"You little rascal, you're not dumb at all!"
"Hulk! Smart! Little man dumb! Haha!"
"Damn it, now I'm getting mad!"
Dante rolled up his sleeves, ready to go full rage mode—until a sudden thought hit him.
Wait a second…
Wasn't this Hulk supposed to be brainwashed by HYDRA's Winter Soldier protocol?
Then why the hell is he acting smarter than the original Hulk?
You'd think Winter Soldier brainwashing would turn an IQ 180 and an IQ 18 into, like, IQ 50 combined.
Except that's not how intelligence works. Obviously.
So…
"Hulk, you weren't actually hypnotized by HYDRA, were you?"
"Hulk doesn't understand what you're saying."
"…When you answer like that, it's impossible you're the damn Winter Soldier!"
"Hulk… Hulk is the Winter Soldier!"
Dante's forehead twitched with several black lines.
Where did this three-meter-tall green muscle brat even come from?
What kind of Winter Soldier runs his mouth like this?
Still, Dante didn't bother arguing with the green beefcake.
Let him babble on from the floor.
The Rage Red Light burst toward the sky like a blood geyser, and searing blood flames poured from Dante's seven orifices.
A Red Lantern in full rage mode was a lot more extra than a Green Lantern.
There's a reason Green Lanterns are seen as heroes… and Red Lanterns as demons.
When it comes to raw intimidation, Rage Light is the king among the emotional spectrum.
Hulk's beast instincts kicked in the moment he saw the blood fire erupt from Dante's body.
Danger.
"Monster! HULK! SMASH!"
Classic Hulk opener: leap and pound.
Except this time?
Didn't work.
A fully-formed Rage Red Light barrier stopped Hulk's tank-smashing blow cold.
Red Lantern construct generation is rare.
Even in the comics, Atrocitus—the Red Lantern Corps founder—couldn't pull it off at first.
Why?
Because Red Lanterns usually lose their humanity in the process. They become mindless shells of rage—pure destruction with zero imagination.
But creating constructs requires rationality. And imagination.
Luckily for Dante, his Red Lantern Ring wasn't running off pure Rage Light. It was fused with the volatile energy of Cyttorak's Crimson Cosmos.
This made it more unstable than Green Lantern energy—but not evil.
Still, it made generating constructs harder than with green willpower alone.
Dante never let a little instability stop him.
Unlike the system-powered Batman-tier Will that fueled his Green Lantern side, this monstrous, focused rage?
That was all him.
Honestly, he always felt he was more Red Lantern than Green.
"Bang! Bang! Bang—"
Fists coated in bloodfire gauntlets rained down on Hulk, blow after blow.
For a hot second, even the Hulk got pushed back.
But Dante wasn't deluded. This was just the warm-up.
In full Red Lantern mode, he could feel emotional fluctuations around him with terrifying clarity.
Right now?
Hulk's anger was skyrocketing with each punch.
Sure, the damage wasn't decreasing, but the stun time between hits?
Shortening.
Fast.
Because Hulk got stronger the angrier he got. And Dante's pummeling was giving him a free power-up.
"HOT! TOO HOT! HULK ANGRY!"
The blood flames burned more than the punches themselves.
And now, Hulk started countering.
Three hits from Dante? One smash from Hulk.
But each retaliation hit harder than the last.
Dante, curious to test his limits, didn't summon any advanced weapons. He went all-in with his fists.
In Red Lantern state, he stayed mostly rational… but also way more prone to tunnel vision.
And Hulk?
Hulk was just straight-up a walking cheat code.
There was no cap to his strength curve. The madder he got, the scarier he became.
"BOOM!"
Finally, Hulk not only caught up to Dante's attack speed… he surpassed it.
Dante got knocked flying.
But even as he skidded to a halt, he looked up at the roaring Gamma beast and grinned.
"Hulk… your strength really does go beyond imagination."
"HULK STRONG! LITTLE MAN NOT AS GOOD!"
"Not as good as you?"
Dante shook his head.
If we're talking raw stats, strength and durability even the All Father-tier heavyweights might not beat Hulk.
So if you want to win against him, you have to take him down before the rage builds past the tipping point.
Problem is…
Killing Hulk? Not exactly on the menu.
Dante glanced at his Green Lantern Ring.
Ion Shark hadn't fully recovered, but the charge was back.
"Alright then…"
"Let's begin Round Two."
"In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power—Green Lantern's light!"
The Green Light surged, and the Red Lantern sigil on Dante's chest morphed.
The Red Lantern transformation stayed, but a new glow lit up across his chest.
The Green Lantern insignia.
This was it.
His first Red-Green Dual Lantern Transformation.
Two incompatible powers, fusing into one.
Red rage. Green will.
Clashing forces, dancing in sync under his command.
Dante could feel the power spike instantly.
In this fused state?
He was confident he could go toe-to-toe with all three Asgardian siblings at once.
Hulk, naturally, had no clue what just happened.
Even with some barely-trained cunning from HYDRA's programming, at his core, he was still a glorified rage potato.
"Hey, big dummy—what's coming next is gonna be way more exciting."
"HULK NOT AFRAID OF YOU!"
"You'd better not be."
Dante smiled, extended his hand.
Red and Green Lantern Rings pulsed together.
No fancy constructs this time.
Just raw energy, ignited by pure rage and unwavering will.
"BOOM!!"
The blast rocked the entire uninhabited zone.
Tremors rippled across the ground.
Dust clouds billowed high—but this time, the classic "smoke means no damage" trope didn't apply.
Dante waited for the dust to settle.
And there lay Hulk—flat on his back, green blood leaking from every pore.
A Will Green Light scan confirmed it:
Most of his bones?
Fractured.
Over 80% of his muscles?
Torn clean.
And still…
Even now…
He was healing.
"Hulk… hurt."
"You shouldn't have tried to pass off as the Winter Soldier."
"Hulk… ate too much… They said Winter Soldier only need eat…"
(To be continued.)