If you've read my earlier A/N, hopefully you understand why I updated so late. (I accidentally deleted the whole chapter - which was quite long) I'm afraid this is shorter, with only Tony and Leo's meeting. In the original I put Sally/Paul and the Avengers' meeting as well.

Also sorry it's later than a week, my dad was in hospital so I had to stay at my grandma's house with no laptop.

Guest replies at bottom.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO/HOO or Avengers (MCU universe or otherwise)

TONY POV

Tony sighed impatiently. It had been a long day. While some of the Avengers had been going off on a mission, (which he wouldn't have preferred, but he complained anyway) Tony had been stuck at Stark Tower interviewing potential interns. Tony actually had to decline over four hundred people - as soon as it became known that Stark Industries was looking for interns, the applications came pouring in. Tony could only choose four of them. It was a large business, and the interns would be shadowing Tony himself. He needed people who he could trust. Now that he was an Avenger, he had much more enemies.

So far, Tony was down to ten people. He was lying down on the couch at the top of the tower, surrounded by a mess of papers. For some reason, most of the hopeful interns had written their applications as a hard copy. Tony knew that he would have to meet these ten people to decide who to choose.

TIME SKIP

Tony collapsed onto an uncomfortable chair. He was exhausted. He had just interviewed nine people without a break. The meetings didn't last long; Tony just took a look at most of them and decided that they were too quiet, or too loud, or even too sweaty. They knew a lot about mechanics and engineering, but Tony didn't like the actual people. They were all too reserved. When he complained about this to Pepper, she had just sighed and walked away. She thought he was being silly.

Tony looked at the list he had written. There was one more person left. He was only 16 years old, but Tony had chosen him for a laugh. Maybe this 'Leo Valdez' would be so bad, it would be funny.

How very wrong he was.

LEO POV

Leo walked hesitantly towards the large room which was Tony's lab. As soon as he stepped through the door, he stopped and stared. The room was filled with fluorescent lighting and almost every inch of the walls were filled with high-tech computers. It was almost as impressive as Cabin Nine back at camp. Before Leo could take a further look at the equipment, a man – who was probably Tony Stark – jumped in front of him.

Leo tried to make himself look presentable. Chiron had said that Stark Industries only wanted four interns of the hundreds who had applied. Leo needed to get this job. Lives were at stake – literally. If Percy was captured, he may be tortured so that SHIELD could find out his secrets. Surely SHIELD knew that Percy disappeared every holiday, and they would want to know where he was going. Percy had protested when Chiron had said this; he thought he would be able to withstand whatever form of torture they had planned; but Annabeth didn't want to lose him again. And nobody argues with Annabeth.

So all Leo had to do was gain Iron Man's trust, hack into SHIELD, and delete Percy's files. Simple.

Tony started to speak. "You're the final applicant of around four hundred people, so you have to be brilliant."

Leo frowned. "I am brilliant!" he said, affronted. "I'm Awesomesauce Valdez!" He pumped his non-existent muscles.

Tony raised an eyebrow. Leo winced. That wasn't a good start.

"Yes," Tony said amusedly. "First, I want you to make something out of that." He pointed at a seemingly meaningless pile of junk metal. Tony handed him some tools.

But to Leo, it wasn't meaningless. A dozen ideas whirled through his head, and Leo picked one. He smiled. He would get this job for sure.

TONY POV

Tony looked on bemusedly as the scrawny boy, Leo, sat in the middle of the scrap metal, looking as though he was thoroughly enjoying himself. He seemed to know what he was making, but he had barely thought about it for a minute before starting the task. Tony shrugged to himself. God knew what was going on in his head.

When Leo had come in, Tony had scoffed. He was wearing loose clothes and a tool belt around his waist. His hair looked ruffled, and his elfish face made it seem as if he was trouble. But first impressions aren't everything, Tony thought, looking at the practised way in which Leo was making… whatever he was making.

TIME SKIP

Barely ten minutes later, Leo jumped up and said, "I'm finished!" to the startled philanthropist who, until now, was watching Leo's progress with a look of surprise on his face. The expression became more accentuated when he saw what Leo had made.

"W-what is that?" Tony stuttered, his eyes wide. "It's – it's…"

Leo smirked. "It's sort of like an automaton… but it can't understand voice commands so you'll have to type it in here-" he pointed at a keyboard behind the contraption "-to make it do what you want." He pressed a small hidden button which made the robot spring up. It looked like a rusty C-3PO from Star Wars. Leo punched in a command on the keyboard and it started to do the chicken dance.

Tony was flabbergasted. Leo had made a fully functioning robot in less than fifteen minutes. A robot with a crude sense of humour, Tony thought as he saw that the automaton was flapping his arms like wings.

"Well?" Leo asked tentatively. He almost looked scared. "Is it good?"

"Of course!" Tony all but yelled. "I-it's amazing!"

"Really?" Leo asked, his eyes shining. Tony thought he sensed something else, but dismissed it.

"I like you, kid," he said.

He sent Leo away after talking to him briefly about the company. Leo seemed fun, and fun was Tony's style. As soon as he was sure that Leo had left, he said, "FRIDAY, look up Leo Valdez."

His computer showed search results of the boy, and Tony was shocked. Leo's mother was in a forge fire (that's where he got his mechanical skills from then), and he had no father. He had run away from foster care several times, before completely disappearing off the map when he and two others had 'blown up' the Grand Canyon. But all charges pressed against him were gone. Strange. So why was he here now?

LEO POV

Leo was sitting at the Hephaestus table with his brothers and sisters, eating a large burrito, when Will Solace came running up to him. "Leo!" he said. "There's a letter for you!"

Leo frowned, and took the letter from Will. Who had sent him the letter? He ripped the envelope impatiently, and gasped.

Dear Leo Valdez,

You have been accepted for the internship at Stark Industries, to work closely with Tony Stark with three other interns.

Leo laughed, relieved. The letter went on to explain what he was supposed to do.

"Chiron!" he yelled, waving the letter. "I've got the internship!"

Chiron's expression, however, was grave. "Then you know what you need to do. Hack into SHIELD and remove Percy's files. If this doesn't work, then you must convince the 'Avengers' to be on our side."

Leo nodded, and ran to the Hephaestus cabin. He had some packing to do.

YAS! I've finished the chapter! I'm on my summer holidays now, so hopefully I won't delay with chapters. Let me know what you think!

Guest replies:

jody black: omg thanks! Yeah I'm trying to make it a bit unique

highondrugs: thanks!

Someone: thanks! I'll update soon

Monkey dragon: thanks xx the updates will most likely be once a week, probably on Sundays.

Meee: thanks xx

Guest: I KNOW! But here's the next one J

I'll wait: thanks so much!