A/N: Okay, so I know that this chapter has been a long time in coming, but a lot of things came up in the past few months which, coupled with writers block, meant that this story was nearly forgotten. Still, I would like to thank all of you who have stuck with it, and I hope you enjoy this new chapter.
They had all been gathered in the training room of Stark tower, Nico and Annabeth demonstrating to the Avengers a way of fighting that had been lost to the earth for many years when the message came. At first, none of the gathered warriors noticed the faint glimmer of light appearing in the far corner, but when the figure in the rainbow coughed, they all span round to face him with their weapons drawn, only for the two midguard demigods to fall to their knees in a deep bow. The intonation of 'my lord' catching the adults in the room unaware.
At first, when he looked at the screen, Tony thought that he was looking at the missing one of their party, but, when he looked closer, he saw that this man was too old, his face too lined to be Percy, though he looked remarkably similar. The aesthetic similarities along with the title granted to the unknown man by the teens was enough to give away his identity before he even spoke in a voice that managed to be both weary and powerful at the same time.
"Children, I have told you before, I am not my brother, you do not need to bow to me."
Nodding slightly, the two pushed themselves back into a standing position, though, not a split second later, after studying the god's face, the daughter of Athena fell down again, a look of anguish on her face from something she must have found in the sea god's expression.
"You've found Percy."
The words were more a statement of fact than a question, though, when the affirmative was granted, even more pain flooded the girl's features when she leaned into the comforting embrace of the assassin who had just crouched down beside her. Over the days that they had been working together, Natasha and Annabeth had formed a close bond, almost sisterly, and now it seemed to be coming to the forefront as she all but snapped at the deity in her friend's place.
"What happened?"
Sighing, Poseidon raised a hand to his face, rubbing his temples slowly, and for a moment it looked as though he was not going to answer, but then he sighed again and looked at them all with sorrowful eyes so like his son's.
"There was an attack on Atlantis, not two days ago. At first, we thought it was a normal occurrence and sent out the guards like we usually would, but only a few of them came back. They claimed that the attackers were being led by a great fighter who seemed to be able to bend the water to his will and that began to raise alarms so I sent out Triton to take matters into hand. He has only just returned."
All through that speech, the demigods' faces grew whiter and whiter and, by the time Poseidon paused as though unable to continue, Nico was also crouched next to the daughter of Athena, wrapping an arm around her protectively.
"It was Percy wasn't it?" He bit out, eyes glistening in hate for what his cousin was being made to do against his will, "Pontus is making him fight you, his own father."
Sadly, Poseidon looked as though he was about to cry as he nodded, but, after another deep breath he seemed to pull himself together once again.
"Yes. At first we believed that he would try to kill Perseus as a way to get at me, as you know, but we should have guessed that this would be the plan. It is not so different to the tactic father used in the first war."
"So, what you're saying is, the psychos are trying to make you decide between protecting your own people and killing your only mortal son? That's sick... How could anyone even think of doing that?"
When everyone's eyes fell on Tony for that comment, his eyes were burning with a harsh flame and his features set in a look of deep disgust that made the old sea god nod at him approvingly.
"Yes it is a twisted means of warfare, though it is not one that is all that new to us, and is, unfortunately, not absent from your own history. Though, now you have reminded me of another reason that I made this call. Mr Rogers… Annabeth's mother was intrigued with something she had mentioned about a dream you had of the last war on the mountain of Greece and she began to look into some old records finding some things that 3 of you may find rather interesting."
Again a quiet fell after his words, though this time it was less from shock and more from the desire for the deity to continue on with his speaking, though, despite his new found grin that really did make him look like his missing son, he seemed to be picking his words exceedingly carefully as though unsure as how to proceed.
"Before I say anything else however, Mr Stark, I need to ask you what your mother's name was before she married your father."
The almost grimace on Tony's face now melted into a look of sheer confusion, one that did not often hold a place on his features unless it involved the efforts of one Miss Potts, but all the same, he answered in a guarded voice as though unsure of how this information could be remotely relevant.
"Maria Collins-Carbornell but…"
Whatever he was about to say next was cut off by a sharp gasp from the daughter of Athena as she span round to look the Billionaire over properly for the first time as though she was looking for something, her eyes wide.
"I've heard that name before, I'm sure I have… Maria Collins-Carbonell… wasn't she…?"
"Yes, she was the leader of the Hephaestus cabin around 40 years ago, some of her work is still on display at the camp, though when she was in the mortal world she decided to hide her talents so as not to draw unwanted attention to herself. As it is Mr Stark, it seems that you are a Legacy, the grandson of my nephew, the god of forges… that will be where you get your talent for machines from I am sure."
At this, all eyes turned back to the inventor as he stumbled backwards, propping his back up against the conveniently placed wall of the training room before slouching to the floor, the look of his face a cross between amazement, wonder and sheer terror, even as Nico shot him a wry grin from his own place on the floor.
"Well, I guess I should say welcome to the family then cousin… though I can't say that I was expecting it."
