STRONGEST THERE IS
Through the peaceful landscape of a forest, the Hulk made one giant leap after another, finally stopping at a river. After taking a moment to take a drink from the clear, purified water, the Hulk saw his reflection change into that of Bruce Banner. "Hulk, what is your plan?" asked Bruce, clearly worried. "We don't even know who this person is who tried to destroy us, let alone know where he's hiding! We need help!"
The Hulk snorted at the reflection of the 'puny' Bruce Banner. "First off, we may share a body; there is no 'we'! Second...Hulk is strongest there is! Hulk needs no one!" Little did the raging giant know, there was something else in the forest, something just as big and it wasn't until it walked towards the Green Goliath, with its heavy footsteps shaking the ground and scaring nearby animals, that it caused Hulk to look over his shoulder.
It was that of the Hulk's large, reptilian arch-enemy, the Abomination, who smiled as he cocked his right fist back and threw a mean hook, nailing the Hulk in the face and sending plowing through four trees. "I disagree."
As the Hulk laid in a daze, he barely managed to move fallen trees off of him. Sadly he was not quick enough to avoid the Abomination, who leaped into the air and planted both of his clawed feet into the Jade Giant's massive chest. With his enemy at his mercy, the grinning Abomination begins pummeling away at the Hulk, enjoying punch he landed on his face. "In fact,...you're going to need...all the help...you can get!"
After taking one brutal punch to the face, the Hulk ended his physical punishment to a stop by taking his open left palm and catching the Abomination's incoming fist. "Never needed help in dealing with you!" barked The Jade Giant, then threw a straight right punch into his scaly enemy's face, stunning him where he is forced to take two steps backward and off of the Hulk. Now free, the Hulk curled his legs back and kicked the Abomination in his abdomen, sending him flying and plowing through a tree.
The Abomination proved to be just as quick to recover as he pulled himself up and saw the Hulk running towards him and thus picked up the tree he knocked down, and used it as a weapon swinging it and nailing the Hulk in the face. As he watched the Green Goliath staggered away in a daze, the Abomination, with tree till in hand, turns it to where the trunk is facing forward then thrusts it into the Hulk's abdomen. Though this resulted in actually snapping the tree in two, it succeeded in knocking the wind out of the green-skinned powerhouse and forcing him to bend forward. Now in control, the Abomination threw what was left of the tree away, walked over to the bending Hulk, then clamped his clawed hands together, raised them over his head and bashed the Hulk on the back of his dead, dropping the reeling Jade Giant to the ground. With his enemy now at his feet, the now grinning Abomination used his right foot to kick the Hulk in his right side, sending him flying and crashing into a hill. "You can't win, Banner," he said as he walked towards the disoriented Hulk, who was trying to sit up. "I'm stronger, BETTER than you!"
Hearing this stirred anger within the Hulk once more, and once he felt the Abomination grabbed his head and proceeded to pick him up, he surprised his enemy by delivering a left uppercut to his jaw. Now free and back on his feet, the Hulk looked down to his right side to see a huge rock buried in the dirt. This inspired him to ram his strong fingertips into the rock, then picked it up out of the ground and over his head, letting out a rage-filled growl. "Not on your best day!" he yelled, smashed the rock on top of the Abomination's head with enough force to shatter and knock his reptilian enemy off of his feet and onto the ground. Now on the offensive, the Hulk jumped up into the air, held both of his fists over his head then dropped down and smashed the Abomination into the earth, creating a large crater. Afterward, the Hulk grabbed the now reeling scaly monster and picked him up over his shoulders intending to hurl him out of the forest.
However, the Abomination proved that he was just as quick to recover as he used one of his feet to kick the Hulk in the face, forcing the Jade Giant to unintentionally drop and release him, as well as make him stagger back to the edge of a nearby cliff. As the Hulk shook his head to reclaim his focus, the Abomination took this opportunity to charge forward and tackle his green opponent, causing the two behemoths over the cliff. Despite that, they were both falling, both the Hulk and Abomination continued to punch and pound each other on their way down to the ground below. Finally, both battling giants crash into the field below, making a loud bang upon impact that could be heard miles away, as well as create a small earthquake.
As the dust settled, we see that it's the Hulk who stood victorious and over the semi-conscious Abomination.
