The buildings in front of Times Square began to shake violently, and continuous, dense explosions and surging dust billowed out from them, occasionally mixed with various strange objects flying out.
Everyone, like the young Spider, stayed put below, speculating about the situation above and how far it had progressed. The reason they speculated was that no one had the courage to go up and watch. One monster-level Hulk had already terrified them, let alone another monster appearing.
They waited for a long time, and finally, there was a slight lull. The building finally stopped making noise. Just as the young Spider was about to take a risk and go up to see what was happening, a huge figure suddenly burst through the wall, flew out from a dozen stories high, and crashed heavily to the ground.
After a thunderous boom, a deep indentation, as if ploughed by a body, appeared on the ground of Times Square. The Hulk's massive body crawled out from a pile of debris, roaring furiously at the building he had just flown out of.
"Hahahaha..." Another colossal figure appeared at the edge of the building, laughing, emitting a low, grating noise. "Hulk, is that all you've got?"
The Hulk, at a disadvantage, immediately roared with fury. He casually grabbed a piece of upturned flooring nearby and hurled it at the monster above. The flat floor instantly became a deadly weapon in his hands; the wind generated by its rotation sounded even more terrifying than a helicopter's rotor blades.
Facing such a projectile, the monster on the building had no intention of taking it head-on. He slightly dodged, directly avoiding the flying slab, and then, with a series of piercing and muffled sounds, the flying slab had already ripped through the entire building, leaving only fragments flying diagonally into the sky.
"Hmph!" Seeing the Hulk raise another piece of masonry, Bronski naturally wouldn't foolishly remain above as a target. He roared, stomped on the spot, and then leaped directly towards the Hulk.
The exaggerated recoil instantly collapsed most of the entire floor, which resulted in Bronski's body bombing down like an unstoppable missile. The Hulk tried to knock him down with the object in his hand, but Bronski, with just two casual straight punches, shattered the object the Hulk had thrown.
With a loud crash, he also landed on the ground, barely ten meters from the Hulk.
"Is that all you've got? Is that your full capability?" Bronski let out a suppressed laugh, mercilessly mocking the Hulk. And the Hulk, naturally, wouldn't let anyone mock him like that.
He roared and charged forward like a bulldozer. Bronski also met him with a sneer. Under the feet of these two giants, the earth could not bear their strength, and the ground began to shake. Layers of cracks began to spread across the square, and wherever their battle reached, not only could no one stand firm, but few things remained upright.
The Hulk's fierce charge, however, had little effect on Bronski. Although he was now a monster, before this, he was an elite special forces soldier. Therefore, compared to the Hulk's fighting style, which relied entirely on brute strength, he, with his special forces combat techniques, clearly had the advantage.
Bending down, he accelerated towards the Hulk. Bronski began to struggle forcefully, pounding his back with both hands, but for Bronski, who had a layer of heavy armor on his back, this kind of attack was completely within his tolerance range.
He endured the Hulk's attack, lifted him, and slammed him backward. This kind of suplex often appeared in combat or wrestling matches, and it usually thrilled the audience. But now, Bronski's suplex only inspired awe.
The Hulk's body was almost buried beneath the surface, and the immense impact was like a deeply buried bomb exploding, turning over layers of the surrounding ground. Both the surface bricks and the deeper soil erupted explosively. The visual impact was so strong that it even gave people the feeling of watching a Hollywood blockbuster. But this was not Hollywood; this was a real event.
And in the face of this real event, almost everyone felt the powerlessness of being human. "They cannot be allowed to destroy any further," General Ross thought, standing in his aircraft, looking at the already ravaged Times Square below. This iconic U.S. landmark now looked as if it had suffered the ravages of war, covered in scars.
If they were not controlled soon, if important places like Madison Square and Wall Street were affected, no matter who stood behind him, he would not fare well. So he immediately gave the order.
"All action teams, prepare for action."
At his command, over a dozen armed helicopters immediately swarmed in from all directions. Teams of Soldiers also appeared on the surrounding buildings, pushing out devices that looked like large radar installations. At the same time, Military vehicles began to appear on the surrounding streets; they filed in, surrounding the two giants in the center of the square. They also aimed various mounted autocannons and Rocket launchers at them.
