A tremendous clap of thunder erupted over the cities darkened skyline, as the steady drops of rain increased in velocity. The pitter-patter sound they made as they hit the ground, sounded not unlike a series of drummers, pounding away at a militaristic cadence. Another clap of thunder, this time accompanied by a streak of dark blue lightning rang out through the stormy night sky, illuminating a figure hunched over, and limping badly, as they ducked into a nearby alley.

Blood seeped from a wound in their shoulder, mixing with the rain into a fine watery stream of red, that tainted the silver attire that adorned the figures body; the blood dripped onto the pavement as they hobbled as quickly as they could, despite the quite clearly broken leg, into a small alcove in the side of the alley. They stopped, and attempted to catch their breath, and swallow the pain that was threatening to burst through the wall of adrenaline coursing through their body.

The figure was small, shorter than five feet, and had the young and underdeveloped features of a small child. A girl, who looked to be no older than thirteen, despite her young features there was something that set her apart, besides the silver tiara and the broken bow upon her back. What truly set her apart were her eyes, her dark green eyes burned with an age and wisdom and understanding that certainly did not belong on a thirteen year-old.

She gasped, shoving a fist into her mouth and biting down on it to stifle the sudden outcry, she had tried to set her leg back into place; however, there was nothing to do about it on that end. She would have to try and make it the rest of the way on foot, and she was still being followed; although, she was quite certain that she had momentarily lost her pursuers with the trick she had pulled back in the shopping center.

She needed to get to the camp, needed to warn her mistress, what was happening, whom they were targeting, people needed to know or more would soon fall. There was a plot, a dark plot; she didn't know who was behind it, or what their goals or ambitions were, but she knew enough to know that her people, her family, were in grave danger. She was aware of merely a few of their actions but she suspected, no she knew, that they had done much more than she was aware of.

She peered down the alley, wiping at her eyes and nose in a poor attempt to keep her senses sharp. Seeing no one, she stumbled into the open, doing her best to avoid the larger puddles and pools of water. She was certain that she had lost the group following her but a strict sense of caution and a healthy dose of paranoia had been drilled into her head a few centuries ago, while some may laugh at the notion it had kept her alive this long and she wasn't going to any more chances.

As she neared a dumpster at the end of the alley she heard it, a low growl followed by a series of puffs. Her pulse began to race, and the pain she had been feeling in both her shoulder and leg disappeared behind the explosion of sudden adrenaline flowing through her system. She stopped moving, pulling a small steel dagger out of the sheathe on the side of her pants. She gripped the hilt tightly in her hand as she moved slowly, and deliberately back into the small wall on the opposite side of the alley.

How had they found her? She had been certain that they would have been occupied for far longer than this…unless… she must have severely underestimated the sheer scale of the operation. To have enough hands on deck to deal with all of the officers that had arrived at the shopping center, and still have the numbers to coordinate additional search parties. The gravity of the situation slammed into her with the force of a locomotive, as understanding and a sense of finality began to overwhelm her being.

She needed to get word out, she needed to something, anything, so that maybe someone would be able to understand exactly what was happening, so that even if it was not her, that the message of emergency and the call to arms would reach the ears of those who needed to hear it the most.

She worked quickly, and by the time she was done, they were descending on her, large and angry German Shepherds tore down the alleyway; yelping, barking, and spitting as they bore down on her. She re-positioned her grip on her dagger and slid to her left as the first dog came down on her, slicing downward as she did so, slicing the beast open around the neck killing it instantly. Twirling the handle of the dagger around in her hand, she jabbed upwards as the second dog came in on her, the blade pierced the animal in the throat, blood spurting out onto her hand and the dagger, she pulled the dagger out, throwing the animal aside as she did so and prepared to square up to the third hound. However, because of her decreased mobility on the account of her leg, she was just too slow and was therefore unprepared when, as she completed the apex of her turn, the third Shepherd was already jumping through the air and towards her.

She wrapped her hands, still holding the dagger, around the muzzle of the animal as the pair fell to the ground, splashing water up into the air and drenching the two in the process. The dog yelped and snarled as it tried to bite at her exposed throat, but the girl held strong and with a push, slammed the dagger in the right ear of the dog. It shuddered briefly for a moment before going limp and collapsing on top of her, dead as a doorstop.

