Chapter 90: Sokovia event part 7
William slammed Hulk into the ground with a thunderous crash, the sheer force of the impact sending cracks spiderwebbing through the floating island's surface. Without hesitation, he raised his foot and drove it into Hulk's gut like a battering ram.
"BOOOOM!"
A deafening shockwave erupted outward, rippling through the entire island. Chunks of rock and debris were launched skyward, and the very air trembled under the force. Hulk's body shot downward, plummeting through layers of rock and ancient ruins buried beneath the surface. A gaping chasm remained where he had fallen, jagged edges glowing red-hot from the sheer friction of his descent.
Yet, the Hulk was never one to stay down for long.
"RAAAGHHH!"
A furious roar echoed up from the depths. Hulk exploded from the ruins below in a blur of green fury, his fists already in motion. Each punch was a cannon blast, a living force of destruction. His strikes came in a relentless barrage, each one igniting shockwaves that sent ripples of force tearing through the battlefield.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
William twisted and weaved between the blows, his every movement precise, but even so, the force behind Hulk's punches was inescapable. Each missed strike carved deep, fist-shaped craters into the surrounding buildings, shattering walls and sending steel beams bending like twigs. Dust and debris clouded the air, turning the battlefield into a chaotic storm of destruction.
Then—
"WENG!"
A deep, resonant hum vibrated through the battlefield, drowning out even the sound of their combat. The very air grew heavier, charged with unnatural energy. William and Hulk instinctively halted, looking skyward.
The light of the sun was gone.
Above them, the sky was blotted out by a terrifying mass of swirling singularities, thousands of them, each distorting space with an eerie warping effect. The world itself seemed to twist and fracture beneath their gravitational pull. And at the center of it all floated a figure, arms raised high like a deranged conductor leading an orchestra of destruction.
Zola.
His cybernetic form pulsed with power, his synthetic skin stretched taut over a frame of metal and madness. The yellow gem embedded in his forehead glowed with a brilliance that outshone the dying remnants of daylight. His face contorted into a manic grin, his eyes reflecting nothing but pure, unhinged delight.
"HAAHAAHAAAA!" His laughter rang through the island, a shrill, mechanical cacophony. "This is the end, William Parker!"
The singularities trembled at his command, ready to descend in a cataclysmic wave that would consume everything.
But then—
"RUMBLE!"
The heavens roared in defiance.
Dark storm clouds, thick and roiling with fury, churned into existence above the battlefield. The atmosphere crackled with raw, untamed energy, and then—
"CRACK-THOOM!"
A massive bolt of lightning, thick as a tree trunk and wild as a dragon's breath, tore through the sky. It twisted and coiled like a living serpent, weaving effortlessly through the deadly singularities, its raw power defying the gravitational distortions around it.
"BOOOOOOM!"
The bolt struck Zola dead-center, consuming him in a blinding deluge of natural fury. Sparks and fire burst from his synthetic frame as the overwhelming current fried his circuits, his body convulsing violently. The force sent him hurtling toward the ground like a shooting star, his descent carving a burning trench through the battlefield. He plowed through steel and stone, reducing entire structures to rubble, before finally colliding with the grand staircase of his own palace.
The impact shattered the marble steps, sending cracks racing up the palace walls. Smoke and dust billowed into the air, swallowing his fallen form in a choking haze. The glow of his forehead gem flickered erratically within the cloud, its brilliance now dimmed, its power momentarily silenced.
Silence fell over the battlefield.
Then—
A faint, glitching noise crackled from within the dust cloud. A trembling, warping voice.
"I… I will… not… be denied…"
A yellow beam of unknown energy lanced through the air, crackling with raw power before smashing into the Hulk's broad chest. The impact sent the green behemoth skidding backward, his heels gouging deep trenches into the cracked stone beneath him. His muscles tensed against the force, but the unrelenting pressure drove him further and further back, straight toward William.
Reacting in an instant, William braced himself, raising his hands to catch the incoming mass of muscle. His fingers dug into the Hulk's thick skin, veins bulging as his arms locked against the force. The ground beneath his boots buckled and shattered, sending fissures spiderwebbing outward as the pressure of the beam pressed even harder against them.
"KKKKKCHHH!" The very earth beneath them screamed in protest.
On the battlefield's edge, Scarlet Witch let out a strangled gasp, her hands clutching her head as waves of mental energy surged from the Mind Gem's power. Her crimson aura flickered, unstable, before her knees buckled and she collapsed.
