Archive of Our Own ^beta

There were many reasons that demigods lived in secrecy.  You could split hairs and say that reason one was to protect mortals from the monsters tracking them, reason two was to avoid questions or being experimented on, reason three was to create a space where demigods could actually have a community, and on and on.  But that was unnecessary.  The biggest and most important reason that demigods lived in secret was for their own safety, an amalgam of the smaller reasons that led to them being very protective of each other and just as suspicious of anyone who seemed to be catching on that something was off about any particular demigod.  Or, in this case, demigod tech.

“Sorry, Chiron, I must have misheard,” Percy said, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose as he sighed sharply.  “ Who has what now ?”

Chiron sighed as well, but his was less frustrated and more understanding.  “You heard me correctly.  According to Ms. Barrera, Tony Stark has managed to obtain some pieces of celestial bronze weaponry along with at least two magical items.  Her dream didn’t give much more information, but she got the impression that Lord Hephaestus would much prefer these items back in the hands of demigods where they belong.”

“So why isn’t Nyssa here?” Annabeth asked, looking at the fact that it was just her, Percy, and Leo sitting around the table in the Big House.  Leo raised his hand with a twisting frown that seemed more thoughtful than actually upset.  

“That’s because of me,” he said.  “She told me that I should do this instead, because it’ll at least give us some sort of alibi.”

“And...why is that?” Percy pressed, as Leo seemed to realize that he neglected to mention that fact.

“Oh, shit, right,” he snapped his fingers, sending a small spark into the air.  “So you know that whole side business I started?  Repairing shit for people who can’t afford the absurd company prices?  Apparently, Stark caught wind of that and wants to interview me for an internship?  Or a job?  Honestly, I’m a little fuzzy on the details since I skimmed the email before shoving the phone in Nyssa’s face.”

As he talked, he pulled out the prototype demigod-proof phone that he had been working on since he returned from Calypso’s island and also the dead (which they hadn’t still fully gotten over yet.  Not that Leo was complaining about the extra attention, be it hugs or punches).  He had insisted on calling it the Festus Phone, but no one else was calling it that.  At best, he could get them to call it the F-Phone, but even that was ignored by most people outside his siblings.  So far he had only been able to make one, but he was pretty sure this one was working fine.  He might be able to get another one or two done by the time the summer was over.  He pushed the phone across the table for Percy and Annabeth to read, the phone set permanently to read in either Ancient Greek or a special font meant to help with dyslexia, as Chiron began to speak again.

“Yes, Ms. Barrera and Mr. Valdez both agree that this gives the perfect opportunity to get into Stark’s tower and retrieve the artifacts before Stark examines them too closely,” he said.  “As for you two, you will be doing the actual retrieving while Mr. Valdez distracts Stark.”

“Can’t we just have Nico shadow-travel inside and get everything?” Percy asked, glancing up from the phone.  Leo snorted.

“Dude, Will has him practically cocooned in a bed at all times.  After that last stunt he pulled during capture-the-flag?  There is no way he’s getting let out of the infirmary.”

“Unfortunately, Mr. Valdez is correct,” Chiron confirmed.  “Mr. di Angelo is on bed rest for two more days, and the meeting with Tony Stark is tomorrow.”

Percy just nodded, but the way his shoulders slumped a little bit screamed the familiar emotion of ‘of fucking course’.  Because nothing went right for the life of a demigod.  

“So, what, Leo just brings two other teenagers along for a job interview?” he asked.  “I’m not super well-versed in how to be a functional member of society, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how interviews work.”

“Easy,” Leo answered, “I already have an email drafted asking if I can bring friends to help manage my anxiety and ADHD during the interview.  I’m pretty sure he’ll say yes, from what I know of him, Stark is super accommodating for his employees.”

“How are you not fangirling right now?” Annabeth asked, her lips curling into a teasing smirk.  Leo stuck out his chin.

“I’ll have you know that I am perfectly capable of getting an interview request from Iron Man without resorting to fangirling.”

“By that you mean you got it all out of your system when you first got the email and drove the other Hephaestus kids nuts?” Percy summarized, and Leo shrugged.

“I wouldn’t say nuts .  They were freaking out too, and they only threatened to handcraft a muzzle for me three times!  That’s a new record!”

“Hey Wise Girl, I bet you ten drachmas he can’t speak when he meets Stark,” Percy teased, grinning smugly.  Leo protested as Annabeth raised her eyebrows.

“You expect me to take that bet?  I don’t lose, Seaweed Brain.  Ten drachmas it takes him less than five minutes to start going on about the Iron Man suit.”

“You know what? Sure, I’ll take that bet,” Percy met Annabeth’s eyes as they started laughing, ignoring the affronted expression on Leo’s face.  

“Guys, come on! The interview is a front anyway!”

“So you aren’t going to take the job if he offers it to you?” Percy asked.  Leo shrugged, his expression falling slightly.

“I don’t know, man.  That much tech in one place?  Might not be the best idea, as wicked as it sounds.”

“Don’t toss the idea just yet, Leo,” Annabeth said, her eyebrows furrowing understandingly.  “We can try and figure a way around that, working with Tony Stark would be an incredible opportunity for you.  For any child of Hephaestus, honestly, but from what I know about Tony Stark he seems very…”

“Chaotic?” Percy finished with a wry grin in Leo’s direction.  Annabeth laughed.

“Exactly.”

“Seems like distracting him will be right up Mr. Valdez’s alley, then,” Chiron said with a smile.  Leo shrugged, but his grin turned a little proud.

“Distracting a billionaire?  That’s nothing.  We’ll get those swords back no problem.”

“Well, then,” Chiron nodded his head, “you three should prepare however you need to.  Be sure to send that email today, Mr. Valdez.”

“Doin’ it now, Chiron,” Leo confirmed, taking the F-Phone back from Percy and Annabeth before he inevitably forgot to send the email.  “And….sent.”

“Let me know when he responds,” Chiron said.  “For now, you all are dismissed.  Given that you will need to travel into the city tomorrow, I assume that you will be taking the pegasi?”

“I think that’d be the best option,” Percy said.  “Blackjack can get us there fast, and Leo’s tiny.  We should all be able to fit.”

“Hey!” Leo squawked in offence.  “I’m not that small!”

“In that case,” Chiron continued, skillfully ignoring Leo’s outburst and subsequent pouting, “I doubt I will see you three before you leave.  I wish you the best of luck, and may the gods be with you.”

Percy stifled a snort, but thanked Chiron in unison with the others, standing up out of his seat and stretching.  He was suddenly exhausted, just the knowledge of another quest draining him of energy even if this quest had no prophecy and was just a retrieval mission.  Nothing was ever ‘just’ anything when it came to demigods, and so Percy was ready for everything to go to Hades.

“Hey, Leo,” Annabeth said as they left the Big House.  Leo perked up, looking up from the F-Phone.  “Are you good at code?”

Leo cocked his head, thinking.  “It’s not exactly my specialty , but I know enough.  Why?”

“Okay, then we should get one of my siblings and also maybe a Hermes kid to help us get into Stark’s security,” she said, nodding.  “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this earlier, but we need to make sure that Thor won’t be there.”

“Oh, shit,” Percy halted, “that could be a problem.”

“I read that Thor is supposed to be off planet right now,” Leo mentioned, and Annabeth pursed her lips.

“Better safe than sorry when it comes to gods, we should still check,” she said.  “I’ll go get someone from my cabin, Percy can you go to the Hermes cabin?  They should be able to help with a back door to sneak into.”

“On it,” Percy gave a sloppy mock-salute and laughed as Annabeth rolled her eyes before walking away.  “We’ll meet you in your cabin, Leo!”

“Don’t take too long or I’ll have done everything by myself!” Leo called back, waving cheerfully as Percy flipped him off over his shoulder.  

He stood there for a moment longer, chuckling as his friends walked in opposite directions, before the F-Phone buzzed in his pocket.  His smile grew wider as he pulled it out of his pocket, the celestial bronze cold in his hands, and he saw the notification.  

Tony Stark had replied.

“Fuck yeah, there we go baby!” Leo exclaimed, clapping his hands together as Connor Stoll shared a high-five with Annabeth’s brother Malcolm.  They were working furiously with the F-Phone, as it was currently the only piece of technology within camp limits that wouldn’t risk attracting monsters, but Leo and one of his siblings had jury-rigged a projector so that they weren’t working off of the small phone screen.  The two of them working together had managed to sneak their way into Stark Tower’s security cameras, and were currently scouring the floors for any sign of the Norse god.  The knowledge that the Norse pantheon existed had shaken many campers, but after the revelation of the Roman camp not that long ago, it went over a little easier.  And when Annabeth disclosed that her cousin was a part of that pantheon, everyone seemed to accept it and moved onto excitement in case they ever got to meet a Norse demigod.  

“Looks like Leo was right, Annie,” Malcolm said, glancing away from the footage, “Thor doesn’t seem to be anywhere in the building.  Looks like the other Avengers are there, but he must actually be off-planet somewhere.”

