Chapter 16
Bug Hunt
If there was one thing Bruce had to admit about Clint, it was that he was a good pilot. The marksman compliments came without thought but there was something about watching Clint fly the Quinjet that was actually calming. Natasha would generally sit beside him though she was forced to the back after the fight with the Windigo opened up her stitches which Bruce was trying to fix. It's not generally an easy task in the back of a plane, but Clint was able to keep it steady, more so than most would. Steve sat in Natasha's usual spot, somewhat confused at anything but not questioning yet. Bruce had started to shoot looks over at Clint, mainly his only fear for the man right now was that he might have a relapse and break down after everything that had happened. However piloting the Quinjet seemed to have the same calming effect on the man, and kept him focused at the task at hand much like how he'd be when he was working.
Bruce's gaze went back to his work, impressed with how the healing had come along already. He stitched as best as he could, given the lack of materials he had, as Natasha barely moved. He didn't have a painkiller to offer her, yet where most would be yelling out in pain or flinching she acted as if nothing was wrong she just waited for Bruce to finish. "It's done," Bruce commented softly turning to face the others as Natasha got redressed. Bruce found himself starting to wonder about how he had acted back during that incident. Here he sat with the two people he just down right hated only a few days ago and he was starting to remember why he was friends with them. He had to admit, he'd forgotten rather easily how calm they could be when others would panic and that seemed to rub off on him. They didn't run the first time he yelled or growled. They didn't turn him over to anyone who demanded his head.
But they did leave you alone. They picked an order over you. They let your blood be harvested. They left you to the torture for months. Now they had the nerve to ask for your help after all of that? They'll leave you again as soon as something better comes along. Don't trust them, they'll only leave again. Bruce shook his head trying to get the voice out of it. He tried to force the thoughts of the incident out of his mind.
Bruce focused on the ground as Natasha walked up behind him placing a hand on his shoulder before asking, "You okay?"
"What?" Bruce took a moment to respond, focusing now on random physics problems if only to keep his mind away from the incident.
"That Windigo," Natasha replied moving in front of Bruce, who had shifted his gaze to the front of the quinjet, before sitting down beside him while keeping eye contact, "It did a number on Hulk. I know Hulk gets better but that was probably one of the worst I have ever seen him take. I know Hulk heals but you came back our rather quickly. I'm just wondering if it was too quick."
"Ah," Bruce nodded in understanding, "My gut hurts a bit but nothing serious, it was a bit too quick he was still healing but I was close to fully losing myself in his rage and letting him just go. I'll be fine; mainly I'm just hungry right now."
"Well if we get there in time I'm sure Tony will have some food," Natasha replied, "Hopefully this one will be easier than the last."
"We don't tend to get there in time," Bruce replied simply.
"Hey! I'm flying according the speed limit!" Clint yelled from the front.
"The sky has a speed limit?" Bruce questioned.
"Yes, it's called the fastest this thing can go without crashing," Clint replied, "As fun as crashing is, I really can't afford any more problems with the Fury Insurance company. Last time I tried to claim something I was on hold for five hours only to get yelled at for an hour straight by Fury."
"Fury put you on hold for five hours?" Bruce chuckled a bit.
"Yes, and he had horrible hold music," Clint yelled back, "Now then if you don't mind to put your tray table up and lock it then please return your seat to its full up right position because we're about to land at Stark Tower."
"If you say "Thank you for flying Hawk Airlines" I may kill you," Bruce replied as he felt the Quinjet prepare to land.
"Hawk Airlines? Please this is Bartonjet, we are a far superior airline," Clint couldn't help but laugh a bit as Bruce rolled his eyes.
"If you boys are done fighting about which airline is better," Natasha commented, "Can we got save Tony?"
"Please," Steve replied, "before you two start a talk on packages of peanuts."
"The packages of peanuts that Bartonjet clearly doesn't have? Hawk Airlines had package of peanuts," Bruce replied.
"Bartonjet cares about those with peanut allergies. If you did not receive you inflight snack please take that up with the stewardess, not the pilot," Clint replied walking to the back of the jet once it had fully landed he shot a glance at Natasha.
"You know I'm not wearing a stewardess costume for you no matter what the joke is," Natasha replied with a slightly threatening glare.
"I was talking about Steve but clearly he refused to put on the costume so his snack serving ability is also clearly in question," Clint replied. It was good to hear the archer making jokes again.
Steve just rolled his eyes as he moved to the back of jet, the ramp opening to allow the four off and onto the roof of Stark Tower. Bruce joined them, his hands in his pockets feeling a bit out of place since the other three were in full uniform and Bruce was… Bruce.
"So what should we be expecting?" Steve questioned as they started off of the jet.
"Well considering we messed up their last plan," Bruce took a moment to think, "I'd think all out hell."
"The usual," Steve nodded, "Got it." His shield was on his arm ready to lead the way through this. "We find Tony first and then get him out. The less time we spend here the better we'll be."
"Uh guys," Clint had moved over to the edge of the roof and looked down, "About less time? Yeah, uh, we got a problem."
The other three joined Clint and looked down. Seeing A.I.M. trucks unload soldiers which wouldn't be enough to cause problems for them, it was seeing Ace get off with some strange black creature that seemed to constantly go after the A.I.M. Scientist before Ace pulled it back to set in on track. The creature had a bug like build to it with several red eyes and a rather large mouth covered in sharp teeth. Its body was long and carried by several legs that ended in a few claws. It seemed to be made out of some sort of tech, but not any the group had seen before certainly not Tony's. The creature charged once again at another A.I.M. agent who was holding an upgraded gun. As Ace pulled the creature back its tongue shot out of its mouth and wrapped around the gun yanking it out of the hands of the A.I.M. agent. The creature devoured the gun before Ace finally got it on track and into the tower.
"Did that thing… Just eat the gun?" Clint questioned.
"It eats technology," Bruce replied, "It held no interest in Ace or the A.I.M. agents other than the tech they had brought with them."
"So that thing is going to eat Tony's armor," Clint nodded, "Right let's not let that happen.
"Not just the armor," Natasha started to point out, "The reactor in his chest."
"Right, move quickly," Clint nodded, "But slow them down first." Clint got his bow ready and nocked one of his trick arrows. He released it with a smirk before quickly firing two more in rapid succession. He had considered explosive arrow heads but that was certainly a public street in New York below him and the risk of what a few explosions, even if they would be small, was not one worth taking yet. Instead he just grinned as the three arrows went off. Smoke bomb, even with the A.I.M. agents wearing masks the smoke would slow them down and confuse them. Next a net arrow, just to slow a few more down and finally a sonic arrow just to annoy them and slow them down even more. Clint turned quickly towards the others and nodded for them to go. He followed behind Steve who went for the roof access door, it was locked but that certainly didn't stop him from nearly ripping the door off of its hinges. Tact was something they didn't have time for.
The group quickly followed Steve down the stairs, directly behind him was Natasha, then Bruce with Clint watching their back. "This place is huge, any plan on how we find Tony?" Clint questioned from the back.
"We need to split up again," Steve replied, "Two of us find Tony the others need to intercept the group coming in."
"Why do I get the feeling I'm on the intercept group?" Bruce grumbled though he knew perfectly well why he would be. If anything had the chance stopping Ace or slowing down that creature it would be Hulk.
"I'll go with you," Steve replied, "Clint, Natasha you two find Tony and get him to the Quinjet. Watch your backs."
"You don't need to tell us twice," Natasha replied heading down the stairs and through one of the doors with Clint right behind her.
Steve looked at Bruce and walked out onto one of the floors and over to the elevator, they had no plan to use it normally. Steve pried the doors open to reveal the empty shaft before nodding to Bruce, "You ready?" He was met with a nod before Bruce once again started to let his other half out. After all of this, he was going to need some major recharge time or a lot of food to at least deal with Hulk's rather large stomach. During the change Bruce kept control of himself just enough to wrap and arm around Steve's waist and jump into the shaft. Mutating in constant pain on the way down, he rammed his hand into the wall to slow them down as they neared the ground floor. Nearly fully changed he used his growing strength to kick open the door before throwing Steve through it.
Steve was met by a group of confused A.I.M. agent who were still trying to get over Clint's arrows from before. Ace was glaring and threatening some to pull it together as they tried to keep control of the creature from before in the hopes of keeping it focused on finding Tony. The agents held up their guns, almost seeming to think that Steve was insane for showing up like this. Him with his shield against their superior weaponry that they made, clearly he had no chance. Once Hulk pulled himself out of the elevator shaft and clearly was not in a good mood, granted when is Hulk ever in a good mood, everything started to make sense to the agents.
"If any of you want to run or surrender," Steve commented holding his shield up in front of him, "This is your chance." A few of the agents seemed to want to take Steve up on that offer, they did not sign up for fighting Hulk. However the fear of Hulk matched their fear of Ace, unsure which way to go. If they ran Ace would kill them, if they stayed Hulk would smash them. There really was no winning for them. When none of them moved Steve shrugged, "Suit yourselves. Hulk, let's show them what happens when they invade the home of our friend."
Hulk let out a roar and charged past Steve into the group of yellow bee keepers. He swatted a few of them away like flies as they started to shoot at him. The blasts from their specialized guns stung him but didn't stop him, it just served to fuel his rage. It was only a moment before Ace launched at Hulk, switching from the Tyrell illusion to the bug like brood creature.
Steve joined the fight, tossing his shield, knocking down a few agents with it before catching it again. He charged one that was aiming at Hulk who now struggled against Ace, Steve rammed the agent into a wall knocking him out. "Come on!" Steve's attention turned to the tech beast that roared, now free to move where it wanted. His eyes went wide with panic as the beast spotted the vent; clearly it could sense the tech it wanted to devour. Steve charged at it trying to knock it away and get it to turn its attention on him. It worked for a moment but one of its menacing robot claws rose up and swatted Steve away with little effort. Hulk was unable to stop it with Ace fighting him allowing the tech beast to pull itself into the vents. "Damn it." Steve had hoped Natasha and Clint were able to find Tony and were ready for one hell of a fight as he turned his attention on the rest of A.I.M.. "Well then boys, who wants to get punched by Captain America?"
Hulk roared at Ace, her claws digging into his flash as her jaws snapped wildly at him. Each moment made Hulk's anger grow from the pain. He rammed Ace into a wall and she in return wrapped her powerful tail around Hulk's legs to trip him. On top of Hulk now, Ace started to get the advantage. Her claws scratching and stabbing into Hulk, tail thrashing around, and teeth less than in inch from his face, snapping. Hulk tried to push Ace off of him but each time he tried the powerful tail and claws dug into him and caused him to rip himself apart.
Hulk closed his eyes pushing against Ace again. This time though Ace was off of him. Steve rammed into Ace's side shoving her away from Hulk. The claws left deep gashes in Hulk's arms but he was free to stand up. He turned to the AIM agents Steve had left behind, a large group of them but all grouped up in one area. With a smirk Hulk unleashed one of his well-known thunder claps. Steve fell back at the loud sound that came from Hulk's hands as the shockwave knocked the agents back and the sound disorientated them. They scattered and ran for it considering Ace was starting to lose there was no option anymore.
Steve looked over to where he had knocked Ace, she was gone and that was never a good sign. A strange growl came from above and Steve looked up to see Ace above him. She leaped at Steve intent on ripping him apart before going back to Hulk, luckily for Steve he got his shield up in time. "Hulk!" Steve yelled quickly.
Hulk grabbed Ace's tail as she landed on Steve's shield. He gripped it tightly and pulled, swinging Ace into a nearby wall. The brood let out a painful screech at the impact and that was all the invitation Hulk to start pounding away. After a few punches Hulk held Ace against the wall for a while looking to Steve to see what to do. Steve looked like he had no clue. He didn't want to kill it, no matter how badly it wanted to kill them. Heroes don't kill unless they have to right? Shields are meant to protect not kill and after that beating from Hulk, Ace didn't look like she really wanted to keep fighting. Even if she did both Steve and Hulk would beat her again and again, she'd make no ground against them. At the same time with S.H.I.E.L.D. not an ally, where could they put her?
"Just… make sure she doesn't run off. Maybe the others will have an idea." Though Steve was certain their idea would be kill her and be done with it. His own mind working away he started to wonder if he could reason with Ace, get some information out of the creature. It seemed somewhat intelligent after all. "You up for a little chat? It seems we have some time to pass."
"Tyrell will not be please," Ace hissed out.
"I'll take that as a yes," Steve replied, "Why us? What value does this Tyrell see in taking us?"
"You are unique, like me," Ace replied, "special each in your own way. You are worth saving according to the collector and thus he will save you from the end of your pitiful world. That is what he does. He saves the unique from destruction. Gives them a new life with him, it is a good life."
"What about the world coming to an end?" Steve questioned, "How does he know? How will it end? Why not just stop the end of the world if he's so smart and powerful?"
"Events are set in motion," Ace hissed out, "events that cannot be undone or changed. They will happen as the Watchers see it and Tyrell knows the Watchers. He knows when a planet will die. He knew when mine would. However he does not just know planets, other universes he knows as well. He has traveled to them in order to save those who are unique like Varou."
"These alternate universes you mention, Reed Richards said they shouldn't be messed with. That you should jump from one to another and no one should cross it. It would mess up the universe more and damage everything," Steve commented. He only grasped bits of what Tony and Reed had spoken about when it came to this stuff but he still understood that it was dangerous to let the alternate dimension cross.
"Tyrell can do it safely," Ace grinned, "he is good at it and knows what to do and who to save. Make no mistake soldier, your world is coming to an end and it won't be avoided. The plan has been made for years and now it is about to come together. When the world ends you will be hunted and slaughtered by monsters you could not imagine. No matter where you hide they will find you and either turn you into one or devour your flesh, whichever they feel like at the time. Your best option would be to kneel to Tyrell and ask him to save your pitiful life. Beg him to forgive you and your friends for what you've done."
"I've heard enough," Steve replied. "We need to get after that tech creature and make sure Tony is okay. Hulk, try to knock her out and bring her with us."
((As usual the characters are not mine other than Tyrell and the idea of Ace though her species is still Marvel's.
A huge thanks for those who have left reviews and likes on this thus far.))