CHAPTER NINETEEN —
( The Hulk. )

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Evelyn landed flat on her face after the room exploded. She mumbled incoherent words as she lifted her head, scrunching her eyes.

"Eve? Are you alright?" Steve called from above. Evelyn rolled onto her back to look up at him.

"Never been better," she replied. "Can't say the same for the rest of us."

"I'm coming—"

"Go help Tony. I'll be fine," she told him. He nodded hesitantly and then left. "We'll be alright. Yeah?" Evelyn looked over at Bruce, who was breathing heavily, having landed hard. He was gripping the grated floor to maintain control, but his eyes were green, his face intense. "Shit." Evelyn looked at Natasha as she slowly sat up but had a metal pole over her ankle and at Eliza, who had landed flat on her face. Evelyn quickly sat up and shoved the piece of metal off Natasha's ankle.

"Mother fucker!" Eliza groaned, slowly sitting up to rub her nose. She looked down at her hand and the blood on it. "I think my nose is broken!"

Evelyn looked over in her direction and chuckled lightly at the angle it was on. "Yeah, it's broken." Eliza whined as she touched around her nose and tried to sniffle up the blood. "Nat, Eliza, get up and get out of here."

Natasha looked up at Evelyn and then at Bruce, who was trying to control the Hulk but was slowly beginning to change. "Bruce?" she asked.

Eliza looked over at Bruce and raised her eyebrows. "Shit!"

Evelyn pulled Natasha and Eliza up. "You two. Go!" She whispered. "I'll hold him off."

Natasha looked at Evelyn, "I'm not leaving you here."

"Cool, because I am," Eliza said before hurrying out of the room.

"I've been up against the Hulk before. I'll be fine." Evelyn looked back at him and saw his face had turned green in the dim light as he struggled to suppress the rage, but Bruce's face was growing, changing slowly. Evelyn pulled her suit back over her shoulders to help protect her skin from what may lie ahead.

Natasha looked into Evelyn's eyes, and with one final nod, she got up and began to follow after Eliza. Two approaching S.H.I.E.L.D. agents arrived to check on the group. Evelyn furiously waved them away. "Get the hell away, or you're gonna get yourselves killed!"

"We're coming with ya," Eliza told them, and the four hurried out of there immediately.

Evelyn turned back to Bruce. "Come on, Bruce, remember what I told you. Conceal, don't feel. Conceal it, don't feel it."

Another explosion rocked the carrier and Bruce turned to look at her, transforming just as the lights went out. Banner suddenly started transforming into the Hulk, getting bigger and bigger. His purple shirt and pants began to rip. Evelyn quickly hurried towards the stairs, stopped at the bottom, and turned to face him.

In complete form, the Hulk turned his head and growled. He looked pissed. Evelyn crouched and used her strength to jump onto a platform above her. She quickly hopped off of it just as the Hulk pulled it down. She rolled under a turbine and started to crawl within the maze of pipes. Evelyn quickly hurried forward as the Hulk let out a roar of rage and frustration that she had escaped him.

Thinking she was alone, Evelyn stopped to listen to see if the Hulk was near. She could hear a roar and feet pounding in the distance, vibrating the room. She pulled out a gun and slowly walked onto the catwalk, then heard a crazed roar from the Hulk beside her. She quickly fired a shot into a liquid nitrogen pipe that hit the Hulk in his face. Evelyn then began to run through the maze of corridors.

The sound of the Hulk was becoming louder. Finally, she reached a long corridor with glass-like archways and began to run down it, the Hulk smashing after her. After each archway they passed, Evelyn put up an ice wall, hoping to slow him down. But he broke right through it in a rage. Evelyn thought she was getting away alright, but the Hulk slapped her into a wall. The Hulk headed towards her as she got to her feet.

"Nice to see you again, big guy. I do hope you remember me," Evelyn told him as the Hulk screwed up his face.

Hulk raised his hand to slap Evelyn, but she charged forward and kicked him in his midsection, knocking him back a bit. He roared at Evelyn but was knocked off his feet by Thor, who tackled him into the next room. Thor and Hulk were circling each other like opponents in a boxing match. Hulk swung at Thor but missed. Then Thor punched him in the face. Evelyn came in, and the Hulk kept trying to swing at the two but kept missing. Evelyn punched him, doing an uppercut that knocked him back a bit—then returned her hands to the boxing position.

