Shounak Khatri was not a person others might describe as a risk-taker. He was perfectly happy with what he already had, thank you very much. No need to risk losing it. Besides, he was a millennial, his standards for happiness were low.

It was for that reason that his decision to go behind the Avengers' backs to warn Percy and his friends was so shocking, even to him. He'd never done anything like this before, not a toe out of line his whole life. Maybe that was why it seemed the heavens had opened up as soon as he stepped out of the building—the universe's way of telling him that he'd fucked up.

Shounak was soaked to the bone and freezing by the time he reached Annabeth's neighbourhood, having not remembered to grab his jacket on his way out. He didn't know where Percy lived, but he had been to Annabeth's place once to work on a physics project. Percy was there, too, and had acted like he lived there himself in the time that Shounak was at her place, so he figured that he must be there a lot. He had no idea where to start looking for a teenager on the run, and the house of his girlfriend—fiancée—whatever seemed a likely first choice.

Luckily for him, Annabeth's apartment was only a couple of blocks from his own, so if he didn't find them there, he could stop home for a jacket before continuing his search.

Shounak turned onto the street and scanned the various apartment buildings around him. The project had been back in September, and he didn't remember which specific building was hers, never mind the apartment number. He was about to go up and start scanning nameplates when a flash of colour off to his left caught his eye.

There was a group of kids huddled in an alleyway just across the street. Under normal circumstances, he would have avoided eye contact and kept on his way, and that's exactly what he was planning on doing when his brain processed everything he was looking at, and he realised the sketchy group of kids across the street were none other than the exact people he was scouring the city for. Or, he assumed they were. He could only really make out Percy through the rain, but it was a safe enough guess that the others gathered around him were his friends.

Grinning in triumph, Shounak looked down both ends of the street before jogging across, heading right for them. As he got closer and was able to make out their conversation, though, that grin faded, and he slowed to a cautious walk.

"—dangerous. What we need to do is get out of this gods-damned state!" He didn't know the girl who was speaking, but she seemed equal parts angry and frustrated, a feeling the rest of the gathered group seemed to share.

Then, Percy spoke. "You guys need to go", he said, voice more serious than Shounak had ever heard it, "Take a taxi and get the kids across the Hudson. Without me slowing you down and attracting attention, you'll make it. I'll lay low here, meet up with you when I can."

Kids? What?

Percy shifted slightly, and Shounak was just able to make out the small blonde head of a little girl standing at the centre of the group with a few others around her age. She couldn't be more than 6 years old. What was she doing here? The Avengers couldn't seriously be going after her, too, could they? Them going after Percy was questionable enough, but kindergarteners? Really?

"Oh, no you don't", a voice he recognised to be Annabeth's said, whisper-yelling, "You've made enough sacrifices, Percy. We're not leaving you behind!"

Sacrifices?

Shounak didn't know what to think. The longer he listened, the more confused he became. He didn't know what was going on, but if there was one thing he did know, it was horror movies. The person who splits from the group always gets killed first. That was the oldest trope in the book! You never split up.

"You know as well as I do that it's our best option, Wise Girl."

As caught up in the drama of this conversation as he was, Shounak momentarily forgot that he was eavesdropping on this whole thing and spoke without thinking. "That doesn't sound like a very good idea", he said mildly, rubbing his ungloved hands together for warmth.

The group in front of him froze, and he was given one whole second to consider just what a phenomenally horrible decision he'd just made before they moved. Percy was closest to him, and as a result, it was his fist that Shounak found flying towards his face. It was only pure human instinct that kept him from getting the bones of his nose punched through the back of his skull. Unfortunately for him, human instinct apparently didn't work more than once, as he was unable to escape Percy's other hand that came up to grab him by the collar of his shirt. There was a yanking sensation on the front of his shirt, and in a move that left his vision reeling, Shounak found himself pinned against the brick wall of the alley with an angry Percy glaring down at him.

