In the center of the ruins, a heavy truck hood ground to a halt barely half a meter off the ground.
The two soldiers trapped beneath had their hands over their heads, bracing for a fatal impact, but the expected crushing pain never came.
Trembling, they opened their eyes and looked past the twisted metal edge to see a pair of polished black leather shoes.
Following the crisp lines of the suit trousers upward, Linus Vance was holding the half-ton slab of metal with a single hand, his posture as casual as someone carrying an empty tray at a fast-food joint.
The jet-black Vibranium fabric reflected not a single glint of light under the harsh South American sun, without so much as a single wrinkle.
He lowered his gaze to the dazed US soldiers beneath his feet, his tone utterly flat.
“If I were you, I’d crawl out and get the hell off this block right now.”
“After all, if you get dirt on this suit, your military pensions won’t be enough to pay for it.”
Snapping out of their daze, the two soldiers scrambled out from beneath the hood, leaving even their rifles behind on the ground.
“Roar—!”
Deprived of his “weapon,” the Hulk let out a deafening roar.
He didn’t recognize the human in the suit before him, but to his rage-blinded, chaotic brain, any living thing in his way was an obstacle to be smashed to pieces.
A massive green fist—broad enough to cleave a grown man in half—whirled toward Linus Vance’s face, dragging a howling tempest of wind pressure behind it.
Linus didn’t even bother looking up.
He casually tossed the hood aside.
The massive sheet of metal smashed into a roadside brick wall, sending up a cloud of dust that choked the air.
At the same time, he raised his right hand and spread his five fingers, meeting the Hulk’s fist dead-on.
A dull thud of colliding flesh echoed over the slums.
With the two of them at its epicenter, a visible ring of white shockwaves exploded outward in all directions.
The surrounding brick and timber houses, already on the verge of collapsing, caught the brunt of the blast.
Frightening cracks splintered across their walls, and rubble shot outward like bullets.
The asphalt beneath Linus Vance’s feet caved into a crater three meters across, yet he remained standing, straight as a spear.
He pushed his gold-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose, his calm eyes behind the lenses sizing up the green behemoth inches away.
Heavy, ragged gasps surged from the Hulk’s throat as his massive body pressed forward, trying to grind this human into dust with absolute weight and brute force.
Linus looked at him and spoke casually.
“Formidable strength, but utterly lacking in form.”
With a flick of his wrist, Linus Vance locked his five fingers tightly around the edge of the Hulk’s fist.
A fraction of a second before the Hulk could channel more power, Linus stepped back half a pace with his right leg and twisted at the waist.
A terrifying force—no less immense than the Hulk’s own, and vastly more refined—surged back through his arm.
Borrowing the Hulk’s forward momentum, he dragged his right arm violently downward.
The three-meter-tall, multi-ton green giant stumbled.
His massive frame lost its balance, and he slammed heavily onto the ground before Linus.
The entire street shuddered violently.
Underground water mains burst, sending a murky geyser skyrocketing into the air.
…
Inside an attack helicopter hovering low overhead, General Ross leaned halfway out the cabin door, his hand freezing just as he was about to order his men to open fire.
He snatched a pair of high-powered military binoculars from the operator’s hands and fixed his gaze on the street below, barking in demand:
“Who is that?
Who is that Asian man in the black suit?
He caught that monster’s attack with his bare hands?!
Pull up his facial recognition immediately!”
The operator’s fingers flew across the keyboard, and seconds later, an encrypted file popped up on the screen.
“Sir, facial recognition match found!
It’s Dr.
Linus Vance from Culver University!
He’s the one who forcibly took Miss Betty during yesterday’s lab accident!”
General Ross’s face turned pale with fury.
A frail researcher had waltzed onto a South American battlefield, stood unharmed at ground zero, and tossed a monster that an entire SEAL team couldn’t handle straight into the dirt like a ragdoll?
He roared into his communicator:
“The military doesn’t need uncontrollable wildcards.
Notify all snipers to lock onto Linus Vance as well.
If he makes any suspicious move, shoot to kill immediately!”
At that moment, a faint static crackle sounded in Linus Vance’s ear, followed by Betty’s hurried voice.
