Nugar wrote:

$So late....  I'm so late....
 

% If you were a woman, that would be a really bad thing. :)

Prologue

While there had been a real Senator Timely, Kang had him quietly killed 
and his remains disintegrated, subsequently replacing him with a robotic 


   

$Swap remains and disintegrated
 

% used most of your grammar recommendations.

duplicate. The man had been a reclusive bachelor with no family, so 
having the robot behave as though he were the real thing, using the same 
itinerary the senator had and mirroring every official decision the 
original had made meant no one picked up on any discrepancies between 
the two. Besides, the public tended to see politicians as caricatures 
rather than real people anyway, and people tended to see what they 
wanted to.


   

$Yeah, but it also says a lot about our current stock of politicians.
 

% And the people that vote for them. :)

�I don�t think you�ve had the honor of meeting my new personal aide, 
Jonathon Smith.� The president indicated the man sitting at the couch.



   

$I should know that name. 
 

% Some people have already figured out where it was originate from.

�I prefer John.� The man remained seated, nodding his head in the 
senator�s direction. �A pleasure, Sir.�

Now the man�s presence made sense. Kang returned his attention to the 
president, �I was sorry to hear about Alex.� Alex Jacoby had been the 
original personal aide to the president, dying only last week from a 
sudden heart attack. It had taken everyone by surprise, since he had 
seemed to be in perfect health.



   

$The Hand?
 

% No.

<snip>

 

the man had gained the necessary votes to win. There was one curious 
thing, though. By Kang�s estimation, with the additional campaigning the 
president had done, he should only have won by five thousand votes. 
Instead he had won a clear cut margin of twenty-thousand. Kang didn�t 
like his estimations being off. The stakes were too high to allow 
mistakes of any kind.



   

$Sounds like someone else was messing with the event, too.  Himself, 

>from an alt timeline?

% Or something he didn't anticipate. He's still new to the time game. 
Impatience is making him move faster than he normally would.

However, Kang�s fervent hope in doing an end run around The Tragedy

   

$I'm not familiar with that.  I assume its some nasty, world changing event?
 

% For Kang. Harkens back to the very first chapter of this.

The president leafed through the folder, his eyes poring over the 
contents. Slowly his face took on a horrified expression.

Kang took it he had finally read the �good part� of the documents. �As 
you can see, Sir, the Hulk completely destroyed that large hill and 
razed the surrounding terrain.�



   

$Snerk.  Cute.
 

% And everyone thought Spragg was just a throwaway reference too. :)

The president paled. �My god, the damage to the environment, it�s like 
ground zero of an extinction level event. It�ll take hundreds of years 
for that forest to grow back, and that hill will never return.�



   

$We hope, at any friggin rate.
 

% Ha! True.

The president nodded. �Yes, that might work. And after the Hulk matter 
is taken care of, we�ll bring it up again at a later time. Good plan. I 
actually have a close friend high up in the Diet, too. She can probably 
help grease the wheels as well, since she�s of a like mind when it comes 
to environmental dangers like this creature. We�ll have Gyrich as the 
liaison. He�s been to Japan before, and he has the right sort of 
enthusiasm when it comes to situations with powered beings.�



   

$Yeah, you could say that.
 

% Depending on your POV. More on this later.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

�It�s nice to see you, Kaori-chan,� Henry Peter Gyrich said in lightly 
accented Japanese. �My, you�ve grown up. Let me look at you.� He held 
her out at arm�s length, staring at her a moment as a look of 
consternation crossed his features. It disappeared almost as quickly as 
it had arrived. �Kaori, I want you to know that you�ll always be my 
goddaughter, no matter what your sexual orientation is.�



   

$So long as you're not a mutant lesbian, you're okay in my book.
 

% Heh. He's just anti-super power, not mutant hater per se.

A fist met his face. �I am not a lesbian!�



   

$Ah, we all wanted to see Gyrich get punched.
 

