Chapter 29: Earths Mightiest Monsters

In the S.H.I.E.L.D. supervillain prison, the Cube, one of its most recent additions, The Abomination, was being transported to a laboratory. There, Doctor Leonard Samson was waiting for him with a clipboard in hand.

"Good morning, Mr. Blonsky." Samson greeted. "How are you, today?"

Abomination just growled in response.

"I know you're not a fan of these check-ups, but it's the only way to monitor the effect of the gamma radiation." Samson went on, flipping through the papers on the board. "Luckily, I just need a blood sample and a body scan this time, then you're free to return to your cell."

"Well lucky me." Abomination remarked.

Abomination was laid out on a table, strapped to it heavily as Dr. Samson approached with a syringe.

"This won't hurt." he promised. "Then again, even if I did, your cells seem to block out the pain."

"Just get on with it already." Abomination let out.

Dr. Samson obliged and quickly collected the blood sample he required. After that, Samson proceeded with the body scan, monitoring the levels carefully.

"It's quite astounding." he remarked. "Every patient here in the Cube has a unique Gamma signature, one that lends to each patient's unique traits. Yours is the closest to the Alpha subject that I've ever seen."

"Who?" Abomination questioned.

"Dr. Banner." Samson clarified. "Though these days, he seems to have almost permanently adopted the mantle of the Hulk. I do hope he has not lost his transformative abilities. They would make a great asset in finding a cure to the Gamma plague."

"And who ever said I wanted to be cured!" Abomination yelled.

As he struggled against his bonds, the guards began tasing him to null him. This, unfortunately, only aggravated him even more. With a mighty roar, Abomination tore through his metal binds and batted the guards aside. He then got up off the table and bolted out of the lab.

"After him!" A guard called out.

The guards got back up and started chasing after Abomination. The large monster barreled through the Cube, ripping off every door he came across. Prisoners began to fill the hallways, gamma monsters of various shapes and sizes tearing into the guards. Eventually, Abomination ripped the door off of one cell in particular: The Leader's.

"Excellent work, my Abomination." The Leader commended.

"I hope this plan of yours works." Abomination growled.

"Just get me to the central core." The Leader told him. "I'll take care of everything from there."

Abomination nodded before scooping up the Leader and barreling through the massive riot that had broken out. He shoved both guard and prisoner alike, making his way towards the core. Once they reached the door, Abomination pried them open, allowing the two access. There were a few technicians that were watching over the core, but they were easily dispatched. With the core room all to themselves, Leader got to work.

"Soon, the world with be reborn." He boasted. "In gamma irradiated glory."

Just then, the core began glowing green. Then, a massive wave of energy shot out, streaking past both prisoners and staff alike. While the prisoners were left unaffected, the guards were not so lucky. They fell to their knees in pain, clutching their heads as their bodies began to morph. Their muscles bulged, ripping through their clothes as they let out mindless, animalistic roars. The technicians and doctors went through similar transformations, almost all of them devolving into hulking beasts. However, there was one who managed to retain his sanity.

Doc Samson's body grew ever muscular, his hair changing to an ever familiar shade of green. His eyes changed color as well, but that was the end. He finished his transformation, gasping for air while on his hands and knees.

"What on…" He let out.

...

Steve stood in front of the Assembly Hall's holographic generator, currently talking with Hawkeye. The archer had been on a solo mission for the past week, and Steve was checking up on him.

"Any luck?" he asked.

"Nothing." Clint lamented. "Though I'm still betting something you guys found at the Red Room is what set her off like this."

"Most likely." Steve agreed. "Unfortunately, she covered her tracks well. Tony tried to figure out what it was, but not even J.A.R.V.I.S can find a trace of those files."

"Well, if that changes, let me know." Clint insisted. "In the meantime, I'm going to keep doing this the old-fashion way. Hawkeye out."

"Clint I-" Steve tried.

Clint cut the connection before he could get the chance to finish. Steve sighed, then turned away from the display.

Steve emerged from the sub-levels, entering the media room. He was greeted by the sound of a Mortal Kombat game between Peter and Rick. The two boys were standing on the couch, their eyes glued to the television as they tried to take out each other, Hulk watching in the background with mild amusement.

