Civil War Hulk
By Michael Weyer
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For one who didn't know him too well, Steve Rogers would appear to be either suicidal or mad. He was a normal man with no special powers or abilities, armed with only a metal shield, taking on the most powerful being on the planet, who had already utterly defeated so many super-powered beings.
But having known Captain America longer and better than anyone, Hawkeye and the Falcon knew the man was not so reckless as to throw himself away. He had a plan. Just what it was appeared unclear but he had to have one. He brought his shield up to smash it into the Hulk's midsection and dodged the brute's fist. "Clint!" he called out. "I need a double dare!"
Nodding, Hawkeye brought up a pair of arrows and fired them at the Hulk. He raised his fist to catch them and snap them in half. "That supposed to work, archer?" he grunted.
"Nah," Hawkeye said with a grin. "Just supposed to distract you." There was a sudden rush of loud chirping and cawing. The Hulk turned to see the Falcon floating above as a flock of birds of various types flew down and clawed, bit and pecked at the brute. The Hulk howled with rage as he swung out his arms to knock some aside but more kept coming at him.
A blast of fire suddenly engulfed him, frying the birds to a crisp. Eilloe moved in, her staff smoking with energy as she fired another blast toward Hawkeye who managed to leap out of the way. Korg was also there, attacking Spider-Man as a slew of alien troops came toward them.
"Give up!" the Hulk bellowed, his skin already healing from the fire. "You can't win!"
"I'm not letting you leave this city!" Cap snapped.
The Hulk chuckled. "I've got Stark, Richards and Black Bolt, Captain. And about half the guys who came in here with you. I don't need to go anywhere. It's not why I'm here."
"Well, Broadway's closed so I'm afraid a showing of Spamalot is out of the question," Spider-Man quipped as he fired a webline at Korg which did little to slow the rocky figure.
Hawkeye cursed as he backed up, reaching to his quiver. "Cap…I hate to say it but I think a tactical withdrawal might be called for here!"
"Not like you give up, Barton!" The Falcon called as he avoided a laser blast.
"Yeah, well, death has a way of making you a little more cautious," Hawkeye replied. "We ain't doing the rest any good by staying here and going down too!"
Cap bit his lip. He hated the idea of retreating but knew Hawkeye had a point. "Fall back! Everyone fall back!"
"I've got you covered!" She-Hulk bounded in to lunge at her cousin, smashing him across the jaw with a fist. Hawkeye brought out a trio of smoke arrows and fired, sending up a cloud before the Warbound. "Anyone still standing, we are bugging out of here!"
She-Hulk punched again. "Dammit, Bruce, just stand down already! This is getting insane!"
The Hulk grabbed her fist and squeezed, She-Hulk crying out as she heard bones break. She looked into the green eyes and was chilled at the coldness there. "Stop calling me Bruce." He hauled back and belted her with a savage blow that sent her sprawling to the ground.
Cap soon raced down a street, Falcon, Hawkeye, Emma Frost, Spider-Man, the Wasp and Cyclops following. Cyclops paused as he saw Wolverine slashing at some aliens. "Logan, we're pulling out!"
"Not leaving yet, Summers!"
"That's an order, Mister!"
"Not interested!" The mutant was bringing his claw hand back when a tangle of webbing hit it and he felt himself yanked backward. "Oh, I'm so dead," Spider-Man muttered even as he and Falcon dragged Wolverine back.
Cap paused at a street as he saw another wave of aliens at the opposite end. "We're cut off," he muttered. "We need another way out!"
There was the whine of rocket fire and the air around the aliens erupted in a loud explosion, sending shrapnel and pieces of flesh flying. A figure leapt from a nearby rooftop and opened up with a pair of large machine guns, the armor-piercing rounds ripping through alien skin as easily as human. As the last of the group slumped, the figure turned to reveal the large skull emblazoned upon his black jumpsuit.
"Oh, great," Spider-Man muttered. "I should have known Mr. Terrific would be fitting in around here."
The Punisher glared at the group. "Come with me if you want to live."
"You've been dying to say that for years, haven't you?" the Falcon remarked.
