The battle between elf and demon was nothing like the struggle against the Abominations.
There were no traded blows, no physical clashes of flesh against flesh. This was a war of pure magical force, reality itself bending and warping as two beings of immense power collided in the sky above Harlem.
They moved too fast to follow, blurs of crimson and silver, trading attacks and counters at speeds that made the earlier battle seem like slow-motion footage. Lightning crackled. Hellfire roared. Waves of silver light clashed against torrents of demonic energy, and where they met, the air itself screamed.
Meanwhile, the rest of the battlefield wasn't idle.
The two Abominations, having recovered their breath, looked at the magical duel with disinterest. Magic was confusing. Destruction was simple.
They turned their gaze back to the heroes.
"LOOK OUT!"
Tony's warning came just in time. Ariadne dove left, Melina rolled right, as Blonsky's massive fist cratered the ground where they'd been standing.
The protective domes around the Hayes family flared as the second Abomination slammed into them. The barriers held, but Eileen could see the strain in their flickering light. They hadn't been created to last forever. Just long enough for Arthur to arrive.
If he knew to come.
Tony took to the air, his damaged suit whining. "Jarvis, reroute all power to thrusters and unibeam. Keep them off Anderson!"
Ariadne and Melina, battered and exhausted beyond reason, raised their weapons once more.
Without Chi, Ariadne was just a highly trained human with sharp swords.
The battle resumed. Desperate. Exhausting. Three wounded warriors against two regenerating nightmares.
They couldn't win. They all knew they couldn't win.
But they could delay.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Gunfire erupted from the surrounding rooftops.
Yelena and the Widows had returned.
The bullets did nothing to the Abominations, bounced off cleanly, but the suppressive fire distracted them, created openings, gave the melee fighters precious moments to reposition.
"About time!" Ariadne shouted, ducking under a wild swing.
"Traffic was terrible!" Yelena called back, already reloading with practiced efficiency. "Also, what the hell is happening up there?" She pointed at the sky, where Winky and Mephisto's battle lit the clouds with strobing light like a thunderstorm gone mad.
"Long story! Keep shooting!"
The tide hadn't turned, but it had stabilized. The Abominations couldn't focus on any single target long enough to land a killing blow. Between the three melee fighters, widows coordinated fire, and the chaos of the rooftop snipers, they were held in check.
For now.
But Ariadne could feel her body failing. Her ribs screamed with every movement. Her arms trembled with exhaustion. Without chi, her blades could only scratch. Not wound, not truly hurt.
They were delaying the inevitable.
And then Eileen felt it.
Movement. From the crater nearby, the place where something had fallen from the sky, the impact that had distracted everyone and started this nightmare's second act.
Something was climbing out.
Eileen moved closer to the edge of the barrier, peering into the dust. The protective dome followed her. Arthur's magic bound to her soul, moving where she moved.
A hand emerged from the rubble. Massive. Green.
Then an arm, thick as a tree trunk.
Then a figure pulled itself free.
It was enormous. Easily nine feet tall, maybe more. Green skin that seemed to absorb the light. Muscles rippling beneath that skin like cables of living steel. A face twisted with confusion and rage, eyes that burned with barely-contained fury.
Another monster.
The Hulk roared.
—
The Abominations stopped their assault instantly, heads snapping toward the sound.
The heroes froze. Three monsters?
The Hulk's roar faded into the night. He looked around, massive chest heaving, taking in the chaos—the fires, the destruction, the battles raging in the sky and on the ground.
His eyes locked onto Eileen.
She was closest to him. Closest to the crater. Standing behind a shimmering red barrier with two small children in her arms.
Every instinct Eileen possessed screamed at her to run.
She didn't.
Because beneath the rage, beneath the fury that radiated from this creature like heat from a furnace, she sensed something else.
Confusion. Fear. Pain.
This wasn't a monster. This was someone who was lost.
The Hulk took a step forward, massive fists clenching and unclenching. The ground trembled beneath his weight.
Eileen held her ground.
"Stop," she said.
Her voice was calm. Quiet. Completely at odds with the chaos surrounding them.
The Hulk stopped.
He stared at her, head tilted like a confused animal, clearly unsure how to process this response. People didn't usually stand still when he approached. They ran. They screamed. They attacked.
This small woman did none of those things.
"What's your name?" Eileen asked.
A pause. The Hulk's mouth opened, a roar building in his throat—
"Sorry," Eileen interrupted gently. "My mistake. I should introduce myself first, shouldn't I? That's how polite conversation works." She shifted Elena's weight in her arms, keeping her voice warm and steady. "My name is Eileen Hayes. What's yours?"
A longer pause.
Then, in a voice like grinding boulders, reluctant and rough:
"...Hulk."
"Hello, Hulk." She kept her voice gentle, the way she spoke to frightened children. "Are you okay? You fell from very high up. That must have hurt."
The Hulk growled softly, something dark passing behind his eyes. A memory. A grievance.
"You're angry," Eileen said. It wasn't a question. "You have every right to be."
Hulk looked at her with something approaching wonder. Why was this tiny woman supporting him? Why wasn't she afraid?
Eileen continued, her voice carrying the certainty of someone who understood. "Let me guess. Banner tried to get rid of you first. Some experiment, some attempt to suppress you or destroy you. And then when he needed you, when danger came, suddenly you were useful again. Throw you away when inconvenient. Come begging when needed." Her eyes softened with sympathy. "And his way of calling you out. Jumping from that helicopter without a parachute, I'd guess? Without any care for his life or yours. Just... jumped. Forced you to save him."
She'd gotten the first part from Eve's briefing. The rest she'd guessed.
From the look on Hulk's face, she'd guessed right.
