I slashed through another one of the grey skinned monsters. If they weren't trying to destroy New York, I might be tempted to call them badass, but unfortunately, they were trying to destroy New York.

I saw another one of those strange colorful people, but I didn't comment. They seemed to be dealing major damage to the monsters so I didn't bother. The monsters seemed to be coming from some portal type thing above the city. It was black and seemed to be glittering with were those stars?

So I was fighting aliens. Not the craziest thing to happen to me.

The battle was a blur. I remember random details, like one of the aliens nearly got a civilian – was that Nancy Bobofit? – And a crazy black-haired guy on top of that one tower – I couldn't read the name.

I don't know what made me look up when I did, but what I saw made me gasp. The robot was carrying something up into the portal. Time seemed to stop, then speed up at random intervals. The largest ship blew up right as it was coming out. The portal started to close, but the robot still hadn't come out. I wasn't sure if there was a person in there or what, but I didn't take any chances. Propelling myself up, I flew into the portal (using water, of course). I had some of the water I was standing on surround me in a thin coat so I wouldn't die.

I directed the water to take me over to the bot and flew back through the portal. Once through, I let go of him, knowing one of his teammates would get him. I flew away before they could see me.

I found out that there was, in fact, a person in the robot and that his name was Tony Stark. He was owner of blah blah. I tuned out after the name. I was thinking about my parents. A building collapsed on them during the invasion. Luckily, they didn't die. Mom had a broken collar bone, arm and some ribs. Paul didn't have any broken bones but some rubble cracked his skull. He was expected to come out of the coma somewhere between a few months to a few years.

Time flew by. Before I knew it, both Mom and Paul were out of the hospital. Mom had to take it easy, but she didn't do anything that hard in everyday life. I cooked because she couldn't really move her arm. Paul went back to teaching at Goode, and was often home late. Life was sort of normal. It felt weird to not be at camp, but I wanted to be sure my parents were fine.

As the months flew by, I fell into a routine. The nightmares from Tartarus – which were already fading, thanks to Annabeth and Mom – completely went away. I went to school every day where I got to see everyone from camp, who transferred to be closer in case of an attack. Also they all love my mom. Even Rachel transferred. Her reasoning was 'I said I'd go to Clarion's in the fall. I didn't say I'd return the next year.'

I was walking out of school with Annabeth, Rachel and Clarisse. Clarisse was being her usual self, but Annabeth and Rachel had a project coming up. I felt like we were being watched, and from the concealed tenseness of the others, I could tell they felt it too. But we just walking, acting like normal teenagers. Halfway down the block Jason and Leo caught up with us. "You feel that?" Leo whispered in Greek. All of us responded with similar answers. Yes. "If it's a threat, it'll make itself known. If it doesn't, ignore it." I said in Greek. So we continued on our way. I dropped the others off at their apartment – don't ask me how they got it – and went home. Paul had a quiz and was at school grading them so I cooked. Like usual. Mom was due to go back to the hospital to get her arm checked in a few days, so she still didn't cook. She walked out of her room and sat on the couch. I handed her the plate of chicken and sat across from her. She started firing off questions – the usual – how was school? Any homework, projects? Fine, and no. I was just going through routine until she asked something that caught me off guard.

"Hey Percy, do you remember, before Gabe, when your Uncle Tony came over?" I was about to answer "No and who's Tony?" when a memory surfaced. I couldn't have been older than five, but it was so clear. I was running around Central Park, scurrying up trees – probably wasn't supposed to – hiding from a man. It changed; Mom was explaining that he wasn't really my uncle. He was a childhood friend; helped her get over her parents' death and deal with her uncle. Even though they weren't related, they were closer than siblings. He started to come over less after Mom married Gabe. The last time I saw what when I was eleven. All of the memories were surprisingly clear, except for one. I couldn't remember his face. It was always an indistinct blur.

"Yeah, sort of. I can't remember his face though. Why did I only just now remember?" Mom blew out air. "Sorry, I just haven't seen him for a while and wanted to make sure you remembered his face. I'll explain later, when I have more details."

I tried to smile, but I had a bad feeling; it had something to do with this 'Uncle' Tony and the people watching me.

I was in the cemetery, several weeks later, when I sensed the people. Not many had died; Dakota, Pollux, a few others. I was thinking about what I did to deserve their loyalty but I couldn't figure it out. Four people had entered my radar, two from the north, one from the east, another from the south west. The first two were just walking along, but the other two were hiding in the trees so it was obvious that they weren't here to visit the dead. Two more came within range; they were overhead.

I turned and face the pair. My eyebrows shot up in amusement. "The Avengers." The one on the left looked shocked at my reaction. He was muscled and had blond hair; Steve Rogers, I assumed. The other looked a little surprised, but more relieved than anything else. He had dark brown hair and glasses; he looked like any normal person. I decided he was Banner; the Hulk.

The two in the trees were probably Black Widow, and Hawkeye. That left Thor and Iron Man; Tony Stark, the man I saved.

Banner spoke up, "We need you to come with us." I immediately tensed up. Banner seemed to notice. "Relax, we just need some information." I nodded warily. The other four came out. Without waiting for me they turned and walked away. I shrugged and followed them.

