Let's get back to Storm Chasers.
Infinity Chapter XII
Storm Chasers Part II
Central City Police Department, 2:33 EDT
Barry backed his way into the precinct with four bulging bags from Big Belly Burger in hand, a sheepish smile on his face as many of the assembled officers turned and gave him questioning looks.
He walked quickly towards the stair leading up to his office, getting halfway up when a voice stopped him.
"Barry."
He turned to spot Joe making his way up the stairs towards him with a tense look in his eyes.
"Hey Joe, I know I'm late," Barry stated, going to scratch his head and almost spilling the bags of food across the steps before catching himself.
"But I've just been so hungry lately, and they had a bunch of new stuff on the menu so I decided to grab two of everything just to try it." he rambled on, Joe reaching him with an exasperated sigh, "Here's your food by the way."
He held out the smallest bag towards Joe who took it and began to talk only for Barry to interrupt him once more.
"Look if Singh is upset, I promise this wasn't me slipping back into my old habits." he dug a burger out one of the bags and after pulling a bit of the wrapper away with his teeth began eating.
He continued walking up the steps to his office, Joe tailing him.
"Barry, I need to tell you something," Joe said earnestly.
"Aright, just wait till I put this stuff on my desk," Barry muttered around a mouthful of food, as he finished the first burger in three bites then dug out another.
He continued forward, unconsciously shrugging away from the hand Joe placed on his shoulder, turning around as he did so.
"Come on Joe, just let me set this stuff down then we can talk. It can't be that urgent can it?" he placed the burger into his mouth and whirled around freezing at the sight of several strangers staring back at him.
A friendly, older balding man was standing alongside a curly-haired man in worn clothes next to his whiteboard, the map thankfully was drawn down over it.
A harsh faced woman was standing next to his computer, an eyebrow rising slowly.
A handsome man with intense eyes and a rather visible gun on his hip was shooting him a sardonic smirk from beside his filing cabinets.
"Barry Allen I presume?" the older man asked with a genuine smile.
Barry quickly placed the bags down atop an empty shelf, pulled the burger from his mouth, and frantically swallowed the enormous bite he'd taken before answering.
"Uh, yeah, yeah that's me." Barry stammered, "I'm sorry but who are you?"
"My name is Agent Phil Coulson," the older man said, before gesturing to his companions, "This is Agent May and Agent Ward. We're-"
"SHIELD agents." Barry interrupted, pointing with the burger at the curly-haired man, "You're Bruce Banner."
"What is with people recognizing me in this city?" Banner muttered more to himself than the room, eliciting a soft smirk from Coulson.
"What can I help you guys with?" Barry asked, his eyes flicking to May and Ward before returning to Coulson.
"We are investigating the Incident at Star Labs." Coulson offered helpfully, "We were informed that you were one of the individuals that were directly affected by the particle accelerator explosion. Getting struck by lightning and making a full recovery, that's no small feat."
"I mean being laid up in a coma for several months isn't really walking away." Barry remarked, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, "I got lucky, the people at Star Labs were a big help."
"We heard they had a hand in your recovery, any reason behind that?" May asked.
"Guilt maybe." Barry offered, "I don't know if they did anything special, I just remember waking up in their lab."
"Interesting," Coulson remarked.
"Have you noticed any changes, anything out of the ordinary since waking up from your coma?" Banner asked, taking a step forward, "Believe me, an event like that, it changes people. Even if they don't realize it at first."
Barry turned, looking Banner head-on, remembering the video that came out of the Battle of New York, and even before that. This small, admittedly meek-looking man had one hell of an alter-ego.
"I've just been hungrier than normal." Barry lied, the same lie he'd handed out to every person in his life, so giving it to a group of complete strangers and one admittedly admirable hero didn't even bring out a flinch of guilt.
"What about around the city?" Coulson asked, offering the question to the silent Joe as well, "Any odd occurrences or supposed crank calls being reported to your department?"
"Other than people claiming to spot Bigfoot in the forest and Chitauri hiding in the sewers not much else in that department as of late," Joe admitted flatly, earning a chuckle from Ward.