Letting out a breath she allowed her head to drop down into a small puddle under her, not even caring as the dirty water flooded over her. Blood was still pounding in her ears, effectively deafening her to the wider world around her, which is why she never heard the footsteps sneaking up behind her, and didn't notice the presence of the additional threats, until a pair of hand gripped the top of her silver tunic, and tugged her up before throwing her viciously across the alleyway and into the opposing brick wall.

A pitiful moan escaped her as she slouched over; her grasp on reality was beginning to slip as darkness began to creep at the corners of her vision. She fought to stave off the blackness as two figures approached from her from the alley. They were standing just outside of the dying light of a small tattoo parlor. She could make out almost no details, other than one was clearly male, and the other had the unmistakable curvatures of a woman. Standing just enough in the shadows so that they were still mostly hidden, the girl could tell just make out the slight bobbing of their heads, indicating that they were conversing, arguing if the aggressive stance the man on the left had suddenly taken.

Then, as quickly as they had started, the arguing ended, and the girl's assailants turned, so that they were facing slightly away from the bleeding and broken girl. A new figure, also a woman, if the gentle curvature in the newcomer's physique was any indication, idly made their way down the alleyway, towards the small group, before stopping just shy of the lone ray of light. While her features were also predominantly obscured, it was clear to see that she exuded an air of authority and power, this was not a woman to be trifled with.

The man turned and addresses the new woman, "Ma'am" he said curtly and professionally, "We've got her, what would you like us to do about her" the woman seemed to pause, as though she was considering her next words very carefully. Finally, after a brief respite she asked, "Has that fiasco at the mall been taken care of yet?" her voice was cold, sharp, and oozed of a powerful authority that said that you would listen.

If the man was taken aback by the sudden change in topic he didn't show it, "The officers at the scene were quickly taken care of, there wasn't any press there to worry about so we're in the clear at least in that regard. There was some significant structural damage to the building but we have some people working on it now. All in all there no casualties and we still managed to capture the target."

"All's well that ends well then, I suppose" was the woman's small reply "How much does she know?" "Nothing major, I don't think" came the other woman's small voice. The woman in charge rounded on her in turn, "You think, or you know?" was the quick and quiet response, and the leader began to bear down on the smaller woman. "Because there is a very, very important distinction; because either we have spent the last four hours chasing down a possible loose end, and have saved us a serious headache, or you have wasted my time, energy and resources on a GODDDAMN GOOSE CHASE THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF FUCKING MIDTOWN!" the end of her tirade was punctuated by another crack of lightening and roar of thunder.

The smaller woman was now positively shaking in fright, and the wounded girl could feel the sheer power rolling off of the leader in waves now. As she had been shouting, the woman had moved slightly so now she was in light of the parlor, and the girl had a better idea of who it was. She was tall, easily near six feet, and was powerfully built, although not in a way that detracted from her natural beauty, because make no mistake the woman before her was beautiful. From the way her auburn hair was shimmering in the light, giving the impression that the back of her head was engulfed in flames, to the way her stormy gray-eyes absolutely shined with anger and inner strength. She was terrifying to look at and yet the girl found she couldn't look away.

As though feeling the look being sent her way, the woman turned and directed her fierce gaze upon the wounded and broken girl, bleeding against the wall; she sighed, visibly calming down before saying, "We'll address your many failures tonight later, for now deal with it." "A-and h-how w-w-w-would you l-like us t-t-to do that Ma'am?" Stuttered the smaller woman; still shaking from the verbal thrashing she had just received.

Their leader glared at her, sending the smaller woman cowering once more, flipping her hair to the side, she turned on her heel and began making her way out of the alley. Saying as she did so, her voice the epitome of calm, cool, and collected, "Make sure no one finds this one, we can't afford a repeat of today." And then, just like that, she was gone.

The man sighed, and appeared to run a hand through his hair, "I really, really don't like her" he mumbled under his breath, his compatriot could only nod, as she was still to busy shaking to communicate more effectively.

The girl on the ground's vision began to cloud even further, and she fought to stay awake, fought to catch a good look at the man as walked into the light but it was no good, her vision was too blurred. She saw him reach into the waistband of his pants and pull of a long, silver, cylindrical object.

