The Hunt in Rio Part 2

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil-

-February 21, 2010, 0600h local-

When the guy shooting the gun saw the bullet bouncing off harmlessly, he called in his radio for a different approach. The three cars started close in on them, making their ride a lot rougher.

"Told you it would be a rough ride, doc." Erik shouted behind him.

"Yeah, I heard you the first time..." Bruce replied while holding onto his seatbelt for dear life. He took a series of deep breaths while looking into his sports watch. It's quite concerning to see the numbers hovering around 160 bpm on it. "It isn't doing good for my heart rate, though."

"Just hold it in, doc. I wouldn't want for you to transform while inside the car, would we?" Erik asked sarcastically.

"It's not the same as holding in a deuce." Bruce deadpanned.

A few moments later, Erik had enough of the bumpy ride. He slammed on the brake, effectively pushing the car behind him. This gave him enough room to tap the back wheel of the car beside him, sending it to a tailspin. The box in maneuver was broken, so he took a sharp right turn at the next intersection. This would take him away from the port, but that plan was basically toast now.

Erik looked at the rearview mirror and saw two of the three SUVs still following them. But this time, three cars are added to the chase. Three massive matte black mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles or MRAP. This behemoth of a car is the more agile cousin of the tank without shooting high powered explosive rounds. Seeing these cars chasing you at 80 kph in the narrow Brazilian streets would make anyone else quake in their boots. Not Erik, though. He thrived in high-stress situations. Seek it out even.

"Close your eyes, doc, and hold on tight. We're going a bit faster..." Erik warned before flooring the accelerator. He was expecting a quick acceleration or something more exciting, so he was disappointed when he barely felt any kick. "Damn it! You reinforced the frame and swapped the glass but didn't bother with upgrading the engine!" He exclaimed.

The former SEAL didn't panic, though. He used the lack of acceleration and speed to his advantage and weaved left and right through the Favelas' narrow and busy streets. Erik was able to stay ahead of his chasers for quite a while, but his luck and skill could only get so far. A few minutes later, the convoy of black cars is almost catching up to him. He was thinking about what h would do next when his radio blared up.

"How's it hanging? You alright?" Naruto's voice asked.

"You cheap motherfucker. Can't you have chosen something a little better than this piece of crap!?" Erik exclaimed.

"You won't exactly blend in if I gave you a Lambo, won't you?"

"Nobody can see the engine!"

"Hey! I upgraded the shit out of it!"

"No, you didn't!"

"It's the big red button, you ungrateful bastard."

"You mean the one that says 'do not touch'?"

"Yup..." Naruto cheerfully replied. "If you open up the engine locks, though, expect the car to breakdown in ten minutes. I don't want to leave behind advanced tech, but I used some old-school stuff like NOS and superchargers. The engine can't handle that much shit, though, so it would blow up if it runs for at most fifteen minutes."

"Motherfucker. I can hear you smiling. You're watching, aren't you?"

"While eating ramen..." Naruto answered with a grin. "Oh, you should know that the ship already left. Ross pulled some strings and made the captain leave early."

"So, what's the plan now?"

"I can arrange a ship from Panama in a week, Salvador in five days, Sao Paulo in two weeks, or you could make your own way."

"No, no, no. I'll make something happen. I still have my contacts around these parts."

"So it's your game. No problem..." Naruto replied. "Can you hand the earpiece to the good doctor?"

"Sure..." Erik removed his earpiece and handed it over to Bruce. "Doc..." He called out. "The boss wants to talk to you."Bruce gave an awkward nod and reached for the earpiece before placing it in his ear.

"Hello?" Bruce greeted.

"Hey, Doc! How are you holding up?"

"Alive, but that's not saying much considering..." Bruce answered. "Not me being ungrateful or anything but, who are you, by the way?"

"I'm the guy that wants to get you out, so my name isn't essential..." Naruto brushed off the question. "What's important is what I want from you, right?"

"Yeah." Bruce slowly replied.

