AN: Hey guys. I totally realize that I've been writing an ooc Nico, sorry. He isn't a very happy person in general, and I have a hard time writing not happy people. I'll do my best to try to make him a little more in character, but sometimes I need him to be a little ooc, since I can't have Percy do. Depressed and all. At somepoint, probably once I've completed this fic, I'll go back and try to rewrite him a little more into character. If you see anything, or have any advice that might help me get him a little more into character, I'd appreciate it. I didn't get any of Percy's dreams in here, sorry.

Disclaimer: There is no way I could own PJO, I'd fail writing Nico and Clarisse. I don't own Avengers, otherwise Nat and Clint would be a couple.

Percy practically groaned as he was pulled out of the towers and into a back alley. Nico glanced around quickly, before pulling his cousin into the shadows behind him. Seconds later, they stepped out onto sand. The sun was still in the sky, but lazy evening rays were the only ones that shown down on them. Everything was quiet. The only sound were the seagulls who squawked and waddled along on the sand. The sea was calm, as if Poseidon was keeping it calm just for them. Percy looked around. His eyes saddened. His hand grabbed Riptide, turning over and over. For a second, a pang of fear gripped Nico's heart. What if Rachel was right? She had said earlier over the phone, "It might not acctually. This was the place where he and his mom went. He only ever came here with her. It might just make him miss her even more." If the look on his cousin's face was anything to go by, the young oracle had hit the nail on the head. Nico took a deep breath and pulled Percy toward the cabin.

"How about we go inside?" he asked. Suddenly, the ground seemed to tremble. It was like some giant beast was running. A loud woof! echoed around them. Percy whirled around just as a mound of black fur tackled him. Pinning him to the ground, Mrs. O'Leary began to lick him.

"Hey! Down girl!" he yelped, trying to push her off. Nico resisted a smile. He opened the door to the cabin as his cousin stood, trying to fling monster spit off him. Percy's hair was spike up in the front from Mrs. O'Leary's 'attack'. He sighed, finger combing it into place. "Why are we here Nico?" he grumbled lightly. Nico nodded at the door slightly. Hesitantly, the other boy stepped inside.

"Percy!" a familiar someone shouted, tackling him in a hug. He hugged the boy back.

"Grover? I thought you were too busy to go anywhere but camp and stuff," he said, confused.

"Nah, seaweed brain. We heard there was a party here and came running," another voice added. Grover released him, smiling happily. Percy looked around the cabin, noting Thalia, Grover, and Rachel, all splayed out on couches that were new since he'd last been there. His heart sank slightly.

"Guess Annabeth was too busy with her architecture to come, huh?" he asked, sounding disappointed. Slender, tan arms wrapped around him from behind. Soft lips kissed his cheek lightly.

"Never too busy for you, Percy," his girlfriend told him with a blinding smile. He kissed her softly.

"Ew," Nico muttered, turning away.

"Hey, no PDA! Eternal maiden here!" Thalia cried, covering her eyes. Annabeth chuckled. A small smile pulled at the corners of Percy's mouth, not quite breaking through. The girls noted this with satisfaction. The boy's nosed twitched.

"I smell food. Pizza?" he asked, his mouth watering slightly. Everyone chuckled, leading him into the kitchen. Thalia grabbed a CD and popped it into the player. Loud, almost rock music began to play.

"Let's get this party started!" she cried, grabbed a plate and snatching a piece of pizza. Nico shook his head ruefully.

"Should've seen this coming," he and Annabeth muttered in unison. Percy ducked his head, but they caught a glimpse of a smile. He grabbed some pizza and sat down on one of the couches. Annabeth sat next to him, her pizza in her hand. She handed him a coke and he nodded thankfully at her, that small smile once again pulling at the corners of his mouth. 'I hadn't realized how much I missed these guys. The first time we've been together in forever,' he thought. In reality, it had been only a few weeks. But it had been before the accident. He'd really only seen Nico in the past week or two for any prolonged amount of time. Annabeth had been busy finishing up on Mt. Olympus, since she'd abandoned the project when Percy went missing, then went on the quest with them. Thalia had been busy with the hunt. Grover had been helping some of his satyrs bring kids safely into camp. And Rachel? Well, she'd been doing her usual "Save the red-bellied woodpecker" or "Kids' Art Museum" stuff. He'd seen Rachel, Grover and Annabeth in passing, when they stopped by to give their condolences, hug him, come to the funeral, that kind of thing. Thalia had even turned up to the funeral, but Artemis had dragged her away before she could really talk to Percy.

