Chapter VIII:
"Is it just me, or does the air smell much better now?" Jane suggested as they trotted down a street.
Percy, whose way of walking had him just a touch behind, scrunched his nose. "Whatever do you mean by that, Dr. Foster?"
"I'm just saying, the air smells much better than it did before." Jane seriously did not know a better way to describe it.
"Smells the same to me." Percy moved in line with her. "You sure it's not just you? You're beginning to sound more and more like Erik with all these crazy theories."
"Erik? More like Darcy you mean."
"Who now?"
"You know, the one with the dorky glasses and the crazy hair."
Percy popped a laugh. "Man, Darcy. How could I forget her! How's she been?"
Jane smiled, recalling an old memory of the poly-sci major. "Good, I think? Who knows? She's coming back sooner than expected actually. In a month or so if I'm remembering our last conversation correctly."
"Sounds like more help in the lab to me." Percy said as they took a left. "Very nice."
"Not entirely nice." Jane corrected. "She's only coming back because she got fired from her new job."
"Ah."
"Yeah… think it was about there not being enough of, uh, I don't know, something in the bathroom? I'm not quite sure. If I'm being honest, I was thinking of other things while she was going over the gory details."
"And what about Erik?"
Jane frowned at the same time the lab appeared ahead of them. "Haven't heard anything from him since he left."
"He often goes on business ventures?"
"No, but when he does, you can usually expect them to last longer than they should."
Jane still could not imagine what Erik and S.H.I.E.L.D. were up to, but her recent success meant that fact no longer bothered her.
"You tell either of them about last night yet?" Percy asked, reading her mind.
A coy smile replaced the frown on Jane. "Which part about last night?"
"I—I, uh." Patterns of pink appeared on Percy's cheeks. "Well, now you have me questioning myself."
"Really? That's a stark contrast from how 'in control' you were, let's see, nine hours ago?" Jane's smile had now transformed into an evil grin. "What was it you told me? If you got it, flaunt it I suppose?"
"Shut up." Percy groaned, unable to hide his smirking.
"Fine." Jane promised, allowing her eyes to harangue him all the way to the lab entrance. "But no, I haven't told them yet. Darcy and Erik that is."
"I assume you're going to?"
"I will." Jane assured, grabbing Percy by the sleeve. "But come on, we're not stopping here."
"Huh?" Percy stumbled confusedly away from the lab.
"I believe some sightseeing is in order." Jane explained, eyeing a building across the river. "We've spent enough hours cooped up in the lab for at least ten lifetimes. It's about time we get some sunlight."
"Not sure there's much sunlight to enjoy." Percy muttered, eyeing the classic English grey sky.
With another yank, Jane sighed. "Whatever. Come on."
-Ω-
"What's this?" Percy asked, staring upwards at the massive structure inspired by Greek architecture.
"The British Museum." Jane answered. "Probably one of the largest collections of history in the world."
"None of which was stolen, surely."
"Surely." Jane echoed, noticing him fidgeting with something inside his pocket.
"Are we going inside?" He asked.
"If we did, we'd be stuck in there for a week." Jane guessed, recalling the last time she visited. "And everything you'll see in there will blur together by the end of it. Personally, I think there are better things to do with our time."
"Let's see them then, tour guide Jane Foster."
"We will." Jane pouted. "Don't rush me."
-Ω-
"Buckingham Palace." Jane announced, trying her best to sweep her arm gracefully. "I think the purpose of this one is pretty self-explanatory."
"Agreed." Percy prodded the ground before the Palace with his foot. "Never understood all the hoopla about the Royal Family. How old are those skin bags again?"
"Her Royal Highness is eighty-five years young." An older woman standing in front of them vigorously proclaimed, turning to face them. "And it would be in your best interest to address her as such, young lady and sir."
Jane grimaced. "Right, sorry ma'am."
"Super sorry." Percy added, wincing himself.
-Ω-
"Okay, I gotta say, this one's impressive." Percy admitted as they soaked in Big Ben's monumental profile from across a street.
Tucking her arm inside his with enough smoothness to make Darcy weep, Jane nodded her head in agreement. The clock tower had always felt the most 'Londony' to her out of anything here, with only the Eye beating it out on the occasional warm night.
"It always reminds me of a scene from that one Pixar movie, though."