He kneeled down when he reached her, so that he too was now sitting in a pool of water, and she could just make out his voice as he said, "I'm sorry about all of this, you weren't supposed to get hurt, no one was supposed to get hurt…" he paused, searching for his next words. "You'll be at peace soon though" and he reached into his pocket pulling something out, but by now her eyes were closed and it was taking all of her willpower to merely keep breathing, but she understood the moment he slid the two coins into her hand.

An overwhelming and unexpected sense of peace washed over her, and she didn't understand it, why was she ok with this, she had failed and yet she felt…tranquil, light as a feather. She couldn't resist the small smile that made its way onto her lips, and in her state of utter tranquility she didn't hear the small Ch-Chnk of a handgun.

BREAK

She flopped down onto the couch, utterly drained, and kicked her shoes off. She loved her father, she really did, but she absolutely abhorred the people he had to associate with. They gave "two-faced asshole" all new meaning; she was only kind of exaggerating when she said that her father's friends would be singing the praises of someone one moment, and equating them to human excrement the next.

It was simultaneously nauseating and migraine inducing, and she was glad that she was done. Piper McLean just didn't have her father's patience for nonsense, nor did she have his pension for the limelight. Instead, she would have been much happier spending the weekend on her couch with Jason, some Chinese food, and a crappy rom-com. But this weekend had meant a lot to her father, there were always a lot of really big names at these benefit dinners and she had promised him she would go.

It had been fun in its own right she supposed, though she was loathe to admit it, the more…ancient…part of her personality loved getting dolled up, loved the attention she got. She wasn't one to broadcast it, she did have a reputation to uphold after all, but everyone likes to look good every now and then, feel eyes and heads turn as they walk into a room. And boy had she managed to turn some head this weekend, she had even seen Tony Stark look her way at one point.

She bolted upright, all traces of weariness and fatigue suddenly and miraculously forgotten, Tony Stark, and more importantly his business partner, Obadiah Stane, had been there. While that normally wouldn't have been too noteworthy, there had been an occurrence, a small incident that had plagued her mind since it had happened. She had nearly forgotten in her fatigue but now she remembered it clear as though it had just happened.

At the dinner, when she had been beyond bored, beyond over dealing with the not-so subtle hints and hidden agendas of her father's associates, she had noticed him, standing alone near the back of the hall, his eyes glued to the small screen in front of him, doing his best, and succeeding she was just much more observant than any mortal could be, to appear as though he was simply another bored patron.

But Piper knew Percy Jackson, she knew his unruly black hair, and his beautiful stormy green eyes, it had been years but he was not someone that she could ever forget. Men like Percy tend to leave an impression. So when she saw him, she nearly lost her drink. No one had seen him in six years, attempts had been made to formulate search parties, but the gods had forbidden it, apparently they knew about his disappearance and were none-to concerned about it.

When confronted, even his mother seemed to know exactly where he had gone and what he was doing, it had been unsettling to the ones that called Percy friend, one moment he was there and the next he was just gone, like steam from the shower. Most curious of all of course, had been Annabeth's reaction, or perhaps, the lack thereof, for someone who had been essentially a husk with human skin when Piper first met her, all because Percy had disappeared then as well, and for someone who never seemed to leave his side once they were reunited, it was incredibly strange that her reaction was nothing more than quiet understanding.

Piper had been working up the courage to go and confront Percy, when suddenly he had gotten up, strode over to Stane and had done….something. She still was quite unsure as to what exactly he had done to facilitate the small incident the preempted his departure from the party, but she knew that he had done something to cause the collision between the senator and Stane, she just wasn't sure why. Percy wasn't the type of man to do something like that simply because he was bored, that just wasn't his style, and more to the point just what had he been doing there in the first place?

The entire situation had been just so unsettlingly bizarre, and Jason had been of no help when she called him, saying that even if the man she saw WAS in fact Percy, that whatever it was he was doing, or attempting to do was really none of their concern. Jason had not taken his sudden departure from Camp as well as others had, the two had bonded during the war and Percy's leaving without so much as a goodbye had been just another chapter in the Jason Grace book of abandonment.

