Uncle Stark

The special present

As I went to bed I realized that with school starting again in a few days my birthday would be soon as well and my first war would have ended exactly two years ago.
I also noticed that the death of Silena, Michael, Luke and so many others​ was exactly two years ago.
And before the battle of Manhattan there where others like Bianca, Zoë and Charlie.
This was my first war and I was only 16 then.
A few months later started my second war and more deaths.
So many died, even Hazel, Frank, Leo, Piper, Jason and Annabeth. Gods, how much I would give to be with them once again. To be with Annabeth and live the life I imagined us to have in Camp Jupiter, visiting the college in New Rome.
I fell asleep thinking of all the good times we had on board the Argo II.

As I woke up a few hours later the sun has just begun​ to rise. Feeling more refreshed after a night without nightmares, I got out of bed and took a quick shower to wake up completely.
When I walked back into my room there was a package on top of my bed with a note on the side.
Warily walking up to my bed I picked up the note to read, thankfully it was written in ancient Greek.
Happy birthday Percy,
I hope you like my present for you, I think it will be helpful with the new team you're in now.
Your old armour may still be useful in battle, but this one is more of a superhero one.
Dad
PS: We may have sworn an oath that we won't contact you, but your still my son and Tyson and I made this just for you as a birthday present.
PPS I did some twists to the armour that once you wear it the first time you can imagine it turning into another more innocent looking thing that will always come back to you like Anaklysmos. It is also indestructible and can only be taken of if you want it to.
Wait was my birthday today?
I thought it would be only in a few days?
But it wouldn't make much difference, it was probably the only thing I would get, because nobody of the Avengers knew when my birthday was.
If I understood dad correctly it was a whole new set of armour and apparently pretty good looking. I was pretty curious as to what it looks like, so I looked inside.

Inside laid a Greek style helmet, but instead of being grey, it was blue on top a bit lighter than at the bottom, like the sea gets darker the further you go to the ground, small curved lines made it look like it was the sea at a calm day.
Underneath the helmet I found a breastplate in the same sea like look as the helmet, as well as the other parts of armour.
Excitedly I tried it on and as I looked in the mirror I saw a completely different person that was covered in an ancient Greek armour in the colours of the sea with everything getting darker towards the bottom.
I like to say that I looked badass, but something was missing.
Oh, of course how could I forget Riptide?
I quickly garbbed into my pocket and got it out while uncapping it in one swift motion.
Now I look deadly, I thought to myself satisfied with my outfit.

Realising that I have to think of something my armour should be when not of use, but shouldn't be suspicious if I wear it at all times.
I thought about things I have​ with me at all times, of course Riptide but also my camp necklace that I still wear even though I didn't want to be part of it anymore with so many memories.
Then I got the idea of camp having protected me and now it would continue in the form of the camp necklace and its new pendant.

I imagined my armour shrinking into a blue trident on my necklace in honour of my fathers​ present.
I also thought that if I rub my finger on the pendant and want to wear my armour, it should appear. The extra connection with my thoughts was because I know myself, after a few days I would always rub my fingers on the pendant even if I don't need my armour.
Satisfied I imagined it again to turn into a trident and this time it really happened.
Let me tell you this it is really weird to wear an armour at one second and it being gone the other.

I looked at the clock on my bedside table and saw that only Steve should be awake this early. I decided to go and practice my shooting a bit more so that yesterday's training wouldn't have been useless.
As I stepped into the training room I saw Steve at the punching bag as I made my way over to the shooting range.
I picked up a bow first to improve my skills even further than I already did yesterday.

---

Here's another update, I hope you guys like it.
Thankfully it hasn't been nearly a year like it was with the last chapter.