Chapter 355: Red Hulk

13th June 2013, Avengers Tower

(Tony Stark POV)

The former General, though, seemed to get angrier, and practically growled at the genius, "Is that what you think, Stark? That I'm powerless?"

"Well, aren't you? You're here as a last measure, where you're hoping to arrest the Avengers and put them back into your cells, to prove to the world that you're still capable. Well, you're wrong, and from what I'm seeing of you, you're barely stable as is. So, just accept your loss and move on, Thaddeus. It's better for everyone if you just do. I guarantee it."

"Guarantee it?" the former General asked himself, "GUARENTEE IT? YOU MISERABLE SON OF A BITCH! I HAVE DONE EVERYTHING I COULD TO PROTECT MY COUNTRY, AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME? YOU UNGRATEFUL BRAT!"

As he was talking, he was getting redder and redder, and oddly growing. His eyes started to glow red, and it looked like they were on fire. The process was slow, but it didn't take long for the General to turn into some odd red version of the Hulk. Although, for some reason, he was oddly burning. The ground seemed to melt slightly with every step.

Tony looked at the monster that used to be the Secretary of State, and only one word came to his mind, "Fuck!"

What the hell did Ross do to himself? Was he able to somehow reproduce Banner's accident? It was different, though. Outside the obvious red skin, the heat surrounding the former General's form was obviously something the Hulk never had to deal with. But could it be weaponized, or was it a side effect of the transformation?

Tony didn't have the time to think on this further. He leapt in the air, dodging the giant red arm that tried to hold him. The red hulk smiled, "not so smart now, are you, Stark? What was it you just said? Oh, that's right, that I'm powerless. What do you think now?"

Tony forced out a chuckle to hide how nervous he felt, "well, I think you've definitely been taking something. Is it steroids? It certainly would explain the muscles."

The General sneered, "You're going to tell me everything I want."

"Or, what?"

"Or what's left of you could be mistaken for ground beef. Trust me, I'll enjoy ripping you apart, you arrogant asshole," the former General responded.

Tony didn't like the sound of that, "How about a counteroffer?"

Before the red giant could voice his confusion, he was accosted by a veritable army of Iron Man suits. If Ross was anything like Banner, Tony knew that the suits wouldn't last long in the fight. Ross was unlucky, in a way; Tony had analyzed Bruce's transformation and structural weaknesses. Hulk's biggest weakness was his eyes. Oh, they were nearly indestructible and from the tissue he analyzed, he figured that they could even grow back. But no, they were far more sensitive. Tony motioned to Jarvis to target the eyes, and the yell of pain was enough to tell the billionaire that the Red Hulk shared the same weakness.

It was barely even a hit, but it was enough of a distraction for Tony to calculate his next move. He was alone in the tower. The Avengers were all away, either being fugitives, or just away from the tower like Nat and Rhodey. But first, Tony needed some basic protection, a suit.

He called for one, which immediately opened up and let him come inside. With the familiar armor put in place, he wasn't as vulnerable and could actively participate in the fight.

Still, Tony found no other option as he watched as the former General was tearing apart his suits with ease, "Jarvis, call Veronica."

He definitely did not want to deal with the aftermath of the world knowing that he had that kind of firepower, but he was kinda desperate and couldn't see any other way out.

Now, he had to hold on until the Hulk buster armor was ready, when Veronica comes down from the Stark Industries Satellites. Ross finished off the last robot in the tower, and was now walking slowly towards him, the ground slowly melting with every step, "Where are they, Stark? Where is Banner? Where is Rogers? Where is Wilson?"

Stark pretended that he wasn't terrified, "I don't know. But I do know one thing. They're far beyond your reach."

"So, you're forcing me to do this the hard way? Remember Stark, you brought this on yourself."

The Red Hulk tried to grab him, but Tony dodged and answered with a repulsor beam to the head. Ross roared as Tony sent a small missile at him, practically destroying the penthouse.

Tony flew away from the explosion, hoping that the fight was over, but still knowing deep down that it wasn't even close. His suspicions were proven to be correct when a red giant leapt from the building and punched Tony with the power of a truck. It took a few moments for Tony to stabilize in the air after the impact and it was enough for his opponent to jump up, grab him and throw him to the street.

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The armored Hero limped up, even if he could feel a few of his ribs having been broken in the crash, "Ross, what are you doing? Don't you think that this is going too far? You're endangering civilians for no reason."

The Red Hulk sneered, "I can do whatever I want. I'm the one in control here."

"You think they'll change their minds about the Accords, that they will support it despite the bigotry, despite the corruption, because they're seeing you attack someone in their home? Hell, I'm a normal human, you're the one that's now Enhanced. Did you register that in your precious Accords, or are you breaking the law? Technically, the government can put you in jail for life. How does that feel?"

Ross didn't seem to care, "I AM THE GOVERNMENT!"

Tony looked around and saw a few choppers filming the conflict. That's the media for you. Fucking suicidal idiots.

