Polarity

by Chris Myers

When a Romero-style zombie outbreak hits, three supervillains, led by a long time loser, find themselves doing whatever it takes to save themselves, and eventually, the rest of humanity.

27. Anger Rising

"Have you been bit, Herman?"

I didn't want to know what would have happened to me if I had answered in the affirmative. I mean, the guy hadn't threatened me, hadn't raised his voice, but...it's Thor. The freakin' God of Thunder. Founding member of the Avengers. Silver helmet, dark blue armor, and long red cloak. He could casually slap me on the back and knock me into the next area code, and he's asking me if I'm ok.

"I'm...I'm fine. I'm not bit. Well, I'm not fine, but no, I'm not bit."

"Are you sure? You look like you have been through the Conquering Wyrm this evening," the god...the GOD...responded with concern.

"It's...it's been a rough day." What else could I say? "But I'm ok. Nothing that a hot bath and a cold beer couldn't fix. Several cold beers, actually..."

A lame joke, but it actually got a chuckle from the FREAKIN' GOD OF THUNDER!

Last time, I promise.

"Bravado is well and good, Herman. But false bravado serves nothing. Grab the first aid kit from beside you, and let us adjourn to a nearby rooftop to treat your injuries."

I could have protested. I mean, honestly, it was bad, but a couple of minutes to my warehouse in non-existent New York traffic and I could take care of things. But...you don't turn down a request from a guy like Thor. A superhero. An Avenger. And a guy who really doesn't take crap from anyone.

I hadn't even noticed the first aid kit on the passenger seat, the kind you'd have in the trunk of your car in case of an emergency. Tucking it under my good arm, I made my way out of the Hummer with Thor's assistance. In one hand, he held a massive hammer. I had seen it on TV before, but getting a good look at Mjolnir, up close and personal...stained wood, wicked looking stone on the top. It easily put the Wrecker's crowbar to shame. His other arm gently took me around the waist. We left the ground as he lifted the hammer into the air. As opposed to the terror I felt when Spider-Man had be webbed and flung over his shoulder the other night, I felt at ease as we flew through the air towards the roof of one of NYU's buildings. After cresting the lip and not seeing any zombies stumbling about on the flat surface, we landed, gravel crunching underneath our feet. I let out a relieved sigh. For the first time that night, there wasn't a ghoul out there actively trying to lunch on me or a supervillain or psychotic vigilante gunning for my blood. It took a few more seconds for me to realize something just as important. I was standing next to one of the few people on the planet who was known worldwide as a hero, someone who, a few days ago, would have made me pee my pants if he landed on the same city block as me. I mean, Spider-Man, I've gone toe-to-toe with him, and I hated him more than I feared him. This guy, though, who could probably put a pick-up truck into orbit...hell, who had just put Frank Castle into orbit...no apprehension. No fear. Maybe a bit of starstruckness. Either I had gotten a bit...I think the French word is 'blasie'...about the whole superhero thing, or I was just that beat down and tired that even if the Skrulls had landed on the rooftop, my response would have been a resigned chuckle and nothing more.

"Look after yourself, Herman. I shall keep watch." He held Mjlornir in one hand as I popped open the first-aid kit. Ok, good...a thick roll of gauze bandages. The brown kind. And aspirin. I grimaced at the acidic taste of the Bayer as I crunched four of the tablets in my mouth before dry swallowing the powder. Burn gel next, in this case a tube of antiseptic. Oh, this was gonna hurt. Thor just watched as I popped one of my gauntlets off, just letting it drop down to the roof as I used my teeth to pull one of my gloves off. It was a bitch due to still being slightly waterlogged, but I needed bare fingers. I slathered the gel on my fingers, squeezing the tube from the end. After a deep breath, I started to smear it on my chest. They had just started to seal up, a thin crust of blood and skin covering the wounds, but I had to crack them open to work the gel in. Later on, in the comfort of my own warehouse and under the influence of a lot of painkillers, I'd properly clean and disinfect, but for now, it was a quick and dirty way, pun unintended, to clean myself up. I slathered it all over the three slashes, trying my best to seal everything up again with a layer of gel. After a minute, I lathered more gel on my hand, and did my best to work on the gunshot wound. I let the pain hold sway for this moment, just working on the two holes on the front and back of my shoulder. I was gonna need a doctor, that was damn sure. But I could still flex all four fingers and my thumb, which was more than I could say for several of my previous heists and run-ins. I'd manage until I got back. Hell, I could just ask Thor for a ride...ok, I was calm, but I wasn't THAT comfortable to even broach the subject.

He had one eye on me, the other scanning the rooftop, as I ripped away the edge of the gauze roll with my teeth. "Do you need a hand, Herman?"

I waved him off, gritting my teeth to help pull a long strip away. "Nah. I've done this by myself enough times. As long as it lasts long enough to get me home, that's good enough." Which was the truth, but usually around my arms or legs. My chest and shoulder? This should be interesting. I stuck the sticky edge of the tape under my arm, and did my best to wrap the gauze around my chest and back, and under my arm. I didn't even make it to my back before I realized I was screwed thanks to my bad arm.

"Um...yeah. I could use a hand."

He hung the hammer back on his belt and strode over to where I was. "Try to raise your arms," Thor told me. With his help, we managed to get my chest wrapped in a few moments. It helped, pushing the gel into the wounds and protecting them from whatever was floating in the Manhattan air. The shoulder was a bit more tricky, but we managed to get it done, sealing the gunshot wound tight.

"Alright, that'll do as a jury rig for now." It restricted my arm's motion, but I wasn't planning on fighting anytime soon. "Thanks for the hand." Thor nodded at me as he handed over my gauntlet. It still wasn't working, but wearing it on my hand was still the best way to carry it.

"You're welcome," he replied as I clicked home. "I apologize for arriving at the last moment. I was patrolling and heard the gunfire. By the time I arrived, Castle had almost vanquished you. If I had arrived sooner, you may not be as injured as you are now."

I had to chuckle. "No, no...don't worry. The gunshot wound was the Punisher, but everything else was from a run-in I had earlier in the evening with the Vulture. It's been...a damn rough night." I was doing my best to stand upright and not lean on anything, attempting to look like I had it somewhat together in the face of the Avenger. "I'm just glad you showed up when you did. Thanks a lot, man. I was a goner, the Punisher had me dead to rights."

"You may not wish to thank me just yet, Herman." Thor rubbed his chin, and I knew he was giving me a once over. "Finding you this evening has been a blessing. I was away for the past few weeks, and am only now just..."

Before he could continue, his belt beeped. The communicator on his belt, I meant. Thor clicked a button on the communicator and spoke. "Thor," he rumbled.

