Major Jackson (PJO/Avengers X-Over)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Camp Leigh... Percy had never been there himself, but Steve had spoken of it and Dr. Erskine in a loving manner. It was where Steve's journey finally started, where he proved his heart months before he proved his strength.

To be honest, it was a bit of a dump. At least, compared to Camp Half-Blood's strawberry gardens, climbing wall, and lake, it was. Weeds had make themselves at home in between the sidewalk cracks, the structures were rusted and bent, and it generally looked like an abandoned, decrepit base.

For being the 'Birth Place and Captain America!', one would think the government would spend a little more on upkeep.

"Now what?" Sam asked, kicking a piece of scrap metal, obviously as unimpressed as Percy himself.

He shrugged. "This isn't my camp. Ask Steve. Steve? Hello?"

His fellow ex-frozen compatriot was staring at a concrete bunker carved into a hill about a kilometer from them. Percy didn't get the hype about that specific one.

"Everything is the same here. I memorized the layout of the base when I first came here, and nothing has changed since then. Nothing but that bunker; it wasn't there in 1943."

"So... we're going to got in the ominous, possibly haunted building to find out what is on the most definitely cursed flash drive? The one that killed Tony Stark's laptop?" Sam demanded incredulously. "Am I the only one who thinks this might be stupid?"

"Then you can stay out here. I'm sure nothing will happen when we split up," Nat mused with a smirk.

"Uh, no thanks. I'll take my chances with the haunted bunker where there's two super soldiers and a spy to watch my butt."

Percy laughed.  Ghosts weren't really that scary, most of them just wanted junk food. Except Tantalus. That geezer was a total yuck. Or maybe being Uncle Hades' favorite living nephew, and a good source of divine entertainment, meant he kept them mostly in check.

They reached the rusted door in record time and Percy scowled at the skull/octopus HYDRA used, which was stamped onto the metal.

"What are you looking at?" Sam asked, noticing the dark look Nat and Percy were shooting.

"The Mist," he growled in realization. "Someone working for HYDRA is using the Mist. We have a traitor."

He closed his eyes and tried to remember how to do Thalia's trick. The lines laid before him opened up and flared to life with divine energy under his eyelids. Right there. Percy snapped his fingers and opened his eyes to see a startled Sam and Steve with an intrigued and slight bemused look.

"Huh. I always wondered why we never saw what the Flame did."

"He just— did you— where did this squid-skull come from?!"

Percy grinned merrily, thoroughly enjoying Sam's lack of mystical knowledge. "The Mist is a sort of veil that keeps mortals from seeing what they shouldn't. And that wasn't even my best trick. Stand back."

There was an old, weathered water spigot a meter or so from the doorway, and Percy gripped onto the trickle of water left, willing to to grow and be unleashed. Soon, a roaring whip of water smashed into the door and it opened reluctantly with a groan.

"Mortal?" Sam squeaked, but this was largely ignored as the rest of them entered the bunker.

It was dusty from decades of disuse, a veritable sea of boxes spread before them with a single screen at the front like a cresting wave.

"It's an old school computer system from the early seventies," Nat explained quickly, striding towards what he assumed was the main unit.

She puttered around for a bit before the screen came to life with a blare of green static. A single, be-speckled face glared out at them. Percy swore he recognized him from somewhere.

"Zola," Steve all but snarled. Ah. That's who is was.

"Greetings, Captain. I see you have conscripted more soldiers into your cause. And the Major as well! Oh, what a treat to see such old friends."

"Uhm, why are you in a computer?" Percy asked, feeling rather dumb.

Arnim Zola's computerized face adopted a nasty scowl. "After the war, SHIELD took possession of me and put me to work on project for them. My body started failing in the seventies, but they couldn't let me die; I am too valuable a mind! So they created a computer great enough to hold my consciousness and their possession of my self was complete."

Wow. Okay, creepy.

"But don't you worry. I will have my revenge," Zola cooed, sounding almost sweet.

And that was even creepier.

"Alright, Tin Can Man." Ha. Rhymes. "I see you flappin' your lips, but all your givin' us is peanuts. Why did Director Pirate's geek stick thingy lead us here? What do you have to do with all this. Start talking, or I start pulling out important-looking wires."

"I would listen to him, Zola. He is notorious for accidentally exploding very important things when he gets angry." Gods bless Steve and his willingness to go along with whatever bullcrapery came out of Percy's mouth.

He was inching towards a particularly enticing, big blue wire off to the left, hands inching to tear into something.

"F-Fine! I'll talk. Not that it'll do you much good. I designed the perfect targeting program to find any people that might cause problems for HYDRA's Great Design. People like Tony Stark, Steven Strange, Jackson Chase, Victor Von Doom, to name a few. My software looks at everything they've read, every receipt, every online search, and calculates the probability of dissent. Those scoring too high will be... neutralized."

Percy could barely hear the computer man's loud cackle over the blood rushing in his ears. Tony, Jack, Victor. People he knew and millions of people he didn't but had to protect all the same. He did save the world from his wacko family only to let strangers tear it apart.

"— really think all those SHIELD deaths were an accident? That the Starks' car crash was an accident? Oh, Captain, Major, while you slept away under the ice, HYDRA has been playin the long game. Cut one head off, two more grow back. Now, you better run. I'd say you have about, oh, ten seconds before the missile on its way here makes impact. Good bye, boys! Enjoy a new, more glorious dawn. Heil Hydra!"

Percy's eyes widened. "We have to move. Now!"

He pushed a stunned Sam towards the door while Nat pulled a reluctant Steve. Outside, the soft whining whistle of the bomb could be heard. Percy yanked all three of his friends to him and willed the water to protect them.

The entire time, all he could think was that this probably qualified as a quest, which meant somebody wasn't going to be there with them at the end. 

Gods, please don't let anyone die because I'm rusty!

.

So yeah. Finally some demigoding doing on again.

What did Zola mean by 'neutralize'? Death or something possibly worse? Why did nobody question this random-ass missile that went blazing through the sky? Who won't be returning from the 'quest'? And does it secretly have a prophecy from an oracle? And just who is the new one?

(Hint: I need a cool name for her or she'll have a lame name like 'Karen' and nobody wants that. The only Karen we stan is Peter's AI.)