The subway pulled into the station.
Green led Laura through the turnstiles with the crowd, heading up the stairs and back onto the street.
Out on the street, pedestrians hurried along, eager to fill their stomachs at noon.
The sheer number of unfamiliar faces and people brushing past her triggered an instinctive discomfort in Laura.
She subconsciously clutched the corner of Green’s coat and picked up her pace, overlapping her shadow with his.
“What should we eat…?” Green, indecisive as ever, scanned the shops lining the street.
Bright convenience stores, aromatic cafes, a ramen shop bathed in warm yellow light…
Finally, his eyes settled on a red-and-white sign.
“Guess this will do.” Five minutes later, they pushed open the glass doors of a KFC and stepped outside.
The door chime gave a soft jingle.
Green carried a bulging brown paper bag, the warm aroma of fried chicken seeping through the paper.
Laura sipped on an iced Cola through a straw, wearing a pair of cartoon sunglasses she’d picked up.
The two sat down on a park bench and began enjoying their late lunch.
Green ate his burger, while Laura had an even bigger one in front of her.
Following Green’s lead, she dipped a French fry into ketchup and popped it into her mouth.
A few taro pies sat on the bench beside her.
Green’s eyes drifted casually over the park, only to freeze on a couple nearby.
The meek-looking man in the white shirt gave him a faint sense of threat.
“Wait, that face…
Bruce Banner?” Just then, the unusual rumble of engines and heavy crunch of tank treads echoed from down the street.
Several dark green Army armored vehicles rolled in their direction, their roof antennas glinting cold in the sunlight.
Laura’s pupils contracted.
Her burger dropped to the ground with a splat, sending meat and lettuce scattering across the pavement.
Her body tensed, arching like a coiled spring.
Almost simultaneously, Green placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Relax.
They’re not here for you.
And even if they were, as long as I’m here, nothing’s going to happen to you.” Laura turned her head and looked at Green.
His expression was blank, his tone devoid of forced comfort or deep sentiment—he was simply stating a fact.
Yet strangely enough, the fear she had grown so accustomed to was snuffed out bit by bit by his flat words.
She let out a breath and slowly bent down to pick up the ruined burger.
Green reached out a foot and kicked it aside.
“It touched the ground, leave it.
I’ve got money.
I’ll just buy another one.” Laura looked at the discarded burger, then at Green, and finally nodded.
“Okay.” She sat back up, pulled another fresh burger from the bag, and took a small bite.
Her dangling feet, not reaching the ground, began swinging rhythmically as her mood lifted.
The armored vehicles didn’t slow down, violently ramming parked cars out of the way and crushing the sidewalk as they plowed straight onto the park grass.
Not far away, Bruce Banner’s face turned pale at the sight.
He rapidly said something to his girlfriend beside him, turned, and sprinted toward the library building adjacent to the park.
Meanwhile, military forces continued to assemble.
A steady stream of infantry surged out of the trailing vehicles, quickly spreading out to lock down every exit.
This was clearly a well-planned ambush.
Right then, a figure within the infantry line burst forward like a cheetah!
He breached the squad in a few strides, his movements terrifyingly fast—far beyond human peak—with a wild, euphoric thrill painted across his face.
“Blonsky, it’s not time yet!
Hold your position!” General Ross roared into his radio inside a command vehicle.
“Watch me, Sir,” came a breathless, excited reply over the radio.
“This is gonna get real interesting.” “God damn it!” Ross slammed the comms unit onto the console.
“That monster’s serum cooked Blonsky’s brain!
He dares disobey a direct order?!” Before his voice died down, his command vehicle slammed on its brakes.
On the vehicle’s monitor screen, a gentle-looking woman stood directly in front of the vehicle.
It was the woman who had just been talking with Bruce Banner—and General Ross’s daughter, Betty Ross.
Her identity left the surrounding soldiers hesitant to move in and pull her away.
“I know you’re in there!” Betty’s voice pleaded through the external speakers.
“Please, General!” “Dad!” Ross’s aide looked at him, eyes asking for instructions.
The general hesitated, his expression shifting.
After a couple seconds of silence, he finally hit the release button.
The hydraulic doors at the back unlocked, and he gripped the frame as he stepped down.
“Dad, please!
Just let him go!” Betty rushed over, her eyes red-rimmed.
“You don’t understand.
Get back in the car.” Ross’s voice softened instinctively, but he quickly hardened his expression, trying to maintain authority.
Betty tried to argue further— “Sir, the target is over there!” A soldier’s report drew everyone’s attention.
Their eyes followed his pointer across the lawn toward the glass skywalk connecting the library buildings.
Bruce Banner was sprinting through it, but soldiers had already locked down both ends of the bridge.
“Launch tear gas.
Two canisters.
Flush him out,” Ross ordered coldly into a fresh radio.
The order was executed with two muffled thuds.
The canisters broke through the glass and landed inside the skywalk.
Thick white smoke flooded the narrow corridor, within which Banner’s silhouette could be vaguely seen rolling through the haze.
He ripped off his jacket to cover his mouth and nose, but the acrid gas still doubled him over, clutching the glass wall for support.
“Dad!” Betty cried out in horror, trying to dash forward, only to be held back by two soldiers.
Hearing his daughter’s tearful voice, General Ross gritted his teeth so hard his knuckles turned white around the radio, a complex flash of severity in his eyes.
Anger, reluctance, and perhaps a touch of frustration at being misunderstood.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Green murmured nearby, leaning against the park bench as he sucked on a strawberry milkshake, watching Ross’s face with amusement.
“When your sweet little daughter gets stolen away by a giant green pig…
I bet the old man’s ready to burst into tears.” Almost the exact instant the words left his mouth— A deafening explosion blasted from the direction of the skywalk!
