Okay, at least I stuck to the monthly schedule I set for myself. The chapters from now on should be coming out more frequently because from this weekend on my exams are done and summer starts! Yay! I just want to say I'm sorry if I don't characterize people correctly, because I do write in a lot of POVs and I do try my best. If you guys have any suggestions on how to fix that I'd gladly take them into account.
On a more important note:
I did state Marvel's Agents of SHIELD would not be a part of this fic, but I don't think I explained properly. The fic takes place before the timeline of the show, therefore those situations wouldn't have occurred yet. However, whenever I incorporate SHIELD Agents I may include cameos for some of the characters. just because they are part of the SHIELD universe. I hope this doesn't upset anyone.
P.S. I know it didn't seem like I was going to include any other demi-gods from the Percy Jackson world, but I did say I was, and now I'm delivering! :P

Chapter Ten - Puppeteer

November 19th, 2012
1:03pm
Earth

What just happened?

Peter Parker stood directly in front of the Stark Tower, more so the "A" or Avenger's tower now due to the broken sign, and he had no idea how he got there. In fact, the last thing he remembered was leaving this very place, as Spider-Man, with his identity in the balance. For crying out loud, he had just managed to evade the iron-clad genius who resided floors above, so what was he doing here?

Thankfully, although he didn't remember changing back into his normal clothing, he was dressed as any other teenager his age, so at least he didn't immediately stand out from the rush of people walking in front of the building. Though, with each passing second another bystander eyed him slightly longer than a glance, and Peter knew he had to leave as soon as possible.

As he went to shift his weight to turn around, a sharp pain went through his head, blinding him for a second. His thoughts suddenly became hazy, his breathing feeling thick and unsatisfying. The stares that watched him were no longer of his concern as one of his legs gave out, dropping ungracefully onto the other. He didn't realize he had closed his eyes, but now he noticed the world was black, so he opened one, slowly, so the light wouldn't make the searing pain worse.

Within that second the headache vanished, but he was also left starring at the people he had seen mere minutes earlier, looking down at him in shock.

"Well," the snarky tone of Tony Stark range out, "If it isn't the arachnid. Why did you come crawling back?"

Hand clutched to his head with one eye still closed, Peter unsteadily rose to his feet, meeting both Avengers at eye-level. His mouth was forming words before he comprehended what they were, much to his shock.

"I'm subjecting myself to threat evaluation," the commitment in his tone even startled himself, and when he tried to speak once more against what he just said, the sharp pain returned with a vengeance.

His knees buckled once more, but he managed to stay upright. Through the haze that enveloped his vision with the second wave of pain, he noticed the worried look on Captain America's face.

"Stark I think he's hurt," the Captain voiced the obvious to his fellow avenger.

Tony, who was far too busy looking incredulous at Peter's words, snapped out of it. "JARVIS," he spoke into an earpiece, "Contact Romanoff and tell her to get back here ASAP. Get the suit ready too, I don't care if you have to disable the air-conditioning."

The migraine, still having not faded, finally brought Peter back down to his knees as darkness started to creep his vision. The Captain dropped down next to him, worry etched all over his features as he prepared to catch Peter were he to collapse.

"Peter? Can you hear me? What happened?" He spoke softly, as if this weren't the weirdest thing that's happened lately. Through the pain, he almost laughed at the absurdity.

If I only I knew what was going on, he thought through the pain, his hands now clutching his head with fierce intensity, as if that would somehow lessen the barrage of agony. He knew someone was speaking to him, but he couldn't care to differentiate the meanings behind the syllables that formed words. He wanted nothing less than to collapse right there and then, if that would somehow stop the excruciating pain. The only thought that had been keeping him from doing so this long is that he may never be able to see his aunt May again if he let himself be putty in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands.

Regretfully, he could no longer fight the bombardment of blows against his mind, and although his fight was keeping him conscious, he hadn't the slightest idea what was going on. He felt strong hands grip him and heave himself upwards, making the world spin even more. He closed his eyelids as held his breath as a wave of nausea came over him.

When he managed to open his eyes again, he noticed he was being supported by Captain America's shoulder. Tony Stark was gone from his vision, replaced by an assortment of suited personnel. Someone peeled his weight from the Cap, only to lug him inside of the last building he had ever hoped to enter again.

Before he finally lost the will to stay conscious, he saw the worried eyes of the first Avenger and wonder if he looked as bad as he felt. He shut his own, waiting for the pain to fade into unconsciousness.

Maybe working with the Avengers wouldn't be so bad, said a voice in his mind, momentarily halting the pain. So shocked at the sudden clarity, he attempted to move, in which the agony resumed.

A female voice made it through his currently useless senses, which Peter would have sworn was Gwen's were he not what he presumed delusional.

Do not fight, little spider.

•ψ•Ω•ψ•

"Look whose back from Italy."

Nico DiAngelo raised an eyebrow at the remark from his fellow agent. He didn't socialize much with the others, as was the standard of most people in his occupation, but he did have an acquaintance or two on his team.

"That a problem?" He asked off-handily, a joke or challenge present in his tone depending on how it was perceived.

