Alaska

Percy entered the meeting room, acknowledging the communications officer's grunt of "Director Fury's on the line sir" and stepped inside, the doors sliding shut behind him to give him a semblance of privacy. As soon as he stepped in, the screen flickered to life, displaying the head of SHIELD in all his eye-patched glory. "Sir," he saluted. Fury nodded, gesturing for him to be at ease. "Agent Jackson," he barked, "Report."

"Sir," he began, "Other than the sudden energy spike that occurred at 2045 hours yesterday, there have been no further changes of interest. Stark and Banner are constructing a device that would theoretically allow them to shut down a portal. Well," he amended, "Stark is doing the constructing; Banner is keeping an eye on the reading."

Fury nodded, looking marginally pleased that things were going smoothly for once. He fixed his lone eye on the raven haired boy, "And the power source?" Percy straightened at that, "Sir, our scientists have found nothing inconclusive. The...power, it disrupts electronic devices sporadically, so they can't get regular readings. That, and they can't even go near it."

"Why not?" Fury asked. "Because it retaliates. That thing seems to have a mind on its own sir. It lashes out at anyone who goes near it. It's a good thing that we have that barrier to prevent any direct contact, but it makes getting samples about near impossible." Percy watched as Fury's face hardened, a sign that he was well, furiously contemplating this turn of events, deciding not to tell Fury about how the power called to him.

"Continue to monitor the situation agent Jackson, see if you can find a way to transport the power."

"Sir, that thing attacks anyone who goes near it." Percy replied, sarcasm lacing his words.

Fury just leaned back and smirked, "Well then Agent, I suppose you'll have to come up with a plan then."

Percy scowled, hating the way Fury always expected him to do something impossible like transporting a liquid that refuses to get close to anyone. He sighed, "Yes sir. I'll try my best, no promises tho-" he was thrown against the table as the whole base shook from the force of the explosion. Fury tensed, "What's going on over there Agent?" Percy hissed, slamming the door open, "What the Had-hell is going on here?!" he bellowed, taking in the alarm blaring and the SHIELD agents frantically running around. "Sir," one of them stopped, "we're under attack!" Percy snarled, "I know that, I'm asking who?"

Another agent stopped, "It seems to be the Chitauri sir! A portal has opened! They're infiltrating the base!" Percy's eyes widened, he cursed and turned to the communications officer who was contacting SHIELD headquarters for reinforcement. "Connect the director to my transmitter, I need mobility, and get me Stark and Banner's lab now!"

He didn't wait for the guy's nod of assent, knowing that he would get it done soon. Sure enough, a few seconds later, he heard the director's furious hissing in his ear. "Jackson, report now!" "Sir," he said, gritting his teeth as he ran down the hallways, "The Chitauri are back, they opened a damn portal here. I have no idea where it is but my guess is that they want what's in the basement. I guess I'll get my chance to try transporting that damn thing."

Percy sprinted down the hallways, forgoing the lift and taking the stairs two at a time. When he reached the basement, he slowed, pulling his gun from its holster. Contrary to popular belief, he wasn't stupid, and if his suspicions were correct, then the Chitauri would be on this level. He crept down the hallway, the silence permeating the level making him twitch in discomfort. He rounded the corner, his gun swinging in front of him. He grimaced when he saw the bodies of the two guards, both with their throats slashed open, their blood painting the ground red. He inched his way closer to the broken remains of the metal door, as silent as a ghost. He could hear the Chitauri's chittering and he leaned carefully around the door, peering into the lab.

What he saw horrified him, Edward and Michael lay in different pieces scattered across the room, while Riley had a gaping hole in her chest, her face frozen in an eternal scream. He felt cold fury rush through him and stepped into the room, delighting in the way the Chitauri all snapped their guns towards him. Two in front, another two at the back, and one in the middle, he counted silently, taking in their formation and the way the two at the back were attempting to drill through the barrier. Oh they won't be getting through that, he grinned inwardly, not while I'm here. The impromptu Mexican standoff was getting old quickly, and he cleared his throat, "If you would please be so kind as to step away from the barrier, you can have a quick death." The Chitauri in the middle, clearly the leader of this rag tag group stepped forward, hissing, "Foolish mortal, the power gem belongs to our master! Perhaps if you left, we could spare your pathetic life."

