A/N: Okay, I'm back again, sorry about the cliffie in the last chapter, I just couldn't help myself. Don't worry though, my cousin has already tried to kill me for it so you guys don't have to. Now, as for who would have won the duel um… Probably Thor as Percy was still recovering from the giant war Thanks again for all of your support!

At the sound of the young girl's scream, everyone seemed to spring into action at the same time, all of them running towards the crumpled body of the boy even as a crimson pool started to grow steadily around his prone figure. Where as the demigods dropped down beside their fallen companion, the Avengers arranged themselves in a protective line in front of their hunched forms, staring down at the new attacker.

The new arrival was pale as ice, his skin giving off a slight sheen like the soft glow of a star. His eyes were so dark grey they were almost black, a sharp contrast with his platinum blond locks that fell in waves to his shoulders. All together, the attacker seemed to be no more than a handsome 20 year old business man judging from his light blue suit. However, this image was greatly marred by the feral grin fixed upon his face and the gleaming blade in his hand.

"Ah, yes, the earth's 'mightiest heroes' I wondered when I was going to get the chance to meet you!"

His voice was deep, but calm, and it carried with it a kind of soft power that froze everyone in place. Well, almost everyone. Forcing aside the adults, Nico pushed his way to the front of the line, a sword clamped in his right hand that seemed to leech the very light from the air around it, a dark glare fixed in place.

"Aether, so you will turn against us too? You will fight against our alliance when even Lady Hemera offers us her support?"

Although the woman's name meant nothing to the gathered adults, it seemed to hit the new arrival deeply as his eyes lost the slight sparkle of amusement they had held before died instantly and his eyes turned as dark as flint.

"You should watch your tongue child, some day you will push the game too far and end up with your father permanently!"

Despite the fact that this threat seemed to drop the temperature in the room several degrees, the boy was not perturbed, instead, he only brought the weapon up to a ready position, the shadows in the room shifting towards him as he thought to restrain his anger.

"You think I will be afraid of a being who only possesses the courage to attack from behind? No, only a coward attacks when their target's back is turned!"

To Fury, the sight of the two beings facing off was a rather intriguing sight. Around the boy the air was cold and dark, the shadows of everything in the room flickering around dangerously as though they possessed a life of their own. However, even stranger was the fact that his opponent seemed to have begun to glow, wiping out the darkness all around him even as he appeared ready to pounce, his features twisted in anger, but, just before he pressed forwards, he froze. All of a sudden, his body locked up and he cocked his head to the side as though listening to something. This carried on for a few seconds and a terrified look flashed across his face quickly before he sighed and relaxed once again.

"What ever, I only came here today to talk to them." Now he turned to the gathered members of SHIELD, all of whom were being held in place by invisible bonds. "You should not get involved in this war, it does not concern you! You have been warned."

As he said the last few words, his form began to flicker before he faded all together, like a mist being blown away, leaving the Avengers free to move once again which they gladly did. After checking the entire room over once again to make sure that it was free, they all turned back to the girl who was still fussing with the body of her friend. Slowly, as though he was asking for permission, Doctor Banner took up the boy's wrist feeling for a pulse. After a second, his face darkened with worry.

"He's still alive, just, but he's lost a lot of blood and if he loses anymore… Well, I think we should just take-"

"Put him in the pool!"

The words from Annabeth silenced what ever Bruce was about to suggest as he stared at her ashen face in shock. From his position directly opposite her, he could see the thin mist of tears in her eyes that she was refusing to let fall, but he did not do as she said.

"If you put him in water, then the wound will never stop, he will just bleed out! We need to tae him-"

"I told you to put him in the water. Just trust me, it will help him!"

As she said this, the daughter of Athena grabbed the boy's arms and started half lifting, half dragging, him to the edge of the water. Catching on to her intentions, the son of Hades quickly grabbed the boy's legs and helped until they reached the ledge where he let go, allowing her to jump in with her unconscious body. When her head broke the surface once again, she shot Nico a look which he understood immediately.

"Guys, lets go, leave them down here for a moment."

"But what about…"

"I will answer your questions later, just, lets get up stairs first."

He shot the super soldier his signature death glare, keeping the other's from resisting as he forced them out of the room and up to the briefing area from yesterday. Once there, he slouched into one of the seats and waited for the silence to break. It seemed like, this time, Tony Stark was the first to recover.

"W-what the hell was that?"

He choked out as he reached for one of the bottles in the mini bar next to his seat, pouring himself a glass before passing it round the others. When it reached Nico, he poured himself one before giving it back to the billionaire, ignoring the indignant looks from the adults around him.

"Hey, you're still under-"

He silenced the archer with a look and took a quick gulp of the liquid before answering, allowing the burning liquid to infuse some heat into his normally cold body and revelling in the feeling. When the slight tingle of the alcohol had faded, he finally answered.

