Look who's back with another multi-chapter fic? Me of course! This is one going to be relatively confusing, considering it is a Percy Jackson and Marvel crossover. Now that I said that, let me clear up a few things.

IMPORTANT:
- The events of this fic are placed five years after Blood of Olympus in the Percy Jackson world. Events are the same unless specified as something different.
- In terms of Marvel, this fic is set after the Avengers but before Captain America: The Winter Soldier, before Thor: The Dark World and before Iron Man 3. The events of those three movies may occur during the fic as it progresses or not at all. Multiple things have changed therefore if events of those movies take place, they occur slightly differently in regards to the fic's parameters.
- Do not take Marvel's: Agents of SHIELD into account as that will have no relevance to this fic (unless I specify the appearance of a certain character *cough* who isn't dead *cough*)
- The Amazing Spider-Man will play into this story, following the events of The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
- The Guardians of the Galaxy will not be mentioned, and henceforth think their existence void unless otherwise specified.
- The X-Men will probably not be integrated in this fic by name, although mutants will most likely be mentioned. Any characters or references will be taken only from X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past in order to simplify things.

I think that's everything, but if I forgot to mention anything else important than I will surely mention it later. Expect weekly updates, usually on Mondays. I will notify you guys in advance if I won't be able to stick to schedule.

Warning: This fic is rated T for language and implied adult themes. Action and gore will be integrated, and if anyone thinks the rating should change to M let me know.

Pneumonia

Chapter One: Coincidence

November 19th, 2012
3:24am
Earth

Percy sighed as he took a swig from his glass of vodka.

Being a half-blood was never easy. It always involved evading the law, getting attacked by monsters and being able to respond to any Gods' needs at a moment's notice. Since the day he had slayed the Minotaur when he was twelve, Percy knew his life would never be the same. Myths proceeded to come to life and Percy became one of the greatest heroes of all time.

He saved Olympus twice.

He survived Tartarus.

He battled Titans, Gods, Giants and Primordial forces alike.

Even after coming out of all that alive, he should have known luck was never on his side. If it hadn't been for the ten previous years why should that have changed in the timespan it took for him to become a battle-seasoned warrior?

The bar around him was empty for a Friday night, with only one other person hanging around. To be fair it probably wasn't even Friday night anymore as Percy considered the length of time he sat there, it was more likely that the morning hours already passed. He silently observed the bystander with eyes trained to see any vulnerabilities, weak points and strengths. Even five years of isolation hadn't settled his mind or dulled the bloodlust he felt when he saw the potential for conflict.

Most of time Percy wished the world would throw him its worst, just for curiosity's sake. After all, what more could it possibly do after it sent him to hell and back?

The immediate shock of returning from Tartarus hadn't affected him as much as it should have. For the most part, he integrated back into his daily routine of saving the world, and indulged himself back into his cause of defeating the threat at the time – Gaea. He fooled himself that he was fine, that everything was okay and that nothing could break him.

The vodka suddenly tasted bitter at the back of his throat as he remembered.

Tartarus had left him unhinged much like a paperclip that couldn't be bent back into shape. Of course he'd tried, but no matter what he did that paperclip could never be exactly the way it had been before. There would always be a blemish that stained its appearance with something unnatural. The others hadn't noticed it right away. They had thought he was still under shock, or upset from Leo's death therefore they didn't press the matter.

First it started with his lack of rambunctiousness.

They took note when he stopped making odd remarks about the blatantly obvious and when he faltered voicing any immediate thoughts brought to his attention. They noticed when he stopped cracking jokes at every occasion he possibly could and fell into a system where he never spoke unless spoken to. By that time they became deeply concerned and it was Annabeth whom was first to guess what was troubling him so.

The others could have never understood the terror that was Tartarus. They never had to experience the poison air that crushed his lungs or view the hordes of monsters that roamed. They never had to experience the darkness he was enveloped with or the way sunlight could never feel right again.

Annabeth knew, but even she didn't understand what it did to him.

He didn't realize it until that day – the one that changed everything. Tartarus had made him cruel and immoral. It had torn apart the loyalty he felt, leaving himself as a fallen hero without a fatal flaw. It left him abandoned in a world that only he could see, clouded his vision like the Mist that no longer affected his mind.

Here he was four years later, gulping down the anger and sorrow with another mouthful of the now dreadful-tasting alcohol. He allowed himself to close his eyes from a brief moment and let his thoughts wander further into good memories. He never really thought about her anymore, he couldn't bear the gut-wrenching pain it brought him. He couldn't stand knowing that his partner of body and soul was torn away with pain equivalent to never-ending torture. Just before he allowed the tears to spill, Percy once again steeled his mind and faced the world around him.

