Avengers: Agent-10

by Masamune X23

After a few years of peacefulness Ben Tennyson engages his nemesis in another battle for the fate of the universe but their clash results in him ending up in a world where heroes and villains constantly battle and aliens aren't citizens on earth. Will Ben be able to change this new world for the better like he did on his earth or will this world's greater evils bring him down?

31. Gamma Nightmare part 1

Here's the first chapter for an important arc. I'm excited to have reached it since I like how it turned out and the differences that will occur. In an unrelated note to this I am quite disappointed that no one has offered to accept any of the challenges I put in my profile. I really thought I'd have had someone take on at last one of them.

Another thing is in regards to the poll. So far there's someone in the lead but that could change. So if you haven't voted then please do so in the poll. If you can't find the poll then that's likely because you need to switch to desktop mode on your phones, iPad or whatever you're using. I will only count the votes in the poll.

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Chapter 31: Gamma Nightmare part 1

It's been three days since Ben's joined mission with the X-Men. The meeting with the mutants had left an impression on him. He learned about mutants and so he did some digging to learn more about the naturally super powered people. What he learned was certainly concerning as non-mutants were shown to dislike mutants. It was racism at its finest as they treated mutants with scorn and avoided them as if they were a plague. It somewhat reminded him of how some people treated aliens back in his universe, although it wasn't as bad as things were here. He wondered if there was anything that could be done to alleviate the bad blood between them. One can only hope things don't end up getting much worse.

Now however an interesting event was taking place after Ben had decided to pay a visit to Hulk. The two of them were now currently locked in another face off as they competed to see who would win. So far, it's been close to a half hour since the two started and neither one of them was backing down. They were each determined to be the victor.

Hulk was staring down his enemy, Ben. The two of them staring the other down without blinking or looking away. They were currently locked in a battle that would decide their fate. The loser would be given not just a defeat but would lose something as well. It was for this reason the two were giving it all they had as they focused on the task at hand.

"You won't win." Hulk growled out. He refused to lose to Ben again, this time he would be the winner.

"I've beaten you before and I can do it again." Ben remained undeterred as he clenched his right hand.

The green giant narrowed his eyes "Not this time."

Ben returned the gesture with an equally intense look. "Make your move."

Both raised their hands up in the air and paused for a moment before they both brought them down.

"HA! I WIN!" Hulk boasted triumphantly as he saw his hand of full house, kings over two's was greater than Ben's lower full house of jacks over seven's.

"Dang it!" Ben wailed as he threw his cards aside in defeat.

"I win the pot!" Hulk cheered as he wiped his large hand over the table and collected his winnings. Which were comprised of different candies, sodas, packs of snack food and an unopened jar of freshly baked cookies. Immediately he went for the cookies and opened it before throwing one straight into his mouth. The crunching sound of him chewing was clearly heard. A small look of euphoria came over him as he sighed in content before swallowing and picking up another cookie to eat. "I love these cookies."

"Yeah, well Jen thought you might since she baked them for you." Ben remarked as he collected the cards to put away. "So, how've you been doing these past few days?"

It had been a while since he and Jennifer had helped Hulk find a place to lay low. As he had warned she hadn't come for any visits, sticking to only untraceable video calls to speak with her cousin. Ben kept bringing him fresh food every other week to restock and sometimes stayed over a while to talk with him. It was subtle but he noticed a difference in the green giant from when he left. It seemed conversing with his cousin daily had helped bring a sense of calmness to his usual gruff exterior. Whereas he used to have a constant angry frown plastered on his face, now he had a straight-faced look as his new normal expression.

"It's quiet." Hulk answered simply. Which was understandable given he was living away from the city and people. None of the city noise could be found here, which made things quite peaceful for him.

"Yeah, that's clear." Ben stated before continuing. "You ever think about coming back to the Avengers?"

Hulk frowned, not in displeasure but in thought. This wasn't the first time Ben brought up the Avengers again.

"I know Wasp still thinks about where you are, plus Thor wishes he had gotten a chance to spar with you. Ben informed on the two teammates who still thought about him most. "Plus, Cap is curious since he never got to meet you." He added on the lone teammate who had yet to meet the green giant.

"I said I wasn't coming back." Hulk reminded him.

"And you also said it was because you were unused to going from on the run to living large in the mansion and socializing with people that don't think you're a monster." Ben countered. "But look at you now, your more relaxed, you're not scowling all the time and you've gotten better at interacting with me. I'd say you're ready to give the others a try again." He then smirked. "Plus, you'd get to smash some villains again, don't you miss that?"

Hulk scoffed and turned his head. Truthfully, he did kind of miss getting to smash some baddies. Being out here in this remote place no longer gave him that chance unless he was found and attacked. But still he wasn't going to cave in just because he might be craving some excitement.

"Plus, I bet it would make your cousin happy to know you're not on the government's target list." Ben added and saw him twitch at the mention of her. "How have you two been doing in reconnecting?" he redirected the conversation.

Hulk didn't respond right away, his ow mind recalling the nice conversations he had with Jen on some afternoons and nights. Sometimes it would be as herself while other times it was as She-Hulk for some reason. Maybe it was to show how she accepted her other self and him as well. Regardless their talks were time passing and pleasing. There were times when she'd tease him just to try and break his stone-faced expression. Sometimes she'd succeed with getting a small smirk out of him or a single chuckle. Other times he wouldn't break much to her stubbornness.

"It's been fine." Hulk answered in a sightly relaxed tone.

"How's she been?" Ben asked earning a confused look from the gamma giant.

"Haven't you called her yourself?" Hulk asked.

Ben shook his head. "I was concerned I might've called while she was already talking to you. I didn't want to ruin any good moment you might've been having with her."

"Oh." Hulk accepted the answer but before he could respond however Ben's Omnitrix starting to beep.

"Excuse me, I need to take this." Ben half apologized as he stood up and walked out of the room to take his call.

He had connected his avengers ID com system with the Omnitrix. After seeing how the card would become inaccessible when he transformed, he figured it would be better to stay constantly in touch with them. The last thing he needed was to miss an important call due to being on patrol or something. Heaven forbid if he missed a distress call from them.

He pressed the Omnitrix dial and answered. "Hello?"

"Hey Ben! Where are you?" The voice of Wasp responded.

"Oh, hey Wasp." Ben greeted her. "I'm just out with a friend." He answered while not telling them it was Hulk. "What's going on? Is there trouble?"

"Kind of." She said as the sound of swishing air could be heard meaning she was likely flying. "We've found a high value Hydra agent and are currently in pursuit of him but he's proving hard to capture."

Ben raised an eyebrow at hearing that in interest. "Oh really? Who is it?" there weren't many Hydra agents who could handle them. Whoever it was had to be quite formidable to be able to evade the Avengers.

"Some guy called Hawkeye." Wasp answered and Ben immediately got a startled look that thankfully couldn't be seen.

"Ok then I'll be right over?" Ben quickly told her as he ended the call. He went back into the large cabin to see Hulk with a knowing look on his face. "Duty calls, guess I'll need to cut my visit short for today."

Hulk just gave a small grunt. "Whatever."

Ben gave a small smirk. "Next time we play I intend to win the pot." He challenged earning a returned smirk from him.

With that Ben transformed into Ghostfreak as he turned invisible and flew away. Ensuring he wasn't seen as he quickly flew back towards the city. He activated the tracking system for the Avenger's ID cards to find them. It was another feature he installed in the Omnitrix in case he needed to find them.

"Dammit Hawkeye you better not get caught." He thought while thinking over what to do if he needed to help him escape. Which of course he would need to ensure the other heroes didn't find out about his involvement. Natasha was still in deep cover and if Hawkeye got caught or he was seen helping the archer then her cover could be jeopardized.

Once Ben was far enough from the campsite he flew down into a clearing, turned into Fasttrack and speed up.

---

Hawkeye was literally on the run as he ran across roof tops. He sidestepped a low level repulsor blast from Ironman who was flying over him. The sound of a motorcycle was heard close by which he knew was coming from Captain America who was driving in the row of rooftops next to them. Ant-Man soon made his appearance as he had a swarm of flying ants form a wall ahead of him and closed in on him. The archer didn't slow down at all as he responded by pulling an arrow and shooting it at the wall of insects. The insects parted aside to let the projectile pass by harmlessly but that proved futile when the arrow detonated prematurely. A concussive explosion caused the insects to be blow away and the wall to have a large opening which the archer ran through unopposed.

"Well, that didn't work." Ant-Man stated atop his flying ant as they pursued the archer as well. "Tell me about it." Wasp added as she flew up alongside her not-so-secret crush. "Hydra agents must be getting better, especially considering this guy doesn't even have any powers."

"Uh in case you forgot neither do I and I happen to be a very tough contender." Ironman cut in.

"Yes but you're wearing an advanced suit of armor whereas this guy is just using a bow and arrows." Wasp stated as if she found the comparison unfitting. Sure, the arrows might be high tech but despite that her point remained.

"Which just shows why I'm better." Ironman stated before increasing his thrusters as he accelerated closer. Once he got closer, he brought his hand up to take aim.

Hawkeye wasn't going to have any of that, however. In one move he jumped into the air, spun around with an arrow already pulled back and then fired it. The arrow imbedded itself into Ironman's outstretched palm reactor, causing it blow and short circuit as it lost function. Tony lost some of his balance in the air as the archer fell between two close buildings, vanishing from his sights.

"Argh! I've lost visual on him!" Ironman informed in annoyance while he looked at his blown-out palm repulsor and read the data on the extent of damage.

"So much for being a tough contender." Wasp muttered to Hank as they both flew past Ironman.

"I heard that, Janet!" Ironman indignantly protested as Wasp tried and failed to resist the urge to giggle a bit at that. Ant-man however got an amused look from seeing Tony having eaten his words.

Captain America sped up his bike as he flew over the rooftops. His beloved vehicle was performing better than she ever did back in WW2. She might not be as high tech as all the new fancy tricked out rides, but she definitely was unique and special. The way she was soaring over rooftops was prove of that. The super soldier glanced at his left looking for the archer. Buildings passed by in seconds before he spotted the shadowed form of the archer at last.

"I see him!" Steve said he quickly turned his ride and came flying off the roof. His bike fell on top of a parked truck before accelerating off it as he landed on the ground and rode after him. He turned a corner and took a right before quickly spotting the archer in his sights. "I've got him in my sight."

The super soldier sped up as he approached the fleeing archer. He might be fast, but he wasn't fast enough to outrun his motorcycle. Steve reared his arm back with his shield at the ready and then threw it at the Hydra agent. His trusty shield soaring straight and true towards Hawkeye.

However, as shown before the former Shield agent isn't so easily dealt with. With just a small glance behind him he aimed his new arrow at the projectile. Without even slowing down and turning around he fired his arrow. The arrow hitting the shield right by the edge as the collision caused it to change direction and sail upward. Captain America saw this and pressed the autopilot of his bike before he jumped to catch it as it was about to hit a streetlight. That turned out to be a bad move as Hawkeye had been hoping he did that. He quickly shot another arrow that hit the back of the shield right as Cap grabbed it. A loud splattering sound was then heard as the arrow released a bluish sticky substance of some kind. The stuff sticking to not only the super soldier's arm but the very streetlight it had been about to hit.