"Whoa! What the hell, man!", he cried, but Percy didn't appear to be able to hear him. He pulled a ballpoint pen from his pocket, and with a flick of his thumb, took off its cap. Where once there was a pen, there was now a glowing bronze sword, the sharp tip of which was now hovering just an inch away from his exposed throat.

Shounak gaped. He'd seen that pen before. Percy always had it with him, twirling it between his fingers or fiddling with it in some other way during particularly boring lessons. Had it been a sword this whole time? How did that work, anyway? There was no way to compress that much metal into such a small container. And even if you could, the metal would have to be so thin that it would be useless as a sword. So what then? Magic? Magic didn't exist!

Did it?

Shounak could feel his heart pounding so fast it threatened to beat right out of his ribcage, and he looked frantically around the alley for help before turning his fearful gaze back up at Percy. His teammate (friend? acquaintance?) seemed to finally realise who he was, and his grip loosened, though didn't disappear. Shounak took the opportunity to take in the group around him in a little more detail. They were soaked, like he was, and likely freezing as well, but the most striking thing about them was how utterly exhausted they all looked. Not a single person looked like they had slept more than a few hours in the past few days. Percy especially.

"Shounak", he said, surprise colouring his tone. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "What are you doing here?"

Percy's friends behind him seemed to relax slightly upon hearing that Percy recognised him, and Shounak took that as a good sign, though he was still shaking with nerves and adrenaline. "You look like shit, man", he blurted out, and Percy blinked, startled.

It was true. Heavy bags hung under Percy's eyes, and he was unnaturally pale, paler than Shounak had ever seen him before. His initial whirlwind of attacks seemed to have used up any remaining energy he might have hand, as Shounak could feel him swaying slightly through the grip he was keeping on his shirt collar.

A blond boy he didn't know came forward out of the group. He looked a couple years or so younger than he and Percy, but the solemn look in his eyes made him seem much older. "Percy, you have to sit down and rest."

Percy waved him off, letting go of Shounak's shirt and rubbing at his nose. "I'm fine."

"Oh, really?", the boy demanded before grabbing at Percy's arm and extending it for the whole group to see. Fresh blood was smeared along the back of his fist, and upon closer inspection, Shounak could see it beginning to dribble out of his nose.

"What's wrong with him?", Shounak asked, and the group paused, exchanging glances he couldn't read.

Annabeth nodded, and a girl he didn't recognise broke off from the rest of the group and moved towards the entrance to the alley, placing a cautionary hand on one of the pistols he could just see poking out of their holsters. "Why did you come here?", Annabeth asked. Her grey eyes were calculating, examining him like a bug under a microscope.

Shounak gulped. "I came to warn you about the Avengers. They came to Midtown and started asking questions about him", he said, nodding towards Percy, "And you. Your relationship, where you lived, what your home life was like, who you were friends with. Everything. I figured you'd want to know."

Annabeth's eyes turned distant as she thought over what he'd told her. "Did they ask you anything else?", she demanded.

"Yes", he said, taking a deep breath to gather his courage before continuing, "They asked about your scars. And your mom. I'm sorry, Percy, I had to tell them what I knew."

Percy jolted at the reference to his mother. "What?", he demanded, "You told them what about my mother?"

His eyes were storming, and for a split second, the rain in their immediate vicinity froze in mid-air. Then, he hissed through his teeth, the pain apparent on his features, and the build-up of rain fell all at once. The blond cursed quite creatively in a language Shounak didn't recognise before rushing to support the swaying Percy. "You idiot! Why did you do that?"

"I can't control it", Percy ground out, "It reacts with my emotions." Blood was coming out of his ears as well as his nose now, and Shounak eyed him in horror. "Tell me what you told them", Percy said again, looking up as best he could and glaring.

