Thanks for all the reviews, Best. Motivation. EVER.

Nico was calmly walking down one of New York's numerous streets when a building exploded. Nico's eyebrow twitched, and mortals began to flee the scene, screaming as they went. Slowly, he raised a hand to his ear and asked, "Ghost King to SHIELD, any reason why buildings are exploding? I was trying to walk down this street and now it's blocked." Air hissed through his clenched teeth. "It's really pissing me off."

The brisk voice of a SHIELD operative spoke through the tiny communicator in his ear. "Agent di Angelo, we've got another Earthborn attack in your current vicinity, authorization for attack. Try not to reveal your identity if possible, and we believe there may be people still inside the building. We'll be watching through the cameras in the area. Good luck."

Nico scowled at her words, but didn't protest. He would have killed them anyways, it's not like he would have left the mortals to die. It was the fifth attack this week. He shrugged off his jacket, and dropped it onto a nearby park bench after removing his mask from the pocket, not wanting his treasured jacket to become soaked in the Earthborn's equivalent of blood that he was only too happy to spill. He placed it on his face, and summoned his sword from shadows. Luckily for him, the mortals were too busy screaming to notice him, so he set of in the direction of the building, dust from the explosion filling the air.

Upon entering the remains of the once proud building, he spotted the bodies of a few mortals. After noting that none of them were dead, he used shadows to transport them down the street, a skill he had perfected a week after his embarrassing first try transporting Percy that had left him at the mercy of Gaea. He noticed the large size of the ruined room, and guessed it must have been a bank, or something along those lines. Broken pipes were spurting out fountains of water, and the remaining lights were flickering on and off. As he moved deeper inside, the light from the sun outside began to fade, and the flickering light bulbs and the random areas of where small fires were burning were his only source of illumination.

He carefully manoeuvred himself through the rubble, his boot encased feet soundless on the marble floor. His eyes, visible above his mask, darted left and right, searching the shadows along with his power. He could sense nothing but the faint presence of Earthborn, almost as if they had already left. With his powers sensing nothing, Nico reluctantly allowed himself to relax. That was his mistake.

With a shockwave of power that sent Nico flying through the air, and crashing into a pillar, the piles of dirt Nico had thought to be caused by the explosion, flowed together, and began to form the largest Earthborn Nico had ever seen. It was easily 10 metres tall, its huge head brushing the crumbling ceiling, causing more dust to fall, obscuring Nico's already poor view of the creature because of the flickering light. Nico pushed himself upright, wincing in pain, and in a move so fast it was almost invisible to the naked eye, dived and rolled to the right. Just in time, as the monsters huge fist slammed down into the floor where he had just been lying, causing the building to shake, and a large crater to appear in the marble.

Nico shot to his feet, and ran behind the monster, clutching his sword tight in his hand. If his life as a demigod had taught him anything, it was to never drop his sword, no matter what. After lifting its fist, and not seeing the crushed corpse of a certain son of Hades, the monster roared, a sound so loud that it caused Nico to clutch his ears in pain, his hearing leaving him, and blood to leak from said deafened ears. He wobbled, his sense of balance distorted, and had just enough time to duck out of the way as the creature whirled around and swung its fist in a wide circle. His hair ruffled from the displaced air, and Nico took the opportunity of the creature's confusion to sprint forward, and stab the creature in the ankle. He guessed it must have howled in pain as it toppled to its knees, but with his hearing gone for now, he couldn't know for sure.

He summoned a fist of shadows, sharpened them to points, and slammed them into the monster's knees that were now in reaching distance. For its size, strength and speed, the creature was immensely stupid, and continued to swing at the area around his wounds, as if expecting Nico to still be there. Nico smirked from where he was standing, now behind the creature, and leapt into the air, ramming his sword into the creatures back, separating its rock-like spine. It tried to turn around, but its legs failed it, and it toppled backwards, the ground vibrating from another roar. Nico could not hear it this time. Once it was on the ground, Nico proceeded to separate every single one of its six arms from his body, his sword and arms becoming stained in gore. The creature's blood was the consistency and colour of mud, and Nico relished in the creatures pain. Not in my city, you piece of shit, he thought viciously.

