The mood on Asgard was a somber one.

The chitauri hoard that invaded the realm eternal may have been defeated, but Thanos had won in the end. When the realm's defenders had been busy with the invasion, a small group of chitauri had been sent to the vaults to retrieve Asgard's most prized possession – the Infinity Gauntlet. The artifact which Odin had spent most of his energy trying to protect when Thanos himself came to Asgard's shores. And it was now in his hands.

The Avengers were all gathered in the healing room, each finding their own corner to mope. They chatted quietly amongst themselves, talking about inane things and generally not addressing the elephant in the room. Their eyes skittered away from the prone figure lying on the bed, swathed with bandages. The pale face, the sunken cheeks – the avengers tried not to let their eyes linger on what could be their worst failure in all of their history together.

They looked up when the door opened, revealing the last member of their motley crew. Thor looked at each of them and cracked a smile, though it looked more like a grimace. He was wearing his armor, but his cape was nowhere to be seen. The god ran a hand through his disheveled hair, dirt and grime staining the golden locks. "How does he fare?" he asked quietly.

One would not have thought the god to be capable of speaking quietly, but it seemed that these few days were full of surprises.

Steve shook his head, looking at the form on the bed sadly, "No change. The healers say that he's doing fine, but he's still refusing to talk or even interact with people."

Thor nodded his head gravely, the news disappointed him, but he had expected just as much.

"So what about you? Any news?" Tony asked, for once, not even finding the energy to crack a joke.

Thor sighed and shook his head, "We are tending to the wounded, and mother is trying to get our defenses to a significant level with the other mages. Father is drained from the constant use of his magic, but he too is gathering his strength. I have spoken to Heimdall, but so far, there has been no sign of Thanos or the chitauri."

Natasha, who was sitting with her back against the wall, spoke up, "What I don't understand is why they're taking so long to attack. It's been two weeks. They have what they wanted, why are they waiting?"

"To gather their army? Strengthen their forces?" Bruce commented, cleaning his glasses.

"They don't need to do that do they? I mean if he – Loki – was telling the truth then this Thanos guy has more minions than Gru does." Clint chipped in, not looking up from where he sat on the window sill.

Tony turned to give the archer an incredulous stare, "Since when did you watch Despicable Me?"

The archer flipped him off.

Steve sighed at his team mates' antics, and did so again when he caught sight of Thor's dejected face at the mention of his brother. "Thor, look, I'm sure that there's some reason for what Loki did –"

"Whatever reason my brother may have had, that is no excuse for his actions." Thor said, frowning darkly. He walked over to the bed, looking down at the boy who had changed their lives, resting a hand on Percy's head, "I will not forgive him for what he has done."

Loki gasped as he hit the floor harshly, sucking in a breath and rolling to his feet, launching straight into a sprint without pausing to take a breather. He dashed through the alleys, following the map he saw in his mind's eye. The god risked a glance backwards, cursing mentally as he ducked, narrowly avoiding a blast which sailed past his ear. He wove through the street, shoving others out of the way, ignoring their indignant cries and angry shouting. His pursuers were catching up to him, and if only he could just reach the collection point –

The trickster snarled and dived into a roll, turning around and flinging three daggers at his attackers. The yelps of pain and the following thuds told him that his daggers struck true. Loki spared a second to grin then turned and continued running. As a god, he had heightened senses and abilities, even stamina. Nonetheless, running at full speed across an entire city while trying to shake of his pursuers was definitely taking its toll on him.

Loki ducked into an abandoned alleyway, leaning against the grimy wall to catch his breath. The god looked down, gritting his teeth as he tried to push certain memories away. He clenched and unclenched his hand, taking deep breaths to calm his racing heart. He had to do this, or his daughter's realm would soon be overcrowded. Loki tilted his head up, letting his eyes rest on the star-filled canopy above him, the sky a deep purple color mixed with streaks of orange. He wished, in that moment, that Percy could have been there with him. He longed to bring the hero with him to explore the realms, to take him through Yggdrasil and bring him to planets he had never seen before.

Loki closed his eyes, all those were but dreams now. He wondered vaguely why he wasn't using his seidr to cloak himself, then grinned self-deprecatingly. He cocked his head to one side and heard the telltale whine of his pursuers' vehicles. The god sighed and continued his sprint towards where the chitauri were waiting for him.

The moment he slid into the aircraft, the chitauri activated their weapons and gunned down his pursuers, Loki closing his eyes against the cries of pain and the final thuds as they landed on the ground. Instead, he steeled himself and said, "I have retrieved the orb, now let us get out of this place."

