The avengers plus one arrived in New York to complete and utter mayhem. Doombots were surging back and forth, alternating between throwing pulses of energy into anything that moved and going for the old-fashioned bladed attack. Skurge himself was in the middle of the chaos, his big hulking mass visible as he towered above the various doombots around him. Even from the distance, they could see his sadistic smile when he turned and saw their quinjet. As they flew over the chaos, Iron Man and Thor dropped out of the jet, engaging the enemy almost immediately. It was a tough decision, but Steve had eventually ordered the team to move out as one. Despite this being a code red, they were wary of yet another trap and from what happened the last time, the avengers weren't going to let their members be picked off one by one.

Loki didn't care about all the trivialities that came with the group of mortals, he knew that no permanent damage would befall New York if only for the simple reason that it was the Greeks' stronghold. Of all the places in Midgard, this city would be the most protected one, avengers or no. He wondered vaguely as they flew around the city searching for a suitable place to land if Amora knew about the Greeks' existence or if she was as ignorant as the other immortals. If she didn't, it would explain the attack, but if she did, then it was pure stupidity on her part. Loki was under no false impression that Doom was working with Amora. If this attack showed anything, it was that Amora was in charge, the Asgardian sorceress' sidekick in the streets more than enough proof of that.

While the avengers worried about their fellow mortals and laid down plans on how to stop the metallic creations down below, Loki's mind raced ahead, trying to figure out what game Amora was playing. The first possibility that came to his mind was that she was trying to draw his brother in. It certainly wouldn't be a surprise, she did have some sort of obsession with the golden prince after all. But Loki knew her, taught her her magic even, and while she wasn't as capable of intricate planning as he was, he knew that she, like him, would never reveal her true hand with such an obvious attack. Which made the idea that this was to trap Thor practically null and void.

As soon as the jet landed, Loki was out and about on the streets searching for his first targets. As he approached the mass of chaos, he saw how the bots facing him seemed to turn around after a few steps in his direction as though they had spotted another target behind them. Loki hid a smirk, the gods were smart indeed, a direct shield around the blocks to keep the damage limited to a small radius would have been too conspicuous. This on the other hand, was ingenious, and if Loki wasn't expecting some sort of spell to be erected to prevent massive damage, he would overlook such an insignificant action too.

The god strode forward confidently, looking as though he was right at home in the midst of the chaos. He tore down the spells viciously, taking pleasure in manipulating the energy in his hands and flinging them at another bot. that was the beauty of spells and seidr, the beauty that those brute Asgardian warriors failed to comprehend. The basic form of a spell is energy, and seidr is the art of manipulating said energy and allowing it to take on a physical form or being able to exert a force on the physical world. If there was one thing that the mortals got right, Loki thought, casually flinging his hands out and crumpling the metal beneath his fingers without breaking a sweat, it was that energy could not be created or destroyed, it could only be converted.

That was essentially what Loki was doing. In ripping apart the spells covering the bots, he had in his hands a specific spell which he could degrade its specificity to its base form: energy and manipulate said energy into something else, an attack or a defensive shield, whichever suited him. He was barely even using his own energy reserve, relying on the abundance of energy which the Doombots had provided him with and which the Avengers had given him free reign of.

However, Loki knew that something was off. He felt it in his gut, as the mortals would say. His instincts were screaming at him that something was not right with this attack, just like that one incident on the plane that started this whole mess. He continued tearing down the shields erected around the doombots but another part of his mind was throwing his own magical energy out, searching for anything that he missed. He found the subtle wave of energy that he knew belonged to the Greeks, their power mingling with the attacks, subtly shielding the mortals and twisting their perceptions, the slick, oily energy of the doombots which he was tearing down and the electrical charge that belonged to his brother but other than that, nothing. Not a bit of magic – the kind used by sorcerers like him, not the instinctual magic that Thor wielded, or the long-permeating kind that the Greeks used – in the area and no sign of Amora anywhere, her magical signature was missing from the group. Loki was so distracted that he failed to notice one charging up a blast at his unprotected back.

It was only when Tony dived in and fired at the bot that Loki whirled around, shocked and more than slightly embarrassed at having been caught off guard.

