Phase One: Marvel's The Avengers Page 7

  “The Tesseract belongs to Asgard,” Thor said. “No human—”

  “I’ll go after it,” Tony said.

  “No you don’t,” Cap said, stepping into his way. He wasn’t ready to forget the way Tony had insulted him.

  Tony stopped just short of making physical contact with Cap. “You going to stop me?”

  “Put on the suit,” Cap said, deadly serious.

  Fury didn’t know how it had happened, but they were at each other’s throats, again, or still… except Bruce, who was absorbed in the data coming from the gamma radiation scanning program. 100% MATCH said the red status bar.

  “Oh no,” Bruce said, and that’s when the first of the explosions rocked the Helicarrier.

  CHAPTER 18

  Clint Barton and Loki’s hand-picked strike team were in a stolen Quinjet with a faked S.H.I.E.L.D. call sign, 26-Bravo. That got them close enough that by the time the air-traffic officer on the Helicarrier knew something was wrong, it was already too late.

  Barton’s first shot hit the Helicarrier’s hull in front of one of the giant turbines that kept it in the air. It was just a beacon, meant to guide in the stealth missiles to follow. They would disable the Helicarrier, and while S.H.I.E.L.D. scrambled to react, he would be in and out with what he wanted.

  When the explosions went off, he immediately heard Hill and Fury yelling over the Helicarrier comm system. He and Loki’s tech team had hacked the Helicarrier’s frequency as soon as they were within range. “Hill!” Fury called.

  “External detonation. Number Three engine is down,” Hill answered.

  Sure was, Barton thought. He was watching pieces of it fall, trailing smoke and fire on their way to the ground.

  “Somebody’s got to get outside and patch that engine,” she went on.

  Barton frowned.

  “I’m on it,” he heard Tony Stark say. “Engine Three. I’ll meet you there.” He was talking to another member of Fury’s team, but Barton didn’t know who. It wouldn’t matter. He would make sure they didn’t get there… or if they did, it wouldn’t make any difference.

  The Quinjet hovered at the infiltration point, an external hatch chosen to give them quick access to the detention area. That was where Loki would be. His team made entry, nice and clean. “Keep that engine down!” he ordered the fire team. Then he headed off himself to spring Loki. Dr. Selvig had the machine almost ready. It was go time.

  The explosions that had taken out the Number Three engine also collapsed several of the Helicarrier’s interior decks—including part of Bruce’s lab. Natasha and Bruce lay pinned under steel beams and other wreckage down in a maintenance area. She was lying on a steel grate floor. Bruce was near her. “Romanoff?” came Fury’s voice through her comm.

  “We’re okay,” she said, even though she couldn’t get herself loose. Her leg was caught under an angled beam that jammed into the corner where the floor met the wall.

  She looked over at Bruce. He was facedown a few feet away, fists clenched, making a constricted groaning noise. His legs were hidden by debris that pinned him in place. Natasha got uneasy. She didn’t like the noises he was making. “We’re okay, right?”

  He kept groaning. The sounds got more and more intense… and less and less human.

  “Bruce? You’ve got to fight it. This is just what Loki wants. Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Two techs came running to help them, and she waved them away quickly. She didn’t want them around if Bruce lost control of the Hulk. “We’re going to be okay,” she repeated. “All right? I swear on my life I will get you out of this, you will walk away and never—”

  “Your life?!” he roared, looking up at her. His face terrified her. She could see the green gamma radiance in his eyes, and the rage in his expression was like nothing she had ever seen on a human face. He had lost control.

  “Bruce?” she said again. But it was too late. She saw the transformation begin.

  He fell and rolled, his body heaving. His skin began to turn green, and huge layers of muscle expanded with a crackling sound as his bones and joints also grew with incredible speed. His roars grew louder, monstrous, rattling the wreckage around them. Natasha knew she had to get out of there. As the Hulk, he wouldn’t recognize her. The only person he’d ever recognized was Betty Ross, and she wasn’t around at the moment. Natasha wouldn’t stand a chance.