Steve now found himself hanging from the streetlight as he dangled back and forth. He pulled at his arm trying to break out of the substance to no avail. "Avengers I'm stuck, and the target is escaping!" he called over in displeasure with his only free hand holding his ID card.

"I'm coming to help you. Wasp, Hank you stay after him." Ironman ordered as he flew down towards the super soldier and started using his remaining palm reactor fire a low-level blast to try and free Rogers.

Wasp and Hank were now left to the chase as they managed to keep the target in sight. Hawkeye quickly turned a corner, seemingly to try and lose them. Wasp quickly sped ahead first to follow him as she flew around the corner as well. Only to quickly stop on the spot when she saw the tip of an arrow right in front of her. The archer stood on top of a closed dumpster with his arrow pulled back and ready to fire as she stood a mere 2 inches apart from it.

"I wouldn't try anything if I were you sweetheart. I'd hate to have to mess up that pretty face of yours or anywhere else." Hawkeye warned her with a sly grin.

Wasp didn't know if she should feel creeped out a hydra agent though she was attractive or flattered. Regardless she remained frozen in place with a clearly nervous look on her face with nothing but her wings flapping rapidly. Now usually she was confident in her small size to help her dodge. However, as it's been shown that against this particular opponent, he was the kind of guy who didn't miss his target. The memory of him shooting Ironman's repulsor dead center in an instant was a testament to that. That and after reading his Shield file on how he was a master marksman (supposedly the greatest in the world) it really showed how dangerous he can be. Janet may be brave but she certainly didn't want to risk being the test target to see if his skills were really all that.

"Jan!" Ant-Man's voice called out as he flew around the corner to see her current predicament.

"No sudden moves tiny." Hawkeye warned him without taking his eyes off Wasp.

The chance for the feminine heroes salvation came when Ironman and Captain America descended. Tony had his remaining palm reactor aimed at the archer while Steve was blocking the other side to prevent escape.

"Give up it Hawkeye, you can't win!" Ironman then charged his palm reactor. "And if you do anything to Wasp then I can promise you that you'll be wishing the Hulk was here instead of us after we get through with you."

The archer said nothing in response as he kept his arrow aimed. The archer and iron avenger locked in a western showdown as whoever made the first move would start a full conflict. However, before it could reach that critical point a sudden bright light was shined on them.

"Attention Avengers!" a voice called out as everyone looked up to see a Shield jet right above them.

The heroes then looked back at the archer only to see that he had suddenly disappeared.

"What the!" Wasp said in slight disbelief as she looked around. "Where'd he go!?"

Ironman looked at both ends of the passageway, running scans for any signs but found nothing. "Great he got away." He grumbled in irritation.

They had the guy and because of Shields lousy timing he was now gone. He, Wasp and Hank looked back at the jet and saw the agent he recognized as Quatermain stepping forward as the hatch opened. They three of them flew up as one of them wanted to give him a piece of their mind while the others wanted to see why they were here.

"Thanks a lot, you just let your own traitor get away." Ironman told in a clear unhappy tone. "Next time Shield wants to help, just don't."

"Forget about Hawkeye." Quatermain told him, unbothered by the archer's escape. "We didn't come here for him, we came for your team. We need your help."

"Our help?" Hank repeated. "With that?"

"We'll brief you along the way but we need to go now. Time is something we don't have too much off."

Ironman exchanged a look with Wasp and Hank before they silently agreed to it. Steve joined them on board with his motorcycle as he didn't want to just leave it behind. Quatermain had also told Tony that he was going to need to bring everyone on his team so he'd need Thor and Ben to join up. Tony informed him on how Thor was currently back at the mansion while Ben was on route to them. So, with that the Shield agent had them heading to the mansion to pick up Thor. Wasp gave Ben a call to inform him to rejoin them at the mansion for a likely new mission.

"Ok I understand Wasp." Ben said as he hung up his card. When he did, he leaned back in relief at not being caught.

"I had the situation handled." Hawkeye told him with arms crossed as the two of them stood inside an isolated ally that was a few short blocks away from where he had been surrounded.

Ben gave him an unappreciated look. "I would so love to see how you would've gotten away from them. Regardless I saw a chance to get your butt out of there, so I took it."

Ben had secretly arrived in time to see the avengers in their Mexican standoff with Hawkeye from his hiding spot. He was concerned that Hawkeye was done for in that situation and there wasn't anything he could do. Thankfully however an opportunity presented itself when the Shield vessel arrived. Once they took their eyes off Hawkeye he immediately used Ghostfreak to grab the archer before phasing him through the wall. He flew them farther and farther away till they reached their current location.

"I guess it pays to have a collection of powers, though it felt weird." Hawkeye remarked.

"I'm just that good." Ben smirked before turning around. "Anyways I better get going, the others are expecting me. Good luck finding Natasha."

"I just wish you would have decided to quit Shield after you helped me find her." Hawkeye replied, half annoyed that the one guy who believes he's innocent wasn't part of the organization anymore.

"I made my choice after the breakout." Ben firmly stated. "I've just been seeing too many things that make me question the morality of it. Besides I was never much of a spy, sneaking around and infiltrating isn't my style. Going out in broad daylight to help people and kick super villain butts is what I truly excel at."

"Yeah, well take care then." Hawkeye gave his farewell as he left the room and Ben began making his way back to the mansion to see what was up.

---

The Shield jet was on route to its destination, now being followed by the Avengers Quinjet. As requested, Thor had been picked up and Ben had returned to join up with them. During their travel Tony questioned the agent on where Fury was, having wanted to speak with him. As you'd expect the agent denied him the information saying even if he did have the answer he wouldn't say. Ben would've asked as well but given he wasn't an agent anymore he doubted he'd be given the answer. Besides, he got the feeling Quatermain didn't know where the director was either. When Wasp asked about what they needed help with the agent simply said that it had to do with the Cube and the full details would be given when they arrived.

They didn't have to wait long after that as they began to arrive. However, they were greeted to a strange sight as they saw the prison was now inside a kind of swirling transparent green dome of energy. Which seemed to be coming from inside the prison itself as a pillar of energy could be seen shooting out from somewhere within. The jets landed at a safe distance before the heroes made their way out. When they did Ben saw none other than Coulson.

"Oh, hey Coulson." He greeted his former fellow agent. "I didn't know you were going to be here."

"I'd be surprised if you did." Coulson answered with his usual expression before a small frown formed. "I just wish it were under better circumstances."

Ben noticed his tone, indicating something personal to him was wrong. "Did something bad happen?"

Instead of answering Coulson gestured for them to follow. "Follow me please." The avengers complied as they walked and were led towards their set up base of operations.

Thor looked at the glowing prison with wonder. "What manner of sorcery is this?"

"It's not magic I can tell you that." Ironman countered as his helmet ran a quick scan. "It's pure gamma energy and according to my readings the levels are slowly rising."

"Amazing." Ant-Man said with some awe. "How I wish I could study it."

"Pretty sure that's a designated hazard zone." Wasp remarked getting goosebumps just from looking at it.

The team entered the set-up base to see some personal working. However, Ben's eyes focused on certain familiar faces he spotted. Them being Fitz and Simmons who currently had their backs turned and were working on analyzing some data. That's when Ben spotted another agent among them.

It was an attractive young woman just under her thirties with long brown hair that went below her shoulders. She had brown eyes and possessed a nice figure as she wore a blue tank top with a leather jacket over it and a pair of jeans. Two necklaces hung comprised of one holding what looked like a ring while the second resembled a blue teardrop jewel. Both of which were buried between her visible cleavage opening. She soon noticed him and the other heroes beside him and her expression was instantly filled with awe, excitement and recognition.

"Ben!" The young woman called out excitedly, which made Fitz and Simmons turn at hearing the name.

"Skye!?" Ben called out with a smile, laughing a bit as she came up and hugged him, which he happily returned.

He recalled how he met the hacker with some fondness. It had been a few days after his mission to investigate the appearance of the ruins but before Abomination went after She-Hulk. Shield had gotten a notice of sensitive information pertaining to a crime boss's operations. The information was damaging and threatening to said crime boss as now authorities had enough to go after him directly. Ben happened to be on the Helicarrier when that happened, and Fury ordered him to track down the hacker. Which took some time as whoever did it already logged out after releasing the information. However, he did help with an investigation into the crime boss that had been exposed. He learned from a file that whoever did this was part of a group called the Rising Tides. A hacker group that followed a belief in complete transparency. Hacking into private servers and exposing information to the public. They had been quite known for exposing corrupt corporate executives, illegal business deals and on even rarer occasions covert military operations. Needless to say, the group was considered a real annoyance to Shield.

Ben however found some of their actions commendable despite the illegal measures they took. After all it wasn't like they hacked to bring down systems, governments or etc. They just wanted to reveal the truth and did so without resorting to physical harm. Although he did think some things should be kept private. His investigation into the criminal unfortunately led to the concerning discovery of an assassin being hired to find and kill the one responsible for outing the crime boss's operations. Once the hacker was back online, he wasted no time in using Upgrade to merge with a laptop and traced the hacker's location. Then of course he proceeded to head into the internet and come out from a nearby computer where he found her. Unfortunately, so did the assassin somehow as he immediately tried to end Skye's life. Thankfully Ben managed to save and protect her till he finally defeated the assassin after a short struggle.

She expressed great gratitude for saving her and excitement at meeting an actual superhero. It kind of hurt to have to tell her that he had to bring her in for some questioning due to her involvement in the Rising Tide. She tried to run of course but let's be real, there's no outrunning XLR8. He quickly grabbed her, brought her back and put her in an interrogation room. As he was the one who saved and caught her, he was allowed to do the questioning. He apologized to her out of politeness for having to bring her in. As expected, she did not trust him and tried to act innocent like she didn't know anything. He wasn't fooled however but instead of asking her about the hacking he simply started to make conversation with her. He asked her what she thought about superheroes and if she felt like one by exposing criminal actions. The question was unexpected, yet she decided to humor him by saying how she thought superheroes were cool.

From there Ben started talking with her about them. Asking who her favorite male and female heroes are, what superpower would she wish to have and more. Skye found him to be not what she was expecting from an agent even if he was a superhero. Ben told her that he considered himself more a hero than agent. He then asked her what she wanted to know about him which she was quick to barrage him with.

Some of them he answered truthfully while others regarding his identity and how his powers worked, he jokingly said was classified. Eventually a sort of trust formed between them, one of those believe in your hero's kind of things. He told her how even though he technically works for Shield he wasn't a by the book's kind of guy. He then told her about some of his adventures which included his fights against Hydra and the strange occurrence in the UK.

