So, Pym made a risky move and Banner went to punch a storm, let's see how that turns out shall we?
Infinity XIII
Storm Chasers Part III
"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.
Coulson raised his gun slowly as the light suddenly vanished, the door opening wide to reveal a vacant machine-lined tunnel.
"It-it's empty!" Dr. Snow cried incredulously turning to look at Dr. Wells, who narrowed his arrows pensively.
"Well, I wouldn't say that." Dr. Pym remarked as he stepped forward, leaning in to stare down both sides of the accelerator, "Empty of a dangerous build-up of mutagenic energy surely, but not empty."
"What do you mean?" Coulson asked, moving forward to stand next to the scientist.
"There was another reason I believed the reading was faked." Pym informed, "Now we just need to find the source of that reason."
He suddenly tipped forward, falling over the edge only to suddenly grow in size, so that he was head level with the doorway as his feet struck metal.
He held up a hand for Coulson to stand on, "Shall we Agent?"
Coulson turned back to Fitzsimmons as a crack of thunder pealed through the sky so powerful they still felt the resonation this far underground.
"Get upstairs, get a hold of May and Ward, see if there is any way we can contain whatever is going on out there."
"On it boss," Fitz stated, Simmons, nodding her agreement as they both turned on a heel with Dr. Snow a step behind them. Wells sat there a few seconds longer, his eyes narrowed in a way that set Coulson on edge for a reason he couldn't quite place.
"Please let me know if you find anything." Well stated finally, "I do not like the thought that someone led me around by my nose for several months."
"Of course," Pym stated, as he turned lower Coulson to the ground then shrinking down.
The tunnel has a track running that allowed them to walk without worry, but despite the blue lights that shown from the walls every twenty feet it was not very bright.
"What are you expecting to find down here Doctor?" Coulson asked, as he pulled out a flashlight and shown it around the structure.
"Firstly, whatever was sending Wells and his team the false-positive, secondly if there are any remaining energy signatures or residue leftover from the Incident itself and thirdly whatever did that I suppose." the scientist rattled off, pointing ahead.
Coulson turned and spotted several chunks of the scaffolding that seemed to have been shorn away, along with several pieces of wall paneling.
"Not structural damage from the blast I take it?" Coulson asked as they moved forward.
In truth, much of the tunnel was covered in burn marks, shattered shards of glass, and shorn metal covering the floor. The damage that Pym had pointed out looked fresher, and in a way more purposeful than if it had been caused by an unexpected explosion, at least from what Coulson could tell.
"I don't believe so no," Hank remarked, moving closer and pulling out a small scanner from his belt.
"The metal appears to have been torn or perhaps cut away." Hank continued, as he carefully ran his hand over one of the shorn wall panels, "As if by hand, or…"
He went quiet for a moment as his scanner pinged.
"By hand, Doctor?" Coulson interjected, "Are you telling me someone's been down here all this time.
"Well considering much of this metal shows signs of organic DNA, likely saliva, along the shorn edges has me hoping it is not a someone Agent," Hank stated, as the antenna on the sides of his helmet extended.
"Where are you?" he muttered, moving forward slowly, his head now moving on an odd swivel.
"Dr. Pym, what aren't you telling me?" Coulson asked, moving after him.
"A great number of things I imagine." the Doctor responded a little too honestly, "In fact, that reminds me, slipped my mind earlier, here."
Hank reached into one of the pouches on his back from which he drew a small journal.
"What's this?" Coulson asked as he took it.
"I'm not sure honestly, though it likely contains information that could answer quite a few questions I'm beginning to have surrounding the Star Labs Incident, Centipede's involvement…"
"Star Labs is dealing with Centipede?" Coulson interrupted, giving Hank a critical look.
"Did, did I not tell you that?" Pym returned, staring at Coulson flatly.
"No," he stated, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Right, well it appears as though Wells and Snow were aiding animals that had afflicted with government and commercial testing. They had a lab at the end of the hall, all of the cages are now empty, though considering their proximity to the accelerator explosion it is more than likely at least some will begin to show signs of mutation so the Zoo has to be informed."
"Doctor, what is the point." Coulson injected once more as Pym began to ramble. He had worked with the Doctor before and while he was a pacifistic and kind man that had aided SHIELD in a number of incidents over the years it had always been clear that the man wasn't all there. Occasionally, such was the case at the moment, he needed a bit of rerailing.
