CHAPTER 3
The Ark
Optimus Prime was anxious. He had made contact with a member of the Ultimates: their field commander no less, but things had not gone as smoothly as he had hoped. His millennia as the humble clerk Optronix back on Cybertron before the Decepticon uprising haunted him as he began having feelings of uselessness. He could not get through to this human. He seemed infinitely more jaded than any of his species.
"I would not take to spark the comments made by the human, Optimus," Perceptor reassured him as he approached. "Human brains are not like our own. They are impulsive and are inclined to say things they do not intend."
"Thank you, Perceptor, but I can tell that this one is no ordinary human. He is a soldier and like a good soldier he is not at all responsive to interrogation. I see no way to penetrate his patriotism," Optimus sighed.
"Maybe if I have a try, Prime?" a short, hardy, khaki coloured Autobot suggested, swinging his fists in the air. "I'll go a couple o' rounds with him and see if I can't soften him up."
"No, Brawn. We want to avoid conflict with these humans. Right now correct means of persuasion come with words and not force. For now let's just concentrate on fixing our resource situation."
An excited voice was relayed to the Autobots from Teletran. It was the Autobot's space-faring scout, Cosmos, currently in orbit around the earth. Optimus hurriedly responded to the message and rushed to Teletran's interface panel.
"Optimus Prime! Cosmos here! I've spotted Astrotrain flying across the continent heading toward the east coast of the United States. I will not engage because there is no telling how many Decepticons are aboard. I believe they are attempting to attack the Ultimates' primary structure."
"He's going to strike while their morale is lessened," Optimus muttered. "Teletran, prepare the space-bridge. Hound, you and Blaster activated a waypoint in Manhattan not long ago, correct?"
"Sure did, Prime. It's in a fairly open area so there should be no problem getting even the larger Autobots through without any collateral damage," Hound replied.
"Teletran, open the space-bridge at forty degrees, forty-seven minutes north latitude, seventy-three degrees, fifty-eight minutes west longitude."
"Negative," Teletran replied in it's expressionless, computerised voice. "Space Bridge terminal at coordinates forty degrees, forty-seven minutes north latitude, seventy-three degrees, fifty-eight minutes west longitude is not operable."
"What? I set that up myself! There's no way that it's inoperable," Blaster announced.
"I have faith in your abilities, Blaster. This has to be the work of the Decepticons or third party tampering," Optimus consoled him. "In that case, there is only one way to get there in time to stop the Decepticons before they cause more damage. The closest waypoint is two hundred and forty miles away. Skyfire is still incapacitated, so I have no other choice."
"You mean," Perceptor began with disbelief.
"Yes, Perceptor. Although it will be pushing our energon rations to the limit, we have to wake Omega Supreme."
"I know our choices are limited, Optimus Prime, but are you sure this is wise? Omega Supreme's energon requirement exceeds even that of Broadside!"
"I know, Perceptor. However there is no other Autobot who would be able to fly us there from the closest waypoint in time. Imagine the damage the Decepticons could cause if we arrived too late. We must dredge the desert and excavate his body. Then we will get to work immediately."
From the safety of his impregnable cell Steve Rogers listened intently, picking up only fragments of the conversation through the gentle buzzing of the energy shield that surrounded him. He vowed to escape these aliens by any means and report all information he learned directly to General Fury himself. What the hell is an Omega Supreme? he thought. Whatever it was didn't sound too appealing.
The Triskelion
"General, we've got an unidentified craft in restricted air space," one of Nick Fury's information officers informed him while studying his RADAR screen. As the sweep of the scanner passed, a large blip illuminated, sounding itself with a loud beep.
Nick Fury was not amused. They'd watched the skies endlessly since the nation was put on to orange alert, and even now nobody would dare approach the Triskelion. "Give me that radio," he commanded abruptly. The officer complied without question or hesitation. "This is General Nicholas Fury of SHIELD. You are in restricted air space. Identify yourself immediately."
A mechanically adolescent, sarcastic tone responded: "Er, yeah… Pizza!" Rumble laughed from inside the incoming space shuttle lowering through the stratosphere.
This was not what General Fury wanted to hear. The guards seated at the RADAR station clenched the armrests on their chairs as they watched the artery on Fury's bald head begin to pulsate. "Listen to me, you piece of garbage. You're going to land that craft right now or so help me we'll shoot you down."
"General Fury, is it? I am Megatron. You'd better be prepared human, because we're coming for you," Megatron remarked with an evil laugh. The sound of his voice was cruel and ominous, serving as a precursor to what they knew was oncoming destruction.
