BATTLE ROYAL: PART 3

Back in the Helocarrier, three of the Avengers' powerhouses, Thor, Iron Man, and Ms. Marvel, were all engaged with the Red Hulk. With Iron Man firing his repulsers, Thor shooting lighting from Mjolnir and Ms. Marvel firing her Kree blasts, all their combined powered was focused at the Crimson Monster to try and bring him down.

However, despite the three Avengers' best efforts, the Red Hulk still walked towards them with the blasts barely slowing him down. Then, remembering this move that his enemy, the original Hulk, used on him and his army so many times before, Red Hulk held out both of his hands and clapped them together. All of which created a massive shockwave that destroyed the blast and sent Iron Man and the others off their feet. The confident Red Hulk then chuckled at the tree fallen Avengers as he walked toward them. "I bet you wish you bleeding heart punks kept me around, huh?"

A disoriented Iron Man was the first to sit up, and though his armor protected him, he still felt the ill effects of the shockwave. "Okay," said the Shellhead with strain in his voice. "Could definitely use that Hulkbuster right now."

The now smirking Red Hulk stopped when he reached Iron Man, then raised both of his fists over his head, ready to smash him through the floor. However, before he could even get the chance, he was stopped when he felt something strong wrap around and get a good grip around his mid-section from behind. Confused, the Red Hulk looked down and saw two, large green arms around his waist, and too his shock, he knew those arms all too well. As the Crimson Monster looked over his shoulder, he was surprised to see that the fully transformed, green, and angry original Hulk was behind him, and with this arms wrapped around him. The Jade Giant then leaned back and threw the Red Hulk backward and slammed him shoulder-first on to the floor, making the Helocarrier shake in the process.

Moments later, Hulk stood back up to face his red counterpart, who by this time shook his head to regain focus. "No, you don't, Tin Man," Hulk told Iron Man without turning to face him. "You need me!"

As for the Red Hulk himself, he looked up to see his sworn enemy standing before him, which caused him to burn with rage literally. "You…!" he growled, then got up and charged towards him.

With a rage-filled roar, Hulk ran towards the Red Hulk, intending to settle the score with him on how he aided the mind-controlled S.H.I.E.L.D. in trapping him.

Iron Man, along with Thor and Ms. Marvel, all stood up and were utterly stunned in seeing the Hulk return and come to their rescue. That is until Iron Man himself decided to break the silence and say what all three of them were thinking. "Well, he's not wrong."

Finally, once both giants got close enough, they both threw right hooks and when their fists collided, causing the Helocarrier to tremble once more. However, it is the Red Hulk who continued his assault by giving the Hulk a fierce left uppercut to his jaw, followed by a right hook.

Despite taking two massive hits, all this did was make the Hulk all the angrier. And once he spotted the Red Hulk going for a left hook, the Jade Giant held up his left arm to block the blow, then saw the Red Hulk quickly for a right and used his other hand to catch the fist. A split second later, the Green wound his head back and gave the Red Hulk a massive headbutt to his forehead, knocking him into a daze. The Hulk then took advantage of his foe's disorientation by dashing forward and, with all his gamma charged might, rammed his right shoulder into the Red Hulk's chest, sending him flying and crashing through a steel wall and nearly ending up in the next room.

Though the impact of the shoulder charge was enough to knock him loopy, the Red Hulk still was able to sit up and shake off the effects. He then looked straight ahead and got the Hulk back in his sights, growling like the real monster that the once-proud soldier, General 'Thunderbolt' Ross, allowed himself to become. "Is that the best you can do?"

The Hulk let out an annoyed grunt and was just about to answer the Red Hulk's question by running over and pounding him into a paste.

However, the Jade Giant stopped in his tracks when Iron Man suddenly flew in between them, held up his right hand, and fired a small, coin-shaped object from out of the top of his gauntlet, which ended up hitting and sticking the Red Hulk's left shoulder.

This left both Hulks dumbfounded, especially the Red one. "What in the…?" Suddenly, the Red Hulk's confusion turned into shock when the silver disc suddenly started to flow like liquid from the Monster's shoulder and spread throughout his entire body, sans his face, and froze his whole body in place, rendering him immobile. It was at that moment that the Red Hulk, much to his horror, figured out that the disc was made of the same self-replicating high-density nanite compound that apprehended him before. "NOOOO!" roared the red-skinned giant, then suddenly, he shrank down and reverted to the elderly form of General Thunderbolt Ross.

