Phoenix Under Attack!

[hulksmashed.livejournal.com]

That's the headline people are trying to avoid.

The Hulk doesn't care. His gait brings him ever closer to the populated city, and so far, nothing seems to stop it.

There's hope that the sandstorm that just kicked up might buy them more time. A sandstorm that's the doing of Crusader, the new girl carrying Thor's hammer and Captain America's shield, who's crazy enough to try to face the Hulk without the help of her team, who have been held up by dealing with some other U.S. agent.

The storm doesn't stop him. It only slows him.

Slightly.

Comments

[hulksmashed.livejournal.com]

The Hulk lands on his head, several football fields away, in a vast desert plain.

Slowly starting to pick himself back up.

[flight-alpha.livejournal.com]

"We did it, boss!" comes the crackle over the Hulkbuster comm units.

"He's in the killzone! Hit it!

[wwii-hero.livejournal.com]

"NO!" Patriot screams.

[hulksmashed.livejournal.com]

"YES!" barks Banner, relishing the end to years of guilt and torment.

The sequence is prepped - the button is hit.

[hulksmashed.livejournal.com]

Energy crackles all around the Hulk's vicinity, an ever-changing spectrum of colors.

Cannons blast their abnormal blasts at the thing... and it makes its first noise.

A pained, animalistic howl.

The Hulk starts to whither in the distance, shaking in tumultous anger and agony. Several earth-shattering rumbles as it pounds the earth - perhaps a desperate attempt to escape by digging a tunnel...

In the end, though, there was nothing the behemoth could do.

In the end, the energy is siphoned off into a massive flash that rockets into the sky in a long arc, heading into the distance and vanishing.

In the end, there's a smoldering form that remains... inert. Invisible beyond the smoke.

[hulksmashed.livejournal.com]

His glasses come off, and his brow furrows.

"Check the crater."

Something's off. Readings show it worked right, but... the reserve banks show nothing in the enery cells.

[ultronomicon.livejournal.com]

A slew of Ultron robots soar in, circling Ground Zero. Scanning and reporting visuals back to the base.

[hulksmashed.livejournal.com]

Once the smoke clears, there's a very dead human form lying in the crater.

Looking eerily like himself.

Banner recoils from the viewscreens, a hand over his mouth.

Turning away to think.

"Good god... what have we just done?"