I walked south from my apartment towards the beach. It had been almost a week since the war ended. And every night, nightmares haunt me.
Every night I see them die. And some nights I also get to relive my time in the Pit. (Her time in the Pit is going to be different, just saying.)
I thought about Clint and Wanda. They seemed like really nice people. Although Wanda did seem a little haunted by something. But maybe that's just me.
I smiled, every step took me closer to the scent of the sea in the air. Maybe Dad's in a good mood today.
Doubtful, he's been in a mood since Mom and Paul died.
I mean Dad come on! A hurricane!
Thankfully, I could wrestle enough control away from him to redirect it. The effort from doing that left me vomiting for three hours. Then I was coughing up blood. I may not be the sharpest blade in the armory, but I don't think that's a good thing.
I neared the beach and saw the waves beating peacefully against the shore.
Although those aren't words that you would put together on their own.
Beating. Peaceful.
Nope. Never would put those together on their own.
Anyway. I walked towards my father's domain.
The weather is still warm enough that some people are swimming, surfing, sunbathing, and all in all oblivious to how close the world came to ending.
I waded until the water was at my knees. Occasionally, a wave would cause the water to surge up to my mid-thigh.
This caused the bottom part of my shorts to get wet. But do I look like I care? Oh wait. You can't see me. Or can you???
Hello my Lady! A dolphin yelled from somewhere nearby, pulling me away from my demolishment of the fourth wall.
Hi! I yelled back, wondering how Delphin is. He is one of the least annoying gods out there.
"Shark!" Someone yelled. A frenzy started as people rushed to get out of the water.
A fin was cutting through the water, but it was a curved dorsal fin.
It's the dolphin I was just talking to.
What's your name?
Marena, my Lady.
Okay, Marena. Can you tell my dad to stop sending super hurricanes towards land? Tell him I was sick for three hours after I redirected that last storm.
Of course my Lady! Farewell!
Before I could say goodbye Marena was out of my ,er, hearing range.
Well, that's that.
I walked back to the city, taking in how much New York hasn't changed.
You wouldn't think four years ago an alien attack happened. Or that last year the evil immortal Titan lord of time tried to destroy Olympus.
Thankfully, the alien attack happened while me, Grover, and him where heading west. By the time we got back, the news about it was off, replaced by the news of my 'kidnapping.'
I can't even say his name without risking a flashback. It's sad. But what else is sad is that Thalia was a pine tree.
Why is that sad? Simple, she now is labeled forever as Pinecone Face.
That name is nowhere near as cool as my Seaweed Brain or Kelp Head. Death Breath is a close second th- what am I even talking about!
I hate ADHD.
Everything was silent. That usually means one of two things, everyone decided to have a massive Quiet Game, or there's gonna be trouble.
I leaned to the side as an arrow shot by me. Guess it's the second one. Well it is usually the second option.
I looked around trying to figure out where the arrow came from.
An arrow whistled towards my face. My ADHD kicked in and I grabbed it, an inch before it hit me.
Examining the arrow I noticed two things. One it was a tranquilizer, so they wanted me alive. Two, it was completely mortal steel. So not monsters. Mortals.
Dam. If it were monsters I could just kill them. Mortals are a bit trickier.
"I know you're there. I mean it's not like you just shot two arrows at me. Oh wait."
When no one came out I decided to play a little game. Spears are heavy and you have to throw them hard for them to get enough momentum.
This will be just like spear throwing, just with arrows.
I threw the arrow as hard as I could. And it actually flew straight! I heard a grunt of pain, then a thud as whoever it was fell out of the tree.
I better go see if they are okay. No Percy! They are trying to kidnap you!
ADHD kicked in again, making me duck and a fist soared over my head.
I grabbed the arm attached to the fist and flipped them over me. My ADHD is gonna need a break after today.
The person lying in front of me was wearing a black catsuit and had red hair. She looks vaguely familiar...
"Perseus Jackson, you are under arrest!" A guy stepped out from behind a bush. I couldn't help but laugh.
It looked like the Fourth of July had a kid! (Ironic part is his birthday is the Fourth of July)
"Question. Why? As far as I know a girl throwing an arrow at a tree isn't illegal."
"You're a terrorist." Mrs. Catsuit said. I forgot about her.
"Come with us peacefully or we will have to use force." Flag Guy said.