"What, the fight too boring for you your highness? Could we serve you a little more blood and gore perhaps?" Tony drawled sarcastically, firing his repulsors at another bot sending it flying backwards while Loki hissed and threw a dagger, cleaving said bot's head in half.

The two of them fought back to back for awhile, Tony blasting any doombot surrounding them while Loki took care of the ones that slipped past his blast range. Tony was beyond surprised, and was glad that his face plate covered his expression. If someone had told him that one day he would be fighting back to back with Loki of all people three years ago, he would have laughed in their face and told them to have a drink, or several dozen drinks because there was no way in hell he would allow a backstabber to watch his back.

Now however, he pushed the surprise to the back of his mind, focusing his attention on the fight. The god was surprisingly good, agile in combat and had damn fast reflexes, the bots didn't stand a chance against him. Tony remembered that fight between the god at his back and Steve in Stuttgart. Seeing him in action now only hammered in the suspicion that the god threw the fight back then in Germany.

"So," he shouted over the din, "what's up with you?"

Loki snarled and kicked a bot away, drawing energy from its shield and condensing the energy in his hands, fired point blank in its face, the blast taking off the doombots's head. All of this happened within the span of several seconds. He turned and faced another enemy, hissing back at Stark, "There is nothing wrong with me you foolish mortal!"

"Oh yeah?" Tony challenged, blasting another bot from the never ending wave, "There's something up alright, you only snarl and threaten and call names when you're pissed."

"Oh," he hissed, "And you presume to be such an expert on me now is it Stark?" he sneered, whirling around and throwing a dagger that missed Tony by a hairbreadth, embedding itself in the doombot behind the man.

Tony yelped, jumping back. He glared at the god, although it went unnoticed by the other, "Shut the hell up reindeer games, and tell me what the hell is wrong with you."

Loki sneered, "Which do you want me to do? Shut up or talk? I do not owe you anything pathetic cretin, mind your own business. Isn't that what you mortals love to say?"

Tony huffed, "Okay smartass, I have had it with your attitude, I don't know how the hell Percy puts up with you, let alone have a decent conversation with you. But – hey! Whoa shit, are you okay?" He blasted the bots away and dived towards Loki, who had fallen to the ground when a sudden burst of pain assaulted his mind.

The god clutched his head in pain, dimly aware that the metal covered mortal was hovering above him, covering him from the attacks by the metallic creatures. In another time, he would wonder why said mortal was protecting him and not leaving him to fend for himself, but now, he concentrated on trying to eradicate the pain.

He surfaced with a gasp, his eyes refocusing on the scene before him, "– the hell was that? You got a major headache or something? Do you need aspirin?"

"Silence your tongue Stark, before I make you."

"Oh great," Tony rolled his eyes, studiously denying the worry that had gripped his heart for a moment, "The snarky queen is back. What the hell happened?"

Loki panted heavily, realizing that they were in some deserted alleyway, he swallowed, "Perseus is in trouble." He said honestly, not even bothering to play around with his riddles like his brother often accused him of. It seemed that when it came to Percy, the god was only capable of acting out of character.

Tony gaped at him, flicking this face plate up. The shock remained for several seconds before anger took over, "Look you asshole, listen up and listen closely, say what you want about us but don't you fucking dare to say anything about the kid –"

"I am not jesting you imbecile!" Loki snarled, lurching unsteadily to his feet, "I can feel him, and I know that he is in trouble. That was what I was distracted by, that all this," he waved his hand around him, "this entire attack was a diversion. Amora isn't here, she is where Percy is, I am sure of that and she has him. We were played by them and we delivered him to her hands practically gift wrapped."

Tony stared at him, flabbergasted, "Wha-how, how would you even know that? And why the hell would Amora of all people want with him?"

Loki took a deep breath, he could disappear now, but Percy was their friend long before he was his, he fought back the sudden wave of disgust that flooded his mind – the things he did for the boy for reasons he would never understand. "I know, because of the connections I made with his mind when I brought him back from the chitauri." He turned away, "I do not know what Amora wants with him. I only know that he is in her hands, and whatever her plans are for him, it is not for anything pleasant."

Loki stared straight into Tony's eyes, watching the silent struggle behind them. After a few moments, the other man sighed, grimacing, "Can you get him out of there?"

Loki frowned, "I will try. But you of all people know that I cannot guarantee that he will come out unscathed."

