I know I said I wouldn't be updating until Wednesday, but the reviews made me happy, so I wrote another chapter. Who needs sleep anyways?

Thor gazed and Nico, distrust marring his features

"A son of Hades, you say. From what I recall, the spawn of the Underworld are not known for their loyalty to the gods." He spoke in a disdainful voice, "Nor for their sanity."

Nico's hands clenched into fists, and the shadows around him began darken and thicken, which did not go unnoticed by the Avengers.

"I'm sane most of the time," Nico's lips curled into a vicious snarl, "Unless somebody manages to piss me off. That's when things get a little... messy." The whites of Nico's eyes began to bleed to black, and the Avengers, even Thor, could not stop the wave undulated fear that the sight of him caused.

Thor raised his hammer again, but just as he was about to charge, Fury's voice broke the haze of anger that had begun to cloud his vision.

"Thor," Fury said, irritation leaking into his voice, "You did just promise that you were uninterested in fighting the Greeks less than 10 minutes ago, didn't you?"

Thor didn't look to happy about it, but he lowered his weapon again. "That was before the Greeks decided to send a demon on their behalf."

Nico glared at the Thor, but walked towards the screen on which Fury's face was displayed. He nodded to him, and then began to speak. "Who the gods sent doesn't matter. What does matter is that I'm here, and I've got a proposition for you."

Fury raised an eyebrow. "And why should I listen to this proposition?" he asked.

"Because if you do, and you if you choose to accept it, you will have the powers of a demigod at your disposal, and a promise of peace from the gods."

Fury considered this carefully. "That does sound tempting, but there's obviously going to be a catch. There's always a catch."

Nico nodded in affirmation before continuing. "You have to promise to keep your discovery of the gods a secret from the rest of the world, and we want your word that you, and your pet Asgardian, will not attempt to restart the Pantheon War. Apparently it wasn't much fun last time, and the gods would rather not have to 'sacrifice' all of their children." Nico rolled his eyes at the last comment. The gods really were assholes sometimes. Thunder boomed, and Nico grumpily apologised in his head, before returning his attention to the conversation with Mr. Matrix Pirate.

The Director was deep in thought. "I believe these terms to be acceptable. We have no interest in starting any more wars, but keep this in mind," Fury stared into Nico's eyes, not flinching from the fear which the demigod's eyes invoked, which caused Nico's respect for the man to double. "If any of you Greeks do anything to endanger the people of this country, so help me, I will make you regret it."

Nico raised his eyebrow at the undisguised threat, but nodded anyway. He was just about to speak, but was interrupted by Thor.

"You are not just going to trust him so easily," Thor said, "He could be lying. He is a son of Hades' after all."

Nico gave him a terrifying glare. This guy was really starting to piss him off. "You seem to have a problem with children of Hades, Thor. Come on, don't be shy, why don't you speak what's on your mind," he growled, his voice ripping through the air.

Thor pointed at him angrily, "Hades' children were responsible for the most deaths among Asgardians. You are ruthless, have no loyalty, and show no mercy."

The light seemed to leach from the room as Nico's anger grew. He wanted to lash out at Thor, teach him a lesson in pain, but instead he calmed himself. He took a deep breath, and smothered his anger. Light began to return to the room, and it was a few moments before he spoke.

"I don't give a damn what you think, Asgardian," Nico said in an emotionless voice, "But perhaps you should not judge people so quickly. We would be your allies, and I will not be responsible for a failure in negotiations."

Thor opened his mouth and closed it again. This was not what he had expected from the Underworlder.

It was then that Steve spoke up. "So, you said something about us gaining the services of a demigod? When will they get here?"

Tony rolled his eyes at the Captain as he walked over, the lamp dangling limply in his hand. "Obviously this kid is our new colleague." He smiled at Nico, before saying "Hey, I'm Tony Stark, obviously you've heard of me," to which Nico raised a dark eyebrow, before Tony turned back to Steve. "Why else would they send him here if not to introduce himself to his new friends?"

Steve shook his head, "No way can it be him, he can't possibly be over eighteen. I don't care if these guys are gods, children shouldn't fight in wars."

