Rising Tides

Chapter Ten – Kill Order

Percy Jackson

That night, Percy waited for Melinda right outside of the detention level. He knew that she would need help processing all of her grief. He wondered how he himself would have felt if Annabeth had died when they had both been married and wanted a life together. Right now though, he couldn't be thinking about himself and to be honest, he preferred not to bring the past up. He should leave the Pandora's box of emotions that came with thoughts of Annabeth alone. He was conflicted by the feelings he felt. He felt a now fading longing for her and also frustration with her meddling in his life when she was dead but he still loved the girl—that he knew, and a part of him might always love her.

Melinda had finally come out of the holding cell. She walked straight past the guards' station and was making a move to walk past him if he hadn't gotten in her way. She looked up at him, misty-eyed, tears threatening to fall. He pulled her into a hug.

Usually, Melinda avoided showing much emotion in public, but this time, she reciprocated whole heartedly, grabbing his shoulders and letting out tears. He let her get some emotion out, shooting daggers at the curious guards. They went back to their work, leaving Percy to comfort the woman.

He let her out of the hug. Percy decided to lead her away from the cells and back to her quarters—at least there, she could let out her emotions in peace. When they both finally go there, Melinda sat down on her bed and Percy sat down on the chair nearby.

"We wanted to have kids, you know?" Melinda told him. "Before I went to Bahrain and found Katya, we wanted to be normal—start a family."

Percy just listened. He didn't feel like he could really say anything to comfort her. The woman lost the man she loved to something worse than death. There was no comfort that he could give her—in death, at least Dr. Garner would have been in the Underworld, safe from the monster which occupied his body. Truth be told though, Percy simply didn't know if Andrew would have made it to Hades since the man was an Inhuman.

"Melinda, it's gonna be alright. You'll see." Percy told the woman who was his closest friend at the base. "You don't have to have all the answers. There's no instruction manual for getting over this."

"In time, you'll know what to do—how to cope." Percy told her, giving her a squeeze on the shoulder and letting her be alone. He went back to his room and decided to get some sleep.

The next day, Percy had checked on Melinda and found her back in her usual routine. The difference being that while on the outside, she looked like business as usual, he could see that in her eyes, there was pain, sorrow and anger.

He decided that it was best if she healed from this on her own. He had nothing to offer her in assuaging her sorrow, nothing to say that would be a silver lining. When he met her in the hallway near the lab, they had greeted each other and May had asked him to accompany her to Phil's office.

There, he found the director not at all looking good. On the wall screen was a still of a security tape. On that still was a face that was infamous at the Playground—it was Grant Ward. Both of them walked in, May first and Percy following.

"You said you killed him." Melinda told Phil.

"I did." Coulson replied.

"Well, you didn't kill him hard enough." Melinda fired back. Phil turned to give her a look of disbelief. She just turned back to the screen.

"Anyone wanna tell me what we're looking at?" Percy asked. He was pretty sure that Grant Ward was dead so how could he be walking again.

"The lab is working on that question." Phil told him. The director then turned to Melinda. "I'm sorry about Andrew." The woman's face shot toward Coulson.

"I don't wanna talk about that any more than you wanna talk about this." she said gesturing to the screen.

Phil went to take a seat at his desk. "You don't have a lot of kills like that under your belt." May commented.

"I've done my fair share." he called back.

"Not that you've enjoyed." she told him pointedly. "I would have made the same choice." May added after a pause.

"We do what we have to do." Percy added remembering his conversation with Coulson over the basketball game.

"I know the company line." Coulson told him. "I taught it to you. I just feel like right now, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s only fixing problems that we created."

"Well, the plus side—maybe I'll get a chance to kill him too." Melinda told Phil. "I'm going to the lab. I wanna find out what's happening out there with the dead being raised." Melinda told both of them before leaving. Percy went to follow.

"Wait, Percy." Coulson told him. He stopped and turned back around. "I need to ask you a favour."

"What is it?" Percy asked the director. There was little that the director couldn't do or have literally any of the thousands of people who he leaded do.

"I need you to do something for S.H.I.E.L.D. that might not be comfortable for you." Coulson revealed.

"What exactly are you asking me to do, Director?" Percy asked. He didn't know why the man was being so cryptic.

"There's a mission. It's highly classified and is a black op. That means from the start of the mission, there is no communication between the agent and S.H.I.E.L.D. I would like you to complete this assignment." Coulson told Percy.