With its arms gone, the monster could not level itself upright, and Nico stood on top of its chest, his sword poised above its stone heart. "Any last words?" The creature opened its mouth as if to say something but Nico interrupted, "Too bad, you bastard, you fucked up my ears." With that, he slammed the blade home. The ground shook, and whatever was keeping the building upright began to collapse, taking the weak building with it. Nico leapt of the disintegrating body of the Earthborn, but before he could run towards the safety of the door, a tendril of earth snagged his ankle, tripping him up. Nico swore as Gaea's voice filled his mind.

"You may have escaped this time, little demigod, but you will serve me. You will betray those pathetic excuses for gods, and I will reward you for your loyalty beyond anything you could ever imagine. You will come to me, or I shall send my children to bring you to me. It is your choice, young hero, until then..."

Nico was up and running for the door the moment the earth released him. He dodged the falling debris, and just made it out the door just as the building collapsed, creating a tomb for the monster he had defeated. Nico wiped the blood from his still deaf ears, and winced as he felt his ribs creak from their direct hit with the marble pillar. Abusive grandmother...

He was a surprised when Tony landed directly in front of him, garbed in his metal armour, because he could not hear the telltale sounds of his flight. Tony made the visor of his mask slide up, and began asking Nico questions. Nico of course, could not hear anything, so he raised an eyebrow, and pointed at his bloody ears. Stark's eyes widened, and he grabbed Nico's head, and began to examine his ears. Nico growled, and swatted at Tony, but with his body covered in the metal suit, he could not harm him.

Eventually, Tony released him, but not after ruffling Nico's hair. Nico glared at him, and tried to smooth it back down. Tony just smirked, and began to slowly mouth 'Let's go home. Bruce will fix your ears. Good job, Eeeee-mmooo Niiinnjjaaaaaaaa,' he mouthed the last two words slowly, so Nico couldn't miss the meaning. Nico snarled, and flicked Tony's face, which was still unprotected because his visor was not covering it. Tony staggered backwards, and clutched his forehead, but was still smiling. 'See you at the tower,' he mouthed, and took off. Nico grumbled, and made his way back to the bench on which he had left his jacket. His ears were becoming more painful, and he could vaguely hear some of the things happening around him, such as sirens, and screams. Thank the gods for his accelerated healing. As he picked up his jacket, he felt a sharp pain in his hand, and he released it letting it fall back down. A black, fuzzy creature was attached to his hand. Nico swore, and began to shake his hand furiously, but the fuzz ball would not be dislodged. He stopped shaking his hand, and held it up to his face. It was a kitten. Nico raised an eyebrow, and watched warily as the kitten removed its claws and fangs from his hand. It sat there, staring at him with big yellow eyes. Nico stared back. The cat tilted its head to the side. Nico did also. After staring at each other for about a minute, Nico lifted it up by the scruff of the neck, and placed it back on the bench. He picked up his jacket, and turned around to walk away. Faintly, he heard the little cat meow sadly, and Nico winced. Don't turn back around, he told himself, but he could not resist.

He looked back at the kitten, to see it lying on the bench, its head resisting on its black paws, its yellow eyes stared up at him, imploringly. Nico covered his eyes with his hands. He would not be manipulated by a cat! There was another meow, and he peaked through his blood covered fingers. The cat was now sitting at his feet, its mournful eyes expressing such loneliness-

Nico groaned in defeat, and picked up the kitten. It began to purr, and snuggled into his arms. Nico grumbled. He was weak. He put the cat on his shoulder so he could banish his sword to the shadows in order to leave an arm free, but the kitten had other ideas. It pounced on top of his head, latched onto it, and began chewing his hair. Nico's eyebrow twitched, but he knew when it came to a battle with the animal, he would most likely fail. Cats were to powerful, and he would collapse from cuteness overload.

He sighed, and shadow-travelled directly to Bruce's lab in the tower. Bruce looked up, unruffled by his sudden arrival, and beckoned him over, noticing the blood smeared across his face from his ears, and the slight tightness around Nico's eyes that meant he was in pain. He paused in his examination when he spotted a suspicious lump with glowing eyes on top of Nico's head.

"Nico, what's that-"

"I don't want to talk about it," Nico hissed loudly, still pissed at himself for being so easily manipulated. Bruce just shrugged, and motioned Nico to sit on one of the chairs. Nico did, and Bruce walked over to a cupboard to grab some of the Ambrosia Nico had managed to get for them in the event that he was injured. He handed a piece to Nico, and Nico sighed in relief as his pain melted away. Bruce grabbed a cloth, and began wiping Nico's face, but Nico snatched it from him, and continued himself, still not comfortable with people looking after him.

