On the run with only one path to take, the unerring Hawkeye and the winsome Wasp are all that's left of the mighty Avengers; now transformed into brutish, gamma-irradiated monsters and under the total control of the nefarious Leader! Their only hope lies in the errant Bruce Banner, trapped in the mind of a wayward Hulk! It's now or never, true believers, everything depends on their success! But how long can they survive in-
Chapter 6: Gamma World Part 2
From space, the green dot appeared as inconspicuously as turning on a light, clearly visible on the North American continent. On the ground, it was far more chaotic and frightening. Consuming Las Vegas in mere seconds, a new gamma dome exploded from a single generator tower placed on the rooftop of a skyscraper. The millions of citizens either visiting or living there were immersed in a field of powerful gamma radiation and mutated within seconds of exposure as they were transformed into an army of mutant monsters of all shapes and sizes. With alarming speed the dome continued to spread, the Cube next to be swallowed up…
"That's, what, nine gamma villains back in custody?" Tony wondered as he watched the last of the U-Foes be stored for transport aboard a SHIELD VTOL. "Pretty good day, right?" He mused, turning back to his team. Before anyone could respond, many of them stood in alarm, drawn to a sight behind Tony.
Turning around, he was met by a wall of green gamma energy expanding towards him at a rapid rate.
The Avengers were both stunned and perplexed. A second dome? So soon? Where had it come from and how had it arrived so quickly? Realizing the trouble approaching them, Connor realized that there would be no time to escape this one. All of them were doomed, no longer armed with protective gear to ward off its effects.
As he turned to his side, he realized, all but one…
Thinking quickly, Connor reached out and grabbed Janet's helmet, sliding it over her head while simultaneously using his powers to activate her suit's protective field and boot up its internal systems. He then powered up his magnets, knowing he had mere seconds left to act.
"Connor, what're you-?!" Janet stuttered, trying to keep pace with his motions.
"Go. Get help." Connor calmly told her, gripping her suit by its metal components before turning and pushing her well away from the base camp. Propelled through the air by a continuing force, all Janet could do was look back at Connor's calm yet scared expression until it was consumed by a wall of green and he vanished from sight. The magnetic effect began to subside and she felt herself begin to fall, shrinking down and taking flight to keep herself going. Realizing the danger she and everyone else was in, she took Connor's final words to heart and flew as fast as her wings could carry her.
Everyone caught within the dome's expanding radius, Avenger and SHIELD agent alike, felt the effects of gamma radiation take hold immediately. Those newly exposed mutated into all new monstrosities while those previously exposed were quickly transformed back into their old forms. Quartermain, Cybernaut and the recovered SHIELD crew were seemingly first as they transformed back into their gamma-irradiated forms while T'Challa, Steve and Tony were turned into unique creatures each. Panther grew more feral and catlike, a true hybrid of man and beast. Captain America shredded his costume as he grew into a hulking beast of a super soldier, a creature of instinctive rage combined with peak human physiology. Iron Man's ARC reactor bulged from his chest as his heart grew twice as large and his armor bent and moulded around his expanded body.
Soon Thor and Samson were the only surviving members, now surrounded by an army of gamma beasts who used to be their friends and colleagues. "How is this possible?" He gasped. "The Leader's machine was destroyed!" Samson could not answer, pounced upon by an irradiated Black Panther who stole his unconscious form into the shadows of the legions. "Samson!" Thor roared in alarm. He turned around as the army closed in on him, face to face with the mutant forms of Tony, Steve and Connor. "Avengers… remember who you are." He pleaded. It was to no avail as his friends led the charge, beast after beast pouncing on the god of thunder and pinning him to the ground beneath an impenetrable wall of raging flesh and muscle…
Using his jet-propelled Sky-Cycle, Hawkeye was making good time crossing the continent. With a bound Black Widow in tow, he was determined to intercept the Avengers at the Cube and hand over the traitorous Natasha himself. "The Avengers won't trust you any more than SHIELD does." Widow claimed as she struggled against her bonds. Hawkeye merely scoffed.
"Well, good thing I've still got the-" He abruptly stopped the moment he laid eyes on the massive dome of green energy before them. "What the hell is that?!" Natasha craned her neck as best she could to get a closer look. Eyes widening in shock, she dropped all pretences and told him,
"Turn around, Hawkeye! Turn around right now!" Needing no further encouragement, Clint banked steeply around and overclocked his cycle's thrusters in a mad attempt to outrace the expanding dome. "Go! Go!" Widow cried, now seeing the true extent of the dome barreling towards them. Unfortunately it took a terrible toll on the engine and, after such a tight turn, his sky-cycle sputtered out uncontrollably before crashing into the desert floor, pitching Hawkeye and Black Widow across the ground. It took some time but Clint eventually came to with a groan and pushed himself up.