But Piper was not about to just let this drop, this was a sign she knew it was, in their world there was no such thing as coincidence, and with the recent rumblings and rumors they could very well be at war again soon, and if that was indeed the case then they would need the help of their champion once more.

Standing up, her expression one of fierce determination, her beautiful features twisted into a knot of concentration; she strode over to her bag and pulled two golden drachmas out, before pulling a small water bottle she had saved from the after-party with her father, along with them. Throwing them into the air she tossed some of the leftover water onto them, saying as she did so:

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering and show me Jason Grace…" the drachma and water disappeared, seemingly vaporizing in midair before shifting and turning into something akin to a television monitor, Iris had made some upgrades in recent years and the quality of her messages was getting better all the time.

As the screen fizzled into life the image of a small bedroom in upstate New York filled the frame. It was small and modest, cheap furniture and small mementos of years and friends come and past decorated the floors and walls. And in the middle of the scene was a modest size bed, just the right size for two people to fit comfortably on. Lying, as he always did, on the right side of the bed, with his back facing the wall and his body facing the space where a second person may normally occupy, was Jason Grace.

He was fast asleep, a line of drool slowly working its way down the side of his chiseled, slightly whiskered jaw and onto the pillow as he snored lightly, sounding not unlike a small purring kitten. Piper couldn't keep the smile of her face if she tried. He really was perfect. However this was important and despite the late hour she knew that he would want to talk to her.

"Jase, hey Jase, wake up sweetheart" she tried, not softly but also not too loudly. Still he snored, unwilling or unable to hear her. Biting her lip as her eyes lit up slightly she decided to try a slightly different method, "Jase I'm having some trouble getting these pants off, will you please wake up and help me out?" Crude, yet unsurprisingly effective. He awoke with a start, a muscular hand coming up to wipe the line of drool from his mouth and to rub some of the sleep out of his eyes.

"Pipes? Baby that you?" his voice was low and husky from sleep, and she felt her insides twist painfully, gods she missed him. "Hey hon, yeah it's me sorry for waking you up." Immediately, upon hearing her voice, Jason was wide-awake, all traces of sleep vanishing as his body snapped to attention, Piper tried to ignore the shiver that travelled down her spine at the sight, down girl. "What's going on? Is everything all right? Are you in trouble? Do I need to come out there? You know I can and I damn well will, you just say the word and bam I'll be there."

She tried valiantly, really she did, to stifle the laugh that bubbled up at his ramblings, but she just couldn't and soon dissolved into laughter. Jason's face turned sour, though the small twinkle in his eyes and upwards curl at the corner of his mouth betrayed his real feelings of the matter he never did like being the butt of someone's joke but his annoyances never really worked when Piper was involved.

"As sweet as that is and as nice as that sounds, I'm fine, and I think you can last two more days. No I was just thinking…" she trailed off, unconsciously biting her lip, Jason turned up an eyebrow in consternation "about what exactly?" he asked warily, as though he knew exactly what she was about to say. He likely did too, which was the problem, unlike anyone she had ever met before, Jason understood her and how she thought better she herself did. At times this was a tremendous blessing and at others, an annoying curse.

"I was thinking that we maybe, possibly think about trying to get in touch with Percy-Wait before you say anything please just let me run you through my thought process" Jason had been about to interrupt, a look of indignant anger flashing over his face, his eyes seemed to spark shine in thinly veiled anger and she could of sworn that she saw faint traces of electricity race up and down his exposed flesh.

He looked at her carefully for a moment, before firmly setting his jaw and nodding gruffly at her, acquiescing her request to speak. She held back a small sigh of relief, this was always so difficult with him, children of the older and more powerful gods often inherited their temperament in addition to their power, it proved to be excessively aggravating at times.

She took a steadying breathe before continuing, "I got a call this morning from my sister Theresa, out in New York, apparently there was another death, that's the third demigod to die in as many months Jason, and before you say anything yes I already checked with Nico and they weren't attacked by any monster. They're being targeted Jase and its getting worse, this last one was a hunter."