Percy remained silent for a moment, before shooting the Chitauri between the eyes and rolling to avoid the energy blast that was aimed at his head. He crouched and swiped a leg at the nearest Chitauri, knocking the rifle out of its hand and whirled around, shooting the other one in the neck. He felt clawed hands grab at his shoulders and he slammed his elbow back, grinning at the sound of bones snapping. The Chitauri screeched in pain and Percy took advantage of the opening, driving his fist into the creature's throat, leaving it to collapse to the floor, gurgling noises resounding in the room. He watched the last two Chitauri through narrowed eyes, who watched him warily, clearly realizing that they had underestimated him before. He bared his teeth in a semblance of a smile and rushed forward, sliding under their rifles, kicking one of them in the back of the knee and lashing out at the other. He slid his knife out and stabbed the Chitauri in the neck, turning around to slash at the remaining Chitauri only to find it trying to escape. He snarled, flipping the dagger and flung it, the blade sinking easily into the base of its head. He breathed heavily, adrenaline rushing through his veins as he stared at the bodies scattered around him. He turned to the barrier, placing his hand on it and closed his eyes. He willed the ice to melt, to change its state to that of a liquid, and felt satisfaction when there was a tugging feeling in his gut and the water bended to his will. He was glad, that of everything that had happened in the last three years, the ability to manipulate water had not left him. It was a small comfort to him and it gave him a sense of familiarity. The red liquid hovered impossibly in the air, twisting and coiling, as if beckoning Percy to step closer. He gritted his teeth, unsure as to how he was supposed to transport a floating red liquid that somehow managed to give off an evil vibe without the use of any facial expression. He reached a hand toward the liquid, cursing as it struck his wrist and trying again. After the fifth time the liquid had struck at him, this time his gun, he snarled, "For Hades' sake! Why can't you come in a more convenient form like something that I can actually hold?!" Almost immediately, the liquid shuddered and collapsed into itself, taking the form of a solid red bracelet. Percy stared at the bracelet in surprise. Are you kidding me? He thought, Well then, beggars can't be choosers. He straightened, and cautiously reached out a hand. When nothing happened, he picked the bracelet up, putting it around his hand. He placed a hand to his ear, "I have retrieved the power source sir." He turned and ran out of the lab, cursing under his breath as he realized that he had to climb all the way to the top level.

Tony and Bruce had just finished building the device and were n the process of configuring it when the alarm blared, startling the both of them. "Shit, shit shit!" Tony cursed, "What the fuck is going on out there? JARVIS?" Sir, it would seem that the SHIELD base has been infiltrated by the Chitauri. The disembodied voice piped up from Tony's Starkphone. "Shit." Tony cursed once more, "Bruce, we gotta get outta here. If they're in here..." "Then there's a portal out there which can be shut down." Bruce finished for him. "But we have to configure this thing first, otherwise it wouldn't do any-"

"Stark!" A familiar voice came over the intercom, causing the two scientists turning to look up at the ceiling instinctively. "Kid?" Tony asked incredulously, grinning as he heard the kid's grumble. "Stark, now's not the time for games, how's that device coming along?" They could hear him panting over the intercom, Tony answered, "Uh, we just finished it-"

"Great!" Percy exclaimed, "stay there, and do not move until I get there."

"Kid, we're not done configuring the thing."

Percy fell silent, then muttered, "Just, hurry up."

Tony and Bruce looked at each other, then scrambled for the device, Tony cursing himself for not bringing his suit. "This, is why I always make a suit that's portable! But no, I had to listen to Fury this once and not bring the suit now didn't I?"

"Come on Tony, there are guns here... I think." Bruce said, looking around the lab, spotting the axe at the far end, near the fire extinguisher. He narrowed his eyes, rushing over to it just as the door to the lab blew open.