“Don’t call me Annie,” Annabeth lightly slapped the back of his head, making him laugh lightly.  Then she peered closer at the footage and her eyebrows raised.  “Huh.  Could you zoom in a bit?”

Malcolm manipulated the camera to zoom closer to where some of the Avengers were sitting on couches and talking.  “No way,” he muttered.  “That’s not him, is it?”

“Who?” Percy asked, leaning closer and frowning.  Annabeth grinned.

“It is .  I didn’t recognize him from the footage of the battle in New York, but that is definitely him.”  She moved closer to the projector and pointed to a man sitting in an armchair with close-cropped blond hair.  He was meticulously cleaning a bow as he spoke with the others.  “That’s Clint Barton.  He’s a son of Apollo.”

“He hasn’t been to camp in years, but I guess this explains why,” Malcolm added.  “I’ve really only met the guy once or twice.”

“He came more often when I first arrived at camp, but that was a decade ago,” Annabeth explained.  “By that point he was already older than most demigods, but he didn’t have many abilities other than incredible aim.”

“And, if Will’s stories are to be believed, incredibly shit luck with some experimental arrows,” Malcolm laughed.  “He told me once, after I met Clint for the first time.  Apparently a supersonic arrow went off too close to him and damaged his hearing.  As a result, I think Apollo felt bad or something, because his archery got insanely good.”

“No wonder they call him Hawkeye,” Leo said, grinning.  “Maybe he’ll help us get the stuff back, do you think he knows Stark has them?”

“Doubtful, or else we would have something to go off of besides Nyssa’s dream,” Annabeth said.  “But he definitely won’t blow our cover, since he knows how important it is.  It does make me wonder if Thor knows about him, though.”

“Considering he’s more well known in the mortal world than the demigod world, I’d say probably not,” Connor said.  “Speaking of Thor, we should probably check again before you guys actually head over there, just in case he comes back tomorrow.”

“Good idea, we’ll check tomorrow morning.  The meeting is at noon, so we need to leave here around eleven.” Annabeth smiled at Connor and Malcolm.  “Thanks for helping with this, guys.”

“No problem, it was fun!” Malcolm waved her off, and Connor laughed.

“Do you know how much I’m going to lord this over Travis?” he asked.  “ I broke into Tony Stark’s security!  You did me a favor, Chase.”

With Connor still laughing as he imagined his brother’s face, they left everything set up for the following morning and made their way out of the Hephaestus cabin.  Annabeth and Percy hung behind as Connor and Malcolm made their way back to their own cabins, Leo having stayed with his siblings.

“At least this isn’t a quest quest,” Percy said, sighing.  “Just a mission that needs to be done.”

“Frankly, I’ve always wanted to see Stark Tower,” Annabeth added.  “Never thought I’d be breaking into it, but the opportunity to see what a mortal genius does with his building and his lab is one that I would never turn down.”

“I’ve never anticipated ever stepping foot in there, but I’m ready to have my name on another news report after Stark realizes we robbed him.”  Percy shrugged.  Annabeth rolled her eyes fondly.

“I don't think it counts as robbery , Percy, this stuff belongs to us.  We just can’t tell Stark why, and so he’d never believe us.”

“Do you think Barton knows who I am?” Percy asked, his face twisting into a slightly uncomfortable expression.  “Or Leo?  I know you’ve met him, so he’ll probably recognize you, but…”

“I hate to break it to you, Seaweed Brain, but all of the Seven are probably well-known across all demigods, especially since, you know, most of them are in the camp,” Annabeth replied, nudging him slightly.  “Clint might be an outlier with how old he is and how little time he spends at camp, but I doubt he hasn't heard of us.  Especially those of us who had already saved Olympus.”

“Awesome,” Percy said, his tone not matching with his words.  “Great.”

“Hey, I doubt we’ll get to talk to him at all anyway.  Although seeing us will probably remind him that camp exists and he should probably come say hi to his siblings.”

The sun began to make its way towards the horizon, and so the two of them set off towards the dining pavilion where they could see other hordes of campers rushing from whatever activity they had been doing.  By the next day, word would have spread that Percy, Annabeth, and Leo were going to steal from Tony Stark, and they would anxiously await their return to hear the story.  Percy just hoped that it would be a good story, and not end up with them in confinement by the Avengers for theft, and then held in captivity for their godly blood.  But, you know, optimism.  

Percy tried very hard to drown that pessimistic voice in his head, but it turned out that his own thoughts were one of the few things he couldn’t drown if he wanted to.  Which led to him getting Blackjack ready by himself the next morning while Annabeth and Leo checked the security cameras again to make sure that Thor hadn’t returned.

You’re stealing from a billionaire, Boss?  Does this mean you can afford more donuts? Blackjack whinnied in excitement.  Percy sighed and led Blackjack out of the stables.

“We aren’t stealing money , Blackjack, we’re getting back weapons that belong here.”

Okay, but you can take some other stuff too, right?

“No.  We aren’t taking anything else,” Percy said firmly.  “And that’s why Leo’s not a part of the retrieval aspect, because we’d have to hold him back from taking apart the guy’s lab.”

Well that’s no fun . Blackjack knickered, annoyed.  

“I’ll get you donuts after we’re back here this afternoon,” Percy promised, seeing Leo and Annabeth walking his way.  He raised his voice to call over to them, “Are we good to go?”

“Thor doesn’t appear to be in the building!” Leo confirmed, skipping over.  Annabeth agreed with a nod.

“The other Avengers are still there, it looks like they must just stay in the tower for the most part, but we checked every floor and there’s no sign of him,” she added.  Leo giggled.

“Ha, every floor and there’s no sign of Thor,” he rhymed, only laughing harder as both Annabeth and Percy lightly smacked his shoulder with a roll of their eyes.  

“So, are we ready to head over?” Annabeth asked.  “We know the plan?”

“We know the plan, Wise Girl,” Percy confirmed, reciting the plan they had made the previous afternoon.  “The two of us will excuse ourselves a little into the meeting, you’ll use one of the blind spots Connor found to put on your cap, and I’ll act as a second distraction to the security by ‘getting lost’ near the lab making a ruckus so you can sneak in.”  

“Okay, good,” Annabeth nodded firmly.  “Let’s go then.  Oh, and Leo?”

“Hm?” Leo looked over from where Percy was helping him up onto Blackjack.  Annabeth grinned.

“This interview isn’t just a front.  Knock Stark’s socks off, Repair Boy.”

“How many floors are in this building?” Percy asked, staring up at Stark Tower with furrowed brows.  Leo shrugged.

“I dunno, man, I think around 90 something?”

“And...what floor are we going to?”

“Floor 63,” Leo answered immediately, having memorized the email within minutes of receiving it.  

“ Fantastic ,” Percy groaned.  “Alright, I’m just gonna head back to camp before I get jettisoned out of this tower by a well-timed lightning bolt.”

“Percy, it’ll be okay.” Annabeth put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently.  

“Yeah, dude, it’s a building.  Doesn’t he only not like when you’re flying?” Leo added, cocking his head curiously.  

“Not really sure, would rather not find out,” Percy answered.  

“I think Leo’s right,” Annabeth said.  “But if we get up there and you start to feel otherwise, then you can head back to camp or wait out here for us.  Maybe call Jason?  No, he’s in California…”

“Worse-case, I’ll get Connor to take another pegasus over here,” Percy said.  “Or I think Thalia is nearby, she’d be a good distraction.  But I’ll try the building first.  Wouldn’t be the first time I did something blatantly stupid.”

“Oh, hey, you’re admitting it this time,” Annabeth grinned as Percy gasped in mock offense.  They weren’t delayed much longer, though, because as soon as Percy agreed to go up into the tower, Leo darted forward excitedly and through the sliding double doors.  Percy met Annabeth’s grey eyes with matching exasperation and amusement before following him inside.  They found him chattering to the woman at the front desk and having three guest passes handed to him, after which he immediately turned and tossed two of them at Annabeth and Percy in a perfect arc.  His face was split with a grin, so much so that it almost looked as if he forgot they were on a mission.  

“Guys!” Leo hissed excitedly as they rejoined him past security.  “There’s an AI!”

At first, they didn’t catch his double meaning.  But as his eyes widened a little too far for excitement, they got it.  There was an AI in the tower.  Not just security cameras, but an entity actually watching them.  Percy almost didn’t catch himself from exclaiming that Leo, Malcolm, and Connor hacked an AI, but Annabeth’s hand on his arm reminded him to not say a word.

“Indeed there is, Mr. Valdez,” A voice spoke from above them, with a slight accent that seemed to sound a little Irish.  “I am F.R.I.D.A.Y.  I have called the elevator for you and your companions, it should arrive any moment.”

Annabeth shared a look with Percy.  Their wordless conversation went something along the lines of:

Percy: Elevator?  We could ask if there are stairs.

Annabeth: Yeah, but that’s 63 floors.

Percy: We can do it.

