AN: Lucy, I'm home! Hullo all, hullo. I have returned. Contrary to my thoughts, I was able to post something! I lied the last chap, it wasn't the longest... this one is. Almost ten pages without ANs! This for yall!

Wearily, Percy opened the door and entered the tower. He walked straight for the elevator and sent it up to the floor that contained his room. Once there, he collapsed onto his bed, exhaustion overwhelming him. He hadn't slept well the past few days, dreams haunting him every time he closed his eyes. He sighed almost peacefully against his comforter. His eyes were closed, yet all he saw was darkness. He didn't see his friends, he didn't see his mom, his dad, Paul, just darkness. But best of all? There was no voice. The damn silky, smooth, cat-like, practically purring voice wasn't there. The stranger didn't appear. His sadistic grin stayed out of Percy's sight. There wasn't any black hair or bright, gray-green eyes.

The boy sighed as he opened his eyes. His tense muscles relaxed. He stretched lazily on his bed, before closing his eyes and slipping under the covers. It wasn't long before he was asleep.

He was sleeping peacefully when he heard a voice. Firm hands shook his shoulder gently.

"Percy, wake up. Perce, come on. Perc-" Nico was cut short and a gurgling sound took the place of his voice. A warm, soft weight fell on Percy's chest. He groaned and tried to roll over. Warm liquid touched his skin, soaking his clothing and covers.

Gently, Percy opened his eyes. A shadowy figure stood over him, a sword in his hand. Dark liquid dripped from it. Nico lay, unmoving, on his cousin's chest. Percy's breath sped up. He grabbed the boy, pulling him closer and away from the figure. Warm liquid met the demigod's fingers.

Looking down, Percy took in the state of his young cousin. Nico's eyes were wide and unblinking. They seemed to have glazed over. His mouth was opened, like he was mid-sentence. It was a look the son of the sea knew too well. Tears threatened to fill his eyes, but he pushed them back. Where his fingers were, over his cousin's heart, was a dark spot on Nico's back. His black clothing had a wet, darkened look. A cut in the clothing gave him the barest glimpse of olive skin. Tears slipped down his face.

"Nico!" he shouted, shaking the boy. A part of him knew that with the look on his cousin's face, he wouldn't get a reply. Part of him knew what his brain refused to accept. "Nico! Please, Nico! Nico!" The boy didn't move.

"You can stop it," a silky voice purred in his ear. Percy's head snapped around, looking for the owner of the voice. But no one was there. In his mind he already knew the answer.

"All you have to do is listen. Obey," it continued. Tears were pouring down Percy's face as he cuddled his cousin's body against him. The shadow figure vanished.

Percy stood up, looking around. He pulled Nico's body up with him, clutching it like it was all that mattered. He lifted the limp corpse up bridal style. He ran, shakily, towards his door. Throwing it open, it revealed a clearing. A familiar clearing in a familiar forest. He turned and looked back the way he had come, but the room was gone. Turning, he saw Annabeth lounging in the center of the clearing with Grover. They were laying down, relaxing. They waved towards him.

"Percy, over here!" Grover called with a smile. He took a step in their direction. A shadow crossed over them, and a horrid screech filled the air. A rush of scales passed between them, and when it vanished, Grover was gone. Fear pricked Percy's heart. 'Just a dream,' he told himself. 'It can only be a dream! Not real!' Annabeth didn't even seem to notice. She just kept smiling at him, waving for him to join her. He went to step forward, only find he was stuck. He couldn't move. His mouth felt like it was full of glue.

Suddenly, a shadowy figure appeared behind her. Her eyes widened. Her mouth froze, mid-call. A dark sword stuck from her chest, just like it had from a giant's stomach back in seventh grade when she had stabbed it. The sword was wrenched from her body and she fell over. The figure just seemed to melt from his vision as tears once again began to stream down Percy's face. His feet unfroze. He ran towards her, stumbling slightly.

"No!" he screamed. He dropped to his knees beside her, trying to clutch her and Nico against his chest. "Annabeth! No, please Annabeth! Please, wake up! Be okay! Annabeth!" He searched the clearing frantically, looking for someone, anyone.

