So, I read the Blood of Olympus (OMG, SOBBING!), but I am not adjusting the story to fit the new layout from BOO. (hey, boo…), so anything that may have happened in BOO like certain things I won't mention for fear of emotional breakdown and spoilers, will not exist here. Just so you are aware. So there are no spoilers for that here, no worries. Changing would require re-writing a few chapters to fix some details. I'm too lazy to do that.

Disclaimer: I don't own HOO or Avengers

*Camp Jupiter, California, just after noon*

Annabeth POV

Annabeth was having a bad afternoon.

Of course, she'd been having a long, long, past 2 weeks, but that was beside the point.

The point was, she was mad.

How dare nobody even tell her that Percy had gone missing again! That was kind of important information to know. At least, she thought it had been important. She and Chiron were going to have a long and possibly violent discussion the next time she saw him.

Priority #1 for the moment, however, was go to Camp Jupiter and make sure Percy was at least not mortally injured or an amnesiac. Again.

Then, she was going to find Jason and show him how dangerous it was to try and trick a daughter of Athena.

At least, that had been her original plan

Once she saw the state of the Camp, she decided her plan needed a bit of revising.

She stood on the crest of the hill overlooking camp, the Caldecott tunnel entrance standing behind her. The camp grounds more resembled Swiss cheese with all the craters and holes. Fires, both normal and Greek, dotted the golden green fields like Christmas lights in red and green.

Also, the giant crashed…thing in the Fields of Mars seemed a little bit out of the norm, even for demigods.

She ran for the military base half of camp, and her heart couldn't help aching at the sight of all the destroyed architecture she had designed. She burst into the military base, and her hand was on the hilt of her bone dagger, ready to stab into any monster that had turned the camp into such a mess. But it wasn't monsters, or Gaia, or the Titans coming back from Tartarus.

It was an army of mortals.

All clad in black with a gray eagle with spread wings on the shoulder, they milled around in clusters, their angry mutters just rising to a buzz over the sound of demigods shouting orders to each other. Every group she passed cast her dark looks, lots nursing broken bones and bruises, but no flesh wounds of any sort. To be fair, demigods were equipped to handle monsters. Literal monster.

She pushed through the crowd, hoping to find Rena, Frank, Hazel, someone who could tell her something of what happened here. Everyone in San Francisco had seen the giant flying spaceship attacking the Berkley Hills, or Camp Jupiter to all demigods in the area. It was also pretty obvious there had been a battle of some king. But the question was why?

She reached the centre of the collection of milling demigods and mortals alike to find Reyna, in all her praetorian glory, commandeering the clean-up effort and ordering demigods around. On her left cheek, a long bloody scratch had scabbed over, and a bruise was purpling on her chin, with streaks of dirt and ash on her dented armor. To her left, a tall African-American man with an eye patch and a black leather trench coat. He loomed over Rena, but ignored her for the most part. Instead, he snapped orders at the nearest mortals with the air of someone used to being obeyed and danger if his orders weren't filled out fast enough to his standards. Obviously, this man was the mortal's leader.

Annabeth pushed her way through the crowd, ignoring the angry shouts from the mortals, and shoved her way to Reyna's side as fast as possible.

"What happened? Camp Jupiter looks like it was played with by a giant five year old, and everybody in San Francisco thinks there's aliens invading! " she demanded as Reyna turned to see her.

The stoic Roman's face split in a grim smile and she greeted "Annabeth, it is good to see you."

Annabeth brushed the comment aside and continued. "And why are there mortals in camp! Reyna, what's going on?"

Several eyes had turned on them as Annabeth had approached, burning into her back and sizing her up, as if to determine if she was a big enough threat. She ignored their burning stares for the time being. Reyna remained silent in answer to her questions, flicking her eyes to glance at the African American man standing nearby. Close enough to here every word they said, even in a whisper. He almost loomed over them with his lofty height.

Annabeth scowled at the man, far from being in the mood to deal with ignorant mortals.

"If you would excuse use?" she demanded, grabbing Reyna's wrist and dragging her further from Captain Eye Patch.

"What is going on?" she hissed, consciously keeping her voice down.

Reyna sighed and tucked a lock of hair that had sprung loose from her braid.