"Thor! Oh thank God you showed up! We need backup...it's him...he's heading towards..." A woman's voice shouted from the small device. She would have been coming in clear if it wasn't for the loud explosions or crashes that interrupted her speech. "...get your butt over here, NOW! We're on the Lower West Side, just follow the sound of things being smashed!"

"On our way." As Thor acknowledged the call and shut off the communicator, a low rumble reached my ears. Off to the west, across the park stretched out below us, a cloud of dust was rising into the air over the low-lying brownstones.

"Holy...hey!" I flinched as, again, Thor put his arm around my waist. "Whoa,
man, where are we going?"

"To the sounds of battle, Herman."

"Whatever's going on over there, I'm in no shape for a fight right now!"

He didn't give a damn about my protests as we were immediately airborne as soon as he had a firm grip on me. "I apologize for the abrupt nature of our journey, Herman, but there is no time to waste standing on rooftops." We were soaring over the green trees of the park by now. I could see the semi-circle of dead zombies scattered around the fountain and the remains of the tractor trailer for a few moments before we left them behind for good. "I will not mince words. We require your assistance, Herman."

"We? Who the hell is we?" Now we were over Greenwich Village, and as we passed over the street where the Vulture and I first met, the horde of undead raised their arms, moaning in frustration at the fresh food dashing overhead. "The Punisher almost killed me with a knife, man. I'm not in any shape to throw down with anyone right now! The Tinkerer could kick my ass and he's in a wheelchair!"

"It's not your brawn, Herman, that we need. It's your brains." Before he could explain anymore, another loud rumble erupted, mixed in with the sound of breaking glass, off to our right. I kind of knew the area. It was a mix of brownstones and shops, an area of Lower Manhattan going under gentrification, Yancy Street. "Thor here," the god said into his communicator, and I shut up to let him talk. "I'm three blocks away. And I've brought reinforcements."

"Well, I hope it's Nova or the Sentry, because we're getting our butts handed to us!" The communicators were advanced enough to literally be real-time audio, no delay as I heard more sounds of combat from both the device and through the air. This time, the voice was a young man's, squeaking slightly but still full of confidence.

"Not quite. This is more of a tactical reinforcement," Thor said as we swept towards the conflict. "I have Herman Schultz with me."

Pause. Just that beat, a split second where, even over an audio link-up, you could just imagine the reaction of the other person, which right now, in my mind, was "you're freaking kidding me!"

Instead, this is what I got. "Hell, we'll take it! The big guy's plowing towards us, and nothing we're putting in his way is going to stop him!"

"Who the hell is he talking about," I asked as more breaking glass, along with the sound of wrenching metal, was picked up.

"You'll see in..."

"No, tell me now, man!" But it didn't matter. The hammer led the way as Thor, with me as a protesting passenger, dove towards the sounds of battle. I was holding on for dear life with my good arm, but the hammer probably kept both of us afloat.

"No time. I will set..."

"LOOK OUT!" I knew he had to see it, but still, I cried out in alarm as a red Hyundai Sonata flew through the air at the two of us. Thor had committed to his descent, and trying to swerve at the last second was impossible. The Sonata was doing its best impersonation of a Nolan Ryan fastball, and before Thor could react, maybe to somehow dodge or just smack the damn thing with his hammer, it slammed into him with a loud crunch. It impacted on the opposite side of where I was being held, and I'm sure to the God of Thunder, it wasn't anything less than being hit with a baseball bat, unpleasant, but not too much of a bother. Still, being hit with a mid-sized sedan caused Thor to get knocked off course. He came to a screeching (of Korean metal) halt in mid-air. More importantly?

He lost his grip on me.

Which is how, for the second time that evening, I found myself at least ten stories in the air, plummeting as a very unsafe rate of speed towards the concrete sidewalk. If it had been happening to anyone else, I would have found it darkly ironic and probably damn funny. But since this was happening to me...again...

I didn't see Thor throw the remains of the car away, hurling it towards the river, and try to speed down after me. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. Terminal velocity and the law of gravity, I'm sure they were mixing together in some way to finally make the equation "Herman Schultz = Street Pizza" a reality. My arms flailed, and in the course of three seconds, I realized just how screwed I was. There was no way I could repeat the blasting-the-fire-hydrant trick from earlier in the evening, with no working gloves and no fire hydrants.

Which is why, when a gout of water caught me, I was REALLY surprised.

At about four stories, I splashed down into about five feet of cold water, chest first. The belly-flop and the resulting pain was the least of my worries, as my speed was enough that I fell out the bottom of the "pool" and kept going. But at two stories, a second mid-air "pool" caught me. Sputtering, I floated down in a small column of water, confused and wet, but at a safe falling speed. Soon, my feet touched the sidewalk, and around me, the column of water whirled away, flowing and turning in mid-air, leaving me unharmed, at a negative vertical velocity, and completely confused. After a few seconds, the water convalesced into a human form, shimmering slightly under the street lamps. It took me a second, as I rubbed the water out of my eyes, to recognize who had been my savior.

"Bench?"

Morris Bench, aka Hydro-Man, smirked as he waved at me. "Hey, Herman! Man, am I glad to see you...I've had the strangest day today."

I blinked. For one of the few times in my life, my ass was speechless. I initially met Hydro-Man during a time when Rhino was locked up and I needed some muscle for a series of bank heists. Hydro-Man got his powers from some kind of freak accident when he was a crewman on a cargo ship and got knocked overboard during a brawl between Spider-Man and Namor the Sub-Mariner. In the same twist of weird fate that gave Maxwell Dillon the power to control electricity and let Dirk Garthwaite get his hands on the abilities of a god, an experimental generator being tested in the ocean let off enough radiation to turn Bench into a man-of-water. His entire body is made up of water, and not only can he shoot himself like a high pressure fire-hose, but he can also control other sources of water. The same guy who could dump the entire Harlem River on Times Square also could shoot himself out of a shower nozzle after flashing his way through the sewers. Think a liquid version of the Sandman and you ain't too far off the mark. Not as smart as Cain Marko, though. I usually lumped Morris into the same category as Aleksei; very cunning, and nasty in a fight, but you'll never see him getting a GED.

At the time of our partnership, he had wanted revenge on Spider-Man, but I convinced him to channel his considerable abilities into much more lucrative ventures. A couple of robberies later, we were almost set for life, but on one last score, Spider-Man showed up, and Bench dropped everything to go after the wallcrawler. A few minutes later, the two of us were back in a paddy wagon on our way to the Vault. We've hooked up a few times after that, mainly for one-off jobs and the occasional team-up with larger groups of supervillains. So the source of my shock isn't seeing Bench. It's seeing Bench here.