Percy laughed. "Are you talking about Cars 2?"
"Probably," Jane could not remember the last time she had sat down and watched any movie straight through. "The one where they were acting like super-spies?"
"Yup, that's the one." Percy confirmed, noting the positioning of their arms with a friendly eyebrow. "Definitely the one."
-Ω-
"What's this?" Percy voiced, shoes dragging. "Another palace?"
"Last one, I promise." Jane insisted, toting them along the riverside.
She too was exhausted, never having walked so much in one day before, but she knew where they were headed was worth it. Already she could visualize where they would be sitting, together on the benches overlooking the public gardens. It was to be a moment so picture-perfect that she might die from it.
"I'm peeing first then." Percy declared, interrupting her daydreaming by digging his heels into the pavement.
"Fine, hurry." Jane shrugged him off. "We gotta get there before the sun sets."
"Why? You afraid of ghosts?"
"No, asshole." Jane gave him another shove. "It just looks better when there's light."
The mooing of a dying cow groaned out of his throat, followed by a "mmkay." And after an abhorrent, aggravating salute, he entered the nearby drugstore.
Staring a bit too long after he left, Jane turned to the river, her face imperceptible amongst the ripples. Lulled by the water, she found herself reflecting on how fast time had passed. About how her nonsensical, flip-flopping life still refused to let her live a boring day. Looking back at the frustrated, over-caffeinated scientist of yesteryear, Jane could not help but laugh. If only she had known back then that solving one problem would fix everything. Or, well, mostly everything.
The possibility of dimension-traveling opened more doors than it closed. Doors of opportunities for sure, but opportunities blocked by an immeasurable amount of more problems. And it was not like their wormhole could solve much of the problems back here on Earth. It was no fix for climate change, or war and hunger. It probably could not even stop the loud, obnoxious sounds of traffic around her: the screeching of tires, blaring of horns, yelling of throats—
Startled, Jane turned away from the river, finding herself in the center of complete pandemonium. There were people running in every which direction, crying, screaming, yelling at the top of their lungs. With nowhere to go, cars swerved without any regard, nearly running over those who were injured, bleeding badly, stumbling and crawling away in terror.
Looking down the street, that was when Jane saw it, the serpent the size of a firetruck smashing into buildings like a lion trapped in a cage. From its open mouth blew freezing air, leaving everything it touched under feet of ice. And it was coming straight toward her.
Trying to comprehend what she was witnessing, while resisting the urge to immediately run, Jane's first thoughts went to Percy. Surely he was out of the drugstore by now, but where was he?
Closing fast, the serpent left Jane little time to act. In fact, it was already descending on top of her, until suddenly, it halted.
Jane blinked, then blinked again. Then she rubbed at her eyes and blinked once more.
No, she was not seeing things.
Which meant maybe she had finally cracked. After all, what else could explain the fact that Percy had materialized out of thin air wielding a sword that shone like the sun. Or how water impossibly shot out of the river behind them, following his fist as it pummeled into the serpent's head. Instead of the lanky, slightly awkward scientist, he was now a well-oiled machine, his skin practically glowing with energy.
"Jane!" Percy yelled, making eye contact. "What are you still doing here!"
About fifty bajillion different words wished to leave Jane's mouth at once, but all she could muster was a,
"WHAT!?"
Uncaring about their conversation, the serpent grabbed a car between its maw and tossed it in their direction. An act that Jane promptly took as the last thing she would ever see. But instead, she saw it sliced and returned to sender, the halved chassis cutting into the serpent's crystal-white scales. Percy had done it effortlessly, bronze sword in one hand and water in the other as he made his way to her side.
Jane lugged up a broken piece of pipe from the ground, not wanting to be left defenseless, gripping it like Percy held his sword.
"Percy! What the hell is going on?"
"Jane!" Rage had overtaken Percy's demeanor. "I told you to run!"
The serpent roared, reaffirming its intent on turning everybody into human-sized popsicles, and Jane wanted to yell, but the taste of electricity filled her mouth instead, as the sky above boomed with the crackle of thunder.
Author's Note:
Apologies this took a bit of time coming out, but she's here, hope you enjoyed :) Shoutout my friend lildrummerboi for the inspiration, and everybody else in the Emerald Library :)
I got some new projects coming very soon, as well as more chapters for my other stories, so stay tuned :)