The chitauri manning the craft snarled at his commanding tone, but took off nonetheless, chattering rapidly into a speaker. A blue-tinged portal appeared in front of them, and the chitauri drove the aircraft through it, warping them through space as they returned to the Void. Loki tried to calm his beating heart, his face schooling into a blank mask as the aircraft landed on the barren rock.

The god stood up and stalked out of the ship, holding his head high as he approached the Mad Titan, who had taken to sitting on his throne all day, admiring the Gauntlet on his hand. The being's indigo eyes snapped to him as he approached, and Loki suppressed the urge to shiver as he looked into the insanity contained in those eyes. He forced himself to maintain eye contact with the being, sliding to one knee – despite the disgust that surged within him at the action – bringing out a silver metallic sphere, presenting it to Thanos. The Titan stood up and made his way to Loki, plucking the orb from the god's hands, turning it around. Loki pressed his lips together, remaining in his kneeling position. He clenched his teeth as he felt a hand drop onto his head, stroking his hair tenderly. This time, he could not hold back the shudder that went throughout his body at the intimate gesture, prompting a round of laughter from the Mad Titan.

"Ah my pet," Thanos crooned, "You have done so well."

Loki squeezed his eyes shut, "I try my best –" the hand tightened its grip on his hair, "– Master."

Thanos rumbled with laughter, the hand never leaving Loki's head, "The set is almost complete. All that is left are the Aether and the power gem. One of which is extremely accessible to you little godling. Is it not?"

Loki breathed out, "Yes it is."

Thanos smiled and released his hold on the trickster, returning to his throne, "I suggest you move quickly now, pet. We have wasted too much time."

Loki swallowed harshly, his throat running dry.

Time to pay a visit to some old friends.

When night fell, Clint couldn't take it anymore and stood up on his windowsill, muttering a quick, "I'm gonna get some fresh air." to the general room before he left – through the window. He heaved himself up to the roof, climbing up the slanted tiles to the highest point. The archer crouched on the highest point of the roof, sighing deeply, watching as his breath fogged in front of him. He held his bow in his left hand, having taken it out as he crouched. His quiver was on his back. The Heimdall guy might have said that there was no sign of any chitauri anytime soon, but Clint wasn't taking any chances. He'd rather be well-prepared and ready to fight, than unprepared and dead.

He took in a deep breath, wondering when everything went straight down to hell.

The archer paused as his ears caught a slight rustle, though his body remained in its position, not wanting to give himself away to whoever was creeping up behind him. Clint gripped his bow tightly, his right hand twitching slightly. When the next rustle came, he fluidly stood up, nocked an arrow and aimed it at the figure behind him, the arrow pointed straight at the figure's heart.

"I should really put this arrow through your eye." Clint growled.

"Why do you not then?"

The archer grinned, "Oh believe me, I am very tempted to. Why are you here?"

"Why should I have to explain my actions to a mortal like you?" the figure said, stepping forward into the dim light of the moon to reveal the black hair and green eyes of one God of Lies.

Clint sneered, "Back to being mortals again huh. Makes me wonder if all your words were lies. But oh wait, yeah it should be right? Seeing as you're the God of Lies."

He watched in satisfaction as the god stiffened, glaring daggers at him.

"Why are you here, really?"

Loki smirked, "Why would I reveal my plans to you?"

Clint scoffed, "Come on, I may not have any superpowers, but I sure as hell ain't stupid. You don't want to reveal your plans to me? Fine, I can accept that. But then you should've just killed me before I even turned around. I've seen you using your magic in battle, don't give me the crap that you can't even walk silently. Besides, if you were in Asgard to concoct some nefarious plot or create some mayhem, why are you here? Here, in the healing quarters? There's nothing for you to attack here save injured patients. If you wanted to create chaos, the best place for you to do so would be the center of the palace. You know what I think?"

"I do not need to bother myself with what you think, you insufferable worm –"

"I think," the archer cut in, ignoring the glare he received, "That you're here to see Percy. Although I don't know why you would do that because you're the one who put him there in the first place."

Loki fell silent, his eyes shifting away from the archer. Clint pressed his lips together and released the tension in his arm, putting his bow down. "Do you even know what you've done to him?" Clint demanded.