Soon, everyone was sitting down, soda and pizza in their hands. Jokes and playful insults flew through the air, almost literally. Everyone pretended not to notice how a smile had worked its way onto Percy's face, although it lightened the atmosphere of the room considerably.

"Do you really wanna go there Pinecone face?" Nico snarled.

"What are you going to do about it?" Thalia smirked. Water silently flew from the kitchen and crept along next to the ceiling. Just when the two were about to pull weapons, it dropped.

"Percy!" they shouted, turning towards the smirking boy. A small chuckle had escaped his mouth. Shaking his head, Nico found it hard to hold it against him. After all, just earlier that day he'd been so depressed he wouldn't do anything but stare at Riptide, and now he was dousing them with water again. Thalia, on the other hand, had no problem shocking him. He glared at her.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Soaking me! What else?"

"You were gonna destroy the cabin if I didn't do something," he argued. The others shrugged, finding it hard to fault that logic.

"So what if..." the words died in her mouth as she realized what she'd been about to say. Of course he cared if the cabin was destroyed. This was practically his cabin. He'd been coming here since before his birth. It was were he and Sally always went on vacation. It would be dumb to ask 'so what if we destroy the cabin?' He probably would've gotten mad and done something rash. Just then, someone, or something, scratched and pounded at the door of the cabin. Annabeth frowned, walking over to the door. It opened to reveal a very left-out looking hellhound. Her ears were down and she whined them. Percy shook his head.

"Wait here, I'll grab the volley ball that always stays in the cabin. There's a net just a little ways down," he told them.

Thalia nodded, seeming to like that idea. "Girls on boys," she decided after Percy left the room. She grabbed a soda and began to guzzle it. Everyone but Nico laughed at the Hunter's view on almost everything, he simply shook his head, smiling slightly. When Percy returned, they all headed out to the net. No one seemed to realize, or care, that they had left the music blaring and the food out on the counter.

"So, anyone know the teams?" Percy asked, his voice still kinda quiet.

"Girls on boys," Thalia told him, dragging Annabeth and Rachel to one side of the net. He opened his mouth to argue, but the look on her face changed his mind. He sighed and walked to the other side of the net.

"You guys joining in or not?" Thalia grunted as Percy tossed her the ball. Grover and Nico glanced at each other, then hurried over to their friend's side.

-
Pepper sat down hard on a chair nearby. "Oh my gosh, I just let kids with criminal records into the tower," she mumbled to herself.

Tony shook his head. "Jarvis is still finishing hacking into the older Nico's files. You know, see if there's anything recent about him," he said. "And as far as the police are concerned, neither boy has a criminal record." Pepper's head snapped up.

"What?! But Percy's gotten into so much trouble! Blowing up a school gym and band room? Wrecking the Saint Lewis Arch? Being part of a manhunt, surely there some kind of criminal record on him!"

Tony shook his head. "Nope, clean as a whistle. There's nothing there. Supposedly, he got off scott-free, no questions asked."

"Sir, I've found something in Mr. di Angelo's file that you might want to have a look at," Jarvis told him. Both adults turned their attention back to the screen. A previously blank portion of the screen had loaded.

"So the kid was last seen in Vegas before going missing with his sister, big deal," Tony grumbled. "Lots of people go missing from Vegas everyday."

Pepper frowned, remembering something that had been mentioned on the way to the tower. "Check Westover Hall, the military school, enrollment from about four years ago," she suggested. It took him a minute, but soon Tony was looking at the list. "Check for the last name di Angelo," Pepper said unnecessarily. He was already checking it. There were two names. Bianca and Nico.

"Just give me a minute and I'll pull up their pictures." The photos revealed one boy and one girl. The girl had silky, dark hair and black eyes. She had the same olive skin as Nico. The girl looked to be about twelve. The boy had familiar dark eyes and hair. He looked to be about ten.

Pepper took a deep breath as she excepted one key fact. "They look exactly the same."