  With a last heave and twist, she freed herself from the fallen beam and ran. At that moment, the Hulk turned and saw her. She vaulted up a stairway and onto the next level. The Hulk swiped at the stairway and shredded it into scrap metal. Loki had gotten what he wanted. He must have been trying to time it so he could manipulate Bruce into becoming the Hulk right as his soldiers came to attack the Helicarrier. The Hulk would do at least as much damage from the inside as the rogue Quinjet could do from the outside.

  Natasha kept running, and the Hulk came right behind her. For a moment, she thought she’d lost him, but then he came at her out of the shadows, roaring. He was like walking rage, a single-minded engine of destruction. She shot a hole in the pipe over his head. Steam shot out of it into the Hulk’s eyes, stopping him for just the moment she needed to get a head start. She ran as fast as she could, but she knew she wasn’t going to stay away from him for long. He came after her, smashing through bulkheads and doorways like they weren’t even there and roaring the whole time.

  She ducked to one side, and he shot past her, slamming into the opposite wall of a garage area. The Hulk looked around. He saw her.

  This is it, Natasha thought.

  At that moment, something exploded through the wall and into the Hulk. Natasha caught a glimpse of blond hair and armor before both Thor and the Hulk crashed through the opposite wall and into one of the main hangar decks. Flight crews and support staff scattered.

  Natasha scrambled to her feet. Thor had saved her life. At least for the moment.

  CHAPTER 19

  Bring us around heading one eight zero!” Fury ordered. “We need to get over the water!” He couldn’t have the Helicarrier coming down over a populated area. Civilian casualties would be in the thousands.

  “Navigation systems are still recalibrating after the explosion,” an officer said. “We—”

  Fury pinned the officer with a one-eyed glare. “Is the sun coming up?”

  “Yes…”

  “Then put it on the left!” he snapped, furious that his navigators couldn’t get their heads out of the machines long enough to figure out that if the sun was in the east, that made it simple to figure out which way was south. “Get us over water! One more turbine goes down, and we drop.”

  The Helicarrier heeled around and accelerated south, as smoke poured from the shattered turbine housing. Over the intercoms, Fury heard gunshots. Loki’s team—almost certainly led by Clint Barton—had boarded the Helicarrier looking for their Asgardian leader.

  Steve got to the edge of the turbine mount about the same time as Tony. “I’m here!” he called out.

  “Good,” Tony said, dropping into view and hovering in the Iron Man armor to survey the wreckage. He had the suit on, and Steve could hear his voice through the earbud microphone all S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel wore. At least that channel was still intact; if they lost communications, they’d be done for.

  The hole torn out of the Helicarrier was huge, seemingly fatal, but they were keeping it in the air. Fury’s staff said the turbine was just jammed and might hold together if they could get it started again. Most of the damage was to the structure holding it… and to the areas just inside the hull, including Bruce’s lab.

  “Let’s see what we’ve got,” Tony said. He started muttering to himself, then called out to Steve. “I need you to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position.”

  Steve jumped and swung across the thirty-thousand-foot drop, getting to the other side of the hole in the Helicarrier’s hull and pulling open the panel Tony had pointed at. He saw a lot of circuits. “What’s it look lik
e in there?” Tony asked.

  “It seems to run on some form of electricity,” Steve said.

  Tony was shoving loose huge pieces of debris that prevented the turbine blades from rotating. “Well, you’re not wrong,” he said.

  Steve fumed. He wasn’t here for technical support. But that was all he could do at the moment. He had to swallow his pride and do what Tony asked or they were all going to go down in flames. Literally. He looked at the panel and saw that none of the connections had shorted out.

  “Okay,” Steve said, “the relays are intact. What’s our next move?”

  Tony stood inside the turbine housing, looking at the blades. He’d cleared most of the debris jamming the rotors. “Even if I clear the rotors,” he said, “this thing won’t reengage without a jump. I’m going to have to get in there and push.”

  “If that thing gets up to speed, you’ll get shredded,” Steve said.

