ULTIMATE
MELEE
CHAPTER 5
It was coming.
Bruce could sense it.
It was coming.
One more.
It was coming.
The final piece of the Trinity.
It was coming.
And then he would be free of this curse.
Here it comes.
Bruce yelled the name out loud.
It had come.
After the tension left him, he sighed and relaxed.
It was finally over.
And then his memory was erased of these thoughts.
"What did he just shout out?" Jean Grey asked, recoiling from Bruce Banner's shout. She and the professor were gathered in a room where Bruce Banner was lying comfortably on a bed. "Did he just yell...?"
"Yeah, he did," Bobby Drake confirmed, rushing into the room. "I heard it from outside. He said-"
"Another name," the professor said. "But what could that individual possibly have to do with the Hulk?"
"Same thing that I have to do with the Hulk," said Bobby. "Something we don't know."
It had now been twenty-four hours since Bobby Drake heard his name be shouted out loud by the Hulk. During the past day, he had spent a countless amount of time pondering over why that had happened. Bobby himself knew that he had never in his life gotten involved with Bruce Banner. But somehow the man knew him, and Bobby had to know why. He knew that he was potentially in danger. Him, and this person whose name Banner had just yelled out.
At that moment, Bruce woke up. His first reaction was screaming, followed by him exclaiming, "WHAT'S GOING ON?!" WHERE THE HELL AM I?!"
"Dr. Banner, you are in no danger," the professor said calmly. "I am Charles Xavier, and you are here at my school for-"
"I'm in the X-Men mansion?!" Bruce spat. "How did I get here?"
"Dr. Banner, I will have to ask you to calm down," said Xavier. "Although I had placed locks on your mind to prevent you from transforming into the Hulk, I would still appreciate if you did not shout and that you give me the opportunity to explain what has happened to you."
"I know what's happening here," Bruce said seriously. "I've gone insane. I've been having blackouts, or at least, that's what everyone's been telling me. They keep telling me how I've been shouting out random names. Bobby Drake, Peter Parker-"
"What?" all three mutants said.
"When exactly did you say Peter Parker's name?" Xavier asked.
"Not that I remember it," Bruce answered, "but as soon as they were transporting me back to the Triskelion on Friday morning, I blurted out that name. That's what they told me."
"Peter Parker..." Bobby repeated. "That's the guy who's Spider-Man, isn't he? That makes three names. Parker, me, and-"
"Wait a second," Banner interrupted. "You're Bobby Drake?"
"Yes, he is," Jean answered for Bobby, "And he's very concerned about what's going on."
"And did you just say that I gave out three names?" Banner asked. "Who was the third?"
Jean ignored Banner and turned to the professor. "Should we try and contact Parker?"
"There's no use," Xavier said, sighing. "The Ultimates will have most likely gotten to him by now."
"I need some answers now," Banner said impatiently. "Why did you bring me here?"
"Our association with the Ultimates has ended," Xavier replied. "And you, Dr. Banner – you are an important part of our cause that we need to use to get a handle on this situation."
"You mutant bastards!" Banner exclaimed. "You're using me!"
"Dr. Banner, are you extremely positive that you have no recollection of these events, or even a reason as to why you yelled out these names?" the professor asked, unaffected by Banner's comment.
"I told you!" Bruce cried out. "I don't remember anything!"
The professor closed his eyes and formed a concentrated look on his face. Jean and Bobby knew what that meant.
"Who are you talking to, professor?" Bobby inquired.
"The other X-Men," Xavier replied. "I need to alert them of these new developments. I cannot even imagine what we'll learn from Hawkeye later on."
All across the mansion, the other X-Men heard the professor's voice in their head tell them what was just discovered.
In the Danger Room, Logan and Colossus were sparring, preparing for the next attack from the Ultimates. When they heard Xavier's psychic transmission, they stopped dead.
"Parker?" Colossus said, looking intently at Logan. "Peter Parker? Spider-Man? The one you've met up with several times?"
"Yeah, that's the one," Logan said. An expression of confusion hit his face. "I know who that kid is, but who the hell is this Geldoff?"
Elektra's cell phone rang and gave her a rude awakening. She tightly opened her eyes and looked at the light in-between the blinds of her window. It was dawn.
Not a lot of people had her number, and there was only one man who had the nerve to call her at this early hour.
"What do you want?" she said, answering the call.
"Elektra, my darling, good morning," the Kingpin's cheerful voice said over the phone.
"Why are you calling me?" she asked coldly.
"I have a new assignment for you," the Kingpin said. "And the reward will be much more than you can expect."
"Explain," Elektra said, getting up from her bed and putting a robe on.
"Do you remember the ancient manuscript I had you steal from that museum in Greece two weeks ago?" Kingpin asked.
"How could I forget?" Elektra replied, rolling her eyes. "It was much more guarded then you described. I had to kill the security guards once they caught me due to my lack of preparation."
"Yes, well, I went after that manuscript due to the recommendation of a man named Cyrek, who had informed me that the text written on it can lead to a hefty amount of power."
"And you believed him?" Elektra asked skeptically. "What exactly was written on that manuscript anyway?"
"It roughly translated into this: 'The day will come when a Prophet will be born who shall have the power to transform into a beast of unimaginable rage. He will be defeated and caged away, but his purpose will then only begin. He shall cry out the names of three unique individuals that will serve as the pieces of the Trinity, the key to the power that shall be granted to the one who is most worthy of it.'"