Nico interrupted smoothly, "Well we do. Demigods are trained to fight from whatever age they discover their true heritage at. I found out when I was ten, and this battle today was the second war I've been involved in. Besides, you didn't seem to doubt my abilities when you were watching that video of me. Which," he said, looking at Fury, "Was kind of creepy. I am still a minor. I'm pretty sure there are laws against you stalking me."

Fury glared at him before stating, "You were the one in black armour."

"Yeah," Nico said, once again fiddling with his skull ring. He didn't like people much, and being in a room with six people, whom he was pretty sure wanted to cause him bodily harm, was making him a bit antsy.

"Myself and a few others decided to come help out against the Olympian Council's orders. We didn't know the mist was faulty." He paused. "... Well actually we did, but we didn't know that you guys would find evidence, or that there was a top secret spy agency out to get us, or that Thor would take it upon himself to tell you everything."

"Wait wait wait," Tony said, "You mean to say that your gods were just going to leave us deal with an alien invasion by ourselves?" Tony frowned, "That's not very nice."

Nico shrugged indifferently. "The gods never directly involve themselves with mortal affairs. Maybe if the world had gotten taken over, they might have gotten involved, but otherwise they leave us half-bloods to do all the work."

There was silence before Bruce asked the question that had been on all of their minds. "That thing you did to the aliens... when you killed them all at the same time... what was that?"

Nico shifted uncomfortably, his signature scowl appearing on his face. "Me and another demigod, a son of Hecate, came up with this spell to get rid of the aliens that were already through the portal. We didn't know if it would work, and it was only so my cousin could try to get up to the portal to close it, but then portal closed and the same time we finished the spell, and it all worked out. We figured you mortals had somehow done it, and we left." He paused, and shifted his feet. "Well the others left, I kinda got dragged..."

The others looked at him in shock. There was a pause before Clint asked "You guys have spells for mass genocide? Well, can I just say, thanks for picking our team." Natasha rolled her eyes before asking her own question.

"From what we caught on film, you seem to have a number of skills. We've already seen that you can control shadows, and possibly the earth as well, if the miniature earthquakes and random crevices on the street are anything to go by. Anything else?"

Nico thought about it for a moment before replying, "Well the manipulation of shadows is called Umbrakinesis, and the earthquakes and stuff were what my father calls Geokinesis. Demigods are pretty strong. We're faster, and hardier than normal mortals, and we're also able to see through the Mist. I also have dominion over the dead, something you might call Necromancy." Nico looked uncomfortable about revealing his abilities to these strangers, but he really didn't want to disobey direct orders from the gods twice in one day. "I'm also able to transport myself using shadows, which is called Shadow-Travelling, and I can sense people's life auras, and death."

He looked around at the varying expressions of shock and disbelief travelling around the room, and his scowl deepened, before adding, "I'm also able to summon this stuff called Hellfire, but I just learned how to do it today, so I haven't really got the hang of it yet. The missing walls in my father's palace are testament to that," he finished, before glancing at Fury. "Anything else you want to know?"

"No, Mr. Di Angelo, I think that's enough for today. I think it would be best if you stayed with the Avengers until we can write up our agreement, and come meet you face to face. You'll understand if we're a bit weary of allowing a complete stranger into our headquarters without the proper background checks."

Nico nodded sagely, "Yeah, I understand. I'm not supposed to be in the sky anyways. You're super-secret Helicarrier that I'm not supposed to know about is safe, I promise."

Fury glared at him before shutting off the transmission, but not before they heard him mutter something along the lines of 'Not another smart-ass'.

Unsurprisingly, with all the new developments, the Avengers decided to stay in Stark Tower. Fury hadn't said it, but they knew he wanted them to keep an eye on Nico, to discover whether or not he could be trusted. They were just taking his word that he was who he said he was. If they hadn't seen how the darkness reacted to him with their own eyes, and compared it to the video of the dark-warrior, they would have undoubtedly tried to attack Nico, teenager or not.

With Fury gone, the agents and Steve relaxed a bit. There was more silence as they regarded their newest, and youngest, agent.

"So," Tony said, returning to the sofa, on which he flopped down, "Nico di Angelo. I guess you'll be staying with us until Fury finishes cyber stalking you. Hope you haven't been surfing po-"

"Shut up, Stark," the Captain interrupted. Tony huffed but fell silent, and placed the lamp back on its table, but still in arms reach. The emo kid kind of freaked him out.