"So be it, metal-mouth," chided Fury before slamming the radio reciever down. "All personnel to their stations! As of right now we're on full alert!"
With a bright white bolt of lightning from the swiftly gathering clouds the muscular form of Thor appeared to face down the black specs approaching rapidly from over the ocean. He clutched his hammer and counted the seconds. The first wave raced ahead: a series of what appeared to be F-15 fighters in various dualtone colours armed with unknown alien weapons.
"Whatever happens they are not to reach the mainland," Fury hissed over the comms.
Iron Man flew to Thor's side and hovered anxiously on his back-burners. "Somehow I don't think the city is their target, General."
A split second before they could engage the fighters pulled into a dive, ducking down at the lines of soldiers assembled around the base and strafes their assembly with wide explosive blasts. Cannons fired upwards but the battle-hardened Decepticons were far too evasive and glided through at top speed. The air around them roared as they cracked the sound barrier. Blood poured from the ears of a number of soldiers: all of them painfully deafened by the pass.
"They're fast," moaned Iron Man as they gave chase.
"Aye," growled Thor through his teeth. "But we'll sink them yet!"
Smiling at the pathetic display of human soldiers running about like ants, the large, silver Transformer landed and readied it's next attack. It had a large, black cannon mounted on it's arm and an unstoppable mechanical army in it's steed. Megatron raised his weapon and let loose a series of systematic blasts, sending soldiers running behind a wave of exploding jeeps and aircraft.
"This is almost too easy," Megatron sneered satisfactorily.
"The humans have not advanced beyond simple projectile weapons," Soundwave commented upon inspecting the hundreds of bullets bouncing off their casings.
"We haven't even started." They looked down to see standing amongst the flames a silver-haired boy no older than seventeen staring up to them smugly with a black radio device in his hands.
"You're the fast one. Quicksilver," Megatron mused. "Human, you had best use that speed to flee because you don't stand a chance of surviving this day otherwise."
"Firstly, I'm not human," Pietro corrected them. With a press of a button the C-4 explosives he'd placed on their joints upon their landing all detonated with a seering wave of heat. He ran and he laughed. "Secondly, you didn't even see me coming."
The Decepticons emerged from the flames with only a few scratches and minor damage, but clearly they were infuriated by the assault. Megatron seethed. "How did he evade detection? Soundwave, your task is to personally destroy that insect!"
"As you command, Megatron," came the monotone reply.
Inside the command centre Nick Fury watched, for the time being safe nearly twenty floors below ground level. Still the Earth above him shook as the epic battle was being carried out between his soldiers and what must have been their fiercest opponents yet.
He watched the monitors as the three jets were getting far too close to Manhattan. He reached for the radio. "Iron Man, Thor. Don't you dare let them out of your grasp."
"We're trying, General," Iron Man pleaded desperately.
Dissatisfied Fury turned to Betty Ross, one of his sub-commanders. "Hawkeye ready for action?"
Dr Ross adjusted her glasses and grinned wryly. "Ready and waiting your orders, General."
"Do it."
A pair of underground hangar doors slid open and a platform was slowly raised to reveal a sixty foot tall man with clipped hair and sunglasses poised for action. Beside him lay a giant bow with a steel string so taught that snapping it would slice a building in half. Clint Barton, Hawkeye, took a deep breath and laid eyes on the carnage before his feet.
"Whoa," came a Decepticon reply as it stood momentarily awed by the form before it. Quickly they all came to their senses. "Attack!"
Hawkeye met them all with a combinations of punches and kicks, more often than not simply picking them up and throwing them into each other. He growled into his microphone. "Hitting these guys is like hitting a goddamn stack of bricks!"
"Focus on your target," came Fury's order.
"Roger." After crushing Runabout and Ramjet together with a grind of his heel Hawkeye picked up a customised arrow heavy enough to crush a car. Placing it in the bow he looked out to the distance to see the three jets moving at breakneck speed. "Iron Man wasn't wrong. They're fast."
"Too fast to hit?" asked the Wasp, watching his vital signs on a machine below his feet.
"Hell no." Releasing the string the projectile soared across the water, intercepting the turning path of the enemy jet. The arrow burned as it picked up friction and sizzled as it pierced through the heart of Thundercracker's light blue shell.
"The last two are yours, boys," Hawkeye said.
Iron Man dived forward, giving chase to the black jet soaring only fifty metres ahead. Using the force blasters on his hands for extra propulsion he came in arm's reach of it. He muttered almost hungrily, "Now I've got you."