"The mortals attacked camp this morning in their flying ship." She gestured over her shoulder to the giant flying aircraft that was sitting smoking in the Fields of Mars. "They came looking for some mortals that were being imprisoned here and also to find out who we were. It seems, according to their Director, that they are a spy organization working for the benefit of mankind."

Reyna rolled her eyes at the last statement.

"It is true."

Annabeth whirled around, drawing her bone dagger from the sheath at her hip, to aim at the African American man's heart. He raised an eyebrow at her, but she didn't lower her weapon at the silent demand. Nobody demanded anything from her, especially not some mortal man who had snuck up behind her to eavesdrop on the conversation.

When she showed no incentive to lower the dagger, he offered his hand. "Director Nick Fury, of SHIELD." He introduced.

Annabeth lowered her dagger slowly, and shook the man's hand.

"It seems you haven't introduced me to this young lady, Praetor." Fury stated, giving a pointed look to Reyna.

Reyna didn't exactly scowl at the Director, but she certainly didn't give him a friendly look.

"Director, this is Annabeth. A friend of mine." Reyna answered. Fury nodded, and then turned back on Annabeth.

"And did you just arrive?" he asked, almost too casual in a way. Annabeth's demigod instincts were ringing bells in her head, screaming at her to not trust this man with anything.

"Yes." She dead-panned, "I came when I saw the fight. For a secret organization, you don't do a very good job of keeping things secret. Everyone in San Fran is freaking out over there being an 'alien mother ship' attacking Berkley Hills."

Fury's expression didn't twitch a muscle, but Annabeth knew when she had won a point in this proverbial game.

Fury turned away from her back on Reyna, looming over her with every inch of height he possessed.

"Praetor, if you will excuse me, I would go find my special ops team. It seems I have some punishment to dole out." There was no tone to his voice, no expression on his face but cold, icy blankness. It was like trying to read emotion off of a stone.

Reyna gave a slight nod and Fury took a step back before turning and striding through the crowd, the mortals parting for him like the Red Sea.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "He seems to be a real friendly guy."

Reyna sighed and said "He's difficult to work with, but we've come to a sort of compromise."

Annabeth turned on the praetor, anger sparking somewhere. Reyna had been part of the group that had decided not to tell her anything. Didn't think it was important enough to have her know her boyfriend had gotten kidnapped again by egotistical bad guys trying to rule the world. Again.

She turned on Reyna and demanded in a low voice "Where is he?"

Reyna didn't even bother asking who she meant.

"He is in the infirmary, recovering with those who were injured in battle." She reported. Annabeth was already heading towards the infirmary, when Reyna called after her "I didn't want to hide this from you. Romans don't believe in coddling, even those who have suffered."

She didn't glance back, but gave a nod she knew Reyna had seen. She was saving her anger for Chiron, and Percy, if he was alright.

Oh gods, was Seaweed Brain in trouble.

She ran all the way to the infirmary, dodging craters and demigods working to heal the damage alike. It took her barely even a minute to run from the heart of the military encampment to the infirmary.

She stepped inside silently, the door barely creaking as she pushed it aside. Demigods lay in varying states of damage on the cots lining both walls, and Apollo kids and healers rushed about tending to the wounded. Annabeth scanned every face, flinching at the scarring that would mark some for the rest of their lives. Shrapnel, cuts, burns; one demigod had a white cloth bandaged around his head, concealing his right eye. Another was missing a finger, maybe two, judging by the thick bandaging around her hand. Finally, she found them at the back. She marched forward, making demigods in her way leap to the side.

Percy was sleeping, paler and thinner than the last time she had seen him, but thankfully thank the gods alive. He was also more battered, purple marks under his eyes made them seem sunken in to his skull. There were cuts and bruises, and broken bones splinted and bound in place to heal. The sights of Percy like this made her fall into the chair at his bedside, and clutch his hand. Her fingers moved gently with the beat of his slow, steady pulse. She twined her fingers with his and smiled, relief crashing down on her shoulders and heart with the weight of sky.