Tony scowled, ignoring the jab at his experience at the hands of the Ten Rings and poked the god in the chest, "If you try anything, anything at all, I will find you and kick your ass back to Monday."

Loki smiled thinly, "Fair enough, any other instructions you wish to add before I embark on my journey?"

"Okay, one, sarcasm totally does not suit you, and two, get that kid out of trouble, he gets into too much as it is already."

Loki stared at him, his face unreadable, wondering vaguely if the mortal even knew the extent of trouble Percy got into on a daily basis, then he nodded once and disappeared in a flash of green.

Tony flipped his faceplate down, hoping against hope that he didn't just make a monumental mistake in allowing the god to run off.

Percy woke up to a haze of pain, feeling as though his entire body had been set on fire. Darkness clawed at his mind, drawing him deeper back into the depths of blissful unconsciousness, but he resisted, fighting the pull despite how much he wanted to slip into a painless sleep. He struggled against the haze in his brain and latched onto the pain like a drowning man grasping for straws, snorting to himself at his own ironic analogy.

He pried his eyes open only to shut them a millisecond later as light assaulted his retinas. The full extent of his pain hit him a few seconds later, and his back arched off the platform he was on. He hissed, his hands clenching into fists, riding out the waves of pain. He fell back against the platform, thoroughly exhausted. It was only then that he realized that his hands were stretched out on both sides, metal chains binding his wrists to the – he looked down – stone table beneath him. Percy groaned, tugging on the cuffs, but they didn't budge. He flopped on the table, closing his eyes, mentally taking in all the damage. His sides burned with fire, and Percy remembered the way Matthias had slashed him with his bare hands.

Matthias.

Percy hissed, feeling completely stupid for letting his guard down around the other boy. Familiarity breeds complacency indeed. He knew what Loki had said, and he knew that Natasha didn't trust him either, but because he'd gone on so many road trips with the boy, he forgot about SHIELD's most important rule: Never trust anyone but yourself.

Percy swallowed, the taste of betrayal and failure bitter on his tongue. He cast aside the thought, continuing his cataloging. He could breathe, albeit with pain flaring up in his side, so that meant that his ribs weren't broken, just bruised, or cracked. His ankle felt sore, and Percy wondered when he got a sprained ankle when a hand suddenly pressed down on his injured side, digging into the wound.

A choked scream escaped his mouth, his eyes shooting open. He lay there gasping, trying to blink away tears and pain, his entire torso rigid with tension.

"Awake so soon little hero?" a voice crooned in his ear.

Percy flinched away instinctively, his side flaring up in pain again as he did so.

"Oh don't do that now, you'll injure yourself further." The same voice whispered again, a faux concerned tone. Percy forced himself to focus on the speaker, and sure enough, a blond woman swam into view, her features were striking, her blond hair cascading in waves around her, giving her a certain regal aura. Her face was soft in the right places, her full lips spread in a gentle smile. The only thing that ruined the image was her eyes. her green eyes were poisonous, betraying cruelty behind her kind visage.

Percy hissed, instantly knowing who he was facing, "Amora."

The woman's mile widened, she leaned back, her well-endowed figure coming into view. "Well then, I'm honored that such a well-known figure like you knows the name of a little lady like me." She simpered, her tone mocking.

Percy snarled and shook against his bonds, "What do you want from me?"

Amora shook her head, the blond locks moving around in tandem, "Such rudeness," she said, clicking her tongue disapprovingly, "Oh well, I suppose that since you're awake now, we can proceed with the ritual."

Percy's eyes widened, "What – what ritual? What the Hades are you planning to do to me?"

Amora grinned, leaning closer until he could feel her breath on his face. She stroked a finger down the side of his face, her nail scraping his skin. He gritted his teeth and glared at her, but she remained unfazed, "If it were up to me," she whispered, "I would do so much to you." She sighed and moved away, "Alas, I have duties to attend to. Perhaps I might have the chance in another life."

"Enough." A scraping voice cut through. Percy watched as Amora became rigid and turned to glare at the shadows. He squinted, no, not the shadows, something far, far worse.

His eyes widened as a hideous creature emerged from the shadows, his breath coming faster and faster as the creature sidled to a stop in front of him. Its grating voice seared his mind, "You thought you could escape us did you little demigod?" it hissed, and Percy could do nothing but stare, frozen in terror at his tormentor, "You thought that the pathetic excuse of a god could save you?"

