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"Stark? What's he doing here?" General Ross muttered, watching Iron Man dodge and weave around Abomination's attacks through the helicopter's window.
The situation was spiraling further out of control. First Banner, then Blonsky's transformation, now Tony Stark was involved. The media fallout would be catastrophic. But right now, survival took priority over damage control.
Stark was barely managing to keep Abomination distracted, and Hulk had vanished after being kicked through that building. They needed to act.
"Pilot," Ross barked, "get us in position to support Stark."
"Sir?"
"That's an order! Weapons free!"
The pilot banked hard, bringing them around as the door gunner spun up the mounted M134 Minigun. The six barrels began their deadly rotation.
"Target acquired!"
The Vulcan cannon erupted, six thousand rounds per minute streaming toward Abomination. Blue muzzle flash lit up the night as a river of lead swept across the monster's position.
"ARRGGHHH!"
The bullets couldn't penetrate Abomination's hide, but thousands of impacts per second still hurt like hell. It was like being stung by a swarm of supersonic wasps.
Abomination abandoned his pursuit of Tony, instead leaping twenty feet straight up to grab a building's facade. His fingers punched through concrete like cardboard, leaving craters as he scaled the wall with frightening speed.
"He's climbing! Follow him!" Ross ordered.
The helicopter pursued, gunner keeping up suppressive fire. Abomination reached the roof in seconds, sprinting across it as bullets chewed up ventilation units and water towers around him. He leaped to the next building, then the next, the helicopter struggling to match his parkour.
Below on the street, Hulk pulled himself from the rubble where he'd landed. Seeing Abomination above and hearing the gunfire, he roared and began scaling the nearest building, approaching from Abomination's blind spot.
Tony, hovering nearby, suddenly understood Abomination's plan. The monster wasn't fleeing—he was getting closer to the helicopter.
"Pull up!" Tony broadcast on military frequencies. "He's going to—"
Too late.
Abomination launched himself from a rooftop, arms spread wide, directly at the helicopter's rotors. The pilot yanked the collective, trying to gain altitude, but Abomination's leap carried him too high, too fast.
Just as those massive hands were about to grab the rotor assembly—certain death for everyone aboard—another massive form slammed into Abomination from the side.
Hulk.
The collision knocked Abomination off course. Instead of the rotors, his hands caught the helicopter's landing skids. The sudden weight made the aircraft lurch violently downward.
Hulk, carried by his momentum, managed to grab Abomination's legs.
Now both monsters dangled from the helicopter—Abomination holding the skids, Hulk hanging from Abomination. Combined, they weighed several tons.
"We're going down!" the pilot shouted, fighting the controls as the helicopter spiraled toward the street. "I can't compensate for the weight!"
The aircraft spun wildly, clipping building corners, shattering windows, tearing through billboard advertisements. Inside, Ross, Betty, and the crew were thrown around like dice in a cup.
Marcus watched the helicopter's death spiral with detached interest. It carved through a massive Coca-Cola sign, sending red and white debris raining down, then scraped along an office building's face in a shower of sparks.
The crash, when it came, was almost anticlimactic. The helicopter hit the street at an angle, skidding forty feet in a spray of sparks before coming to rest against a pile of demolished cars. The rotors, still spinning, chewed into asphalt before finally seizing.
Amazingly, it didn't explode. Yet.
"Well," Marcus said to himself, checking his Chevrolet for damage. "At least they didn't hit my car."
He understood the frustration of normal people in superhero universes. Imagine working your whole life to buy a house or car, only to have it destroyed in some hero-villain battle. No wonder some people turned to crime—insurance probably didn't cover "acts of Hulk."
A red and gold figure landed beside him with a metallic thud. Tony's faceplate retracted, revealing an expression of exasperated concern.
"Marcus, why are you still here?" Tony demanded. "Are you actively trying to get killed? Because standing around while two rage monsters duke it out seems like a really efficient suicide method."
Marcus shrugged. "I'd leave, but..." He gestured at the street, completely blocked by abandoned cars, debris, and general destruction. "Can't exactly drive through that."
Tony's eye twitched. "Can't drive— Marcus, you have legs! Functional human legs! You could walk away! Run away! Hell, skip away if you want! Look around—everyone else abandoned their vehicles and fled like sensible people!"
"But I like my car," Marcus said reasonably. "It's new."
"I will buy you ten cars! A hundred cars! An entire dealership!" Tony was practically vibrating with frustration. "Just please leave the active war zone!"
"It's not that dangerous," Marcus said, opening his car door and stepping out casually, like he was arriving at a dinner party.
"Not that dangerous? NOT THAT—"
"HULK!"
The roar cut Tony off. Both turned to see Hulk pulling himself from the helicopter wreckage, shaking his head to clear it. Through the smoke and twisted metal, they could see movement in the helicopter—survivors.
Hulk started toward the aircraft, Banner's consciousness driving him to check on Betty.
But Abomination got there first.
The yellow-brown monster erupted from the debris, landing on the helicopter's fuselage with enough force to crumple it further. He stood above Hulk, fists clenched.
"HULK!"
"HULK!"
They roared at each other, primal challenges that needed no translation, then crashed together again in a fury of fists and rage.
Inside the helicopter, Betty helped her father to his feet. Ross was bleeding from a head wound but conscious.
"Get out," he gasped. "The fuel— it's leaking. This whole thing could—"
As if on cue, sparks from exposed wiring met aviation fuel. Fire bloomed across the helicopter's underside, spreading rapidly.
Betty scrambled for the door, and that's when she locked eyes with Hulk. Even in the midst of battle, fighting for his life against Abomination, Banner inside saw her—trapped, surrounded by flames.
"You don't deserve power," Abomination snarled, pressing his advantage, forcing Hulk down. "Watch her burn!"
The helicopter was now fully ablaze, black smoke billowing up. Betty and the others were trapped inside an inferno.
Something changed in Hulk's eyes. Banner's fear for Betty, Hulk's rage at being challenged—they merged into something greater.
"HULK... PROTECT!"
With a roar that shattered windows for three blocks, Hulk's strength surged. He threw Abomination off, sending the monster tumbling across the street, and rushed to the helicopter.
Hulk raised both massive hands and brought them together in a thunderous clap.
The shockwave was visible—a ripple through the air that snuffed out the flames like birthday candles. The sudden vacuum pulled smoke away, giving the survivors a chance to escape.
Betty stumbled out, coughing, supported by two soldiers. Ross followed, and even through the soot and blood on his face, Marcus could see the conflict—gratitude that Banner had saved them, hatred that Banner existed at all.
Hulk's moment of relief was his mistake.
Abomination had found a weapon—a massive chain from a nearby construction site, each link as thick as a man's arm. He swung it like a whip, the end catching Hulk across the face with a sound like a gunshot.
Hulk flew backward from the impact, tumbling end over end.
He landed hard, skidding to a stop directly in front of Marcus and Tony.
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