Miraculously, Percy wasn't injured, although he did take a brutal fall from two floors up and straight down through the boiler room, smashing his head against a metal pipe on the way down.
With a groan, he sat up, groggily shaking his head to clear his vision. Around him, alarms blared and agents in suits rushed around, shouts of panic and order mixing in the smoky air. Percy quickly rolled to the side as the sound of gunfire peppered the hallway.
He rolled to his feet and instinctively crouched behind a large crate, assessing the situation even as he brushed his jacket off. Four men were swiftly taking over the hall, shooting at anybody that moved. Most of the SHIELD agents had run out of the hallway, and the only people remaining were helpless technicians, who were quickly getting gunned down.
Percy unholstered his Glock and set it over the crate, peeking over the edge and lining up the shot. With one pull, an agent collapsed, blood spurting out from his head. The other agents quickly turned towards the threat, machine guns blazing. They're well trained.
Focusing on the water around him, Percy felt his body vanish into vapor just as a storm of bullets pierced through his hiding spot. He quickly swirled up in the air, before darting past the shooters and reforming at the end of the hall in a crouch. Taking careful aim, he picked the men off one by one with shots to the back of their skulls, leaving only a dead silence in the hallway.
Pausing only for a second to make sure that the hallway was secure, Percy ran back from where the men came. He didn't know where he was going, but his first priority was locating Bruce. The Hulk couldn't be allowed to roam free, not right now.
Chaos, where do I go? He mentally asked.
Take the first left, and then go in the direction that everybody else is running away from.
Percy nodded, running down the white-walled corridor. He was fairly sure that he was going in the right direction, and a loud roar merely confirmed his suspicions.
Around him, people were screaming and running in the direction that he had come from. He reloaded his Glock with another clip before walking through a door that led into a large hangar.
There doesn't seem to be anybody around.
Then he felt it. A slight pulse in the air, but it was enough for him to dive out of the way of the door just before a hail of bullets pierced the floor where he was standing.
They're above me!
Thinking quickly, Percy dove under a nearby cargo truck, shielding himself from the bullets sent his way. He vapor-traveled to a different corner and reformed, carefully shooting the men hiding in the rafters.
Vapor traveling really is useful, Percy thought as he shot the final man square in the back, causing him to fall to the ground from forty feet up. It was certainly one of the more useful tools in his aquatic arsenal. Normal mortals stood no chance against him, that was for sure.
Just as he was loading a new magazine, a loud roar resounded through the hangar, the wall in front of Percy crumbling to pieces from the fists of a giant green behemoth.
Percy gulped. He had fought monsters bigger and stronger than the Hulk, but something about the sheer hatred in the eyes of the beast was unnerving.
"Alright Bruce," He mumbled, holstering his gun and widening his stance. "This is not how I envisioned our therapy sessions progressing."
The Hulk snarled at Percy, then roared, running towards him with the speed and power of a freight engine. Percy rolled to the side, but got hit anyways, flying into a wall. To his credit though, he recovered quickly, and as the Hulk barreled towards him, he vaulted over its head, landing on the ground in a crouch.
Above him, the speakers started telling everyone to "please evacuate towards your nearest safe room," and the Hulk roared irritatedly. A giant fist flew, and the speaker was no more.
Hulk turned back to Percy, only to have a water encased fist slam into his face. There was a loud crack, and both man and beast recoiled in pain, Percy painfully swearing as he gripped his now broken hand.
The son of Chaos looked up, sensing a water pipe in the ceiling above him. With a wave of his hand it exploded, temporarily distracting the beast and allowing him a brief moment's respite.
He was tired. It was rare that these thoughts crossed his mind during battle, but Percy suddenly realized how long it had been since he had been in such an intense battle. His jeans were shredded, his ribs felt like they were cracked, and his body was bruised all over from the explosion. He was pretty sure that he had a concussion as well, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold out against Bruce. He may have once been a half-blood, but there wasn't any logical way for him to defeat the Hulk in this environment.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he ran past the wall that the Hulk had entered through, ignoring the rubble on the ground. The next room had a large glass wall looking out over the sky. To Percy, it looked really smashable, and it gave him a great idea. He would lose Bruce for a while, but he could always find him later.
"Hey!" He yelled loudly, drawing the attention of the Hulk. He pulled off his shredded black jacket and waved it in front of him like a bullfighter. "Brucey! Over here!"
Likely more drawn to his flapping sea-green scarf than the jacket itself, the Hulk roared loudly, then bounded towards Percy, who vaulted off the wall at the last second, causing the Hulk to smash right through it. "Olay!"
Surprisingly, the green behemoth didn't fall. He teetered for a second, then pivoted with surprising balance to right himself, slamming his heels into the ground. He growled, then charged again. This time Percy jumped to the side, barely escaping the beast's grip. He dashed over to the broken glass, the wind whipping around his hair as he looked out at the ground, some 14,000 feet below. He really didn't want to do this. I guess you really can't stop a Hulk… Percy thought. But the next best thing would be to throw them off of a giant runway a few thousand feet above the ground.
He tensed, jumping sideways for the last time as the Hulk barreled towards him. "Ola-ackkk!"
Somehow, the Hulk had grabbed his leg and now he gripped it with both hands, even as the heli-carrier lurched heavily towards one side. Percy tried to get free, but the Hulk growled and tightened his grip. Percy felt his bones snap, and he forced down a scream.
The wind ripped the two of them out of the ship, and into the air. Percy tried to free his leg, but the Hulk roared and swung him around violently, nearly giving Percy whiplash before his body suddenly dissolved into vapor, leaving the Hulk clutching at empty air. He reformed a second later, but it was enough for him to kick off against the Hulk so that they drifted in different directions, the wind tearing at their clothes as they flew towards the ground.
The green behemoth roared and swiped at him, but he was too far away to connect. Percy's eyes watered as he tried to turn into vapor again, but he couldn't concentrate properly.
His limbs were turning sluggish from the beatings they'd received, and the wind was tearing the breath from his mouth. He heard a roar, but it seemed too far away to matter.
The ground was getting closer. He struggled to stay conscious, but everything was spinning. His body ached, and the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was a large blue expanse of water.
I'm not happy about the shortness of this chapter but it occasionally happens, usually my chapters will be at least double this size.
Getting good questions in reviews about the worldbuilding and plot holes, and Percy's integration with the world. Will be explained within this Arc, so no worries. Thanks for your reading, and I really appreciate the reviews. Currently working on writing the Return to Tartarus one-shot. :D
See you next week!