Clint Barton and Loki’s hand-picked strike team were in a stolen Quinjet with a faked S.H.I.E.L.D. call sign, 26-Bravo. That got them close enough that by the time the air-traffic officer on the Helicarrier knew something was wrong, it was already too late.

Barton’s first shot hit the Helicarrier’s hull in front of one of the giant turbines that kept it in the air. It was just a beacon, meant to guide in the stealth missiles to follow. They would disable the Helicarrier, and while S.H.I.E.L.D. scrambled to react, he would be in and out with what he wanted.

When the explosions went off, he immediately heard Hill and Fury yelling over the Helicarrier comm system. He and Loki’s tech team had hacked the Helicarrier’s frequency as soon as they were within range. “Hill!” Fury called.

“External detonation. Number Three engine is down,” Hill answered.

Sure was, Barton thought. He was watching pieces of it fall, trailing smoke and fire on their way to the ground.

“Somebody’s got to get outside and patch that engine,” she went on.

Barton frowned.

“I’m on it,” he heard Tony Stark say. “Engine Three. I’ll meet you there.” He was talking to another member of Fury’s team, but Barton didn’t know who. It wouldn’t matter. He would make sure they didn’t get there . . . or if they did, it wouldn’t make any difference.

The Quinjet hovered at the infiltration point, an external hatch chosen to give them quick access to the detention area. That was where Loki would be. His team made entry, nice and clean. “Keep that engine down!” he ordered the fire team. Then he headed off himself to spring Loki. Dr. Selvig had the machine almost ready. It was go time.

The explosions that had taken out the Number Three engine also collapsed several of the Helicarrier’s interior decks—including part of Bruce’s lab. Natasha and Bruce lay pinned under steel beams and other wreckage down in a maintenance area. She was lying on a steel grate floor. Bruce was near her. “Romanoff ?” came Fury’s voice through her comm.

“We’re okay,” she said, even though she couldn’t get herself loose. Her leg was caught under an angled beam that jammed into the corner where the floor met the wall.

She looked over at Bruce. He was facedown a few feet away, fists clenched, making a constricted groaning noise. His legs were hidden by debris that pinned him in place. Natasha got uneasy. She didn’t like the noises he was making. “We’re okay, right?”

He kept groaning. The sounds got more and more intense . . . and less and less human.

“Bruce? You’ve got to fight it. This is just what Loki wants. Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Two techs came running to help them, and she waved them away quickly. She didn’t want them around if Bruce lost control of the Hulk. “We’re going to be okay,” she repeated. “All right? I swear on my life I will get you out of this, you will walk away and never—”

“Your life?!” he roared, looking up at her. His face terrified her. She could see the green gamma radiance in his eyes, and the rage in his expression was like nothing she had ever seen on a human face. He had lost control.

“Bruce?” she said again. But it was too late. She saw the transformation begin.

He fell and rolled, his body heaving. His skin began to turn green, and huge layers of muscles expanded with a crackling sound as his bones and joints also grew with incredible speed. His roars grew louder, monstrous, rattling the wreckage around them. Natasha knew she had to get out of there. As the Hulk, he wouldn’t recognize her. The only person he’d ever recognized was Betty Ross, and she wasn’t around at the moment. Natasha wouldn’t stand a chance.

With a last heave and twist, she freed herself from the fallen beam and ran. At that moment, the Hulk turned and saw her. She vaulted up a stairway and onto the next level. The Hulk swiped at the stairway and shredded it into scrap metal. Loki had gotten what he wanted. He must have been trying to time it so he could manipulate Bruce into becoming the Hulk right as his soldiers came to attack the Helicarrier. The Hulk would do at least as much damage from the inside as the rogue Quinjet could do from the outside.

Natasha kept running, and the Hulk came right behind her. For a moment, she thought she’d lost him, but then he came at her out of the shadows, roaring.

He was like walking rage, a single-minded engine of destruction. She shot a hole in the pipe over his head. Steam shot out of it into the Hulk’s eyes, stopping him for just the moment she needed to get a head start. She ran as fast as she could, but she knew she wasn’t going to stay away from him for long. He came after her, smashing through bulkheads and doorways like they weren’t even there and roaring the whole time.

She ducked to one side, and he shot past her, slamming into the opposite wall of a garage area. The Hulk looked around. He saw her.

This was it, Natasha thought.

At that moment, something exploded through the wall and into the Hulk. Natasha caught a glimpse of blond hair and armor before both Thor and the Hulk crashed through the opposite wall and into one of the main hangar decks. Flight crews and support staff scattered.

Natasha scrambled to her feet. Thor had saved her life. At least for the moment. NLBwVrWa0cWRAUkGnnek5SSL/YeFsnhZ/U8g1lFzCru+pgD3cQirUt4JW6+GKNyN