The team of heroes listened entranced as the Nose God of thunder wove the epic tale of a young demigod who fought monsters, defeated titans, duelled giants and killed primordials. How the young soldier protected his friends, navigated labyrinths and completed impossible quests, how he defied the Gods and fought for his family.

They could hardly believe their ears as Thor told them of his sacrifices, his accomplishments and his downfalls. Of how he defeated hurdle after hurdle only to suffer in the end.

Suddenly, everything they were proud of felt small and insignificant in the wake of such a man, who could defeat Hell and whom had been fighting for his life each and every day since childhood.

They cried for his lost friends and his stolen childhood and laughed at his misadventures. They listened in awe as his nobility and loyalty was painted for them by the Prince of Asgard.

Then they sat in silence, as none of them could quite comprehend that the teenager in their holding cell had done so much, had lost so much and was still alive to tell the tale. Even if he was a husk of what he once was.

"Seriously!?" Of course it was Stark who broke the silence first, "You're telling me that the Greek fucking Gods are real," He raised his eyebrows at Thor, "and they force their children, who they neglect, to fight their wars for them!"

Thor looked down. When he spoke it sounded like he was reciting something he had been told many, many times.

"The Olympians are forbidden to have contact with their offspring by the Ancient Laws-"
"Bullshit!" This time it was Clint protesting. "That boy in our holding cell, that eighteen year old, has  been through literal Hell, he's been fighting for his life since before he was even a teenager, he's led multiple wars and lost everyone he loves because of who the bastard that helped conceive him happened to be!"

Thor wouldn't meet their eyes.

"Yes." He mumbled.

"And these parents, who endanger their children just by having any, hide behind these so called 'Ancient Laws' so they don't have to deal with the product of their immortal affairs!" Clint slammed his hands down on the table in front of him. "If you have a child you look after them! No matter what!" (A/n: He's such a great dad. :D)

"It is the way it is." Thor was grim, "Demigods have been fighting since the beginning of the age, it is what they are born for, it is the burden they have to bare and most bare it well," No-one wanted to think about those who couldn't bare it, "But none have done as much as Hero Perseus. And none have suffered as much, not even the heroes of old." Thor had tears in his eyes at this point, "Not even mine childhood and training as Prince of Asgard was as terrible."

"That isn't right!"
"Children, fighting in wars!" They shouted and raved until Natasha said something that silenced them all.

"He was tortured wasn't he." Her expression became determined as the others paled even more, she turned to them, "We have to help him." It was not a question.

The Avengers looked at Thor, their silent question clear.

"He needs friends, a family. He needs people." Thor looked up at them, "But he wont accept these things easily." He cautioned.

"Doesn't matter," Tony was insistent, his arrogant attitude from earlier long gone, "The universe has been shitty to him, worse than to us, we're gonna help him whether he likes it or not. But we have to do it in a way that wont freak him. Apart from the fact that his-his family died....horribly." The inventor shivered, "Do you know anything about what happened in the war against....Geae?"

"No," Thor was upset that he couldn't be of more help, "Word of the Second Giant War's outcome has not yet reached Asgard. We know nothing beyond the identities of the Seven and what Perseus has told us." That was a nice way of putting his break down and eavesdropping on the teen's dreams.

They were all silent once again.

"Then we'll have to go and ask him, but in the mean time, he just needs people around him who don't have an ulterior motive." Bruce was ever the voice of reason.

"Then let's go." Clint was always eager once a clear plan of action had been laid out.

So they went to go tell the demigod the news.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Said demigod was sitting cross-legged on the floor of his 'room' completely silent.

His thoughts wandering from the Wars, to campfires, to his family's graves to the Avengers he'd just met.

He hummed quietly as he let his subconscious reign.

"What's he doing?" The voice was obviously trying to whisper. It hadn't worked very well. The next sound Percy heard was a hand hitting the back of someone's head.

"He's meditating you idiot." Was the hissed reply from the female assassin to the wayward billionaire.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh." Quiet again, then, "When will he stop?"

Before the other Avengers could reply beyond a sigh, the teen spoke up.

"You could just ask what you came here to instead of speaking as if I cannot hear you, I'm not deaf you know and you make quite the racket, Stark." Percy opened his eyes and turned slowly to the inventor, raising an eyebrow.

Stark nodded. "OK then, straight to the point." He glanced at his companions for support, they ignored him, "Turncoats." He muttered, then he turned back to Perseus, "We thought you'd want to know that you can now leave this room any time you want and that out facilities are all open for you." The soldier's eyebrows remained raised as he cocked his head. "Yeah, anyway, so you can come out and there's going to be food at 10, first come first serve." He rambled a bit more, obviously flustered and unsure what to say before stopping and once again looking at the teen still on the floor staring at him.

"I don't think your director would approve." Was all he said.

"Yeah, well. It's my tower, so my rules. Come out whenever you want, kid." And with that they left, Percy mentally correcting them that he wasn't a kid in any way as they did so.

The teen stared at the doorway for a time after they did, contemplating what they'd said.

After a few minutes he looked to the clock someone had put on the wall. 8 pm.

He had some time.

He went back to his meditation.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Do you think he's coming or what?" The team of heroes were seated around discarded pizza boxes, watching a movie. "It's 10:15 he hasn't showed."
"He doesn't have to come Stark, we did attack then interrogate him. He may not want to come."
The genius sulked.

"Yeah, but who could say no to free pizza?!"
"Not me." Came a voice from the doorway. Their heads snapped round to watch as the scarred teen (except he was hiding the scars) strolled casually across the room, picked up a slice of pizza and sat on the end of the couch, a good metre from everyone else in the room.

Deciding they didn't want to overwhelm the boy who obviously didn't really want to be there the 'heroes' kept talking.
"See!" Boasted Stark, "I was right, no-one can resist pizza." He looked to his teammates smirking.

"You're an idiot, Stark."

They continued watching movies until the end of an especially sad one when Stark decided he had to speak up.

"I wanted to say that I really am sorry for what I said earlier." He looked the veteran teen in the eyes, seeing all the hidden emotion as the boy soldier coldly contemplated his statement. They stared at each other for a few minutes while the others watched, anxious for the heroes' reaction. But, in the end, all he did was turn back to the TV as Clint put in the next movie and remained damningly silent. 

The evening continued like that, they got through 5 more pizzas and three more movies and Percy didn't say a word. None of the Avengers expected him to, although they were dying to speak to him, they had given him his space.

It was when they were rising to leave that they got what they were hoping for.

"Next time, I dibs the meat feast."
That was all he said before he walked out as if nothing had happened, but that was all the Avengers wanted.

They grinned.

A/n:

There you go, the next part. I promised there will be more action later on. If this was below 1300 words then I'm sorry, my computer is refusing to save my work, the rest should pop up shortly.

I hope you enjoyed this and the next part should not take months to come out. I promise.:D

-Samantha2611