"Something that we've been dealing with for a while is Centipede," Barry stated, rushing towards his computer and bringing up several files, "Gangers getting access to some really weird tech, and enhancements, it's been more than a handful for the police to take care of."
"Centipede is already on SHIELD's radar and while we're in the city we will do our part in helping your department with that particular issue," May stated.
"Our first order of business, however, is the aftermath of the Star Labs Incident." Coulson stated, "After the Dome's emergence in the Bronx, we are not taking chances when it comes to mutagenic compounds being exposed to the public."
"Mutagenic compounds?" Joe asked, confused.
"Our team has found similarities between energies in the Dome and the dark matter that was dispersed when the particle accelerator went up." Ward stated flatly, "Your department should be on the lookout just in case. Better to be prepared."
"SHIELD thinks that what happened at Star Labs was an attempt at creating another Dome?" Barry asked, turning away from his computer and giving the assembled agents a piercing look.
"We're not sure." Coulson answered, seemingly honestly, "But to ere on the side of caution is always the better option.
"We will be continuing our investigation, thank you for your time," Coulson stated, putting his hand out for Barry to shake, "If anything catches your radar don't be afraid to get in contact with us, some of us will be at Star Labs for the entirety of our mission."
"O-of course," Barry said, shaking Coulson's hand, a snap of electricity firing between them. Barry flinched slightly, Coulson just looking mildly surprised.
"Sorry, static electricity, and I go hand and hand anymore," Barry said with a sheepish laugh.
"No worries," Coulson stated, turning away and walking to Joe, "We'll be in touch if we find anything your precinct should be aware of."
"Thank you," Joe stated, shaking Coulson's hand as well.
The rest of the Agents filed out of the room after Coulson as he departed, leaving Banner and Barry alone in the room.
"So, struck by a dark matter-infused lightning bolt and you got nothing out of it?" Banner asked with a nervous smile.
"Yep." Barry lied, chuckling slightly.
"Huh, you really are lucky then." the other man stated as he turned to leave, "Nice meeting you Barry."
"You too Dr. Banner," Barry stated, the other man gave a lazy wave and then finally followed after the SHIELD agents. Once Barry was certain all eyes were off him, he let a rush of air escape his body as he nearly bent over from the stress of having to lie to several government agents and the Hulk.
"So what were you doing down here Dr. Snow," Pym asked, giving her a cautious look.
"Nothing illegal I assure you," she stated emphatically, "All of the animals we had here were former test subjects. Dr. Wells wanted to care for them the best way he knew how and discover if any had been done irreparable harm or if their tests would make them a danger to others if they were given over to a kennel or wild-life sanctuary."
"Admirable." Hank stated with a genuine smile, "What happened after the particle accelerator explosion."
Caitlin's face shifted into deep and honest distress, "We came down here as quickly as we could following the explosion. Many of the animals were injured, others were missing, they might have passed in the blast or escaped, others didn't make it despite our best efforts…"
Hank saw tears brimming in her eyes, reaching forward and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I did mean to cause you distress. I'm sorry."
She smiled up at him, wiping the tears from her eyes, "Thank you. It's just...hard, they suffered so much, and then we couldn't even help them in the end."
She hugged herself as she looked around the room, "Those that we could take care of we sent to shelters that could better care for them."
"Good, I'm sure they are happier for it," Hank stated, taking one final look back towards the false-cabinet, "Let's go, no reason to stay somewhere that drags out so many bad memories."
Dr. Snow nodded thankfully and headed out the door with Hank and his new companion right behind her. They passed the door to the particle accelerator once more and Hank froze as his helmet picked up the energy signals coming from within.
"Dr. Pym?" Caitlin asked, noticing his sudden halt.
"Has anyone been within the accelerator's pipeline since the explosion?" Pym asked, continuing to stare at the door, listening to the signal intently.
"No, the energy readings show that while the energy within is contained it is still plateauing far beyond safe levels. Dr. Wells states that if the readings are correct, anyone to enter would be dead in under a minute," she remarked.