"Sis!" Quicksilver's eyes widened in alarm. In a blur of silver, he was at her side before she hit the ground. He cradled her limp form, feeling the rapid thrum of her heartbeat against his chest. His first instinct was to run, to get her away from this chaos. But as his gaze darted around, he grimaced. They were on a floating island in the sky. Nowhere to go.
Gritting his teeth, he carried her to a half-collapsed building at the far end of the battlefield, carefully laying her down behind what remained of a wall. His hands curled into fists as he looked back toward the fight.
William's gaze snapped upward, locking onto the looming figure of Zemo. The former baron stood above, his metal body radiating an ominous glow. His outstretched hand pulsed with power as gravity itself bent to his will. At his palm's center, a dense, swirling mass formed, a ball of compressed gravitational energy so intense that light twisted around it. Bits of shattered debris, remnants of the island's destruction, were drawn into its pull before being crushed and swallowed whole.
A smirk twisted Zemo's metallic features.
"DIEEEE!" he roared.
The Mind Gem embedded in his forehead flared, surging with power, and the singularity grew, collapsing further until it formed something far more dangerous. A black hole.
William's eyes sharpened as he watched the void pulse, its event horizon distorting everything around it. The moment it was released, the island itself began to quake. Chunks of stone and metal wrenched free from the ground, spiraling toward the growing anomaly. The very air groaned under its gravitational pull.
With a flick of his wrist, Zemo hurled the black hole downward.
A deafening roar filled the battlefield as the abyss spiraled toward William, devouring everything in its wake. The ground fractured, pieces of it lifting from the sheer force. Even the Hulk, despite his immense weight, felt the pull drag at his limbs.
But William stood firm.
His lips curled into a snarl as an eerie crimson glow flickered to life around his hand. The energy pulsed, shifting and twisting, its malevolent presence thick enough to make the air tremble. It slithered around his fingers, then extended outward, taking form, melding, stretching, solidifying into the shape of a massive, two-handed Zweihänder.
It was not an ordinary blade.
It pulsed with a terrible aura, forged from the very essence of hatred itself.
William exhaled slowly, his grip tightening around the hilt. His eyes burned with deep crimson as he raised the massive weapon high above his head.
The black hole hurtled toward him.
And then he swung.
"BANG!"
The moment the sword met the void, the battlefield erupted in chaos. A shockwave of unimaginable force burst outward, rippling through space itself. The very fabric of reality groaned as two absolute forces clashed, one an insatiable hunger that devoured all in its path, the other a weapon forged from pure, unyielding will.
Then—
"CRACK!"
The air fractured.
Jagged spiderweb cracks spread across the sky, dark and unnatural. From within them, a pure void energy seeped through, devouring everything in its wake. The black hole, once an unstoppable force, began to unravel. The Zweihänder, too, flickered and fractured as the creeping void consumed it.
For a brief moment, both William and Zemo stared, stunned by the sheer impossibility of what had just occurred.
Then, William moved.
He launched himself forward, shattering the momentary silence.
Zemo barely had time to react.
"Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, BANG!"
William's fists blurred as they crashed into Zemo's armored form with relentless fury. The first punch dented the metal plating. The second sent him reeling. The third and fourth shattered his additional limbs as he desperately tried to block. The final strike sent him hurtling through the air, his body spinning uncontrollably.
William didn't let up.
With a burst of speed, he dashed forward, vanishing, then reappearing in front of Zemo in midair. His fist cocked back, charged with raw power.
The famous Dragon Rush technique.
"BOOM!"
The impact sent Zemo flying, his body crashing through the sky like a broken marionette. William pursued, striking again. And again. And again. Each hit sent shockwaves through the air, each blow stripping away more of Zemo's armored body.
By the time they finally hit the ground, Zemo was barely recognizable. His once-pristine metal form was in shambles, his limbs shattered, his frame dented beyond repair. He was left as nothing more than a torso with a single, broken stump where a leg used to be.
Silence fell over the battlefield.
William exhaled, rolling his shoulders as he stepped forward. His crimson eyes locked onto Zemo's shattered form.
Zemo's crumpled body lay still, his mechanical limbs twitching as the last sparks of life flickered within him. The Mind Gem, once embedded in his forehead, pulsed faintly in William's grip, its whispers slithering into his thoughts.
But William ignored them.
His gaze shifted toward the final opponent.
Arnim Zola.
The scientist's robotic body stood before him, massive and foreboding, its hulking frame a twisted fusion of steel and synthetic plating. A single red eye glowed ominously in the center of its chest, Zola's true consciousness, encased in a reinforced exo-frame.
That eye was flickering now.
Even he knew what was coming.
