“Too late,” Thor repeated, and drove his hammer through a bulkhead. He smashed his way into an engineering space, ripped a massive power hub off the deck, and hurled it. It crashed through a chamber wall and exploded in the next compartment.
Eerie damage sirens sounded. The air was full of smoke.
“Central command?” Iron Man requested over the comlink.
“Two levels below you,” replied the Scarlet Witch, locating it with a complex conjuration.
“Thank you,” said Iron Man. “That matches the energy profiles I’m reading.”
Iron Man banked and executed a power dive into a main, through-deck shaft, firing his repulsors ahead of him and exploding down through the levels. The Vision, Thor, and Quicksilver followed him, lancing through the air. Cap vaulted a handrail and dropped after them. The Widow emptied her clips into approaching warriors, and then followed suit. Hawkeye glanced at the drop—and the burning path his fellow Avengers were cutting into the heart of the ship.
“Guess I’ll be climbing, then,” he said, wheeling around to bury an arrow in an attacking Kree warrior.
“Allow me,” said the Scarlet Witch, casting a hex that lifted both her and Hawkeye into midair and lowered them gracefully down the through-deck space.
Thor and Iron Man took out the huge blast doors protecting the central-command space. Debris flew in all directions. Three Kree officers opened fire, but a flying shield smacked them off their feet.
Iron Man came in to land and walked forward, leading the Avengers into the chamber. Another Kree officer grabbed a weapon, and Widow turned to blast him with her Bite—but Hawkeye had already pinned his arm to a console with an arrow.
Iron Man looked up at the giant life-support tank in front of them. Its sides were transparent. From the energized liquid within, a huge, distorted face gazed down at them. Its features were solemn and sad. Fiber-cable links connected its cranium to the tank’s framework.
“This will be your only warning, Avengers,” said the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree Stellar Empire. “You are not welcome here.”
“Uh-uh,” said Iron Man. “You’ve got some ’splainin’ to do.”
“This is an act of war,” the Intelligence declared.
“This is an act of sovereign defense,” replied Cap. “You have assaulted our planet.”
“We have not,” replied the Intelligence. “We have merely observed.”
“You’ve meddled,” said Cap. “You’ve provoked. We know about the ultimatum. Thanks to you, five serious threats have arisen. Threats that could have destroyed our world or changed it forever.”
“That was to be wished,” said the Intelligence.
“You admit it?” asked Thor.
“The Earth is dangerous. It cannot be allowed to continue on its present course.”
“So you’d place its fate in the hands of terrorists and monsters?” asked Cap.
“The Earth must be tamed,“ said the Supreme Intelligence. “For the galactic good. Your criminal elements and insurgents have long sought world domination, each in their various ways. They were offered the chance to make good on their designs.”
“Are you serious?” asked the Scarlet Witch.
“Each one has the means,” said the Supreme Intelligence. “The means and the desire to control your world. To impose a new order. To curb the wayward nature of humanity.”
“Because they’re psychopaths,” said Hawkeye. “Their idea of curbing is…dictatorship. The loss of freedom, the—”
“They would dominate and control,” said the Supreme Intelligence. “They would diligently administrate this world, and prevent it from polluting the galaxy.”
“Or reduce us to the Stone Age,” said Cap.
“That, too, would have been an acceptable solution,” answered the Intelligence.
“So you just wanted others to do your dirty work and cripple the world?” asked Widow.
“The Earth must be tamed.”
“It’s more than that,” said Stark. “The galactic authorities have declared Earth off-limits. If the Kree staged an intervention or an invasion, they would have found themselves at war with the other powers of the cosmos. But if Earth collapsed because of an indigenous threat, that would be okay. Predictable. That’s dirty pool, Supremor.”
“It is a method.”
“And you guys could have stepped in, taken over, apparently peacekeeping and cleaning up the mess,” said Stark. “Looking after a wounded neighbor. Apparently humanitarian and caring. Invasion by proxy.”
Cap stepped forward beside Iron Man and looked up at the vast tank.