"Unfortunate," Pym muttered, giving the door one last look, before following Dr. Snow back to the main levels of the lab.
Later that night he and Bruce were sharing a small hotel room, while the Agents consolidated their findings for the day.
"How did your interview with Mr. Allen go?" Hank asked, fiddling with his helmet as Bruce typed away at a relatively beat-up laptop.
"He seemed nervous, appreciative of Star Labs for helping him, claiming the only event since his change is increased hunger." Banner stated, "Coulson and the others dug around his office before he showed up."
"What did they find?" Hank asked.
"A white-board covered in newspaper clippings, images, police statements, and the like, all seemingly connected to the murder of his mother when he was a child," Bruce stated, looking up from his laptop, "He is convinced of his father's innocence."
Hank was quiet for a moment, "Was that all?"
"No, it appears he's been investigating Centipede, they've been selling to people within the city," Bruce stated.
"Well, there's an unexpected connection," Hank stated, looking up from his work finally.
"What do you mean?" Bruce asked.
"While I was investigating the Star Labs building I discovered an underground veterinarian clinic of sorts, all of the animals were missing, except this little one." Hank began to explain, drawing the oversized ant from a pouch on his side. It turned around in his hands to look at Bruce, who stared at it flatly.
"How does an ant of unusual size tie to Centipede?" Bruce asked flatly, looking up at Hank who smiled slightly.
"I'm getting to that." Hank stated, "This slightly mutated fellow is what brought me down there in the first place, but during my investigations, I discovered a false wall, with a Centipede Device and a small journal inside."
"Did you take them?" Bruce asked.
"Dr. Snow arrived before I could shrink the device and store it, but I did manage to secret the journal away," Hank stated.
"So someone at Star Labs was part of the cabal or the very least experimenting with their technology." Bruce stated, "Snow?"
"Unlikely, she doesn't seem the type." Hank said, "She stated that she and Dr. Wells were working on rehabilitating animals used for scientific experimentation, and from my previous interactions with the man he doesn't seem the type to do such a thing either. That being said, there could have been other members on staff that dealt with the animals or at least worked in that lab that we do not know about at this moment in time."
"What happened to the animals?" Bruce asked, "If the lab was underground it would have been nearer to the particle accelerator."
"Deceased, missing, or moved to an animal sanctuary for better care." Hank informed, "Dr. Snow seemed very broken up about the entire situation."
"Likelihood of possible mutation?" Bruce asked, nodding at the ant that had now crawled up Pym's arm.
"Uncertain, when I inform Coulson of my findings I will ask him to send someone from the Zoo to keep watch on the situation," Hank stated.
"So what about the journal?" Bruce asked, "Anything in there give us a clue to what we are up against?"
"That's the troubling part," Hank stated, drawing the journal out of his pockets, "I can't read it nor can Tony's decryption software."
"Is it a code?" Bruce asked, leaning forward as Hank opened the journal.
"No, it appears to be a language I have never seen before," Hank stated, handing the book over to the other scientist.
The writing was a series of glyphs and runes that didn't even appear to have any congruent connection to the current alphabet.
"It looks vaguely Sumerian." Bruce stated, peering at it intensely, "But there are distinct differences."
He handed the journal back to Hank who shook his head and steepled his fingers before his face as he sat forward.
"There is something happening here that we have barely scratched the surface of, but I'm starting to think that the timing of the incident and the Dome might actually have been a perfectly timed coincidence," Hank stated.
"What makes you think that?" Bruce asked.
"A hunch," Pym stated, going back to tinkering with his helmet, "One that I will be testing tomorrow."
"Will it test the already fraying hold I've got on my emotions?" Bruce asked as he turned back to his laptop.
"Maybe," he replied unhelpfully with a small smile.
"Perfect." Bruce deadpanned.