"Eat this, spider-breath!" Rick jeered as he pulled off a complicated combo move.

"Not so fast, pal!" Peter replied.

Steve just let them be, walking past the media room towards the kitchen. As he did, he glanced out the window to see Jan and Hank outside in their tiny forms. No doubt they were examining some of the ant beds that had cropped up in the garden. He could also see Thor and Jane outside, the two lounging on a large, wooden swing with the latter reading a book. As he walked into the kitchen, he saw Logan chugging down a beer and Tony tinkering with a glove on his left hand. Both of them looked up as he walked in.

"Still no word on Widow?" Tony guessed.

"Nothing." Steve reported. "And Clint's scouring just shy of everywhere looking for her."

"If she don't wanna be found, ain't nobody gonna find her." Logan declared, taking another swig of his beer.

"Logan's right." Steve agreed. "Besides, I have a feeling this is something she needs to deal with. She'll come back when she's ready."

About that time, T'Challa made his way into the kitchen.

"Captain." he greeted with a nod. "We appear to have a visitor. Says he is Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Coulson?" Tony let out. "Wonder what he wants."

The four of them went to the front door where Coulson was waiting.

"Mr. Stark." Coulson began. "Sgt, Howlett. Captain. I was wondering if I could speak with Dr. Banner."

"Why?" Steve asked. "I thought S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Hulk were on good terms."

"We are." Coulson reassured. "It's just, there's been an incident that could require his expertise in the field of Gamma radiation."

"What kind of incident?" Logan asked.

"I'll debrief you all inside." Coulson promised. "All of you will want to hear this."

Everyone gathered in the Assembly Hall, Spidey having yanked his mask on despite still being in his street clothes, as Agent Coulson began his explanation.

"At 0900 today, there was a mass break-out at the Cube." he began. "It was initiated by Emil Blonsky, or the Abomination. However, the true mastermind was this man."

He brought up the S.H.I.E.L.D. data files, accessing the one on The Leader.

"Samuel Sterns, AKA The Leader." He declared.

"I hate him." Hulk grumbled.

"I just assumed you hate everyone." Tony quipped.

"Hey!" Rick let out.

"Present company excluded." Tony corrected.

"How dangerous is this 'Leader'?" Steve asked.

"He's about as smart as the Hulk is strong." Coulson explained. "If not more so."

"He believes that he's the pinnacle of evolution." Rick recalled. "Wants the entire world to 'share in his glorious gift'."

"Reminds me of someone I know." Logan growled.

"Well it seems he's found a way to make his dream a reality." Coulson continued, typing for a second before bringing up footage of the Cube and its surrounding dome. "He's created some sort of Gamma dome. Anyone caught inside the dome becomes this."

He hit another key, showing the irradiated guards and doctors roaming around the Cube.

"My god…" Wasp let out.

"They're like you were in the beginning." Rick commented, turning to Hulk. "Mindless monsters."

"Not all of them." Coulson corrected.

The screen changed, and a video chat opened up. It revealed a mutated Doc Samson, wearing fresh clothes that fit his new size.

"Agent Coulson." He greeted. "Please tell me you managed to get in contact with Dr. Banner."

"As a matter of fact." Coulson confirmed. "Well, a side of Dr. Banner at any rate."

Hulk and Rick moved into frame.

"Samson?" Hulk questioned. "That you?"

"It's me, big guy." Samson confirmed. "Think you could help us out with our little problem?"

"I can try." Hulk replied. "How bad is it?"

"It's worse than any of us initially thought." Samson explained. "The dome is expanding."

"Expanding?" Wasp repeated.

"How long until it hits civilization?" Cap asked.

"About eight hours." Coulson answered. "Not much time."

"I'll be waiting for you outside the site." Samson told them.

"Then let's get going." Cap declared.

Within a few minutes, the team was suited up and were en route to The Cube via S.H.I.E.L.D. shuttle. Cap turned to Hulk, curiosity piqued.

"In all the time I've known you, you've never shown any familiarity with anyone outside of Rick." he remarked. "Yet you seemed friendly with Dr. Samson."

"He never saw a monster." Hulk replied. "He wanted to help me. Help us all."

"He seems like a good man." Cap noted.

