DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.

As soon as they reached the crest of Half-Blood Hill, the Prius exploded.

They group practically jumped out of their skin as the car erupted in fiery light, and Nico winced, shielding his eyes from the blast. Thankfully, they were far enough away so that all they felt was the heat.

Percy stole a glance at Phil, who seemed completely unfazed. The demigod frowned.

"Darn, I really liked that car," Paul muttered.

"Sorry, dad," Percy replied.

The SHIELD agents began to stir.

"We should go," Nico said, his voice raspy. Percy nodded.

After a few minutes of the demigods allowing the mortals in Camp Half-Blood, everyone was inside the borders. Annabeth had woken up, and Percy set her down so she could walk.

Despite his exhaustion, Percy's grip on Agent Coulson's bound arms was tight—almost to the point where the demigod was pretty sure the man's wrists would be numb for a while.

The group marched inside the magical borders, the other campers watching curiously. Jason was the first to approach them, Piper at his heels.

"Hey, man," he glanced at the group, then his eyes settled on Percy. "I heard about what happened. Is everyone okay?"

Annabeth nodded—even though the question was addressed to her boyfriend— still looking a little woozy. "We're fine, I think. Just a few bumps and bruises. But we need to see Chiron." Her voice screamed urgency.

Jason nodded, his eyes narrowing in concern. "Yeah, then you guys should probably get some rest."
Percy walked by his friend, momentarily irritated by his mother-henning. He was getting in a bad mood.

He stomped up the stairs to the Big House, dragging Phil with him. Surprisingly, the man put up no resistance. Annabeth and his parents were right behind him, but Nico slumped into one of the patio chairs and motioned for a hesitating Sally to go on.

"I'm fine," he said. "Go inside."

Percy's vision swam as the door fell closed behind him, making Paul reopen it. He thought about apologizing, but decided he was too angry for that right now.

"Chiron," he said, shoving Coulson down onto one of the chairs, still keeping an eye on him.
"Percy, what happened? Is everyone okay?" The centaur asked, echoing Jason's words.

Annabeth nodded again.

"SHIELD found us. We got away, though, and brought him along. Might be useful." Percy growled. He wouldn't normally be this rude to his mentor—or so careless with his prisoner—but his legs were shaking and there were black spots in his vision, and he figured since they were in the heart of Camp Half-Blood, Agent Coulson wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

Chiron looked his student up and down, then shifted his eyes to the rest of the crowd. They all looked pretty banged up. "Why don't you all get some rest? I'll keep an eye on him and we can talk later," he said, motioning towards Phil.

Percy nodded, feeling the adrenaline drain from his body now that they were safe again. He laced his fingers with Annabeth's and left the house, vaguely noticing Nico was gone. He heard Chiron offer his parents rooms inside the Big House and the door to the basement creak open. Percy figured that was where Chiron would put Phil for now.

"You were amazing today, Percy," his girlfriend said, her voice sounding wobbly.

Percy smiled a little. "Not any more amazing than you, Wise Girl."

Their lips met briefly before the two demigods parted for some much needed sleep.

PAGE BREAK

Agent Coulson watched the strange horse-man leave the basement, shutting the door firmly behind him and sliding a key into the lock. He waited exactly four minutes and thirty-two seconds before moving.

He'd been prepared for something like this all along. Actually, he'd been hoping for it. This was just the lead SHIELD needed. He twisted his wrist to the left, allowing a small pocketknife to slip out of his sleeve and clatter on the cement floor. He groped around momentarily, trying to get his bound fingers around the handle. When he did, he quickly cut the cords of rope that bound his wrists together and slid the knife into his pocket. He hastily yanked the gag out of his mouth, glancing back up at the door to make sure the horse-man wasn't coming back.

He didn't exactly feel threatened in this place, around a bunch of half-animal people and teenagers, but you could never be too careful. He'd gathered plenty of information for now.

He pulled his cell phone out of his jacket pocket. Thankfully, Percy Jackson hadn't thought to frisk him. Then again, they hadn't exactly had time for that, either.

Nick Fury picked up immediately.

"Coulson? What happened?"

Phil got the feeling his director was about to let loose another spiel of questions, so he intervened.

"I'm in the camp, Sir—"

"What?"

"They brought me with them as a hostage. All you need to get in is permission from one of them."

"From who? Agent Coulson, are you sure you're all right?"