Quick as a flash, it's claws gripped his head painfully and Percy was struck by sudden, hot, agonizing pain and a scream ripped from his throat, his eyes wide and unseeing.

"–you'll kill him! Stop!"

Percy gasped, jolting back into consciousness, the pain slowly fading away as he caught snippets of the conversation above his head.

"– need him for the ritual –"

"– body only, there is no need for him to be –"

"– his mind has to be intact or there could be consequences –"

"– brought you here for a reason and that is to complete the ritual, not stand by and –"

"– I don't care about Asgard, but if you want this to work you need him –"

Percy let the conversation drift over his head, his mind muddled and dulled by the mental assault. He could deal with physical attacks, but he'd never practiced defending himself from psychic attacks, perhaps it was time to invest in some training.

He blinked sluggishly, feeling a familiar presence appear in the vicinity. His head lolled to the side and his dull green eyes met wide, emerald ones.

"Lo...ki." He croaked, his hand unconsciously stretching out towards the god.

Whatever it was that Loki was expecting when he tracked down and teleported to Percy's last location, it definitely wasn't this. He was not expecting to appear in a darkened room filled with chitauri. He was not expecting to see both Amora and The Other together in the same room. And he was most definitely not expecting to see Percy chained up and spread-eagled on a stone table.

It was the last scene that made his heart stop.

He knew instinctively, that he was facing a sacrificial ritual set up, but for once in his life, his heart adamantly refused to believe what his mind was telling him. Loki leapt to the side, just in time to dodge a stray blast that one of the chitauri had sent at him. He growled and threw a dagger at it, his focus on the two beings standing beside the stone table. The sound of Percy calling to him nearly broke whatever was left of his black heart, and he wished that he would never hear such a sound ever again.

The Other grinned maliciously at him, and attacked, while Amora took advantage of the distraction to start preparing her spell, waving her hands over Percy's body.

Loki fought viciously, fueled by rage and desperation, but the sheer number of enemies and the confined space limited his ability to fight at full power. It didn't help matters that the Other was seeking his blood as well.

The god snarled and kicked and slashed wherever he could, his daggers soaked in alien blood, making the handles slick. Loki gripped his trusty weapons tighter, glaring at the Other. He heard more than saw Amora chanting, and overcome by a new wave of desperation, he disappeared and appeared right in front of the Other, kicking the alien in the chest. The chitauri commander flew backwards, but flipped around midair and vanished, appearing behind the god. Loki ducked, hearing the whistle of the blade as it sliced through the air where his head had been. He stabbed upwards, the dagger sinking into the grotesque flesh of the chitauri's arm.

He was flung back by a powerful blast, rolling aside just in time to avoid the Other's blade. He lashed out and caught the Other's foot, sending the alien to the ground. Loki quickly stood up, knowing that being grounded was inviting death. He just wasn't expecting a hook to bite into the flesh of his shoulder.

The god howled in pain as several glowing hooks embedded themselves in his arms and legs. The chitauri sorcerers pulled and he crashed to his knees, the magical chains yanking his arms backwards. He gasped in pain, hearing the Other's chuckle above his head. Raising his eyes to the chitauri towering above him, he bared his teeth and growled, a silent apology in his heart to Percy.

The Other stroked a gnarled hand through the god's hair, and Loki flinched back, struggling. The chitauri sorcerers twisted the chains and Loki screamed as bolts of electricity ran down each chain and into his body. Still, Loki glared up defiantly at the creature who had tormented him during his time in the void. The Other rasped, "Did you really think that the Void would kill me?" it chuckled, "No, the Void is my home, you were foolish to challenge me on my home ground!"

The Other put out a hand, and a familiar obsidian dagger appeared in his hand. The alien gripped Loki by his hair, pulling it up so that his throat was exposed, the god thrashing in his attempts to get away from the soul crushing dagger. The Other flicked his hands and the dagger curved towards the pale throat column –

"No!"

– the dagger rested against the god's larynx, Loki scarcely daring to breathe. The Other tilted his head in Amora's direction, the witch staring at him. "Why?" the alien rasped, "We can end this now."

