Rising Tides

Chapter One – The Beginning of the End

Percy Jackson

It was in the midst of battle that Percy had realized that he was not going to be making it home. Sure, he knew that he was facing the worst of all foes—the Earth Mother herself—a being with almost limitless power and influence, who decided that she wanted to exterminate all demigods and rule the planet for herself. That didn't mean that he knew just how much his life would change in this one day. He couldn't have known. After all, he did not have the gift of prophecy or did he even have the wisdom of Athena, not that the goddess would willingly help him, unless it was for her own gain.

Here he was, standing in one of the places most familiar to him in all of his life, Camp Half-Blood and he was seeing it get torn apart right in front of his eyes. Gaea was both nowhere and everywhere, not being subject to any limitations. She had woken when both he and Annabeth had been wounded and ultimately it had been both of their faults for not paying more attention. The Earth Mother was creating almost cinematic destruction, with trees being uprooted and the ground splitting around them. Cabins were being ripped in half as the earth seemed to want to collapse and rise all at once. That's probably because it did want to do so.

The goddess stood before him and his friends wearing a gleeful expression, revelling in the death and destruction she was causing. Around him were the Olympians themselves looking far worse than the enemy. The only advantage they had was that both Greek and Roman were united in their attempts to subdue her—of course, that only happened because the idiot who started the rift blew himself into oblivion, and had managed to hit Gaea, but unfortunately, the Earth Mother was too strong to beat by a simple cannon.

She had her back turned to him, and he was within striking distance. In the corner of his vision he could see his girlfriend nodding at him to take the chance he got. Raising his sword, he lunged toward her and slashed his sword in a downward arc. The blade got closer and closer to her skin, until she disappeared into a heap of sand and suddenly he heard it... a cry of anguish and hurt. It couldn't be... The world seemed to slow as he turned toward the cry and there he saw it...

Phil Coulson

Phil Coulson was not usually a paranoid man, he was cautious and tried to be as prepared as he could be, but he was never one to think the worse of everything and everyone. Hell, he hired a bunch of mercenaries once and they hadn't tried to kill him, so he figured he was a good judge of people and of situations in general. Besides, the paranoia was best left to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s former director, Nick Fury.

He prided himself in running a much tighter ship than those who were in his position before. After all, this Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. did not wish for his organization to get so large and political that he couldn't control it at all. He did not report to the World Security Council and did not have to listen to the will of the politicians that ran both his home nation and those abroad. Unfortunately, this meant that he did not have many people willing to help his organization. For that reason, a part of him would always despise that Nick Fury thought that he could just vanish after the events at the Triskelion in Washington, D.C.

Leave it to Phil Coulson to pick up the burning pieces of the once massive S.H.I.E.L.D. who apparently was so complacent in its oversight that it did not even realize that a significant portion of its employees were the followers of a Nazi cult/terrorist organization. Great job there World Security Council. But, it was best to leave that in the past.

Looking at the large screen in front of him, he saw all of the S.H.I.E.L.D. bases that were still operational and was content with what he saw. The organization was stable and still had numerous bases, represented by blue markers, around the globe. He counted 32 bases that were still operational, but the Playground was his home base. The old S.S.R. base had seen its fair share of action and looked the part, but it was home and it would do.

He began thinking about his plans for the future. He needed to get Theta Protocol off the ground and for that, he was going to need to tap into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s reserve of funds. This project was going to leave quite a dent in the budget. Repairing and retrofitting a Helicarrier to no longer require fuel to operate, but rather electricity from arc reactors would definitely do that to anyone's wallet.

Suddenly, he felt a twinge of discomfort in his left forearm. He looked down to see his latest prosthetic. He was going through them so fast that Fitz could hardly keep up with producing them for him. Advanced in every way, it still did not operate like a real hand. He was no longer as dexterous and many tasks that needed fine movements could not be done with his left hand.

Again, he was distracted. He sighed and decided that this was enough time standing in front of his desk and looking at the screen in front of him. He had work to do. First on the list being contacting Assistant Director Maria Hill and conveying the news about Theta Protocol. The woman who still served as the loyal second-in-command to S.H.I.E.L.D. was now working in Stark Tower. He needed to be careful about his interaction with her due her day job working in the Human Resources Department at Stark Industries. The Avengers couldn't know that he was alive yet. It wasn't time.

Finally, he picked up his tablet from his desk and placed a video call to Maria's private line. It rang for a few minutes and Maria's face appeared on his tablet. With a tap of a button, the conversation moved from his tablet to the screen that occupied his wall.

