About a week had passed since the successful assault on Hydra's Siberian base, and most everyone had been content with the attack. Barry Allen, however, had little time to celebrate. Ever since the attack, he had been feeling an…odd presence. Even with everyone he had encountered over his time as The Flash, he had no idea what this presence could be.
When walking to his apartment complex with a friend of his named Iris West, he felt the presence again. This time, it was stronger than ever. The street they were by was jammed pack with traffic due to a car accident not too far away. Barry didn't pay attention to that, though. He only paid attention to Iris. She was a brunette gal with sharp eyes of the same color, and she had a small nose and pink lipstick on. She was going on about the exposed corruption of the mayor…which she, an investigative journalist, had exposed to the world.
"I mean, it's a big breakthrough, Barry! I just…I just…some journalists never get to do a story this big in their entire lives, and now I myself have just done it in a few years. Shit, I'm bragging. I really shouldn't be bragging,"
Barry let out a somewhat forced-sounding chuckle, in an attempt to dissuade his own feelings of dread over this strange presence. "No worries, Iris. You did a very good thing. I don't believe you're that far off from a Pulitzer."
Iris let out an 'ooooh' in response. "I wouldn't go that far just yet, Barry." She then diverted her attention from Barry and looked up at the grocery store that they were walking by. "And I gotta say, Barry. The Flash, wherever he is, he's doing some damn fine work, both solo and as a Vanguardian. But sometimes, I think people need a reminder that not all heroes have to be super."
That, Barry agreed with, so he let out a chuckle and a smile. "I couldn't agree more, West. Anyone has the potential to be a hero, and people without powers should remember that more often."
"Indeed they should," Iris said, before the two reached Barry's apartment complex. Iris' face, which had previously displayed a smile, now exchanged that smile for a look of concern. "By the way, is everything alright? You seemed a bit…uncomfortable."
Barry had already anticipated that Iris would ask this, and had an excuse ready. "Just been feeling off. I may explain later. Got some dishes to wash an all."
"Erm…okay. Well, hope everything goes well. Have a good day, Barry."
"You too, Iris."
And with that, Iris walked away while Barry walked up the stairs to his apartment complex. He would've super sped up there, but he still felt that odd presence, and so he walked to see if he could detect it. It was hell for him. He felt like a snail. But he just wanted to be absolutely sure.
It was only a minute before he reached his door, and he unlocked it and stepped into his apartment. His apartment was nothing special – just some tan walls with a regular green sofa and a small 30-inch television standing atop a coffee table. He walked into his kitchen, and then…the feeling strengthened. It intensified greatly. This time, he felt as if there was actually someone in the room with him.
Then he looked at a picture he had hung up on the wall. It was of him as a 5-year old, with his parents, Henry and Nora Allen. Both were blonde haired, which only made it natural that Barry received that same hair color, but Henry was a bulky man in a gray suit with a blue tie while Nora had almost perfect symmetry with her face and was wearing a hot pink dress with some light pink around the ends. And Barry was in a suit like his father's, only he was wearing a red bowtie instead of a blue tie, and he had the biggest, goofiest smile known to man.
Barry smiled at that picture. But then he had to remember what happened. He woke up in the middle of the night and saw a sea of red lighting as a man circled around his mother. His father told him to run and, having no other choice, Barry ran. When he worked up the nerve to go back to the house, he found his father in handcuffs…and his mother lying there, in a pool of blood. In those few moments, Barry's world had been rocked. He thought his parents would always be there with him, but no. Life had other things planned. He never truly moved on, either. It was the reason he became a CSI, to prove his father's innocence. He was still in Iron Heights, and Barry still had to clear his name.
*Barry, thank you again for finding Megingord. I will definitely repay you* Thor said over his earcomm, making Barry jolt.
The CSI chuckled. *Don't mention it*
That smile quickly faded as Barry frowned. He initially hung his head in sheer sadness over the memory. Of the image of his dead mother in a pool of blood.
…But barely a few seconds later, his head jumped right back up.
This feeling….this presence….
He felt it one other time in his life. On that night. That night.
Barry knew exactly what this presence had been.
"Hello again, Barry," an almost demonic voice shouted from behind, and Barry turned around, and there he was. The Man in Yellow. He was vibrating, so Barry couldn't detect much from his appearance other than bits of black and red mixed in with the mostly-yellow look…and then there were the eyes. The eyes were a glowing blood red.