"The point, well there's two." Pym stated, "Firstly, there is a Centipede device hidden in the lab as we speak, I tried to remove it but was found by Dr. Snow."
"She's with Centipede?" Coulson demanded.
"Highly doubtful, but someone that is working here or once did was." Pym continued.
"And you believe the identity of whoever that is, is in here?" Coulson queried, holding up the journal.
"Without a doubt, I discovered it alongside the Centipede device, however, I have no way to read it." the doctor said, as he suddenly turned and stared down the tunnel.
"Why not?" Coulson asked.
"It is not written in a language I even remotely recognize, Tony's translation software was stumped as well." Hank stated, "I am sorry that I neglected to inform you of this information before this Coulson, but I feel as though my second point is now moot."
"What do you mean?" Coulson said, quirking an eyebrow.
The doctor ignored him, and as Coulson got closer he could see that behind the mask Pym had his eyes closed shut.
"There you are," he muttered.
"There who is Doctor?" Coulson demanded.
"The reason for my hunch," Hank stated rather unhelpfully.
Coulson opened his mouth to demand a better explanation when a strange, low chittering sound drew his attention.
Coulson whirled as around the corner of the tunnel, three elephant-sized ants came crawling around the corner. Their antenna crackled with blue-electricity, the backs of their carapaces glowing from within with roiling yellow-and-blue energy. Two were crawling along the walls, while the largest was slowly making its way across the floor antenna twitching rapidly.
"Doctor…" Coulson began, as the largest suddenly reared, chopping its mandibles together and charged.
Barry was kind of marveling at the situation he was in right now.
He knew he should have been more worried than he felt, but honestly, this felt like something out of his wildest dreams.
He was fighting alongside an Avenger to take down a weather-chucking supervillain.
Lives were at stake, including his own and as he dodged yet another blast of ugly neon yellow lightning he couldn't help but crack a smile.
He quickly darted through Jitters coffee shop, carrying any remaining patrons and workers down into the basement as the snarling wind shattered the windows and sucked the glass into its grasp.
There was a loud cracking sound and Barry darted aside as the Hulk slammed backward through the building, caving in the store-front with the remains of a Mercedes in his hands.
"This is awesome," he muttered to himself as he ducked under a thrown mail-box which shattered against the Hulk's seemingly impervious hide who roared in frustration.
Suspended above them in the eye of the tornado was a ragged-looking man with unwashed blonde hair that whipped and whirled in the cascading wind. He was dressed in worn clothing, his sallow face was unshaven, and yet he carried his head high as if his chosen opponents were utterly beneath him. His body was wreathed in sickly yellow lightning, and his eyes and several veins along his neck and head glowed from within with an orangish-yellow light.
Barry whirled behind a wall as a manhole cover rocketed towards him, taking a chunk out of the wall and shattering a hydrant in a burst of metal shrapnel and water.
The Hulk grunted as another bolt of lightning fried across his body but seemed largely unaffected as he decided to fire back his own projectile. Hefting the remains of the car in his hands, he sent it flying like a fastball.
Their attacker barely managed to parry the attack with a blast of wind, sending the car spearing into the concrete.
Barry darted forward, electricity filling his peripheral as he picked off-speed and leaped racing up the side of an apartment building, before kicking off hitting a building on the other side, and then jumped again, landing a spinning kick against the weather manipulator's face with a satisfying cracking sound.
The tornado died slightly as the man reeled from the blow, Barry tumbling to his feet next to Hulk who gave him a quick and honestly menacing grin.
The man pulled his hand away from his face, revealing a broken bleeding nose, though the blood glowed the same dull shade as the light within his eyes.
"You dare to hit me?" the man asked, his voice somehow carrying above the roaring wind.
"Hulk do more than hit you!" the Green Giant roared, cracking the pavement as he surged into the air.
"No one lays a hand on me!" the man roared, the winds intensifying tenfold, a sudden gale deflecting Hulk back to the ground but not doing him any harm.
"Get down here!" the Hulk roared, preparing to leap again when another gale forced all of the water from the fire hydrant to be redirected right towards him. Then man then followed that move up with a bolt of lightning that fired free of his hand and dug through the ground to strike the Hulk's feet and fire upward through his body and into the sky.
There was a smell of burning hair and flesh, and a snapping boom as the Hulk was suddenly sent rocketing backward from the force of the blast sent against him. He disappeared through the grey wall of the tornado with a furious roar that was followed by the sound of metal and then brick shattering upon him impacting with something.