"What's the mission?" Percy asked.

"It's a kill mission." Coulson told him. Percy hardened his expression. That didn't sit right with him.

"Look, I made it clear that killing isn't something that I'm willing to do at any time. It's a last resort and even Melinda agrees and she's been with S.H.I.E.L.D. for years." he told the man.

"Keep an open mind. You'll wanna ask me about the target." the director informed him.

"Fine." Percy spat. "Who's the target?"

"The target is Elena Chambers. British national, age 27, born and raised in London. She lives in The Heron's penthouse in the City of London Borough." the director stated.

"So, why do you want her dead?" Percy asked. "She just sounds like a rich woman."

"Ms. Chambers is Hydra's top money launderer. Her actions have directly led to the death of hundreds of people at the hands of Hydra." Phil revealed. "She's also not willing to stop. We tipped off some of our friends across the pond about her activities. They went to pay her a visit. They're dead now. You can see how she's a top priority target for S.H.I.E.L.D."

"So if I was to take her out, Hydra wouldn't have a source of money anymore?" Percy asked finally seeing why this was something important.

"No." Coulson replied. "Hydra's too big—too powerful. There would still be more money available to them, but taking her out makes them bleed hard. They would need to scramble to repair the damage done. That would expose them—which makes our job easier."

"Alright." he said. "What exactly do you want me to do? Put a bullet in her head? Ask her to divulge secrets?" he asked the director.

"No. That's not it." Coulson told Percy. "I need her to die in a way that can make her life insurance policy still valid."

"What?" Percy asked. "Is S.H.I.E.L.D. on her policy as beneficiary or something? Or is this about finding more Hydra operatives?"

"No. But several hidden members of Hydra are beneficiaries. If she dies in a way that doesn't void her policy, we can strike a major blow to Hydra—enough to cause Baron von Strucker to come out of hiding." Coulson explained.

"How exactly do you want me to kill her?" Percy asked. He had a feeling that he wouldn't like what came next though. In the back of his mind, he had already started thinking of the many possible ways that the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. would ask him to murder the woman.

The only thing that made this more bearable for Percy to hear was the fact that the woman was responsible for the deaths of hundreds, including friends of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"There's a restricted private pool as part of the penthouse." Phil told him. "I would like you to hit her on the head with a blunt object and to drown her."

Percy stayed silent for a moment. "To be clear," Percy started. "You want me to drown her using my powers and then make it look like it was a swimming accident."

Coulson nodded. Percy had thought that this would be the way that things would be.

"Fine. Just know that I don't enjoy this kind of assignment." Percy told the man. "When do you want it done?"

"Within the next week." Coulson told him. "You'll find a flight reservation and passport waiting in your room. Along with them are the keys to an apartment in the Pan Peninsula building in Canary Wharf."

Coulson walked around his office before picking up his tablet and looking at it. "Your cover is Parker Jacobs—you're an American who's parents live in London. You're returning home after a semester at UCSF." the director told him.

"Oh and about the fact that you don't like these assignments, that makes you a good agent to complete it. The last specialist we had on the team loved the assignments and also turned out to be Hydra." Coulson added.

"So you want me on this now?" Percy asked.

"I want it done as soon as possible, Agent Jackson." the director told him effectively dismissing him.

Guess that meant going to England right now. Well, if Percy was gonna be a university student returning home, he was gonna have to pack. He decided to swing by the lab on the way to his room and found Melinda at a workstation—eyes glazed over.

He waved his hand in front of her face causing her to jump as she realized someone was near. She looked at him and frowned.

"You know, if people are thinking, its rude to pull them from their thoughts." the woman deadpanned.

"Sorry. I just need some advice." he replied. Melinda immediately got up and motioned for him to follow. Both of them came to a stop when they reached a turn in the corridor.

"What's wrong?" Melinda asked him.

"Coulson has a job for me. It's a black op—a kill mission." Percy revealed.

Melinda's face hardened. "What did you tell him?" she asked.

"I told him that I would do it." he answered.

"God." the woman said shaking her head. "Coulson has no business asking a kid to go on those kinds of missions."

"I'm an agent, May. I would have to do something like this eventually." Percy told her. "Isn't that what all the specialist training was for?"

"I don't care what the specialist training was for. You were there when Coulson and I were talking about kill orders… You don't want to do this—it changes you." May told him softly.

