The Vanguard was battling Hydra underground once more, and Giganta decked Hank hard in the face. Very, very hard.
Hank had not exactly tested out the 'gigantic growth' aspect of his Pym Particles, which were the things that gave him the ability to change size. He had been used to shrinking down to become 'Ant-Man'. And now, he was….well, he wasn't entirely sure. The first thing that had popped up in his head was the codename 'Giant Man', but he remembered Jan laughing that name off; and it was one of the few times he would admit to her being right. He figured that the name 'Goliath' was more suitable and creative. Yeah, Goliath. It had a nice ring to it.
Problem was, now was the time to be thinking about codenames. Now was the time to put a stop to HYDRA yet again. And for Pym, there was also the added part of figuring out how this 'Giganta' managed to steal his Pym Particles.
He tried to get up in his gigantic form, but Giganta stomped on his back before he could do so.
"Dr. Pym, I wanna give you credit. This is an amazing formula you came up with!"
Hank did not want a compliment from her.. He really did not. Instead, he just wanted to know where the hell she got some of his research.
She began to slam his head repeatedly into the ground. Hank's pain increased each time she did so; the helmet he was wearing began to crack a little, and if she bashed his head in one more time, the thing would probably shatter. "I will do more with your work than you ever could!" Giganta shouted as she prepared herself.
But just before she could land that helmet-shattering blow, the Hulk jumped up high into the air and landed a blow right to Giganta's stomach, which caused the giant woman to stumble across on the ground, giving Hank time to get up.
For all her apparent brilliance, Giganta made the mistake of letting her hair run a little long. Hank decided to exploit this flaw, grabbing her hair and yanking it as hard as he possibly could. She yelled in agony, but Hank ignored her scream and threw her down to the ground.
As she groaned, Hank gritted his teeth. "Alright, here's what's going to happen, Doris. You are going to tell me exactly how you managed to replicate my formula, and you are going to do it right now!"
But before she could even respond, the 'Abomination' roared and lunged towards Hank with enough force to send him toppling down to the ground.
Wasp, who had been occupied with fighting some of the Hydra agents, darted over to her boyfriend, a look of concern painted onto her face. "Hank, honey, are you alright?"
Hank placed his hand on his head. "Yeah, yeah, Jan, I'm alright."
A Hydra agent blasted towards Wasp, and she could no longer focus on 'Goliath'. She had to fight for herself, too.
Martian Manhunter, Captain America, and Zatanna all duked it out against the Hydra agents as well. Cap swung his shield around, and it bounced onto several walls, striking several of the agents in the backs and knocking them all out. Martian Manhunter was constantly being shot at by agents who hoped to catch him in a moment where he wasn't phasing…but that just wasn't happening. The Martian Manhunter then shapeshifted into a reptilitan-like creature and began bashing the agents around the walls. And finally, Zatanna used her wand to turn a couple of the agents into bunnies, and he smirked at the sight.
'Pathetic' Hank thought to himself as he watched his teammates mow down the Hydra agents.
"Hank, a little help here!" Wasp then said as she was blasting at the Hydra agents.
"Not now, Jan! I still need answers from Doris!"
But just as he said that, a Hydra agent was able to catch the tiny Wasp in his hand. He then began to squeeze his hand, and he could practically feel the sensation of Wasp's bones about to crack. He thought he could see movement in the man's hand, as if Wasp was trying to grow in an attempt to break free, but failing due to the pressure tha man was giving.
"Let go of her right now!" He said as he kicked the agent once, and due to his mass size, it was enough to send the Hydra soldier flying.
Wasp fell out of the agent's hand when he was sent flying, and Hank kneeled down to look at his unconscious girlfriend, unsure of how many bones could be broken at the moment.
"Jan, no…"
Zatanna also stopped fighting for a moment when she saw Wasp's unconscious body. Her eyes widened, and this moment of vulnerability was seized upon when a Hydra agent shot her right in the kneecap. While she would just be able to heal it up with a spell, she didn't have time to apply that spell the agent shot her again, this time in the back. The agent tried to shoot Zatanna one more time, but her bullets ran out. She merely ran up to Zatanna and began stomping upon her face, and another agent noticed this and began to aim his gun towards Zatanna's head.
However, Cap bashed the agent with his shield before that could happen…only for the Captain to then be grabbed by his leg by Abomination, who threw him against the wall.
"Hulk smash inferior fake!" Hulk shouted out as he lunged towards the Abomination.
"Well, hey now, Dr. Banner. At least I can speak proper sentences." The Abomination replied with a rather smug tone.
Cap tried to get back up, but Abomination grabbed him again and smashed him into the ground before throwing him towards the Hulk.
Giganta, meanwhile, got back up and kicked Hank right in the gonads.
