Finally, the Hulk pulled Spider-Man free of the debris. Gently, he lowered the still youth to the ground and brushed his thick fingers across the Web-slinger’s face.
“Bug-eyes?” the Hulk grumbled tentatively.
The jade giant flinched as a powerful explosion shook what remained of the hangar. Startled, he saw the battered consoles erupt into fire and smoke. He lifted Spidey’s limp form, cradled him gently in one arm, and bounded from the control room. His escape was cut off by the steady rain of maser blasts bombarding the hangar. He turned to lope around the deadly fire.
“Stop, monster!”
Pendergast stood at the mouth of the long corridor directly across from the Hulk. His elegantly tailored suit was ripped, with one sleeve hanging free and covered with dust and grime. His neatly clipped gray-and-silver hair was in disarray. In his hands was a rifle of some sort, one with a bulky canister clipped to its stock.
“Go away, little man,” the Hulk snarled, waving the tall man aside. “Hulk has had enough smashing and fighting today. Now Hulk just wants to be left alone.”
“You’ll be left alone all right, monster,” Pendergast shouted, his steel-gray eyes flashing madly. “You’ll be left alone for all of eternity! I’m going to kill you and that damned, interfering insect for what you’ve done!” His voice broke as he screamed across the room. The explosions taking place somewhere beneath the floor were growing louder and stronger, rocking the hangar. “You’ve destroyed me,” he sobbed. “You’ve destroyed us all!”
Spider-Man moaned as his eyes flicked open. Ohhh, my aching back . . . and everything else! Slowly, he realized he was being held in the Hulk’s massive arms. He rapped his knuckles on the big green man’s ribs. “Hulk . . .” he muttered.
Without looking at his companion, the Hulk lowered the Wall-crawler to the floor. Spidey tested his legs and saw he could stand.
“Hulk said go away!”
Oh-oh. Sounds like we’re not alone!
Spidey saw Pendergast. “You better do as he says, mister,” he called, his head still spinning. “He hasn’t had his morning coffee yet and he can get real crabby if you bug him.”
Pendergast raised his weapon. “He’ll never get the chance.”
“In case you’re forgetting, guns aren’t much good against . . .”
“And in case you’re forgetting, Spider-Man, this gas is!” Pendergast started to giggle but caught himself. “And before either of you can get within a dozen feet of me, you’ll both be unconscious.
“The maser beam and explosions once the fire reaches the fuel-storage tanks will take care of you and Bruce Banner from there!”
Not if we go up, it won’t!
“C’mon, Greensleeves. We’re splitting!” Spidey whispered.
The Hulk pushed Spider-Man aside, still glowering at Pendergast. “Hulk warned you, little man. Hulk gave you the chance to leave Hulk in peace, but little man would not go.” He flexed his mighty leg muscles and sprang toward Pendergast.
Pendergast screamed as a quarter ton of muscle and sinew descended toward him. The tall man swung his weapon up and wildly pulled the trigger.
A thick cloud of gas billowed from the nozzle, swirling around the Hulk. But the man-monster was prepared for the fumes this time and he had filled his mighty lungs before he leaped. He thumped to the floor and effortlessly plucked the gun from Pendergast’s hands. Lifting the tall man over his head, he brought Pendergast’s face up to his own, his lips curling in a snarl.
“Hulk warned you!”
The man-brute shook the white-faced man roughly and then, with an animallike cry, flung him to the ground. Pendergast collapsed with a sigh.
The Hulk started to turn and, as he did, the maser beam moved across the floor toward him.
“Watch it, Hulk,” Spidey cried, but it was too late. The narrow beam of ruby-red light exploded across the Hulk’s chest.
The man-monster gasped in surprise and pain and, in doing so, inhaled large amounts of the noxious gas that still hovered about him. He bellowed in anger, but the cry weakened as the nerve toxin attacked his system. The mighty Hulk began to stagger, his normally dull eyes more glazed over than ever. His arms and legs felt like great weights that he could no longer support. The great green Goliath collapsed to the floor with a strangled groan.
