"So it really is that guy."
General Ross narrowed his eyes, staring down at the scene below. From the moment that flashy supercar drove into Broadway in such a bizarre fashion, he had suspected the driver. Only Senju Haruto, the one who possessed the AllSpark, could pull off something like this.
"Mhm."
Nick Fury gave a small nod, equally intrigued by the standoff now forming between Haruto and Abomination.
The whole of Broadway had collapsed into chaos. Every single car stranded in traffic could become one of Haruto's mechanical soldiers at any moment. But… Abomination now stood less than twenty meters from Haruto. At that range, his machines might not be able to stop him.
After all, Abomination's power came entirely from gamma energy. Haruto's ability wouldn't weaken him in the slightest. As long as Abomination broke through that first line, Haruto would be completely exposed.
It was a battlefield reduced to inches.
One man standing against an army.
Ross actually felt a surge of excitement. Compared to Abomination, Haruto was the bigger problem—more troublesome, more dangerous, more impossible to control.
Yes, Abomination was violent, crude, and utterly beyond military discipline, but Ross couldn't deny the truth: this was the kind of "super soldier" he had always wanted.
This clash was more than a fight—it was a test run.
And if Abomination killed Haruto here, all the better.
"Die!"
Furious at being ignored, Abomination ripped a car from the ground and hurled it with monstrous strength.
But the sleek blue sports car standing between them suddenly transformed, rising from the street until it loomed nearly four meters tall.
With a heavy clang, the Autobot caught the oncoming car as if it weighed nothing, then tossed it aside.
Abomination froze for a moment.
He had never seen anything like this. Before his mutation, as a colonel in the military, he'd had access to all kinds of cutting-edge tech—but nothing close to this.
And yet his surprise lasted only a heartbeat. He wasn't impressed by the strength, only the technology. To him, the thing was nothing more than an oversized sparring dummy. Something that couldn't possibly compare to what he had become.
"Raaaugh!"
He roared, his legs pounding the pavement as he charged forward like a beast unleashed.
Tony Stark immediately backed up several paces, his voice low as he shot Haruto a quick glance.
"You've got a lot of faith in your little party trick, huh?"
It wasn't just sarcasm—he was hinting. One Autobot wasn't going to cut it. If Haruto wanted to stand against Abomination, he'd better turn every car on this street into one of his machines. Or, better yet… call in Optimus Prime himself.
"No need to worry, Stark," Haruto replied calmly. "That one was never meant to be his opponent."
The truth was obvious. Except for leaders like Optimus Prime or Megatron, most Transformers were only moderately strong. In the movies, they'd even been killed by human weapons. The orbital railgun, that piece of black-tech, had one-shotted giants with ease.
So Stark's car-turned-Autobot? It didn't stand a chance.
But Haruto hadn't planned to fight Abomination with the mechanical swarm anyway. As the Autobot rushed into close combat, grappling with Abomination, his system progress bar quietly ticked up.
Congratulations, Host. Sign-in complete!
Reward acquired: Gamma Energy!
"Gamma energy?" Haruto's brows drew together, faint surprise flashing in his eyes.
He hadn't expected this check-in to reward him with the very power that fueled the Hulk.
Sure, the movie version of Hulk looked unimpressive—he couldn't even beat a base Thanos, and in Infinity War and Endgame he was little more than comic relief.
But in the comics, Hulk was on another level entirely.
Especially after Marvel's more recent retcons—his origin rewritten from a lab accident into a family curse, with gamma radiation reframed as divine Gamma Power. Some fans even speculated about OBA, the opposite of Marvel's supreme OAA, born from Hulk's endless rage.
Even ignoring that wild retcon, versions like Four-Armed Hulk had casually annihilated seven Watchers in an instant. Then there was Worldbreaker Hulk, who could shatter planets with a single punch. Even Captain Universe Hulk had existed.
All of them drew their strength from one source: Gamma energy.
And now, Haruto had it too.
"Thinking about it… Transformers are powerful compared to ordinary civilizations, sure. But even Optimus Prime or Megatron couldn't shatter a planet with their fists. Against a base Hulk, their strength might be enough. But against something like Worldbreaker Hulk…"
He let the thought trail off.
They'd be obliterated instantly.
Of course, Abomination was nowhere near Hulk's potential. His growth was fixed. He wasn't like Hulk, whose strength scaled endlessly with his anger. Abomination's serum gave him what it gave him—when it burned out, he would die.
His strength was what it was. Nothing more.
"Raaaaugh!"
Abomination's roar shook Broadway once more. To him, the Autobot was nothing but a giant toy—less dangerous than the Hulk himself.
In just a few blows, he tore it apart, the machine collapsing into twisted scrap metal.
Stark's face went pale, his throat dry as he swallowed hard.
He had thought Haruto's mechanical swarm was the last card up their sleeve. He hadn't expected them to fall apart so quickly before Abomination's brute force. And now the monster was less than fifteen meters away. Even if Haruto summoned his Iron Legion right this second, it wouldn't be fast enough.
"Haruto! Use a portal!" Stark shouted suddenly, desperate to buy distance.
But Haruto didn't move.
Even as Abomination thundered toward him, Haruto stood still, calm and unflinching. He didn't awaken the machines. Instead, he began drawing on the gamma energy now coursing through his body—holding it right at the threshold, careful not to trigger a full transformation.
"Die!"
Abomination lunged with a beast's roar, his fist clenched tight, swinging straight for Haruto's skull.
BOOM!
The impact unleashed a shockwave that ripped outward, knocking Stark off his feet and hurling him through the air.
Ross and Fury, watching from above, went utterly still, petrified as if turned to stone.
The fist they believed unstoppable—Abomination's killing strike—
Haruto had caught it. Effortlessly.
"That's it?"
His arm raised, palm open, holding Abomination's knuckles in place as if they were nothing at all.