Chapter Text
“Mom, Dad, Percy! Come see this!” Seven-year-old Estelle Blofis yelled from the living room of the Jackson-Blofis apartment’s living room.
Groaning Percy, Son of Poseidon, leader of the armies of Olympus both Greek and Roman, most powerful demigod ever exetra exetra and the older half brother of the in his opinion far to chipper little angel, dragged himself out of bed blurrily. When he had first gotten the Curse of Achilles when he was fifteen he hadn’t noticed how much it made him want to sleep, it wasn’t until he had lost it entering New Rome and reclaimed it in the pits of Tartarus that he truly realized how much it sapped his energy. Luckily splashing his face with some cold water every few hours and sleeping till noon on weekends minimized the Curse’s side effect.
Slowly making his way toward the continued exclamations of his sister Percy took a moment in his dazed state to go over what had happened the past few weeks. He had woken up with no memory, found New Rome, fought a Giant, got his memories back, had a mutual breakup/break time agreement with Annabeth, met up with his other friends, sailed a flying boat into war, saved Nico from his imprisonment, fell into Tartarus in order to save his ex, spent… he thinks a hundred years or so fighting and f*cking in the pits while surviving off of liquid fire-getting his Curse back about halfway through the ordeal, escaped, joined the armies of Olympus in the fight against Gaia, beat the crap out of her in an epic one on one final stand, and came home.
Yeah, the past mortal year had been pretty freaking insane for Percy, but hey at least he saved the day and lived to enjoy it!
The smile the thought brought to his face distracted from the haunting gaze his time in the Pit left him with. He survived, and so did those he cared about. Gods, Titans, Monsters, Giants, even Primordials had done all they could to end his life yet still he kept kicking while most of them were now gone hopefully forever. Yeah, he was a badass.
Unfortunately what he saw when he entered the living room put an instant stop to his good mood. Right there on the screen was a report on the heroics of Estelle’s favorite heroine, Wonder Woman. Gods Percy hated her. When the Titans returned she did nothing, not even during the battle of New York. When the Giants came she never even showed her face. When Gaia herself began to claw her way back to the surface to wipe out all of humanity, the great Amazon princess did jack sh*t and so did all of her Themyscarian sisters. She was blessed by who knew how many gods and gifted with strength and powers far beyond what she earned all because she was a part of the goddess’ pet project and won some tournament. He, Jason, Nico, Thalia, Hazel, they all trained and fought with everything they had and more to gain half of what she was given. Sure after his time in the Pit Percy was sure he could match the Amazon blow for blow and then some, but he went through a century of non-stop conflict, pain, and life-threatening situations!
If the oldest living demigod daughter of Zeus had bothered to help her mortal family in their times of need only the Fates knew how many demigods and legionaries would still be alive. Maybe even Jason would still be alive, not that the bitch even cared enough about her half brother to even attend his funeral.
Why, why did Estelle have to idolize his cousin? Not that his little sister knew about his familial connection with the Justice Leaguer or his bloodline and feats in general. It just didn’t make sense to Percy. Estelle was too young to really care about things like Diana’s admittingly stunning beauty, or the cultural ideals of the Amazons of Themyscara, so was it the super strength? Superman was stronger and faster. The fighting prowess? Both Batman and Black Canary were more skilled. The ability to give a speech and be charismatic? Again Superman matched her or even beat her there. So why?
“She’s so cool!” The young girl yelled as the broadcast showed the Amazon punch clean through some kind of killer robot.
Sally gave her son a quick glance before seemingly agreeing with her daughter, “She is something else Sweetheart.” She told her daughter.
“That’s one way to put it,” Percy grumbled. Estelle just stuck her tongue out at her brother.
“No fighting you two.” Paul warned knowing that the subject of the raven-haired woman tended to cause the two normally close siblings to take up figurative arms against each other.
“When did this happen anyway?” Percy asked jerking his chin toward the TV.
“Like an hour ago!” Estelle exclaimed, “And it happened in Brooklyn! That means Wonder Woman is in New York!” Her excitement now made a bit more sense. Wonder Woman usually operated out of DC.
“Why would she be in New York?” Percy wondered out loud. Sure the city didn’t have a Justice League member setting up shop in it, but it did have its own heroes and the special heavy duty SWAT teams that were set up to take care of most Super level threats meant that having a big shot like Wonder Woman wasn’t really needed. Maybe the gods had summoned her for something or another.
“I’m sure she has her reasons.” His mother told him while grabbing his sister off the couch. “Now come on, I’m making pennies for lunch.”
Perking up at the mention of food Percy pushed the subject of his very much disliked relative from his mind and began to follow his family into the kitchen. Before they could sit down however, hell before Percy was even able to make his sandwich request, the doorbell rang, the sudden noise causing Percy to jump slightly as his demigod and war-forged reflexes instantly made him think of danger before he settled himself back down. He sighed, “I’ll get it.” He groaned already moving to answer the door.
“If its a salesperson tell them we aren’t buying.” Paul called out.
‘Are door to door salespeople even a thing anymore?’ Percy thought exasperatedly. His stepfather really needed to stop reading books set in the sixties.
Opening the door Percy already had a politeish dismissal on the tip of his tongue when he opened the door only to come up short when he saw just who had rung the bell. “Hello, Perseus.” Diana of Thyemiscara dressed in a full length trench coat over Percy was sure her bathing suit looking costume greeted her cousin, after stopping him from slamming the door in her face that is.
