"So... Let me get this straight." Bruce said, pushing his glasses up from where they slid down his nose. "You made the alien object change its form with a mere command, then placed that very same object on your wrist and now it's stuck there with no clear way of removal." Percy sighed, Bruce was beginning to sound a lot like Fury, and two Fury's were never a good thing. He opened his mouth to answer when Tony cut in, "Woah, wait up a sec. Are we just gonna forget how SHIELD lied to us? Again?"

Percy frowned, "There was no need for the avengers to know about the artifact. It isn't an enemy that the Avengers needed to fight, nor was the world in any danger.

"No danger? Oh really, tell me what that whole fiasco in Alaska was then!" Tony shouted, "We were told that we only had to deal with suspicious readings, there was nothing, absolutely nothing, about an alien artifact. And SHIELD really thought that it was a good idea to keep this a secret? Remember what happened the last time SHIELD kept an alien object in its basement?"

Percy fell silent. The five avengers, the four that were on the jet plus Steve who was in the tower, were gathered in the living room of the Avengers tower. He knew that Stark had decided to convert his tower to house the avengers, so that it was easier for them to assemble if they were needed. For obvious reasons, Thor was absent, and despite what he'd faced down before, the scrutiny of the five avengers was unsettling. Especially Steve's disappointed gaze. He had been on the end of so many of those that it drew up painful memories of the past. He pushed those dark thoughts away and said, "I was under direct orders not to tell anyone except the lab techs that were supposed to study the artifact."

Tony scoffed, drawing attention to him, "Oh right, orders. I always pegged you as the rebellious type Jackson, never knew you'd follow so faithfully." He sneered. Percy stiffened, "Just because you don't follow orders yourself Stark," he hissed, "doesn't mean that others don't. Orders are there for a reason; not following them sometimes may result in unnecessary death. Don't judge me for following them when you disobey orders so quickly." Percy's glare intensified, suppressed memories threatening to rise up again.

"Yeah?" Tony challenged, "Tell me kid, how many people died in Alaska?" Percy's eyes flashed, and Tony saw the hurt in it for a moment, before it was replaced by a cold mask. He felt a pang of guilt, but his pride wouldn't allow him to apologize.

"Thirty-four casualties." Percy reported monotonously, "But it doesn't change the fact that I was acting under Director Fury's specific orders."

"Oh, because Fury's orders have had such a good track record so far." Tony drawled, sarcasm dripping off every word.

Percy opened his mouth to reply when Natasha cut in, "Stark, just give him a floor to live on."

"Excuse me?" Tony exclaimed, turning to her in surprise, "This is technically my tower-"

"And what do you have to lose Stark?" Natasha said, pinning him in place with her steely gaze. "You get to do tests on this artifact and you get to use your new suit if the chitauri comes. New toys for you Stark, isn't that what you've been complaining about? All you have to do is let him stay here. It's a win-win situation."

"But-" Tony protested. "You want to let him stay in a lab elsewhere where the people there won't be able to defend themselves?" Clint said.

Tony scowled, knowing that he was fighting a losing battle, "Fine, he can have the 86th floor."

Percy rolled his eyes, anger rushing through him, I'm not some object to be carted around and it's not like I want to stay in close proximity with Stark anyway, he clamped down on his anger though, it wouldn't do anyone good if he released his infamous anger. He nodded gratefully to Romanov and Barton as he rose from his seat, following Stark into the elevator.

"Right, JARVIS, take us to the 86th floor." Tony said. "Okay here's the layout, the 93rd floor was where we were just now, the living room, recreation room, the kitchen etcetera etcetera. The floor below that is my floor, and the floor below mine is Bruce's. It's reinforced so he can Hulk out if he wants to. The 90th floor s Thor's, because it's easier for me to reinforce the two levels at the same time so he wouldn't break anything with his freaky Asgardian strength. 89th is Cap's floor, 88th is Katniss and Nat's. 87th is the gym and sparring area."

The lift door opened just then and Tony gestured to the entire floor, "And this floor, mi amigo, is yours. If you need any customization of sorts, just tell me. If you need any help, ask JARVIS."

Percy looked around the vast expanse of the room. Well, he amended; it's more like an apartment. A really huge one. He turned to Tony and raised an eyebrow, wondering at Stark's sudden change in attitude. Tony shifted uncomfortably under the intense stare, he felt like those emerald eyes could see right through his soul, "Look kid, I didn't really mean what I said just now..." At Percy's flat stare, he corrected himself, "Well, I meant it, but I didn't mean to insult you or hurt you or anything. Just that, every time SHIELD keeps something from us it doesn't end well."