Bruce had slept rather peacefully, for about three hours. He'd spent most of the night looking into the murder of Nora Allen, the pasts of everyone involved with the Star Labs incident and the trial of Henry Allen, seeking for any information that could help with the mission he was on. He spotted a strange streak of light out his window, followed by a crack of thunder that shook the building hard enough to make the lights flicker and had decided that was the time to call it a night.
Now he was dead tired, holding a cup of black coffee in his hands and listening to Fitzsimmons banter off each other and Coulson. May and Ward had left earlier than everyone else to scout about town in search of anything odd or clue towards Centipede's activities. Hank was still tinkering with his helmet and mumbling to his new oversized ant friend, which had elicited a hilarious scream from Fitz when it had emerged from within his stack of pancakes.
"I'm not scared of insects." Fitz stated for what must have been the tenth time, "Let alone ants. You'd scream too if something like that had come out of your food."
"I don't know Fitz you scare pretty easily." Simmons teased, looking over at Bruce. She stared at him thoughtfully, unconsciously moving a bit of hair out of her eyes.
Bruce caught her stare, which made her look away a bit too rapidly, "What?"
"Nothing, it's just, I'm remembering the first time we met you, Dr. Banner. That's all," she muttered quickly, nodding over to Fitz.
He smiled slightly, as the memory came strutting back into his mind.
He'd known who they were the second they had entered the diner. After all, they had invited him here, a small town in Alaska and they shivered in the early morning cold as they spotted him and quickly made their way over.
They'd ordered coffee and sat in awkward silence, staring at him for several moments. He knew he looked ragged, several worn clothes, he hadn't shaved in months, his hair falling to his shoulders, his natural curls a knotted mess.
"Sir we're-" the man had started, speaking in a pleasant Scottish accent.
"Leopold Fitz." he'd interrupted, "Rising star of SHIELD's Engineering program."
He'd then turned to the woman, "Jemma Simmons, genius biochemist, I read your doctorate on the Effects of Terrigen on Flora and Fauna, very well written."
She'd blushed slightly, "T-thank you."
"Fitzsimmons." he'd continued, smiling and looking down into his coffee, "Members of Agent Coulson's Infamous Response Team."
"Infamous?" Fitz had asked perturbed.
"I'm sorry Dr. Banner, how do you know all this?" Simmons had questioned.
"Being on the run doesn't mean you stop paying attention to modern events." he'd stated, "After all not when the people are praised by Tony Stark...and are likely going to end up hunting you down one day."
The room had gone eerily quiet at that, as he'd stared at them both, "Why are you here?"
"Director Fury requires your help, sir," Fitz stated.
"What if I say no?" Banner had asked, his hands clenching his coffee cup tightly.
"We were told that isn't an option, sir." Fitz had stated nervously.
"What if the Big Guy says no?" Banner had asked quietly, "Will you take that no for an answer?"
"You've been more than a year without an incident Dr. Banner," Simmons had stated, "And we are not here to push you, we simply need you to understand that we are in desperate need of your help. I don't think you want this situation to go poorly, and nor do we."
"Well, I don't always get what I want." Banner had stated softly, staring into his coffee cup.
"Doctor we are facing a potential global catastrophe." Leo had stated, gaining a bit of his cowed fire back.
"Oh, well those I actively try and avoid." Bruce had remarked, with a dark chuckle.
"This is the Tesseract." Simmons had explained, pushing a burner phone with an image of a vibrantly glowing blue cube towards him, "It had the potential energy to wipe out the planet."
He'd pulled out a worn pair of glasses and looked closer at the image, "What does Fury want me to do with it? Swallow it?"
"He wants you to find it." Fitz had said, "It's been taken. It emits a gamma signature that is too weak for us to trace. There's no one that knows gamma radiation like you do. If there was, you can bet, we'd be bothering them instead."
"So Fury isn't after the monster?" Bruce asked, sucking in air between his teeth and pulling off his glasses.
"Not that he's told us." they'd answered in unison.
"You can talk to him, Doctor." Simmons had stated, sitting forward, "He needs you on this."
"He needs me in a cage." Bruce had muttered, looking up at them both.
"No one is going to put you-" Simmons began, only for Bruce to interrupt her with a feral scream as he pounded on the table.