Amora shook her head, glaring at the kneeling god. She grinned cruelly, "No," she said, "I have a better idea." She smirked, and Loki felt dread pool in his gut, his heart stopping at her next words, "We let him watch."

The Other fell silent for several moments before it threw its head back and laughed, removing the dagger from Loki's throat. The alien gestured for the chitauri to drag the god over by the stone table, positioning him in such a way that he couldn't look away, no matter how much he wanted to.

Amora smiled at him, licking her lips, "Watch master, and see how extraordinarily you failed."

Loki said nothing, glaring at her.

She grinned and fished out a long dagger, the blade jagged, the hilt encrusted with many jewels. Loki looked at Percy, who was laying there, eying the dagger with apprehension.

On a whim, Loki surged forward, tugging on his bonds, ignoring the pain that lanced through him as he did so and the mocking jeers of the chitauri, pleading, "Perseus, look at me, I – I am so sorry. I –"

"Not your fault." He whispered, turning away from the dagger. His eyes met Loki's, and the god could see the exhaustion in them. He wanted to cry at the sight of the hero, but he willed the tears not to fall. He couldn't do that to Percy. It was his fault, his weakness causing him to fail. The least he could do was watch.

Amora began chanting, as did the chitauri commander, but neither the god nor demigod listened, the words fading to background noise. Percy grinned weakly, "I should've listened to you..."

"What?"

"M'sorry..." Percy mumbled, "I didn't listen to you."

"Perseus," Loki tried, "Look at me." When the demigod did, he continued, "This is not your fault. None of it is, do you hear me?"

Percy shook his head minutely, "Y'told me not to trust Matthias... I turned my back on him, tha's why we're both here..."

"No. NO. That is his fault, not yours. We have all been tricked by them –"

The chanting grew louder, and a low humming noise assaulted their ears.

"I trusted him when I shouldn't, that's why I got caught –"

Loki snarled, "NO! The avengers, they will come, I told Stark, I told him that you were in trouble –"

"They're not coming –"

"They will!" Loki shouted, the noise around them increasing to deafening levels, wind whipping around them.

Percy hissed, "No, they're not. They prepared for this, the avengers are too busy, they're not coming –"

Loki growled and pulled at his bonds, the hooks tearing flesh and muscle and he cried out in pain as electricity rippled through him. "I will get you out – I promise – you cannot give up Perseus!"

"– Percy." The demigod cut in, "Don't call me by my full name."

Loki's eyes widened, at that moment, the words that Amora and the chitauri commander were chanting filtered into his ears –

rífagat í gegnumskuldabréfanna oglosaskipstjóra

Amora lfted the dagger, the tip poised above the hero's heart.

rífagat í gegnumskuldabréfanna oglosaskipstjóra

Percy smiled at him, and whispered, "Find my father."

The witch shouted – rífagat í gegnumskuldabréfanna oglosaskipstjóra! – the dagger plunged down –

Loki howled, "NO!"

He watched in horror as the demigod's body arched up once as the dagger cut through flesh and bone, piercing through his heart, his mouth open in a silent scream, then fell back onto the stone table.

The resulting silence was deafening.

Loki sagged in his bonds, his eyes wide, staring into dull green ones. A choked sob escaped his throat as he watched the light bleed out of those oceanic green eyes. Too late now, he knew what the ritual was for. Too late now, he realized that their main target had always been Percy. Too late now, he realized that the focus should never have been on the avengers. Too late now, he realized that they had lost a battle they never even knew they were fighting.

He felt the spell around Asgard shiver once, twice then – it shattered.

He felt the Mad Titan's overwhelming presence as the shield holding him in was broken.

The Other chuckled at the paralyzed god, walking over to him, a hand running through jet black hair, "The master is free. Now, Death may rule us all."

The feeling of fingers through his hair made him snap. With an unknown strength, Loki snarled and pulled on the chains binding him, his magic building up within him. The electricity running through him fueled his rage and he howled, the magic within him exploding outwards like it did so many months ago over the Pacific Ocean.

In the center of the Nine Realms, at the base of an old, twisted tree, the three women gathered around. Atropos cradled a broken and frayed green thread in her palms, watching with sadness as it disintegrated slowly.

"So it begins..." she whispered.

Her sisters gathered around her, their shoulders touching in a rare sign of comfort.