"I think the President would disagree. Look around, you're being filmed, and our conversation and you attacking me has been uploaded to the internet, right about now. So, didn't you say that this was a war of public opinion? They know exactly who you are, and why you're attacking me. With that, you just hammered the last nail in your coffin."

"YOU THINK I CARE?" the Red Hulk bellowed, "These people don't matter. You don't matter. Once I'm done with teaching you some manners, the rest will follow. If you survive what I'm about to do to you, that is."

Tony didn't know what kind freaky logic the man had, but it was severely misguided. He didn't really think he could convince Ross to back down, but he did need to stall. The billionaire suppressed a grin when he heard Jarvis' voice, "Veronica is online and ready, sir."

"Send the Hulk buster armor at me, please."

"Yes sir," the virtual intelligence answered.

Tony jumped and started to fly up. Ross laughed, "You think you can run away from me, Stark?"

The billionaire smirked and slowly, parts of the Hulk buster armor started to fly down and assemble itself around his suit. By the time it was done, Tony was almost as large as his opponent, and he dived down and punched the red Hulk in the face.

He then picked him up and threw him in central park, away from the people, to avoid casualties. He jumped up and leapt towards his opponent, trying to punch him in the face again. Ross dodged by rolling away and kicked him in the chest.

The impact sent Tony flying a few meters, but the genius was able to land on his feet and ready a repulsor beam at the Red Hulk's face. It seemed to be more effective than the one from his previous suit. Tony then ran and tackled him to the ground, and kept punching him in the face while muttering, "Go to sleep! Go to sleep! Got to sleep!" repeatedly.

Suddenly, Ross started steaming and heat came out of his body, blasting the Hulk buster armor away. It had practically melted through a couple of layers in. However, the Red Hulk seemed to be more exhausted with that attack, and was kneeling while gasping for air. Tony decided to take advantage of this by powering his unibeam. Twenty seconds later, he was ready to blast and fired his massive attack at his opponents. It was so powerful that the impact blinded him for a couple of seconds. As the dust settled, Tony noticed his opponent limping forwards, "I didn't think you had that in you, Stark. That's a damn good suit, I'll admit that."

The red giant then let out a smug glare, "But you're not the only one with fancy suits."

Before he could register the general's revelation, Tony was immediately accosted by a black mechanical suit. It looked almost like one of his own, but oddly organic. There was a hole on its chest that it was using to fly. It was a lot stronger than its size suggested, and Tony's inner engineer marveled at its creation.

The damn thing was deceptively powerful too. It was able to tackle the Hulk buster armor by itself. In response, Tony sent a punch at it and sent it away. Only to be accosted by another one from the back, which he grabbed and threw at the other one. He sent a repulsor beam at them, expecting them to be destroyed, but they were durable as well.

The beams did seem to be effective, but the robots were regenerating and becoming more resistant to the impact somehow. It had to be some kind of nanotechnology. Tony was planning on delving into the subject himself, but never found the time to do some proper research. Did Richards build him these monstrosities?

The suits were slowly walking towards him, only for Tony to be attacked again from the back. He grabbed the robot, threw it in the air and sent a small missile at it.

Or at least he tried. One of the robots' arm somehow morphed into a blade and sliced one of the suit's arms off like a hot knife through butter. This was insane. Tony was so surprised that he didn't see the other robots cut off the suit's other arm and a leg. Unbalanced, Tony fell on the ground while trying to get Veronica to send him more limbs to fight this thing.

What the hell were those things. Before He could respond the Red Hulk walked up to him while grinning, "I see that you're admiring my sentinels. They really are a marvel, aren't they, Stark? These are the enforcers of the Accords. Trust me, when these things are mass produced, no one will even think about breaking the law, especially with the mutant gene sensor they're equipped with. I have to say, they're very effective. Trask might be a dick, but he's an effective one, at least."

Trask? That racist asshole built these suits? Who the hell was insane enough to approve a project like that? No, this wasn't the time for this crap. The sentinels had destroyed some of the critical components in the Hulk buster. He'll need to summon a new one.

Tony ejected himself from the giant suit, staying in his smaller one, and activated the self-destruct of each of the limbs and torso. They exploded in his opponent's face, and he grinned slightly, only for him to feel pain in his gut. There was another sentinel there. How many of these things were left?

Tony fell down, while everything was getting dizzy. He thought that he was going to die, but for some reason, the pain turned to warmth, and his vision started getting clearer. He blinked and saw a familiar redhead appear next to him. He felt a voice in his head, 'Are you alright Tony?'

'Words can't express how happy I am to see you, Grey.'

The redhead chuckled and Tony felt her reading his memories of the events. He normally would have complained about this breach of privacy, but considering the situation, he would hold his tongue.

The redhead then turned towards the Red Hulk and waved her hand. The red giant immediately fell unconscious and every sentinel in the park turned to dust. What the hell? Tony had been fighting for his life, and the mutant could just walk there, wave her hands and just beat his enemy along with his overpowered robots? Life really wasn't fair.

Tony didn't care that this was ironic considering that he was a billionaire.

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