From then on things began to take a strange turn. The crime boss had suddenly disappeared, seemingly gone into hiding as his accounts had been emptied. His men had disappeared or ended up dead which added to the mystery. However the contract out on Skye remained open as someone else wanted her gone and was willing to pay. Which meant it wasn't safe for her to return to her normal life. So, he talked with Coulson and they agreed to offer Skye a place in Shield. Her hacking and encryption skills being exceptional, especially considering that it took Ben using Upgrade to break through her laptop's security. They offered the deal to her which she accepted it. She was placed into a team that Fury had formed to be under Coulson's command.

"It's been a while since I've seen you." Ben then glanced at the scientists. "You too Fitz and Simmons."

"Haven't seen each other since that mission at the ruins." Simmons recalled.

"Did you really meet Gargoyles and fight Morgan Le Fay?" Fitz asked skeptically causing Simmons to groan in exasperation at his continued skepticism.

"Oh, come on Fitz I already told you what happened." Simmons told her partner in annoyance at him still questioning what happened. It was honestly becoming annoying at this point.

Ben gave a deadpan look. "Let me guess, doubting the existence of the magical aspects."

"Like you wouldn't believe." Simmons concurred.

"Oh, don't tell me you actually believe in magic Simmons." Fitz asked incredulously. "I know you loved watching the Harry Potter franchise and are a big fan of it but come on."

"Yes, well seeing creatures only heard off in mythology and seeing a powerful witch try and kill us has a tendency to change one's perspective and belief in things." Simmons answered in slight irritation.

Thor was about to remark on the obvious existence of magic considering his people were well versed in it. However he didn't get the chance due to Ironman stepping forward and speaking with clear impatience.

"Can we get to the matters at hand?" Ironman questioned though it sounded more like a demand.

"Yes, I agree. You can all catch up and debate later." Coulson said while the members of his team had the decency to look apologetic and sheepish for their actions.

With that the Avengers and agents gathered in a meeting room to discuss the situation. Among them was a new addition comprised of a man with a muscular form comparable to Steve's. He wore a red T-shirt with white lightning bolts on the shoulders and reddish-brown pants. He had a mechanical belt of some kind around his waist and a pair of high-tech wrist bands on his arms. He had a lightning bolt like scar running down from the left part of his forehead and down his left eye, almost to his cheek. Strangely both his eyes and hair were green.

"Where's the Hulk?" The man asked. "I thought he would be here since this is his kind of thing."

"He couldn't come Mr…" Ben trailed off at the name.

"Names Samson, Doctor Leonard Samson." The large man introduced himself.

"Wait a minute, your Samson?" Ant-Man asked almost in disbelief.

"Why are you so surprised?" Wasp questioned in confusion at his reaction.

"I think I know why." Ironman spoke up after looking up a picture of Samson. "Either puberty hit you really late in life or something happened to you since your picture was last taken."

Figuring out what he meant Samson clarified. "I was in the Cube during the breakout, the whole place was flooded with Gamma energy which affected me." He then gestured to all of himself. "This was the result."

"Later examinations revealed that his body has been cellularly enhanced by the radiation he was exposed to. Increasing all his physical capabilities to astounding levels." Simmons revealed.

At that the Avengers got raised eyebrows.

"So, you're like the Hulk but without the green skin or alternate personality?" Ben compared.

"Oh no no no." Samson was quick to wave his hands in denial. "Trust me, I got nothing on the Hulk's strength."

"Fascinating." Ant-man pondered with a hand on his chin. "I'd love to see the data to compare with the Hulk's to see what led to the differences between you two."

"Not the time Hank." Ironman rebuked him.

"I agree." Ben added as he turned to them. "So now that introductions are over let's get down to business."

And so did they start the briefing as a video file was played showing what had transpired. It showed a response team fully covered in green armor as they approached the Cube. Ben would've thought they were Hydra if not for the different symbols they wore. The team got closer to the cube before stopping near its entrance, which was darkened by shadows due to there being no light inside. Suddenly a large, clawed hand reached out, grabbed the leading soldier and pulled him into the shadows. The remaining men opened fire as they shot in the dark but didn't know if they were hitting the target. Before they could another course of action a bright green light suddenly emanated from the interior and expanded, enveloping the men as the signal was then cut off.

"What was that?" Wasp asked.

"Are you referring to the clawed hand, the bright green light or something else? Cause you need to be specific." Ben asked her almost sarcastically, getting a pouted look from her in return as she said clawed hand.

Quatermain pressed a button and brought up the file of someone Ben was familiar with.

"Emil Blonsky A.K.A the Abomination." Samson informed them. "He's as strong as the Hulk but twice as mean and with military training on top of that."

Ben frowned. "We've met before, in fact I'm the one who kicked his butt and got him arrested." He gave a sharp look at the ugly face on screen. Having a second round with the brute was something he was hoping he wouldn't have to do. Guess he should know by now how villains tend to keep making returns just to get their butts kicked again. Well, he was certainly going to oblige Blonsky with that.

"Unfortunately, he's not the problem." Samson informed while the image changed to show another video file.

"The energy dome exploded outward from the Cube and our agents at the perimeter were caught in it." Quatermain explained as the video showed the same bright light from before blinding the agents at the perimeter. When the light died down, they saw the air now looked like a green swirling fog. The agents were then shown to be in pain as they let out wails of anguish as their bodies changed. Their uniforms were ripped open as they began to grow larger. A female agent who clutched her face suddenly grew wings. A man who kneeled on the ground suddenly had his arms and legs bulging to unnatural sizes. Another female agent held her sides as a tail ruptured behind her. Then another man's face suddenly appeared up close to the camera as it looked shriveled up as if he were nothing but skin and bones. His now green eyes looking filled with horror and even perhaps loss of sanity. The video paused at that moment, leaving his face shown to the viewers.

The Avengers all reacted differently as Ironman and Thor looked disturbed, Ant-Man looked with horror at the suffering they must've felt, Wasp looked horrified and even sick at the sight, Captain America and Ben appeared composed, yet it was clear they also didn't like what they saw.

"Oh god." Wasp could only say in horror as she covered her mouth, feeling like she might throw up. She was then thankful to see the image fade away and return to a blank screen.

Ben however had his own inner horror occurring in his mind. The reason however wasn't because of what he saw happen to those agents but because he recognized one of them who had been turned. "May."

Silently he turned his head to look at Coulson's team and saw how each of them had a troubled look from seeing no doubt the replay of what happened to their teammate.

"As you've no doubt seen while flying in, the dome is expanding." Quatermain stated the big issue.

"How long we got before it hits populated places?" Ironman asked figuring that was the large concern.

"At the rate it's expanding it'll hit a town in 6 hours… then a city in 8." The agent informed them earning frowns.

"Who's responsible for this?" Steve asked wanting to know the enemy's commander they'll be facing.

Samson taped a few digits before a holographic image of someone's head was brought up. The most noticeable thing about it was that the head in question was quite large (Which Ben amusingly thought looked like a pickle). His skin was green like the Hulks, had a short patch of black hair on top his large cranium, a thin mustache plus green eyes that showed clear arrogance.

"This is the Leader. As strong as the Hulk is, this guy matches that strength with intelligence." Quatermain revealed.

The super soldier raised an eyebrow. "He calls himself The Leader?"

Ben smirked. "Clearly this guy shows obvious signs of extreme arrogance despite having a pickle for a head."

"Regardless he's no laughing matter." Samson gave a stern look. "We believe he is inside the Cube along with several other gamma villains. Besides the Abomination there's also Zzzax, the Absorbing Man and who knows who else. When the breakout occurred, and the cube went down several gamma villains escaped. Yet for some reason a few of them chose to stay inside and took over the place." He then paused to look at the Avengers in the eyes. "And we need you to go into the Cube to take it back."

A small laugh from Wasp broke the tense atmosphere as she seemed to find the request funny for some reason. After a moment she stopped when she noticed his serious look. "Oh… your not kidding."

"No, we're not." Quatermain affirmed.

Wasp got a nervous look. "Uh not to sound like I'm scared or anything but how exactly do you except us to go in there without ending up like your missing agents?"

At hearing that Fitz stepped forward. "Glad you asked because you'll be using these." He then pressed a switch and a storage locker opened to reveal an assortment of full body hazmat suits with large dome helmets. "There suits have been modified with anti-radiation plating. Wearing these you should be able to walk into the gamma dome without suffering the mutating effects like the others did."

"Should be?" All Avengers except for Thor thought after picking that up.

After he finished those words, the Avengers approached the suits and looked them over. Captain America, Ant-Man and Wasp were trying theirs out while Ironman just kept looking his over. When Fitz offered Thor his suit, the god of thunder frowned and returned it to him.

"An Asgardian needs no such protection." He stated with pride at his people being immune to such mortal toxins.

"I'll have to turn down mine as well since I've got all the protection I need right here." Ironman said right before pressing some buttons on his wrist as he activated his armors gamma protection. The light of his helmet's eyes and arc reactor turned green, signaling the change in function.

Simmons turned to Ben who was the only one left. "And you?"

"Thanks for the offer but I won't be needing it." Ben told before lifting his hand to show the Omnitrix. "I got my own forms of protection against radiation."

The others had finished putting on their suits. Wasp looked hers over with a little apprehension while gazing down her back in wonder. "Ben, does this suit make me look fat?"

Ben blinked at the question. His eyes looking her over to verify if her thoughts were warranted. "Umm well I wouldn't say fat, maybe makes your hips look a bit wider?" he rubbed his head as if uncertain himself. Even with the suit on her form still looked pleasing to the eye just not in stylish appearance anymore. "What do you think Hank?" he asked in both deflection and a little amusement to see what he'd say.

The now suited up Hank blinked. "Umm it looks… snug but… loose still?" he trailed off after looking her over before regaining his composure. "Does it even matter what the suits look like?"

Apparently, his answer wasn't well liked. "I worked in fashion remember. Style is what I'm about." She then frowned before turning to the agents. "You need to work on your style job."

"We work on function not fashion." Fitz grumbled at the complaint.

"Though it never hurts to make the inventions look more presentable." Simmons added as she gave Fitz a look.

"Thank you, Simmons. It's nice to see someone else gets it." Wasp smiled at the female agent.

"Speaking of function, you've sent people in wearing them, right?" Ant-Man asked as he turned on his suits systems.

At hearing that the three Shield scientists got faltered looks. "Well actually we haven't managed to test them in the field yet." Simmons admitted which instantly got alarmed and disbelieving looks from the Avengers. "But we're confident they'll work, as a matter of fact we're 96.3 percent sure of it."

"Forgive me if I don't sound relieved for my teammates wellbeing." Ben remarked, clearly feeling unassured. Which soon came to another thought on the matter. "Hey Janet, Hank, are your powers even working in those suits?"

At that the two mentioned Avengers blinked as they hadn't thought about that. Wasp went first as she and her suit shrunk while her wings appeared on her back. She then charged up her stingers and fired at the floor, seeing them also working without trouble. Hank went next as he shrunk down with his suit and then activated his helmet and saw it was working as well. "Nope we're all good here." Wasp answered for the both of them.