"It's been a while," the man said again.
Barry had so, so many questions. "Who are you?! How did you get in here?! Why did you come here?! What is your endgame?!" He said as he pointed angrily at the man.
"Come catch me, Barry. And then you will have all the answers you need."
And with that, the man in yellow sped out of the room. Barry had no choice but to get his Flash suit on at super speed and dash out of the apartment, chasing The Man in Yellow.
The Hulk decked the Absorbing Man hard enough to break the cement.
The Absorbing Man was a muscular man of average height, who had no a shiny bald head and pupiless white eyes. He wore no shirt, and had on muted purple pants and dark brown shoes. Hulk was in New York, with the Martian Manhunter, and there was no one else in the city at the time (Cap had gone to Metropolis for some event, Banner couldn't remember), and this so far seemed like a smaller villain that didn't call for the attention of the entire Vanguard, so Bruce and J'onn had taken it upon themselves to fight the Absorbing Man. They were currently in Central Park, and Absorbing Man had just destroyed some sidewalk
When the Absorbing Man got back up, he spat out a tooth and grinned back at the Hulk. There was one other detail about the Absorbing Man – his small wrecking ball, that could nevertheless cause a lot of damage. As a display of power, he smashed the Wrecking Ball onto the ground several times, just to display its power to the Hulk, who was unimpressed.
The Martian Manhunter, meanwhile, floated down to the ground, next to the Hulk.
"For some reason, I cannot access his mind…." The Manhunter said in a lamenting tone as he and the Hulk stared at the Absorbing Man,
"And do what, Green Jeans? Let you ruin the big surprise?!" The Absorbing Man said in a taunting tone.
There was something….familiar about this man to the Hulk. In his current state as, well, the Hulk, he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something was ungodly familiar about this man. And when he thought about it, Hulk felt this odd and unspeakable rage. Rage unlike anything the Vanguard or the world had seen from him. Hell, unlike anything he had seen from himself up until this point. With what little self-control he had left, the Hulk tried to bury down this rage, and it only physically manifested itself in the form of his blood veins popping out a bit more than usual.
The Absorbing Man tried to swing his wrecking ball towards the Martian Manhunter, but the green alien phased through it and decked his balding foe right in the face. The Hulk, however, just stood there, trying to figure out what the hell was so familiar about this man.
By this point, it had seemed like this foe was only capable of swinging a wrecking ball around. Which meant that the Manhunter was in for a surprise when the Absorbing Man touched the cement ground and then turned into cement himself, which made the Martian's pupiless red eyes widen with confusion. The Absorbing Man was not frozen in place, however, and uppercutted the Martian Manhunter right in the face, with the latter having been too confused to think of phasing through. And with his body now turned to cement, that blow landed harder than it would've before.
The Hulk, however, saw an opportunity. With his super strength, he could smash the Absorbing Man to pieces, and he intended to at least smash his legs off, immobilizing him. But when the Hulk roared and charged towards the Aborbing Man, the latter jumped up in the air and interlaced his fists together, raising them up and then, as he was about to land on the ground, he lowered them down to the back of the Hulk's head.
Hulk's head smashed into the cement ground below. At this point, the Martian Manhunter had shape shifted into a monster not unlike the Hulk, though he made himself red in order to make for some distinguishing. The Absorbing Man responded by touching a metal street pole and absorbing its power and kicked the Manhunter right in his red shin, then grabbed him by the head and slammed said head into the very street pole he had just absorbed energy from.
"I'm very disappointed in you, Robert Bruce Banner," the Absorbing Man said in a taunting tone. "Aren't you supposed to be a smart man.
Even in his Hulk mode, Banner found that odd that the Absorbing Man called him by his full name like that. The thing was that everyone always assumed Bruce was simply a nickname for the doctor, with his first name being Robert and subsequently, few realizing he was actually going by a middle name basis. And the way he said it…Banner had heard that specific tone before in his life…
"No. It can't be." Hulk silently scoffed to himself.
Unfortunately for him, the Absorbing Man happened to overhear his statement, and grinned in response.
"Now you're figuring out."
"NO! HULK REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT! HULK! REFUSE!"
"It's me…son."
The Martian Manhunter's eyes widened at this, for he had an idea of what was about to go down.