Captain America glared back at the vigilante. "I told you last time…"
"You wanna argue or survive?" the Punisher snapped. "In case you haven't noticed, this is war."
"He's right." The group turned to see a young man in a dark blue suit and black mask approach, his right arm sheathed in metal. "You've got to accept how things are different, Cap."
"Bucky?" Cap frowned. "What are you doing here?"
"It's Winter Soldier," his former partner corrected. "I was in town helping Fury on stuff when things went nuts. Figured you'd need the help."
Hawkeye leaned in toward the Widow. "Is that…" At her nod, he whistled. "Damn, no one really stays dead…"
"Actually, he wasn't dead at all," the Widow told him. "The Soviets found him alive, brainwashed him into their own assassin and put him in suspended animation between missions."
Hawkeye stared at her. "You do realize how insane that sounds."
"Actually, that's perfectly normal compared to my life," Spider-Man intoned.
"As much as I hate to ruin the moment…actually, no, I don't…" the White Queen said. "But can we get to someplace resembling safety first?"
"Follow us," the Winter Soldier said as he turned to head down a secondary alley. He reached down to use his bionic arm to lift up a manhole. "Everyone down!" he yelled as he leapt into the sewers. The others swiftly followed, Spider-Man the last. He closed the manhole, then sprayed webbing onto the edges to hold the lid in place before following the rest down the wet and stank-infested sewerway.
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Hank Pym winced in pain as the magical constraints around him tightened once more. He craned his head to see Doctor Strange and Wong in much the same predicament. All three were floating off the floor of Strange's home, held aloft by green-colored bands that encased them entirely.
Before the imprisoned trio, Baron Mordo's face was one of pure triumph. "Ah, I've been dreaming of this day for so long, Strange."
"I had hoped you repented before your death, Mordo," Strange said.
"The underworld disagreed," the Baron said with a glowering expression. "I learned to hate you once more, Strange. And so, when Loki came to me, I was ready to accept his offer."
The God of Mischief was lounging on a large chair, legs crossed, sipping from a goblet. "Ah, I do love a good wine. And a good war."
Pym shook his head. "How….how can you be alive? We heard Thor brought about…"
"Rangkork?" Loki smirked in amusement. "Please, Pym. I am the God of Mischief and Trickery. Does thou honestly believe I wouldst not hath prepared for such an event centuries ago? I knew such a day was to come and prepared for it. Of course, it helped that what occurred was not the true Rangkork."
Both Strange and Pym were startled at that. "What?" Strange asked. "But the fall of the Gods…"
"Not fall as in death, Strange. The true Rangkoark be the end of all things. When that occurs, your world will also be extinguished. What my dolt of a half-brother did was merely place the Norse Gods into a form of suspended animation, spreading their essences across the universe. As I said, I was prepared for such an event thanks to certain…bargains I had made long ago."
Strange slowly nodded. "No doubt in exchange for secrets you had long kept."
Loki tapped his forehead. "Indeed. Knowledge is power, especially among the dark circles. I was able to barter such for…sanctuary, if you will, from the overall effects of the spell. It took time, of course, to rebuild mine strength and plan my ultimate revenge. Fortunately, the good Baron here was an aid in achieving mine goals."
"In return for being brought to life, of course," Strange deduced.
"That was part of it," Mordo said. "But I admit, when he detailed his plans…I was more than happy to take part no matter what my price."
Hank stared at Loki as his mind clicked upon the truth. "Wanda…you were the one behind her breakdown."
Loki nodded with obvious pride. "Correct, Pym. Long hath my eye been on that mutant and her great power. With the aid of Mordo, I found a way to latch onto her, to manipulate mine power and wishes onto her already weary mind. With Strange gone on his quest, twas simple for Mordo to impersonate him with a spell and aid in our scheme. All that was required then was the right amount of power to persuade you all that the good Witch had gone mad."
Hank shook his head as he tried to take it all in. "So…it wasn't Wanda…it was you."
"All three of us, really," Mordo said. "It was easy to warp her mind to her children as their loss still haunted her." He smirked. "I have to say, I honestly did not believe that even my spells to cloud minds would work so well and prevent you all from wondering why Strange would say there was no such thing as chaos magic or act like the Witch's madness had been long coming."
