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It has been over a week since the strike team went missing in Michigan. The hidden radio beacons most SHIELD agents carry to prevent them from going MIA haven't gotten a signal out. Even an attempt to utilize Cerebro to locate the mutant Avengers failed — although the specifics of that were kept from SHIELD, for obvious reasons. Some were starting to worry that there simply wasn't any way to track the vanished team.
Then, they brought in Bruce Banner.
The radiation expert, scanning the site of the disappearance, noticed all sorts of trace energies lingering around areas that had been blasted with various energy weapons. But one location in particular — a massive door over a subterranean hangar — showed a unique radioactive signature without signs of battle. The signal was incredibly strong, but only in that one place. After a day to explain his findings (dumb them down a bit, if we're being honest), Banner had SHIELD monitors all over the world searching for a similar trace. Finally, one was found: smack in the frozen heart of Greenland.
A rescue team was immediately dispatched. Bruce Banner would be needed, both to confirm his findings and, if circumstances warranted, act as a heavy hitter. Spider-Woman's experience with villainous secret organizations could prove invaluable for intrusion. Most obviously, the Surgeon's talents might prove necessary in a rescue mission: hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.
As the rescue team's airplane nears the area where the signal was detected, they'll notice something strange on the ground. It looks like a half-dozen tracks from tank treads, but they're so enormous that they're visible from the air. The reason will become apparent a minute later; through the bright glare of sun on ice, a dark shape slowly comes into view. It's colossal — easily the size of a football stadium — and it's moving.
*
Akiva has a personal stake in the matter, having stricken up a friendship with the scientist known as Poindexter. They had shared deli meat and spoken of medicine. He's dressed, as usual, in a perfectly tailored suit, not a speck of lint or dust to be found. He carries a pistol under each arm, along with numerous knives, the vest of his suit laced with sheathes for quick draw, along with spring-loaded holsters up the sleeves of his jacket.
His eyes are hidden behind sunglasses, helping to shield him from the bright glare as he looks out the window at their approach.
"I should have brought my tweed," he says simply.
*
"Is that thing moving?" Jess asks as she peers out below the plane, pulling her mask down over her features. "That's…some impressive engineering right there if it's moving. I'm just saying." Villainous organizations are her stock in trade, and she's impressed by the moving fortress. Not promising.
Until they jump, she's got a heavy jacket wrapped around herself over her close-fitting uniform. None of her powers involve keeping her warm, and she'd like to be ready when it's go time.
*
Having established a rapport with Director Carter over the last few days, Bruce Banner had insisted on joining in this particular endeavour, especially to ensure the safe retrieval and delivery of the missing weapons. His too-big-for-him pants were a precaution he'd opted to indulge along with a rather dispensable blue button up t-shirt underneath his sports jacket (complete with elbow patches).
He turns down and watches the world below and the ridiculously large object. He swallows and can feel something needling in his brain. Hulk smash. Skeptically, Bruce raises his eyebrows despite no one hearing the Hulk's assertion. Exasperated he murmurs, "I should've left the coat at home," almost certain that Hulk has plans of his own.
He lifts his chin and peeks towards the front of the plane, "We have a strategy, correct?" Hulk SMASH Banner pokes the Hulk back to his spot deep in Bruce's mind. "Because jumping in and hoping for the best…" HULK SMASH Bruce frowns. "Never mind." Hulk has his own strategy. It'll just be telling whether his and Bruce's goals align.
*
The building — and it is a building — is indeed moving, rolling on treads wide enough to flatten a significant portion of Stark Mansion. As the plane roars in closer, shielded from detection only by the snow, that much is obvious.
The plan discussed back at base was to disable communications, then any power generating equipment — the infrastructure in the middle of Greenland could in no way support the operation of a prison effective enough to contain the strike team. Then, a rescue could be attempted, both for the missing personnel and the missing weapons. Whether that plan should remain intact with such a bizarre target in view is up to the rescue team's discretion. But they don't have much time: much closer, and they're likely to draw fire from the base's defenses.
*
Akiva considers, "Finding ingress would seem the most appropriate first course," he says. "I would suggest our goals remain the same. But, without a blueprint or proper layout of the facility, it will be difficult to ascertain the most likely locations for power and communications. Any thoughts in that regard?" he asks the others. His medical opinion might not be particularly useful on such matters as structural architecture.
