Chapter 9: Interrogations

I just want to let you know that I have permission from the author LostHeroGuide

go check out the story on

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11493775/1/Heroes-and-Ghosts

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Enjoy! Thanks for the critique!

I'm a no one! Can't even find myself on Google!

Natasha:

Percy did really cool things in his sleep.

Natasha had first noticed the noise in the pipes, a sound like someone flushing a toilet and the water going down a bunch of pipes. She was annoyed at first, but then noticed that they seemed to match Percy's breathing. On a hunch she turned on the faucet.

Best. Decision. Ever.

The water immediately went horizontal, heading towards Percy. It morphed, changing shape and shifting. She was reminded of Thor's portraying of the Aether and its fluid like movement. It surrounded the lights, casting shadows as if she were underwater. Even Percy's face seemed to take on a more peaceful view.

And the water moved in such beautiful patterns. Seahorses moved around the room as if in a dance. Around her feet, Natasha noticed crabs wrestling. A swordfish sprang into liquid existence right in front of Nat, and quickly swam down the drain.

Natasha was awestruck with the beautiful display, and had to sit down. At one point, she had to laugh when the lyrics to 'Under the Sea' took shape in front of her.

Then the girl appeared.

She was a shifting, amazing form of water. Hues of blue and white with lights shining through her. Long, curly hair that seemed to float around her head swayed to an imaginary undersea breeze. She seemed to emerge from the corner of the room, and Natasha watch in fascination as a school of fish swam around her.

She strode purposefully and meaningfully towards the bed, walking straight to Percy's side. When she was there, she reached a liquefied hand towards the boy, and ran it through the boy's hair. Percy mumbled something incoherently in his sleep, but leaned into the touch.

The water girl smiled, but dropped her hand to his cheek. Percy mumbled a bit louder, and Natasha heard a garbled 'nbeth'.

The girl smiled wider, then said in a hum, like a motorboat going through the water. "Who else?"

Percy began to stir in his sleep (which should've been impossible because of the painkillers and sedatives) and the water girl and all of the liquid creatures began to swim toward the drain, disappearing. Finally, when all the water was gone, Percy opened his eyes. He looked very old suddenly. Nearly wise beyond his years, reminding Nat of Fury.

Then he opened his mouth.

"I got shot, didn't I?"

Natasha let a ghost of a smile play on her lips, then stood, making herself known. Percy gazed at her for a second, then began to sit up and take his IV's out. Natasha panicked, jumping forward. "No! Percy, you just got out of surgery!" She yelped, trying to get him back down.

He swatted her hands away, and, although wincing, he managed to sit up. He still had on the gown, but part of it was cut away around the bullet wound.

Correction, the bandage that when he took off, only showed a scar as big as Natasha's pinky. She blinked twice, trying to form rational thought. Percy, for his part, shook his head like a dog, then looked Natasha in the eye. He seemed to catch on to what she was looking at. He looked at the scar as well. "Huh. Not even that big." He mumbled.

"H-how?" Natasha asked, completely bewildered. Then she came to the conclusion that only made sense. "It's the water, isn't it? It healed you?" She asked. Percy, who was looking for his pants, didn't catch her question. She decided to just assume she was right. "Percy, why didn't you tell anyone?" She asked when he was looking.

He blushed, embarrassed, then hung his head in shame. He got up, making sure the gown didn't fall off and accidentally flash Nat. He tried again to find his pants in the drawers around his room. "I'm used to being treated differently about it. Didn't want anyone to do that anymore." He explained. He smiled in victory, finding his clothes. He quickly darted around the curtain in the corner where the water girl had come from and changed.

When he came out, Natasha tried not to blanch. Although his jeans were on, he held his shirt, soaked in blood, in his hand. He was grimacing at the sight, and quickly threw it away. Now he was in his gown, but it was cut just below the belt. Then he turned to Nat, an almost pleading look in his eyes. "Are you going to treat me differently now?" He asked.

Natasha found herself folding her arms. Even if Percy was her friend, she needed to know. "That depends, Percy... What exactly can you do?"

Percy gulped, but then he sighed. "I really, really don't want to talk about this right now." He muttered, but then seeing Natasha raise her eyebrows, he sighed again. "Doesn't look like I have much of a choice. Okay, uh... How do I explain this?" He asked himself, then cursed.

Natasha frowned, then rolled her hand. "Why don't you start from the beginning?" She suggested. Percy nodded, then sat back on his bed, wincing slightly.

"So, I was twelve and there was this girl, Nancy..."

...

Percy was just telling her about the time he accidentally summoned a hurricane when Steve walked in with Fury.

He stopped mid sentence, and Natasha saw with satisfaction how Percy eyed Steve and Fury with caution. The two men took seats next to Natasha, and then Steve spoke. "I thought he was supposed to be asleep."

"Well I'm not. I can also read lips pretty well now, so don't talk like I'm not here." Percy said, then shifted uncomfortably in his jeans. "Um, where is here, exactly?"

"That's not for us to tell, Mr. Jackson." Fury said, pulling out a thick file. Natasha winced when she saw it, knowing that was Percy's. Fury started reading through it, flipping over the pages. "Funny, it says here you're dead."

Percy paled, but then looked at Fury. "Clint knows?" Percy asked in a small voice.

"Yeah. He does."

Percy sighed, then spoke. "Look, it's not that I don't trust him. I even trust him with keeping the water thing a secret. I'm not making excuses, but it's not my fault." He finished.