Hulk nodded.

"He approached me, asked me to let him help." He added. "One of the few I like. Even tried to keep Rick out of trouble."

"Samson's a swell guy." Rick agreed. "I'm just wondering how he ended up Hulking out without losing his mind."'

"My guess, natural immunity." Tony interjected.

Everyone turned to him.

"Well considering how much time he spent working with gamma based creatures," Tony explained. "His body began to absorb small bits of gamma radiation. The big blast did transform him, but his built-up immunity let him keep his sanity."

"In a weird way, that kinda makes sense." Spidey replied.

"The only problem is we have no such immunity." Hank pointed out. "How are we going to investigate the dome without losing ourselves?"

"Fortunately, we have something that might help." Coulson reassured.

He then walked over to a cabinet on the wall. Coulson then opened it up, revealing a number of grey suits with built in helmets.

"These enviro-suits have been retrofitted with Dr. Samson's gamma protection technology." Coulson described. "They should be able to protect us from the gamma dome."

"Should?" Tony repeated. "You mean these things haven't been tested?"

"We haven't exactly had time to do a thorough field test." Coulson replied. "This will have to do."

"Right." Tony replied, taking a part from one of the suits and linking it to his suit.

"Gamma protection activated." JARVIS reported.

The rest of the Avengers began suiting up, including Rick, much to Hank's confusion.

"Wait, why is he coming along?" he questioned.

"Rick has been exposed to Gamma radiation even longer than Dr. Samson." Tony explained. "Should this stuff fail, he may be the only one of us to retain his sanity. That, and do you really want to tell Hulk he can't bring his buddy anywhere?"

"Fair enough." Hank replied.

Coulson tried handing a suit to Thor, but he shoved it away.

"An Asgardian needs no such protection." Thor told him.

"Lucky." Wasp let out, looking at her butt in the suit. "This thing is not flattering at all."

"We'll worry about fashion later." Cap told her. "We have a job to do."

With that, the ship finally landed outside the perimeter of the dome. The Avengers and Coulson exited the shuttle and were greeted by Doc Samson.

"Good to see you again, Doc." Rick greeted.

"Same to you, Mr. Jones." He replied, giving him a slap on the back.

Rick stumbled forward, causing the Doc to wince.

"Sorry." he apologized. "I'm still getting used to my new strength."

"It's cool." Rick reassured.

"Nice to see you as well, Hulk." Samson greeted.

Hulk just smiled in response.

"I'm guessing the effects are permanent, since you're still Hulked out." Cap commented.

"So it seems, yes." Samson responded. "Though I was trapped within the dome for some time. Even with my strength, it took me awhile to break free and call for help."

"Well help has arrived." Cap replied. "So… shall we?"

Samson nodded as they made their way to the dome. As they walked up to the dome, the gamma energy slowly engulfed them. They paused just inside, then Spidey let out a breath.

"Oh thank God." he gasped. "I do not need another genetic mutation."

"Gamma armor seems to be holding." Iron Man reported. "For now anyway."

They continued walking towards the entrance of the Cube. As they did, everyone kept their guard up, knowing that there were gamma monsters all around them.

"Anyone else just waiting for something to jump out from behind somewhere?" Wasp asked.

As if on cue, the group heard something coming from the rocks. They all turned to see a rock like creature rising up from behind a small plane wreck. From the remnants of the uniform he was wearing, it was clearly one of the Cube's guards. He was joined by what looked like a grey version of the Hulk and a woman with wings and talons.

"These are some of the guards who tried to contain the break-in." Samson reported. "God only knows how many more there are."

"Let's focus on these for now." Cap told him before throwing his shield.

It bounced off the grey hulk as the other two charged forward. Iron Man and Wasp went up into the air to deal with the winged woman. The two tried blasting at it, but she kept swerving around the blasts. She then flew towards the two and slashed at Iron Man, causing him to fall to the ground.

The grey hulk then recovered and tried swinging at Cap. he quickly ducked under it as Panther leapt off his back and kicked him in the face. As the grey hulk stumbled, Cap leapt towards him and smacked him in the face with his shield. As the two heroes landed, the grey hulk dropped to the ground out cold.