"It's a straightforward reason, so a smart guy like you should know I'm telling the truth the moment I say it..." Naruto stated. "I have three reasons to help you. First, I don't want the green dude rampaging in downtown Rio. Second, it's in my best interest to help you 'cure' yourself or prevent the military from getting their hands on your DNA simple. That's just plain common sense. Since an army of Hulks can be a lot worse than a nuke..." He explained. "Lastly, in case you can't find a way to reverse what happened to you, I want you on my side of the court. I'm mostly interested in you doing some science stuff but not being on the bad side of your alter ego is good as well."

"I wouldn't want to be at the other guy's bad side either..." Bruce commented. "So you want to hire me? For what? Another super-soldier serum snit?"

"What!? I don't care about that. That's old news..." Naruto replied incredulously. "I got a guy Iw ant you to work with, but it's your choice since he's kind of an asshole. Other than that, you're free to do whatever you want."

"Somebody made the serum already? A working serum anyway?"

"Oh, hell no. We just got the next best thing." Naruto answered cheerfully.

Bruce took a moment to process that information. If you don't have an original serum or recreated serum, the next best thing to have is a biological sample from someone exposed to the serum and has bonded with it completely. The only known case of this was Captain Steve Rogers, Captain America himself. Cap was lost in the Arctic Circle, and even Howard Stark, with all his resources, can't find the guy. If he's heard this correctly, Steve Rogers is found and somewhat intact, or at least recovered a viable sample.

"You found the Captain?" Bruce asked incredulously.

"Something better..." Naruto said in a mysterious tone. "Anyway, that's for now. Can you give the earpiece back to Erik?"

"Sure." Bruce removed the earpiece and handed it back to Erik.

Erik took the earpiece and placed it in his ear.

"Yo." Erik called out.

"If you have to abandon the car for some reason, go to the northern warehouse districts. There's a car just outside the number 34 warehouse..." Naruto said after taking a sip of the ramen broth. "You'll have backups there, so don't engage hostiles after you reach the general area. You're primary objective s to get the Banner out of there. The backups can also handle the other guy in case he shows up."

"Where the hell do you find these guys?" Erik asked incredulously. "You know what, I don't want to know..." He amended. "I'm busy right now. I need to go."

"Sure. Enjoy." Naruto ominously said before closing his connection.

Erik looked at the rearview mirror and saw the convoy dangerously close. He looked at the street signs and made a mental map to the warehouse district, prioritizing narrow and crowded streets to slow down the huge vehicles following them. But even then, it would take at least thirty minutes to get there, and that's not accounting for the rush hour traffic.

"Fucking hell. I guess I'm pressing the big shiny red button..." Erik mused out loud. "You got a timer in that fancy watch of yours, Doc?"

"Yes. What do you need?" Bruce questioned.

"The moment you feel the car accelerate, I need you to start a nine-minute 30 second and a fourteen-minute timer. I'll start a countdown of my own." Erik answered. His training is kind of forcing him to create redundancies.

Erik drove around for a few more minutes, waiting for the convoy to catch up to them and make their first move. He was not disappointed since one of the MRAPs moved ahead of the convoy and accelerated towards them. Right, when they were about to ram into them, he pressed the red button.

The reaction was almost instantaneous, and the front of the rusty Pinto rose due to the acceleration. This, of course, surprised Erik and Bruce as well as everyone outside.

"Now this is what I'm talking about! Woohoo!" Erik exclaimed.

"No, no, no, no, no, no. Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out." Bruce repeatedly said, just like a mantra.

They quickly left behind their tail. Erik decided to head straight to the warehouse district to get the other car and to minimize the possibility of his passenger suddenly changing. He could already see the greenish hue crawling up of Bruce's neck, so that's quite concerning.

It was around nine minutes after opening up the engine restrictions when the worst thing that could happen happened. Erik saw a helicopter chasing after them with a guy aiming an RPG straight towards them.

"Shit. Really! An RPG! Stupid motherfuckers." Erik exclaimed, knowing that it would unleash the beast if it hits them.