"Hey Seaweed Brain." She whispered, stroking his hair out of his face. "You are such an idiot, you know that? I can't leave you alone for a minute without you getting kidnapped, can I?" he continued to sleep, breathing soft and even. Gods, Thalia's call had brought a bought of panic on her, bringing with it memories of dark moments without Percy, deep in Tartarus. When she had been blinded and he had nearly died from gorgon poison deep in hell. When she had though he had abandoned her to her fate.

The memories, as always, forced her to suppress a shiver.

Someone behind her coughed politely, and she spun around in her chair, hands going to the bone dagger at her hip that hadn't left her side in the year.

The person who had coughed was a mortal, a man with round glasses perched at the end of his nose and a cut across his forehead that was bandaged. He looked unassuming and rather small, and he raised his hands so they hovered by his head. He was also sitting between Percy and Jason's cots, doodling on a scrap of paper in his hand.

"I'm sorry." He said, waiting until her hand fell away from the hilt of her dagger before continuing "You Romans seem to be a jumpy bunch."

She eyed the man, looking him up and down, but he didn't seem to be much of a threat. But appearances could be deceiving.

"I'm not Roman." She deadpanned, turning back to grip Percy's hand tightly in her own.

The man lowered his hands and offered "Sorry. I can't tell the difference between Romans and Greeks. Is there one?"

She nodded, not really paying attention to the man as Percy's eyes moved beneath his eyelids.

"I'm Bruce, by the way. Banner."

Annabeth glanced back at the mortal, demigod instincts already on edge. Bruce Banner was all over the news, except it wasn't this mild looking man wear spectacles. It was a giant, raging, hulking green monster. She sat on the edge of her seat, ready to attack if he showed even the slightest hint of attacking Percy.

Banner sighed and said "I get that reaction a lot. Don't worry, the Other Guy's under control."

Annabeth nodded and lowered the hand that had unconsciously risen to grip her bone dagger. She still waited for him to explode into a monster and try and bash her brains against a wall.

Bruce only smiled grimly, like he knew what she was thinking, and continued doodling what looked like complicated math problems on the page, but Annabeth's dyslexia made the numbers float around on the page.

But it wasn't the more pressing issue as of this moment.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, keeping herself between Percy and the mortal; Bruce.

Banner gave her a smile and said "Just keeping an eye on a teammate of mine."

Annabeth glanced over at Jason, who was sleeping as well on the cot next to Percy. He looked fine, just exhausted and in need of a few days sleep.

She have him a nod, and Bruce nodded back.

Percy's fingers twitched in her hand, and a soft sleepy smile stretched across his face.

Annabeth settled back in her chair, waiting patiently for Percy to wake up. A matching smile spread across her face, and she brushed back a strand of his messy black hair.

She had missed her Seaweed Brain these past two weeks.

But oh, would there be Hades to pay once he was awake.

*Camp Jupiter, California, close to seven*

Hazel POV

She couldn't put her finger on it.

It had been bugging her for the past few weeks-ever since Percy vanished, actually. But something had felt…off, about Camp Jupiter. Like there was a cold chill in the air at all times now. Something sinister hanging over the camp, waiting to strike.

She had seen a few campers acting strangely, not abnormally strangely, but a few campers standing in shadows talking amongst themselves, like there was this big conspiracy going around camp. And the longer Percy had been missing, the more campers started acting strange.

It was like an itch she couldn't scratch.

She just thanked the gods neither Frank nor Reyna seemed bothered by this weirdness that was going around camp like a sickness. She didn't know what she would do if they started acting weird. They were the supreme power in camp, after Lupa herself of course, but Lupa didn't really take an active role in running the camp, so it was just on Frank and Reyna's shoulders.

But still, whatever weirdness was going around camp, it was something bad. Almost sinister. And strangely enough, it felt a little familiar.

That, more than anything, set her nerves on edge.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she stepped around a small crater in the earth the size of a Roman shield and about as deep standing up. Several demigod children of Ceres were trying to heal the dirt and erase the holes, while other demigods just used shovels and their hands to refill the craters with whatever dirt was lying scattered around. Mostly probato. The sun was sinking behind the golden green hills. It was almost dark.

The destruction that had taken place was rather heart-breaking- especially since they had just finished re-modeling the camp from a few of Annabeth's architecture designs. It had really looked nice, even better than the original camp last year. Hazel hating seeing the camp being torn up.

