PERCY POV

"A god?" Pirate narrows his eye. "Forgive me if I don't believe you."

I turn to Uncle T. "See, mortals don't just believe in this stuff." He just stares at me.

"I've read everything there is to know about you-" 

"Well obviously you haven't. 'Cause you were stupid enough to threaten my family." I interrupt. 

"Tell me the truth, before I put a bullet in your ribcage this time." He threatens. Oh yay, back to threatening me.

He can keep shooting me all he wants... But if he turns that gun on Uncle T... I think I've got a plan. Which ends with me winning. So hopefully it works out okay.

"Okay." I hold up my hands. "Okay, I'll talk."

Uncle T looks at me, baffled. "What the hell are you thinking?"

"Something." I reply. Hopefully he understands that to mean that I know what I'm doing. At least, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing. 

"How about we sit down and chat? Get some weight off that leg of yours." Pirate suggests.

"My leg's fine." Now that I think about it, that shouldn't have hurt me in the first place. I guess that's a question to bring up to Dad.

But we sit. Pirate analyzes me every moment, every movement. It's weird, and I don't like it. So imma fuck with him. I don't even try to stop my knee from bouncing. Let him watch that. I bet he'll get carsick or something.

"Start talking." 

"Like I said, I'm a son of Poseidon." I tell him. 

"So, that's Greek. Are you saying that there are Greek gods too?" He narrows his eye. 

"Yup. A whole lot of them." I smirk.

"Any others?"

"The Romans too." I answer. Greek and Roman are pretty close these days. It'll be harder if I say something roman and he calls me out on it.

"And where do these so called 'gods' live?" He questions.

"Olympus." I state, like he's a dumbass for not knowing. I mean, it is kinda obvious. "And their own respective palaces. But those are all over."

"Olympus? So, Greece?"

"No." I snort. "They haven't lived there in centuries." 

"But you just said they lived on Olympus." He accuses.

"Yeah, and they do."  I nod.

"But Olympus is in Greece."

"Sure... But that doesn't mean the top of the mountain can't just... Move." I reply.

"That doesn't make any sense." His eye narrows more. I wonder if he can even still see me.

"They're gods. Why would anything make sense?" I retort. "Currently, Olympus is right here, in New York City."

"I'm pretty sure I would have noticed a 'gods' hiding hole if it was here." He glares at me.

"Dude, I lived here for eleven years and I only noticed it when I was told it was freaking up there." I chuckle.

"Up where?"

"Try the 600th floor of the Empire State building." His reaction is worth it. Combine 'Complete Bullshit' and 'Is he fucking kidding me?' with 'The hell is he on?' and possibly accompanied by 'I'm too old for this shit'.

"You wanna say that again?" He asks me.

"Nah." I decline. Uncle T looks like he's stifling pride.

"How many gods are there?" He demands.

"I dunno." I shrug.

He seems annoyed by that. "What do you mean 'I dunno'?" 

"I mean I dunno. There's a lot, okay? I've met a lot, and haven't met a lot more." I answer.

"You said you were a son of Poseidon. How many others are there?" 

And that's the question I wanted to avoid. "Can't say." 

"Can't say? Or won't?" Pirate glares at me.

"Both." I admit.

He rises in his seat. "You better straighten up your answers, boy, or I'll-"

"You'll what?" I ask. "Shoot me? Kill me?"

He takes pause. "I can make your life hell."

"Been there, done that." I lift up my shirt, "Got the stamp." He flinches in surprise. I drop my shirt. "So, what else you gonna threaten me with?"

"No-one is invincible."

"Can't say you're wrong." I admit. 

"That includes you, boy."

"And you. But I'm not a boy." I reply, nonchalant.

"You have people who would be a lot easier to hurt than yourself."

"Blackmail, huh?" I ask, rising out of my own seat. "You even look at them wrong, and I'll send you to Tartarus myself."

"Tartarus? Isn't that a part of the underworld?" Pirate asks.

"Yep, well, kinda. It's the 'Hell' I mentioned earlier. Where monsters go to reform." I answer.

"Monsters?" Pirate questions.

"Oh, duh. Monsters. You sure are slow, huh, Pirate?" I pull Riptide out of my pocket and fidget with it in pen form.

He makes a short, quiet growling noise, which Uncle T looks amused by. "I am Director Fury."

"Fury? Nah, man. You're Pirate." I reply, sinking back into my chair, and propping my feet up on the table.

He looks like he's trying not to blow a fuse. "You will address me as Director Fury."

"Pirate, my dude. I've met the furies, they've tried to kill me. Alecto was actually my pre-algebra teacher." I shared.

Uncle T gave me a 'wtf' look from next to me. Across from us Pirate had a look that could only be described as 'sigh'.  "Perce, you had a Fury for a teacher?"

I shivered. "Mrs. Dodds. 'Die Honey!'" I imitated her voice. Uncle T looked creeped out. "She was the first one that I used this on." I wiggled Riptide between my fingers.

"The actual Furies tried to kill you?" Pirate frowned. "And what does a pen have anything to do with this?"

I gasped dramatically. "This is not just a pen." He gave me a 'oh really now' look. "Riptide is a sword." The look remained the same.

I turned back to Uncle T. "I actually knew the first owner." 

"Really?" He inquired.

"Yeah, Zoe." I answered. "Man, I haven't seen her constellation in... Too long. I'm going stargazing soon."

"Her constellation?" Uncle T's head quirked the way it did when he found something interesting. You know the specific little tilt?

