Disclaimer: I own nothing in the biggest way. In fact, the nothing that I own isn't technically mine. It's a loan from some very nice men named Risk Riordan, Joss Whedon, and some people at Marvel.

So… It's entirely possible that Cassie's reaction to Loki's invasion of Manhattan isn't exactly appropriate. For one thing, the one and only thing she absolutely does not do is panic. She is however, a little pissed off.

The reason that Cassie doesn't panic is in part because her father is Apollo the god of prophecy. Her precognition isn't as strong as an oracle's or even as strong as her little brother Austin's, but she still has some which means the invasion doesn't come out of nowhere. In fact, she starts having dreams about what Loki is doing two full days before the invasion happens. It's not much, but it's enough time for her to let Chiron know and get Paul and Sally Jackson evacuated with Percy's little sister Rosie.

Unfortunately, knowing ahead of time isn't actually enough to get much help in shoring up the defenses around Manhattan. It's early May and camp hasn't really started yet so all of the demigods except for the year-rounders are dispersed all over the country. Besides, other monsters use Loki's invasion as an attempt to breach in to the world, particularly in the Bay Area. The other gods and demigods of the world have their hands full, and Cassie is on her own in New York.

The second half of the reason that Cassie doesn't panic is that she's, you know, not exactly new at this. In fact, dealing with invading gods has been pretty much her entire life since she was a very small child. She's actually getting kind of sick of it. In the last decade of her life, Cassie's fought three wars and countless battles and it's her firm conviction that almost all of it could have been avoided if the gods were a little less idiotically dickish.

Cough, cough.

Of course what she means to say is, if the gods were a little less majestically removed from the struggles of humanity.

Right.

Anyway, between having done this before and being somewhat forewarned, Cassie seriously fails to panic when Loki and his army of aliens invade. This pretty thoroughly marks out her reaction as being incorrect. Well, "incorrect" might not be the right word. Maybe she should say "seriously anti-typical."

The reason for the pissed off part of her reaction should be fairly obvious. Two invasions on one city in six years was just plain excessive. And as far as she could tell it was all just over blown familial conflict

Family conflict between gods that dragged other people in to their problems isn't actually a new issue for her. In fact, godly family conflicts that kept on dragging other people in to their problems is pretty much a constant in her life. Admittedly the Norse thing is a little unusual. Most of the gods she handles are more of the Grecco-Roman persuasion. Still, a god is a god and after twenty-two years Cassie is about sick of them just dropping in on her life.

Besides, originally Cassie had had plans for her week. These plans had mostly been about work and med-school. They had not included fighting off a psychotic god and his alien army.

That's another thing, alien army? Seriously? What the fuck was that all about?

Since finding out she was a half-blood at age eight Cassie has seen a whole lot of weird shit. In the last fourteen years she's fought gods, monsters, titans, giants, and reincarnated evil members of ancient Roman triumvirates. It takes a whole lot to surprise her.

Aliens though…

That's enough to do it.

When the aliens arrive Cassie is serving coffee at a shop near Stark Tower and counting down the minutes until her shift ends so she could change and get to her lecture on treating gunshot wounds. Being a demigod that's not the kind of injury she's used to treating. Really, that walk and lecture is all she wants for the remainder of her day.

Of course, the universe has never before cared what she wants. Why on earth would it start now? So, instead of the universe letting her collect her tips, clock out, and change in to her regular clothes for a leisurely walk to class at Columbia, there's a freaking alien invasion.

Typical.

Really before the alien invasion her week looks pretty normal since her precognition doesn't come with an ETA. She goes from work, to class, and sometimes back again depending on the day. Then she goes home and buries herself in homework. Thank the gods most medical textbooks are chalk full of Latin and Greek otherwise it would be pretty much impossible.

She patrols three nights out of the first five in the week and picks off a few monsters. A few more try to jump her at weird times on the subway, but she takes them out without much trouble. Seriously, it's a normal week.

Of course there is that one weird situation with the blonde guy who runs smack in to her in the middle of times square. The man is big, over six feet tall and seemingly solid muscle. He pauses, apologizing profusely, and catches her before she has time to hit the ground. The moment gives Cassie time to get the impression of combed blonde hair and blue eyes before the man vanishes down the street. A moment later a practical fleet of black-suited men go by, apparently racing after him.

It is also entirely possible that Cassie's definition of normal is about as appropriate as her reaction to the whole, "alien invasion" thing.

Still, the world in which Cassie lives is being invaded by a hostile force and Cassie is a highly trained demigod warrior. So, she does what any highly trained demigod warrior would do. She swears up a Greek and English blue streak so wide it would make a bilingual Argonaut proud, drops the coffee pot she's holding, and starts trying to shepherd the panicking costumers to somewhere safe. That somewhere happens to be the bathrooms which probably don't smell great but are at the very least less likely to structurally collapse if something heavy and or explosive hits the building. Which is a situation that, from Cassie's experience, seems depressingly likely.

Once everyone else is hunkered down as much as they can be Cassie creeps back out in to the main portion of the restaurant and grabs her bag from behind the counter where all of the employees stash their stuff. There is screaming and the sounds of general carnage coming from outside but Cassie does her best to prioritize. Before she can help anyone else she needs to be ready. Growing up with Annabeth Chase taught her the benefits of strategic thinking.

