Demigods Assemble (PJO/MCU)

Chapter 17

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.