"Not at all," replied Agent James Dalton as he strode alongside Nico, whom he presumed was determined to know the result of his assignment.

"You know I can't say a thing until I'm cleared," responded Nico to the silent question lingering in the atmosphere of the encounter.

"Oh I know. It's just good to see you in one piece." Stated Dalton with a smile, much to Nico's surprise. It was an understatement to say he didn't talk to others given the choice. When it came to Agent Dalton – the closest person Nico could call a friend – they've only ever spoken a handful of words to each other whenever the circumstance called for it. These situations usually meaning they were on a mission together. Reflecting on that, Nico would have never imagined there was anyone who worried for his wellbeing.

There was an underlying reason for why he didn't socialize, besides all the spy stuff. He never wanted to get to close to anyone, never again, not after what happened – has it already been that long – four years ago.

Dalton, noticing Nico's rather shocked expression, grinned. He stopped walking, waving a hand in a wordless salute as he strode through another one of the corridors sealed by fingerprint biometrics.

He recognized barely any of the many faces he passed, although that wasn't surprising considering the size of their workforce. Even crazier, there was a bigger facility located in Washington, D.C. that gave Nico headaches just thinking about.

The Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division was as much a force to be reckoned with as it was a mouthful. And in Nico's opinion – that was a lot.

It may seem utterly idiotic for a demi-god to be working for a government agency practically hell-bent on keeping interesting people on the radar. However, in Nico's opinion, which has always been slightly unorthodox, he deduced it practically kept him off the radar. Hiding in plain sight.

That wasn't the only reason. A year ago, Chiron, the leader of Camp Half-Blood, suspected that mortals were becoming too keen in identifying elements of the supernatural, mostly due to their own tinkering in creating artificial powers in people, their own sort of heroes. At the time Nico had attended the meeting held for all the head campers of the cabins. He discovered the cause of the meddling originated from a worldwide organization dedicated to peacekeeping against Earth's more "supernatural" threats, called the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division. With support from the Gods, it was decided a camper was to be selected from both of the camps and periodically intervene if the agency discovered too much regarding the Gods.

After much debate among the head counsellors, it was Nico whom was determined what he took as being expendable.

In the two years he's been working for S.H.I.E.L.D., it has been getting periodically more difficult to hide the identity of half-bloods and Greek Gods. The craziest things S.H.I.E.L.D comes across were always other-worldly. Alien most of the time, involving "Gods" from different planets. Nico wasn't surprised other mythology was real, although he was surprised that it stemmed from aliens. But so far S.H.I.E.L.D. had no clue of the powers they housed about the Empire State Building, thanks to him.

Now that Nico thought about, perhaps he was also working here for a personal reason. Ever since knowing what they do to people they deem too "dangerous" –either because of influence or raw power – he supposed as careless as he may seem, he wanted to keep them off his friends. To Tartarus with the actual Gods and their dedication against being discovered – Nico cared solely about their offspring.

It was remarkable really, thinking about it. The Mist was truly a marvelous thing to have blocked the keen-eyes of such an agency for years, even with his help. Although Nico knew time was running out. Agents were starting to become more clear-sighted, especially after the Battle of New York. Aliens and superheroes had convinced even the populace the impossible was suddenly possible, and it had caused a stream of problems. The Mist, for the past few months, had been less effective in masking the problems arisen from being a demi-god, due to the fact that people were willing to believe a monster had lived among them and a teenager was capable of wearing armour and wielding a blade.

How crazy was that?

More so, Nico had been sent on a two month-long covert undercover mission in Italy almost right after the Avengers incident on a lead of illegal smuggling of Chitauri weapons. It had taken him two weeks to locate the suspects, not to mention the problem of having to invent his cover to make it believable. Another week and he was trusted just enough to roam freely. Once he was able to do that, he located the illegal supply and contacted S.H.I.E.L.D. immediately. They prepared an extraction team and got him out a little worse for wear but otherwise okay.

Here he was a couple days later, prepared to debrief the entire thing in writing despite the fact that like all others of his kind – he was dyslectic. They knew that of course, but they hadn't the specifics that Nico should be writing and reading Ancient Greek instead. There's also the fact that there is no conceivable way to explain that without revealing hey, you know there are even more Gods who have kids who also have powers and blah blah blah.

Shaking his head of his thoughts, he placed his hand on a scanner into one of the rooms. A light flashed underneath his palm before a beep sounded.

Nico never would have thought himself becoming a spy, in fact the day S.H.I.E.L.D. approached him was the day he realised that spies actually still existed in today's day and age.

Of course, meeting them had been no accident. Carefully planned by Chiron and the other demi-gods, not to mention the Mist, he was suddenly wrapped up in a covert S.H.I.E.L.D. matter involving the fact that, technologically, he didn't exist.

He remembered their crisp suits and sunglasses, their no-nonsense attitude and he had wondered if they were some sort of men in black. They had flashed a badge that meant nothing but run to him at the time, that being exactly what he did, in only to maintain the facade. They had caught him before he'd had the chance to shadow travel, (which he was totally going to do in the rush of adrenaline) and calmly explained that they had a few questions to ask him.