Both Iron Man and Hulk witnessed Ross's regression, but though he was happy to see that the once-respected soldier was out of the fight, the Shellhead could hear the heavy, angry breathing of the Hulk, knowing full well that the Green Goliath wanted to knock his lights out. Thus, he looked up to his giant teammate, with his faceplate hiding a nervous expression. "Sorry, Hulk," said Iron Man, trying to sound confident. "I know you can take Ross, but we need to wrap this up."

Nevertheless, the Hulk snorted irritably at the Armored Avenger. "Whatever."

As Ross struggled, in vain, to get free, he looked up at Iron Man with his eyes wide open with rage. "STARK, YOU SPOILED, BLEEDING HEART TRAITOR!" he screamed out, then turned his attention back to the Hulk. "YOU THINK THAT THAT MONSTER IS A HERO! HE, LIKE YOU AND THE REST OF THE AVENGERS ARE A MENACE TO THIS COUNTRY! YOU ALL FORCED ME TO TURN MYSELF INTO A MONSTER! YOU SHOULD ALL BE-!" Suddenly, Ross's rant was cut short when he, along with the silver liquid he was covered in, soon vanished out of sight, leaving both Iron Man and the Hulk dumbfounded.

Moments later, many other villains, such as the Serpent Society, the Wrecking Crew, as well as villains like Sabretooth and Silver Sable, all began to vanish one by one at incredible speed, causing much confusion to the rest of the Avengers.

It wasn't long until Zemo, who's blade thrust was blocked by Cap's shield, noticed Tombstone suddenly vanished while fighting Luke and was shocked instantly. "What?! What is happening?"

With Zemo distracted, this left Cap with the opening he needed and delivered a stiff left jab to his old foe's masked face, then followed through with a right legged round kick to his head, knocking him to the floor. As Zemo laid there in a daze, Cap looked down on him and waited for hit shake his head and look up to him so he could tell him this. "You're losing Zemo, like you have…and always will!"

Those words from the Sentinel of Liberty were enough to send Zemo into a rage. "NO, NOT THIS TIME!" he yelled, taking his sword. "I WILL NOT BE DENIED MY-!" Just like the rest of his new Thunderbolts, Zemo too vanished out of thin air.

For Cap and the Avengers, while this was obviously a victory, how Zemo and the new Thunderbolts disappeared still left them stunned.

Suddenly, the cause of the villains' disappearance revealed itself to be Hank Pym, who, along with the Wasp, grew back to human size, with Hank still holding his shrinking gun in his right hand. The size-changing scientist then looked at a small screen located on the back of his gun and saw an image of Zemo and the villains in specially made cells inside the weapon. "It's all right, the villains are taken care of," said Hank, who then looked up at Cap and the rest of his approaching teammates, all looking at him with cynicism, thus forcing him to reintegrate while holding his hands up in a passive manner. "And by that, I mean that The Thunderbolts are safely secured inside my gun, where they'll stay until we wrap up this whole mess."

Wasp could see that Iron Man and the rest of her teammates looked at Hank just with cynicism in their eyes, and she couldn't blame them, not knowing if this was still 'Yellowjacket,' and he's putting up an act to gain their trust. But knowing that there was still the matter of the freed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, as well as Spidey's fight with the Patriot, she decided to walk over to her fellow Avengers and confirm what Hank said to keep them focused. "He's telling the truth, guys," she reassured them. "I saw the whole thing."

Iron Man was still just as skeptic as his teammates regarding if this was the old Hank Pym he once knew and valued as a friend. However, he also knew that Wasp always had good instincts when it came to Hank, be it the peaceful scientist or the violent, arrogant vigilante. Either way, the Shellhead knew that this was not the time or place to find out. "Well, if you can vouch for him, Jan, then it's good enough for me…for now anyway." Iron Man then turned his attention over to Cap. "Besides, we've got bigger problems."

"Agreed," replied the determined Cap, then turned to the rest of the comrades to address them. "Avengers, to the bridge! Now!"