The Girl Who Held the Universe in her Hands | marvel [1] ✔

SEVEN

CHAPTER SEVEN
' YOU WILL WALK AWAY . '

Romanoff glanced over at Banner, his breathing heavy. He gripped the grated floor, and his eyes turned green as his face tensed. The assassin then turned to Ash, who supported herself on her hands and knees a few metres away.

"I'm okay. We're okay, right?" Romanoff whispered to herself.

Banner struggled to suppress his rage, everything growing and changing. She tried to free her leg while comforting them. "Doctor... Bruce, Ash, you gotta fight it! This is just what Loki wants. We're gonna be okay, listen to me."

Ash took a deep breath, arms failing her, and she crumbled to the ground. A dark liquid-like substance started to slither from where she lay, her body beginning to convulse.

"We're gonna be okay. Right? I swear, on my life, I will get you both out of this. You will walk away and never-"

"-Your life?" Banner shouted, as his voice sounded his gradual change into the Hulk.

A whimper of pain escaped Ash's lips, and her body curled into a ball. Romanoff whipped her head around. "Come on, Ash, fight it!" she shouted, "You'll get out of this!"

The lights went out, and Banner began to contort. Green ripped away his normal skin, and his muscles rippled as his clothes began to break apart. Romanoff stopped her struggling, holding her breath. The Hulk sensed her either way, and he turned his head around to face her. Romanoff went to move but halted when she saw Ash blocking her exit. Her hair covered her face, her features hidden by the darkness, but the assassin knew those dark eyes pinned her.

Romanoff glanced behind her, helpless to watch the Hulk's hand barreling towards her. Just as she opened her mouth to scream, black mist surrounded the fist, balling around the joint and stopping it in its place. The Hulk and Romanoff both turned to look at Ash with her hand raised, fingers flexed with black eyes focused solemnly on the rage monster before her.

The Hulk began to charge toward her, but Ash pushed her hand forward. The magic narrowly missed the assassin and hit the creature square in the chest. He roared as the magic forced him back, and he tried to fight it by digging his feet into the ground as he struggled to move forward against the continuous force.

Romanoff looked between the two, jaw clenching as she tried to think everything through.

"When she's in this state, don't touch her, don't fight her, don't talk to her. She's a different person. She has no remorse, no conscience. The only thing she knows is to kill and maim. Get yourself out of there. Don't play hero, Romanoff. It'll get you killed."

A sigh escaped her, and she slammed her hand against the wall in frustration.

The sudden noise caused Ash to stop her assault, eyes flickering to where Romanoff stood. The breath that escaped the assassin was different this time, shaky, and her eyes widened. This wasn't Ash, and she needed to get out of there. Whipping around and barreling out of the room, she didn't look back to see who was the cause of the colossal bang in her wake. Another one followed, and Romanoff put all her effort into getting as far away as she could. She bolted up the stairs and rolled under a turbine, beginning to crawl into the maze of pipes. The Hulk's hand tore through the platform, and Romanoff fell under the catwalks. She heard the roar of utter rage that erupted from the Hulk's mouth.

Romanoff erupted into another sprint, tearing down the catwalks as the Hulk destroyed the structure behind her. She unhooked her gun from her belt and shot a nitrogen tank, the gas hissing and smacking the Hulk in the face. Ash appeared before her, looking somehow more menacing in the light. With a shaky breath leaving her, Romanoff took a step backwards, lifting a gun and pointing it towards her. Before either of them could move, a green hand wrapped around Ash and dragged her to the ground.

A colossal bang caused Romanoff's ears to sting with tinnitus, and through the flinch, which arrested her body, she saw the Hulk thrown through a wall by the black mist. Ash leapt back onto the catwalk, blood dripping from a cut on her forehead. She stared at Romanoff for a moment but turned away and walked towards where she had tossed the Hulk.

As Ash entered the aircraft hanger, the Hulk was recovering. He stumbled to his feet, shaking his head with his gaze landing on her. He charged, and so did Ash, black ribbons drawing from her palms and shooting towards the green creature. They surrounded him, and she spun in a circle, using her momentum to launch him back. Relentlessly, she hit him with balls of black mist, hitting every part of his body and forcing him back.

The Hulk's breathing was laboured, fighting to stay on his feet. Ash stopped, head tilting before she lifted a hand and drew the Hulk into the air. He struggled in the black magic's grip, the dark ribbons wrapping around his limps and slithering around his throat. To keep him restrained, she used both hands, black eyes trained on the monster as the Hulk writhed and shouted. One of her hands twisted, and he jolted in the air, but before she could continue with her torment, Thor collided with her body, launching her into the wall and breaking her concentration.

The Hulk slumped from where he fell to the ground, Thor turning his back to the green monster and glaring down at Ash. She pulled herself to her feet, magic sending the boxes skidding away from where they crunched under her fall. The magic appeared in her palms once more, her rampage looking like it was nowhere near an end, unlike the Hulk, who stumbled behind Thor.

Thor readied his hammer, twirling it in his grip. "This is a battle I have very much looked forward to."

Ash remained quiet, tilting her head. Thor launched his hammer forward, and black magic shot up to meet it halfway. Her hand trembled as it pumped mist to form a shield to prevent the weapon from getting close. Forehead wrinkling in the effort, she lifted her other hand to curl under the other, magic swirling under the hammer and throwing it to the side. It slammed through multiple walls, and Thor watched it disappear.

He hummed. "I see this version of Ash is far less intelligent than the other."

Ash tilted her head before the Hulk collided with her body and sent them both flying out through the tear in the Helicarrier wall.