The team began heading out of the base, but Ben stopped beside Coulson's team. "By the way where's Ward?"

At hearing that question they all got down casted looks which silently answered his question.

"I see…" Ben nearly whispered before getting a determined look. "I swear I'll get both him and May back." He promised.

Skye gave a small smile of gratitude. "Goodluck."

---

With the farewells out of the way, Ben joined the team as they made their way for the dome of radiation on foot. Accompanying them was also Quatermain and two other agents, all three of whom were carrying high tech riffle like weapons. Once they got close enough, they stopped a couple of yards away. Everyone but Ben and Thor looked at the gamma radiation with slight apprehension as they recalled the feelings of uncertainty in the suits provided safety.

"So, who wants to go first? Anyone?" Ironman asked as he turned to the others.

"I nominate you and Samson." Ben spoke up with a raised hand.

At that the green haired man blinked. "Me?"

"Yeah you." Ben remarked with a look. "You're so confident the suits will work then how about you show some good faith and enter so we can see for ourselves it's true."

"And why me as well?" Ironman questioned.

"Just to see if your tech is also perfectly functional in these conditions." Ben remarked.

"Uh excuse me but your making it sound like you doubt my tech will work? Tony spoke in an almost offended tone.

Ben gave their armored leader a deadpan look. "Well after its spectacular failure in that mission in Africa after all your boasting of how it would allow us to sneak in undetected. I'm now more open to the idea that some adversaries are better equipped than you are. That or there may be something you haven't factored into account. You were already proven wrong before so I just want to make sure your truly prepared for this."

"Now that he mentions it, I'll also second that vote." Ant-Man threw his name in as well.

"Me three." Wasp quickly added as she also recalled the difficulties from the Wakanda mission. Especially Tony's comments on how easy it would be when it wasn't anything of the sort. She had half a mind to slap him for all the trouble that could've been avoided if he had just listened to T'Challa.

"Jee thanks I'm really feeling the love here. You know I'm a super genius, right?" Tony reminded them.

"And so's The Leader, so let's see who's smarter by testing your tech against his." Ben countered.

"Fine." Tony grumbled before walking towards the dome alongside Samson. The fellow scientists looking a bit amused from seeing the Avengers team leader get singled out.

"I call Tony's cars if he mutates." Wasp informed the others.

"I call his armory." Ben playfully added.

"Oh well if we're making a wager then I lay claim to the training room if he turns monstrous." Thor added earning a look from his teammates. "What? I like the training room, it's fun to use."

"You know I can still hear you right?" Ironman retorted while glancing back at them. "Also, for the record I'd leave my armory to Pepper and my cars to Rhodey. Although if you want the training room Thor then you can have it."

Without another word Samson and Tony just walked closer to the expanding dome till they was just a few feet from it. Tony turned to the Avengers and saw Ben giving him a thumbs up while Captain America gave a playful salute. He remained where he stood as the gamma dome finally reached him and Samson slowly enveloped them both into it.

The avengers all kept their eyes on them with some even holding their breaths. Moments passed as Samson looked himself over and saw nothing was happening just as he hoped. Tony just stood still for a moment before turning to his teammates and gave them a come in gesture. The Avengers felt a little relieved and began to step forward. But not before Ben had transformed into Feedback for his protection. One by one the avengers all entered the dome and looked around. The inside of the dome was as expected giving everything a greenish look from all the radiation in the air. Even the ground looked more greenish.

"Everyone feeling ok?" Ironman asked just to confirm.

"The suits are working perfectly, not a trace of gamma radiation seeping through." Samson said after checking the diagnostics of his own suit.

"How are you feeling Thor?" Steve asked the Asgardian in curiosity about his supposed immunity.

"I am unbothered by this energy." Thor assured his teammate as he looked at the air before turning to the only other who wasn't wearing a gamma suit. "What of you Ben?"

Feedback turned his single eye to the thunderer as he gave a small grin. "Let's just say I couldn't be feeling any better."

In fact, he felt better than normal. The reason being because he was slowly absorbing some of the gamma radiation into himself from his fingertips and the tips of his head tails. It was like taking a breath and slowly filling his body with the substance. His body processed the radiation and turned it into energy for him to use. The inside if this dome was basically like an endless battery for him to use.

"Ironman to Coulson do you read me over?" Ironman asked over the coms only to get static. He tried calling again only to get the same result. "I can't get a reading." He informed everyone.

"Neither can we." Quatermain spoke as he and Samson had tried as well with no luck.

"This isn't interference from the radiation, our coms are being jammed somehow." Samson told them as he had helped make it so the radiation wouldn't have been able to disrupt their communications.

"No doubt the Leader is behind it. Creating a hazardous zone and jamming all foreign communications that enter the premises. He's secured his position inside the Cube as his new fortress." Captain America remarked.

"Yeah, well he's soon going to see us storming the castle." Feedback added with some eagerness.

Thor looked at Ben in confusion. "I see no storm or castle here?"

If he were capable of it, Feedback would've sweat dropped. "It's a figure of speech Thor."

"You humans seem to have a lot of those." Thor remarked at that fact while the super soldier smirked a bit, amused to see he wasn't the only one unfamiliar with some things.

Wasp flew up to get a better view and see if any enemies were around. She spotted none but did see what appeared to be a wrecked aircraft. She flew down and landed on a large rock as she looked over the destroyed vehicle.

"Man, this thing had seen better days." Wasp spoke out loud mainly to herself.

Suddenly she began to feel the ground shake as if from a seismic tremor. She turned her head and her eyes widened in horror when she saw a monstrous face looking right at her closely. The face was triangular with a beak-like mouth and horns running across its skull while its skin was stone-like. Immediately Wasp flew back towards the Avengers as they all took ready stances at what was before them. The rock she had stood on now revealed to have been the creature's body. It began to rise from the ground as its body seemed to unfold and extend to reveal its limbs as it stood up. When it was done, it was revealed to be a golem-like monster with a left arm larger than its right which instead of fingers had a club like end for a hand. A torn pair of pants like shorts was the only thing it was wearing.

It wasn't alone however as it was joined by others that seemed to emerge from nowhere.

The second creature was clearly female and had a strong resemblance to a harpy. It had black bird-like wings, a beak-like nose, legs that bent backwards like a bird, three clawed feet and what looked like a mane of hair around her neck. She wore a torn uniform that had the sleeves cut off by the shoulders and knees.

The third creature was male and the most human looking with a savage expression. His skin was a sickly greenish color with veins being visible over his arms, chest and neck. His hair was black and long, reaching just below the shoulders. Its clothing was all torn up to the point where only the shoulder was holding up the remains.

The fourth and final creature was another that looked female and resembled either a demon or gargoyle. Her hair was black and elongated reaching below her chest, looking wildly unkempt. Her teeth were bare as she growled which revealed her full set of sharp canines like a piranha. A large pair of wings resembling bats were extended on her back, looking as if she were readying for takeoff. A long tail over five feet long with a spade shaped end wagged behind her almost like in agitation. Lastly her hands and feet had enlarged claws and talons that looked strong enough to strangle a rhinoceros. What was left of her torn uniform resembled a mangled crop top and a pair of shorts.

"Oh man." Feedback could only speak in pity.

"It's them…" Quatermain practically whispered in horror. "It's the missing agents."

The four now gamma mutated agents all growled as they glared at the avengers and agents with their glowing green eyes. They all looked like wild animals that were about to pounce. Which was proven true when they all sprinted at the intruders to their domain.

"I'm starting to wish we were back chasing Hawkeye." Wasp spoke out loud as she wasn't liking their current opposition.

"You and me both." Ironman agreed while everyone braced themselves for battle.

The two flyers soared in the air and divebombed like a pair of hawks, targeting the agents in the back of the group. The agents got startled looks before they opened fire on the pair. Their shots missed as the pair evaded and the gamma harpy lunged and grabbed one of the agents by the shoulders and took off with him. The gamma gargoyle came down next and grabbed the other agent. At least that's what she was aiming to do before Feedback pushed the agent out of the way and ended up getting caught in his place as he was pulled off the ground like the other agent.

"Oww watch those claws!" Feedback shouted at his captor while trying to pry himself free, but her grip was like an eagle.

"Wasp!" Samson called out while pointing at the Harpy, silently telling her to go after it and help their agent. Which she did as she took off after them and started firing her sting blasts.

Ironman took to the air and went after Ben. "Hang on Ben, I'll get you down."

Feedback's eye widened in alarm. "Tony on your six!"

The armored avenger turned his head too late as the gamma savage had jumped and came crashing on top. The brute pounded on Ironman as he lost his balance from the extra weight and came crashing into the ground. Before he could even try to get up the gamma savage was already pounding his back, practically trying to hammer him into the ground. Thor came to his rescue when he spun and threw his hammer at the brutes' back which knocked him away from his ally.

Captain America meanwhile while engaging the gamma golem. The super soldier was using his shield to block swings from its club like arm. He struck back when he saw an opening and delivered several hits of his own. However, the golem's hardened body seemed to give it sufficient protection as each hit only seemed to stun it for a moment. The golem counter attacked by smashing its club to the ground, causing a small tremor. The vibrations disrupted the super soldiers balance long enough for it to nail him with a hard swing from it's that sent Steve skidding on the ground several feet. The golem lunged at the downed soldier with its club swung back when Samson suddenly grabbed hold of it. It turned to see who grabbed it only for Samson to suddenly pull it away. He then swung his body around several times before tossing the gamma golem away and into the crashed aircraft. The wrecked mess fell apart and collapsed on top of the gamma victim.

"Thanks for the assist soldier."

"No problem but we're not done yet." Samson responded in accurate prediction as the gamma golem burst out of the wreckage looking angrier.

Back with Feedback he had had enough as he fought back against the gamma gargoyle, demon or whatever. Especially when she had both slammed and dragged him against the ground before ascending again. The Conductoid gripped the gamma gargoyle by his ankles and delivered a quality leveled electric shock. The gamma female screeched in pain and loosened her grip. Feedback seized that moment and freed himself before climbing up and looking at her in the eyes. His sole one widened as he got a sense of familiarity.

"May, is that you?" Feedback asked only to get a screech of anger in return as she tried to bite his face but he held her back. "If it's you then I'd like to say sorry about this." He apologized right before delivering a straight punch to her face that clearly hurt her right before he then extended his antennas. The extensions wrapped around her wings, compressing them in the center and restraining them right before he bent his body back and forced the two into a dizzy dive. Right as they got closer to the ground Feedback moved himself on her back and jumped from it reducing his plummeting speed while slightly increasing hers.

Feedback landed on the ground without trouble while the gamma gargoyle crashed into the ground. The impact caused her body to partially plow the ground before coming to a stop. She got back up after a few moments and turned around to face the Conductoid only to get another zapping as she was electrocuted. Feedback kept pouring out power for a few more seconds before stopping once he saw her topple over from pain and exhaustion.