Annabeth: Not if we’re supposedly normal seventeen-year-olds.

Percy: Oh.  Shit.

Annabeth: We’re fine.  We’ll be fine.

Percy: Yeah.  Yeah, we’ll be fine.

And then the elevator arrived.  And they didn’t have time to debate anymore.  Percy and Annabeth just gripped each other’s hands tightly and reassured each other with the same words that their eyes had just spoken.  If there was any safe elevator, it was going to be the one built by Iron Man.  Leo was watching them carefully, outwardly still bouncing on his toes as he skipped into the elevator, but Percy just gave him a slightly tight smile and stood next to him with Annabeth on his right.  The doors closed and he just focused on the warmth of Annabeth’s hand in his, the tapping and light muttering coming from Leo, and the feeling of Riptide in his pocket.  He could feel his heart start to beat faster as they got higher and higher, but no thunder clapped across the sky and so Percy hoped that meant he wasn’t going to get smited on this mission.  He’d been through so much, it’d suck to die when he wasn’t on a quest.  

It felt like years before the elevator reached the 63rd floor, but when it did, Percy and Annabeth were the first two off, hurriedly stepping into the open living room area with a relieved sigh.  Leo strolled out behind them, hands in his pockets as he looked around the room.  

“Woah, you kids alright?” a voice said, and the three of them looked over to see the man of the hour, Tony Stark, strolling over with a coffee mug in hand.  Behind him, on couches, they could see the rest of the Avengers looking over in interest.  They weren’t surprised, though, so Stark must have said that Leo was coming.  Even Barton, who had an initial look of surprise upon seeing the three of them, had schooled his face into an expression of casual intrigue.  Percy gave the man in front of them what he hoped was a charming smile.

“Yes, sir, sorry.  We just don’t do well in small spaces.”

“Especially elevators,” Annabeth added, smiling too.  

“Well, my elevators are the safest they can be, I assure you,” Stark said with a grin.  Then he spotted Leo over their shoulders and grinned wider.  

“Ah, there’s the mechanic of the hour,” he said, and Leo lit up, rushing over to shake Stark’s hand.  “I’m Tony Stark, but I’m sure you knew that already, considering I emailed you.  You must be-”

“-Leo Valdez?” A deep, confused voice rang out, making all three demigods freeze.  Their heads turned in unison to an offshoot hallway, where coming back from what looked like some bedrooms was the very same god that had decidedly not been in the tower less than an hour ago.  All heads turned to him as Stark looked baffled.  “Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase?  Stark did not say his guests were you three.”

All three of them blinked like deer in the headlights.  Thor walked further into the room and stood beside Stark, looking confused but genuinely happy to see the demigods.  Beside Percy, Annabeth sighed.

“ Styx,” she cursed.

To say that Tony was confused would be a massive understatement.  He had found Leo Valdez through Peter, who had seen his website and seen the reviews that said he sent things back fully fixed - and sometimes working better than ever - within a day of receiving it, and after looking through the site himself had immediately decided that he needed to see what this kid could do with a lab like Iron Man’s.  When the kid had emailed back stating he had horrible ADHD and anxiety, and asked if he could bring two friends with him to help him in the interview, Tony had immediately understood and allowed it.  He knew how nervous interviews could make people, and he had basically already decided that he wanted to hire the kid.  If he could get Valdez comfortable and give him a chance to actually focus on the job rather than nerves, then of course he’d let the kid bring emotional support friends.  

Then, his two friends launched themselves out of the elevator like they had a gunman on their tails, and then Thor of all people seemed to recognize them.  And from the looks on their faces, they hadn’t expected that to happen at all. Tony barely had time to examine the kids before Thor interrupted, but what he did see was...interesting.  Valdez was small, but with a glint in his eyes that Tony knew very well, and he seemed to be fidgeting constantly with a toolbelt around his waist.  The other two were the real oddities.  A boy and a girl, the boy with dark hair that looked effortlessly messy and sea-green eyes that had seemed so full of some dark emotion when he hurried from the elevator.  He was tall and lean, like a swimmer, but the way he held himself was like that of a fighter.  The girl was much the same, only with long blonde hair and absolutely striking grey eyes.  Frankly, despite being teenagers, both of them were a little intimidating.  The odd grey streak in both of their hair didn’t help either.  It was only after they had gotten off of the elevator like they were on fire, and had relaxed with Valdez next to them that they lost that shadow to their faces and looked like actual teenagers.  But Tony wasn’t one to judge, and he wasn’t one to pry into what might have been a trauma response, so he was perfectly willing to let that go.  And then Thor knew their names.  The blonde girl muttered something under her breath, probably a curse if the expression that flashed in her eyes had anything to say about it, and the taller boy squeezed her hand.  He smiled a little nervously, reaching his unoccupied hand to rub the back of his neck.

“Um, hello, Lord Thor,” he said awkwardly, wincing slightly.  Tony’s eyebrows rocketed upwards.  Lord Thor ?  Is that how people thought the Avengers referred to their resident lightning god, because Tony would rather freefall from his window.  “I thought you were meant to be off-planet?”

Thor’s thundering laugh did nothing to break the tension as now the rest of the Avengers - minus Clint for some reason, who just seemed slightly concerned - were staring at the three kids with confusion and minor suspicion (in Natasha’s case, mostly.  Steve wasn’t really suspicious).  

“Ah, yes, I was off-planet until only a few minutes ago!” Thor said, his arms crossed casually over his chest as if he couldn’t see the tension among the rest of the room.  “But Friend Stark wished for us to meet the young prodigy that he intends to hire, and so I returned.  Are the other four of you outside or is it just the three of you coming to visit us?”

“Oh, no, Lord Thor,” the girl - Annabeth, assuming that Thor’s names were correct - said, shaking her head slightly, her sharp grey eyes looking around the room at all the Avengers that were watching them.  “It’s, um, it’s just the three of us.”

‘The other four’?  Tony had no idea what that meant, and judging by the looks he was getting, neither did any of his team.  It sounded as though these teens had met Thor before, which made no sense.  Thor was usually either in the tower, fighting with them wherever they needed to be, or on Asgard making sure everything was going smoothly.  Now that Loki had settled down and seemed to be trying to make amends, Asgard had been calmer, but they still needed Thor.  Thor frowned.

“That is a shame,” he said, “I had been looking forward to meeting Jason Grace.”

Who ???  Tony was just standing there, dumbfounded, as these kids talked with their resident god like they were old friends - although, admittedly, the kids looked very much like they wanted to be anywhere else.  At Thor’s words, Leo perked up, although he still held an air of discomfort.

“Oh, Jason?  He’s super busy in California, but I’m sure he’d love to meet you!” he said.  He saw the taller boy - who by process of elimination must be Perseus, and man did Tony feel bad for that name - snort a laugh quietly, and Annabeth gave him a sharp glance.

“Oh, and Lady Chase,” Thor continued, making the three kids tense again as if they had thought the conversation was finally over (which Tony was also hoping, given that he wanted some damn answers), “how is your cousin?  Is he still dead?”

Tony blinked.  He glanced around the room and saw everyone else in similar states of stunned disbelief.  They all knew that Thor could have trouble understanding how things worked on Earth, but they thought he had some sense of tact at least!  But the room was only silent for a brief moment as the room processed his question and Tony tried to judge how much of an asshole Thor was being to his hopeful future employee (although maybe not, given how suspicious this whole scenario was), and then Annabeth gave a tight, awkward laugh.

“He certainly is, Lord Thor.  And dying every day.”

Thor gave another booming laugh.  “Ah, as it should be!  Death games build character!”

At that, Tony had had enough .  He clapped his hands loudly.

“Excuse me!  Can someone explain what the fuck is going on here?” he asked, looking between Thor and his mystery guests.  He saw Leo grimace and look back at the other two, who were looking at each other.  They seemed to be having an entirely silent conversation, and so Tony turned to Thor for his answers.  The god in question was looking confused.  

“What do you mean?” he asked.  “Did you not invite these heroes here?”

Tony blinked again.  Heroes ?  “Uh, yeah, I invited Valdez because I want to hire him.  Care to explain how you know them?”

Thor’s eyes suddenly widened slightly and he turned back to the three teens with what looked to be...regret?

“Oh, my sincere apologies, I thought…” he didn’t seem to find the words to finish his sentence, but his words seemed to jolt the other two kids out of their silent staring contest and they moved to be almost flanking Leo, the height difference even more noticeable. 

“It’s alright, Lord Thor,” Annabeth assured him, the thin smile on her face surprisingly real-looking - if Tony hadn’t been paying such close attention, he might not have realized that despite her words, it was everything but alright.  She turned then to Tony, and her smile turned just a bit more real as her eyes gained some understanding.  “I understand your confusion, Mr. Stark.  Unfortunately, the explanation that I’m sure you’re looking for is not ours to give.  If we could simply move on from this conversation, that would be much appreciated.”