"Anyone get the number of that-… Widow!" Bolting upright, he turned to see Natasha freed from her bonds and equally functional. They shared a glare and a quick peak over their shoulders, searching around for their equipment. Hawkeye spied his quiver and bow at the same time Widow spotted his carrying bag with her wrist cuffs within. Both of them knew what the other was thinking and there was no point clashing in the middle. It all came down to who collected their gear first.
At the same time, they lunged.
Sliding across the ground, Widow snapped her cuffs into place as Hawkeye shouldered his quiver and fitted an arrow into his bowstring. They turned and locked on to the other simultaneously, arrowhead and dart launcher primed and ready to strike. Neither moved, tensely waiting for a sign from the other. Suddenly, the holocom on Clint's sky-cycle came to life with an image of The Leader.
"Attention humanity," Widow was shocked.
"That's… That's a restricted SHIELD frequency!" She exclaimed.
"But that's no SHIELD agent…" Hawkeye concurred. The situation had turned confusing and Widow cast the barest of glances towards the dome, wondering if the two were connected-
Clint's arrow flew through the air and struck her dead centre in the chest, unleashing an electric burst that ripped through her body and knocked her unconscious with a cry of pain. Widow collapsed and Hawkeye stood, turning to the projection.
"I come to you with a message. And that message is: do not be scared. The gamma dome that has formed in the American southwest is no threat. It is a promise. It is going to change the world… for the better." Leader continued. Within his complex lab atop a highrise, Samuel Sterns cast his voice across every telecommunications system his equipment could reach, and it could reach many. "You are weak. You suffer with your small minds and fragile bodies. And you have plunged the world into darkness with your faults. But I am here save you… I will remake the world in my image." He declared. "I will remake you in my image. You will be perfect, like me. And I will think your thoughts for you. The gamma energy will grow to envelop the Earth and you will be transformed. Your power will be my power. Accept your future, for I am your Leader!"
Across the world, the Leader's announcement was heard by everyone. The denizens of New York, watching window television displays. Pepper Potts, alone in Stark Tower. Nick Fury, safe in an unknown location. Hank Pym, in his lab with Wakanda's leading scientists and the royal Dora Milaje honor guard. Even Baron Zemo, Enchantress and the cybernetic Arnim Zola in their secretive lair. Everyone heard the message, everyone was listening the moment The Leader made his great proclamation.
"Welcome… to Gamma World!"
Janet had no idea how long she'd been flying for or how far she'd travelled. But she kept going, doing her best to outrace the dome. She'd put a healthy distance between her and it, which was good, but the damn thing kept growing and moving. There were no gains or losses anymore, just an even distance. She dared not think about all the friends she'd lost to the dome already, squeezing her eyes shut as she did her best to blot out thoughts and images of Steve, Tony, Connor and T'Challa all transformed into horrific gamma monsters.
She was all that remained of the team. She was the last of the Avengers.
Suddenly, she spied new shapes in the distance, Janet actually gasping as she recognized the forms of people and not more rock outcrops. She made a beeline, her eyes narrowing as she picked out the purple-clad Hawkeye, apparent Hydra agent within SHIELDs ranks. And he was not alone. Janet had seen Black Widow only once before, but she recognized that body-hugging catsuit right away.
What in the world were they doing here?
"Hey! You!" She called out as she drew closer, Hawkeye's gaze torn from the holoprojection of the Leader towards her minuscule form. His eyes widened.
"You're… I didn't think there were any survivors."
"Well, tough break. You're looking at an Avenger." She remarked, hovering before his face. "Well, the last one, anyway." Hawkeye took that information in stride.
"The others. They're back under the dome?" He noted.
"Yeah. And they've got Thor." Janet affirmed. "But what's a Hydra agent doing all the way out here?" She questioned.
"I'm not the Hydra agent." Hawkeye firmly replied. "But I can tell you who is." He continued, turning towards the Black Widow bound hand and foot. Jan swiftly put the pieces together.
"Who? Her? Really?" She asked incredulously.
"Really." Hawkeye responded, stepping over to his former partner as Widow stirred. She stared up at him with blazing li bright green eyes, framed by her vibrant red hair. "You're part of this, aren't you?" He demanded.
"Don't be stupid. Hydra has as much to lose as anyone if that maniac takes over the world." She spat in retort. Natasha turned and cast a glance towards the rapidly-approaching dome. "Clint… the Avengers were inside that dome. They're gone."