"Last person who said that and I went peacefully was let me think," I tapped my chin as if I were thinking, " Oh right, no one."
Catsuit jumped up onto her feet. I settled into a fighting stance as she threw a jab at my left side.
I smoothly dodged simultaneously lashing out with my left fist, landing a solid blow to her ribs.
She stumbled back, not expecting the force behind my punch.
She steadied herself and the look in her eye told me she decided to use a different approach.
She came at me with a roundhouse kick. I simply grabbed her leg and twisted it. The sudden stop of momentum caused her to plummet straight to the ground.
Catsuit landed awkwardly on her side, and I took the opportunity to knock her unconscious in one swift hit.
I have to admit that looks painful. She may be trying to kidnap me, but laying like that isn't the most comfortable thing to do.
I bent down and rearranged her into a more comfortable looking position.
Right as I was standing up, something flew over my head.
Miss America was staring at me, I forgot about him. Wow, I need to improve my memory. It sucks.
"What? Do I have something on my face?" I subconsciously wiped my arm across my mouth.
A whistling sound alerted me something was wrong. I turned around to see a giant metal Frisbee soaring towards my face.
Well, dam. I have two choices duck, or join in the game.
I did the logical choice, I caught it.
Don't tell me if a giant metal Frisbee was flying towards you you wouldn't catch it.
Just don't.
Then I threw it towards Miss America, it matches his outfit.
He seemed stunned and didn't react to the metal disc spinning towards his face. It hit his helmet thingie with a clang.
His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell backwards, landing with a thud in the neatly trimmed grass.
"Shit! Now I have to deal with this by myself. Of all the motherf****** idiots we have to go after this one can take out a master assassin and super soldier. Great, just great." A tin can man, at least I assume it was a guy, in the sky said. Hey that rhymed!
"Now, can you just come peacefully? I don't want to get my beautiful face messed up." Why is this guy reminding me of Apollo? Without the gods-awful haikus.
"Sure, let me just pencil that in between flying in a deadly metal flying machine and plummeting to my death." I replied, taking out my daily planner. Not like I actually use the dam thing.
You did detect the sarcasm up there, right?
"Oh okay then. Wait. Was that sass?" The metal man asked.
"No. It was sarcasm."
The guy apparently gave up on trying to beat Persassy. He flew up in the air, before turning around and shooting a f****** laser at me! Who does that?!
I moved gracefully to the side.
And proceeded to trip on Miss America.
My fist hit the metal Frisbee and I realized it wasn't just a Frisbee, it's a shield!
I slid the shield onto my arm, I don't want to use the one Tyson repaired for me because these are mortals.
When the guy fired a laser again, I reflected it off the shield back at him.
It hit the lower half of his suit and it started going down.
I'm not a murderer so I focused on the water in the air to slow his fall.
Just enough so it wouldn't seriously injure him. I still wanted him unconscious.
The suit made a small crater where it landed. I sprinted over and worked to open the mask.
The mask finally opened to reveal a forty some year old guy. He was breathing, that's good.
"Now how do I tell if he's seriously injured?" I pondered out loud, not expecting an answer.
"Mister Stark is fine. Aside from a mild concussion from impact." A robotic voice sounded from the suit.
Okay...
"Thanks... Um what should I call you?"
"JARVIS, Mister Stark's artificial intelligence."
"Okay... Thanks JARVIS."
I stood up from the suit only for my ADHD to kick in once again. Its on overdrive today.
I whirled in time to block a punch.
The person I saw behind the punch, well that was shocking.
"Hey Clint. How's Wanda?" I asked as he threw another punch.
"Why do you care?" Ugh, rude?
I lazily threw a punch, still landing a hit.
"Because I'm human. Because Wanda reminds me of myself." I dodged another punch, I notice he has a bow on his back. An archer.
So he shot those arrows at me? Cold man. Real cold.
"She is nothing like you! You're a terrorist!" Clint yelled outraged.
"Clint, if you think that you are sadly mistaken. I don't hurt people, I save them."
"What are ---" He didn't finish that thought because I landed a punch to the side of his head.
I laid him gently on the ground, he was fighting to stay conscious.
"Sorry Clint. But I don't like being kidnapped. Nothing personal." I said before walking away.
I heard him mutter one last thing before he succumbed to the darkness. "Sure feels like it."
I smiled before walking back to my apartment.
I've had enough excitement for one day.