I rolled my eyes. An interrogation room? Really? How cliché. I sat on the metal chair provided. Nothing happened. I started to get restless, but held it in. After another amount of time, I decided to do something, something that wouldn't hint that I have ADHD. Looking around, I found a camera.

I waved at it.

Nothing.

I made faces.

Nothing.

I got up and put my face in it.

Nothing.

I yelled at whoever was watching me, giving them full view of my throat.

Noth – The door banged open. A man with an eyepatch walked in. "Took you long enough." I said. He glared; a small puppy glare compared to what I'd seen. I smiled in amusement, again. He seemed shocked, but got over it. "This is an interrogation." He stated. "Really? I thought I won a free trip to Hawaii! Now I have to tell mom that the honeymoon is canceled." I said sarcastically. His jaw clenched. Point: me.

He sat down, choosing to ignore my response.

"What is your name?" He started.

Should I tell him? I decided to be vague. "Avenger" It wasn't a lie, Perseus means Avenger.

"That's not a name." Oh this is going to be fun.

"It's mine." I glared, but not enough to seem inhuman.

"Fine. What are you?" Huh? What kind of question is that?

"Please be more specific." I requested.

"Mutant, god, mortal, what?"

"Mortal." Demigods are technically mortal. Right?

"Where did you learn to fight?"

"Long Island." Not a lie, just not the full truth.

"There are no places that teach your style on Long Island."

"Yes, there is, you just don't know about it."

"Mom?"

"Home."

"Dad?"

"Lost at sea before I was born."

"Step dad?"

I shrugged. "Home."

"Siblings?"

"Half-brother, dad's side."

"Other family?"

"Two uncles – dad's side –, five cousins, one is dead though."

I thought for a minute. Would 'Uncle' Tony count? I decided to act clueless. "One uncle on mom's side, never met him though, don't even know his name."

"Girlfriend?"

"San Francisco."

"Pets?"

"Two, a large dog, and a black stallion." Technically, Mrs. O'Leary is a dog, and Blackjack is a stallion, just with wings.

"Where were you during the invasion?"

"Depends. Most of the time I was fighting the aliens, but I think you already knew that."

Pirate, as I dubbed him, nodded. "You match the description of a young man that Stark keeps talking about."

Oh! "Yeah, I wasn't sure if he was conscious or not when I got out of the portal."

"So he wasn't hallucinating." Pirate said.

"Nope." I said, popping the 'P'.

He sighed as if he was trying make a decision.

"Do you want be an Avenger?"

Random. I thought about it. "What's in it for me?"

"Whatever you need." He answered.

"Why not?"

"Great. You need a name for the public to call you."

"I already told you, Avenger. If you don't like that it could also be destroyer."

"What is your real name?"

"Perseus. But if you call me that, I'll have to kill you. Call me Percy. Percy Jackson."

He seemed angry at the last part, but just got up and walked away. "I will send in the team to test you." He said right before exiting.

I waited maybe ten minutes. Black Widow entered. "My name is Natalie. I-"

"No it's not. You're a spy, you wouldn't just give your name that easily." I interrupted her. She looked shocked and pleased if that's possible. "Correct, it's Natasha." I didn't sense any lies. She continued: "I just needed to see if you could detect lies. So…" She seemed at a loss of what to do with me fishing out her lie so easily.

"Just send the next person in." I suggested. She huffed and left. The next person was Stark. He seemed excited to see me. "I never got thank you for saving me." He said. I shrugged. "You seemed to be dealing major damage to the army." I said, but made it so he could tell it wasn't just that. He grinned.

"So since I am good with computers, I will be testing your hacking and coding skills. What do you want to do first?"

"Hacking." I said, grinning evilly.

He set a timer and we both got on the computer. Two minutes later, I was reading a file off the screen.

"Tony Stark

Age: 41 years.

DOB: May 29, 1970…"

Tony was gaping at the end of it. "That – That's my SHEILD file." He said in awe. I shrugged. "My friend Leo taught me to hack. He was a mechanic whiz, but so much more too. He built a giant flying warship and sailed to Greece on it." I said. I probably shouldn't have mentioned The Argo II but oh well.

"A giant flying…" He trailed off. Stark walked out in a trance.

The rest of the tests went similarly. Everyone took the skill they were best at and I had to try and beat them. I won everything. Then Banner came in.

"I won't be testing you, but rather giving you a check-up." I stiffened then relaxed. He went through the expected motions. Then came the time for the heart beat and breathing stuff. I'm not a doctor, don't judge. "I'm going to have to ask you to take off your shirt, Percy." Banner said. Breathe in, breathe out. Make them see what they're expecting to see Hazel's voice rang in my head. I tried to do what she said. No scars, just the body of a man who can fight.

I took off my shirt. Nothing. It worked. We went through the motions. Eventually he left. Natasha came back into the room, glared at me, then left. I followed her, seeing as I had nothing else to do. I eventually we came to an elevator. I eyed it warily but got on. I'm not afraid of elevators, I just don't like them ever since the Doors of Death.

Natasha pushed the 'Party Deck!' button. Why it was called the party deck and not just floor '_', I don't know. The ride seemed to last hours, but it was probably only a minute long. The first thing I saw was Tony Stark holding out a pizza.

"Welcome to the Team!"