"Come," Clotho whispered, drawing her sisters' attention, "We must prepare."

As one, the three spinners joined hands and began chanting, their forms glowing brighter and brighter until they vanished completely.

The last of the green thread floated in the air, the strands disintegrating completely before it ever touched the –

– ground, the concrete cracking beneath him. The Hulk wasn't fazed though, and he roared with rage and leapt back into the fray, tearing metal apart in his hands like paper. Above him, Iron Man flew at supersonic speeds, blasting any doombots that he came across and any who were sneaking up on his team mates. He blasted past a building and narrowly avoided a blast to the face, whirling around in shock as waves of chitauri appeared before his eyes. An arrow found its mark in said chitauri's eye, the arrow head detonating on impact.

Tony yelped and flew off, shouting a vague 'Thank you!' to Hawkeye, who was keeping a keen eye on the battle which had just taken a turn. "Guys!" Tony shouted into his comm. "We have alien company!"

Steve, several streets away fighting back to back with Black Widow, turned and threw his shield, the metal cleaving through several bots at once. behind him, Natasha ducked behind cars and shot at the bots, occasionally throwing small magnetic discs that released volts of electricity that incapacitated the bots. "Tony!" Steve shouted back, "What do you mean by alien company?"

"He means that the chitauri are entering the fray Cap." Clint said, his voice level.

Steve cursed, much to the shock of the other avengers, and gave out a new set of orders, "Iron Man, same thing, you're on perimeter duty, try to find out where they're coming from. Hawkeye, remain on that roof, shoot down as many flyers as you can. Hulk is probably smashing away somewhere, and Thor is still locked in combat with Skurge." He turned to Natasha, "Nat, you're with me. Loki, can you take down the doombots?" he paused, when no reply came forth, he repeated, "Loki! Can you hear me?"

"Uh, we have a problem Cap." Tony said, his voice laden with guilt, "Loki isn't here."

"What the fuck?" Clint demanded angrily, "Where the hell did he go?"

Tony kept silent for awhile, wondering how to tell his team mates, "Uh, he left. He said that the kid was in danger."

There was complete and utter silence for awhile, before his comm. erupted in a cacophony of voices. He winced at the sheer volume of protest that blared in his ear, nearly flying into a building.

"ENOUGH!" Steve shouted, blocking a doombots with his shield and bashing its head.

"Tony!" Steve yelled, "What do you mean by Loki is gone? How does he even know that Percy is in danger?"

Tony winced at Steve's tone, replying, "Uh, he said that he knew cause of the time he pulled the kid out of the chitauri's hands. And cause I gave him permission to go get him."

"You let him walk away in the midst of a fucking battle?" Clint snarled.

"Hawkeye stand down! Tony, how could you let him leave? You know he has his powers now!"

"Calm down Cap! I don't think he's gonna hurt the kid, you've all seen the way he acts around the kid - "

"That's not a reason to send him off alone you damn idiot!" Clint shouted, ignoring Steve's command completely, "His powers are unblocked now,he could do anything he wanted!"

"Yeah well he still has that oath or something right?" Tony shot back defensively.

"Hawkeye is right Stark," Steve cut in, "It may be an oath but we don't know how credible it is. And right now, Loki is walking around free and unbound. We already have so much on our plate, we don't need another enemy."

Tony remained silent. He knew that by all means, he should never have let the god go, but he couldn't very well tell the avengers that his gut had been telling him to let him leave now could he? It was a gut feeling, something he normally never trusted outside of battle, but he couldn't explain why he felt that Loki needed to be with the kid, as weird as that sounded. He sighed, "Look guys - "

He stopped short when his HUD lit up, "What?" he whispered, seeing the image in front of him flicker like a television with bad reception, "JARVIS?" he said, "What's going on?"

"It would appear that we are being hacked into sir."

"What?" Tony screeched, shooting upwards, he ignored the alarmed calls of his team, trying to get JARVIS to pinpoint the hacker. "I built this so we wouldn't get hacked, so how in the world is this happening?"

"I do not know sir, running diagnostics now."

"Yeah well you damn well find out who's behind this, this thing isn't supposed to get hacked!" He snapped.

"Tony what's wrong?" Steve's voice came to life in his ear.

"Oh so now it's Tony is it?" he snarked, "What happened to Stark?"

