The thunder that had shaken the heavens faded into silence.
The trembling earth stilled.
The crimson sandstorm that had linked the sky to the ground slowly quieted its fury.
All across New York City, people hesitantly peeked out from their hiding spots and looked toward their windows, witnessing the apocalyptic calamity vanish into nothing.
"Hacker won?"
Steve could scarcely believe it.
But Nick Fury offered a different speculation. "Perhaps the aliens from the Celestials' Guild lent a hand. That red lightning wasn't Hacker's ability."
Even now, S.H.I.E.L.D. had yet to accurately assess Bante's full range of powers. However, judging from the way he had sent Hulk flying earlier, under the shroud of blue lightning, Hacker's instantaneous explosive force likely reached several hundred tons.
That kind of terrifying strength placed him among the absolute heavyweights of the entire planet.
But Nick knew very well that even that would not be enough to defeat the Hulk.
A few hundred tons might be your limit, but for the Hulk, that's just the starting point.
Could Hacker win?
There was simply no way! He didn't have that kind of power!
Whoever truly defeated the Hulk was most likely the master of that red lightning.
Nick Fury assumed it had to be the power of the aliens from the Celestials' Guild. He ran through every known extraterrestrial species in his mind but found no match.
Four Arms and Heatblast were both red.
But the former had never demonstrated any supernatural abilities, and the latter's power was fire, not thunder.
"It must be a new Plumber," he muttered to himself.
Nick Fury realized just how little they truly understood about the Celestials' Guild.
To this day, they had no clear grasp of how many Plumbers the Guild actually had, nor what each one was truly capable of.
Just one operative deployed this time had immediately neutralized one of Earth's most powerful weapons: the Hulk. Such terrifying power, such an immense threat, existed right beside humanity. And yet, those Hydra snakes were busy fighting amongst themselves!
Nick Fury truly wanted to feed them a dose of humility and force them to reflect on their actions.
But then again, when aliens like that were on your side, the sense of security was unparalleled.
"It's a shame they aren't at my beck and call..."
Nick Fury shook his head with regret, then shouted to Steve.
"Cap, move out!"
"Don't forget what we came here to do."
Outskirts of the City.
The natural landscape had been utterly devastated.
The soil was churned and fresh.
Bruce Banner lay sprawled and battered inside a massive crater, half buried by the rain of sand and debris still settling from the blast.
He panted, his eyes unfocused.
"What happened?"
For the first time ever, he sensed an emotion from the Hulk other than pure rage.
That terrifying monster had shrunk back into the darkness as if encountering an even greater monster, hiding behind Banner like a child afraid of thunder, seeking shelter behind an adult.
Except...
"If even you ran away, do you expect me to fight?"
Banner muttered the absurd thought to himself.
How was he supposed to fight? With his head? The hardest thing on his entire body was probably those indestructible purple shorts... Aside from that, if he had anything to brag about, it was only his seven PhDs.
Just then, he heard footsteps approaching through the dirt.
Banner immediately tensed.
He couldn't remember exactly what had happened, but he didn't need to. He knew that the only thing capable of defeating a monster was another monster.
In his mind, he conjured the image of a demonic beast with three heads, six arms, and a face of pure nightmare.
But when the owner of those footsteps finally appeared above him, Banner realized just how wrong he was.
"Dr. Banner."
The figure wore a black spider suit, stood about six feet tall, and had a waist thinner than the Hulk's forearm. He did not look like a powerhouse by any stretch of the imagination.
Believing this guy beat the Hulk was about as believable as answering that spam text claiming to be a lost Nigerian prince looking for help.
"You're... Hacker?"
Banner recognized the man as one of the fugitives wanted by S.H.I.E.L.D.
Sensing no immediate hostility from Hacker, or perhaps simply resigned because even the Hulk had lost, Banner abandoned any pretense of resistance and displayed a rare moment of calm.
"What are you going to do with me?"
A defeated general is usually destined to be a prisoner.
"I'm not going to do anything to you, Dr. Banner."
Bante jumped down into the crater and, under Banner's watchful gaze, removed his mask to reveal a youthful face.
A kid?
"The one who beat the Hulk... was a kid?"
Banner's eyes widened.
He then saw Bante shake his head.
"It wasn't just me. It was also my alien friend, Four Arms. He likes the Hulk a lot."
Four Arms really did like the Hulk.
Because the Hulk could take a punch.