This was all the power General Ross could deploy, and it was his last, desperate gamble. If he succeeded, he would achieve fame and success, becoming one of the key figures in the U.S. Military, and the U.S. Military would firmly remember his contributions. He would become a representative figure like Eisenhower. Everything that happened in Times Square and Broadway would become irrelevant details.
But if he failed, he would lose everything. He would have nothing. Wrong orders, wrong actions, and massive casualties and economic losses would be enough to ruin his career and land him in prison.
This was a huge gamble, he knew it clearly, and so he took it very seriously. Monitoring the battle below, after all teams were fully prepared, General Ross immediately gave the order.
"Everyone listen, Fire!"
At his command, all the aircraft, armored vehicles, and attack devices began their assault. Long chains of Fire erupted from the helicopters' autocannons, forming intersecting Fire nets that swept directly over the two giants below. Large-caliber bullets struck their bodies, scattering countless sparks.
These intersecting shots seemed to have no effect, but they were enough to cause the two giants a slight pain.
"General!" Bronski was the first to shout, seemingly not understanding why he was also under attack. He thought it was friendly Fire, so he quickly yelled, "Stop, General. It's me!"
"Bronski?" He recognized Bronski from his tone or demeanor, but General Ross had no intention of holding back. For him, this was already war. Moreover, Bronski, in his current state, was no longer qualified to be a Soldier.
"Ignore him, keep firing!" he continued to command, while signaling the subsequent teams to follow the helicopters' movements.
The helicopters' firepower intensified, and the surrounding armored vehicles also began to join in. As autocannons and Rocket launchers entered the fray, the pressure on the giants immediately increased.
Bronski still didn't understand why. He still didn't seem to realize that his current appearance had alienated him from humanity and the Military. However, not knowing what happened wasn't important; what was important was that he didn't want to die here. So he immediately launched a counterattack.
Ignoring the still dazed Hulk on the ground, Bronski immediately locked his attack target onto the armored vehicles closest to him. He braved the countless bullets and shells, striding towards a Rocket launcher vehicle, his terrifying demeanor causing the Soldiers inside to panic.
They hurriedly pressed the launch button, firing two Rockets at Bronski.
And watching the two Rockets coming at him, Bronski displayed terrifying skill. The moment one Rocket approached, he slapped it away. Because his current strength had reached an almost astonishing level, the slapped Rocket crashed into an armored vehicle nearby at a speed not inferior to its incoming speed. Instantly, a large fireball rose into the sky, and a team of allies was annihilated.
The other Rocket was firmly grasped in his hand; the powerful thrust from the jet exhaust was almost nothing to Bronski. He sneered, and in front of all the Soldiers, he smashed the Rocket against his sternum.
The violent explosion brought raging flames, instantly engulfing him. But all the Soldiers discovered that it had no effect on Bronski. A Shadow walked out of the flames with large strides, as if strolling through a garden. Clearly, after the initial panic, Bronski had discovered a fact.
These things were not even toys to him; even the missile just now only increased the pain slightly. In terms of actual damage, they could not do any. This made him extremely confident, extremely arrogant.
"Do you see, General? Your little toys have no effect on me. I am the Super Soldier, I am the strongest."
Listening to Bronski's arrogant shouts, the General once again gave orders.
"Don't stop the firepower, ultrasonic weapons in position, begin attack!"
The equipment on the surrounding buildings immediately aimed their radar-like probes at Bronski under his command, followed by the emission of ultra-high frequency sound waves. This was the only weapon the General had that could deal with the Hulk. He had backed down before, and those two weapons were destroyed.
This had made him a target of ridicule, and even Bronski had called them trash that couldn't compare to him. But today, General Ross was going to prove that this weapon was definitely not trash.
To deal with the Hulk and the second target, whose whereabouts were still unknown, he had deployed twenty ultrasonic cannons through all available means, and now was the time for them to demonstrate their power.
(After such a long build-up, the groundwork is finally laid. The protagonist can make his appearance tomorrow. The Hulk really caused a lot of trouble for this.)