"All you have to do to stop it... is ask," the voice purred in his ear. "Ask and agree."

Percy shook his head, tears streaming down his face. "Leave me alone! Just stop it!" An arrow streaked across the clearing. Monsters flooded out of one side of the clearing, while the hunters appeared on the other side. He could see Thalia, her bow in hand, coolly shooting arrow after arrow. He watched other hunters around her fall to hellhounds, cyclops, dracene, and other creatures. Large, purple spikes shot out from the woods and lodged in her shoulder. She hissed in pain and dropped the arrow in her hand. It clattered to the ground. A line of golden fur crossed his vision. Thalia's eyes widened. The end of the manticore's tail was shoved into her neck. She fell from the tree and hit the ground with a thud!

"No! Stop! Please, just stop it!" Percy shouted, staggering towards the fallen form of his cousin. "Just stop it and leave me alone! Please!"

"All you had to do was ask," the voice sounded amused. Nico's corpse melted into a pool of shadows. Annabeth shimmered and vanished. Thalia burst into golden powder, like a monster. Fear gripped Percy as he turned in circles, looking for the corpses of his friends. The forest melted into shadows, turning dark as night. Then he appeared. The tall stranger that wouldn't leave him alone. They seemed to be standing on an invisible platform. His long black hair was slicked back with, what looked like, more hair gel than anyone else could ever use. His eyes seemed to shift colors, from bright emerald green, to gray-green or just gray. Percy usually just settled for green, since there was almost always some little bit of green in them. His skin was pale. The son of Poseidon stumbled away from him.

"What did you do?" he growled, eyes wide. The man chuckled.

"Why, you act as if I sent the dreams. No, I merely remove them," he told the boy. Percy noticed the twitch of his mouth, dubbing him a liar. He shook his head slightly, still backing away from the approaching form. With a wave of his hand, the man made a scene come to life beneath him.

The scene was set in a huge dump. Five kids were hiding in various places. He saw one of the kids charge towards a giant robot. This one was a girl.

"Bianca," Percy muttered sadly. The stranger set his hands on the boy's sagging shoulders.

"Your fault," he whispered gently. The boy clenched his fists.

"No! She made her own choices," he grumbled, turning away and pacing. "Not even Nico blames me anymore."

"You know he's just saying that. He doesn't really think you're blameless. He'll always know you were the one who let his sister die. Your fault."

"No!" Percy cried, stumbling back again. The scene changed just as the robot came tumbling down. It shifted to a boat. Monsters and demigods alike littered the deck. One boy was held between two giants. Another boy stood helpless nearby.

"Beckendorf," he mumbled.

The stranger seemed to snort in amusement. "Yes, another person who died. And it was all. Your. Fault."

"No! He told me to go! I've talked to him! He doesn't hold it against me at all!"

"I'm sure that's just what he told you. Too kind to tell you the truth."

"No! Just shut up and go away!" Percy shouted, grabbing his head.

The stranger shrugged, as if nonchalant, but his sadistic smile had grown stiffer, as if he were angry. Flames of mischief seemed to dance in his eyes. "All you had to do was ask." He vanished. The scene below the boy went black. He sighed in relief, still clutching his head in his hands.

Then, suddenly, the floor he seemed to be standing on vanished, as if it never existed. Percy let out a shout of surprise as he plunged into the murky shadows below.

Warm hands shook him gently.

"Percy? Hey Perce, wake up," Nico's voice sounded through the darkness. Percy's eyes flew open, and he grabbed Nico in a bone crushing hug. He clutched him tight. He blinked in surprise when Nico tentatively hugged him back. He pulled the boy down onto the bed next to him.

"You're safe, I promise," Percy whispered, clutching him close. "I'll keep you safe, I promise." He half expected at least a "What are you talking about?" from the son of Hades, but the boy just shrugged and lay in his cousin's arms. The son of Poseidon relaxed slowly. 'Just a dream. He's perfectly fine.' Percy squeezed him lightly, just to be sure he was really there. He looked down, smiling. Nico was beginning to smile back when he melted. He just seemed to melt into a puddle of shadows, just like in the dream.

