Everyone froze as they watched Ross seethe in the middle of the lab. The syringe splintered in his hand. and his eyes glowed a wrathful amber.
"You idiot," Bruce said quietly, his fists balled in front of him, still shackled. Then his voice rose louder, and small streaks of green ran up his neck. "Ross! You idiot, how could you do this to yourself?"
"Me? ME?" The older man's flesh rippled underneath his suit. His face grew a lurid shade of red. "This is all your fault! You little parasite. Everything is wrong because of *you.* My career in the military - my DAUGHTER - all GONE because you couldn't just do what you were told!"
He closed the distance between them and shoved Bruce with the force of a small car. Then with a bellicose howl his body surged from out of his clothing. His back broadened and shredded the fabric, his fingers curled and contorted into thick crimson cords of flesh. Toes popped the seams of his shoes as his lower body rushed to support the weight of his growing torso. The silver roots of Ross' hair stood out sharply against the deep red of his new skin, perhaps slightly whiter now than before.
"Even now you taint EVERYTHING YOU TOUCH! Your cousin is MUTILATED. You even dragged your traitorous little sweetheart into this mess! And you know what? This whole awful world full of unchecked vigilantes is your doing too! New York, Sokovia, DC? I wanted an army of soldiers strong enough to fight those battles. You were supposed to give them to me! But you FAILED, and now all we have are CLOWNS and MONSTERS who think they know BETTER THAN THE REST OF US!"
He moved to slam the ground where Banner lay, but a giant green hand caught his fist before he could connect.
"Mustache Man always mean to Puny Banner. Always blame Hulk. Now he just like Hulk, only red. You Red Hulk now! Red Hulk!"
"SHUT UP."
"Red Hulk! Red Hulk!"
"GRRAAAAH!"
Jen scooped up Yelena and Natasha in either arm. "Let's take this outside ladies."
Sterns grabbed at his bulbous head. "not again! You lummoxes are going to destroy my lab!"
She-Hulk dove through the wall and onto the balcony of the main building. She dumped the two Widows onto the floor (Yelena somewhat less gently than Nat).
"I'd say Sterns' research is pretty much kaput," Jen called to Natasha. They both looked at the two Hulks ransacking the lab in their fight.
"I'm going back for the Quinjet."
"Go," the Black Widow said, reloading her gun. "I'm gonna take care of something."
Yelena was picking herself up when she saw Natasha stride towards her, clutching her side.
"Please Natasha, are we really going to do this with you in that condition? I'd put be happy to put a few more holes in you, even the score."
"Likewise," she groaned, maintaining the ruse long enough to swing around and shoot Yelena in the abdomen with pistol she had hidden behind herself.
"Looks like I'm up two to one," she tilted her head and grinned, holstering her weapon. Then she charged.
The two Widows clashed with their batons on the balcony.
"I don't want to kill you, Yelena!" Natasha shouted. "But keep it up and I'm going to start second guessing myself."
"You already failed once before. What makes you think you can do it now?"
She kicked Natasha in the stomach and the redhead rolled over the edge of the balcony. But she grappled underneath the catwalk, swinging across over the other side and striking Yeleba twice with one of her batons as the blonde wheeled around. Natasha connected her batons into one staff and used it to push Yelena up against the guard rail.
"You know what the Red Room does to people. I didn't know who I could trust!"
"Your treachery cost all those people their lives. We knew what they did - what we were prepared to let them do - and you decided we were better off dead than serving our country."
"Yelena listen to me! I know what serving them means. It destroys you. The Black Widows did the dirtiest work the intelligence community could come up with."
"And who says we're all as delicate as you?" Yelena found her pistol and fired from the hip. Natasha sensed it with just enough time to roll out of the way, unpinning Yelena from the railing. The blonde spy kept firing just in front of Natasha, forcing her to backpedal down the railing.
"That's it, crawl. That's how I survived the fall of the Red Room. Crawling on my knees, smoke choking my lungs, to the escape tunnel at the bottom of the facility. Crawling over all the people who didn't make it that far, or who tripped one of your booby traps on their way out. I survived by crawling. The same can't be said for you. A shame. I was hoping to drag this out."
