The captured members of the Brotherhood were all subjected to the mutant cure.
For weaker mutants, the Leech-derived serum was devastatingly effective. Their mutant abilities vanished completely, leaving them as ordinary humans.
Powerful mutants were another matter.
For individuals on the level of Magneto or Professor Xavier, the serum could only suppress their abilities temporarily. Given enough time, their powers would naturally recover.
Magneto could do nothing but watch.
One by one, many of his most trusted followers lost the abilities that had defined their lives.
Years of work.
Years of recruiting.
Years spent building a movement.
All of it crumbled before his eyes.
And there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop it.
Meanwhile, Drex Valen had found a new project.
Juggernaut.
More specifically, recruiting Juggernaut.
And possibly turning him into a Hulk.
"Cain Marko."
Drex sat across from the giant mutant without restraints or barriers between them.
"Join the Human Supernatural Strategic Defense, Attack, and Logistics Bureau."
Juggernaut smirked.
Drex continued casually.
"You'll be free. Full benefits package. Retirement plan. Lifetime pension. The usual."
Steve Rogers stood nearby, looking nervous.
Unlike Ross and Blonsky, Steve still didn't fully appreciate just how terrifying Drex was.
He hadn't witnessed the Director casually overpowering multiple Hulks.
To Steve, allowing a conversation like this without restraints seemed reckless.
Juggernaut suddenly slammed a fist into the floor.
BOOM!
The reinforced alloy beneath him fractured instantly.
The impact would have flattened a tank.
He was deliberately showing off.
Trying to establish dominance.
What surprised him was Drex's reaction.
Or rather, lack of reaction.
The man didn't move an inch.
Not even a flinch.
Juggernaut narrowed his eyes.
Maybe this government official wasn't as harmless as he looked.
Drex studied him for a moment.
This version of Juggernaut wasn't empowered by Cyttorak.
No mystical traces.
No Crimson Gem influence.
Just a mutant with extraordinary physical abilities.
The design was different from the movie version, too.
Drex suddenly felt a familiar itch in his knuckles.
A fight sounded fun.
"Want to test yourself?" he asked.
Juggernaut grinned.
"Gladly."
His fist exploded forward.
Drex moved afterward.
Yet somehow arrived first.
A single punch.
A completely ordinary punch.
BOOM!
The impact echoed through the facility.
Every bone in Juggernaut's body seemed to vibrate at once.
The force was beyond anything he had ever experienced.
Even more terrifying was the precision.
Drex controlled every ounce of power perfectly.
Juggernaut only took a single step backward.
Then his legs gave out.
He dropped to one knee.
The entire room fell silent.
Steve's eyes widened.
Ross stared.
Blonsky stared harder.
The Director seemed stronger again.
Much stronger.
Ross and Steve had needed to work together to bring Juggernaut down.
Drex had done it with one punch.
One.
After Juggernaut's accelerated healing repaired the damage, he slowly rose to his feet.
His expression had changed completely.
For the first time since gaining his powers, he had felt genuine danger.
If Drex had put a little more force into that punch...
He might have died.
"...I'm in."
The answer came quickly.
Like Blonsky, Juggernaut respected strength.
Someone stronger than him had earned his obedience.
Simple.
Ten minutes later, he was lying on an operating table.
Bruce Banner rubbed his forehead.
"Director, are we really doing this again?"
The scientist sounded genuinely distressed.
"We're creating Hulks at an alarming rate."
Drex looked at him seriously.
"Dr. Banner, compared to the supernatural threats humanity faces, our current strength is still nowhere near enough."
The answer sounded noble.
In reality, Drex was mostly curious.
What would happen if you combined Juggernaut and Hulk?
Would it create the strongest Hulk of all?
There was only one way to find out.
Because of Juggernaut's abnormal durability, ordinary injection methods were useless.
Even standing still, his skin was nearly indestructible.
In some comic continuities, he could ignore Wolverine's Adamantium claws entirely.
The only viable option was injection through the softer tissue inside his mouth.
