Percy
Percy's shoulders dropped in relief. "The Hydra? That's easy, we'll just call Leo."
Almost every face turned to him in disbelief, but Percy didn't know what he'd said that was so wrong. Now that he knew someone who could throw fire, the Hydra was no problem.
Steve was the first one to speak. "Easy? Son, HYDRA was a rogue division of Nazi Germany that I thought I destroyed back in nineteen-forty-five. It turned out they survived and rooted themselves in S.H.I.E.L.D. until a few years ago when they took out the entire organization. They perform dangerous experiments with technology and mythological artifacts they don't understand, and if left unchecked, they could cause serious damage."
A holographic image of the HYDRA logo appeared and Natasha explained, "Their motto is 'cut off one head, two more shall take its place.'"
Percy felt slightly embarrassed at being wrong, but better after seeing the logo clearly. He snorted. "That's not the Hydra."
Tony looked annoyed. "What?"
"That's not the Hydra," Annabeth echoed. "That's not even an octopus, it only has six arms. The Hydra has nine heads—unless you cut one off and don't burn the stump in time. Whatever that is, it's not the Hydra."
Clint waved his arms around, "Whatever they are, a Hydra, an octopus, a squid, it doesn't matter. The point is, we've dealt with them before and they're dangerous. Like their namesake, they always seem to grow back."
"So are we correct in assuming that HYDRA and your enemies, that anteater lady and Porky and Kate or whatever, are all working together?" Tony asked.
Percy chuckled in response to Tony's nicknames while Annabeth answered, "I think so. At least one of those men in that video was a Cyclops, probably more of them too. And they were wearing HYDRA uniforms. It makes sense."
Something dawned on Percy, and he let out a long, "Ohhhhhh." Everyone looked at him and Percy looked back. "What?"
"You're the one that just made a sound as though you realized something," Fury hissed, and Percy got the feeling that he didn't like him.
"I just remembered something from my dream," Percy explained. "When Echidna was talking about us getting mortal allies and them needing some too, she said, 'Besides, I couldn't resist after learning their name.' HYDRA. Of course she'd find that funny. The Hydra is one of her children."
Annabeth nodded with that look on her face that meant she was thinking about too many things at once. "They have to be working together. It's the only logical explanation. That's why you're supposed to work with us. You know them, you've fought them. And I doubt you want them to grow more powerful than they already are."
Reluctant nods bobbed around the table.
"Stark, what did they take from your lab?" Steve directed towards the billionaire-genius.
Tony stroked his goatee. "Nothing good. Some old tech from before I turned Stark Industries away from weapons manufacturing. They can do a lot of damage with those."
Percy frowned. "But why? They've never used weapons like that to attack us, the monsters are usually powerful enough. Their numbers paired with Greek fire—basically regular fire but more dangerous because it's very hard to put out and it can burn underwater . . . I'm not looking forward to that fight."
"They know we'll have mortals on our side who are going to attack the mortal way, that's probably what those weapons are for," Annabeth said.
"What do you mean the 'mortal way?' You fight differently?" Natasha asked.
"Don't tell me you actually use swords," Sam scoffed.
Percy glared at him. "What's wrong with swords? We're Greek, it's in our blood. Literally. Most demigods, Roman and Greek, are diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. The dyslexia is because our brains are more accustomed to reading Latin or Greek, not English. The ADHD is because we're hard-wired for battle, to always be moving and watching our surroundings. It's kept us alive more than once, and it makes it easier to handle weapons with blades instead of barrels you have to aim. Why wouldn't we use swords?"
"Besides, it's hard enough to find Celestial bronze," Annabeth added. "Why melt it down into bullets or bombs that we could only use once? Swords and daggers and spears and bows are easier to forge, last longer, and are much more authentic to our culture."
"This I gotta see." Sam smiled. "You two up for a sparring session?"
"Wilson," Natasha chastised.
"No, it's actually a good idea," Steve said. "That way we can understand how they fight so we can find the best way to work together. We can show them how we usually do things, too, and since they know more about these monsters, they can tell us if any of us will be able to fight them. In return, we can give them some tricks they can use against mortals if they need to."
Percy kind of liked the idea. He wanted to see what everyone could do, especially after hearing their stories and seeing that Carol woman glow. Plus, they might put up a good fight. Percy had a feeling some of them were pretty skilled. He was itching for a good challenge, and he wanted to see what they thought of the full extent of his powers.
He glanced at Annabeth who was looking at him. "I'm down if you are."
She shrugged. "Might as well. But tomorrow. Have any of you noticed the time?"
Percy checked his watch, struggling for a moment to read the numbers, and was shocked to see that it was already nine in the evening. They had left Central Park around five pm, taken about an hour to get to the compound, and talked for nearly three hours. Time really flies when you're being interrogated.
"How about you two stay here for the night?" Tony suggested. "It's a little late to head back to the city anyway."
Percy thought of his mom and how worried she must be at this point. He remembered that he was supposed to babysit tonight and winced. He looked at Annabeth, who already knew what he was thinking.
"Let me just tell Percy's mom where we are so she doesn't freak out. Whenever we disappear without telling her, it usually means we're on a quest and in mortal danger. She'll want to know that's not the case this time, especially since we were supposed to babysit tonight," Annabeth said, pulling out her cell phone.
"I thought you said you didn't use technology?" Wanda frowned.
