later the entire passenger side of the vehicle teetered off the ground and threatened to flip. By some stroke of luck, all four tires slammed back into the ground.
"Oops!" Daisy supplied, scrambling out the passenger side door. Lincoln jumped out the back and immediately began following. He took three steps before realizing he'd forgotten the kid.
He pivoted, the momentum almost sending him faceplanting into the ground. He maneuvered Percy out of the backseat into his arms. The teen was still as limp as a ragdoll, breathing softly.
"Lincoln, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? HURRY UP!"
Daisy roared over the wind.
He sprinted breathlessly towards the hidden airplane, trying desperately to ignore how heavy this Jackson kid was. His feet hit metal just as bullets started raining down. The short haired agent pushed him to the ground just as one zipped past his ear and embedded itself into the wall behind them.
The Quin Jet began to rise before the loading dock had a chance to start closing. A silence ran through the bay when it finally shut with a clang. Everyone held their breath as they shot out of the area, sharing one shocked, relieved thought:
We did it.
Um... was anyone going to tell me action scenes are impossible to write or did I have to figure that out on my own?
Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this monstrosity 😂 I was having a lot of trouble with it but I hope it meets y'alls expectations! Thanks!
How have you been? I miss you guys.
JustAnotherGirlmcg