“Why are you so scared of us?” he asked.
“Behold, human, how you have bludgeoned your way into my presence,” said the Supreme Intelligence.
“This is self-defense,” Cap repeated. “A response to your threat. I meant, why are you so afraid of Earth?”
For a moment, the Supreme Intelligence did not answer.
“You are a child race,” it said at last. “Newcomers to the galactic community. In the few short years we have been aware of you, we have become horrified by your propensities. Your technologies escalate at a pace that even you don’t understand. You breed meta-beings at a rate unmatched by any other world, and those meta-beings live without control or limitation, yet many of them possess the power to damage or destroy worlds—or even destabilize the galaxy as a whole.
“Hunger and disease riddle your world,” the Supreme Intelligence continued, “and there is no unification of political agenda. Yet you actively enmesh yourselves in the business of other cultures. Earth is a dangerous planet. It is a danger to itself and a danger to other worlds. You have no maturity or wisdom. You have great power but no responsibility. You are reckless and emotional. You are imperfect and lacking unity. You are headstrong and do not know your own strength.
“While Earth exists in its present, volatile state, no culture in space is safe. And the Kree Stellar Empire is not about to be brought down by a selfish, too-powerful infant species.”
“You really think we’re a threat to you?” asked Iron Man.
“In time, you will be,” replied the Supreme Intelligence. “You will turn your sights upon the stars and envy what others have. Until then, you are a threat without even meaning to be. One rogue meta-being, one uncontrollable disease, one technological mishap. You could end galactic culture by mistake and misadventure.”
“So you wanted to stop us?” asked Cap. “To curb us and contain us?”
“Yes,” said the Supreme Intelligence. “Any one of the parties we encouraged would have been capable of taking control of the Earth, and ruling it. They would have tamed your wild nature and made humankind subservient. The victorious party would have been in fealty to the Kree, and the Kree would have ruled through them. This, they all saw, was preferable to the destruction of their world and their ambitions.”
“You reckoned without us,” said Cap. “You underestimated our ability to police ourselves. To stop the threats and to see your hand in them. Doesn’t that prove we are far more than the children you believe us to be?”
“The threat remains,” said the Supreme Intelligence. “You are defiant and willful. The galaxy would be better rid of you.”
“I suggest,” said Iron Man, “you activate auto-repair, fix your ship, and get the hell off our planet. You’ll never be permitted to do this again. Take that message back to your people.”
“No,” said the Supreme Intelligence. “This attempt to pacify the Earth has failed. The Kree are reluctant to move against you directly, for fear of censure, but we always knew we would act ourselves if our hand was forced. With regret, that is now our only option. You have resisted change. Change will now be obligatory.”
Hatches opened along the walls of the control chamber. In the huge compartment beyond, the Avengers could see ranks of massive, silent android figures: Kree Sentries, implacable robotic war-machines of extraordinary power.
“The Sentr
ies will be activated,” announced the Supreme Intelligence. “Earth will be crushed. And you meta-beings will be the first to be eliminated.”
PINE BARRENS, NEW JERSEY
07.09 LOCAL, JUNE 14TH
CAN we get any closer?” asked Banner.
“They told you to hold off, Doc,” replied McHale.
Banner fidgeted with the harness that held him in the flight seat. The S.H.I.E.L.D. transport was circling the target site at high altitude, part of the task force waiting for word from the Avengers.
“I wanted to be there,” said Banner.
He was fretting. Since retrieval in Madripoor, S.H.I.E.L.D. had insisted on feeding him sedatives. He felt woozy. He felt too calm. He hated the lethargy, but he knew it was necessary. He thought about Wyndham’s offer, a final solution for his curse. It had been so tempting. And if anyone could ever cure his condition, it would be the High Evolutionary.
But some things were more important. Like being true to your friends. And yourself. Whoever and whatever you were.
“I think the Avengers can handle things,” McHale replied.
“They’ve fought against the Kree before,” said Banner. “But the Kree are powerful. Really powerful. I—”
“Just relax and enjoy the view, Doc. It’s going to be fine.”
