Marvel Comics: Prosperity—Chapter 2
Iron Man stood with Giant Man, the Wasp, and Thor.
"The Skrulls are in there," Giant Man explained. "Iron Man, can your sensors locate any Skrulls that are in disguise?"
"I can try, but it was built for human physiology. I can only get about fifty percent accuracy at best."
"That'll have to be enough. The Wasp and I will shrink down to ant-size, so they won't know we're there until we're ready to let 'em know, got it?"
"So Thor and I will take the brunt of it and then you surprise them?"
"Right," Giant Man answered, taking a pill that made him instantly shrink down to microscopic size.
"They shall yield to Thor Odinson!"
"Let's hope you're right. Those Skrulls can get pretty nasty if we don't take them down quick." Iron Man blew the door open with his repulsor, and saw two Skrulls sitting at a table in the middle of a fully-furnished room.
"Only two?" Thor asked.
"My instruments are telling me there are more here. I can't tell if there in another room, or if they're in disguise here."
"That can be answered quickly enough, Earthling," one of the aliens responded. "Skrulls, attack!" Suddenly every piece of furniture in the room changed, and Iron Man and Thor found themselves surrounded by an army of Skrull warriors.
"Alright, Electro," Spider-Man said, as he dodged another bolt from the supervillain, "If you make one more joke about your electric personality, I'm gonna get really angry! That's why we leave the jokes to me, and foolhardy attempts at crime to you." Spidey winced as one of Electro's attacks came too close. "You're getting better, Electro; a little more practice and you'd make a great telephone line." As he dodged, Spidey fingered the trigger of his web shooter. He had formulated a special batch of web fluid that would insulate the villain's electrical powers, but with Electro's non-stop barrage, Spidey hadn't been able to get a decent shot off.
Suddenly, a billy-club flew out of the air at hit Electro in the face.
"What the—" Electro asked, turning around to see the yellow-and-red clad Daredevil flying toward him in a jump kick. Daredevil fell back with a groan as soon as he made contact with the villain. Electro laughed, but his reverie was cut off as he felt Spider-Man's webs enmeshing him.
"Now, now, now," Spidey said, wagging his finger. "Come on, Max, you know I don't like to be ignored."
"Hey! Daredevil said, his supersenses catching the sound of two men running away. "Electro's henchmen."
"They've got the jewels he tried to steal!" Spidey said, shooting out a web to swing off in pursuit.
"I got 'em," Daredevil said confidently, running into an alley. With his radar sense, he could see that they were there in the alley, and were trying to hide. "No one can hide from Daredevil," he said, throwing a kick at one thug. The other one came out then, swinging a switchblade. Daredevil jumped back, barely dodging the knife as Spider-Man arrived and disarmed the man.
"Nice teamwork, DD," Spider-Man said, and then swung away.
"Cyclops!" The Professor yelled, worried that Scott had been killed by the blow from the metal chair.
"It's okay, Prof. It…only stunned me," Cyclops answered slowly, struggling to get up. "I'll be okay."
"Look out!"
"I'm ready this time," Cyclops said, as he fired an optic blast at the metal object flying toward him. The blast hit it at an angle, causing it to change direction and miss him. "Now, let's get you out of there, Prof." Scott fired another optic blast that hit the helmet obstructing the Professor's telepathic power. The helmet shattered and fell off of Xavier.
"Professor," the Beast began, still trying to catch up to Quicksilver. "Perhaps you could offer me some assistance."
"Of course, Beast." The Professor put his hands to his temples, and a moment later, Quicksilver ground to a stop, gritting his teeth as if he were struggling to move. Beast didn't waste any time in slamming the halted speedster to the ground.
"Two down," Beast exclaimed, "And both complements of yours truly."
"You forgot one!" Beast heard, just before a long slimy tongue flew toward him, and hit the wall just inches away.
"You missed." Beast said, but saw his error as Toad swung in, and slammed Beast with both feet. Beast fell back. "You sure pack a wallop for one so small, friend," Beast grimaced, as Toad hopped away.
Cyclops kept Magneto occupied by hurling optic blasts at him to make him go on the defensive. Iceman threw all he had at Pyro, who replied with an equally strong wave of fire. The two combatants seemed to be deadlocked, until Marvel Girl used her telekinesis to throw a lamp at Pyro, knocking him down. Toad attempted to execute the same maneuver on Iceman that had worked against Beast, but just as his sticky tongue was about to hit the wall, Iceman held up a sheet of ice, and caught him on it. Iceman pulled, yanking Toad toward him, and finished him off with a punch.
"It's over, Erik," Charles Xavier said when the dust cleared, as Magneto sank to the ground in surrender.
"Scientific Journal of Bruce Banner," the scientist said, sitting down as he talked into the recorder. "Twenty-third entry on this subject.
"I can't control it anymore. I can feel it. For months, I've been turning into this hideous monster, the Hulk. Incredible, powerful, terrifying, however you might describe the thing, the fact is that I've been…metamorphosing into this thing at certain times for quite a while now. The problem is that up until now, I've been able to keep it under control, to a point. The monster has torn down buildings, uprooted trees, and even destroyed tanks, but I've always been able to exercise the willpower necessary to keep it from hurting anything…human. But now, I—I feel that I'm losing that hold. As time goes by, the Hulk gets slowly more powerful, and as it does, I lose the shallow grip I have on it. Soon, I will have no control whatever to dictate what my own gamma-irradiated body will do. And when that day comes…who knows what terror will be wrought."