Natasha's Secret

Chapter 22 - Rachel Dare Will Predict Your Death For $9.99

"Rachel!" Nico smiled at the redhead, getting up from his seat to give her a quick hug.

Tony raised an eyebrow, "How did you get up here? This tower is one of the most secure places in the world-"

"I just told them I was doing a piece for the Avengers, I'm an artist and, since you did commission me to make some art a few weeks ago, I just showed them the massages," Rachel smirked at Tony's confused face.

"I did what?"

"I'm R.E.D, or at least that's the name I show my art under, you asked me to do some work for the Avengers," Rachel grinned as Tony's face dawned in recognition.

"Ok, but that doesn't explain why you're here," Steve said, putting on his Captain Ameria voice.

"I'm not a demigod, but I am familiar with the demigod world. I'm an oracle. Speaking of which, I've been having so many dreams lately, it's unreal," Rachel said, facing Nico again.

Nico and Rachel had a strange friendship, something that consisted of sarcastic humor and 3 am Walmart runs while talking about the meaning of the universe.

"I messaged her to come here as soon as I heard what had been happening, never a bad idea to have someone who can see the future," Nico reasoned, sitting back down. Rachel rolled her eyes and set down her bag, "It's not that simple, plus, I haven't gone green since the attacks!"

Bruce spit out his water which he had been sipping, staring at Rachel with terror, "Gone green? Like, my green?" Rachel looked at him for a moment then made the connection, shaking her head.

"No, not like that. Whenever I get taken over by the spirit of Delphi, green smoke comes out of my mouth and my eyes turn green, it's kind of creepy from what I've heard," Rachel mused, sitting next to Piper.

Percy snorted, "Creepy is an understatement, though it's better than the previous Oracle," that got nods from every demigod who had had the misfortune of meeting Rachel predecessor.

"Who was the previous oracle?" Clint asked, sitting on the floor and leaning against Annabeth's legs.

Shivers ran through the spines of everyone who had ever been to the Big House attic, "It was literally an animated corpse," Will said.

Noises of surprise and disgust ran through the Avengers at the statement, Steve looking like he was about to throw up.

"An animated CORPSE?" Tony asked,

"Yup, the demigod world is strange, to say the least," Percy said, uninterestedly.

Rachel sighed, plopping down on the couch next to Nico, "Ok, so, the dreams," she started, stealing Nico's hot chocolate and ignoring his noises of protests, "It usually starts with the reflecting pool in DC, the Washington Monument-"

"Does that mean we need to go to DC?" Steve interrupted, earning a glare from Rachel.

"Listen, Spangles, I'm Apollo's chosen oracle and I can - and will - predict your death one day, so let me do my thing," Steve shut his mouth, looking terrified.

"Anyway," Rachel continued, "There's always the same dude running around the reflecting pool. I can never see his face, but he has a metal arm with a red star on his shoulder-" Frank sucked in a breath "-and he just gives off an 'I will murder your family' vibe, you know?"

"That's the Winter Soldier," Frank said, sitting impossibly still.

"Well, the guy stops running after five laps, always five laps, and then he stands in front of the Washington monument. After that, he says 'zhivoy', which means 'alive' in Russian, I looked it up after the fifth night," Rachel takes a deep breath, kicking her feet up on Nico's lap and ignoring his protests once again.

"Ok, so, five laps. The most obvious thing that could mean is five days- wait, why are prophecies in visual form now?" Piper asked no one in particular.

Will thought for a moment, "Maybe Apollo got cursed to never speak poetry again-"

"Please," Percy said, earning a snort from Annabeth,

"Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the gods haven't contacted us in about five years and they are probably under some ancient law or spell limiting how to communicate with us," Jason suggested, always the practical one.

"Ok, five laps, five days. 'Alive' can only mean a few things," Annabeth ran her fingers through her hair, "It could mean that we need to be brought in alive by him, that all of us need to stay alive... or maybe it's saying that our friends are alive,"

"The Washington monument is pretty self-explanatory, we need to travel to DC, and the fact that the Winter Soldier was running laps around the reflecting pool means that we should be looking for someone - or something - that does that as well," Nico said, trying to get Rachels' feet off him to no avail.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about the dream, Rachel?" Bruce asked, sounding uneasy with all of the guesswork that was involved in their plan.

Rachel thought for a moment before she spoke, "Well, that was only one dream, I've been getting another one as well," everyone leaned forward to listen, "The second one starts with the demigods of Camp Jupiter being attacked by the monster,"

All the demigods winced.

"All of the demigods get cornered in the field of Mars. The monster- It's hard to explain. I would draw it, but I never see it, I can only feel that it's there, and it's powerful,"

"I think we know what it is," Annabeth said, "We got a visit from someone a day ago, a lovely titan of destruction called Perses. During that fight we had with him, he wasn't trying, regular titans can demolish whole cities when they want to, but a titan of destruction? That's a whole different story,"

Rachel nodded, like Annabeth's brief description had matched up to what she had suspected.

"So the demigods are cornered on the field of Mars, but instead of killing them, the monster releases a gas of some sort, and it's the magical kind, nothing you could develop in a lab. He releases it into the crowd, and everyone falls asleep. There are these guys who come soon, and the Winter Soldier is with them, and they load all the demigods into so trucks,"

The whole group remains silent for a while, unable to process what they had just heard.

"Our friends were carted away like animals," Annabeth's voice shakes with rage, the glass in her hand shattering.

"We'll save them-"

"What if they've been mind-wiped?" Frank interrupted Percy, his head hanging low, "I know that they wiped my memories, why not the others too? Us demigods have been training since we were teenagers, in most cases, and I bet HYDRA thought that it would be nice to have a small army of pre-trained soldiers," Frank's voice shakes as he speaks.

What were they going to do?