  “See that red lever?” Tony pointed at a control panel across a shattered part of the floor. Steve jumped and landed near it. “It’ll slow the blades down enough for me to get out. Stand by it and wait for my word.”

  The Hulk stomped around the flight deck, roaring. He saw Thor and swung a fist twice the size of Thor’s head. Thor caught it in both hands, straining to hold both the Hulk’s arm and his attention. “We are not your enemies, Banner,” he grunted. “Try to think!”

  In answer, the Hulk punched him through the wall.

  Thor got up and watched the Hulk coming after him. Now this was a fight! He held out a hand, waiting for Mjolnir to return to him. Mjolnir smashed through another wall and reached Thor’s hand just as the charging Hulk came within striking distance.

  Thor met the Hulk with a blow from Mjolnir that rattled his teeth. The Hulk flew backward into a jet plane, caving in its fuselage and tearing off part of its tail. Enraged, he threw part of the plane at Thor, who ducked and hurled Mjolnir at him again.

  The Hulk caught the hammer, and a fierce grin spread over his face… then he toppled backward and Mjolnir pinned him to the floor of the hangar.

  None but I can lift Mjolnir, Thor thought. Not even this giant.

  The plates of the floor buckled under the Hulk as he strained to get Mjolnir off the ground. Thor seized the opportunity—to seize Mjolnir! Then he jumped on the Hulk’s back, using Mjolnir’s handle to try to choke the Hulk into submission. He hoped that if the Hulk fell unconscious, Bruce would return.

  Yet even his Asgardian strength was not enough to bring the Hulk down immediately. The great green creature thrashed around the hangar, destroying aircraft and machinery. Thor hung on grimly, knowing that at least he was keeping the Hulk’s attention away from those who would suffer much more than he would.

  Maria Hill saw the battle between Thor and the Hulk via surveillance cameras. Everyone was occupied keeping the Helicarrier in the air and looking for the team that had boarded from the stolen Quinjet. “We need a complete evac of the lower hangar level,” she said, and left the bridge to oversee it herself.

  A clinking sound drew her attention downward… to see a concussion grenade rolling across the floor. “Grenade!” she shouted. A moment later, it went off.

  The bridge was suddenly full of hostile soldiers. Hill and Fury were in the fight of their lives. Gunfire echoed throughout the bridge. Stray bullets cracked the heavy glass windows and chewed computer terminals apart in showers of sparks. Hill and Fury returned fire, trying to keep the attackers away from the command consoles. The evacuation of the lower hangar decks would have to take care of itself, Hill thought. A bullet ricocheted near her and a fragment of it cut her cheek. She had more pressing problems.

  Downstairs, Coulson heard the alarm. Perimeter breach. Attackers are wearing S.H.I.E.L.D. gear. He got to a secret locker and pressed his thumb against the security pad. Before it could open, the Hulk and Thor exploded up through the floor, tearing the security features apart.

  So much for containment, Coulson thought.

  “We have the Hulk and Thor on Level Four,” he said. “Levels Two and Three are dark.”

  Maria Hill knew that if something didn’t distract the Hulk, he would tear the Helicarrier apart… which was, of course, exactly what Loki wanted. “Escort six-oh,” she said. “Engage the big man. Get his attention. Don’t get too close.”

  “Copy that,” came the pilot’s voice.

  The S.H.I.E.L.D. escort fighter brought itself around to the location Hill specified. She heard the pilot say “Target acquired.” Glancing over at the instrument console on the bridge, she saw one of the monitors giving a feed from the escort. The Hulk was slamming Thor around like a rag doll.

  “Target engaged,” the pilot said, and fired a long burst from a 20-millimeter rapid-fire cannon.

  It got the Hulk’s attention, all right. Hill fired at one of the invading soldiers, dropping him, then looked back to see the Hulk, in a berserk fury, jumping out of the Helicarrier toward the jet! “Target angry! Target angry!” shouted the pilot.

  The Hulk landed on the plane just behind the cockpit and started tearing pieces from its fuselage. “Mayday, Mayday,” the pilot called. He ejected, his parachute blooming in the sky below the Helicarrier.