"Come on, Bruce. I know you're in there." Hulk roared at Evelyn and tried to slam his fist into her, but she blocked her head with her hands. Hulk lifted Evelyn so that they were face to face. Hulk then punched Evelyn and knocked her into the next room. Thor got thrown in soon after, right beside her.

"You shouldn't be here, Evelyn," Thor told her as he stuck his hand out.

"Now, which of us has encountered the Hulk before?" Evelyn raised an eyebrow as she heard the Hulk nearing them. Evelyn could hear something dragging onto metal as she turned to face the Hulk.

Evelyn smiled at the Hulk as he stood before her when Thor turned around and swung at his face, knocking the Hulk back quite a bit into a jet. Hulk stood up, shook his head, angrily ripped off the jet's tail, and hurled the massive plate at Thor and Evelyn. Thor slid under it, and Evelyn jumped up and caught it before it hit anything else. Evelyn flew back a bit from the force and then chucked it on the ground beside her as the Hulk let out another roar from trying to pick up Mjolnir. Evelyn ran up to Hulk and kneed his face.

Thor grabbed his hammer and jumped onto Hulk, putting him in a chokehold. Hulk tried to shake him off as Evelyn kicked his legs, making him fall to his knees, but he quickly got up. He grabbed Evelyn and finally got Thor off of him. He jumped up with them in his hold and smashed into another room. From the impact, he let go, and Evelyn rolled over with a groan.

"I haven't done this much exercise in ages," she mumbled as she turned her head to face Thor, who was beside her. He didn't get to answer as the Hulk grabbed the two by their necks and pulled them in, ready for more.

"We have the Hulk, Thor and Gemini in the research level," the speakers sounded.

Hulk smashed Evelyn and Thor into the ground, then threw them into a wall. Then, out of nowhere, a shower of bullets sprayed into the room through the outside windows. Thor and Evelyn ducked for cover. The Hulk turned around, letting out his primal roar before taking a run-up and leaping onto the jet, making the jet spiral toward the Earth.

"We need to go to Loki," Thor told Evelyn.

Evelyn let out an exhausted groan. "You go ahead. I need a moment," she told him.

Thor nodded and ran off. Evelyn slowly stood up from where she was and took a deep breath. "Man, my old age is catching up," she mumbled. Evelyn bent back and cracked her back before running towards Loki's cell.

When she got there, Evelyn saw Loki press a button that caused Thor to drop down towards the earth in the cell Loki was put in.

"Really?" Evelyn asked him.

"Oh, Evelyn, pleased to see you," Loki smirked.

"First, you purposely set the Hulk off at Thor and me; must I say, that was the biggest workout I've done for a while," Evelyn huffed and pushed the hair out of her face, "Then you drop Thor in that?"

"He'll live," Loki shrugged.

Evelyn then looked around the room and noticed Phil bleeding out on the ground. "Phil!" She ran over to him and bent down beside him. "Phil, you're going to be alright," Evelyn kept telling him, holding the spot on his chest where he was bleeding.

"I know," Phil said, almost like a whisper. "You're gonna lose," he told Loki louder.

Loki turned to him, "Am I?" He asked, almost teasingly.

"It's in your nature," Phil said.

"Your heroes are scattered. Your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?" Loki asked.

"You lack conviction," Phil said.

"I don't think I—" Loki was cut off by the Phase 2 weapon prototype that Phil was holding shooting at him, causing Loki to be blown through the wall behind him.

"So, that's what it does," Phil mumbled.

"Come on, Phil. Stay with me," Evelyn reached up for her earpiece to inform someone, but realised it must have gotten knocked off by Hulk. Phil's breathing started to slow down, and tears pricked her eyes. "Come on, Phil. We started together. Dont leave me now."

"At least I'll die a hero's death," Phil said, then his eyes widened. "Eve, watch out." 

Evelyn turned to see Loki staring down at her with a smirk. Then, he pointed the sceptre at her, and everything went black.