Loki flicked his eyes towards him, scowling, "I do not need to explain myself to you –"

"Fuck you, you bastard. Alright? You have no idea what you did so don't give me the high and mighty bullshit that there is some goddamn reason that us mortals can't understand."

Loki pressed his lips together tightly, not saying a word.

"Oh so you're giving the silent treatment now?" Clint asked, "Alright, fine, I'll talk then. You want to know what happened to Perce? I'll tell you. He nearly died – did actually, several times in fact. He flatlined, do you know what that even means? It means his heart stopped. Three times. He lost a lot of blood thanks to that move you pulled back there." The assassin snarled and stepped closer to the god, "You wanna know what the healers told us? He had second degree burns on his back and leg from where the chitauri's weapons clipped him. Gashes and cuts where he couldn't block their attack fast enough. But you know what the worst part was? He had a shattered collarbone. Shattered because of an arrow that he took for your mother. She would have died if it wasn't because of him and he was standing with a goddamn shattered collarbone!"

Clint was now nose to nose with Loki, who was still gazing at him impassively, the only sign which let the archer know that all of these were affecting him was the tightening around his eyes. He knew he was hurting the other man, but at this point of time, he couldn't bring himself to give a damn. Clint poked a finger into Loki's chest, "And because a shattered collarbone wasn't bad enough, they had to deal with the entry wound of the bolt, which was made a hell lot worse because somebody decided that it was all fine and dandy to rip the wound apart! It was jagged damn you, it was jagged and it was poisoned." Clint hissed, his oak eyes blazing, "And you know what's the cherry on top?"

Loki closed his eyes, "Stop."

But Clint bulldozed on, "The healers could barely do anything to get the poison out because you slit his throat. You, the guy who's been making goo-goo eyes at the kid for so long, who risked his life to bring him back from the dead. You. Slit. His. Throat."

"Enough." Loki hissed, "I will not have you spin your lies –"

"Says the person who spun the ultimate lie of all!" Clint shouted, Loki's mouth snapping shut with an audible click. The archer jabbed a finger in the direction of Percy's room, "You were the one who put him there, so don't you dare run away from this like the coward you are. The healers couldn't even draw out the poison because he was losing too much blood from the jugular that you slit. They had to deal with three major injuries at once with their hands practically tied behind their backs all because of what you did!" Clint breathed heavily, "Are you happy now you bastard? He's not responding to any of us. When he's awake, all he does is just stare blankly into space. He doesn't speak, he barely eats and he never talks. So let me ask you one more time, are you happy now?"

Loki remained silent for several moments, his eyes wandering to the light coming from the room that Clint was pointing out, before turning back to the archer, "Would it please you to hear me say that, yes, I am happy?"

Clint sneered, "I wouldn't put it past you to feel that way. Lying to the only good person out of all of us apart from Cap. Pulling all this shit on that kid. It really wouldn't surprise me you lying asshole."

Loki sneered back, "Then why do you not kill me? Hurt me while I am standing here, open for you to do so?"

"How do you know I won't" Clint said, then fired three shots into the god's abdomen.

Loki stumbled back with a cry, a hand dropping to cover his wound as he fell to one knee on the rooftop. He looked up at the archer with wide eyes, a gun pointed straight between his eyes. Clint shook his head and smiled tightly, "You have no idea how much I want to put the entire magazine through your eyes. Saves us a hell lot of trouble."

"Then why do you not?" Loki gritted out.

Clint clicked the safety of his gun back on, holstering it at his side, "You know, I'm not called Hawkeye just because I can shoot an arrow and hit a target dead on from five hundred feet away. Fury gave me that codename because of my ability to see."

The archer turned and walked away, prepared to leap of the roof, he turned and spoke over his shoulder, "I may hate you, and believe me, I'll be shooting your ass off whenever we meet next. But as much as I hate you, I know what I saw. And whatever screwed up reason you have for doing what you did to the kid, I know your feelings for him were real."

He cast one glance back at the kneeling god and said, "Don't get me wrong, I still hate you, I just won't deny what I saw. And you better watch out because none of the Avengers are gonna let you come close to the kid without you proving yourself first." He jumped off the roof, leaving the god behind on the roof to bleed out.

Loki stumbled out of a Tessaract-made portal, cloaking himself immediately even though there was no one around him, the wound that Barton gave him still tender and fresh. This time, he had arrived on Midgard alone. The god leaned tiredly against the remains of some unknown building, letting his thoughts wash over him. He knew that his actions would have condemned him, but he had taken the risk nonetheless. The mere thought of Percy becoming unresponsive to anyone disgusted him, and it only made his stomach churn even more knowing that he was the cause of it. The god wanted to do nothing more than just hide himself in a hole and wait until all of this blew over.