% But he's such a wonderful government black suit. How can you not love 
to hate him.

Gyrich continued. �He literally does the work of a hundred men.�

�Yeah, but I only get paid like one,� Jamie Two grumbled.



   

$So what else is new?  Busting ass never pays.
 

% Heck, it can get you in trouble if you're in a union. "You're making 
the rest of us look bad, so slow down, or else." Sadly, that pretty much 
happened to me once.

 


>from the start,� he shot a glare toward Jamie Two. �How about we go out 
 

dancing later? I can do a mean conga line.�



   

$Heheh.  I bet he does.  Too bad it only takes two to tango.
 

% True.

Kaori began leading him to a large structure next to field. �This whole 
school will be our base of operations. Space has been made in that gym 
over there. I�m actually just a liaison for the local police, though. 
I�m to keep our people out of the way of your people and the ministry�s.�



   

$Should ministry be capped?
 

% Not sure.

However, after smashing his way through the castle�s defenses, the Hulk 
discovered Chi was not a robot at all, but a pretty girl (though not as 
pretty as the Hammer Girl).

   

$Ah, beauty is in the eye of the Hulk, I suppose.  Personally, I thought 
pretty much the entire chobits cast was cuter than Akane.  Even the boys.
 

% She looks like a Norse Goddess here, though.

When the tiny girl on Chi�s shoulder asked 
the Hulk what he was doing there, and he explained he was there to 
destroy the evil robot, Chi, the pretty girl began crying. She said Dr. 
Doom was a bad person that wanted to do bad things to Chi, who was a 
poor helpless girl that was trying to help the world.



   

$Poor Doom.  He had a great idea, but didn't factor in Excel.
 

% But who can? She'd drive the Mad Thinker nuts, if he wasn't, you know, 
mad to begin with. :)

�The homeless population in Japan is so insignificant as to be almost 
non-existent,� Irie said in an almost teasing way.



   

$Of course it is.  They also are a peace loving society and have never 
started any wars or commited any atrocities.
 

% Exactly.

<snip>

 

Walker seemed to pick up on it. �You know what you�re doing, though. I 
can tell by the way you move. They said you ain�t regular military, 
though. What do you Hounds do?�

�Chase cats.�

�Cats are so dangerous in Japan you need an automatic rifle to take them 
out?�

�Some breeds.�



   

$Nuku Nuku probably would fit.  And I guess Kagome, that is, Hellcat, 
would, too.
 

% Heh. They are refering to Phantom Cats,though. Nasty pieces of work, 
they are.

Ryouga looked through the bottom of the hole, keeping as close to the 
edge as he could without giving away his position. There were only two 
people dressed in military uniforms. Surprisingly, one was a gaijin who 
had some sort of box in his hands. The other was a girl. Ryouga didn�t 
like hitting girls, but sometime it had to be done. Besides, girls 
tended to have little reluctance when it came to smacking men around, 
when they felt there was just cause.



   

$Ain't that the truth.  Double standards happen both ways.
 

% Yep.

�Right. Good luck. I hope you find some place were soldiers can�t find 
you.� For some reason, that desire struck a chord in Ryouga, even if he 
had never been chased by soldiers.

   

$Until now.  Or has he?
 

% Off camera stuff. Everyone chases the Hulk at one time or other. 
Probably the Girl Scouts, even.

�Now it�s too late. We liked you, Mister, really we did. You helped us, 
and we were real appreciative, but now it�s too late. You�ll tell others 
and they�ll blame Kenny again, like they always do. It�s not his fault, 
his condition. We was poor, and his father was dead, and fishing was 
bad. He found it washed up on the shore and thought it was just a fish. 
He didn�t know it was a mermaid, not with its top missing.

   

$Oooh, now that's creepy.  But personally, I think I would realize a 
bare breasted, half woman, half fish would probably be a mermaid.  
Wonder how it lost its top?  Ataru? 

On the other hand, I wonder what happens to fish that snack on them.  Is 
that the source of great whites, or just sea monsters?
 