"All but one." Wasp stated as she grew to normal size and pulled off her suit's helmet. "Trust me, when this is over, I'm personally taking you both in." She promised.
"That won't matter if the whole planet turns green." Hawkeye responded. "Look, I don't care if you trust me or not. But if you're an Avenger then I need your help. I have a idea." He told her. Janet raised a brow, suspicious of his motives.
"Oh yeah? And what do you plan to do about this?" She asked.
"Not all of the Avengers were inside that dome," Clint continued, "we have to find the Hulk."
"Hulk? Seriously? We don't even know where he is... You don't even know where he is!" Wasp replied.
"Bruce Banner is the world's foremost expert on gamma energy. He and the Hulk have had run-ins with the Leader before." Hawkeye explained. "He's our best bet, he'll know how to stop this."
"We don't have much time then." Widow interjected. "The Hulk was spotted in northern Canada this morning, there's a Hulkbuster operation about to commence. We can-"
"If you think we includes you, you're wrong… traitor." Clint abruptly cut her off. The realization set in and Widow gasped in shock.
"Come back here! You can't leave me like this!" She demanded as Clint walked over to his sky-cycle.
"Wait, you're seriously gonna leave her here?" Janet wondered.
"She's Hydra. It's this or prison." Hawkeye simply remarked as he mounted his ride. "Look on the bright side, Widow; you're new green skin will match your eyes." He called back to his former colleague. Natasha was aghast and Janet… Janet felt a hint of remorse. Having seen what Connor went through and recalling his words to never wish this on anyone, she doubted the experience would be a pleasant one for Widow.
"You coming, Wasp?" Hawkeye asked as his engines kicked into gear. A final thought went through her head and Janet quickly removed her protective suit and dropped it on the ground a few feet from Widow.
"Here, this'll keep you safe… if you can put it on in time." She explained. The dome was getting extremely close now and she quickly hopped on the back of Clint's ride as he guided them into the sky, leaving Widow behind with one course of action… and very few options to go about it.
"Bring them to me." Leader's order was carried out seamlessly as the mutated Avengers threw down the bodies of Thor and Doc Samson before him. "Leave me." With equal obedience, the foursome withdrew into the shadows and Leader couldn't help but smile at the simple genius that allowed this to work as well as it did. Thor came to first, picking himself up and reaching out for a Mjolnir that was nowhere to be found.
"My… My hammer! Where-?"
"Ah, yes, it is quite curious… My Wrecking Crew could not lift your weapon, even with their strength enhanced by their gamma-boosters." Leader mused, seated high above the Asgardian within his command terminal. "And you, of all the Avengers, were not affected my gamma energy now, tell me, why is that?" He questioned. Thor got to his feet, standing tall.
"Only those worthy of the thunder may wield Mjolnir, villain. And as for your 'energy', mortal science holds no fare for an Asgardian." He declared.
"I suppose if gamma energy has no effect on a thunder god, then you will simply have to serve as entertainment." The Leader mused. All of a sudden, Samson was dragged back into the shadows and Thor sensed danger afoot. He stretched out his hand,
"Come to me Mjol-" His command was abruptly cut short as something massive slammed into him from out of the shadows, pounding him into the ground. Thor barely managed a glance up before a clawed hand grabbed his face.
"Not scared? You will be…" Abomination growled.
Meanwhile, in Canada…
Explosions filled the forest as attack helicopters and tanks rolled through the mountains terrain, shelling the fleeing Hulk with every ounce of ammunition at their disposal. The musclebound giant did his best to ward off each strike, but successive missile fire was taking a toll on the green-skinned powerhouse. Pitched through water, rocks, trees and dirt, Hulk could only take so much, something the Hulkbuster team was very well aware of.
Finally, one last cluster salvo knocked the green giant down, floating flat on his face in a river and not moving. "Let General Ross know that the Hulk is down. Repeat, the Hulk is down." Wild Bill reported from within his helicopter. Success here was a big deal for the whole unit and the capture of the Hulk would be the boost they needed in the eyes of high command.
But then, all of a sudden, an explosion struck the right side of his copter, annihilating circuitry and advanced mechanics as every electronic feature malfunctioned to the tune of blaring alarms. Fighting with the controls, Wild Bill barely caught sight of an incoming purple object. Three arrows punctured his fuel tanks, creating a severe leak that showed up on his system analysis. "Hulkbuster unit to Ross! We're taking fire from an unidentified bogey! We are bingo fuel and have to set down!" He exclaimed over the radio, breaking away from the fight as he was pursued by an unknown quarry.
