Fury stared at Dr. Banner in front of him, a hint of disappointment clouding his face.
Banner was supposed to be the strongest Avenger in his plan.
But instead, he had killed the Hulk.
Now, all that remained was Banner's body, carrying nothing but his soul—a worthless shell in Fury's eyes.
As for General Ross, his frustration burned even hotter.
He wanted nothing more than to smash a fist into Banner's perfect white teeth.
But venting his rage that way would accomplish nothing.
All Ross could do now was pray that the Hulk wasn't as fragile as things appeared.
Maybe—just maybe—the Hulk still lingered somewhere deep inside Banner's body. Hidden away. Dormant.
If they could find the right method, perhaps the Hulk could be brought back.
It was the only hope Ross had left, and he clung to it with grim conviction.
Just as he was preparing to take Banner back to the military base for further study and confirmation, one of the soldiers aboard the gunship suddenly froze, his face paling.
"G-General Ross…" the soldier's voice trembled, as though he had just received catastrophic news.
"What is it?" Ross frowned.
His men were always steady, calm under fire. And this mission—capturing Banner—had gone perfectly smooth. The only flaw was the possible disappearance of the Hulk.
"Sir… it's… it's the Hulk…"
The soldier drew a deep breath and forced out the words.
Ross.
Director Fury.
Dr. Banner.
All three of them froze in disbelief, wondering if they had heard wrong.
The Hulk had always resided inside Banner.
And Banner was sitting right here in this helicopter.
How could there be another Hulk?
They exchanged bewildered glances, each face showing nothing but confusion.
"General Ross, what's going on here?" Fury broke the silence first, his voice low and sharp. "Don't tell me… you created a new Hulk?"
"Creating super-soldiers has always been my goal, my lifelong mission. But…" Ross's gaze shifted onto Banner, his eyes narrowing. "I've always lacked the most crucial component."
"Corporal Lynch," Ross snapped suddenly, turning his glare on the soldier who had spoken, his tone dark with irritation. "Do you even realize what you're saying?"
Fury and Banner both turned their attention to the young soldier, wanting to know exactly what was happening.
The man called Lynch swallowed hard and explained the report he had just received.
It came from the ground troops.
On the streets of Broadway… another Hulk had appeared. A monster tearing through everything in sight.
The ground forces had tried to suppress it—but failed.
Worse yet, they had lost all contact with Blonsky.
With no commanding officer to lead them, the only thing they could do was try to reach Ross and ask for orders.
"Where?" Ross's gut twisted with dread.
A matter this serious wasn't something a soldier would dare joke about.
The penalty for making something like this up would be a court-martial.
"Turn the chopper around," Ross barked after hearing the location.
He wanted to see this so-called Hulk with his own eyes.
Banner's heart clenched with unease.
His thoughts flashed back to Stern's lab.
The man had replicated vast quantities of Hulk serum.
Banner had wanted to destroy them, but he hadn't acted fast enough. He'd failed.
Could it be… Stern had injected himself with the Hulk serum?
Otherwise, how could the chaos on the ground be explained?
"No… Stern witnessed the Hulk firsthand. He knows how terrifying it is. He wouldn't be that foolish… would he?" Banner muttered to himself.
But the only way to neutralize the Hulk serum was to activate it first.
Stern had seen Banner transform before—into a monster beyond human comprehension.
And yet Fury's reaction was the opposite of Banner's fear.
Though startled and shocked, Fury didn't see disaster.
If anything… he looked excited.
He had seen Banner transform into the Hulk with his own eyes.
If there truly was another Hulk rampaging on Broadway, it meant something critical—
The Hulk serum could be replicated. Mass-produced.
Super-soldiers, forged in bulk.
That raw destructive power, that crushing presence…
If S.H.I.E.L.D. could control it, they would never have to fear Senju Haruto's mechanical scourge again.
Because when it came down to it, Haruto's creations were just big metal toys.
Guns and cannons for weapons.
If not for Haruto's ability to seize control of military-grade weaponry, Fury doubted human technology would ever lose to his machines.
But that was the problem—Haruto could.
And that was why Fury needed the Hulk. Needed the serum.
If they had an army of Hulk soldiers, they could crush Haruto's arrogance flat.
And when the time came… erase him completely.
While the three men brooded over their own thoughts, the helicopter banked and descended, arriving over Broadway.
On the monitors, the scene below came into focus.
There was indeed a monster wreaking havoc in the streets—a creature resembling the Hulk, but twisted.
Its skin was a dark, murky green, with bone ridges jutting out from its back and elbows.
And with its bald, grotesque head, it looked far uglier than the Hulk had ever been.
"What the hell did you do, Ross?" Banner couldn't hold back his fury.
All of Broadway was paralyzed. Traffic dead.
Civilians screamed and fled in terror.
A blanket of despair smothered the entire district.
Ross's troops tried to bring the creature down—but failed.
Even their most powerful rocket launchers couldn't pierce its hide.
Worst of all, the monster's attacks were indiscriminate.
It didn't matter if you were a soldier or just a bystander.
If you stepped into its reach, you died.
This was no Hulk.
This was Hulk's nemesis—
Abomination.
A beast with no sense of right or wrong. Only the intoxicating superiority of raw power.
To him, humans were no different than ants.
Maybe he wouldn't deliberately crush them underfoot…
But neither would he bother to avoid them.
To Abomination, their lives were beneath notice.
He tore cars from the street with monstrous strength, hurling them like toys.
Boom!
The discarded vehicles became weapons, exploding on impact with the pavement.
Shockwaves blasted outwards, flinging bodies like ragdolls.
Within moments, Broadway was a blazing inferno.
Ross stared in stunned silence, his scalp prickling, mind blank.
And then—
A crimson streak cut through the sky.
A figure descended, hovering high above Broadway.
"That's—" Ross and Banner gasped in unison.
"Tony Stark," Fury said flatly.
The billionaire playboy.
Another target of Fury's initiative.
A central pillar of the Avengers program.
The armored hero known as Iron Man.
"So this is the 'problem' Haruto mentioned…" Stark muttered as he surveyed the chaos below, a sharp hiss escaping his teeth.
This world was spiraling deeper into madness by the day.