The tingling in the back of her mind grew, like an itch in her brain she couldn't scratch. It grew until her mind buzzed like it was a beehive.

Her head pounded, and she dug her fingers into her temple, trying to sooth the aching, but it only seemed to increase, like a giant balloon was suddenly inflating in her head.

And as soon as it had started, the buzzing stopped, the headache vanished, and Hazel saw Belle standing in front of her, frowning at her.

She looked up at Belle, and the frown faded, almost like a mask had been slipped on over her real emotions. The expression changed to concerned, and Belle put a hand on her shoulder.

"You okay Hazel? You looked like you were in pain." Belle asked, sympathy and concern oozing from her voice.

Hazel eyed the daughter of Apollo hesitantly, suddenly on edge. She and Belle had never really talked-she was from the First Cohort, and the First had always held itself above the Fifth. She understood that Apollo kids liked to help out, but this was out of character for her.

Hazel shook her head, hands lowering from her temples to hang at her sides. "No, I'm fine. Just a headache."

Belle nodded, eyes flickering to glance over her shoulder, then back at Hazel's face. An odd look passed over her face, like Hazel was an odd puzzle she couldn't figure out.

The blonde shook her head and asked "Sure you're alright? I've got a few things for headaches in the infirmary, if you really want something."

Suddenly, Hazel didn't want to be near her. There was some sort of warning bell going off in her head, but for what reason, Hazel didn't know. All she knew was that something about Belle was suddenly bad news.

She took a half step back from the taller girl and gave the best smile she could.

"No thanks. I have to go… help with the clean-up." She smiled again, and Belle smiled back at her.

"Sure. Nasty mess those mortals left behind. I don't envy you." she laughed to herself and offered Hazel a wave before starting to back away.

"Well, if your headache comes back, don't be afraid to stop by." Belle called before jogging back to the infirmary. Hazel waved back and kept up the blinding smile until the blonde had disappeared back into the infirmary.

"Well, that was the most awkward conversation I've ever heard." A voice behind her mocked.

Hazel didn't even think. She pulled her spatha from its sheath and swung as she pivoted on her right foot, swinging it directly through whatever stood behind her.

"Hey, what the pointy weapons!" the man shouted, backing away from the point that had gone straight through him without leaving a mark.

Great. A mortal.

The man brushed off his black T-shirt with the letters ACDC on it, and shook his head.

"Are all demigods so jumpy? Maybe it's the godly genetics." He snickered and Hazel sheathed her spatha.

"Who are you?" she demanded, brushing a curl behind her ear as she tried to calm her racing heart. What kind of idiot snuck up behind someone, especially when armed!

The man held a hand over his heart and asked in a scandalized tone "You don't recognize me! But I'm famous! What is it with you demigods and living under rocks."

She scowled at the mortal. She had no time for his games. Something was going on with camp, and she intended to find out what was up. Especially with Belle.

The mortal was walking beside her as she tried to leave, keeping pace with her easily as she attempted to walk away.

"Well, let me educate you, young grasshopper. I am Tony Stark; billionaire, genius and part time super hero."

She rolled her eyes. This mortal was worse than Leo!

"Tony! Don't you have better things to do then bother people?" Another man's voice called, this one a tall blonde man with a round shield strapped to his back. He was walking with another blonde man, this one shorter than the first with sunglasses on and with the same expression as a rock. A woman was with them as well, with fiery red hair like Rachel from Camp Half-Blood, but hers was straight and she had a gun at her hip.

The trio approached, and the first man, Tony, gestured to the taller blonde and demanded "You have to know him. Captain America! World's oldest superhero, was a part-time popsicle for seventy years."

She did know Captain America. Everyone had heard of the Captain, with his face on all the posters around town. Sammy had always saluted the posters, and said he wanted to be like him one day, a soldier. The man looked like he hadn't aged a day from the 40s, almost like he had just walked out of the recruiting posters, and it was one more thing to remind her of her death.

She couldn't even look him in the eye.

She held her gaze to the floor and muttered "Yeah, I know him. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Brushing past the mortals, she continued on her trek to the infirmary. She wanted to check on Jason and Percy herself, to see if they were alright.

