Now this was entertainment. Liu A'dou hovered the jet in place, watching the footage from the onboard camera, fully settling into spectator mode.
Five against one, and the Hulk still had the upper hand.
"Dr. Banner, calm down. Don't let your negative emotions control you." Professor X had already instructed them—defeating the Hulk wasn't realistic. The best hope was to wake up Dr. Banner's personality.
"You think he's listening?" Nightcrawler looked into the Hulk's eyes but saw no change.
Right now, the Hulk was locking onto his target.
"Let's hope he is," Storm muttered, clearly uneasy.
"ROAR—Hulk… kill mutants!" The Hulk's attack began, and he charged straight for Cyclops.
"Oh god." Nightcrawler felt like he was staring down a freight train. Who thought it was a good idea to use someone like this?
Things escalated fast. Cyclops dove out of the way. Something was clearly off with the Hulk. But there was no time to think.
"Counterattack!"
The command rang out. The X-Men were ready.
A red beam shot from Cyclops' visor, hitting the Hulk squarely—but it barely stung. It didn't even slow him down.
Wolverine unsheathed his claws and charged. The adamantium blades cut through the Hulk's tough skin and drew blood.
Pain drove the Hulk into a frenzy, and he turned to strike Wolverine. But his body suddenly froze—Jean Grey had locked him down with her psychic power.
The Hulk raged. To him, these mutants were nothing but pests. How could bugs act so arrogant? Rage gave the Hulk strength.
ROAR—
Jean's head suddenly reeled. Her powers had been broken. Then Wolverine was swatted like a fly, skipping across the rocky desert like a stone on water.
The Hulk raised his palm and blocked Cyclops' next optic blast, then advanced step by step.
If Cyclops took a direct hit, it wouldn't just be serious—it'd be fatal.
"Nightcrawler, help Cyclops!" Storm snapped into action. The skies above darkened. Storm's glowing eyes lit up like a divine messenger.
Nightcrawler teleported just in time to yank Cyclops out from under the Hulk's fist. But there was no time to breathe. The Hulk was now charging at Jean.
Another teleport—Nightcrawler snatched Jean away again.
Storm's power surged. "Big guy, you need to cool off."
CRACK!
A blinding bolt of lightning struck the Hulk directly. The surrounding sand scorched black, but the Hulk didn't fall.
His muscles twitched violently under the electric surge. Every cell in his body activated to resist the lightning.
The cells mutated by gamma radiation were like tiny energy reactors. Emotion was the fuel that kicked them into overdrive.
"I—am HULK!"
Amid the lightning, Hulk raised both hands and clapped.
BOOM—
The shockwave rolled out like a tsunami.
A wide-area blast. The force from his thunderclap blasted the air outward at high speed, creating immense pressure that sent everyone flying. Even Storm, up in the air, was caught in the blast. She struggled to stay airborne, nearly falling.
Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and Jean were all flung back, injured.
Damn. Liu A'dou was dumbfounded. Yet another walking bug. No way the X-Men could beat him. He glanced over and saw Wolverine staggering to his feet again. Blood trickled down his forehead, and his face was covered in dirt. Clearly, he'd taken a serious hit. But that freakish body of his had recovered—he was standing again.
"You're one disobedient kid." Wolverine popped his claws once more and charged at the smoking Hulk.
Somehow, even after all that lightning, the Hulk's tattered shorts hadn't burned off. That surprised Liu A'dou more than anything.
Wolverine's roar was pure provocation. The Hulk, still full of rage, roared back.
Two voices. Two figures. Both closing in fast—until they collided.
Wolverine knew he couldn't go head-to-head. He slid to the side at the last second, darted under the Hulk's arm, then turned and slashed at his back.
Slice. Slash. Stab. Wolverine unleashed a flurry of attacks with blinding speed.
"ROAR!" The wounds only made the Hulk angrier. "Tiny man makes Hulk MAD!"
The Hulk spun around, swinging with overwhelming force.
Wolverine dropped into a crouch to dodge. He could feel the punch's wind shear tugging at his hair.