Cassie pulls out the armor she's been carrying around since she got her first vision and after a quick glance around she strips of her yellow waitress uniform and changes in to it. Her armor was made for her specially by Jake Mason. It's lightweight dark leather interwoven and reinforced with celestial bronze and imperial gold. It's light enough for her to move and shoot freely but still strong enough to stop everything from blades and teeth, to arrows and claws.

She stands up and takes a solid moment to look out in to the street and survey the situation. It's impossible to see much besides a few people running by and the occasional chunk of falling debris. With a sigh, she prepares to leave the relative shelter of the cafe. Of course, she knows that the structure of the building won't actually offer much protection against say, an angry god. Still, a strong portion of Cassie's instincts are screaming that being inside is still safer than being exposed.

Oh well, self-preservative instincts exist to be ignored.

Cassie darts out the door so quickly that the bell at the top barely has time to chime before she's standing outside on the pavement. The sun is shining brightly that day and the warm rays soaked in to her hair and skin. If there has to be an alien invasion, at least it's happening on a day where she can be at full power.

She scopes the outside of the building and feels a twinge of satisfaction when she sees that the fire escape is still intact for the moment. With deft movements she grabs on and begins to climb. The steps are rickety and the railings are leaving flecks of rust on her palms. If it had been a less insane situation Cassie might have taken a moment to worry about weather her tetanus shot was up to date. As it is, she has bigger problems.

A few moments later her fingers can splay across the edge of the cement rooftop so she pulls herself up and over it. She claps her hands together to rub off the remaining flecks of rust and takes a moment to get a look around. Cassie has always preferred higher vantage points as most of her combat skills are more long range than they are close quarters. This rooftop is definitely better than ground level but it still isn't perfect. So much in Manhattan is taller than this little rooftop.

Still, now she can at least see the rest of the block. The obstructed view might have been nicer. Two highly destructive battles in six years are seriously not doing any favors for the city skyline. Cassie shudders to think of the cost of all of the property damage. If this pattern she keeps up she might seriously invent god insurance.

If Cassie wants a real vantage point of this battle she'll have to be both closer and higher up. With a running leap, Cassie launches herself over the far edge of the roof to the next building over. That building is close enough to the next one over to allow her to wedge herself between the two exterior walls and free climb it to the top. Using that method and frequently checking her sight lines Cassie systematically scales several stories before she actually stops moving.

When she does stop she finally has a clear view of most of the city and her heart is pumping the blood through her veins in a steady, pounding rhythm she can hear in her own ears. From this high up the cars look like match box toys and the people look an awful lot like ants. Thalia would definitely hate it if she were there.

Her newly established perch is littered with broken glass, cigarettes, and pigeon droppings but at least from here she can see. As she watches the hole in the sky seems to swell and expand and a fresh horde of aliens washes through. She's still too far away to see most of the details.

Cassie reaches up and grips the bow and arrow charm hanging just below the collar of her shirt. She spins the charm with a practiced motion and a moment later she's holding a golden yew bow and her quiver is a familiar weight against her back. The weapon had been a present from her father on her tenth birthday and she had carried it ever since. Unstringing the bow turned the weapon back in to a necklace and her quiver was enchanted to never run out of arrows.

The weapon feels warm and comfortingly familiar in her hands. Cassie notches her first arrow and takes aim at the hole in the ceiling of the world. She concentrates her vision on the vague outlines of the creatures gathering there and waits for her eyes to adjust. A moment later her vision jolts and sharpens. The picture clarifies like hitting zoom on a camera.

The moment brings a smile to her lips. The first time she had tried that particular trick she had been eleven and gotten dizzy and thrown up. Over a decade later and there's barely a moment needed to adjust to the shift in perspective.

Extreme close up vision doesn't improve the look of the aliens any. They are scaly, slimy, greyish-brownish-green creatures wearing some kind of armor that looks like it has been cobbled together from bits of ancient equipment and stuff from the space-age. Whatever, weak spots were weak spots and Cassie takes aim and fires.

"Huh," Cassie said, watching as her arrow found its mark. A spurt of greenish black blood comes from the creature's throat and it jerks once as it dies. "No disintegration," she comments to herself. "Good to know."

Now that she knows that the aliens can die, Cassie sets to work picking them off from her perch. She's far enough away that she figures she probably has about two minutes before the aliens start figuring out where the arrows are coming from. The mental countdown starts ticking the moment her first shot lands. In the end she gets one hundred and sixteen seconds before the first bit of her plan expires, which, for the overall shelf life of demigod plans, really isn't all that bad.

When the first aliens turn and begin zooming towards her on their weird air-jet ski things Cassie still steadfastly refused to panic. Instead, she very calmly kicks in the roof access door and finds herself immediately in a rather dark, very narrow stairwell. Cassie examines the steps and grimly concludes that it would take too long to run down them.

The building is however, equipped with a wonderfully convenient railing. Thirty seconds and a probably ill-advised nearly vertical slide later, Cassie is standing on the ground floor feeling not a little bit wobbly. The exact level of verticality involved in her method of descent may have been a little bit miscalculated.

