Percy's POV

Fighting Gaea and her whole army during the second war I've been through can really be exhausting, especially when you haven't had much of a break and you're the leader of an entire army. Not as exhausting as what I've done before but still tiring. Thankfully, most of the monsters were involved in the war and sent to Tartarus so I wouldn't be expecting any quests anytime soon which gave me the opportunity to have a little vacation, unless I was needed, and there would be more time to spend with my mom and my new dad, Paul Blofis. 

I sighed as I climbed the stairs to my mom's apartment, glad that I would be able to relax and spend some time away from wars and quests. Clutching my backpack that I always take during all my previous quests and the same backpack I started out with, I reached the floor that held my mom's apartment. But there was something off about everything. The first thing I noticed when I reached this floor was that the door to my mom's apartment lay half-open. My mom would never leave the door open.

As I inched closer to the door, the wind slid through the gap between the door and swept pass me with a smell I was all too familiar with. Blood. Glancing around for any mortals, I uncapped Riptide and creaked open the apartment door. The stench of blood became stronger the moment I entered. What I saw made my heart skip a beat. The kitchen and lounge room were a mess, clothes, cutlery and broken shards of plates, mugs and glasses everywhere. Blood was scattered all over the place in blotches but that's not what frightened me the most. All of this blood. Was brand new. Still fresh. Which meant this only happened recently.

My ears perked up as I heard shuffling from my parent's bedroom. In a faint voice, I heard someone say, "Percy? Is that you?" That has to be mom. Avoiding the glass shards, I hurried over to my mom within her bedroom and seeing her and my step-dad in this state wanted to break me and make me sit down and cry. My step-dad lay on the bed, clearly dead, blood still pouring out from the massive hole in his stomach whilst my mother had a hole through her left lung caused by a spear, blood trickling out from the wound and her hand held out to me.

Dropping my sword, I ran towards my mom's side and grabbed her hand, clutching it to keep me from breaking into tears. "It's okay Percy. But remember that I don't have much time." My mother stroked my hair whilst I had my head faced down towards the floor. Whilst sobbing, I managed to choke out, "I-if only I-i was quick enough, I cou-could've saved y-you both." She kept stroking my hair, soothing the pain stabbing at my heart. "Percy, don't blame yourself. None of us saw this coming so there's no reason to blame. Just please listen to me before my time is up."

Trembling, I stared into my mother's pale blue eyes for what might be the last time. "We both loved you so much Percy. No matter how hard our deaths affect you, never stop defending the world you live in. And all those you care to protect. We'll see you in the Underworld after a few decades. And Percy." I gripped her hand tighter than before. "Yes mom?" She tapped her other hand on mine that was gripping hers. "Don't ever lose sight on what's important. Family." With her final words, her eyes closed shut, no pulse was felt and her hand fell loose from her position on top of mine.

With her hand in mine, sobbing and trembling, I whispered to myself, "I promise." The one woman who cared for me for my entire life, who sacrificed so much for me, gone. I finally snapped and cried beside her laying on her bed for about fifteen or twenty minutes, until I spotted a blue note sitting on the bedside desk. With curiosity, I stood up from my place beside my mom and took the note from the desk. The writing was in ancient Greek so I was able to read it. It read:

To Perseus Jackson,                                                              If you thought you could get away with tearing Gaea away from me, you have something else coming. Once you took Gaea's life, you took the only thing I cared for away from me. All I'm doing is returning the favour. Slowly, you'll suffer beneath my clutches and everything will crumble away before your very eyes. Be aware, Jackson, because I have one big storm heading your way. 

Tartarus.

I scrunched up the note and ripped it into tiny little pieces and picked Riptide back up, reforming it back to pen form. But I couldn't deal with that now. I had to get the police over here for them to take their bodies away. All I could think about was what my life would be like without these two in my life to support me.

-  time skip -

Once the police got here, they started asking me questions whilst the other officers took their bodies away. Being honest, it was all too much of a blur because I was so focused on my mom's and step-dad's death that I had no idea what came out of my mouth, nothing about the Greek gods though, because that is absolutely classified to the mortal world. The officers requested I stay in the apartment until they came back, which I was fine with as it gave me time to think over everything that I just witnessed within five minutes.

