DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.

Crack! Crack!

Nico jerked awake, feet hitting the cold floor of his cabin and hand wrapped around his Stygian sword before his eyes had even fully opened. When he realized the noise that had woken him had been gunshots, he dropped his dark blade and picked up the mortal one Leo had made for him. It was fashioned to look and feel just like his other one, except it wasn't black and it wasn't made from Stygian iron.

Hazel tumbled out of her bunk, pushing the sheet separating her from her brother out of the way. "What was that?"

"Trouble," Nico answered shortly. He pushed his cabin door open, holding it for Hazel momentarily before letting it fall closed. She had a sword in her hands, as well.

Demigods were rushing from their cabins, various weapons in their hands. Most of them held mortal weapons, not their regular magic ones. Nico caught sight of Annabeth and Clarisse standing in the middle of it all, shouting orders and running their fingers along a map they continued to reference.

"Annabeth, what's going on?" Nico was a little out of breath after running to meet them, and he cursed himself for it. He still wasn't well. Subconsciously, he rubbed at his arm where it had been pierced by the glass of his prison cell just days ago. Thank goodness it had almost completely healed. Still, there was a nasty scar under his sleeve.

"They're at the border, two of them." Annabeth barely glanced at Nico, her eyes too occupied with the pencil in her hand that scribbled furiously on the maps in front of her. "Director Fury and Agent Romanoff."

Nico glanced toward the border, where he saw Chiron standing amidst a sea of demigods.
"The Hecate and Demeter cabins haven't finished setting up the traps yet, since they were right in the middle of doing it when they arrived." She jerked her thumb toward where Nico assumed the two enemies were. "Chiron's trying to parlay with them, maybe even just stall them for a while until the traps are ready." She took a deep breath, glancing toward cabin 3.

Clarisse, who had been speaking with another camper until this point, finished for Annabeth. "Other than that, everyone else is in position. I've contacted Camp Jupiter, and Reyna said the legion was ready."

"What about Frank?" Nico had seen Frank change form and fly back to Camp Jupiter as a robin, probably to lead his cohorts.

"He made it. Everything seems to be going to plan." Clarisse crossed her arms. "As long as someone doesn't screw it up."

Nico couldn't tell if she was addressing a specific person with that last part, and at the moment he really didn't care. He threw his sword's scabbard over his shoulder, making sure it was cinched in place between his shoulders before glancing back at Annabeth. Her gray eyes were darting around the camp, no doubt searching for her boyfriend. But before she could see him rushing out of his cabin, there was a loud commotion from the group of campers by the border. Annabeth unsheathed her knife and ran for the noise, followed closely by Clarisse.

"Annabeth, wait!" Percy jogged a few steps, hand outstretched toward his disappearing girlfriend, a shiny black object resting in his palm. Nico recognized it immediately. It was a gun. Nico watched as Percy tucked the firearm in the waistband of his jeans, but before he could see more, a hand settled on his shoulder.

Nico's sword was spinning toward the unknown person so fast he almost didn't have time to stop himself before he chopped off Will Solace's hands.

"Woah! Chill, Nico. It's just me." The son of Apollo held his hands protectively, not wanting to get one of them accidentally hacked off.

Nico exhaled. "We need to get down there. Something's really wrong."

Will interrupted his friend. "No." He shook his head. "Chiron gave me a different mission, and you're coming with me." He grabbed Nico by the elbow and ran toward the canoe lake.

~*~PAGE BREAK

"Let me speak with Rogers, and we'll go." Nick Fury's voice was firm, his posture rigid. He was not leaving without Captain America in tow.

"I'm afraid we can't allow that. Captain Rogers is currently unable to speak with you." Chiron was strangely calm, his voice cold and formal.

Campers were throwing rocks through the magic barrier, hitting any agent who dared come too close. Several of them were hitting Director Fury and Agent Romanoff before Chiron finally told them to stop.

Fury could only see the group of people before him; he couldn't see the army of demigods farther down the hill or the sturdy cabins. The only thing he could see for as far as they eye could see were empty strawberry fields.

"He took off his com, so we can't get to him that way," Natasha muttered to herself, sorting through their options.

"Look, let me speak to Mr. America and maybe we can stop this war." Fury's words held no truth. For the record, he was not a bad guy. His job was to protect the earth from the supernatural, and that's exactly what he was doing. How could he risk the billions of people inhabiting the earth by turning a blind eye at this extremely powerful race?

"Would you stop lying?" Annabeth's eyes were hard with furious rage. "You're the one attacking our home. We don't have to give you anything." Her dagger was wickedly sharp and pointed directly at the pair. Fury got the feeling she wasn't afraid to use it.

Chiron put a hand on her shoulder. He turned to address the swarm of campers around them. "Please, demigods. You know where you need to be. Give us some space for negotiations."

"Negotiations?" Clarisse shrieked. "There is no room for negotiations, Chiron. This is war!" She threw her arm in the air, sword held aloft, and gave a war cry.

"Clarisse, calm down," Jason said. "Chiron's got a point. We need to try one more time."

Chiron spoke again. "Annabeth, Jason, and Clarisse, stay with me. You know the most about this situation." Jason opened his mouth to speak, because there were people who knew how to deal with SHIELD better than he did, but he quickly closed it. Chiron had reasoning behind this, he was sure of it. Then he realized what it was.

He wanted them there in case things got ugly. All three of them were the leaders of Camp Half-Blood's army. They could say the code word and the war would begin. Of course, Chiron could do it, too.

But what would happen if somehow, just somehow, one of those agents got through the border and killed the centaur? You could never be too careful.

"Shall we have a seat?" Chiron asked.

So, two chapters because this second one is short. XD I wanted to give you guys a cliffie MMWUAHAHAHAHAHA And btw constructive criticism is welcome! XD

Arrow :D