(Note: For the Ultimates, this takes place after Issue #13, after Ultimate War and Six, and before Ultimate Nightmare. For the Ultimate X-Men, it takes place after "Blockbuster."

ULTIMATE MELEE
CHAPTER 1

Bobby Drake woke that morning with a piercing headache.

He looked over at a nearby alarm clock, which kept flashing "12:00" over and over again. Looking outside his window, he could tell it was around the time of sunrise.

With pain still thriving inside of his head, Bobby absent-mindedly rolled over and fell out of his bed.

"Ow!" he yelled out.

"What is it?" a half-awoken kid from a nearby bed asked.

"I think it was this dream I had," Bobby replied. "It was so…disturbing."

"Told you that you shouldn't have watched that movie," the other boy said. "When they mean 'suitable for ages 18 and up' they really mean that."

"Shut up," Bobby said. "It wasn't anything like that. Anyway, do you know what time it is?"

"Around six o'clock," the kid said, looking down at his watch. "The time that I usually enjoy sleeping." The kid turned away from Bobby's sight and went to sleep.

Bobby stood up and started walking to the door, clutching his head. "This isn't a normal headache," he said to himself. "And it most definitely wasn't a normal ….…" Professor Xavier's voice rang in Bobby's head.

The concept of thought-speak still startled Bobby from time to time. The fact that people like Xavier & Jean Grey could read his mind made him feel insecure, even though they promised that they wouldn't snoop around. Afraid that the professor was aware that he was having these thoughts, he refused to think about it any further and started walking towards the nearest bathroom. He would go to the professor's office, but first he had a detour to make.

He made it to the men's room expecting it to be empty, but instead, found Logan in there brushing his teeth.

"I recommend mouthwash, Logan," Bobby said. "Brushing your teeth's a good habit to get into, but not even Crest can abolish your bad breath, man."

Logan spit out all the toothpaste inside of his mouth and looked up at Bobby with a threatening expression on his face. "You wanna try that again, kid?"

"Good morning," Bobby said.

"That's more like it," Logan said. "But I don't think it is."

"What makes you say that?" Bobby asked walking towards the mirror Logan was facing.

"For starters, kid, you sleep in like crazy. You never wake up this early in the morning."

"Had a bad dream. And now the professor's called me into his office."

"Yeah, that's the other reason," Logan said. "The professor probably thinks you can lend a hand. Storm and Cyclops are probably already having trouble with it."

"Trouble with what?"

"You couldn't hear the noise coming from outside?"

"No…what's going on?"

"You know that big green monster that attacked Manhattan 'bout a year ago?"

"Yeah. The Hulk. What about him?"

"Yeah…he's right outside the mansion. And he looks pretty pissed off."

"5….4….3….," Charles Xavier counted down in his head. "..2….1."

At that moment, the professor saw Bobby Drake suddenly open the door into his office and come charging in, followed by Logan.

"Professor, what the hell is going on?!" Bobby exclaimed. "The Hulk is right outside the mansion!"

"I am aware of that, Bobby," Professor Xavier said. "And all I can tell you right now is that I only know as much as you do. I do not know the Hulk's motivation to be here, nor how he escaped from the Triskelion."

"Well, what are we doing about this?! That thing's going to trash the school!" And you-"Bobby turned to Logan. "What are you doing inside?! If you knew about this, why aren't you outside helping Storm and Cyclops?!"

"Bobby, calm down!" the professor said loudly.

When everyone was quiet, he continued: "Bobby, we don't appear to be in any physical danger. The Hulk isn't attacking us."

"But you said he's right-"

"True, he is right outside the mansion, but he's causing no damage."

"Then what's he doing?"

"Yelling at us," Logan said. "He looks pretty pissed off."

"Bobby, why didn't you report outside like I asked you to?" the professor asked.

"You didn't say anything in my mind about where to go," Bobby replied. You just said 'come.'"

"Are you sure you're remembering this clearly?" the professor asked. "I do believe I specifically told you to go outside."

"Why do you need me out there? You said there's no fighting going on."

"True. But The Hulk is out there screaming your name."

Bobby was shocked. "Why? What could he possibly want with me?"

"Forgive me if it seems like I was trying to put you in danger," the professor said. "But that's why I wanted you to go outside. To find out."

"Cyclops and Storm apparently aren't getting any results," Logan said. "The big beast has been out there for almost half an hour, screaming for you to come out. That's all he's been doing. Just standing there and yelling."

Bobby stood there analyzing all the information for a moment. The Hulk coming to Xavier's school was strange anytime. But just standing there? Definitely not Hulk-like. And screaming out Bobby's name? As far as he was concerned, Bobby had absolutely no connection to the Hulk.