Standing up, the recovering Hulk was shocked by the sudden appearance of unexpected aid. No one helped him. No one…
His thoughts were interrupted as a tank salvo whizzed past him, his hair snapping about in the breeze that kicked up. He was about to move on the tank when the turret's operator was suddenly assaulted by a barrage of yellow bio-stings, plaguing him as the Wasp flew circles around him, throwing off his focus and aim. Hulk closed the gap and tore the turret off the tank, sending its operator flying as he hammered the treaded body over the mountain. He turned to take out the final vehicle and saw Wasp unleash a pair of powerful bioelectric punches that hammered the crew out of the vehicle, allowing Hulk to smash the vehicle over and over again with the turret until it was reduced to scrap pieces.
The terrified crew started running as Hulk unleashed a deafening roar of triumph, throwing aside the mangled turret as Hawkeye touched down behind him and Wasp quickly flew over to the green giant.
"Hey big guy! Remember me? I brought a friend!" She cheerily introduced. Hulk's response was to offer an annoyed huff as he sized up Hawkeye.
"Leave Hulk alone." He rumbled.
"Leave you alone?" Hawkeye echoed. "We just saved your green hide, and now you get to return the favor. We need some help." He stated with a smug grin.
"Then call the other Avengers." Hulk huffed, turning around and walking away.
"The Avengers are in trouble, Hulk." Wasp quickly explained, flying alongside him. "We're trying to save them… and the whole world."
"There's a big green energy dome, turning everyone into gamma monsters," Hawkeye continued.
"You want someone to fight monsters? You should ask them." Hulk growled, pointing to the ruined Hulkbuster equipment.
"We don't need them, smart guy," Hawkeye remarked, "and we don't need you either."
"Yea-… wait, what?" A confused Wasp wondered with a shake of her head. Hawkeye merely kept talking with a smile.
"We need Banner." Hulk's eyes went wide, turning around as his expression of surprise turned into rage.
"Banner's not home. Now leave. Me. Alone!" He thundered, looming over them.
"Uh, Hawkeye, maybe we should-"
"Listen, bigfoot! If you don't give me Bruce Banner in the next three seconds… bottom line? I'm gonna take. You. Down!" Hawkeye retorted, getting up in Hulk's face on the tips of his toes, putting on the best menacing expression he could muster. Their staredown was tense, Wasp knowing the full power of the Hulk when he was not in a good mood. Should Hawkeye push him too far, there would be nothing she could do to help him out.
And then, Hulk loosed a bark of laughter.
It was so unexpected, Janet jumped a little as Hulk continued, loosing peals of roaring laughter at Hawkeye's whimsical determination. The archer lost his seriousness and smiled, something Janet immediately noticed. "This was your plan all along, wasn't it? To get him to laugh!" She realized.
"Nothing like tickling the funny bone to deal with anger issues." Hawkeye remarked as he collapsed his bow and tucked behind him next to his quiver as the Hulk began to shrink and change form; shifting from a musclebound mountain to a thinner, scrawny man. They had successfully restored Bruce Banner.
"O… O-Okay… You'll have to give me a minute…" The doctor replied between chuckling breaths. "He hasn't let me out in weeks." Finally getting a grip, Bruce hitched up his pants and turned back to the duo. "Now, Agent Barton, Wasp, tell me everything you know…"
Thrown to the floor, Thor was looking more and more bedraggled the longer his brawl with Abomination wore on. "You call yourself 'leader'," he groaned, picking himself up, "but what gives you the right to rule this world?" He demanded. "You defeat your enemies with trickery, with the strength of others! You have no honor!" He accused.
"You wish me to talk? Fine." With a huff, Leader turned to face the weary Asgardian. "Why should I need humanity when I am the most advanced mind the world has ever seen?! I think on a level normal human beings cannot even begin to comprehend! Look at this world, Asgardian! Mankind is on the brink of extinction. They need me." He declared. Thunder suddenly flashed outside the building, a bolt of blue lightning illuminating the darkened cityscape as Thor frowned.
He had allowed Abomination to batter him as he had simply so he could focus on his connection to his mighty hammer. It had been left behind at the Cube… and began to move.
Hawkeye and Wasp filled in Bruce on everything they knew and had learned, their information more than enough to get the doctor going on a solution. He led them back to his secretive cabin in the woods; a place he could use for experimentation and necessary science while on the run from the US Army's Hulkbuster contingents.
Suffice to say, for a cabin, it was very high tech.
"Wow... You did all this while you were on the run?" Hawkeye wondered, peering at every gizmo and gadget wired up and running.