"Then for once, I think I can help you," Natasha breathed. She unsheathed a hidden knife and lobbed it at her foe, the blade cleaving a lock of hair from the side of Yelena's head as she dodged away.
In that moment most of the roof collapsed on the warring Hulks as Bruce and Ross tumbled through the floor and down several levels. Yelena saw a brief opening as Natasha glanced around to make sure their balcony was stable. She kicked her older counterpart square in the midsection, sending her careening into the void after their two monstrous comrades. Natasha heard Ross' voice as she struggled to regain her sense of direction.
"The happiest day of my life was the day I walked into your house and told you the world DIDN'T NEED YOU anymore! You may have fooled them into thinking they still do, but I see through all your flashy outfits and dogooder speeches. You people are CRIMINALS, and I'm going to put ALL OF YOU in the ground!
Natasha lashed out with her grappling hook and landed deftly on the ground floor of the building. She looked up long enough to see Yelena rappelling down, taking pot shots and giggling manically all the way. The redheaded Widow melted into the shadows; she figured she had about 90 seconds before Yelena found her, so she took stock of this new battlefield.
Doctor Sterns was passed out in a pile of rubble about 5 years from her. A beam of dawn illuminated Hulk lying unmoving in the center of the room. The Red Hulk limped out of the shadows and began heaving at the Hulk's unconscious form, trying to lift the mountain of veridian muscle over his head and into a pile driver. But his foe was evidently only playing possum, for as soon as he got the Hulk off the ground the green giant snapped to life and flew into a frenzy.
As Hulk reversed the hold, Yelena landed. Nat lost her batons somewhere above, so this fight would have to be fists from here on. She vaulted over the rubble she was crouched behind and fired a ranged Widow's Bite at Yelena. The blonde was able to fight through the pain, but not without dropping her weapon. She and Natasha traded kick after kick, jab after jab.
Meanwhile, Hulk grabbed Ross by the legs and swung him headlong through some of the precious few support columns left in the room. Red Hulk had gotten good offense in so far, but Hulk was the Champion of Sakkar. So what if all if his opponents were electrocuted by that weird guy whenever they started winning? That only happened a few times! Red Hulk leapt to his feet and sent a haymaker into his opponent's jaw. Hulk spit out some emerald blood and then tossed a fist of his own into Ross' face. They traded face shots a few more times before switching to headbutts.
"This is only the beginning, Natasha!" Yelena shouted as she pulled a knife from her boot and swung it at the rival Black Widow. "The days of the Avengers are over! "
Natasha was seriously considering just shooting her at this point. She needed to wrap this up before the Hulks brought the whole place down. She only had a few gadgets left...
"And when your family is burnt to the ground, you'll be next."
"Okay, so your plan is to take down the remaining Avengers. Any other intel you want to reveal for me?"
"Wha-"
"I've been fighting monologuing supervillains for years, honey. You're not as different as you think."
Yelena screamed in rage and fired a ranged Widow's Bite at Natasha. Natasha had been readying one of her own while she stalled the enemy spy and fired as well. The two Bites connected at the same time, and the battle was abruptly halted as they each flew backwards.
By now both Hulks were reeling from multiple blows to the head. Drunkenly hobbling around in a circle, Ross wound up for one final megaton punch. The Hulk wasn't so disoriented as to miss it, however. He met Red Hulk's left hook with one of his own, and their fists collided with bone shattering force. Masonry dust rained down from the ceiling as they recoiled, shaking the pain from their arms. Small tremors still lingered from their clash, and they didn't stop as the air above Ross began to shimmer with heat.
"No… can't… focus… GRAAHH!"
Ross flashed an even brighter red, and the Earth around them cracked and buckled. Hulk's eyes widened, and he rushed over to where Nat and Sterns were.
"What's going on?" Natasha called to Hulk.
"Red Hulk going boom! Pretty Lady get behind me! Banner smash me if you get squished!"
The light inside of Red Hulk's body boiled and pulsed, illuminating veins and arteries up and down his titanic form. Then, with a final howl everything went white.