While the girl seemed to have her head on the straightest of the three, and her words were firm, calm, and brokered no argument...Tony was used to arguing against people who spoke like they couldn’t be argued against.  And he certainly wasn’t above arguing with a teenager, especially when that teenager was acting chummy with a god .  Granted, a god who Tony often forgot was a god, but a god nonetheless.  Something fishy was going on, and Tony wasn’t about to let that slide in his tower.  

Okay, and sure, maybe he wanted to get this all out of the way so he could still try and hire Valdez.  The kid was a genius with machines, okay?

“Sorry, but no,” Tony said, and he almost missed the flash of something in the eyes of all three of the kids.  For the taller two, Perseus and Annabeth, it looked like a mix of annoyance, anxiety, and - interestingly - a determination not unlike the one he saw in his teammates when they were about to go into a battle.  For Leo, it was only the latter two, with a mix of hesitance as he glanced back once again towards Perseus and Annabeth.  It seemed like those two weren’t just his friends, they were people he looked to for instruction.  Or at least people he was used to following the leadership of.  “I’m not really the type of person to ‘let things go’, hence my dozens of robotic suits and detailed AI.  I’m gonna need something to go off of here.”

Annabeth leaned back subtly, her shoulder coming into contact with that of Perseus as if she needed a reminder that he was there.  Tony saw his hand move to brush hers, and her grey eyes sharpened as he did.

But before she could answer, there was a disruption from the couch.  Clint was pointing at Perseus.

“Hey, I recognize you!” he called, and as Perseus started to look startled, he continued with, “Your face was all over the news stations a few years ago, you had a gunfight in California.”

There was a beat of silence, and then Perseus groaned.  “You start one nationwide manhunt when you’re twelve and suddenly that’s all people know you for,” he said, exasperated.  “It wasn’t even true!  I was kidnapped , not a murderer!”

“And you had a gunfight ?” Tony asked, incredulous.  Perseus shrugged, Annabeth relaxing against him slightly.

“Yeah, I mean, the guy that kidnapped me had a ton of guns, I just...stole one,” he said.  “Why people believed my dickhead of a step-father when he said I killed my mom is beyond me, but the gunfight kinda made them realize that I wasn’t just fleeing the accusations.”

The silence hung in the air as Tony waited for even a little bit of elaboration, but it seemed like that was the end of the story.  Even Clint was looking a little awkward, and he was the one who randomly brought that up.  So he leaned against the counter and brought the attention back where it belonged - him.

“Now that that fun little interlude is over,” he started, “I think you - Annabeth, was it? - were about to say something?”

Immediately, Annabeth stiffened again.  She thought for a moment, took a breath, and then turned her eyes that were too sharp for her age back onto Tony.

“Well, Mr. Stark, if you must know,” she began, her tone as cordial as ever but her stance tight as if waiting for the other shoe to drop, “I know Lord Thor through my cousin.  I don’t know the details, but I do know that my cousin Magnus once helped Lord Thor during a time when he lost his hammer.”

“He did indeed,” Thor concurred, gesturing towards Annabeth.  “Young Magnus and his friends were of much help to me during a time of need.”

“I thought you just said your cousin was dead?”  Natasha spoke up from the couch, reminding the kids that they had more of an audience than just Tony.  A fact that...despite none of the others talking, the kids didn’t seem to have forgotten.  None of them startled, Annabeth just sighed slightly, crossing her arms.  

“He...is,” she said, the words leaving her like pulling teeth.  She looked over at Thor.  “Our family has Scandanavian heritage, Magnus’s side more...potently.  He died heroically, with a weapon in his hand, and so he was taken to the Norse afterlife.”

“Valhalla!” Thor cut in excitedly.  “Home of heroes and valkyrie alike!”

Annabeth laughed a little.  “Usually that would mean that I’d never hear from him again, and I certainly thought that was the case when I found out he was dead.  But Magnus was always a stubborn kid.  He found a way.”

“How old was he when he died?” Steve asked, getting that look in his eyes whenever he talked about children in dangerous situations.  Annabeth faltered suddenly, her eyes growing stormy, and Perseus moved his hand to gently rub her shoulder.

“He was sixteen,” she said, somewhat softly.  “And now he’ll always be sixteen.”

There was a pause as the adults hesitated - the mournful look that flashed through Annabeth’s face was too real to be a lie.  But then Natasha continued.

“Do you know this Jason Grace through your cousin as well?”

The slight stiffening of all three of them was the only answer they needed.  Perseus glanced down at Annabeth and whispered something that Tony could barely hear, and definitely couldn’t understand.

“ Πρέπει να χρησιμοποιήσουμε την ομίχλη? (Should we use the mist?) ” he whispered.  Tony frowned.  What language even was that?  Annabeth thought for a moment, shaking her head a minuscule amount.

“ Όχι. Ο κίνδυνος εάν κάποιος έχει καθαρή όραση είναι πολύ υψηλός.  (No.  The risk of if one has clearsight is too high.) ” she returned, in the same language.  Upon realizing that they were already under suspicion, Leo slightly turned around to enter the conversation.  How did all three of these kids know this language fluently?  It sounded vaguely greek, but they spoke as if it was their first language.

“ Ίσως τους λέμε? Είναι ήρωες. (Maybe we tell them?  They are heroes.) ” Leo’s voice was more hesitant, his eyes flicking back to the assembled Avengers as Annabeth sighed.  It looked like they were all asking for her verdict on something.  

“ Δεν μπορούμε απλώς να τους πούμε. Πρέπει να ρωτήσουμε τον Χείρωνα. (We can’t just tell them.  We need to ask Chiron.) ” her voice was resigned as she turned away from the other boys and towards Tony, finally returning to English.  “I meant what I said when I mentioned that the explanation you want is not mine to tell.  However, if you would allow us to get in contact with someone with more authority, then we might be able to tell you.”

“And if this person says no?” Tony asked, his eyebrows raising.  

“Then we leave,” Leo said, shrugging as if his words were casual, but Tony could see the ghost of disappointment in his eyes.  

“Is there a private room we could use?” Perseus asked, his sea-green eyes narrowed and serious, and Tony immediately wanted to say no.  He wanted to know who this person they were calling was, and what level of authority they needed to tell him how the hell they knew Thor so personally.  He believed Annabeth about her cousin, those emotions were real, but the rest of it?  There was much more to this story.  But before he could insist, Clint stood up from the couch.

“I’ll show them to one, Tony,” he said, giving Tony a meaningful look.  Tony immediately felt a bit better, at least someone would be there, because even if Clint stayed outside the room, he had his hearing aids and might be able to eavesdrop.  On the other hand, Clint was rather close to Fury and so he might not tell Tony anything, but better that then have these kids get a negative answer and just leave the tower.  Of course, Tony could just block the elevators with F.R.I.D.A.Y. and shut the door to the stairs, but at this point?  He was sure that these kids had more tricks up their sleeves than just some weird language.  For all he knew, they could fly out a window just fine.  So Tony nodded to Clint, and the archer started to lead the three kids down a hallway.

He didn’t process how odd it was that they didn’t protest having Clint lead them, even though they had to know he would eavesdrop.

“I cannot believe this,” Annabeth cursed under her breath as they followed Barton down the hallways of Stark Tower.  She was gripping Percy’s hand tightly, her other hand clenched into a white-knuckled fist, and she was aware of both boys beside her fidgeting uncomfortably.  Percy was twirling Riptide - in pen form, obviously - in his left hand, and Leo was tapping something in morse code onto Percy’s arm, which he had grabbed nervously as they left the main room with all the Avengers staring at them.  “We checked .  We did everything right and it was still Thor who called us out.”

“Then it was bound to happen,” Percy sighed, annoyed.  “You know the Fates hate us.”

“Like I said, they are heroes,” Leo added, his voice miraculously the same level as the other two and not his normal loud volume.  “If we can tell anyone, then surely the Avengers are fine, right?”

“We’ll see,” Annabeth said, rolling her shoulders to try and relieve some of the stress.  “I just can't believe we thought this would be an easy retrieval mission.”

Just then, Barton pushed open a door in front of them and switched on the lights, leading them into what appeared to be a sparsely furnished bedroom, with a bow hung on the wall beside a full quiver.  Barton shut the door behind them and leaned against it.

“Don’t worry about F.R.I.D.A.Y.,” he said, a grin appearing on his face, “this is my room, and I had Tony block all surveillance here a long time ago.”  Then he crossed his arms and his grin widened.  “So, this is a real pickle, huh?”

Annabeth finally let the tension temporarily out of her body as she slumped against Percy, who in return sat down in the desk chair and lowered Annabeth to sit on his lap.

“I swear Thor was out of the tower!” she complained again.  “Everything would have been fine if he didn’t recognize us!”

“Thor was out of the tower,” Barton said.  “He got here minutes before you guys, we all knew Tony was meeting a potential hire, and since they’d be working with the Avengers, he wanted us all to meet them.  I guess just be glad he didn’t give us names, otherwise Thor might’ve assumed he knew everything and said something then , and then I would’ve had to stop him.”

