A/N: Yeah. I know what you're going to say. I'd totally say it, too. So, I won't blab my excuses to you (hint: they're about school) and instead let you get to this really long chapter I wrote. Thanks for the prompt, KeyTyper, and I hope you like it! I had fun writing it. Again, I'm so sorry for the late update. I'm gonna try to not let that happen again.

Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure Marvel and Rick Riordan are never this late with their publishing stuff…

Percy the Teenage Guppy

Another day, another battle. A lot of times, I didn't even want to get up in the morning. It must have been some kind of spring fever during the fall thing because villains these days were going nuts with their new and stupid plans. Today, it was Suction cup of doom robots. Or, StickyBots as Dr. Doom affectionately called them.

In fact, this one actually warranted enough trouble for Bruce, or the Other Guy, to come in for backup. Let me just say, we really needed him, too.

"Duck, Percy!" I heard someone on my team call.

I immediately slammed to the concrete and felt a StickyBot soar over my head. I shuddered. As soon as those things stuck to you, it was nearly impossible to get them off. Emphasis on nearly impossible.

I twisted my body around and slammed a StickyBot with my sword just before it permanently attached itself to Natasha's skull. I exploded a nearby fire hydrant and spun it around in a circle quickly, creating something that resembled a mid-air whirlpool. I sent it straight into a pile of them, one exploding on impact and shooting all of the others out of the air in different directions wildly. I nodded in satisfaction and quickly got back to work. Standing still meant getting hit by multiple StickyBots. Something I definitely couldn't afford to happen.

A common sound you heard while fighting StickyBots was a whistling and a beep-beep sound before you either dodged them or they became a part of your body. Not only were they uncomfortable, but they hurt you. The longer they were on you, the more it burned. I was sure that they released a chemical of some sort that made you lose both feeling and eventually movement in your arm. It wasn't permanent, but it did last for a while. Thor still couldn't use his right hand after being hit and had resorted to using Mjölnir with his left hand.

I sighed as more and more StickyBots inundated the streets. I was tiring pretty quickly, even with the adrenaline of the battle. We had just been going at it so long. I could hear distant sounds of Tony fighting Dr. Doom with the occasional help from Natasha and Thor. I had the outer perimeter to try and keep the StickyBots contained to a few square blocks. Although, I'm sure it didn't really matter since they all seemed to have a personal vendetta against me anyway. I wasn't joking either; any time the Bots had a choice between me or one of the Avengers, they always picked me. Always.

I swung my sword like a bat and hit two Bots clear into another pack of them. "Homerun!" I shouted gleefully. Unfortunately, that only seemed to enrage them more and they swarmed quickly, trying to overwhelm me. I whirled around gallons of water, throwing them out of the air. They returned quickly, and I knew it was time to think of a plan. They were growing smarter, no doubt taking information on my fighting skills and adapting to avoid the brunt of them. I thought for a minute, ducking once again as a kamikaze Bot tried its luck at taking off my head. I heard a clang as it barely clipped my helmeted-head. I was suddenly very grateful for my armor.

To defeat the Bots, I would have to think completely out of the box, a strategy so wild their computer brains couldn't calculate it. And suddenly, it came to me.

What was the one thing completely opposite from water?

I leapt over cars and sprinted across pieces of buildings and metal. I crunched over a StickyBot's head and grinned. Leo, I was sure, would be proud of my plan.

Once I had deemed I had gotten into the perfect place, I turned around and faced my group of Bots. There were a lot more than I had started with.

I put up walls of water and began tinkering with the car nearest me. I felt bad completely ruining someone's car, but it was a necessary evil. I heard StickyBots crashing against my hardened walls at increasingly hard velocities, and I tried to go faster. It was getting harder to hold them off with a wall surrounding both me and the car with over a hundred Bots. I panted as I quickly ripped off wires and tweaked this part just so. It seemed like those impromptu lessons Leo had given me on cars and other simple machines had actually done some good. I'd have to thank him later.

I stepped back in satisfaction when I was done and grabbed a large wrench. I dropped the walls and shrunk the large water shield to a skin-tight one. I still felt the Bots' hits a little, but it didn't hurt. I waited for them all to swarm me before I uncovered my arm and threw the wrench into the engine hard. Just as the entire engine blew, I recovered my arm and crouched down in a ball.

I really hoped my water shield would work.

