Berlin, Germany

Percy Jackson sat at a bar counter, shoulders slumped as his head dropped to the wooden counter. He was contemplating everything that had happened these last few days. Just one terrible event followed the next.

To start it all off, the United Nations officially met in Vienna to ratify the Accords, all but making it very difficult for Percy to think about continuing with the Avengers.

And then Vienna was bombed.

Luckily, Natasha was okay, who was present at the ratifying. There were 12 dead, 70 injured. The whole situation was enough for Percy to decide to get some alone time to think. Wanda was back in the States, with Vision. Hopefully, those two got along fine.

Percy sighed tiredly after finishing his shot of whiskey. "Noch einer."

The bartender strode over to him and poured him another shot of whiskey. "You know, your German is very … inarticulate," she spoke in English, with a German accent, of course. "I can easily tell you are American."

"I only know a few words in German, anyways," Percy muttered, rubbing his eyes before gulping down his next shot and slamming the glass on the counter.

"Having a mental crisis?" she asked.

"Something like that," Percy replied.

"Well, I'm always here," she said. "For anything … that you may need."

It took a second for Percy to realize the bartender was hitting on him. When it sunk in, he couldn't help but smirk in amusement, the chuckle that followed sounding somewhat bitter. "Just pour me another shot."

"As you wish," she said and poured more whiskey into the glass.

As Percy tilted his head back to finish his next shot of whiskey, a grainy picture of a masked person caught his eye that was demonstrated on the TV. The suspect wore dark clothes, like a dark bomber jacket, black jeans and black boots. Percy put his glass down and frowned as he watched the breaking news report.

"The man in question, James Buchanan Barnes also known as the Winter Soldier, has been finally captured by Task Force in Bucharest, Romania. He is being prosecuted for his involvement in the bombing of Vienna International Centre, where the Sokovia Accords was being official ratified," the news anchor said.

"Can you turn up the volume?" Percy asked the bartender, having gained every bit of interest in what was playing on TV.

The bartender did as Percy asked and the news anchor continued to report. "Also in the breaking news, Steve Rogers, the Captain America, has been arrested by Task Force as well, for aiding the escape of the war criminal that is Barnes. James Buchanan Barnes is currently being transferred to Berlin, where further physiological evaluation is to be done on him. Here is a still of the arrest."

The news channel displayed in clear HD what was Task Force arresting Steve Rogers, his running buddy James Barnes and Sam Wilson as well. Rhodey in his War Machine armor and Wakanda's new king, T'Challa, who was donning what looked like some sort of costume, were both in the picture as well.

Percy hadn't even had the time to properly think about Wakanda getting involved in this. From what Percy could remember in Chiron's teachings, Wakanda and Atlantis weren't exactly … friendly with each other. They two countries had a long history that involved all sorts of nasty events.

This was all taking a turn for the worst. Percy needed to see if could appeal to Tony. He hoped he could be reasonable. Because with Captain America arrested, Steve was going to need Percy's help.

Percy pulled out a twenty from his wallet and left it next to his shot glass and walked outside, pulling his phone out of his pocket. As he looked through his contacts, his finger paused over the name "Tony Stark." He was having some doubts that Tony would see sense. He sighed and surveyed his surroundings. As he did, he settled on a strange sight.

Percy spotted from a distance, a man who was wearing the exact same clothing that the grainy picture of Barnes had on: dark bomber jacket, black jeans and black Caterpillar boots. No mask on, though. Only from the still of the capture, he got a good look at how James Barnes looked like; long flowing brown hair, his left arm clearly being one of metal, and a slightly tan complexion.

This guy was not James Buchanan Barnes.

Percy pocketed his phone and pushed through the crowd. "Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me."

Geez, this crowd was worse than New York's. At least everyone there walked at the same pace and headed in the same direction. Berlin's sidewalk crowd was chaos.

Percy managed to find an opening and jogged towards the mysterious man as he headed for his car. Just as Percy reached him, all he got was a good look at his face in the rearview mirror before he took off. For a brief second, Percy was tempted to summon his trident and crash his car. But with the Accords now in full effect, he wasn't sure that would look too great in the public eye. He now had to actually go out of his way to take care of his public image, make sure he didn't do anything drastic.

Percy grimaced and breathed deeply through his nose, realizing that he might've lost the real culprit of the bombing of Vienna. He rubbed his head and turned, and looking left, he then realized the place that the man had just come out of.

A hotel.

Hm, Percy thought. If he came out of a hotel … he might have a room. He would just have to figure out which one. Now he couldn't just go climbing into every window until he found the right one. Not only was it potentially time-consuming but if he was caught, it would be way too hard to explain his actions.

The receptionist! Of course. They keep a logbook of the customers and their rooms, they always do. Now how was he going to get to the logbook?

That was the question.

That might be tricky, but Percy, he had a plan. And that started with walking inside the hotel. The receptionist was immediately attending him, speaking all kinds of things to him in German.

Percy looked at her puzzled. "Um … sorry, I don't speak German."

"Ah, an American tourist," she replied in English. "Of course, we get them all the time."

Percy nodded, still looking confused. "Right."

"How can I help you?"

Percy glanced around briefly. "Um … I'm looking for someone. I was supposed to meet him in his room. Short brown hair, stubble, dark eyes, somewhat pale. Kind of … Eastern? Is that the word?"

"Hm, are you talking about … Helmut Zemo?"

Hm … potential name of the suspect.

"Yeah … that's him," Percy said, going with it. "Helmut Zemo. I'm an accomplice of his at work. He was supposed to give me something, work-related, you know."

The receptionist nodded. "Of course."