"That is a cheap shot, you know!" Abomination said.
Giganta smirked. "Oh, I know it is. But I don't care."
She then took a look at the Hydra agents fighting the Martian Manhunter, who was staring down at Wasp's unconscious body, and her smirk turned into a scowl. "Good thing the Martian's weakness is easy to exploit…"
It was just then that a Pyro agent – this wore a gas mask and had a flamethrower attached to his backs – finished slamming Cap's head into a wall and began marching towards the Martian Manhunter. J'onn had no time to react before the agent made his move.
The pyro agent began blasting fire into the air, and the regular Hydra agents began to back away while the Martian Manhunter was lowered to the ground, and he began to stare at the fire with a look of pure horror on his face, his mouth agape and his eyes as big as dinner plates. A Hydra agent randomly shot at the Manhunter, and it struck him right in the stomach, causing J'onn to roar in pain. That specific agent began to grin, while the Pyro agent looked down at J'onn, aiming his flamethrower.
The only reason the Pyro agent did not finish off the Manhunter right then and there was because Cap intervened just in time, grabbing his arm and twisting it until a snapping sound could be heard. The Pyro agent roared in agony, and Cap had saved his teammate from death – though that didn't change the fact that the Manhunter needed aid right now. Unfortunately, Cap could not give that aid to the Manhunter, for one Hydra agent shot at him and grazed his shoulder while another one shot him right in the leg. Cap groaned and closed his eyes as he struggled to move his leg.
The Hulk, meanwhile…was getting smashed.
"Oh, look at you, Hulk," Abomination said in a taunting tone. "Relying on your Vanguard to protect you. You think you're the strongest there is, yet you hide behind the likes of Superman and Captain America."
Abomination then punched Hulk in the stomach three times before grabbing him by his head and slamming him into a wall.
"Because you know what the military would do to you without the Vanguard. What dear old Thunderbolt Ross would do."
"Shut up, inferior fake!" Hulk screamed as he broke free of Abomination's grip.
Abomination grinned. "Fake? You really have an ego, don'tcha, Hulk? How ironic, given what a neurotic mess I hear Bruce Banner is."
"You talk too much!" Hulk said as he tried to deck Abomination right in the face, only for the big-eared monster to dodge it with a smirk on his face.
"Because honestly, Hulk….you're not enough of a challenge."
And with that, Abomination began to pummel the Hulk. Hulk tried to hit back several times, but he could never quite strike Emil Blonsky. Abomination, on the other hand, had no trouble kicking the Hulk around. He was able to land a mighty kick to the Hulk's chin, which almost knocked him out; the Hulk was rather lucky. Such a blow would've been enough to kill a normal man right away.
Wasp was still unconscious, and Zatanna had to stand around her shrunken body and defend her against a Hydra agent who tried to step on her. Zatanna had used her wand to heal her leg because of Goliath taking care of some of the agents that had surrounded them, but there was still a great deal of them left to deal with. Things were not made easier for her when Giganta grabbed her up and held her tightly with a grin on her face.
"I saw one of your shows once, Zatanna. Not bad at all. But still, I have a job to do."
Zatanna didn't let her size disadvantage get to her. Hell, she hardly considered it a disadvantage given her magical abilities…until, that is, Giganta grabbed her wand with her giant fingers and threw it down to the ground. Hank was kneeling on the ground, holding his injured knee, and everyone else was occupied, so there was no one to help her when Giganta consumed Zatanna into a fist – and began to squeeze her hand.
Zatanna could feel her bones begin to crush. While she did have the innate ability to use magic without her wand, it had always been a convenient way for her to channel it. Without it, it was harder for her to use magic. And that meant there was no easy way for her to escape Giganta's fist.
Thankfully for her, Hank got up and headbutted the back of Giganta's head, causing her in yelp and drop Zatanna in her moment of surprise. Hank caught Zatanna before she fell to the ground, and he placed her onto the floor safely.
"I've had enough of this!" Hank shouted as he grabbed Giganta by her hair again. "You're gonna tell me exactly how you copied my formula after all of this is said and done!"
He began to knock here around. He kicked her, and punched her, and then grabbed her shoulder and kneed her in the stomach. Zatanna saw a good with this and used her wand to cast a spell upon Giganta.
"Erotser reh ot lamron ezis!"
A few pixels and lights glowed around Giganta as she was shrunken down to her normal size. Even then, she was still a whopping 11 inches taller than Zatanna, but she was no longer a threat to Hank. Instead, she looked agape before looking down at Zatanna and gritting her teeth.
But then, the Hulk's unconscious body flew across the room, and the Abomination jumped down right behind Zatanna. He had a gigantic steel bar in his hands, and he jumped up towards Hank and used it to stab him right in the kneecap. Hank yelled in pain.