"You… you do not understand what you hold," Zola stammered, his artificial voice crackling with static. "The Mind Gem, it is not meant to be wielded so carelessly! If you—"
"I don't care."
William's response was a death sentence.
Zola's systems surged into overdrive. His robotic arms reshaped, panels splitting open as they morphed into high-energy cannons. His chest plating expanded, revealing a secondary core, one meant to overload upon destruction, reducing everything around him to dust.
"If I must fall," Zola snarled, "then I will take you with me!"
He fired.
A surge of blinding energy erupted from his cannons, converging into a beam powerful enough to vaporize anything in its path. The sheer force of the blast ripped through the air, distorting reality itself.
But William didn't move.
He caught it.
With one hand.
The energy slammed into his palm and stopped.
The shockwave from the impact shattered the ground beneath them, but William stood firm, his fingers tightening around the condensed force.
Then, he crushed it.
BOOM!
The beam shattered into harmless particles, dispersing like dust.
Zola hesitated. "That… that is not possible."
William blurred forward.
Before Zola could react, a fist smashed into his torso, cratering the reinforced armor inward. Sparks and mechanical fluids sprayed from the wound as the scientist's robotic frame lurched backward.
William didn't stop.
A second punch.
A third.
Each blow shattered more of Zola's defenses, denting the metal deeper, exposing wires and circuits beneath. The massive robotic body staggered, its balance failing, the red eye flickering wildly as warning signals flooded Zola's system.
"You…" Zola's voice glitched. "You cannot destroy me. I am—"
CRACK!
William drove his hand straight through Zola's chest.
Metal crunched. Wires snapped. Sparks exploded from the massive cavity now carved into his torso.
The red eye in his chest flickered violently, Zola's digital consciousness scrambling to transfer itself deeper into his systems, searching for an escape.
William didn't give him the chance.
His hand shot upward, fingers clamping around the core that housed Zola's true mind.
"NO—!"
With one brutal yank, William ripped Zola's consciousness free.
The red eye dimmed instantly. The once-unstoppable robotic titan spasmed as its systems failed catastrophically, limbs jerking in random directions before locking up. The light inside flickered, then died.
Zola's body collapsed to its knees.
A moment later, the entire frame toppled over, slamming into the cracked ground with a resounding thud.
Dead.
William stood over the wreckage, his fingers tightening around Zola's core. The last remnant of the scientist still flickered faintly, his digitized thoughts trapped within the device.
For a brief moment, William considered crushing it.
But no, Zola would live in agony.
With a flick of his wrist, William pocketed the core. He'd find a use for it later.
He turned his attention back to the Mind Gem in his other hand, its golden glow still pulsing faintly. It called to him.
It wanted to be used.
But that, too, would come later.
With one final glance at the ruins around him, William exhaled, his breath slow and measured. The battlefield was silent now, save for the distant crackle of dying flames and the whisper of the wind carrying away the remnants of war.
He had won.
But victory meant nothing if he didn't find them.
His body felt heavy, exhaustion creeping into his limbs as he took a step forward. Then another. His boots crushed the broken debris beneath him as he pushed onward, his goal now singular, his women.
As he approached the palace, a group of figures emerged from the dust-laden horizon.
The Avengers.
They were gathered together, moving cautiously through the wreckage. But William's eyes weren't focused on them.
No, his attention snapped to the two women they were escorting, their elegant forms standing out amidst the battered heroes.
Anissa and Sif.
Relief flooded his system.
His glowing red eyes softened as he took in their faces, the sight of them calming something primal within him.
His demonic form, twisted by hatred and rage, melted away.
Golden Super Saiyan 2 energy flared around him once more, arcs of green lightning swimming through his aura. The weight of battle, the burden of his power, it all came crashing down. His knees buckled.
"HUFF… HUFF…!"
William fell to his knees, panting heavily, the exhaustion he had been holding back finally taking over.
His golden aura flickered… then dimmed. His body relaxed, allowing the transformation to subside, his form shifting back into his new base state.
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, he let go.
The world around him blurred, his vision swimming in and out of focus as the adrenaline finally left his system. His consciousness wavered, but he knew he was safe.
When he opened his eyes again…
He was lying on Sif's lap.
The battle had ended.
The chaos had faded.
And now, gentle fingers traced through his black hair, playing with the strands in slow, soothing motions.
Anissa.
Her touch was light, absentminded yet affectionate, each stroke easing the tension from his body. Sif's warmth surrounded him, her lap solid yet comforting, her presence grounding him back to reality.
For the first time in ages, he allowed himself a moment of peace.