Catch Me If I Fall (PJO/Avengers Crossover)

65

When Percy woke again, his back was to the wall, and, from the windshield, he saw Asgard. He gasped softly, smiling. It hadn't been destroyed. Not yet.

The joy was short-lived, though, because, as the Commodore flew closer, it became apparent to Percy that the aureate, exquisite Asgard he knew was no longer as extraordinary as he remembered; it was on fire. Buildings burning to the ground, smoke ascending to the skies like grey snakes ready to infect the clouds with their venom.

"I never thought I'd be back here," Val breathed.

"I thought it'd be nicer," Bruce commented, standing up and helping Percy to his feet, too. "I mean, not that it's not nice, it's just... it's on fire."

"Here, up in the mountains," Val pointed to a hologram coming from the controls of a mountain not far away, a red circle in the middle and indecipherable text around it. "Heat signatures. People clustered together. Hela's coming for them."

"Okay, drop me off at the palace and I'll draw her away," Thor decided, taking a breath.

"And get yourself killed?" Val raised an eyebrow.

"The people trapped there are all that matter. While I'm dealing with Hela, I need you three to help get everyone off Asgard."

"How the Hell are we supposed to do that?" Bruce asked.

"I have a man on the ground," Thor said. "First, however, we need a gun."

"I'm on it," Percy went into the driver's seat, steering the ship in another direction, towards a few more mountains. "Loki and I had a stash of weapons somewhere in one of these caves. We'd taken them from the armoury, planning this huge prank against the whole Kingdom. Of course, it never happened because I was forced to go back to Olympus, but I digress..."

"Olympus? You're a god?" Valkyrie asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Percy responded, looking at her.

"I thought the Greeks were long dead," she said.

"I thought the same about the Valkyrie," Percy shrugged, vapour travelling into the cave from many years ago, touching a huge blaster and teleporting it and himself back to the ship. He grinned. "Ladies, gentlemen, anything and everything in between, I give you a gun."

"Whoah, what else have you got in there?" Thor asked, astonished.

"A few swords, daggers, the like. We'd only started gathering supplies a few months before I left for Midgard, so this was the baddest baby in there," he went back to the Bifrost Bridge, landing steadily with the help of Val so they could set up the gun. "It's loaded and ready to go, so all we need to do is position, aim and shoot. Shouldn't be too hard. One of the finest weapons in the armoury, according to Loki."

"Well, now the ship has guns," Thor said, setting it up.

"I'll take it from here," Val smiled. Thor proceeded to produce a bundle of white and gold fabric, smiling back at her.

"I found this in the armoury," he gave it to her, and she gazed at it in astonishment and recognition. He began to walk away and, just before he was out of earshot, Val called down. "Your majesty!" He looked back at her. "Don't die," she said. There was a pause for a moment. "You know what I mean."

"What's that?" Percy asked as the ship took off and Val continued to gaze at the fabric.

"My old armour," she breathed. "From when I was a Valkyrie."

"You should put it on. Let it be known to Hela who you are," Percy said, walking to the cockpit to give her some privacy to get changed. "Let her know she couldn't kill all of you. That'll bruise  her ego."