The alien hero turned to see how the others were doing and saw them also finished with their own opponents. The gamma harpy was down and panting like a dehydrated dog. The gamma berserker looked to be unconscious and the gamma golem looked a little cracked and passed out. He also saw that Wasp had saved that agent from the Harpy.

Thor was looking down at the defeated gamma berserker with an inquisitive look. "These creatures may share his origins, but they are nothing but pale reflections of the true Hulk."

"That's a good thing Thor." Ironman retorted. Seriously he didn't want to think what it would be like to fight several of these gamma irradiated people who had Hulks level of strength. That's a scary thought to even consider.

"Don't tell me you wished they were tougher just so you could have a good time?" Feedback remarked.

Thor gave a sheepish look. "I'm never opposed to a good fight."

"Yeah, well something tells me you'll get your wish." Feedback commented before he got a thought as he smiled. "In fact, if we run into the Abomination then you can have him all for yourself."

Thor got an excited look as he recalled the mention of how the villain was as strong as the Hulk.

"How're they Samson?" Hank asked as he and the others saw him checking the defeated gamma agents. He had what appeared to be a scanner of some kind in hand.

"Well, there's good news thankfully." Samson said while looking at the results. "It seems their mutation is a temporary effect. Once they're out of the gamma dome the effects will wear off and they'll return to normal."

"Shouldn't we move them out then?" Wasp asked the obvious.

"There's no point unless we stop the gamma radiation. They're bodies are stable in their mutated forms, once it's gone they'll turn back and we can get them proper treatment without having to transport them to another base." Samson answered, not liking having to leave his fellow agents behind unattended even if it was for their wellbeing.

"Then let's get to it, I'm personally getting anxious to guzzle down that generator of all its fuel." Feedback said eagerly having sensed the power coming from the cube and immediately felt drawn to it. The fact he also had yet to eat breakfast was also a factor to his hunger after being picked up and flown here for hours.

"You actually think you can absorb that much radiation?" Samson questioned incredulously.

"In this form I certainly can, of that I have no doubt." Feedback stated confidently.

"Let's continue then." Ironman told all as he marched towards the cube and the others followed.

---

The team finally made their way into the Cube and were proceeding deeper inside as they reached where the prisoners used to be kept. The term creepy practically defined this place from how it looked. The whole area was darkened with dim lights barely providing illumination, the walls had large holes from explosions, cable wires were hanging from the ceiling and for some reason there was a green fog that concealed most of the floor.

"Anyone else getting goosebumps?" Wasp questioned in a low voice as if afraid something would hear her.

"This room certainly fits the scenery for a horror movie." Ironman commented while he walked ahead of everyone. He was using the light from his palms to shine the path ahead.

"All that's missing is the monster that appears out of nowhere." Feedback remarked unbothered while looking at all shadowed spots to see if something did pop out from there.

"Stay sharp everyone." Captain America advised everyone as his instincts were telling him danger wasn't far.

"Wait!" Suddenly Feedback called out as he stopped in his tracks.

"What's wrong?" Wasp asked.

The Conductoids single eyes narrowed as his antennas were waving in the air as if in alarm. "We're not alone anymore."

Everyone tensed up at hearing that.

"Ahhh!" The screams of one of the agents startled everyone else as they turned to see him get quickly dragged away into the green mist and out of sight.

"Jackson!" Quatermain called out after the agent. No sooner that he called out did something seem to hit the other agent and cause him to hit a wall before he fell to the floor. Before he could even get up something pulled him away into the green fog as well. "Paul!"

"I'm so not liking this." Wasp commented nervously as she flew closer to her teammates, not wanting to be next.

"I can't get a reading." Ironman revealed as his sensors tried and failed to get a lock on whoever or whatever was with them in the room. "I've got confirmation on multiple bogeys, but I can't lock them down."

Feedback aimed his hands into the fog while trying to spot the enemy but saw nothing. "I can't fire blindly; I might hit them by accident." he warned.

Samson suddenly flew back as if he were blown away and hit the wall behind him.

"Show yourselves cowards and face us like true warriors!" Thor challenged the unknown assailants while looking sideways attempting to spot any signs of their attackers.

He soon got his wish as someone from the other end of the hallway emerged. It was another golem looking being but instead of having stone like skin it instead had a black metallic kind. It had a square shaped head and completely blue eyes and a body that was large, muscular and kind of rounded. This was the villain named Ironclad who wasted no time in grabbing Ant-Man and pulling him into further darkness.

"Ant-Man/Hank!" Both Thor and Wasp cried out as the Asgardian leaped at the foe and struck him before he could smear Hank's face on his fist.

"It's the U-Foes!" Quatermain called out, identifying their attackers after managing to see who attacked Hank.

Ben was familiar with the group from reading their files. They were a group of 4 villains who had gained their powers from exposure to space radiation. Apparently, they had been trying to replicate the accident that created the renowned Fantastic Four heroes. While they did manage to gain powers, they were by no means superior to the four heroes.

Suddenly however the Shield agent felt someone climb onto his back and clutching his helmet as an upside-down figure looked at him from up close. The first alarming thing to notice was the fact this person didn't have a face but rather a holographic skull for one. Not only that but his hands as well and he wore a kind of containment suit. This was the villain named X-Ray who proceeded to electrocute Quatermain through his helmet. Everyone heard his screams of agony.

"Get off him!" Feedback shouted right before he blasted the skeletal villain off the agent. X-Ray however, got back up looking no worse for wear.

Captain America moved to assist the alien hero but then suddenly found himself floating as the green mist seemed to swirl around him. The gas then seemed to gain some solidity as it coiled around his arms and enveloped him like a serpent. Then the gas began to expand as something formed over his head. A feminine figure with long-looking hair began to take shape as her body was composed entirely of green gas. She seemed to wear a uniform which was also in gas form. This was the female of the U-Foes, codenamed Vapor.

"Hello handsome." She spoke in a seductive tone right before flowing through the filters of the super soldier's helmet and reforming her face and left arm in his suit. "How about giving Vapor a kiss?" She didn't even wait for an answer before doing just that.

The super soldier's eyes widened at how the female villain would be so brazen. Horror soon showed as he could feel the gas filling his lungs as his vision began to get blurry.

"Cap!" Ironman saw his teammate in trouble and flew to his aid when his suit suddenly flew completely off course and crashed into a nearby wall. The iron avenger began to fall but before he could even hit the ground, he was suddenly flung sideways into a power line. The large cable delivered a high voltage shock to Tony as he cried out in pain before finally falling to the ground. His digital screen fritzing in and out of focus as some of his systems tried restoring themselves.

Feedback who had been in a hand-to-hand combat fight with X-Ray finished delivering a double whipping with his antennas. The villain was knocked back as Ben turned to see Ironman was down. He moved to help him when he suddenly felt a force grab hold of him and slam him hard into a rundown wall. The pain hurt for only a moment but that changed when the wall fell right on top of him, pinning him down.

"Welcome to the Cube." An unknown voice spoke up.

That's when the mystery assailant revealed himself and when he did Feedback's eye had widened in slight terror. The reason for that was because the mystery attacker had a large resemblance to a Celestialsapien. It was a humanoid male with a V symbol on his forehead and pure yellow eyes. His body was mostly black and looked to have a red colored galaxy swirling across his torso.

"Vector." Samson identified the final member of the U-Foes and their leader. He then spotted a circular device emitting a green light on the villain's chest, his eyes widened in recognition. "That device!" he looked around and noticed the other villains with matching devices on them as well (except for Vapor due to the likely fact her body wasn't solid enough to attach one). He then got an angry look. "I created those devices to drain gamma energy!"

Vector smirked. "Indeed, but the leader has reversed their function to put them to better use. Now our powers have been increased to levels you can't imagine." He boasted.

"Well, that's good to know." Feedback spoke up earning both their attention as he smirked while pulling himself out from under the wall. "You know I was actually worried for a moment thinking you were something else. But now knowing that your just another radioactive villain is a huge relief."

Vector gave both a confused and unamused look at the alien hero's words. He didn't know what he meant by that but he shrugged it off as he responded by using his powers to lift the alien off the ground again.

"Oh no you don't, not this time!" Feedback declared as he quickly fired an energy blast at Vector. The villain just smirked and with a wave of his hand he redirected the attack into a wall which blew apart.

"Drop him!" Wasp ordered as she fired stingers at Vectors back. The U-foe leader managed to see it in time and used his other hand to repel her small projectiles. Then with an extension of his mind he grabbed Wasp and flung her into a wall before slamming her into another one and keeping her pressed against it as she felt like she was slowly being crushed.

"Hey!"

Vector turned his head as he saw Feedback firing another burst of energy from his elevated height. Quickly he once more used his powers to divert the attack away unscathed. Not giving up Feedback fired another one, this time as a continuous beam of energy. The U-Foe leader concentrated and created a telekinetic wall that was blocking the attack from reaching him as it failed to breach his defense. "Too weak." He taunted.

"See if you think this is weak!" Feedback shot back and extended one of his antennas to the exposed cable that had electrocuted Ironman. His extended limb connected with the powerline as energy surged into him. Suddenly his continued attack grew to three times in size and power and Vector's eyes widened in alarm for the first time. The now powered up attack broke past his hold and struck the villain straight on as it pushed him back. The force of the blast enveloping Vector blew him straight through the wall and several behind it. He went crashing through the last one and would've fallen out of the Cube if he hadn't managed to grab the ledge with his hand. His other hand now clutching his chest which was aching like a severe case of heartburn.

"RAAAAWGH!" Thor gave a battle cry right before Ironclad suddenly came flying overhead and falling a couple yards away from the Avengers.

"Thor give us some rough winds!" Feedback shouted out as the Asgardian raised an eyebrow in confusion before figuring that he probably wanted to dispel the mist.

Complying he began to spin his hammer around rapidly and the rotating speed began creating severe gusts of wind like the kind you'd see announcing the arrival of a hurricane. Everyone who wasn't heavy like Samson, Ironclad and Ironman had to tighten their stances to hold on. The same could not be said for Vapor however, as due to her near weightless gas form she was blown away. The separation of most of her body caused the part of her that was still in Steve's suit to get sucked out to rejoin the rest. The last thing they heard was a wail of anguish as she seemed to come apart and faded from sight. Steve gave several coughs of relief as he could breathe easily again.

With her gone and Vector out of the room, Wasp flew to X-Ray and stung him from behind as he was busy with Ironman. The villain turned to her after feeling the stings which gave Ironman the opening to sucker punch X-Ray's helmet and crack it. He didn't stop there however as he then delivered a close-range palm blast that shattered the right side of X-Ray's helmet which was now causing the holographic skull image to static in and out of focus.

"As a great being once said." Feedback began as he gathered power between his hands forming a sphere of energy. "Let there be light." He then raised his hands and the sphere he carried suddenly intensified in brightness, flooding the hall and eliminating the last cover their enemies had.