There was a moment of silence before there was an ear-shattering screech-BOOM. The next thing I knew, I was airborne and flying. I slammed into a wall and slid dazed as Bot parts rained down on me. My water shield had fallen off, but I had luckily been able hold it up until I had hit the wall. A fact I was grateful for when I could still move all my limbs. I waited for the smoke to clear, still on the defensive just in case. But no Bots came. I gathered some water and helped wave away the smoke so I could see something. I was surprised when I saw the crater in the middle of the street that was still smoking. No Bots were in sight, though, so I relaxed and quickly put out the surrounding cars on fire. I was just about to walk back to the where the Avengers were so they wouldn't be worried about the explosion when I heard it.

"Help!" a woman shrieked. "Please help!"

I immediately raced towards the sound, praying I wasn't going to be too late. "Faster faster faster," I chanted to myself. When I got to the scene, I saw at least twenty Bots terrorizing a woman and her child, and I stepped in front of them before they could get hurt. "Run!" I shouted over my shoulder as I sliced a Bot in half.

"We can't!" the woman shouted back. "They're surrounding us and they keep diving straight at us. We'll be killed for sure." She had a small metal bar in her hand that she swung wildly with every time a Bot came near her. She never hit one, but I thought it was nice that she tried.

I whacked a few more out of the way until suddenly, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. The woman behind me screeched, "Watch out!" but it was too late.

The kamikaze StickyBot hit me directly in the arm, cutting through my armor and latching onto my skin. I yelped as the metal surrounding it started heating up and ripped it off quickly. It suctioned itself on tightly, and I began to quickly lose feeling in my arm. I cursed and picked up my sword with my left hand instead. Things had just gotten a whole lot harder.

I slashed and hacked and batted the StickyBots away. There were about ten left when something weird happened.

They turned around and flew away.

"Huh," I said. I was breathing so heavy in my helmet that it sounded like I was Darth Vader or something. "That's weird." I turned back to the lady and her child, my right arm swinging uselessly. "Are you guys okay?" I asked. I grabbed onto the Bot still on my arm and pulled. It didn't budge an inch. When they still didn't answer, I looked up at them. Their faces were still with shock and fright. "What's the matter…?" I asked, trailing off when I looked behind me. "Oh my gods."

Towering just behind me was a giant Bot that looked about twenty feet tall. It had giant metal feet and a mean-looking face with red glowing eyes. Different latches and buttons lined its arms and torso, and I had the feeling I really didn't want to know what those were for.

It swiveled its head downward to catch me directly in its eyesight. It made a few beeping sounds before its eyes glowed a brighter demon red. "Target sighted," it said mechanically. "Objective: neutralize."

"Oh, gods," I said back intelligently, then took off running away from the woman and her kid.

I heard its heavy footfalls quickly catching up and took a few back alleys I knew to slow him down. I heard a clicking sound and quickly veered left. A small pencil-shaped metal contraption whistled passed me and hit the ground. I rolled behind a dumpster and covered my head. It exploded, showering me in cement dust and trash. I scrambled back up and kept running.

Dodge. Duck. Run. Roll. Dodge. Run. Run, run, run.

It seemed like I had been running from the Dr. DoomBot, as I had taken to naming it in my head since he hated me as much as his creator, for forever. I weaved and bobbed and avoided its attacks, but I was out of breath and nearly wheezing from sprinting for so long. I heard another whiz-click sound and dove into another alley. A spray of bullets missed me by inches. I needed a plan. It was getting harder and harder to dodge with only one arm.

"Think," I panted to myself. First things first: open territory where I could move better. I couldn't fight if he cornered me and collapsed a building on me. I took a few more turns and dodges until I was finally, finally in an open area.

Unfortunately, I was surrounded by cars and other perfect kinds of ammo for a giant, incredibly strong Bot like it. A fact that became perfectly clear as it began throwing with deadly accuracy.

I grunted as I hit the ground yet again, this time banging my head pretty hard. Water, I thought. I needed to get some water if I wanted to take this thing down. I rolled under a car and came out on the other side standing. I spotted a fire hydrant about fifty feet behind Dr. DoomBot and reached out a hand to it. It poured out willingly to me, and I placed my sword into the water and sent it straight towards Dr. DoomBot's torso. When my torpedo-sword took out a chunk, I smiled in satisfaction. I filled the hole with water and concentrated hard. Before I could even think of hardening it into ice, however, I felt a metal hand grab me and lift me up. I hadn't expected arms that reached long distances and retracted.