"Hey, ma'am! Wait up for a moment!" The Captain called after her, but she ignored him. Gods, he was everything she didn't want to think about. Especially not about Sammy. She thought she'd found closure with him.

Suddenly, the ground shook under her feet, and the windows in the infirmary ahead exploded out, shards of glass glittering in the fading twilight as they fell to the ground. Thunder boomed overhead, and someone shouted inside.

"PERCY!" she screamed, already running for the infirmary "JASON!"

*Camp Jupiter Infirmary, near midnight*

Percy POV

Percy was used to pain. He'd have to be, being a demigod and all, it was kind of an occupational hazard. But seriously, this headache was killing him.

Like someone had taken a giant whisk, shoved it in his ear, and turn his brain to mush, then blown up his skull from the inside.

It might have been graphic, but that's what it felt like.

He groaned deep in his throat, digging his head into the pillow and wishing to some god someone would just bean him over the head with a pillow- or go Olympian style and crack it open with an axe.

Now he knew how Zeus felt.

Pounding headache aside, Percy felt otherwise numb. Even his fingertips were tingling, like when he sat on his foot and everything was tingly and sleeping. It was a weird feeling, but it was better than the pain from before.

If he could only open his eyes and find a war axe to bash his head open with. Or drop back off to sleep. He was exhausted.

There was a creaking noise somewhere, and his ADHD instantly zeroed in on the sound, forcing his eyes open to see what it was.

The infirmary was dark, most of the demigods still occupying the beds only dark silhouettes in the faint light of the moon. Everything was a little fuzzy, so for all he knew, it could be a bunch of giant teddy bears sleeping in the beds rather than demigods, but even considering all the weird - really weird - stuff he'd seen, giant teddy bears was in a whole other ball park. Annabeth, he could see clearly, was sitting in the chair to his left, fast asleep and snoring softly, a curl of her hair moving every time she breathed.

Maybe the building was just creaking in the wind.

Pft, yeah right. Weird noises were never coincidence when he was around. Something was up.

The first attempt to sit up only resulted in his body reminding him that he had come back from a torture-chamber spree less than twenty four hours ago, and it did not appreciate moving. The second attempt got him half sitting, leaning against the headboard and breathing heavy.

Nothing moved in the blurry half-darkness.

His eyes were heavy with the need to sleep, and he almost let his eyelids sink shut again when the creaking noise reached his ears, forcing his eyes open again before the noise even registered in his brain.

Someone was standing over him.

His eyes widened and he reached to grab Riptide, sitting on the bedside table beside him, but he couldn't lift his arm. He opened his mouth to scream, shout, warn Annabeth, something, when a hand was clamped over his mouth. Something glittered in the darkness and he waited, expecting to feel the sharp tip of a dagger pressed against his throat. The person hovering over him was cloaked all in shadows, except for their glowing gold eyes that looked as cold as Imperial gold.

He tried to move again, but the hand clamped over his face held him down.

"Shhhh." The person murmured, a girl, and her teeth glinted as she smiled with the night. "Wouldn't want to get your girlfriend hurt, would you?"

He glanced at Annabeth, who was awake, the tip of the dagger held against her throat. She growled, the girl hissed "You make a sound, I'll slit her throat, then yours as well. So keep your mouth shut."

He gritted his teeth, anger simmering in his veins, and he felt a little feeble strength return to his deadened limbs.

"Who are you?" he asked in a hoarse whisper, and stopped himself from swallowing as the dagger tip dug harder against Annabeth's throat, drawing a pinprick of blood that slid down the sharpened tip of Imperial gold.

"Who I am is not important. Only know that since you will not serve my father willingly in life, you will serve him mindlessly in death." She hissed. She removed the hand covering his face, and reached into her pocket for something, taking her golden eyes off him for a moment.

He tried to rise, but the dagger tip lifted from Annabeth's throat, then the blade edge was laid against the artery in her neck, ready to slice through without a second's hesitation. The girl drew a needle from her pocket, the contents a dark, almost black green that sloshed and bubbled in the vial.