"Tony..."

Tony rolled his eyes, "Fine, someone is trying to hack into my suit okay? I'm getting JARVIS to trace it back to the person who's doing this - what the hell?"

He halted in mid-flight, not believing what he was seeing in front of him. "What is this?" He breathed, his eyes wide.

The holographic display in front of him flickered once, twice then steadied, but instead of the streets and buildings of New York he expected to see, it showed him a darkened room, a stone table in the middle and chitauri gathering around it. His eyes focused on the figure on top of the grey slab, and he nearly choked -

"Oh my god." He choked, "The kid?"

Natasha perked up, putting a hand to her comm. unit, she asked, "Stark, what's wrong? What's wrong with Percy?"

Tony could only stare, transfixed, at the scene unfolding before him, "I - the kid - they've got him on a table. I don't - I mean - he's laid out like some fucking sacrificial ritual shit -"

"The hell?"

Tony shook his head, "I don't know! They've got him all lined up and -"

"Watch and learn mortal scum." A grating voice slithered over their comm., "Watch and see how your hero falls."

"Who are you?" Natasha demanded, Steve doing the same. None of them noticed when their enemies stopped advancing on them.

Tony snarled, "What do you want? Why the hell are you taking the kid for? We're the ones you want!"

The voice hissed, "You? Pathetic mortals, you are not worth our time. The master shall destroy you all."

Tony glared at nothing in particular, opening his mouth to hurl insults at the faceless voice. Instead, what came out was a strangled, "NO!"

The avengers all turned instinctively, "Tony!" Steve shouted, a hand pressing against his comm. unit to his ear tightly, "Tony answer me, what's going on? Tony!"

Tony on the other hand, stared at the image in front of him, not wanting to believe what he was seeing. "Fuck..." he whispered, his voice thick.

"Tony," Natasha said, sounding vaguely concerned, she had never heard the genius sound so broken before, "Tony, what's wrong?"

"I – I don't – fuck."

Clint paused in his shooting on the roof, Tony was acting extremely uncharacteristic. "Tony?" he asked.

"Shit. Shit shit shitshitshitshit!" Tony howled, blasting any chitauri or doombots that came near him, "Fuck – damn it!"

"Tony!" Steve pleaded, "What's wrong?"

Tony hissed, "He's dead."

The three of them stopped short, not daring to breathe. "What?" Steve breathed out.

"He's dead. The kid is goddamned dead."

Clint flinched on his perch, "Don't – don't fucking joke like that man!" he laughed shakily, "Fuck, don't do that man! We're in the middle of a battle –"

"I'm not fucking joking!" Tony growled, "Fuck no, he's dead, Amora – that bitch – she fucking killed him. She fucking sacrificed him on an altar for god's sake! She played us. They all did."

The three of them were stunned, finally, Steve croaked out, "Regroup, we need to regroup. Can – can you guys see Thor?"

Clint closed his eyes, the echo of his warning to Percy sounding in his head, "Give me a moment." He scanned the horizon, then, "I see him," he said flatly, "he's near the Empire."

Steve nodded, "Then – then we'll regroup there in ten."

He let his hand fall to his side, looking at Natasha, who's state of mind was only betrayed by the hardened lines on her face. Her pale green eyes met his sky blue ones, "We'll get them." She promised.

Steve nodded, and the two of them broke into a sprint, their anger and frustration urging them forward, cutting through the ranks of robots like a knife through butter.

The team, despite having lost none of its members, felt broken and shattered as each member who knew felt the death of their youngest keenly, their morale blown to –

– bits and pieces of debris was strewn across the room, but none of it touched the body that was lain atop the table. For his part, Loki found himself curled on his side, blood soaking his shirt from where the hooks had torn into his arms – the shirt that Perseus had given him –

Perseus.

Loki gasped and heaved himself to his hands and knees, gripping the corner of the stone table as he pulled himself onto his feet. His knees buckled and he nearly collapsed back onto the ground. He forced himself to look at the body in front of him, and he slowly but painfully made his way next to Percy's head.

Raising a shaking hand, he laid it gently on the boy's cheek, the cold flesh searing his hand like a brand. The god squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to believe that the person he could have called friend – and lover, his mind whispered – was dead, even though the evidence lay before him.