The Bot reeled in its forty-foot arm and brought me close to his face. I could hear whirring and screeching within him, and I kicked at its hand uselessly. I slapped its face with water, but it still didn't let go. It began to squeeze me, tighter, tighter, tighter until it felt like I couldn't breathe. I slapped it harder with water repeatedly until I hit a sensor. Its hand spasmed and flicked out, opening its tight hold on me in mid air and flinging me through the air. I barely had time to get up a small water shield up before I hit the wall hard.

My vision flickered dangerously and I groaned. My head felt like it had just cracked open. The water shield I had thrown up at the last minute had shattered on my impact because of distraction. The nearest large source of water I could find was in the hydrant. Before I could reach a hand out and see if I even had the energy to bring the water to me after this never ending day, I was picked up by the foot and dangled upside down right in front of a large face. I could have sworn Dr. DoomBot had smiled before it dropped me straight into a tangled mess of cars and bricks.

My vision went black in a field of pain before the world lit back up again around me. My ears felt like cotton had been stuffed in them. I shook my head and my ears started ringing back to life. I coughed once, and tried to sit up with one arm. It collapsed under me, and I bit my lip in pain. My entire body felt as if it was on fire. I felt a drop of blood drip down my face. I reflexively put my hand to it, noticing apathetically my helmet wasn't there anymore. I heard more whirring and clicking and saw Dr. DoomBot standing victoriously over me.

I sat up again, propping myself up on the StickyBot still on my arm and tried to scoot away. My leg snagged, and I desperately pawed a hand to it, yanking and pushing at the things away from it. A shadow fell over me, and I looked up to a giant, ten feet wide robot foot starting to slowly rise. Then, with all the speed of a rocket breaking the sound barrier, it started to come down. I threw up a hand and closed my eyes tightly. I waited, and then waited some more. I reopened them when nothing happened.

I looked up and the Hulk was holding up the foot, his green muscles rippling with the effort. Water swirled around both the leg that was raised and the one the Bot was standing on and began to harden into ice. The Bot wobbled uncertainly and the Hulk ruthlessly took advantage of its weakness.

Hulk leapt up and clung to Dr. DoomBot in a way that vaguely reminded me of King Kong hanging off a building. He ripped and tore and pounded in a controlled savagery that made me wonder why people ever thought the Hulk was some sort of animal that couldn't think for himself. Finally, the giant Bot collapsed in on itself and fell to the ground, twitching sporadically. Sparks shot out of exposed wires and fell onto Hulk, but he didn't seem notice, too busy systematically destroying the hardware of the Bot. Finally, when the red demon light in its eyes died, the Hulk straightened and turned towards me.

He walked over calmly and knelt down next to me. "Okay?" he grunted. His eyes seemed to get larger when he took in my form.

"Uh," I said intelligently. I blinked once, and when I didn't reopen my eyes for a while, the Hulk tapped me gently on the shoulder with one finger.

"Not okay? Guppy not okay?" he said.

My eyes shot back open, and I ignored the flare of pain it brought in favor of being indignant. "Guppy? Guppy? Did Tony teach you to call me that?" I sighed and shook off the sudden onslaught of exhaustion. I reached for my leg and tried to pull it out with little success. "Big guy, would you give me a hand here?" I asked Hulk.

Hulk nodded amicably and reached for the twisted mass of metal on top of my leg. He lifted it slowly, and I slipped my leg out. It was bloody, and it started bleeding more once I pulled it out. My vision started getting a little fuzzy, so I blinked rapidly. I felt myself moving to one side, and then giant hands helped sit me up. I felt myself being lifted up higher, and then day turned to night.

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

"So, there are pictures of me floating around, but no one really knows it's me since they aren't clear pictures." I dropped my head against the couch pillow. "That's just fantastic. They're gonna figure it out eventually, and then you know what will happen?" I jabbed a finger at myself. "Percy gets shipped off as a lab rat. That's what happens."

"That isn't exactly all, either," Bruce told me sheepishly. "There's…video footage."

"Video footage of me getting my butt handed to me by a stupid hunk of metal," I said, tilting my head up to the ceiling. "Even better."

"No one knows it's you," Natasha soothed, patting my arm. "And if SHIELD has its way, then it's going to stay like that. They're already trying to purge the internet of the video, but it's spread pretty rapidly. They're still working, but they're making good progress. You're going to be fine."

"Does that mean I can finally get off this couch?" I asked. "I've been on bed rest for two days straight, and all the injuries have already healed. I don't see the point in this."

"If you promise to stay on the couch for the rest of the day, we'll show you the pictures and video they got," Tony bribed.