A booming crash echoes from outside. Cassie spares a single moment to take a breath and center herself. She adjusts her grip on her bow one final time. Then she runs outside in to a war zone.

"Oh my gods," she breaths.

There really isn't anything else she can think of to say.

It isn't that there were still people running around panicking and banging off the walls. In fact, the street is totally and completely devoid of people. The streets are completely filled with rubble however. Bricks, mortar, and huge chunks of concrete are scattered all over the pavement which itself is now cracked and pitted. The sounds of fighting and panic that had originally drawn her out of the building seem to have moved by several blocks.

Of course, now that she's out in the open the squadron of aliens dispatched to deal with her have begun immediately zeroing in on her location. Cassie dives to avoid a pulse of nasty looking blue energy and came up shooting. Two of the bad guys drop immediately but three others are still alive and kicking after the initial volley. She picks off the first but the second rams in to her and Cassie goes airborne.

Her unplanned flight launches her straight through a glass store front and her whole body throbs. Her vision blacks out for a moment and all of the breath is knocked out of her lungs. Cassie hauls herself up, shaking glass fragments out of her clothes. More of it is stuck in the plait of her braid and she has what feels like a quarter of the window digging in to her skin. This is why her armor has long sleeves.

Upside. The store she's been thrown in to happens to specialize in sporting goods. After confirming that no aliens are coming in after her, Cassie helps herself to a hunting rifle and slings it across her shoulders with her quiver. The ammunition she zips in to one of the convenient pockets Jake had incorporated. Cassie normally doesn't like guns but this feels like the situation to use one. Her aim will be perfect either way.

Now as well armed as she could be without stopping off at home to pick up more weapons, Cassie climbs back out through the window she had been smashed through. Her skin starts to knit back together the moment she emerges in to the sunshine. The magic pushes the glass shards free, warming her skin as ruptured cells are knit back together and lost blood is rapidly replaced.

Any other repair work will have to happen on the move. Cassie leaves at a jog, not really knowing where shes going. She simply moves towards where the carnage and screaming seemes to be at its thickest, clearing a path as she goes.

A bolt of lightning splits the sky, striking a point two blocks away on one of the bridges. Gods she hates fighting on Manhattan bridges. What's so great about the damn things anyway? Her brother Michael had died fighting on a Manhattan bridge.

The smell of ozone assaults her nose and Cassie adjusts her course. Wherever the Norse god Thor is going, that's probably where the battle is at its thickest. It was also hopefully where anyone else capable of fighting off the invasion was.

Thor's presence also explains why none of the Greek or Roman gods have been willing to help. They would consider it a Norse problem and write it off completely unless it threatened their existence. Gods the gods' territorial tendencies were a pain in the ass.

If the battle drags on for long enough Cassie knows that the forces of Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter will eventually come to help. Of course that assumes that they will be able to fight off every other force of evil currently trying to invade the world. Privately Cassie was praying that the battle would be over before more help was needed. Her friends had done enough.

"How do we do this?" a woman with short red hair and a black leather combat suite is asking as Cassie approaches.

"As a team," answers a man who from the outfit can only be Captain America. Chiron keeps a vintage poster of the man on the wall in his study at Camp. Cassie vaguely remembers hearing a news story about his recovery in the ice. She winces involuntarily on his behalf. That had only been about a week ago, around when her visions of Loki started.

Thor grumbles, armor on and hammer in hand. "I have unfinished business with Loki."

"Yeah?" says the fourth and last member of the group. He's shorter than the other two men and wearing some form of battle gear that leaves his frankly huge biceps uncovered. A bow and quiver hang over his back and he holds three arrows in his grip, examining their points. His hand guard is configured for a lefty. Idly Cassie wonders if it's possible they're related. "Well get in line."

"Save it," Captain America snaps pacing away. "Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him, these things could run wild." He's still pacing and Cassie prepares to reveal herself. A tactics discussion and game plan is imminent and she'll probably need to be a part of it to be any help.

"We've got Stark up top," he continues, gesturing at the sky. Cassie supposes that that must be where Iron Man is at the moment. "He's going to need us to-"

He breaks off at the sound of an approaching motorcycle and the assembled group turns their focus to the newcomer. Cassie takes the opportunity to straighten up from behind the overturned car she's been using for cover and walk forward. She wants to get a good look at who this new person is too.

The new guy doesn't look like anything special to Cassie but his presence clearly means something to everyone else. It's just a man, probably in his mid-forties with dark hair that's flecked with gray at the temples. He's almost short at about five eight probably, with broad shoulders. His clothes don't quite fit him either. In short, the man could have been any professor Cassie had ever had at Columbia. Though if anyone knows not to judge people based on experience it's a demigod

"So," he says in a voice that is surprisingly soft. "This all seems horrible."

"I've seen worse," the red haired woman comments flatly.

So has Cassie. Wars tend to be messy and she tends to end up right in the middle of them a little more often than she liked. The man who looks like a professor looks at the woman apologetically. "I'm sorry."

The woman shakes her head. "No, we could use a little worse."