% Might only affect humans, but who knows. I don't know enough Mermaid 
tales to be sure.

Ryouga had heard legends of what happened to people that devoured 
mermaid�s flesh. Some said it gave the eater immortality, while others 
said it only brought death. He had also heard it changed people into 
monsters. Since he didn�t believe in mermaids, there was no reason to 
wonder which of the legends were true, though by all appearances it was 
the last.


   

$Should have found the heart.  That's good, if you cook it with lots of 
eel sauce.
 

% Heh

Kenny allowed the soldiers to slump to the floor, then charged Ryouga. 
Even he was startled by the burst of speed from someone so large. The 
top of the cloak fell away, revealing the face of Kenny. It was hideous, 
large and lumpy, with scales, large fish eyes, and a hole where his nose 
should have been. Not a strand of hair was left, on his head, and only 
hunger existed in his jaundiced-colored eyes.



   

$Oh, I see.  He's a third stage Deep One.  Ia Cthulu, my brother.  Ia.
 

% Some of the Alterted ones that didn't die were Cthululike.

Then she saw something peculiar. Kenny had stopped for some reason. 
Usually he would have bitten through the boy�s shoulder and worked his 
way up to the torso. He had wonderful teeth. No need for a dentist, not 
for him. But instead he ceased chewing for some reason.



   

$Hulk going to do a muscle flex jaw break like he did on the pit bull in 
the movie?
 

% Close.

   

It was not to be as the combination of the loss of pillar and impact to 
the ceiling proved too much for the ages old structure to bear. Three 
quarters of the ceiling came down upon Kenny, crushing him under tons of 
rubble since that part of the basement extended to a fallen in part of 
the warehouse. Metal rods and concrete stuck up from the pile of debris, 
but there was no movement other than the slow settling of dust.

�Kenny!� Yumi shouted, running over to pile of concrete debris



   

$Oh my god...  Nah.    Need a period.
 

% I passed on the obvious reference. Too cliche.

Talbot made certain that image was being transmitted back to the base. 
�Can you see this, General?�

�We see it. My god, we see it,� Ross said.


   

$Hulk: It misunderstanding!  Hulk swear!
 

% Not that that ever helped.

for him. While he had heard stories of the Hulk�s prodigious leaps, the 
major was unprepared for how far and fast the monstrosity could go with 
barely tensing his legs. He sailed up and out of the pit, landing a good 
twenty meters away. The behemoth turned, rage evident on his features. 
Talbot wondered if, after he killed the Hulk, that look would still be 
on his face. He would love to keep the head and mount it on his wall 
next to his other trophies. The Hulk was just a mutated pig, after all.



   

$Mmm, hulk-bacon.
 

% Heh. I think it would be a bit chewy, though.

�Stupid metal men are just as bad as robots! Everyone attacks Hulk for 
no reason!

   

$Mostly, they really do.
 

% Yeah,they do. Hulk isn't good at lying.

The Mandroids started to do so, pouring the fire from their hands at 
their target.

Then a shield whizzed through the air and hit Unit 2�s in the hands, 
striking one and bouncing off to hit the other, sending his blasts awry.



   

$Ranma's not so bad, once you start getting to know him.  Of course, 
then you actually GET to know him, and he's an arrogant prick.
 

% Heh. I like the way you phrased that. Might haveto steal it someday.

A flying hammer impacted with Unit 3, sending him sailing through the 
air, his flight arrested upon crashing into a building.



   

$His lady love to the rescue.
 

% Well, Goddess he has a crush on, anyway.

A pair of repulsor rays struck Unit 4, knocking him off his feet.



   

$I see the upgrade is comeplete.
 

% Yep. Arthur Hansen did a good fanart of it at the Florestica Site on 
the actual Avenging Webpage

Two arrows struck Unit 5 in the hands, each exploding and disrupting his 
firing capabilities.



   

$And doing it all ambiguously!
 

