Manhattan's Lower East Side, in a direction nearing the Hudson River.
The Leader had been constantly maintaining his mind control over the Red Hulk, which was the only reason the two of them could hide relatively quietly within a junkyard.
Otherwise, the Red Hulk would have long since lost his patience, rampaging outside and drawing the attention of Hydra and the superheroes.
The Leader's reason for lying low was simple: he was waiting for Batman to appear, at which point he would command the Red Hulk to launch a swift and devastating ambush.
"In New Mexico, the Red Hulk, the Gamma Green Goblin, and I couldn't even beat Batman in a direct confrontation. I must be absolutely certain before I make a move..."
The Leader thought to himself. He knew he was in Manhattan now, and that he had been unconscious for several months.
With no memories of his time in a coma, the memory of Batman taking on all three of them at once and leaving them face-down in the dirt felt like it had happened just yesterday to the Leader.
This forced him to be exceptionally cautious.
He even planned a two-pronged approach: he would send the Red Hulk to ambush Batman while he found a way to escape Manhattan himself, preferably as far away as possible.
He needed to use technology to arm himself to the teeth.
A gecko rustled past him. The Leader flicked it away with a look of disgust and went back to plotting his move against Batman.
A loud boom echoed in the distance. The Leader guessed that the battle between Hydra and the superheroes had reached a fever pitch.
He extended his telepathic senses to check on the situation, but the source of the rumble was simply too far away—at a conservative estimate, at least fifteen kilometers.
"A sound from fifteen kilometers away can actually carry all the way here? Just how intense is that fight?" The Leader couldn't help but click his tongue.
Then, his telepathy picked up a presence—someone with a rage burning like wildfire, hurtling through the sky in a massive arc, rapidly approaching his location.
It was a behemoth.
——It was the Hulk!
The noise from moments ago wasn't the sound of a battle at all; it was purely the shockwave generated by the Hulk slamming his feet into the earth with brute force!
The sheer power and momentum of it felt as though he wanted to sink all of Manhattan into the Pacific Ocean with a single stomp!
Before the Leader could even process this, the Hulk plummeted from the sky, crashing heavily right into the junkyard.
With a deafening crash, the ground of the small junkyard caved in, forming a deep crater as shattered concrete and dirt sprayed in all directions.
"Hulk!" the green Goliath roared. He had already spotted the Red Hulk standing beside the Leader, eyes blank and clearly under mind control.
"Perfect timing!" The Leader was both shocked and delighted.
If the Red Hulk alone couldn't beat Batman, what about adding the Hulk into the mix?
A palm-sized chunk of concrete smacked against the Leader's head, but he paid it no mind. Although his gamma radiation mutation primarily enhanced his brain, his physical constitution was still far superior to that of an ordinary human.
The concrete only jarred his head slightly to the side without causing any real damage.
At the same time, the Leader directed his telepathic energy straight at the Hulk, intending to seize control of this newly arrived asset right then and there.
Rage, rage, and more rage! An boundless, infinite ocean of fury!
The moment the Leader's mind control made contact with the Hulk, he was nearly swallowed whole by the sheer magnitude of the Hulk's wrath.
Staring into the Hulk's ferocious, contorted face, the Leader found himself infected by the anger, aggressively forcing his psychic control deep into the Hulk's mind.
The very next second.
"Blegh!"
A sudden, terrifying jolt of dread and violent nausea gripped the Leader, forcing him to double over as he clutched his stomach and threw up uncontrollably.
He had no idea what went wrong, but this sudden heave made his entire body ache inside and out, as if Batman himself had reached into his torso and violently squeezed his internal organs.
"Stupid," the Hulk scoffed, climbing out of the crater he had made and sneering at the Leader, who was still clutching his stomach and vomiting.
When Batman sent the Hulk to track down the Red Hulk and the Leader, how could he not have anticipated the risk of mind control?
The solution Batman came up with was simple: he replicated the frequency of the horns atop the giant Tyrannosaurus Rex from the ancient world to create a special infrasound emitter, which was currently tucked away inside the Hulk's pants.
That particular infrasound was enough to make the Lizard feel nauseous and agitated, and it also had a dampening effect on the telepathic little girl, Lunella.
Otherwise, back in the ancient world, Lunella could have easily controlled the giant T-Rex to escape their predicament, rather than being trapped in a ring of fire alongside Devil Dinosaur.
Batman had made several improvements based on the mechanics of those horns. Aside from the Hulk, the likes of Robin and Doctor Otto were also equipped with these infrasound emitters.
They were specifically designed to counter anyone attempting to use telepathy or mind control against them.
As luck would have it, the Leader was the very first to fall victim to it. Furthermore, because Batman had fought him before and kept him imprisoned in the Batcave for a month or two, Batman understood the Leader exceptionally well.
Consequently, the Leader's reaction was incredibly severe; the infrasound not only sent his mind into a dizzying spin, but it also tricked his brain into triggering violent, unstoppable vomiting.
Smack!
The Hulk stepped up to the Leader and slapped him across the head, knocking him unconscious on the spot.
Instead of letting him fall to the ground, the Hulk pinched him with two fingers and lifted him up, ensuring he wouldn't get any vomit on himself.
Staring down with wide eyes, the Hulk sized up the Leader for a moment before casually tossing him up into the sky.
Instantly, the Leader was launched dozens of meters into the air.
The weightless sensation failed to wake the Leader; although the Hulk's slap hadn't killed him, waking up from it was by no means going to be easy.
Besides, the Hulk hadn't thrown the Leader into the air just for fun—he was coordinating with Batman.
Whoosh!
Just as the Leader reached the apex of his trajectory and was about to fall, a dark shadow streaked in from the distance. It snatched the Leader out of midair, pulled a U-turn, and soared off toward Bat-Island.
The shadow wasn't Batman, nor was it Iron Man or Professor Morbius; it was an Ultron robot clad in a repurposed Arkham batsuit.
The original Ultron robot that Batman had lifted from the Pym Technologies Building had already been dismantled. This current unit was newly reassembled, specifically designed to provide aerial mobility in the event that the Batwing was damaged.
What happened in the sky was no longer the Hulk's concern.
With the Leader knocked cold and carried away, his mind control over the Red Hulk naturally dissolved.
"Hmph..." With a low growl, the Red Hulk shook his head. The blank look in his eyes gradually cleared, only to be replaced by a surging tide of fury.
His body temperature skyrocketed, igniting the already devastated junkyard as thick, black smoke began to billow upward.
He locked eyes with the Hulk, who turned around to face him. The two behemoths slowly clenched their massive fists and, in a split second, charged directly at each other.
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