SHOCKING NEWS

Back in Manhattan General hospital in New York, a heartbroken Peter is still at his aunt's bedside, still feeling horrible in seeing the woman who raised him to waste away even more by the second. The only thing that managed to pop him out of his depression momentarily was when he overheard a conversation by two hospital interns, one an African American male in his twenties and the other a Caucasian girl around the same age, as they were walking down the hall outside.

As such, the young male intern continued it, putting on a concerned face in hopes it'll impress her, and he could score a date. "Wait, the Hulk did THAT to New Mexico?!"

"Yeah, the whole town!" replied the girl. "I saw the news report just as I started my shift. And I was starting to think that he wasn't some mindless monster."

As the interns walked by, Peter was shocked and confused on hearing this news. Especially since the last time he saw the Jade Giant, he acted heroically in helping save the planet from the Galactus. Now wanting to know more of the Hulk's supposed rampage, Peter quickly searched for, found and picked up the remote to which the nurses had told him about that controlled the TV mounted on the wall. Peter wasted no time in turning it on, and after surfing through a few channels, he finally found a news channel, and sure enough, it showed a female African American news anchor with the picture of both the Hulk and the destroyed New Mexico town on the left-hand corner of the screen.

"And on a sadder note, the recent events concerning superheroes takes a dark turn," said the female reporter. "In that, the New Mexican town of Dry Hollow was destroyed by, what some are speculating, the metahuman known as the Hulk." The screen then cuts to hundreds of fire trucks trying to put out the flames that engulfed the entire town. "Eyewitnesses say that earlier in the afternoon, the Hulk had made his way into this town, and in a blind rage, destroyed everything path, including a gas station as well as few nearby vehicles and gas trucks, which caused explosions powerful enough to set the entire town on fire. That was the last the green giant was seen, and there have since been no sightings of him. And sadly...there have also been no sights of survivors."

This news left Peter utterly speechless. "What?!" he thought in disbelief, but then grew suspicious. "I mean, I knew that the Hulk was a loose cannon, but nothing about him ever said that he would endanger innocent people, or at least try not to. Something isn't right."

Back in the Avengers Mansion, the Avengers themselves were also watching this shocking news report in their study, via the large screen TV made to look like a painting. And out of all of them, it is the outspoken Wasp, this time dressed in her casual, fashionable clothing of Janet Van Dyne, who angrily voiced her opinion on what she and her teammates were watching. "Oh, come on! There's no way that the Hulk would ever do this!" she then turned around to the also out of uniform Avengers, namely Steve Rogers, who is wearing a plain white T-shirt and blue sweat pants, and Tony Stark, this time in black slacks and a red silk shirt. "I mean, we already proved this a long time ago!"

Tony soon stepped in with his hand raised halfway to try and calm Jan down. "Easy Jan! When it comes to Hulk, we agree this time, and when we get the chance, we are going to help him."

The Vision is somewhat shocked and baffled to hear Tony's reply. "But Mr. Stark, shouldn't we already proceed with helping the Hulk?"

Both Steve and Tony reluctantly looked at each other before answering the Vision's sound question, until finally, it's Tony who addressed the synthazoid. "Believe me, Vision, as much as I want to say yes, I'm afraid we can't move in just yet. Whoever set this up is not only powerful but smart. Therefore, we need to let them think they have the upper-hand before we can move it and issue some gold old fashion justice.

Steve let out a frustrated sigh, mainly because as much as he wanted to help Hulk, he knew that Tony was right about this situation and felt there was no other option than to play it his way...for now. But, for the sake of 'unit morale,' he voiced the only positive thing about this whole mess. "Besides, we all know that it'll take something a lot more powerful than an explosion to keep Hulk down. So, at the very least, we know he's not injured or worse."

Jan, on the other hand, was still the least bit pleased in not rushing to the Hulk's side, especially with Steve, who she turned to face. "Well, that may be, but don't you think that the big guy still needs our help regardless?!"

Suddenly, the Avengers are soon surprised when they heard the deep, male voice say this. "Yes, he will, said the voice in a stern tone, thus causing the Avengers to turn and see where it came from. Sure enough, it belonged to the black coat and eye patch wearing former head of S.H.I.E.L.D. himself, the stone-faced African American agent, Nick Fury. And also, he was not alone, for with him was that of the orange and blacked armored female agent known as Quake. "But don't worry, I got some people who owe me a favor, and they can find the Hulk. In the meantime, you've got bigger problems."