"Raaaghhh!"
The Hulk bellowed furiously at the enemies before him. His massive body crouched, then shot upward in a sudden leap, arcing through the air with terrifying grace.
But leaping was hardly all he was doing.
Unlike Bruce Banner, the Hulk wasn't one for calm negotiations. At this point in his life, he was like a raging child denied his favorite toy, throwing a tantrum of pure destruction.
His five fingers clenched into a massive fist as his body pitched forward midair. He didn't care whether these people lived or died. All he wanted was to vent his fury.
Boom!
His fist slammed into the runway with the weight of a million tons. The entire tarmac cracked apart, fractures racing outward as the shockwave blasted through the area, hurling soldiers like ragdolls.
They didn't even have time to react. One by one they were thrown into the air like kites with snapped strings, tumbling backward in a helpless cascade.
Not even Emil Blonsky escaped the fate. His body traced an arc through the air before crashing heavily to the ground.
His mind went blank. His ears rang violently.
He shook his head hard, trying to clear the noise, or at least to numb the pain. But his survival instincts screamed in warning—he was still in danger.
The Hulk was right there.
If the monster chose to charge forward, he could crush Blonsky in an instant.
The thought jolted Blonsky. Forcing his battered body to move, he sat up from the cracked runway. Pain wracked him from head to toe, his bones feeling as though they'd all shattered.
But his sheer willpower proved one thing: his body was intact.
The pain was real, but not fatal.
Hissing through his teeth, Blonsky snatched up a fallen submachine gun. This one wasn't loaded with tranquilizers—every bullet was live ammunition.
"Blonsky! What are you doing? Stop that thing now!"
General Ross's furious voice barked in his earpiece.
Blonsky could practically feel the storm of emotions behind the order. Ross was angry. Nervous. Worried. Afraid.
All of it tangled together.
For Blonsky, this was just another mission.
But for Ross? This battle meant everything.
The Hulk's blood was the key to dealing with Senju Haruto.
And beyond that, this was personal. Ross's old grudge with Bruce Banner, and now this chaos, all had to be settled today.
Standing beside Ross, however, was Director Nick Fury, who remained calm and unreadable. He simply watched the chaos unfold on the runway, saying nothing, as if Hulk's fate were of little concern.
"So this is the Hulk…" Fury muttered, eyes narrowing slightly as he studied the battle.
The so-called elite soldiers, the advanced weapons Ross had boasted of, were crumbling in seconds before Hulk's power.
Meanwhile, Blonsky managed to get his legs under him again, forcing himself upright.
No matter what, the Hulk was his prey.
He wouldn't allow the beast to vanish before his eyes.
Ignoring the stabbing pain lancing through his body, Blonsky sprinted forward with renewed determination. Raising his weapon, he rallied his men to form up behind him, circling around to trap the Hulk from the rear.
"Open fire!"
At his command, the troops abandoned the tranquilizers and unleashed a barrage of live rounds.
Not because Blonsky wanted Hulk dead—he had realized something far more terrifying.
The tranquilizer rounds they had prepared… couldn't even pierce Hulk's skin.
If the drugs couldn't enter his body, sedation was impossible.
So they resorted to raw firepower.
Ross hadn't expected the sudden switch in strategy, but he allowed it. Blonsky's judgment in the field couldn't be ignored.
"Seems you underestimated Hulk's defenses," Fury remarked dryly from the side.
Before the mission, Ross had bragged about his many encounters with the Hulk, speaking as though he understood the monster inside and out.
Ross's face darkened. "It looks like he's gotten stronger again. Which, for us, might actually be good news."
He forced a deep breath, focusing once more on the green giant.
But the renewed assault did nothing.
Instead, it only enraged the Hulk further.
He spun with a roar, his eyes glowing with something far beyond bestial rage. The look in them was almost death itself staring back.
"Hulk… HATE… you!"
The words were crude, but the fury behind them shook the air.
Then Hulk charged.
The hail of bullets was nothing to him. He barreled through without so much as a scratch.
Blonsky's heart sank.
These weren't ordinary weapons. Most had come directly from S.H.I.E.L.D., more advanced than anything the military fielded.
When he had first tested them, Blonsky had been thrilled.
But now?
The weapons in his hands might as well have been water pistols.
"Damn it!" Blonsky snarled, fury and panic mixing. "What the hell is this thing?!"
Before Ross could reply, the Hulk was already upon him.
"Fuck!"
Blonsky cursed aloud, tossing aside his now-useless gun. With a soldier's reflexes, he rolled hard, his smaller frame letting him slip just beneath Hulk's grasp.
In a heartbeat, he was behind the monster.
Leaping to his feet, Blonsky kicked off the ground with everything he had, soaring up onto Hulk's back.
The Hulk's shoulders and back were packed with dense muscle—thick enough that Blonsky assumed his arms couldn't bend properly behind him.
If he stayed careful, Hulk couldn't reach him. And if he was lucky, he might find a weak spot in that massive back.
Swallowing hard, Blonsky drew a combat knife, clinging tightly with one hand while raising the blade with the other.
With a grunt, he drove it down.
Thunk!
The blade crumpled instantly, curling on impact without leaving so much as a scratch.
And Hulk had already figured out his counter.
If he couldn't reach Blonsky with his hands, then… he simply threw himself backward.
The sudden slam forced Blonsky to leap away.
But Hulk was no slower than him. Spinning, the monster's massive hand shot out—and caught Blonsky by the leg.
Blonsky glanced back in horror, only to see Hulk's grin spread wide with malicious delight.
Then the world flipped upside down.
The Hulk hoisted him like a ragdoll.
Wham!
He smashed Blonsky into the ground.
Wham!
Then swung him around and slammed him again.
Over and over, like a child with a toy he was already growing bored of.
Until finally, with one last crushing blow, Hulk hurled him to the earth and let him lie crumpled there.
Boom!