Making a split decision Cassie ducks low again and pulls out her headphones, slipping them in and adjusting the frequency setting on her phone. This particular object happens to be a joint gift from Apollo and Mercury, the Roman equivalent to Hermes. Mercury also happens to be her grandfather. Anyway, after a little fiddling she can hear everything that the assembled group is saying to one another.

The link comes online just in time for Cassie to hear Stark say "-Bringing the party to you."

Right on time Cassie sees the Iron Man suite flying straight down the street towards them followed closely by something that looks bizzarly like a metal plated flying boney whale. Cassie has never seen anything like it. And if you considered the fact that she had once fought an army of cereal grain spirits, that's saying something.

"I don't see how that's a party," the red-haired woman named Natasha mutters as Thor flips his hammer in his hand and Captain America adjusts his shield grip. Cassie agrees with Natasha whole heartedly and notches her bow with an arrow she's pretty sure will blow up when it hits its target. The different kinds of projectiles she carries got jumbled up in her quiver sometimes.

Captain America addresses the man who had arrived just after Cassie. "Doctor Banner, now might be a really good time for you to get angry." Cars are being flipped and buildings demolished as the beast draws closer.

Banner turns with a grim smile. "That's my secret Captain," he says. "I'm always angry." Then the man who had looked so much like a teacher or scientist, the kind of man Cassie wouldn't have blinked twice at on a random street began to change. His body grows and distorted until he seems at least fifteen feet tall. His skin turns a bright radioactive green and this new creature lets out a guttural roar.

The Hulk catches the alien creature with a single hand to the face, like a football player performing a block. The thing begins to flip, it's body armor flexing and bending in on itself. "Hold on!" Stark shouts over the line, zooming in front of the rest of them to fire off some kind of missile. Cassie has spent enough time hanging out with Leo Valdez to take cover like a pro which she does.

By the time the air has cleared of fire and dust Cassie notes that the others have formed a loose circle. It's an old tactic but it does have its merits. This way they'll see everything and it's unlikely the aliens will be able to sneak up on them. Cassie begins scouting around for a new perch.

As a new wave of aliens come through the portal they snap back in to motion. "Call it Captain," Stark invites.

The Captain takes the floor immediately. His voice is completely confident as he begins to give orders and Cassie listens carefully. Between Annabeth and Frank she knows how critical the exact details of a plan are to a good tactician, and Captain America if the history textbooks she studied growing up is most certainly that.

"Alright listen up. Until we can close that portal our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof," he points to indicate a tall building with a good view and stable ledge to shoot from. "Eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays." Barton nods.

"Stark, you've got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out you turn it back or you turn it to ash."

Baton looks over at Stark. "Wanna give me a lift?"

Stark nods and moves towards him, griping the archer by the elbows. "Right. Better clench up Legolas." The two take off with a burst of the thrusters on Stark's suite.

Cap continues outlining his strategy. "Thor," he says. "You've got to try to bottle neck that portal. Slow them down. You've got the lightning, light the bastards up. "Thor doesn't respond verbally but he begins to spin his hammer in a circle so quickly it blurs. A moment later he has taken to the sky as well. The only people left on the ground now were her, Natasha, the Hulk, and the Captain himself.

"Natasha," he said. "You and me we stay here on the ground. We keep the fighting here."

Cassie grins in spite of herself as she picks her perch. The sun pounds down on the back of her neck and she focused on the power of the rays, feeling the warmth permeate every single part of her. A moment later her skin was practically thrumming with power. This part could actually be kind of fun. She winks out of existence in a flash of golden light and reappears on a building ledge some seventeen stories above the rest of the battle. She brings the rifle up to her shoulder. Time to get to work.

For a while after that she loses track of time. She fires shot after shot with her rifle but before long she runs out of ammunition and switches back to her bow. She fires explosive arrows, sonic cry arrows, ones that split in to multiple heads and deliver electric shocks. Cassie even fires off a few that spew paint and root beer that had been gifts from the Party Ponies. The only thing she steers deliberately clear of is Greek fire. The destruction of the city is bad enough already without throwing in fire that can't be put out

Cassie looks around as she fires and let her vision wander, spin, and zoom to survey the scene. Barton points Stark to where Thor is blasting a squadron of aliens with charges of lightning. Stark flies off to join in and Cassie flips her vision in to focus on Natasha and Captain America who are being slowly circled by the enemy.

She fires off a few shots, taking down some of the circling enemies. It clears the way for Captain America and Natasha to keep moving. "Nice one Barton," the captain calls and Cassie swears, flashing to a different rooftop. She had been trying to avoid drawing attention to herself. Norse gods invading is bad enough. She totally doesn't want to have to explain the whole demigod deal. Luckily for her the battle seems to be too chaotic for any of the other combatants on team Earth to try to figure out the source of her mystery arrows.

The fight continues and Cassie dedicates herself to picking off any alien who gets too close to a civilian. She uses her powers carefully, firing arrow after arrow. When she doesn't have time to fire her bow she uses her magic instead.

In some ways Cassie is really very lucky. Apollo may be a shitty dad but he did bless her with a certain abundance of power at birth in anticipation of the prophecy of eight which probably should have been called the prophecy of ten given the amount of work Reyna and Nico put in. Thanks to some solid pre and post birth blessing plus the extra infusion of godly blood on her mother's side from Mercury Cassie has a bit more power over light and sound than her siblings.