Loki sniffed. "As I well know, mortal minds hath always been easy to fool. Such it was as the events we engineered finally saw those accursed Avengers torn apart and scattered." His face became more downcast. "But my hopes they were gone forever were cast aside when once more events conspired to bring those 'heroes' together. Thus, a new tactic was called for."
Hank's eyes widened. "The Act?"
"Nay, your own politicians had created that. But I aid in pushing it along. As well as giving certain…nudges to the minds of your compatriots."
"Oh, God," Hank moaned. "You mean…That's why they were so intent on sending Bruce away. Somehow, you managed to manipulate their minds…"
Loki laughed. "Oh, don't start giving them so much credit, Pym. That warlord from the future managed to twist his mind, you think I could not? And for Richards, his intellect may be great but it leaves him open for my machinations. He puts so much faith in his science, it took little effort to convince him his calculations be truth." He nodded to Mordo. "And of course, Mordo was there to help the illusions and subtle pushes along."
Strange tried to remain calm. He knew the egos of Loki and Mordo were making them continue to confess their full actions and hoped it would buy him time to figure out a way to escape. "Why the Hulk? Why work so hard to send him away?"
"Partly because I still owed the brute for past embarrassments," the evil god said. "But also because his presence would unbalance so many of my plans. Sending him off this world was for the good of all, as I managed to convince your compatriots of. I had hoped he would perish but I must admit some joy at how his return has worked into things."
Hank's mind whirled as he realized the depth of Loki's manipulations. "So…the House of M? M-Day?"
Loki and Mordo shared a glance then a loud laugh. "I have to admit," Mordo said. "I haven't laughed so hard in ages when you all so easily accepted that a mere mutant was able to totally restructure reality."
"Had Strange truly been there," Loki gloated. "He would hath been able to see through it all and informed thee of the truth. Dream spells are so easy to conjure though more difficult to spread out, thus only a few remembered it. But that ended up simply solidifying it all in their minds. I was, after all, giving them their deepest desires and we all know how well that can sway people."
"And M Day?" Hank pressed.
"My power….had limits at the time," Loki was forced to admit. "Thus siphoning it away from the mutant population was mine best choice. It played into events nicely and allowed me a measure of revenge upon those accursed X-Men for their long ago slight upon me."
Strange nodded as he took it all in. "So…I assume Stamford was your doing as well?"
"As much as I would love to take credit, that was the manipulation of some other party," Loki stated. "But I did not unappreciate how well did work into mine own plans. It was the drive to install the Act and thus the war that waged afterward."
"And that's why you did all this?" Hank asked. "For revenge on us?"
Loki's face darkened. "Did thou believe I had forgotten the humiliation thou bestowed upon me, Pym? That I was responsible for the creation of your band of heroes? I never have. I have waited and planned and plotted this revenge for so long. To see you all destroy yourselves is giving me more amusement than I have felt in an age."
"And that's all you have planned?" Hank asked. "Just to see us in pain and that's it?"
Mordo chuckled. "Oh, we have more in store, Pym. Much more. You shall see."
"Indeed. There is no need to spoil the rest of our sordid schemes." Loki sipped from his goblet and smiled wickedly. "But be sure there be far more drama to come. And in the end…tis I who shall be at center stage. Be grateful for thy sake I appreciate a captive audience."
The dark laughter of he and Mordo caused the three captives to shiver as they realized the true danger facing the world.
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The base that had been used by the Anti-Registration forces was still in good shape despite the quick exit the forces had made just before the attack. There had been a new addition in the form of a large rack piled with various types of weapons which the Punisher was going over carefully.
Cap was leaning on the large conference table looking down at the people before him. A few stragglers had managed to come in, figuring this would be a good place to regroup thus Tigra, War Machine, the Young Avengers and a few others had joined the rest. But that still left a lot of heavy hitters absent.
Taking a deep breath, Cap spoke. "All right…We need to figure out a new plan of attack."
