The Civil War

Jason spat out the water that entered his mouth when his head was dunked into a drum full of water.

“Again, why were you at the site of Luke Castellan’s disappearance?” the blonde girl who introduced herself as Agent Annabeth Chase (alias Mockingbird) asked.

The blond boy glared up at her. “I told you. Sub-Director Lupin sent me under the orders of one of the councilmembers.

Annabeth glared back at him. “You keep insisting that but here’s why I don’t believe you: We were the ones who were ordered to investigate.” She stepped closer to Jason. “It just doesn’t make sense for you Trojans to investigate the disappearance of an Achaean agent.”

“That’s exactly what I said!” Jason squirmed but the ropes tying him to a chair held fast.

“Don’t even bother, Golden Boy.” Annabeth said, turning around to leave the room.

“Look. You have to believe me!” Jason yelled. “I don’t know what’s happening but please. None of the Trojans took Castellan. The person or people who did, well, they’re in ARGOS’ system but for some reason I can’t access it. Either it can only be accessed by Level 9’s and above or someone’s blocking everyone’s access.”

Annabeth stopped in her tracks and glanced back at Jason. “The first situation isn’t possible. Information on people should be accessible by every ARGOS agent, whether Achaean or Trojan.”

“Exactly.” Jason stared back at Annabeth. “Please believe me. I’m telling the truth.”

“I don’t have the advanced lie detector system, but something tells me to trust you.” Annabeth sighed. “I’ll bring this up with Achaea’s inner circle. I’ll inform you of their decision.”

=****=

“He cannot be trusted!” Octavian slammed fist own on the table.

“Christ, Gaius! Calm down! Nobody here’s yelling except you,” Elena growled.

“Hound says he’s telling the truth,” Reyna said calmly. “He may have a really bad attitude but he is Ronin. He has a reputation for being a good and open-minded leader.”

“How are you so sure that your lie-detector system is accurate?” Octavian demanded.

Reyna glared at him. “It’s the Gold-Silver version, the most updated one. Even I can’t beat it.”

“Somebody else is pulling the strings,” Hank said. “We were sent by one of the councilmembers. The puppet master could be any of them. We weren’t informed which of them did this and I doubt Lupin can tell us.”

Reyna sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Good point Hank.”

“Oh please. The Achaeans are just trying to frame us! They want to start a war,” Octavian insisted.

“Octavian. Stop,” Elena snapped. “Yes, the evidence suggests that Castellan went willingly with his supposed captors but none of us knows what actually happened.”

“I agree with Elena,” Hank said. “There could be other forces besides Achaea and Troy that are in play.”

“So what do we do now?”

Everybody turned to look at the speaker who was standing at the doorway.

“I may not have been here long,” Frank Zhang, codename: Hawkeye, began. “But even I can tell that Director Terran isn’t exactly the least suspicious person.”

The four agents who were already in the room looked at one another.

“Are you suggesting that we put surveillance on our Director?” Elena asked Frank.

Frank shrugged and glanced warily at a surveillance camera in the room.

Reyna followed his gaze and nodded. “He’s just telling us to be careful. None of us really know what is going on and there are people who would rather that it remain that way. If there’s nothing else, this meeting is adjourned. Frank, please show our guest around.”

“Guest?! Reyna are you mad?!” Octavian exclaimed. “He is a captive!”

Reyna scowled and whirled to face Octavian. “No, I am not mad but you are driving me there. I suggest you shut your mouth before I yank your tongue out and cut into bits.”
Octavian glared at Reyna but he kept his mouth shut. He stalked out of the room and Reyna breathed a sigh of relief. Elena sidled up to the dark-haired girl.

“That wasn’t something you’d normally say, was it?” Elena noted.

Reyna shook her head. “No. It was something she would.”

Elena nodded, understanding who Reyna was referring to. “You and Jason need to stop beating yourselves up for what happened to Agent 08.”

“It’s hard not to.” There was a bitter tone in Reyna’s voice.

“I know the reason why you hate the investigation.”

Reyna glanced at Elena. “Do you now?” She raised an eyebrow

The latter gave the former a small smile.

“I have a pretty good idea. Why did the council authorize this investigation when they denied your requests two years ago?”

Reyna scowled.

“Jackpot.”

“Why do you care, Psylocke? We aren’t even that close.” Reyna snapped.

Elena shrugged and answered, not fazed by Reyna’s use of her alias. “I guess I just know what you feel like. The least you can do for her is to continue investigating Castellan’s disappearance and… whatever else.”

Elena gave Reyna a knowing look before leaving the room.

=****=

“So what’s her deal?” Jason asked Leo, better known as Iron Man.

He was the one responsible for creating an arc reactor that runs on clean self-sustaining energy. He also created a computing system which he called “Festus”.

“Ah, not so sure, actually,” Leo replied. “I don’t really like being around here. I’d rather stay in my crib! I just popped in because Chiron sent a distress call.”

Jason frowned and raised an eyebrow at Leo who noticed it and shrugged.

“What? Achaea can’t handle my awesomeness!”

Just as the blond boy was about to reprimand Leo for his behavior, he was interrupted by another person speaking.

“Achaea’s unofficial leader, Percy Jackson was kidnapped by your people.” Another blond stepped into the hallway. His hair was longer and darker than Jason’s.

“Well, if it isn’t Will Solace,” Leo said.

“Will Solace? Elixir?” Jason asked.

The said boy rolled his eyes. “Yep, that’s me. The healing dude.”

Jason looked down sheepishly.

“Anyway, Percy’s her boyfriend. They go a long way back,” Will said. “Percy’s charisma and Annabeth’s brains led to the success of a lot of missions.”

Jason nodded in understanding. Percy and Annabeth seemed to make a good team, much like Reyna and himself.

The thought of his partner sent a wave of guilt washing over him.

“Hey is there any way for me to, communicate with-”

Leo interrupted him with a snort. “Yeah, you’re not going to be allowed to communicate with anyone outside the building until the ‘Inner Circle’ makes a decision or something like that.”

Will looked at Jason with pity. “Hey, they’re most likely going to rule in your favor. From what I heard, you made some really good points. Besides, you’re Captain America. You’re known for being honest and generally nice.”

Jason couldn’t really do anything but nod. “I’ll try to live up to expectations, then.”

Leo laughed and slapped his shoulder. “You’re too tense, mi amigo! I’ll introduce you to my friend, Piper. She could probably help you loosen up.”

=****=

A figure approached a woman seated on a tall black swivel chair. She was facing a window which showed the New York City skyline.

“I trust the exchange went as planned,” she said.

“Ronin is with the Trojans and The Captain is with the Achaeans.”

The woman sighed in relief. “Then we can proceed.”

“And Project Titan?”

The woman stood up and faced the figure. “They’ll be able to stop it. Trust me.”

The figure scowled and turned to leave but not before saying, “Bad things tend to happen when you interfere.”

Notes

And I finally updated! I admit, the reason why I took a long time is because I had difficulty writing Leo's character. He's not exactly the kind of person I'd relate to so I think I botched up his personality. Expect less Leo in the next chapters. He was supposed to have a bigger role but given how the problems I'm experiencing with him, I'll lessen his "screen time". Sorry to the Leo fans out there.

Hound is Aurum and Argentum (Gold-Silver edition)

In Marvel!verse, Elixir is a mutant named Joshua Foley with the ability to heal people. It made sense for me to give that alias to Will Solace.

If you guys are wondering who Agent 08 is, it's Selene Rivera, the OC of Fenrir_Glacies. 08 was a reference to her number in football. No, Selene won't be appearing in this fanfic. I just thought that it would be nice tribute to my editor.

'Til the next update!