New York Heroes

An Ending?!

A/N It gets mentioned in the chapter, but just to make it clear: the official cover story is that Norse gods attacked the city because the heroes didn't want to tell the public about Greek/Roman/Egyptian gods and Loki was involved in it anyway. . .

Stark Tower

Steve stood on a balcony outside Stark Tower, looking over the city below him. People and cars flooded the streets below, as miniscule as ants. Most of the buildings were under some sort of construction, but basic infrastructure had been repaired. Finally, things were starting to go back to normal (or whatever it was Steve and the heroes considered normal).

In the weeks following the rebellion, construction crews had made quick work of the rubble crowding the streets. Tony Stark had made a substantial donation to help with the rebuilding of New York City.

Thor told the media that a group of rebel Asguardians had failed to dethrone Odin. In their lust for vengeance, they had attempted to overthrow Earth, as it was a much easier target. Odin had ordered Thor to destroy the rebels, but the people of New York had chased the heroes out of the city before he could.

Though they had originally turned against the heroes, the public had begun to respect them again. A rumour was spreading that Fred and Lorie, the lovable hosts of the television show that had originally suggested that the heroes were corrupt, had been taken hostage by the Norse gods who had attacked the city and forced to make a false broadcast.

Anyone who still disputed the heroes had to admit that life with them was better than life without them. Set and Loki had basically destroyed the entire city. But the people were bouncing back, as humans always do.

BOOM

The tower shook. People, both inside and outside the building, were screaming. Steve sighed. Leo and Tony probably blew something up in the lab again. Or Thor dropped his hammer. Or a new threat was attacking. Or a magical artifact randomly exploded (again). Or someone made Bruce angry enough to bring the Hulk out.

Steve sighed again. Now that he thought about it, there were too many reasons for explosions in this tower. He went back inside to see what was causing such a commotion.

Smoke was pouring from the lab. Tony was covered in soot, and Leo's hair seemed to be on fire (again). Natasha and Piper were already there, the others were filing in at the same time as Steve, emotions ranging in varying degrees of panic and boredom.

Splish

Steve looked down. How had he failed to notice that the entire floor was now a giant puddle of water? Well, he'd been a little preoccupied with the explosion. . . Percy must have been in the lab, making sure there weren't any sparks left.

Leo grinned at the heroes. "It's fine! Nothing to worry about!"

"Except your hair." Jason pointed to the flames sprouting from Leo's head. The mechanic glanced up, unconcerned, and willed the flames to die out. Across the room, Frank visibly relaxed.

Sadie frowned. "Should I be worried that explosions are becoming the norm around here?"

"This shouldn't happen too often," Tony said. "There's just a glitch in the tower's new defense system."

"Will these. . . glitches. . . happen often?" Hazel asked.

"No," Leo said.

Tony waved a hand dismissively. "Of course not!"

BOOM

Another explosion echoed through the building.

Piper frowned. "Let me guess: you already installed a prototype system before you tested it for glitches?"

Leo grinned sheepishly. Tony had pulled out his phone and was looking at something.

"We only installed a partial prototype," Tony muttered  as he scrolled through something on his phone. "Wanted to make sure the system worked before we added on to it."

BOOM

Explosion number three.

"Well, it obviously doesn't work," Sadie grumbled. "Why don't you shut it down?"

"Found it!" Percy called from inside the lab. He came out carrying a black, smoking blob of melted plastic.

Annabeth sighed. "That's the only controller to shut down the system, isn't it." Leo grinned sheepishly.

BOOM

Explosion number four.

Percy looked mildly uncomfortable. "Will the tower. . . hold up? With all the explosions?"

"Of course. This tower has survived two alien invasions. It's structurally sound," Tony said, still scrolling through his phone. "Anyway, I just hacked the system and shut it down, so we should be fine."

BOOM
BOOM
BOOM

Tony glanced up. "Or I just made it worse. Maybe we should evacuate. . . "

"Why didn't we do that in the first place?" Carter wondered aloud as they raced to the nearest window.

BOOM

Jason threw open the window. The heroes prepared to fly/teleport/etc., or they grabbed hold of someone who could.

BOOM

Then, they jumped.