“What in the name of Hades do you want.” He growled, his Wolf Stare in full effect
The older woman almost flinched before sighing, “Can we speak inside?” She requested.
“No.” His family was inside. His mother, stepfather, and little sister. If any of them saw the Amazon it would be a thousand times harder to get the woman to leave, not to mention how difficult it would be to explain to Estelle how he knew Wonder Woman and why she would come to their apartment… Actually, why was she there? They had never met before or interacted in any way. He only knew about her because of the news and some passing mentions of her from the various gods and immortals he regularly interacted with the former group he guessed was also the reason she knew his name and where he lived.
“Perseus I understand that you may not have the highest opinion of me-”
“Well no sh*t.” Percy snapped, “You left us- your f*cking family- to be massacred twice. You never bothered to help us out even once over the past five years, hell you didn’t even bother to attend your own brother’s funeral!” He snarled.
“There were things that kept me away Perseus.” She defended herself.
“What could have been more important than helping your blood fight off armies of monsters intent on destroying all human life on the planet?!” He almost yelled, trying his hardest not to lose his temper and alert his family and the neighbors about the conversation and who he was having it with.
Diana looked away guiltily, “Discussions about Themyiscara being on the world stage. Treaties, agreements, borders and sovereignty, not to mention my work with the Justice League.”
“You couldn’t miss one or two f*cking days? Couldn’t push back a meeting or two!? Do you know how the goddesses praised you? How they called you the ‘prime example’ of a demigod? How you would be the greatest asset, sword or shield, of Olympus and all those who fought under its name?” He demanded. Artemis had been the most vocal about it at first. She was so proud of the woman who could ‘outmatch even Heracles’ and would stand above everyone else the gods could put on the field, she and her fellow Amazons. Her words of praise dried up pretty quickly after she lost more than half of her Huntresses during the battle of New York and not a single Amazon showed up instead leaving it to Percy himself to direct the war efforts and defeat Chronos.
Diana winced, “I know I failed in many of my duties to Olympus and our family Perseus but please do not make the mistake of thinking that it was due to ill will.” She pleaded, “I came here to try and start to make amends.”
Percy snorted, “Nothing you could offer would make up for all of us who died or were injured in the past two wars Diana.” He snapped.
“Maybe not but it would be just another folly if I didn’t at least try.” The heroine took out a plastic card from one of her jacket’s pockets and gave it to Percy. “This is an access card to the Hall of Justice in DC.” She told him, “On the Fourth, the sidekicks of Batman, Flash, Aquaman, and Green Arrow will take their first step in joining the Justice League. I offer you the same chance as them.” She revealed causing Percy to look at her in shock, “You are without a doubt one of the greatest heroes this world has ever seen Perseus, mortal or otherwise. You can do a great deal of good beyond the world hidden by the Mist and you deserve at least some recognition for what you have done for everyone who calls the Earth their home.”
Percy looked down at the credit card shaped piece of plastic that his cousin had given him. Blue-tinged silver with the golden JL logo of the League it looked official without standing out too much at a passing glance. The son of Poseidon sighed, he really didn’t like Diana, and as far as he was concerned defending his family and those he held dear would always come before anything or anyone else, but she was right that Percy could do a great deal of good if he fought against the nondivine threats that plagued the world as well. “I’ll consider it.” He told her, not bothering with looking at her, “Don’t expect me to join in whatever PR stunt campaign march that’s gonna be set up for the others if I do show up, but I will consider at least meeting with the rest of the Justice League.”
Diana nodded, “That is all I can ask cousin.” She bowed sligtly and turned away.
“Did you offer this to the other surviving members of the Seven or Nico?” He called after her, causing the older demigoddess to stop and turn to look at her cousin over her shoulder.
“... Piper McLean’s skill in direct combat is commendable, but her reliance on Charm Speak would leave her vulnerable when faced with strong-willed or inorganic or even simply unintelligent beings. Frank Zang for all his raw strength from his transformation ability is bound to New Rome and would not be able to act without the Senate’s permission. Leo Valdez is legally still dead and has opted to spend his time either on Calypso’s island or wandering mostly isolated from the world. Annabeth Chase while having unmatched skill with her dagger and a strong mind would simply be too vulnerable against mortal weaponry. Hazel Levesque’s powers over precious stones and metals would disrupt economies wherever she fought. And Nico DeAngelo’s abilities are simply too…” She tried to think of a way to explain how the young man’s necromantic abilities would be unsuited to the image of the League and the mental well being of those they were defending without sounding condemning about his ancestry.
“I get it.” Percy waved her off. He may not like it but he could at least somewhat agree with her reasonings about not offering the same ‘honor’ to his closest friends and allies.
Diana nodded and turned away once more, this time not being stopped as she made her way down the hall toward the elevators. Percy waited until the metal doors closed between the two demigods before going back into his family’s apartment, stuffing the access card his cousin had given him into a pocket of his slept in jeans.
“Who was it Percy?” Paul asked his stepson as the teen fell into a chair beside him.
“Jehovus witness.” Percy lied “Took a while to convince them to leave.” His stepfather easily accepted the lie but the look on his mother’s face clearly said that she didn’t, thankfully she didn’t push him for answers, he didn’t want to think about the implications of the card resting in his pocket, or the offer buzzing in his head.