Lying battered and beaten, the Abomination looked up at the Hulk and laughs at him in defiance, causing the Green Goliath to grab him by the shoulder with his left hand then picked him up into the air, all the while cocking his right fist back and getting ready to knock his old enemy's head clean off.
But even defeated, the Abomination gives the Hulk a smug laugh. "Well, well, well, I take it you're gonna finish me, or are you gonna prove how soft you've become by sparing me and taking a page out of your 'weak hero' book?"
Suddenly, as the Hulk watched the Abomination pass out from the pain, he is soon reminded of one particular battle he had when he heard the word 'hero'...
...Namely, the night where he and Captain America were fighting side by side against a giant, tentacled, skull-shaped war machine from HYDRA. It was at this point, that Cap threw his shield through the window of the machine, which came out of the left eye socket, causing the machine itself to short out from the inside and tumble into a building. It was here that the Hulk walked up to Cap, who by this time had caught his shield, and was quite impressed with the feat he just accomplished but acted like he wasn't. "Lucky shot."
"If you say so, big guy," Cap replied. "Now remember, watch out for civilians."
Hulk felt offended by these words. "Is that why you teamed with me?" he asked with anger building in his voice. "To protect people from the monster?"
Though he knew that this was not the time and place, Cap felt now was a good as time as any to tell the green powerhouse how he truly felt about him, so he can both motivate him and make sure he didn't leave. "Stop that talk. I want you to protect civilians from HYDRA. They're the monsters here, not you. In my day, we had a name for someone like you."
"Yeah, what's that?" Hulk asked, knowing that he's been called many horrible names in the past, and thus wanted Cap to say what name he had in mind and get it over with."
To which finally Cap did so by saying this one word, looking both stern and proud. "Hero."
This answer came as a surprise to the Hulk, looked at the Super Soldier completely puzzled.
"I've been watching you, Hulk," Cap continued. "No matter how many people and scared of you, no matter how much you're hounded, you always do the right thing. And that makes you a hero in my book..."
...Upon returning to reality from thinking of Cap, the only man who truly treated him not just as a teammate, but as an equal and friend, the Hulk realized that Cap would never beat his opponents to near death or kill them in cold blood. And as he looked at the now unconscious Abomination, the Green Goliath realized that if he was to honor Cap and what he stood for...neither would he. And with that in mind, the Hulk dropped his out-cold enemy to the ground, where he laid battered and beaten, but alive.
After the Hulk released the unconscious Abomination, the astral form of Bruce Banner returned, with a pleased smile no less. "Well done in proving Cap right, Hulk."
"Save it!" Hulk snapped. "I need to find the one who tried to blow me up, and I didn't want to waste any more energy on this wimp here!"
Bruce's smile remained, knowing that's not what Hulk truly meant. "Whatever you say."
With his attacker now defeated, the Hulk leaped up into the air, continuing his searching for the one who tried to destroy him back to New Mexico.
Meanwhile, back in New York's Manhattan General hospital, Peter Parker, who had since changed into his regular clothing, is sitting by the bedside of his still comatose Aunt May. As he watched his aunt's health deteriorate by the second, a saddened Peter felt both powerless, as well as his heart weighs heavier and heavier. "I' hate seeing her hooked up to these machines again," thought the depressed teen. "And I hate it all the much more. Especially since this time, Osborn is the one who did this to her...all so he can get to me. Why is it that as hard as I try to protect the people of the city, it's the people who are the closest to me that end up paying the price?"
As Peter wallowed in his self-guilt over how his superhero lifestyle got his aunt mixed up into all of this, unbeknownst to him, what appeared to be a small fly comes into the room, but suddenly, it began to grow into human size and is soon revealed to be that of the fully suited Wasp, who couldn't help but feel sad over Peter's predicament. "I'm sorry about your aunt, Peter."
"Thanks, it..." Suddenly, Peter's eyes grow wide with shock upon realizing that someone else is in the room, and as he turned around, he saw that it was the Wasp, and was utterly flabbergasted. "Wow, Wasp, I...I mean, Ms. Van Dyne! This is...an honor; I had no idea you would..."
Suddenly, Peter's nervous chatter is cut short when he heard the cocky tone of Yellowjacket. "Can it, bug boy!" he said bluntly, then grew into human size to tell the stunned teen this. "We know who you are."