That had gotten the desired effect, Jason's eyes widened and his mouth dropped considerably, before he quickly composed himself and adopted an expression of concentration. It was understandable, the disappearance of a few demigods, while tragic, was to be somewhat expected, it was a hazard of the life that they were unfortunate enough to live. For a huntress to be killed was not something to be taken lightly, they were essentially the special forces of their world, the elite. For one of them to be taken out by a monster spoke enough, but for something else? That did not bode well, the last hunter o fall at the hands of something that was not mythological or supernatural, well let's just say that things didn't exactly go well.

"Let's just say for the sake of argument then, that I agree wee need him, how do you propose we find him? This is the first time anyone has seen the man in six years, he won't be easy to pin down, the gods will be of no help and I seriously doubt that his mother would be willing to let us track him down and drag him back into this mess." Jason's face was screwed up in concentration as he talked, more to himself than Piper, as he ran through possibilities in tracking down the elusive prince of the sea.

"Well…" Piper began slowly, subtly willing her voice to be more compelling and compassionate, "I was thinking you could maybe talk to Thalia…" Jason blinked, the blinked again, a third blink, before you took a deep breathe and let out a bellowing laugh that seemed to reverberate off of the walls of the otherwise empty apartment. "You really think that she'd go track him down to try and bring him back? Kick his ass yeah that I could see but bring him back? Absolutely not, not after what he did, you know Thalia she already had trust issues with guys and then Percy just up and leaves without giving her so much as a goodbye, if she saw she'd kill him."

"Even she should understand the gravity of the situation!" Piper began hotly, a light flush making its way onto her cheeks, "We need him for this, he's been away the longest, and he'll be able to look at this objectively and will be a set of fresh eyes for the investigation. Besides if we can get both him and Annabeth-" "So that's what this is really about" Jason cut across her, understanding etching its way onto his face, "You're looking to get them back together"

Piper spluttered indignantly "I-I NO! T-that's, I-don't" she was fumbling over herself trying to think of a response but Jason beat her to it, "Piper you need to let it go, I understand that you want her to be happy, gods know I do too, but this is not the way of going about it, dragging him back into this is a sure-fire way to complicate her life more than it already is. Pipes, babe, I love you but you're channeling a bit too much of your mother at the moment"

She managed to regain her composure a moment later, though her cheeks were still stained with red, "Ok maybe I was hoping that bringing him back would maybe make things a little better for Annabeth but I really do think that he's our best option here! Especially since he's been trained now!" Jason groaned and let his face drop back onto his pillow, "Oh gods not this secret agent stuff again" more to himself than to Piper.

For the last several days Piper had been going over everything she had seen of Percy that night at the benefit dinner, and only one possibility ran through her head, that Percy was government agent. It made sense! The way he moved, the subtle observations, the quick-and brilliant tactical decisions, the freaking dry martini! Jason had of course laughed at her the moment she brought this up, because seriously, Percy-can't sit still or pay attention for more than fifteen seconds-Jackson being a super secret James Bond esque agent was preposterous.

"Look" She began, choosing to avoid what would undoubtedly be another pointless argument, "Maybe we should ask Annabeth what she thinks about all of this" "Piper…" "Even if you don't think it's a good idea I think that she'll agree with me here, she's rational she'll get it" "Piper!" "And besides, it's high time that the two of them stop running away from their problems and face them and each other again head on like the adults that they are!" "PIPER!" "What Jason?!" instead of saying anything, he looked rather pointedly behind her.

Whipping around Piper came face to face with a very nonplussed Annabeth Chase, her demeanor portraying a false sense of calm but her storm gray eyes betraying the anger that was flashing through her. She looked behind Piper and Piper was sure she felt Jason's flinch at the steely-eyed gaze, "I'll uh call you in the morning Pipes…" and then she the familiar sloshing sounded in her ears as Jason cut off the connection. That rat bastard…

"So" Annabeth began, looking in that moment, every bit the image of her terrifying mother, "something you'd like to say to me?" Piper gulped, her mouth now suddenly dry, there was just something about the way Annabeth was standing at her, her arms crossed and her glare penetrating her very being, that resonated with her, helped her understand just how she had managed to make it as far as she had, given everything she had gone through.

"Hey there um Annabeth, so how was work?" she began rather lamely, Annabeth opted not to answer, instead intensifying her glare, Piper shuddered briefly, "ok, so uh, how-how much did you hear then?" Annabeth crossed her arms as she answered, "Came in sometime around you claiming I wasn't adult enough to face my problems, care to explain just what the Hades you meant by that?"

"I-uh, I-just, oh gods ok um…" "Just spit it out for the sake of the gods Piper" "Percy's still hot!" well, that couldn't have been any more uncomfortable. Piper really didn't have control over herself when she was nervous, and had a bad habit of simply blurting out whatever came to mind in a word vomit-like mess.

Annabeth, raised an eyebrow, "ok…" she started slowly, clearly unsure as to what the hell that meant, "I'm going to assume that you saw him the other day?" a nod, "and that was what you and Jason were arguing about?" another nod "and that you want to approach him because you think that he'd both be helpful to figuring out just what Hades has been going on the last few weeks and also because you not-so-secretly want to jump the two of us back together." A third nod, nobody could ever accuse Annabeth of not being observant.

Piper waited for it; the explosion, the screaming, yelling, ranting and raving. It never came, instead, she merely sighed and walked over to the kitchen slipping her heels off as she did so. She continued to remain silent as she poured herself a generous helping of wine and settled herself on the other side of the couch, facing piper. She took a healthy sip of the wine and, after a moments contemplation she addressed Piper.

"It's a good idea, we don't really know what we're up against here and it would be nice to have a couple of our big guns in the hold should anything happen. I'm not exactly sure what he'll have to say about all of this, I can't imagine he'll be all too thrilled about the idea of coming back into tis world, but it certainly can't hurt anything to try."

By this point, Piper's eyes were threatening to break out of her skull, "Wait!" She blurted out before she could stop herself, and seeing Annabeth turn her attention to her fully, she plowed on ahead before she lost her nerve, "How are you so ok about all of this?" Annabeth shot her a questioning look, but it was quickly replaced by dawning understanding, "I always forget that we never really explained ourselves." Annabeth said, more to herself than to Piper.

She took another sip of her wine, "You were expecting what, tears probably? Perhaps a little screaming or maybe some scathing remarks? Well I hate to break it to you Piper, but our ending was really pretty boring. Oh sure I heard all the rumors, that he was cheating on me that I was cheating on him, that one of us had the other under some kind of spell or even that I had fell in love with his long lost brother and he ran off to join the forces of Chaos the Creator."

Piper couldn't stop the snort that escaped her lips, "Yeah I know that one was really pretty ridiculous, but you get the point, everyone was expecting this extravagantly horrible story and the truth is, things just needed to end. I know that doesn't answer anything but for right now, that stays between Percy and myself."

Piper looked like she wanted to argue but held her tongue, if anyone deserved to have a little privacy it was Annabeth and Percy so she let the matter drop, "So do you think he'll be willing to help us?" Annabeth sat back in the couch, a thoughtful look clouding over her face, she was silent for a moment, her eyes flickering back and forth, "I think if we explain things properly, and we make sure that he knows that this is US asking him, not our parents, then he'll be much more likely to lend a hand. If he's still the man that I know he is then he won't just sit by as innocents are being slaughtered. It's just his way."

Piper nodded, she may have not known him as long as others, but she knew the kind of person Percy was, it was why she was a hopeful as she was that he would be able to help, "Where do you think we should start? It was pure luck that I saw him when I did, and I had my dad ask around a little and nobody at the dinner had ever seen him before. So he probably doesn't live around the area."

Annabeth only smiled, knowingly, an idea clearly taking form, "I think I have an idea."

BREAK

"You need a name"

"Absolutely not"

"They gave me a name!"

"And you're a narcissist with an ego the size of your checking account. You may need a cute nickname to satisfy your increasing sense of self-worth but I'm not that shallow"

"I'm impressed Jersey Shore, that actually sounded intelligent"

"Bite me"

It had been like this ever sense Percy had woken up in a hospital bed in Keck Medical, on the campus of USC; he and Stark began trading barbs and hadn't stopped in the few days they had been together. They were both discharged from the hospital relatively quickly, Stark had only suffered minor superficial wounds and Percy needed only a soak in a special bath tub supplied by SHIELD to be back at one-hundred percent.

Since then they had spent the last three days in one another's company, being debriefed by every governmentally funded acronym under the sun, or at least Stark had been, Percy merely flashed his SHIELD I.D. and he was instantly deferred to people who knew better. They were now sitting in a small waiting room outside at, the still partially destroyed, Stark Industries, where they were supposed to be preparing, or at least Stark was and Percy was just running him through the alibi again, for a press conference regarding the "Iron Man" as e had been dubbed. Percy had made a remark regarding the stupidity of the name and the bickering began again with renewed vigor.

Pepper had given up attempting to rein the two of them in, it was like dealing with puppies with the attention span to match. She just didn't have the willpower, especially after the week she had, to deal with their nonsense anymore. Instead she leaned against a cupboard and idly went through a series of documents on her phone as she attempted to do some more damage control, following the attack.

"Look, kid, bubby, junior, you. Are. A. Superhero. You can't, not have a name!"

Percy didn't even try to hide his momentous eye roll, "You mock my intelligence and yet you can't even grasp English grammar. No, I don't need a superhero name because for the millionth time; I'm not a damn superhero!" He had lost count how many times he had attempted to make this clear to the man-child in front of him.

"Oh I'm sorry, maybe I simply imagined the fact the you control freaking water, and seem like you can bench-press a small truck. Face it pal you're a bonafide superhero and now all you need is a superhero name and you can join the super exclusive club of super-powered badasses."

"Oh you mean the club of exactly one member?"

"It's exclusive but with the potential for future growth, this is a limited time offer junior so you better take me up on it" Percy checked his watch and opted not to respond. "Look, not-as-handsome-RDJ, as enjoyable as this is, we have to go, you remember your story?"

Stark petulantly rolled his eyes but acquiesced, "I spent the last several days in liquor induced coma on my yacht off the coast of Maui. Yes dad, I remember."

"That's a good boy, I'm proud of you" Percy had to get one more jab in, then he stood up and left Pepper and Stark to go and meet up with Coulson. He saw him, at the very back of the media room, the same room Stark had made his return address in only a few months before.

"Well he should be ready, but then again it is Stark so I'm not exactly confident in the matter but given the circumstances…" he trailed off, settling in silence for a moment, watching as the reporters and camera people fluttered around, preparing notebooks, recording devices and cameras for the coming speech.

"You're being given a few months off" Coulson's voice jarred him out of his observations, he had only been half listening but he could have sworn that he heard him say, "Time off?" he asked, incredulous. Coulson looked at him strangely before replying,

"You were supposed to get time off after your last job, but this came up, you were also pretty seriously injured as a direct result of the mission, of course you're being given time off why does that come as such a surprise to you?" Percy considered him for a moment, mouth still very much agape, and it took him a few moments in order to formulate his thoughts properly, his thoughts were still kind of wishy washy after his fight with Stane.

"I'm not sure, I guess I just figured that you would want me on Stark for the next few months, make sure he doesn't do anything , you know, Stark-like." Coulson chuckled a little; one of the few moments of actual human emotion he had ever really seen from is mentor, as they were talking, Percy noticed out of the corner of his eye that Stark had made his way to the podium and looked like he was about ready to speak, Percy tuned him out, choosing instead to focus on Coulson.

"We have someone else in mind for monitoring Stark, agent Romanov is currently working on establishing a full cover for a more up-close and personal watchmen role."

Percy, for the second time in only a few minutes, felt incredulous, "You're going to sick Nat on him? I thought that you wanted to protect him, not send him to an early grave." As much as he loved his friend, Natasha was not what one would call patient, or mild-mannered, or "take chauvinistic comments from a womanizing asshole" lightly. Ok, so maybe this was why Percy was being taken off of the case, and really, who was he to complain about getting time off. Time off meant time he could spend with his family, catch up on tv, and more importantly, nap. Napping was Percy's favorite, he often found himself daydreaming of naps, and of his soft, queen-sized bed that was just the right combination of soft and firm.

Unbidden a glazed little smile made its way onto his face, no doubt giving off the impression that something lewd was taking over his innermost thoughts, if only they knew.

"…I am Iron Man"

Wait what.