Of course, he knew that was nothing but a fantasy. He was too tied up in this whole cosmological situation to even think about running away. Loki sighed, feeling more drained than he had ever been. He flicked his eyes up to the sky, wondering if Zeus could see him and if he was to become roasted within the next few seconds. He remained where he was for a long time, not doing anything but staring at the sky until light blue turned to black. The god sighed once more, then pushed all thoughts to the back of his mind, focusing only on his current mission.

He stalked through the abandoned city unseen and unheard, making his way slowly to the one building which could rival Stark's tower in height and glory. A flash of pain struck him as he caught a glimpse of the abandoned Avengers tower, memories of his time there coming unbidden to his mind. His steady footsteps faltered, his sharp eyes catching sight of an orange glow reflected among the canopy of trees of the park. He pressed his lips together, hesitating slightly before he made his way towards the park where he had been muzzled and taken back to Asgard.

As he approached the source of the orange glow, he felt his despair lifting, the cloud of depression that hung over him dissipating. Loki maneuvered around trees and bushes, careful not to step on any brittle twig. He emerged in a clearing, stopping short when he saw a little girl tending to a bonfire, casually poking the flames with no fear of it burning her.

The girl tilted her head slightly, then looked straight at him despite his cloaking, "Why don't you come and warm yourself up?"

Loki paused, unsure of what to do, but the girl continued to look straight at him. In the end, he dropped his cloaking spell and revealed himself, though the girl just smiled gently, as though she was expecting him to do so. She patted the ground next to her, returning to tending to her fire. Loki swallowed and moved to stiffly stand beside her, his eyes locked on the orange glow of the fire. He felt a small hand slip into his, and looked down, seeing the little child smile and tug at his hand. He acquiesced to her silent request, sitting down cross-legged, his tall form dwarfing the little girl's.

"You are despairing." She said calmly, still poking the fire.

Loki laughed, a broken and brittle sound, "What reason do I have not to?"

The girl tilted her head, "You are surrounded by the ones you love. Draw strength from them."

Loki laughed again, feeling a burning sensation behind his eyes, "I do not think that is possible. Not when I have burned all the bridges between us."

The girl tilted her head inquisitively, "Have you?"

Loki snarled and stood up abruptly, glaring at the flames, "It does not matter that I have betrayed my kin and family, it does not matter that I have betrayed the handful of people who trusted me," he whirled around to glare at the girl, who remained unaffected by his anger, "I betrayed the one person who I swore never to betray. I swore upon my soul to never hurt him and that is exactly what I have done!" he roared, flinging out a bolt of magic which destroyed the tree which it hit.

Loki breathed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose, "You cannot tell me that I have no reason to despair, not after all that I have done."

The girl smiled sadly and stood up as well, looking at the god, "You believe that there is no hope for you, but there is still a sliver of hope in you." she pointed to the fire which she had been tending to, "What do you think that is?"

Loki looked at the fire unsurely, it was not roaring, like a huge bonfire, but neither was it so small that it was shriveled up to the point of dying out. The fire was small, yes, but it was substantial, and Loki said, "My hope?"

The girl nodded, "You still have hope within you, you still cling on to the hope that all of this will be well once it has ended. I once told Percy," she ignored the way Loki flinched at his name, "that even when everything else has fallen, the hearth will remain." She looked at him with sad eyes, "You have a long road to travel before you will heal, but never forget that the hearth is steadfast. At the end of the day, everyone comes back to the hearth. To home."

Loki grinned tiredly, falling to his knees, "I have no home milady." He shook his head, "I have nowhere to go."

Hestia wrapped her hands around his shoulders, her arms barely reaching around him, "You can always return here." She said gently.

Loki snorted, "When I have all but killed your hero? Betrayed his trust?"

Hestia smiled, "My brother may be angry, but I know why you did what you did. It might not have been the wisest course of action, but it was the only one you saw." She stroked his raven hair, making him lean into her touch, "I cannot say for certain what Percy will do, but I know that he will forgive you."

Loki laughed softly, disbelieving, "Will he? After what I have done?"

Their moment was broken by a flash of light, announcing the arrival of Earth's resident tricksters. Loki flicked his eyes towards them, standing up fluidly as his mask fell into place. For once in his life, both Apollo and Hermes were not smiling, though the former still had his sunglasses on despite the time.