The rock monster took several smacks at Thor before the Asgardian had enough and smacked him aside with his hammer. As the rock monster went flying, Hulk and Samson punched it in the face, completely knocking it out.

Iron Man slowly got up as the winged woman swooped towards him. Seeing her coming, Iron Man quickly uppercut her in the face, knocking her down. As she got back up, Spider-Man shot a web at one of her wings, keeping her from moving. As she turned towards him, Ant-Man ran along the web and clocked her across the face. The creature fell to the ground out cold as Ant-Man grew back to normal size.

"Well, that was something." Wasp let out.

"And I didn't get to fight anything." Logan lamented.

"Something tells me you're gonna get your chance before long." Cap told him.

"These creatures may share the Hulk's origin, but they are pale imitations of his true strength." Thor remarked.

"That's a good thing." Samson announced, examining the bird woman. "It seems that their transformations aren't permanent. If we can get them free of the dome, they should revert back to normal. Just cross your fingers they do not share my more permanent side-effects."

"If this was the welcoming committee, then you gotta wonder what's waiting for us on the inside." Spidey dreaded.

"Spider-Man speaks true." Black Panther concurred. "If the Leader is as intelligent as Agent Coulson described, then this is no doubt a trap. He would be prepared for S.H.I.E.L.D. at the very least, and the Hulk at the very most."

"You know, I keep forgetting you talk." Wasp quipped.

"Even if this is a trap, there are innocent people trapped inside." Thor reminded them. "We cannot abandon them to suffer such a cruel fate."

"Thor's right." Cap agreed. "We came here with a job to do, and we're gonna see it through."

"Right." Iron Man replied, looking at the Cube. "So, who wants to go into the gamma irradiated super villain prison first?"

Across the globe at the burnt out remains of the Red Room, Clint sifted through the charred rubble, trying to find anything that may have survived.

"Man, Yelena sure did a number on this place." Clint noted.

Having been here for almost an hour, he let out a curse and made his way back to his ride. He climbed into the spare quin-jet he'd 'borrowed', strapping himself into the cockpit.

"C'mon Nat, where are you?" he wondered.

Back at the Cube, the Avengers made their way deep into the prison. A fog of green covered the ground, making the already eerie place seem even more so.

"You picking up anything, kid?" Tony questioned.

"Nothing so far." Spidey reported.

"Stay sharp team." Cap ordered. "Who knows what's out there."

They made it a few more stepped before Spidey stopped cold.

"Uh guys?" he let out. "We got-"

Before he could finish, something yanked him back into the fog and out of sight of the team.

"Spider-Man!" Iron Man called out.

"Tony, where is he?" Cap asked.

"I can't tell." Iron Man replied. "The gamma radiation's messing with my scanners."

Something then batted both Hank and Wasp out of the air. Thor snapped around and was about to run towards them, only for a massive hand to come out of the fog and slam him to the ground.

"Ironclad." Rick recognized.

"The U-Foes." Hulk realized.

"Friends of yours?" Wolverine asked, extending his claws.

"Not hardly." Rick replied. "Don't feel the need to hold back."

"Fine by me!" Wolverine replied, charging towards Ironclad.

He leapt into the air and slashed at Ironclad's face, causing him to stumble back. Coulson began shooting at the creature, but was suddenly greeted by the face of a skull in a glass helmet looking down at him. He was then struck with hundreds of volts of electricity. Suddenly, Cap was lifted into the air by some kind of gas cloud. Part of the gas seeped its way into his suit before materializing into the shape of a woman.

"Hi soldier boy, give Vapor a kiss." she taunted.

Vapor then proceeded to kiss Cap full on the mouth, catching the soldier off guard.

"Get away from him!" Rick shouted.

He ran forward, literally rushing at Vapor and forcing her to disperse. The creature with the skull, dubbed X-Ray, moved towards Iron Man and tried to fry his armor. Hulk stormed towards X-Ray, only for some unseen force to knock him aside. Hulk looked up to see what looked like a man with a universe inside of him.

"Vector…" he snarled. "What are you all doing?"

"What do you think, monster?" Vector replied. "We're kicking your asses five ways to sunday."

Samson looked over towards Vector and took note of the device on his chest.