Maria raised a hand to signal him not to speak yet and he could see her moving around Stark Tower, getting to a secure location. Once inside her office, Maria nodded toward Phil.

"Hill, it's good to see you." he greeted.

"Hello to you too. You're lucky that Stark was distracted by the renovations he's commissioned to Stark Tower, sorry, Avengers Tower or he would have seen you." she scolded. The woman set her tablet on her desk and he could see her logging on to her desktop computer.

"So, how is Theta Protocol coming along?" she asked, not bothering with small talk.

He sighed, knowing that not much work had been done during the time that he had thought up the plan and now. "Not much, I'm afraid. Did you know that retrofitting an almost 450 metre long aircraft carrier that has movable turbofan engines and a cloaking device to work with a completely different power source is not as easy as you'd think?" he joked.

Based on the silence he got from Maria, he knew that humour wouldn't do anything to alleviate the situation. "Okay, so I've managed to get almost 1000 of the 2500 crew back to working for us and I've already tasked the engineers to remove the liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen engines and to replace all of the necessary pipes and connections to the main power plant. That alone is gonna take a few months." he told her.

"That's not exactly good news, we have track the movement of Loki's Sceptre and get it out of human hands. That thing is best kept where it belongs, in Odin's vault, where no one can ever lay hands on it." she commented.

"Well, as much as I would want to be able to fast-track all of this work, I can't. Whatever S.H.I.E.L.D. accounts I have access to only provide me with a total annual budget of 190 billion dollars, and retrofitting this Helicarrier is gonna cost us a pretty penny. More like 50 billion of them actually. That and the expenses in having to repair old bases and hire new agents will make sure that we will need to make every dollar count. At this point, we're lucky that S.H.I.E.L.D. had gotten so good at backroom dealing that every member nation is still paying its dues to us."

"You know, I never asked but, how are those accounts replenishing themselves, because as far as I know, there isn't any country in the world too friendly with S.H.I.E.L.D. right now." she questioned.

"Capitalism. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s had access to restricted parts of its members' monetary systems since the Cold War. I still can't believe that Fury never told anyone where the money came from all this time." he said sombrely.

"It doesn't matter anyway, because all the money in the world can't repair that ship soon enough. We're going to need to wait before we act. The timeline I'm being given is 8 months. Until then, get the team back together. We need them ready for when Theta Protocol goes live." he concluded.

"Alright... Phil, I've been talking to Agent May and based on what I heard, you need to let up a bit. You're working yourself too hard. Take it from me, ease up." she told him softly, a tone which Maria almost never used.

It was great that she cared, but it wouldn't help them now. He needed to plow on ahead and make sure that the Avengers would be safe. He owed them that for the web of lies spun for him. "Just tell me about how they're doing. That'll help me."

She obeyed him and began listing off the state of his friends. "Stark is busy renovating his tower and has managed to yet again survive another assassination attempt. Thor is off-world. Rogers is in Europe trying to find Barnes with his new pal Wilson. Banner's teaching at Simon Fraser University in Canada. Romanoff's in Paris, trying to live under the radar. Barton's home with his family; he and Laura want another kid."

"Thanks Hill. I'll talk to you when I can." Phil replied before shutting off the communications link. He walked away from his spot in front of the wall screen and sat down at his desk. He began opening files that he had been working on and started to get to work. He had missions to approve and reports to read. He dared to look at the time and found that it was currently 5:00 PM, Pacific Standard Time. Usually, this would mean a break but not today. It was only a short while later that his current reality would start to tear apart, only to be replaced by one more wondrous than he could imagine.

Percy Jackson

There was his Wise Girl, her body arched in pain; a spear piercing through her abdomen. He couldn't believe it. After all these years of hardship and trip to the very definition of Hell, she was going to be taken away from him. The goddess had a sickening smile on her face as she threw his girlfriend's body to the ground. He didn't exactly know what happened to him next, but all he knew was that he only felt raw emotion. Pain, regret, love, anguish... then, it all settled into the bottom of his stomach. He could only see red.

Armed with a thirst for vengeance and blood, he bounded toward the Earth Mother, Riptide raised high. He didn't really feel anything around him and his body was in autopilot, just like it had been when he had blown up Mount St. Helens. As the eighteen-year-old barrelled toward Gaea, he could only hope in a corner of his mind that he would join her in Elysium.