Normally she keeps a pretty solid lid on her abilities for the sake of keeping a low profile, but if ever there is a time to use magic an alien invasion is probably it. Besides, with Loki leading the army and Thor flying around manipulating the weather a little bit more godly power from her probably isn't going to stick out so much. At least no monster of Tartarus have chosen to make an appearance.

Cassie pulls out all the stops, taking as many risks as she dares. She focuses light to create lasers and sets several aliens on fire that way. If any aliens get too close to her Cassie either gives them a slice and dice treatment or blasts them backwards with sound waves. A few times she borrows a trick from will and emits a whistle of sonic proportions. It would be a lie to say that seeing the aliens explode in a shower of greenish-black gick doesn't give her a sense of nearly visceral satisfaction.

Sooner or later the battle will have to end though. Cassie can't keep firing forever magically or otherwise. She can do a lot more than a mortal, more than some demigods too if she's being honest, but she can't keep it up forever. Channeling too much magic will eventually burn her up, and Cassie isn't sure how much longer she can last.

Mere moments after the thought crosses her mind a sonic bam sends an atomic level shockwave through the entire city and Cassie knows instinctively that it's the effect of a nuclear bomb going off somewhere far away. The ground doesn't shake but Cassie is more sensitive to vibration and wave change than most and she feels the ripple from her toes to the crown of her head. It is, too put it mildly, extremely unpleasant.

The full truth of it is that she feels like her entire body has been changed in to a tuning fork. Each of her bones vibrates so hard her teeth click and her head aches and a moment later her vision blacks out but she doesn't lose consciousness. In her experience unconsciousness is normally substantially less painful. Shit starts hurting after you wake up again.

She doesn't know how long she's out but when the pain recedes she finds herself collapsed on the pavement. Her bow lies on the ground a few feet away but at the moment Cassie isn't sure if she could fire it anyway. Sharp pain radiates through her hands and feet and Cassie's more medical senses inform her helpfully that the vibrations have put several dozen fractures in to the smaller bones that make up her fingers and toes. They'll heal pretty fast but Cassie isn't going anywhere until they are.

At least the battle seems to be over. Around her are the bodies of multiple aliens which seem to have died Phantom Menace style when the bomb went off. A good look around as her vision settles out tells her that the explosion happened far enough away to prevent more structural damage and falling debris in the city.

With a pained sigh Cassie hauls herself in to a sitting position and scrubs a hand over her face tiredly. It's not running a marathon but considering what she'd done already that morning it still feels like an accomplishment she can be proud of. Her fractured bones jolt as the pieces click in to place and Cassie can't help but wince. No matter how many times she's done it, re-growing her own bones still hurts like a bitch.

Cassie remains seated for a few more moments after the healing is over to make sure the patchwork on her bones is solid. Besides, sitting still is finally letting the adrenaline high she's been riding since that morning crash and suddenly she's tired in the soul smothering way that only comes from drawn three-sixty combat. It's also an after effect of heavy magic use and Cassie reaches for her quiver and the emergency ambrosia square she keeps in the bottom of it.

The square is a little bit smashed but fortunately godly food didn't need to look nice to be edible. Cassie considers for a moment and then breaks the square in half and pops it in to her mouth. The taste of hot chocolate with cinnamon and vanilla biscotti spreads across her tongue as warmth spreads down in to her stomach and all the way in to her fingers and toes. Her heartbeat picks up and Cassie registers her temperature spike. Eating half the square only had been a good call.

With a grunt, Cassie scrambles ungracefully to her feet. Her knee gives a frightening click as a fragment of her patella pops back in to place. Cassie mashes down the uncomfortable notion that it previously hadn't been attached and she hadn't noticed. In her book, it's now fixed so whatever.

It takes her a few moments but she manages to orient herself and find her way back to the café where she had started her morning. On the way she turns her bow back in to her necklace and field strips the riffle she had "borrowed". She cleans the pieces and tosses them as she walks, leaving a trail of violent bread crumbs behind. Like Gretel from the fairytale. If Gretel had been hip with modern warfare.

She also pulls off as many pieces of armor as she could. Now that the aliens are gone it wouldn't be long before the mortals started coming out to try to rebuild and help the wounded. That's what mortals did. They suffered great tragedy and then they reset and started over again. It's a resilience that Cassie admires every time she sees it, and it's one that almost all gods failed to value correctly.

The point is Cassie doesn't want some brave average Joe to walk outside and freak at the sight of a twenty-two year-old in battle armor. She isn't sure how strong the Mist is at the moment but she's willing to bet that whatever can be seen through it isn't that pretty. No need to add to the impending hysteria.

After stopping at the café to pick up her bag Cassie double times back to her apartment to ditch her armor. A quick glance at herself in her bathroom mirror shows her that she looks every bit as messed up as she feels. Her clothes, hair, and exposed skin are covered in grime and gore. Thankfully the constituents of the cafe had been evacuated on Captain America's orders and no one had been there to freak out earlier. In Cassie's book that's miracle number two of all of the post battle timeline. Miracle number one had been that her apartment building was relatively unscathed.