% Yep.

Unit 2 put his hands up flush with the shield and fired at point blank 
range. Captain Japan remained where he was,

   

$And that never made any sense to me.  Even less than the rest of it.
 

% What, that the soldier thought he could just blow through what he 
assumed was a normal shield?

but the back blast from the 

�Thou thinkist the tinkerings of man can overcome the full fury of the 
storm? Think again.� Thor tapped her hammer to the ground. A lightning 
bolt five times greater than any normal one struck the Mandroid in the 
top of the head.

   

$Hell, even the BEST we've been able to make so far is a third of the 
power of a regular bolt of lightening.
 

% Stark knows lightning machines. He is a genius.

When the flash of light cleared, all could see the now 
smoldering singed black remains of the giant, inoperable hunk of metal 
with its pilot now trapped inside.



   

$Heh, Thor outclasses most.
 

% True.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Unit 3 squared off with the Iron Rose�s new streamlined armor that was 
hovering before him. �Get ready to have your ass kicked, Avenger. You�re 
dealing with a twenty million dollar, top-of-the-line power armor built 
by America�s greatest mechanical genius. There�s no way that rice burner 
you�re wearing can stand up to it.�



   

$Ooh, adding the rice burner insult, how very.
 

% Yeah, for all the good it does him.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Unit 5 found himself confronted by a red garbed man wearing a devil�s 
mask. He also found himself laughing contemptuously. �I know you. You�re 
Daredevil, the powerless superhero who hides stuff in his pants. You go 
ahead and throw your billy clubs, chains, and whatever useless crap you 
got stuffed in there. I�m going to find me a real superhero.�



   

$Heh.  At least he has a superpower. 
 

% True. But as long as one gets the job done.

Daredevil pulled out a book of matches, lit one up, and threw it at the 
Mandroid. Instantly his sensor unit was covered in flame, turning his 
view an unrelenting red.

Blinded, Unit 5 was unaware of the archer

   

$Who doesn't have a real power.  Anyone can shoot an arrow.
 

% But not with Hawkeye's accuracy, and they are a bit more versitlie 
than bullets.

�I feel extraordinarily Lilliputian,� Unit 4 said to himself. He then 
activated his external speakers. �You know, shooting you isn�t going to 
be a problem. I don�t think I could miss if I tried.�



   

$Yeah, Tofu would be smarting from one of those shots.
 

% It would hurt, but GM's endurance is far beyond normal human.

�No, you can�t be that strong!� Talbot protested.

�Hulk can be that strong, because Hulk is the� strongest� one� there� 
is!�

   

$Except maybe Juggernaut. 

% No. Juggy isn't as strong, but his endurance is better and physically 
he's indestructable  as far as the Hulk is concerned. He would 
eventually outlast Hulk.

Oh, and I bet the Silver Surfer could kick 
his ass. 

% Well, SS does have the power cosmic. He's actually beaten the Hulk a 
couple of times by syphoning off his gamma radiation and reverting him 
to Banner.

Galactus, certainly. 

% Yeah, and Galactus is holding back most of the time. He tries to be 
efficient when using his life energy.

Oh, and Gladiator.  

% That's debatable since his powers are psionic based and do have limits.

Doomsday, from DH,

% We don't cross over companies, except when they do. :)

and Apocalypse, as well.
 

% I don't think he's stronger. Craftier, but not as powerful in terms of 
brute strength. The Absorbing Man could do it as long as he maintains 
flesh to flesh contact, since he'd be just a touch more powerful than 
Hulkie. Initially the Abomination was stronger, but had much of his 
strength siphoned off by Banner. Not many others that could go fist to 
fist with greenskin, though.

And with a tearing of metal, the Hulk broke free, every one of the 
Mandroid�s fingers shattering into useless stumps.



   

$Nicely dramatic.
 

% Thanks.