"Nice night out for a walk eh?"

Loki inclined his head, "I suppose."

Hermes grinned sharply, "You're lucky that Aunt H calmed the council down before Uncle P blew a gasket. As it stands, I think Japan might have experienced a tsunami or something."

Apollo snorted and crossed his arms, "Hey you didn't tell him about how Uncle H erupted into flames – like literally, never seen the guy so pissed before in my life."

Loki swallowed nervously, that right there was two out of three of the Big Three, he was not liking his odds.

Hestia frowned at her two nephews, "Enough you two," she scolded, pointing a finger at them, "I won't have you bullying other people."

Hermes snorted, then reached into his pocket and flicked the object at Loki, who caught it with his reflexes – though he had the feeling that the two brothers would enjoy it if it had smacked him in the face. He opened his palm, looking at the object that lay in it. It was a small transparent box, and within it, was a small orange stone, pulsing steadily. Loki looked up at the three Greeks in shock.

"What...?"

Apollo stepped forward, pulling off his sunglasses, revealing two golden orbs, "Don't make me regret vouching for you." he said seriously, then he vanished.

Hermes eyed the spot where his brother had just been seconds ago, then looked at Loki, "You're my friend Lokes, but so is Percy, and trust me, I'm spitting mad at what you did." The traveler god took a deep breath, "Apollo told me to trust you, and that's what I'll do because you're my friend, and I don't believe that you are capable of hurting Percy for no reason. Don't give me a reason to stop trusting you."

Then he vanished as well.

Loki looked down at the gem that lay in his palm, curling his fingers over it. "Why?" he asked, not looking up, "Why would you give it to me?"

Hestia placed a hand over his, "Because Loki, we trust you."

Loki closed his eyes against the ache in his chest, and pulled away from her, turning to leave the way he came, before he disappeared completely, he said, "You shouldn't trust me, I did not receive the title of God of Lies for no reason."

He heard tinkling laughter behind him, "Loki, Apollo is not called the God of Truth because he always speaks the truth."

Loki allowed himself a tiny smile before he cloaked himself and vanished into the night.

Hestia watched as the exhausted god disappeared into thin air, turning around and waving her hand at the fire, vanishing it with a single thought. The clearing fell into darkness. The eldest Olympian tilted her head skywards, before she vanished in a column of fire.

She appeared on Olympus, the throne room quiet and void of people. Walking over to her hearth, Hestia lighted it up, sending out a special beacon to the rest of her family. She waited for a few moments, growing to her godly form and taking her place on her throne. She was forever grateful towards Percy for requesting Zeus to give her and Hades their throne on Olympus. She didn't mind not having one, after all, she gave her throne to Dionysus anyway, but she liked Percy's thoughtfulness. He was such a sweet boy when he wanted to be, even though he didn't realize it.

A few seconds after her beacon was sent out, the gods began to arrive in the throne room one by one, with Zeus appearing in a bright flash of lightning. Hestia frowned, wanting to chastise her brother when Hades appeared next, like a wraith emerging from hellfire. She raised an eyebrow at them when Hades leveled a smug smirk at his younger brother, while Zeus scowled. Poseidon appeared in a whirpool, water spraying the king of the gods. Zeus' scowl deepened as he looked at his second brother, Poseidon, merely flicking water droplets off his body, not even looking at the sky god. Soon enough, the throne room was filled with the rest of the Olympians, each of them appearing on their respective thrones.

When all of them were present, Zeus cleared his throat and looked at Hestia, "Sister, has it been done?"

Hestia nodded, giving a look to both Apollo and Hermes, "It has." She supplied quietly, "The soul gem is now in Loki's hands." None of them missed the way Poseidon's hand tightened on the arm of his throne.

Zeus nodded, frowning slightly, "I do not approve of this but –"

"There is another thing." Hestia interrupted, "The Chitauri."

Hades frowned, "What about them?"

Hestia leveled each of her family member with a grave look, "They will be attacking us. When, I do not know."

"And how do you know this?" Poseidon asked narrowing his eyes.

Hestia hesitated for all but one second, before saying simply, "Loki."

The sea god scoffed, his eyes darkening with rage, "And how trustworthy is his word? The word of a liesmith?"

The goddess of the hearth frowned, "He speaks the truth, I believe it."

Poseidon scowled, "Belief is not enough sister, we need evidence, proof that he speaks the truth –"

"He does speak the truth! Loki is not our enemy!" Hestia said, her eyes sparking with flames.