Spider-Man dived from the maser beam’s path as it moved past him, back toward the control room. He was back on his feet instantly, running toward the Hulk. Pendergast said something about rocket fuel . . . and as soon as that beam finds it, it’s big-boom-boom time in the old town tonight!
The Hulk was changing as he lay sprawled across the floor. His great body glowed with green energy and he was shrinking as the gas slowed his heartbeat and respiration. The primitive face relaxed, softened as the features changed to something more closely resembling a man, until, mere moments after the metamorphosis began, Dr. Bruce Banner had reclaimed his mind and body.
Maybe he’s no good in a fight this way, but it sure as heck makes him easier to carry outta here!
Spider-Man slung Bruce over his shoulder and, with a final glance at the control room engulfed now in flames and smoke, ran from the hangar into the deserted complex. The sound of trucks and cars was just fading into the distance as Spidey ran toward the Niagara River just down the sloping shore from the hangar.
Bahwhoooom!
Spider-Man felt himself being lifted off the ground and swept through the air by the force of the explosion that followed the maser beam’s striking the underground tanks containing highly volatile rocket fuel. The little that the rampaging Hulk had left standing of the once-proud hangar blew straight up into the sky.
Together, Spider-Man and Bruce Banner splashed into the rushing waters of the Niagara River.
23,000 miles in space, SpySat spun faithfully in its orbit with the Earth. Its internal mechanisms operated smoothly and soundlessly in airless space as it flashed its maser beam Earthward.
Then, to put it mildly, the satellite became confused.
Commands ceased being beamed to its computers for several seconds, then new information flowed in. New coordinates were set and the maser swung its aim. Then, just as suddenly, its telemetric links with Earth stopped, a signal for all systems to shut down. Automatically, the lens that beamed the maser Earthward closed its protective cover. But the maser still fired. It took only a few minutes for the internal heat of the satellite to rise dangerously.
SpySat exploded in a brief flash of fire.
But in the vacuum of space there was no sound.
Twenty-Seven
The roar of rushing water filled Spider-Man’s ears as his head broke the surface of the raging Niagara River.
The current carried the Web-slinger and the still-unconscious Bruce Banner rapidly down the wide river. Spidey struggled to keep the young scientist’s head above water.
Hunks of ice ranging in size from that of a baseball to that of an automobile swirled about them, as Spidey and Banner were carried by the powerful current. Spidey realized it had been more than two days since his capture by Pendergast and his crew, enough time for the unseasonably warm weather to thaw the river and send it flowing along to its ages-old destination:
The falls!
The Wall-crawler realized it with a start and tried paddling desperately for the shore, but the current was too powerful for him to overcome with his unconscious burden. He turned on his back and allowed himself to be swept along as he supported Bruce’s limp form against the length of his body.
Panic started to take hold of the Web-slinger and he had to try hard to fight it. He took quick gulps of air and forced himself to be calm. Be cool, Parker! Panicking will only make sure we get killed, but maybe, just maybe, we have a chance if I can keep calm . . .
He took another deep breath. Okay, okay. I’ve heard of people going over the falls in barrels or capsules, So I know it’s been done before.
Only thing I don’t ever remember hearing is if any of the schmoes
who tried it survived!
The pounding of the water roaring over the falls to the rocks far, far below grew louder.
Even if they did, what good does that do me? They would’ve had time to prepare for it with special equipment, a padded capsule to take the impact of crashing down to those rocks. I’ve got less than a minute and there’s not a barrel in sight.
Whoa! Think again, Web-head!
Spider-Man turned in the water and swam frantically with Bruce toward a large chunk of ice flowing along with them. He strained his battered, weary muscles to the utmost and reached the floe. Grunting with effort, he lifted Bruce out of the water and onto it, following right behind.
The Wall-crawler knelt and began to spin something from his unique chemical webbing. He worked desperately, fashioning a large, thick cocoon big enough to hold two. He glanced up every few seconds to check on their progress along the thundering waterway.