Banner sat back and looked out the window port. Far below, he could see the vast, gleaming expanse of the revealed starship.
Banner and McHale heard voices from the deck forward of them. Nick Fury was at the comms station. They heard him curse.
“Director?” McHale called.
“Something’s wrong,” said Fury. “I just lost contact with Stark. We’re registering an energy buildup, serious levels, from inside that ship. I don’t think the Kree are backing down.”
“Should I order our teams in?” asked Valentina de la Fontaine.
“If the Avengers can’t handle it, there’s not a lot our fire-teams are gonna be able to do,” snapped Fury. “I knew we should’ve just bombed the site. The nuclear option—”
“There’s more than one nuclear option, Fury.”
They looked around. Banner had unstrapped his harness and was on his feet.
“Banner?”
“I said there’s more than one,” said Banner. He moved toward the side hatch. The sedatives made him a little unsteady on his feet. They made him punch-drunk, too. They made him uninhibited.
“Doctor Banner, sit the hell down!” yelled Fury.
Banner hauled the hatch open. Freezing air howled in. Banner looked at McHale.
“Doc?” McHale asked, wide-eyed. He moved toward Banner.
“Your turn, McHale,” Banner said.
“What?”
Banner smiled and pointed to his own chin.
“Seems only fair,” he said. “Make it a good one.”
“Are you crazy?” McHale asked.
“One thing everyone seems to forget, McHale,” said Banner, with a sad smile. “Part of me is an Avenger, too.”
McHale looked at him for a moment. Then he smiled and shook his head.
“Goddamn it, Doc,” he said.
He threw a punch.
Banner’s head snapped back, and he flew backwards out of the hatch.
IT WAS a hell of a drop.
Falling, Banner knew he was plunging to his death at terminal velocity. The fall was going to kill him.
The fall was absolutely, definitely, going to kill Bruce Banner.
He knew he ought to be anxious, frantic, screaming. He ought to be smarting and angry from the punch. But those damned sedatives…
He closed his eyes. He thought about the impending impact. He concentrated on it.
His pulse rate rose. It started racing. The reality of the fall began to penetrate the haze of the sedative shots. It scared the hell out of him.
He focused on that, on the fear. He tried to clear his foggy head. He stopped trying to remain calm about anything.
His adrenaline levels began to spike.
PINE BARRENS, NEW JERSEY
07.11 LOCAL, JUNE 14TH
THE KREE warship shook as something struck its upper hull and tore down through its superstructure. Inner partitions failed. Bulkheads ruptured. Decks caved in.
The Hulk landed in the middle of the immense Sentry compartment. The impact of his gigantic frame buckled the deck and disintegrated several of the robot units.
Hulk roared. He reached out with his massive hands, grabbing and ripping at the Sentries that were waking around him. Arms as thick as tree trunks drove fists the size of wrecking balls into Kree-built war-machine technology.
Hulk smashed.
From the adjacent control center, the Avengers looked on in shock. The Hulk’s arrival had caused a shockwave that had thrown all of them to the deck, along with all the Kree warriors present. They struggled to their feet.
“Oh my god!” the Scarlet Witch cried, gazing into the Sentry compartment at the Hulk’s feral rampage.
“What is this?” asked the Supreme Intelligence. “What is this?”
Kree Warriors fired through the hatchway at the Hulk and from overhead walkways in the Sentry compartment. Iron Man knocked down the nearest ones with a blast of his repulsors.
“What part of this is a good idea?” asked Iron Man.
“The part where we win,” replied Thor.
The Hulk plowed through the Sentry units, hurling broken and twisted fragments of them up into the air. Devastating green fists shredded the robots, row after row. Support and power cables snapped. Flames surged up.
The Sentries had brought star systems to their knees.
But the Hulk…was the Hulk.
Thor ducked as a dismembered Sentry unit flew into the central-command space and tumbled across the deck. Then he grinned and hefted Mjolnir.
