Hulk grinned ferociously. Natasha was in for a surprise. Oh, no, it was Tel who was in for a surprise.
He unleashed his furious strength, and the entire hundred-story underground testing facility hummed. The lights on the ceiling flickered wildly, as if they could explode at any moment.
"Roar!"
His massive green body moved.
He stomped his feet, and the high-strength alloy floor was actually dented by him.
Hulk's massive body stirred up a strong gust of wind, charging straight at Tel-Rol.
He leaped high, his immense shadow completely enveloping Tel-Rol.
His fists clenched together, descending from above with an aura that threatened to smash through the entire floor.
"Hulk, smash!"
In the monitoring room, Clark's fists unconsciously tightened.
"The power of this blow… has exceeded all previous records," he said, his voice a bit dry.
Tony, however, whistled, his eyes fixed on the screen, afraid of missing any data.
"Now that's more like it!"
Yet, Tel-Rol, in the center of the battlefield, merely yawned in the face of this world-shattering attack.
Just a second before the combined fists were about to smash onto his head.
He moved.
He just very casually took two small steps backward, sideways.
Yes, just two small steps.
The next second.
"Bang—!"
A dull thud, so loud it made hearts skip a beat.
Hulk's fists landed squarely on the spot where Tel-Rol had just been standing.
The entire Avengers Tower shook violently.
In the top-floor conference room, Clint the Hawkeye spilled coffee all over his pants.
And a hundred floors underground, the area of the floor made of the Earth's strongest metal was smashed, leaving a giant crater over ten meters in diameter.
The alloy material at the edge of the crater twisted like a pretzel, glowing red.
The airflow from the shockwave ruffled Tel-Rol's hair.
He stood at the edge of the pit, a excited smile on his face. His strength had increased again!
In the monitoring room, Clint and Natasha exchanged a silent glance.
"I'll revise my bet. I bet he can use Hulk like a yo-yo," Clint whispered.
Natasha didn't speak, just quietly pulled out a hundred-dollar bill from her pocket and slapped it on the table.
"Roar!"
Missing a blow, Hulk grew even angrier.
He climbed out of the pit, turning to try again.
"Hey, don't be so hasty."
Tel-Rol raised his hand, waving it at him.
"My turn."
As soon as he finished speaking, he spread his hands, and two basketball-sized white energy orbs appeared out of thin air in his palms.
The energy orbs emitted a low hum, and the surrounding air grew hot.
"Biu!"
Tel-Rol grinned, casually tossing one of the energy orbs.
The energy orb struck Hulk's broad chest, exploding in a burst of fire.
"Biu! Biu!"
He became addicted, firing alternately with both hands, launching energy orbs at Hulk as if they were free.
The entire testing facility was instantly engulfed in dazzling explosion flames and thick smoke.
"f.r.i.d.a.y.! Report damage!" Tony's voice in the monitoring room was urgent.
"Sir, the integrity of the testing facility's walls has decreased by three percent, and the energy shield is overloaded. Internal energy readings... have exceeded the calculable range."
The screen was completely white; nothing could be seen.
Just then, a roar, angrier than all previous ones, came from the smoke and dust.
"Roar—!"
Hulk suddenly clapped his hands together.
A powerful shockwave exploded from him, forcefully scattering all the smoke, flames, and debris.
He stood in place, completely unharmed except for some scorched marks on his body.
Those scorched marks were healing at a visible rate.
His skin seemed even greener than before.
Clark in the monitoring room, seeing this, his expression became unusually serious.
"This is bad."
He whispered.
"He's maxed out Hulk's rage meter."
In the arena, Hulk, with the smoke cleared, fixed his eyes, burning with fury, on Tel-Rol.
He charged again.
Faster than before, with even greater momentum.
A fist the size of a casserole, with a shriek that tore through the air, aimed directly at Tel-Rol's face.
This time, Tel-Rol remained unhurried.
He again nimbly sidestepped.
The wind from the punch brushed past his nose, slamming into the alloy wall behind him, leaving a deep fist print.
But as he dodged, Tel-Rol chuckled.
"Are you being polite?"
His body spun with the momentum of his dodge, one leg raised high.
His sole landed precisely on Hulk's resolute chin.
Hulk's massive, mountain-like body was like a rocket that had its launch button pressed.
His feet left the ground, his body remaining upright, flying straight and swiftly upwards.
"Thump!"
With a muffled thud, he crashed through the ceiling of the ninety-ninth underground floor.
"Thump!"
The ninety-eighth underground floor.
"Thump!"
The ninety-seventh floor.
"Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!"
A series of dense thuds came from above everyone's heads, getting further and further away.
In the monitoring room, everyone looked up, mouths agape, watching the green dot representing Hulk on the main screen.
It was like he had boarded a super-speed elevator, soaring upwards floor by floor.
-99F...-80F...-60F...-30F...-10F... 1F!
Everyone was stunned.
A deathly silence.
Clint's apple, with a "thump," fell to the ground and rolled into a corner.
Natasha's beautiful mouth was slightly open, wide enough to fit an egg.
Thor, with an expression of "My Asgardian heavens," rubbed his eyes.
Tony's smile was long gone.
His mouth twitched wildly as he looked at a window next to him that kept displaying red numbers.
[Estimated Floor Structure Damage: $2,345,678,901...]
[...$3,123,456,789...]
[...$4,567,890,123...]
He felt a pain in his heart, surely a shrapnel had pierced it.
"f.r.i.d.a.y.," Tony's voice trembled.
"Close that repair quote window."
"Sir, this is a top-priority asset loss alert. Insufficient permissions to close."
"I told you to close it!" Tony almost screamed.
Clark couldn't bear to watch.
He put his hands over his face.
"I was wrong, Mom and Dad, I shouldn't have let him leave the farm..."
In the arena.
Tel-Rol retracted his leg, looked up at the bottomless hole in the ceiling, and picked his ear.
"He's quite strong."
He looked disgusted.
No sooner had he spoken.
"Boom—!"
A loud crash.
Hulk's massive body fell heavily from the hole in the top floor.
He landed precisely back in the large crater he had made earlier, deepening it further.
A few seconds later, he shakily got up.
The sheer rage twisted the air around him.
He stared intently at Tel-Rol, two thick plumes of white steam, like two steam engines, spray from his nostrils.
He didn't attack immediately but was gathering even more terrifying power.
That kick had completely stunned him and thoroughly enraged him.
Seeing that Hulk could still stand, and his aura was more than double what it had been before.
Tel-Rol finally showed a hint of interest.
He nodded.
"Not bad, quite durable."
After saying that, he no longer looked at Hulk, but instead raised his head to an inconspicuous surveillance camera in the corner of the ceiling, waved his hand, and shouted loudly:
"Hey! Tin Man!"
"This green punching bag you found is pretty good, much more fun than those iron lumps before!"
"But!"
He changed his tone, pointing around him.
"This place is too small, I can't really stretch out!"
"Get him outside! I want to give him a good beating out there!"
In the monitoring room, Tony, hearing this, almost choked.
Fight outside?
Fight in the middle of New York City?
He looked at the Hulk on the screen, whose rage meter was off the charts, ready to tear down the entire building at any moment.
Then he looked at Tel-Rol, who seemed to thrive on chaos, his face full of excitement.
Tony felt like he had dug a giant pit that could bury all of New York.