“Right,” Percy said, rubbing his temples.  “Perfect.  Now we just have to ask Chiron if he’s fine with us telling Earth’s mightiest mortal heroes about our entire existence.”

“Yeah, sorry my diversion didn’t work,” Barton shrugged.  “Thought maybe bringing up a weird mundane thing about you guys might distract Tony long enough, but I only knew something about you .”

“I tried the same thing with Magnus,” Annabeth said.  “I thought distracting him with Valhalla would be enough, but then the Black Widow had to remember Jason.”

“Yeah...Nat has a really good memory, especially with interrogations,” Barton said.  “But, we’ve got some time to think now.  So can I be formally introduced to the two of you that I’ve never met?”

Annabeth flushed a little.  “Right, sorry.  It’s been a while since you’ve been to camp, I forgot you haven’t met them.”

“Percy Jackson,” Percy said, reaching over to shake Barton’s hand.  “I’m sure you know this already, but I’m the son of Poseidon.”

“Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus!” Leo chimed in, shaking the man’s hand after Percy.  

“Clint Barton, Hawkeye, but please call me Clint,” Clint said.  “I’m sure Annabeth’s told you I'm a son of Apollo.  I’ve heard of both of you, you and the rest of your group made quite the name for yourself, even among those of us who are...less noticeable and made it this old.  How are my siblings doing?”

“You’d know if you came to camp,” Annabeth raised her eyebrows with a grin.  Clint rolled his eyes.

“Okay, yes, sorry for not visiting, I was a little busy with that whole shitshow in Sokovia and then the team literally split apart for a while.”

“Yeah, well we had to deal with two wars, so…” Percy trailed off, and Clint grew concerned and confused.

“Two?  I knew about the Titan war, sorry about not helping by the way, I was out of the country and didn’t hear until it was too late, and I heard there was another fight, but I didn’t hear it was a war?”

“Gaea,” the three teenagers said in a deadpan unison.  Clint winced.  

“Oh.  Did, uh….how’d the camp do?”

“We lost a few good people,” Annabeth said softly.  “In both wars.  I don’t know if you heard about the Roman camp, but they lost good people too.  I know what you’re wondering, though, and while the Apollo cabin was mostly helping with the wounded...there were still a few casualties.”

Clint looked pained.  “It would have been impossible for there not to be,” he said.  “We should call Chiron.  I think that the Avengers are safe to tell, but it’s up to him.”

He moved over to his desk, where he had a small prism that projected a rainbow into the air.  Annabeth produced a drachma from her pocket, and tossed it through the air.

“Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept our offering,” she recited, “show us Chiron, at Camp Half-blood.”

The rainbow shimmered, and the image of the Big House appeared.  Chiron noticed the message immediately, his eyebrows furrowing in worry.

“Is everything alright?  Are you still in the - oh, hello Mr. Barton,” the centaur grew distracted at the sight of Clint, who waved awkwardly.  

“Hey, Chiron, been a while.  I’ve been meaning to visit, honest.”

Chiron raised an eyebrow.  “I’m sure you have.  That’s why it's been six years.  If you hadn’t become famous among mortals, I would have thought you dead.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Clint said.  “Life got...busy.  The mortal kind of dangerous.  Anyway, the kids have an issue.”

“Thor was told to come back, he arrived minutes before we did,” Annabeth said bluntly.  Chiron paused, before sighing.

“And he knew of you three, I assume?”

“He knew us, alright,” Percy said, annoyed.  “Didn’t seem to even consider that we were undercover, and started talking like we had stories to tell.”

“How much has been revealed so far?”

“The fact that Thor knows about us somehow, the existence of Valhalla as I tried to steer the conversation away, Jason’s name, and a vague mention that there’s seven of us,” Annabeth said.  

“Oh, and Thor called us heroes,” Leo chimed in.  “So that’s probably not great.”

“Mr. Barton, do you think they can be trusted?” Chiron turned to the older demigod, who thought for a moment.

“If I wasn’t a part of this, then no.  Natasha works closely with S.H.I.E.L.D., she reports to Director Fury, she might not keep it from him.  But she’s close to me , and so I think she’ll do it to protect me,” Clint thought out loud.  “The others either hate Fury or understand that some things need to be kept secret, so they’ll be fine.”

“You don’t have to tell them,” Annabeth said, looking over at Clint.  “We can tell them about us, but you’re their teammate.  If you want to keep it a secret, we’ll keep you out of it.”

“Nah,” Clint shook his head.  “I’ve thought about telling them before, honestly, just didn’t know how they’d take it.  At this point, with the Avengers getting bigger and the inevitable new threat, they should know.  After all, if they don't , then they can’t properly help if I get hurt.”

“You get hurt, you could always just call your brother,” Percy shrugged.  “I’m sure Will would let Nico shadow-travel if it meant he could heal you.”

“That’s true,” Clint agreed.  “Nico, is that the Hades kid I’ve heard about?”

“Yeah, he and Will are dating,” Leo added.  Clint seemed surprised, but didn’t say anything.  

“Well, anyway, I do want to tell them, it’s not all for practical reasons,” he said, moving on.  “And I’m not about to let them interrogate you three after everything you’ve been through without making them interrogate me too.”

Annabeth smiled.  “We appreciate that, Clint.”

“In that case, you can tell them,” Chiron allowed, sighing.  “Just make sure that the secret does not spread further than the Avengers.”

“If it does, I know Director Fury isn’t clearsighted, so I can find a workaround there,” Clint added.  Chiron narrowed his eyes.

“And how exactly do you know this, Mr. Barton?”

Clint shrugged, unfazed.  “Because sometimes I needed him to not see something.  It came in handy when a monster attacked my training camp.”

“Well, if it was for a monster,” Chiron conceded, the knowing look in his eyes making Clint grin.  “I suppose you four should return before the heroes grow suspicious.”

“Yeah, we should,” Annabeth said, standing up and helping Percy out of the chair.  “Thank you, Chiron.  I had hoped this would be avoided.”

“I know, Ms. Chase.  Perhaps this was inevitable,” Chiron said, his smile kind.  “At the least, this might make your mission easier.”

“We can hope,” Percy said.  Clint raised his eyebrows.

“Mission?  I thought this was for an interview?”

“It can be both,” Percy said, grinning.  

“Mr. Barton,” F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s voice spoke from above them.  “Boss is wondering when this phone call will be concluded.”

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., I’ll be returning soon,” Clint said to the ceiling.  “The kids got an affirmative.”

“I’ll let Boss know,” the AI said, and Annabeth turned to Clint.

“I thought you said that the AI didn’t do surveillance in this room?”

“She doesn’t.  She can still talk, though, and if I address her, then she can hear what I say.  Don’t worry, Annabeth, this conversation is still private.”

“Good,” Annabeth said.  “Thank you, Chiron, but we should go now.”

“Agreed.  I hope to see you back at camp soon, but inform me if this explanation runs late,” Chiron said, worry beginning to cloud his eyes. 

“We’ve got this, Chiron,” Percy said.  “Can’t be any harder than breaking the news to the new demigods that come to camp.”

“Yeah, and you suck at that, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth countered, her eyebrows raising.  Percy shrugged.

“And you’re good at it.  So we’ll be fine.”

“Good luck,” Chiron said.  “And Mr. Valdez, I hope that Stark still considers his job offer viable after this.  I believe it would be good for you.”

Leo beamed as they all said goodbye to Chiron - Clint promising once again to visit camp soon - and then Annabeth swiped through the mist and the centaur vanished.  

They took a moment in the empty room before Annabeth straightened up, her grey eyes flashing.

“Let’s go.  Percy, do you think you’ll be blasted out of the tower if they need a demonstration?”

Percy thought for a moment before shaking his head.  “If Zeus is fine with me being in the building, which he seems to be, then a little hydrokinesis shouldn’t be an issue.”

“Hydrokinesis?” Annabeth repeated, her grin spreading once more on her face.  “Someone’s been studying.”

Percy’s face grew distinctly pink.  “Hey, I know things!  Especially water things!  I’m smart!”

“I never said you weren’t,” Annabeth replied, shrugging as Clint opened the door back to the hallway.  

“You implied it,” Percy pouted.  Annabeth laughed and took his hand as they walked down the hall.  About halfway down, Annabeth nudged Leo.

“Your hair is on fire,” she whispered.  He jolted, a hand darting up to pat down the strands that had ignited from anxiety, cursing as he did so.

“Shit, thanks,” he said, waving away the small strand of smoke above his head.  

“Anytime.”  Annabeth just hoped that he wouldn’t ignite himself accidentally before they finished the explanation, as people tended to freak out when a sixteen-year-old lit on fire.  As opposed to camp, where Leo could wander around with his arm aflame and get nothing more than nods in greeting, or a question of what he was working on in the forge.  