He was still shimmering, in pure water form, as opposed to the human-looking form he could maintain (thanks to a special containment suit built for him by the Wizard), and I could make out the indentations and eddies of a smile on his face. "You're the backup Thor was talking about?"

After a few seconds, I shook my head, having finally collected my thoughts. "You were on the other end of the comms?"

"Herman, I'm just as shocked as you are," he said with a smirk. "They're stretched so thin, they shoved me in with the heavy hitters. And believe me, we drew the short straw on this one."

"You're working with the government," I asked, disbelief woven into my question.

"Yeah...it's your damn fault, too! I could be on an island somewhere in the Caribbean, but no. You always had good ideas, so I figured, for once, I'd follow your lead and maybe not end up in jail this time."

A shadow passed over us. Thor floated down from the sky, one hand gently flicking pieces of red metal out of the side of his armor as he landed. "Morris Bench. What is the situation?"

Hydro-Man let out a gurgling sigh of relief. "I never thought I'd be glad to see you flying on in. You ain't gonna believe it, Thor. Nothing's stopping him. Blondie and Spidey have been throwing everything but the kitchen sink at him, and he ain't slowing down," Hydro-Man replied. "There's a water main running under this street, a big one. Hoping I can turn it into a damn cannon and maybe rock him back on his heels."

"I don't think that will do much more than delay him," Thor replied, stepping past the two of us and looking down the block. Mjolnir rested in his grip as he stood in the middle of the street.

"Hell, it'll be a step in the right direction. If I can knock him around, maybe you can knock him down," Bench replied. He swiveled his head in my direction. "If this don't work, Herman, we're gonna need a better plan. And I hope you have one, this guy's been knocking us all over Manhattan for the past half an hour."

"Who?" I threw up my good arm in frustration, as agitated as I'd risk getting around a guy wielding a mythical hammer. "Will someone just...a name, just give me a damn name..."

"Christ, you did bring Herman. I recognized that whining down the block."

I didn't mean it, but the sigh escaped my lips nonetheless. "Damn it. I thought that was your voice on the comms crying like a little schoolgirl for help."

"Don't take it personally," Hydro-Man said as Spider-Man hung from the side of the brownstone above my head. "He's been calling me Drippy for..."

"Gentlemen, petty differences aside. Let's focus." When Thor tells you to shut up, you shut up. Still, I looked above me, and eyed the wallcrawler. He hadn't been in the best of shape when I saw him last night, and now he looked even worse. Half his mask had been torn away, and various cuts and tears adorned his costume, showing scars and scabs on his skin. Spider-Man looked like he had been through a war zone, and I had to smirk in sympathy.

"You look about how I feel, Spidey," I said.

"Yeah, same to you, Herman. Looks like you went a couple of rounds with the rest of the Sinister Six," he shot right back.

"One of them. But save that for later," I responded. "Who the heck..."

This time, the loud crash at the end of the block was an interruption I really couldn't complain about. A plume of dust and sparks rose from a hole on the third story of a brownstone on the corner of the intersection. From this distance, I could make out a human shape pulling itself from the wreckage. Before figuring out who it was, though, the form streaked away, exploding like a bullet from the home and heading back up the cross-street...

...only to come flying back a second later, this time smashing into another brownstone.

"Damn it," I heard Bench cursed as brick and mortar rained down onto the street. "I think we're gonna need bigger guns, guys. No offense, Thor."

"We're the final line of defense, Morris," Thor said with steel in his voice. "Let us try this. Spider-Man, draw a line of webbing from that lamp to that hydrant," he said pointing with his hammer to the two objects. "Place it about ankle high. And make it as strong as you can." As Spider-Man leapt into action, sailing over my head, Thor was speaking to Hydro-Man. "Morris, slip into the water main. Once he's passed over head, hit him from behind with all the force of a tidal wave. Put your entire effort in your actions. We need him to trip over that webbing. I will be waiting to hit him with Mjolnir. Pray tell, our combined efforts will hopefully stop him."

"On it." Bench's human form slipped away, turning almost instantly into a stream of water before our eyes. It flowed into a nearby drain like rain after a storm, leaving the area behind him completely dry as he absorbed every bit of water that he could.

"Herman." Thor didn't turn to look at me, but I could only imagine the look of determination on his face to match the tone of his voice. "If this doesn't work, we'll need another plan of attack. That's where you come in. Stay out of the way, but anything that you think can only assist us."

"Thor, I'm happy to help," I lied, "if you'd tell me who..."

She flew into view like an avenging angel. Covered in grime and dust, a thin trickle of blood running down her lips. Her fists were clenched, and her blonde hair was tangled and matted with sweat. "Thor," her voice, laced with steel and honey, breathed, "he's coming this way. For God's sake, I hope you got a plan."

"I do. Stand with me, and when I strike, strike as well."

"THAT'S your plan? I've been hitting him all night long and it ain't..." She paused. Her gaze turned to me. I had seen it on TV countless times, and in my mind during lonely nights, but actually being ten feet away as she hovered in the sky, my breath caught in my throat. Damn...she was hotter in person.

"What the hell is he doing here," Ms. Marvel asked her teammate. "Is he the reinforcements?"

I managed to find my breath and answer before Thor could. "I'm the backup plan." Hey, I said it without stammering. Yay me. "If what Thor and Hydro-Man are gonna do doesn't work..."

"Fine," she cut me off. "Just watch out. He's been on a rampage for the better part of an hour and we can't stop him. Spider-Man, get Herman out of the way, and get ready to jump back in."

"I'm fine here," I responded as Spider-Man landed beside me. "Just..."

I didn't even have time to ask. The intersection became a helipad he crashed into view, landing on both feet. The impact sent the nearby cars into the air, tires leaving the ground with a good two or three feet of clearance, and cracked the pavement for yards around. He was massive, bigger than I could possibly have imagined. Aleksei was a midget compared to this guy. His arms and legs bulged with muscle, his fists clenched with apparent rage. For a guy his size, his head whipped around on his massive neck, and as his eyes came to rest upon us, I was damn glad my bladder was empty.

He turned towards the four of us, his skin a pale green-gray. As I saw the gaping bite wound on his left arm, my eyes widened as I fully realized what we were dealing with. The past few days, it was the needful moans of the zombies was a constant in the back of my mind anytime I stepped outside of my warehouse. Now, though, the roar of the figure...it wasn't mournful need. It was hungry desire, mixed with the one thing I hadn't heard from any of the undead.

Anger.

The roar was unintelligible, but anyone on the planet who had seen this guy's attack on New York City knew what the huge zombie on front of us would have yelled had he still been capable of speech.

"HULK SMASH!"