"I can do it myself," he grumbled in embarrassment, now at a normal volume as his ears had been repaired. Bruce used the time Nico was wiping his face to examine the creature latched to, and chewing on, Nico's dark hair. It was a cat.

"Why is there a cat on your head?"

"I said I don't want to talk about it!" Nico glared at Bruce, daring him to laugh, and stormed from the room, growling over his shoulder, "Thanks for your assistance."

"No problem," Bruce replied, his lips twitching from suppressing the smile caused by the sight of the terrifying Ghost King's new hair accessory.

When he arrived in his room, he managed to dislodge the kitten, which he had decided to call Fiend, because it was the most annoying creature he had ever had the misfortune to meet, and dropped it on his bed so he could take a shower. Fiend immediately began to chew his pillow. Nico shook his head in disgust. First his hair, now his pillow? Maybe it was because his hair had been on the pillow... He wanted to punch himself. He was so weak.

Nico shook his head, and headed for the bathroom. The Ambrosia had healed his wounds, and he could not help but feel that he was eating too much of the food without his body blowing up. A normal demigod would have spontaneously combusted after eating as much as Nico had since joining the Avengers. It scared him to think that his father's blessing had changed him, making him less human, and more like a god. Sure, some people might think that being a god was great, but it also meant that you couldn't interfere directly in mortal affairs. Without Nico's assistance, his friends might die. They needed him and his powers. No, Nico didn't want to be a god, not now, not ever.

When he came out of the bathroom dressed in clean black clothes, he was assaulted by his new companion. Fiend landed on his head with a plop, and Nico yelled as tiny paws covered his eyes. He tripped, and landed painfully on his back. He groaned, but the sound was muffled as Fiend picked that moment to sit on his face. Nico swore, and plucked the kitten off his face. Fiend was purring, and looking very self satisfied. Trust Nico to find a cat, be manipulated into adopting it, and then be abused physically and emotionally by said cat all in one day. He glared up at the tiny kitten from where he was holding it above his head. Fiend stared back, continuing to purr. Why did everything always happen to him?

When Nico entered the living room to find not only all the Avengers, but Fury, Coulson, and another man as well, he quickly removed Fiend from his head, and placed him on the floor. Fury, who had been talking, and had stopped when Nico entered the room, turned to him, and started to speak, "Good work today, di Angelo, you got rid of the threat without casualties, and-" He stopped when Nico shot past him, and slammed into the man who had accompanied himself and Coulson to the tower, and shoved him against a wall, his hands wrapped around his throat.

"What the fuck is a traitor like you doing here, Prometheus?" Nico snarled. Prometheus, who was turning blue, began pointing desperately at Fury, panic in his eyes. The son of Hades had become strong.

Fury grabbed Nico, and tried to pull him off the god, "Mr. di Angelo, I am ordering you to unhand our informant." After hearing Fury's words, Nico increased the pressure on Prometheus' throat, before reluctantly letting go, and backing away slowly, not taking his eyes off of the god for one second.

"As I was saying before di Angelo tried to strangle the informant, new information has come to light concerning Gaea and her war plans, courtesy," he fixed Nico with a steely glare, "Of Prometheus. Whatever past you two have, drop it. We have a war to fight, and I will not tolerate the killing of allies. Is that clear, di Angelo?" Nico glared back at him.

"No, it is not clear, Director. Prometheus sided with the Titans in the last war, and I trust him about as fast as I can stab him. Which will only take a second," he growled at Prometheus, whose face bleached of colour.

"I don't care about your last war. If this guy," Fury pointed at Prometheus, "Can help us in our current one, than I don't give a shit. You two better put your differences aside. Now, back to what Prometheus was about to say before he was interrupted." He raised an eyebrow at Nico, as if asking if he could control himself. Nico saw this out of the corner of his eye, and nodded, but still kept most of his attention on Prometheus, who looked more and more sickly with every passing minute he had to suffer Nico's Death Glare.

