In a small town of several dozen different buildings that formed on a highway for truckers. The heroes sat in the only eatery and slowly ate burgers and potatoes that were brought to them.
- Breaking news The terrorist who calls himself "Mandarin" has been captured. The person responsible for the capture is Colonel James Rhodes who was able to find and capture him in Miami. Yes, yes, dear viewers. Everyone was shocked when the most wanted terrorist was on the territory of the United States. He was found in a mansion that belonged to the head of the AIM company, Aldrich Killian. Now all efforts are thrown into finding the head of AIM himself, and his company has launched a massive investigation ...
The quietly working television was of no interest to anyone now.
There were no other customers in the establishment except the two of them, although it was clear that the kitchen was working at full capacity.
"Is he still there?" Tony checked the screen on his watch.
- Yes, as soon as Rhodey's suit with the president landed, he did not take any action, it looks like the hostage is still inside and they did not even let him out.
- I still don't understand how they hacked it?
"Me too," Stark was unhappy with the current situation and it was evident in his voice.
All because with the help of his technology they were able to kidnap the first person of the country. On board they did not expect that the warrior suit was captured, thanks to this the mercenary Killian was able to get inside and already inside the kidnapping was committed. When Stark himself showed up to save the first person of the country it was already too late in addition they had to be distracted by the people who were thrown out of the plane by the explosion.
- Are you sure your plan will work? - and this was already a question for his partner who was playing a little with the cola on their table, making figures out of them and forcing them to fight each other.
- No, but if you haven't noticed we're in the middle of the desert now, my abilities don't work very well here without a large source of water. If you have other options... - Tony was about to say - that aren't as time-consuming.
Stark himself only smiled mysteriously: "Actually, there is, but I'm more interested in your option for now."
Tony may have been in control, but he didn't like the situation. After the president was kidnapped, he was able to track where the suit had flown. It led them to a military base that a legally recognized terrorist had been able to get after increasing the amount of money he was receiving. Previously, he had one ship where he conducted experiments, but now he had moved all his equipment there. Scanning the footage from his satellites, he determined that the suit and Pepper were there, as well as many tanks and missile launchers whose purpose was to shoot down any target that would begin to approach the base.
- The son of a bitch was clearly preparing to meet me. - Tony thought about what he saw in the pictures. As soon as he appeared on the radar near the base in a suit, dozens of missiles would fly at him, some of which would definitely hit the target.
- I'll tell you this - lounging languidly on the cheap chair that was here - if you and I agree on a business meeting, and you dump me by going to spend time with a hottie, then don't be offended if I suddenly get angry at you
The billionaire himself looked intently at his interlocutor, recalling the only meeting that had taken place between them, because he definitely did not tell about this part of his acquaintance with Aldrich.
-What? Hansen told me. - and calmly continued drinking the cola that flew into his mouth in the form of various spaceships.
- Sir, your "guest" will be arriving soon, estimated time one minute - Jarvis' voice distracted them from another conversation.
- Finally – I didn't think the journey from New York would be so long – Stark was indignant, but was the first to head out.
As soon as they both left the establishment, many eyes turned to them. People stood watching from the windows on the other side of the street. Even the biker gang that liked to eat here stood quietly to the side and did not interfere after their Mark 42 "politely" asked them not to come in.
The sound of the suit descending caught everyone's attention. As soon as the suit firmly secured itself to the ground, it opened and Dr. Bruce Banner practically flew out.
- You... you two - Bruce, gasping for breath and trying to come to his senses, tried to say something while standing on all fours and pointing his finger at the people because of whom he was here.
- Everything is fine, maybe you would like some water or a massage to calm down? - Bruce waved away the bottle of water, as well as everything else that these two bullies offered.
- Maybe you could explain what's going on? - Having recovered a bit, he finally accepted the offer to have a drink - you just said that you needed me, and then he grabbed me, put me inside and brought me here.
Bruce told all this while taking small steps away from his flying prison.
- Nothing personal, big guy, but it was his idea - Tony threw off all responsibility and began to slowly move away.
- I'm sorry, Bruce, but we couldn't get you there any other way, and we need a big guy to save Pepper and the President.
- What? - Of course Bruce understood why he was being brought here, there were objectively no other reasons, but that doesn't mean he liked it - what do you want?
- We need Hulk to tank damage in the dungeon . - A bit of gaming slang confused the scientist.
- Are you sure? - Bruce looked around at the people around him - there are just so many people here, I'm not sure...
- Bruce, everything is fine - Alex looked into his eyes, holding him by the shoulders - trust me!
- Well, as you know - not believing that he was doing it himself, the scientist moved a little to the center of the street and stopped maintaining control over the monster who had already felt the taste of freedom.
Many people had become very familiar with what the Hulk could do thanks to numerous recordings during the Battle of New York. But seeing an ordinary person start to grow and turn green, tearing almost all of his clothes off and turning into a big green man who acted like a wild animal was unusual for many. People from the streets began to quickly run away, acting more on reflexes than consciously, because many had phones in their hands and the entire transformation process was recorded on hundreds of cameras.
When the process was over, only two people and the big guy himself were visible on the street. The anger was on the face of the monster of rage, one thrown stone from some idiot would have been enough for the Hulk to destroy the entire town and no one would have been able to stop him, but fortunately this did not happen, so he stood patiently and waited.