X

I didn't say a word. Not even an "oh crap." Pale, lifeless eyes glared in our direction, but the look on the face of the Hulk told the whole story. Even in death, that almost endless reservoir of rage that motivated him was present. All during this impending zombie apocalypse, the ghouls had been wandering, stalking, and feeding without emotion, without any apparent semblance of rational, coherent thought, biological feeding machines on autopilot. But here, seeing the bulging, muscular undead Hulk take a slow, methodical step towards us, there was emotion. As always, the Hulk found a way to defy common convention.

The fear and anxiety I felt, oddly enough, lent my voice an aura of calm and composure. "You've been talking on the Hulk all night," I told Spider-Man, almost informing him of the obvious fact.

"Yeah. He tore into a bus over in Brooklyn and ate everyone inside," the wallcrawler answered. "He swam over here and tried to do the same thing over in Alphabet City before Ms. Marvel showed up. That was an hour ago. We haven't been able to stop him yet. He's shrugged off everything we've thrown at him."

Another step, and another. I don't know how to describe it. The Hulk wasn't running, but it was a very quick lumber. He swayed slightly with each step, his foot breaking the road beneath him into little chips of asphalt as he moved. His eyes appeared to be locked on Thor, standing about halfway down the block. The Avenger, unbloodied, stood his ground, hammer held at the ready, Horatio at the bridge. Yes, I've read a poem, don't look so surprised. Beside him, floating a foot off the ground, the bruised Ms. Marvel clenched her hands together. Half an hour of failure to stop the Hulk didn't matter to her. What mattered was stopping him here and now. Screw the odds, this ends here. That's how Spider-Man kept beating me. And Venom. And Doctor Octopus. Just keep moving on and never, ever give up.

In that moment, I got it. The whole hero thing made sense to me. I had lived it fighting Electro, the Vulture, and surviving my encounters with the Punisher. It sounded so clichéd, but never give up, keep banging away. Sooner or later, it would catch, and you'd win.

The windows vibrated with each step as the Hulk closed in on them. They didn't move, didn't flinch, as a low growl escaped from the massive zombie. His arms swung as best they could to aid his lumber. His teeth were red, his hair greasy and matted, and his hands were flecked with red and white, flesh and bone. As he got closer, the growl rose in volume, teeth bared. Hunger. Anger. That's what the zombie spoke of, rage at...what? Being dead? Still have that hunger inside of him? In any case, hopefully in a few moments, we wouldn't have to worry about those questions anymore. Focused solely on the blonde buffet in front of him, the Hulk didn't see the trip-wire of webbing that Spider-Man had laid down, stretching around a lamppost and a fire hydrant. He hit into it ankle first. The webbing bent forward with him for a second, before snapping with a twang. The Hulk's forward motion sent him stumbling. The gaze never waved off of the Avengers, even as his arms swung to break his fall.

That's when the sewer behind him exploded. The manhole cover flew into the air, flipping end over end, as a geyser of water shot from the street like an artillery shell. As the Hulk lumbered off-balance, the high-pressure fountain suddenly changed direction, bending ninety degrees like water flowing through a pipe joint. The top of the jet of water turned into a fist just before it slammed into the back of the Hulk. Even at the time of impact, water still gushed from the open manhole, providing extra force as the guy behind the attack, Hydro-Man, followed through, jarring and pushing the Hulk forward as best he could. But, even under the combined efforts of Spider-Man and Hydro-Man, the Hulk only stumbled. He didn't collapse. He didn't fall. And over the sound of water rushing from the water main, the rumbling howl of the Hulk was easily audible.

"Be ready!" And over the howl of the Hulk, the booming shout of the God of Thunder conquered all. His hand moved back slightly, his feet firmly planted on the vibrating asphalt. Ms. Marvel brought her hands up over her head, clasping them together as the Hulk fell towards them. Neither of them budged as the Hulk fell to his knees in front of them, splintering the street as he collapsed. The fountain of water turned into the air, backing off to let the Avengers hopefully work their mojo. Thor swung his hands behind him, using both arms to wind up for a big hammer shot. As he did, the Hulk's face came up. From where I stood, the gristle and bone stood out in his mouth as he snarled, bearing his teeth at the pair of heroes.

"FOR ASGARD!" With that battle cry, the mighty Thor swung Mjolnir with both hands, aiming squarely for the exposed skull of the Hulk. Beside him, the cry of Ms. Marvel was higher and sharper as she brought down both hands, an axehandle blow on the back of his head. Both shots landed at the same time...

What the hell happens when the irresistible force meets the immovable object? You could see the impact, waves of force shimmering in the air. Where it hit the street below the Hulk, the asphalt just crumbled. Car windows shattered and the frames bent. The fountain of water that was Hydro-Man rippled and splashed like someone threw a large rock into him. Just before the sound hit Spider-Man and I, I saw the Hulk's face flatten against the shattered road. Then the roar hit, and my body stumbled backwards before hitting the edge of the brownstone behind me. My eyes closed under the assault as the force assaulted the talon cuts and gunshot wound, vibrating the skin and causing me to bite my lip. It was like standing against a wall while an ocean wave crashed into you. The windows behind me shattered, however, spilling glass down over where I stood. My ears filled with a rumbling noise, which quickly faded away. After a few seconds, I opened my eyes. The glass crunched under my feet as I walked forward, moving between two cars that no longer had windows. Spider-Man hopped onto the car beside me before leaping down to the street, and behind the wreckage, I could see Hydro-Man reforming himself into his human-shaped water form. The three of us closed in on the Hulk, moving very warily as we approached. Thor has his hammer at the ready, clutching it with both hands in front of his chest, while Ms. Marvel gently floated down to the street. She let out the first sigh of relief of all of us as we looked down at the body.

"Whoa," said Hydro-Man. "That was a lot of gun."

You couldn't see the top of the Hulk's head. Ms. Marvel's axehandle had driven it into the ground, leaving only the greasy black hair visible. The rest of his body was sprawled out, arms and legs splayed. It wasn't moving. No groans, no angry growls, nothing.

"You guys did a number on him." Hydro-Man flowed to the front of the group across the wreckage, his lower body easily moving over the cracks. "Couldn't have done that earlier tonight? It could have saved us a lot of time."

"We TRIED, Hydro-Man," Ms. Marvel replied. "Hitting a moving target's head while you're also moving isn't the easiest thing on the planet to do."

"Hey, whatever," Hydro-Man said. "He's done, and he's dead, right? He ain't gonna hurt anyone now..."

Pause.

"Herman, why are you backing up?"