At Fury's nod, Prometheus cleared his throat. "Well, after hearing about the return of Gaea," he wrinkled his nose after saying her name, "I decided to remain neutral in the coming fight. As you now know, I sided with the Titans against the Olympians in the last war, and it didn't, ahhh, turn out so well..." He looked depressed at the memory of the letdown of discovering he wasn't going to be replacing the Olympians. He began to speak again when he heard someone clearing their throat. "Yes, well that plan kinda didn't work out so well. Less than a week after Gaea's return, I was attacked by her army. When I asked why they were attacking me, they told me something quite shocking... Gaea doesn't plan on killing only the Olympians, she wants to kill every single god and demigod in existence, and then rule the world as she sees fit. From what I've heard, there have been numerous attacks on minor gods, and though so far none have been killed, they have been forced to retreat to Olympus. Gaea has methods of forcing us to fade, and that alone is terrifying."

Nico glared at him, "So basically, you're only helping us because otherwise they won't let you into Olympus. You are such a good person," he said sarcastically.

"Who are you to talk about selflessness, Hades spawn? Children of the Underworld do nothing unless it benefits them. You have no right to judge me, brat."

Before Nico could react in any way, Thor of all people, punched Prometheus in the face. "You will not talk about friend Nico in such a way again, Greek. He has done more for this world than you could ever hope to achieve, and you will give him the respect he deserves."

Nico was shocked that Thor actually seemed to like him now. He assumed it must have been because Loki had threatened further cape massacres if he kept up his rudeness, but pushed his confusion from his mind, "Whatever information you have, Prometheus, tell us now, before I see if I can't make you fade before Gaea does," his eyes bled to black. Prometheus gulped, clutching his bruised nose that was dripping golden blood, and stammered, "She plans to attack New York tomorrow night. Her army has grown, and she has created many Earthborn to serve her. Also, her allies will be arriving tomorrow, as well."

"And how do you know all this?" Natasha asked suspiciously.

"Sneaking!" Prometheus proclaimed proudly.

"Sneaking?" Steve asked, confused.

"Yes, I snuck into their camp, and listened. Amazing conversationalists, monsters, you wouldn't believe-"

"Shut the fuck up," Nico growled. Prometheus stopped talking immediately, and disappeared with a squeak. His message delivered, and fearing for his life if he stayed in Nico's presence any longer, he saw no need to remain. Nico was surprised he had stayed so long. He turned to the others, and said, "Remember the attack on Central Park? The random Frost Giant that showed up, ranting about an alliance? They were talking about Gaea, and now they've discovered how to travel to different planets, they're coming to take their revenge because Loki and Thor are here, and they probably think Asgard is too heavily protected." He sighed, and asked Loki, "Did you really have to kill Laufey?"

Loki gazed around the room, trying to look innocent. "Hmmm? Me? Kill Laufey? Why would you think such a thing...?"

Nico rolled his eyes at his friend's antics. "Because Thor and that random Frost Giant told us so, you moron."

Loki sighed, "Well, I really wanted to become King. Besides, Laufey abandoned me as a child because I was small, and then Odin favoured Thor my entire life. I was angry. So I killed him. No big deal." He casually began examining his fingernails.

The others looked traumatised at his blatant admittance to murder, but Nico just laughed, and shook his head. "Dude, you are so fucked up..." Loki just gave him a winning smile.

"As are you, that's why we should take over the world. With our fangirl army, we would be unstoppable!"

"Enough with the plots for world domination!" Fury yelled, his eyes flashing with, well, fury. "We have a serious problem. Gaea, her army and the Frost Giants will be here tomorrow. I don't know how they're planning on doing it, but my guess is they're going to storm the Empire State Building, and destroy as much of New York as they can. We need to evacuate the city, and set up safe zones in the subway for people to take shelter in." He sighed, and rubbed his face. "Why is it always New York? I swear to God, if we get invaded once more after this, I'm moving to Alaska."

Nico tapped his chin thoughtfully, "Maybe the Frost Giants discovered how to get here from that Asgardian traitor we met when we were rescuing Loki from Asgard."

Thor looked furious, "There is a traitor in Asgard? Why did you not tell us!"

Nico glanced around, alarmed, and then scratched his head sheepishly. "I sort of forgot... I had to go get Coulson when I got back. It sort of slipped my mind..."

The others stared at him with varying degrees of astonishment. Curse his ADHD...

He scowled at the others and sighed. "Oops..."

Thanks for reading.