"Your scars", Shounak said, speaking in a rush lest Percy somehow manage to hurt himself even more, "The older ones on your back. There was a guy who left a couple of years ago who had ones like them, that's why I recognised what they were from. I told them, and they asked about your parents. I just said that you seemed to love your mom and that I didn't think it was her."

Percy slumped in slight relief, and another boy Shounak didn't recognise rushed over to his other side to help the blond support him. "If they touch my mother…", he trailed off, but the threat was clear enough.

"Percy, for gods' sakes sit down", the blond commanded.

For once, Percy did as he was told, and it was that lack of defiance that concerned Will more than any of his other symptoms. The blood continued dripping down his face, and Will kneeled beside him to dig through one of their supply bags for a bottle of water.

Finally finding one at the very bottom of the bag, Will thrust it into his patient's hands before turning back to face a worried Annabeth. "He needs to rest", he said seriously, "For a day at least. We can't leave him here."

Annabeth shook her head in agreement. "That was never an option." Her face grew thoughtful for a moment before she turned to face Julia still standing guard at the entrance to the alley. "How much money do we have left? Could we pay for a hotel room?"

Julia tilted her head from side to side, considering, before shaking her head. "I doubt it. Especially not in the middle of Manhattan."

"Okay", Annabeth accepted, frowning, "What, then? A park? Could we make another shelter like the one in Breezy Point?"

She directed the question towards Katie this time who almost immediately shook her head. "It's not that we're not able to, but any parks in the middle of the city are small and very visible. We'd be seen. Central Park is big enough, but it's in the opposite direction that we just came from. We'd have to risk going back and being seen."

Shounak, who had up until this point, done his best to blend into the background and disappear, found himself equal parts confused and sympathetic. He didn't know what they'd done to make going back towards Central Park dangerous. For all he knew, they could have killed somebody! But he knew they hadn't. They weren't those kinds of people, he could tell.

He still felt the way he had being interrogated by the Avengers back at the school, even more so now that he'd actually met them and realised that some of them were literal children. They didn't deserve to be hunted and captured, never to be seen again. No matter what powers they had or didn't have. He couldn't do much to help them there, but he could offer them shelter. His family's apartment was only a block and half from the alley they were standing in. He could only hope that his parents agreed.

Taking a steadying breath, Shounak reentered the conversation before he could lose his nerve. "You could stay at my place", he offered. His words were met by a shocked silence. "I mean, I came to warn you because I don't think what the Avengers are doing is right. I can't really do much more to help you, but if you need a place for Percy to recover, my family's apartment isn't far from here."

The older ones among the group exchanged wary glances, and a black haired boy standing next to Percy began waving his hands in a way that Shounak quickly recognised as sign language. The young blonde-haired girl he'd glimpsed earlier stepped forward from where she'd been half-hiding behind the others to translate. "He says that he can't sense any bad emotions", she said timidly, "Keir doesn't think he's trying to trick us."

Shounak paled slightly and looked towards the now-identified boy with new trepidation. "You can sense my emotions?" Keir just stared evenly back at him and nodded slowly, his dark blue glowing slightly like Percy's had when he'd used his powers back at the pool.

Shounak looked away and back towards Annabeth who had moved to kneel at Percy's side. He'd apparently passed out at some point, and his head was now slumped forward to rest on his chest, fresh blood dripping from his nose adding to the rapidly-growing dark stain on the front of his hoodie. He looked just a few steps away from death. Indeed, if his ragged breathing wasn't clearly visible in the movement of that stained hoodie, Shounak might have believed he was.

Annabeth continued to argue quietly with Will for a few more moments before seeming to give in and nodding slowly. She got to her feet and turned to face him, her gaze piercing. "Alright", she said eventually, "We accept your offer. But know that if you betray us, I don't care how long it takes, I will find a way to end you."