"That device…" Samson realized. "I created those to drain gamma energy."

"Apologies Doctor." Vector replied. "But the Leader has found a better use for them. Our strength is increased beyond anything you can imagine. And with it, we will-"

Vector was cut off by Black Panther leaping from behind and tackling him to the ground.

"You all talk too much." He remarked.

Thor finally recovered from Ironclad's attack and threw his hammer at X-Ray, knocking him back and releasing Iron Man from his grip.

"Thanks, Point Break." Tony replied before launching a wrist rocket at Ironclad.

Wolverine quickly moved out of the way as the missile hit him, knocking him out.

"You could have warned me." Wolverine chastised.

"Not like it would have mattered, Mr. Healing Factor." Tony joked.

"Doesn't mean I like getting blown up." Wolverine countered.

"Even with these devices increasing their strength, these U-Foes are little match for us." Thor announced. "The Leader will need to do better than this if he seeks to stop us."

"No." T'Challa realized. "The agents outside, the U-Foes, it is all a diversion."

"A diversion for what?" Ant-Man asked.

As if on cue, a massive surge of energy came out of nowhere and attacked Ant-Man and Wasp.

"What the hell?!" Wolverine let out.

Rick was sent flying as well, crumbling at the feet of the Hulk. All three of them were writhing in agony

"Rick!" Hulk exclaimed before getting blasted as well.

The source of the blasts then materialized, revealing himself to be Zzzax.

"Fools." he sneered. "We don't need to beat you to win."

Upon hearing the monsters taunts, Hulk looked up at Rick in horror.

"No..." he let out.

Rick's skin began to turn blue. His form began to grow in size as he tore through his suit. When it was over, he was only slightly shorter than hulk, and looked almost like Abomination. Hulk then went over and held his friend, who was groaning in pain.

"Rick!" Hulk let out. "You ok?"

"I… I think so." Rick replied before going wide eyed. "Ant-Man! Wasp!"

Iron Man watched Ant-Man and Wasp began to morph right before their eyes. Their limbs became insect like, their faces elongating until they began to resemble their namesakes. Finally, they stood up as the final remnants of their containment suits fell. They hissed before charging at the avengers, clearly having lost their sanity.

Before they could get too close, Rick sat up, clapping his hands together. The resulting shockwave sent bothof the irradiated heroes flying back. Rick lowered his hands, looking down at them for a moment.

"I see why you like that move, big guy." He announced, his voice deeper, but maintaining his usual lilt.

"You seem to be doing well." Iron Man noted.

"Yeah." Rick replied, flexing his fingers. "Though I was hoping I wouldn't end up looking like Abomination's baby brother. I mean seriously..."

"Yeah!" Spidey replied, dodging Zzzax's blasts. "You're the one with the problems here!"

"Right, big battle." Rick remembered. "Coming spidey!"

Rick ran towards Zzzax and slammed him aside. As Spidey landed though, the now mutated Wasp came out of nowhere and blasted him.

"Come on, Jan, it's me!" Spidey tried to reason. "It's Spider-Man! Remember!"

Jan didn't seem to understand, her pinchers clacking as her new insectoid hands powered up. Spider-Man then shot out some webbing at her, incasing her in a thick web cocoon. Seconds after he formed it though, Wasp tore her way out and flew right at him.

Across from them, Wolverine was squaring down the mutated Ant-Man. He hissed and clacked, shrinking down before delivering a sucker punch to Wolverine's jaw.

"I don't wanna fight you, Pym, but you're making me mad!" Wolverine cried out, slashing randomly.

His cries were met with another few micro punches, knocking him back and forth. Finally, Ant-Man grew back to full size and punched Wolverine into a wall. He just growled in response.

"If you weren't my friend…" Wolverine let out.

"They're not trying to beat us!" Cap reminded, throwing his shield at Ant-Man. "They just need to breach our gamma armor!"

"Then we need to strike at the source." Panther suggested. "Destroy the generator!"

"Gonna be hard with the electric boogaloo and his gamma groupies hounding at us." Spidey added, backflipping out of the way of Wasp.

"They don't have to be hounding at all of us." Coulson suggested, shooting at Zzzax.