"I can't say no. I told Coulson that I trusted him and I intend to show him that." Percy replied.

"By what, doing his dirty work?" Melinda asked harshly.

"Melinda, Phil's your friend. I'm also your friend. You don't have to choose anyone here." he told his friend. "I agreed to it. I weighed my options and agreed to it. It's not something I'll do easily, but I understand the importance of this assignment."

She stayed silent. "I need you to be sure about this." she stated after a while. "You need to be sure that this is something you are willing to do—something you are willing to live with for the rest of your life."

"I trust S.H.I.E.L.D. I'll do the mission." Percy informed her.

"Alright, then." she told him. "I'll make sure that everything works out from this end. I get that this is a black op, but if any time you feel that you want to pull out, tell me."

"Thanks, May." Percy told him. "Don't be too hard on Phil. With everything going on, cut him a little slack."

A few hours later, Percy had finished packing, making it look like he was a university student coming back home. He picked up the envelope containing his cover identity from his bed. He opened it to find a driver's license, flight reservation, bank card, credit card and passport.

In the envelope, Percy had also found the keys to an Audi. When he had gone down to the garage, Percy hit the button on the key fob and found the car that he had been assigned for the mission. The car chirped as it unlocked itself. It was a blue Audi R8 sports car which looked to be extensively customized.

He opened the trunk and put his suitcase in it shutting it behind him. When he opened the door to get in, he found a note on the dash.

It read: This cover was expensive—make the most of it. Your return flight will leave London in one week. — Phil

Well, he wasn't in London to be a tourist, but at least he would get to travel in comfort. Taking the note from the dash, he crushed it and threw into a trash can nearby. He got back in the car and started it. The engine roared to life. Pulling out his S.H.I.E.L.D. issued smartphone, Percy pressed a button which opened the access tunnels to the garage.

Shifting in gear, Percy drove into the tunnel and exited near the O'Shaughnessy Dam. On one side of the dam, Percy could see the Playground's above ground structure masquerading as a power station office.

He supposed that if he were actually driving the speed limit, it would have taken almost four hours to get to San Francisco, but at the speed that Percy had driven across much of route, he managed to get there in two hours.

Leaving the car to the care of the valet service, Percy pulled his suitcase inside the International Departure Terminal. Once he found a British Airways counter, Percy headed there and checked in with the agent. From what he saw, the line to do so was long, but S.H.I.E.L.D. had opted to go full out for the cover meaning that he was flying business and could skip the line.

He breezed through security and customs and was now heading toward his gate. He looked for Gate A9 and found it in a few minutes. When the plane started boarding, Percy was guided by the gate agents into a separate jetway after having checked his passport and boarding pass.

He was seated on the plane's upper deck within minutes and a flight attendant came up to him.

"Mr. Jacobs, we'll be departing in about ten minutes." she informed. "Would you like anything before we depart? Drinks, Newspapers, Food?"

"Nothing." he replied. "Thanks though."

Minutes later, the pilot came on the PA system to announce their departure. "Hello everyone, I'm Captain Marie and I'll be the pilot for this flight and next to me is First Officer Patrick. Ladies and gentleman, on behalf of British Airways and Oneworld, I would like to welcome you on board BA Flight 286 from San Francisco International to London Heathrow." the woman—the plane's pilot—announced.

"We'll be taking off in a few minutes and the estimated time of arrival in London is 10:30 AM tomorrow, British Standard Time. On behalf of the crew, I wish you a nice flight and as always, thank you for choosing British Airways."

Soon, the plane was lined up with the runway and began accelerating. Soon they were at speed and the nose of the plane listen off of the ground and the tail soon followed. Within minutes, they were in the air and making banking turn to face east. As they rose turned in the right direction, they were flying over San Francisco. From here, Percy could see the Golden Gate Bridge and Transamerica Pyramid.

Soon, the plane rose above the skies of California and Percy was off. During most of the flight, Percy had chosen to use a S.H.I.E.L.D. issued tablet to read up on the woman who he was supposed to assassinate during the next week. The woman worked a day job at HMBC in Canary Wharf as a Senior Vice-President, Domestic and International Markets. From what he could see, the woman worked from ten to three at HMBC Tower in Canary Wharf—close to the S.H.I.E.L.D. apartment at which he was staying.