Shounak's eyes widened at the threat, and he gulped nervously. He knew Annabeth from school, had seen her smiling and laughing with Percy in the halls many times. But the person standing in front of him now wasn't her. This was someone else, someone harder and more ruthless. Someone he'd never seen before. Was this who she'd always been under the mask, or was this just who she became when pushed into a corner? Shounak's eyes once more passed over the whole group, finally landing on the little girl who was now once again hiding behind someone's legs. However Annabeth had changed, she'd done it for a reason. These people needed his help.

"Come with me."

—

A knock on the door roused Sally Jackson from where she'd been sitting in front of her computer, attempting to make some progress with her novel for the past few hours. She shot a surprised glance at the clock hanging on the wall. It was only around two in the afternoon, Paul should still be working unless he'd gotten off early for some reason.

Bracing her hands on the edge of the table, Sally pulled herself to her feet, right hand coming to settle protectively over her pregnant belly a second later. She was only six months along, so while she already felt large and bloated, she knew from experience that it would soon get a lot worse.

The knock on the door came again, and she huffed, hurrying towards it. "I'm coming!", she called.

She opened the door with a soft smile, but it wasn't her husband who greeted her, but rather a face right out of the history books. Steve Rogers, the American hero. And one of the people her son had warned her about before dropping off the grid. Her heart twinged with worry, but she pushed it back and willed her face into an expression of pleasant neutrality.

"Good afternoon, ma'am", Steve greeted politely.

She nodded, eyes roving past him to examine the four others standing in the hall behind him. She wasn't stupid. She knew who they were and why they were there. Percy had warned her, after all. But some part of her had still hoped to avoid this confrontation.

"Good afternoon", she replied, "Would you like to come in?"

Natasha, standing at the very back of the group, examined her suspiciously. The woman didn't seem the least bit surprised to have the Avengers turn up on her doorstep. With a son like Perseus, she doubted that there were very many things that surprised the woman at all, anymore. But still, she seemed too calm and collected, like she'd already prepared for this exact scenario.

As Natasha and the rest of her team stepped over the threshold, it struck her that she likely had. Perseus and his friends had acted quickly to evacuate their camp, she wouldn't put it past them to have warned their parents, too.

Sally, who Natasha offhandedly noticed was pregnant, motioned towards the couch and various chairs scattered around the small living room. The woman herself took a seat in a comfortable love seat, sighing contentedly as the pressure was relieved off of her lower back.

"Heated compresses might help with that", Bruce said, noticing her discomfort with the keen eyes of a physician.

She just nodded and smiled tightly in response. "You've come to talk about my son?"

Clint and Natasha situated themselves on the couch directly in front of her, some unspoken agreement among the team dictating that they lead the interrogation. "Yes", Natasha said, voice as emotionless as ever, "Are you aware, Mrs Blofis, of what your son has been up to lately?"

Sally leaned back in her seat, some of the worry she was trying so desperately to hide shining through as clear as day through her eyes. "As much as I would like to say yes", she began, "that would not be truthful. He keeps things from me, for my safety, and the safety of the rest of my family." Her eyes now hardened, a protective anger flaring to life within them. "If you are referring to your attack at his high school, however, then yes. Yes I am aware. He called me after, to let me know he was still alive." She glared pointedly at the two agents before her, and though neither showed any outward reaction, Clint internally winced.

"Your son has extraordinary abilities and has been involved in a number of suspicious circumstances", he said calmly, doing his best to soothe her temper, "We only wanted to talk with him."

She seemed to grow even more angry at that, and he knew at once it was not the right thing to say, "If you only wanted to talk, then why did you try to kidnap him from his school with guns?"

Natasha's eyes flashed briefly with ire at the accusatory tone. "Quite frankly, Mrs Blofis, our agents were armed because your son is dangerous. The weapons were a precaution taken for their safety, not that they did much good when your son decided not to cooperate and attacked them. Severely injuring at least two."

"My son has been through a lot in his life!", Sally retorted, "Did your agents even announce themselves before demanding he come with them, or did they just point their guns and threaten him?"