His blade struck true and slashed a deep gash along the chest of the goddess. She fell to her knees clutching her wound and as she did, the earth shook as control was taken from her and given to him. A demigod he may be, but his emotion was unquantifiable and contributed to his strength. He felt the water of the Long Island Sound rush to him, hurricane winds forming and the earth caving all at once. In that moment, he experienced both the greatest pain and greatest rush of his life, the world shifted and he couldn't really tell what was happening anymore and he lost succumbed to realm of Hypnos.

When that happened, there was complete silence. The earth, sea and sky quietened themselves and when the dust finally settled, all that could be seen was the body of a young man, steaming and emitting a powerful aura.

One hour later at 11:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time was when Percy Jackson awoke to his new reality. The Fates did not grant him his simple wish. The one he loved was gone. There wasn't any coming back from death. He knew that better than anyone, he'd seen the underworld. He learned from his father that Annabeth had been declared dead at 10:05 PM. From where he was on a cot close to his father's throne, in the now shrunk throne room, he could see the tears running silently on Athena's face. The goddess had always seemed cold and impersonal to him, but in this moment, he saw a grieving mother, one who had to bury child after child, never seeing one outlive her.

The Seven gathered around him as the gods gave their thanks to the demigods. As per tradition, the leaders were offered lavish gifts. Jason and Piper had received the gifts of godhood. Frank and Hazel had their respective curses lifted and were free to live their lives. Leo had been resurrected and had been taken to Miami, where Calypso awaited. Nico became a god of the underworld, serving his father and Reyna had been freed from a curse by Venus, one which apparently originated when Bellona had insulted the Roman Goddess of Beauty. He saw his friends around him all looking happy, but there was a sensation of melancholy in the air. One of their own had died. He was certain that it she hadn't died, someone would have tried to talk to him or offer him something, but the Council Meeting ended without a single word uttered to him. He was led silently by his father to a room in the Palace of Poseidon. He was left there with a drachma to contact his mortal family.

He didn't call his mother. He threw the drachma against the wall and let out his frustration. He hadn't been fast enough to react to Gaea. He hadn't been strong enough. He failed. That night, he wept for hours, until sleep got the better of him.

Phil Coulson

It was 6:00 PM, Pacific Standard Time that Phil Coulson was interrupted while he was reading a report on a shootout that S.H.I.E.L.D had been part of in Amsterdam by Agent Daisy Johnson, formerly Skye. The door to his office slammed open and she was out of breath when she put a tablet close to him showing satellite energy readings focused in Greece. He could see a concentration of energy near Mount Olympus and mere moments later, the readings disappeared.

"Explain." he ordered.

"The readings just came on a few minutes ago and they are the same as the ones that the wormhole above Stark Tower emitted. This time though, whatever is making the energy is moving at a speed faster than light. These same readings just popped up in Long Island." she responded, shifting the view of the map on her tablet to show New York state.

"What do we know about this? How is it moving? Is it the Chitauri again?" he fired back.

"We don't know. And we don't have any assets on the ground in New York state. That area is Stark's turf. If we want to know what happens, we need his help." she told him.

"No. Stark can't know about S.H.I.E.L.D. Get me Maria Hill now. She can give us all we need." he ordered. His agent quickly typed on the tablet and moments later, Maria Hill's unhappy face was on the wall screen.

"Phil, its 9:00 PM in New York. I was hoping to actually get to enjoy my night, relaxing, so this better be good." Hill barked at him.

"No time for this Hill. We just got readings similar to that of the Chitauri wormhole from our satellites overlooking Long Island. I need you to get J.A.R.V.I.S. to use Stark Industries technology to get me surveillance on the area." he ordered.

The woman's facial expression changed in an instant. Everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. knew just how bad dealing with that wormhole was. Another one would mean disaster.

An hour later, J.A.R.V.I.S. was still not be able to identify what was happening and there seemed to be interference running rampant in the area which rendered any technology in the area useless. They would only have satellite feeds, nothing more.

By now, all his close friends at the base were in his office, looking at the satellite feed on the wall. It was then that there was another spike. This one larger than before and only lasted a few minutes at most, before suddenly, all of the energy readings died down.

There was silence. Whatever had happened there, just disappeared and when J.A.R.V.I.S. could finally safely send a drone, there was nothing in the area but a strawberry farm. The image flickered across the screen and Phil could swear that Tony Stark knew how to build better quality cameras for drones, but he attributed the flickering to the drone malfunctioning because of the energy spike.