"No! Nico!" he shouted, turning in circles as he tried to find his cousin. "No, no no!" He fumbled as he grabbed for the phone on the bed stand. He instantly dialed Rachel's number. It ran for a few moments before she picked up.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Rachel?" Percy's voice was timid.

"Percy? Yeah, it's me. What's wrong?"

"Are you okay? You know, nobody weird showed up or anything? You didn't get hurt or something?"

"Yeah, I'm fi-" the voice died suddenly.

"Rachel? Rachel?!" he shouted down the line. He glanced at the screen and noticed the call was over. He dialed Annabeth's number.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Annabeth!" Percy's voice oozed relief.

"Percy? Is something wrong?"

"NO! Are you okay? Are you staying out of the woods? Have you seen Grover recently?"

"No, Grover just left for one of his 'Lord of the Wild' missions. Are you feeling okay? Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

"Yeah! Just, do me a favor and stay out of the woods, okay?"

"If you want," she replied, her voice showing her confusion. "Did you have a dream or something?"

"NO! I didn't! Did you?"

"No, I-" A buzz sounded from the other end of the phone. The line had gone dead. Fear raced through Percy's veins.

"No! Oh, gods, just come back already! Make them go away!" he shouted. He had a feeling the stranger was listening. He always seemed to be. "Just make it stop!" He could practically hear the chuckle. Oh, wait, no. He did hear the chuckle. Fingers ran along the back of his neck.

"All you had to do was ask," he purred. The man's breath tickled his ear. The hairs on the back of Percy's neck stood straight up. The dream melted into shadows. "You could always call me in to help, you know," the words echoed in his mind. 'Grover! Please, Grover! Help!'

"He won't help you," the stranger said, fingers lightly squeezing the back of the boy's neck.

"Yes, he will. H- he promised."

"But so did you," he taunted. "You promised to keep Bianca alive, and where is she now?"

"She made her own choices!"

"So did you. And you chose to let her die."

"You weren't even there! You don't know what I did! I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen!" Percy shouted, trying to wrench out of his grip. The hands on the back of his neck tightened. The fingers snaked further around his neck, until they cut off his air supply. In an instant, the fingers were gone. Percy turned, but he didn't see the stranger. Suddenly, the man's breath tickled his ear.

"You know they won't believe you. They'll blame you. But I could fix it. I can stop all the deaths, all the injuries. All the wars. You're friends would never have to get hurt again. Annabeth would never have to be hurt again. You could protect Nico, keep him safe. Injuries would never reach Thalia. Grover would never die. Friends would never betray you, no one would ever hurt them. And all you have to do," he purred, "Is help me."

Percy sat up, gasping. His sea-green eyes were wide and wild. Sweat coated his forehead. Trembles shook his body. His hair stuck up in all directions. He looked down at his hands, as if searching for something. He sighed and put his head in his hands, sitting up.

"Just a dream, only a dream," he mumbled, climbing out of bed and walking towards the bathroom. He grabbed a stray shirt that sat on the dresser as he opened the door. He splashed water on his face before looking up into the mirror. His eyes widened and he gasped as he looked in the mirror. His neck was bright red-purple. The bruises formed the shape of long fingers that curled around his neck. His air seemed to vanish just thinking about it. Only one thought remained. 'Was it really a dream?'

Tony sat at his computer, typing furiously. After while, he had moved into the main room, the one where the boys hung out most of the time. Pepper sighed, standing up from where she'd been sitting for the past ten minutes.

"What are you even doing?" she asked.

"I'm checking something I heard earlier," he told her. "Jarvis, play her the security footage from just outside the tower. The one you showed me earlier." Pepper sighed, but looked over at the screen. Her eyes widened at the smile on Percy's face. Tony didn't seem to care.

"Fast forward to the conversation about the tower," he called distractedly. This time, Pepper frowned, listening to them talk.

"Jarvis, pause feed," she called, turning to Tony. "Who's his uncle Z? What does he mean 'domain'? Why would his uncle try to kill him?" she asked worriedly. The billionaire shrugged.