"Shit!" Tony cursed, looking up to see the creatures that had appeared in his dreams step into the lab. His eyes widened, and he grabbed the device off the table, kicking forward with all his strength, flipping the table and sending it crashing into the Chitauri. They fell down like dominoes, but it didn't hinder them for long, and they scrambled up, raising their rifles. Tony cursed for the umpteenth time that day, scrambling backwards while trying to configure the device with one hand. He didn't know where Bruce had disappeared to, but he could only hope that the Chitauri hadn't found him yet. This was more than he could say for himself as a Chitauri jumped over the overturned table and landed in front of him.

Bruce felt the door exploding more than he saw it, but he concentrated on his task anyway, praying fervently that Tony would be able to keep out of the Chitauri's way. He took the extinguisher and slammed it against the glass case, satisfaction running through him as t shattered. He heaved the axe out of the case turning around just in time to slam the blade into the throat of a Chitauri. He recoiled in horror as the alien gurgled and fell to the floor, blood gushing out from its open throat. Bruce hefted the axe, realizing how wholly unprepared for this he was, it was usually the other guy who took care of such situations, and since he couldn't remember anything that happened, he never bothered to think about how killing someone-something- with his bare hands felt like. He steeled himself, and hacked his way through the Chitauri, pushing all thoughts to the back of his mind, only wanting to make sure that Tony was safe. He ducked under a stray blast, swinging his axe up into the alien's chin and through its head. His stomach heaved at the sight of alien brains scattered on the floor, and he looked up, only to stop short in horror at the sight of a Chitauri looming over Tony. He couldn't get to him in time, and the axe was too heavy to throw. All he could do was watch as the alien fired down at one helpless Tony Stark.

Percy sprinted as fast as he could from the basement lab, the cold weight on his left wrist a reminder of what the Chitauri had came here for. He passed by numerous bodes, and hoped that the majority of the base had managed to evacuate. He raced past empty labs and rooms, snapping the neck of any Chitauri who had the gall to try and stop him. He skidded to a stop when a group of Chitauri blocked his way, hissing and waving their rifles at him. He snarled, rushing at them and doing a baseball slide, whipping his sword to the side, slashing at their legs. He rolled and stood up, twisting his body to avoid the bladed end of the rifle, his sword striking forward like a serpent, taking the alien's head off in one move. He didn't stop there, moving to stab another chitauri in the chest, slashing the throat of another and snapping the neck of a third. He blew through them like a storm, and stood amongst a pile of corpses. He cursed, this was wasting precious minutes, and he needed to get to where Stark and Banner were fast.

He ran up, coming to a stop at the lab, stopping short at the sight of a chitauri standing above Tony stark. He hissed, and threw his sword directly at the chitauri's hand. The Olympian silver blade cut through its hand like a knife through butter, causing its shot to go wild and miss the genius scientist by mere inches. The chitauri shrieked in pain, but was abruptly cut off when Percy sliced its head off. He picked up the sword and hacked at the other chitauri, becoming a whirlwind of death in the lab. Silence descended on the lab suddenly, the only sounds left were the dying calls of the aliens. Tony and Bruce gaped at him, the former placing his hand over his still furiously pumping heart at his close shave with death. He had flirted with death before, but that was the closest he had ever come to dying. Almost on par with the palladium incident. He could still feel the heat of the blast for goodness sake!
Percy stood motionless in the lab, taking in Bruce's defensive-sloppy, but still defensive- stance and Tony's slumped form. "Let's go!" He barked, "We need to shut down the portal, they're swarming into the base. I've gotten everyone to evacuate already, but we still need to close that thing. It's only a matter of time before they send the fliers."

The two scientists nodded, faces grim. Tony picked himself and the device up. "Come on, we're going on an adventure!" he grinned.

Percy scowled, "Scaling a glacier is not an adventure Stark." He said, walking out of the lab, "And stop quoting the Hobbit!"