Cassie gives her hands and face a quick splash to rid them of the worst of the grime and finger combs a few of the bigger chunks of glass out of her hair. She figures she probably looks a little less frightening now which is good. People don't let doctors treat them when their doctors are frightening.

The medical bag she keeps ready in her apartment at all times is large and comprehensive. It's a big messenger bag made out of dark leather and contains everything from bandages and gauze, to sewing kits and glue, to rubbing alcohol and Neosporin. At least, that's the majority of it. There's a level lower down for demigod treatment that holds nectar, ambrosia, and unicorn draught. It's too large to carry every day without it being considered odd so she only ever pulls it out when she's working medic duty.

And for the next several hours that's what she is; a medic.

She seeks out injured civilians and policemen…really anyone who got on the wrong end of rubble, explosions, or alien weapons and does whatever she can to help. Sometimes there's debris to shift through but she does it more easily than a mortal might so she commits herself and gets it done. Cassie stitches, cleans, and binds cuts. She relocates joints, wraps sprains, and even sets bones.

Mostly she doesn't use any magic. Part of Chiron's important protocol is that they don't use their powers on mortals. Cassie makes a few exceptions in certain cases when she can be sure that there are no witnesses and that she can help. She does it sparingly and paces herself to avoid exhaustion.

Cassie attaches a severed arm and re-inflates a crushed lung. She heals one man with third degree burns all over his face and one eye almost melted shut. Once she fixes a cracked skull and then later the spinal cord of a little girl she finds have crushed by a fallen telephone pole.

She makes her way through the city that way for as long as she can but after three hours she's reaching her limit. The last of the godly food that she can safely take is long gone and Advil isn't really cutting her headache anymore. A glance up shows her that the sun has almost completely vanished in to the horizon and night is creeping in which explains why Cassie's running on empty. Sooner or later she'll have to stop and right now it's looking like sooner.

A singular Shwarma joint situated between a laundromat and a comic book store catches her eye because the lights are still on. It seems impossible but the place is somehow still open. "Wow," Cassie mutters, feeling impressed. "That is one stubborn falafel vender." She wonders idly if the owners are related to the people who run Fadlan's over in Boston.

That reminds her. The next time she has a free weekend she needs to have a talking to with some people over that way. The Norse gods are supposed to be a problem for the Boston based warriors of Valhalla, not New York City demigods. Annabeth probably won't mind if she only beats her cousin Magnus a little bit. Hades, once Annabeth gets a look at the architectural damage involved here she might lend Cassie a hand.

With a sigh she takes a step forward. "Last one," she promises herself. "One more building Cassie and then you go home." She knows that talking to yourself isn't normally a good thing but Cassie doesn't have anyone else to talk to right now and saying it out loud makes it more real. If the words don't have sound and shape they can still be ignored. Out loud they are a deal with an end she has to uphold.

People are moving around inside the building, casting long shadows across the glass. Cassie thinks that's a good sign. Movement usually means that any injuries aren't life threatening. Besides, the movements are slow and steady which probably means that they aren't being made by somebody panicking.

The door opens under her fingers with barely any pressure and Cassie just about falls through it. The bell above her head tinkles and the sound is so incongruous with everything else in her day that it kind of makes her want to laugh. A crunch comes from below her feet as she steps on a piece of broken glass and the laugh dies in Cassie's throat before it can ever pass her lips.

The windows are blown out and Cassie is pretty sure that the glass they used to be made out of is currently forming the restaurant's new carpet. A chunk of the carpet seems to have been blown apart and the lights overhead flicker every few seconds. However, that's not the most shocking thing about the scene that greats her.

No, the most shocking thing is just how calm everybody inside the Shwarma joint seems to be.

An elderly man with grey hair and a teenaged boy who might have been the man's son are sweeping placidly. A woman in a hijab is cooking behind the counter. The only customers are seated in the middle of the room where a few tables have been pushed together to make one. They also happen to be the very people Cassie's been listening to over the special application on her phone for the last several hours as they coordinated to defend Manhattan.

Stark, Natasha, and Banner look up when she enters and Barton has an arrow aimed at her neck before she can blink. He's a quick draw and it crosses her mind that it's possible the archer might be related to her somehow. Cassie thinks it's a testament to how tired they all must be that she hasn't already been shot, hulked on, given a face full of patriotic shield, or blasted by repulsers and lightning.

As it is, Clint puts his weapon down as soon as he sees that her hands are at shoulder height, palms open. She's clearly unarmed and must look a bit like she's been hit by a semi-truck. Overall, clearly not a threat.

Natasha looks her up and down and then turns away. Banner regards her with tired brown eyes and then goes back to picking at the pita bread in front of him. Thor doesn't even seem to register her presence around his sandwich which is probably good because Cassie has no idea how to explain her existence right now. Captain America looks asleep in his plate and Stark just fixes her with inquisitive eyes.

"Can we help you somehow?" he asks. He tries to sound smug and dismissive but Cassie has seen enough battle fatigue to know what it looks like. She also happens to know that the best way to deal with smartass comments at a time like this is to just push on past it.

