Hard Game pt 5

None of them had time to mock the speed with which Loki ran to the car, because no one was staying behind to find out what caused that scream.

When everyone got in, Natasha quickly stepped on the gas to get as far away as possible.

"Hey... is it who I think it is?" Tony said, looking out the back window. Something green was falling from the sky, not too far from where they had just left. "Nat, if it's not too much trouble, could you speed up even more?"

"This is the maximum speed this thing can go!" Natasha shouted without taking her eyes off the road.

"Dammit, that guy saw us!" Loki said, terrified, as he saw the massive green beast staring at them and starting to run toward them.

"NAT!" Tony shouted again.

"Shut up, you're distracting me!" Natasha responded as she turned a corner.

Then, they saw it up close: it was none other than Zombie Hulk, running toward them as fast as a runaway truck.

At the corner Natasha turned, Hulk tried to do the same, but he was going so fast that he crashed into a building, completely demolishing it… only to come out of it like it was nothing.

 "GRUUUAAAAARRRR!"

He roared and, without wasting time, began running toward them again.

"What the hell is that thing?" Ron asked, his face completely terrified.

"Jump, Natasha, jump!" Tony shouted, seeing that Hulk was making a huge leap to crush them all at once.

ZZZZZZZRRRRRRRR!

 Natasha quickly turned another corner, slamming on the brakes to drift, narrowly avoiding Hulk, who landed and destroyed the entire street behind them.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Loki exclaimed, completely freaking out.

 "I know I won't die for real, but if that horrible monster eats us, you'll become my sworn enemy," he said, pointing at Wanda.

"Hahaha, didn't you want to defeat him? It'd be interesting to transform into a Hulk," Wanda said, amused by the situation.

"I don't like green," Stephen replied with an unusually calm smile.

"These two are crazy..." Hermione said, curled up in her seat and trembling in fear.

 "Hey, it sounds interesting to become that. I'm in," Fred said with a smile.

"Me too," added George, excited.

"Better shut up before I hit you!" Natasha shouted as she kept driving, dodging Hulk, who fell from the sky for the second time.

"Strange that Ron has stayed quiet..." Stephen commented, realizing they couldn't hear Ron's screams.

"I knocked him out," Tony replied casually. He had taken the opportunity to get back at Ron for throwing the zombie army at him.

"Rest in peace," the Weasley twins said in unison, joining their hands as if in prayer.

 "But... Sirius and Harry are also very quiet," Hermione pointed out, raising her head to see Sirius unconscious in the passenger seat.

"I knocked him out too. He was moving too much and distracting me," Natasha said calmly.

"You guys are monsters," Hermione said automatically, indignant at the siblings' behavior.

"Wait… where's Harry?" Wanda asked, realizing someone was missing from the car.

"He's hanging from the roof. He didn't make it in when Natasha took off," Stephen said, pointing upward.

"WHAT?!" Hermione screamed, quickly opening the window.

Immediately, Harry's screams were heard.

"AAAAAH! Let me in!" Harry screamed, clinging to the luggage rack with all his might.

 "We have to help him!" Hermione said, desperate.

Stephen sighed.

"Fine..." he replied tiredly, as if it were a bother, while opening his side's window.

"Stephen, help me!" Harry shouted, seeing Stephen stick his head out.

After that, Stephen grabbed Harry's hand and, using the momentum from the curve Natasha took, helped him climb through the car's window.

"Why didn't you wait for me to get in?" Harry shouted angrily, looking at everyone.

"You seemed to be having fun," Stephen replied calmly.

"Decoy?" Wanda asked, as if just confirming.

"To be honest, I didn't even realize you were missing," Tony said calmly.

"I thought you were already in," Loki added simply.

"Stop complaining and hang on! We'll have to do something more dangerous to lose the big guy," Natasha ordered as she entered a three-story parking garage.

"GRUUUAAAAARRRR!"

 Hulk followed them, destroying everything in his path, as Natasha quickly ascended the floors, almost drifting.

"Are you crazy? How are we going to lose him on the third floor?" Tony shouted as he saw Hulk getting closer and closer.

"Shut up!" Natasha replied, fully focused.

