In Marvel With Unique Skill Great Sage (MCU) [116]

When Lemu carefully piloted The Armor through the gaping hole the Hulk had made in the wall, he saw that the floor inside had already collapsed. A huge, dark hole led downwards. The two monsters, in their brutal fight, had smashed through three entire floors and fallen all the way down into the building's basement.

This isn't going to work... Lemu thought, frustrated. How long is this fight going to drag on?

The Armor hovered at the edge of the dark, jagged hole in the floor. Lemu peered down into the darkness through the armor's display.

He frowned deeply, then sighed, making a reluctant decision.

The Armor, with Lemu inside, slowly descended through the hole in the floor. The basement below was pitch black, completely devoid of light. The only sounds were the savage roars of the beasts and the sickening thuds of fists meeting flesh. It felt like a scene straight out of a horror movie.

The Armor opened the built-in honeycomb missile launchers on its shoulders. Instead of missiles, it fired several flare rounds down into the basement. The flares hit the ground, igniting and casting a dim, flickering light across the dark space.

"Gotcha!"

Suddenly!

With a vicious, triumphant laugh, a massive hand shot up from the darkness below and grabbed the hovering Lemu Armor by its leg. An immense force yanked the armor downwards, and it was flung violently through the air, smashing into a concrete wall with a deafening CRASH!

The Abomination had heard of this flying metal man. Sky Knight, or something like that? Some new superhero who was getting pretty popular lately.

Whatever. Didn't matter. Anyone who dared to interfere deserved to die! And this one had zapped him with lasers twice! He definitely deserved to die!

The Abomination took a step forward, then threw another powerful straight punch that connected squarely with The Armor's chest.

The impact was devastating. The Armor's internal systems immediately blared warning alarms. The reactor's energy output dropped visibly. The force field protecting the armor was almost completely shattered, and even the chest plate itself was noticeably dented.

This thing is a terrifying monster! Lemu thought, alarms ringing in his head.

The Abomination raised its fist for a second punch. The Armor, pinned against the crumbling wall, remained perfectly still, looking completely helpless and unable to fight back.

The Hulk's furious roar echoed from behind the Abomination, but even he probably wouldn't be able to intercept this next blow in time.

Just in that split second!

A large mass of pale blue liquid suddenly surged out from within The Armor. In the very next instant, it vanished without a trace. And the enormous Abomination, in that same instant, also disappeared completely, gone as if he'd never been there.

The dimly lit basement fell utterly silent. So quiet, you could hear a pin drop.

What just happened?

The Hulk, who had been charging forward, fist raised, ready to attack, also froze in place, looking completely bewildered. He looked around the now empty basement, then back at The Armor, which looked half-dead and badly damaged. He hesitated, clearly unsure what to do next.

Suddenly, The Armor twitched. It pushed itself away from the wall and took a step forward.

The Hulk flinched violently, his eyes wide with alarm. He instinctively took a small step back, letting out a low, nervous growl.

"ROAR—"

Lemu's voice came through the armor's speakers, sounding a little strained but surprisingly cheerful. "Hey, big guy! It's over! It's all over! Everything's okay now!"

"Relax, take it easy! Abomination has logged off!"

The Hulk snorted, breathing heavily through his nose. He looked at the armor and let out another short roar. "HULK!"

"Alright... alright, Hulk it is!" Lemu quickly corrected himself. "Not 'big guy,' got it. Hulk!"

Lemu walked around the ruined basement for a moment, then pointed to a specific spot on one of the walls. "Hulk," he called out, "could you do me a favor... and smash open this wall right here?"

"HULK!" Hulk bellowed, pounding his fists against his own massive chest. He took a half-step forward, and Lemu instinctively flinched, bracing for an attack.

But to his surprise, Hulk walked over to the indicated wall. With one, two, then three powerful punches, he smashed right through it. Behind the demolished wall was a dark, gaping hole a tunnel easily three or four meters wide.