This green freak was ridiculously strong.
"Hulk kill mutants." The Hulk's fist shot toward Wolverine like a cannonball.
At first, Wolverine could dodge, but the Hulk was too fast. One punch slammed into his chest, and Wolverine spat a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying over a hundred meters.
Anyone else would've died on the spot. But Wolverine's adamantium skeleton shielded his internal organs. The Hulk, in his berserk state, could rip adamantium apart. But right now, the green guy hadn't reached his full strength yet, so Wolverine's bones were still intact.
Even so, he wasn't doing great. His claws couldn't defeat the Hulk. If this kept up, it'd be a war of attrition—just a matter of who collapsed first.
"Arghhh!" Wolverine, tossed like a ragdoll, climbed back to his feet again, refusing to give the Hulk a chance to kill the others.
"This is terrifying." Nightcrawler was having the worst luck. His first mission and he ran into the Hulk. Blasted away by the shockwave, his whole body ached, especially his tail, which felt like it had a fracture.
Cyclops and Jean weren't much better. Covered in bruises and scrapes, they were still reeling from the blast. Storm was the only one still airborne and uninjured, but she didn't dare launch another attack. If the Hulk was still going strong after tanking a lightning strike, then even she didn't have a surefire way to take him down.
They couldn't rely on Wolverine alone. Cyclops stood up, adjusted his visor to full power. "Nightcrawler, Jean—fall back." Stepping forward and bracing his stance, Cyclops was ready to unleash a move he rarely used. "Logan, move!"
Wolverine heard the call and did a backflip to clear the line of fire. The Hulk had no chance to chase him, because Cyclops' attack had already landed.
A wide crimson beam cut through the thick desert air and slammed into the Hulk. His green skin charred instantly on impact.
"Ugh…" Cyclops gritted his teeth, struggling to maintain control. The energy didn't come from him—it was drawn from another dimension and funneled through his eyes. His brain was shielded by a protective membrane. The more energy he pulled, the more strain it put on that layer. Go too far, and it could fry his mind.
"It's working—keep it up, Cyclops!" Nightcrawler shouted in encouragement.
Liu A'dou was surprised. This beam was no joke, and more importantly, it was sustained. Even the Hulk was forced to back up. That showed how powerful the blast really was. But it still wasn't enough. The Hulk's recovery rate was accelerating. His charred skin began to regenerate visibly, inch by inch.
At this rate, Cyclops would be the one to burn out first. If only Jean had full control over the Phoenix Force, maybe they'd stand a chance of stopping him.
Nightcrawler could see the Hulk healing. He glanced at Cyclops, who was sweating buckets and barely holding on. He knew he couldn't just stand around. He was the only one who hadn't attacked yet. He was new, yeah—but he was an X-Man now. He couldn't just sit this out.
"Cyclops, that's enough!" The skin around Cyclops' eyes was starting to smolder.
Nightcrawler teleported behind the Hulk, grabbed him, and teleported again.
Inspired by the team's courage, Nightcrawler finally took action.
The Hulk vanished. Cyclops stopped firing and collapsed to his knees, completely spent. Max output drained him dry.
With the Hulk in tow, Nightcrawler continued to teleport, jumping again and again, heading higher and higher into the sky.
Each jump stretched the limit of his visual range. In the sky, there were no walls or obstacles—no risk of reappearing inside something solid. He gave the Hulk no time to resist. In just moments, they reached high altitude.
Finally, when Nightcrawler could barely breathe and his whole body started to freeze, he let go and instantly teleported back down.
They'd reached 9,000 meters, far beyond any human's ability to scale unaided. Higher than Mount Everest. Nightcrawler had finally made a real impact.
The Hulk began to fall.
Faster and faster.
By the time the others saw him again, he'd broken the sound barrier, hurtling down like a meteor. But somehow, his tattered shorts still hadn't torn.
Liu A'dou wasn't worried the Hulk would die. He just wondered if the fall would knock him out long enough for Banner to resurface.