Avenging Justice 2:

Caught Between an Ultron and a Doomsday

Part XXXVII

Earth, Kansas/Missouri Border

Hawkman and Hawkgirl stared in horror at the devastation wreaked by this monster. Cars and bodies littered everywhere they could see. There was no rhyme or reason to it, just pure carnage. Almost as if whatever had done this had just attacked any living thing it saw. Below the bodies lay beaten and smashed almost into ooze. Even for these two warriors this was a horrific sight. They both tried not to look at the smaller bodies intermixed with the bigger ones.

"I see it!" Hawkman called and dove straight at the green glad monster.

Fury drove him, anger coursed through his veins, and righteousness sang on his Nth metal mace. It slammed into the creature over and over again, fueled by the emotions of what he'd just witnessed. The monster took the hits, and if he'd been in the right state of mind, Hawkman would have noticed he really wasn't doing any damage. Instead, it was the creature's hook punch to his abdomen that clued him in.

Hawkgirl was already diving in as Hawkman cried out in pain as he was rocketed backwards. Luckily his wings took the brunt, but he found it hard to breath, as if taking a breath was a herculean task. He could only watch as Hawkgirl attacked from above and behind, and received a back hand that nearly took her head off. Still, she got up, woozily and flew away.

The monster was tracking her, and ran over to the scene of devastation on the highway. Doomsday pulled one of the cars and threw it like a toddler throwing a block. Hawkgirl dodged, only to have the next clip her left wing and began her plummet to the ground. Despite this, she managed to throw her Nth metal mace, and it slammed into the monster's face.

With a roar of defiance, the creature leapt up with the mace in hand and came at her. It was only the baseball homerun slam of Hawkman that saved her. The hit sent Doomsday rolling on the ground, but not by much. The monster was back up and rushing towards Hawkman.

Seeing this, Hawkgirl realized two things. One, Hawkman had spent himself saving her, and two, she couldn't get there in time. The spirit was willing, but the body was battered. Whatever this thing was, it had hit her harder than most of the foes the Justice League or Avengers had ever come across. She just hoped that someone could stop this thing, and she knew there was one person who might.

Hawkgirl's vision stopped and when it started again, she was half a mile away. Beside her was a battered Hawkman, and a familiar red colored speedster. His trademark cocky grin plastered across his face, the Flash shrugged nonchalantly. If she didn't feel like passing out, she might have just hugged him.

"So, who's the Grey Meanie?" he asked. "Not to make light of it, but he kind of walloped you two."

"You impertinent….little…" was about as much as Hawkman could get out before he began hacking up blood.

All of sudden the Flash's mood darkened, "We need to get you to a hospital." Like his name, he was gone leaving Hawkgirl alone for a mere half second before he returned. "You too miss." Then she was gone too.

Back on the highway, Doomsday howled in rage, smashing the next nearby car to just below its base parts. It started to follow the red suited man, when lightning blasted all around it. Another howl, and it targeted where the lightning had come from. A man floating in the sky, throwing bolts of electricity at it.

"Now, be a good monster and settle down," Bolt said, trying to keep his voice even. Something about this thing put him on edge. "Good, are you hungry, thirsty? Are you just scared out of your mind by all these strange things and are lashing out?"

As if to answer him, Doomsday launched a Greyhound bus at him. He managed to destroy enough of the bus for it to pass safely. However, the leaping monster at him was a little harder to dodge. Bolt found his neck being squeezed, and the monster only had the barest of grips. Yet, it was enough that he couldn't draw breath, and his vision was going dark. Doing the only thing he knew, he let out a huge amount of electrical energy, and hoped it hit the creature.

Moments later when he opened his eyes, the creature still howling, did Bolt realized he had survived. Somehow, he'd created a cage of electricity, but the creature was breaking through it. More of its green coverings had torn away, and more of the creature could be seen. Grey skin, white bony protrusions and madness in its eyes, Bolt knew this one wasn't going to be reasoned with.

He also knew he wasn't in any shape right now to take it on. He was still having to focus on drawing in ragged breaths. Though he found his feet, he was not going to be standing another round with this thing. Even as he watched the creature break through, he was torn. This thing was nigh unstoppable, and he could see what it had done already.

Coming in high, and getting low enough to attack, he'd seen the devastation. Same as Hawkman and Hawkgirl, he'd been shocked by the depravity of the thing. His questioning had been sincere, hoping this was just a misunderstanding, but now facing down the creature, he knew it wasn't. No, this creature had hate in its eyes, as if everything living thing was an affront to it.

Without thinking, he pulled electricity around him and launched several bolts of lightning at the thing. They hit, his aim was true, and the thing howled in what he hoped was pain. However, with barely a bound it cleared the distance between them, and only by the barest of miracles did he move out of the way. Doomsday created a crater where Bolt had been, then picked up a boulder and threw it at the electric Mutant.

The edge of the boulder hit him, and he felt his shoulder dislocate. Even worse, the momentum sent him spinning and he fell on the shoulder. Stars flooded his vision and blackness surrounded him. He fought back against it, knowing if he passed out, he was dead. Thanks to this, he had the urge to vomit, another indication of the injury. His body was reacting to the trauma, handling the pain by converting it into something else. In this case he managed to convert it into more energy, and he blasted Doomsday as the monster came crashing down on him.