He shifted to get his phone out of his pocket. When he was younger, he was warned that such devices acted as a homing signal for monsters to demi-gods such as himself, but honestly he didn't believe it anymore. He'd had a cell phone for a few years now and the only monster attacks he'd faced were the sporadic periodic half-hearted ones whether he used the device or not.

However, it didn't matter how many times Percy looked at the phone in the lowlighting, the lowest brightness always seemed to blind his retinas for half-seconds at a time, acting as further proof of the permanent damage Tartarus had caused him physically. When his eyes adjusted to the lighting, he was hardly surprised to see it half-past three in the morning.

Starring at his fourth empty glass of vodka sitting atop the bar, he decided that he drank enough for one night. Right now if he were normal, he would probably be out cold. It was odd really, how alcohol didn't affect him. Sure, he's felt a light buzz now and then, but he was never able to actually get drunk. Trust him, he'd tried. He assumed it had something to do with his control over liquids and the fact that it was nothing less than impossible for him to get dehydrated. Chuckling to himself, Percy guessed he probably had the strongest alcohol tolerance in the world.

The barmaid standing a few feet away was texting like no tomorrow. She sporadically glanced around the bar at uneven intervals, probably counting the total of two customers and determining whom still had a tab to pay. He realized this particular bar closed at four in the morning, so the barmaid was most likely anxious to end her shift and go home.

Casually, Percy shifted his frame off of the stool that he'd adopted as his own in the past few hours and slipped out his wallet. Counting the bills he needed along with a decent tip he placed them on the counter before retrieving his phone and heading for the door. On his way out he was surprised to hear the barmaid call out to him, almost as if he'd forgotten something. Upon turning around, he realized she was the one whom he actually talked to on occasion when he felt like dishing his normal problems to someone. She proceeded to wipe down the counter and collect the fee he left.

Percy raised a tired eyebrow in her direction, frankly unwelcome to the distraction. The late hour was finally catching up to his sleep deprived mind and all he wanted to do was head back to his apartment and sleep away the rest of the day.

"You're not planning on driving are you?" She asked in what seemed like concern as Percy fondled his motorcycle keys. This immediately waved alarm bells in Percy's mind. Monsters did this – make small talk before they attempted to kill you. Although Percy had met the barmaid before he still couldn't trust his judgement. Ms. Dodds had been the first monster disguised as a human in order to kill him, and since then she sure hadn't been the last.

"I'm fine," he replied sincerely. He supposed even if she wasn't a monster she wouldn't believe him considering he just drank enough vodka to give him alcohol poisoning. Maybe that why she was asking, not because she was a monster, but because she was one of those odd New Yorkers that cared for the wellbeing of others.

"No, you're not. It's crazy that you're even standing. If you don't call a ride I'll call the cops." She said with an air of authority as she shifted her brown hair behind her ears.

Percy sighed in annoyance, obviously this girl was very righteous towards other's well-beings. She wasn't a monster. He was just paranoid.

"Want me to walk a straight line for you? I don't sound like I'm slurring do I? What further proof do you need?" Percy said with irritation lacing his words as he proceeded to walk a few steps towards the barmaid in what was indeed a straight line.

Slightly taken aback, the barmaid blinked her hazel eyes in disbelief, "I still can't let you drive. It's illegal–" Her sentence was interrupted by the sound of a chair screeching towards the far corner of the room, where a single man draped in a trench coat proceeded to get up.

Percy watched him with his peripheral vision. His fingers suddenly buzzed with anticipation at the prospect of something he didn't know. It set the hairs on the back of his neck on edge and excited him all the same. Something about the man was causing his demi-god instincts to spark. Immediately the thought of a monster fight to let off some accumulated steam sounded incredibly appealing.

Unconsciously and unnoticeably, Percy shifted his feet into a slightly stronger stance as he continued to keep the corner of his eye trained on the figure. Percy watched in what would seem like disinterest to others as the man made his way over to where he was standing. Of course, Percy was blocking the door at the moment, so the realistic option was that Percy was simply in the man's way.

"Hey," the barmaid spoke up once again, and this time her voice wasn't directed to Percy, "You haven't paid your tab."

With the speed of a bullet, the cloaked figure suddenly lunged for Percy with an appendage that was definitely not an arm. If Percy wasn't prepared for it, he would have most likely been hit wherever the monster was aiming. However, as quickly as the monster lashed out, Riptide transformed and countered the blow without a millisecond to spare. With the same movement, Percy brought the blade upwards on what he now identified a claw and without a second thought dust spurted from where the limb was severed.

The monster faltered slightly as it comprehended its failed surprise attack and quickly attempted to back away in order to prepare a form of defense or strategize a new offence. Percy didn't give the monster the time of day considering he predicted that very same movement, Percy lashed out with his foot to give the monster extra momentum. With this Percy effectively startled his foe once more, causing the monster to stumble backwards over a table.