They reentered the main living room the same way they entered the Big House when there was a prophecy - determined, anxious, and ready for everything to go wrong.  They took stock of the audience that they had - Tony Stark, Thor (who already knew all of this and watched them enter with that same kicked-puppy look that he had gotten when he realized Stark didn’t know who they were), the Black Widow (or Natasha, as Clint called her), Bruce Banner (and Annabeth was trying her very hardest to not think about that, or Leo wouldn’t be the only one fangirling), Steve Rogers, the Winter Soldier, and-

Huh.  They gained another god since the demigods left.  Loki was lounging in an armchair, his legs crossed elegantly as he watched the teenagers re-enter the room.  He watched the four of them carefully, and kept his eyes on the three younger demigods as Clint returned to his spot on the couch next to the Black Widow.  The three of them tried their hardest to seem casual, but usually the life of a demigod required them to be on guard, and so they weren’t quite sure how well they were doing.  Leo’s hands were in his pockets, most likely messing with whatever small machine he had stashed in there, and Percy’s left arm was resting on the shorter boy’s shoulder in a facade of casualness.  His right hand was still linked with Annabeth’s left, and her right hand was ending the chain by resting in her pocket.  Her cap was folded up inside, and she was ready to pull it out if she needed to, even though the plan was out the window now.  Stark turned to look at them, and to his credit, he was trying to seem gentle.  He was talking to teenagers, and he had no way yet to know what they had been through.  

“So,” he started, “I heard you got the go ahead to share whatever big thing you didn’t have the authority to tell us?  Because I am dying to know why Thor knows the name of a teenage prodigy mechanic that my intern found on the internet.  I certainly hope that this explanation still lets me think about hiring you, Valdez, because the genius in me really wants to set you loose on an Iron Man suit and see what happens.”

Leo began to rock back and forth on his feet, just the thought of running loose in Tony Stark’s lab giving him ideas for projects.  Before he could anxiously assure Stark that the explanation was nothing bad, Percy cut in.

“Since we’re doing this whole ‘good-faith’ explanation thing, and since the cat is already halfway out of the bag,” he started, breaking the eye-contact conversation that he had been having with Annabeth for a few seconds, “we’re here for two reasons.  Number one is Leo.  There’s no way he wasn’t coming for this interview, he nearly passed out when he got your email.”

“ I did not !” Leo protested, his wide eyes staring at Percy in betrayal.  Percy laughed, and he felt a minute amount of tension leave his shoulders when he saw Stark looking amused too.

“You definitely did, I asked Nyssa.  She said that you nearly fainted, and then when you didn’t you ran around showing everyone your phone until they threatened to muzzle you four times, not three.”

“Ugh,” Leo huffed.  “Stupid older sisters.”

“Can’t relate,” Percy shot back immediately.  “Anyway, yeah, Leo is great, a genius, and you should totally hire him.  Number two …”

“The second reason we’re here is that you recently acquired a few artifacts that do not belong to you and that we needed to...covertly recover,” Annabeth finished.  Stark blinked, shocked.  

“...were you going to steal from Stark Tower?” he asked, incredulous.  

To that, Annabeth said, “I prefer the term ‘recover’, given that what we are taking doesn’t belong to you and we are putting it where it does belong,” right at the same time that both Leo and Percy said, “yes,” in unison.  Annabeth sighed.  

“Well,” Stark seemed to be struggling with what he wanted to say, “I have to admire the guts it takes to try and steal from me.  What exactly is it that doesn’t belong to me?”

“As you were going through a new construction site around the edge of the city, you discovered some weapons made of an odd metal, along with a few vaguely magical items,” Annabeth stated, and she saw Clint’s eyes widen the tiniest fraction as he realized what that meant.  That on a mission to avoid the discovery of demigods, they were being forced to reveal the existence of demigods.  Wow, sometimes their lives sucked.  

“I definitely recall those items,” Stark said, crossing his arms over his chest.  “But if they don’t belong where I can figure out what they’re made of, where do they belong?”

At that, Annabeth smiled, masking her nerves.  “To answer that, allow me to start from the beginning.  But first, I need to know that the information shared today will not leave this group of people.  It is not merely the privacy and lives of the three of us at stake, but many, many others that we care about.”

Stark glanced around at the other Avengers before reluctantly nodding and telling the AI to stop recording footage from the current room.  Out of the other Avengers, only Natasha seemed still on the fence about that, but Annabeth trusted that Clint could handle her.  She felt a small bit of the weight on her shoulders dissipate at the promise from Stark.  

“Alright then,” she began.  “You all clearly know that Norse deities exist, considering that two of them are in this room with us right now.”

Thor grinned at that, and Loki gave a lazy wave.

“I appreciate the inclusion,” he drawled.  “And since my brother failed to ask before I arrived, have you heard from my children recently?”

As all the Avenger’s eyes locked onto Loki in confusion, Annabeth nodded.

“I have, Lord Loki, although indirectly.  The last I heard, though, Sam and Alex are both doing fine.”

Loki nodded, thoughtful.  The silence only lasted for a second before Stark was breaking it to demand, “you have children ?” 

Loki stared calmly at Stark.  “I do.  Have you ever picked up a mythology book, Stark?  You would know this if you had.”

“He does indeed,” Thor backed him up.  “The young Samirah and the young Alex are two fine heroes, and Sleipnir is the finest horse in the nine realms!”

“You-” Clint cut himself off, shaking his head.  Annabeth could just see the thoughts going through his head, shoving the weird behavior of gods out of his mind.  Rogers, however, continued the question.

“Your child is a horse?” he asked, a mixture of confused and slightly horrified at the implications.  Loki rolled his eyes.

“If it makes your delicate mortal sensibilities feel any better, I was a horse at the time as well,” he said, waving away the concerns.  “And frankly, I can’t imagine your opinion of me can sink any lower upon learning that I’ve given birth to an eight-legged foal, so think what you wish.  I believe the point of this meeting was for these clearly normal teenagers to tell their story?”

All eyes turned back to the demigods, except for Clint who was pinching the bridge of his nose, and Annabeth took a steadying breath.  She was a daughter of Athena.  She could handle this.

“Yes, right,” she continued, picking up where she left off.  “As I was saying, you’re all aware of the Norse mythology and how it's all true - the monsters, the deities, the afterlife.  I already told you my cousin is in Valhalla.  Well...Norse mythology isn’t the only kind that turned out to be real.”

At the pin-drop silence that followed her words, Percy took over.  “More specifically, we mean the Greeks.  Greek gods and goddesses, Greek monsters, the Underworld, the whole shebang.”

“...o -kay ,” Stark said, sounding very much like he did not believe a word they just said.  “Say that’s true, and we don’t just have to deal with one insane pantheon of pagan gods - no offense guys - how the hell does that relate to the question at hand?”

“It is true,” Annabeth said, “and if you really need another opinion, then I know that Lord Thor has encountered some of the Olympian gods because they were quite interested when he joined in the battle at New York with the Chitauri.  And also our friend Will said that Apollo was upset because Artemis was making fun of him when Thor got exiled to Earth, seeing as that’s happened to him...twice I believe.”

The only noise breaking the silence was Clint snorting a laugh, and he quickly waved off any attention.  “Sorry, sorry, I just-” he started laughing softly, leaning back against the arm of the couch.  

“They are speaking the truth, Stark,” Thor said, and that seemed to shift the tide as the eyes that returned to the demigods were no longer looking at them like they were crazy - now they were confused, intrigued, and a little bit of the familiar demigod emotion of ‘what the fuck is my life’.  

“And as for how this relates, it’s actually very relevant.” Annabeth paused for a second, anticipating an interruption, and was not at all shocked when the interruption came from Leo.

“You see, when a god or a goddess loves a mortal very much,” he started, his grin growing wide and sly.  “Sometimes babies are made.  These little demigod babies get awesome perks such as: sometimes getting a step-parent that doesn’t despise their guts, getting tracked and attacked by monsters from a young age, being labelled as problem children or ‘dangerous’, rarely making it to adulthood, and getting roped into dangerous prophecies that could end the world if they mess it up!”

“While I would have put it differently, Leo has a point,” Annabeth took back over, laughing a little as Leo looked proud of himself.  To the credit of the mortal heroes, they were taking this rather well.  Either that, or they hadn’t put it together yet.  She couldn’t tell if the horror on Rogers’s face was from understanding or just from the bitter description that Leo gave.  “Sometimes the gods have kids.  And in order to survive against the monsters that plague their entire lives, those kids need special weapons.”

“Weapons made out of the metal that is currently in your lab,” Percy finished.  “And as for how Lord Thor knows about the three of us, we’re all...pretty well known by quite a few gods and goddesses.”

“So you three…” Stark trailed off, pointing to the three of them.  “No way.”

“ Way,” Leo echoed, his grin still wide.  The bitter edge that it had gained during his description of a demigod’s life had been smoothed away as he was once again bouncing on the balls of his feet.  “Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, member of the Seven, survivor of the second Giant war, Engineer of the Argo II, exploder of Gaea.”

“That’s not a real title, Leo,” Percy said, the amused glint in his eyes giving him away.  Leo rolled his eyes.