"If I move is someone going to blast me or something?" she asks. It might not be the most sensitive thing to say but it gets her message across. Cassie decides to take the lack of response as an assurance that she can move without provoking violence so she drops her hands and gestures to her bag which at this point is cutting in to her shoulder pretty badly. Actually the weight is starting to cut off her circulation and her fingers feel numb and kind of tingly. "I'm a medic. Is anyone here injured?"

Stark glances around at the assembled group. "Uh… yeah. Try pretty much all of us."

Cassie nods, kneels down and starts unloading the contents of her bag. It's a series of motions she's performed countless times in the last few hours and she ignored the jab of pain she feels as she hits the ground and a sliver of glass cuts in to the skin of her knee. She winces but finishes unloading on autopilot, running an inventory on her supplies. Hopefully she'll have enough left to treat this group.

She looks up. "Who's first?" she asks, running her gaze over the group members. Blood is crusted along Stark's temple and Barton has his foot propped on the back of Natasha's chair. Either seem like they could be decent places to start. They both nod their permission and Cassie goes to work as efficiently as she can.

Stark's cuts are pretty easy to treat. Most head wounds look worse than they actually are and once the blood is off there's a nasty bruise and a decent cut but nothing too critical. She shines a light in his eyes and diagnoses a concussion based on pupillary response. "Don't sleep for more than three hours at a time for a little while," she warns.

The man goes to protest but Banner quells him with a look. "I'll tell whoever looks after him tonight and keep an eye on him until then," he tells her. Cassie wonders if maybe the man is a physician in another life but either way he seems capable of doing what he says so she moves on.

Barton's ankle is a wrap and pack job which she carries out in four minutes flat. A look at his head brings the concussion count up to two and Cassie pulls the contents of a plate glass window out of his arms. The only note she gives him is, "maybe think about sleeves next time you jump through a window."

Natasha is remarkable unscathed and all she really needs is some burn salve and a few stitches. Cassie applies them and leaves after care instructions before she moves on. Thor is snoring contentedly by the time she's done working on Natashsa and Cassie feels satisfied she's done a good job.

Then she notes the pool of blood spreading from below Captain America's chair. He's been silent the entire time and Cassie had assumed he was asleep but now she thinks that assumption might have been wrong. Drops of scarlet are leaking down from his side, soaking in to the fabric of his uniform and adding to the puddle on the floor.

A few cusswords spring to mind for immediate use but Cassie doesn't say them. For one thing swearing won't help and for another they're in Greek which might raise more questions than she's ready to answer. Instead she stumbles over holding tweezers, gauze, tape, and rubbing alcohol. She doesn't know how super soldiers heal but something is keeping Captain America bleeding which means it's probably really bad.

As lightly as she can Cassie lifts Captain America's arm and prods his side. What she finds there isn't good. A sizable chunk of rebar is embedded in his flesh just under his ribs. The blood on the floor is dripping of the edge of the metal like sap being tapped from a maple tree.

In a word, ouch.

Cassie glances up at him and presses against the wound again. "Can you feel that?" she asks. "Pain, the pressure, anything?"

The Captain shrugs which Cassie translates to mean Yes it hurts but I didn't know how bad it was and was planning to just tough it out until it felt better. She rolls her eyes and bites her tongue to hold of the rant she wants to deliver on proper medical care. Instead she shrugs and says, "Well if you didn't feel anything before you're about to."

Movements economical, Cassie gets a grip on the end of the rebar with her tweezers and pulls it out. The pull is clean, the angle steady, and the metal slides free in one piece with a sickening shick. With the obstruction removed blood begins to seep from the cut below but Cassie packs the gap with gauze, applies pressure, and hopes she's gaged the healing factors at play correctly.

The first pad of gauze she uses soaks through quickly as does the second. Cassie does her best to stem her natural reaction but she's too tired to repress it completely. A single spark of magic escapes her, running down her arm and fingers in to the skin near the wound. It sinks in and the Captain jolts, dislodging the gauze pad.

"Sorry," she says quickly. "That happens sometimes. Electrostatic shock." She rocks back on her heals and reaches for her rubbing alcohol. Then she pauses, wondering if Captain America can even get infections. She thinks about asking but the good Captain seems half asleep again and Cassie isn't sure if he even knows his own middle name right now. To be on the safe side Cassie splashes the cut anyway and tapes a new gauze patch over it.

She pushes herself back up to standing and sways as black spots dance in her vision. Calories and sleep both need to happen sooner rather than later. Sooner if she has anything to say about it. Her next step wobbles and Cassie grips the back of a chair to stay upright. Dimly she registers that a small stream of blood is soaking the fabric around her knee. It isn't healing as quickly as normal and consuming anymore godly food might literally set her on fire. And flames are not a good look if Leo is anything to go by.

A hand lands on her arm and Cassie would have jumped and possibly judo flipped the culprit if her energy reserves weren't already crashed at far below zero. "Have a seat," Natasha says, gesturing towards an empty chair that's been pulled up between her and Captain America. The woman doesn't give her much of a choice and Cassie isn't anywhere near fighting condition so she goes with the pull.

As soon as Cassie's seated exhaustion washes over her in one long wave. There's a little voice in the back of her head screaming at her to keep moving but the tiredness drowns it out. Instead of getting up and sprinting out of the restaurant Cassie curls up, drawing her feet off the ground and tucking them beneath her. Her knee is still bleeding but for the moment Cassie decides to ignore it in favor of picking at the plate of chicken shish kabob that lands in front of her without her having to order it.