"Is he not?" Poseidon said lowly, the earth trembling in his power, "Did he not run back to the Mad Titan at the first sign? You are blinded by your bias towards him sister!"

"And you are blinded by your bias against!"

"I have good reason to be biased when he nearly killed my son!" Poseidon roared.

"Enough!" Zeus thundered, leaping to his feet and slamming his bolt against the ground. He glared at both of his siblings until the two of them sat back down on their thrones. He turned to Hestia, "Poseidon is right, we need concrete evidence of the assault, we cannot rely on your belief alone. If Loki is lying to us, about the attack or about the numbers..."

Hestia sighed tiredly, she knew where her brothers were coming from, but she didn't know how to tell them. Her domain was primarily the hearth, the place where people all came home to at the end of the day, the place where hope was the strongest. Loki didn't have one. Hestia had felt it. He didn't believe that he belonged anywhere, that he had any place to come home to. He didn't believe that he was deserving of a place to call home, but that didn't stop him from yearning for one. Hestia could feel the hope that surged within him, the longing for a proper home, for a place to return to where no one would judge him. Hestia felt all that when she met him, and she didn't know how to explain that feeling to her brothers.

While Hestia remained quiet, Apollo spoke up, for the first time in his life, being completely serious. "I've seen the attack." He said, looking at his father, "I don't know how many there are, just that it will come to us, and that we're better off preparing for an attack than not preparing for one."

Artemis narrowed her eyes, "Are we talking about the first Titan War, the second or the war with Gaia?"

Apollo frowned and searched his memory for the vision that he had, as well as the images he saw in Loki's mind, "Possibly all three." He spoke up at last.

"Impossible." Hades growled, "Thanos should not have that many soldiers."

Apollo shook his head, "He does, and I've seen it. What Loki brought to New York – that was but one mothership, and not even the smartest of their lot. What Thanos has is hundreds, maybe even thousands of those fleets, with chitauri which are far more competent and intelligent."

Athena, her grey eyes cold and calculating, spoke up for the first time, "A two-pronged attack, he is going to conquer Asgard and Earth together."

"Why would he split his forces between the two realms? Why not conquer Asgard first?" Aphrodite piped up, shocking them all with her contribution. "What?" she frowned, seeing the looks they gave her, "I can be serious when I want to." She said defensively.

Athena shook her head at her airhead sister, "He already has the Infinity Gauntlet, he doesn't need the full army to conquer Asgard."

"Why Earth? Why not one of the other realms closer to Asgard? Vanaheim maybe, they're the sister realm to Asgard after all, it would make sense to take them out before they can come to Asgard's defense." Hermes asked.

"If you look at the map," Athena said, creating an image in her hands, "Earth is situated directly in the center of Yggdrasil, with Asgard at the top and Nifflheim at the bottom. Earth, tactically speaking, is in the most advantageous location. Conquering our realm would mean that Thanos would have a foothold in the heart of Yggdrasil. And from there, he can reach any other realm easily and take over. Although," she sighed, "he might be conquering earth because of the New York incident as well."

"Revenge?" Ares stated, raising an eyebrow, "Seems useless to me, considering that most of the mortals are useless in a war."

"He doesn't care does he," Artemis snapped, her silver eyes blazing, "Thanos knows that the mortals have a weapon capable of killing an entire fleet at one shot. He doesn't know how many of those nuclear weapons the mortals have, or how many mortals have that power, he's not willing to take that chance."

"Artemis is right," the goddess of wisdom picked up from where her sister left off, "Whatever reason Thanos has for attacking us, he does have them, and as much as I hate to agree with Apollo, we do need to prepare for an invasion." She looked her father dead in the eye, "And we're going to have to step in."

Zeus frowned. The only time that the gods had stepped in personally had been against Typhon and against the giants that Gaia had raised. They had never fought alongside their children in battle before the Giant war, only fighting when their own safety was concerned. The king of the gods sat on his throne in deep thought. He knew that his daughter was right, that they needed to step in lest their children suffer the consequences of their inaction. However, that would mean violating the ancient laws...

"You know," Hermes suddenly said, grinning mischievously, causing everyone to turn their eyes to him, "Thanos is challenging us by sending his army to our domain."

Zeus blinked for several seconds, before understanding dawned. The king grinned sharply and raised his master bolt, lightning crackling in the air, "Olympians, notify the camps, we prepare for war!"