“It should be.  I turned myself into a firebomb to blow up Dirtface, it should be a part of the dumb titles.”

“You forfeited that right when you let us think you were dead for two months,” Annabeth chided, giving Leo a quick, sharp glare.  

“Hey, I was dead!  Give me a break!” he protested, earning himself a smack to the arm by both Percy and Annabeth.  

“The only reason I didn’t deck you like Piper did when you came back was because you saved Calypso,” Percy warned him, “but I was tempted.”

Annabeth looked up and saw that Avengers were watching them with varying degrees of horror and - annoyingly - pity.  Clint wasn’t pitying, he was sympathetic , but Rogers was definitely looking at them with pity in his eyes.  She knew that finding out a sixteen-year-old had died was gonna be a lot on an adult hero, even if he definitely didn’t understand anything about the circumstances, but she really hated when adults looked at her like that.  She knew the stories of Captain America, she knew what he had been through, but she could guarantee that she and her friends, especially Percy, had been through more than him.  

“Annabeth Chase,” she started, drawing the attention from Leo, who was pouting at a glaring Percy.  She made sure her voice was firm, her eyes hard steel, and she couldn’t help that she stared Rogers down and tried to wipe the pity from his gaze.  “Daughter of Athena, survivor of the Titan war and the second Giant war, Bearer of the Sky, member of the Seven, Architect of Olympus, survivor of Tartarus, savior of the Athena Parthenos.”

“Are we really doing this?” Percy complained.  “You know I hate the titles, Annabeth.”

Annabeth just glanced at him, and he sighed.

“Fine,” he groaned.  “Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, survivor of the Titan war and the second Giant war, Savior of Olympus, Bearer of the Sky, member of the Seven, former Praetor of the Twelfth Legion, former bearer of the Achilles curse, survivor of Tartarus.”  There was barely a beat before his face twisted.  “Ugh, shouldn’t’ve ended on that last one.  Pretend I put the Achilles one last, at least that one went away.”

In the ensuing silence, as the Avengers tried to figure out what to say, Percy just looked at them.  And then he sighed, squeezing Annabeth’s hand.

“But none of that matters,” he said, his voice carrying through the room, drawing incredulous stares from his words.  “My dad might be Poseidon, but my mom is Sally Jackson, she lives in Manhattan, and all I really care about is keeping my friends and family safe.  We need those weapons in demigod hands to do that.”

The Avengers were quiet, thinking.  Stark was watching them like Annabeth studied a blueprint, trying to see a bigger picture.  Rogers had finally stopped with the pity, although he hadn’t gotten rid of the concern.  Clint looked proud, and Annabeth was still going to leave the option open for him to keep his secret unless he volunteered it first.  Natasha’s face was blank as she studied them.  Bruce Banner (who Annabeth was still trying not to think about) looked absolutely blindsided, and she understood where he was coming from.  He was a scientist, after all.  

“If I do give you these weapons, will you tell me what they’re made of?” Stark asked.  Percy grinned.

“If you don’t give us the weapons, then we’ll take them anyway and definitely not tell you what they’re made of.”

“They’re currently in Stark’s custody, I don’t think you’re the ones holding the cards here,” Natasha spoke for the first time, immediately making Clint sigh.

“Nat, come on,” he sighed.  “They need them to protect people.”

“I trust Thor’s word, but right now, that’s the only thing corroborating these tales,” Natasha argued.  “Not to mention, if Tony is aware that they’re going to try and take them, then his lab is going to be impenetrable.”

“Oh, like his security system is supposed to be?” Leo spoke up, drawing all the eyes back to him with a deceptively innocent grin.  

“... what ?” Stark demanded.  “My security is unhackable, it's an AI!”

“Tell that to a child of Hermes,” Leo said smugly, shrugging.  

“ And my brother,” Annabeth added, offended on Malcolm’s behalf.  “He likes to think of coding as ‘weaving with numbers’, add that to Leo’s hand-built smartphone and a son of Hermes’s natural talent at finding back doors…”

“What business did you even have hacking into the security of the tower?” Natasha asked, her eyes narrowing.  

“Uh...we were gonna steal from him?” Percy said, confused.  “Oh, and, no offense Lord Thor, but we were trying to avoid you.”

“Yes, I apologize for not realizing you were attempting to be covert,” Thor said, not at all insulted by their attempts to stay away from him.  

“As for proving that this whole stuff is real,” Leo said, “could a normal person do this?”

And then he lit his hand on fire, grinning.  All the Avengers except for Clint and Natasha jerked with a start - and even Natasha’s eyes widened.  Rogers seemed torn between staring at the fire and rushing to put it out, and Stark seemed to be thinking of all the possible uses for an ability like Leo’s, since it was clear from his face that he was fine.  As the fire licked the air and Leo just watched the flames dance around his fingers, Percy sighed.  With a flick of his wrist, the glass of water sitting beside the Winter Soldier (who had been as still as a statue throughout this entire conversation, except for a few glances at Rogers) emptied as the water flew directly at Leo, extinguishing his hand with the sizzle of steam.  Leo nudged Percy.

“Hey, it was small!  The alarm wouldn’t’ve gone off,” he complained.  Percy shrugged.

“Yeah, but what better way to show off than to kill two birds with one stone and annoy you while I’m at it?” 

“How hot is that fire?” Stark interrupted to ask, his eyes glinting curiously.  Leo lit up, thankfully figuratively this time.

“If you’re asking if I can weld with it, hell yeah I can,” he said.  “Takes a bit more concentration to make it that hot, but it's possible.  Comes in handy when Festus needs fixing in the middle of a quest.”

“Festus?” Stark pressed, all suspicion wiped away as he began thinking on the same wavelength as Leo.

“My life-size magical robotic dragon,” Leo said proudly.  “He can collapse into a suitcase.  He also served as the figurehead for the warship that I helped build.”

Stark stared at Leo unblinking.  

“ Please work here, kid,” he said.  “I don’t give a shit about you three trying to steal from me, the job offer is still definitely on the table.”

“ Stark,” the Black Widow said sternly, as Leo began to practically vibrate (and Percy had to subtly extinguish another fire on his shoulder).  “I think you need to step back.  Stop getting blinded by the things playing directly into your interests.”

“Nat, is it really that hard to believe that they’re telling the truth here?” Clint spoke up.  She seemed to be the most suspicious of them, which made sense given that Annabeth was pretty sure she came from an assassin background.  Nat turned to face Clint.

“I don’t think they’re lying about the abilities they have.  I just don’t think they’re telling us everything, or that they can be trusted.”

At that, Clint just sighed, running a hand through his cropped hair.

“Gods, Nat.  Would another person vouching for them help?  Because I can.”

“He was in the room with them when they made that call, Natasha,” Rogers said.  Natasha frowned, staring at the demigods.

“Could have been planned.” 

At this point, Annabeth couldn’t tell if she was legitimately that suspicious of them, or if she was playing it up so that she got more information from them.  But she didn’t need to worry about that, because Clint stood up.

“No, Nat, it wasn’t.  And I can vouch for more than just that call,” he said.  “Everything they’ve said has been true, they’re trustworthy kids, and they need to take those weapons back with them.”

At that, it was actually Dr. Banner that spoke first.  “And...how do you know this?  Is this all from that phone conversation?”

“No,” Clint said.  “I know it because I met Annabeth when she was seven.  I tried to teach her how to shoot a bow, I don’t know if it actually stuck with her.  I haven’t seen her in six years, and today I find out she’s a veteran of two magical wars, and Tartarus itself.  I’m not gonna let you guys not trust these three, because if you don’t trust them, then by extension you wouldn’t trust my siblings.  And that means you don’t trust me.”

There was a beat before he continued, apparently taking the approach of tearing the bandage off - which, as a metaphor, he really should know better than to do.  “I’m a son of Apollo.”

And then all Hades broke loose.

As the Avengers began to speak over each other, all talking at once to Clint, the three demigods stood awkwardly and watched.  Many of the Avengers were stunned and confused, Thor seemed offended that Clint hadn’t said anything, and Loki was watching the chaos with a small smirk on his face.  

“So....are we, like, good?” Leo muttered to the other two as they watched Clint get interrogated by his teammates.  

“I don’t know,” Annabeth admitted.  “And I hate to say he deserves this, but...it’s what he gets for not visiting.”

“Hey, Wise Girl, want to take your cap and go get the weapons?” Percy suggested, the grin on his face saying that he knew exactly how Annabeth would respond.  

“Absolutely not, after we worked so hard to explain everything peacefully?”

“If he doesn’t give them to us after all this, can I start one tiny fire?” Leo asked.  Annabeth gave a long-suffering sigh.

“Yeah.  Sure, you can do some small arson if he still refuses.”

“ Yes! ” Leo cheered softly, looking around as if trying to decide what would be the best thing to set on fire.