“I am with the green one,” he said. “Who’s with me?”
Iron Man looked at Cap.
“Avengers?” he asked.
“I think we’re assembled,” replied Cap.
He raised his shield.
In response, the heroes rushed into the fight together, smashing through the Kree ranks. Together, they combined magic, technology, speed, marksmanship, and unrivalled combat skills.
They moved as one. One team. Earth’s Mightiest.
PINE BARRENS, NEW JERSEY
07.30 LOCAL, JUNE 14TH
A MONUMENTAL plume of black smoke rose from the burning ruin of the starship into the New Jersey sky.
“Is it confirmed?” asked Cap, walking into the treeline to join the others.
Iron Man nodded.
“That pod we saw lift off was some kind of hyper-shuttle,” he said. “The Supreme Intelligence making his escape. S.W.O.R.D. monitors picked it up entering high warp just outside the orbit of the Moon.”
“S.H.I.E.L.D. teams are moving in to secure the wreck,” said the Vision.
“How about…?” Cap asked.
Iron Man jerked his thumb.
Thirty yards away, the brooding mass of the Hulk stood beside a shattered tree, hunched and panting. The Widow stood in front of Hulk, staring up at him.
“What’s she doing?” asked Cap.
“Talking to him,” said Iron Man.
“It’s over,” she said softly. “Do you understand? It’s over now. You can calm down.”
“Hulk does not want to be calm,” Hulk growled.
“You must be,” she said. “It’s time to be.”
The others slowly approached.
“Another fight?” Hulk snarled. “More things for Hulk to smash?”
“No, no,” the Widow assured him. “Just friends, Hulk. Just Avengers.”
“Hulk?” asked Iron Man. “Bruce?”
“No Bruce. Hulk hate Bruce. Just Hulk.”
“Hulk,” said Iron Man. “It’s okay.”
“Tin Man want to fight Hulk. Tin Man want to hurt Hulk.”
“No,” said Iron Man. “Tin Man just wants to say…thank you.”
&
nbsp; Hulk grunted. He did not reply.
They moved back to give him some space. Hulk sat down and gazed at the smoke for a while.
“You know,” said Iron Man quietly to Cap, “there’s one thing that kind of bugs me.”
“What?” asked Cap.
“Look what we did, Steve.”
They looked at the burning starship. Iron Man retracted his faceplate.
“We saved the world,” said Cap firmly.
“Yeah, we did,” said Stark. “And we had good cause. We took care of a threat that could have ended the human race. But do you see how we did it?”
Captain America glanced at the Hulk, alone and brooding.
“He’s only human,” said Cap.
“Yeah,” said Stark. “And so are you, and so am I. Only human.”
“What are you saying, Tony?”
“I’m saying,” said Stark, “I’m saying, in some ways, maybe the Kree had a point.”
Cap didn’t respond. He stared at the ground.
“That’s all we ever can be,” he said at last. “Human. Let’s keep making sure it’s enough.”
Nick Fury approached, making his way up the bank.
“Hey,” he said.
“Everything okay?” asked Cap.
Fury shrugged.
“Not sure,” he said. “Plenty here that needs sorting out. Look, I hate to mention it, but the S.H.I.E.L.D. station in LA just squirted me. Every clock in California just got set back by three hundred minutes. There are reports of a tachyon flare around the San Diego area.”
“Temporal disruption?” asked Cap. “Someone screwing with time?”
“Could be Kang,” said Stark. “Kang, or Immortus. Or the other guy. The one with the headdress.”
“Could be anything,” said Fury.
Cap and Iron Man looked at each other.
“Your turn,” said Iron Man.
“I did it last time.”
Tony Stark sighed.
“Okay,” he said. He turned toward the others.
“Avengers?” he called. “Guess what I’m going to say next.”
ONE
STEVE ROGERS knew he was in a spaceship of some kind. He stood in the middle of an open floor underneath a transparent dome through which he could see a field of stars. He was still wearing his Captain America uniform, and he clutched his shield at his side.