"Frontal assaults are too dangerous," the Winter Soldier said in a calm voice. "Plus we don't know the status of the others."
"I don't think the Hulk would kill them," the Wasp said. "He's been talking too much about paying them back to simply execute them."
"No, he'll kill them," the Punisher grunted, his back to them all. "He wants justice. He'll do what it takes to get it."
Captain America glared at him. "Not all of us equate justice with murder, Castle."
"I prefer extermination."
"Can we pick a better term than that?" Spider-Man said with a wince.
Hawkeye rubbed his forehead. "Damn, I know we're in trouble but are we really so desperate we need the Punisher?"
"You're damn right you need me," the Punisher turned to them. "I'm the only one who knows what real war is."
"I think we'd argue that point," Winter Soldier retorted, nodding to Cap.
The Punisher snorted. "If you're such a soldier, Rogers, you'd know killing is necessary. Besides, these things aren't even human."
"I'm not crossing that line," Cap snapped.
"Maybe you should." The Punisher pointed to him. "How many lives would you have saved if you'd just put the Red Skull down years ago?" He looked to Spider-Man. "Or if you'd had the guts to take down Osborn?"
Spider-Man crossed his arms. "I do that, I'm no better than he was."
"You don't kill innocents, you're better. You're definitely better than Stark taking everything in his own hands to exile the Hulk. He should have just put a bullet in Banner and had done with it."
"Tony doesn't kill," Captain America said.
"And we see the results of that," the Punisher offered. "At least I make the world a better place without that scum. I don't see why my help is so bad when Tony was taking on Bullseye."
"Hate to say it, but he does raise a point," Patriot offered.
"That was wrong and so are you," Cap snapped to the Punisher. "The whole point of this battle is that we stand for something in these masks. We lose that and we don't deserve the public trust at all."
The Punisher shook his head. "I've seen too much of the 'public trust' let killers go free. I prefer working without that headache."
"As much as I enjoy such a lovely philosophical debate," Emma Frost interrupted. "I do believe we require something approaching a plan?"
"She's right," Cyclops said. "If we're going to get into that ship to rescue the others…"
"We may not need to," the Winter Soldier said. "We've been tracking movements by his troops in town. It looks like they've got something else going on in the city, lots of construction work going around."
Cap frowned. "Where?"
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Madison Square Garden was notable for its famous domed roof that held everything from basketball to wrestling. That roof had been ripped apart, peeled open to expose the Garden interior to the sky, an interior that was being reshaped by various beings, the Hulk in the center of it all.
"What the hell is he doing?" the President asked. He was shown on one monitor watching the same feed as SHIELD was. Sharon Carter stood on the Heli-Carrrier deck, trying to appear calm while her emotions were pained thinking of Captain America.
"From what he said in his address when he returned, Mr. President," she calmly said. "The Hulk had landed on some sort of gladiator world and rose up in games there. My guess is, he's recreating that."
"And I can wager who's going to be fed to the lions or whatever he's got," the President muttered. He sighed. "This is a mess…a total mess. And no word from Hill?"
Carter shook her head. "No, sir. She's gone totally off-grid and we have no idea where she could be."
The President bit his lip as if trying to convince himself of something. "Well…then I got no choice, do I?"
"Sir?" Carter asked.
The President brought himself up. "I know I'm going to hear it about this from a lot of the UN but I don't care. Right now, we need SHIELD at their best and that's going to happen when you're running around with your heads chopped off. So, effective immediately, I'm issuing a Presidential pardon to the one man I know can whip you all into shape and actually run things around there?"
"Who?" Carter asked even as she suspected the answer. Right on cue, the doors behind her opened and a figure stormed in with an aura of absolute authority. Everyone stared in amazement before many broke out in wide smiles and even a few cheers.
The figure paused only to light a cigar and made his way to the command deck, staring at the monitors before him with his single eye. "All right, ya yardbirds!" Colonel Nick Fury barked. "Amateur night is over! Papa Fury is back in charge and that means it's time to get down to business!"
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This ended up slightly longer than I had planned but next chapter brings more of the gladiator games and Loki's revelations. Keep reviews coming.