It definitely was not fun explaining why he didn't exist in their database. It was the reason that Chiron decided tipped the scale in his direction. With a little bit of supernatural prompting, S.H.I.E.L.D. went looking for him. He didn't tell them the truth of course, but he spoke something from the lines of his mom never registering his birth and when she died he and his sister fended for themselves. It was a story previously crafted by the brightest of the Athena cabin to eradicate any flaws.

Then they asked him about any family, to which he sharply declared they were dead and that was the end of that. From there, things just kind of happened according to plan. A nice man by the name of Phil Coulson had convinced him that the world needed people like him – those who cared enough to help and expected nothing for it – to work in the shadows for peace. The phrasing had amused Nico at the time and decided were he not required to accept, he would have sincerely considered it as there was nothing much in his life anymore. Of course he was always welcome at both camps, but he never quite fit in even after the second war. Nobody was mean to him, people attempted to include him, but honestly it wasn't Nico's thing. He'd seen too much death and decay to laugh without worry lacing his voice, to smile at his friends without a care. Nico would have told the agent that he'd already been saving the world without so much as a thanks, but obviously he hadn't.

That's when he realized that maybe for once this was a way to help those he cared about indirectly, finally a place he could be as invisible as he pleased.

The real question is why S.H.I.E.L.D. decided to hire him when he was just old enough for it to be legal. The plan obviously involved many different scenarios to provoke the situation, but he hadn't needed it. All it took was the demonstration of his physical prowess thanks to being a demi-god – he hadn't shown them anything odd or Gods forbid anything to do with his powers – and they decided to put him into a fast track of training. Perhaps they felt pity for a boy who was never known by the world, and precisely for that reason they thought it reason enough to enlist someone nobody would possibly know. Maybe they realised in the possibility that they could create an identity for someone, completely from scratch.

And despite the fact that yes, he was a spy, his life was as normal as he could have asked for. The Gods never bothered him, as long as he did his job involving their secret, and he even visited camp every now and then to report the happenings. The best part was that he made a decent salary to live on his own. He was also glad he got to look out for the well-being of others, learned how to use guns (because what teenage boy at the time wouldn't) and got to legally travel the world opposed to his not so legal shadow-travel. Plus there was the fact that as a field agent he had a fantastic outlet to let out all his pent up ADHD derived energy.

For once in his existence, Nico felt like he had a purpose centered towards helping others. His only problem at the moment however, was the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. was only a hair's breath away from discovering that Greek mythology consisted of more fact than myth. The Mist had begun to fail him. After a scuffle in Italy, he had to shadow travel to a different location. Upon sneaking back later, he discovered that they knew he just disappeared into darkness. And that was not good. That meant that the Mist didn't make an explanation to his disappearance because the mortals chasing him were willing to accept the fact that he just disappeared.

It also meant that as soon as he was debriefed, he had a long drive to Long Island awaiting him, with all his jet-lagged glory.

The room he entered was filed with S.H.I.E.L.D. personal, scurrying about due to some disturbance. It only took a moment for his replacement supervising officer after the death of Phil Coulson – Agent John Garrett – to find him and start explaining the situation.

"Sorry to do this to you right when you get back, kid, but it seems like you'll be joining my team on an oh-eight-four."

"Oh-eight-four?" Nico asked dumbfounded. He knew many of the S.H.I.E.L.D. codes due to shear dedication, but he had never heard the term oh-eight-four used other than to describe the Tesseract. Up until now he presumed it was the term for the Tesseract.

"Object of unknown origin. Usually a team goes in for threat assessment. Most of the time it means something alien." Garrett explained as he led Nico towards where he guessed the rest of the team was waiting.

"How did you know I was back?" Nico asked suddenly, as he had only showed up to S.H.I.E.L.D. an hour ago.

"You showed up on my log, so I waited for you where you should have been headed. Paid off didn't it? After all we were only informed about this… three minutes at thirty-eight seconds ago," Garrett said as he checked his watch.

This wasn't good. Nico had to get back to camp as soon as possible to inform Chiron of the failing Mist. Who knew what would happen on a 0-8-4? Worst case scenario, he's forced to use his powers and S.H.I.E.L.D. decides to detain him as a "possible gifted". Then he ends up on the Index. That list gave him shivers. He was able to glimpse it once, for mere milliseconds, when Coulson was doing an evaluation on the Avenger's Initiative. The people there are the ones who are confirmed to have some sort of supernatural ability – being a mutation or an experiment or who knows what else – after undergoing what S.H.I.E.L.D. calls an "Index Asset Evaluation and Intake" report.

Lost in thought as he was, he didn't notice they were approaching the quinjet, which contained the two of the four other agents on Garrett's team. They stood just inside the open-hatch, awaiting their arrival. Nico saw Dalton, looking as happy as ever – seriously he always had a smile on his face much to Nico's annoyance – and next to him, to say Nico was stunned was an understatement.

Agent Garrett was the former supervising officer to four other agents, now with the addition of himself, which consisted of his team. Of those four, one was a specialist who always did covert undercover missions – much like the one Nico just did – that were much more difficult. This particular S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was the only one of the four that Nico had not yet met in person.

Agent Grant Ward.