And now the Hulk was letting out a snarl. A snarl that showed the people around them that they were now but defenseless and weak on the path of an angry giant with the strength of a god, and that there would be a dear price to pay if they did not run away. But some of the bystanders did not take this hint. Instead, they just stared on at the fight – and at the Hulk, whose rage was beginning to grow.
The Hulk smashed the cement ground with more strength than he had exerted before, enough to send chunks of cement miles away. And it was only inevitable that people would be struck by these pieces of cement. In Central Park in particular, a young man in his mid-20s, with red hair and shades, was hit right in the stomach by one, and an elderly woman by the Central Park was struck in the leg by one, and a bearded brown-haired and brown-eyed man was hit right in the head with one. A young boy near the Metropolitan Museum of Art, looking to be no older than 8, was almost crushed to death by a particularly gigantic piece of cement, only for a woman who looked to be her mother coming along and pulling him right out of the way…but then the boy was forced to step back when another piece of cement struck her right in the throat, sending her down to the ground. And finally, there was a man with black hair and grey at the temples who was hit right in the chest by a piece of cement, sending him straight into the Central Park lake in his turbulent state.
Hulk did not seem to realize any of the damage and suffering that he was causing. He only roared in sheer anger.
"You were always a freak, son. Though I can't believe I underestimated how much of a freak you are," his father, Brian Banner, said with a smirk.
The Hulk looked at his dad and let out another deafening roar, one that could probably have been heard all across the city, and he tried to attack Brian. Brian dodged, but the Hulk was too angry to stop punching, and by the time he was done, there was a massive hole in the grass.
"Bruce, you must stop!" The Martian Manhunter urged and pleaded for the Hulk as he tried to get inside the beast's mind to force Bruce out. But there was no point. And what the Hulk did in response was to grab the Martian Manhunter and throw him up in the air, and out of Central Park.
A minute or so later, the Martian had the bad luck to land right by a gas station, and the impact of his landing towards one of their pumps resulted in an explosion. An explosion that left him burning alive. He roared in agony as he was engulfed in flames. J'onn's one weakness happened to be fire, and now it was consuming him. His skin was beginning to burn, as shown by the darkening of his green skin, and his eyes were as wide as dinner plates. He could not fly away, or phase out, or do anything. All he could do was scream. And scream he did. All bystanders could do was run, and the Martian Manhunter just sat there, helplessly roaring in agony.
Martian Manhunter placed his hands down on the ground. *Vanguardians, we have a Code... Black! I repeat, a Code Black! Something has g-gone horribly wrong with the Hulk! Man...hattan...AARRRRRRGGGGH*
'Shit!' Barry thought to himself when he got the transmission from the Manhunter, which he was forced to ignore at the moment due to chasing his fellow speedster all across Central City.
Code Black was the code that meant that there was now a situation that called for all Vanguardians to try and intervene; if they absolutely didn't have time, such as due to maybe getting caught up in an intergalactic war in the case of Hal Jordan, then that was that; otherwise, Code Black meant as many Vanguardians had to come in and alleviate the crisis at hand as possible. And something going wrong with the Hulk? What on Earth could that entail?
Barry thought about it as sweat began to drip down from his forehead due to trying to keep up with this man in yellow, but he wasn't sure what the endgame was here. And an evil man will full access to the Speed Force, the dimension that granted Barry, Jay, Quicksilver, and the late Whizzer and Reverse-Flash their powers, had the potential to cause untold havoc.
Wait….Reverse-Flash….Barry began to think about Eduard Clariss, the man who had taken the mantle of Reverse-Flash under Hydra in World War II. Was this new speedster anything like him? Perhaps inspired him?
Barry was forced to stop thinking about that when the Reverse-Flash stopped at the First National Bank and grabbed ahold of a young auburn-haired lady in a black dress, looking to be about sixteen to eighteen.
The Flash realized exactly what was about to happen, and he picked up the pace to save the lady…but at the last nanosecond, he was too late. A snapping sound roared through his eardrums, and he stopped his tracks as the lady fell dead on the ground, her neck broken.
Even with his form vibrating as it was, the man in yellow had a clear grin, one that hammered it into Barry that an innocent lady that had just died because he wasn't good enough.