"Cisco!" Barry cried over the roaring winds, "This is getting out of hand, I cleared out most of the people on this block, but this guy is only getting stronger. He just punted the Hulk with a one-two combo, what do I do?!"
"The electrical build-up around you is increasing but I can't pin why exactly yet. Lucky for you, with the suit and your powers, lightning isn't going to do much more than tickle. Clearly though this Weather Wizard, huh I like that, anyway has got more than lightning going on, the tornado is doing the most damage at the moment and if my calculations are right he might be able to increase this storm to Hurricane category winds if you don't stop him."
"What do I have to do?" Barry asked, dodging a flung car door with a moon-walk-like slide, and then ducking under a rolling light pole.
"You need to-" Cisco suddenly cut off.
"Cisco?" Barry yelled, "Cisco?!"
His friend's voice returned, whispering very quietly, "SHIELD is here, you need to counter the storm's rotation and if you can't get him out of the city, sorry but I've got to go dark. Good Luck."
"Run in a circle or get him to chase me. Thanks, Cisco." Barry returned, as he began to race in a circle, ducking under and leaping over flung debris.
"Hey, Zeus Jr!" Barry called out, drawing the man's attention, "You aren't the only one who can put things on spin-cycle!"
He continued to pick up speed, his vision blurring as another tornado began to kick up, tinted gold and red by his streaking form, the greater storm weakening more and more as he ran.
There was a sudden sharp pain in his shoulder and he was knocked backward sending him tumbling across the ground until he cracked into the remains of the Mercedes. Fighting to get back to his feet he winced as his muscles contorted, his body already beginning to heal, pushing out a bullet-sized shard of ice-wrapped metal.
Rolling over he looked up to see the man bearing down at him ice-encrusted metal and glass circling him like a demented ring of Saturn.
With a manic smile, the man opened his arms in a messianic fashion and the orbiting ring burst toward him like a shotgun blast.
There was a sound like a thunderclap and a wave of force that shook Barry to the core of his being. It cut clear through the tornado and sent the metal-filled hail scattered uselessly around him.
As the wind fought to pick back up, the integrity of the funnel shattered by the sudden attack the Hulk burst through, landing before Barry. His face was set in an utterly feral grimace, and the bits of burnt skin and hair that remained sloughed off as he pivoted and landed a devastating uppercut to the newly dubbed "Weather Wizard's" torso.
There was a sound of several bones breaking like dry branches, followed by a booming cannon shot as Weather Wizard fired up and backward, clipping the top of the bank and continuing onward.
There was a loud cracking sound in the distance, and Barry couldn't help but wince as Hulk turned to look at him, the anger dissipating slightly.
"Laid a hand on him." the Giant growled, in a confident almost snarky manner.
Barry set his face and vocal cords vibrating before he spoke, "Looks like, but we still need to get him out of the city."
"What's left of him," Hulk said in a show of gallows humor that left Barry slightly stunned.
The Hulk then jumped into the air, touching down on the now damaged bank and leaping again after their quarry.
Barry shook his head and took off, "Cisco is never going to believe that."
Coulson raised his gun and opened fire, the live rounds in his gun pinging off the soldier ant's carapace uselessly.
"Stop!" Hank ordered, pushing Coulson back as the enraged ant tried to snap him in twain with its jaws.
"Dr. Pym I know you have a fascination with ants and all," Coulson snarked, "But giant Meta-Ants that look like they want to eat us seems a bit much."
"Violence is never the first course of action." Hank admonished angrily, pushing Coulson further back as another lunged for them.
"Tell them that." the Agent snarked once more.
"They don't know better, we do." Hank stated, "Trust me, I can end this without any harm to them or ourselves, I just need you to back away now."
"Right," Coulson stated, darting backward but keeping his gun raised.
"Thank you," Hank stated, whirling back to the ants, who had yet to attack him as he immediately had put out a series of signals that convinced them he was a lost worker.
He changed the signal to mark him as an intruder and undercut it with a signal he knew would draw their attention away from Coulson.
"Queen in danger! Queen in danger! Queen in danger!"
The soldier reared back while the two workers lunged for him.
He shrunk immediately darting beneath their already colossal legs and racing away growing to full size as he did so.
All three of them immediately whirled on him, the tunnel shaking with the elephantine weight of the enraged creatures.