It was one of New York's main underground sewer tunnels, big and wide enough for creatures the size of Abomination or Hulk to walk through easily.

One slime in armor and one Hulk, one flying and one climbing, made their way up and out of the basement.

Lemu stood on the street level, looking around. He quickly realized that the entire ruined building was now completely surrounded by soldiers.

Assault rifles, heavy machine guns, RPGs a forest of deadly weapons was pointed right at them. Hundreds of soldiers stood ready, their faces grim and determined.

The two of them Hulk and The Armor faced off against several hundred soldiers. For a tense moment, no one moved.

One was a ferocious, seemingly bulletproof beast. The other was a rapidly rising superhero. The soldiers were technically the ones doing the surrounding, but honestly, they probably felt more nervous and scared than the ones being surrounded.

With his back to The Armor, a young soldier, beads of sweat as big as peas rolling down his forehead, tilted his head. He seemed to be receiving orders through his tactical headset.

The soldier glanced up at the military helicopter circling high above... General Ross was in that helicopter.

He gritted his teeth, his face set with a look of grim determination. He squeezed the trigger. The RPG mounted on his shoulder roared to life, launching a rocket trailing fire and smoke straight towards the center of the surrounded area right at Hulk and Lemu.

Suddenly, a massive, green hand, as big as a fan, swatted Lemu, sending The Armor flying.

Hulk? What the—?!

Hulk then reached out and snatched the incoming RPG out of the air. With another furious roar, he crushed the warhead in his powerful grip, causing it to explode harmlessly in his hand.

"ROAR—ROOOOAR—"

Provoked by the attack, Hulk bellowed at the surrounding soldiers, his voice so loud and terrifying that many of them instinctively stumbled back a few steps in fear.

The soldiers silently cursed whichever idiot had been stupid enough to open fire. Don't they know they could get us all killed?!

Lemu, having been knocked aside, slowly got The Armor back to its feet. His voice, a little pained, came through the speakers. "Hey... you know... that rocket probably wouldn't have killed me... But that slap you just gave me? That hurt a lot more, you realize that?"

After that massive swat, the armor's system display was flashing red with damage warnings.

"HMPH!" Hulk grunted, turning to glare back at Lemu with clear dissatisfaction. Hulk was helping! his glare seemed to say.

"Okay, okay, I get it..." Lemu conceded.

Armored vehicles, attack helicopters, and even tanks began to slowly close in, their powerful searchlights focusing on Hulk and The Armor.

The blinding lights made Hulk shake his head in discomfort. He let out another ferocious roar at the surrounding soldiers, then, with an incredible leap, he began climbing the tall buildings, quickly disappearing into the urban jungle.

Seeing that the immediate crisis was over, Lemu also activated The Armor's flight systems and vanished into the sky.

….

Up in the helicopter:

General Ross was absolutely furious, screaming curses and yelling at his subordinates.

"SH*T! WHO GAVE THAT ORDER?! WHO WAS IT?!" he roared, his face red with rage.

His adjutant stood stiffly at attention, not daring to move a muscle, cold sweat pouring down his forehead. "Sir! Report, sir! No one gave that order, sir!"

No one?

No one?!

An even hotter wave of fury surged through General Ross. He violently swung his arm, smashing the communication device he was holding right into his adjutant's face.

"GET OUT! GET THE HELL OUT!"

The adjutant stumbled back fearfully. He glanced nervously out the helicopter window at the several-hundred-meter drop to the ground below. He hesitated for a second, then quickly found a corner of the helicopter, squatted down, and tried to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible. He pretended he was invisible.

Today's incident was already a massive mess. Two giant monsters rampaging through a major city, causing countless deaths and injuries... trying to cover this up, to smooth it over, was going to be incredibly difficult.

And now, to make things even worse, the military had been seen, by everyone, attacking the superhero 'Sky Knight' who had clearly come to help…