The three of them made their way quickly down the base, "We can't just walk out the front door, there's too many of them there." Percy said, as they reached the ground level. "There's an exit at the other side. We need to circle round and come back to the front though."

"Why?" Bruce asked.

"Because, the front is the only place where you both can climb up. I can easily get up the glacier by myself, but I have no idea how to work that device." Percy replied. "Let's go." He said, darting forward. They weaved through the base, sneaking around like ninjas, if ninjas made such loud noises when sneaking around that is. They made it to the other exit without incident, except for when Bruce and Tony nearly retched at the sight of the torn up bodies scattered on the floor. Percy took the lead once more when they were outside, the cold Alaskan air biting into their skin. He ran up the man made slope that led to the clearing where he was practicing just that morning. He scaled the glacier easily, having some aquatic powers usually helped, but the other two were not so graceful. He helped them up the glacier, glancing back at the base. He tensed when he saw the chitauri gesturing in their direction, "We've been spotted," he said, "how close do you need to get to that thing?"

Bruce replied, "Probably as close as possible, this is a prototype, and has never gone through the testing stage so we don't know how far the reach is."

"Better to play it safe kid." Tony said, grin still fixed on his face.

Percy twitched at that, but refrained from commenting, he looked at the mass of chitauri scaling the glacier and made a decision. "Doctor Banner, Stark, at the far end of the clearing, there's another slope that leads upwards, that should take you close enough to the portal. I will hold off the chitauri for as long as I can, but speed is of essence." He glanced at the portal above their heads, shivering slightly at the void it led to. The two scientists opened their mouth to protest, but he cut them off, "We cannot afford to slowly make our way up, they would catch up to us soon enough, now go!"

With one last glance, and a "Stay alive kid" from Tony, they ran up the slope and disappeared from view. Almost as soon as they were out of sight, Percy held his palm out, parallel to the ground, feeling a tug in his gut as a wall of ice rose of behind the two geniuses. He heard the horde of chitauri stampeding their way up the glacier and drew his sword and waited for them to appear. As soon as they did, they swarmed around him, surrounding him on every side. One lone chitauri stepped forward, its armor slightly different from the rest. Instead of several plates of armor covering its body, it had several additional designs, foot long spikes extended from its shoulders and its elbows. Damn, Percy thought, that's designed for close combat. The lead chitauri's weapon was also different, it seemed more like a spear than a rifle, except that it was double bladed, and had serrated ends. The lead alien saw him staring at his outfit, and grinned maliciously, "Do you like it little Halfling?" grin widening at Percy's slight flinch, "I wore it especially for you Perseus Jackson." The chitauri hissed, circling slowly around Percy. He tightened his grip on his sword, "How do you know my name?" The chitauri commander threw his head back and laughed raucously, "There is no one who does not know of the fallen hero, Perseus."

Percy narrowed his eyes, filing the information away for later use, he spun his sword, relishing in the defensive stance it sent the aliens into, "This is a little unfair isn't it, it's like what? Forty against one?"

The chitauri chuckled, a harsh sound that grated on his ears, "Oh, Halfling," it hissed, "We can fight you one at a time." Percy blinked, then laughed so loudly that it shocked the chitauri into raising their weapons. "Oh, I didn't mean unfair for me, I meant that it was unfair for you." The chitauri bristled at that, and the commander snarled, "Kill him!"

Percy just bared his teeth, body tensed in anticipation as adrenaline rushed through his veins. He surged forward and met the chitauri's attack head on.

"Oh god," Tony huffed, "I am never ever going hiking ever again."

Bruce just smiled, looking over his shoulder nervously as sounds of battle drifted up. "This isn't the same as hiking Tony."

"We are climbing a mountain. Glacier. Whatever. That's the same as hiking."

Bruce didn't answer, stumbling into the clearing that Percy had told them about. "Woah." Tony said, gaping at the sheer beauty of the clearing before them. "Come on," Bruce said, "We don't have time to stop and smell the roses." Tony followed him, "Its stop and appreciate the ice Bruce."