Looking at the closer he quickly realized that he was looking at a mutated version of Crazy Ants which meant…
The thought died in his head as he shrank and rolled, an arching bolt of electricity carving along the floor where he was previously been standing.
The soldier then opened its maw, disgorging a horrid mass of glowing liquid before him.
It burst into an electrified puddle, which he grew to avoid passing his normal height and growing to a height comparable to his attackers taking a wide step over it.
He whirled as the remaining worker charged, and despite not wanting to, struck it right above the mandibles.
He'd pulled the punch, and though uninjured the worker still reeled from the blow.
The other two tackled him, snapping at his limbs causing him to shrink rapidly, kicking off the head of one before continuing his way down the tunnel.
He looked about as the ants frantically chased him, unable to find him due to his now minuscule size but still rabid to protect their queen.
Looking up he found what he was looking for, a gaping hole in the side of the accelerator, metal pulled back to reveal earth and stone, a tunnel descending into blackness.
Activating the lights on his helmet he grew and leaped, going into a sliding dive down the tunnel as the ants slammed into the opening and began to scramble over each other to chase after him.
He continued downward, sliding to his feet and taking off running as he hunted for any other ants, but the tunnels while branching didn't extend past the light cast by his helmet.
A clattering crash alerted him to the arrival of at least one of the goliath ants, and he kicked it into overdrive.
He slid down another sloping tunnel and caught sight of a glowing light before him.
Switching his own off, he ducked under the snapping maw of a fourth ant, another soldier as it detached from the ceiling and stumbled into an immense domed chamber.
Laying on the ground before him to his surprise was not a queen, but a worker in the midst of becoming a queen. The would-be-queen let out a pained trill as it turned and Hank was taken aback by the intrusive metallic structure that had been sutured to her back. It seemed to be draining the energy from within her body as a power source, a familiar energy signature appearing on his radar.
This was the source of the false-positive, powered by a living battery. Her pain and struggle setting the normally peaceable doctor's stomach boiling.
The other ants charged in, preparing to coat him in electrified spittle when he changed the signal he'd been sending out.
Once more he became a worker in their colony, but more than that he promised help as he moved towards the injured worker.
The other ants milled about, snapping their mandibles as he shrunk down, leaping atop the would-be queen, and began searching for a way to turn the mechanism off.
To remove it would take a surgical approach that he would need to administer at a later date.
"Don't worry." he stated, talking to the hurting creature as he continued to leap about the metallic structure, "I've got you."
He translated the words into pheromone signals, calming her and the others as they began to circuit the room protectively.
He found the main power draw line, and without a moment's hesitation severed the link.
A bolt of electricity ripped through his body but luckily his suit had insulted him from the majority of the shock. He fell backward growing to his proper height as the would-be queen stretched to her feet and let out a rumbling cry of happiness.
He quickly contacted Coulson, "Two birds one stone."
"What?" Coulson fired back.
"Someone had implanted one of the ant's with a transponder, it used their mutated physiology as a power source." Hank stated as he pushed himself to his feet, "The false-positive well no longer will be an issue."
"And the ants?" Coulson asked.
One of the soldiers nuzzled Pym affectionately nearly knocking him off his feet, "Under control, there are only five in total, the original queen must have perished in the accelerator explosion. Despite their powers, they seem relatively placid, as long as I am around. Should be no trouble for Zoo personnel."
"Good, because we need you topside, now." Coulson stated, urgency filling his voice, "We're looking at a Gamma level event up here."
Hank turned to look at the affectionate soldier pensively, "Where do you need me?"
Hulk landed and stared down at the ruin he had created.
A deep earthen crater marred the center of a rather peaceful-looking part.
What was in the crater was even worse to look at admittedly.
One of the Meta's arms was bent all the way around, glowing blood leaked from his forehead and his one leg was clearly broken.
The speedster arrived a second later and looked like he was about to be sick when he looked down at the man before him.
"He's still breathing." the speedster stated as he knelt down next to the downed meta, "Good."
"Pulled the punch." Hulk started, staring down at the red-clad younger man, "Got a name?"
"Me?" he asked, looking up face and his voice still vibrating weirdly.
Hulk nodded, looking up to see several people slowly approaching them, many of them looking at him with a combination of reverence and fear.
"Flash." the man said eventually, "You can call me Flash."
It was then the Meta twitched. With a sickening crack, his arm popped back into place and bent back the proper way.