The food is delicious and Cassie doesn't fully realize how hungry she is until she starts eating. She digs in and makes a mental note to burn an offering for the gods when she gets home later just to be on the safe side. Two plates and three large glasses of water later Cassie finally feels as though she might actually have enough calories in her to manage walking home without passing out.

"Thanks for the food," Cassie says. It's aimed at the group in general and possibly the super-tough kitchen staff but she's got a feeling Stark's probably the one paying the bill. Actually she kind of hopes that the owners of this place will wake up tomorrow to find an extra-large cash deposit in their account tomorrow curtesy of Super Heroes Incorporated.

She rises and Banner moves with her, holding out a hand to shake. Cassie glances around and realizes that he does it because pretty much the entire rest of the table is passed out. Captain America is resting his head on his palm, eyes shut. Natasha is using Barton's book as a pillow and Barton himself is reclined with his arms crossed over his head breathing the deep breaths of the truly exhausted. Thor is awake but seems deeply invested in consuming some sort of lamb and rice dish and Stark is staring blankly at the wall like it's suddenly become extremely interesting.

Cassie takes Banner's outstretched hand and shakes it. The man's grip is purposefully gentle like he's afraid to grip too hard and Cassie thinks how terrifying it must be to not know how strong you are in your own body. "Thank you for the medical attention Doctor," he says. "I'll make sure to wake them up in a few hours."

"I'm not a doctor yet," Cassie says. "Just finishing my second year of med school."

The man smiles. "Well good luck. I hear third year's the hardest but it's worth it." With that Cassie realizes that Banner, no matter what he turns in to when angry is a doctor. The creature who destroys is also a man who in some capacity or another heals.

If this conversation were occurring under any other circumstances Cassie might have gone in to an involved discussion about what her future hopes were. She would have talked about what she wants to learn next year and the hospitals she's considering doing her internship and residency in. Now though, all she has energy for is a last nod and an exhausted half smile. These things don't cost anything so she gives them freely and then makes for the door.

The movement seems to jerk Stark out of whatever daze he'd been in and he calls after her, stopping her in her tracks. "Are you walking home through the city disaster zone?" he asks incredulously. He stands and continues speaking as he walks. "You know, the one still filled with people panicking and structural instability?"

"I can take care of myself," Cassie replies. Without realizing she's done it, her fingers go to the pendant at the hollow of her throat. "After all, today I survived an alien invasion. Not to jinx it too epically but I don't think much else can possibly happen to me today."

Stark makes a humming noise like a computer processing. "Not good enough," he concludes. "You did us a solid. People who help us out don't have to walk home." He pulls out a cellphone which immediately makes Cassie take a step back. She has slightly better luck with mortal technology than some demigods being the granddaughter of Mercury, but broadcasting signals around her location is still never advisable. Cellphones are generally an unnecessary risk.

This time she can't argue the results.

Instead of an unspeakable Greek monster from legend coming to eat her for a late night snack, a driver in a town car arrives to collect her and drive her home. Where Tony Stark manages to procure that kind of car with a matching suited driver directly post-alien invasion Cassie would never know. She supposes the phrase "more money than Gods" has credence after all.

The car is wonderful. Its air conditioned to the perfect temperature and the seats are softly textured leather. Cassie gives the driver her address and kicks back, figuring she'll at least enjoy the experience. It'll be the silver lining on her exceedingly screwed up day.

When they pull up in front of her apartment building Cassie thanks the man who drove her and climbs out. The stairs up to her floor seem to present more of a challenge than they ever have before and she takes them at a snail's pace. Cassie has never hated her building's lack of an elevator more than she does in this moment.

Once she's in her apartment all Cassie wants to do is collapse in to bed and sleep for a week. Unfortunately, she has something she has to do first if she wants to avoid the gods getting pissed with her, which as it happens she very much does. She flips on the gas burner on her stove and says the necessary blessing. When the magical flame is glowing with a merry golden light she throws in an apple, a bagel, a scoop of Sally Jackson's seven-layer dip, and a bag of M&Ms. The items vanish in to the flames and Cassie sends out a general thanks for helping me not die prayer. It's possible she should be more specific but right now she's too tired to bother so that'll have to be good enough.

With that out of the way Cassie drags herself through a scolding hot shower. The water feels amazing on her tense muscles and the smell of her shampoo is calming. Then she stumbles over to her bead and collapses on top of it. Her last thought before passing out is that it might be time to transfer out of New York and finish school somewhere a little less insane.

D.C is supposed to be nice this time of year.

A/N:So that's the end of the chapter. It might be the end of the story if no one is interested in reading anymore. If you want more I have a rough idea in my mind of where to go next. I kind of set it up there at the end. So, if it sucked, let me know. If you want to see what happens when our girl Cassie is living across the hall from Captain America, let me know that too. I'm open to suggestions and you should know that more Percy Jackson characters will make appearances. I have some good plans for Rachel Dare. I also have some nice plans for Bucky and an altered timeline where team dynamics are changed up a bit. Either way, Review for me! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo