A/N: Wow, you don't realize how much you use Wi-Fi until it's gone! So happy to have mine back and give you guys more chapters! Woo!

Disclaimer: I didn't own them back in Chapter One, and I still don't own the characters now. Dang it.


Chapter Seven

"Uh, guys?" Six pairs of eyes swiveled to meet mine. "What exactly are you doing?"

The kitchen was a mess. Apparently, there looked like there was some kind of explosion in the microwave because it was smoking and slightly black. Steve was trying to help Thor, who had butter and bits of kernels and popcorn all over him. Natasha was eating popcorn on a barstool next to Bruce, who was just staring at the mess smiling. Clint had Tony in a loose headlock while Tony was pointing a spatula at his neck.

Tony blew a piece of popcorn out of his face. "We're making popcorn, obviously."

"Uh-huh. Sure," I said, looking around the room. "And what exactly happened while you were making the popcorn?"

"Well, from what I could see," Natasha said, plucking another piece of popcorn out of her bowl, "Clint tried to put three bags of popcorn in at the same time because he 'couldn't wait that long.' Then he accidently left a fork in there, so it exploded." She smacked Bruce's hand as he tried to snatch some popcorn from her bowl. He looked at her, then took some anyway. She rolled her eyes. "So of course it got everywhere."

"You left out the part where Clint and Tony started fighting," Bruce said absentmindedly as he tried to grab more popcorn. "Tony got mad at Clint because that was the last of the popcorn or whatever." Bruce shrugged and looked over at where Steve had given up trying to help Thor. "Thor didn't know what that stuff was all over him, so Steve tried to get it off him. Didn't work too well."

"Tasha, can I have some popcorn?" Clint asked her as he let go of Tony. Natasha shook her head and continued eating. Clint frowned. "Come on, please?"

"Nope," she said, popping the "p."

"It seems we should have just eaten the delicious tarts that pop," Thor said seriously as he tried to wipe butter and kernels off his clothes.

"We'll eat that now, Pointbreak. You think you could put some in the toaster for us?" Tony asked as he dug in the cabinets and tossed Thor a pack.

"I will try," Thor promised.

"I'm surprised," I said. "I didn't know you guys could do all of this in just ten minutes. All I did was go take a shower."

"You would be surprised." Steve went over to the sink and washed his hands. "Especially where Clint and Tony are concerned."

Clint huffed. "Please, Steve. I'm not the one who pressed the emergency stop on the elevator."

Steve blushed scarlet. "I didn't know it would stop the whole elevator and sirens would come on."

"I didn't know that people could run that fast when they saw the Avengers." Tony shuddered. "I thought those girls were going to tear us apart with their nails."

"Nah," Natasha said in a bored tone. "They probably would have just taken you home and locked you in their basement as a trophy." She got up and tossed her bowl into the sink.

"Hey, Percy?" Bruce asked, obviously trying to change the subject.

"Yeah?" I said.

The toaster dinged cheerily and Thor jumped about a foot in the air. "Great Odin, that scared me!"

"Gets you every time, Thor," Clint laughed.

"I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions?" Bruce asked tentatively.

I shrugged. "Yeah, sure. Ask away."

The others attention was fixed on me as Thor put in some more poptarts and started munching on the two he had already toasted.

Bruce pointed at Roman tattoo on my bicep. "What's that?"

"That," I said, "is what the Romans put on your arm when you become a part of their camp." I rubbed my arm at the memory. "They kind of burn this on your arm, and it tells your rank and status."

Bruce frowned. "I thought you were Greek," he said at the same time Clint said, "They burned that on your arm?"

I nodded. "It hurt like Hades. And I am Greek," I said, looking at Bruce. "But I got my memory completely wiped one day by the goddess Hera." I rolled my eyes. "So I was chased there by a pair of Gorgons that would not stay dead. So I had to enter their camp and go on a quest to free Death. Of course, I didn't exactly know I was Greek. So the Romans were kind of suspicious of me."

"Sorry, did you just say that you went on a quest to free Death?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Yeah." I shifted where I stood and then took a seat. Tony and Clint came to the table and sat down. Thor stayed behind and manned the toaster. "It's a long story."

"You didn't remember a single thing?" Natasha asked.

"Well," I rubbed the back of my neck, "I could only remember my girlfriend, Annabeth. That's it."

Thor jumped again as the toaster dinged. "This is your young friend who aided you on many of your adventures, correct?"

"Right," I confirmed. "So after the quest, an army came to the camp, and me and my two friends Hazel and Frank had to stop them. Me and this god who controlled the borders helped defeat the giant that was meant to be the downfall of Poseidon. Meaning my dad and the giant were complete opposites." I reached for the poptart Thor held out to me and took a bite out of it. "Mmm, S'mores. Thanks. Anyway, after that they made me praetor, or leader of the camp. Of course, I gave it back to Jason when he got back."

"Because you were already leader of the Greek camp, right?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah. So, these things are pretty permanent." I pointed to the tattoo. "But I don't mind. It's kind of a reminder that Greeks and Romans can actually get along."

"What do you mean?" Natasha grabbed a poptart from the toaster.

"The Greek demigods and the Roman demigods didn't know about each other until me and Jason, the leaders of both camps, went missing." I sighed. "A long time ago when we knew each other, we got in this huge fight, and we killed a lot of demigods. It's why the gods kept us separated." I crunched on my poptart some more. "But we had to work together to stop this war. Which was pretty hard, if you can imagine." I made a face. "Especially when some people do not want to cooperate."

I thought of Octavian. Thank the gods I didn't usually have to see him; unless it was an inter-camp meeting. I still couldn't believe that he had managed to weasel his way out of getting killed by Clarisse or another hot-tempered Greek.

"Believe it or not," Steve said, "the Avengers got off to a rough start."

"Trust me," I told them, "it's weird if a team of people don't disagree. Unless you already know them, of course. It's almost like you get closer by arguing with them or something."

Tony considered this for a moment, then nodded. "Sounds about right." He clapped his hands together. "Alright, well, as much as I would love to prolong this little team bonding thing," he said, "I gotta get to my workshop and look at those videos of Mermaid Man." He pointed vaguely in my direction. "I think I might have a few new ideas. You know," Tony grimaced, "after I finish those helicarrier plans." He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "Oh my gosh, those are no fun whatsoever. Fury won't let me do anything cool with them! I might just sneak some stuff in there, anyway."

Clint's eyes brightened. "Do it, Tony." He grinned. "Or you could at least do it in the one I always drive. I love new toys."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know." He looked around at the rest of us. "I'll see you guys when I get hungry enough to come here again."

"I'll come with you," Bruce said standing up. "I need to do some work. Besides, you need a babysitter at all times."

Natasha smirked. "Got that right."

"I'll probably be in the gym or in my room," Steve said, quietly excusing himself.

Thor frowned. "I suppose I could find something to do." He walked out the room.

Natasha looked at me. "What are you going to do?"

I shrugged. "I'll probably talk to my dad and my girlfriend. Or something like that."

Natasha tilted her head to the side slightly. "I thought demigods can't use electronics like that."

I smiled. "We can't. Tell Tony not to freak out when a high-energy being appears out of nowhere in his building. It's just my dad."

"That still doesn't explain how you're going to contact your girlfriend," Natasha pointed out.

"I'll explain IM-ing to you guys later," I promised. "And no, it doesn't stand for Instant Messaging."

Natasha gave me a small smile. "Have fun."

"I'm sure I will."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Um, Dad?" I asked tentatively into the air. "Could you, uh, come down? I want to talk to you. Please?" I wasn't sure if this was how you were supposed to call the gods or what. I didn't have to do some kind ritual, right?

"I was expecting this call," said a voice behind me. I turned around. "I didn't know when you would do it though." My dad grinned. "It's about time."

"So that's how it works. I just call one of your names out loud and you come to me?" I said.

My dad shrugged. "Something like that. You know, we gods can actually feel when someone says our name."

"Really?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes," my dad confirmed. "We can mostly tune out the mortals and what they're saying. We try and just focus in our attention to our children."

I winced. "That must be pretty annoying for Zeus and Hades. We kind of use their names a lot."

Poseidon chuckled. "I don't hear enough of how the demigods should stop saying their names like that because they'll never know when someone actually needs something."

"Force of habit."

"So anyway, yes, we can feel when you say our names. And we can really feel it when someone talks directly to us."

I cocked my head to the side. "What do you mean that you can feel it?"

My dad looked like he was trying to find the right words to describe the feeling. "It's like someone's poking you in your brain, I suppose."

"That's kind of cool."

My dad smiled again. "Well, as much as I like talking to you about this, I'm sure you didn't call me to ask me if I can feel you talking to me."

I felt my cheeks heat up. "Uh, no. You said that there was something big coming up. Well," I said, "you didn't technically tell me, but you told Nick Fury." I paused, thinking of something. "Wait a minute, you told him that, but you didn't tell him what I was? Seriously?"

Dad tried to fight a grin. "My apologies. I must have forgotten that detail."

I rolled my eyes. "That's not a detail, Dad. That's my life. You guys so did that on purpose. I knew it." I huffed a breath. "But I guess I'll have to let it go. Now, what exactly did you tell Fury?" I asked curiously. "About some kind of thing rising?"

My dad grimaced. "Here's the thing, Percy: that's all I told him. And that's all I'm able to tell you."

"What?"

"I wish I could tell you more." He sighed. "The Fates won't allow it. It's not like we gods know what's really going on right now, either. We just know it's something big and evil."

I swallowed. "Like how evil? On a scale of Tartarus to Gaea?"

"Well . . ." Thunder rumbled. Poseidon sighed in frustration. "And that's my warning. I'm sorry, Percy. I wish I could tell you what I know. But I can tell you that you need to be prepared." He looked at me seriously. "Be ready for anything." Thunder crashed again outside. Dad rolled his eyes. "I'm coming!" He said in the direction of the ceiling. He turned his eyes back to me. "I'll see you later, son." He laid a hand on my shoulder. "Don't get yourself hurt." I averted my eyes, and he flashed out.

"Why does everyone think I'm going to get myself hurt and or killed?" I grumbled to myself as I fished a drachma out of my pocket. I went into the bathroom and created a mist with the water from the sink. I flipped a coin into it, but the coin came back out and smacked me in the face. I rubbed my cheek as an image of Lacey appeared in the mist. "You don't have to pay," she told me. "I think you've paid enough. These little messages of yours will be on me."

"Thanks," I said. "It's nice to see you again, Lacey. Could you connect me to Annabeth at Camp Half-Blood, please?"

"Of course."

An image of Camp Half-Blood immediately came into view. A head popped up from a messy desk as Annabeth's cabin came into view. Blonde curls framed her tan face and I saw her stormy grey eyes light up as she saw me. "Percy!"

I grinned. "Hey, Wise Girl! Finally cleaning that messy desk before your cabin gets a bad time for showers because of you?"

"Ha-ha, Percy. And no, I'm working on this new plan for one of the rooms in Olympus. Well, it's not exactly a room, but you know what I mean," she said. She straightened and sat on the chair nearest to her. "So what's up?"

We talked about everything that's happened to me, and I brought up the thing me and my dad had talked about.

"What do you think it is?" I asked her.

She shrugged, her eyes showing that she was thinking a million miles a minute. "I honestly have no clue, Percy. I thought we had taken care of everything. I thought we could finally get a break." She shook her head. "How about I try to look into things and let you know?" she asked.

"That sounds great." I was relieved to have her watching my back again. Figuratively, that is. "I'll talk to you later. Okay?"

"Yeah, sure. IM me anytime. I should be available," she told me. She smiled. "I think Leo and the others would probably want to see you soon, anyway. Of course, they'll probably want to see you with the Avengers."

I laughed. "I'll make sure you guys get to meet them. See you later." She smiled and I waved my hand through the image.

"Sir?" Jarvis said. "The team needs you. They said come to the kitchen quickly."

I hurried out the door. "What's the matter?"

"They seem to have received a major energy reading. They think you might know something about it," he explained.

When I arrived in the kitchen, the Avengers were focused at a screen Tony had up. It looked like a bunch of swirling numbers and words. The bright letters were killer on my dyslexia. I squinted at the screen, trying to make sense of it. "What does this mean?"

"You can't read it?" Tony asked without looking over at me.

"All demigods have dyslexia. To me, it might as well be German."

"Learn something new every day," Tony said while typing rapidly on the holographic keyboard. "These are serious readings of energy coming from downtown New York."

"How serious?" I asked.

"Serious enough for at least a couple of the Avengers to check it out," Bruce said, staring anxiously at the screen. "We think you should be one of them."

"Really?" I said, shocked. I was a newbie, after all.

"Yeah," Tony said distractedly. "You know the most about what's going on, anyway. It could be something to do with people like you." He highlighted a view numbers. "We haven't decided which one of us should come with you."

"We were thinking Thor or Steve," Clint said.

"It doesn't matter to me," I said. "If you're asking, that is. I'd be happy to have either one of them."

"I believe I should stay here and see if a word or sign from Odin comes from this news," Thor said gravely.

"Steve it is, then." Clint looked at the screen for a second, then pulled back.

"Percy, do you have any idea what this could be?" Tony asked me. "Anything you could have would help a lot right now."

"Well," I said, thinking hard. "It could just be a group of monsters left over from the First or Second War that we missed. The demigods tried to hunt them all down, but there's no way we could have nailed them all." That didn't seem right, though. I didn't know how I knew that. It was just a feeling I had, and I had learned to trust my instincts a long time ago.

"Alright. Either or. Great," Tony said. "Jarvis, send these readings to Fury and tell him we're putting Steve and Percy on it."

"Get what you need." Steve looked at me seriously. "The only thing we'll have are ear pieces to talk to Tony and the team."

"I can't wear one," I reminded him. "If I do, all the monsters in the area will be attracted to us."

"Okay, I'll just have one then." Steve started to walk to his room. "Gear up. We're going incognito."

A/N: That's it for Chapter Seven! The characters might have been a little out of character, but whatever. I tried my best. We're kind of getting into the action a little bit here. Leave me a review and tell me what you thought! They are greatly appreciated. :) You guys are the best!