*
"Plans imply that we've got a clue what we're going into, doc," Jess points out to Bruce, grimacing as she watches the moving building roll over the terrain. "City-tank was not on my list of possible outcomes. We've got to go in, that thing moves. We might never find it again if we turn back. Which means we go in, and most of the plan stays intact. Disable communications. Disable power. I'd settle for disabling the whole…moving thing," she adds, bemused. "If we can't kill all the power."
She looks to Akiva, considering. "You should look for the prisoners. If they're hurt, you'll be able to help the best. I can head for…wherever you put mission control on a moving city. Any thoughts on that?" she asks with a look to Bruce. "Something like that's got to take a whole lot of power to run. Where would you put it?"
*
Puny Banner needs plans Bruce shakes his head and shrugs his jacket from his shoulders before setting it aside. HULK SMASH Irritably, Banner's cheeks puff out with a sharp exhalation of breath. He stares at the giant rolling thing beneath them, "Honestly, if whoever designed it is smart, the power be tucked someone near the bottom." He removes the glasses from his nose and reaches for his jacket again to tuck the spectacles inside a pocket. Mayhem and chaos may not be planned, but they can be prepared for.
He squints once the glasses are removed, and his lips hitch up on one side thoughtfully, "I would guess," his nose wrinkles, "the front. Someone with half a mind would want to see potential exploits of its vulnerability coming. Having some measure of alert would be smart."
He points to the top of the tank, "Blocking communications might be smart. Something of that shape and size is likely to need bolstering in their comm signal. I would guess that there's going to be a receiver/transmitter combo on top of it. Blocking that should at least slow, if not cripple communications." Pause. "This is all theoretical of course."
*
As the aircraft dips toward the mobile base, some sort of weapons start firing at them; the projectiles are energy-based, but burst like grenades in midair, making them hard to avoid. The pilot is doing his best, all the same; the airframe tilts and lurches to one side, rocked by nearby explosions.
The top of the base is mostly flattened, with blocky towers along the edges and at the corners, bristling with weapons and other equipment. There appear to be about a half dozen gold-and-gunmetal rotored airships parked in the central area; it's almost like a carrier that crawls along the ground. Attempting to land will draw more fire, and probably infantry; jumping will be faster, but dangerous for the non-fliers.
*
Akiva isn't particularly worried about the danger - it is part of the job, after all. He grasps a parachute and slings it around his shoulders, buckling it into place as he takes a submachine gun off the wall of the plane, slapping a clip into place and pocketing a few to spare.
"I suspect any hope of stealth is long over," he says. "I will, indeed, focus on penetration and rescue. The more noise the rest of you can make to draw them away from me, the better. Once I'm inside, I'll go dark - and start hunting."
*
Jess nods to Banner's explanations, starting to shrug out of her jacket as the fire rockets around them, slapping a hand to the wall of the plane to hold herself steady. Handy, that. "I can do distraction. I'll make a big, noisy path toward the front of that thing, see if I can get to either the controls or a power source." It's a bag of small explosives she slings over her shoulder, passing on the parachute. While she can't fly, she can glide, and that tends to give the bad guys a moment of pause. "Keep safe, doc," she nods to Banner. Apparently no one gave her the Hulk memo. Or she didn't read it.
With those words and a running start, she leaps out of the plane, diving toward the rolling city.
*
With Jess having exited the plane, Bruce sighs and leans back in his seat. "Right. I'll keep my eyes open and try — " he can feel his heart rate increase and the beeping on his watch begins to quicken. His head shakes once, and he removes the wrist watch. HULK SMASH Banner's chin tucks to his chest, and he slowly begins to unbutton the top set of his dress shirt, mumbling to himself, "I'm going to live to regret this — " HULK ANGRY
The assertion has Bruce's blood boiling. The buttons are abandoned as Bruce's skin hues greener by the second. A physician might be put off by the transformation, yet before there's time to truly react, the transforming Banner is jumping out of the plane — should the Hulk choose to smash things a little to close to home.
As he falls through the air, Banner quadruples in size. His height extends, his mass grows, and his puny Banner muscles ripple brilliant green as the blue shirt tears to pieces around him.
*
Within seconds, the top of the mobile base is crawling with infantry in bright yellow hazmat suits topped with cylindrical helmets. They're carrying exotic energy-based weaponry and firing up at the incoming aircraft, although the jumpers seem to avoid their notice, for a moment. It's a short moment: the Hulk is hard to miss. He lands in a freshly formed crater, sending canary-suited goons flying, and drawing the attention (and fire) from everyone lucky enough to keep their feet. They're trying to form defensive ranks around the various antenna- and cannon-topped towers, herding Hulk into a central kill zone.
