Chapter 11: He's on the Deviants' side!
The whole world was watching New York. Even Iron Man had decided to deploy urgently.
"Tony Stark, you are not needed here!" General Ross shouted through a loudspeaker, standing in a helicopter.
"Ha, you can't control me. If I were you, after messing up the Super Soldier Program this badly, I'd jump out of this helicopter," Tony retorted loudly.
Like a meteor, he descended from the sky, glowing brightly. Spreading his hands, he aimed at the battling Abomination and Hulk. "Make a wish, guys."
*Bang! Bang!* He fired two energy blasts, but they were completely useless, not even managing to break through their defenses.
The two giants, as if they hadn't seen him at all, roared and pounded on each other—of course, they also failed to break through each other's defenses.
"Sir, the strength of their hides is at least three times greater than steel. We need to increase the output power," his ever-faithful butler Jarvis reported.
"Can we take these two down just by increasing the power? Maybe I should use the shoulder-mounted armor-piercing missile."
"Doing so might break their skin and make them give us a second glance."
"You're a real genius. I should give your AI program an upgrade."
Tony flew back and forth between the two monsters, but he could only harass them, lacking the strength to control the situation.
The Mark 3 armor alone was not enough to handle a battle of this level.
What was worse, Tony detected that the Hulk's strength was gradually increasing over time. From being dominated by Abomination at the beginning, he was now fighting on equal footing with him.
It was foreseeable that in a little while, the Hulk would be free from the effects of the Inhibitor Serum, his strength growing ever greater, and would eventually pummel Abomination to a pulp.
At that point, would a Hulk with his massively increased strength be able to control his instinctual desire for destruction?
"Hey, Vampire, aren't you going to help?" Tony flew over to Blade and shouted.
Blade was very well-known. Various pieces of information about him circulated on the Dark Web and had long since been identified by Jarvis.
Blade's eyelid twitched. He really wanted to slash at Tony to test the quality of his armor. He said coldly, "I've already saved over a dozen people."
"Then what are you waiting for? Or are you frequently glancing at that kid over there with those strange creatures, pinning your hopes on him to turn the tables?"
Blade stared coldly at Tony. It was the first time he'd ever hated an AI so much. If he wasn't mistaken, the signal from the satellite constantly observing them from space had already been decrypted by Jarvis.
However, one point was correct. Blade was very interested in what Du Wa would do next. His instinct told him that Du Wa was waiting for a certain event to occur, but what could it be?
"Damn it, damn it!!"
At that moment, Abomination's face was covered in blood from the pummeling. To his shock and fury, he discovered that his own peak strength had been surpassed by the Hulk!
Did the Hulk's strength really have no upper limit?
"If I hadn't wasted so much time and energy on those few strange creatures, I would never have lost! I hope that Mr. Blue is still alive. As long as I inject more of the Hulk Serum..."
Abomination was in an impotent rage. He had become something neither human nor ghost, madly chasing after the Hulk's power, all for the sake of surpassing him.
No one could understand the primal tremor and shock he felt when, as an ordinary person, he first laid eyes on the Hulk.
*Boom!*
After taking another punch, Abomination was sent flying. He climbed back up, feeling an immense fatigue—this was terrifying. Why did he feel tired? It was as if the more he fought, something even more terrifying inside him was draining his strength!
Abomination felt his muscles go numb and realized he couldn't go on like this.
His internal organs, which had become countless times stronger, had lost all sensation, as if they were no longer his. Something terrifying felt like it was about to burst out of his chest. The feeling was horrifying.
"I just need to rest a bit, inject more serum, and I can surpass the Hulk! After I defeat him, I'll drain all the blood from his body and even transplant his spinal cord into myself!"
Extreme admiration had given rise to extreme jealousy and possessiveness.
Abomination clutched his chest with both hands and, under the spotlights of numerous helicopters, turned and fled.
Even his running speed had become incredibly slow, not even half of what it was at his peak.
If one could observe him up close, they would see strange bulges periodically appearing on the chest he was clutching so tightly, as if something was about to burst out from within.
"He's running away!"
"I... I still don't understand where these two guys came from, or why they started fighting."
"That Blonsky fellow, although he disappointed me immensely, at least he still has a brain!"
Many people were frantically discussing this upheaval.
The Hulk hesitated, unsure whether he should give chase, but ultimately took advantage of the chaos to escape with a few leaps.
Seeing this, General Ross hadn't given up hope. The Hulk was too difficult to control, but the soldier he had personally groomed, Blonsky, could still be saved.
He considered Blonsky an important product of the Super-Soldier Program; Blonsky had not only become powerful but could also retain his mind.
Just then, a civilian news helicopter from a New York media outlet seemed to have spotted something. It suddenly shifted its spotlight, illuminating a figure that had suddenly started moving.
Although only a few vague shadows were seen, it was enough for the camera equipment to record their appearance.
A person, with only their back showing, was running rapidly with several bizarre-looking creatures, their speed was also extraordinary.
The camera quickly lost them. Amidst the complex and chaotic streets, they lost track of Du Wa.
"Did my eyes deceive me? Did we record that just now?"
A reporter rubbed his eyes and looked back at the recording on his camera.
This piece of footage quickly spread and was seen by many people watching on their televisions.
Most people didn't pay it much mind. There had been too many exceptions tonight—a muscular giant, a billionaire in an iron suit. The appearance of someone walking their pets didn't seem all that surprising... right?
"Deviants! Those things are Deviants! But all the Deviants in the world were supposed to have been wiped out by us over five hundred years ago. Why have they reappeared!"
In London, Sersi—a member of the Eternals, one of the divinely-created puppets sent to Earth by the Celestials—was working as a teacher in a high school. At this moment, she was watching television in utter shock.
The live footage was dark and blurry, but judging by their form alone, those creatures looked far too much like Deviants.
After the eleven Eternals were deployed to Earth by the Celestials, it took them thousands of years to kill all these Deviants. Why were there still some alive? And there was a human from Earth mixing with them?!
In an instant, Sersi realized this was a huge problem. Deviants were monsters that specifically fed on sentient life. If left unchecked, they would only kill more humans.
Of course, at this time, Sersi was not yet aware of the true purpose of these divinely-created puppets. It was not to protect humanity at all, but to increase the total human population, accelerating the birth of the Celestial slumbering in Earth's core—a Deity that fed on the consciousness energy of humanity.
A birth that would come at the price of Earth's destruction and humanity's extinction.
Sersi began to call for backup. The first person she thought of was not their leader, Ajak, but her partner, the combat powerhouse among the Eternals—Ikaris, who possessed multiple abilities including flight, heat vision, and a body of steel!
(end of chapter)