Ironlad came running towards them now clearly in view.

"Hey Thor, let's bring down the thunder." Feedback suggested and the Asgardian smirked. Quickly the two stood side by side as Thor spun his hammer and Ben brought his hands together. The two then each fired a large bolt of lightning. Their attacks collided with the metallic villain and his entire body sparked all over while he wailed in pain. When it was over his body was emitting some smoke as if he were a little overcooked before he fell backwards and didn't seem like he would be getting up again anytime soon.

With all their enemies now beaten the team gathered to see if anyone was severely injured. Quatermain and Samson went to check on their other agents and found them knocked unconscious. They would need to either carry them along, hide them somewhere secure or send someone to take them back to the base. Ant-Man was alright apart from holding his sore shoulder.

"Nice going team." Ironman commended before looking at Steve. "You alright Cap?"

"Yeah." Steve said through small deep breaths. "Just another reason why I never smoked."

Feedback blinked. "Did you just crack a joke?" he broke into a smirk. "Captain America just made a joke."

The super soldier returned the smirk before getting a serious expression. "I suppose I did but the jokes over now, something about this doesn't seem right."

"What do you mean?" Hank asked after rejoining them.

"Abomination." Steve simply said.

While everyone else was confused by what he meant, Ben and Samson started to get where he was going.

"The Absorbing Man." Feedback added with suspicion in his voice.

"Zzzax." Samson finished the three names that were previously mentioned in the briefing.

"Those were said to be the strongest of the Leader's forces, yet none of them have shown up to fight, why?" Steve asked with his own suspicion, finding something wrong with this whole thing.

"They're likely waiting where the Leader is by the gamma generator. He probably thought it would be efficient to try wearing us down before sending his strongest after us." Quatermain theorized.

The super soldier turned to the agent with an unconvinced look. "The Leader is supposed to be smart. You don't split your forces up and send them out one group at a time to deal with a single team. Especially not when they have terrain advantage and could've ambushed us from multiple angles. Besides do any of us really look tired to you?"

At that everyone was getting a bad feeling as Cap made more and more sense.

"The Leader wouldn't be wasting his forces like this." Steve pondered before a look of realization seemed to set in. "Unless… they're just a distraction."

"A distraction?" Hank repeated. "From what?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." A familiar voice spoke up and everyone turned to see Vector down the path of broken walls, walking up to them.

"Urgh you again." Feedback almost groaned with annoyance. "You want another butt kicking? Because I'll be more than happy to oblige you with one."

"And the line continues after me." Wasp added while charging her stingers.

"Give it up Vector your outnumbered now and outmatched." Samson warned.

To their confusion Vector only smirked. It wasn't just one of arrogance like before but a knowing look as well. As if he were aware of something crucial they didn't know. Suddenly they saw a flash of light from their right. Wasp and Quatermain reacted too late as two large electrical blasts struck them, electrocuting them both. However, something strange occurred as the energy and shocks didn't fade, in fact it seemed like the electricity was latched on to them and seemed to burrow under their suits and skin. That's when they saw the disturbing sight of Wasp and Quatermains mouth and eyes glow the same color before the electrical energy came pouring out of their throats. The energy seemed to take a more solidified appearance and grew exponentially larger before it quickly took shape.

What was before them now was a large humanoid looking being with a bulky body and who seemed to be made of pure electrical energy. Its face looked fiendish as it had no nose or ears. Its entire body was glowing from its own electrical energy being emitted. Its pupilless eyes seemed to be in a constant expression of anger.

"Zzzaxx!" Samson identified the monstrosity before them right as it fired two shots of energy from its hands towards them. Captain America and Feedback took defensive positions as the super soldier used his shield to block while Feedback absorbed the other shot.

Ironman attacked Vector with several palm blasts, but he deflected them and then telekinetically flung the avenger away. Tony was prepared this time and with the proper positioning of his boots he fired his jets. The counter to his momentum worked and he flew towards the villain. Vector had no time to react before receiving a vicious shoulder tackle that would've knocked the wind out of him if he were still flesh and blood.

Thor stood in front of his allies as he faced Zzzaxx.

"Attack me monster!" The Asgardian challenged which Zzzaxx complied right away as it fired a large electrical blast but Thor swung his hammer at it and caused the attack to dissipate instantly.

Zzzaxx got an angrier look as it charged at the Asgardian figuring a direct attack would work better. Thor mimicked his move and advanced on the creature. As the two came close to colliding Thor swung his hammer and struck Zzzaxx in its right shoulder. The enchanted weapon severed the villain's right arm as Zzzaxx got a startled look right before its entire body seemed to lose stability and exploded into hundreds of miniature bolts that washed over the room. Everyone but Vector crossed their arms to try and block some of the horizontal shower of electrical sparks.

"Nice one Thor that's another one down for the count." Feedback cheered only to stop when he heard Vector chuckling and turned to address the villain. "What's so funny? Your all alone again."

"You fools just don't get it." Vectar commented smugly earning a small glare from the Conductoid for his ego. "We don't need to beat you… because we've already begun to win."

Both Ben and Tony wondered what he meant before realization suddenly set in for both of them. Especially when Ironman saw his suit's systems flickering for a moment before they were thankfully stabilized.

"Oh no the gamma armor!" Tony called out the cause for concern as he and Ben turned to Wasp and Quatermain. The former of whom had lost her helmet. That's when they saw Wasps eyes become a glowing green.

"NO! JANNET!" Hank cried out in horror at what was about to happen to her.

Feedback who was in momentary equal dismay however sprung to action. He quickly ran to Ironclad and ripped the gamma device from his chest before running at Wasp whose body had already begun to convulse. Her hands and feet mutated becoming pincer and talon like. The Conductoid leaped at his ally before a green flash engulfed them both.

Everyone winced from the bright flash before it quickly died down and they were greeted to a new sight.

A small black blob of some kind was now where the shrunken Wasp had been. A noticeable bulge suddenly surfaced as if something had been trying to break out. Everyone quickly guessed that it was Wasp underneath trying to bust out. The bulge faded back down before several more appeared and disappeared in quick succession. It was clear she was trying to escape what was smothering her. She then grew back to her normal size in another escape attempt, the sudden quick change in mass could've caused the blob to splatter apart yet it didn't. Instead, it seemed to either grow or stretch out with her and continued to envelop her all over.

That was when her resistance suddenly seemed to seize completely. The sphere looking blob then began to compress itself as it shrunk till it began to take a new shape.

It was Wasp whose face was shown through a now black biker looking helmet that had a large T shaped green visor showing her face. Her expression looking sluggish and disoriented yet free of pain as she seemed to be regaining awareness. She was now wearing a form fitting black and green skintight full body suit that highlighted her figure quite nicely. There were a pair of mechanical insect like antennae's attached where her ears would be but unlike her headphones these were bent down like a real insects. Her hands and feet seemed to have returned to normal as she now appeared to be wearing a small pair of gauntlets and long boots that reached her lower knees. What was most interesting to see however was that even though she was back to regular size she still had her wings. However, these were different as rather than her usual ones she was now sporting a pair of butterfly like wings. The wings were mostly black but had green circuitry like lines running over them in a pattern. Above her stomach was the gamma device Feedback had taken from Ironclad which was pulsing green while on her left gauntlet was the Omnitrix symbol.

"W-what happened?" Wasp stuttered as her mind started to come back to its senses after her electrocution and near transformation. She looked down and saw her helmet on the ground, filling her with alarm before noticing her new wardrobe. "What the heck!? What is this I'm wearing!?"

"That would be your new gamma suit compliments of yours truly." A techno-like voice spoke up which came from the suit she wore. Wasp was startled but then saw the left shoulder part of her suit extend outward as a digital eye formed. "You feel ok Wasp?"

"Ben? Is that you?" Wasp asked half unsure which faded when she saw the familiar symbol of his watch. "Why are you attached to my suit?"

"Yes it's me and I'm not just attached to your suit, I am the suit now." Upgrade explained. "The suit you were wearing took too much damage and ceased functioning. You were starting to turn into a hideous gamma mutation, so I had to act fast. I took one of those gamma devices and turned into Upgrade to merge with it before attaching to you. Once I did I reversed your mutation and merged with the remains of your suit to create the new one you see before you now."

"Oh man thanks for that, I don't even want to think about what I would've turned into." Wasp breathed out in relief with a hand to her heart which was calming down now.

"I think you might get an idea. Look behind you." Ant-Man interrupted while pointing as Wasp turned to see what used to be Quatermain who had undergone his own grotesque irradiated mutation.

The agent's body was now swelled up and his muscles were far larger. His eyes were now pure green and an angry look was on his face while his teeth were now jagged while the veins in his arms looked like they were almost going to burst out of his skin. He wasn't alone for long however as he was joined by agents Paul and Johnson. Both of whom were now also mutated gamma monsters though far uglier than most they'd seen so far.

"Oh man that's not good." Upgrade commented.

"Can't you help them, Ben?" Wasp asked after seeing how he helped reverse her own mutation.

It's no good, I need to stay fused with you to keep your own mutation from occurring like theirs. There's nothing I can do for them right now." Upgrade quickly informed her on his inability to assist them at the moment.

He could've used the gamma device to form a special laser blast to drain the gamma energy from their bodies. The only problem however was that they were inside the gamma dome. So any energy he drained from them would be quickly refilled by the very air around them. He'd just be wasting his energy using that method.

Their troubles got worse as the other U-Foes returned to action after getting their second wind with even Vapor reformed. They weren't the only ones either as Zzzaxx also reformed himself and rejoined them. Then Vector who had separated from his fight with Ironman also joined the group alongside the three newly mutated shield agents.

Ironman quickly began firing repulsor blasts to try and keep them back. "We can't keep fighting like this."

"Let's see how they handle this instead!" Upgrade called out before extending out Wasps wings and charging them up with energy as the circuitry lines light up. The female hero was stunned but before she could even question what was happening a pair of powerful stinger beams shot from her wings. The twin beams soared forward and struck Ironclad and the telekinetic shield of Vector. The metallic villain was blown back hard while Vector's shield took the brunt of the attack but even so, he showed struggle in blocking it.

"How the…?" Wasp trailed in disbelief at what just happened.

"I'm not just a new fashionable wardrobe but also a very functional one too. All of your powers are now enhanced to new levels. Give your stinger blasts a check to see for yourself." Upgrade informed her in a tone that Wasp could imagine carried a smirk.

Wasp got a smirk of her own as she fired her stinger blast. She first tested herself out by firing just one shot first at a lower level. It struck X-Rays shoulder who recoiled in pain and held his injured limb angrily which seemed to stop responding based on how it now hung. Seeing the effectiveness, Wasp went bigger as she put as much energy as she could before firing a shot three times bigger at the same villain. The much larger attack this time knocked X-Ray back as he fell as if punched by Thor. "Man, my stingers really pack a wallop now!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"We need to change our focus!" Ironman declared before firing missiles at the villains. The explosions made them pause their advance as smoke obscured their vision. "We need to take out the generator as quick as we can."