"A slow and assuredly painful death." She murmured, and smiled down at him again "Nothing less then what you deserve. You and your girlfriend, and all your demigod friends."

Percy lunged, grabbing the wrist holding the needle in one hand, while Annabeth swatted aside the dagger at her throat, and leaped from her chair to lunge at the girl.

The two went falling to the ground, but the girl kicked Annabeth in the gut, shoving her back until she hit the wall opposite. Percy recognized her now, in the fading sunlight.

It was Belle, the healer from before.

What in Hades was going on?
That thought barely crossed his mind before Belle loomed over him, suddenly going from lying on the ground to standing over him with less than a second passing between each. Adrenaline shot through his veins, and he sat up fully, grabbing the arm holding the needle and pushing it away with all his strength.

Her fist struck him in the jaw, but his grip on her arm didn't waver or weaken.

Belle grit her teeth and snarled at him, her eyes looking almost dead and a glassy gold, but then Annabeth was behind her, pulling her away and jabbing the hilt of the bone dagger into her gut, driving Belle's breath out of her lungs.

Annabeth gripped the front of her shirt and held the bone dagger tip to Belle's throat.

"What's going on?" she demanded, and Percy pushed himself upright, swinging his legs to the side and standing.

Seconds after standing, he thanked the gods somebody had put him in the standard Camp Jupiter shirt and sweats. That would have been really embarrassing if there had been nothing else other than the blanket.

"Who are you?" he croaked, all his wounds aching as he hobbled over. Belle hissed and laughed, a hoarse sound that had her throwing back her head.

"You foolish demigods know nothing!" she laughed, then grabbed Annabeth's hand, crushing it until she reluctantly dropped the bone dagger. She kicked Annabeth in the gut, pushing her aside and wielding the needle, lunged towards him and plunged the needle into his arm.

There was the faint hiss of the needle, and the feeling of cool liquid stirring in his veins as the poison- it had to be poison- was injected. Nothing happened for several seconds, and Belle's face had that crazy grin frozen on it.

Then something started burning inside of him, like molten lava was flowing through his veins instead of blood. His heart hammered against his ribs, almost breaking them, and Belle pushed him to the ground. The fire was growing, and he faintly heard Annabeth screaming, someone shouting his name, and the sound of shattering glass.

Percy didn't care about any of that right now. It didn't matter. He was on fire, burning alive, standing in the heart of a volcano with molten lava drowning him. This was worse than when he was in the heart of the volcano and he made it explode. This was far worse than the River Styx. This was far worse than Tartarus. It was like he had fallen into the River Phlegethon.

He had to put out the fire. He had to put out the fire!

He reached out for water, any water source nearby, but it felt like his powers had failed him. Percy couldn't touch the water. He couldn't quench the fire's pain burning him, scorching him to the bone.

He moaned and writhed, trying to escape the pain that was inside him. He screamed, because that was the only thing he could do.

Faintly he could see Annabeth hovering nearby, hands on his face, trying to calm him down. His vision was splotchy and fading, sometimes he saw double, and he caught sight of Tartarus hovering over Annabeth's shoulder once. But it wasn't important.

Nothing was more important than the fire.

He screamed again, his vision blacking out with pain. He knew Belle was still there, that Annabeth could be in trouble, but the fire was doing to turn him into nothing but a pile of cinders, smoking on the ground.

He caught her eyes once more before the fire turned white hot, white and black spots dancing before his eyes, then there was nothing but blackness.

God, I could not write that last bit. GAH! I'm frustrated with myself. I'm trying to put pain, confusion, and fear into that whole mess. If you picked up on it, congratulations, you can speak gibberish and messy writing.

I am terribly sorry for the delay, but everything kind of took a back seat with fanfiction due to the fact that my reality sucks and needed to be dealt with before I could write. Then the inspiration just came back now. I just typed out this entire thing in the past twelve hours.

So, totally within your rights to hate me. But I did get one message that worried me.

If any of you thought I was giving up on this fanfic, crumple of that idea, toss it in a garbage can, and set that thing on fire. Then launch it into space for good measure. I refuse to give up this story. I am putting my best effort into this, and it will be finished. I promise you. So don't give up on me yet.

Merry Christmas if you celebrate!