Thanks to the curves in the climb, the car managed to put some distance between them and Hulk, who kept crashing into the walls.

Upon reaching the rooftop of the parking garage, Natasha braked sideways, stopping right at the edge.

"What are you doing, Nat? Why are you stopping?" Tony asked quickly.

But before she could answer, Hulk's furious roar interrupted him.

Natasha accelerated while keeping the brake pressed, causing the car's wheels to release smoke.

"Nat?... NAT!" Tony shouted as he saw Hulk charging at full speed.

Meanwhile, Loki simply closed his eyes, as if pretending not to be there would help. Hermione had fainted. Harry stared in terror, unable to utter a word, while the Weasley twins watched the scene with excitement.

Just as Hulk was about to ram into the car, Natasha released the brake, allowing the vehicle to move forward and narrowly dodge the attack. As a result, Hulk crashed into the building across the street.

Wasting no time, Natasha sped toward a ramp in the parking lot, launching the car onto the adjacent building before disappearing into what seemed to be a hidden garage.

Hulk, on the other hand, emerged from the wreckage, destroying the walls. With another powerful leap, he landed back on the rooftop of the parking garage… but the car was already gone.

"GRUUUAAAAARRRR!"

Frustrated, he began jumping from rooftop to rooftop, searching furiously.

Meanwhile, in the hidden garage…

"What is this place? Why is there a garage on a rooftop?" Tony asked.

Natasha quickly signaled for them to be quiet.

"GRUUUAAAAARRRR! BAM!"

Hulk's enraged roar echoed through the air, followed by a loud crash as he slammed the ground in frustration. A moment later, another powerful jump indicated that he had moved away.

Natasha let out a relieved sigh.

"Alright, everyone can get out. This is a safe house," she said, exhaling tiredly.

"That was fun," Stephen commented as he opened the car door.

The others looked at him in confusion. Stephen was usually the most serious in these situations, so his casual attitude caught them off guard.

"What?" he asked when he noticed their stares. "Remember, this is a game. Have fun," he added with a smile.

"True," Wanda replied, returning the smile as she stepped out behind him.

"Has he gone crazy?" Tony muttered, glancing at the others, who simply shook their heads, equally unsure.

"I thought you'd be more upset," Wanda said, following Stephen. "You know, about the pain if we die or something like that."

"Wanda, we literally exploded and destroyed half the galaxy. Dying here wouldn't mean much to us, but it will be good training for the others," Stephen responded with a dark smile. "Besides, don't forget that prophecy we know nothing about."

Wanda groaned. "I knew you were planning something," she said, sending her thoughts to the others.

"And if we keep using Roy's machine, who knows if we'll end up in the same universe again? It's better to be mentally prepared," Stephen added, opening a door.

He peeked inside for a moment, his expression shifting to surprise before he quickly shut the door and turned away.

"Yeah… I think it's better not to go in there," he said aloud, walking away.

"What? Who's in there?" Natasha asked, puzzled. After all, very few people knew about this secret house. It was her house.

BAM! BAM! CRASH!

A loud bang echoed through the door, followed by a rotten hand bursting through it.

"Old friends…" Stephen muttered, preparing for battle.

Seconds later, the door shattered, and several figures entered… or rather, their zombie versions.

"Well, this just got interesting," Tony commented, eyeing the newcomers.

"Hey… that woman looks like Natasha," Harry said, pointing at one of the zombies.

"Yeah, but with more... rotten flesh," Natasha quipped, eyeing her undead counterpart. Obviously, she wasn't about to admit it was her. Thanks to the mana in her body, she was now far more beautiful than before. The others would probably just assume they were sisters.

"That guy with the bow looks cool!" Fred said excitedly.

"Look, it's the guy from the museum! He even has the same shield as mine," George added, pointing to another zombie.

"So… Barton, Steve, and Romanoff," Stephen identified them. "Well, they're all yours, guys. I'll make sure they don't bite and turn you into zombies."

"Mmm… they don't have powers. I'm not interested," Wanda said, staying close to Stephen.

"GRUUUAAAAARRRR!"

Steve roared, and the battle began.

Thank you for reading!

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