Central Park, New York

A tall man, cloaked in shadows, his dark hair slicked back, and a woman made from darkness stood together in a puddle of shadow, despite the bright sunlight all around them. The man spoke.

“I want the girl Dragon. She could become the greatest tool of destruction this world has ever seen. This is going to be so much fun! And once we're done here, I can use her to get revenge!” His voice was high, singsong and grating, but somehow darkly appealing.

“Don’t forget the demigods – the di Angelo boy, Perseus, and Annabeth. They must be powerful indeed to live through Tartarus. And to face up to me. And now they have joined the little group of heroes.”

“Yes - and the di Angelo boy as leverage against the Dragon. Do you think she has forgotten him? People can be so-oo fickle!” He laughed, a psychopathic laugh. But what else could be expected from a man who had killed his way to the top of HYDRA in less than a month, an man who played games with human lives out of boredom. A man who was smart enough to have been anything, but the legacy he chose was fear.

“No. Immortals never forget. And neither shall I.” murmured the goddess of night. She took the hand of the man.

And the pair melted into the shadows, the only trace of their presence the darkness that was blowing on the wind.

***

Several days had passed, with nothing even remotely interesting happening. Training, boredom, repeat.

Percy flipped Riptide, still capped, over and over in his hand. "Who wants to get icecream?"

Annabeth looked at him. "Are you paying?"

Percy grinned back, all glittering sea green eyes and floppy black hair. "For you? Always."

Thor looked up from his game of chess with Bruce. "I know a good place in Central Park." he called.

Steve closed his book. "I'll come. I have nothing better to do."

And so, half-dragging a protesting Bruce who was secretly happy to be included in a group for once, they headed out for ice cream.

They ended up on a picnic bench outside the ice cream place, eating their food in the sunshine.

Percy licked his blueberry cone happily, and Annabeth snorted. "You've got some on your shirt, Seaweed Brain."

He smiled at her strikingly, distracting her for long enough to steal a scoop of her strawberry sundae. "Hey!" exclaimed Annabeth.

"I paid for it," retorted Percy.

Thor had the largest, brightest yellow lemon sorbet every one had ever seen. Bruce had a double chocolate cone. Steve had a vanilla milkshake, but he had barely touched it, too lost in memories of the past to eat the sugary treat.

From the tree line, Percy noticed a teenage boy staring at them. The boy saw him watching, and raised a hand in salute, a crescent moon and star tattooed on the inside of his left wrist. He pointed over Percy's shoulder, then disappeared into the trees.

Percy looked behind him, and then froze. Dropping the last of his blueberry cone into his mouth, he nudged Annabeth.

"C'mon Wise Girl. We've got work to do." He pointed out the mob of telkhines in the small forest on the other side.

The Avengers stared. "What the hell are those?"

"Telkhines," said Annabeth. "They're a kind of monster. Usually only found underwater, where they're more dangerous."

Percy and Annabeth charged into battle, driving them further into the trees. Thor shrugged, summoned his hammer and followed them, destroying telkhines left and right with strokes of lightning, calling over his shoulder, "Don't try to help. Your weapons won't work on the classical monsters. You have only mortal metals."

Steve grabbed Bruce's arm. "Doesn't mean we can't help." Bruce nodded, reading his intentions in his eyes.
They ran to join the classical heroes, helping to drive the telkhines back into the trees and stopping them sneaking around to attack the heroes from behind.

There were very few left now. One of the last, panicking, threw its weapon at the demigods and heroes and ran, just as Annabeth reached it and sliced it into monster dust.

Unfortunately for Percy, he was battling three more telkhines and couldn't dodge in time, resulting in the knife sinking deep into his gut. He groaned, dispatching the last one, and then dropped to his knees.

Unsurprisingly, Annabeth was beside him first, but she was panicked, her hands shaking, her mind blank. All the first aid she knew was consumed by the worry for Percy. Bruce gently shifted her aside before tearing a strip off the bottom of his shirt and pressing it against the injury, around the still-embedded knife. The metal was cold against his hands.
Percy moved to remove it, but Bruce caught his hand. "No. Leave it in for now."

Annabeth knelt beside his head, talking to him. His blood was on her clothes, but she hadn't noticed.

Steve pulled a piece of paper out his pocket. "You need that demigod food, right? Ambrosia." Annabeth was shaking, but she nodded.

"Here. You know your way around New York? You need to get us here. My sister will have some, I know her. Well, and she told me a little about her group." He handed her the paper and she scanned it quickly. It was the address for an apartment, not too far from here.

Annabeth nodded. "It's not too far. We can get there easily enough, but we can't take a taxi. They'd notice Percy's injury. We'll have to walk, and that means taking out the knife."

Bruce pulled a packet of military use morphine tablets out of his pocket, giving one to Percy. Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

"You just carry that stuff?"

Bruce indicated the two members of his team. "Around this team? Usually I need it."

She helped Bruce take the dagger out of Percy, and Bruce sighed and took off his entire outer long sleeve shirt, leaving him in just a tight fitting white t-shirt. He tore it into strips with practiced hands, tying them around Percy's injury.

"Come on." He lifted Percy carefully off the ground, arm around his shoulders, and Annabeth came to support his other side. She handed the paper back to Steve.

"That way." She indicated a direction. Percy was clearly suffering, but hiding it as much as possible to make it easier for Annabeth.

They slowly, painfully, began the walk to Dragon's apartment.

Authors note:
Dedication for anyone who can guess who the new leader of HYDRA is, the man who was with Nyx at the start of the chapter.