  The Hulk, and the wreckage of the plane, fell away toward the ground and disappeared.

  CHAPTER 20

  Tony was almost done cutting through the rest of the debris blocking the turbine funnel. He had built a ruby-laser torch into the Iron Man suit for just such an occasion… or, you know, a similar one. When he thought he’d cut enough, he kicked the pieces of debris several times until they fell away. There we go, he thought. Should be able to get the turbine going again now.

  He glanced over as sparks caught his eye. They were caused by ricocheting bullets. The bad guys were after Captain America. So far he was holding his position next to the red lever. That’s what Tony needed him to do… but he would only be able to do it for so long if Loki’s fighters got a clear shot at him.

  On the bridge, Fury and Hill and their surviving support personnel were holding off Loki’s men… but they were also trapped. Fury needed to figure out a way to break them loose before Barton found a way to Loki.

  And speaking of Barton, there he was! But Fury didn’t see him before he had already fired an arrow. Fury gasped, anticipating the impact on his body—but Barton hadn’t fired at him. He was aiming at the command console. His arrow didn’t have a point but a grouping of pins. They hit a pin jack on the console and immediately the entire instrument panel flashed MALFUNCTION and began to power down.

  Fury also heard one of the remaining turbines powering down. If he couldn’t do something about that soon, they were all going to be dead.

  He fired at Barton, who didn’t stick around to engage him.

  “We are in an uncontrolled descent,” a voice over the speakers said. The Helicarrier tipped steeply enough that some of the fighter aircraft spilled off its flight deck.

  “It’s Barton,” Fury said over the speakers. “He’s headed for the detention level.”

  He put it out over the speakers because he wanted Natasha Romanoff to hear.

  She did. “This is Agent Romanoff,” she said. “I copy.”

  We might get out of this after all, thought Nick Fury.

  Tony powered up his boot thrusters all the way and started leaning into the closest turbine blade. He had to get them up to a speed at which they would be self-sustaining—but not much faster than that or he wouldn’t have a chance to get out before the spinning blades mulched him. The first few revolutions were slow, as the blade tips scoured away bent and torn bits of metal from the inside of the turbine housing—but once those got smoothed out, things went better. Pretty soon Tony was going to have the whole thing up to speed.

  Which apparently was just in time, he thought. He could feel the Helicarrier lurching around him and Jarvis had mentioned that another of the turbines was powering down.

  He held the Helicarrier up all by himself, more or less,
or at least slowed its rate of descent, trying to get this engine back online so he could rejoin the fight and try to keep the rest of the team alive.

  With the Hulk out of the way—though, Thor hoped, not hurt—Thor could get back to his real task, which was making sure Loki did not escape. He charged into the detention level and saw Loki just getting out through the glass revolving door that held him! Thor ran, arms spread wide to tackle Loki back into the cell.

  But as he made contact with his brother, the illusion vanished! Thor skidded on his stomach into the cell, as the door closed behind him. He spun and got up to see Loki there, gloating on the catwalk. “Are you ever not going to fall for that?” he smirked.

  Thor roared and pounded Mjolnir into the cell wall. The glass cracked but held. Loki looked nervous, but when he saw Thor couldn’t get out, his face broke into a relieved smile. So did the guard with him. “The humans think us immortal. Should we test that?”

  He went to the control panel that could drop the cell out the bottom of the Helicarrier.

  There was a small noise, and the guard dropped silently to the floor. Thor turned in the direction of the sound and saw Agent Coulson, holding a very large gun. “Move away, please,” he said.

  Loki did, watching Coulson warily.

  “You like this?” Coulson asked, meaning the gun. “We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don’t know what it does.” He powered it up, and rings along its barrel glowed bright orange. “Want to find out?”

  But Loki wasn’t there in front of him. Thor saw it too late to do anything. That Loki was an illusion… and the real Loki was behind Coulson.

  He stabbed Coulson in the back with his scepter and watched as the brave agent sank to the floor. “No!” Thor cried out. He pounded the cell wall but could not damage it further.