In Barry's state of shock, he almost didn't notice when the man snapped the neck of a bearded Arabian man wearing a black suit with a green tie, and then the neck of a sapphire-eyed and clean-shaven man in a simple red hoodie and jeans, and he stared with wide eyes as they both fell dead to the ground. This was enough to snap Barry out of his trance, and he super sped back towards the other speedster, who was beginning to get away.
No one else would die by the hands of this man. Barry wouldn't allow it. That sentiment only increased when he noticed that his opponent was heading towards a Central City Public Schools bus a few miles away.
'NO! NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO!'
As he internally screamed at himself, Barry was running at speeds he didn't realize were possible; the sweat pouring down his head was no longer due to just the stress. He was getting a little exhausted. But as they neared the school bus, the opposite speedster motioned his hand in a way that wind funnels were now charging towards Barry's direction, and he was sent flying back as the red-eyed foe went into the school bus.
The school bus had already began driving when the Flash and his enemy got there, but by the time Barry was able to get up, it was beginning to slow down, and it was spiraling out of control before crashing into the entrance to a Big Belly Burger restaurant.
The Flash just stood there, horrified. Barry couldn't believe it. An entire school plus worth's of dead children (and the poor bus drive who also had to met its end). He just kneeled to the ground, tears about to form from his eyes.
"Oh, get a grip," the opposite speedster said in a jeering tone as he sped towards Barry and kicked him right in the stomach. "They were only eighth graders. Or maybe seventh. Didn't care enough to try and tell."
Barry began trying to punch the other one at super speed, but the other dodged his punches every time. Then the other speedster began to punch him, and his angered and emotional state left Barry unable to dodge any of them. The other speedster was whailing on him, and then when cops arrived at the scene a minute later, the other speedster zoomed away, and Barry didn't even have the energy to stop him from breaking all five of their necks, before moving on to punch Barry in stomach, uppercut him in the chin, and then kick him in the shin.
"You could say I am the….reverse of you, Barry Allen," The speedster said. "And I am better than you in every way. Never forget that."
So this guy really was another Reverse-Flash. Barry merely groaned as the Reverse-Flash decked him in the face, sending him to the ground. The man in yellow looked at him, another grin on his face as he prepared the KO blow…only for another speedster to come in and punch the Reverse-Flash right in the face. Barry looked up, and saw that it was Jay Garrick.
Jay Garrick had a stone cold look on his face as he first punched the enemy speedster in the face, then kicked him right in the shin. The Reverse-Flash punched him in the stomach in turn, and then in the face, but when he tried to deliver a third blow, Jay caught it and knee'd the other speedster in the stomach and uppercutted him in the face, then elbowed his chest and kickedhim right in the knee. The Reverse-Flash managed to get one more punch in the face towards Jay before the latter did the same thing to him four times in a row, before taking off his helmet and beating into it to send vibrational waves towards the other man. At this point, the Reverse-Flash growled and super sped away.
Jay zoomed after him, and Barry was just left sitting there, trying to get up as more cops showed up around the Big Belly Burger.
A minute later, Jay come back. "He got away, kid. No idea where he went. ….You alright?"
No. Barry was not alright. He had a thousand yard stare on his face. He couldn't believe any of this.
Meanwhile, a small chunk of Manhattan laid in ruin as the Hulk continued to angrily pursue his father Brian. Brian just smirked as he absorbed the metal of a skyscraper and used his newfound strength to pick up a sedan that had a mother and her two kids in it and threw it at the Hulk.
The Hulk, in his rage, did not seem to realize that there were three innocent people in the car, and he was about to smash it up into bits. Right as he did, however, a red and blue zoom came through and grabbed the family out of the car before he smashed it. It was Superman, and he was in no mood for games.
"Hulk! You need to calm down!" Superman pleaded.
"And this would be my cue to go…all according to plan…" Brian whispered to himself as the Hulk's attention was now on the Man of Steel.
The Absorbing Man fled the scene as Hulk leaned up and let out a roar that shattered many glass windows.
"Hulk, please –"
But Hulk grabbed Superman by his leg and began smashing him into a old green sedan six times. Superman broke free of the Hulk's grip and punched him in the stomach, then heat-visioned his chest, but the Hulk raised his arm up and bashed it down towards Superman, sending him miles upon miles down in the Earth.