"But unfortunately, I think he had to leave before I could get here," Percy said. "So he sent me a text, telling me that he left it in his room for me to pickup. But … he did not tell me what room. Helmut's so forgetful sometimes." Percy made a show of being frustrated as he went along with it. "Do you know what room he's staying in?"

"Ah yes, it should be in the logbook," she said, going over to counter, humming as she read through the customers. "Ah, here it is! Room 29."

Percy pretended to be very grateful, clapping his hands together. "You … are a lifesaver. Thank you so much. You know what?" Percy brought out his wallet and pulled out a ten dollar bill. "Here's your tip, for being a great help." Percy placed it inside the jar on the counter. "Spend it wisely."

The receptionist looked thrilled. "My pleasure."

Percy started to head into the hallway. "Room 29," he repeated.

Curiously enough, the door was wide open. Percy looked at the door in confusion before pushing it all the way. "Hello?" Percy stuck inside. "Anyone here?"

By the looks of it, no one was in there, but the room had the look that it had been used by someone. Percy could only wonder where the did this Zemo guy go off to. Percy continued to look through the room until he opened the bathroom door, where a surprise waited for him.

Percy was completely spooked by the sight of a dead body in the bathtub. Percy didn't hesitate to call Emergency Services. With what very little German he knew, he simply said that there was a dead body in the hotel that he was at and asked for police. He hung up the phone and investigated some more, looking through the dead man's pockets. He found an ID, which read that he was a psychiatrist named Theo Broussard.

Percy narrowed his eyes. A psychiatrist? Wasn't Barnes going to be evaluated by a psychiatrist when he got to Berlin? Was this Zemo's doing?

Who was he kidding? Of course he was Zemo's doing. But did mean that Zemo intended to take Broussard's place as psychiatrist?

Just what the hell did he have planned?

There was something missing here, Percy thought. He's almost solved the puzzle but he's missing just that one piece that completes it all.

The motive. Why was he doing this all this?

Percy continued to investigate the room. It seemed like everything had gotten cleared out. Whatever this Zemo guy intended to do, he didn't plan on coming back to this room.

But there had to be something.

He scoured the whole room, looking behind cabinets, the closet, under the bed even.

Jackpot!

Under the bed, there was a little black device that looked like it could have been dropped while he was packing up his luggage or something like that. At least, that's the only thing Percy could assume. He reached for it and pulled it out. The little black device turned out to be a voice recorder.

Just because why not, Percy pressed play on the recorder. At first, all he got was recordings of what sounded like it could be his wife. A woman spoke, what seemed like just a regular phone conversation. Percy continued to press play until the next set of recordings was played.

Because that was where he got his answer.

Zemo lost his family. In Sokovia. He would never forgive the Avengers for that. He would destroy them. But he couldn't do it himself, he's not nearly powerful enough. So … they have to destroy each other.

Chills ran down Percy's spine when he heard that, the sound of a man so enraged and devastated. It was in this moment, he realized the repercussions of their doings. He considered himself lucky now that no one came after him after that mess in Hong Kong. Someone could easily decided they wanted to kill Percy for that. Percy sighed, and pressed play again.

First step, bomb Vienna and bring Barnes out of hiding. Second step, take Broussard's place as psychiatrist when they capture him. Third step … bring out the Winter Soldier.

Oh … shit.

Percy was immediately on his phone, dialing Tony Stark. He passed by the receptionist who asked him if he found what he was looking for, but Percy didn't really bothering answering her as he went outside the hotel.

No response.

"Damn it, Tony, pick up," Percy muttered.

Still nothing.

"Fine, Steve it is, then."

Percy dialed Steve and to his relief, he did pick up. "Percy? What's going on?"

Percy sighed. "Thought you'd be in a jail cell, to be honest. Your arrest is all over the news."

"Yeah, Task Force brought us in, but no, not in a jail cell," Steve explained. "We got an office instead."

"Well, that's nice to hear, but we got bigger problems," Percy said.

"What is it?"

"So, you know how Barnes is being blamed for the bombing?" Percy said. "Yeah, that wasn't him."

"I had a feeling," Steve admitted. "But how do you know?"

"I happened to spot the guy in the photo," Percy said. "You know the one that's all over the media. Guy was wearing the same exact same clothes. He took off before I could get him though. But … he was staying in a hotel and I went in to investigate. And guess who's body I found in the bathtub? The psychiatrist that's supposed to evaluate Barnes."

Inside the office, Steve looked up at the monitor and frowned at the stranger that was currently evaluating Bucky.

"Guy's name is Helmut Zemo," Percy explained. "He lost his family … in Sokovia. So, he wants to er, … get revenge on us for that. So he bombed Vienna and put that picture in the media to frame Barnes and bring him out of hiding. He kills the psychiatrist and takes his place, so he can then … bring out the Winter Soldier."

Steve grimaced on the other end. Everything Percy was telling him, it proved they had bigger problems than the Accords. "You get a good look at him?"

"Yeah."

"Can you describe him?"

"He's got like, … short brown hair. Dark eyes. Kinda pale. He's Sokovian, so he looks Eastern," Percy described.

"No way," Steve whispered on the other end.

The lights suddenly went out on Steve's end, all but confirming their suspicions. Percy could hear clamoring on the other end. "What happened?"

"Looks like you were right," he said to Percy before yelling at the others inside the office. "We need to get in there, quick!"

"You need to tell all of this to Tony," Percy said.

"Tony will not understand, but I will try," Steve promised. "Things are only going to go south form here. Can I count on your help?"

"Always, captain," Percy said. "Anything I can do right now?"

Steve pondered for a second. "Tony has Wanda locked up in HQ right now. Think you can get her out?"

Percy smirked. "That shouldn't be a problem."