A Few Minutes Earlier
"Okay, so this is weird, right?"
We're gathered around the TV set in the mansion living room, watching as a panicked reporter tries to follow the battle currently unfolding at the World's Fair site, with less than stellar results, as even if the picture quality wasn't godawful, the man holding the camera can barely keep it steady, though a few glimpses of the two combatants confirm that either Thor really is fighting the Hulk, or a really good copy.
"I mean, I know we got an important mission and all, but everything else aside, anyone else think this is weird?"
"Yes Johan, it's very weird" Banner sighs, pulling off his glasses and rubbing his eyes tiredly "As if I don't have enough problems..." Stark claps him supportingly on the shoulder.
"Don't worry Bruce, it's not THAT bad, you're clearly being set up by someone... again. It's an unsettling trend, but it's not like this is your fault."
"It's not that simple Tony, and you know it. It was hard enough to convince the Hulk to go along with this team business in the first place, if he feels like no one trusts him despite everything, there's no way he's going to stick around." His face falls "It was nice to rest while it lasted, I suppose..."
"Okay, before you go all Bill Bixby on us-"
Banner turns to me "Before I go what in the who?"
Whoops "Uh, nevermind, obscure reference. Before you decide to run off and hide in the desert again, I think you're actually overlooking this opportunity!"
"Opportunity?! There's a guy trashing half of New York pretending to be me! That's not an opportunity, that's a disaster!"
Jesus, for a genius, Banner can sure be dumb when it comes to possibly not being miserable "Right, he's IN New York, where there are literally thousands of witnesses, including hundreds of reporters. I mean, let's say The Hulk manages to defeat an imposter in front of all these witnesses..."
Janets face lights up "Everyone will see the REAL Hulk as the hero! I think Johan is on to something! I mean, when we defeated Loki, it was kind of out in the middle of nowhere, and I don't think the public really accepted that the Hulk was framed since they only got our second-hand accounts through the news. But this, if the Hulk can prove that he's really a good guy and not some mindlessly destructive monster..."
Stark nods in understanding "Not only do we save the city, but we also get some nice PR for our unfairly maligned teammate here, I like it! What do you say, Bruce?"
Bruce stays silent for a moment, before giving a helpless chuckle "You have a way of looking at the bright side of things, I'll give you that. Of course I'll help you fight, but the transformation can be a bit finicky, sometimes it only works at night, other times it only kicks in when I'm upset..."
"Well, no offense Bruce, but you might want to work yourself into a rage as soon as possible..." Pym says, kneeling down by the TV as he observes the battle on the screen "Because Thor looks like he's having a rough time over there..."
Bruce sighs as he begins shedding his labcoat "No sense in ruining another set of clothes..."
....
"Good call on those elastic purple shorts for Bruce, Tony!" I say as The Hulk wrests the makeshift weapon out of his dopplegangers hand. "Decreases the chance of wardrobe malfunctions, AND makes it easier to tell which one of them is on our side." Out on the battlefield, Pym stomps out in his Giant-Man form, helping the stunned Thor back to his feet, and from the hurried conversation the two are having, giving him a quick update on exactly what is going on.
Iron Man nods "Yeah, I'm guessing whoever our counterfeit Hulk is, he based his disguise on our fight against Loki, because he's wearing the same shredded trunks Hulk wore when we first met him." He lifts up an arm, pressing a few buttons on the side "Hmm... my sensors are detecting some strange energy readings coming from the fake Hulk, but they're nothing I've ever seen before. You're the one with the light powers, you getting anything?"
I squint down at the imposter, trying to make sense of what I'm seeing "I'm... getting some weird light waves coming off him, they don't look anything like the gamma radiation the real Hulk gives off, but I don't even know the names of the regular light waves, much less whatever the hell that is supposed to be..." It's true, even with my powers allowing me to see deeper into the light spectrum, whatever is coming off the fake Hulk isn't like anything I've seen before. It's like radiation, but it looks sort of sickly and yellow. "Maybe it's whatever is letting him pretend to be the Hulk?"
Iron Man nods and begins to fire up his jets "Presumably, we might be able to disrupt his abilities, but we'll need to subdue him first. Let's go!"
Below us, the fake Hulk finds his struggle with the real one stymied as he now has to deal with not just him, but also Thor and Giant-Man who have both joined in the fight. The real Hulk breaks the metal railing over his copy's head, stunning him in time for Mjolnir to smash into his chest, knocking him backwards. Pym tries to force the fake to his knees, but finds himself lifted off his feet and tossed into the Hulk, as the imposter tries to regain his advantage. He finally spots Iron Man heading towards him, and realizes he's officially outgunned.
"Curses, my guise has failed me! I need a new form, quickly!" His body begins to glow, and change shape right in front of us, and as the light fades, the fake Hulk has been replaced with a new Giant-Man! Iron Man is the first to catch on.
"Shit! Guys, he's going to-" Before he can finish, the massive form of the fake Pym shrinks and in second, vanishes entirerly, tapping into the Pym particles of his new shape. Hulk looks around, seeing his opponent gone.