He was so engrossed in understanding the mission that he hadn't realized time had passed. Soon, the flight attendants were coming through the cabin with food. Percy had chosen a broiled Herefordshire beef meal paired with wine. Flying on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s dime had its benefits because the meal wasn't the usual quickly thrown together meal served on the plane—this one actually had taste.

For dessert, he had chosen an assortment of fruit. When he was finally done with his meal, a flight attendant took away the plate and asked if he needed anything. Once again, he told the attendant no and pushed a button for the seat to recline. In one of the storage pockets was a blanket in a sealed bag—he tore it open and lay it over himself falling asleep.

Ten hours after departure, Percy found himself being awoken by the smell of breakfast. As he woke from his slumber, he decided to use the restroom to brush his teeth. Coming back to his seat, he was served with a plate full of pastries and a latte.

A few hours after breakfast was served, the flight was beginning its descent into London. The plane made a few turns around the city at low altitude probably due to the line to land. He had ended up getting quite a nice view of London including views of The Shard, the London Eye and the Tower Bridge.

When the plane finally landed, Percy was incredibly happy that there was a completely separate jetway for the upper deck and that he was seated at the front of the plane. It wasn't a chore to wait for people to get off and he had made it to baggage claim pretty fast. Once he cleared customs, he headed toward the train station located below the airport. Using one of the many ticket machines, Percy used the S.H.I.E.L.D. issued Visa Card to purchase a ticket on the Heathrow Express.

Twenty minutes later, Percy was disembarking the train in Paddington Station. From there, he caught a black cab and was getting off in Canary Wharf half an hour later. Paying the driver using the credit card he had gotten, Percy took his suitcase and pulled it up to the building.

Using the key he had gotten from the envelope, Percy tapped the card attached to the key ring to a reader outside unlocking the front door of the tower. From there, he hit a button on the far wall to access the elevator and selected the penthouse. He tapped the card on a reader inside the elevator and the doors shut.

When the doors finally opened again, they revealed the most luxurious apartment Percy had ever seen. From what he could tell, the penthouse took up at least two whole floors of the building and from his vantage point, he could see the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf in front of him. The logos of HMBC, Citi, Barclays, and many more corporations were attached to the tops of the buildings.

He would have spent more time admiring the view if he hadn't needed to get to work. He needed to get surveillance on Elena Chambers as soon as he could and Percy bet that he would find something to help him in the apartment.

Five minutes later, he was proven right when he went to the upper level of the penthouse to find a room full of S.H.I.E.L.D. equipment. There was everything from weapons to surveillance equipment.

Deciding against using weapons to get to the woman, he picked up a case of bugs. It was about noon now, so Percy decided that he would try to get to the woman's office. He was supposed to be Parker Jacobs—a college student from a wealthy family. He would use that to his advantage. Using the his phone, Percy called HMBC.

"Hello, HMBC Tower, my name is Catherine. How may I help you?" A woman—Catherine—asked.

"Hi, I would like to meet with Elena Chambers—I believe that she runs the Domestic and International Markets Division at HMBC." Percy told the woman.

"I'm sorry sir, but I can't let just anyone meet with a Senior Vice-President. I could however schedule a meeting with one of our associates in Canary Wharf." she replied.

"I actually think that Ms. Chambers is going to be interested in my business. My father is a wealthy man and he wants to move his investments from his current bank to another one. I want him to take his business to HMBC but he needs to be convinced." Percy lied smoothly. "I was hoping that I could meet with Ms. Chambers to discuss the matter."

The woman on the phone stayed quiet for a moment. "I need to ask—How much money is your father looking to invest, sir?" the woman inquired.

"Well, he was looking to transfer all of his investments. That would total to about 3.4 billion US dollars." Percy lied. He was sure that this would convince the woman to get him an appointment with the woman—one of the teachings at S.H.I.E.L.D. was that when having a cover which involved wealth, flaunt it to get where you need to.

"One moment, sir." the woman replied. He was on hold for no more than two minutes before the woman came back on. "Ms. Chambers is free for ten minutes today at 12:10. She's told me to inform you that she can meet with you tomorrow for a significantly longer time, if you wish."

"No," Percy replied. "12:10 will be fine. Thank you." he told the woman.

"Alright, can I please get a name for the appointment?" the woman asked.

"Parker Jacobs." he replied.

"When you arrive at HMBC Tower, please just check in at the front desk with a piece of government-issued ID." the woman told him. "Have a nice day, Mr. Jacobs."

