Marvel: The Enlightened One#33+34: Smash and Dash, On General Ross's Radar

How long does it take for a building to collapse?

There's no single answer.

But here, on the military base at Quantico, the old gamma lab—already structurally compromised from Bruce Banner's little accident—finally gave way. A massive explosion from underground was the final straw.

In less than five seconds, the three-story building imploded, becoming a heap of rubble and twisted steel.

A thick cloud of dust billowed outwards, slamming against the surrounding metal fence with a deafening clatter.

The Quick Reaction Force that had been about to storm the building scrambled backward. They stared at the ruins, then collectively swallowed hard.

If they had gone in just a few seconds earlier, they would have been buried along with it.

After the initial shock and relief, the soldiers all looked to their captain.

"Coyote One, what are your orders?"

"...How the hell should I know?"

The captain, after a moment of stunned silence, finally found his voice. "Pack it up. We're done here."

His men stared at him.

"Sir?"

"What part of 'we're done' did you not understand? The building's gone. What are we supposed to do, dig the intruder's body out of the rubble?"

The captain rolled his eyes. He had been expecting a firefight.

Instead... he got this. A complete and utter anticlimax.

Just then, a Jeep screeched to a halt nearby. The lieutenant colonel who had called General Ross jumped out.

"Coyote Two, stand down your men," the captain ordered his second-in-command.

"Yes, sir!"

The captain slung his rifle over his shoulder and walked over to the colonel.

The colonel didn't even wait for a salute. He was staring at the still-settling dust cloud over the ruins. "What happened?"

The captain shook his head. "To be honest, sir, we're not entirely sure. But we can confirm, there was only one intruder."

He then repeated what the scientists had told him, and how the building had collapsed just as his team was about to make entry.

Hearing that there had only been one intruder, the colonel's face went blank.

"Are you sure? Just one?"

"Yes, sir."

"Mother of—"

The colonel bit back the curse, a look of sheer disbelief on his face. "One man? What kind of maniac pulls something like this?"

It wasn't that Quantico had never been attacked before.

But...

Even foreign agents came in teams. And most of them never even made it past the main gate.

Everyone knew that Quantico was a raid boss, a team effort.

And this guy—

This guy tried to solo it??

What was he thinking?

The colonel couldn't wrap his head around it.

The captain just shrugged. He glanced back at the rubble. "Maybe it was a suicide mission, sir. Maybe the building was his only target. He never planned on getting out."

The colonel considered it for a moment, then nodded.

"It's the only explanation that makes any sense."

"Shit."

"I can't believe I called the General for this. I should have waited."

The colonel's face fell as he remembered his frantic call to General Ross.

If he had known it was just a suicide bomber, he never would have made the call.

Well...

At least, not in such a panic. Now he had to call back.

The colonel sighed, told his aide to have the base control room stand down the alarm, and pulled out his phone again.

The call connected instantly.

"Report!"

"General, the intruder is dead."

"Dead?"

General Ross, who was still urging his driver to go faster, was taken aback.

"What happened?"

"We don't have an ID on the intruder yet, sir, but he was working alone. The gamma lab has collapsed. We're currently assessing it as a suicide mi—"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

"HOLY SHIT!"

Just as the colonel was briefing General Ross, a thunderous explosion erupted from the ruins of the gamma lab.

The next second, he saw it. In the glare of the searchlights now focused on the rubble, a figure shot out from the dust and smoke.

The colonel froze.

The Quick Reaction Force Captain let out a cry of disbelief. But his training kicked in instantly.

"Contact!"

"Light him up! Light him up!"

"BRRRRRRT! BRRRRRRT!"

The rest of the Quick Reaction Force, who had been about to stand down, snapped back into action. They raised their rifles and unleashed a hail of automatic fire at the figure standing in the wreckage—a dark silhouette against the swirling smoke.

At the same time, the base-wide alarm, which had just been silenced, began to shriek once more.

The soldiers, who had just been dismissed, looked around in confusion.

What the hell?

Didn't they just turn it off?

Just as they were starting to wonder if someone in the control room had hit the wrong button, the sound of gunfire reached them.

"Shit!"

"Another one?"

"Move, move, move!"

"BRRRRRRT! BRRRRRRT!"

Hawk's figure flickered in and out of existence on top of the rubble.

Deep beneath the ruins, the last of the Gammanium had been absorbed into his Cosmo.

He looked up at the soldiers firing at him, and at the reinforcements now swarming the area.

And—

The low rumble of tanks rolling into position, and the rhythmic thump-thump-thump of attack helicopters lifting off the ground.

Yep.

He had officially kicked the hornet's nest.

But my work here is done. Now I just need to find a quiet place to digest this meal.

Hawk thought to himself. As the smoke around him began to clear, he raised an eyebrow, then turned, bent his knees, and with a final, explosive CRACK of shattering concrete, launched himself into the sky.

The next second, with the searchlights struggling to track him, he carved a perfect arc through the night sky and disappeared into the forest outside the base.

Right.

Phase one, the lightning raid, was complete. Time for phase two.

Run like hell.

<><><><><><><><>

By the time General Thaddeus Ross arrived at the Quantico military base, the alarms had been silenced.