"WHERE FAKE GO! HULK NOT DONE WITH HIM!"
"He took my form and shrunk down with my powers!" Pym says as he gets back up "He's trying to make a run for it! Janet!"
"Way ahead of you, Hank!" A feminine voice says out of nowhere, and there's a loud crash as The Wasp engages the imposter at his own size.
"Get off me, you miserable female!" A voice that sounds almost like Hank Pym says, though there's something strangely off about it.
"No deal, creep! You might have the same powers as me and Hank, but you've had them for five seconds, we've had them for over a year! Now give up!" There's several tiny flashes off light, followed by a pained scream as the fake gets the business end of several of Janet's stinger blasts. Fleeing back to normal size, the fake Pym once again regrows, kneeling and clutching several scorch marks along his torso, his eyes darting between the opponents now surrounding him.
"Damn...damn it all! Need a new form! Need to regroup!" His eyes fall on me and he grins viciously "You!"
I blink "Me?"
"The mutant freak! I'll take your light, use it to escape!"
"By all means!"
"Sunshine!" Iron Man yells "What the hell-"
The fakers grin fades as he tries to tap into his ability, and finds it failing him. Just like I had figured. "WHAT?! IMPOSSIBLE! It's not working!"
"You're not going anywhere, villain!" Finally, Thor seizes the opportunity, bringing Mjolnir down on the back of the imposters head, knocking him out and sending him to the ground in a crumbling heap. As his consciousness fades, so does the control over his power, and his form begins to shift and glow as it returns to it's natural state. revealing an ugly goblin-like creature with black hair shaped like horns, dressed in a purple bodysuit.
"Ugh, gross, what IS this thing?!" Janet exclaims, returning to her normal size next to Hank, who kneels down next to the uncoscious creature.
"No idea, I've never seen anything like this before. Tony?"
Iron Man shakes his head, but Thor step forward, glaring down at the creature "I have, friends. The warriors of Asgard has encounted these foul beings before..."
The rest of the team turns to stare at him in surprise. "Well, what the hell is it?!" Stark asks impatiently.
" 'Tis a being known as a "Space Phantom", Man of Iron. A most unpleasant race of shapeshifters who use their abilities to sow discord and chaos across the cosmos for the purpose of conquest. If I had to guess, that was it's plan here as well..."
"Makes sense..." Iron Man says as he taps the unsciouscous Phantom with his boot "I'm guessing this little creep tried to impersonate the Hulk, hoping we'd all turn on him and have the Hulk either simply leave, or maybe even attack us over it..." The Hulk growls, and Iron Man pats his arm "Easy big guy, he failed at it, rather miserably at that."
"HULK SHOULD SQUASH PUNY PHANTOM!! NO ONE MAKE A FOOL OF HULK!
"I fear I owe you an apology, friend Hulk..." Thor says, his head hanging low in shame "I was all too ready to fall for the Phantom's trickery, I engaged him in battle thinking he was you. I've behaved most disonhorably against an ally. I'm sorry..."
The Hulk glares at him for a moment, before turning his head, huffing in annoyance "HULK NOT A MONSTER..."
"I know, friend Hulk. I fear old habits die hard..."
"There's one thing I don't get though" Hank says, changing the subject. "When the Phantom tried to turn himself into a copy of Mr Sunshine, it didn't work. How come?"
I smile "Oh, that was a gamble on my part. See, I noticed that he didn't try to copy Iron Man, even when he was trying to make a break for it. Since Iron Man is just a regular guy under the suit, no offense Tony, I figured he couldn't copy anything other than the targets actual body, so he could morph himself to look like he wore the armor, but he wouldn't have it's abilities. And Thor, I'm guessing he wasn't able to copy you either?"
"Nay, you'd be right, friend Sunshine. Asgardians are immune to the Phantoms ability."
"So, guessing he needed a physical body to copy, I focused my powers halfway through the process I use to move at superspeed. Since I was halfway converted to light, it screwed up whatever ability the Phantom used to copy our bodies, and since he still registered me as a human, he couldn't make heads or tails of why!"
Iron Man gives an impressed whistle "Hell of a gamble there, Sunshine. Glad it paid off though. So, what do we do with him?" He points a thumb at the unconscious Phantom.
"No Earthly jail will hold him, Man of Iron" Thor kneels down, grabbing the prone figure by the arms and lifting him over his shoulder "But with thy leave, I shall take him to Asgard for confinement. We have a long experience of dealing with his kind!"
"Normally, I'd insist on a regular prison, but I really don't know the legal precedent for "alien shapeshifter impersonates a hero". I really hope this doesn't become a regular thing for us..."
"Err, excuse me" A deep voice interupts us, and the team turns to see a black man with dark hair that is beginning to turn white, dressed in a rumpled business suit covered in dust from having been this close to the battle. Behind him, another man, who appers to be white and middle-aged with a moustache, sporting an eyepatch behind his glasses, is clutching a bulky camera with a flash bulb in a terrified death grip. "Joseph Robertson, Daily Bugle. I was hoping we could have a moment of your time..."