Annabeth nodded, already dialing the number. "We don't if we can help it. I'm one of the few demigods that carry a cell phone for emergencies. With all your security here, we should be okay."
"Do you have somewhere we can sleep?" Percy asked as Annabeth stepped away from the table to make the call.
Tony nodded and gestured to Vision. "Yeah, Vision can show you."
"Percy, she wants proof of life," Annabeth said, handing the phone to him.
"Hi Mom," Percy greeted, mentally preparing himself for the scolding he was about to get. Vaguely, he heard Annabeth chatting with the Avengers behind him.
Instead, Sally just sounded relieved. "Thank the gods you're okay, dear. Annabeth said you were fine, but I worry when you two disappear without contacting me."
"I know, I'm really sorry about all this. But we're safe, we're with those Avengers. We'll come back tomorrow and tell you everything," Percy promised. "I'm sorry about Estelle, you know I'd be there if I could." He really had been looking forward to a night with Annabeth and Estelle again.
"Oh don't worry about that, dear. The event was canceled anyway, Paul and I are staying in tonight. Just stay safe and come back soon," she urged.
"We will," Percy said.
Percy handed the phone back to Annabeth, who put it up to her ear and said, "Bye Sally!" She listened for a moment, nodded, and then ended the call.
"Lead the way, robo-cop," Percy said to Vision.
With a few "goodnights" to the rest of the Avengers, Percy and Annabeth followed Vision out of the room and through the many hallways of the compound. Percy tried to keep track of where they were going in case they needed to make a quick getaway but failed quickly. He wasn't too worried though; Annabeth probably had better luck remembering than he did.
They finally stopped at a quaint little room filled with nothing but a queen-sized bed, a dresser, and two nightstands. A door in the corner of the room led to what Percy guessed was a bathroom.
"If you need anything, F.R.I.D.A.Y. will assist you," Vision told them.
"Who is F.R.I.D.A.Y.?" Percy wondered.
"Mr. Stark's A.I.," said the voice that had spoken from the ceiling earlier. Once again, Percy couldn't locate its source. "I help operate his suits and his buildings. If you need anything, I would be happy to help."
"Cool. Thanks, miss ghost." Percy smirked and faced Vision. "Can you really walk through walls?"
Vision simply smiled in response. Without another word, he left the room, but not through the door. He walked right into the wall, turned transparent, and vanished.
Percy grinned. "So cool."
He joined Annabeth on the bed, where she seemed lost in thought. Percy snapped his fingers in her face. "Camp Half-Blood to Annabeth. You there?"
She shook her head, then turned to Percy and smiled. She pulled him close and kissed him, making him forget what he had been thinking about.
"Yeah. Sorry. Just thinking," Annabeth said, lying on her back.
Percy copied her, knowing exactly what she had been thinking about. "Can we trust them? Are we doing the right thing allying with them?"
Annabeth let out a huge breath, and after a moment she admitted, "Yeah, I think so. Like I said, I have this gut feeling. And it's telling me that whatever's coming, they're gonna help us beat it."
Ω
Percy was really starting to hate demigod dreams. He needed to learn how to wake himself up when he didn't like a dream, so he wouldn't have to keep dealing with it. But for right now, he was stuck here. He might as well pay attention to whatever the Fates wanted to show him.
He was back in Phorcys and Keto's abandoned aquarium. The place looked as bad as it did the last time he dreamt about it, but this time there were three people there. Phorcys, Keto, and Echidna herself, who was scolding the other two. She was as fat and as clad in denim as she had been when Percy first met her at the St. Louis Arch, with the same slitted eyes.
Percy wondered why Echidna seemed to be the one in charge. Phorcys and Keto were her parents, why would they be listening to her instead of the other way around? Maybe it was because she had been more successful. After all, Percy had never heard of anyone encountering her and surviving—let alone killing her—besides himself, and he had been forced to retreat. In contrast, Percy and Frank had pretty easily found Phorcys and Keto when they were in Atlanta, and they hadn't even run after Gaea was defeated so Percy had easily found them again. It seemed that Echidna was the smart one in this alliance, so it wasn't actually that strange that she was in charge after all.
"You got my son killed! My favorite son! How could you be so stupid?" Echidna growled, her forked tongue slipping between her lips.
"We thought he was strong enough," Phorcys whimpered.
Keto squirmed next to him. "We thought if he succeeded, we would not have to work with those stupid mortals."
"Idiots," Echidna grumbled. "Why won't you listen to me? I have seen the future, there will be a fight. We will face Percy Jackson and his friends in battle in one week's time, nothing we do will stop that, and we must use these mortal allies."
"So what do we do?" Phorcys asked.
Percy drifted closer, hoping they wouldn't notice him yet. If he could just find out what their plan was, he could use it to thwart them.
"We prepare our army. The Fates have shown me that when we face him below the home of the gods, Percy Jackson will fall. But you cannot keep sending him our best fighters to kill off!" Echidna hissed. "We must—"
Echidna stopped, straightening her back. Percy's heart thumped loudly in his chest as she turned to face him. "So, the son of Poseidon thinks he can spy on us, does he?"
Phorcys sighed, also turning to Percy. "He has an unfortunate habit of showing up uninvited. I'll take care of him."
"Let me," Echidna said, stalking forward.
Percy was frozen in place, unable to move as Echidna approached him. Percy's heart beat faster, almost painfully. "See you soon, little demigod. I will enjoy watching you bleed."
Echidna opened her snake-like mouth and lunged.