"Thank you, Catherine. Have a nice day as well." Percy said. This was gonna be easier than he thought.

Percy changed into a blue suit with a burgundy tie and white shirt for the meeting. He pocketed the bug case and went down to the street. From there, he navigated his way around Canary Wharf to the nearby HMBC Tower. He entered the pristine glass and steel building and headed to the front desk.

"Hi, Parker Jacobs. I have an appointment with Elena Chambers at 12:10." Percy told the man at the reception.

The man looked at his computer, clicking on a few things before looking back up to him. "Ah, Mr. Jacobs, yes. I need a piece of ID before I can send you up to Ms. Chambers' office." the man told him.

Percy pulled out the fake California driver's license that S.H.I.E.L.D. gave him and handed it to the man. The man took the driver's license flipping to its back and examining the picture. He handed Percy back the driver's license.

"Thank you, Mr. Jacobs. I'll escort you to Ms. Chambers' office. Follow me." the man told him before coming around the front desk and leading him to one of the elevators. Once inside, the man used a card key attached at his waist to activate the elevator. The man hit the button for the 39th floor.

Both of them stayed silent as they went up. Percy reached into his pocket and pulled out a bug and dropped it in his pocket for easy access. A few moments later, the doors opened to reveal a luxurious office level with executive offices around the floor's outer area. On the inner area was a smattering of desks each with different secretaries as well as a conference room.

As they exited the elevator, Percy raised his hand slightly and swiftly pulled the card from the man's waist. He pocketed it quickly not wanting to be caught. Thank the gods for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s training.

He was led to the end of the hallway into a corner office. The man opened the door for him and led him inside. Percy walked in and the man accompanying him left him the in the office. At the glass desk in front of him was a raven-haired woman. She looked up from her tablet and stood.

"Mr. Jacobs, I presume." she told him.

"Yes, Ms. Chambers." he replied shaking her hand over the desk. He used this opportunity to drop a bug in her pen cup.

"Pleased to meet you, call me Elena." she told him motioning for him to sit. He sat down unbuttoning his suit jacket and she followed.

"Would you like anything to drink? Scotch, coffee, water?" she asked.

"No, thank you." he replied. "I assume that you have been made aware of why I'm here, Elena." he said.

"Of course, Mr. Jacobs. You would like to transfer your father's investment accounts to HMBC and I was told that it was quite a sizeable sum." she replied. "Here at the Hong Kong and Macau Banking Corporation, we'll take care of the move and all the details. I can give you a run down of how we work here if you'd like."

"Actually, I've done a bit of research already and I already like what I saw. What I really need to be convinced about is the competency of your market analysts. My father wants to make more money, not loose it." he lied smoothly.

"Of course." she told him. "Our financial analysts operate in 71 different countries scattered across every inhabited continent. We have teams working around the clock to make sure that your investment continues to grow. The markets may be closed for example in London, but our analysts in Shanghai are working hard to make sure that we give you good information. We also have more diverse offerings for business, but I'm afraid that has to be discussed in person with the account holder."

Percy was pretty sure what she meant by discussed in person. She meant that the bank here, like the other multinational institutions, also partook in less than legal activities. She was basically offering to meet Mr. Jacobs in order to sell money laundering among other things. Phil was right—this woman wasn't going to change. She was too focused on making money, at the cost of people's lives.

"Of course." Percy lied. "I like to trust my gut, Elena, and you have made a wonderful impression on me. How about a meeting with my father in two days?"

"Alright, two days. I'll have one of my assistants call the line you used to contact us." she told him getting up. He once again shook her hand and turned to leave her office.

"Oh Mr. Jacobs, do wait. I can have someone escort you out or show you around the building." she told him.

"That's very nice, but I have a prior appointment. I'll show myself out." he told her. As he walked out, he pulled out his phone and went to the Near Field Communications app. Her phone had that enabled and Percy tapped a button and waited. A moment later, his phone's screen said: Override Successful. He now had access to her entire phone and whenever she connected it to a network or other electronic device, he could access that too.

He walked out, going to the elevator and pushed a button for the lobby and the 37th floor. If S.H.I.E.L.D.'s information was correct, the executives were about to go for lunch and their assistants would also be leaving the floor, leaving it unattended. When the elevator reached the 37th floor, he got out and waited a few minutes. Luckily, the 37th floor was empty already so nosy was there to ask him what he was doing.