"Who stabs someone in the kneecap, you bastard?!" Hank shouted. "You are going to die for this! You hear me! You! Will! DI –"
But then Abomination punched him in the face again, and then slammed his body onto the ground, knocking him out cold. He then began to deck Zatanna at such speeds that she could not react and use magic in time. She became completely disoriented, and Abomination turned his attention to Giganta.
"Hydra has gotten the necessary resources, Dorris! We should go, now! The remaining agents will take care of Cap, and Krieger can't afford to lose any more metahumans right now."
Giganta nodded, and Abomination grabbed her and began jumping and running away. By this point, Cap was the only left fighting against the Hydra agents, and he was hoplessly outmatched. He could not fight them all off. Even as several of them began to run away from the fight alongside Abomination and Giganta, they still outnumbered Cap in numbers.
But it wasn't that way for much longer. Zatanna reoriented herself. She couldn't keep doing this. She couldn't keep fighting on – she had to pull out a big spell. She only reserved spells like these for desperate situations because they drained most of her energy…but this was a desperate situation.
"Lla ardyH stnega, espalloc won!"
Pixels and particles spread out across the underground area, and before Cap knew it, every Hydra agent fell unconscious to the ground. Zatanna groaned before falling over unconscious to the ground as well, leaving Cap as the only Vanguardian, and the only person in general, left conscious in the area.
All he could do was sigh, knowing that the Vanguard had lost this battle.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
There was silence at the Vanguard roundtable. Every member was here, sans Wasp, Hank, and J'onn who were in the medical room.
Iron Man broke the silence and stood up. "How on Earth did happen, guys? You had J'onn and the Hulk on your team? How did Hydra get away?"
"We've been over this, Stark," Zatanna replied in a cold and frustrated tone. "They had a pyro agent there as well as the 'Abomination'. They've clearly been preparing themselves for the powerhouses on our team."
Iron Man took his faceplate off, revealing a flabbergasted Tony Stark. "But still, the rest of you should've been able to –"
"Stark!" Superman stated towards Iron Man, who paused right away. "I'll handle this."
Iron Man let out a 'hmm' and sat back down. Superman made eye contact with Banner. "What happened is no doubt disappointing for us all, but don't focus on beating yourselves up over it. Let's just focus on making sure Hydra doesn't claim another victory."
"If I may ask," Barry then said, "What was it that Hydra was trying to steal from Mercury Labs?"
Batman would be the one to answer that. "It turns out that a couple Mercury Labs scientists were not morally sound. They had recently perfected technology that could be used to forcibly make others do one's bidding. This is what Hydra was after, and now they have brainwashing technology."
Hank got up. "Excuse me for a moment. I just…I just can't."
Hank walked out of the room, and Zatanna also excused herself to follow him.
They simply walked across the Vanguard Tower, not saying a word to each other, until they reached the medical room. Cap and Zatanna saw the room through its massive windows, and it was a pure white room with enough medical beds for the entire team, plus a few spare ones. They saw Wasp and J'onn still not waking up, and Hank was there, returned to normal size."
Hank just stared. "How did this happen? How did this happen? We let Hydra win."
Zatanna sighed. "It sucks, I know. But it's like Superman said, Hank. We just gotta focus on making sure it doesn't happen again."
"But they still got that tech…"
Hank buried his face in his hand and placed his other hand against the wall. Superman was standing behind the two, a look of his pity on his face. He knew how this happened: He didn't come to Janet's help when she needed it, allowing her to get knocked out. That distracted Zatanna and J'onn, which Hydra exploited to take them down. In a weird way, this was on him, and he knew it.
It would be hard for everyone to let go of this, but Hank thought about Wasp being knocked out cold, and he sighed.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
A hooded man was sitting at a bar in New York; the lights were bright, the sky was dark, and a large party was chatting loudly and obnoxiously, but he head a beer to himself.
On one of the TVs came footage of the Vanguard of Justice, including the Hulk. The man did not pay any attention to the other Vanguardians - just the Hulk. He drank a Corona Lite as the news reporters began discussing the Hulk and how the Vanguard had him as a member to protect him from people like General Thunderbolt Ross. He pulled down his hood to reveal a gray-haired, mustached man, and he smirked at the image of the Hulk.
"Bruce, you're an even bigger freak than I ever thought you'd turn out to be," he said, before telling the bartender that he would like his check for the beer.
He signed the check, giving a poor tip as he did so, and walked out. He ignored everyone else in the bar, instead staring at the wooden walls of the bar.
The man walked out of the bar, the Hulk consuming his mind.
"Oh, son," he thought to himself. "You think the Vanguard can protect you? That I'll be out of your life forever. Just wait until you see the power I have just acquired, Bruce. Wait until you get a load of me."
And he smirked.