"Yes. And don't touch anything." Bruce quickly responded. Jan herself walked in circles, picking out a new detail somewhere she had not noticed on her first pass.
"This is… amazing." She breathed in awe. "How'd you even get some of this stuff out here, Bruce?"
"Fake names. A lot of credit cards. The right connections." The soft-spoken doctor replied simply. "But, like I said, don't touch anything."
"Right…" Hawkeye trailed off, approaching Banner's computer. "Any luck?"
"Plenty. Your sky-cycle collected quite a bit of data about the gamma energy the dome was putting off." Bruce replied.
"Well, SHIELD likes to be thorough-" Hawkeye mused, stopping abruptly as Bruce quickly jabbed him with a pneumatic injector. "OW! Hey…! What'd you do that for?" He grumbled while rubbing the sore spot on his arm.
"I just inoculated you." Bruce answered. "That will temporarily protect you from the Leader's gamma energy."
"Wait, are you serious? You've developed a means to be immune to the dome in just… what, a few minutes?" An incredulous Wasp exclaimed.
"If you want to phrase it that way." Bruce said, also jabbing her with a second shot.
"Ah!" Janet gasped at the sharp spike of pain as her arm was injected, Hawkeye's reaction was incredibly warranted it seemed. "See, where was this our first trip in there?" She commented. Banner continued to collect materials and stash them in Clint's duffle bag.
"Alright, we're gonna have to do some of this en route." He quickly explained, passing the fully-loaded bag off to Clint. "We don't have much time, the longer people remain exposed to the gamma energy, the more likely the changes will become permenant." Wasp suddenly grew worried for people like Connor, who had been thoroughly exposed and transformed once before, their countdown far shorter than others. "I've located the epicentre of the dome, that's where the Leader will be with the gamma energy generator." He described, quickly pinging a transponder map with the proper coordinates. "That is what we need to destroy above all else."
"Wow. You've just got all the answers, dontcha?" Hawkeye remarked as he shouldered the bag. "How are we gonna get to the Leader?"
"Good point. With all of those monsters under his control, it's not gonna be easy to get near him." Wasp echoed. At that, Bruce turned and smiled.
"The direct route." He stated, his brown eyes started to glow green.
Moments later, the incredible Hulk burst through the ceiling with Hawkeye under one arm and Wasp under the other, both heroes clinging on for dear life as he lept through the air and crossed dozens of miles in a single bound.
"I CAN FLY YOU KNOOOOOOOOOOOW!" Janet screamed, her voice reverberating through the still night air…
Abomination was feeling smug. Never before had it felt so satisfying to beatdown an Asgardian like this. A so-called god was nothing more than a punching bag… or, so he thought. When he least expected it, Thor grabbed his incoming fist and held it in place, offering him a glare through his long locks of golden hair before landing an almighty haymaker that laid Abomination out flat at the feet of the Leader, who seemed more unenthused than anything.
"You cannot win. You must know that." He dryly told the prince of Asgard. Thor stepped forward, standing tall and mighty despite his beating.
"I disagree, villain." He rumbled. Snapping out his hand, a deafening crack of thunder split the sky above as Mjolnir came hurtling through a nearby window and straight into his waiting grip. "I played your game long enough to retrieve Mjolnir." Thor announced. "Now your game is over." But before he could move, the floor began to shift beneath his feet, taking on a far more fluid form that quickly crawled up Thor's body and clung to him like wet concrete, trapping him where he stood. "What manner of-!" He cried, valiantly trying to shake himself free as the Leader cackled.
"You feeble-minded fool! Of course I wanted you to retrieve your hammer! I let you do it." He said with a maniacal grin. With eyes wide, Thor watched as his bonds left his body and congealed into the humanoid form of Crusher Kreel, his hand on the head of Mjolnir.
"Nice hammer," he remarked with a grin, his flesh quickly shifting to match the unbreakable composition of the same Uru metal Mjolnir was comprised of, "now, let me show you why they call me the Absorbing Man!" His body suddenly glowed with the magical properties imbued within Mjolnir, the same powers that allowed Thor to control lightning and wield thunder in his grip.
"You asked before what gives me the right to rule the world. The answer is: because no one can stop me!" Leader sneered with a confident grin. Thor's gaze remained transfixed on Absorbing Man as his very fists morphed into the shape of Mjolnir's hammerhead. Now trapped between two high-powered villains, Thor was in for the battle of a lifetime as he traded blows back and forth between Absorbing Man and Abomination, the two villains tossing him about like a ragdoll as the Asgardian slammed into ceilings and floors with every colossal hit.