"Stop lying to me!"
She'd blanched considerable and reached briefly for the overly high-tech watch he'd spotted the moment she'd sat down across from him.
Fitz had jumped out of his seat and looked to be on the borderline of fainting.
All around he heard the drawing of weapons, as every other patron in the diner turned a gun on him, including the chef, who he had never seen before today.
He'd sat back immediately with a bit of a bashful smile on his face, "I'm sorry that was mean. I just wanted to see what you'd do. What all of you would do."
He turned to face the other patrons, all revealed to be nervous SHIELD Agents and smiled, "So why don't we do this the easy way, and you but those down and the Big Guy doesn't get to say hello. Now, can the person in charge of this little get together, come out and say hi?"
"Hello." a calm voice had stated, as a severe-looking woman of Asian descent with shoulder-length black hair emerged from the back of the diner and stared him down, "Melinda May."
"Dr. Bruce Banner." he'd returned, turning back to the still shell-shocked Fitzsimmons.
"I really am sorry, you both seem like really nice people." he'd comforted, "Nice enough, that even the Big Guy would probably like you. I just can't stand people trying to trick me."
Bruce pulled himself out of his thoughts and downed his coffee in one go as the others got up to leave, Simmons now lightly teasing Fitz about their prior interaction with him.
"Come on Fitz it's a little funny." she mused, looking back at Bruce.
"Not really." he said sourly, "Sure we're friendly now, but my entire life flashed before my eyes that morning. It wasn't all that exciting."
Coulson chuckled softly while Bruce had the conscious to shoot them both an apologetic grin when a sound not unlike the whistle of a train cut across their conversation.
Looking up Bruce felt a bang of terror enter his soul as an immense tornado emerged out of the blue and began bearing down on them. A bus frantically tried to move ahead of it careening towards them, only for it to get scooped up and hurled towards them at break-neck speeds.
There was a flash of lightning that wiped past him and the others, that then leaped off a nearby building and clambered inside the soaring bus. Before his very eyes, the patrons were being deposited around them, confused and shell shocked. As the bus driver was deposited next to them, the strange blurred figure turned to face the soaring bus only for a blast of toxic yellow lightning to crack free of the tornado and send them careening backward.
Fear turned to anger as the bus continued towards him, his compatriots, and the innocent people around them.
He urged the change and his mind became hazy as the bus continued towards him.
Coulson had grabbed two of the citizens, shielding them with his body, when he hurt a deep grunt, followed by the sound of contorting metal.
Turning around he saw the Hulk towering above the small crowd, the bus held in the air which he then set down less than gently, the front caved into an almost comical impression of the Hulk's face.
The giant turned to look down at him and the crowd, zeroing in on Fitzsimmons.
"You okay?" he asked, his voice deep, almost childish in inflection but deeply caring. Even still Coulson could hear the anger simmering behind each word.
"Yes," Simmons said, smiling up at him, while Fitz simply nodded.
"Go to Star Labs, get answers!" the giant ordered, turning back on the eerily still tornado.
"Hulk smash weird tornado!" he then roared, charging away from the group and leaping at the immobile windstorm.
Coulson reached into his pockets, pulling out a key fob and pressed the small blue button along the bottom while Fitzsimmons and Ant-Man ushered the civilians to safety.
The lightning-wreathed figure appeared once more, pausing briefly as it spotted the Hulk snarling as bolts of lightning fired clean through his body with little effect other than enraging the Green Giant further. It looked at Coulson, and he could briefly make out a red suit beneath the vibrations and crackling golden lightning.
The figure gave him a mock salute and then charged after Hulk, leaping off his back and disappearing into the tornado.
A low purr dragged Coulson's attention away from the roaring storm and giant as Lola, his prized car emerged around the corner. It screeched to a halt before him, the doors opening on all sides, motor purring expectantly.
"Get in," he ordered, Ant-Man, shrinking down and leaping over the hood to emerge full-sized in the passenger seat. Fitzsimmons scrambled into the back.