- Hello big guy - Alex greeted him peacefully, hitting him on the chest with his fist as a greeting - it must be nice to get out when you don't have to kill anyone to save your life?
Rrrrr – the Hulk's roar could reflect either agreement or disagreement.
- Oooooo , I see you're a guy who doesn't like to waste time, so to stop you from growling so angrily, I have something for you - and he gave a sign to the establishment's employees to start acting.
- Literally a minute later, workers started coming out of the establishment with a huge tray on which more than a hundred of the largest burgers that could be made there were piled up in a pyramid. Hulk watched attentively as a pyramid of food was formed in front of him.
Help yourself, this is especially for you, the quality is average, but it satisfies hunger very well - and as an example he came up, took one of this pyramid and bit it. It was very funny to look at Hulk's slightly confused face. Alex's example influenced him, so without waiting any longer he grabbed several burgers and threw them into his mouth.
It was a shock for many to watch as the green brute pulled the pickup truck towards him, sat on the back and began throwing even more burgers into himself. All the food was gone very quickly and Hulk was about to go inside for more.
- MORE - a voice more like a roar was directed at Alex who stood in front of him on the way.
- Do you want more? - affirmative nod - then come with us, do we need your strength?
- A FIGHT?
- Fight.
- NOW A FIGHT. THEN FOOD. - although it was angrily, but in all his encounters with the green beast, Tony was in shock, the first time he saw him so happy.
- Well, you see, everything is fine, now we can go visit - pleased that his idea had worked, he went to collect some water, because there was little of it at the base in the desert.
- Follow us - to which Hulk nodded affirmatively and began to make large jumps after the people who flew forward.
At the abandoned military base, which Aldrich Killian had recently equipped for his personal needs, the alarm was turned on and many people began to urgently take up combat posts. Almost no one understood what was happening except for the people who were currently in the headquarters.
The sound of destruction was heard in the headquarters itself. It was the head of the AIM company himself destroying the equipment in a fit of rage when three figures were shown on the big screen. Tony Stark himself in his favorite brainchild. Alexey Ledov around whom water was swirling and the Hulk who needs no introduction.
- So much preparation and all for nothing - having released all his anger and extinguished the extremis in a fiery glow , Aldrich sat down in a chair, already in a slightly shabby suit, but he didn't care much about that now.
- Sir, we can open fire on them now - with the increased funding and new capabilities, Aldrich was able to transfer his developments from the ship to this facility, also taking with him a lot of weapons to deal with Stark.
- Even if we start now, it won't give results, they'll just go off course – Aldrich answered his subordinate – the question is why are they standing there?
Possible versions began to be quietly voiced throughout the room.
- The President - everyone looked at another screen where the President of the United States, clad in patriot armor, was located right in the middle of a military base in an open space.
- Yes, turn on the controls I want our valuable hostage to be out of reach and hidden from them.
The operator began entering commands into the system, and began to take control into his own hands and direct the suit to the bunker where the headquarters was located.
After taking a few steps, the suit stopped.
- What's going on, why did he stand up?
- I don't know sir, I'm trying - while he began to panic and enter new commands to avoid becoming the next target of wrath, the monitor began to ripple and an image of a robot rabbit appeared, pointing at the operator with a finger and the caption "ha-ha".
While all this was happening, the suit itself awkwardly took a few steps, then stood up and began to fly into the sky.
- KNOCK IT DOWN, IT MUSTN'T FLY AWAY. - but there was no time for that now they had a higher priority target in the form of a green monster that was rushing towards the base.
- Son of a bitch, kill them all - realizing the approaching danger, he gave the command and began to leave the headquarters and go for his last trump card for survival.
Before starting an attack on the military base, it was necessary to resolve one issue: how to get to the country's top official?
- Are you sure we should stop here now? We are in the kill zone.
- I wouldn't want to take risks while they have such a hostage, and the fact that they left him on display for everyone to see is only their problem.
- FIGHT - Hulk started to get a little angry because he was expecting a fight, and then he was told to stop and now he watched as two people with whom Banner was talking looked at the picture that appeared from the light from the red suit.
- Calm down, big guy, everything will be fine, now we will solve one little issue and you will go have fun.
At that moment, Tony's scanners showed helicopters flying in their direction.
- Yumiko, if you can hear me, we need to act now - Alex spoke into the phone that he bought from a passerby, because his was destroyed in the techogenia house - let me know that everything is ready.
The plan was simple. They had to get the hostage out of the base, it would have been harder if they had hidden him somewhere inside the base, but it seemed like Aldrich was planning on making a good show of killing the US President in his protector's suit, so Alex asked his personal hacker to bypass their systems, penetrate the suit's systems, take over the controls and get away.
A short text message that came to her phone confirmed that she was ready and advised to start right away.
- Hulk, there's a military base over there, no friends there, have fun.
A satisfied smile appeared on his big green face, with all his teeth, and without stopping he set off with his big leaps towards the military base.
- Actually, Pepper is there too ! - Tony watched from the satellite as the warrior suit left the military base, avoiding the few shells that were flying at it - no matter what he did.
- Pepper is the only reason why we are going there now. If it weren't for her, I would rather stay here and watch them run around in panic, not knowing what to do with the Hulk.
There was no point in imagining this, because you could see it in person, which made them smile.
- Okay, go ahead - the old man couldn't wait to get his girl back.