"We won't get far with these guys on our tail." Upgrade added as said enemies came through the smoke and the gamma agents were on them. The one who used to be Quatermain tackled Captain America while Thor engaged the one who was Johnson and Ironman dealt with gamma Paul.

"I know, which is why we need to split up. Wasp, Samson, Hank and Ben will go deal with the generator the rest of us will stay here to hold them back to give you guys a clear path.

Wasp blinked in concern "Are you sure about this Tony? Maybe Ben and I should stay here while you go instead."

"We're both wearing suits for our protection, it makes no real difference whether we switch places or not. NOW GO!" Tony yelled out right before he got flung down by Vector. Not being deterred however, Ironman rose back up and fired his Unibeam at the telekinetic villain. The large-scale attack caught him off guard as he got blown back and Vapor was also caught in the attack causing her to lose her humanoid form.

Nodding the four left to pursue the generator leaving Tony, Thor and Cap to deal with the eight enemies.

"Thor bring down the ceiling!" Cap called out as the Asgardian flew up and used his hammer to smash the roof apart.

The now fractured ceiling came crumbling down like an avalanche off the side of a mountain. Thor didn't stop there however as he threw Mjolnier at the walls from both sides causing them to fall apart as well. The Avengers pulled back to avoid the falling debris while the villains also stepped back as a large rock blockade formed between them. The collection of large debris was over fifteen feet high and covered the entire pathway leaving no way around or over it.

"That should buy us a few short minutes and hopefully give them long enough of a head start." Ironman figured as they all took offensive positions in preparation for when they came through. Especially when they heard the unmistakable sound of rocks being pushed and crushed apart from the other side.

However, that's when Ironman's censors noted something troubling. He was now only picking up a reading on seven hostiles instead of the previous eight.

"Oh that can't be good."

---

Wasp/Ben, Samson and Hank continued running down the hall as they got closer to their target.

"It's just up ahead!" Samson alerted them as they looked to see a bright green light shining at the end of the hallway.

The team made it to the exit and quickly saw the generator in the middle of the room. The device was releasing an enormous amount of gamma energy like a giant laser into an opening in the ceiling that led outside. Unfortunately, however that wasn't the only thing in the room.

"Uh-Oh." Samson practically whispered as he saw the four individuals blocking their way.

It was the Wrecking Crew, a team of gamma enhanced humans who all gained high levels of super strength and durability. Unlike all previous gamma villains however they still looked completely human other than their large muscles comparable to body builders. The four were known to be thugs who were either for hire or operated on their own.

The first wore a purple suit that only left his lower jaw exposed with green clothing over it and had purple gloves and boosts while he carried a large crowbar. This was Wrecker the leader of the crew.

The second wore a costume that was white between his collarbone and waist while the rest was red. He had blonde hair sticking out from his face mask, this was Piledriver.

The third was a black man wearing a green and yellow suit with a matching beanie. The most attention grabbing thing however was that he was swinging a chain linked wrecking ball in his hand, this was Thunderball.

The fourth and final member was completely covered up so only his eyes could be seen. He wore an orange full body suit with a metallic helmet, belt and wrist bands. (The sight of him idly brought back memories of Juggernaut for Ben) This was Bulldozer who had a tendency to ram his enemies, hence the name.

"Well look at this Wrecker. These clowns actually thought the Leader was going to be here." Piledriver mocked while holding a gamma enhancer in hand which he wasted no time in attaching to his chest. "Too bad for them."

All at once the four of them powered up with their devices as they transformed. Wrecker gained the appearance of an ogre as he held his crowbar like a caveman. Piledriver's right arm grew larger than his left while his body got more buff. Bulldozer's muscles swelled so much the sleeves of his costume tore off as horns grew on his shoulders and out of his head, giving him the most monstrous appearance. Lastly Thunderball got more muscular while his face looked like a savage primal human.

"Let's thrash these chumps' boys!" Wrecker ordered which Thunderball wasted no time in starting off as he swung his wrecking ball and nailed Samson with it. The doctor was crushed into a small crater made from the force of collision and his suit was practically torn off him as a result.

"Doctor Samson! Hank shouted in alarm as he and the others looked in horror knowing what was going to happen now.

To their surprise and confusion however, nothing happened. Samson got up from the ground looking at his hands in equal surprise as he hadn't changed at all. "It's ok… I'm not changing?" his tone was puzzled.

That was when he, Hank and Ben all came to the same realization together. Their minds recalling their meeting with him and how Tony brought up the fact he looked different from his profile picture. Samson had mentioned he had been exposed to gamma radiation when the Cube breakout occurred. That's why he wasn't mutating because he was already a fully formed and stabilized gamma mutant. They hadn't known for sure if his body wouldn't change more from further exposure but now, they knew it wouldn't. With that fear now gone they turned their sights on the Wrecking Crew.

Piledriver followed up as he tackled Samson as he tackled him into the wall and punched his gut with his enlarged fist.

Wrecker came after Hank with his crowbar swung but the Avenger quickly shrunk himself down to avoid. He then quickly jumped and grew back to his normal size while punching the villain under his jaw. The hit made him stumble a few steps back from being off balance but other than that it didn't really hurt much.

"Heh, you call that a punch?" He mocked while rubbing under his chin slightly as if it tingled.

"You're going down little man." Bulldozer taunted while charging at Hank who quickly shrunk again but the villain stopped and after quickly spotting him, he tried to stomp him. Hank kept running as he avoided the large foot from crushing him.

Wasps' wings gave a strong flap as she flew up to avoid the wrecking ball that was thrown at her. She flew towards the generator to bring it down but Thunderball jumped high and backhanded her away. "You're not getting that generator without first going through me girly!" Thunderball challenged before quickly swinging his weapon at her again.

Wasps' eyes widened as the weapon came at her too fast to dodge. That was when her butterfly wings acted on their own as they expanded and wrapped around her forming a cocoon. The wrecking ball hit the cocoon and moved her a few feet back as it imbedded itself a bit from the collision. But then the wings sprung back out and threw the weapon aside as if it were a rubber ball. The wings then retracted to reveal Wasp looking surprised for a moment before smirking and firing her stingers at Thunderball. The villain pulled his weapon back and swung it around in front of him the way Thor would do with his hammer as the shots were blocked by the fast-rotating weapon.

"Let's see how he handles this." Upgrades voice spoke up as the gamma device on Wasp's torso light up before a large green burst of energy like Ironman's unibeam shot out. The large beam hit the spinning weapon with so much force it disrupted the spinning velocity and continued as its course nailing Thunderball and knocking him off his feet.

Wasp then quickly took flight as she went after the generator again. "I gotta say I'm liking the new wings." She said with admiration as they were certainly more appealing than her usual ones. Then again, she always thought butterflies and ladybugs were the only beautiful insects worth admiring. "This new suit is awesome!" she then frowned a bit. "Although it feels strange when you take control for a moment."

"Hey, I'm not just a new set of clothes for you. I'm like how Jarvis is to Tony… except I don't need permission or have to wait for orders to act." Upgrade remarked. "Besides your also not familiar with everything you can now do with me as your armor and there's no time to read the manual. It's not a problem, is it? Cause I'd hate for you to feel uncomfortable."

"Oh, I'm not." She assured him before a thought came to mind. "Umm Ben do you still have your sense of touch?"

If Upgrade's eye was on the surface it would've blinked at the question. "Yeah why?"

"I better not start feeling any part of this armor feeling tighter." Wasp warned him with a sharp tone although the corner of her lip was smirking. She was just thankful she still had her outfit underneath. It helped give her a sense of division between her skin and Upgrade's flesh.

It only took a second for Upgrade to understand her meaning and was thankful he was incapable of blushing.

"I'm not that kind of guy or even alien! My parental figures raised me right and I bet you wouldn't be talking like this is if I was Hank!" Upgrade retorted back. That earned a faint blush from Wasp which he noticed due to registering her body's temperature fluctuate for a moment. He knew mentioning him would get to her. Before Wasp could give a retort, they were almost at the top.

Which is when Zzzaxx made a completely unexpected appearance right out of the generator and electrocuted them. The sudden attack caught them off guard and made them plummet to the ground. Thankfully Upgrade managed to use the wings to reduce their speed for a softer landing.

"This guy again!?" Wasp narrowed her eyes at seeing Zzzaxx was back.

"He must've phased through the floor and walls to sneak past the others." Upgrade quickly deduced given the fact none of the other villains from before were here.

"Well, he's going down just the same." Wasp declared before taking to the air again to fight.

Ant-Man meanwhile was on the offensive as he turned into his giant form. Thankfully the ceiling of the room was high to let him do so. With his large height he proceeded to deliver palm strikes on his Wrecker and Bulldozer, flattening them on the ground to try and subdue them. However, they were refusing to stay down that easily. Not only that but it was also a bit confining in the room which limited his movements.

"You may be big your just still just a chump!" Wrecker shouted out as he and Bulldozer split up to divide his attention. Bulldozer made the first move as he ran for Giant-Man's right leg, but Hank lightly kicked the villain away. That left the small opening Wrecker needed as he jumped up and swung his crowbar striking Hank right on his left shin.

"Owww!" Hank cried out in pain as he held his sore shin in hand which allowed Bulldozer to ram into his other leg and caused him to topple over and start fall down.

"Tiiiimbeeeeeer!" Wrecker cheerfully mocked as Giant-Man fell to the ground, thankfully not on top of anyone. "Guess it's true what they say. Bigger they are the harder they fall, now to put an end to him." He and Bulldozer advanced.

Only for Piledrive to suddenly crash into him knocking them both down as they fell forward.

"Watch it Piledriver!" Wrecker told his crew member in annoyance.

"It wasn't me it was him!" Piledriver told before pointing to Samson who was quickly closing in. The villains quickly scrambled to get up but the doctor was already upon them. Samson lunged at Piledriver tackling him away from the rest, when Piledriver fell on his back he kicked Samson off before flipping himself back up.

Samson ducked a right swing from the villains enlarged arm before delivering a jab to the guy's nose. That made him stumble before following it up with a left cross then a right. The doctor was grateful to have been taking some sparring lessons from Shield after his mutation. Giant-Man had also taken advantage of their distraction to swipe his arm across. Swatting away Wrecker and Bulldozer who made the mistake of taking their eyes off him.

"I wish I could call in some ants to help." Hank thought wishfully knowing they would've been a good help. Unfortunately, in this radiated zone there were none of his usual little helpers. Plus, even if there were they'd likely have died from the gamma radiation, or worse mutated into monstrous insects that wouldn't listen to him.

Back with Wasp she was in a bit of a struggle with Zzzaxx. As it turned out, Upgrade had informed her that he had a vulnerability to electric shocks. Getting hit by Zzzaxx could cause the armors systems to freeze up or worse make him lose his focus and separate from Wasp. Which would be a disaster given the gamma radiation around her.

