2012

New York

It was chaos.

To put it into perspective, a massive black hole opened up in the sky, right above that rich billionaire guy's tower, Tony Stark. Everyone wondered what they were looking at, but soon enough, they were running for the lives as many alien-looking creatures on some type of hovercrafts rained down on them, attacking with laser beams, shooting directly at the civilians.

18-year-old Percy Jackson had been taking a taxi home, and it was already bad enough that traffic was backed up. In the back of his mind, he figured he'd actually make it home faster if he walked. Every day it was like this in New York. It was a city of 10 million people, there was bound to be traffic everywhere, everyday. They didn't call it "the city that never sleeps" for nothing.

But he wouldn't change anything about that.

Percy started to really consider paying the taxi driver for the ride now and just walking home when suddenly he saw the guy just dip and get out of the vehicle in a hurry.

"Hey!" Percy yelled. "Where are you going?"

The taxi driver just ran and disappeared behind him.

"Guess I don't have to pay him now," Percy thought out loud.

Percy looked bewildered as he started to hear some muffled pew-pew noises, a sound he'd only heard in movies like Star Wars and other movies where there were laser beams. He got out of the taxi and was shocked to see a cluster of what was some weird-looking aircrafts headed directly his way. Percy crouched as a beam shot out of one of them and hit the car next to him, a direct impact. Th car flipped on its back as Percy got behind the taxi to get in cover.

It was starting to dawn on Percy that New York was under attack.

All he could think about was his mom though, and he rolled into action, ducking under another laser beam before beginning his sprint back to his apartment. He found it to be a challenge as most civilians were running in the other direction to save themselves. Percy was every few seconds bumping into someone as he tried to get back to his mom.

After deciding to ditch the sidewalk and jump on top of cars, he found himself a bit exposed as he stood out in the cluster of abandoned vehicles. Many aliens fired at him but he paid them no attention as he continued to make his way to his apartment building. Just as he reached Upper East Side, he managed to spot his apartment, and concerningly, there was a gaping hole off the side of building, right where his apartment was, along with a few of his neighbors' places. He hopped on top of a taxi and jumped off just as a laser beam blasted it and dismantled it completely. Percy rolled into a somersault on the sidewalk before running inside the apartment building.

Being in a hurry, Percy completely ditched the elevator and opted for the stairs, taking 3 steps at a time.

He slammed through his apartment door and ran into the kitchen, but he was too late. His mom was laying on the kitchen floor with a really bad wound, bleeding from her stomach.

"Mom!"

Sally sighed weakly as Percy held her hand. "You're gonna be okay," he said. "I'm gonna get you to a hospital."

"Percy," she gasped weakly. "I won't be … but it's okay … as long as you're fine … that's all that matters to me …"

"You're not dying," Percy denied. "I'm gonna take you to the hospital if I have to carry you all the way there."

Percy attempted to do exactly that but Sally pushed against him, shaking her head. "It's too late for me, son."

Percy froze in his place. His mom rarely called him "son." Usually it was "sweetie" or "honey" but almost never would she call him "son". He knew she was being serious about this.

"Before I go," Sally said, "I just want you to promise me one thing."

"Anything," Percy replied, squeezing her hand for dear life.

"I want you to … follow your heart. You may encounter some … difficult decisions you'll have to make. But no matter what … follow your heart," she said.

Percy nodded with tears brimming in his eyes. "I promise."

Sally smiled weakly before coughing. "I love you, Percy."

Percy's lip trembled. "I love you too, mom."

Percy froze as he suddenly heard clicking noises behind him and let Sally go, not realizing that she had already passed in his arms as he gently put her on the ground and turned to face the intruders in his apartment.

The aliens were horrifyingly ugly, with skull shaped heads, crowns over their foreheads and implants all over their bodies, like they were mix of machine and aliens. Each carried their own type of weapons, could've been a staff or a firearm (which was attached to their hand like a parasite).

Percy looked at the four of them with no fear. "You did this."

These aliens seemed to have no remorse, showing no expression whatsoever. Percy couldn't say he was surprised.

With a might roar of grief and anger, the entire pipe system of the apartment building exploded around him, and he sent a jet stream of water towards the aliens just as they raised their guns, washing over them and sending them out the hole as they completely splattered on impact against the ground way down below.

It was chaos.

Percy watched from the gaping whole as all around the city, the aliens wreaked havoc, killing innocent civilians that did nothing to these creatures for them to deserve it.

Percy was furious.

He set his eyes on the hovercrafts that were flying around before turning around to get a head start and he ran a hard sprint before leaping out of the hole with a roar as he grabbed onto one of the hovercrafts and pulled himself up.

The alien noticed there was a intruder on board and tried to shake him off by performing barrel rolls on his aircraft but Percy stayed on, grabbing the alien, and using his pure strength, he decapitated the alien, pushing his body off and taking control of the vehicle.

Using the aircraft, he flew around and he shot down many of the other aircrafts. From on top of a building, Clint Barton raised his eyebrows as he watched this random kid on an alien aircraft, aiding them in their attempt to stop the invasion.

Percy swerved and headed in the other direction and shot down more aircrafts that were tailing a big one that headed for Stark Tower. He doesn't realize it but it was Natasha Romanoff who was on the aircraft and she turned just in time to see Percy swerve off in another direction.

Natasha smiled and shrugged. "Thanks, I guess."

He continued to fly around and shot down the rest of them until only ground troops remained before he headed back to his apartment and ditched the aircraft, jumping out and into the hole as the aircraft was sent spiraling down to the ground.

He walked over to his mother, who'd long passed away. He felt grief wash over him again as he laid next to her and held her, tears flowing from his eyes as he longed for her touch again.

…

The aftermath was devastating.

One could see it the way the media covered it, how there would lasting damage to come for a long time. It left a toll, physically and emotionally on the people of New York and in Percy's case, it took his mother's life.

He could care less about the team of assembled heroes that came to the rescue, they hadn't been there soon enough for his liking. He couldn't find who to blame for the whole fiasco and found it really irritating that the aliens just ceased to function after what was basically their motherboard, just exploded deep in space inside that black hole.

The Leviathans, they settled on calling the big ones that fell on top of buildings, were still visible as Percy took a taxi to the cemetery, where the funeral was being held.

The funeral was somber to say the least and Percy said a few words in her honor before touching the casket and heading back to his seat.

Long after the funeral was over, the few that remained gave Percy sympathetic looks and pats on the shoulder, telling him that everything would be okay. It fell on deaf ears though, as he knew what they would say already. "I know what you're going through", "it gets easier with time", "it's part of God's plan."

He wasn't having it.

He stayed behind until everyone left. From inside his coat pocket, he pulled out a single flower, a periwinkle, which happened to his mom's favorite flower, for the color and the beauty of it. He planted the flower on top of her grave. He sadly smiled before shakily standing up and taking in what her tombstone read: Sally Jackson 1974-2012, with a single quote below it, "If my life is going to mean anything, I have to live it myself."

Percy felt another presence behind him, whom he could tell who it was before he even turned to look. "Her body's not even cold in the ground yet, and you're already here."

"I'm sorry for your loss of your mother," the new presence said. "It's heartbreaking and tragic. I can't imagine what you're feeling. That being said, things are getting worse for us. I need your assistance."

Percy turned to look at the newcomer, who would've appeared like a normal man, if he didn't have a blueish tinge to his skin.

An Atlantean had come to pay him a visit. And not just any Atlantean, but his brother.

Triton.