10. Training
Steve POV
I woke up at five like usual and was about to head out for a morning run round the city when I heard noises coming from the training room. Curious as to who would be awake this early, I walked in.
It was Percy.
He was on the training mats with a sword, hacking apart the electronic fighting dummies that Tony made. He didn't seem to notice as I came in so I decided to watch him for a while and see how good he was.
He was fighting four dummies at once, on what looked like the hardest setting. Even Natasha struggles with them.
He was in the middle of a circle of them, two of them were attacking him from the front but he just ducked and rolled whenever they got close enough to try and land a hit. The other two were charging their electric taster weapons and approaching from behind.
He rolled under a punch from one of the first two robots and swiftly decapitated both the robots behind him. But the last one was approaching as his back was turned and it looked like it was holding one of Tony's experimental weapons.
Its raised arm was glowing with a neon green light and orange sparks were flying off of it. Percy turned around, sword swinging, but stopped confused when he saw the arm.
"Wha-" he started to say before an explosive flash of green light flew from the arm. I leapt forward to push him out of the way but with unnatural reflexes he ducked under the light and at the same time swung his sword at the robots legs, incapacitating it.
"Dam, I've had enough of experimental robots with Leo," he muttered. He then turned to the door and noticed me, "Oh hey Steve."
"Morning Percy," I greeted, "Why are you up so early?"
He sighed and looked at the floor, "I just couldn't sleep."
I'll admit; I was worried for him. He was seventeen; he shouldn't be waking up this early.
I looked at him closely but he wouldn't meet my eyes, "Are you sure you are okay?"
"Yeah, just bad dreams. Seeing my mum brought back a lot of stuff I'm trying to move on from."
"Ok, as long as you are okay. If you need anyone to talk to then I'm here for you." I told him, giving him a comforting smile.
"Umm, sure... Thanks," he told me, awkwardly shuffling his feet.
"Right, let's get some breakfast. I think we have training planned for you today. But I have to admit, I think you will be fine." I told him, walking out the door and towards the kitchen.
"Can I make waffles?" Percy asked.
"Yeah sure, what ingredients do you need? I'll find them for you," I told him, getting a bowl from one of the cupboards for him.
"Just the usual," he told me. He paused for a moment then smiled, "And some blue food colouring."
I looked at him strangely but got it for him anyway; if he is going to be on the team then he should feel at home.
An hour, and a lot of waffles later, we heard the rest of the team coming in. I had told JARVIS to wake them before Percy ate all the waffles.
"Hey guys," I greeted them, "Percy made waffles."
They all looked confused when they saw the waffles were blue, but a pointed glance from me promptly stopped any questions. I don't want them interrogating him any more so soon after him joining the team.
Apparently Tony didn't get the message, "Hey kid, how come they're blue?"
I gave Percy an apologetic look but he just smirked and looked at Tony, "wouldn't you like to know." he replied then promptly drowned his waffles in maple syrup and stopped further questions.
As he was eating the waffles and ignoring Tony's glares Natasha told him his schedule for the day.
"It's half six now so at seven we will be doing warm-ups then training will begin. You will start with Steve and me in hand to hand combat, then shooting with Clint. Bruce will be testing your reflexes and Tony will just stand there and try not to be irritating," she told him, smirking at Tony.
"What do you mean irritating? I'll have you know people think I'm charming to be around," He retorted.
"You mean Pepper? She doesn't count. You brainwashed her ages ago."
"Clint, speak to your woman."
Clint looked horrified at Tony then turned to face Natasha. She shot him the most ice cold glare I have ever seen before smiling and leaving the room.
"Oh my gods, you're so dead," Percy exclaimed, laughing.
"Shut up! What do you know?" Clint glared, but still looked after Natasha worriedly.
"My girlfriend is just the same, one time-" he began before stopping. It seemed like he seemed to close up on himself and wouldn't meet anyone's eyes.
"Right, let's get training started." I announced, trying to distract Percy.
"Let's go, I want to test your reflexes first Percy," Bruce said. He stood up and we followed him into the training room where Natasha was already waiting for us.
"Percy, to test your reflexes you will be having a fight against Tony. He will be firing shots that are designed to stun and not kill. You will see how long you can last against him." Bruce told him, motioning for Tony to get ready.
"Am I allowed any weapons?" Percy asked.
"For now it will just be hand to hand, and I will be fitting you with special pads that measures muscle movements," Bruce told him, pulling out the pads
Percy looked nervous as he took off his shirt but let Bruce apply the pads. By the time he was done Tony was back and in his Iron Man suit.
"Alright kid, let's get on with this," he said and I could feel the cocky grin from beneath his mask.
Percy just smirked in response and stood in position. He was perfectly balanced and stood on the balls of his feet, weight centred and ready for an attack.
Tony fired a shot, aiming for Percy head but Percy just leaned to the side and smiled, "Is that all you got old man?"
Tony fired three shots in quick succession but Percy ducked down and rolled to the left then came up and kicked his feet under Tony's legs. Even in his suit, Tony stumbled slightly.
I noticed Thor and Loki walk in and join me, Natasha and Clint on the sidelines. Tony regained his balance and flew into the air so he was hovering slightly. Taken aback by the new development, Percy readjusted his stance.
Tony fired more shots but Percy continued to evade him, just jumping to the side with reflexes faster than Natasha. After five more minutes that obviously weren't going anywhere, Bruce told them to stop.
Percy turned around and began to walk over to me and Natasha, ready for the hand to hand. As his back was turned, Tony fired another shot but Percy gracefully leapt to the side without even turning.
"Don't be jealous you couldn't beat me, it's unbecoming of you," he told Tony, turning and giving him a smile.
"Get on with it Steve, I want you to knock some sense into the kid. He should respect his elders."
"Did you just call yourself old?" Clint asked, smiling.
"Oh be quiet Katniss."
Laughing at them both, Percy turned to me and we began our fight.
It only took him four minutes to beat me, and three to beat Natasha. The whole time he was fighting I saw Bruce looking amazed and worried at the results of Percy's reflexes. I was as well, how he beat us so fast. I have super soldier serum and Natasha was trained to be a ruthless assassin all her life.
When it was time for shooting with Clint. Percy immediately walked up to the table and laughed, "You don't want me shooting this," he said, holding up a bow.
"Why not?" asked Clint, "They are easy to use, I'll show you."
"Ok," Percy smirked, "Don't say I didn't warn you."
Percy picked up the bow and one angry Norse God and one laughing Clint later we learnt Percy was right, don't give him a bow.
"Ok, how about a gun. Ever shot one of those before?" Clint asked, finally over his laughter.
"No."
"Ok well hold it like this and th-" Clint began before we were all stunned into silence.
Percy got a bull's-eye. First try.
"Beginners luck?" Tony asked.
"I don't think so, shoot again Percy," Natasha commanded.
Percy got another bull's-eye, then another. I have to admit, this certainly makes up for his lack of accuracy with a bow.
Before we could do anything else an alarm blared and JARVIS's voice came through the ceiling.
"Attack in progress. Liberty island."
"Come on everyone, let's go," I commanded, "Percy, you too."
Percy POV
As we were leaving I heard a familiar voice in my head, "find him."
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Chapter 10!
1611 words
Three days in a row!
Sorry about the cliffy (well not really) and I won't change POV twice like that in a chapter very often. It's really annoying when authors do that.
QOTU - if you could be any Supernatural creature what would you be? (demi-gods don't count.)
I would want to be a vampire, as long as my family and friends were too. But a Vampire Diaries kind of vampire, not some weird sparkly thing.
Hello Bob ⭐ (and small bob)