"Coulson's right." Cap agreed. "T'Challa, take Thor, Hulk, Samson, and Rick to take down the generator. The rest of us will hold the line!"

T'Challa nodded, gesturing for the others to follow. They followed after him, disappearing deeper into the Cube. This left Spidey, Iron Man, Wolverine, Coulson, and Cap against everyone else.

"While I've never been one to note the odds." Spidey spoke up. "These don't seem very promising."

With the Red Room giving him nothing, Clint decided to follow up on some of Natasha's old contacts to see if she'd gotten into contact with them. His first stop was a russian bar off the edge of Moscow. He walked in, pulling down the hood of his thick coat and lowering a scarf. He walked up to the bar and took a seat.

"I'm looking for Yuri Sokolov." he told the barkeep.

The barkeep, a large man with a thick beard and piercing eyes glared at him.

"Who wants to know?" he questioned.

"We have a mutual friend." He answered. "Natasha Romanoff."

The barkeep paused his work, looking down at Clint.

"You… Clint Barton." the man surmised. "Natasha said you'd come."

"She's been here?" Clint realized. "When?"

"Two weeks ago." The man, who Clint was beginning to suspect was Yuri Sokolov, answered. "She came for ghost story."

"A ghost story?" Clint questioned.

"Da." Yuri replied. "Wanted information on man called Winter Soldier. Old myth from troubled times. No one know who he is, or was. She want to find this man. I tell her man is not real. She tell me, he is."

"The Winter Soldier…" Clint said just above a whisper. "I've heard the stories, but I thought that's all they were."

"I think same thing." Yuri replied, reaching into the pocket of his shirt and pulling out a photo. "Then Romanoff show me this."

He handed the photo to Clint. Clint took it and was surprised by what he saw. It was a black and white photo of a man. His face was obscured by both a full-face mask and long, brown hair. He was wearing all black, but his left arm seemed to reflect the light, as if it was made of metal.

"This can't be for real." Clint let out.

"I tell her that, she promise is real." Yuri continued. "Said must find this man. Say is important."

"She say where?" Clint asked.

"No, but she did say to give you message when you come." Yuri answered, pulling another piece of paper from his pocket.

Clint took the paper, seeing a simple note written in Natasha's handwriting.

"Tell the team I'll be away for awhile. Will be off grid until I return. Take care of everyone. -Natasha."

Clint lowered the note before turning back towards the door.

"Thanks, Yuri." Clint replied before getting up and heading out.

Hulk, Samson, Rick, Thor, and Panther continued to make their way down the corridor towards the generator. Hulk wasted no time punching down the doors, revealing not the leader, but the Wrecking Crew, decked out in similar tech to that of the U-Foes.

"Uh oh." Samson let out.

"These villains again." Thor lamented.

"You know these guys?" Rick asked.

"Aye." Thor confirmed. "And I promise you, they will not fall easy."

"Nice to see you too, goldilocks." Wrecker responded, slapping his crowbar against his palm. "Been lookin for some sweet payback after you had us locked up in here."

"And now, we got the power to take you down!" Piledriver declared, pounding his fists. "Let's take em down!"

Wrecker leapt out first and swung his crowbar at Thor, knocking him back. Hulk ran out and punched Bulldozer in the face, knocking him back a bit. After recovering, Bulldozer charged forward and rammed right into Hulk, knocking him into a wall. Thunderball spun his wrecking ball a bit before throwing it at Samson, slamming him into the ground and damaging his suit.

"Doc!" Rick shouted.

As the wrecking ball was pulled away, Samson slowly got up, his suit damaged but his physical form suffered no further mutations. He let out a quick sigh of relief, then tore away the rest of the suit before getting into a fighting stance.

"Guess I'm as Hulked out as I'm gonna get."

With that, Samson ran out towards Thunderball, who pulled his wrecking ball back before whipping it back towards him. Samson batted it aside, tackling Thunderball to the ground. Thor darted forward and clashed with Wrecker, bringing his hammer down on his crowbar.

"I thought you would have learned your lesson about crossing the Son of Odin after last time." Thor jested.

"That was before we were the ones with the power!" Wrecker replied before pulling his crowbar back, nailing Thor in the stomach, and smacking him across the face, sending him careening across the room. Rick meanwhile was in an all out slug match with Piledriver, and enjoying every minute of it.