Akiva's parachute is such a low threat, by comparison, that he'll have no trouble landing at a convenient distance from the thick of the fight. There are more infantry pouring out of hatches nearby, distracted by the fracas; he can use one of their doorways and try to ascend one of the towers, or descend farther into the base.
As Spider-Woman glides around the edifice, she'll get a good look at the underside of the base. The treads are separated from the body of the structure by massive hydraulic towers, allowing it some flexibility for uneven terrain. The drive chain is unbelievably complex, but it does seem to form a network (or web, if she's feeling particularly thematic) centered on a structure like an inverted bunker, belching out black smoke from various pipes.
*
Akiva cuts his chute just short of landing, allowing him to land without entanglement. He moves quickly, his precisely measured steps guiding him forward. He tries to keep low, using whatever outcroppings he can to keep himself relatively low-priority.
If he has to slash a few throats along the way, he will, but he'll do it as discreetly as he can. His focus, right now, is getting inside. His perfect timing helps him immensely, allowing him to step out of the way just in time and to understand the rhythm of the soldiers he comes across. He moves in starts and stops, as efficiently as he can and with his knives at the ready.
*
Or the Hulk can cover distraction. He's an excellent distraction. As a matter of fact, Jessica is incredibly distracted for a moment as the big green guy comes tumbling through the air. Where'd he come from? Gliding gives her an extra moment of time, but not enough to think through the Hulk and all his implications. Focusing back on the mission, she steers herself toward the front of the rolling city.
"Don't be a bug on the windshield, don't be a bug on the windshield, don't be a bug on the windshield," she mutters to herself as she positions herself to swoop under the structure, doing her best not to close her eyes.
*
The crater that forms underneath the Hulk crunches loudly upon impact, shaking the expanse directly beneath him. Gunfire directed at him is blocked with a vague raise of the Hulk's hand, and only serves to make him angrier. He charges those nearest him, aiming to bulldoze them from the top of the tank in a very quick bull-charge towards them. He grasps for whatever he can grab from he top of the moving building — tugging each with the strength of a great beast rather than a person.
Anything taken from he rooftop is then used to bat — much like a child playing t-ball — to shoot each off the roof. "HULK ANGRY!" he declares loudly with a resounding roar.
*
Despite his strength, those on top manage to direct him tot he centre where they want him, to unload their truest fire power.
*
Akiva is easily able to avoid detection on the rooftop landing pad; in addition to the Hulk's unmatchable ability to draw attention, the soldiers' all-encompassing yellow helmets play merry hell with their peripheral vision. He's not so lucky once he passes through one of the hatchways: he finds himself in the way of a trio of hazmat-suited infantrymen, who scramble to bring their futuristic weapons to bear. It's a narrow corridor, though, and only the frontmost man will have a clear shot. Off to one side, there's a maintenance ladder that descends into the base; on the other, a stairwell for access to the top of the control tower.
Jessica manages to dart underneath the armored engine blister; the noise from its interior is deafening. The belly of this beast is crisscrossed with maintenance catwalks and ladders. There are a couple of hatches, but bright red lights indicate that each is in some sort of emergency lockdown mode. On the plus side, with what's going on upstairs, there don't seem to be any technicians running around to interfere with her activities.
Hulk's rampage is unstoppable, if redirectable; there are trolleys of fuel tanks and airships themselves littered across the tarmac, not to mention the stunned troops he managed to knock aside themselves. The energy weapons trained on him do get larger; however, the weapons are long on gamma emissions. Probably not the very best kind of firepower to unleash on the Hulk.
*
Akiva lashes out with a kick, driving the frontman's weapon up to fire into the ceiling. He rushes into tight quarters and puts his knives to work, precisely puncturing heart and both lungs in three thrusting stabs, followed with a twist at the end of each to maximize his damage.
He uses the man as a human shield, driving back as he pulls his own pistol and starts to fire over the shoulder of his shield, deadly accurate and making quick work for him.
Akiva intended to leave the control tower to Jessica, and so he leaps to the ladder, grasping the sides and sliding down like a fireman, on the lookout for more opposition as he drops.
*
Jess manages to slow herself enough that when she slaps her hands against the wall of the beast, she isn't immediately crushed. Not a bug on the windshield! "That's what I'm talking about," she nods to herself, digging into the bag over her shoulders to pull out one of the small explosives. Stick. Arm.