"I am sorry." He whispered, a useless apology that came way too late. He opened his eyes, a single tear falling from his eyes. "I will make this right." He vowed, looking into lifeless green eyes, "I swear, on everything I know and own, that I will make this right Perse – Percy."

Loki took a shuddering breath and steeled himself. Around him, the chitauri and Amora began stirring. He reached out a hand and closed the hero's eyes.

Recalling the last words that Percy had spoken to him, he pulled his magic around him and vanished.

Deep beneath the ocean, many, many miles below sea level at a pressure that no human could withstand, a huge castle stood, many sea creatures swimming in and out of it. Some of those were normal sea creatures, others, were strange marine animals, like men with fish tails for feet floating at the entrances and exits of the castle, holding spears and wearing armor. Dolphins swam past them, some stopping to chat with the soldiers.

In the belly of the castle, the throne room, a middle-aged man sat. He had a fisherman's tan, and his eyes had lines around them, indicating the man's tenacity for laughter. However, now, the man was doing anything but smiling. In his hands, he held a three pronged weapon, a deep blue trident that pulsed with the power of the ocean. His usual Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts were gone, and in its place was a set of golden armor covering him from head to toe.

The god, Poseidon, sighed deeply, his face expressionless but his eyes betraying the sadness he held in his heart. He clenched his hand around his weapon, the cool metal grounding him as he felt his youngest slip away from him.

"Guard." He called softly, his eyes still closed.

He heard the shifting and clanking of armor as a guard stepped before him. without opening his eyes, he felt the guard bow deeply and he said, "Summon my son here."

A soft swish announced the guard's departure.

After a few moments of silence, a tremor in the water signaled his son's – his first born – arrival. He opened his eyes and took in the sight of his heir standing before him proudly, his raven black hair slicked back in a neat ponytail at the base of his neck, his green eyes bright and confident. Apparently, Triton had changed from his tails to feet, coming to stand before his father.

The prince bowed deeply, "Father."

Poseidon nodded, acknowledging his son's presence. He sighed heavily, earning him a concerned glance. "Triton," he said, his voice belying his exhaustion, "It is time to bring your brother home."

Triton's eyes widened as the meaning of his father's words registered in his mind. "Father is he –" he began, but Poseidon cut him off with a raised hand. The god of the ocean nodded solemnly, "Bring him home my son. The war has begun."

Triton nodded, his eyes hardening and he vanished into mist.

Above the palace, in the underground base which Loki had just left, Triton appeared beside the body of his brother. He looked at his fallen sibling sadly, gathering the hero gently in his arms, his brother's head resting against his chest. Disregarding the chitauri around him, Triton hugged his brother close to him and disappeared, no trace of Percy Jackson having ever been there save for the pool of blood that tainted the grey table.

Back in New York, the avengers had regrouped and were desperately fighting back against the hoard of aliens and bots that were set against them. Never before was Clint so glad that Percy had forced him to put down his pride and accept that modification that he had gotten Loki to make to his arrows than he was now. Having unlimited arrows was definitely a boost in such situations, even though his arms were burning with the strain of having fired so many arrows.

They were barely holding up as it was, Tony had decided to land on the ground instead of fighting alone up in midair, and even the Hulk had joined them and was fighting alongside with them in an uncharacteristic display of human understanding. So when a sharp crack announced the presence of Amora and the chitauri's commander, the avengers all felt whatever hope they had left of getting out of their situation plummet.

The Other laughed, a creaking laughter that grated the nerves of the humans facing them. "Give up." it said, "You have lost already. This world is to be sacrificed in honor of Death."

"Oh yeah?" Tony challenged, "What makes you think we're gonna give up just cause you waved your hand around said so huh?"

The Other hissed, "You humans cannot hope to stand against out force, what more can you do but burn?"

Steve stepped forward, "We're not alone, we're not just humans, we will fight, and we have the hulk and Thor on our side."

Amora laughed, her high pitched tone cutting through them, "What," she smirked, waving a hand behind them, "That Asgardian?"

"Ye –"

It was only sheer instinct and years of training as an assassin that Clint tackled Steve to the ground, a hammer punching the air above them where Steve's head was several seconds before.

They all turned in shock to see the god of thunder standing behind them, his eyes an all encompassing blue.