Zzzaxx fired another burst of electrical power at the size charger as she veered and dodged. Every time she tried to get closer, he would fire wide scale attacks to keep her at bay to protect the generator. Not even when she shrunk herself to try and sneak past him could she bypass his wide range attacks.

"You forget about me!" A familiar voice shouted out as Wasp looked down just in time to see Thunderballs weapon approaching. She quickly flew to the side to narrowly avoid it.

"Do you have a plan Ben?" Wasp asked while avoiding another attack from Zzzaxx before firing her stingers at Thunderball who ran around and avoided them.

Upgrade was silent as he didn't answer. His computerized mind analyzing the situation and looking for possible solutions to utilize. He examined Zzzaxx, seeing his body's structure and level of energy outputs he was giving off. His gaze then drifted to Thunderball and ran a digital scan as well. Measuring his level of strength, gamma energy in his body and etc. However, that's when he focused on the gamma device on his chest… and just like that, inspiration struck.

"I've got an idea. Mind if I take the wheel for a bit?" He asked since what he was planning would quire more than a moment of control. He didn't have time to tell her what to do.

"Sure, I guess." Wasp complied while wondering what he had planned.

"Thanks." Upgrade expressed before suddenly making them divebomb at Thunderball. The villain saw them coming and tried to hit them with this weapon again, but a simple barrel roll allowed them to dodge as they got up close

"I'll crush you with my bare hands then." Thunderball claimed as he lunged at them since they proved too agile for his weapon to hit. Unfortunately for him that was just the move Ben was hoping he made. He reared Wasp's arm back before throwing it forward as the sleeve suddenly extended towards the villain.

Wasp's eyes widened a bit before her surprise faded as she felt that her arm wasn't really stretching but rather it was the arm of her suit itself. The extended limb reached out and grabbed Thunderballs gamma enhancer.

Immediately the villain grabbed the limb and tried to pry it off to no avail. It wasn't because he wasn't strong enough however but rather that the limb was too elastic like. Every pull he made simply stretched it out before it regressed back to normal. Unknown to him however was that his opponent wasn't trying to pull the enhancer off him. As Upgrade's hand remained grasped over it, his gelatinous like flesh began reprograming the device for a new purpose. It only took him a few seconds before he was finished and then let go when Thunderball gave another hard yank.

"Ha nice try but you didn't get my power booster." Thunderball mocked at seeing it was still attached to him.

"Wasn't trying to dummy." Upgrade spoke before his eye glowed, sending a command signal. Suddenly the gamma enhancer glowed brighter and before Thunderball knew it, pain filled his body.

"ARGHHH!" The villain screamed out as green volts of electricity seemed to flood his entire body. It was the same kind when he used it to power up only this time it was different. Before when he had felt some pain, it had been secondary to the adrenaline and sensation of feeling himself get stronger. Now however he was feeling pain while also felt his strength rapidly diminishing as his body began to shrivel back to his normal muscular structure. Once the change was complete his body was practically smoking like an overcooked steak and looked like he could barely stand. Which changed when Upgrade gripped the enhancer and yanked it off him with zero resistance to be met. He then fell over practically slipping in out of consciousness after that.

"Woah what did you do!?" Wasp asked incredulously though she already had a good idea.

"I just reprogramed his gamma device back to Samson's original setting but with an increased rate of absorption. Those shocks he felt were a side effect of the process which I purposely didn't fix."

The action drew the attention of the other Wrecking Crew members at seeing their downed ally. Wrecker looked irritated at having seen one of his own get taken down. He went to try and attack but a large slap to his back from Giant-Man stopped that attempt and sent him flying upward and into the nearby wall which he got imbedded into.

"Nice one Hank!" Upgrade complimented before relinquishing control back to his wearer. "Now let's finish this Wasp, just head straight for the top of the generator." He then absorbed the other gamma enhancer into himself as it sank beneath his techno organic skin.

The other enhancer which was already on Wasp's torso then sunk into his body as well. Both of which resurfaced on Wasps wings now giving them an appearance of green eyes staring out into the world. Not only that but the circuitry pattern lines on her wings seemed to glow with greater energy.

"What about Zzzaxx, he won't let us just get near it?" Wasp reminded him of the guard blocking their way.

"Don't worry about him, I got you covered. Just trust me." Upgrade assured her with confidence for some reason. Nevertheless, she trusted Ben and proceeded to fly towards their obstacle.

The electrical monstrosity screeched at their approach and started firing bolts of lightning at them. Wasp used several air maneuvers to dodge each attack as she closer. Then Zzzaxx unleashed another widespread attack, almost like a wall of lightning that quickly closed in on Wasp who got a panicked look as she was too close to dodge. She crossed her arms in a vain attempt to protect herself as she was engulfed by the attack.

"Jan!" Hank's scream filled the room with worry as he saw her get hit.

His fears however were soon replaced with a surprise and disbelief when he saw she was unharmed. The reason for that being due to the dome of green energy surrounding her protectively. When Wasp opened her eyes, she was surprised by the same sight as well.

"What the? How did…" She trailed off.

"Ironically you can thank Thunderball." Upgrade spoke up. "His enhancer was a nice addition to us to improve our energy level outputs. Now that we have two of them, we can now project a full-on gamma force field dome. No way that spark plugged gremlin is getting through so easily now."

Wasp smiled. "Ok it's official, you're the most awesome wardrobe I've ever had!" she cheered.

"Thank you, I aim to please the ladies with my good looks and personality this armor reflects. Plus, check out this other new feature we've got now." Upgrade said with a tone that would've had a smirk with it.

Wasp blinked wondering what he meant but also with barely contained excitement. So, imagine her further surprise when she heard a humming sound and looked to see the eye like designs on her wings where the gamma devices were glowing. The intensity of their brightness began to build up more and more. Finally however they seemed to reach their peak right before the force field was dropped. What could only be described as two green colored and larger versions of Ironman's Unibeam were fired from her wings.

Zzzaxx didn't know what hit him till it was too late. The large-scale beams of gamma energy colliding with him and pushing him straight into the generators outlet as the beams travelled down it with him along for the ride.

The generator's gamma energy diminished right before it seemed to suffer a meltdown and exploded. The entire room was flooded with the green light from the implosion. The floor blew open as the explosion also came from below and the entire room looked like it would fall apart and collapse. The explosion was contained to only the room but the shockwave however was another matter. The after affects of the explosion rippled and spread through out the entire prison with the force of hurricane winds. The Wrecking Crew were blown away while Giant-Man held his ground thanks to his size, Samson gripped his companion by his feet to hold on. Wasp managed to stay airborne thanks to Upgrade bring up the force field again right before the explosion occurred.

Back with the other Avengers and villains their fighting was halted when they saw the bright green flash. Which was followed by the shockwaves reaching their location and knocking them all aside as the force passed over them. Outside the Cube the agents who were monitoring it saw the entire prison shine with a green light from within before it died down just as quickly. The pillar of light from the gamma energy generator shouting outward faded and soon the expanding dome collapsed and evaporated completely.

It was finally over.

---

Relief was the main sensation everyone was feeling right now. After the gamma dome fell the other Shield agents back at the base moved in. They extracted their people and rounded up the villains who most had been knocked out from the explosion. Those that weren't were beaten by the avengers and captured as well. The team came out of the Cube a little worse for wear but alright. As Samson had predicted all the agents that mutated reverted back to normal. Everyone was reunited but unfortunately it wasn't all happiness as one agent was showing.

"I said I'm fine." Agent May insisted while strapped to a gurney and looking particularly unhappy about it. Though honestly, she felt like crap as if she woke up with the worst hangover of her life and then found out she donated several pints of blood in one day. So yeah she wasn't feeling normal but she wasn't going to whine about it, she was a professional for crying out loud.

Ben, who was now back to human form gave her a look. "No, you just think your fine or don't want to be babied." He remarked at her attempts to turn down medical checkups. "Put your pride aside and just let them check you. You just reverted back from a hideous harpy like monster so stop being so stubborn about it."

"Kind of have to agree with him on that one May." Coulson added beside him making the agent turn to him with a silent look that said "Et tu Coulson?"

"You were just exposed to gamma radiation, I'd personally want to make sure every part of me is clean with no possible after effects." Simmons mentioned while she and Fitz took a blood sample from her for further examination. Samson wanted to make sure all traces were out of their system.

"By the way do you remember anything while transformed?" Ben asked out of curiosity. Given how he was the one who knocked her out he wanted to see if he should apologize for it if she did recall that.

"No." she simply answered.

Ben nodded before his eyes trailed to the side to see the others. The avengers with the exception of Thor were also being checked over after their trip in the dome. Tony was currently out of his armor to let the nurse properly look him over. All while giving one of his usual smiles and saying something he could only figure was a flirty comment. Sometimes he wondered how Pepper had the patience to handle him.

In another part he saw Skye beside another in a gurney. From what he remembered this was the one called Ward who was the final member of the team. He hadn't met the guy yet and only knew about him from what Coulson has said. Supposedly he's a real tough fighter who could even put May through the ringer a bit. Which certainly spoke about his skills. He saw Skye catch his stare and give a grateful smile and small wave which he returned as well. He then spotted Samson talking with Quatermain along with Hank and Thor, with the agent looking tense about something. Getting curious about what they were talking about, he excused himself and approached them.

"The energy that was used was very specific." Samson told the agent.

"And you said there was no sign of him?" Quatermain asked as if debriefing him.

"Not just him." Ben spoke up getting their attention. "There was also no sign of Abomination or Absorbing Man at all. I get the feeling they were never in the Cube when you went to pick us up for this mission."

"Still, we did good today." Hank said as he tried looking on the bright side of things. "We saved the agents, recaptured several villains and stopped the Leader's plan."

Thor nodded with a smile at their victory. "Indeed, though some eluded us we have won a great victory this day."

"Did we though?" Ben suddenly asked, regaining their attention. "I mean what was the Leaders plan anyway?"

"He was planning to expand that dome to hit populated places to likely build a gamma army." Samson reminded as if it were obvious. "He lured us in with the secret plan to destroy our suits so we'd turn into gamma monsters like the others so there'd be less resistance to oppose him."

Ben could admit the part about luring them in to turn them into gamma mutations was smart. The fact Wasp almost became one was a testament to that fact. Still however something about this didn't seem right to him. If the Leader was planning to hit civilizations, then why didn't he find a way to speed up the process? Why did he set up his plan here? Why not execute his plan in a populated place or at the very least somewhere actually closer to a city? They had several hours to go in and stop the generator before the dome reached the town. Which was more than enough time even with the opposition they met along the way in. If Ben didn't know any better, he would think the Leader didn't care about them stopping the generator. Almost as if he had bigger things in mind and this whole thing was just one big distraction.

A frightening thought came to his mind.

"Almost as if this whole thing was nothing but a test run." Ben suddenly thought to explain their absence.

An intense green flash from a distance soon confirmed those worries.

---

That's part 1. Hope you enjoyed and are looking forward to what will happen next.

Have a happy Halloween!