Large quantities of Hulk serum entered his bloodstream.
Then came the gamma radiation.
A lot of gamma radiation.
Juggernaut screamed.
His mutant X-Gene immediately began suffering catastrophic damage under the radiation exposure.
Fortunately, Drex was present.
He directly manipulated and controlled the gamma radiation process, preventing permanent genetic collapse.
The transformation took much longer than expected.
An entire hour passed.
Then Juggernaut changed.
His body expanded further.
Massive muscles bulged beneath metallic crimson skin.
His proportions became closer to his comic-book incarnation.
Towering.
Monstrous.
Overwhelming.
He had effectively become another Red Hulk.
Drex quickly analyzed the result.
Ross's Red Hulk generated extreme heat and plasma-like energy.
Juggernaut's version was different.
His Hulk transformation had amplified his original mutant ability.
As long as he gained momentum, he became virtually unstoppable.
An upgraded version of an already absurd power.
And thanks to the Hulk enhancement, every aspect of his physical performance had increased dramatically.
The Bureau now possessed five Hulks.
Five.
At this point, the headquarters wasn't a secure facility.
It was a death trap for anyone foolish enough to attack it.
Outside the Bureau, powerful organizations continued attempting to negotiate access.
Drex rejected every offer.
Without exception.
The Bureau was his playground.
He had no interest in sharing it.
Still, some interesting news reached his desk.
A certain billionaire genius, weapons designer, and notorious playboy had disappeared.
Tony Stark.
During a weapons demonstration in Afghanistan, Stark had vanished.
The entire U.S. intelligence community was in an uproar.
SHIELD was scrambling.
Military intelligence was scrambling.
Everyone was looking for him.
Nobody had found him.
Yet.
Agent Phil Coulson was investigating another case when his phone rang.
The moment he answered, Nick Fury got straight to the point.
"Tony Stark is missing."
Coulson immediately stopped walking.
Fury continued.
"He was demonstrating the Jericho missile system for the military in Afghanistan. His convoy was ambushed on the return trip. Every soldier assigned to protect him was killed."
Coulson tightened his grip on the phone.
"No body?"
"None."
Which was almost worse.
Tony Stark wasn't just famous.
He was one of the most recognizable people in America.
CEO of Stark Industries.
Son of Howard Stark, one of SHIELD's founders.
If terrorists had captured him alive, the consequences could be catastrophic.
Public executions.
Propaganda broadcasts.
Global panic.
The political fallout alone would be immense.
"I'm arranging transport immediately," Fury said.
"You're going to Afghanistan. Find that idiot and bring him home."
Nick sounded furious.
SHIELD had quietly protected Tony for years.
They had relaxed their surveillance once.
Once.
And now Tony Stark had been kidnapped.
Coulson closed his eyes.
There went his plans to see his violinist girlfriend.
A visible wave of despair seemed to pass through him.
Meanwhile, conspiracy theories were spreading like wildfire.
Tabloids had already assembled lists of suspects.
Obadiah Stane.
Justin Hammer.
Even the Pentagon itself.
After all, Tony's travel route had been highly classified.
Very few people knew where he would be.
The timing of the attack was simply too convenient.
SHIELD's investigation had uncovered another troubling detail.
The terrorists weren't ordinary extremists.
They belonged to the Ten Rings.
"The Ten Rings are dangerous," Fury explained during a briefing.
"Their leader is even worse."
"The Mandarin."
Coulson nodded.
He knew the name.
"Twenty years ago, he was defeated by the forces of K'un-Lun and driven into the Middle East. He rebuilt the Ten Rings shortly afterward."
Fury pulled up a file.
"Current estimates place him at over ninety years old."
"Impossible."
"Normally, yes."
Fury looked grim.
"But the Mandarin possesses ten extraordinary rings."
The file continued.
"At the height of his power, he inflicted enormous losses on the High Table."
Coulson stared at the report.
The situation was somehow getting worse with every sentence.
And Tony Stark was still missing.