Letting out a weak chuckle at his nephew's antics, Poseidon drew everyone's attention back from the dumbstruck Iron man, and back onto himself, his own eyes now fixed on the super soldier, making the man himself feel more than a little edgy.
"And it seems like his is not the only one. Mr Rodgers, we also managed to discover, though how she forgot in the first place seeing as how she likes to boast about her magnificent memory, that you, before all of this, were actually a son of Athena herself, explaining how you managed to receive a demigod dream which should have been impossible for a mortal."
He was cut off by a madly grinning Annabeth now who jumped to her feet and pulled the faint looking soldier into her arms for a tight hug, laughing at the surprised look on his face whilst muttering loud enough to set the others of giggling.
"I always wanted an older brother."
Taking pity on the soldier who was now being suffocated slowly by his new found younger sister, Poseidon cleared his throat, once again pulling their attention back to the screen of the message that was starting to look a little fainter as the message began to cut out.
"And, last of all Miss Romanov, it took us a while to find this out, the blasted woman keeps all her cards so tightly to her chest at all times, but it looks like you are one of the only mortal daughters of Hecate, goddess of magic but…"
Whatever he was about to say was lost then when the rainbow dissolved into a fine mist that fell softly to the floor, leaving behind 4 stunned adults, 2 grinning teens and a god who looked as though he did not know exactly what to think at that moment in time. Still, as always with the avengers, the silence did not last long before someone spoke up.
"What just happened?"
The words were so soft and unsure that it took a moment for the others to realize that they had come from Tony from where he was still slouched on the floor looking to all the world like a lost little kid. Not that that was much of a surprise though really, Nico had seen far too many kids at camp wear the exact same expression when their world was just tipped on its head, and Annabeth had seen many more, but the son of Hades could not help but take advantage of the man who had been mocking him for the last few days straight.
"Well, it looks like you are the grandson of one of the coolest gods on the council, the Black widow is a witch and Annie just found a long lost brother she never even knew she had… though she now seems dead bent on killing him now that she had."
Blushing furiously, Annabeth quickly let go of Steve, much to the amusement of the others, but the super soldier only smiled and pulled her back into a hug. Now that the shock of the revelation had begun to wear off, he actually felt kind of happy to have some form of family now, after believing that he had lost all of it back in the war.
"At least now we know where young Perseus is, and what the enemy's plan of attack seems to be."
Thor spoke the words absently, as though not wishing to upset the balance of the room again after the atmosphere had improved so much from the start of the message, but his words only seemed to draw Doctor Banner out of his thoughts as he smiled reassuringly at the frowning blonde who had been tucked into her brother's side.
"And we know that he is safe, unless this fight with… what was his name, Triton? Ended up damaging him."
Everyone jumped at the son of Hades' snort, none of them bar Annabeth and Thor knowing the true implications of those words.
"Just for those of you who don't know, Triton is Percy's half-brother, the prince of Atlantis and the immortal son of Poseidon and his wife. Any fight between those two would be destructive, but Percy would always win, we know that from experience. If the bloody princling is still alive, then Percy is too."
At this, Annabeth seemed to perk up, her grey eyes flashing cold as sudden inspiration struck as she pulled away, pacing furiously and speaking her thoughts out loud.
"But this means more than that. It's true that Triton has never beaten Percy in a duel before, but with Pontus controlling him, he would be aiming for kill shots which is something he has never done in their play fights before. The fact that the brat even got back to Atlantis means that Percy failed to kill him, something we know is practically impossible when he puts his mind to it, so it means that, whatever type of control Pontus has over him… he's fighting it, he can push it off if given help, I'm sure of it."
Everyone expected the girl to carry on muttering to herself as she dashed through the whirlpool of her thoughts, but she took one more step before she froze, still as a rock, her head cocked to one side and a dark grin creeping across her face that made all those in the room with her, beside the son of Hades who had seen it far too many times before, shiver in a slight fear.
"That's brilliant!"
Her sudden exclamation made Tony flinch and close his mouth, obviously deciding that it was not a good idea to interrupt the girl while she was on a role like this, though Doctor Banner seemed unable to let the matter go when the girl did not go further.
"What is?"
Spinning round to face them as though she had forgotten that she was not alone in the room, the grin on the girl's face stretched wider, if that were even possible.
"This… it's the prophercy don't you see? This tells us exactly who it is that needs to go and fight Percy to stop this stupid war before it gets much worse."
Picking up on his friend's train of thought, Nico too jumped up before looking round all the confused adults, his own creepy smile forming.
"Oh… OH. Yes, that's… that helps a lot. Lightning is Thor, we already worked that out, and I'm Earth, but if Stark really is a descendent of Hephaestus, then he must be Fire and… and Scorn must be Natasha, magic has always been scorned by mortals, no one ever really gave witches any rights in the past and if the right spells are used in combination then we can weaken the control over Percy. I can do half of them during the fight, but this means…"
"This means that you need to start teaching the black widow all about magic, Nicks, preferably now."