The next morning, Steve and Fury walked into the interrogation room where the teens were still tied to the chairs. The only difference was that Percy was no longer wearing the gag.
"You too seem like good kids," Steve began, taking the only other chair in the cell.
"We are not kids," Percy said. Steve sighed.
"I have a proposition for the both of you. We want you to be a part of the Avengers. You will have a place to stay, food, and you can train in your abilities and be part of the team. This opportunity doesn't come up very often-"
"If you are going to make a proposition, then tell us the truth instead of sugar coating it," Jason suggested. The two men were surprised by the bluntness of his tone.
"Alright, we want you to come to the Avengers compound, where you will live and be trainees for the Avenger Initiative program. If you do not accept it, then you will have to be transferred to a permanent holding cell." Fury stated. Steve sighed again, not liking his tone either.
"And what is our crime?" Jason asked, eyes narrowing.
"Both of you have a lot of power - the extent we are not aware of - that poses a threat to public safety. Also, Perseus Jackson, you are still suspected of terrorism."
"Then let Jason go." Percy voiced, getting a glare from Jason.
"No. Mr. Grace here broke into SHIELD property and attacked many of my agents. And both of you have been spotted at several incidents around the world," Fury stated. Jason looked down.
"Could be coincidence," Percy offered with a shrug.
"Yet despite all of this, you have yet to be put on any sort of watch list. Even better, you might as well not exist." Fury hissed glaring at both of them. "In my line of work, coincidences don't happen."
"So, either way, we are still your prisoners but we get to choose our cell?" Percy asked after a beat of silence. Steve frowned at the bluntness of the statement.
"It doesn't have to be that way. If you do the Avenger trainee program and prove that you are not a threat to public safety, then you will be free to go," Steve said. Fury gave him a slight glare.
"Can we talk about this privately?" Percy asked they nodded and made their way out of the room, fully intending on listing in via video. They weren't prepared for the boys to be arguing in another language. Was that Latin?
With Percy and Jason
"Percy, you can't be thinking about accepting their offer," Jason said, looking at Percy pointedly.
"I don't think we have much of a choice. If we manage to escape, they are persistent enough to keep coming after us or people like us. If we can prove that we are not a threat to them, then they will let us go."
"You know they are going to want to know about our past, our secrets, and everything about our powers right? Do you think they are going to let us go without knowing everything?" Jason pointed out, scowling at the mirror.
"Well, then we answer their questions as truthfully as we can without revealing who or what we are or about our family," Percy suggested.
"You think we can keep it vague enough?" Jason asked, still skeptical.
"Sure, why not use terms that they are familiar with and terms from our world that are vague enough. They already think we are part of an organization, so let's just run with it." Percy said, then started listing words like camp, big house, training, etc.
"Somehow, I still feel like this could go seriously wrong". Jason muttered, shaking his head.
"Are you with me?"
"Yeah, I'm with you." Percy gave a small smile and turned to the mirror.
"We have made a decision!" Percy shouted in English.
"What have you two decided?" Fury asked, coming back in the room followed by Steve. He wasn't happy that they couldn't eavesdrop on the conversation, since the language they were speaking was too old to translate.
"We accept your terms on two conditions-" Percy started.
"You are not really in a position to be negotiating." Fury said, cutting off the teen.
"What are they?" Steve asked, cutting Fury off. He wanted the kids to accept this offer. He didn't want to see kids as young as them wasting away in a cell or getting hurt at attempted escape.
"One, I would like to see my family every so often and I do mean at least once every two weeks."
"No." Fury said, but was shut up with a glare from the teen.
"Because of this…" he gestured around them with his head "And everything in my life, I have only got to hang out with my baby sister for a week. I would like to get to know her and have a chance to be a big brother to her. Plus my mom has suffered enough of my unexplained disappearances, so I am not asking. I am telling you this: If you don't want any trouble from me, I suggest you say yes." Fury frowned, not liking that this kid was giving him orders, but nodded. It wasn't worth arguing about.
"Anything else." He sighed.
"This goes for both of us, but we will not be a part of any experiments. We are not your weapons or lab rats…we know that you already have samples of our blood, but you will not be getting any more of it, and you will not be doing any testing on it." Fury clearly didn't like that either, but before he could veto the idea Steve cut in.
"It's a deal. In return, we expect you to cooperate with us." Steve fought to keep the smile off his face.
"We can't offer our full cooperation when it comes to answering questions, but we will be as honest as we can, and we promise that we will not try to escape," Jason said. Percy nodded his assent. Steve grinned.
"Then we will get things set up for you." With that, the two left.
"I hope you know what you're doing…" Jason whispered.
"I hope so too," Percy whispered back.
Time skip
"Are the cuffs really necessary?" Percy asked, as he and Jason sat in the back of a Black SUV.
"Yes, it is a precaution as we take you to the compound," said the Agent in the passenger seat.
"Well, at least we weren't knocked out this time," Jason muttered. Percy smiled.
"Jason, I was beginning to think you like to be knocked out considering how often it happens." Percy said in a light tone. Jason blushed and gave Percy a half-hearted glare.
"What do you mean by that?" Steve asked.
"All I can say is: bricks love Jason. For some reason, they love to hit him in the head." Percy laughed, Jason continued his glare, Steve just looked confused.
Once at the compound, the Agents and Steve got out of the SUV and led Percy and Jason to a large building with an 'A' on the side, One of the agents and Steve were close enough to kill, and several others were a few paces away. It was clear they understood the dynamics of moving prisoners. There was no way they would be able to fight without getting taken out quickly.