-• •• -•-• ---

Nico emerged from the shadow of Stark Tower and barely even staggered. The familiar exhaustion was a faint shadow of what it had once been. He smiled despite the situation, and Will smiled back at him. 

Gods but those dimples were completely unfair.

Nico cleared his throat and looked around. 

Great gray storm clouds were gathering over one of the particularly tall buildings, and great strikes of lightning took down a hundred aliens at a time as they emerged from a great hole in the sky. For one glorious instant, Nico could almost convince himself that it was Jason up there, but that was impossible. 

Jason was dead. 

He had felt it the way he’d Bianca’s all those years ago and there was no trace of that strange hiccup he’d sensed in Leo’s death. The sudden sting of a life being snuffed out was just as sharp as ever, like a part of him had been suddenly ripped out, leaving an empty pit in its place. A cavernous despair that seemed so wide, so dark and cold that it felt like the underworld itself was pulling him into its depths.

He sighed. 

With their luck it was probably some demigod from yet another pantheon on the verge of an apocalypse. He scanned the rest of the skies, taking in the massive-flying-whale-aliens, the gliding-chariot-aliens, and the walking-spear-aliens.

“Well, Styx.” he concluded.

“Agreed.” Will said, his tan face was a shade paler than usual, but his expression had set with calm determination. “Do you see any of the others?”

Nico squinted into the sky and saw a bright flash of sunlight reflecting off of Celestial Bronze. “Found Festus.” He pointed, a small grin on his face. 

The dragon was currently digging his sharp claws into a truly massive alien, spewing green flames over its body. 

Huh. 

The green fire was new.

Will smiled confidently and put two fingers to his mouth. “Cover your ears.” Nico hurried to do so, but his ears still rang at the near-deafening whistle that followed. All around them, aliens doubled over, clutching their heads.

“Styx that’s loud.” Nico said, rubbing his ear with the heel of his hand.

“It’s a gift.” Will responded, looking completely unrepentant, the jerk.

He said as much, but Will just smiled with those stupid dimples and squinty eyes and said “Your jerk” with so much satisfaction that Nico’s already faint annoyance melted like a popsicle on cement in the summer.

Gods , he was going soft.

Festus had apparently heard them even from a block and several dozen stories away, because he was now swooping down to meet them; a grumpy-looking Leo Valdez on his back. The grumpiness was understandable because Leo was covered in blue-black liquid. Nico was about eighty percent sure it was some kind of blood because the stuff reeked of death.

“Hey Valdez!” Will called cheerfully, as if they were meeting for lunch instead of teaming up to fight aliens. Leo responded in kind, greeting them with enthusiasm as he slid down from Festus to meet them.

“I’d hug you, but I’m covered in alien guts.” He said sheepishly. “These things don’t dissolve into powder when you kill them.” Yeah, that was gross. Nico took a step back from him.

“So inconsiderate of them.” Will said, clearly stifling a laugh.

“I know, ” Leo complained. ‘Like if I have to go through the trouble of killing something in the first place I really don’t want to go through the trouble of cleaning it up afterwards.”

“Understandable.”

Leo pulled two bronze objects from his toolbelt and held them out. Nico took another step back. He’d had too much experience with Leo’s inventions. He wasn’t taking any chances.

“They’re earpieces,” Leo said defensively. “Stop looking at them like they’re going to explode.”

“ Will they?” Nico asked suspiciously, not coming closer.

“Hey! My inventions only blow up when I want them to.” He paused at Will’s raised eyebrow, “Well these ones will only blow up when I want them to.”

Nico took one and stuffed it in his ear as Leo explained the commands and set-up. Will took the other and did likewise.

“Have you seen any of the others?” Nico asked after the earpiece gave its second chime.

Leo shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. “Nah. I came here with Piper, but she’s charmspeaking some civilians into the subway a few streets over and neither of us have seen the New Rome crew.

“There they are.” Will said casually, pointing over Leo’s shoulder to where Arion had appeared, Hazel, Percy and Annabeth on his back. Percy and Annabeth both dismounted immediately, looking faintly sick. Hazel followed with much more grace and control.

“The cavalry's here!” Leo exclaimed, though he looked suddenly nervous.

The nervousness was warranted, because the first thing Annabeth did was punch him in the gut before pulling him into a tight hug. 

