◉◉◉◉◉
After saving the mother and daughter, Jimmy sprinted straight toward Abomination.
As he ran, his mind worked at full speed.
Right now, his raw strength was probably inferior to Abomination's But when it came to agility, Abomination could not keep up with him.
As long as he did not get grabbed.
As long as his claws could pierce that hide.
He could kill him.
The streets were in ruins.
Bodies lay everywhere.
Jimmy felt his anger ignite.
"Boom!"
Abomination stomped down hard, launching a taxi into the air like a skateboard.
He grabbed it with both hands and lifted it overhead, staring toward his former battlefield.
"Pathetic," he roared. "Not one of you can fight me, Send someone who actually can."
The force and speed were terrifying.
If that taxi hit, neither the driver nor the soldiers behind him would survive.
Jimmy arrived just in time.
He caught the taxi with one hand, spun it several times to bleed off momentum, and set it down hard.
He ripped the door open, dragged the driver out, and shoved him toward the soldiers behind him.
"Evacuate civilians," Jimmy said sharply. "This thing is not something you can handle."
Jimmy stepped forward, facing Abomination directly.
Abomination tilted his head, studying him with interest.
"What are you supposed to be," he sneered. "Another Iron Man."
"If you want to fight, then fight," Jimmy snapped. "Stop talking."
He launched himself forward.
His claws slashed toward the inside of Abomination's thigh.
It was not cheap.
It was a necessity.
Given Jimmy's height, that was as high as he could realistically reach.
"Roar!!"
Abomination bellowed in pain as three deep gashes tore across his flesh.
Jimmy frowned.
Too tough.
This hide was even tougher than Smaug's.
Worse, when his claws sliced across the skin, Jimmy felt the muscles underneath contract deliberately, trying to clamp down on the blades.
So that was it.
Cutting along the muscle fibers was dangerous, They could trap the claws.
He needed to cut across them.
Sever the muscle.
Avoid getting pinned.
No wonder wolves evolved multiple claws instead of a single blade. It reduced the risk of being locked in place by muscle.
Abomination's wounds bled only lightly.
Not because he healed fast.
But because he forcibly compressed his muscles, squeezing the wounds shut.
"I am going to tear you apart," Abomination growled.
"Tear me apart," Jimmy replied coldly. "I am going to carve you piece by piece."
The fight turned brutal.
Jimmy moved like a feral predator, darting, slashing, retreating.
Abomination charged like a raging beast, unstoppable in power but unable to land a clean hit.
To everyone watching, the imbalance was obvious.
Abomination could take a hundred cuts.
Jimmy could not afford a single mistake.
One grab.
One misstep.
And it would be over.
---
High above the city, aboard a military aircraft, Thaddeus Ross stared at the live feed in disbelief.
Beside him, Bruce Banner spoke quietly.
"Was this one of your experiments, too?"
Ross glanced at the screen.
"No."
He watched for several more seconds, jaw tightening.
"He cannot last much longer. Mobilize every available unit, redirect them to Harlem."
Banner turned toward him.
"No, you still do not understand, do you? What good is the army against that thing? Rocket launchers have already failed, Are you planning to fire artillery down a city street? Enough people have already died"
"Let me go."
"I am the only one who can stop him."
Banner's voice carried a strange calm.
A kind of grim resolve.
Ross knew the truth.
Even with the military, this was a losing battle.
After this level of destruction, the best possible outcome was a court-martial and life imprisonment.
And even that was unlikely.
At this point, Ross had no real options left.
All he could do was put on a show.
Demonstrate that he had tried everything.
That was it.
Still, Banner's words gave him a sliver of hope, Maybe Banner really could stop it.
Watching the blue-armored figure trading blows with Abomination below, Banner realized just how little he truly understood this world.
---
"No. I will not agree to this." Betty Ross spoke urgently. "You cannot control him, If you go down there and lose control, the damage will be even worse."
Banner looked at the woman he loved.
"I cannot control him," he admitted calmly. "But I can guide him, I can make him understand who the real enemy is, and I know he will find the strongest opponent on his own, that yellow monster."
Betty frowned. "And what if you team up with it instead. Do you understand how much destruction that would cause?"
"We created him," Banner replied. "That responsibility cannot be ignored.
Even if there is only a small chance, we have to end this."
Betty understood what Banner was really saying.
Sending in the military would change nothing, They could not kill the monster on the ground.
This level of destruction already guaranteed consequences. A military tribunal and life imprisonment were the best possible outcomes.
If Banner went down and things got worse, Betty would simply earn himself two life sentences instead of one.
Was there really a difference?
But if the monster below was killed, or if both monsters destroyed each other, Ross still had a chance to redeem himself.
As for the agile fighter darting around with blades, Betty never believed he could actually kill Abomination.
Too much time had passed, no obvious blood, no visible fatal injuries.
What Betty did not know was that Abomination was already suffering.
In just a short time, he had been stabbed more than a dozen times.
Each strike left three deep punctures.
Abomination was holding himself together through sheer muscle control, forcibly sealing his wounds.
The pain drove him into a frenzy, swinging his arms wildly.
---
"Boom!"
Jimmy was focused, striking again and again, when a massive impact sounded nearby.
The street collapsed inward, leaving a crater shaped like a human body.
Every instinct Jimmy had screamed danger.
The sensation was unmistakable.
A predator had locked onto him.
That half-second of hesitation was enough.
Abomination's massive hand slammed into Jimmy, sending him flying into a wall with bone-crushing force.
"Roar!!!"
Before Abomination could follow up, a thunderous roar echoed through the street.
The sound pulled his attention instantly.
Hatred burned through him.
That roar.
It was the Hulk.
Abomination ignored the wounded Jimmy entirely and turned toward the new arrival, roaring back in challenge.
Jimmy dragged himself out of the shattered building and leapt down to the street.
He watched the confrontation unfold.
One glance was enough, Despite the roar, Hulk was not fully awake.
Setting aside the impact from falling out of the aircraft, the tranquilizers in his system were still working.
Hulk's muscles trembled violently.
Jimmy recognized the reaction immediately, It was the body forcefully reactivating muscle fibers.
Jimmy had used the same technique during his battle at the Lonely Mountain.
Hulk's eyes were unfocused.
His head jerked occasionally.
He looked less like an unstoppable force and more like someone trying to fight through a brutal hangover.
Abomination charged.
Hulk charged back.
"Crash!!"
The two collided head-on.
Hulk had no chance.
He was sent flying.
Hulk staggered, shook his head, and forced himself back to his feet.
This time, Abomination did not pursue.
That last full-force clash had cost him.
The wounds Jimmy had carved into him finally began to seep blood.
It was faint in the darkness.
Almost invisible.
But Jimmy saw it.
Hulk roared again, unfocused and enraged.
He tore a nearby police car in half and wrapped the metal around his fists like crude gauntlets.
Then he charged forward once more.
◉◉◉◉◉
~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
◉◉◉◉◉
For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
(Just remove the - hyphen to access Patreon normally)
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!