"Keep watching, then I'll tell you what I saw. Jarvis, fast forward past the kiss."

"Kiss? Jarvis, don't fast forward!" she demanded. If Jarvis had eyes he probably would have rolled them.

"Yes, ma'am," the AI replied. Tony groaned. As he listened, he found out he was right. She did coo.

"What does 'Daughter of Athena' mean? Is it a nickname?" she asked vaguely.

" Don't know. Still looking," came the reply. She shrugged and went back to watching. She blinked when the video ended.

"What job?" she asked finally.

"I don't know," Tony admitted.

"Well, let's ask the boys," she suggested. As if on cue, the elevator door opened, revealing Nico. He yawned as he walked out. Pepper stood up.

"Where were you? You didn't come ho-" she changed her word at the last minute, "Back last night." He shrugged.

"I told you we might not be back until this morning," he reminded her. He walked straight for one of the chairs and practically threw himself down. His eyes closed for a moment, before he opened them and looked around.

"What's Tony doing?" he asked, squinting at the words on the screen.

"Research," the man answered. "I'm looking up relations between Greek gods." Nico tensed, before relaxing a little. Both adults noticed he looked remarkably uncomfortable with the change.

"Really? That's cool. Why're you looking that up?"

"Jarvis play the video feed from earlier." The adults watched Nico carefully as the video popped up. He tensed, then relaxed and his shoulders seemed to slump.

"Oh, gods," they just barely heard him mutter. "Dad is gonna kill me." As the video played they heard him mutter words they didn't understand. When it got the kiss, Nico groaned and turned away.

"Can we skip this? I really don't need to see Percy and his girlfriend make out!" he grumbled.

Tony chuckled. "Jarvis, skip to the end of the kiss." Nico sighed with relief when the video fast forward through the gushy stuff. The adults heard a few more muttered words that didn't sound very uplifting.

Tony stood up once the video ended. "Now, I've been dying to know what Percy means by Uncle Z."

Nico shrugged. "How should I know?"

"Well, you are his best friend, aren't you?" Pepper asked.

"I wish! Grover's his best friend! I'm just his c- friend. I'm just his friend," Nico gulped, barely catching his slip up.

"You're his what? His c-? Cousin maybe?" Tony suggested.

"Wasn't Thalia his cousin?" Pepper asked.

Nico nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, Thalia's his cousin."

"So who's Thalia's dad?"

"I... don't know. She's not a very open person."

"..."

"Look, Nico, we're just trying to understand who we let into our home. Can you tell us about Percy's parents?"

The son of Hades gulped. He wiped sweaty palms on his jeans. "I... I don't know that much," he lied.

"Just tell us what you do know," Pepper encouraged.

"Well, Percy never knew his dad. His mom said..." Nico racked his brain. Surely Sally had told him some lie. "He was lost at sea. They never knew what happened to him, so he wasn't an open topic." The adults shrugged, seeming to accept the story.

"And what about his mom? What was she like?"

"Aunt Sally was nice. She was the kind of person that just was that way, didn't get angry, or yell. She made great cookies," he joked.

"Aunt Sally?" Tony asked, smirking. Nico's eyes widened for a second before he shrugged.

"Y-yeah, she, uh... insisted that we, um... call her that." he stumbled through the sentence.

"All of you?"

"Yeah." Nico turned his attention towards the computer screen. "So, what've you found so far?"

"Uh, that the only 'Uncle Z' from Greek mythology would be Zeus," Tony answered. "And it fits really well, seeing as how 'Uncle Z' has a domain, and it seems to be that my tower is in it. Now my tower reaches into the sky, the sky is Zeus's domain, thus Uncle Z is most likely Zeus... You know, if Greek mythology really existed." Both adults noticed Nico let go of the breath he was holding.

"Yeah, I mean, that's ridiculous. Greek mythology doesn't exist! I mean, it would be ridiculous! Roman mythology doesn't exist, nor does... Egyptian, or..." Nico grasped for another mythology, but couldn't think of one.