There was no real concern in Nick Fury's voice, but Phil knew his old friend really did care, even if he wouldn't show it.

"One of the demigods," Phil replied, using the term he'd recently discovered when he'd gotten through the magical borders.

"Demigods…?"

"That's what they call themselves. Just from that word, I'd assume we were right in thinking this has something to do with the gods. Most likely Greek or Roman, judging from the camp."

"So you need permission from one of the…demigods…to get in the camp?" Fury sounded disbelieving.
Phil eyed the basement door, lowering his voice to barely a whisper. "You need one of them to invite you in. I couldn't even see this place until I was inside."

"Can you get out of there or do I need to send someone inside?"

"I'll be fine, Sir. There's no way you could get inside without a demigod anyway…" His voice trailed off, an idea coming to mind.

"Coulson, you know what you need to do."

Phil nodded, even though Fury obviously couldn't see him. "Yes, Sir. I think I'll stay here for a while longer and see if I can gather any more information."

"No, you need to get out of there tonight," Fury said.
"Sir? I can find out so much more if…"

"The Avengers are waiting for a piece of the action, Phil," Fury's voice softened considerably. "You know they can't see you."

Coulson hated faking his own death, but he agreed quietly and hung up.

He replaced the gag in his mouth and worked on retying his hands. Yeah, when you're an agent of SHIELD, they teach you everything. He needed to stay trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey until he had to leave, just in case someone came back down.

Phil disliked the idea of kidnapping a teenager, but when they were armed and dangerous and the only way to figure out exactly what the hell was going on, he didn't mind as much.

PAGE BREAK

When Nico woke up, the sky was pitch black. He strode out of his cabin, tugging his old aviator jacket on as he walked. He'd slept enough for today, he thought. He guessed it was around three in the morning. The moon was out and shining in all its silver glory, which did nothing to help Nico's mood. The moon reminded him of his sister, that's why he hated it so much.

He'd long since recovered from Bianca's death, but a pang still hit his heart whenever he was reminded of her.

He shivered, tugging his jacket tighter around his shoulders. It was a chilly night. He wandered between the row of cabins, slowing making his way towards Thalia's Pine.

When he crested the hill, thoughts swirling through his head, he saw SHIELD's host of agents and soldiers below him. He sighed, watching people meander through the crowd, occasionally motioning towards camp. If he were younger, he would have sat down right behind the border and teased the agents, but not now. Not after everything.

He wasn't just a geeky little kid anymore. He was a demigod. A seasoned warrior. One who'd literally been through hell and back.

He was still a little tired from shadow-traveling, but not nearly as much as he had been. Thankfully, he didn't think Percy and Annabeth had caught on—at least, not that he knew of.

He trudged back down the hill, considering going back to his cabin and trying to get some more sleep, when it happened.

A sick feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. He narrowed his eyes, racking his brain trying to figure out what was going on. That was the sensation he got when he felt death nearby. But what was dead around here? This was just Camp Half-Blood. Nothing evil here. The knot in his stomach seemed to lift, then settle even more heavily. What the Hades was going on?

The skin on the back of his neck crawled. Someone was watching him. Someone with not very nice intentions.

Nico spun around, his Stygian iron blade already unsheathed and threatening whoever was nearby. The son of Hades was on high alert, his death radar reading off the charts.

He caught a flash of movement, and, before he even knew what was happening, his sword was lying on the ground five feet away and his right arm was twisted painfully behind his back. He opened his mouth to scream—to alert the other campers of an intruder—when a hand muffled his shout.

Nico was not going to stand for this. He was not going to be kidnapped in his own camp. He thrashed and kicked, biting down hard on the person's hand.

The person holding him cursed, then a gag was shoved in his mouth and a blindfold over his eyes. By the time he remembered to shadow-travel out of there, his captor hit him over the head with something painfully hard and Nico fell unconscious.

DUN DUN DUNNN! Just a quickie little note before you guys leave, I just want to say I read and appreciate all of your reviews. Please don't think that just because there are so many of you guys, you go unnoticed. Not true! I see every single review and all of them make my day and make me smile. THANK YOU! :D And by the way, if anyone was wondering when I'm going to update Strangers in a Stranger Land next, I will try to update soon. I've had severe writer's block on that story, so…yeah. I have not abandoned it!

Arrow :D