Chapter 38
The Hulk was mad. It knew it was being toyed with and it knew that whatever this man was he couldn't beat it and he was mad about it. He jumped over buildings and ran through others to find his target and when he finally did there was a white snake-man like person dragging themselves out of a hole. The Hulk took advantage of the situation and landed beside his target, punching all his strength even though the fire surrounding their being hurt. As soon as he did so the snake-man crumbled to the floor in what seemed like relief and The Hulk huffed and gave it little thought.
"Weak." He grumbled before stomping off after Percy.
Weak. Weak. Is that really all that other's saw me? Johnathan thought as he lay there on the ground. His entire body hurt despite it's newfound power and every breath hurt but all he could think about was that single word: 'weak' that's all he was. He was weak.
He'd fought his way through high-school, got into a decent college with scholarships in football and he was called 'weak'. He'd suffered through so many injuries and powered through so many people only to be called weak in the end? He had to wait a long time and go through a lot of training for that job at the museum only to be called weak in the end?
What was it all worth in the end? All his suffering was for nothing?
You want power do you not? A strange voice echoed in his head bringing him back to reality for a moment. What was that? Another figment of his imagination?
Do you want power or not? It was that voice again, it was speaking directly to his mind, to his very being it that was even possible and Johnathan looked up weakly seeing a figure all in white standing before him.
"I can help you reach unimaginable heights of power." The being said, "But, it comes with a price. Do you accept?" A black gloved hand appeared from under the white pant's pockets the being wore and reached out towards him. It was at this moment that Johnathan decided something; Whatever it took he would prove that he wasn't weak, he would prove that he was strong and any price necessary for that was worth it.
He took their hand.
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Percy was seriously getting tired of this. Every time he was in the middle of a conversation, or in the middle of something enjoyable this big ass green man punched his way into it.
He stood up and dusted himself off before taking a moment to look around. All of the buildings he'd been sent through had crumbled and turned into rubble and by the looks of the others surrounding him Percy didn't think they'd fare much better in the upcoming fights. He just hoped that all of the mortals had been evacuated to a safer area a long time ago.
A dot appeared in the sky for a moment and Percy just raised a hand, blocking the giant green fist from connecting with his face. He pushed it to the side and looked The Hulk in the eyes, "I'm getting irritated by you constantly interrupting me." He said and pushed.
The Hulk went flying back the way he'd come, flattening several cars and crashing into a small shop. He shook his head and stood up to rip out one of the shelves when he caught sight of a person cowering behind the counter. It gave Percy enough time to appear, grab the green giant's arm and throw him back out the front and into the other building. Percy looked over at the cowering woman and pointed to the back a flash of dark purple energy flashing from his finger and sending the door flying off into the wall beyond.
"Get out of here, and avoid the main streets." He said before walking out, not bothering to see if they'd followed his suggestion.
The Hulk was just tearing himself from the building across the way when a giant sword appearing at the neck caused him to freeze. Suddenly four decently large, deep cuts appeared in the biceps and quads and The Hulk dropped to the ground screaming from the sudden pain.
"Stop doing that--" Percy Growled but an explosion from the building in front of him and a large white giant tackling him interrupted, "Oh Come ON." The Hulk heard as both figured crashed straight through the shop once more and into the alley behind.
Percy whipped both him and the snake-man around just in time for the creature to hit the wall and break through it. Percy ripped himself from it's grip and kicked it fully through the wall to gain some space and land on his feet in the alley. The last time he'd seen the snake-man it had been weakly dragging itself out of a crater and preparing to face him with practically no strength left in it.
He watched as the dark figure stood and understood what had happened when it turned around. It's eyes had gone from the Toxic green to a possessed white and what seemed like White lightning was streaking over its body periodically.
"Someone's went and gotten themselves possessed now huh?" Percy said rolling his shoulders as the snake-man, now more snake than man with its lower-half having been replaced with a thick tail triple its height at the waist. "You know what? I'm done talking now." Percy grabbed Death and Destruction once more and met the creature in the middle.
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Natasha woke up to the feeling of someone shaking her shoulder, and she sat up with a groan looking at whoever it was that was shaking her. It seems that Wanda had arrived, a bit later than she would've liked but at least she was here now, and then the surroundings caught up to her.
"Come on, get to your feet Natasha! We've got to get out of here!" She screamed whilst firing magic at monsters rushing towards them. It seems the others were also coming to and realizing the situation because soon she, Tony, Steve, and Clint were limping over to the nearest undamaged building and stumbling inside whilst Wanda kept the monsters at bay. As soon as the group was inside Wanda collapsed the front entrance and they all waited a moment.
When Wanda relaxed they all did so as well and a moment later a silver streak appeared a man standing in the middle of the room. It was just Wanda's brother Pietro and they all relaxed for a moment.
"Jeez what in the world happened to you four." He asked and Tony sat up and spoke since no one else had for a moment.
"We all just got out assess handed to us by a kid, that's what." He groaned holding the side of his head.
"The same one I encountered on the Empire State Building?" Wanda said and Tony just groaned again and lay on his back. "I'll take that as a yes."
"So who are we fighting now?" Pietro said and Wanda turned to him.
"There's this eighteen year old mutant that has features similar to wolves and he's not only very powerful but also very skilled with blades." She said and Pietro scoffed.