Percy looked at him for a moment, causing Tony to fidget uncomfortably before nodding once. "Thanks." Percy said simply, turning to explore the room when Tony cleared his throat. He turned around, "Yes Stark?"

"Uh..." Tony began, scratching the back of his head, "I was kinda thinking... I can't just rely on my suit all the time and well... I was wondering if you could, spar with me or something." He held his breath, cursing himself for his lack of eloquence. Percy nearly smirked, if he didn't know how hard it was for Tony to ask him such a question. "Why not Agents Romanov or Barton?" he asked.

"Cause they're assassins who are more likely to kill me than train me. And I can't ask Steve either because he'd break my bones." Tony replied.

Percy, contemplated this request for awhile, there was no harm in teaching Stark how to defend himself, he would be strengthening the avengers. Besides, it wasn't like he had anything better to do other than train himself. Percy nodded, dismissing the feelings of nostalgia at having a student to train, "Fine, I'll train you, every Wednesday after dinner?"

Tony grinned, "Hell yeah! Thanks kid!"

Percy smirked, "Don't come crying to me when you wake up sore the next day."

Tony just laughed, "Oh, waking up sore is probably a constant for me." he winked, laughing again at Percy's disgusted expression and went back into the elevator.

Now alone, Percy glanced around the room, it was sparse, but looked surprisingly comfortable. The small living room had a flat screen television and a soft looking couch. He walked further in and found several rooms, shaking his head at Stark's blatant flaunting of his wealth. He opened the door to one room, taking in the large bed in the middle and the bathroom connected to the main room. He placed his duffel and sword on the bed. He wasn't able to grab everything from his room at SHIELD but he could always go back to get it. He looked at the sword on his bed, remembering how it came into his hands, allowing nostalgia to overtake his senses for a moment.

Exhaustion seeped into his bones, he was dead tired. He had been running from Camp half-blood to Camp Jupiter and back again, trying to negotiate some semblance of treaty between the two camps. Octavian had been adamant that the Greeks were plotting destroy the Romans and had spread that rumor. Unfortunately, the Romans hadn't needed a lot of convincing because of Leo's attack on the camp. Granted, that wasn't exactly him, but the Romans didn't know that. They had been promised that the Greeks wouldn't attack but the exact opposite had happened. Percy sighed, the negotiations were tough and Octavian was annoying him to no end. He really wished he could just bash his head in or let someone else take over the diplomatic discussion, but the former would be counterproductive while the latter was not possible because he was the leader of the Greek camp and he wasn't about to let Octavian think that he was a coward.

On top of that, he had to scramble around the world to bring half bloods back to camp depending on their parentage. He was understandably exhausted, and all he wanted to do was just get back home and crash for the next week or so. He stepped into the house, nearly panicking at the lack of people in it when he remembered suddenly that his mum and Paul were on their honeymoon. He smiled to himself, they had gotten married last summer, but Paul's schedule didn't allow him to take leave until recently. They'd gone to Europe, charitably sponsored by Hades as a gift. He'd been shocked that Hades, of all the gods, was willing to do that for a mortal. When asked, Hades had just replied, "I owe you a great deal Perseus, to provide for such a trip would hardly put a dent in the fortune I have amassed over the millennia." Percy had been stunned into silence, but had graciously accepted it. Hades was a surprisingly nice person to talk to after you got pass the bitter persona. Percy walked into his room and collapsed on the bed, not even bothering to undress himself. He was about to enter Morpheus' realm when he felt a presence in his room. He rolled out of bed and uncapped Anaklusmos in one fluid movement and swung it at the presence. The sound of his sword striking another hard object resounded in the room and he moved for another attack when- "Perseus stop!" Percy grinded to a halt, barely stopping his blade from reaching the other person. The haze of sleep lifted from his mind, "Dad?" he asked tentatively. "Honestly Percy," Poseidon's voice came again, "you could have taken my head off with that."

Percy moved to flick the light switch, seeing his father appear in the light with his trident in his hand. He blinked sleepily, "That wouldn't have taken your head off at all," he pointed out, "it wouldn't have been strong enough." Poseidon smiled, "Well, it's good to see that your reflexes are sharp, but that's not why I'm here."