A moment before he could clasp on the craft disappeared in a flicker of purple light. A split-second later it reappeared a short distance away, well beyond the Armoured Avenger's grasp.
"Catch me if you can, tin-man," Skywarp cackled.
"Stop toying with your prey!" Starscream screeched as he sliced by Thor's side, knocking the wind from the god's mighty lungs.
Before his body fell so far as to strike the water his will once more filled his mighty hammer and carried him back to the skies where he might continue the fight. Thor was clearly worse for wear as a trickle of red ran past his lips. He did not savour the copper taste.
"Blood," he hissed. "It has been many an age since I have been struck so harshly." The clouds above darkened with his expression. "It would be wise of you to retreat now."
Tearing past the New York skyline Starscream made a long turn, readying himself for the final blow. His crackled mechanical voice bellowed over the water, "I will never retreat! I am Starscream, king of the skies!"
"Then it my sad duty to inform you, my leige, that the skies reject you!" A fierce, thick bolt of lightning boomed down and channeled it's full force into Thor's weapon, making it glow with divine elemental forces. Starscream raced in smugly, confident that his speed would steer him clear of the diety's attack.
His eyes glowed with the same power flowing through his hammer: Thor would not miss. He had dealt similar blows to giants, dragons and now the same to a mere mechanical insect for whom he had nothing but contempt.
Starscream fell, still feeling the blow as the shockwave of the strike caught up with his plummeting form. He hit the surface of the water and struggled as wave upon wave of salt water washed inside his damaged shell. As he sank he shrieked, his hate filled cry cursing that he had fallen to a mere bag of meat.
"What on Cybertron was that?" Momentarily distracted from his enemy Skywarp failed to notice Iron Man clutch onto his back and at point blank range let loose a series of compact missiles from his suit.
Iron Man was blown clear of his opponent and took a moment to readjust himself in the air. Meanwhile Skywarp nosedived into the ocean with smoke billowing out from his wound.
"Tony. Thor. Nice work," came Fury's voice.
"Once I could read his teleport signiature it was a piece of cake to realise where he'd pop up next," Iron Man explained. "And thanks to Thor's distraction... well... you know."
"No time for gloating," Fury continued. "Get back to base. Stat."
Black Widow knelt in the shadows and clung her AK-47 machine rifle close to her chest with both hands. All of her men were dead and the rest had probably fled underground. The Ultimates were holding their own but if the ground forces were depleted any more Fury would probaby pull them out and annihilate the topside with a missile barrage.
She cursed herself in her native Russian and blew a strand of her elegant red hair from her eyes. Amidst the flames and the machines there was nowhere to escape to. She watched them as they strolled casually through the chaos: their leader, Megatron, seemed proud of their work, despite the losses his forces had taken.
"Constructicons," Megatron ordered into his communicator. "Merge for the kill!"
Natasha slumped into a dark corner and took stock of her arsenal: three rifle clips, two grenades, one loaded nine millimetre semi-automatic, one spent and a half dozen throwing knives. Somehow they all seemed rather insufficient, even for an ex-KGB super-soldier.
"General Fury, this is Black Widow," she said into her radio shakily. "Brace yourselves for another attack."
Fury bowed his head, absorbing one of the few moments of silence he could in this bloody struggle. His mind raced, searching for a plan, a solution of any kind. Meanwhile a number of his subbordinates had less than helpful suggestions.
"Sir, what about a low-level nuclear strike? The electromagnetic pulse just might take them out in one blow."
"Poisoning the air, water and placing the lives of eight million New Yorkers is too high a price for a gamble," he bellowed. "Right now we sit, wait, and play it out. They still have the Ultimates to contend with."
"Sir," called a man from behind a tracking monitor. "There's something forming under the water. It's rising to the surface, fast!"
"How big are we talking?"
"Fifty... no, sixty feet in height, at least... seventy, eighty," he replied with some uncertainty. "Sir, this thing is a lot bigger than our Giant-Man up there."
The General sighed heavily. "Prepare the nuclear strike just in case and await my order. We still have one final card to play before we do something drastic."
"What the hell...?"
The ocean bubbled angrily and forced out heavy waves as the mechanical monstrousity rose from the deep. Made up of various construction vehicles the green and purple giant stood with it's waist above the water and waded towards the shore.
"General, I think we have a problem," said Hawkeye taking a sliding kick to the machine's face. Again it was like punching a brick wall and did nothing to deter the Transformer from it's path.