Steve gestured to the chair opposite the one he had just seated himself in. "Why don't you sit down, kid," he said kindly, "You did as much fighting today as we did. Do you need to call your mom or a relative to tell them where you are?"

Nico scowled, but walked over to the chair, moving fluidly, with the grace of a dancer. His father's 'Improvements' had changed him. He had battled all day, and yet he didn't feel as tired as he should be. He would have to figure out how much the changes had affected him later.

He dropped into the chair, and gazed at Steve. "My mom's dead, Captain," he said emotionlessly, "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me 'Kid', he continued grouchily, "I'm around the same age as you."

Steve gaped at him, "What do you mean? I'm over 70 years old!"

"Yeah, same," Nico replied, "And before you ask, yes I do age. I was involved in a situation similar to yours, just without the ice."

Steve and the others looked intrigued, but didn't question him. Nico still looked upset over the mention of his mother, so they wisely chose not to question him about it anymore.

Thor, who had been standing by a wall with his arms crossed, decided to continue his quest for pop tarts. He did not trust the Greek, but he did trust his team. They could handle anything Nico threw at them, in his opinion.

The others watched him go, and Tony called out, "If you eat all my pop tarts, you better replace them!" Thor grumbled something in reply, and the door swung shut behind him. Or it tried to. As soon as it hit the wall, it fell off its hinges, clattering to the floor. Tony winced, and rubbed the back of his head.

"I swear," he said to Nico, "I'm actually quite a neat person." The Bruce and Steve snorted, and shared a knowing look. If it wasn't for his maids, Tony would be living in filth. He was that lazy.

Natasha and Clint decided to go find the spare bedrooms so they could get some sleep, leaving Bruce, Tony, Steve and Nico alone together. Nico took in his surroundings. The tower actually looked alright under the rubble and glass. Although he wasn't too fond of the outside, he had to admit, Stark's penthouse was pretty cool, what with all the high tech appliances, and its view of the city.

"Well Cap, it seems you've finally found a friend your own age," Tony smirked from his position on the sofa, "Even if he isn't fully human, and decidedly creepy in appearance."

Nico gave sent a Death Glare at Stark. Tony's smile froze on his face, and he clutched at his chest. "Jarvis? Did my heart just stop?"

"Yes sir, but only momentarily. I would not make a habit of it, though, as it is rather bad for your health."

Tony edged along the sofa, trying the casually get away from Nico. "Good God. That was the single most terrifying experience of my life. Please don't do that again."

"Only if you don't insult me," Nico replied, "If you really piss me off, I might give you a full Death Glare. Last time I used it, I managed to disintegrate 20 Hellhounds." Nico smirked fondly at the memory, "Good times."

Steve and Bruce laughed at the fear on Tony's face. Tony wasn't sure whether or not Nico was joking, but he decided to play it safe, and changed the subject. "Where did you learn to fight so well? You demigods got some sort of secret training camp?"

Nico's eyes widened in surprise. "Actually, yeah. Most demigods go there during the summer, but some stay all year round. I drop in from time to time to visit my cousin Percy and his girlfriend Annabeth. They both help out with the training of the younger kids in their spare time." Nico stopped talking, frowning as he realised he had said too much. He didn't even know these people, why was he telling them these things?

Bruce seemed to realise that Nico didn't plan on saying anything more. Nico was quite the confusing individual. One minute he was terrifying, and Bruce had to stop himself from turning into the 'Other Guy' who felt threatened, and the next minute, Nico seemed to be just like any other teenager, albeit one who spoke a bit old fashioned, and who had an unhealthy fondness for the colour black, and feared the sun.

He sighed to himself, and got to his feet. He had a feeling that Nico would be joining the Avengers soon enough. He couldn't see SHIELD passing up the possibility of adding another powerful member to the Avengers Initiative.

"Come on Nico, I'm sure we'll be able to find you a room to sleep in for tonight. I'm dead on my feet."

Nico got up, and followed Bruce out of the room. He still didn't trust the Avengers, but he was more than capable of defending himself. The gods had told him to obey these mortals, and he would. Although he didn't care particularly care what the other gods thought of him, he cared what his father thought. As the heir of the Underworld, he would not fail. He would make his father proud.

A.N. Gah, so many words and I haven't even introduced the plot yet. I foresee this becoming an insanely long fanfic...