Percy Jackson and the Avengers

Chapter 58

POV: Percy

       It was already going badly.

       "We should have asked Chiron for the orientation video." He muttered to Nico. His cousin rolled his eyes. Percy glanced out the gathering clouds level with the penthouse. If he didn't explain very very carefully his uncle would blast him. Again.

        Percy wasn't so sure he'd survive this time, prophecy or not. Tony was still sputtering over Nico's casual comment about Percy's brush with godhood.

         "I turned down immortality the second time. Godhood was only after the Titan War." Percy reminded his younger/older cousin. The Avengers looked even more incredulous. He waved his hand in the air.

          "But that's not relevant. Anyways the gods of Olympus are real, and still alive. Like Thor and his pantheon are the Norse gods. Kinda. Actually, he's supposed to stick to Boston, but that's not important. There a few others out there, but the most important are the Greek and Roman gods. You know how they ran around having affairs with mortals and having kids? That's also true. Only those affairs never stopped." Tony interrupted.

          "You mean the old heroes like Hercules, Achilles and Odysseus?"

         "You shouldn't be so careless, throwing out their names like that. Names have power." Nico warned.

          "Heracules is a jerk." Percy muttered. Thor snorted in agreement. Percy rolled his eyes. At one point Thor was just as bad as Heracles. Maybe less homicidal. But just as bad. 

       The Avengers just looked confused. Percy sympathized with them. Aliens and mutants were one thing, they were based in science and logic and could be rationalized. Magic and gods and monsters, they followed an entirely different set of rules. Tony spoke up.

        "You've met Hercules? Isn't he dead?" Percy shook his head.

         "First, Hercules is Roman, it's actually Heracles. And second don't you know his story? He was granted godhood after he died. Now he's a homicidal minor godly pain in the ass, guarding the pillars in the Strait of Gibraltar. We met him back in, was it July?" Percy looked at his cousin for confirmation. Nico shrugged.

         "I wasn't there. I'd gotten captured, remember? I was with the idiot twins in Rome, in that horrible jar." Steve's jaw dropped, and even the master spies looked like they were struggling to keep their emotions under control. Percy glanced at Nico again before continuing, measuring his next words carefully.

         "Before we can tell you anymore, you all have to swear something. A binding oath to protect our secret." The Avengers all nodded. Nico, Percy and Thor all traded glances. The mortals had no idea what it meant to take a binding oath the way the Greeks do.

         "You have to understand, to break an oath sworn on the River Styx... There are fates much worse than death. And you aren't the only one who pays." Nico warned. Thor picked up after them.

        "The river Styx takes her oaths very seriously. Gods get off easily, and the last time a god broke an oath sworn by the Styx, their very seats of power were threatened. Many of their children died in those wars. War was considered a light punishment." Thor's expression was grave. The other Avengers looked a little more apprehensive, but Steve spoke up.

         "Ok, tell us how." Nico taught them the words, careful to leave an appropriate loophole so that the mortals aren't in danger unless they deliberately betray the demigods. Percy nodded as thunder rumbled overhead in reluctant approval.

           "So Nico and I are both the offspring of those gods. We're called demigods, or half bloods. Half mortal, half god...."