It was now 12:30 PM and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intel said that the floor would be empty. Using the card key he stole from the receptionist, Percy activated the elevator panel and pushed the button for the 39th floor. When he got there and the doors opened, he found the floor to be empty.

He headed toward Elena's office and used the key card to get himself inside. Once there, he swiftly headed for her desk's drawers hoping to find keys. Once he opened them, he found what he was looking for—house keys. That would make his job easier.

Just like the S.H.I.E.L.D. apartment he was staying in, there were keys and a key card. He pulled out his phone and used the NFC app to clone the key card. Once that was done, he used the 3D Scanner app to copy the key. He hit a button on his phone and a replica of the kay would be printing in his apartment in Canary Wharf.

He was putting everything back where he had found it when he thought about hacking her computer. He would be able to find out what exactly Hydra had been up to. He was debating whether to break mission parameters or not and in the end, he decided that having intel about Hydra was worth it.

He once again used his phone to break into her office computer. He hit a button and a script ran, disabling the security on the office computer. Soon, he had access to the files there and began to copy everything to a remote server. The phone displayed a status bar as it cloned every file to a S.H.I.E.L.D. server. Luckily for him, it was going pretty fast and soon, the bar showed 100% before disappearing. He shut off her office computer and took one last look around to make sure that everything was in its place. He walked out and got in the elevator and hit the button for the lobby.

Minutes later, Percy was walking out of the elevator and past the busy front desk. He discretely threw the stolen key card near the front desk where the man might find it again. Percy walked out of the building and went straight back to the apartment. Once there, he changed into sweats and a T-shirt and sat himself down at the computer.

He entered his credentials into the computer and the interface changed from the regular iMac layout and into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s more complex one. He navigated his way around multiple servers and finally accessed the documents he stole from HMBC.

Looking through them, he found multiple suspicious transactions and deals which were probably not legal. This was good, he would be able to find out what exactly Hydra had been doing. Hopefully Phil wouldn't mind that he had done this. This was supposed to be a kill op, but given that yesterday Grant Ward seemed to have come back to life, he wanted to know every detail he could about Hydra.

He scrolled through more files finding some documents detailing something about Helicarrier 64. That caught his attention. What would Hydra be doing with files about a destroyed Helicarrier?

Going through the documents, Percy furrowed his eyebrows. This wasn't possible—Helicarrier 64 wasn't listed as destroyed in these files. It was listed as missing. How does one lose a flying aircraft carrier?

He tried to look for more information but the trail ended there. Hydra had only found out this much and hadn't been able to find anything else. He moved on to the other files, making a mental note to ask Phil about Helicarrier 64. When he went through the other files, he found one talking about a sceptre.

It was in the Krepost' Novi Grad. That was an Eastern European language. Percy opened a window of satellite imaging and typed in 'Novi Grad'. Immediately, the satellite image shifted to show a city in a country called Sokovia.

He panned around the map and found a fortress nearby. Fortress… maybe that's what Krepost' meant… To verify his hunch, Percy opened the translator app and typed in Krepost' Novi Grad and listed the language as Sokovian. A few moments later, the results came back listing 'Fortress of New City' as the result.

What was so important about the sceptre that Hydra had? Why was it being stored in a nation so far away from anything else? Percy decided to do some more research about Sokovia. Maybe he could find out what was happening there.

After a few hours of research, Percy compiled his information. Sokovia was an former Soviet state and Eastern European country located North of the Alps and nestled between the borders of Austria and the Czech Republic, close to Germany's border.

The capital of the small nation was a city known as Novi Grad and this constituted the majority of its population. The rest of the country was made up of a few small towns and villages located in the mountain valley that made up Sokovia. All in all, the tiny nation was one constantly ravaged by civil war ever since the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Now Percy understood. What better place for Hydra to occupy than a country where violence is habitual and where the outside world has little influence. A perfect place for Hydra to put its tentacles in.

By now, it was evening in London and Percy decided that he would eat and then nap. He would be going after Elena tonight. He wasn't going to wait—he needed to find out more about Hydra's plans and this woman was his ticket to that.

It was 11:00 PM British Standard Time when he woke up from his nap. He got dressed quickly and dressed in a suit. He needed to look like he belonged in the Heron. Going out, he picked up his phone and the cloned key that had already printed.

