Juggernaut-Hulk barreled straight through a minefield the Ten Rings had laid around the perimeter.
Explosions erupted beneath his feet.
Fire and dirt blasted into the air.
When the smoke cleared, he looked thoroughly dust-covered and annoyed.
That was it.
The mines hadn't even managed to knock him off balance.
Juggernaut was already nearly indestructible.
Now that he had become a Hulk as well, conventional explosives were little more than loud firecrackers.
"Die!"
A Ten Rings fighter raised his rifle and pulled the trigger.
The weapon was a licensed Stark Industries-produced M4A1. Built to exacting standards, some examples were accurate enough to serve as designated marksman rifles.
A stream of bullets tore through the air.
Blonsky's left hand blurred.
The bullets vanished.
Like someone catching flies.
A moment later, he opened his hand.
Clink. Clink. Clink.
Dozens of glowing-hot rounds fell onto the sand.
The fighter stared in horror.
He emptied his entire magazine and fumbled for another.
He never got the chance.
Blonsky's kick connected first.
The impact launched the man more than ten meters through the air.
His body came apart before he even hit the ground, reduced to mangled chunks of flesh by the force alone.
Blonsky didn't stop moving.
He ripped a sheet of armor plating from a nearby vehicle and hurled it.
The metal slab screamed through the air for over two hundred meters.
A gunner attempting to operate an anti-aircraft machine gun never even saw it coming.
The plate punched through him and carried the body several more meters before finally losing momentum.
Only then did the rest of the Ten Rings base fully react.
Bullets poured toward Abomination from every direction.
Grenade launchers.
Hand grenades.
Rocket launchers.
Anything they had.
The barrage was relentless.
It also accomplished absolutely nothing.
The projectiles bounced harmlessly off Blonsky's hide.
The sensation only made him appreciate his power even more.
Then he charged into the middle of them.
The slaughter began.
No one could slow him down.
No one could stop him.
Within moments, the base was covered in bodies and wreckage.
The Ten Rings fighters broke.
Panic spread through the ranks.
Men began fleeing in every direction.
One unfortunate fighter almost escaped.
Almost.
A massive hand suddenly grabbed him by the head and lifted him into the air.
Juggernaut-Hulk grinned through a face covered in dust and soot.
Then he tore the man in half.
The sight shattered what remained of the defenders' morale.
Weapons hit the ground.
Men raised their hands.
Some screamed that they surrendered.
Neither Blonsky nor Juggernaut-Hulk cared.
Drex Valen's orders had been simple.
Leave Tony Stark and Yinsen alive.
Kill everyone else.
Neither of them had any desire to disobey.
And truthfully, both men enjoyed this kind of work far more than they probably should have.
On a nearby ridge overlooking the compound, four figures lay concealed among the dry grass.
Lieutenant Michael Murphy.
Petty Officer Matthew Axelson.
Petty Officer Danny Dietz.
Petty Officer Marcus Luttrell.
A reconnaissance team from SEAL Team Ten.
Axelson and Luttrell handled sniper and spotter duties.
Dietz managed communications.
Murphy coordinated the operation.
Using high-powered optics and long-range cameras, they had recorded the entire battle.
Or massacre.
The team remained silent for a long time.
The sheer destruction left them struggling to process what they had witnessed.
Finally, Dietz spoke.
"Should we call in an airstrike?"
High above, an AC-130 gunship circled the area.
It was fully capable of turning the entire valley into a sea of fire.
Their mission was simple.
Locate Tony Stark.
If Stark wasn't present, the base would be destroyed.
Murphy shoved a handful of raisins into his mouth.
"Idiot."
He chewed thoughtfully.
"They're on our side."
Dietz blinked.
"They are?"
"Human Supernatural Strategic Defense, Attack, and Logistics Bureau."
The rest of the team looked completely lost.
"What kind of name is that?"
Murphy shrugged.
"The people who captured Magneto and dismantled the Brotherhood."
Recognition immediately appeared.
"That giant covered in spikes is Abomination. No idea what the red one is."
The Bureau wasn't trying to hide itself the way SHIELD did.
Most ordinary civilians still knew nothing about it.
But among military personnel, intelligence agencies, and government circles, everyone knew the name.
Even if nobody could remember the full title without checking notes.
One of the snipers lowered his binoculars.
"If they can mass-produce Abominations and those red giants, we're all going to be out of a job."
Murphy laughed.
"Not a chance."
He took a drink from his hydration pack.
"Stark Industries, the Pentagon, and half the military leadership would never allow it."
The others listened.
Murphy continued.
"If fifty Abominations could guarantee homeland security, thousands of bureaucrats become unnecessary overnight."
"And?"
"And Stark Industries loses a fortune selling conventional weapons."
The logic was difficult to argue against.
Powerful people rarely volunteered themselves into irrelevance.
After destroying the entire base, Blonsky launched himself off a cliff.
The mountains of Afghanistan became little more than stepping stones beneath his feet.
He moved with incredible speed.
A massive yellow-brown blur hurtling across the landscape.
Straight toward the SEAL team's position.
"We've been spotted!"
Axelson desperately tried to track him through his scope.
It was impossible.
The target was moving too fast.
"Don't shoot!"
Murphy immediately pushed the sniper rifle downward.
"Show no hostility."
After what they had just witnessed, any attempt at resistance would be suicide.
Murphy tossed his rifle aside, pulled out his dog tags, and stood with his hands raised.
"We're Americans."
"SEAL Team Ten."
"I'm Michael Murphy."
Abomination stopped directly in front of them.
The giant studied the dog tags with obvious amusement.
Then he turned around and walked away.
The team remained frozen until he disappeared.
Several seconds passed.
Then Murphy exhaled.
"Holy hell. I almost pissed myself."
One of the others raised a hand.
"I already did."
Meanwhile, Drex had already located Tony Stark and Yinsen.
Azazel teleported the two captives back to New York before returning to retrieve Blonsky and Juggernaut-Hulk.
The moment Tony arrived at Bureau headquarters, Drex got to work.
He knocked Tony unconscious.
Then grinned.
"The smartest Hulk in the world is about to be born."
His plan was simple.
Turn Tony Stark into a Hulk.
Then hand him over to SHIELD.
Tony woke up screaming.
Agonizing pain surged through every nerve in his body.
His eyes snapped open.
The first thing he saw was an enormous gamma radiation array operating at terrifying intensity.
Pure panic flooded his mind.
Then the transformation began.
Muscles expanded.
Bones thickened.
His body swelled larger and larger.
The shrapnel lodged near his heart suddenly ceased to matter.
The transformation forced the metal fragments out of his body entirely.
Tony remained conscious through all of it.
Painfully conscious.
He watched himself become a monster.
When the process finally ended, he stared at his enormous hands in disbelief.
"What the hell happened?"
Tony Stark looked down at his gigantic body.
Then another horrifying realization hit him.
He was a giant now.
A giant green monster.
How was he supposed to date supermodels like this?