Fury raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Well who's fault is it?"

Percy remained silent.

After a while, Steve spoke up. "Kid, you're in a lot of trouble-"

"I usually am."

"-and we can all go home in a few hours of you just answer the questions. Just tell us: why don't you want anyone to know you're alive?" He asked, ignoring Percy's sass. Percy spoke calmly after listening fully to what Steve had said.

"Because I'll be killed."

"And who would do that?"

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"They'd kill you, too." Percy finished. Steve was quiet and Fury stepped in.

"Percy, we can make this a whole lot more uncomfortable for you. This room is a courtesy. You don't cooperate, we can always move you." He said

Percy raised an eyebrow, but caught on. "You mean like... A prison?" He asked.

Fury exchanged a look with Natasha, and she stepped up. "Percy, why don't you just tell them what you were telling me about your powers? Then we can move from there."

Percy shook his head. "I can't. This one-" he pointed at Fury. "-won't trust me anyway. He's too busy trying to figure out why I'm not scared. I am, by the way, just not of you. If you knew who I had to deal with, you would be too. And he-" he pointed to Steve. "-doesn't think I'm worth the time." He said.

Steve looked taken aback, but quickly composed himself. "Why should I care? You won't give me anything to work with."

"And I can't. Because if I do, the people going after me will use all of you to get to me. That's a risk I'm not willing to take." He said.

Fury slammed his palm into the chair, but Percy didn't even blink. "And what if I tell the press that a seventeen year old who was pronounced dead turned up in New York, huh? Do you have anything for that?" He yelled.

Natasha noticed how quickly things were going downhill. Percy grabbed the wax paper on the bed. "Then I'll run. I'll run and you will never see me again." He warned. "That's not me assuming you're stupid, or even thinking I'm smart, because I'm not. It's a fact. I'll disappear forever."

"You mean kill yourself." Fury said in disgust. Percy matched Fury's gaze, unwavering. Natasha suddenly paled, because this was twisting in the wrong direction. Steve seemed to think so too.

"Woah, kid. We aren't gonna go down that road. We won't tell anyone you're alive.

"But we can't assume that you're the good guy here. You faked your death. Your file speaks volumes. A... Member... Of Hydra told us to keep you alive. How are we supposed to trust you when everything points to you being guilty?" Steve asked. Percy threw his hands up in exasperation.

"Guilty of what?! Faking my death? If I'd faked it, my mom would be alive! My sister would have her parents to take care of her, because I'm definitely in over my head! It was a legitimate attempt at my life, and my parents were killed! I was lucky that I had friends that I could count on pulling me out of the wreckage!" He screamed. "So don't talk to me about guilty! I'm a victim, and I have to deal with the fact that even with my amazing powers I can't protect my loved ones!"

Natasha stood and moved to sit beside Percy. Who cares if she should be unbiased? Her friend needed her. She put an arm around him as he struggled to control his breathing. "Percy, just tell us why you're innocent." She whispered.

He took a deep breath and tried again. He concentrated, and suddenly the sound of a hundred toilets echoed around the room. The faucet was blown off and water began to pool into the room. Fury and Steve went to knock out Percy, but he was already up. The water solidified in a barrier between Percy and the three agents. When it had settled, Percy spoke through it.

"I've been able to do stuff like this since I was twelve. To me, it isn't a superpower. It's a tool. And for six years I've been using it to help people. That's all I've wanted to do. And now you're saying that the best thing I can do is give up... I can't accept that. I don't care if you don't believe me. All I care about is keeping people safe. And the safest thing I can do is stay hidden." He said.

"Sounds like a load of bull to me." Fury said. "You're telling me that playing hide and go seek will keep you alive. What did you have to leave behind? Huh, Percy? What did you sacrifice?"

Percy didn't respond, and Natasha took a chance. "Percy, who's Beth?"

There wasn't so much as a pin dropping in the whole room. Suddenly the wall of ice evaporated. Percy was kneeling on the floor, and his eyes were clouded. Finally he looked up at her. "H-how do you know about her?"

"She was important to you, wasn't she?" Nat asked, helping him to his feet and ignoring his questions. "Your girl troubles." She clarified.

Steve and Fury looked lost, but Percy didn't waver in nodding. "She... She was my whole world. I'd go through Hell and back for her again." He said. "I'd do anything just to see Hazel smile again. Or to hear Frank stutter. For Jason to call me 'bro'." He said, chuckling bitterly. "For Reyna to roll her eyes at me, or Piper to tell me to shut up. And if Leo were still here... I'd laugh at all his corny jokes."

Percy went on and on, talking about people he missed until he seemed to run out. When that had happened, he was wiping away tears that refused to go away. Finally, when he'd calmed down, he looked Fury in the eye.

"So no, I can't prove to you if I'm innocent. But I've had to throw every last one of those people from my life... Because I had to be there for my sister." He glared bitterly at the ground. "So don't ask me what I've had to sacrifice." Suddenly he began to pull off his paper shirt and even for Natasha it was a gruesome sight.

She thought that his only injury was his missing middle finger, but now she- they -knew the truth. Scars marred his body. Deformed flesh and burns that painted across his chest. His forearm had a strange burned in tattoo, and when Natasha saw his back, she wanted to run. Another, much deeper burn mark. An Omega etched into his skin, right in the small of his back.

"I've sacrificed everything."

LHG :)