From Canary Wharf, he used the Tube's Jubilee Line at Canary Wharf Station and headed to London Bridge Station. There, he switched onto the Northern Line and stopped at Moorgate Station.

From Moorgate, it was a short walk to the Heron, where Elena lived. The Heron had private security patrolling the lobby and did video sweeps of the floors and outside areas. Using his phone, he used a signal scrambler to put the surveillance cameras on a loop. It was safe to go in.

He held his phone over the proximity sensor outside the front doors and the door clicked open. He went inside, making sure to avoid looking at the guards at the front desk and pushed the button for the elevator.

A few seconds later, the elevator opened and he entered quickly, once again using his phone to activate it. He pressed the button for the penthouse and waited as it took him to her floor.

Once the elevator doors opened, Percy made sure to be extremely silent. He quietly walked into Elena's home and looked around. Nobody was on the first floor. He went up to the second floor. If the building plans S.H.I.E.L.D. had obtained were correct, then the pool would be near the master bedroom.

From the stairs, Percy could see that the lights outside were turned on. He quickly took a peek out the floor-to-ceiling windows that spanned the right wall. From this vantage point, he could see someone in the pool.

This would make his job easier. He wouldn't need to drag around a body. He rose from his position and went to the door which led to the pool deck. He moved swiftly and waited till the woman in the pool got out. He needed to have a positive ID of Elena before executing the kill order.

The woman had her back facing Percy and was getting out of the pool by using the ladder on the opposite side of the pool. When she got out, she turned to get her towel and saw Percy.

She wore a shocked expression and was about to cry out when Percy used his powers. He concentrated and the water from the pool rose and encased her, silencing Elena. The water dragged her under and smashed her head against the pool wall. Crack. Percy could hear this through the water.

He let go of the water and waited. He used his powers to sense the blood flow in her body to find none. Elena Chambers was dead. Percy killed her in less than three minutes. He was stuck in his spot still processing his actions when the adrenaline kicked in.

He needed to finish looking around this woman's apartment and get the hell out of here. He went back inside quickly, avoiding looking at the body, and turned to the woman's study. There, he found a laptop which he turned on and connected to his phone. Using his phone, he disabled the security protocols and infiltrated the system.

He dumped the contents of the laptop onto a secure S.H.I.E.L.D. server and got out quickly. He went back down to the lobby and exited quickly. He pulled out his phone and shut off the signal scrambler and went down to the Tube.

He headed straight to the apartment in Canary Wharf and took his bags. He didn't feel like staying in London any longer and he knew that the intel he gathered needed to be at S.H.I.E.L.D. as soon as possible. He caught a cab to Paddington Station where he took the Heathrow Express train.

Once he got to the airport, he headed straight to a counter agent, who moved him onto a flight leaving for San Francisco in two hours. He left his bag at the drop off counter and had gone through security. From there, he boarded his plane and went to bed just as the plane took off.

When he woke up, the plane was still flying over the Central United States and breakfast was being served. He ate quickly for this meal and was anxious to get back to the Playground. He really needed to speak with Coulson.

Three daunting hours later, Percy was on the ground in San Francisco and had cleared customs. After having gotten his bag and paying for the parking, Percy collected the Audi R8 and drove to the Playground. And by drove to the Playground, he meant raced there hoping not to cause an accident.

Two hours later, Percy stopped near the tunnel which lead to the Playground's garage. Using his phone, he clicked a button to open the doors only to find them not opening. He hit the button a few times again and the same thing occurred.

Something was wrong. S.H.I.E.L.D. took great care of their facilities and garage tunnel couldn't just be broken. He got out of the car and went up to the large blast door. He looked for the manual override.

Once he found the lever, Percy pulled it and used all of his strength to move the heavy doors. Luckily, Percy was a demigod and that came with some perks. It meant that he was stronger than the average human and could manage, although struggling, to pry open tunnel doors.

Once they were open, he drove the car into the tunnel and went about the task of closing the door behind him. After all, an open door into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret headquarters didn't enforce the idea of a secret headquarters.

As he drove through the tunnel, he could see that lights were out in some places and that there was some small rock debris on the road. This didn't sit right with Percy. It looked like there had been an earthquake here, but he didn't remember any news channel talking about an earthquake in California, so what happened?

When he finally had entered the garage, he saw that the base was truly a mess. Everywhere, agents were digging out equipment and were repairing the base. He got out of the car quickly and dropped his bag off in his room. He was still wearing a suit, but he didn't care. Something had obviously happened and he needed to make sure that everyone was okay.