Pressing his foot to the pedal Lola took off immediately, weaving through the streets as he searched for the best path to Star Labs.
"So much for nothing out of the ordinary happening here." Fitz cried from the back.
"Ignoring the oddly controlled nature of the whirlwind, tornados are incredibly uncommon in this part of the country." Hank stated, pulling his helmet and tinkering with it once again, "But I think I know the reason for that."
"Simmons, contact May and Ward tell them two 084's are in the field, and we've got a Code Green." Coulson ordered, shooting Ant-Man a side-eye, "Go on Doctor."
"Wells and Dr. Snow told me that the energy levels in the particle accelerator's pipeline were still on lethal levels, but the energy signatures I was picking off seemed off." the Doctor explained, as they finished working on their helmet and placed it back on their head.
"Off how?" Coulson asked, as he frantically turned the wheel to avoid a tossed telephone pole that speared into the ground next to them as the tornado roared into their path. The Hulk was thrown free of the conflux and landed near the pole.
With a roar of utter rage, he ripped the pole free of the ground and pitched it back at the tornado-like a javelin before leaping after it disappearing from Coulson's view as he whipped around a corner.
"Off as in, I believe the signal I am getting is faked," Hank stated as Star Labs appeared in the distance, "A sabotage that is keeping people out for whatever reason."
As Lola screeched into the parking lot, Hank leaped into the air and shrunk as a large winged ant seemingly pelted from out of nowhere and caught him. Coulson pulled the car to a halt and raced after him, Fitzsimmons a step behind.
Their bombastic entry drew the attention of Wells and Caitlin, while Coulson could hear Cisco frantically shouting at someone on what sounded like a police radio.
"What's happening?" Wells demanded.
"A massive tornado just emerged on Main Street." Coulson stated, looking about for Pym, "It seemed to be under someone or something's control, Banner engaged."
Caitlin visibly paled and clutched at her heart while Wells muttered several rather colorful words under his breath.
"We've got other problems on our hands, however, how do we get down to the particle accelerator?"
"There's an elevator over this way, why?" Wells asked as he began rolling backward.
"Questions later, we need to get down there now." he then turned to Fitzsimmons and tossed the later the keys, "Get to the Bus and monitor the situation as you are able, make sure Ward and Melinda get suited up with our heavier ICERs. If Dr. Pym's plan doesn't work, and this turns out to be a Meta or an Enhanced they're going to need to be prepared."
Wells and Caitlin stared at him in confusion, as the others rushed away. Coulson passed the open door to the "Cortex" of Star Labs and say several screens already tracking the storm or so it appeared. Cisco was frantically switching between screens and talking with someone on the other end of a headset, but he continued onward.
Piling into the elevator with Dr. Wells and Snow, they emerged on the bottom level to find Hank frantically tapping away at a screen next to the heavy, circular metallic door that led into the accelerator's pipeline.
"Dr. Pym, what do you think you are doing?!" Wells demanded, rolling forward.
"Don't come any closer, just in case," Hank ordered, putting a hand up in a halt signal.
"In case of what?" Coulson asked warily, as warning light began to shimmer around them.
"In case I'm wrong." Pym stated, "The energy signatures coming out of the pipeline appear to be fake. They mimic real energy patterns believably enough, however they repeat far too regularly to be normal, the same peaks, the same dips."
"Are you sure." Dr. Snow asked, panic in her eyes as Coulson stepped before her and Dr. Wells.
"Not entirely." Pym stated, pausing in his typing, "But the best way to find a solution is through taking a calculated risk."
He pressed the final key and the releases came off the door, and it began to rise the blue light emerging from beneath the door.
And scene! Next time, the Flash and the Hulk side by side! Hank discovers what was behind the odd signals from within the Pipeline! And maybe a bit more!
Hope you enjoyed it so far, Storm Chasers will likely end next chapter or the one after that, but there will not be a chapter next week. I'm taking a bit of a break, I'll be back with a new chapter for Infinity and Beacon's Watch the week after. This has been VerBeeker, signing off!