"I'll go, then," Bobby said. "If it's me the Hulk wants, then we have to figure out why."

"It might be a little too late for that," Logan said, staring at the window and walking towards it. "It looks like some of our friends are here to clean up this situation."

"You mean –"

"Yup," said Logan. "The Ultimates."

"Alright, I'm taking the shot!" Hawkeye yelled to the pilot of the plane as he aimed his bow down towards the Hulk on the field below.

"Roger that!" the pilot yelled in response over the loud engines of the jet.

Hawkeye carefully targeted the Hulk with the arrow that would tranquilize him.

Suddenly, the pilot yelled, "Negative! Negative! Do not shoot! I repeat, do not shoot the Hulk!"

Before Hawkeye had a chance to respond, the plane suddenly veered off course, and Hawkeye lost the good angle to fire.

He ran towards the pilot and practically screamed at his face, "What the hell did you do that for?! I had a perfect shot ready!"

The pilot smiled and said, "Sorry, but you've lost authorization to fire at the Hulk. I just got a radio transmission saying that if I flew this plane any closer to Xavier's school, we would be breaking the agreement between Xavier and Nick Fury that The Ultimates are not to enter the school unprovoked and without invitation."

"Well, we've got a desperate situation here!" Hawkeye said. "If I don't do something right now, there isn't going to be a school for bald guys to make compromises over!"

"At this point, if I get any closer," the pilot began, "Banner's definitely going to aware of our arrival. He'll be on us before your bow can take effect."

"Well, Jesus Christ, what are we supposed to do then?!" Hawkeye exclaimed with a great wave of stress going through him. At first he was excited to go on this mission alone, but assistance from Captain America wouldn't sound so bad right now.

"Well, you see-," the pilot began.

"I'm moving in," Tony Stark's voice said over the radio. "I'm taking the shot in 15 seconds. Wish me luck."

Outside, Iron Man flew headfirst down towards the grass field that The Hulk and the two X-Men Cyclops and Storm were standing on, facing each other with suspense of anticipation.

Iron Man aimed is laser rifle down towards the Hulk. "Is the Hulk file uploaded?" he said.

"Has been for 2 minutes now," a voice said over the transmission. "You sure you're not drunk?"

"I told you," Iron Man said with charm in his voice, "I'm always drunk when I go into this suit. Today, however, I'm facing a hangover. It's not as fun."

"Whatever you say, Tony," the voice said. "The bullet's targeted. Just pull the trigger and Banner will be asleep faster than Fury at a Scooby-Doo movie."

"That's not very reassuring," said Iron Man. He pulled the trigger and the neon-green laser fired out at 140 miles per hour. "I happen to like CGI characters. They're fit for the big screen, I say."

Down on the field, just as the Hulk once again yelled out, "DRAKE!" the laser bullet hit the Hulk with an impact so powerful that he had been knocked 80 feet across the field before being successfully tranquilized. Cyclops and Storm looked up into the sky to see who had taken him out.

"Big Green is down," Tony Stark said up above. "Awaiting further orders."

"Since when do you follow orders?" Nick Fury said over the radio, laughing. "I'll be there in three minutes with the clean-up crew."

Scott Summers watched as the large green beast in front of him grew smaller and more pale until he was at last nothing but a weak, pathetic, nude man.

"Uh…I think we'll be needing a blanket," Storm said.

"What we need are explanations," Cyclops said as he watched Iron Man fly towards them, with the sunrise in the background behind him. Cyclops sighed. It was definitely not how he pictured starting his morning. Ever since the last time Magneto stirred up trouble and the X-Men actually resorted to fighting the Ultimates, he had wished that they wouldn't have to associate with S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore. "Great," he whispered. "Now the Hulk brings us what he gives everyone else – trouble."

"Not necessarily trouble, Scott," Professor Xavier said as he came up behind them, followed by Logan and Bobby.

Cyclops turned around and said, "I'm sure this counts as a pretty deep and complicated situation, professor."

"As you saw, the Hulk has not caused us any harm," the professor said, "besides the need to re-plant portions of the grass on our field. I'm sure S.H.I.E.L.D. can take care of this. I don't see the need to start any trouble with them at all."

"Can I get that in writing?" Tony Stark said as he landed on the ground between the two parties and removed his helmet.

"Nice to see you again, Mr. Stark," Professor Xavier said.

"Call me Tony," he said.

"Well, Tony…," Logan began, putting a big emphasis on his name, "can you explain what the hell is going on here? How did the Hulk escape the Triskelion?"

"Why was it yelling out my name?" Bobby asked. "How does it know who I am?"

"And who is that?" Storm said pointing to the man the Hulk had transformed into. Everyone turned their attention to him.

