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.

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[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

She was about to toss some lightning in, but hesitates when she sees the new combatant, a little limited in options for the moment.
So she dives down, hammer in hand, for a more precise attack, trying to lay into him while he's held, however briefly.

[hulksmashed.livejournal.com]

The Hulk's chest is jutting out as he struggles for leverage against his tormentors, and that makes it a great target for another hammer charge.

The earth cracks beneath them, and sand whooshes out into the beginnings of a crater.

Still, the Hulk struggles. No noises of pain, barely audible grunts of exertion.

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

She can't believe how little he's reacting - how strong he must really be. But she knows that if he gets past her, he dies... or most of a city does.

She lashes out time and again with the hammer, putting all her strength into it, no restraint now that she knows that he can take whatever she dishes out... and will keep coming.

[bi-beast.livejournal.com]

"Harder, small woman!" calls the Bi-Beast. "This creature will not be slowed by pain! It is a mindless brute, in literal terms! Nothing short of total annihilation will stop it!"

[hulksmashed.livejournal.com]

That's all the two-headed android gets out, before it finds itself hurled like a rocket up towards Crusader - along with a hail of these robots.

No roar of defiance.

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

"I'm not here to kill him, I'm here to redirect him until... OOOOFF!" is all she gets out before she's nailed by the suddenly flying bi-beast. She crashes hard, but struggles back up. Too many lives are at stake to waste even a second.

With bi-beast no longer hanging on, she slams the hammer down, and one bolt of lightning, then a second slash down at the Hulk.

She's following it a moment later, lashing out towards his head, trying to find somethinhg that even slows him down.

[hulksmashed.livejournal.com]

The sound of crunching metal echoes into the desert sky as the Green Goliath tears through these Ultron prototypes like tin foil.

The lightning strikes, frying many CPUs along with the Hulk, and the second shot hits even harder.

As he clears his vision, the hammer clouds it up again, staggering his smoldering form backwards.

But he's got footing now. He doesn't fall... but at least he's not attacking.

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

She's not sure why he's not attacking. Maybe he still has some hint of a mind, buried deep, and heard that she's not trying to kill him? Maybe she just actually got him to feel something in there. Regardless, she presses that as best she can - she treats it like facing an animal who knows you could threaten it, but she doesn't. Instead, she backs off a couple steps, but stands her ground, hammer and shield up. The wind stirs up another dust storm behind her, making the way look foreboding - and neatly blocking most of the cameras, not that she realizes it, while the Hulk himself just gets a nice warm breeze which blows off into the desert - a clear message, through her lies a fight, and adversity, but he could turn, take the path of least resistance, and she'll let him be...
after all, she remembers a few, rare talks with Dr. Banner, and something about the Hulk's real desire, deep down, was to be left alone.
"I can't let you kill all those people. But I don'twant to fight if you don't make me. Just... turn, start walking." she urges as gently as she can.

[hulksmashed.livejournal.com]

Too late, she'll realize the only reason he wasn't attacking is that the lightning messed with his motor control.

Briefly.

The fist comes straight out at her, larger than the shield she's carrying. With force enough to crack the earth itself.

There's nothing present to reason with.

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

The only thing that saves her is the shield, and a lot of training. Its more reflexes than anything when she partly blocks the hit, though the fist still drives her back off her feet and sends her skidding through the sand.
Still, there's a city depending on her, and, so far as she can tell, no one else in the way. She ignores the pain, pushing it back, and flings the hammer - then flies right after it, trying to deliver her own impact right after the hammer collides with the behemoth.

[hulksmashed.livejournal.com]

The double hit is enough to spin the beast on its heel, a slight staggering. The direction of its path altered a bit as it swats back out, trying to grab the girl and keep her from attacking it again by driving her into the earth as deeply as it can push her.

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

*CRACK!*
She hits the hard desert earth and craters it at the slam, and feels a couple of ribs crack. So much for nigh invulnerable. But then, this *is* the Hulk... and at his biggest and meanest.

He's a bit past her by the time she shakes the stars out of her vision enough to lift up out of the hole. "Hey, we're not done yet." she calls, hoping she sounds as confident as she's trying to be, when really, she knows its going to be more beating.

But right now... there's no one else.

The lightning crackles down again, since it seemed to phase him, and then she throws the shield, aiming for directly between two vertebrae, the disc offering a precision the hammer can't match, and hoping it might do more good than Mjolnir has managed... especially as she knows Thor is one of the heroes who was trying to stop him before.

