He looked at the others in the car.
Had he said something he shouldn't?
Steve was pale.
Nico looked scared.
Why was he scared.
He followed the dark haired boy's gaze.
Annabeth's grey eyes clouded over like a storm.
"Why? Why in Hades name would you do that? Do something so MONUMENTALLY STUPID?!"
Steve flinched and Natasha swore.
She jerked the wheel sideways and corrected quickly.
"Annabeth, I-I..."
She waved her hand.
"Stop stuttering and give me a straight answer, Steve! Why would you do that?"
The blond man looked down at his lap and mumbled something.
"What was that?" Annabeth asked, leaning forward.
"I said because I wanted to make sure you wouldn't be hurt!"
That stopped his Wise Girl in her tracks.
"You were looking out for me?"
"Yes."
Steve sighed.
He would have to be more specific to satisfy Annabeth.
"Steven-"
"Look, you guys were always looking out for me! I was the little guy, the brother that needed to be stood up for by his big sister and her friends. I would never be able to pay you back, or so I thought. But then the good doctor gave me a chance! He told me I could test the finished serum so that when you went through the procedure it would not fail. I took that chance, hoping that it could begin to repay for all the things you did to help me."
Annabeth's anger had disappeared, replaced by shock and sadness.
"What if you had died?" She asked softly.
"Then you would have been safe and they would have known that they needed to tweak the serum."
Steve sat up straight.
He did not regret his decision.
That much was very obvious.
He seemed proud, actually.
Proud to have defended his comrade.
His friend.
His sister.
Percy grunted as a few memories popped into his mind, new ones that hadn't been there before.
Annabeth and Steve speaking with a man.
The man had dark blond hair.
Their father.
Steve and Annabeth were half siblings.
"How did Percy know?" Clint asked suddenly.
"Steve...told me."
It took him a moment, but when he said the answer, he knew it was true.
"Right before the fall."
Annabeth, Steve and Nico winced.
"The fall?"
Annabeth glared at Stark.
"Bucky and Percy fell out of a train and off a cliff." She finally snapped.
"Sorry." Tony muttered.
He felt an overwhelming urge and reached forward.
He slipped Annabeth's soft hand into his again and gave it a soft squeeze.
---------------------
Annabeth's eyes filled with tears when she felt Percy's hand in hers.
Even with half his memories missing, he was still the same person.
She watched his expression carefully, trying to gauge what was going on in that Seaweed Brain of his.
For the most part it stayed thoughtful, occasionally flipping to one of recognition or confusion.
He was going through his memories. There was no other explanation for the way his expression changed.
"Who's the man?"
"What?" She'd zoned out, trying to decide what memories Percy was reliving through his facial expression.
"The man that Nico worked with. The one..." He frowned, thinking. "The one who made the shields. He looks like Stark."
"That's because he is a Stark." Nico commented, having heard what was being discussed.
"Who?" Now Tony was interested.
"Your dad. Remember I said I worked with him? We designed the 'Captain America-Style' shield together. Had to make two, since Steve and Annabeth were technically both the Cap."
"Stupid gender stereotypes." Steve muttered.
"Wait, so you guys all knew my dad."
"Yes." Annabeth said.
"What was he like?"
"A toned down version of you, actually." Steve said.
"A player. A flirt...He had his eye on Peggy for a bit." Percy said absentmindedly.
"Yeah....I fixed that." Steve scowled.
"Who's Peggy?" Clint asked.
"Steve's girlfriend." Percy muttered.
Nico snickered while Steve turned red.
"It was never official!" He spluttered.
"You had a picture of her inside your compass for when you discussed attack plans." Annabeth pointed out skeptically.
"That's cute, Rogers." Natasha commented as she pulled into the parking garage for all of Tony's 'babies.'
"Uh oh, Lola's here." Clint muttered.
"Lola's here? Ooh, JARVIS is gonna be so happy!" Tony laughed.
"Who's Lola and JARVIS?" Percy asked.
"JARVIS is the tower's artificial intelligence system and Lola is his little sister who resides in Phil Coulson's car." Natasha responded.
"Artifical intelligence?" Percy's brow furrowed.
"We'll explain later, Seaweed Brain, let's go up to the pool." Annabeth said, pulling him out of the car and past a man who she vaguely recognized.
"There's a pool?" She laughed as he perked up, looking excited.
That much about Percy hadn't changed.
[A/N I love the head-canon that Tony rewires Lola so she's an AI and she's JARVIS' little sister and he fawns over her]