Heroes of New York

FOURTEEN - LAVENDER

Chapter Fourteen

~Percy Jackson~

Tony and I worked in the shop for a long time, fixing up the suits, working on some of his projects, staring at blueprints 'til our eyes ached - I know Leo would have loved to be here if he - well, he just would have loved it.

When I finally checked my watch (yes, it was a shield, thank you Tyson for making me a new one), it was nearly midnight and I figured that we should go check on that sample from the 'Bee Incident' as Stark called it. We had done an initial analysis and found that it was made mainly of lavender petals, and the rest was done by magic, so JARVIS was doing secondary research to see if it had been found anywhere else and what might neutralise it.

I was just hoping it was a one off, and I would have to battle another crazy god/titan/giant/primordial in the future. It was a nice thought.

I was about to tell Stark we should probably wrap things up when there was a loud bang from the next room, then a roar.

I glanced back at Stark, who had gone a little pale, and sprinted out of the room toward the chem lab. I burst through the doors expecting to see some sort of monster menacing Bruce, only to find the Hulk stomping around the lab, throwing tables and equipment at some unseen enemy.

I wracked my brain for a plan, as Stark appeared behind me, getting paler as he confirmed the source of the noise. I remembered that the Black Widow reported having found a way to calm the Hulk down and bring Bruce back into control, but she wasn't here (in fact, she wasn't even in the country at the moment, doing a mission in the Ukraine).

I threw away my plan-making thoughts and simply ran at the Hulk, trying to restrain him from breaking any of the more dangerous experiments. I used the debris as steps, leaping from a collapsed chair, to a table and onto the not-doctor's back (the Hulk didn't have any PhDs, did he?). He thrashed around, trying to throw me off as I got a grip on his head and hooked my legs around his shoulders like a violent piggyback, and covered his eyes, hopefully keeping him from attacking his invisible enemy.

As my hands touched near the Hulk's forehead, though, I felt something sticky on his skin and my fingertips came away stained purple. The gears in my brain started turning.

"Stark! He's got the magic lavender stuff on him, I think that's what's making him Hulk out," I shouted and Stark finally unfroze from his spot in the doorway and gave JARVIS the signal to lock down the room and inform Pepper of what was going on. He started sifting through the samples and functioning equipment, muttering to himself in equations and variables.

I held on tighter as the Hulk stumbled around, tripping over a desk and nearly slamming me into the wall full-force. Luckily, I twisted around to avoid the wall. Unluckily, this meant that one of my hands was no longer covering the Hulk's eyes.

I let out a (very tough-sounding) yelp as he swatted at me like I was an annoying bug, managing to hit one of my shoulders in what would later be a very large bruise.

"You better come up with something quick!" I dodged another swipe by twisting back around behind the Big Green's head.

Stark suddenly shot up his head.

"Wait! Lavender is an acid. Which means..." he looked around the room frantically, and groaned when his eyes landed on mush of chemicals and powders on the floor surrounded by shattered glass.

"Sir, if i may suggest, Dr. Banner was drinking a can of Pepsi earlier. It should still be half full - or half empty, depending on your perspective."

"J, you're a genius!" Stark lunged for what must have been Bruce's desk, where a pop can sat looking innocent. He grabbed it and ran up to the Hulk, keeping himself behind a counter. Stark splashed the drink in Hulk's face like a scorned lover, and for a moment nothing happened.

Then, the Hulk roared and staggered back into a wall, squishing me between them, and began to shrink down.

Soon, an unconscious scientist in only a severely stretched pair of boxers lay curled up on the floor. I was, thankfully, still upright, though maybe not for long, since I'd bumped my head pretty hard on that wall, and was able to move away from Bruce to sit on a tipped-over cabinet.

"Well, shit."

It's only been a few days, but I've been in a writing mood today so I'm posting anyway. this is somewhat shorter than usual but this is the natural end to the chapter so you'll just get the rest in the next one. Please let me know of any mistakes or inconsistencies, b/c I literally didn't even read this over I just wrote and posted all in about half a day, also I maybe wrote the prologue to a potential new story? On a completely unrelated note (totally, don't even check or anything), here's a question of the chapter bc I guess I'm doing this?

QOTC: If Percy had a patronus/animagus, what would they be and why? (and I say both because they can actually be different, and patronuses are subject to change, while an animagus is not)

Anyway, stay awesome my lovelies, see you next time!

<3