"In fourteen-point-seven hours my gamma dome will have covered half the planet. Another eleven-point-four-three hours the entire world will be engulfed. Anyone within the dome will be mine to command." Sterns gloated, very confident in his impending victory. "You have lost, Asgardian." With that, Absorbing Man tackled Thor out of a nearby window, the two plummeting towards the street below and impacting with the force of a thunderclap, sending random monstrous denizens sprawling as the shockwave rolled over them. "And without the Avengers, who is left to stand against me?" Leader asked rhetorically as Abomination made to join the fray below.
His answer came moments later when the floor behind him exploded, disgorging Hawkeye and Wasp into the room. "You, with the head! Freeze!" The archer ordered, aiming an arrow straight at Leader's oversized cranium.
"Yeah! What he said, pickle boy!" Wasp echoed, her hands glowing with charged bioelectricity. Then Hulk charged into the room, backing up his two teammates.
"I knew you would come eventually, my old enemy." Sterns remarked in a near-philosophical tone. "But you of all people must realize that this is for the best. In Gamma World, no one will hunt you, no one will try to cure you, you'll be a king! Everyone who hated you, who attacked you, they will be you! Are you really going to try and stop me?" He questioned.
"No." Hulk answered after a moment. Wasp and Hawkeye paused, worried they might lose him. "Not stop you… SMASH YOU!" Hulk roared, pounding his fists together.
"Disappointing. But not unexpected." Leader remarked wth a sigh. "Abomination?" His guard lept over his terminal and came crashing into Hulk as Hawkeye and Wasp dove out of the way. "You ready, animal?" The beastly form of Emil Blonsky growled. "With the Leader's tech, I'm stronger than you! I'm smarter than you! And I'm gonna beat you until-" Hulk wasted no time cutting him off by kicking Abomination off of him, sending him careening into the ceiling. Hulk immediately gave chase, leaving Hawkeye and Wasp to face off against the Leader.
The archer loosed an arrow aimed right for the Leader's oversized head, only to have it snatched out of the air by a feline creature. Shocked by its sudden appearance, Hawkeye's thoughts and feelings were amplified within Janet as she gasped in horror.
"Panther!" It truly was the monstrous form of a mutated Black Panther, Hawkeye's arrow firmly between his teeth.
"You're either very brave or very stupid, you two." The Leader mocked as the remaining Avengers emerged into the light. Janet was horrified by the appearances of each, especially the new forms of Tony and Steve. Connor, on the other hand, had his arms wrapped in metal, the white glow from his magnetic harnesses obvious amid the green. "You are both vastly outnumbered." Leader boasted.
"Hawkeye, we have to do something to help them!" Wasp begged her ally.
"I know." He replied, drawing a special red-tipped arrow from his quiver. "Draw their attention. I've got an arrow for each of them." He instructed. Quickly taking flight, Wasp zipped back and forth between the Avengers and showered them with a few of her stings to keep them focused on her. As she did, Clint started moving and loosed an arrow that struck Cap in the back of his leg. Turning on heel, he quickly struck Connor square in the chest with a second arrow and rolled away before his metal-encased fists could crush him.
"What do you think you are accomplishing?! Your toys cannot hurt my creations!" Leader snapped.
"Yeah, I'm not a genius like you, I get it." Clint retorted with a roll of his eyes. "So we found one, and he made me some new ones." He revealed, showcasing the special arrowhead affixed to most of his arsenal. On cue, the sapper fixed to Connor's chest began to glow green, draining him of all gamma energy and transforming him back into a human state. Appearing bedraggled and worn, the exhausted Cybernaut hit the ground and lay still as he fell unconscious.
"Yes!" Wasp pumped her fist victoriously, smiling ear to ear.
"His name his Bruce Banner," Hawkeye continued, smirking now, "maybe you've heard of him?"
"Indeed… I have." Leader hissed, gripping his console a little tighter. Then he pressed a button and his technology fell away, replaced as it transformed into a towering mech suit that loomed over Hawkeye and Wasp.
"Uh… maybe I celebrated a bit too early." She gulped.
"You think?" He remarked.
Down on the street below, Thor and Absorbing Man continued to slug it out, Kreel landing powerful hits on the Asgardian as Thor was subjected to blows akin to the kind he dished out with Mjolnir. He got no hits in, the god of thunder taking everything Absorbing Man was giving him and then some. Brutally bashed back and forth, Thor was knocked across the road as Absorbing Man laid into him.
"Fight! Back!" Crusher roared, tired of this one-sided fight.