"According to my birth certificate, I'm 84 so I think I'm legal. Anyway, that was Aether, god of light and one of the stronger primordials. We were hoping that he would remain neutral in this fight, but now he shows his true colours and messes up our plans, I think I deserve a drink."

By the time he had finished his mini rant, all of the adults were staring at the supposed pensioner, shock clearly registering on their faces, and stark disbelief on some of the others. The last made him laugh slightly as he took another drink.

"If you guys are who I think you are, you probably have a file of every missing person. Look up the name Nico Di Angelo from a time around the 1940's it'll tell you that, when I was 10, I disappeared with my 12 year old sister Bianca when our mother, Maria, was found dead in the hotel we had been staying at."

He flinched a little at the last part of the statement, as though he was brining up something he did not wish to remember. The assassins noticed this small jerk and made a mental note to check that out later wondering what would have happened to make the fearless warrior who had faced down a god in front of them, turn into a lost looking teen. Steve, however, was staring at the boy with new eyes, amazed to have found someone from his own time frame, a matter that greatly intrigued Bruce as well as he leaned forwards, eyes gleaming.

"What happened to you then, as I take it that delayed aging is not a trait of your family from past examples. Were you frozen like Steve?"

The boy laughed a little at this, shaking his head before he leaned back into the chair, allowing his head to loll backwards so that he was facing the ceiling when he answered.

"Close, but no. We were locked in a magic hotel where the time stream is different to the rest of the world. My sister and I thought we had been in there for a month, when we came out, it had actually been 70 years." He flinched a little at this again, it seemed to be an ingrained response when ever he talked about this 'Bianca', "yeah, life sucks, but don't you have some more important questions to be asking, rather than interrogating me about my past and drinking habits?"

For a second they had all been so caught up in this new discovery that they had forgotten about the bigger picture, something they were not happy about, but Steve shook away his surprise to gather more information that they sorely needed.

"When that guy, Aether you called him, arrived, why couldn't we move?"

"That's an easy one, all gods emit an aura, you've felt it with Thor I bet, but with the primordials, its like a physical force and it causes your body to lock down. It even effects all the other gods at first, if you aren't used to it. And, before you ask, Annabeth, Percy and I have spent the better part of a year fighting one of them so it doesn't effect us as much."

Okay, so that was a disturbing revelation to Nick Fury's mind. How the Hell were they meant to fight an enemy that they couldn't even move near? This situation was looking bad, especially as the being had come to Stark towers just to speak to them, but seemed to have no qualms about hitting a kid from behind. This last bit brought another part of the past situation back to mind as he asked after the kid.

"Why did you allow Ms Chase to take Mr Jackson into the water rather than up to the medical bay, and why did you make us leave? If something goes wrong, it would be better to have trained medics in the area just in case!"

At this, the boy in front of him shook his head again. Still glaring at the cracks at the ceiling, it was hard to make out the smirk on his pale face.

"Nah, he'll be fine. Out of all us cousins, he gets the best abilities for combat meaning that he just needs contact with water to heal himself. When he comes back up here, he will be perfectly okay, just a little tired. I forced you all out of the room for all of your safety, Percy might get a little… violent, when he wakes up."

His cringe was clear for everyone to see now and it seemed like he had experienced this before and learnt that particular lesson the hard way, but then, it did not make sense as to why he would leave the girl with him.

"What about Annabeth?" Steve asked, "Isn't she going to be in danger if she remains with him then?"

"Nope, she's the only one that can calm him down. Anyway, those two hate to be apart, especially after the accident…"

His voice trailed off as he looked down at the super soldier, eyeing him warily.

"I know Perce told you about that, when you woke him up last night."

"But you were asleep!"

"No, I was in a trance, I don't sleep anymore, it makes things worse. Between the 3 of us, we have seen more than you would ever experience in an immortal life time. When I was looking for something to help us in the underworld, I was captured and dragged through the very depths of hell and then, when they tried to rescue me, Annabeth started falling and Percy went with her in an attempt to keep her safe. It didn't work."

At this, there as absolute silence until Natasha decided that she wanted to know more. Disregarding the tense atmosphere, she leant forwards, elbows on the table s she examined the pale boy.

"What happened then, they must have escaped, seeing as though they are here now, but how?"

Locking his eyes with hers Nico did not even blink when responded, the words falling like weights from his lips in a voice so low that all the avengers had to lean forwards to hear.

"When they fell, they were captured by an old enemy, and tortured. They finally managed to escape when his strong hold was attacked and they made it out in time for the final battle. They helped lead the soldiers to victory, but the pit took its toll on them. When they first came out, they were pretty close to insane and now, well, now I don't think they have improved much at all."

A/N: there you go, I hope you enjoyed the chapter