"Human germ," Devestator cursed as he latched a hand onto Hawkeye's ankle. With one squeeze the bone snapped and the ligements twisted, making the soldier tear up as he stifled a scream. His top half fell to the ground as he dangled painfully in the combiner's grip.
"Son of a...!" Clint reached behind him and began swatting cars at the monster with pinpoint precision, hoping to throw him off balance and to make it collapse back into the water. However, it was to no avail.
On the ground the Black Widow ducked from cover to cover, trying not to wince at the sight of her teammate's suffering. He needed help, but there wasn't much a five foot eleven tall super-soldier could do against a robot the size of a skyscraper: or was there? Looking above she saw the harnesses latched onto steel crane lines where the custom sized arrows were placed in a make-do quiver.
"Hawkeye!" she called out attracting the attention of everything around her. With one carefully calculated shot the line snapped and several arrows, each weighing in excess of a ton, fell to the ground.
Not hesitating for a moment Hawkeye reached back and grabbed one of the fallen weapons. With a painful thrust he lunged forward and stabbed Devestator in the neck with an explosive tipped arrow. The machine doubled back, releasing it's grip to assess the damage.
Black Widow smiled, momentarily successful. That quickly changed when she saw Megatron and several of his soldiers marching towards her menacingly.
"I suppose you think you're clever, human," scouled the mighty Megatron.
"The thought had crossed my mind," she murmered. Her salvation came as Hawkeye's gargantuan hand came crashing down, forcing Megatron and the others to take to the air and scatter.
"Pick on someone your own size!" he spat.
"My sentiments exactly," Devestator cried as he sprang from the water. Almost immediately he resumed the pummeling, spilling hundreds of litres of blood all over the base. "In the battle of man against machine there is no contest!"
Natasha could hardly breathe as she struggled to think of a new strategy. She literally had seconds until Hawkeye would be beaten to death. Calling for more men would be useless. She turned to her radio. "General Fury, Hawkeye is being massacred! We need reenforcements!"
"We have the situation in hand, Black Widow. Stand by."
"Sir, with all due respect we need to call in the X-Men, the Fantastic Four: even Spider-Man if we have...!" Before she could finish the Black Widow was swept away at amazing speed to a secure bunker on the other side of the base. In the shadows all she could see was the light playing off of Quicksilver's clean white hair. "Pietro?"
"In position, General," came his reply.
The soldiers had cleared the area save for the dead and Hawkeye's bloody giant form gasping for air. The behemoth combiner stood above him, almost managing to express disgust at the pitiful battle he'd been summoned for.
Metal clunked against the asphalt as Megatron and his troops stalked slowly to the Triskelion's main entrance. The almightly leader mused to himself, "The humans believe they are safe underground, but our lasers will reach where our hands cannot. They will burn instead of being crushed! And should that fail we will tear the Earth apart like paper and stomp them into the dirt!"
A siren howled through the silence of the base, leaving the Decepticons momentarily confused as to what it could be signalling. Soundwave calculated quickly. "Lord Megatron, I predict a human aerial assault is immenent."
Though Soundwave was proved frightfully wrong when the Earth beneath them shifted. Large plates slid into their concealed sheaths underground and revealed a manmade chasm leading directly below.
Megatron grinned viciously. "What is this? Human bravado? Could the human Fury be so foolishly bold as to invite us into the very heart of his lair?"
Rumble peered into the darkness below, confused. "Did anyone else hear something?"
Their audio sensors adjusted to hear the sounds of crashing, screaming and roaring from below. Whatever thing that had been unleashed was coming towards them at great speed.
"Object detected, Lord Megatron," said Devastator. "I will destroy it."
With a mighty roar a creature appeared, though not a giant it was still many times the height and bulk of a man: it's stained green skin rippling as the last shred of it's clothes tore away. Not a moment later did Devestator's fist collide with it, pressing it's body into the Triskelion at great velocity.
"Object destroyed," Devestator reported. "Puny human weapon."
Suddenly, the combiner's body was forced back: it's fist flying up as if thrown into the air with the body trailing behind. The Hulk propelled himself into Devestator's chest, colliding with maximum force and even lifting him off the ground on impact. Devestator fell flat, his chestplate now mangled with the mighty blow of the beast.
"Puny human weapon destroy big robot!" Hulk snarled angrily. He turned his attention to Megatron and the others.