The monster was thrown back, but Bolt was in even worse shape than before. His left arm hung uselessly, and every step was agony. He had to get away, and the monster wasn't even showing signs of being in a fight. No, it got up, just as angry, just as ready to make him a liquefied puddle of skin, bones and other bodily materials.

"Get out of there Bolt," came the voice of Cisco, one of the people at Star Labs, that assisted the Flash. "Hawkman and Hawkgirl are safe, get out of there and we'll get you patched up."

Exerting more bravado than he was feeling, Bolt looked at Doomsday, "I'll be seeing you again."

Before the monster could even scream, he was gone, through the nearby electrical lines. Moving at the speed of light through them, and hoping his mind wasn't too clouded by the pain, he went. As reality returned, Bolt found himself at Star Labs, and he collapsed at being in a safe area. Around him, worried Star Labs employees immediately got him onto a medical bed. He didn't notice, as the only thing he knew were volent dreams of the creature continuing its rampage.

Earth, S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier

"Director, its worse than what we expected," reported in one of the agents in the field. "The creature decimated a whole highway, the casualties are still being tallied, but it's bad, sir."

Nick Fury stared hard with his one good eye, "We're on the way, the Avengers should be arriving ahead of us."

"I'm not sure that will be quick enough, sir," the agent came back. "We're tracking this thing and it seems to be drawn to Metropolis. Two of the Justice League have been taken down by this thing. These were warriors armed with alien tech and it used them as a chew toy."

Fury paused, thought for a moment, he knew where this was going, "Do you have a suggestion then?"

"Yes, sir. We need something tough, strong and mean," the agent quickly reported back. "I'd suggest the Hulk or Thor, Superman is the obvious choice."

Nick knew this was going to be a hard sale. After the battle in Sokovia, Dr. Banner was back and looked haunted. It wasn't so much that he'd transformed again, but he'd said it was harder to return. Almost like the Hulk was gaining leverage, and was striving to stay out longer. S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists had hypothesized that the longer there was a split, the more the Hulk personality would develop. In short, if he kept transforming, Dr. Banner might find himself stuck as the Hulk.

He thought about his options. Hulk was going to be a need to only, so that left Thor and this new Vision. Tony probably could use the Hulkbuster, if it was primed again. He was loath to send Jennifer Walters in, she was still getting a handle on her change to a jade giantess. The other two pick ups, Seth and Lara, had been invaluable in Sokovia. However, he wasn't sure if they were up to this type of challenge yet.

Fury clicked the comm to the Avengers' Quinjet, "Stark, are you…"

"No worries, I'll take a quick recon and show this visitor some manners," Tony came back, before Nick could even finish his sentence.

Holding his tongue, because the man was good, "Only engage if necessary, this thing's already taken out two of the Justice League."

"Bird guy and Bird girl, I'd hardly call them heavy hitters," Tony snarked. "They're more like clean up batters. But don't worry Dad, I'll be careful."

Fury rubbed his temple, and resisted the urge to give Start a dressing down. The man was brilliant, anyone who built a mechanical suit in captivity ranked up there. It was that he knew he was brilliant. This led to certain arrogance and layers upon layers of charisma to hide under. However, there was a good man in there, underneath all the layers of "extra." A good man who made it his mission to correct his company's mistake. One that took a nuke through an alien wormhole, all to save millions of people that he really didn't know. It would be very humbling, if the man wasn't so damn irritating.

He called out to Maria Hill, "Hill, can you bring our guests up here, I need to speak with them."

"You think you're going to need them in what is coming?" she asked, not so much to challenge him, but to understand.

He straightened his back, he needed to present the right image, "We might need all the pieces we can get on the board. Any word on Captain Danvers?"

"Still hasn't woken up, but the doctors are confident that she'll make a recovery," Hill reported, adding a little more gentleness into her voice. "I know she's important to you."

Fury turned with his good eye facing her, "She's a friend. We don't get too many of those in a lifetime. She's like you, in that I can trust her."

In the Avenger's Quinjet, Hawkeye and Black Widow were pushing the engines further, trying to get back to this newest threat. Vision watched Captain America, learning more about the man and how he reacted. He was calm, but the eye movements, hand clenching and unclenching, he was worried. He had said something about innocents in danger, and had told the two up front to push the Quinjet.

"Worry not, we shall defeat this troll," Thor said confidently. "There will be grand odes to our glory, Captain!"

Captain America nodded, but in the pit of his stomach, he felt something grow. With all his abilities, he felt powerless, being this far as something foul unfolded. He went back to the screen near the cockpit, watching the creature attack Hawkman and Hawkgirl. It moved fast, it was strong, and it had no form. This thing fought as if it were rage itself, every blow meant to obliterate whatever it attacked.

"Natasha, see if the League and S.H.I.E.L.D. can compare notes, find a weakness on this thing," Steve Rogers said. "Let's hope they can find something, soon."