Killmonger drove the car towards a narrow alleyway with some form of aerial cover. They won't be able to hit them easily, but the alleys won't make them utilize the unlocked engine.

"Fourteen minutes!" Bruce called out.

"Fuck..." Erik murmured. "We need to ditch the car. It'll blow up." He continued while he parked the car at the side of the road.

"Sure. A run would help my heart rate go down." Bruce sarcastically replied. He's already at 170 bpm. He could feel the other guy fighting his way out.

Erik and Bruce were able to place some distance between them and the car. They could hear the car blow up a few seconds later. Erik could hear the helicopter hovering over one of the rooftops. The black-ops team should be dropping somewhere near them.

"We're going to get fucked if we stay right here..." Erik said while looking around. "We need to get up the rooftops or to the open road, so this doesn't turn into a murdering hole..." He added before looking towards Bruce. "How's your cardio?"

"Better than most, but I can't do more than this." Bruce answered.

"That's better than nothing." Erik replied.

They got themselves out of the tight commercial district into the open highway. They only need to get across it to get to the warehouse district. The only problem was black SUVs, and MRAPs formed a blockade in front of them while a team is closing in from behind.

"Fuck!" Erik shouted while pulling Bruce inside one of the corner stores with a vantage point of both the highway and the alley they just came from.

Bruce flopped down beside Erik with his eyes closed. He's trying to control his breathing to bring down his heart rate, but it's barely working. Erik could already see the enlarged green arteries running up Bruce's neck. It wouldn't take too much ore stress to change him completely.

Erik took a peek at the situation, and it's getting direr as time goes on. He pulled down his bandana to cover his face and checked his gear to prepare for a shootout. He's clearly at a disadvantage. Aside from the fact they're outnumbered and surrounded, he's using incapacitating rounds.

"Inject the tracker to Bruce and get yourself out of there." Erik heard Naruto order.

"What?" Erik asked to clarify.

"Inject the tracker to Bruce and get yourself out of there. He's about to change."

"Aren't we supposed to stop him from changing in the first place?"

"Yes, we should. However, the next best thing is to just get him out of the city with minimum damage." Naruto explained.

"Copy." Erik relented before pulling out an EpiPen shaped object. This is the injector for a tracking device that should make it easier for them to find Bruce wherever he might end up. "Sorry, Doc. I got to go..." He said, causing Bruce to send him a questioning look. "The other guy is about to come out, and I don't want to meet him just yet..." He explained. "This would enable us to find you." He continued before injecting it into Bruce's arm.

The sudden jolt of pain caused Bruce's heart rate to rise above the threshold. He popped four smoke grenades to give them some cover. Erik picked up his gear and ran towards the backdoor.

Erik calmly opened the door and smirked when his guess had been proven right. Standing outside the door is Emil Blonsky.

Emil Blonsky was a former Captain of the British Royal Marines. He's a 5'7", 39 years old, a caucasian man with blue-green eyes. He should already be a colonel or higher when he left the armed forces, but he stayed as a captain. He reasoned that he would like to stay on the field with his men, but he's just a bloodthirsty battle maniac in reality.

Blonsky left the employ of the Royal Marines when they started decreasing his missions due to his age, even after his more than stellar record. The lack of suitable challenge for his skill 'forced' him to be a merc. That's the reason why he accepted Thunderbolt Ross's offer. Hunting down a man that could turn into a green beast machine should give him enough of a challenge.

Blonsky was alone at the back exit because he had the men surround the place, leaving the back exit alone. Any person with enough brain cells would try to leave at the back, and he was not disappointed.

"The Killmonger, huh. Didn't expect to see you here..." Blonsky said with a bored tone. "You fell off the map two years ago."

"Well, I was waiting for your ugly mug to show up..." Erik replied. "I would love to chat, but I'm kind of in a hurry."

Blonsky blocked Erik's path and drew his sidearm.

"You think I'll just let you go? Ross would cut my pay." Emil threatened.

"Oh. I know you won't..." Erik answered right before a loud, and intimidating roar came from inside the building. "You just won't have enough time to do anything about it."