Hulk snarled as more wounds began to heal, but before he could do anything Flash picked him up into his arms and raced away.
Hulk turned, hunting for the streaks of lightning, before grimacing and leaping into the air, landing atop a building that gave him a better vantage point. He spotted the speedster weaving through the streets and jumped after him.
Hulk landed beside Flash as he let the healing Meta tumble from his arms in an empty construction lot on the very edge of the city.
The man's eyes snapped open, glowing that strange orangish-yellow as he surged to his feet almost unnaturally.
He began to laugh, staring at both of them with a mad glint in his eyes.
Hulk made to shut him up only for the Flash to catch him by the arm. Hulk sent him a dark look, and the man immediately released him but he still made a motion for the Jade Giant to hold back on the beat down for a second.
"What's so funny?" the Flash demanded, stepping forward.
"You tried to kill me." the man snarled, pointing at Hulk, "But not even you can kill God."
Hulk scoffed, "God's don't break that easy. Hulk knows."
The man laughed again, his body crackling with lightning.
"If you're a God then why are you working for Centipede?" Flash asked, with a snarky grin,
"Working for?" 'Mardon' returned aghast, "No, no, they're aiding me on my journey to true divinity."
There was the screeching sound of tires, and Hulk turned as a black SUV pulled into the lot. Hulk vaguely remembered the figures that emerged from Banner's memories, Agent Ward, May, and Detective West, all of whom had their guns drawn.
"Stand down Mardon!" West ordered, pointing his gun at the manic man's head, "It's over."
Mardon chuckled darkly, "Detective, you couldn't be more wrong."
"Try me," Hulk stated, taking a menacing step forward.
"You're not going to win this," Flash said.
"You are all so blind." Mardon stated, shaking his head and looking at the ground with a sardonic smile, "You really think I have shown you everything I can do? That everything I have done so far to aid my servants' endeavors has been a true display of my power?"
He looked up, the light in his eyes intensifying as he revealed the metallic centipede locked to his chest.
"Wrong."
Hulk punched, and to his surprise Mardon caught it. His arm was destroyed in the process, bones crunching disturbingly, but he had stopped the punch all the same.
Mardon began to glow from within, the light in his eyes suddenly tinged with green as the liquid within the device on his chest pumped fully into his body.
A bolt of lightning shot free of Mardon's neck as a vein popped, severing the SUV in twain in a show of accidental destruction.
The wind began to grow as Mardon's skin began to burn away revealing glowing yellow muscle that began to morph and melt.
Hulk threw another punch, catching the man in the ribs, bones breaking but Mardon didn't even flinch. Instead, he closed his eyes, bones realigning a tornado erupted around them, nearly decapitating Agent Ward with a thrown girder as it did so.
Flash went into a burst of speed, grabbing Detective West, then May and Ward, and racing through the wall of wind with them.
Mardon stumbled away from Hulk, his exposed muscle now sheathed in a second skin of glowing wind and burning lightning. He stood as tall as the Hulk, his face an aghast skull with glowing green eyes.
Mardon screamed, feral and two-toned with electricity as a bolt of lightning fired down from the sky and cracked into the Hulk.
He roared as his vision blackened, the scent of his own burning flesh and hair filling the air.
Barry sped back into the tornado as it continued to grow, tearing more and more debris into its hungry grasp. He dodged a piece of chain-like fence and saw the Hulk, his nervous system glowing from beneath his skin as the lightning continued to pour into him.
Mardon had changed into some horrific fusion of lightning and human, his face nothing but a gaunt screaming skull.
Gritting his teeth, Barry felt the lightning in his own body surge as he bolted forward, aiming a devastating kick at Mardon's ankle.
The creature flinched, as electricity fired up Barry's body though he felt little more than a snap of static.
The Hulk roared, punching forward, breaking Mardon's jaw, his eyes glowing with emerald fury as the skin across his body healed back to it's pristine jade sheen.
"That hurt!" Hulk roared, punching Mardon in the ribs, and then kicking him backward.
The man's jaw snapped back into place as he let out a horrific screech, two girders flying free of the storm to attempt to spear both of the heroes.
Barry leaped into the air and then raced up his girder, flipping into the air to land a harsh kick to the side of Mardon's head while Hulk batted his aside and surged forward to grab him.
Mardon dissipated suddenly, his body becoming not but wind and lightning which speared through Hulk's chest and came out the other side.