I thought for a moment, then nodded. "Fine. Fine you win." Of course I had known that Tony wasn't really going to withhold the information, but I knew it would make them feel better if I stayed in their line of sight for a little while longer.

I couldn't really remember much of what happened after I had passed out, and I was eager to find out since all Bruce had given me was "The Other Guy carried you back to safety." I was tired of being out of the loop. The team hadn't told me anything until now because they had wanted me to "recuperate." Any kind of argument I had attempted to put up had been met with "Be patient, Guppy." I wasn't sure which slight made me angrier.

Tony and the others grinned at me. Steve went to retrieve the pictures while Tony set up the video on the TV. "First things first," Steve said when he returned, pulling out a few newspapers and printed pictures. "Pictures." He dropped the pile on my lap as I quickly sat up, snatching the first off the pile and examining it closely.

It was a picture of me, with my helmet still on, thankfully, with my hands raised in the air. The water was surrounding me, forming a torpedo-shape. That must have been from when I was about to shoot my sword at him. My armor reflected the sun. I idly wondered how much the photographer had gotten paid for the picture.

The next picture was of me being dangled upside down by my leg. "Oh gods," I said, rubbing my face with my hand. "Please tell me this one didn't make the paper."

"Lucky for you," Clint said, "it didn't. The journalists didn't think it was very heroic-looking, but it was definitely still one for the books." I sighed in relief and reached for the next one.

The picture depicted me with my leg stuck, feebly holding a hand up with my face turned down and eyes closed. The Hulk stood in front of me, holding the foot of the Dr. DoomBot up. You could just see the tendrils of water and ice encasing the legs of the Bot. I searched the picture for any factors that could be used to identify me, but I could thankfully find none that definitely classified that it was Percy Jackson. The only thing you could tell was that the figure had black hair and tanned skin, sooty and dirty looking in the picture. "I guess this one was the one that made the paper. Let me tell you, if it wasn't me in the picture, I would say that the photographer needed a raise for the great shot. It feels like that shot was set up for a movie promo by Hollywood."

"I believe you should withhold judgment until you have seen the final picture, Percy," Thor said, handing the newspaper to me.

I took it and held it closely to my face. I could feel my face heating up, and I looked up at Bruce with an eyebrow raised. He blushed and held up his hands. "I have about zero control over what the Other Guy does."

"You're such a liar," I said, turning back to the picture.

The first thing you saw when you looked at the picture was the Hulk. He was big and green, and at first it didn't seem any different from any other picture of the Hulk standing up straight. But if you looked closer, you saw the gentleness in his expression and the way he was cradling something in his arms very carefully. Limp legs dangled off the side of his arms, and you could just barely see a shock of black hair. It was a rare shot of the soft side of the Hulk, and I was sure it was all over the news by then. The headline of the paper, Mama Hulk?, only furthered my theory.

I skimmed the article. Phrases like "newest member already rooted deep in the team's hearts?" and "mommy instincts of the team" and "who is the new member of the Avengers, and can he be trusted" leapt out at me. I threw the paper to the side. I would have to be more careful with my identity, especially now.

I leaned back against the couch. "So the Hulk has maternal instincts. What do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Banner?" I asked in my best reporter voice.

He laughed a little. "Nothing. The Hulk must like you. Consider it a privilege. He doesn't take kindly to all people."

"And another thing," I said sitting up abruptly. Reflexively, the others leaned forward as if to catch me. I rolled my eyes at them and went back to my line of questioning. "Guppy?" I asked seriously.

"It worked!" Tony crowed. "I've been trying to brainwash Bruce's sub conscious to call you that for forever!"

"Dude, it's like Sabrina the Teenage Witch," Clint snickered, "except it's Percy the Teenage Guppy. Perfect nickname."

"Well, I can speak for the Other Guy, and I think he likes the nickname. It's either that or Ariel," Bruce said, his eyes twinkling.

"This is so isn't over," I said, shaking my head. "Now, how about that video?" I should've just kept my mouth closed because things for "Percy the Teenage Guppy" only got worse.

I sighed. Story of my life, I thought.

A/N: I'm really not sure what even happened here. I feel like this isn't my best work, but I couldn't find a way to fix it. So here we are. Let me know what you thought, anyway. The next chapter is Percy and Steve friendship or hurt/comfort. Ideas would be greatly appreciated! And then after that is a Percy/Annabeth chapter of some sort, then the kidnapping, then a wrap up chapter. Things are quickly coming to an end, it seems! I'm just saying to prepare yourselves. Things might get a little bumpy towards the end. :)