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By the time General Thaddeus Ross arrived at the Quantico military base, the alarms had been silenced.
But the crisis was far from over. The base's command center was a hive of activity, buzzing with controlled panic.
This was a major embarrassment!!
Someone had not only breached their base with ridiculous ease and destroyed a building, but had also managed to get away completely clean.
And the worst part?
They had lost him.
"What do you mean, you lost him??"
"We lost visual in the forest, twenty miles south of the base."
"What about our air support?"
"Sir, it's a dense forest, at night. The choppers couldn't get low enough for a clear shot."
"Shit!" The lieutenant colonel slammed his fist on the table. "Scramble everyone. Get those birds back in the air. I want this son of a bitch found."
His aide snapped a quick "yes, sir" and hurried out of the room.
The colonel stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the live feeds from the helicopters and ground teams on the main screen. Just then, a deep voice came from behind him.
He flinched, then spun around to see General Ross, his face dark with fury.
"Ge-General..."
"One intruder, Colonel, and you lost him. Impressive."
Ross said, his voice dangerously calm.
The colonel opened his mouth, then closed it. Instead, he had a tech pull up the surveillance footage of the intruder's escape.
Ross turned his attention to the main screen.
He saw the figure, a silhouette in the smoke and searchlights, then a blur of motion as the intruder launched himself into the air and disappeared into the forest.
Ross was stunned.
A moment later, he looked at the colonel. "You said the gamma lab was the only target?"
The colonel nodded quickly. "Yes, General. He breached the perimeter, and moments later, the building collapsed. We thought he was a suicide bomber. But then, right as I was updating you, he just burst out of the rubble."
"..." Ross said nothing. He just watched the footage of Hawk's impossible leap on a loop, his mind racing.
One man. A clear objective. Inhuman evasion. Superhuman strength.
Ross's eyes glinted.
"Did any other cameras get a look at him?"
"The tech team is reviewing all footage now."
"Have you got a location on him?"
"...No, sir." The colonel glanced at his aide, who had just returned and was shaking his head. He braced himself. "We lost him in the woods, twenty miles south. We're still searching."
Ross just nodded.
The next second, without another word, he turned and started walking out. "Get a crew. I want that lab dug out. Now!"
The colonel snapped to attention. "Yes, General!"
...
By the time the heavy machinery had been brought in, the rubble cleared, and the bodies of the fallen soldiers recovered, the sun was rising.
The helicopters, which had been flying all night, returned to base.
The pilots were exhausted, but the machines weren't. With fresh crews and a full tank of fuel, the choppers took off again, fanning out in all directions, a dragnet searching for the man who had basically taken a dump on the United States Marine Corps and walked away.
The ground troops were just as relentless.
The soldiers who had been out all night were replaced by a fresh wave, who were now sweeping through the forests surrounding the base.
They were in it for the long haul.
Ross hadn't slept either. He was sitting in his car, parked near the ruins of the gamma lab, his eyes closed.
Just then, his aide, sitting in the driver's seat, answered a call. After a few grunts of acknowledgement, he turned to Ross.
"General, it's Director Fury."
"...Hmph." Ross slowly opened his eyes, took the phone from his aide, and put it to his ear. "General Ross speaking."
"General Ross. I hear things got a little lively at Quantico last night."
"..."
The smug, self-satisfied tone on the other end of the line made Ross's head throb. "What do you want, Nick?"
In his office at the Triskelion, Nick Fury, clad in his signature black trench coat and eyepatch, leaned back in his chair. He was also watching the footage of Hawk's escape. He chuckled.
"A joint operation. What do you say?"
"You can kiss my ass." Ross scoffed. "This is a military matter. I'm warning you, Nick, stay out of it. And if I remember correctly, your operational authority has been suspended, hasn't it?"
With that, Ross hung up. He didn't bother to wait for a reply. It would have just been more bullshit anyway. He handed the phone back to his aide, sat up straight, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Any sign of him?"
The aide shook his head.
"No, sir."
"Heh."
Ross didn't seem surprised. He let out a dry, humorless laugh and changed the subject.
"Have they dug out the lab yet?"
"ETA ten minutes, sir."
"Let's go."
Ross pushed open his car door. "I want to see for myself."
His aide scrambled to follow.
By now, the bodies of the soldiers who had died in the lab had all been recovered. They were laid out in a neat row nearby.
Their deaths...
Were all different, but the expressions on their faces were the same: shock, terror, and utter disbelief.
Ross's gaze swept over them. He turned to his aide. "File a report. Maximum death benefits for all of them. I'll sign off on it personally."
The aide nodded and made a note.
Soon, the ten minutes were up. The entrance to the underground tunnel had been cleared.
A team of base scientists, who had been on standby, descended into the pit.
"It's gone."
"IT'S ALL GONE!"
"Unbelievable. Did he... absorb all of it?"
"Jesus Christ. But why didn't he turn into a monster like the Hulk or the Abomination?"
A series of shocked, disbelieving cries echoed up from the tunnel.
Ross's eyes lit up with a terrifying intensity.
"Aide!"
"Sir."
"FIND HIM. AT ANY COST."
"Understood!"
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