Meanwhile, Thor, by a order given to him by Superman before the latter went to confront the Hulk, levitated down towards the Martian Manhunter, who was roaring in agony over the engulfing flames. Thor swung his hammer around until it attained enough wind speed, and then he pointed his hammer towards the Martian. The hammer helped the flames cool away, and the Martian Manhunter just sat there, breathing heavily. He now looked like a burnt crisp.
"Do not worry, J'onn," Thor assured the Martian. "You'll get the aid you so desperately need in just a few minutes."
With that, Thor flew away from the Manhunter and towards the Hulk. Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Black Panther, Zatanna, Batman, Captain America, and Hank had all arrived on the scene by now, and were trying to deal with the Hulk any way they could.
Aquaman stabbed the Hulk right in the leg with his trident while the Black Panther clawed at him in the back with his vibranium hands. Wonder Woman slashed him repeatedly in the chest with her sword, and even Cap was forced to stab the Hulk in his other leg with his shield. Zatanna made multiple copies of herself, about twenty five, and all of them unleashed a purple elasatic band of energy towards the Hulk, tying him down while a twenty sixth copy of Zatanna created a green firey hammer and bashed the Hulk right in the head with it. At this point, Hank had summoned about two to three million ants to consume the Hulk's entire body.
Superman flew back up into the entire, and saw what all was going on. "Good work, everybody. He should be calmed down in a minute or so."
Superman realized a second later that he should not have said that, for the Hulk let out a horrible roar as he broke free from both Zatanna's bands and Hank's ants. The clouds began to darken as Thor summoned up a lightning bolt and struck the Hulk right with it. At this point, the remaining four Vanguardians (Hal, Iron Man, Carol, and Wasp) all flew into the scene, and all of them let out perpetual blasts against the Hulk. Superman joined in with his heat vision, and the Hulk could barely stand against all five blasts.
Or so it seemed at first. The Hulk began slowly walking towards Iron Man, and everyone began intensifying their blasts, but it wasn't enough. Hulk grabbed Iron Man and threw him towards Hal, and the speed at which he did this meant that neither had time to cease their blasting until it was too late. Both their blasts went towards the One57 building. Then, when the Hulk saw two construction trucks, he threw them towards the building, against Hal and Iron Man. There was now a giant hole in the side of the One57 - and it began to collapse.
The One57 building began to fall on its side, and this would bring an untold amount of devastation that would surpass even 9/11. Hal looked up in horror and tried to get the building to stop falling by consuming it with green energy. He managed to do this, but it was clearly taking a lot out of him, for he was sweating like he had just done three marathons without a single break.
Iron Man, Superman, Zatanna, and Carol all flew towards the One57 to make sure everyone was alright. Wonder Woman was going to do the same, but Hulk grabbed her leg and smashed her into Thor, before grabbing both and throwing them both into the stratosphere. He then grabbed a car, one that had a man looking to be in his early thirties and a man in his late fifties, and threw it towards Cap, who had no idea what to do. Hank was forced to grow up to twelve feet tall to try and catch the car while it remained in motion.
The Hulk let out another roar that could be heard throughout all of New York City, and his attention was turned to a kid who had been injured in the rampage. This kid was strawberry blonde and had green eyes, green eyes that were filled with tears. He screamed in fear, but he was unable to get up due to his leg. The Hulk let out another roar, and the kid began to cry even more.
Then a few grenade-like objects came right by the Hulk. Batman swopped in and grabbed the child out of the way while yellow began to come out of the objects, which made the Hulk cough.
Once the child was out of the way, Batman walked up towards the Hulk, who now kneeled down as he began to cough. The Vanguardians not handling the One57 situation all just looked.
"What is this weapon?" Black Panther asked.
"Anti-Gamma Grenades," Batman answered. "Designed specifically to counteract gamma energy, which is where the Hulk derives his powers from."
"You could have used them sooner."
"I wanted to wait until we had no other options left."
Hulk let out a weak sigh, and he had now collapsed onto the ground, but he was still conscious. Aquaman and Black Panther walked up to him, and Aquaman bashed the Hulk's head with his trident.
"Just a precaution," the Atlantean king said. To that, Black Panther kicked the back of Hulk's head as another precaution, and it seemed as if the green menace had finally been taken care of.
The bystanders left just looked in horror, and began murmuring amongst themselves. By now, everyone in the One57 building had been evacuated, and Hal was still trying to prevent the building itself from falling down, with aid from those who had evacuated the building.
Many of the Vanguardians looked down at the ground solemnly.