ASTONISHING AVENGERS #3
REFORMATION PART 3:ASSEMBLED
By: DBZ
The Savage Land, 2 hours earlier...
Skaar: Talk human, what's this about a rouge hulk? And talk fast before I separate your head from your neck!
Ant-Man: Well our Hulk went bonkers and is tearing up New York like a wet tissue paper and we came to this crap shack to bring you in to smash the son of a bitch
Firestar: *face palms* you have such a way with words Eric...
Skaar: is that a fact? Well you can forget it; I could care less about what happens to the likes of you, I've got a home of my own why should help you puny humans?
With that, the son of the Hulk turned away from two Avengers and began to walk from them; suddenly a dark shadow came of the gamma powered goliath. He looked up only to see a massive hand come down from above and snatch up the barbaric beast, he was then lifted into the air and brought to eye level with the now gigantic Ant-Man.
Ant-Man: You squirm and I squeeze, got it?
Firestar: *fly's up to Ant-Man's face* I didn't know this suit could grow as well
Ant-Man: *smirks* Pym particles at their finest sweet-cheeks *looks back at Skaar* now as for you-
Before he could say another word, the gamma powered beast broke free of the giant's hold and leapt forward at Ant-Man's face and with one great punch, he toppled the Avenger.
Firestar attempted to assist her teammate, but was back handed into a tree; knocking her out cold.
Ant-Man: *Shirks back down to normal height* okay...I'm hurt now...
Skaar: that was pretty stupid, even for a human *draws sword* and it's going to be your last mistake
The barbarian raised his sword and prepared to plunge it into the hero's chest, but then O'Grady shrank at the last second and narrowly dodged the blade. The tiny Avenger then quickly ran up Skaar's leg and along his body until he made into his opponent's ear.
Skaar: Where did you go?!
Ant-Man: I'll give you a hint Conan! *whistles loudly*
The high-pitched sound of Ant-Man's whistle next to Skaar eardrum caused him fall to his knees in sheen pain, he attempted to pick the invading pest from his ear, however when he attempted to even reach for his ear, he felt something crawling on his skin; at fist first he thought it was his enemy making an escape, but when looked down to his attack, he only saw millions of prehistoric ants swarming over his body.
Ant-Man: they don't call me Ant-Man for nothing and I'm guessing these Jurassic ants can put on some serious hurt, like so!
With that, the Avenger mentally commanded his new insect legion to bite down on Skaar's skin. While he was racked with pain; Eric quickly climbed out of his ear and grew back to his giant form and pinned Skaar under his foot.
Ant-Man: Now you listen to me junior, either you join our
team or you and I are gonna keep at this until this whole jungle is nothing more than a pile of wood chippings *thinks to
himself* oh god I hope he believes this buff because there's no way in hell I can take him in a real fight!
Skaar: ...fine...
Ant-Man: *thinks to himself* Oh thank you god! *lets Skaar go and shrinks back down to normal height*
Skaar: *get's back up* so what's this...team do exactly?
Ant-Man: *smirks* we smash the bad guys
Firestar: *get's back up* Ugh, what happened?
Ant-Man: I beat the Hulk's son, that's what happened!
Skaar: *glares at Ant-Man* I let you win...
Firestar: Save it for later you two, right now we've a Hulk to stop
New York, present time...
Captain America sighed in relief at the sight of reinforcements, especially at the sight of Skaar among the ranks. He looked at Panther and Songbird, who where just moments ago beaten down by the sheer power of Nuul; where now quickly recovering from the attack and rallying to their leader.
Captain America: Are you all right?
Black Panther: A broken rib or two, but I have suffered far worse
Songbird: I put a barrier around myself at the second before I took that hit, so just a few cuts and bruises for me
Captain America: *to Firestar* I'm glad you could make it in time and get Skaar as well
Firestar: You can thank Ant-Man for that; he's the one who convinced junior to join the team
Ant-Man: Hey guys, I think we have more pressing matters at hand like the big red wrecking machine coming at us!
Like Eric had said, Nuul charged at the Avengers at full speed with his fists at the ready to pound the team into dust.
Skaar: stand aside humans, I need something to smash!
Captain America: Skaar wait!
Before Steve could stop the newest Avenger, Skaar rushed toward Nuul. The two gamma powered monster's fists collided; causing a shockwave throughout the area. Nuul threw a punch and smacked Skaar across the face, but the Hulk's son retaliated with punch to the stomach that sent the worthy into another building. The barbarian drew his sword and continued his attack; however when he swung his blade at his opponent, the red behemoth caught his blade with both his hands and broke it in two. Enraged at the sight of his weapon destroyed, Skaar attempted to pummel Nuul, but the breaker of worlds caught both of his hands and kicked him directly in the chest sending him flying backwards into another building. Meanwhile the rest of the Avengers could only look on at the battle.
Firestar: If they keep this up there going to bring the whole city down!
Ant-Man: If you want to break them, be my guest because I'm not stepping into all that
Captain America: Firestar's right we need to spilt Skaar away from Nuul, and then we can focus all our firepower on him
Songbird: How do we do that?
Captain America: Songbird, you and Firestar concentrate you fire on Nuul
Firestar: Got it! *fly's into the air with Sonbird*
Captain America: T'challa, can you still fight?
Black Panther: I can work through the pain
Captain America: Then you and Ant-Man will help me directly attack Nuul while Firestar and Songbird are attacking him from above
Ant-Man: *grows to his giant form* let's do this!
Captain America: *raises shield* Avengers Assemble!
The team began their assault on the breaker of worlds. Firestar and Songbird flew high into the air and began their aerial bombardment on the beast, pinning him down with their combined power.
Songbird: this is way too easy, I don't like it
Firestar: What do you mean?
Songbird: When I was with the Thunderbolts, we battled the Juggernaut who was possessed by another one of the Worthy; we threw everything we had at him and he still stood and Nuul beat down took down the Red Hulk and the entire Avengers by himself the last time he was here with little effort
Firestar: I agree, but right now I think we should concentrate on the job athand
Songbird: Right, Pour it on him!
While the two heroines reined their power down unto the beast, the rest of the team began their part of the attack. Steve hurled his shield into the monsters face while Black Panther hurled knives into Nuul's chest; Ant-Man brought his now massive fist down unto the team's enemy.
Ant-Man: HA! Suck it!
However, Eric's victory was short lived when Nuul grabbed his hand and easily tossed him into Songbird and Firestar's direction, knocking them out of the sky. He then proceeded to grab to snatch up Panther by the torso and slammed the king of Wakanda into ground before attempting to do the same Captain America, but the sentinel of liberty managed to leap back and out of the Worthy's reach. At the same time, Skaar was picking himself up from the hit he took from Nuul.
Skarr: *Climb's out of the wreckage* He's gonna pay for that...
Captain America: *Shout's to Skaar* Skaar, I need your help!
Skaar: You're not getting it, he's mine!
Once again the gamma powered barbarian rushed toward the possessed red hulk, but when he tried to throw even a single punch, Nuul caught his fist and slammed him face first into the ground and repeatedly pummeled in face by Nuul's mighty fists.
Nuul: No matter what you fools throw at me, in the end it is all
pointless!
He raised his fist to bring down on the son of his former host, then suddenly the wind kicked up and the clouds above darkened. The Avengers as well as Nuul looked at the event in total shock.
Black Panther: *trying to pick himself off the ground* It can't be...
Ant-Man: *Back to normal height* No way...
Nuul: NO! Not you! The Serpent Slew you! *picks up and
Skaar and tosses him aside* you cannot be alive Odinson!
Captain America: *whispers* Thor?
The Worthy's response came in the form of a golden hammer that came through the clouds at an alarming speed and collided with his chest with a force so powerful it sent flying backwards at least thirty feet. Then a strong voiced boomed in the skies above.
?: To me Stormbreaker!
The hammer reacted to the voices command and soared back up into the sky to be caught by the hand of a strange figure that seemingly floated down from the heavens above. The unknown hero descended down to the ground and held out his hand to Skaar.
?: Rise my brother in arms
Skaar took the stranger's outstretched hand and was pulled back to his feet; Steve carefully approached the newcomer from behind, the warrior wore a suit of armor similar to Thor's classic attire, but when he turned around to face Cap, the leader of Avenger's was shocked to see the newcomer's face was that of a horse, it was then that Steve knew who this hero was.
Captain America: You're Beta Ray Bill; Thor spoke of you
Beta Ray Bill: Aye and you are Captain America, My oath-brother told me tales of you as well, but now is not the time for introductions there is a battle to be won!
Captain America: Agreed *looks over Songbird and Firestar who come up to them* How are you guys feeling?
Songbird: Firestar and I can still fight, but Ant-Man's arm is broken and Panther's in real bad shape
Captain America: Then we need to finish this now
Beta Ray Bill: I may have something that may be useful *speaks into his wrist communicator* Skuttlebutt, prepare to fire all weapons unto the target
Skuttlebutt: *over communicator* yes sir
Beta Ray Bill: my ship has the firepower to bring down this monster once and for all
Captain America: I can't let you do that, that's one of our teammates he's been taken over by-
Beta Ray Bill: I am aware of the entity in question and rest assured no harm will come to him
Firestar: Speaking of which here he comes again!
The remaining heroes saw the breaker of worlds charge at them again at full force.
Beta Ray Bill: Now Skuttlebutt!
Out of the sky two beams of blue energy fired down on Nuul, stopping him dead in his tracks.
Beta Ray Bill: The beams are strong, but I need more power to subdue him!
Songbird: got it! Let's go Firestar!
Firestar: Right behind you!
The two female Avengers launched another barrage of their power at their enemy adding onto the onslaught, Beta Ray join in by firing a blast of lighting from his hammer, but still it seemed Nuul still had strength to fight.
Captain America: We need to keep Nuul from moving! Skaar can you knock him off balance?
Skaar: I can do better than that; I can keep him from even getting back up! *to Firestar, Songbird and Beta Ray Bill* you three might want to get air-born
The three other heroes took to the skies while counting there attack on their target. Skaar slammed his fists on the ground, making a shockwave that knocked the worthy off his feet and with the force of the blast, it kept him down.
Nuul: No! This can't be! I can't fail! No!
Songbird: keep going we've almost got him!
Beta Ray Bill: We need just a bit more power
Ironman: *flies in* Maybe I can help with that
Firestar: Tony!
The Avengers were surprised to see Tony fly into the fray of the battle, but still glad to see him back on his feet. Without saying another word, the armored avenger fired his repulsor rays and uni-beam at once to help bring down Nuul once and for all.
Nuul: Masters, I've failed you!
With one final outcry, Nuul collapsed and the team ceased the attack. The breaker of worlds was left lying still in a carter as the heroes gathered around their fallen enemy. Captain America jumped into the hole and approached the defeated hulk.
Captain America: I want answers Nuul, how did you return and why are you in this hulk's body?
Nuul: *chuckles darkly* ...I given this mission by my new masters to destroy you before you could become a threat to their plans
Captain America: But the Serpent is gone, who could you serve now?
Nuul: you'll know, in due time...
Right after saying those words, Nuul began to fade away as the Red Hulk began to morph back into its human form reveling himself to the rest of the team
Firestar: is that...?
Songbird: General Ross? But isn't he dead?
Ironman: you kidding me, Ross is the Red Hulk? *to captain America* you and I are going to have a serious talk about this Steve
Captain America: I'm aware of that Tony, but right now let's get our wounded to get some medical attention and then begin clean up around this area *to Beta Ray Bill* I suppose you'll be leaving now?
Beta Ray Bill: No, I came here not just to aid you in this battle, but also pledge my services to the Avengers. I was unable to come to the aid of my oath-brother in his time of need, so it is my hope that I can honor his memory by fighting alongside the mortals that he called his friends
Captain America: Then I'm happy to welcome you to the team *to Skaar* and you Skaar, we could use you around here
Skaar...If I stay here, then I don't want to be compared to my father even once or I'm gone and I'm taking your head with me
Captain America: Done, welcome to the team Skaar
Firestar: Yes! Go Team!
Meanwhile, at an unknown location...
Count Nefaria: *shuts off a view screen* And that my friends is what we'll be facing
Ezekiel Stane: Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the idea that Nuul was going to destroy the Avengers?
Mr. Sinister: No, the plan was to use Nuul to gauge the strength of the Avengers
Morgan Le Fay: And I say we've learned quite a bit
Armin Zola: Although the arrival of the Hulk's child and Thor's friend was a bit unexpected
Dracula: True, but it's nothing that can't be handled
Tyrannous: And when we unleash our plan-
Wizard: You mean the All-Masters plan
Count Nefaria: We'll become the gods of a new earth!
Next Issue: Tony confronts Steve about the secrets he's been hiding from the rest of the group and to make matters worse; Betty Ross A.K.A The Red She-Hulk has bone to pick with Cap as well! Meanwhile the two newest Avengers Skaar and Beta Ray Bill try to adjust to their new roles and lives, but it's going to be a little difficult when the two face off with the Wrecking Crew!
Astonishing Avengers, Issue 4