The Gamma Cannon - the most powerful weapon known to exist - the Beta 4.6 version.

Tested and proven against anything short of Adamantium, Uru, and the particular metals of Cap's Shield.

This thing had slagged an experimental tank in a matter of seconds, and that was just from the heat exhaust before they got proper venting and heat sinks onto it.

The men in command of the gun - General Thunderbolt Ross and Major Talbot - two men who had more than their share of experience with the Hulk.

At last they were sure they had a gun that could take down the Hulk, even if it was likely to take most of a city block along with him.

There had been some hesitation upon seeing the civillian, but when she had gone Hulk before their eyes, any hesitation Talbot had was gone and he gave the fire command without waiting for Ross to confirm it. The cannon blasted out a 2 foot wide beam of green energy. Everything for a three foot radius around the beam was instantly vaporized. The guns barrel, made of supercooled Adamantium, even showed signs of heat stress. Thought none present could see it, the gun struck Melissa's back as she lifted the Hulk off the ground - looking toward the battling titans would be near impossible with all the light blasting off the gun's discharge.

Before they had vision back they already could hear the target. "Are you JOKING?!?! I take down the HULK for you, and you try to take me out with your pitiful little pop gun?"

Melissa still held the Hulk off the ground, he had lost consciousness - but not from a direct impact from the weapon. Melissa's broad back had absorbed the entire cataclysmic blast, but the heat radiating off the blast combined with Melissa beginning her bear hug had overwhelmed the Hulk's superhuman stamina.

When vision cleared a swath of magma lay in a line between Melissa and the gun, the remnants of all man made and natural materials that had been in the proximity of the beam, but Melissa herself was unscathed.

"You think you can take me?!? You think your little toys are a match for a woman who can break the Hulk like a matchstick? Please, your little guns have never even managed to make a serious dent in this green pipsqueak in my hands - and from what I've seen he always winds up trashing your weapon systems. Tell you what, let's stick to tradition."

Before their eyes Melissa hurled the Hulk at the cannon, and though his hurtling form could not break the adamantium barrel, he smashed clean through the base of the massive machine, creating a gaping hole into the sewers below into which the cannon began to fall, taking General Ross and Major Talbot down with it, likely to be killed by falling debris from the devastating attack.

But, Amanda had not been idle during Melissa's rant, and so events were about to take a most dramatic turn as...