"I… cannot…" Thor replied weakly. Crusher grumbled, stalking forward and thinking he was going to have to continue while bored. Suddenly, the thunder god looked up with a spark in his eyes. "For I am concentrating."
A split-second later, Abosrbing Man froze where he stood, completely incapable of moving.
"I… I-I can't move!" He cried in alarm. "What's going on here?!"
"You were foolish to take on the essence of Mjolnir, mortal. The hammer's power is not yours to control… it is mine." Thor answered in a grave tone. Merely lifting his hand, Absorbing Man levitated off the ground, completely obedient to Thor's will. With a flick of his wrist, Thor sent the villain hurtling into the sky…
Tony, T'Challa, Steve and Connor were all on the ground with Hawkeye's sapper arrows draining them of gamma energy. The archer and Wasp then turned to engage the Leader's mech. His arms equipped with devastating gamma cannons, Hawkeye sprinted around the room as Leader fired on him with explosive firepower.
"My genius cannot be defeated!" He roared from within the safe confines of the cockpit. "I have a plan for every contingency!"
"Whatever you say, cucumber head!" Wasp remarked, buzzing around the dome and barraging it with bio-stings.
"Yeah, too bad you're such a lousy shot!" Hawkeye continued, bolting past his incoming salvos and leaping over the mech in a perfect somersault. Launching a tether arrow, Hawkeye quickly grappled up through the hole in the roof made by Abomination and Hulk. "Wasp! This way!" Taking flight after him, the Leader was left below, growling in frustration as he triggered his mech's jump jets to propell him skyward.
On the rooftop, Hulk and Abomination traded powerful blows that would've killed normal men. Sent sliding and tumbling back and forth, their battle raging hotly beneath the dome's emitter tower. Only by using his gamma booster could Abomination keep pace with the Hulk, using it to fuel his musculature and enhance his physiology to match his archenemy's as he grew even bigger than Hulk. Finally slamming the green giant on his back, Abomination planted a supersized foot on his chest to keep him pinned.
"I will always beat you, Hulk! You hear me?! I am better than you in every way!" He growled furiously.
"But I've got something you don't." Hulk retorted with a toothy grin. "Backup." Suddenly, Wasp unleashed a stinger barrage that struck Abomination in the face, knocking him silly just long enough for Hawkeye to loose a sapper arrow right between his eyes. It drained every ounce of extra gamma he'd acquired, shrinking Abomination back to size as he plucked the arrow from his forehead.
It was then that Hulk wound up and delivered such a powerful punch it catapulted Abomination off the roof and sent him flying beyond the limits of Vegas, disappearing into the night sky across the desert.
At that moment, Leader's mech shot up into view as he landed on the roof. "The three of you think you can defeat me? I have already calculated a thousand ways to defeat you!"
"Man! If Connor was here, he wouldn't be so high and mighty." Wasp remarked. "He could take that thing apart from the inside out no problem." Her comment, while innocent and hopeful, gave Hawkeye pause as he started to think.
"Inside…" With a snap of his fingers, he had an idea. "Wasp! Can you shrink down small enough to fit inside that thing?" He asked.
"Yeah… Yeah!" She cried in delight, shrinking even smaller before darting ahead and disappearing through the gaps in its plating. It wasn't long until Leader began to register all manner of disruptions and errors across his terminal, sparks and smoke pouring out as his mech began to fail him.
"What…?!" He growled, pressing buttons and flipping switches only to be met with no response at all. "No… No!" All of a sudden, Wasp appeared in his cabin, growing just large enough so he could see her satisfied smirk.
"Aw, didn't calculate for that, did you zucchini boy?" She wondered, unleashing a two-handed bio-sting that struck him dead on the nose. Leader recoiled with a cry, clutching the impact mark.
"I will destroy you all!" He roared just as a shadow fell over them, Wasp turning around and shocked by the sight of Absorbing Man hurtling towards them. Shrinking small, she dove out of the way as his body slammed into the glass canopy and laid the mech out flat on the roof. Above them, Thor hovered in the air as flashed of lightning lit the sky around him and peals of thunder echoed overhead.
"Destroy… you do not know the meaning of the word, villain." He growled as he took his place among the others. Hulk turned to him with a glower.
"You really wanna hurt the Leader? This is how…!" He rumbled, advancing towards the emitter tower. Grabbing its base, Hulk began to lift it, tearing it off the roof in an immense feat of raw strength as he disrupted its connection to both the dome and the Leader. Sterns cried out in pain as his psychic implants unleashed a devastating feedback loop that caused his brain to swell to immense proportions, no longer straight and symmetrical but now ballooned out control as Hulk singlehandedly hurled the tower into orbit, where it could never be used again.