"Because, Morris, you just taunted fate." My ass was back between the cars, ready to duck away as a moment's notice once the fateful words were out of Hydro-Man's mouth. "That's the Hulk. No offense intended, but odds are the three of you just gave him a headache and he'll be back up again." A Saturn was now the car of choice between me and the unmoving Hulk.

"Oh, come on..."

"No, Morris. Herman may be right. The Hulk is a creature of incredible..."

WHAM!

Thor's words were cut off as Ms. Marvel ducked to one knee, and drove her first into the back of the Hulk's head.

WHAM!

A second time. She put everything her tired body had into the blow.

WHAM!

WHAM!

WHAM!

Finally, she stood up, shaking her hand. "You were saying, Thor?"

"I was saying, the Hulk is a creature of incredible resilency. It would be wise to treat him with wary respect and caution even beyond a second death. Spider-Man," Thor said to the wall-crawler, "please call Colonel Fury, and tell him we require a SHIELD Alpha team immediately. And to please bring plasmathrowers to completely incinerate the Hulk's corpse."

"On it." Spider-Man turned away, putting a hand up to his ear.

From my safe perch behind the car, I studied the body of the Hulk where it lay. "Damn. He's bigger then I remembered. You don't think...whatever's causing this caused him to mutate or something, do you?"

"No." Ms. Marvel was looking around where the stood as she responded to me. "You saw the bite wound on his arm. I'm willing to bet that he got bit, and it just made him angry. And then, when he didn't heal, he got angrier. And when he died, he was really angry. I've fought the Hulk before, Shocker, and he was really pissed off when we fought. The beating he put out tonight? It's about that level."

"Damn. You ok?"

She looked over at me for a second. "You concerned, or just making conversation?"

Some men would have been put off by that statement. But if she was being a bit snarky to me...hell, I'm friends with Boomerang. I found it a bit comforting. "Hey, if he gets back up, I'd like to know if you can handle him, or if I should run screaming for help."

"Huh. Well...I'm gonna make sure..."

She bent over in front of me. Well, not in front, she was ten or fifteen feet away, but still, my "great butt in tight spandex" radar was pinging very nicely as she bent at the waist.

"...that he doesn't get back up."

As I watched, she grabbed a piece of asphalt; a large piece of it, that had cracked during the fight. Grunting a little, she slowly stood up, tearing the asphalt away from the rest of the street like a piece of duct tape from the roll. Thor just raised an eyebrow, silently watching as Ms. Marvel turned around, holding the road over her head for a moment before slamming it down on top of the Hulk's head. As it settled, she leaned over the flat surface and shoved the asphalt down, pinning his head in between the two pieces of street.

"And, for the record?" She dusted her hands off, clapping them in front of me. "I'm peachy."

I'm sure she is.

"It looks like you didn't need my help, Thor," I said.

"Aye. But one should always have a backup plan."

"Nice Hulk sandwich, Ms. Marvel. 30 minutes for the Alpha team." Spider-Man was on the hood of the car I was now leaning against. "Fury'll try to get them here quicker, but apparently there was a...problem up at Bellevue."

"30 minutes," Hydro-Man asked in disbelief. "What are we supposed to do in the mean time, sit here sucking on our thumbs?"

"Actually, yeah. Fury said to keep an eye on the Hulk and make sure he's really down for the count."

"Great. We're in the middle of Manhattan standing watch over the dead body of the Hulk." Hydro-Man threw his hands into the air with a wet swish. "No offense, but that ain't the patch plan Eyepatch ever came up with."

"It is the plan, Morris. We'll keep watch over the Hulk, but you are correct. We are exposed out here," Thor said, waving his arm to encompass the street. "All of us will have to be wary."

After a few seconds, Hydro-Man nodded. "The Army's been through here, right? Hopefully they got most of the ghouls already."

"Yeah. Zombies never jump out when you least expect it." Spider-Man's sarcasm was...tempered somewhat at the moment. "The optimism's nice, but it's misplaced at the moment, Bench."

"Yeah...well..." Bench replied, "all things considered, I'd rather be..."

A massive hand lashed out and tried to wrap itself around Hydro-Man's ankle. The thick fingers passed through the watery form, making an empty fist as Bench quickly flowed his body away from the attack. "...on the beach," he finished as the green hand slammed onto the street. "Yo, guys. I don't think he's down for the count."

The large piece of asphalt Ms. Marvel had slammed down onto the Hulk's shoulders was slowly lifting into the air. From the shadows under the asphalt, a low, angry growl could he heard, mixed in with the cracking of the still-intact. "You have got to be kidding me," Ms. Marvel proclaimed as she leapt into the air, winding up and streaking forward, one fist extended to smack the form lifting up. Teeth bared, she was going for another knockout punch, but the Hulk landed his first. His other fist shot out, and slammed Ms. Marvel right in the face. It was like she flew into an adamantium wall, crumpling to the ground, moving slightly after the impact. Has she been a normal woman, she would have been easy prey for a horde of zombies, and even the stunned (and stunning) Ms. Marvel would have fallen at the hands of the Hulk. But instead, the other hand pushed against the sidewalk. The roar shook the windows as, with a final shove, the asphalt tumbled to the ground, the impact shaking the street slightly. There he was again, the Hulk, standing tall in the middle of the ruined street. His shoulders weren't heaving, he wasn't breathing hard, but there he was, his eyes narrow, and focused on the fallen Ms. Marvel.

It only took one step towards her for Thor to act. "I HAVE HAD ENOW! STAND TO, FOUL CREATURE!" A swing that would have taken the head off of a normal human being cracked into the side of the Hulk's jaw. Anyone else might have admired their handy work as the Hulk's head rocked backwards, but Mjolnir slammed into the temple of the huge zombie. I watched, amazed, as Thor smacked the Hulk harder than I've ever seen, and that included Aleksei. One more shot, an uppercut to the jaw, rocked the head of the Hulk straight back. He slowly wavered backwards, swaying on his feet. Thor stood in front of him, waiting for the Hulk to fall over.

Back...back...forward. The Hulk's head snapped to the front, towering over the God of Thunder. Slowly, his eyes met Thor's, his snarling barely audible.

"By Odin..." was all Thor could get out before the Hulk slammed his hand together on either side of Thor's head.

It was like squishing a fly. Behind Thor, the asphalt shattered in a straight line, the air shimmering like I had let out a high-level vibro-blast. The Hulk held his hands for a second, before letting go. I expected Thor's head to look like a Jujeefruit, and for the Hulk to just lean forward and start feasting on the brains that had to be leaking out of Thor's skull...