"What on Cybertron," Megatron marvelled, despite the fact his most powerful, not to mention largest warrior was blasted off of his feet with a single blow. He had underestimated the humans vastly, however this was clearly no human. This primitive, volatile well of strength and emotion proved a worthy adversary, regardless of how limited it's intelligence happened to be.
Megatron took to the air, his soldiers around him responding in turn. Being sure to stay out of the impressive reach of the leaping green beast, Megatron watched in earnest as the Hulk's attention was again drawn back to the gradually recovering Devastator.
The hulking Decepticon combiner slowly raised itself up onto his arms, the excavator Scavenger and the bulldozer Bonecrusher. Devastator's joints creaked and groaned as he clambered to his feet and steadied himself, his equilibrium restored. The Hulk gave no mercy: no sooner had Devastator regained his balance, the Hulk scaled his body with a series of effortless leaps and within moments was atop his frame, his mammoth fists began pummelling deep fissures in the combiner's intimidating chassis.
Before long, the Hulk had his hands clasped around Bonecrusher's tracks and with his immense strength pulled the single Constructicon from the rest, sending the disembodied arm falling to the ground.
Dazed, Bonecrusher transformed to his robot mode and assessed the damage. Due to the forced separation he was in need of repair: most of his coupling was in pieces, the rest either scattered on the ground or still within Long Haul, the dump truck that formed Devastator's torso. Somewhat fearful, he was forced to stand idly by and watch as the rest of the Constructicons tangled with the beast.
After some time grappling with the Hulk, Devastator was finally able to grab him. His huge metallic fingers closed in around the Hulk's body. Devastator was a deadly warrior, but the six personalities involved in his makeup left most of his processing power struggling to maintain motor skills. Very little was left for rational thought, which left Devastator with a simple, militaristic intelligence. His past experience with the Hulk, however brief, taught him nothing.
"Puny human weapon, prepare to be crushed!" Devastator snarled as his fingers closed tighter and tighter around the Hulk's frame. Squeezing furiously Devastator grinned as the Hulk roared. The frenzied cry emanating from within the monster's gullet fuelled his escape attempt, flexing his endowed muscles and within moments the Hulk tore through Devastator's fingers.
Unable to feel pain but shocked nonetheless Devastator stood completely motionless while attempting to comprehend what had just happened. A creature no taller than his fist had just torn itself free from his heavy iron grip, leaving him with no opposable digits at all. With his remaining club hand he was determined to simply pound the creature into dust.
His red eyes flared, scanning the depths of the ventilation shaft. He knew exactly how deep it ran and every turn he'd need to take for the next half mile. Below him he could detect the soldiers guarding the doors, completely oblivious to his presence. They would soon be dead.
Ravage dashed down the thin passage at breakneck speed stealthily and without a sound. Finally he came to a barricade through where the air was filtered and also to keep the rats out. On the other side was his goal: that to which he'd been sent deep into the heart of the Triskelion's research laboratories.
The filter tore away like tissue and he pounced down, firing upon the first two guards with precision lasers mounted on his hind legs. Bullets bounced off his hard shell as the second two opened fire. With a ferocious dive he pounced at one, tearing at his neck with his steel jowls. The other backed away frightfully as Ravage began his approach. His neck snapped when the animalistic Decepticon leapt up and forced all of it's weight upon him.
Through his processors echoed the words of Megatron as he began to stalk the empty laboratory stations. Find the Autobot device. With it we can access or cripple their precious space-bridge.
There it was, after having been analysed and prodded by a series of primative tools. Taking it in his jaws Ravage returned to the airducts and began his trip back to the surface. His mission was accomplished.
Megatron grinned smugly as he watched Devastator stomping blindly as the Hulk wove in and out between his mammoth green legs. "This creature... I have to commend the humans for creating such a weapon. It almost makes me want one of my own, but if it were to become a loose cannon... I always like my potential usurpers to be easily destroyed," he chuckled, stealing a cold glance toward the injured Starscream as he floated nearby. "But this creature is growing tiresome. We would have already penetrated their fortress if this human weapon had not been released. Decepticons! Destroy it! Devastator, withdraw!"
The airborne Decepticons immediately repositioned themselves into a volleying formation and prepared their photon weapons. Each of them took careful aim and prepared to fire. Devastator threw one final punch towards the Hulk with the fingerless stub that was once his left hand. The blow landed heavily, spraying asphalt in all directions, but the Hulk was too fast for the giant and using the machine's momentary daze he seized his chance.
