This is the last update of the decade! Happy 2020!

2018 - Clint Barton takes the reins for 5 seconds

It was 8 AM on what would have been Percy's birthday when the blackout spread across New York, and SHIELD headquarters shut down as gradually everyone in the building fell asleep, except for me (for some reason?) Even Nat couldn't be roused from her magical slumber, and she was by no accounts a deep sleeper.

Now, because I by my nature am a complete idiot with absolutely zero on the self-preservation scale, I decided to go see what the hell was going on. For science, right?

I ran up to the roof and, man, it was weird. Like something out of some kind of post-apocalyptic film, with smoke swirling into the sky from stray fires, presumably from unattended ovens. But the most frightening thing by far was the silence. I turned my hearing aids all the way up to try and snatch some kind of sound, but there was nothing at all.

New York is, to absolutely everyone, the city that never sleeps. Living in the city is never silent, whether it's cars idling in the streets or that one drunk yelling underneath your window.

It's never the city in eternal sleep, like this.

I went back downstairs and got my bow, grabbing the newest quiver of experimental arrows (which were completely untested and therefore might have blown up in my face), several pistols and three knives on a whim.

I stumbled into the street, seeing if I could find anyone else that was awake. From the pavements it looked slightly more normal, with a normal picture of New York traffic being seemingly frozen in time.

That's when I heard it: the squealing.

"What the fuck?" I said it more for my benefit than anything else, as it wasn't like there was anybody around to tell me off for cursing very loudly in the street (where children might hear you, gosh, you irresponsible young man).

I wrenched my eyeline upwards just in time to see the screaming creature fly away. It was a pig?

Well, that was certainly something I never thought I'd see, but it was awake so I decided to follow it.

(Hey, I'd have to make Nat do all those stupid things she said she'd only do 'when pigs fly'.)

I ran after it through Central Park, passing moving statues (so something was happening?) and countless groups of snoozing old ladies who had presumably been doing tai chi.

Then I heard it; the sound of yelling assaulted my ears: people. I ran faster, chasing the pig, with my bow, as it wreaked havoc and destroyed every tree it flew through. Then it stopped, and so did I. I pulled an arrow out of my quiver, and figured I'd attempt to hit it with my best shot; I mean it wasn't as if it was doing any good destroying the Central Park treeline. I nocked the explosive arrow and fired at the flying monstrosity.

Well, they don't call me Hawkeye for nothing. The arrow hit home despite strong, gusting winds, and the arrow exploded in a scarlet blaze. Quite violent, actually (at least it worked).

But, bacon did not rain down on me, as I kind of expected, but instead a vague golden dust scattered in the breeze and coated my surroundings. Weird.

The yelling quieted, and three kids, the eldest of whom couldn't have been more than about fifteen, appeared from the other side of the park. All three carried bows, although theirs were more traditional-looking than mine, which had been in the hands of R+D and therefore was basically a technological monstrosity. But their weapons and age (and apparent lack of adult supervision) were actually not the strangest thing about the group

No, the oddest thing about them was that they were wearing what looked like bronze plate armour. Most people would probably dismiss them as dedicated cosplayers for... something, but I could tell that their weapons were real, and my inner assassin was instinctively wary. My eyes darted around, checking for traps almost without my permission, but they didn't find any.

I stood my ground and stared them down, even as they clustered nervously together and slowed down, clearly unsure as to whether they should approach me.

To be fair, I was probably giving off some quite mixed vibes with my appearance, too, given that I was dressed in my SHIELD training gear (grey shirt and training shorts), with a Kevlar vest thrown over the top and a weapons belt, on which were several quite prominent guns and a large knife (look, when the world might be ending, you don't stop to find your best outfit).

The eldest of the three stepped forward and cleared her throat, silver circlet atop her head gleaming. "Declare your name, and your purpose."

I have to admit, I kinda thought my purpose was obvious.

"I'm here to shoot the flying pig? That I just exploded?"

Their leader exchanged a look with her two companions, before frowning. "Who is your godly parent?"

"My what now?"

Her frown deepened."Your godly parent? Which cabin are you in?"

"Cabin? I've never been to a summer camp in my life? Look, lady, I haven't got a goddamn clue what you're getting at here." Usually it's a good idea to be polite to the person with a large sword, but I've never been too hot on the good ideas front and right now, I'd run completely out of fucks to give. "I just saw the screaming pig that was wreaking havoc and shot it; I'm nothing special."