By the time he stood, the makeshift barrel completed, the roar of the falls was deafening. He knew his and Bruce’s time was measured in milliseconds now. He lifted Bruce and dropped him into the thick web barrel, following him inside. It was a tight fit, but it would have to do. Spray from the rumbling falls formed a thick, impenetrable mist as Spider-Man webbed closed the top of his barrel.
Then, hugging his knees to his chest, the Web-slinger waited.
The barrel tipped suddenly at a sharp angle and then rolled head over heels as it tumbled over the edge of Niagara Falls.
It was like the worst roller-coaster ride he could imagine and falling from a great height at the same time. The barrel spun madly about, tipping every which way as the pounding waters bounced it back and forth.
Spidey felt his stomach churn and heave sickeningly. He knew had he had any food down there, it would not have stayed down very long after this ride began. Irrationally, he realized it had been over seventy-two hours since he last ate. Stupid.
The stomach-wrenching trip seemed to go on forever before the web barrel hit something hard with a jar that sent agony shooting up the Wall-crawler’s spine. Bruce Banner, limp and unconscious, seemed no worse off from the trip.
The barrel bounced and spun again before landing with another painful jolt against something hard and unyielding. The rocks! We’re hitting the rocks!
It went on like that for several more seconds until Spider-Man thought he would scream in pain and then there was a final, gentle jolt and the barrel was bobbing gently upright in the calm water at the bottom of the falls.
Spider-Man exhaled through clenched teeth, realizing that he must have been holding his breath the whole way down. He shook his head and smiled shakily to himself.
Stupid.
“Oh, man,” Spidey moaned. “Even my aches have aches.”
Bruce Banner huddled before the small fire the Web-slinger had managed to build after dragging himself and Bruce from the bottom of the falls. Though the day was warm, the half-naked scientist was chilled from his plunge into the icy river. “I must say,” the young scientist smiled, “I’m almost sorry I wasn’t around for the big event.”
“Which one? The complex going up or us going down?”
“Hmm.” Bruce shook his head. “Come to think of it, I’m glad I missed them both. From what you told me, it sounded pretty bad.” He stared into the crackling fire, the smile fading from his handsome face. “Are you sure it’s gone?” he asked without looking up.
“The satellite?” Spidey squatted before the fire and held out his gloved hands to be warmed. “I did a pretty thorough number on the controls.” He shrugged. “Even if it’s not destroyed, there’s little chance anybody will be able to get at it. Very few cabbies are willing to go into that neighborhood.”
“Then I guess some good came out of this,” Bruce said softly.
“What do you mean? What else were you here for?”
The scientist laughed bitterly. “A dream.”
“Look around you, Doc. Ain’t no dreams around here. Just water.”
“The Hulk’s some kind of hero in all this, right?” Bruce said into the fire. “He’s helped make the world safe for democracy and all that crap, right? Well, can I tell you something you might find hard to swallow, friend? I would have given up today’s little victory willingly and let them have their satellite to do with as they pleased to whomever they pleased if there had been a cure for me here.”
“Hey, c’mon, Doc,” Spider-Man said. “It’s not all that bad?”
“Isn’t it, Spider-Man? I’m a radiation-created freak, a mindless rampaging monster whose sole purpose in life is to destroy,” Bruce said sharply. “Suddenly, half my life is no longer my own and the other half is shattered beyond repair by something I do but can’t remember because it’s not even me doing it.”
Spidey looked at the taut-faced scientist, silent.
“It’s not even a life anymore,” Bruce said half aloud. “Sometimes I wonder what horrible thing I could have done to offend God to deserve this.”
“Bull!” Spidey exclaimed.
Bruce Banner’s head jerked up. “What?”
“I said bull, Doc.”
“Look, I appreciate your saving my life and all, Spider-Man, but you don’t know what this is all about.”
“You’d be surprised, Doc. How do you think I got the way I am? By sending in fifty cents and my Post Toasties box tops? No, friend, I was the lucky sucker who got to be standing there when a radioactive spider decided it had to bite somebody.
