❦𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓒𝓻𝓲𝓶𝓮❦ - 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝔂 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷

𝒳𝒳𝒱𝐼. 𝐵𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝓉𝑜 𝒞𝒶𝓂𝓅 𝐻𝒶𝓁𝒻-𝐵𝓁𝑜𝑜𝒹

𝒜𝒸𝒸𝑜𝓇𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 to the L.A. news, the explosion at the Santa Monica beach had been caused when a crazy kidnapper fired a shotgun at a police car. He accidentally hit a gas main that had ruptured during the earthquake.

This crazy kidnapper (a.k.a. Ares) was the same man who had abducted Percy and three other adolescents in New York and brought them across country on a ten-day odyssey of terror.

Poor little Percy Jackson wasn't an international criminal or a kidnapper after all. He'd helped Zoe Stark cause a commotion on that Greyhound bus in New Jersey trying to get away from their captor (and afterward, witnesses would even swear they had seen the leather-clad man on the bus-"Why didn't I remember him before?"). The crazy man had caused the explosion in the St. Louis Arch. After all, no kids could've done that. A concerned waitress in Denver had seen the man threatening his abductees outside her diner, gotten a friend to take a photo, and notified the police. Finally, brave Percy Jackson had stolen a gun from his captor in Los Angeles and battled him shotgun-to-rifle on the beach. Police had arrived just in time. But in the spectacular explosion, five police cars had been destroyed and the captor had fled. No fatalities had occurred. Percy Jackson, Zoe Stark, and their two friends were safely in police custody.

The reporters fed them this whole story. They just nodded and acted tearful and exhausted (which wasn't hard), and played victimized kids for the cameras.

"All I want," Percy said, choking back fake tears, "is to see my loving stepfather again. Every time I saw him on TV, calling me a delinquent punk, I knew... somehow... we would be okay. And I know he'll want to reward each and every person in this beautiful city of Los Angeles with a free major appliance from his store. Here's the phone number."

Just as Percy finished his speech, the crowd parted to reveal Tony Stark.

"Zoe!" Tony engulfed his daughter in a hug. "What happened? Are you ok? I've been worried out of my mind. I thought you were at camp!"

Zoe smiled sheepishly, pulling out of the embrace. "Dad, we don't really have time. We need to get to New York."

"Yeah. Yeah, ok. I brought the jet, we can take that."

"Thank you."

Tony pressed a kiss to Zoe's forehead and then pulled out his phone. He brought it to his ear and stepped away from the kids (and Grover).

"That was Tony Stark." Percy said dumbfounded.

"Yes, Seaweed Brain. That was Tony Stark. You knew he was my dad."

"Yeah but- but knowing and seeing are two different things. Like, oh, I don't know," Percy paused, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "Greek gods."

Zoe rolled her eyes, punching Percy on the shoulder.

"Hey!"

Zoe grinned but rolled her eyes again.

"Happy will be here in 5 minutes," Tony said, walking back to the quartet.

Tony had already dismissed the media, so it was just the members of the quest and Tony.

"What really happened."

Zoe started to explain what happened, from the time they left Half-Blood Hill to that second. For the most part, Tony's face didn't change except when he found out she actually did fall from the St. Luis Arch. And that she had almost been stuck in a hotel for the rest of eternity. And that she had been to the Underworld.

By the time the story was over, Tony was pacing and Happy was pulling up.

"Everything all right, boss?" Happy asked, getting out of the car. Happy then turned to Zoe and asked, "How are you, mini Stark?"