The rapid-fire impacts of Drex's Consecutive Normal Punches echoed across Manhattan.
Every punch and kick generated devastating pressure waves. Razor-sharp gusts of compressed air screamed through the streets, peeling away layers of concrete as though the city itself were being sandblasted apart.
The Hulk howled in pain.
His body was being pulverized.
Every collision detonated like thunder striking at ground level, shaking the city block after block.
The reinforced pavement shattered beneath the aftershocks. Cracks widened and spread endlessly. Viewed from above, the destruction resembled ripples spreading across a still lake after a stone had been dropped into its center.
Or a flawless mirror being slowly smashed apart by repeated hammer blows.
"HULK!"
Roaring defiantly, the green giant absorbed one of Drex's crushing punches directly to the chest.
Instead of being launched away, he endured it.
Then he counterattacked.
One massive hand shot forward, trying to seize Drex. When Drex slipped aside, Hulk immediately followed with another strike.
Drex raised an eyebrow.
"Already adapting enough to fight back?"
That rate of evolution was approaching Doomsday territory.
Interesting.
"Then let's try this."
A faint smile crossed his face.
"Serious Punch."
The atmosphere changed instantly.
An overwhelming pressure erupted from Drex.
Everyone felt it.
People watching from their homes felt the air tremble around them.
The entire city seemed to hold its breath.
The pressure became so intense that breathing itself felt difficult.
Then Drex moved.
His fist struck Hulk squarely in the chest.
BOOOOOOM!
The impact shook Manhattan.
The borough lurched as though struck by an earthquake.
Cracks raced up skyscrapers like climbing vines. Concrete fragments and dust rained from buildings across the district.
The explosion roared across the city.
To television audiences, it looked as if a miniature star had detonated in the heart of New York.
A brilliant white light pierced the clouds.
Then it exploded outward.
For a brief moment, the night sky became brighter than day.
The expanding energy wave tore through the storm clouds and scattered them.
Thunder rolled across the horizon.
The entire borough shook violently.
When the smoke finally cleared, a colossal circular crater had appeared.
Fifty meters wide.
Its depth impossible to measure.
The surrounding landscape had been stripped bare, as though a giant hand had scraped away part of the earth itself.
The contrast between the crater and the surrounding skyscrapers made the devastation appear even more surreal.
Drex casually waved a hand.
A powerful gust swept away the dust and rubble.
At the bottom of the crater lay the Hulk.
Broken.
His chest was caved in.
His limbs bent at unnatural angles.
Every bone in his body appeared shattered.
Only his absurd vitality kept him alive.
One bloodshot green eye stared stubbornly upward.
A low growl escaped his ruined mouth.
Then the giant finally lost consciousness.
His body shrank.
Moments later, Bruce Banner lay motionless at the center of the crater.
Drex stretched lazily.
The fight was over.
He turned and walked away.
Someone else could deal with the aftermath.
There would be no shortage of interested parties.
Abomination.
Bruce Banner.
Both were valuable assets.
People would be fighting over who got custody of them.
As for the crater itself, later geological surveys would conclude that the impact had permanently destroyed the underlying bedrock across a two-kilometer radius.
Even if the area were filled and rebuilt, it would never again support large skyscrapers safely.
The city eventually abandoned plans to restore the district's commercial infrastructure.
That night, however, very few people slept.
Especially inside the military.
Senior officers who had watched the battle live sat in stunned silence.
After seeing the Hulk defeated so thoroughly, nobody knew what to say.
The only thing visible in the room was shock.
And concern.
Because all of them were thinking about the same thing.
The Super Soldier Program.
For seventy years, the military had pursued the dream of creating the perfect soldier.
Their greatest success had been Captain America.
The Hulk didn't count.
He was an accident.
A disaster born from a failed experiment.
Powerful beyond imagination, but lacking the control necessary for military use.
Yet despite decades of setbacks, the dream had never died.
Now, however, they faced a terrifying realization.
The future had arrived.
And their seventy-year-old vision of military supremacy was already obsolete.
One elderly general finally broke the silence.
"Perhaps we could capture him..."
He stopped halfway through the sentence.
Even he knew how ridiculous it sounded.
Several officers almost laughed.
Almost.
Another veteran general shook his head.
"He's an anomaly."
"The Super Soldier Program remains valuable."
That statement immediately earned several nods.
Nobody wanted to abandon a project into which generations had poured their careers.
More importantly...
Nobody wanted to be blamed for ending it.
Seventy years of funding.
Seventy years of research.
Seventy years of political support.
Who wanted responsibility for writing off that investment?
Certainly not them.
The mood improved slightly.
After all, perhaps the project still had potential.
One Captain America couldn't challenge someone like Drex.
But what about a thousand?
Ten thousand?
And if they somehow created a controllable Hulk-level asset...
The payoff would be immeasurable.
Meanwhile, another organization was conducting its own evaluation.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.
An organization dedicated to handling the strange and impossible.
Its history stretched back far beyond most people realized.
Legends claimed that figures such as Isaac Newton and Leonardo da Vinci had once been associated with its ancient predecessors.
Modern S.H.I.E.L.D., however, functioned primarily as an intelligence agency and special operations organization under the authority of the World Security Council.
Inside a classified S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, Director Nick Fury stood within a high-tech conference room filled with holographic displays.
"Director Fury."
Several projected screens illuminated the room.
Each contained the image of an influential member of the World Security Council.
Fury knew them all.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s funding and authority ultimately came from these people.
But something immediately caught his attention.
One familiar council member was gone.
In their place sat someone else.
Someone Fury recognized instantly.
His remaining eye widened.
Because the man sitting there was the same individual who had publicly beaten the Hulk into unconsciousness the previous night.
The same mystery powerhouse every intelligence agency on Earth was desperately trying to identify.
For the first time in a long while, Nick Fury found himself completely speechless.
"W-Who is that?"
One of the council members answered.
"That's the reason we're meeting today."
He gestured toward the newcomer.
"This is Drex Valen."
"Drex Valen has been appointed as a new member of the World Security Council."
"He will be overseeing matters related to S.H.I.E.L.D. from this point forward."
Silence filled the room.
Nick Fury stared at the man on the screen.
And suddenly realized things had just become far more complicated.