I heard the heavy footsteps of two of the officers filing in to speak to me so I lifted my head to hear what they had to say. "Since you can't live by yourself because you're too young, we've tried to search up any relatives of yours and we've found one. It's your uncle, Tony Stark." Tony Stark. That name rings a bell since I may of heard Leo say something about him and all the work, although I don't usually listen. Besides what Leo's told me, I know nothing else but that he is a famous billionaire who is an architect, designs weapons, he is the guy behind Iron Man and an Avenger.

"We've called Mr. Stark and he's told us that he will be here to pick you up and take you to his place in twenty minutes so pack your belongings into your bag before you leave." Whilst walking to what used to be my room, I took the few belongings I owned whilst wondering what life would be like with the famous billionaire, Tony Stark. The only things I did actually own in this apartment were clothes and a couple of birthday gifts from my mom. As I packed those things, memories and flashbacks play throughout my head of when I was younger and living my normal life with my mom. It hurt to think of all those times I spent with my mom when she was no longer around. 

Once I finished packing, I head off down towards the front of the building to wait the last five minutes of Tony's arrival. Being a guy with ADHD, I couldn't sit around and do nothing so I twirled Riptide, still in pen form of course, around my fingers whilst thinking of my parents. However, my mind drifted towards what Tartarus wrote on that note. I've had enough torture from him back in the place itself and just now, so I'm not sure what could be worse than that. 

Around the corner, I heard the engine of a car so I tucked Riptide in my pocket and stood up to see Tony wearing a suit that wasn't casual, but not too formal either. He was driving a silver sports car, hood down and his number plate read Stark 4. He stopped the car in front of me, not turning the engine off and asked, "You Percy?" I simply nodded, not in the mood for talking, but also slightly shocked I'm being picked up in a car like this. He gestured for me to hop into the passenger seat of the car which I silently agreed to do.

As we began driving to what will be my home until I'm eighteen, Tony said something to break the silence. "Sorry about your parents kid. Especially your mom. I didn't get to know her much since our parents kept us separate." I just nodded. "It's okay. It'll take a while to wrap my head around but I'll get used to it." I could tell Tony was looking at me curiously but he shook it off and we remained silent for the rest of the ride whilst I let my thoughts distract me. 

Before I knew it, we arrived at what would be my home. Except it wasn't exactly an average house you might see around the neighbourhood, it was a tower. A huge one, as a matter of fact. On the top, I could see the symbol the Avengers use, like their logo or something. As we entered the building, a voice with a British accent rang out. "Welcome back, sir. Who've you brought with you?" I looked around for who that voice might belong to. "Hey Jarvis. This is my nephew, Percy. Is everyone else upstairs?" The voice responded. "Yes sir. And welcome to you, Percy." Dumbfounded, I nodded as Tony and I headed to the elevator.

The elevator reminded me of the one to get to Olympus. As we got in and Tony pressed the button for the top floor, he said, "That was my AI, Jarvis. He helps my in my hero stuff but he's also the superhero, Vision. It took a bit to get used to hearing the same voice coming from two different places but we got used to it." That explains that and a little bit more. "So, I know you're Iron Man and part of the Avengers but who are the rest of the Avengers?" Tony looked at me with raised eyebrows, looking surprised. "Seriously? You haven't heard of the other Avengers? Well, looks like you're gonna meet them yourselves." The moment Tony finished his sentence, the elevator door opened and we stepped out into the room to reveal other people in there which I presume were the other Avengers.

A/N Okay, my first chapter on my first Percy and Avengers fanfic. Sorry if it sucks, it will gradually get better but I hope you guys still liked it either way. Since it's only my first chapter, please comment any improvements or suggestions for the story ahead and I might be able to put those ideas to good use. Give me any information that might help me out so this story can get better and better. I'll update pretty soon and if you want, you can check out my other two stories I'm working on, although they're not related to this in any way. For now, wait for tomorrow because I have a feeling I'll be doing another chapter along with another chapter for my other book. 

See ya for another adventure!