Rather than follow the walkways, she moves along the walls themselves, clinging with hands and feet. Whenever she finds what looks like a critical juncture, she plants one of the little explosives, always moving toward the center.
*
The Hulk stumbles backwards against the large weapons. He crumples to the ground underneath the sheer force. And there he lays, still. Several beats pass, giving room for unfriendliness to congratulate themselves on taking down whatever that was.
The Hulk LEAPS up from his spot, jumping on the tarmac again, almost like he's made of springs. Unlike before, however, he's grown bigger. The snarl on his face calls to chaos, trumpeting for true destruction. His hands reach out in front of him and clap hard to send the puny pundits backwards. He charges for one of the fuel tanks, and with great force, throws it back towards one of the planes. He growls loudly — a bellowing sound that echoes across the landscape.
*
The troops do surge forward, if cautiously, to inspect their supposedly downed attacker. Someone is just about to make a joke about jolly green giants when the Hulk bounces back into action. They shout and try to scatter, but are instead thrown in all directions by his concussive attack. Then, the ragemonster flings a tank into the airship: a significant detonation is followed by an absolutely massive one, as the fire from the refueling tanks ignites the ship's reserve, then the refueling pipes, then a whole 'nother set of refueling stations. Close to half of the landing pad is engulfed in a fireball, and a tower covered in antennas and radar dishes is cut off at the base. It tilts, then slowly collapses, wreaking even more destruction where it falls.
Although Akiva won't have trouble compensating, he'll find that these suits are not just radiation suits: they contain all sorts of protective measures, including a metallic mesh that makes stabbing the troops more difficult than it ought to be. A metallic voice rasps from the belt of the stabbed guard, "Blood loss detected. Sealing breach and sending medical alert." It is soon joined by more recorded voices as he shoots the other two guards with pinpoint accuracy.
Sliding down the ladder takes him out of the main flow of traffic. For maintenance corridors, these are brightly painted and meticulously clean. Also, usefully, they are very clearly labeled. Color-coded arrows lead to such locations as 'Mission planning,' 'CIC', and 'Traffic control.' Ladders to even lower decks are helpfully labeled things like 'Barracks,' 'Prison level,' and 'Engine Room.'
Jessica's progress is, at first, equally promising. She has about half of the blister rigged up with explosives in such a way that, if she completes her circuit, it might just detach entirely. At that point, however, she comes into view of a sphere turret positioned between some of the hydraulic towers. It's designed to defend against a ground assault, but by sheer dumb luck, the gunner notices her and starts to fire.
*
Akiva considers taking a suit for himself, but doesn't want to accidentally get caught in the line of friendly fire. With so much chaos going on above, he doesn't necessarily think at least one of his allies will stop long enough for him to take off a helmet if things get too sticky.
So he does the natural thing and heads towards the prison level, moving quickly as he can. He puts his knives away, knowing he'll need to focus on using his guns - and aiming precisely. But, then, that's rather what he does.
*
Jess yelps as the gunfire interrupts her peaceful bomb-setting. The nerve! Luckily, she's quick, flipping off the wall and grabbing a ladder before she can tumble out of reach of anything useful. Getting run over by this thing would be the worst. "Kudos on being awake for your job," she calls over the gunfire. "But this isn't really working for me!"
From the ladder, she flips her way onto the barrel of the gun itself, slapping another explosive at the base. With a cheeky grin, she waves at the operator as she flips away to crawl along the underside of the gun.
*
Even with the destruction Hulk has caused, he's not satisfied. He roars loudly before punching into the ground beneath him repeatedly. One. Two. One. Two. One. Two. He jumps and leaps in the same spot — aiming to tear a hole into the top of the moving building. The moment there's enough give, he grasps at the top of the metal, aiming to pull the metal off like a lid on a tin can.
*
Hulk is, for the moment, being left alone. There's no one there to witness his victory drum circle of one. But as he starts to tear into the surface of the deck, that's another story; there are little yellow-clad people all through this thing, like ants in a hill. He appears to be peeling the top off of the command center for the entire base: projectors and screens line the walls, and the yellow suits here have decorative black shoulder pads that probably denote rank.
More significantly? There's a gigantic hovering head at one desk. A tiny, shriveled body hangs beneath it in some sort of life support armature, and the hateful piggy eyes turn to glare at the green intruder. A crystal on the thing's forehead starts to glow brightly, and then a beam of pure telekinetic hatred leaps out to strike at the Hulk.
