"Who the hell are you?!"
Abomination turned toward the newcomer and roared.
For once, Emil Blonsky didn't charge immediately.
There was something about the man.
Something calm.
Something unsettling.
Something that made even a monster hesitate.
Drex Valen merely stood there with one hand in his pocket.
His eyes swept over Abomination with open curiosity.
"A perfect biological weapon."
He tilted his head slightly.
"Now I'm curious how practical you actually are."
The comment instantly infuriated Blonsky.
Abomination lunged.
The street buckled beneath his feet as he charged.
His enormous fist tore through the air toward Drex's head.
Drex raised a hand.
Made a fist.
And punched.
The two attacks collided.
One fist belonged to a giant monster.
The other belonged to an ordinary-looking man.
The result made no sense.
Abomination was launched away like a missile.
He tore through two skyscrapers before finally crashing to a stop.
Drex didn't even bother looking at him afterward.
Instead, he casually walked toward the Hulk.
The weakened green giant felt a surge of alarm.
He struggled to his feet and growled a warning.
The response came immediately.
Drex kicked him.
One kick.
Hulk flew through the air and crashed beside Abomination.
Everyone watching froze.
General Ross.
The military.
The civilians.
The news crews.
Up until this moment, creatures like the Hulk represented the absolute pinnacle of physical power.
Monsters that ignored tank shells and tore through armies.
Yet now...
The Hulk had been overwhelmed.
Abomination had overwhelmed the Hulk.
And this mysterious stranger had effortlessly overwhelmed both.
The hierarchy of power had been shattered in less than thirty seconds.
In truth, Hulk and Abomination were never equals.
Their powers came from the same source and appeared nearly identical.
But Abomination was a flawed copy.
The difference seemed small.
In practice, it was enormous.
What made the Hulk terrifying?
Was it his strength?
His regeneration?
No.
The most frightening thing about Hulk was that he had no real upper limit.
The angrier he became, the stronger he grew.
Abomination lacked that gift.
His strength had a ceiling.
His speed had a ceiling.
His endurance had a ceiling.
His healing had a ceiling.
At the start of a fight, intelligence and skill might let him dominate.
But if the battle dragged on long enough, Hulk would inevitably surpass him.
One grew stronger.
The other slowly exhausted himself.
That single distinction separated them into entirely different leagues.
"HULK!"
The green giant exploded forward.
Walls shattered.
Buildings cracked.
A straight line of destruction appeared between him and Drex.
Drex raised an eyebrow.
"Persistent little thing."
Abomination was still buried in rubble.
Yet Hulk was already back on his feet.
His vitality was absurd.
"ROOOAAARRR!"
Hulk pounded his chest.
Then slammed both fists into the ground.
The resulting shockwave rolled across the street like an earthquake.
His muscles twisted and expanded.
Thick cords of flesh bulged beneath green skin.
His arms grew larger.
His body grew denser.
The giant charged.
And swung.
"Normal Punch."
Drex announced it with complete seriousness.
Or perhaps complete sarcasm.
It was difficult to tell.
He raised his fist.
Pulled it back.
And threw a simple punch.
The movement was clean.
Effortless.
Almost lazy.
The punch itself generated a sonic boom.
The two fists collided.
One gigantic.
One human-sized.
For a fraction of a second, time itself seemed to pause.
Then the world exploded.
BOOM!
A circular shockwave erupted outward.
The impact zone instantly became a vacuum.
The compressed air detonated moments later.
Hurricane-force winds tore through Manhattan.
Buildings groaned.
Roads cracked.
The ground split apart under impossible pressure.
Spiderweb fractures raced across entire city blocks.
The explosion echoed above Manhattan.
Part of the force traveled downward through the earth itself.
The city trembled.
From above, observers could see enormous fissures opening throughout the borough.
Some stretched hundreds of meters.
Others were dozens of meters wide.
Their depths vanished into darkness.
The expanding shockwave flattened everything in its path.
Storefronts became rubble.
Office buildings collapsed.
Entire sections of the city simply ceased to exist.
The devastation spread in all directions.
Hulk was launched backward.
His enormous body skipped across the ground like an artillery shell.
A massive trench followed behind him.
When the dust settled, half his body was buried underground.
Only two giant green feet remained visible.
Sticking straight into the air.
Silence.
Every television viewer stared at their screens.
Nobody spoke.
The ruined city.
The impossible punch.
The Hulk planted headfirst in the ground.
The image burned itself into their minds.
Living rooms across America became eerily quiet.
Remote controls slipped from nerveless fingers.
People simply stared.
One question repeated itself everywhere.
Is this really New York?
The military had no words.
The Mayor of New York had no words.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had no words.
"ROOOAAARRR!"
Hulk tore himself free from the ground and stood again.
This time there was something different in his eyes.
For a brief moment, caution.
Even concern.
Then it vanished beneath a tidal wave of fury.
His body expanded.
Larger.
Broader.
More powerful.
Five meters tall.
Mountains of muscle swelled across his frame.
Massive shoulders.
Massive arms.
Muscle fibers twisted together like living cables.
His body no longer looked biological.
It looked geological.
A creature sculpted from boulders and cliffs.
Remarkably, his shorts survived the transformation.
As always.
"HULK!"
The giant roared.
Storm winds swept through the streets.
Dust rose into the air.
Every footstep shook the city.
Deep craters formed wherever he planted his feet.
Drex nodded thoughtfully.
"Straight to a tenfold increase."
He chuckled.
"Even Goku would be jealous."
Then again...
Hulk had never been a creature that followed rules.
Absurd growth was practically his defining characteristic.
The rage burning in Hulk's eyes had reached a critical threshold.
He slammed both fists into the ground.
A violent aura erupted skyward.
Dark clouds gathered overhead.
Moonlight disappeared.
Thunder rolled across the heavens.
An oppressive pressure descended upon the battlefield.
People began struggling to breathe.
The news helicopters hovering above the city suddenly found their crews gasping for air.
Cameramen dropped equipment.
Reporters clutched at their throats.
Even the pilots felt dizziness creeping into their minds.
Instinct screamed at them.
Run.
Escape.
Get away.
Not because they understood what was happening.
Because every living creature possessed the same ancient survival instinct.
The instinct that recognized death.
The helicopters retreated.
Nobody wanted to remain nearby.
Nobody wanted to witness what came next.
Drex stood perfectly still.
One hand remained tucked inside his pocket.
The other lifted casually.
"Consecutive Normal Punches."
His arm blurred.
Then disappeared.
Afterimages filled the air.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
A storm of fists crashed into Hulk's body.
Each impact punched a visible crater into the giant's flesh.
And the barrage had only just begun.