[hulksmashed.livejournal.com]

The lighting strikes the beast, and it smolders afterwards, buying enough time and stillness for that shield to make a dent in his hide, and jerk it backwards enough that it stays put. No advance yet. Another slight change in its direction, though.

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

She's doing it! She can't believe it, but while she isn't even dreaming she could take him down, he's not aimed for Phoenix anymore!

As it stays put, she catches the shield on the rebound, and flies upward, then comes down full force, using the hammer like, well, a hammer, on the top of the Hulk's head, before she darts back in the new direction he's headed now.

If she can get him to pursue her... well, dangerous, but not for Phoenix.

[hulksmashed.livejournal.com]

The force is enough to make him take a knee.

But when he recovers, it's not so much the Hulk that's pursuing her as it is the giant boulder he's wrenched upwards to throw at her.

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

Sonofa...

She does her best to hunch up behind the shield, not bad, all things considerered, to help cushion the initial impact.

It still sends her flying, and when she hits the ground, the boulder lands heavily on top of her. There's a moment of stillness as the dust begins to settle, then the rock first stirs, then lifts, a somewhat more bruised Sarah lifting it, and flinging it back.

"C'mon...*gasp* you're going to have to do better than that! Come get me!"

[hulksmashed.livejournal.com]

The Hulk responds with a leap.

Streaing to land fists-first on top of the girl.

Still without a word.

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

Well, he's finally moving, really moving, the correct direction. She can't complain... except about that whole impending doom feeling.

She's flying up, 0 to MACH 3 in 0.2 seconds to meet him, leading with the shield to try and survive the impact of his fists, and swinging the hammer.

There's a thunderous impact, enough to be heard off at the edges of the city, and to cause a shockwave the others can probably feel.

Sarah, ultimately, is driven down to the ground again, landing with a bone jarring crack, and left crawling back, trying to find her wits and just hoping that, at least, might have staggered him a little.

Its all she can hope for, as she starts trying to pull herself to her feet, too much depending on her now to slip blissfully into unconsciousness.

[hulksmashed.livejournal.com]

No leverage in the air, only momentum.

As such, the colossal impact knocks the Hulk's head backwards, sending him awkwardly spiraling to the ground as his forearms smash downward on that shield.

Upon impact, his own head cracks backwards impossibly.

Yet, in a little more than an instant, it realigns itself, and the beast starts to bring himself to his feet once again.

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

She can be thankful for all that, and it probably makes for quite the show, actually looking like she did something to the monster.

By the time he's up, so is she, though she's a lot shakier, but holding up the shield defiantly, backing away slowly to try and keep him moving the way she wants. Its amazingly painful, and she's pretty sure she has a few broken bones... but its working.

When she throws the hammer, its not quite as forceful as last time, but its still Mjolnir, and she's still plenty strong... she's just glad the Hulk isn't hard to hit or she'd miss by a mile, as unsteady as she gets when throwing for power right now. As it is, even to hit that requires all her attention.

[bi-beast.livejournal.com]

The hammer smashes into the Hulk's shoulder, and it's enough to rock him backwards... once again into the arms of the Bi-Beast, who grabs the beast's head and pulls backwards, HARD, to drive his back to the earth once more... and then wraps two claws around his face and lets loose with massive energy blasts.

"DIE, MISERABLE CREATURE! ALLOW YOUR POINTLESS EXISTENCE TO END!"

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

"NO!"

The shield is flung at the 'forehead' space between the faces.

"I told you, I'm not going to help murder him! Can't you see he's not heading for the city!?" she shouts at the new monster, as the hammer is returning to her, and she's starting to regain a little balance.

[stark-inc.livejournal.com]

A devastating blast is delivered from a barely mobile suit of Iron Man armor.

"How...long...do you really think you can -" He pants and strains. This suit, he knows, is likely to kill him, but all for the good of all those lives. Still, the snarl comes through. "Keep him averted! We tried aversion! It's an...animal!"

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

As hard as the Hulk has been on her when she was prepared for it, getting blindsided by the Hulkbuster armor is almost too much.

She goes bouncing and rolling over the dirt, now charred to add some texture to go with the bruises. She starts pulling herself up enough to crawl to where he shield lies, trying to defend herself long enough to assess these new threats - the Hulk, she might have been able to lead off. But fighting it, Bi-Beast and Iron Man... no chance.

"He's... still a living thing." she mutters before spitting blood... but at least having the defiance left to spit it at Iron Man.

[stark-inc.livejournal.com]

"How alive can it be without Banner! What...soul?"

A volley of missiles are aimed at the Hulk. They are designed to hone in on the monstrosity even if he dodges.