She’d clearly held back because Leo barely even groaned, though to be fair he was wearing armor for once. Percy seemed to think he had been punched enough, because all he did was sling an arm over Leo’s shoulder and whisper something in his ear that made Leo go very pale.

Nico got the feeling Leo would have preferred a punch.

As Hazel walked closer, Nico noticed a thin orange snake nestled around her neck, sleeping. Probably Frank. He gave his little sister a quick hug —careful not to disturb Frank— before she rushed off to put Leo out of his misery.

“Alright, back off, he gets it.” she scolded, flicking Percy’s ear. He glared at her playfully and she raised an eyebrow.

Leo gave her a grateful smile and pulled out four more of his earpieces. 

He was probably tired of explaining them at this point, but he gave them the same brief overview of the functions that he had given to Nico and Will. 

Percy and Annabeth each took one. Hazel took two of them and stroked Frank’s head gently, murmuring softly to him. He yawned, jaw opening surprisingly wide, and slithered languidly from around her neck and down her arm. Muscle and scales morphed dizzyingly and Nico glanced away. When he looked back, Frank was human again, holding Hazel’s hand instead of hanging from it. 

She spoke to him quietly for a few moments and he nodded and took his earpiece from her.

“Alright everyone, say something so we know these Coms work.” Leo instructed. “And Pipes, that includes you.”

“Roger that,” Piper’s voice said from his earpiece. He jumped at the noise. The sound quality was quite remarkable —it sounded as if she were standing right next to him instead of several blocks away speaking through a small earpiece.

One by one, they sounded off.

“So,” Annabeth said once they had finished. “There are aliens coming through a massive portal over Stark Tower. What else do we know?”

“Yeah, about that, ”Leo gave an awkward little wave to get her attention before his hands retreated back to his toolbelt. “There’s a group of people already fighting the aliens.”

“Anyone we know?” Percy asked, arms crossed.

“I mean, I’d never met any of them.” Leo said. “But I’ve been living in a remote area in the middle of the country so I wouldn’t be the best judge of that.”

“Demigods from another pantheon?” Annabeth suggested, looking remarkably unphased by that idea. 

Gods , their lives were so weird.

“I doubt it, they’re too old to be demigods,” he said with a bitter huff. “There are six of them: A flying metal dude, a flying lightning dude, a giant green dude, a dude with a bow and arrow, a scary red-headed lady and someone I’m about 90% sure is Captain America.” 

Wait. Captain America ? The ‘star spangled man with a plan’? Nico had been obsessed with him as a kid. 

“He’s still alive?” Nico found himself asking, dumbfounded.

Leo shrugged. 

Very helpful.

“Anyways,” Leo continued as if he hadn’t just reawakened Nico’s inner eight-year-old fanboy. “They got the police to establish a perimeter and are keeping most of the aliens within that area. They’re trying to keep the fighting close to the portal, and from what I can tell they’ve been successful.”

“He’s right, “ Piper chimed in. “Police officers and first responders have been helping evacuate civilians in a five block radius from Stark Tower. I’ve been telling people to go to the subways to get away, and it seems that they’ve adopted that as well.”

“Are there any areas they’re specifically lacking in?”

“They could use another person or two fighting ground level, and someone else in the air.” Piper assessed. “Aside from that… well there are a lot of people trapped in cars and under rubble over here.”

“Okay, it looks like we’re going to be working on support and rescue instead of attacking. Hazel, I want you to use the mist and obscure our faces. If we’re interacting with mortals we won’t want to be recognized,” Annabeth mused. “Leo, Percy and I are going to assist the Captain and his team however we can. Will, you can set up an emergency infirmary in the MoMA, there should be enough space. I want Nico, Hazel and Frank collecting the injured and bringing them to Will and the surrounding hospitals. I’ll draw you a map of the ones in the area. Try to make sure you’re not overwhelming any one place with people. Piper, keep doing what you're doing. We need to get as many mortals to safety as possible” She paused. “Any questions or complaints?”

“I’m going to help Will at the MoMA,” Nico said bluntly. “He’ll need someone to do triage, and I’m the best one for the job.” He felt Will wince beside him and took his hand, running his thumb over his boyfriend’s tan knuckles comfortingly.

One of the many things that made Will such an accomplished healer was how much he genuinely cared about his patients —strangers or not. 

It was also his fatal flaw. 

