CHAPTER ONE:
(PETER PARKER)
"Yo, Spidey, pass me the hydroelectric converter tightener." Tony Stark, also know as Iron-man, asked impatiently. It has been three days since Nick Fury told us to track down a possible Index participant.
What is the Index? It's a list of all the known people with special powers and abilities that SHIELD keeps an eye on. I was on it, but since they decided to put me on Avengers initiative (after all the fun) they didn't really bother with me anymore.
The guy's name is Perseus Jackson, black unruly hair that goes to the nap of his neck, and intense green eyes that change color, like the ocean itself. SHIELD first had an eye on him when he turned twelve and was putting the whole country in a nation wide manhunt, only to be caught in the end and be let go, because 'dangers man had him and a few other kids captive'. In that time he had blown up quite a few things, like the St. Lewis Arch (which Tony and I had to admit it was freaking awesome, especially when he jumped and didn't even to be hurt at all). Then the same three people where spotted all through out the country doing other harmful, sometimes terrorist, acts, but never getting caught or blamed for it.
That's when things got scary. Last year, in the summer, before the Avengers and the chautari hit it off, the whole of New York went dark for at least a few days. And not just a power serge. It was a 'People-serge'. It was like some one had drugged the whole city at the same time. Then in the morning of the last day, only the block around the Empire State Building was 'dark'.
There are different theories of what happened. Some say they say teenagers holding their own against hordes of monsters. Others just say a dense cloud of white mist covering everything. Though they all say one boy, seeming to not have a scratch on him, but was the main target and the commander of the troops. It was like some kind of war.
Everyone just sort of forgot about it, not wanting to tell anyone else in case they were thought to be crazy. That was, of course, after the chautari invaded New York and the Avengers came along. Then those stories about Perseus Jackson came forth again, in whispers and no one knew his name, or what he looked like, not really.
"Ah HA." Tony startled me out of my thoughts. "No wonder SHIELD couldn't find him."
"Why not?" I asked, looking at the hi-tech holograms of Perseus's pictures of multiple schools and police records (though none actual 'his fault').
"He's in the stone age. No Facebook, No Twitter, No Kikk, Not even a cell phone or email. This kid has gone so off the grid." Tony looked amazed at the limited information.
"Then where did you get the pictures?" I asked, picking up the oldest one of a five year old smiling at the camera with a grin missing a few teeth.
"School, That's the only thing we got him for. School, and he wasn't a straight A student Peter, you wouldn't like him." Tony smirked. "Though he drops off the face of the Earth about a year ago."
"Maybe he just dropped out of school?" I pointed out.
"Nope, there are filled missing reports for him, though we do have an address for his mother's and stepfather's apartment, maybe we could see if they aren't still in contact?" Tony shrugged.
"OK, lets go tell the rest of the team and head out." Thank god, I was started to feel cramped in his cluttered (oh sorry, organized Chaos) lab thing.
(PERCY JACKSON)
"I tried I swear I got a few hours." I said. My mother was evil. I know, I know. The first time you meet her, she was the most amazing person on the face of the Earth, and she still is. It's just that she won't let me have any of her blue chocolate-chip cookies until I get some sleep. And she won't believe me until 'the deep dark luggage under my eyes are turned to hand clutches'. What ever that's supposed to mean.
"Wow, I know your mother's cooking is good, but begging on your knees, Percy, seriously." I shot my step-dad, Paul, a glare, trying to make it less terrifying, but I still see him shrink back into the couch a bit, which makes me feel guilty.
"Percy, I have been your mother for 17 long years, and yes you aren't around a lot, but I know when you are lying, go get some rest now, or I will go in there and watch you sleep." She threatened, pointing to my room. I sighed and shuffled to my room, head hung low, and still on my knees.
It wasn't that I didn't like sleep, it was just, I couldn't sleep. If I did nightmares and flash-backs, and even Tartarus himself would torture me in my sleep. It was more harm than good, so a few weeks of sleep deprivation, and I was still going strong, or I thought I was.
See camp had sent me back home, because once they noticed I wasn't doing anything and was haunted by all this stuff, and nothing was getting better, well, they thought my mom could help, and little time away from the hectasy of it all.
I tried to tell them that I need something to do, to keep my mind preoccupied on life/death situations, because that had been my life since I was twelve, even before then with my first step-father Gabe. Though they thought that relaxing would help more.
I curled up onto the uncomfortable soft bed and squeezed my eyes shut, hoping sleep would sweep me away, before I changed my mind. It didn't. I stayed there, curled up, it was pretty cold, but I was too drained to get the blanket from the floor. Anyways, I would just kick it off again. I kept my eyes closed, but that proved to be bad. Faces of the dead campers who feel during the wars and battles flashed through my head, most I could remember their names to and their attitude and behavior, but other's I don't even remember asking them their names at Camp, which was horrible. And even more I didn't know from the Roman camp. I felt tears fall from my eyes as more and more people were seen, Hunters, Amazon's, Party Ponies, Pegasi, demigods, Wood nymphs, naiads, dryads, everyone. Soon even people I knew were alive and safe flashed behind my eyes showing me gruesome deaths until I was whimpering softly.
I didn't know when I fell asleep, maybe it was when the faces where flashing in my vision, maybe it was before then, but I woke up in terror. My own mother was stroking my hair lovingly and I jumped up like she had a knife to my throat.
"Shh, it's OK Percy, calm down." She shushed, pulling me tight into a hug. I wrapped around her just as tight and felt tears threaten to spill.
"It's all my fault." I choked. "They're all dead because of me."
"Oh no honey. They dead protecting this world, protecting their families, you are the reason they didn't die in vain. They dead knowing a good friend and a great leader was there to finish what was started, and it's all over." She always knew what to say. The tears finally fell and I was sobbing into her shoulder like I used to do when I was younger.
"What's wrong with me?" I sobbed. "Everything is so bad. The nightmares and the flashbacks. I can't sleep in total silence, but with noise it seems ten times more impossible. Everything makes me jump a-and everyone looks at me like I'm about to crumble into dust at the slightest touch." I was hysterical now, not realizing how much sleep I had really lost and it was all crashing down on this one moment, all the realizations and all the things that should have hit me a few weeks ago came into light now. "Everyone is treating me like a glass doll, say something wrong, he'll break. Touch him wrong, he'll break. Conner and Travis won't prank me anymore. Clarissa won't attack me anymore. Everyone is whispering behind my back, and I tried to ignore it, I-I can't."
"Percy, you have been through more than anyone could imagine, even Annabeth. They just don't know how to handle it. I'm sure their not doing it on purpose." My mom soothed.
"Y-you're right. It's just that, everyone has been trying to put everything back to the way it was, quests, chariot races, capture the flag, everything, but me." I sighed. I was truly exhausted. Soon I was drifting to sleep still wrapped around my mother's warmth.