Percy didn't give the monster a moment of reprieve before his onslaught continued. He leaped over the overturned table to stab the monster through its cloak and into its chest. Sand pooled like a liquid around Riptide, however the monster didn't completely dissipate yet. With a final slash, Percy raised his sword from the wound and beheaded the now uncloaked menace. Immediately the remaining body parts exploded into a cloud of the golden dust, managing to dissipate into the air within a moment's notice, leaving nothing but an overturned table and a kneeling Percy.

The first thing Percy did when his vision adjusted once more to the scenery around him was to make sure no other monsters were lurking nearby. Once that inspection was complete, his attention was directed once more to the girl whom looked wide eyed and terrified.

Even from the distance across the bar, Percy could tell she was shaking and without a doubt he realized she could see through whatever the Mist had made of his encounter. Standing up slowly, he attempted to remember the last time that had happened. It was around seven years ago, during his quest to find Annabeth. Rachel Dare had been able to see through the Mist and had actually aided him in his fight. Admittedly, Rachel had seen skeletal warriors, but what was the difference anyway?

Percy expertly recapped and pocketed Riptide in one smooth motion. It seemed to have calmed the barmaid slightly.

"A sword. Out of nowhere. Oh God it's New Mexico all over again–" She started rambling before she suddenly clamped her mouth shut in what seemed like realization.

"You're one of them aren't you?" The brunette raised her eyebrow in question.

Percy's mind was working at a hundred miles per hour, trying to clue together anything he could. This girl had perhaps seen something similar in New Mexico, even if that seemed odd to Percy. Further, the way she said "them", could she be referring to demi-gods?

"Calm down," Percy started slowly, "I'm not going to hurt you–"

"I've seen enough movies to know when a stranger tells you they aren't going to hurt you – they totally are." She scoffed in a slightly childish way, and if the situation weren't so serious at the moment Percy might have thought she reminded him slightly of himself.

"I'm serious. Hear me out. That thing you just saw, that was a monster. That would have killed me. Understand?" Percy drawled, deeply hoping that was enough to sate the curiosity of the mist-immune girl.

"Well no duh, hard to hide the scales and everything, but what did you do to it? So far, you seem like the more dangerous one to me," She analyzed the situation in what she probably thought was a logical way, but to Percy it just made talking his way out of this so much harder.

"Don't ask questions you don't want to the answers to," Percy said harshly, hoping to deter the barmaid from her investigation. Percy really didn't feel like ruining her life by revealing the world he was a part of. Too many good people got killed that way, and he didn't want to witness anymore casualties because of him.

"Oh," she dragged out the sound as she fixed her glasses, "I get it. You are one of them, all top-secret and stuff. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone that I found out you were following me," she winked in a conspicuous way, "but, can I know why you use a sword? Usually you guys have some high-tech guns and gismos."

Percy blanched. What was she talking about? He was now almost positive she didn't know about demigods, or else she wouldn't have commented on the sword. No one he knew – maybe besides some Hephaestus kids – used any "high-tech guns and gismos". He also couldn't come up for a reason why demi-gods might be following her. She was too old to be an ignorant half-blood and Percy doubt she had anything to do with the Romans since she worked at a bar in New York.

Instead of carefully organizing an answer as he had been prior, for a moment all reason abandoned him when he muttered a flabbergasted, "What are you talking about?"

She widened her eyes a little in shock, but slowly a grin rose to her face. "You're good, I swear you could be an actor – you almost had me there. I get that you gotta keep all this on the down-low, so how about I drive you to wherever you people sleep and I'll see you tomorrow?"

To say Percy was confused would be an understatement. Maybe he was confused before, when she had mentioned something about knowing whom he was, but now, along with the fact that she was willing to drive him home was preposterous. What kind of person expected to be followed by people with "high-tech guns and gismos" along with the capability to kill monsters? What it some kind of organization? She mentioned something about him being top-secret, but what about the monster bit? Monsters didn't just go after regular people. While Percy was lost in thought, the barmaid started talking again – to his gratitude and horror – while she started cleaning up the bar in a carefree manner.

"Just give me a few minutes – its closing time anyway – and we can be off," She stated cheerily, as if she wasn't just about to drive a total stranger somewhere. After another few moments of silence where Percy couldn't find anything to fill gap – even denying the offer didn't seem like a possibility anymore – she proceeded to ask Percy the number one ice-breaking question in the world.

"Can I at least know your name?" Her tone was slightly sarcastic, as if she didn't expect to get an answer.

"Percy." He responded dryly, still quite unsure how to react to his current predicament.

"Per-cy," she tried the name out, "I like it – it has a nice ring. Well as long as we're introducing ourselves," she started her sentence just as she finished cleaning and held out her hand for what Percy assumed was going to be a handshake, "I'm Darcy."