He roared, but it was a soft roar. An acknowledgment. And slowly, almost shyly, he nodded.
The first person to understand how he felt.
CRASH.
The moment shattered as Tony was sent flying through another storefront, glass and debris exploding outward. One of the Abominations roared in triumph.
"Hulk," Eileen said quickly, urgently, "I know this is sudden. I know we just met. But can you help protect my friends? My children?" She gestured toward Tristan and Elena, still unconscious in her arms. "Those ugly monsters hurt them. They hurt everyone I love."
Hulk's gaze drifted to the children.
His expression... softened.
Something in those burning eyes recognized innocence. Recognized something worth protecting.
"Please, Hulk." Eileen met his eyes directly. "And after this is over, I'll ask my husband to have a talk with Banner. A serious talk. Maybe he can convince him to let you out sometimes. Let you be free, instead of locked away."
She smiled gently. "He could even keep the military off your back. How does that sound?"
Hulk's face split into a grin - wide, fierce, and genuinely happy.
He turned to look at the two Abominations, who had paused their assault to watch this exchange with growing unease.
"Hulk smash?" he asked, like a child asking permission.
Eileen nodded. "Please. Hulk smash."
The grin widened.
He turned toward the Abominations and roared, a challenge that shook the windows three blocks away.
"HULK SMASH!"
He charged.
—
The impact sent both monsters tumbling across the street.
Hulk was on his feet first, already swinging. A massive haymaker caught the second Abomination across the jaw with a crack like thunder, sending the creature spinning through the air. Before it could recover, Hulk grabbed it by the ankle and slammed it into the ground.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The pavement cratered with each impact, cracks spreading outward like spiderwebs.
Blonsky tried to intervene, jumping onto Hulk's back, but the green giant simply reached back, grabbed him by the face, and threw him through a building.
"Holy shit," Tony breathed, hovering in midair with his damaged suit sparking.
Ariadne had stopped fighting entirely, too stunned to move. "Is that..."
"Help," Eileen said, watching Hulk with something like maternal pride. "He's help."
The battle had transformed.
Where before it had been a desperate holding action, now it was a rout. Hulk was everything the Abominations were - the strength, the durability, the regeneration - but more. Purer. As if they were diluted copies and he was the original template. The real thing.
The second Abomination tried to flee. Hulk caught him by the leg and dragged him back, slamming him into Blonsky hard enough to send both monsters sprawling.
Blonsky attempted a coordinated attack, both Abominations striking from opposite sides. Hulk met them in the middle, trading blows that sent shockwaves rippling through the street, that shattered windows and set off car alarms for blocks around.
And he gave better than he got.
Much better.
For the first time since the nightmare began, the heroes were winning.
Eileen allowed herself a moment of hope.
Then Winky crashed to the ground beside her.
—
The elf hit the pavement hard, carving a trench through the rubble before coming to rest in a crumpled heap. Her silver skin was marred with burns and cuts, her elegant form trembling with exhaustion.
"WINKY!"
Eileen rushed over, helping the elf up. Winky was battered, her uniform torn, a nasty burn on her arm.
"Mistress..." Winky wheezed, leaning on her staff. "He is... very strong. I am sorry."
High above them, floating in the air with casual superiority, Mephisto laughed.
He looked impeccable. A few tears in his suit, a bruise on his cheek, but otherwise untouched. The power gap between a House-Elf, even an enhanced one, and a Hell Lord was simply too vast.
"A valiant effort," Mephisto said, his voice dripping with condescension. "Truly. For a creature of your station, you performed admirably. But this is the difference between us, little elf." He spread his arms wide. "I am eternal. You are merely... a servant with delusions of grandeur."
"Go to hell," Eileen spat.
"My dear Mrs. Hayes, I am Hell." Mephisto descended slowly, savoring his victory. "Now then. Let's end this tedious farce, shall we? Give me the child, and I'll even help dispatch those tiresome monsters. I'll leave your family intact. Mostly. You have my word."
"Your word is worthless."
"Perhaps. But it's the only offer you're going to receive."
Eileen looked at Winky's battered form. At her unconscious children. At the distant battle where Hulk was slowly, slowly, gaining the upper hand against the Abominations.
Then she looked up.
At the sky.
"Arthur," she said calmly, her voice carrying absolute certainty. "If you've had your fun watching, you can come down and end this now."
Silence.
Mephisto threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, that's precious. I told you, foolish woman! The space is locked! He cannot hear you! He cannot see you! He cannot sense anything happening within my barriers!" His eyes blazed with triumph. "Your husband is probably reading a dusty book on Asgard right now, completely oblivious, while everything he loves burns."
Eileen didn't flinch.
She didn't argue.
She just stared at the sky with the calm certainty of a woman who knew exactly how her husband operated.
"Arthur Hayes," she called out, her voice clear and cold and carrying a very specific threat. "Come down right now, or I will take the children and live with my parents in London. Permanently."
Mephisto smirked, raising his hand to strike. "Pathetic. He isn't com—"
POP.
The sound was soft. Gentle. Like a soap bubble bursting.
And then the sky cracked.
It wasn't a metaphor. The actual sky - or rather, Mephisto's barrier - split apart like shattered glass, fracture lines spreading across the night in every direction. The demon's careful seal, his supposedly impenetrable prison, came apart in pieces.
A figure descended through the gap.
He appeared between Mephisto and Eileen—simply appeared, as if he'd always been there and everyone had just failed to notice.
Tall. Dark-haired. Eyes that burned with quiet, controlled fury.
Radiating power that made Mephisto's earlier display seem like a child playing with matches.
Arthur Hayes had arrived.
And he did not look pleased.