He could never accept when someone was beyond his care. 

Sometimes people were just too far gone and he would refuse to stop trying unless someone physically pried him off them. More often than not, Nico was that someone.

Annabeth’s brow pinched sympathetically and she nodded. “In that case, Leo, I want you to bring Percy and I to the other team and then assist Hazel and Frank with search and rescue.”

“Sounds like a plan, Wise girl.” Percy smiled fondly.

“Alright everyone, stay on the coms and keep me informed,” she clapped once. “Let’s do this.”

•- -• -• •- -••• • - ••••

“So we’re going to be working with a team of superheroes…” Leo said slowly, grin evident in his voice. Annabeth hummed and he continued. “We should have superhero names.”

She sat on Festus, looking down at the city below them and occasionally tossing balls of greek fire at passing aliens. The people Leo had described were sweeping in and out of view, fighting aliens with a somewhat remarkable level of coordination. She had yet to see Captain America, who was apparently in charge, but Leo had a point. She wasn’t sure about who these people were or who they worked for, but the less they knew about them the better. 

She nodded, “We’re not calling them superhero names, but that’s a good idea.”

“I know, right?” Leo preened. “Luckily for all of you, I’ve already given the matter quite a bit of thought.” He made a strange screeching sound like the sound made when metal scraped against metal. Percy startled and started swearing; Annabeth’s earpiece chimed. “Codenames:” Leo began, his expression making Annabeth dread what was coming next.

“Percy: Aquaman.” Percy groaned loudly and Annabeth had to suppress a smile at his reaction.

“Annabeth: Riddler.” Annabeth sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as her earpiece chimed again, apparently updating her name. 

“Hazel: Metallica, Frank: Beastie Boy” 

“Absolutely not.” Frank’s voice protested over coms, but Leo ignored him and continued.

“Will: Sunshine, Nico: Darkling, Piper: Siren, Leo: Pyre” He finished confidently, smiling smugly. 

“Yeah okay we’re definitely going to change most of those.” Annabeth said. Leo just shrugged as if he’d been expecting that.

“I’m good to keep mine.” Piper said. 

There was a long beat of silence. When it was evident that nobody else was going to speak up, Annabeth sighed. “Well I, for one, refuse to be named after a comic book villain. I’m going to go by Skepsi instead. It’s what I named my sword.”

“In that case I’ll go with Riptide,” Percy shrugged. “Keeps things simple.”

“I’ll be Azrael after the angel of death and Will can be Raphael.” Nico said dryly. “The angel of healing.”

“Aww, babe.” Will said, sounding touched. “We match.”

“Just call me Fai. It’s not on my records anywhere, but it’s what my grandmother called me so I’m used to answering to it.” Frank supplied. “Please tell me you’re changing yours too, Hazel.”

“I don’t really know what Metallica is, but I don’t think I’d be able to take myself seriously ever again if I answered to it, so I’m gonna go with Haze.” Hazel responded thoughtfully, “Kind of like the Mist, you know? And it should be close enough to my name that I can respond to it without too much thought.”

“That’s a way better name.” Annabeth agreed. “Practical and catchy.”

“I take issue with that,” Leo squawked. “My codenames are very practical and catchy.”

Percy raised an eyebrow. “Two words. Beastie Boy.”

“I was going with a couples theme!” he whined. “You and Annabeth were comics, Hazel and Frank were band names and Nico and Will were light and dark.” He paused for a moment, then spoke again. “Piper and I don’t have partners that are present, so we got names based on our powers.”

Silence hung in the air for a heady moment.

“Well, we still kind of are in couples.” Hazel said. “Percy and Annabeth are both named after their swords, Hazel and Frank are variations on their first names and Nico and Will are archangels.”

That seemed to satisfy Leo, because he gave one more dramatic sigh and then changed their names on the earpieces with no further comment. 

Small mercies. 

“I found the captain,” Percy said, pointing to a man in blue in the streets beneath them. “Unless that’s some other shield-bearing historical figure that thinks stars and stripes are acceptable attire.” 

Captain America was indeed throwing a circular shield with impressive accuracy. They swooped down as he threw his shield and it bounced off of three aliens before returning to him like a well trained dog.

He started when they landed, his shield raising defensively. 

Huh. 

That might actually be Steve Rogers. He certainly looked the part. 

She muted her earpiece.

“Captain. We need to talk."