"Is that…Bruce Banner?" Professor Xavier said calmly, but shocked. "S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist Bruce Banner?"

Everyone turned to look at Tony now.

"Mr. Stark…there's a lot of explaining to be done," Professor Xavier said.

A few moments later, the jet carrying Nick Fury landed on the front lawn outside the mansion.

"Bruce sure has picked a convenient time to drag our asses down here," Janet Pym said yawning as she, Betty Ross, and Nick Fury made their way down from the jet and on to the ground.

The first thing Nick Fury heard when as he approached the X-Men was Tony Stark saying in a somewhat annoyed voice, "I'm telling you, Professor Xavier, I am not the man who's authorized to answer these questions!

"Damn straight, he isn't," Fury said, although all the X-Men's attention were already on him before he even spoke. He faced Xavier. "Hello, Charles."

"Why is it, Fury, that every time you come here, it's always following a bad situation?" Logan asked him.

"I'm a busy man, Wolverine," Fury replied. "I don't have time to come over for tea parties."

"You could have come yourself," said Logan. "We don't need the Ultimates inspecting this place."

"In case you haven't noticed, Janet Pym is wearing her civilian clothing," Fury said, looking towards Janet, who was dressed in a brown trench coat. "It means she's off-duty, and when that's the case, she is considered a civilian. And surely you're not against everyday people visiting your mansion?"

"If she's just a civilian, why did she come here?" Cyclops asked.

"I'll tell you why," Logan said. "For back-up. They needed someone to take out the Hulk, in case Stark couldn't do it alone. So you're sending your men in to deal with our affairs, Fury? Is that it?"

"Speaking of which," Xavier interrupted, "Is this in fact Bruce Banner, the man who was originally composing the Super Soldier serum for S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Nick looked down at the unconscious body of Bruce Banner. "There's no denying it."

"That means that you guys…it was you," Bobby realized in horror. "You unleashed the Hulk. He's one of you."

"You have to understand," Betty Ross said, "that the Hulk attack on Manhattan was not under the influence of S.H.I.E.L.D. or any-"

"That's bull!" Logan snapped. "You took credit for cleaning up a mess that you caused yourself! Judging by the looks of it, this is your second time in doing so."

"Unless you can provide me with a different explanation, Nick," Xavier said, "I'm afraid that I will have to assume that it was you who unleashed the Hulk here. I am not aware of any way how or any motivation for the Hulk to be here at my school. So tell me, do you have an explanation as to why the Hulk came here?"

Everyone waited for Fury to answer, until he finally looked down at the ground and said, "No, Charles, I don't."

Janet scoffed. "This argument is making no sense at all. None of us know how Banner got here, and it's pointless for us to be arguing about this with nothing but assumptions. What I suggest is that we first get Banner out of here, then worry about all the details later."

"You can take the Hulk and put this case to rest," Xavier said. "I don't want the Ultimates coming here ever again unless there's absolute danger that deals with a common cause, Nick. In exchange for this, we will not be revealing your little secret to the world that the Hulk is one of your own."

"Fair enough," Fury said. And without another word, he signaled some men to come out and retrieve Banner's body and carry it into the jet.

Several moments later, Tony, Fury, Janet, and Betty were also aboard the jet and it soared off into the air.

"Was that a wise thing you just did, professor?" Storm asked. "We have just seriously strained our relationship with the government. There's no telling what might happen next."

"Yeah, and there's a lot of unanswered questions here," Bobby said. "I know I'm not the only one here who's wondering why the Hulk was yelling my name, or how it got out of the Triskelion."

"You're all right," Xavier said. "That conversation was very incomplete. This is only the beginning of something very big."

With many questions still in their minds, the X-Men went back inside, with the sun having risen on not just a new day, but a new chain of events that would shake their lives.

Meanwhile, aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. jet, Nick Fury and others discussed this as well.

"We still don't know what he was doing while he was there," Tony said. "And we could have simply asked the X-Men, but it's too late for that now."

"It's complicated now, isn't it?" Nick Fury asked. "They know something that might be the key to this entire mystery, while we don't even know how or when the Hulk even left the Trickling."

"We could always ask him," Betty said, pointing towards Bruce. "It looks like he's waking up."

"I don't think he's waking up," Janet, who was sitting closer to Bruce, said. "It sounds more like he's mumbling something."

"What's he saying?" Tony asked.

Janet moved her ear closer to hear. Suddenly, a puzzled expression hit her face.

"What is it, Jan?" Fury asked. "What did he say?"

But Janet didn't need to answer, for Bruce was now speaking louder. Loud enough for all of them to hear:

"Peter Parker."

TO BE CONTINUED...