"Pfft, blades aren't guns." He hopped side to side in a blur, "I doubt he could even touch me."
"Pietro..." Wanda said but Pietro was already hopping backwards the way he'd come. "Pietro don't..." He was gone in a silver flash.
"I swear that kids gonna get himself killed doing that someday." Steve said leaning on his shield, and Wanda just looked in that direction with a grimace. A few minutes later Pietro came back, almost running into a wall before leaning against it in shock.
"So..?" Wanda asked and Pietro shook his head.
"Well I found out where the green guy is, and where this guy that you fought was. That much was obvious by how he looked, but there was something else there too." He said leaning on the wall breathing hard. "They're roughly three miles that way." Pietro pointed northwest, "And that other creature looked like a humanoid snake person...or something."
"What" Clint looked over from where he lay and Pietro looked at his seriously.
"I don't know either. It had the lower half and head of a giant white viper of sorts but it also had arms covered in the same white scales as the rest of it." He slid to the floor, "but that not the scary part. The scary part is that the wolf and that snake monster were able to track me moving. It might have just been a trick of the light, or maybe just their eyes, but the next moment I'm dodging a knife made of some kind of glowing red metal and a long ass tail on my way back."
"See he's being reckless and we haven't even started fighting again yet." Steve said standing up and everyone else followed suit.
"So who are we going to be attacking if there are two of them now?" Wanda asked with a brow raised. "I've already seen a glimpse of Percy's skill and I'm not too keen on facing that again but this snake creature is a whole new thing we don't know about."
"We'll figure it out when we get there" Steve said looking at everyone else for disagreements, "Hopefully they'll deal with each other and we can just take down the weaker one in the end once we get there."
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Percy was conflicted: one one claw he was irritated that nothing was staying down; The Hulk, as it's called, had gotten up again to join the fight and was promptly knocked out by both him and the snake-person; on the other claw he was having a ton of fun, it's been a long while since he'd truly fought something challenging. He dodged the strike from the snake-man's tail and cut off the tip with Destruction. The wounds he was inflicting weren't healing, but that white lightning was keeping the snake-man moving despite several cuts to the bone and a missing arm.
Percy saw the man with silver hair earlier and knew that the others were probably going to be coming soon and maybe with someone more powerful than The Hulk too. So he decided to end this fight. The snake-man came at Percy with a strike towards his neck but Percy just deflected its blade and stabbed the creature in its side with Death. It was strange though; every time he cut the creature or stabbed it the milky white seemed to dissipate towards the toxic green before returning swiftly as they struck.
He was going to try and save the creature from whoever was possessing it but it seems that that was no longer possible. The influence of whoever they had made a deal with was too strong for the snake-man and it seems that they were able to fight back less and less as time went on. Percy felt pity for whoever it was that had ended up like this but ultimately it wasn't his fault so he hoped that doing this was a small mercy.
Percy let go of Death to jump away as another strike nicked his arm and while the wound burned for a moment his healing made it practically non-existent a moment later. He stuck up with Destruction as soon as he had the chance to and the snake-man hissed loudly in pain as the right arm was severed at the elbow. Death reappeared in Percy's hand as the snake-man rushed back at his with the remaining arm claws outstretched and rearing to rip out his throat. Percy just stepped to the outside and swiped up with Death, severing the remaining arm at the elbow. The creature fell to the ground with hiss-groans of pain and Percy just looked down at it sadly.
"I wanted to help you. Truly I did, but it seems that Order has influenced you a bit too much for your mind to fight against, so for this I am sorry." Percy stood at the side of the snake-man with both of his swords hanging at his waist. "I do hope Hades shows you mercy after all this is over." He said and the hisses of pain stopped. A thin line of blood seeped from the creatures neck and the cloud over it's eyes faded away, along with the color in them.
"Thank you." The snake-man hissed as his head disconnected from his body, rolling a few feet away. Percy looked at the blood dripping down the length of Destruction and sighed. A single crimson flame appeared in his palm and he tossed it onto the body and head not bothering to move as the body turned to ash.
Percy looked over to where the green giant, Hulk, had been left crippled from earlier and now saw a man in his late thirties, or early forties laying there in bloody tattered clothing. Percy tossed another wisp of flame onto him as well and the worst of his wounds stopped bleeding and closed just enough to let him live. Percy didn't want the guy to wake up thinking his teammates healed him somehow and rejoin the fight. Then he turned and walked further down the road, turning a corner and stopping just as the remaining Avengers plus the Maximoff's turned an opposite corner from an alley.
I know that technically I should have Vision here as well if the Maximoffs are here but I feel like this could be taken as a sort of side event they all had before, or after, 'Age of Ultron' where Vision is off busy somewhere and Pietro didn't die (yet). Though the fact that they trust each other enough to fight together should hint that it's more of an AU where Pietro lives.
Also I had to look back several times thinking that I made Percy traumatize Tony Stark a bit too much when they had their fight under Stark tower but it seems that was all for naught as it can (hopefully) be taken as his mind just trying to catch up with the crazy things he's been seeing around him.
Anyways I hope that you enjoyed this pair of updates and I'll hopefully have more out by tomorrow morning. I am surprisingly fighting my head for sleep and my eye won't stop bugging me.
(Side-note please say something about if I merc'ed Johnathan (the snake-man) too fast or if it was fair.)
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