“Linus!
I intercepted their tactical channel.
My father just put you on the target list.
There are snipers on the fourth floor left and sixth floor right targeting you.
Fall back, quick!”
Linus stood beside the rising water jet, letting the muddy spray hit his Vibranium suit, only for it to slide off magically without leaving a single trace.
He reached up, flicked his tie, and let out a soft chuckle into the air.
“Betty, did you forget what I promised you last night?
As long as I don’t want to, no one in this world can make me take a step back.”
On the other end of the comms, Betty fell into a brief silence.
In a Manhattan penthouse, she clutched the collar of the oversized white shirt Linus had left behind, her legs crossed as she sat before her computer monitors.
Watching the tall, upright man strolling casually through a hail of gunfire and monstrous terror, her heart rate had long since breached normal limits.
Betty’s voice softened, laced with a helpless reliance meant only for him.
“But…
their weapons are custom-built…”
Linus’s voice resonated once more.
“Keep your eyes on the screen.
This next move is a special performance just for you.
Don’t blink.”
Before his words had fully faded, the Hulk scrambled back to his feet from the dirt.
This endless series of embarrassments pushed the Hulk’s rage past its tipping point.
Thrusting his hands into the shattered pavement, he ripped an entire section of an abandoned sewer pipe right out of the ground.
He swung it like a giant metal baseball bat, hurtling toward Linus Vance’s head with a terrifying howl of split air.
High above, the two snipers pulled their triggers simultaneously.
Two armor-piercing rounds capable of punching through light armor streaked in from the left and right, cutting off Linus’s retreat.
Linus didn’t bother dodging at all.
The two armor-piercing rounds struck his shoulder and back, producing crisp metallic clinks before crumpling into scrap iron and dropping to the floor.
The Vibranium nanotech absorbed every bit of kinetic energy.
Linus Vance didn’t even sway.
Facing the massive metal pipe hurtling toward him, Linus bent his knees slightly and charged straight into the path of the iron column.
*BANG!*
He threw an insanely brutal straight punch, landing it dead center on the sewer pipe.
Under this matchless force, the solid metal pipe snapped down the middle and tore off to both sides.
Linus burst through the shower of flying metal fragments, closing the distance between himself and the Hulk in an instant.
His voice sounded right beside the Hulk’s ear.
“The bigger you are, the bigger your surface area for impact.
Banner, did you throw all your physics to the dogs?”
Linus Vance’s voice was gentle, but his actions were violent to the extreme.
He pressed close against the Hulk’s broad chest, slipping past the monster’s wild swings.
Planting his left leg, he whipped his right leg out like a crack of a whip.
The kick landed flush on the outer side of the Hulk’s knee joint.
A sickening crunch of grinding bone echoed through the air.
The Hulk’s left leg buckled under him, his tall frame tumbling uncontrollably to the right.
In that split second of the Hulk’s collapse, Linus reached out, seized the edge of his jaw, and whipped his waist around.
He spun the massive green beast half a circle through the air and slammed him ruthlessly into the three-story red-brick building beside them.
The brick walls collapsed like paper, and more than half the building dissolved into rubble, burying the Hulk completely beneath it.
The entire block fell dead silent.
Hiding behind cover, the US soldiers didn’t even dare to breathe.
The only sound was the crackle of sparks from a burning jeep nearby.
In the helicopter, General Ross gripped the cabin hatch so tightly his nails nearly bit into the metal.
He couldn’t comprehend what was happening before his eyes.
A monster the military had poured endless resources into and suffered heavy casualties trying to control was being tossed around like a toddler learning to walk in front of a man whose hair wasn’t even ruffled.
Betty’s voice echoed through the earpiece, her breathing far heavier than before, coming through the airwaves with crystal clarity into Linus’s ear.
“Linus…
are you hurt?”
Linus reached up and loosened his tie.
“I told you, I hate pain the most.
If anyone’s going to die, it’ll be someone else.”
He added lightheartedly into the communicator:
“Go open that bottle of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti on the top shelf of the wine cabinet to let it breathe.
I’ll be back soon to join you for lunch.”