"Uh-huh," Elektra said, with an uninterested tone
"The age of the Prophet has come, Elektra," the Kingpin said. "He is the Hulk, and he has already begun to reveal the pieces of the Trinity. Cyrek has constructed a computer program used over telephones that can hypnotize people to carry out a certain order for him, and also make them reveal the truth to any question he asks. Through this process, he has gathered evidence that the first two names the Prophet has revealed are a young man named Peter Parker, who has yet to be identified, and the other is Bobby Drake, who is known as Iceman, a member of the X-Men."
"Not that I believe any of this bull$&," Elektra said, "but what do you want me to do?"
With that, Kingpin revealed the assignment, "Hell will be raised on the grounds of the X-Men mansion this morning, so it shouldn't be too hard. Your assignment is to capture Bobby Drake as soon as possible and bring him to me."
"Just how much are you willing to pay me for this?" Elektra asked, shocked that the Kingpin would request an assignment like that.
"Ten times the amount of your last job," the Kingpin answered proudly. "I regard this as very important. "Bring him to me unconscious, but alive."
"Alright, as long as you've got the cash, I'll do it," Elektra agreed. She was about to end the conversation, but her skepticism made her ask the question: "By the way, if this Cyrek can magically order people around over the phone, why didn't you just force me to do this assignment rather than ask me to?"
"Because," the Kingpin began to answer, "As much as support Cyrek's cause, I don't completely rely on his methods to be used with things than can be done the old-fashioned ethical way."
"Alright then," Elektra said, satisfied with the answer. "I'll leave for Xavier's place in ten minutes."
"Thank you," the Kingpin said happily. "Now, I'd love to stay and chat, but I really must go now. It's time to ask Cyrek to put his little creation to good use. We still need to find out who Peter Parker is."
Ororo was halfway done dressing when the phone rang.
"I'm not gonna answer it," Rogue mumbled, who was still trying to sleep, despite her bed being right next to the phone.
Ororo sighed in frustration. The professor's message had definitely come as a surprise to her, and she was embarrassed to find herself unready to discuss this with the other X-Men; most of them having already been awake now. She didn't want any delays, but she picked up the phone anyway.
"Hello?" she answered. But then she felt a wave of static enter her mind and her will, for a moment, was frozen.
"What is the third name the Hulk revealed in his sleep?" a cold, icy voice asked.
Rogue, who was watching Ororo, heard the voice from far several feet away, but unlike Ororo, she was not affected by it. Rogue watched Ororo, who now had a dumb, mindless expression on her face, answered, "Geldoff."
"Who is he?" the voice over the phone asked.
"A student here at the Xavier Institute," Ororo unwillingly answered. "Just like Bobby Drake, he's a mutant."
"And do you know who Peter Parker is?"
Rogue jumped out of her bed and grabbed the phone away from Ororo.
"WE'RE NOT INTERESTED IN WHAT YOU HAVE TO SELL!" she yelled into it. With that, she ended the call.
Ororo suddenly regained her senses. She looked around, dumbfounded. "What just happened here?" she asked.
Rogue looked down at the phone she was holding and began trembling. She had to tell the professor what she had just witnessed.
"We have a problem," the Leader said, ending the transmission. "They caught us. Storm wasn't the only one in the room. Someone heard me talking to her and turned off the phone."
"But my lord, does that mean –"a follower began.
"Yes," the Leader confirmed. "It means that because Storm went through a similar experience, the X-Men will actually believe Hawkeye's story now that he's been caught. They'll put two and two together and realize that whoever's doing all this, they're operating over telephones."
The Kingpin, who was also in the room, chucked. "Not exactly operating in shadow anymore, Cyrek, are you?"
"For the last time," Hawkeye begged, "please stop asking me these questions! I don't know anything about it, I swear! I was just doing my job! I was asked to take out the Hulk, so I obeyed those orders. Then that night, I went a bar, some guy comes and hands me a phone. It rang, I answered it, and then I completely blacked out. I don't know what happened after that, and I certainly don't remember ever coming here!"
"He's telling the truth," Xavier assured the X-Men.
"So what does this mean, professor?" Rogue asked.
"It must have something to do with those phone calls," the professor finally decided. "I will alert every student in the school not to answer a single telephone call from an unrecognized number."
"Great idea," Logan said sarcastically, unconvinced that it's the best precaution to take. "Caller ID solves all our problems, don't it?"
"Excuse me," Hawkeye said, who was tied up in a chair and surrounded in a room full of dangerous battle-ready mutants, "But when comes the part where I'm released?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Barton," the professor apologized, "But until this situation is sorted it, the safest thing for us to do is to keep you here in the school. It would be highly dangerous for us to allow you to escape."
"You can't do this!" Hawkeye yelled angrily. "I haven't done anything! I shouldn't be here! I DEMAND THAT YOU LET ME GO!"
"Listen up punk," Logan said, jumping it front of Hawkeye and leaning in with a threatening face. "You an' Banner are stayin' here until we tell you otherwise. An' there ain't nothin' you can do to change that."
Hawkeye's eyes widened. "Banner is here?!"
"Nice going, Wolverine," Cyclops laughed. "You sure know how to keep these things quiet."
But Cyclops's laughter was overshadowed by Hawkeye, who was now laughing hysterically.
"What's so funny?" Storm asked, looking at Hawkeye like he was insane.
"You – you guys," Hawkeye managed to say while trying to catch his breath. "You honestly think that keeping both me and the Hulk hostage is good idea? You guys are screwed."
Suddenly, the loud sounds of jet landing came from outside.
"Be ready," Hawkeye warned, grinning. "Because the Ultimates don't forgive and forget so easily."
TO BE CONTINUED...