Three options! Takao scanned them quickly.
Fubuki's psychic power was solid, but in this world it wouldn't be one of a kind. C.C.'s ageless immortality and Geass were tempting, but the uncertainty—and the "witch" factor—could bring trouble. And Mobius…
A top-tier scientist! A fusion warrior! An infinitely evolving "serpent"!
In a Marvel world overflowing with black tech and lurking with crises, a scientist standing at the peak of knowledge was priceless. Not only could she provide technical support—her own power was terrifying. For Takao, who currently relied mainly on Skadi for physical output, Mobius was unquestionably the best complement and the most future-proof choice.
"I choose Mobius!" Takao confirmed in his mind.
[Material "Hulk Mutant" successfully collected! Meets the manufacturing requirements for template "Mobius"! Begin manufacturing immediately?]
"Yes!"
This time there were no earthshaking beams of light. Instead, a strange tremor—something rooted in the essence of life itself—spread outward from Takao in eerie silence. The air around him seemed to thicken. Light warped slightly, as if countless invisible snakes were gliding through the shadows, hissing and whispering.
A dim, eerie green figure—like a stream of data and also like bioelectric light—slowly condensed in front of him. She had long, ink-green hair. Her beauty was uncanny and mesmerizing, carrying an inhuman languor and danger—like someone who had already seen through the secrets of life. Her emerald eyes glittered like the finest jade, shining with intelligence, curiosity, and a faint… evaluative look, as if appraising an "experimental subject." She wore a black-and-green outfit that looked like a fusion of a research uniform and a formal dress, outlining a mature, voluptuous figure. In her hand, she casually toyed with something like a test tube formed from green energy.
She opened her eyes slowly. Her gaze landed on Takao first—and that scrutinizing look instantly turned into amused interest, as if she'd discovered a rare treasure.
"Oh? A brand-new little lab rat, brimming with possibilities?" Her voice had a distinctive, slightly drawn-out cadence—lazy, seductive. "Looks like this 'experiment' is going to be very interesting~"
Takao looked at the dangerous, captivating green-haired beauty and took a quiet breath before smiling. "Welcome, Mobius. I'm Tsuda Takao—your… hmm. Collaborator?" He wasn't entirely sure he could accept "lab rat" as a term of endearment with a straight face.
Mobius chuckled. With an elegant, feline gait, she glided closer and raised a black-gloved finger to lightly tip up Takao's chin. Her emerald eyes examined him from point-blank range. "Collaborator? Not a bad definition, my dear little lab rat~ Then as a greeting, tell me—what's here that's worth… 'observing'?"
Her perception was extraordinarily sharp. She had already sensed two distant presences colliding violently—two auras saturated with savage life energy.
Takao pointed toward the direction where explosions and roars echoed. "Over there. Two big guys are fighting. One's called Hulk—he gets stronger the angrier he is, so in theory his strength has no upper limit. The other's called Abomination—a degraded copy of Hulk's blood. For your 'life' research, they might be… somewhat valuable reference material?"
Mobius's eyes lit up instantly, like a cat spotting a new toy. "Endless growth through rage? A shoddy imitation? Heh heh heh… wonderful. Perfect samples for a controlled comparison experiment." She licked her lips and smiled—beautiful, but dangerously so. "Then, little lab rat, and the one beside you… hmm, that cold little sister—stay here and 'observe' properly. I'll be right back~"
Before the last note faded, her figure melted into the shadows and vanished without a sound.
New York's ruined blocks had already turned into hell. Every collision between Hulk and Abomination was like a meteor strike—shockwaves blasting rubble and twisted metal in all directions. