Chapter 8 – Fury's Big Week (III)

As the Hulk continued to smash the entire military platoon, Natasha took her phone from her pocket and instantly dialed Fury. After ringing a few times, Fury picked up.

"Fury."

"Boss, this is Romanoff." Natasha responded. "Banner… uh… changed."

"Shit." She heard Fury say.

Natasha jumped when one of the military Humvees exploded, and the Hulk grabbed a tank and swung it at another jeep, sending it flying overhead and into the library.

"Yeah, it's quite a sight."

"And General Ross is there?"

"Yes sir." Natasha said. "They're going at it pretty fiercely. What are your orders?"

"Stay close, and no matter what…" Fury paused for a few moments. "do not let Ross take Banner. Dead or alive."

"Copy that."

Suddenly, one of the jeeps crashed only a few mere inches away from Natasha, who quickly jumped out of the way, but was caught in a cloud of smoke. Coughing, Natasha slowly regained her senses and was shocked to see the Hulk fighting what appeared to be a regular man. However, this man was somehow able to outmaneuver each of the Hulk's attacks and even inflict some physical damage.

Evading a punch from the Hulk, the man delivered a kick right in the jaw that sent the Hulk stumbling backwards.

"Yeah..." Natasha said. "Copy that..."

ooooo

"What is it Nick?" The voice of Soladat Wrekk said over the phone.

"We may have found another potential recruit, Agent Wrekk." Fury said. "I need you to pick up the files and deliver them to Agent Coulson in New Mexico."

"Are you kidding me?" Soladat asked incredulously. "I'm enjoying my me time right now!"

"You can get back to your vacation later, just do it!"

He could hear Soladat grumbling in annoyance. "Fine. I'm heading there right now."

Fury heard her hang up, and put the phone down. He sat in his office, contemplating. First Stark, then Banner, now Lewis. Was it Freak Week or something?

There was a knock on his door, and Fury said come in, and blinked when he saw Romanoff, who looked worse for wear. She also didn't look very happy.

Crossing her arms, Natasha came up to his desk. "We need to talk."

"Did Banner do this to you?"

"A building he knocked over, yeah."

"You need a doctor?"

"Maybe a psychiatrist." Natasha bit harshly. Fury frowned.

"Did Ross get him?"

"No." Natasha shoot her head. "Banner made it out, but…" Natasha closed her eyes for a second, breathing. "they enhanced Blonsky."

Fury just looked at Natasha, trying to think about this new turn of events, when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. Taking it out, he answered it, praying for some good news.

"Fury."

"Sir, it's Coulson." The voice of Agent Coulson said. "We have a problem."

"How big?" Fury asked.

ooooo

Coulson hid behind his car, gun in hand, as the creature destroyed the other surrounding vehicles and whatever agents were unfortunate enough to stand in its path. Resembling an enormous armored beetle, the creature fired a blast of ice from its horn that cleared everything in sight.

"Pretty big." Coulson said into the phone. Suddenly, he noticed that the monster had turned its attention to the car nearest to his left, the one Agent Sitwell was hiding behind. As the beast charged its beam, Coulson yelled.

"Sitwell!"

Sitwell looked up just in time to see the beast coming at him, and jumped over to where Coulson was hiding. The beam overtook the car, and a pillar of jagged ice was left in its place.

The two agents watched as the creature surveyed its work, let out an ear-piercing wail and burrowed under the ground and out of sight. The three blue humanoids that had arrived with it spoke amongst themselves, Coulson unable to make out what they were saying, and left towards town.

The agents that managed to survive the attack emerged from their hiding spots. Coulson turned to Sitwell.

"You okay?"

Sitwell frowned. "Define okay. What were those things?"

"I don't know." Coulson said urgently. "But they're heading for town."

Just then, a black car drove up, and Agent Barton hopped out of the driver's seat.

"What the hell happened here?"

"I'd be happy to show you." Coulson said sarcastically. "It's about twenty minutes that way."

Barton looked towards town, and then nodded back at Coulson. "Get in."

Coulson nodded and climbed into the passenger's seat while Sitwell got in the back. As they drove towards Puente Antiguo, Coulson felt his phone vibrating, and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Agent Coulson?"

Coulson blinked. "Hikesh? How the hell did you figure out how to work a phone?"

"Agent Tremel dialed the number for me. I still can't believe that the people of this cycle still type in keys…" The Prothean muttered. Coulson interrupted.

"Save it, Hikesh. What do want? We're a little busy right now."

"I apologize for the interruption, but I went over those reports you made on the object, and made a discovery."

Coulson breathed a sigh of relief. Finally some news. "Well? What did you find?"

"The hammer is made up of a metal not found on this planet, confirming its extraterrestrial origin." Hikesh explained. "Fortunately, I was familiar with the compound. The hammer is made of orihalcon, an incredibly durable metal used frequently by my people during our last cycle."

Coulson took in this new information. "So it can't be found on Earth?"

"No. In fact, the metal itself is extremely difficult to forge. When solid, the metal is practically indestructible and can only be melted down when exposed to solar energy."

"So why wasn't anyone able to lift it?"

"I do not know yet. It is possible that the hammer was held under some kind of lockdown, waiting for a certain individual to claim it."

"Thanks for the information, Hikesh." Coulson said. "But I'll have to come back to you later, we're dealing with a major crisis here."

"Understood." Hikesh said, and hung up.

Suddenly, Barton stopped the car, and Coulson looked over at him with a confused expression.

"Why are we stopping?"

But Barton didn't look at Coulson. His mouth hanging open, he was occupied with something going on outside.

"Thaaaaat's not normal."

Coulson followed Barton's gaze, and was shocked to see Ms. Lewis, still holding the hammer, battling the monster. Coulson and Sitwell's eyes widened as they took in the spectacle.

"Damn right it's not."

Awesome. Two chapters in one day. It's fun when you have more time to write isn't it. S.H.I.E.L.D. really has its hands full doesn't it. Updates will be coming in a lot sooner from now on, I can promise you that. Review pleaz.