The fluorescent lights of the Hulk base in Visa Veda, New Mexico, hummed, casting long, sterile shadows across the concrete floor. Rick Jones, alias A-Bomb, sat perched on a crate in front of a bank of monitors, a half-empty can of Gamma Cola sweating in his hand. He was meticulously reviewing footage beamed from his network of miniature, levitating cameras – his personal chronicling system for the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.’s adventures.
One of those tiny cameras, camouflaged as a small rock, was currently shadowing Skaar. Rick liked to keep an eye on the moody, green-skinned warrior – you never knew when he’d inadvertently stumble onto something interesting.
Today, "interesting" was a colossal understatement.
On the monitor, Skaar stood before the reinforced cell of the Leader, his usual stoic scowl etched on his face. The Leader, bathed in the eerie green glow emanating from his oversized cranium, was speaking in that chillingly calm voice of his.
“…oh yes!” the Leader was saying, his eyes gleaming with a disturbing mix of triumph and madness. “You not only have Hulk’s DNA, He’s your biological father! You are truly his own flesh and gamma.”
Rick choked. Gamma Cola exploded from his mouth, splattering across the monitors. He frantically dabbed at the screen with the sleeve of his A-Bomb hoodie, his eyes darting between the monitor showing Skaar’s stunned reaction and his iPad, where he was live-streaming the whole shebang to his online audience.
Skaar's voice rumbled like distant thunder. "Hulk... is my father?"
Rick sputtered, his mouth working soundlessly. He glanced back at the camera feed. Skaar was rigid, his usual aggression momentarily eclipsed by disbelief. The Leader was practically vibrating with malicious glee.
This was… monumentally huge. The kind of revelation that shattered everything. Rick had seen some crazy stuff with the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. – battling interdimensional warlords, smashing rogue asteroids, even dealing with Hulk’s… less than graceful… attempts at baking. But this?
He looked back at his iPad. The comment section was exploding.
‘OMG DID I JUST HEAR THAT RIGHT?!’
‘RICK JONES YOU ARE A GENIUS!’
Rick, for once, had no idea what to say. He opened his mouth, then closed it. He pointed at the iPad, then at the monitor showing Skaar. He looked back at his audience, his eyes wide and bewildered. He cleared his throat, the sound cracking nervously in the otherwise quiet room.
"Ummm..." he began, his voice trembling slightly. He fumbled for the right words, the enormity of the situation threatening to overwhelm him. "Well, folks... you... uh... you saw that, right? I mean... the Leader... Skaar... Hulk..."
He paused, desperately trying to gather his thoughts, his brain a tangled mess of gamma radiation, DNA strands, and paternity tests.
“Ummm,” he repeated, still searching. He took a deep breath. "This is... uh... this is gonna be interesting.”
He gave the camera a shaky thumbs-up, a nervous grin plastered on his face. "Stay tuned, true believers! This is… well, this is gonna change everything." Then, with a sigh, he muttered to himself, “Hulk is gonna kill me.”
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