Percy let the words sink into his mind before he groaned, crumpling to the floor, "If this is some kind of mission or quest, can it wait till morning? I'm dead tired dad."

Poseidon's brow furrowed in confusion, "Mission? No no no, I'm here to give you your birthday present!"

It was Percy's turn to frown in confusion, he turned to look at the calendar hanging on his wall and started in shock as he realized that today was August 18 th . "Oh." He said.

Poseidon shook his head, smiling softly at his son's absentmindedness. He leaned his trident against Percy's shelf and materialized a package from nowhere. He presented the package to Percy, who took it hesitantly. He gestured to the package, "Go on, open it." Poseidon said. Percy glanced at him, and unwrapped the package, gasping at the silver light that emanated from the package. He held it up, hands grasped tightly around the hilt of the sword. The silver sword reflected the light of the room and sat perfectly balanced in his hands. He looked at his father, who was smiling softly at him, "What material is this? I don't think I've ever seen it before..."Poseidon grinned, "You have actually, I believe you've seen Artemis in action before. Her knives are made of the same substance. Its called Olympian Silver. Like Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold, it can harm demigods, gods, monsters and anything Greek. On the other hand, it can affect more than the Greeks too."

Percy looked up in confusion, then alarm as the implications of the sentence sank in, "Wait, what? More than Greeks, you mean mortals? Why would I need a weapon that can harm mortals?" Poseidon just smiled pityingly at him, "You're always running around doing missions for us gods Percy, and I know you haven't ran into any mortals who might put up resistance while on said missions, but its only a matter of time before you do or the gods ask you to deal out a punishment to the guardians of their children."

Percy recoiled, "You're asking me to kill people?"

Poseidon looked down sadly, "Not every demigod child has a good family to take care of them Percy, some have neutral families, while others... they may be abused, beaten and humiliated. Some of the gods don't like it, and they would want you to deal with the mortals. I'd thought you'd prefer a sword over another weapon, like a gun." Poseidon chuckled, "Though a gun wouldn't do you any good, what with your horrible aim.

Percy stared at him in horror, not even laughing at his father's poor excuse for a joke, "So what, you gave me this as a birthday present and tell me that there are strings attached?"

"Percy-" Poseidon tried. "No!" Percy shouted, "How can you stand there and give me a present while saying that you want me to kill with it? You can take this back, I don't want it. I don't want something that requires me to do something immoral!"

"Perseus Jackson!" his father boomed, shocking him into silence. "You will accept this gift, and you will use it if any of the gods desire for you to deal with their children's guardians accordingly."

Percy just stared in disbelief at his father who softened his features, "I'm sorry Percy, happy 19 th birthday son." Poseidon said, vanishing into mist, leaving the smell of the ocean lingering in Percy's room.

The sword became heavy in his hands all of a sudden, and he threw it in the far corner of his room, feeling hot tears of frustration burning behind his eyelids. He couldn't believe it. He had been elated at the thought that his father had remembered his birthday when even he himself had forgotten and had bothered to give him a present. In hindsight, he should have known that there was a reason for this sudden gift. The gods didn't give anything for free, he should have known that his own father was no different.

He remembered the advice the nymph at the beach at Santa Monica gave him "beware the gifts". Granted, she wasn't referring to this, but the advice still stood anyway. It dawned on him that his father had never given him a present that had been solely for him, it was often to fulfill other purposes. The sand dollar he received on his sixteenth birthday had been used to bargain for the cooperation of the river gods to destroy Kronos' army, the armor he had received on his seventeenth birthday had been meant as an offering to be sacrificed to ask for help from a sentient and enormous sea creature* that had helped his father in his battle for Atlantis against Pontus, the primordial of the seas. He stared at the sword gleaming faintly in the moonlight at the far corner of his room for awhile longer, then collapsed on his bed and straight into Morpheus' realm. That night, his dreams were filled of blood and screaming and flashes of silver.

Percy shook himself out of the memory. The prospect of the sword and its intended purpose had been horrifying at that time. Now though, he was glad that he had decided to keep the sword. It certainly made things easier when he was in SHIELD. Despite everything that had happened, one thing remained constant. He still sucked at shooting at anything. He smirked at his self-deprecating thoughts, heading into the bathroom to catch a quick shower before JARVIS announced that it was time for dinner.