For real, this time.

But the crisis was far from over. The base's command center was a hive of activity, buzzing with controlled panic.

This was a major embarrassment.

Someone had not only breached their base with ridiculous ease and destroyed a building, but had also managed to get away completely clean.

And the worst part?

They had lost him.

"What do you mean, you lost him?"

"We lost visual in the forest, twenty miles south of the base."

"What about our air support?"

"Sir, it's a dense forest, at night. The choppers couldn't get low enough for a clear shot."

"Shit!"

The lieutenant colonel slammed his fist on the table. "Scramble everyone. Get those birds back in the air. I want this son of a bitch found."

His aide snapped a quick "yes, sir" and hurried out of the room.

The colonel stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the live feeds from the helicopters and ground teams on the main screen. Just then, a deep voice came from behind him.

He flinched, then spun around to see General Ross, his face as black as thunder.

"Ge-General..."

"One intruder, Colonel, and you lost him. Impressive."

Ross said, his voice dangerously calm.

The colonel opened his mouth, then closed it. Instead, he had a tech pull up the surveillance footage of the intruder's escape.

Ross turned his attention to the main screen.

He saw the figure, a silhouette in the smoke and searchlights, then a blur of motion as the intruder launched himself into the air and disappeared into the forest.

Ross was stunned.

A moment later, he looked at the colonel. "You said the gamma lab was the only target?"

The colonel nodded quickly. "Yes, General. He breached the perimeter, and moments later, the building collapsed. We thought he was a suicide bomber. But then, right as I was updating you, he just burst out of the rubble."

"..."

Ross said nothing. He just watched the footage of Hawk's impossible leap on a loop, his mind racing.

One man. A clear objective. Inhuman evasion. Superhuman strength.

Ross's eyes glinted.

"Did any other cameras get a look at him?"

"The tech team is reviewing all footage now."

"Have you got a location on him?"

"...No, sir."

The colonel glanced at his aide, who had just returned and was shaking his head. He braced himself. "We lost him in the woods, twenty miles south. We're still searching."

Ross just nodded.

The next second, without another word, he turned and started walking out. "Get a crew. I want that lab dug out. Now."

The colonel snapped to attention. "Yes, General!"

But by the time the heavy machinery had been brought in, the rubble cleared, and the bodies of the fallen soldiers recovered, the sun was rising.

The helicopters, which had been flying all night, returned to base.

The pilots were exhausted, but the machines weren't. With fresh crews and a full tank of fuel, the choppers took off again, fanning out in all directions, a dragnet searching for the man who had, for all intents and purposes, taken a dump on the United States Marine Corps and walked away.

The ground troops were just as relentless.

The soldiers who had been out all night were replaced by a fresh wave, who were now sweeping through the forests surrounding the base.

They were in it for the long haul.

Ross hadn't slept either. He was sitting in his car, parked near the ruins of the gamma lab, his eyes closed.

Just then, his aide, sitting in the driver's seat, answered a call. After a few grunts of acknowledgement, he turned to Ross.

"General, it's Director Fury."

"...Hmph."

Ross slowly opened his eyes, took the phone from his aide, and put it to his ear.

"Ross."

"General Ross. I hear things got a little lively at Quantico last night."

"..."

The smug, self-satisfied tone on the other end of the line made Ross's head throb. "What do you want, Nick?"

In his office at the Triskelion, Nick Fury, clad in his signature black trench coat and eyepatch, leaned back in his chair. He was also watching the footage of Hawk's escape. He chuckled.

"A joint operation. What do you say?"

"You can kiss my ass." Ross scoffed. "This is a military matter. I'm warning you, Nick, stay out of it. And if I remember correctly, your operational authority has been suspended, hasn't it?"

With that, Ross hung up. He didn't bother to wait for a reply. It would have just been more bullshit anyway. He handed the phone back to his aide, sat up straight, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Any sign of him?"

The aide shook his head.

"No, sir."

"Heh."

Ross didn't seem surprised. He let out a dry, humorless laugh and changed the subject.

"Have they dug out the lab yet?"

"ETA ten minutes, sir."

"Let's go."

Ross pushed open his car door. "I want to see for myself."

His aide scrambled to follow.

By now, the bodies of the soldiers who had died in the lab had all been recovered. They were laid out in a neat row nearby.

Their deaths...

Were all different, but the expressions on their faces were the same: shock, terror, and utter disbelief.

Ross's gaze swept over them. He turned to his aide. "File a report. Maximum death benefits for all of them. I'll sign off on it personally."

The aide nodded and made a note.

Soon, the ten minutes were up. The entrance to the underground tunnel had been cleared.

A team of base scientists, who had been on standby, descended into the pit.

"It's gone."

"IT'S ALL GONE."

"Unbelievable. Did he... absorb all of it?"

"Jesus Christ. But why didn't he turn into a monster like the Hulk or the Abomination?"

A series of shocked, disbelieving cries echoed up from the tunnel.

Ross's eyes lit up with a terrifying intensity.

"Aide!"

"Sir."

"FIND HIM. AT ANY COST."

"Understood!"