Natasha had no reply to that, and closed her mouth with an almost-audible click. Her agents hadn't announced themselves, a mistake she had already berated them for, and one that might cost more innocent lives if Perseus and his friends weren't stopped."

Steve sat forward in his chair, honest and open expression in stark contrast with Natasha's closed-off and hostile one. "Mrs Blofis, you mentioned earlier that your son called you? Do you know how to get in contact with him again?"

Maybe it was the hormones talking, but as Sally looked into those earnest blue eyes, she felt like crying. She didn't even know if Percy was alive, much less how to get into contact with him. For all she knew, he could be lying dead in an alley somewhere! She couldn't make Iris messages herself, and even if she could, she wouldn't. She couldn't risk it, not when any distraction, no matter how small, might cost him his life. "No", she admitted tearfully, "No, I haven't had any contact with him since he ran from you at Midtown. I don't even know if he's still–". A hand flew to her mouth as the tears choking her throat forced her to trail off.

Steve nodded, immediately accepting of this answer they were all expecting to receive. "Can we take a look around the kid's room, at least?", Tony asked, his usually irreverent tone dialled back a few notches, "He might have some phone numbers or an address or something written down somewhere."

Sally frowned and shook her head. "No"—she cleared her throat—"Percy doesn't live here anymore. He moved out to live with his fiancée, Annabeth, a few months ago, just after I told him that I was pregnant. Didn't you know?"

"No", Natasha said through gritted teeth, "We did not." She was entirely fed up with this investigation. How could there be so little information on these people?! They were just children! It was like the universe itself was working against them to make this as difficult as humanly possible.

Clint, picking up on his partner's frustration, quickly continued the line of questioning for her. "Do you have their address?"

Sally hesitated for a long time, considering. Could she hand over their address? Percy and Annabeth had trusted her with it, but they would no better than to go back there now, right? If her son wasn't smart enough to know that than she was confident that at least Annabeth was. Besides, lying at this point would likely only land her in more trouble, and though she would do it in a heartbeat to protect her son, at this point, it would likely be a pointless sacrifice.

"Yes", she confirmed eventually, "Let me just go get it for you."

'Poseidon', she prayed silently, 'If you have ever loved our son, guide him to safety. I can't lose him to this. Not after everything we've already survived.'

And maybe it was just wishful thinking, but she could have sworn the comforting, salty scent of a sea breeze tickled her nose in response. "Thank you", she breathed, scribbling her son's address quickly on a post-it before heading back towards the Avengers gathered in her living room. "Thank you."

A/N:

Alright! A double update! I'm on a roll, now!

Originally, this was all one large chapter, which was why it took me so long to write, but it came out to like 10,000 words or something like that, so I decided to split it.

So, what did you guys think? I know, I promised some other perspectives, and don't worry, next chapter is going to be all about that (the adventures of Jason and Co. anyone?) but I just had to get this out of the way first.

What do you guys think will happen next? I've honestly love reading the reviews you guys leave me with all your speculations, a few of which I might even include in my story (Marcus, if you're reading this, you might find some future scenes to be a bit familiar [thanks for the inspiration!]). I've really enjoyed fleshing out the different demigods and their powers, too. I've added a few of my own OC's in the mix (Julia, Keir, Dana, etc), but I'm always looking for new ones to flesh out the groups a bit, so if you have any ideas, feel free to send me a PM or leave them in a review, and I'll see what I can do about adding them in!

This A/N is getting really long, so I'm going to wrap it up, but first I wanted to give a little shout out to a few of my reviewers. Natalia G and .bee, I just wanted to say that you guys are the best. I love and draw inspiration from all my reviews, but your guys' are the type that I most look forward to receiving. Not to mention, it's good to have someone finally picking up on all my references ;)

Anyway, that's it from me. Stay happy and healthy, you guys!

Goodbye, my lovelies! :3