Clint was trying to explain to his teammates how his precise aim was a gift from his father when the elevator behind them all announced that someone had arrived at the floor.  The arguing stopped as if hit with a pause button, but it was clear that Clint would be getting questions about his life for the next week, at least.  The three demigods shared a look - whoever was in the elevator had not been approved to know their story, and so they had to be careful.  Luckily, given that everyone else had gone silent too, they could start to believe that the Avengers really would keep their secret.  The elevator doors started to open, revealing a teenager with wind-blown brown hair and his hands shoved inside the pockets of a hoodie.  Annabeth blinked.

“Mr. Stark?” the boy started as the elevator opened, not noticing the commotion he had entered.  “I asked Aunt May and she said that I could - “

“- Peter ?” Annabeth demanded, her grey eyes flashing.  Immediately, his eyes locked onto Annabeth, and widened comically.  They were a darker grey than Annabeth’s eyes, more of a brownish-grey, and all three demigods could see the moment that he settled on the emotion of ‘oh shit ’.

“Oh.  Uh...hi, Annabeth?” he offered hesitantly, his hand leaving his pocket to rub awkwardly at the back of his neck.  “What, uh, what are you doing in Mr. Stark’s tower?”

“What are you doing here?” Annabeth shot back.  “Do you know how worried we’ve been?”

Peter winced.  “Shit, I’m sorry.  I promise I had a good reason.  And, um, I’m Mr. Stark’s intern.”

“Oh, so you knew exactly what you were doing when you found Leo online,” Percy jumped in, grinning, but Annabeth smacked his arm, her face still furious. 

“ Not now, Percy!  Peter, why didn’t you tell us you worked here?  That would have made this whole shitshow unneccesary!  Did you know that Stark recovered celestial bronze weapons?”

“Celestial bronze?” Stark interrupted coming over to stand next to Peter.  “Is that what that metal is called?  And how do you know Peter?”  Peter’s face had paled at the mention of the weapons, but immediately flushed as Stark asked Annabeth how she knew him.

But Annabeth ignored Stark.  “ Peter,” she insisted.  “Why have you been essentially radio silent for over a year?”

“I didn’t know about the weapons,” Peter assured her, “I knew that Mr. Stark found something cool, but he didn’t tell me what it was!  And I didn’t tell anyone I was working here because then you would have asked how that happened, and I can’t lie to you guys, and I didn’t want to make any of you uncomfortable!”

At that, Annabeth faltered, her fury gaining a bit of concern.  “I- uncomfortable?  Peter, what are you talking about?  What could possibly make you think that?”

“Hey, uh, I asked a question?” Stark tried to interrupt again.  “How do you know Peter?”

“Don’t bother,” Percy hissed in a stage-whisper.  “When she gets like this, she’s not gonna answer any other questions until Peter answers hers.”

“Shut up, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said offhandedly, her eyes trained on Peter, who looked increasingly uncomfortable himself.  “Peter, what is it that would make you think we’d be uncomfortable around you?”

Peter fidgeted.  “Can you not feel it?”

Annabeth frowned.  She had assumed it was just nerves from the conversation with the Avengers, but now that Peter had pointed it out, there was something new.  It hadn’t been there before he stepped out of the elevator.  A tingling on her spine, concentrated around the base of her neck, like a warning.  An itch that felt so familiar, and instilled a desire to flee.  Her stomach began to sink.

“Peter.  What happened?” her voice lost all its anger, but remained firm and demanding.  

Peter’s eyes flicked to Stark before he sighed and his shoulders slumped.  

“I’m Spiderman.”

Percy immediately had to stifle a laugh as Annabeth’s jaw dropped, her eyes scanning Peter like she was looking for a wound.  Leo had put together what was going on and was joining Percy in his quest to not start cackling.  

After a moment of silence - where Stark was looking at Peter like he had grown another head - Annabeth took a breath and stood up straighter.  She looked to Stark.

“Mr. Stark,” she said, her voice deceptively calm.  “I would appreciate it very much if you would hand the weapons and magic items over to Percy and Leo.  If not, we will find ways to bypass your security system.  Now, if you will kindly excuse me, I have to drag my cripplingly and genetically arachnophobic brother by the ear back to our other siblings so that we can properly figure out how in Hades he got himself into this idiotic situation.”

Without waiting for an answer, and without even looking at the baffled Stark, Annabeth walked right past Peter and grabbed his backpack as she walked, pulling him towards the elevator.  She was muttering under her breath the whole way to the elevator, and every time Peter tried to speak up, her glare would pin him and he would reconsider.  

It was only after the elevator had closed and begun its descent that the silence was broken.  

“...do I even want to know what that was about?” Stark asked.  Percy just grinned.

“Children of Athena tend to have...rather extreme arachnophobia,” was all he said, and he tried to hold in a laugh as Stark’s eyes widened.  

“Huh,” he said, glancing at the closed elevator.  “I, uh, guess we’ll be seeing more of each other then.  If Peter is…”

“Yeah, guess so,” Percy agreed.  “You’re taking this surprisingly well.  But I guess you are a superhero, so that makes sense.”

“Kid, I don't think I’ve fully processed anything that’s happened in the past hour,” Stark admitted.  “I’m sure I’ll freak out about finding out Peter’s the son of a goddess later , but for now, two questions.”

“Shoot.  Can’t promise I’ll be as eloquent as Annabeth would be, but I know enough,”  Percy replied, going back to resting his arm on Leo’s shoulder since Annabeth was gone and he needed somewhere to put it.  Leo was unperturbed by this, much more used to people using him as an armrest than Nico was - and really only Percy, Will, and Jason dared to do that, and only Will wasn’t in danger of getting his hand removed from his body.  Leo had zoned out of the conversation anyway, having taken a screwdriver from his toolbelt and begun to tinker with the thing in his pocket that Percy guessed was an attachment for the F-Phone.  

“Number one, what’s so special about the metal in those weapons I found?  I believe that you need them, but why?”

“Easy,” Percy answered.  “Greek monsters can’t be killed with mortal weapons.  Only weapons made from either celestial bronze or imperial gold can kill a monster.  If a demigod doesn’t have a weapon made from one of those metals, then they will end up dead, because a monster will find them and they won’t be able to kill it.  There’s also the issue of keeping them out of mortal hands so that people don’t figure out there’s something weird and potentially stumble onto the demigod world.  We have to stay hidden.  There’s too much danger in people knowing about us.”

Stark nodded.  “Okay, yeah, that makes sense.  I’ll lead you two down to the lab and you can grab the weapons.”

“Appreciated.  I think our friend Will, who is actually Clint’s brother, would lose his mind if we made our other friend essentially teleport into your lab, he’s supposed to be resting right now,” Percy said casually, grinning at the look Stark got when the word ‘teleport’ was dropped.  Stark quickly shook his head.

“Okay, yep, I’m not even gonna ask,” he muttered.  

“Usually a good attitude to have when it comes to this stuff.”

“Number two,” Stark continued, swiftly changing the topic and turning to face Leo, “when can you start working here?”

Leo nearly dropped his project with the speed in which his head snapped up to stare at Stark.  

“Holy shit, uh, fuck, sorry - that wasn’t any better, get it together Valdez,” Leo rambled, a thin trail of smoke beginning to curl from his hair.  Percy sighed and got ready to extinguish him again.  Leo didn’t even notice, his wide eyes not leaving Stark, who was waiting with an amused grin.  “I can - I guess I can start whenever?  It’s not that hard to get here fast, the pegasi are pretty quick.”

Stark blinked at the mention of pegasi, but seemed to brush that off to think about later.  Instead he just held his hand out to Leo.

“In that case, come by on Monday, around 9,” he said.  “We’ll get everything sorted out.”

“This is so awesome, thank you for not thinking we’re absolutely insane,” Leo said, grinning.  “I mean, we are , but in a good way.  Man, Piper’s gonna flip when I tell her.”

“Did you tell her about the interview?” Percy asked.  Leo looked a little sheepish as Stark began to lead them to the elevators to take them to the lab.

“I kinda forgot?  She was talking about going to visit Jason in California and I got excited about that, and then Nyssa had her dream and this whole shit came up.”

“She’s gonna punch you again, man.”

“Oh I know,” Leo sighed, resigned.  “At least it won’t be as hard as she did when I came back from the dead.  Her punch hurt more than Jason’s hug, and I swear the guy broke a rib.”

The elevator ride to the lab still sent Percy’s heart into a race, but hearing Leo ramble next to him helped to take his mind off of it - and off of the fact that Annabeth wasn’t there.  And seeing Leo’s eyes absolutely glow at the sight of the lab itself made the whole shitshow upstairs worth it.  

In the end, they easily got the weapons back to camp, and joined the Hephaestus cabin in celebrating Leo’s new job.  Piper punched him in the gut before grabbing him into a tight hug, and they could see the entire Athena cabin surrounding Peter and chatting - Peter himself having a relieved and relaxed smile on his face.  

They all knew that this probably wasn’t the last interaction they’d have with the Avengers, especially now that they knew about the demigod world.  But they were prepared.  And they had family in the Tower to help them.