Mardon reformed with a dark chuckle as he rose into the air, the storm intensifying, wind turning metal, rock, and wood into a whirling cloud of shrapnel.
Hulk stepped in front of Barry, taking the onslaught, green blood spattering across the ground even as the wounds healed within seconds, Hulk's furious yell combating with the rumbling whistle of the storm.
"Counter the rotation." Barry thought to himself, gritting his teeth as lightning built across his body and he was off.
Racing faster and faster and faster, dodging every obstacle Mardon set in his path as the Hulk rescued the insane Meta back to the ground and began trading blows with a furious snarl.
Kicking off flying pallets, ducking racing bricks, bolting up cartwheeling girders, dodging between the strikes of the battling goliaths he ran on.
"Run Barry!" the voice from the depths of his comma returning, sounding vaguely of his mother, "Run!"
Pushing forward even further, a second tornado began to appear in his wake, and as it strengthened Mardon's began to shift and roil as more and more of its power was sapped away from it.
Mardon cast out a hand, a bolt of electricity firing at Barry, trying to at least halt his progress, but he was too quick, sliding underneath it and continuing onward.
Hulk took that opening to snag Mardon beneath the outstretched elbow and with a furious tug broke the arm upward and then tossed him to the ground.
The Meta struggled to get to his feet, only for Hulk to plant a foot in his back and punch his head into the dirt leaving a deep impression.
The tornado finally died, Barry skidding to a halt, gasping in lungfuls of air as the Hulk continued to bear down on Mardon.
"Nice wor-" Barry began to say as Mardon screamed a crack of thunder accompanying him as he plunged his hand into the dirt. The Hulk was blasted off his back in a flare of lightning, while Mardon surged to his feet the remains of an underground powerline clasped in his hand. With a deep chuckle, the Meta stabbed the line into his body.
Lights began to flash out all around them, as Mardon drew more and more from the power grid, slowly growing in size, his body distorting and bulging more.
With a snarl he fired a bolt of lighting at Barry, catching him in the chest.
Barry screamed as the surge of heat and energy overpowered his resistance and began to burn through his suit. Hulk surged to his feet only for Mardon to lash out with his other hand grabbing the Avenger by the face and sending a city's worth of electricity ripping through his body.
Hulk gritted his teeth, his whole body beginning to steam as his muscles became more and more pronounced.
Barry writhed in pain, fighting to escape the onslaught when suddenly Mardon's connection within the line was severed. Barry looked up expecting to see the Hulk pounding away on him.
He blinked three times, wondering if his brain had been fried instead.
Mardon was suspended off the ground, the electric glow around his skin growing fainter and fainter as he struggled to break free of the elephant-sized ant that held him by the neck in his jaws. Energy seemed to be passing from Mardon into the oversized insect, which trilled softly as a figure stood up on it's back.
"Sorry we're late!" the figure cried out, their silver helmet retracting to reveal the face of Hank Pym, Ant-Man, with a slight smirk on his face.
"Thank you," Barry stated as he pushed himself to his feet.
"Don't thank me," Hank stated, patting the top of the ant's head, "Thank her, a Mutated Crazy Ant, normally they conduct electricity and since I found this individual, healthy and unharmed within Star Labs Pipeline I realized that they might have been evolved by the accelerator explosion to consume electricity."
"I-uh, well good to know." Barry stated, muttering to himself afterward, "That explains the power outages."
"Oh, sorry rambling again," Hank stated, turning to look at the Hulk who stared up at him flatly as Mardon continued to struggle against the ant's grip, "Let's wrap this up."
"No!" Mardon screamed, lashing out at Hank, nearly grabbing him by the ankle, and then clawing at the ant's face ferally.
Hulk growled and turned towards Barry, "Fast Ball."
"What?" Barry asked confused, staring up at him.
"People under the effects of the Centipede Serum take a lot to put down." Pym stated as he fought to stay standing on the struggling ant, "He wants to throw you at him, with enough momentum behind the blow you should be able to knock him unconscious."
Barry blinked several times, before the daredevil inside him took over, "Alright then."
Hulk grinned darkly as he backed away from Mardon, who continued to struggle to no avail. Barry raced away, darting down several streets before turning around and sprinting his way back towards the fight.
Hulk stuck out a hand as he heard Barry approach from behind, which he leaped into and was then sent rocketing towards Mardon as the ant dropped him. He cracked his shoulder into Mardon's face with a sound like a cannon-shot, and the Meta careened backward into dreamland.
