Hero Association Online Part 9
Cull Obsidian ripped the axe out of his own chest and, with a roar, raised it to slash at Hulk in mid-jump.
But Hulk twisted his body in the air and struck the weapon with his forearm, deflecting it just enough to avoid taking the full blow. Even so, the blade carved a green line across his skin.
Hulk growled in pain.
But he kept moving forward, and his massive green fist slammed into the solar plexus of the already half-dead Cull Obsidian, sending him flying straight toward where Peter and Pietro were fighting.
Peter barely moved his head and, without thinking, fired several webs, stopping Pietro's advance. Then he jumped, using Cull Obsidian's shoulder as a springboard to launch himself back into the air, while at the same time redirecting the gray giant's trajectory away from the spot where Pietro had been trapped just moments earlier.
"Shit," Pietro managed to say.
While Peter, still in midair, fired two webs straight at Hulk's face.
The webs covered his eyes.
"Hulk can't see."
Peter immediately jumped, sticking himself to Hulk's chest and using both legs to force his jaw backward while firing another web at the ground, trying to redirect Hulk's fall.
Hulk opened his mouth and roared with such force that Peter was blasted away by the shockwave.
Pietro, who had barely escaped being crushed by the giant Cull Obsidian, took the opportunity to try to catch Peter.
But Peter spun through the air and fired web pellets straight at Pietro, who dodged them at incredible speed.
But the instant they hit the ground, they exploded, creating huge webs.
"Damn it, Tony! Did you really have to invent so many different kinds of webbing?" Pietro couldn't help complaining, because those webs were seriously annoying and incredibly sticky.
And Peter knew how to use every single one of them perfectly.
Tony didn't answer because he was busy firing energy blasts at Ebony Maw, who ripped underground train tracks from beneath the street and hurled them toward Tony as the road split in half.
Even so, Tony managed to catch glimpses of Peter's fight against Hulk and Pietro, though only for brief moments, keeping track of the battle to make sure the kid didn't get hurt.
"Yeah. That kid definitely deserves extra points for stopping Hulk. Even if he's under mind control."
Peter landed atop a bent streetlamp without saying a single word.
"Friday. What about the kid's brain patterns? Can this be fixed?"
"Analyzing."
Meanwhile, Supergiant floated gently, watching all the chaos for a moment before turning around and calmly leaving with Strange in her arms while everyone was distracted by Hulk and Cull Obsidian.
Seeing this, Ebony Maw raised one hand, dismantling a nearby building brick by brick until it rapidly turned into hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of spikes.
Then, with another motion, they rained down across the battlefield, attacking everyone and trying to create enough of a distraction for the two of them to escape.
But Tony noticed it in time.
His thrusters ignited, sending him rocketing straight toward Ebony Maw.
But the alien raised his hand, and the entire ground in front of Tony surged upward like a wave made of concrete, twisted metal, and crushed cars.
Tony blasted through part of the wave with his lasers, but several chunks slammed into his armor, forcing him off course.
Pietro tried to move toward Supergiant again.
But Peter appeared right in front of him.
"Come on, buddy. Let's not do this," Pietro said as he came to a stop a few meters away.
Peter didn't answer.
He simply raised both hands.
Pietro swallowed.
"That doesn't exactly look like a friendly response."
Peter fired an entire web net at him.
Pietro disappeared.
The webs hit the ground, but at the same time Peter twisted his wrist, using the web to feel the vibrations in the air.
When Pietro appeared beside him, Peter was already jumping.
Pietro's eyes widened.
"Even under mind control he still has that damn weird sense?"
Peter kicked him square in the chest.
Pietro blocked with both arms, but the impact still sent him flying several meters backward.
"Okay. That hurt. And I think it's unfair for a teenager to be that strong."
On the other side, Hulk emerged from the rubble with Cull Obsidian wrapped around his waist.
"Hulk tired of axe."
He lifted the giant alien and slammed him into the ground once.
Then again.
Then again.
Each impact drove the street deeper into the ground.
Then he shoved both hands into Cull Obsidian's chest, which had already been split open by his own axe, and with an enraged roar, tore him in half while blood completely drenched both of them. Everything got way too gory way too fast.
Then Hulk picked up the axe again, which by this point seemed to have become one of his favorite things, and turned toward Supergiant, who had paused in midair to look at him.
"Dangerous woman," Hulk said, and hurled the axe at her with all his strength.
Tony, who was still fighting Ebony Maw, heard that through the communicator and couldn't help widening his eyes for a second.
"Did you just prioritize targets?"
"Hulk smart."
"Yeah. I'm starting to notice."
While the axe was flying through the air, Peter appeared again.
This time he didn't try to stop it with brute force.
Instead, he fired a web at the spinning axe.
At the same time, he shot dozens of additional webs, trying to slow it down by anchoring them to the surrounding buildings and using his own body as resistance. He fired webs to both sides of the street, creating a massive web stretched between the buildings.
The web stretched until it was almost about to snap.
For one second, it looked like it might actually stop the axe, even if it cost Peter both his arms... or tore him in half.
But Tony, seeing this, couldn't help redirecting his attack away from Ebony Maw and firing a barrage of lasers at the kid's webs.
The web snapped.
And the axe, carrying Peter along with it, continued flying toward Supergiant, who watched everything with a calm expression.
The single second Peter had bought was enough time for her to step to the side, easily avoiding the axe.
"What an obedient child," she said as she watched Peter disappear into the distance together with the axe.
Tony heard that.
And something in his face changed.
The joking side of him disappeared.
Completely.
"Nicolás, what the hell are you doing?" he couldn't help roaring, almost furious now that he had seen the sniper fail to provide support when he should have.
"I'm sorry, Tony. Someone asked me for a ride a moment ago," Nicolás immediately replied, his tone filled with guilt after seeing what had happened.
"A ride?" Tony asked, on the verge of getting even angrier.
But right at that moment, an enormous shadow covered part of the city.
The donut-shaped spaceship floating above New York, the same one that still had multiple weapons aimed at different points throughout the city, began to tremble.
Ebony Maw looked up.
Supergiant did too.
A golden flash appeared above the ship.
And then...
The ship exploded.
It wasn't a normal explosion.
It was as if something had split it apart from the inside using nothing but raw strength.
A golden crack tore across the entire structure from one side to the other, and the next second the alien ship split open like a smashed piece of fruit.
Enormous chunks of burning metal began falling from the sky.
Tony looked up.
Amid the flames and the wreckage of the ship, a figure descended as though the sky itself had an obligation to hold him up until he decided to touch the ground.
An enormous, muscular man with a confident smile and a golden mace resting on his shoulder landed atop a still-falling chunk of metal.
Then he leaped from it onto the street.
The moment his feet touched the ground, everything shook.
Hercules looked up with a huge grin.
"Ha! So this is the famous invasion everyone was so worried about!"
Tony stared at him in silence.
So did Pietro.
Even Hulk stopped fighting for a second.
Hercules spun his mace over his shoulder and looked at the aliens with an almost insulting amount of enthusiasm.
"I have to admit... I expected more."
Supergiant narrowed her eyes when she saw the newcomer. The serene smile she'd worn until now disappeared, replaced by a much more serious expression as she sensed the aura surrounding him.
"Seriously? Isn't he supposed to fly or something?" Tony couldn't help saying. Though seeing Hercules arrive, he couldn't help feeling a little more at ease.
Right until Hercules opened his mouth.
"Fear not, man of metal! The son of Zeus has arrived!"
Tony fell silent.
Remembering the drunk Hercules who usually wandered around the island.
And remembering that he'd gotten his spirits back.
Something Tony wasn't entirely sure was a good thing or not.