"Yeah. Artemis turned her into a constellation when she died." I tell him.

"Oh. Thats..."

"Yeah." I sigh.

Pirate cleared his throat. "How many monsters are out there?" 

"Oh, you'll give me a headache with that one. Monsters don't die permanently. You kill them, they turn into dust, go to Tartarus, reform, find the way out, and go back to munching on demigods." I explain. "All the monsters that have ever existed, still exist."

"How come we've never seen one of these monsters?" He frowns.

"Magic." I smirk. He gives me the 'no shit' face. "I'm actually serious on that one. The Mist is a magical veil that hides the mythical from mortals."

"Ahuh."  He nodded slightly.

"Hey, do you know the River Styx?" I ask him.

"A river of the underworld, right?" He narrows his eye at me.

"Yep, that's right. Did you know that to break an oath on the River Styx, well, the consequences are worse than death?" I comment.

"What does this have to do with anything?" He asks, his voice heavy with suspicion.

 "I want you to swear on it." I smirk.

"Swear what?" He says in a mocking tone.

"I want you to swear on the River Styx that you will not share any information relating to the Greek or Roman gods, and you will not threaten or endanger any demigods." I say levelly.

"And why would I do that?" He says it like he has all the cards. Mister, you're holding two pair to a royal flush.

"Because that's the only way you're walking out of this room." I tell him, my voice cold.

"What," He snorts, "You'll kill me?"

"I killed an entire base full of people." I did. They were people.

"You only did that because you were protecting your people." He says.

"And you think I'm not doing that now?" I raise an eyebrow.

"You wouldn't." He claims.

I focus on his blood, and look him in the eye. "Do you feel that?" He looks uncomfortable. Hot. Tired. He looks at me accusatorily. "That's me, heating up your blood." His eye widens. "I can make your blood boil, but, at that point, you wouldn't be alive anymore."

I gradually increase the temperature, waiting for him to cave. He does. "Fine. Fine, I'll swear."

And he does.

After Pirate leaves, JARVIS has an announcement. "Sirs, You are requested in the living room."

The living room is filled with Natasha, Clint, Steve, and Annabeth, who I expected, but also with Nico and Will (Not much of a surprise). More surprisingly, is Clarisse and Leo, Calypso tagging along.

"Woah, what is everyone doing here?" I look at the ensemble of misfits.

"Big T, Perce. Can't let you go after him alone." Leo chirps.

"And I said I'd stick with you. Not missing out on this fight." Clarisse grumbles.

"So how much does Fury know?" Natasha cuts straight to the point. 

"Doesn't matter how much Pirate knows. He can't do anything with it." I reply.

"Wait, did you actually call him 'Pirate' to his face?" Clint interupts.

"He did. Refused to call him anything else, actually." Uncle T says.

"Woah! What was his face?" Clint grins.

"Like someone peed in his cheerios." I say, and Clint falls off the couch laughing.

"Priceless," He wheezes as he returns to his seat.

"Why doesn't it matter?" Natasha asks.

"Swore on the Styx." I shrug.

"Why would he do that?" She narrowed her eyes.

"You know, he asked that same thing when I told him to." I comment. She narrowed her eyes more, and turned her attention to Uncle T, asking him with her expression.

"Death threat, right?" Nico's voice pitched in from his corner. I gave a nod.

"You threatened to kill the Director of SHIELD?" Steve asked with wide eyes.

"Bold." Natasha commented.

My uncle looked uncomfortable. Finally, he decided on what he was going to say. He turned to me. "Perce, would you really have killed him? If he didn't swear?"

I looked out the window. "Yeah." I swallowed. "Yeah, I would've."

It's silent before Steve's voice speaks up. "Don't you think that would be crossing a line?"

I turned away from the window and looked him in the eyes. "If it's to protect the people I care about, there isn't a line I won't cross."

"And what if it's a line they wouldn't want you to cross?" He asks.

"Then if I saved them, and they hate me for the rest of existence, I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

A tense silence fills the air after that. "I'm going on a walk. See you later."

On the streets of New York City, I wander around. It's not like I could really get lost. And I can always vapour travel now. I guess it's really handy to be able to teleport.

I would have killed him. I would have killed that mortal man to protect the demigods. Does that make me a monster?

Would I have done the same when I was still... Mortal?

I don't think I'm the same person anymore. I'm a god. From what Dad told me, the shortest possible time I'll be one is a few decades. Mom will be old. Annabeth... 

I can't do this to her. I can't live beside her as a god. I can't... I can't watch her grow old while I don't age. I can't... I can't be her husband. My eyes sting. I won't ever get to ask her to marry me. I won't get to say 'I do'. 

The worst thing I can do is ask her to stay with me. I can't give her the life she wanted anymore. I can't be a husband, a dad. I'm very much aware that I'm silently crying as I walk the streets.

I can't ask her to wait for me. I can't ask her to hold off on her life. So I guess that means one thing. She'll move on. She'll be happy with someone else. And I'll watch over her. She doesn't need to know that I'll always be there to protect her. I owe her that much.

Wiping the tears from my face, I can see the streets properly again. And in front of me I see someone I wasn't expecting to see.

"Thalia?"

"Hey Percy."

A/N

I entered Before I Die into the wattys... Wish me luck?

Thank you so much for all the support! In all 40 chapters I have written previously, not one single comment has been to put anyone down, or degrade anyone. Thank you so much for all the overwhelming positivity!