He set the device down, glancing up at the portal every so often. Bruce helped him finish configuring the device. When it was done, they both nodded to each other, "Well," Tony drawled, "let's see if this baby works."

They aimed the device in the portal's direction and fired.

A deep rumbling sound reverberated around the clearing causing the chitauri to pause in their attack. Percy took advantage of this and lopped off his opponent's head before turning around. "Well," he said, smirking lightly at the sight of the collapsing portal "seems like backup isn't going to arrive anytime soon." The chitauri commander snarled in response, bringing his double edged blade to collide with Percy's Olympian silver one. It twisted and struck out with its elbow, Percy moving his head to the side at the last minute to avoid having his eye gouged out. He thrust forward, pushing the chitauri off balance and angled his sword downwards to slash at the chiaturi's chest. A deep cut appeared in its armor and it roared n pain, flinging Percy away from it. Percy rolled with the momentum, hissing slightly at the pain, wondering if he had bruised a few ribs. He knelt in position watching the chitauri commander, the only alien left alive in the clearing. He placed his hands on the ice, concentrating. Spikes made of ice flew up, causing the chitauri to move to dodge or get impaled. Percy ran towards the chitauri commander, feinting to the right and stabbing at the chitauri's left flank. He felt the sword tear into flesh and the chitauri's scream of anger and pain resounded in his ears.

He couldn't move fast enough however, as the chitauri slammed its elbow into his shoulder. White hot pain rushed through his body as the spike drove through his shoulder, cutting through flesh and muscle. He gritted his teeth against the pain, locking his knees around his opponent's leg and pulled. They landed on the icy floor, the cold jarring Percy out of his pain filled haze, and he rolled over the chitauri, cracking its head against the ice repeatedly. He then backed up, clasping a hand over his left shoulder, trying to stem the blood flow. The chitauri commander rolled to a kneeling position and swept at Percy. He jumped, and in that split second. The commander brought his blade towards Percy's neck. He blocked the blow, his silver sword standing between him and certain death, and he formed an ice dagger in his left hand, bringing it up to slam it into the chitauri commander's throat. He watched as its eyes lit up in surprise, before dimming, the body slumping to the ground as Percy yanked out the dagger with a loud squelch. He breathed heavily, looking around the now bloodied clearing and felt a prick of satisfaction at the bodies piled up around him. His ear piece crackled to life in his ear, "Sir!" Agent Johnson's voice sounded in his ear, "The base has been evacuated completely, orders sir?"

Percy walked to the edge and scanned the base, his powers allowing him to feel that there were still life forms in the base. "Agent Johnson, keep everyone out of range."

He switched the comm. to contact Fury, hearing Stark and Banner stumble into the clearing behind him, the ice wall he put up having been destroyed by one too many chitauri blasts. "The base has been cleared sir, orders?" the comm. in his ear remained silent for a moment, "Destroy the base."

Stark was chattering away nonstop, and as they drew closer, he heard the doctor's gasp at the sight of his shoulder. "Percy, you're injured! I need to-"

"Not now." Percy replied. He glanced at the slab of ice beside him, then down at the base again, Tony continued speaking, "Did you see the portal? It collapsed exactly like the one in New York! Think it has something to do with the scepter too?"

Percy tuned out the one sided conversation. He nodded to himself, the distance should be enough to cause a chain reaction. Unexpectedly, he slammed his sword into the slab of ice beside him, twisting it slightly. The two scientists jumped at the sudden action.

"Uh," Tony began, "I know you have an adrenaline rush but-"

He was cut off by an ominous sounding crack. The world stilled for a moment, the slab of ice collapsed, bringing an entire portion of the glacier with it. The pseudo avalanche bore down on the base, crushing it completely. The sudden silence that followed was deafening, and awkward. Bruce gaped at where the base used to be, glancing between Percy and the destroyed base. "How...?" he stammered.

Percy turned to him, allowing a full smirk to play on his lips, "Well doctor, you didn't think that Fury sent me here just to oversee things did you?"