Support columns were pulverized like paper by a terrifyingly unreasonable force, sending huge stone shards flying outward like cannonballs!
Nearby soldiers scattered frantically.
A broken column slammed at an angle into the lawn, sinking deep into the turf.
Through the billowing smoke, a massive green figure slammed onto the ground!
It was a nearly four-meter-tall mountain of muscle, landing on all fours like a beast and scattering mud and grass everywhere.
Then he slowly straightened up, his bulging muscles looking as if cast in bronze under the sunlight.
He turned his head, glowing green eyes sweeping over the soldiers and armored vehicles around him as a low growl rumbled in his throat.
“Beauty and the Beast—classic trope,” Green commented, turning back around.
The civilians in the area had long since fled, leaving only him and Laura surrounded by a squad of soldiers, cold gun barrels pointed straight at them.
“Whoa there, I surrender!
Watch out for misfires,” Green said, holding Laura down with one hand while mockingly raising the other.
Not far off, General Ross received a report and marched over.
“I don’t buy for a second that a butcher like you is here for a picnic.” Ross barked as he approached, his eyes flicking down to the suitcase at Green’s feet.
Knowing Green, that thing was packed with weapons, cash, or a corpse.
“What are you up to?” “A picnic, General.
Do soldiers not eat lunch?
Or is the military running low on budget?” Green asked with an amused expression, scanning the tense soldiers around them.
Behind him, the Hulk was already tearing armored vehicles apart with his bare hands, triggering a string of fiery explosions.
“Don’t point guns at your taxpayers.
Or are you just used to brutalizing people?” “Cut the crap.” Ross jabbed a finger nearly into Green’s nose, but remembering Green’s strength and reputation, he yanked his hand back.
“I want to hire you.
Take down that green monster.” “Oh wow, I’m truly flattered,” Green gasped, feigning shock while covering his mouth.
“Though that sounds a lot more like an order than a commission.
And you know I don’t come cheap.” “Wire transfer as soon as it’s done, tax-free!
Now move!” Ross’s face turned livid as he watched his armored vehicles being flipped and blown to bits.
He had full authority over this operation, meaning every single loss was coming out of his department’s budget while everyone else watched the show.
“No, General Ross, you didn’t catch what I want.” “Then how the hell much do you want?!
Name your price, asshole!” Throwing composure to the wind, Ross shoved his face up to Green’s and roared, spitting flying.
Green leaned in slightly and whispered with a light chuckle, his voice audible only to the two of them.
“Ross, I want to sleep with your daughter.” “…You bastard!” Ross snapped, lunging forward to grab Green by the collar, but froze the instant he met Green’s mocking gaze.
This guy wasn’t just entangled with Vought International; rumors said he had ties to Tony Stark as well.
Certain unwritten rules simply couldn’t be broken.
“Don’t let me catch you stepping out of line,” Ross muttered, pulling his hand back as he gritted out every word through clenched teeth.
“Or I’ll put your international red notice on the Times Square billboard and loop it twenty-four seven.” “Mhm~ make sure you use a handsome photo.
I am pretty photogenic, after all.” Just then, the phone in his pocket vibrated.
Green pulled it out—a text from Donatello with Bullseye’s real-time location.
He stood up, releasing his hold on Laura, who gave Ross a fierce, deadly glare.
“Time for me to head back and catch a post-lunch nap.
Hard work, gentlemen.” Green brushed aside Ross’s stiffened hand, shoved his phone into his pocket, threw a lazy, improper salute, picked up his suitcase, and turned to leave.
After taking a couple steps, he paused as if remembering something, turning back to add: “Oh, right.
That KFC is pretty tasty.
Consider it a gift.” Before his words faded, a figure came flying from the distance, kicked by the Hulk like a stone skipping across water, plowing a deep trench into the lawn.
He slammed hard into a nearby tree—the crunch of snapping bones echoed clearly—before sliding limply to the grass.
It was Blonsky, who had just been acting so high and mighty.
“If you still have an appetite, that is.” Green glanced at the pile of broken bones, shrugged, and offered a faint smile.
“Good afternoon, everyone.” Without another word, he turned and walked off.
Laura nudged up the birthday cake sunglasses that had slipped down her nose, shot one last glare at Ross’s pale face, and hurried after Green.
The two crossed the street and slid into the backseat of an empty taxi.
“Manhattan Cruise Terminal,” Green told the driver.
“Yes, sir.” The driver glanced at him through the rearview mirror with a searching look, but Green paid it no mind, keeping his head down as he continued playing a mobile game.
The driver shifted gears, released the handbrake, and stepped on the gas, merging smoothly into traffic.
Laura had been staring at Green ever since they got in, her expression behind the sunglasses unreadable.
“Everyone has selfish desires, but they lack the power to fulfill them alone.
A paid commission is the fairest transaction—voluntary and mutually beneficial,” Green explained without looking up from his phone.
“Does ‘paid’ include mating?
Is that what you like?” “I hate taking orders, especially when delivered with a bad attitude.
So I got back at him.
But overall, yeah, I do like it.” Green finally looked up from his screen to face her.
“I’m a man, and I’m strong.
If I’ve got what it takes, why shouldn’t I enjoy physical pleasures?
Though it’s not limited to that.
It depends on what I want and whether I can pull it off.” He clicked his tongue with a touch of playful arrogance.
“Though so far, there hasn’t been a commission I couldn’t handle.” Laura didn’t seem to process the rest of his words.
She bowed her head, her grease-stained fingers wringing together subconsciously as she sank into silence, her thoughts unknown.
Green didn’t mind.
Outside the car window, the cityscape blurred past as the distant sounds of explosions and helicopter blades faded away, quickly swallowed up by the hum of everyday life.