Catch Me If I Fall (PJO/Avengers Crossover)

26

Percy woke early that next morning, and immediately wished he could go back to sleep. He hadn't experienced any of the foul nightmares that usually plagued him; instead, he remembered nothing at all from the night before. He rubbed his eyes before throwing on a hoodie and pair of jeans and making his way to the kitchen.

It seemed that he was the first one up- not even Steve was roaming the tower. Upon seeing it was around seven a.m, Percy concluded the super soldier was probably out on a run. He bit into a piece of heavily buttered toast, looking out the window at the repairing city below.

For as long as Percy could remember, New York City had always been called 'The City That Never Sleeps.' He'd never actually put much thought to it until now, but upon doing so he realised nobody had been kidding. Since Loki's attack, countless buildings had been fully rebuilt and refurbished. It was as if New York had seen that the city had been completely destroyed, and taken it as an opportunity to begin a rapid Urban Regeneration project. Percy didn't mind, of course. If anything, he thought it was pretty cool.

"Good morning, Percy," he heard the elevator doors open and turned around to see Steve walking towards him, just back from his morning run. Percy could practically smell the unease from him. "You okay?"

"Huh?" He looked at Steve. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Just trying to have a few hours to myself before I have to question Loki."

"I see," Steve nodded as he started to make coffee. "What are your plans for after he leaves?"

"Well, there's someone I want to find," Percy leaned against the wall, clenching his fists at the thought of Thanos. "I'm going to track him down and let some good old-fashioned revenge do the work for me."

"Revenge? For what?"

"He wronged a friend of mine," Percy said. "A friend who can't track him down by himself right now."

"Ah," Steve nodded. "We'll have to find some way to contact you if anything goes amiss here."

"Don't worry, I already have something worked out," he smiled.

About a half-hour later, Percy entered Loki's cell with a notebook and pencil. He smiled. "Morning, Loki."

"Percy," he looked up from his book and smiled. "Good morning. You slept well, I hope?"

"I did," the other god sat down and opened his notebook, writing something down in Ancient Greek. "Okay, I'm just here to question you today. I need you to cooperate with me, please don't make thing more difficult than they have to be."

"Okay," Loki smirked. "Fire away."

"I want you to tell me everything you know about Thanos," Percy said. "Start from the beginning. What does he do? How does he do it? What did he do to you? I've made Fury turn off the mics in here, so he'll hear nothing. Take your time and start whenever you're ready. We're in no rush."

Loki clenched his jaw, closing his eyes and breathing slowly for a few moments. When he opened his eyes, they burned into Percy's soul with such intensity he was thankful he'd have to break eye contact with his lover every few moments to copy what he'd said into his notebook, along with translating Loki's words into Ancient Greek before he did so. "They call him the Mad Titan."

*

Percy left the cell several hours later with a very full notebook and an array of emotions that made him feel rather dizzy. Thanos believed that the Universe was overpopulated, and he went from planet to planet, wiping out half of it's inhabitants at random.

Loki had admitted that he actually never knew the purpose of why he was held captive by Thanos, but theorised it had something to do with wanting to take Earth for himself. He also had, reluctantly, told Percy about what happened every time he refused to comply with what the Mad Titan wanted, and it filled Percy with such boiling rage that he was surprised he hadn't exploded yet.