New York Heroes

We're Back! (Part 2)

Stark Towers

Then, a second explosion occurred. Everyone ducked for cover. When the dust finally settled, they all turned to Tony.

"WHAT DOES A SECOND EXPLOSION MEAN?!?!?!?!" Sadie yelled.

"Um. . . I don't . . . exactly know?" Tony replied nervously, raising his hands to either side of his head in a questioning manner.

"What do you mean 'you don't exactly know'?" Natasha asked, her voice deadly calm.

"Hey . . . don't be mad at me!" Tony started to protest, "The machine's already been destroyed! Whatever caused the second explosion, it wasn't anything of mine!"

"Where did the explosion occur?" Annabeth asked.

"Why?" Jason and Percy asked in unison.

"Because if Tony didn't cause the explosion, then it must have been the intruders, right?"

"Well," Percy said, "it could have been Leo, or Thor, or Bruce, or-"

"For convenience's sake, we're saying it's the intruder!"

"Alright. . . "

Tony started typing on his phone, "The explosion was in. . . Leo's room."

Sadie snorted, "Imagine that!"

Percy shot Annabeth an "I told you so" look. Annabeth sighed and rolled her eyes.

Leo threw his hands up in the air. "I don't even use my room! It's just an empty sleep chamber!"

"Did you seriously just call your room a 'sleep chamber'?" Percy asked.

"Yes, I did, and it's empty except for my bed! There's nothing explosive in there."

"There was nothing explosive in there," Annabeth corrected.

"WHY ARE WE WASTING ALL OF THIS TIME TALKING WHEN WE COULD BE FIGHTING!" Thor boomed.

"I think I just lost my eardrums," Carter complained.

"You live with Thor; what do you expect?" Sadie asked.

"He does have a point, though," Clint said. "We should focus on finding the intruders."

The heroes split into four groups and proceeded to search the tower. This time, they ran into a variety of traps. Leo's group was attacked in the kitchen by poptarts being shot out of remote-control guns. He tried to burn them, only to cover himself, Tony, Annabeth, Carter, and Natasha with warm, gooey poptart filling.

Steve, Percy, Sadie, Walt, and Jason had a foul-smelling slime dumped on them in the hallway outside the bedrooms. After searching above the ceiling panels, they found several empty jars labelled "Long-Lasting Fart Juice!"

Clint, Frank, Lauren, Nico, and Khufu were pelted with paint-filled water balloons when they inspected the balcony. By the time they finally disabled the guns, they were all covered in black paint. The paint would wash off, but it left a nasty stain on both clothes and skin.

When everyone met back up in the main sitting room, they were all sticky, stained, and grumpy.

"How have we not found them?" Tony complained.

"In what world is burning poptarts a good idea?" Sadie shot back.

"I'm not the one who decided to do that!"

"Did you stop Leo?"

"No, but-"

"Girls, girls, you're both beautiful, now SHUT UP!" Lauren yelled. Tony and Sadie both whirled around and started yelling at her.