Honestly, if Bante hadn't channeled the Ancient Power while in his Four Arms form, using the absolute might of Sakaar's Thunder, and overwhelmed the Hulk with sheer superior force to end the fight instantly, they might still be going at it.
That green guy was a lot like the new Broly from Dragon Ball.
If you slowly ramped up the power, he'd eventually match you.
Give him a bit more stimulus, and he'd start pulling out all sorts of bizarre evolutionary forms.
Not gonna lie.
That was exactly the kind of opponent Four Arms wanted.
A fight that could go on forever. Even if he lost in the end, he wouldn't care.
It was all about the thrill!
But Bante hadn't forgotten the mission.
He wasn't about to pull a Saiyan and drag things out for fun.
"Dr. Banner, I know you're a good man. But Pierce lied to you. He told you we were Hydra, but the truth is, he's Hydra. Right now, Hydra has infiltrated most of the country's power structures. We need your help."
"Are you sure about that?"
Banner climbed out of the dirt.
He rubbed his soft, gentle face, then tightened his loose pants and asked, "You guys have a way to beat the Hulk so badly he won't come out, and you still need my help? I don't know what I have that you'd want. You're not after my pants, are you..."
Bante's gaze drifted down to the slight pudge of Banner's belly, and he gave a look of pure disgust.
"What would I want with your pants?"
"Then what can I possibly help you with?"
"What can I possibly help you with?"
Otto stared at the bloodied, disheveled figure of Connors before him, confusion and shock flickering in his eyes.
The serum Connors had injected himself with had long since worn off, restoring him largely to a human appearance.
But if one looked closely, the lingering patches of scales and green tint to his skin were unmistakable.
His ghastly appearance had startled Otto the moment he saw him.
Otto looked at the fearsome Connors and asked, utterly bewildered, "What happened to you, Connors, my friend?"
"Look at yourself. You look like a monster... no, a criminal. You used your research to do evil, to destroy order. I don't recognize you anymore." Otto's voice grew more impassioned with every word.
He stepped closer to Connors.
He was angry about what Connors had done.
That anger even outweighed his fear of Connors's current state.
"You're wrong, Otto. You've been deceived. The real villains are someone else."
Connors was still weak, but he forced himself to stand firm.
"Cough, cough. S.H.I.E.L.D. is Hydra. Because of Operation Paperclip, Hydra's eggs hatched again in this country and have grown more prosperous than ever before. Bante discovered this. We tried to root out all of Hydra, but it was too late. Most of those in power have already been corrupted by Hydra..."
Connors slumped weakly against the wall. His words left Otto utterly stunned.
"You might not believe me, but I need your help, Otto..."
"Aren't you afraid I'll turn you in?"
Otto didn't trust Connors's words right away.
He picked up the remote and turned on the television. Pierce's face filled the screen.
"He plans to publicly execute a few criminals."
After Bante defeated the Hulk, Nick Fury had been captured while covering Steve's retreat. Frustrated by the failed siege, Pierce had also pulled Harry Osborn and Natasha Romanoff from the rubble of the collapsed highway.
Hawkeye, who had tried to rescue them, had been captured as well.
Now, Pierce had once again issued a manhunt notice across all television and internet channels.
Anyone who spotted them was required to report their whereabouts to S.H.I.E.L.D. immediately. Failure to do so would be considered aiding and abetting, and they would be punished alongside the fugitives.
Furthermore, Oscorp Tower and Stark Industries were completely surrounded, awaiting sanctions.
Pierce intended to hold a live broadcast to show the world what happened to those who harbored criminals.
Under these circumstances, turning Connors over to the authorities was the safer bet, rather than risking his neck for a man he wasn't sure was friend or foe.
But Connors shook his head, confident. "You won't do that, Otto. I know you. We're friends... You always said science and technology exist to make people happy, to make the world a better place. But look at S.H.I.E.L.D. They're causing terror attacks in the streets, threatening innocent people... Do you really trust them?"
Otto fell silent for a moment.
Then he spoke. "What do you need me to do?"
"Don't bow to them. Tell everyone in the academic community that we aren't Hydra. He's Hydra," Connors said.
"But what good will that do?" Otto asked, not understanding. "You can't expect a bunch of scholars to fight your battles for you."
"It's about conviction, Otto."
Connors offered a weak, bitter smile.
"We don't expect them to pick up guns and fight alongside us. But they deserve to know the truth."
"We might die in battle. That doesn't frighten me. Not one bit."
He looked Otto straight in the eye and spoke with unwavering resolve. "But I refuse to die as a monster. I refuse to die as Hydra."
/-\
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