Thor just lifted the back of his wrist to his nose. The zombified Hulk just stood there, staring, not trying to eat the god. Thor pulled his wrist away. From where we stood off to the side, it was easy to see the red blood dripping from one nostril. Slowly, Thor's eyes went from his wrist to the eyes of the Hulk. "So be it, creature." Even his low, quiet statement had the intensity of a thunderstorm.

"Pardon me..."

Ms. Marvel leapt from her crouching position to uppercut the Hulk, her fist
slamming into the middle of the Hulk's jaw. "...but I'd like in on this dance too."

And the brawl began. Years of teamwork, of fighting side-by-side, were the key to Ms. Marvel and Thor's assault as they hammered away at the Hulk. But...this was the Hulk. He moved slow, almost uncoordinated, like a puppet on strings. Whenever a shot landed, it staggered one of the Avengers.

"We gotta get in there and help them!" Spider-Man, Hydro-Man, and myself stood on the side of the street, just watching the brawl. It was the wallcrawler who spoke up as the Hulk backhanded Thor just as Ms. Marvel drove her fist into his ribs, to no effect.

"And do what? Nothing we did stopped him!" Hydro-Man shook his head, drops of water hitting the side of my already soaked face. "We'd just be in the damn way."

"I ain't gonna sit here and do nothing. You keep an eye on Schultz, and get on the horn for that damn SHIELD team!" With that, Spider-Man leapt onto the car, and sprung off. The Hulk just missed with a wild roundhouse swing when Spidey lept onto his back and shot webbing around his arms. "Ride em cowboy," he yelled as the Hulk reached back to try to pull him off.

"We ain't gonna be able to put him down, Herman," Bench said next to me. "Hell, at this point, I think a nuke's just gonna piss him off even more. If you got any great ideas..."

"Sorry, Morris. I'm currently terrified beyond all capability for rational thought." Throughout the past few days, Aleksei and I, along with apparently most of our villainous colleagues, had managed, with careful thought and creativity to mow down zombies like wheat, and just run rings around them. None of them could stand up to anything we threw at them, as long as you got them in the head. But here was the Hulk, a zombie, and Thor and Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man and Hydro-Man had been slamming him in the head for an hour, and the worst it had done was stun him. Or put him down, only for him to get right back up again. My mind ran down the possible answers. Was the Hulk's skull just too thick? Was his brain as muscular as the rest of him and just impervious to anything they could throw at him? Did his brain have some kind of regeneration factor when he was alive and it came over into death? Or, was the Hulk truly too angry to die?

"You gotta have some idea, Herman," Bench told me. "He tore through a bus full of survivors and ate them like they were candy corn. Bones and all. Just crunched and swallowed. If we don't stop him, he's gonna end up as the Monster Who Ate Manhattan."

"Jesus, Bench...it's the damn Hulk! My strategy would probably be to unleash Aleksei and get the hell out of the way!" I saw the look on his face, a look a lot of people usually tossed my way, the "well, we couldn't break it, now what do we do, Herman" look. Well, the Hulk wasn't a damn safe, he was at least a ton of really pissed off Jolly Green Giant. Behind me, Hydro-Man was screaming into the SHIELD communicator with a complete and utter lack of tact. What worried me most about the whole thing was Thor's bloody nose. Kind of like the Wrecker, and definitely like Aleksei, I had never seen Thor bleed. If the Wrecker could take all kind of abuse without bleeding, and that included shots from Thor, and if Aleksei went hand-to-hand with the Hulk and at best, walked away bruised...what was it about the undead that let them go after the invulnerable and hurt them like they were normal people? It wasn't strength. MACH-IV had said his armor protected him all the time, and the story he told, the Living Laser could walk among them and not get hurt.

And maybe most telling of all, the Hulk wasn't trying to eat them or devour them whole, but just wail away on them. Three Avengers, who would have been a tasty meal to a horde of undead, were instead punching bags. What the hell...it was like everything I knew about zombies was being re-written in mid-story!

"They're coming as fast as they can, and I think I just pissed Nick Fury off. Like, really pissed off." Hydro-Man was flanking me, his eyes, like mine, staring at the flurry of brawling going on in front of us. As the Hulk flipped Spider-Man off his back just in time for Thor to catch him on an ear, Hydro-Man said, "there has to be some way to get at his brain. That's gotta be it, Herman, his brain's not getting hurt at all."

Bench was probably right. "Thick skull, cushioned brain, hell, maybe there's just so much brain mass now...he gets muscle mass when he's pissed, maybe the Hulk's brain got so big, it's absorbing all the impact. Hell, extra brain tissue might explain why he's a little more emotional and cunning than a normal zombie," I surmised. "That's assuming he CAN be put down. Maybe he's immortal..."

Bench raised an eyebrow at me. "Don't say that. It'll give me nightmares." After a few seconds of watching the fight, he spoke up again. "How about just shooting him with your gloves, Herman? I mean...it's just waves of force, right? It'll be like sound going through water. Hell, anytime someone blasts me with sound, it really hurts and scrambles me for a little bit."

"Say...that's not a bad idea, Bench. Problem is, I'm shorted out." I carefully lifted my hands, showing him the non-working gauntlets. The water had stopped dripping from them at least. "I got tossed in a fountain earlier tonight. Everything I got is freakin' waterlogged. Plus," I said, pointing to my shoulder, "I got shot earlier tonight, and firing anything from this side's would be like jamming a red hot poker in there. But damn, I like your idea. Don't supposed Klaw's in the city tonight, is he?"

Hydro-Man laughed at my sentence. "Waterlogged? Herman, if you needed to dry out, you should have just said so. Open your gloves up." He must have seen the confused look on my face. "I'm gonna pull the water out of your gloves, man."

Oh. Oh, damn!

"That's an even better idea, Morris." I popped the side panels on both of my gauntlets, exposing the wet circuits to the air. As I tipped my gloves forward to look inside, water pooled in the bottom. From what I could see, nothing was black or shorted out. My fail-safe had cut in the second I tried to fire, leaving me helpless but saving my gloves and the vibro-blast mechanism. I probably couldn't say the same for my soaked and shredded suit, but that was a defensive concern. Getting my smashers back to working order so I could both defend myself and go on the attack was the primary concern at the moment, even if I was currently the One-Armed Kid.

I held my hands out in front of me, turning to face Hydro-Man as the three-on-one brawl raged in the street beside me. "You realize if this works, it'll mean we're gonna have to jump into the middle of that, right?"

"Hey, you know me. I got a history of stupid ideas. Just happy that I have you on board with this one," he smirked. His arms came up, his watery-hands palms down over the open panels of my gloves. I watched as he licked his lips, an unconscious motion for a man currently made of water. "Damn, Herman, your stuff is soaked. You fell in a fountain, or went swimming in one?"

"I fell into a fountain, and I fell THROUGH you, Morris. Come on, come on," I urged him.

"Alright, alright." Ever see water defy gravity? Morris just slowly turned his hands upwards, tilting the palms at an angle, and the water came pouring out of my gloves. It flowed from the open panels like it was coming from a spigot, merging with Hydro-Man's hands. My brain couldn't quite handle the idea of water running uphill, but luckily, it wasn't long before the well ran dry. A few spare drops, and Bench pulled his hands back. "Try them now, Herman."

Two clicks meant the fail safe mode was still on. One click just meant I was out of juice. I raised my good arm, and pointed it at a nearby 'NO PARKING' sign. Knowing that if I only heard one click meant I'd have to get in the game, and join the Avengers and my former partner in crime in going toe-to-toe with the Incredible freakin' Hulk. Knowing that fact, I still prayed for just one click. One click, I thought as I gently thumbed the trigger.

The sign shook violently on its post as the level-one blast clipped it. "Whoa," I exclaimed at the piece of metal slammed back and forth on its axis.

"Guess you still got some juice left in you," Morris said with approval. "So how you want to break up this brawl?"

"One second." This was going to hurt. Badly. But I needed to know if I was at half-strength or able to go full tilt if needed. I held my bad arm up with help from my good arm, and took the same aim at the sign. Pre-wincing, I pushed the trigger. The blast's recoil ripped up my arm and slammed into my wound, even with the extra absorption from my quilted armor. No hot pokers, but it was like someone had just dropped a bunch of razor-sharp ice cubes. "Ah! Mother..." I muttered as I gently shook my hand.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, Morris. Ooof, that one hurt..."

"So," Hydro-Man gently urged, "what's the plan?"

I was popping open the compartment on my belt as I replied. "Give me a second. Gonna swap out my batteries and fresh ones. Damn sure don't want to run out of juice if he's bearing down on me." Switching out the power packs gave me time to think. Luckily, the compartment had kept them dry, and shorting myself out wasn't a concern. Hydro-Man's plan made sense. Even now, Thor, Ms. Marvel, and Spider-Man were beating the Hulk about the head. They used fists, pieces of the road, and currently in the case of Ms. Marvel, a streetlamp that bent as it impacted the side of his head. But nothing seemed to stop him. Stop the brain, stop the ghoul. But if you can't get to the brain by breaking the walls down, then just ignore the walls. If the Hulk's skull was unbreakable, that meant, in theory (normally the word 'theory' intrigues me, but right now...) they'd be a perfectly transmitter for my vibrations. Just like Hydro-Man said, sound travels through water because it's a great medium for it. If what I'm hoping is true is true, then a couple good blasts to his head might turn his brain into jelly. If we can't blow a hole in the Hulk's brain, we can maybe make it leak out his ears.

Spider-Man had just been swatted away like a fly as I clicked my gloves shut. The jitters and nerves I would have expected to have at this moment were absent. I had a plan. I was going to stick to it. And if it didn't work, all I had was the Hulk pissed at me. Well, if I could handle a drunk Aleksei, I could handle an angry Hulk, right?

"Can you get me airborne, Morris? I want to be above him so his skull takes the brunt of my blast."

"Yeah. No problem." To Morris' left, a fire hydrant suddenly exploded. The cover banged off the front steps to a house as the water shot out, only to immediately bend in midair as Morris directed it into his body. He grew, getting bigger and bigger as he absorbed most of the water. "It's gonna be a bit of a ride, though. You're gonna be floating in like two feet of water," his voiced gurgled.

"I know. Just keep me as steady as you can," I replied. The water eventually tapered out, leaving the normally six-foot-five Morris Bench a ten foot tall creature. His hand surrounded me as it reached out and grabbed me around the lower...

Oh, Christ, that was cold! I shivered as the water collected around my legs and waist. After a few more seconds, Morris lifted me off the ground. My body almost immediately sank a few inches, but the water...grew thicker around me. Bench was increasing the density of the water. Think about how you can float easily in salt water as opposed to fresh water, and there's your science lesson for the day. This was the third time in almost as many nights that...no, fourth time...that I was airborne. Swinging through the air with Spider-Man, being hurled to my imminent death by the Vulture, hanging on for dear life on the waist of Thor, and now floating in mid-air in the hand of Hydro-Man. All I need is a mid-air spin with Ms. Marvel and I'll have probably completed some kind of Xbox Achievement. Hell, maybe I should look into getting some kind of flying device if I survive this. Maybe check with the Tinkerer and see if he's got something lying around.

Slowly, Hydro-Man moved us out into the street. I felt like I was in the deep end of a swimming pool as he carefully floated me through the air. The three Avengers were just a bit slower now, and Thor's face sported a nasty bruise on one cheek. The Hulk didn't seem fazed, still moving with that slow, half-second hesitation with each of his action. Focused on trying to stop the Hulk, I don't think anyone noticed me and the ten-foot tall drink of water gliding into position. "How far up do you need to be?"

"Just a little higher!" Hydro-Man complied, and within second, I was just a little bit behind the Hulk, but thirteen feet above him, five-or-six feet above his head. The green monster had yet to see me or acknowledge my presence, instead throwing blows that the god of thunder parried with his hammer. From here, the crown of Hulk's head was visible. Hopefully, that was the thickest part of his skull. The temple was the thinnest, so the top should be the strongest, right? It sounded right to me, and I was the guy with the vibro-smashers.

"Thor! Ms. Marvel! Hold him still!" I was giving orders to the Avengers. Holy crap. Thor looked up at me for a second with a quizzical glance, but he nodded and followed the lead of Ms. Marvel. She had ducked underneath the Hulk's massive arm and wrapped hers around his thigh, trying her best to pin him in place. Thor did likewise, rolling under a wild swing before planting his feet in the broken pavement and squeezing the opposite leg. The Hulk gave off a choked roar, his arms flailing about, unable to turn around and hit the two Avengers. Spider-Man leapt from the Hulk's back, and took up a position off to the side, ready to leap back into the fray if need be but making sure to not get into the way of Ms. Marvel and Thor.

"Hope to Christ this works," I said as I took aim. With both hands. Years of reflexive conditioning saw me leveling both guns at the swiveling skull of the Hulk. Level three. That would be a good level to start at. Slowly, I let out my held breath and squeeze the thumb triggers.

Pain ripped up my left arm from the blast. I stopped firing, cursing as the blasts went wide, impacting on the street in front of the Hulk. God damn it. My shoulder throbbed as the recoil energy left my suit and went for the path of least resistance; the exposed skin and blood of my gunshot wound. I wanted to spit out a vulgar swear word, but one look at Thor struggling to keep the Hulk in place...it would have kind of been like swearing in front of Gandhi. Taking another deep breath, I mentally prepped myself for the pain, and shot off another set of blast. The discomfort was still there, but the shots slammed into the Hulk's head, shaking his greasy hair. His head whipped backwards, straining against his shoulders to get a glance at whoever had just dared to hurt him.

Did I hurt him? I had his attention, and that fact reminded me that I needed to fire again. The pulse of air elicited another roar of anger. On the street, the leg Ms. Marvel was holding dragged a bit as he tried to turn and face me, until she slammed her feet into the asphalt and held him firm. My shoulder was already issuing a low-level protest, but another level-three snapped the Hulk's head around.

This was really going to hurt. Time to up the proverbial ampage "Hold on," I yelled, hoping Thor and Ms. Marvel could hear me. Individual pulses were getting to the Hulk. This time, I powered up to a level-four blast and kept my thumbs down on the triggers, firing off a steady stream of vibro-blasts, one right after the other. The air pulsed in waves as I kept my fists pointed in the general direction of the Hulk's noggin. My left hand dipped slightly, pins and needles poking every nerve after the first few waves, with a drillbit going in my shoulder. The asphalt underneath the Hulk jumped, the small chips and pieces of the street being knocked around. Ms. Marvel shut her eyes and held on for dear life, while Thor shoved against the Hulk's legs to hold him in place. The green zombie roared under my assault, his head whipping around as he pushed and strained against the two Avengers holding him in place. I had to keep adjust my aim, as Hydro-Man didn't make the most stable of firing platforms. Sacrificing concentrated power for a wider arc of fire, I grit my teeth together, pouring it on as best I could. But he didn't fall. The Hulk turned in place, screaming either in pain or in annoyance, but he stood his ground. Damn it, I had to be affecting him. What the hell was his brain on, steroids?

I kept it up for as long as I could, but eventually, my thumbs fell from the trigger out of fatigue. My hands tingled slightly. My shoulder throbbed horribly. And the Hulk was still standing.

"Damn it...that should have worked, Herman," I heard the voice of Hydro-Man say behind me.

"I know!" Frustrated, I tried to lift my arms again. "I gotta do it at level five!"

"Level five? You're gonna end up driving him through the street," Bench countered.

"Well if you got..."

The roar caused the street to rumble again. One massive leg kicked out, and suddenly, Thor was embedded in the side of a parked car. How the hell a single car alarm hadn't gone off tonight, I have no clue, but that just meant you could hear the metal bending as the Avenger slammed shoulder first into the automobile. Ms. Marvel tried to let go before he turned his attention to her, but the Hulk just managed to grab her by her blonde mane. She yelled in pain and surprise, both hands going to his wrist to make him let go, but he had a plan for her, and it already involved letting her go. No longer held to the ground, the Hulk spun around, and with one hand, hurled Ms. Marvel through the air. Before she could recover, she passed right through the body of Hydro-Man, crashing through his chest and exiting out his back. As she impacted Morris, I suddenly felt myself sinking slightly in his watery fist, before it suddenly fell apart, becoming a mass of liquid crashing to the ground, and me right behind it. The shock of the impact must have broken Hydro-Man's concentration, as most of the extra water he had absorbed splashed onto the street. I followed a second later, managing to land on my feet and not break my ankles in the process. I was getting up from my crouched landing position when the shadow fell over me. A single, low growl emenated from the source of the shadow. I was raising my gloves to fire a point-blank shot, but a massive hand simply slapped them back down, the impact felt all the way up my arms. Slowly, knowing exactly what I was going to see.

Ok, no. I didn't expect that. The pale green flesh, the red specks in his teeth, and how his shoulders didn't heave up and down, that was par for the damn course.

But it was his eyes.

Instead of fading to white or yellow like every other zombie so far here in the Borough of the Damned, the Hulk stared at me with dark red eyes. Threads of white could be seen, but the majority of his irises were a deep blood color, swirling like the tails of a Japanese fighting fish. His eyes weren't narrowed, but anger was still etched on the Hulk's face. And while the other ghouls would still have a vacant look on their faces even as they pawed at my body, the Hulk focused directly on to me. Almost like he knew me, or remembered me, or was looking forward to kill me. Or maybe all three.

"Oh, cr..." I got out as the green zombie pulled his fist back.

I felt something lightly touch the side of my waist, before I was violently yanked to the left. The space where my head had been was occupied by the massive right hand of the Hulk a second later as I flew off my feet, pulled along waist first by whatever had grabbed me. By the time I oriented myself and looked down to see what had grabbed, Spider-Man had pulled me all way to the side of the street, plucking me out of mid-air and yanking the webbing away from me with a snap of his wrist. "Thanks," I actually told him as he set me back down on my feet.

"No problem. You just owe me about a thousand more." Even in the face of danger with the wisecracks. "But I'll forget about them if you can figure out a way to put this guy down."

"Get Reed Richards or contract A.I.M, wallcrawler. I'm stumped. The Hulk isn't not like any zombie I've ev..."

"GET DOWN!" Spider-Man was already in motion, tackling me as he yelled out his warning. We both hit the street a second before a Chevrolet Cavalier slammed into the wall of the brownstone, breaking the windows and smashing into the living room beyond.

Stone and glass fell onto the street as I raised my head. Between the parked cars, I could see two legs, thick as tree trunks, walking towards where Spider-Man and me lay. A low, growling tone reached my ears as the Hulk, with a slight jerk in his motions, stalked in my direction. As I quickly tried to get back to my feet, a loud voice yelled over the footsteps of the approaching Hulk.

"YOU WILL NOT TURN YOUR BAC..."

As I pulled myself up using the car, the Hulk just reached backwards and slapped Thor across the face. His blood red eyes didn't deviate as he blindly hit the Avenger and sent him sprawling backwards. Even as Thor fell back to the street, a geyser of water sprayed up from the asphalt just in front of the Hulk, and a large fist made of the entirety of Hydro-Man's body punched the Hulk in the chest, only for the hand to break up and flow around the torso as the Hulk kept going forward against the force of the impact.

"I think he's got eyes only for you, Herman," Spider-Man said as another attempt at Hydro-Man to slow the Hulk down came to nothing. "Hold on, we're getting you out of here." He put his arm around my waist, and I held on to him as Spider-Man shot a line of webbing to the top of a nearby brownstone. As he tugged on the line to pull us up into the air, the Hulk ignored the chains of water wrapped around his leg, shoving the cars out of the way before reaching for me with a gnarled fist.

Before he could grab me, I felt a tug, and left my feet as Spider-Man swung down the sidewalk, shooting off a new line of webbing towards another brownstone.

And like that, we were off.