Middle School Heroes

Chapter 14 - Giant Green Men and Halloween Costumes

As the weeks went by, Skye finally started feeling less like the new kid and more like just another student at the school. She was finally getting comfortable with her classes and even beginning to enjoy all of the archery, shooting and sparring that being friends with Clint and Natasha meant that she did.

She also managed to find time to spend on her laptop, usually outside while the other kids were playing volleyball or basketball. Felicity would often join her and they became fast friends. Felicity also started coming with Oliver for archery as well, but both girls were bummed when Clint and Oliver banned them from bringing their laptops after they spent almost the entirely of their archery time on them one Saturday.

Bruce Banner was a different story. A week before Halloween, Skye found out exactly what Tony had been talking about when he told her not to make him angry. She was walking to PE with Sam and Wanda when they heard a commotion at the entrance of the school. As they got closer, Wade Wilson came running by.

"Bruce is Hulking out!" he shouted, as he ran passed them toward the door. They followed him, and when they had pushed through the crowd and made it through the door, Skye didn't see Bruce as she had expected. Instead, she saw a giant green monster larger than a grown man. He was snarling and growling at Mr. Castle and Mr. Sitwell, both of whom were keeping their distance.

Tony was with them, and he was wearing a bulked up version of his Iron Man suit. He walked right up to the big creature and began to talk to him. Skye couldn't hear what he was saying, but the big green monster seemed to be very interested in Tony and she thought he almost seemed to relax. She got a good look at him, and he was impressive. He was big and obviously very strong, but she could see something going on behind his eyes as Tony spoke.

A moment later, he fell to the ground and quickly shifted his body from monster into Bruce Banner. Mr. Castle immediately went to him while Mr. Sitwell still kept his distance. Tony and Mr. Castle helped Bruce up, and Tony patted his friend on the back and talked to him for a moment before he walked back up toward the small group that had gathered outside.

"Well, that hasn't happened in a while." Tony said, as he lifted the faceplate to his metal suit. "Good to try Veronica out, though!"

"What......was......that?" Skye asked, still watching Bruce and Mr. Castle walking away.

"Well, that's the reason we call Bruce the Hulk. He was experimenting in his school science lab when he was younger, and an accident caused him to sometimes turn into that guy."

Skye just stared at Tony in shock. "Are you kidding me? What kind of science project was a young kid working on to cause that?"

"Hey, some of us are really into science," he shrugged. "He normally has it under control, but sometimes it gets away from him. Luckily, he didn't hurt anyone. He usually doesn't, but obviously he could. He gets a little angry when he loses control like that."

Skye nodded, knowing exactly what that was like.

"It's also a good thing that Professor Pym created those stretchy pants that he wears under everything, or there would have been a very naked Bruce Banner lying there when he shifted back." Sam added with a grin.

Skye had to hold back a giggle. "Poor Bruce. That has to be so frustrating for him."

"That's one of the reasons we built this suit. It's a little tougher than it needs to be, but it would allow me to fight with and contain the Hulk if I had to."

She saw Bruce later that night at dinner, and she made sure to talk to him and ask him how he was doing.

"I'm alright," he sighed. "Tired, and I feel a bit like an idiot. It's been a while since I just lost control and let the other guy out for no reason."

"The other guy?" Skye eyed him curiously.

"Yeah, it is kind of the name I call him. Hulk sounds scary, I think."

"Hmmm, makes sense I guess, but I thought he was kind of cool. I understand that it looked like he could do some serious damage, but how many people do you know that can turn themselves green? I mean sure, there's Gamora, but she's always green." Skye was pleased when Bruce laughed a little. "Besides, I bet you are great when it comes to sparring!"

Bruce shook his head, his smile getting bigger. "Yeah, the other guy doesn't get to spar. That would be pretty dangerous. He can do other things, though, with proper controls in place."

Skye gave him a mock frown. "Oh, how sad. A fight between him and Drax is a fight that I would pay to see."

**********

As Halloween approached, it was announced that there would be a party in the Commons. Skye was excited about the Halloween festivities, but also because Halloween would mark the end of this session of Special Interests, and she would finally be free of Ward and Garrett. OPs really hadn't been too bad, if she was being honest with herself, but getting a break from Ward would be nice. Coach May was teaching a Tai Chi class that Skye and some of the other girls were thinking about taking.

Her mood was deflated a little when she discovered that her Special Interest group would be showcasing what they learned over the course of their lessons the day after Halloween, and that meant a contest between the different teams. There would be a tournament in the week leading up to it, and on the final day, the top two teams would compete against each other. It would be Skye's first time actually competing as part of the SHIELD/Avengers, and she was very nervous about it.

Sam, Natasha and Clint must have felt it too, because they started trying to work in extra practice on everything that might possibly be an event. Natasha was spending more time in Skye's room practicing various sparring techniques, much to Wanda's amusement. Even the members of the team that were not part of OPs were helping out where they could. Apparently it was the type of event where most of the school would come to watch, and everyone wanted their teams to be represented.

The Halloween party was at least a good distraction. There was going to be a costume contest, so everyone seemed to be working secretly on costumes. Since Wanda was going to dress up with her brother, Skye, Natasha and Jemma decided to get together and dress as the Powerpuff Girls. Skye would be Buttercup, since she had black hair. Jemma, with her lighter colored hair would be Bubbles, and that left Natasha to be Blossom. Nat wasn't thrilled. First of all, she wore pink. Second, she wore an enormous bow in her hair. Neither thing was something that Natasha would normally do, but she grudgingly agreed because it was Halloween.

Skye figured out quickly that a large group of boys were planning something big for their costumes. They were being very tight lipped about the whole thing, and she laughed when Loki, who was in her room working on math homework with her, asked to borrow one of her red headbands. He wouldn't say a word, no matter how much Skye and Wanda tried to get him to talk.