The Hulk ran heedlessly up Devastator's arm, leaping over Scavenger's caterpillar tracks, charged across his shoulder and landed a swift kick into the side of Devastator's head, tearing it from his shoulders. The massive cranium flew through the air and crashed violently in to a building before falling to the ground below. "Hulk break giant robot! Hulk have sex with robot's mother!" he roared, leaping from his shoulder to the ground below.
Devastator's headless chassis teetered briefly on it's unstable footing before falling forward, first onto it's knees, then with a deafening crash onto it's mangled chest, levelling yet another bunker in the process. Following basic protocols the components automatically disengaged and transformed to their seperate robot parts.
Hook struggled to his feet: a large portion of his body was missing. Mixmaster and Scrapper, the pair of Constructicons that became Devastator's legs, supported him and together all six flew skyward to join the other Decepticons.
"Megatron... that thing's too much. We need repairs," Scrapper complained. "Even Devastator, the most powerful robot among us, couldn't beat it."
"Stop your whining, Scrapper. We'll destroy it soon enough," Megatron chided. "Fire!" He commanded as he and the remaining Decepticons simultaneously sent countless blasts of energy downwards to the Hulk.
Leaping into the air as the first volley collided with the ground at his feet Hulk grabbed a slab of concrete, available in abundance due to the immense collateral damage, and hurled it at a cluster the of airborne enemies. Thundercracker, Dirge and Frenzy, already severely damaged, were ill-prepared for sudden evasion and were struck down by the flying chunk of concrete.
Megatron watched with shock and outrage as a portion of his remaining soldiers were incapacitated with a single blow. "We can't continue this. Decepticons, retreat!"
Though savage on the offensive, the Decepticons lacked valour and as such would not turn down an opportunity to flee when things took a turn for the worse. Without a word, the survivors turned tail and fled, quickly disappearing from the battlefield.
General Fury sat heavily and turned in his chair breathing a sigh of relief and wiping perspiration from his bald head.
"It seems we've discovered their weakness, sir. Destroy enough of them and they'll retreat," one of his officers said to him with a chuckle: a vain attempt to break the tension.
Fury dismissed the comment and returned his attention to the monitor before him. The Hulk was still free. Turning to the same officer, he gestured for the intercom to be handed to him. Delay caused the gesture to be repeated in earnest. "Doctor Ross, prepare for Operation: Prom Date. Tranq team B, mobilise. Operation will commence in thirty seconds," he announced over the loudspeaker.
No sooner had the command been uttered a small battalion of soldiers, each armed with high powered rifles, jogged to the outskirts of the Triskelion and loaded their weapons. Each soldier carried not thirty 'aught six, but a tranquilizer dart, each loaded with enough agent to knock out a full grown elephant within seconds.
Betty Ross, SHIELD's public relations officer, reluctantly sauntered from her laboratory and through the main doors to the Triskelion, her eyes immediately becoming affixed to the Hulk as he wandered throughout the grounds, increasing the damage already dealt to the ravaged base. His anger had begun to subside, leaving him little more than the mindset of a grumpy child.
Remaining hidden amongst the surroundings the snipers readied their rifles. The sergeant repositioned his headset and spoke to his troops. "Keep it steady, boys. We've only got one shot at this. Aim for the neck, behind the knees or under the arms. Anywhere else and you probably won't penetrate," he instructed. "Alright, the corsage is on, Dr. Ross. Time to have the first dance."
"Acknowledged, sergeant. Be careful," Betty Ross replied as she concealed her communicator in her coat pocket. Slowly, she approached the rampaging Hulk and softly and sweetly spoke his true name. "Bruce…"
"Betty?" The beast was almost immediately calm as he stared into Betty's eyes. His tensed shoulders eased gently as she reached slowly forward to stroke his cheek. He almost didn't seem to notice as a dozen darts laced with sedative injected into his spine. Falling to his knees hypnotised the Hulk fell to the ground and began the rapid transformation back into the humble Dr. Bruce Banner.
One by one the Ultimates gathered around and surveyed the damage left in the wake of the attack. Janet ran to Clint Barton's side. He was still sixty feet tall and spread horizontally, coughing up blood. "Clint! Talk to me!"
"Did anyone get the number of that truck?" he moaned. He was still alive and joking. That was a good sign.
"We'll shrink you down and fix you up, Clint. Don't worry," she said relievedly. The Wasp sighed. "All of this destruction... I don't think we've ever been hit this bad."
"We came out alive. That's all that matters for now," Fury assured her. "Now we rebuild, we get this facility back online, then we kick down their door and take back Captain America!"
TO BE CONTINUED...