Going to the director's office, he found Coulson and Melinda in his office, both of them not looking well. Melinda had a few cuts on her face that were still healing and the director was using a cane to stand.

Both of them were looking at the screen which showed live feeds of raids across the nation. He could also see multiple F-35s flying over compounds. A seamless operation began with the jets launching their payloads and raids occurring in other places. Within minutes, the screens showed army soldiers evacuating themselves from the raids and explosions being set off.

"What the hell happened while I was gone?" Percy said unable to stop himself.

The two turned around so quickly that he thought they would get whiplash. They had identical expressions of confusion on their faces.

"You're supposed to be in London." Phil stated. "What are you doing here?"

"Elena's taken care of. I wanted to come back early because of what I found out." he told them.

"And what exactly did you find out?" Melinda asked.

"What Hydra's been working on. They've been storing a weapon in Sokovia as well as looking for a Helicarrier." he told the two. Phil tensed up immediately. Percy noticed that, but chose to say nothing for now.

"Why would Hydra be looking for a Helicarrier? They've all been destroyed." Melinda stated.

"I don't know, but I think that I should debrief Percy on what happened here before he writes up his mission report." Phil said before either he or Melinda could talk.

"Alright, when you're done being weird, Phil, we'll talk. I'll see you later, Percy." Melinda said walking out. It seemed that she got the hidden undertones of Phil's words.

"So, you wanna tell me what happened here?" Percy asked.

Half an hour later, Percy was trying to process what was going on. The things that Coulson told him shouldn't even be possible. What the hell happened? He was gone for two days and the base was half destroyed with an agent compromised.

"So, there's an alien thing out there who's called Hive and walks around in Grant Ward's body?" Percy stated. "And that thing also has weird mind controlling powers which only work on Inhumans and Daisy tried to level the Playground?"

"Is that a question or a statement?" Phil asked dryly.

"Still working on that." he quipped. "I really shouldn't be surprised though. I've dealt with crap that's probably just as weird as this or worse even."

"Yeah, well, this is S.H.I.E.L.D. We have a broad job description." Phil replied.

"You can say that again." Percy said. "You wanna tell me why what I found about Hydra is a secret? And don't try to lie because I've noticed that you have been withholding information for a while, Coulson. So what exactly is happening out there?"

Coulson stayed silent before sighing. "Alright, you already know too much for me to lie anyway, so I'll just tell you. Change and meet me at the hangar. We're taking a quinjet so you can see Theta Protocol." Phil told him cryptically.

Ten minutes later, Percy had changed from the suit into his normal S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform which was the tactical suit he wore on missions. He headed toward the hangar and saw Phil waiting near a quinjet. They both boarded the plane and soon, the quinjet headed North for Canada. The flight was quiet with both Phil and Percy not wanting to talk. Two hours later, they were somewhere over the Rockies and were descending into a valley.

As they descended, the ground below shifted to reveal a massive hangar located below them. This one was the largest that Percy had ever seen. Larger than the hanger at the Glacier and the Playground. The quinjet landed and it's doors opened to reveal the largest hangar bay he'd ever seen. People were bustling around and cranes were moving equipment looking like they were getting ready for a mission.

"This is the Theta Protocol Facility." Coulson told him as they exited the quinjet. "It is one of the largest facilities S.H.I.E.L.D. has in operation and is one of the busiest."

As they walked from the quinjet, what Percy saw in front of him made him stop in his tracks. In front of him was Helicarrier 64—not missing or destroyed, but fully staffed and being loaded with quinjets and supplies.

"Theta Protocol is one that is designed as a safety net for humanity in case of disaster. We can mobilize this Helicarrier to anywhere in the world. It's meant as backup for the Avengers, who took over dealing with disaster since the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D." Phil told him as they went to a movable platform than ran the length of the aircraft carrier.

"What the hell, Phil!?" Percy said dumfounded. "You've been hiding a freaking Helicarrier?!"

"Over the last months, I've been getting help here—gathering former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents still loyal to our cause. We've been upgrading the Helicarrier and training personnel to become its new crew." Phil told him. "I didn't intend on telling anyone at the Playground but I'll have to now—at least eventually."

"What the hell does that mean, Phil?" Percy asked frustrated at the secrets that Phil kept.

"I'll let Fury explain that." Coulson stated.