Besides, there was always Betty to think about. Beautiful Betty, who, 
against all reason, was attracted to the wimp Bruce Banner. Her love was 
so magnificent that he had started to not think of himself in those 
terms anymore. If someone like Betty could fall for someone like him 
instead of a walking testament to testosterone, like Glenn Talbot, maybe 
Bruce Banner wasn�t so insignificant after all.



   

$Banner, coming to terms with his anger?  Actually growing up a bit?  
Nah.  My willing suspesion of disbelief can't handle it. 
 

% Hey, it's characterization,and the fact he's getting Betty's nookie 
despite being a wimp, that's helping him.

The Hulk pulled the broken blade from his shoulder, keeping it in his 
good hand as he stood over the prone, screaming Talbot. Banner felt 
sick. He had never seen a man disemboweled before.

   

$It's not as bad as you'd think, though there is a lot of screaming.
 

% heh

Luckily, the Gamma 
Imploder would be powered up in the next ten seconds. It might not be 
enough time to save Talbot, but it would be enough to avenge him.



   

$Perfect.  Heh heh heh heh...  Oh, Betty, I feel so guilty.  I wasn't in 
time to save Talbot.  Hold me?
 

% Nah, even Banner isn't that machavellian.

Gamma Imploder and destroy the plans to it.



   

$Now that's the man Betty Ross likes.
 

% True. And it ends the Banner Hulkbuster subplot. Resolution. Huzzah.

Seeing the Pretty Hammer Girl cheered the Hulk up immeasurably. �Hulk 
tried to find Avengers, but couldn�t seem to find them. Hulk gets lost 
easily. Stupid roads change underneath his feet. All forests look the 
same. And sometimes hills attack Hulk.�



   

$Damn the hills, anyway.  Heh, you're milking that one for all it's 
worth, aren't you?
 

% Yeah, Spragg deserves it for being a villianous hill. It's such a 
disadvvantge for the big lug.

Iron Rose added, �I might be able to rig up an audio directional unit 
that you could use. If you have your Avengers card, and say, �I�� I 
mean, �Hulk want to go home� it will start beeping. The closer you get 
to Avengers mansion, the louder the beeps get. So you won�t have to pay 
attention to where you are walking, just listen for the beeps and walk 
around until they get louder.�



   

$Mmm.  I forsee problems with that.  A swath of destruction a hulk wide 
spiraling enexorably to the avenger's hideout.
 

% Heh.

�Hulk is good at listening. When tree fall in forest, Hulk knows he can 
hear it, even if he not there to hear it.�



   

$He's right you know.
 

% Yep. Even Hulk canbe philsophiscal sometimes.

�Your super nose would be affected by that, wouldn�t it?� Captain Japan 
jibed.

�At least I have a super power!� Daredevil snapped back.



   

$Oooh, burn.
 

% But Ranma's personality is such he doesn't need the fall back of a 
super power. He's got resolve, and an indestructble shield.

�I will,� Kaori shuddered. She�d prefer a date with both Saeba twins 
then spend one minute longer around Irie Soyozoh. Worse, she had a 
terrible feeling she�d be meeting him again whether she wanted to or not.



   

$Bitchiness is it's own punishment.  In stories.

Ah, finally.  Nice chapter.  I've always liked the hulk.  These filler 
chapters are pretty fun as an in depth look at hero specific villians.  
 

% Yeah, and I'm getting subplots moved alongg

I see Mousse's is out, so I'll be working on that soon.  Who's after 
that?  Kodachi? 

% Yep. Once I get started on it.

Or Ukyo?  I'm guessing you'll save Ranma for last, as 
the figure head of the avengers.  Nice fic, definitely fun to see a 
mermaid-monster make an appearance.  I also like what you've done with 
Banner.  Structurally, very clean.  I saw few mistakes, which have 
probably already been pointed out to you.  Here's my two cents!
 

% Thanks.

-Nugar

Look for my comments on chapter four soon!  But not today.
 

% Will look forward to them. And thanks again. It's really apprciated.

DB SOmmer

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