"Y'know, I can understand why the big guy enjoys this so much!" He declared as he decked Piledriver across the face. "Smashing you guys is a lot of fun!"

"Funny, I was thinking the same thing." Piledriver remarked, smacking Rick across the face.

Rick rubbed his jaw as Piledriver chuckled.

"You may be bigger, but you're still useless without your big green bodyguard!"

Piledriver tried bringing his fists down, but Rick just caught them in his hands, much to Piledrivers surprise.

"I haven't survived this long with Hulk just because he protects me." Rick grinned. "You think he would have let me stay with him if I couldn't fight back?"

Rick then shoved the fists aside and clocked Piledriver straight in the jaw. While all this was going on. Panther climbed up to a platform close to the gamma generator. The sheer gamma radiation emanating from it was overclocking his suit. He could already feel the changes beginning, his limbs becoming longer and more feline. Feeling his time was short, he pulled out several vibranium daggers and threw them into the generator.

The daggers flew true, striking the generator at multiple critical points. The generator began sparking with electricity before it began overloading. Hulk, Rick, and Doc Samson saw this and immediately took cover. Seconds later, a large explosion ripped through the facility. The shockwave sent heroes and irradiated villains/heroes/victims flying back. The dome expanded only slightly more before dissipating completely.

With the dome gone, the afflicted heroes and guards began to return to their normal state. Their heads were groggy and their clothes torn, but they were human once more. In the generator room, Samson helped Thor back to his feet as Panther leapt down to join them.

"Was wondering where you went." Rick remarked as Hulk helped him up.

"I apologize for ducking out on you," Panther replied. "But I felt the only way to get close to the generator was when the Leader's forces were occupied. Are you all alright?"

"Well, I'm no longer tall, blue, and ugly, so that's a win." Rick commented. "Still, it was nice to actually be more than just the 'beast tamer', y'know?"

"Yeah." Hulk replied. "You were great back there."

"The Hulk speaks true." Thor agreed. "You fought with much valor, Rick Jones."

"Thanks guys." Rick replied.

Doc Samson looked around at the wrecked generator and the downed Wrecking Crew, shaking his head.

"Clean-up is gonna be one hell of a chore." he remarked.

Later on, more S.H.I.E.L.D. forces came to help with the clean up, check on the then transformed heroes and agents, and cart away the captured villains.

"Thanks for all your help, Avengers." Coulson told them, genuinely grateful. "This could have been a huge disaster if the dome had been allowed to spread."

"Saving lives is what we do, Agent Coulson." Cap replied. "I'm just glad we stopped it before things got worse."

"It's been an honor working with you." Coulson replied, shaking his hand. "I've always been a fan of your work. Embarrassed to say I even have a set of Captain America trading cards."

"Trading cards?" Cap let out, surprised.

"Vintage set," Coulson replied. "Took me a few years to collect them all."

While they were talking, Hank walked over to Jan to see how she was doing.

"You feeling alright?" He asked. "Any nausea? Headache?"

"No, I'm doing alright." Jan reassured. "Just a little embarrassed. It's bad enough I was turned into some bug monster, but my dress was ruined."

"Didn't you and Natasha stroll down fifth avenue in your underwear once?" Tony asked.

She turned beat red and punched Tony in the arm.

"That was different, and you swore to never bring that up again!"

"Sorry." Tony apologized. "On the bright side though, the tests show no residual radiation on either of you. Looks like the Leader's little science project was very tailor made."

"The Leader," Hank realized. "There was no sign of him inside."

"No." Tony admitted. "But at least we managed to stop his big plan."

"Did we…?" T'Challa asked to himself.

Not that far away, the Leader looked out at the remains of the Cube, smiling to himself.

"The fools." he remarked. "They don't even realize that my assault on the Cube was nothing but a test of my true intentions. And now that I know it works, it's time for the real game to begin!"

He then pulled out a remote and press a button, activating a tower in the town behind him. It glowed green before shooting a beam of energy into the sky. A wicked smirk graced the Leaders face as his plan began to unfold, knowing the Avengers were clueless for what came next.