She pressed on regardless. "Have you ever seen something you couldn't quite explain? A large dog perhaps, or a reptilian woman. Perhaps they tried to attack you?"

And there in my mind's eye, I saw Budapest and the giant dogs that were chasing Percy that Natasha couldn't see; suddenly everything made a tiny bit more sense.

"The Greek gods are real and so are the monsters," she continued, calmly as dictating a shopping list. "You are awake, thus you are either a demigod, or a really lucky mortal that can see through the Mist."

I ignored my burning questions as to what this mist was, and ploughed straight into to what I wanted to say. "I have seen some massive dogs, like garbage trucks, but they weren't chasing me. They were after a friend of mine."

Her expression changed from one of mild anger and confusion, to one of curiosity.

"So you're a clear-sighted mortal? I would have thought that somebody with your gifts would be a child of Apollo. No diluted legacy could retain the skills you possess."

Okay, so I understood the individual words coming out of her mouth, but right now stringing them together was making absolutely no sense. Like at all.

"Who was your friend?"

Now that was an easier question to answer, even if I was somewhat wary to do so. "His name was Percy. Percy Jackson. Did you know him? He went missing, though, a year ago. Presumed dead." I decided not to mention that this was during a top-secret government-sanctioned mission, and that I knew Percy was either dead or very, very good at hiding (they never found the body, after all).

The three of them froze. "Perseus Jackson?"

I snorted, despite the wave of sadness his name brought. "Man, sometimes I forget his name was actually that stupid."

The one on the left finally spoke. "He's not dead; he's three blocks that way." She pointed vaguely.

I schooled my features into neutrality with Nat-level calm, allowing myself only a cursory glance in the direction, despite my very real desire to run the three blocks in three minutes flat if it meant Percy was alive and I could see him.

But the bigger part of me knew that, if he was really alive, he had reason to stay away without even giving us the smallest of hints.

I'd stay and help out, but I wouldn't actively seek out my best friend.

My brother.

I gave the girls a cursory nod, and kept heading through New York, stopping to help demigods every so often by shooting the odd explosive arrow at a monster, or using one of the many knives and arrows that were scattered on the streets (as I remembered, my mortal steel couldn't hurt them, so I scavenged their weird-ass metal instead).

Apart from the scattered pockets of activity, there didn't actually seem to be that many monsters, which I thought was pretty unusual, considering someone had put the entire city to sleep for some massive showdown.

I was just starting to get a little complacent with the lack of activity when the very ground shook with a dull rumble, before, quite suddenly, the relative silence was rent by an explosive roar, and the distant tinkling of shattering glass.

I regretted not turning my hearing aids down, because damn, that was loud. But there was no time now, because some sinuous, ugly-ass thing was crawling along the sides of the skyscrapers, and was quite definitely headed in the direction of the demigods.

And me, of course, because life's a bitch.

Demigods began popping up everywhere. Suddenly, when there had just been me and one kid, there were ten, twelve of us standing, waiting for the creature to come and (probably) kill us all.

Another older kid turned to the group as a whole. "Remember: keep dodging! Don't get near its poison, or it will kill you. And go for the eyes! Don't forget your drakon-fighting practice!" Yep, because that was 100% part of SHIELD Basic Training. I should put a note in the suggestions box: completely unprepared to fight a legged snake out of my nightmares. 0/10 on preparation.

I mean, helpful advice when battling something maybe twice your height. Less helpful if the damn thing is sixty feet long and straight out of a fantasy horror game.

I nocked one of the bronze arrows and aimed, before releasing the string and straightening up to watch it move its head a tiny fraction at the very last section, causing the arrow to glance harmlessly off the tough skin surrounding its eye.

I'd have been embarrassed, but I was saved on two fronts.

One: literally nobody else had even managed to hit it, it was moving that fast.

Two: I'd now got its attention and it was going to eat/dissolve me. Maybe I should have led with that one.

I pressed buttons on the side of my quiver furiously, thankful that they didn't shake under pressure, before yanking the grappling arrow out of my quiver, shooting, and thumbing off the release in the very nick of time. Poison spray spat up, droplets burning my unprotected legs, as I shot skywards, wire slashing at my hands, and the tarmac I had just been standing on was completely obliterated by primeval reptilian rage.

I kicked my way through the window, falling into the deadly snow of broken glass on the floor, and wished idly that I'd worn Kevlar gloves.

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