Barry hopped to his feet, his shoulder aching from the impact, and was nearly knocked off his feet by the Hulk as he patted his back.
Hulk smirked, as he planted a foot on Mardon's chest, and bent down to rip out the Centipede device. It came away in a spray of glowing orange liquid, and Hulk tossed it to Dr. Pym who immediately began looking it over.
"Thank you," Barry stated. He quickly masked his voice and face with vibrations as they turned to look at him.
Hulk merely grunted as he kept his foot on Mardon's chest, while Pym smiled slightly.
"No need, it's what we do," Pym remarked, turning to look over his shoulder at the approaching SHIELD Agents and Joe.
"Don't move!" Agent May ordered, leveling her gun on him, "We need to take you in for questioning."
Ward leveled his gun at him as well, while Joe stood there with a conflicted look on his face.
Pym gave Barry a faint nod as if telling him to leave as the immense ant suddenly moved to block the agent's path.
Barry took off without another word, disappearing into Central City with a smile slowly growing across his face.
"My first true outing as a hero and I get to fight alongside the Avengers." he mused to himself, "Awesome."
"After that, Coulson had Mardon sedated and moved into a cell on the Bus with plans to transfer him to the Cube, I assisted in the moving the Meta-Ants onto a Zoo transport and Coulson's team spent the rest of the excursion trying to track down any leads on Central City's Centipede chapter or the identity of the Flash," Pym stated over breakfast as Tony, Daisy and Ben listened attentively.
"Any luck?" Daisy asked as she put a spoonful of fruit-filled oatmeal into her mouth.
"None." Pym stated, "Centipede went to ground after, I believe Mardon's theatrics were either not what they wanted or just a distraction for something else they were after. As for the Flash, Coulson and May believe he has a connection to Star Labs."
"Who do they think he is?" Ben queried, having sat quietly for most of the explanation.
"Coulson didn't say, May believes it might be Doctor Wells," Hank stated, as he fed a bit of toast to the small ant he had decided to take with him.
"Isn't Wells confined to a wheelchair?" Tony pointed out, dripping a bit of runny egg on the table which Dot, as Wasp had dubbed her, raced over to lap up.
"Which is why she believes it is the perfect cover." Pym said, "Ward is convinced it is Mr. Allen, but Fitz mentioned something about that being 'too obvious'."
"They're keeping their identity secret for a reason." Banner stated from the couch, "Whoever they are they're trying to do the right thing, and keep the people they know safe. I'm a little envious honestly."
"I understand where they're coming from." Ben stated, looking down at his food thoughtfully, "I'd want to keep the people I love out of the crosshairs of anyone I fought."
"Regardless, Star Labs stated their interest in working with us again." Pym finished.
"By 'us' he means him," Wasp interjected as she walked into the room following her morning jog, "And by 'Star Labs' he means Dr. Snow."
Tony smirked, "Oh really."
Pym turned to look at Wasp with a confused expression, "She asked that we stay in touch, what are you implying?"
"She gave you her phone number." Wasp snarked, picking Dot up off the table with a smile, "I'll imply what I like."
Hank continued to give her a confused look, turning to the others who met him with a combination of baffled expressions, shrugs, and on Ben's part a snorting laugh that caused him to inhale his orange juice.
Tony stood up, "Well as captivating as that was, time for me to get to work, can't keep relying on Coulson for rides now can we?"
He stood up, carrying the remains of his breakfast with him, and entered the elevator.
The second the door closed, he reached for the secret panel.
"Time to add another anomaly to the list." he thought with a smirk.
And scene! Now, sorry this took so long, but no worries another chapter is in the pipeline with the focus back on Ben and the Avengers and it might be out by the end of the workweek.
Hope you enjoyed Storm Chasers, which is the first of several sub-stories that may appear every once and a while to pat out the world Ben has found himself in more.
I also decided that Hulk and Banner are at a state where Hulk can talk somewhat coherently, but he's not in the kind of puppy-doggish state that we see in Thor: Ragnorak. (Speaking of Thor, he'll be making his appearance real soon.)
On top of that Pym clearly speaks more towards the Earth's Mightiest Heroes version than the MCU, though he is a bit older than either canon.
Barry will return in time,
Any questions, comments, and critiques are always welcome. This has been VerBeeker, signing off!