Jess can hear a shouted swear word from inside the turret, and it freezes in place, emitting the distinctive clanking of someone in thick boots scrambling up a ladder. Looks like the gunner recognized the danger he was in and decided to retreat. She is, for the moment, in the clear again.
Akiva's progress on the prison deck is rapid. He's just passing by an equipment locker when he sees, ahead, some sort of a standing electrical field, with a blackened corpse trapped in it, arcs still tracing across it. He also hears voices discussing how to get through the field.
*
Keep moving, keep moving. Jess continues her crawl along the undercarriage of the beast, planting explosives along her path whenever she sees something that looks like it shouldn't explode. That's right, little beekeepers. Keeps your eyes on the big green Hulk. Don't mind the little spider.
*
Immediately upon opening the tin can that is the command centre, Hulk throws the lid (that he's created) aside. He has one goal and one goal only: DESTROY. When opened, he leaps into the command centre only to be creamed by a burst of telekinetic energy into one of the screens.
The Hulk crushes the screen behind him, causing it to break into a million little pieces. The extent of the force can be felt throughout the command centre. And much like before, Hulk remains down for the count. His eyes are closed. Maybe they finally took down the green giant?
*
Spider-Woman's bombs are all in place, and the base's engines are ready to go boom. It's only a matter of how she decides to get out of the way before setting them off. Climb back on top of the base? Or crawl through one of the hatches to the interior?
MODOK — for that is the head's designation — rises up through the new skylight Hulk considerately added to the base's command center. He bashes a control panel on one armrest, and one of the airships docked atop the base groans to life, rotors starting to spin. "This entire base, and all FHRs within it, have failed me," he hisses hatefully. "Defeat these interlopers, or be killed by them. I care little. My plan requires nothing from any of you." Turning his back on his shouting underlings, the head hovers off into its waiting airship, which starts to rise off of the deck the moment he's aboard.
*
Once the explosives are placed, Jess heads for the nearest hatch to climb inside for some relative safety before everything comes crashing down. She won't go far yet. In fact, as soon as she's inside, she climbs a wall to cling to the ceiling where she's less likely to be seen by people wearing terribly impractical helmets.
"Three…two…one…"
*
The HULK pushes himself back up to a sit. He watches the head rise to the makeshift skylight and pounds on the ground beneath him to leap as hard as he can to the deck, and airship where MODOK seems to escape. He runs and jumps with all of the momentum he can gather to try to grab hold of the airship in which MODOK tries to escape.
*
The explosion rips through the lower armored hull of the mobile base. It doesn't quite tear the engine off, but within seconds, it is only held up by the drive train itself, pistons and camshafts and gears dragged off-kilter by the sudden weight of the massive main engine. The whole thing grinds to a halt, and the entire base shudders, then is silent and still. Every light, every tread, and every mounted weapon goes dead.
The only sound is the boom and roar of the Hulk, giving chase. It seems, however, that MODOK anticipated that his collapse was temporary: the creature is still hovering in the open hatchway of the airship, and as the Hulk comes flying up on a collision course, another violet beam lances out to smack the green monster back down onto the top of the base. MODOK's airship gains altitude and distance rapidly.
*
Jess clings tight to the ceiling as the base rumbles and rocks from the explosions, bracing herself until they subside. Of course, that leaves her in a very dark passage. There may have been a slight flaw in this plan. After a moment's consideration, she draws bioelectric energy to her hand, giving off a faint, yellow-green glow to guide her way. Time to find the prisoners and get them out of this place.
*
Forced back, HULK is knocked back tot he building with a loud and resounding BANG. Follow him. Bruce instructs only to prod the giant at the helm with a tip from the Director: treat Hulk as intelligent. Follow him, please. Hulk peels himself off the rooftop, looks up, and hightails it on foot to follow the vessel overhead.
*
Jess's glow illuminates the corridor long enough for her to find her way deeper into the base. She doesn't have to rely on it long, however. Several seconds after the explosion, dim red lights flick on, and a recorded voice announces, "Switching to emergency power. Main drive inactive." The base isn't moving, but it is running again, if at a reduced power level.
Navigational aids have been very conscientiously placed throughout the structure, and it doesn't take her long to get to the prisoner deck; any suited individuals passing beneath her will be headed for the engine level to affect repairs, and nowhere near alert enough to notice her in the conveniently red-hued shadows. As she arrives, she'll encounter the prisoners and Agent Avraham, headed for the roof.
Hulk is going to have to push himself to keep up with the airship, and keep his eyes on it in the snowy glare, but it's not impossible. The ship is headed northward, farther into the arctic cold.
*