"Norse?" Tony suggested.

"Yeah! Norse! That would be crazy!"

"Right, about as crazy as aliens attacking New York?"

"That only happens in movies!"

"Sure, ever seen something on the big screen? I saw one about three months ago."

"Don't they play all the time?"

"Nope, this one was 4D."

"4D? But isn't that..." Nico groaned and muttered something Pepper was glad she couldn't understand. Tony smirked at him.

"You're a jacka-" the boy began.

"Nico!" Percy's voice cried as he ran and tackled his cousin in a hug.

"Oof! Percy! Let me go!" Nico shouted, trying to wiggle free. The older boy gripped him tighter, squeezing him. The son of Hades coughed, trying to gasp in air.

"Percy!" he wheezed. The son of the sea god loosened his hold, allowing the smaller boy to slip from his grasp. Nico turned to yell at him, but froze when he saw the look on his face. The relieved smile, the glistening eyes that threatened to spill out, the bright red-purple bruises that snaked around his neck. He changed his mind, grabbed his cousin's hand and pulled him out of the room before Tony or Pepper could do anything. He dragged him down to their rooms and slammed the door.

"What was that? What's wrong?" Nico demanded. Fear gnawed his stomach when the smile didn't drop from Percy's face. The son of Poseidon reached out and touched his shoulder.

"You're alive," he whispered, relief coating his voice.

"Jarvis, where are the boys?" Tony asked quickly.

"In their room, sir."

"Pull up security footage, audio and visual." The screen changed from black to a picture of the room the boys were given. Despite being told many times they could have separate rooms, the two insisted on sharing one. The beds were on the far side of the picture, only the foot of them visible. Nico and Percy were just inside the door, which was shut. The older boy had his back to the wall and his friend stood in front of him.

"You're alive," Percy whispered, touching Nico's shoulder. The boy seemed taken aback.

"Of course I'm alive! What did-" he froze, mid-rant. "You've been dreaming again!" he accused.

"What?" Percy asked, confusion written on his face.

"You, dreaming! You did this the other day! You started crying about Bianca! Saying it was your fault and what not! Then when you woke up, you grabbed me then too!" Nico's face softened. "Why didn't you tell me? Does this have something to do with the he you mentioned?"

Percy paled at the mention. "No! No, I-"

"Just tell me!" he shouted, all patience lost. The older boy blinked, surprised.

"I- I don't know his name, I swear!"

"Then a description. Tell me what he looks like,."

Percy nodded slowly. "Long, black hair, slicked back with hair gel. Green eyes, tall, pale."

Tony sat down hard, his face white. "No. Damn. Way!" he said. He fumbled with his phone. He dialed a number. "Hey, question for you. Describe Loki for me. No, I know what he looks like, just describe him, basic description. Uh huh. Yeah, kay. Jarvis! Run a scan through the footage from the boys room and tell me if there are any sightings of anyone other than Percy or Nico in there." There was a few seconds of quiet.

"Sir, there seems to be one sighting of someone other than Nico or Percy in the room." The screen split in half, part still on Percy, and part bringing up a different angle. It was focused around Percy's bed, where the boy was curled up. He seemed to be asleep, but he was shivering and shaking. Tony froze when he saw the person. Loki stood over him, with a sadistic grin. He gently stroked Percy's hair when he whimpered. Suddenly, the grin faded into an angry snarl. His fingers curled around the boy's neck angrily, cutting off his air. Then, Loki seemed to change his mind, taking his hands off the boy completely. He leaned down and whispered something against Percy's ear, making him squirm some more, before he vanished. The boy shot up in bed, eyes wild. His hair was tousled. Sweat glistened on his skin.

"My god, Percy," Tony grumbled, rubbing his head. "What've you gotten into?"

And thus I end the chapter! I need ideas on how to introduce the rest of the avengers into this. I have some, but I'm not sure I like 'em. So, if my wonderful reviewers will give me ideas, I will be in your debt. So, I know, I have such an original bad guy, but life is. If you have an idea you'd like to see in this story, let me know in a review. Till later!

RADyo