Crawling weakly out of his mech, Leader barely had the strength to roll himself over and lay flat on the ground, faced with an agonizing defeat.
"It would've been glorious," he whispered wistfully, "I was creating the perfect world, all in my image." The foursome crowded around above him, staring down upon their defeated foe.
"That's the problem: you're ugly." Hulk remarked.
"Smooth, big guy. Say, you think maybe he'd look better in a different color? Like blue or maybe red?" Wasp inquired. Hulk regarded her with a grin.
"How about yellow. 'Cause he's a chicken."
"Ohoho, good one!" She laughed in reply.
As the sun rose over Las Vegas, the reformed inhabitants of the city were submitted to clearance checks as SHIELD medical teams spread out across the territory concussed by the dome. At the base camp at the bottom of Leader's highrise, Tony, Connor, T'Challa and Steve were checked out for any lingering effects, Doc Samson wheeled by them on a gurney and offering a hopeful thumbs up.
Absorbing Man and Leader were locked up in containment units and made ready for transport to a new prison, leaving Hawkeye, Hulk, Thor and Wasp to sort out remaining details. Connor was quickly cleared by SHIELD medics, his condition no different than before. As he was sorting himself out, Janet came over and sat beside him.
"Guess that's twice I owe you now." She mused with a smile. Connor rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Well… you know," he responded quietly, "that what friends are for."
"Maybe… but saving my life twice is not something I'm gonna take lightly." Janet replied, slowly getting up a little as she threw her arms around him, taking him by surprise. "Thank you, Connor." She whispered. Surprised but not complaining, Connor accepted this little indulgence of his feelings by hugging her back. If you have to save anyone, save the one worth saving. He thought to himself. Meanwhile, Hawkeye was filing a report with a restored Quartermain.
"Footage from your sky-cycle confirms your story," Quartermain told Hawkeye, "Black Widow is working for Hydra. We dispatched agents to her location but she was long gone."
"She's good, I'll give her that." Hawkeye mused, having already figured she had escaped.
"You're cleared, Hawkeye. Your SHIELD special agent status will be reinstated, Agent Miguel here will get your identity reprocessed." Quartermain promised him, gesturing to the Hispanic agent alongside him.
"You mean the same SHIELD that locked me up?" Hawkeye questioned, crossing his arms. "Yeah, no thanks. I'm going after the Widow on my own."
"Here's another option: join us." Tony offered, approaching from behind. "Join the Avengers." Admittedly, the team looked incredibly haggard and far from poster-status, not necessarily the best impact they could make on a potential recruit.
"I don't think so," Clint refused, "look how easily the Leader took you guys out. I'm better off on my own." With that, he made to leave, not saying another word. Thor, however, turned to Hulk.
"And what of you? Will you walk away as well?" He asked. "You are indeed a noble warrior, Hulk. One who has saved the Avengers and now helped save the world. I would trust you with my life." He praised. "Will you trust us?" Hulk remained silent, thinking. Then Wasp flew up before him, between him and Thor.
"Pretty please, big guy? Mansion's not the same without you…" She pleaded, giving him the best puppy-eyes she could manage.
"Hm… I'll stay," Hulk answered, glancing at the retreating Hawkeye, "if Cupid stays." Flinching at the nickname, the archer turned around in a fury.
"Oh, you wanna go Jade Jaws?! Right here right now?!" He shouted, marching back over. "Let's do this!"
"Ooooookay, this is gonna be fun." Tony sighed, Connor overheard and chuckled.
"Boy will it ever," he mused, somewhat excited by the prospect of new teammates.
Elsewhere…
The desert sun shone unhindered upon the Abomination as he crawled across the sandy wilds. Weakened by the drastic loss of gamma energy, he had no choice but to trudge along as the heat and light beat down upon him, sapping him of strength as he continued to recover from his brawl with the Hulk.
Suddenly, he found some shade, shade cast by unusual figures that did not resemble the usual rocks. He turned his head up and was met by a shocking display.
Before him stood six powerful supervillains, each recognizable in their own way; the brilliant scarlet armor of Crimson Dynamo shimmered brightly in the sun, Wonder Man's energized body flickered and pulsed within the heated air, Cobalt's stoic blue form stood unflinching with arms crossed, the golden hair of Enhcantress framed the bright green of her colorful attire, the hulking body of Scourge equaled only by the size of his immense axe… and the purple and gold of Baron Zemo shone like polished treasure in the sunlight.
"Hello Mister Blonsky," the German noble greeted, "we're here to offer you an invitation; to take part in the destruction of the Avengers…"