“And I’ve had my share of tragedies, too—like the sweetest old man who ever lived, the wonderful man who raised me as his own son, and got killed because of my indifference. Like a life that’s so screwed up because of these powers and the damned responsibility that comes with them that sometimes I wonder if it’s worth getting out of this costume and leading it like I was a normal human being.
“Maybe what I’ve gone through doesn’t stack up to turning into a green monster, but there’s one thing I know for sure and that’s that wallowing in self-pity is the thing that’ll drag you down quicker than anything you can feel sorry for yourself about.”
Bruce Banner didn’t say anything for several minute after the Web-slinger’s outburst. He stared into the eerie mask that covered the face of the man called Spider-Man from view. “Yeah,” he breathed at last. “Yeah.” He stood and shoved his hands into his tattered pockets. “You know, friend,” he said, “the longer I’m with you, the more I believe J. Jonah Jameson and the Daily Bugle are full of so much stale fertilizer.”
“That’s putting it daintily.”
And speaking of Jonah Jameson, I’ll bet he and a lot of other folks in the big city are probably wondering where a certain Peter Parker has been hiding the past couple of days!
Spidey got to his feet and began kicking dirt over the fire. “Well, it’s been fun, Doc, but this little arachnid has got to be moving on now.”
“Just like the Lone Ranger, huh?” Bruce smiled. “The job done, evil banished from the West, you ride off on your faithful steed Silver.”
Spidey laughed. “Something like that, only in my case, they ask ‘Why is that man masked?’ ” The Web-slinger extended his hand and clasped Bruce’s. “What about you, Bruce? You making the sunset scene yourself?”
Bruce shook Spider-Man’s hand with affection. “If that’s where I’ve got to do my looking, I guess so.” He shrugged and smiled. “Hell, what I was looking for wasn’t here, so it’s got to be somewhere else, right?”
“Right.” Spidey released the young scientist’s hand. “And keep in mind if you’re ever in need of help in looking, I’m always available, Doc.”
“How can I pass up an offer like that from a superhero who’s read my books?” He nodded. “And thank you, Spider-Man.” The young scientist turned and walked away, huddled against the winter breeze.
Spider-Man waved to the man. “Good luck, Doc.”
Then he turned and walked away in the opposite direction.
Twenty-Eight
The stunning blonde-haired girl stormed up to Peter Parker as he walked from the elevator into the bustling city room of the Daily Bugle, the words tumbling from her in a jumbled rush. Peter smiled and reached out his arms to embrace the angry girl.
Cindy Sayers stepped back out of his reach. “Not so fast, buster,” she snarled. “I’ve had guys show up late for dates before, but never by four days without at least a phone call and I want an explanation. Now!”
“Don’t I even get a kiss?”
“Not till I get an explanation.”
“Then if you will just calm yourself, pretty lady, I will tell you.”
Cindy folded her arms across her chest. “I’m waiting.”
“Well, you see,” Peter said, stepping closer to her. “I was out on this assignment that Jameson sent me on and . . . ah-ha!” He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to him. Before she could protest, he kissed her.
“Got you,” he smiled after they separated.
Cindy smiled back and rested her forehead against his chest. “Oh, Peter,” she said softly. “I’ve been so worried about you I thought I was going to die. Why didn’t you call?”
Peter gently stroked her soft hair. “I’m sorry, babe,” he said. “I didn’t mean to worry anybody, but I was caught up in something up in Niagara Falls and . . .”
“Niagara Falls?” Cindy looked startled. “Isn’t that where that place . . . the Institute for Radiation Research, blew up yesterday?”
“Well, yes and no,” Peter started.
“And just what the hell is that supposed to mean, you ungrateful little thug?” J. Jonah Jameson thundered, trailing a thick cloud of pungent smoke in his wake as he stalked over to the couple by the elevators. “And where have you been all week? What’s the idea of running off and leaving Coswell like that? That idiot couldn’t find his hand if it was in his pocket much less get back to New York from New Jersey alone and file an intelligible story!”
Marvel Novel Series 11 - The Hulk and Spider-Man - Murdermoon Page 17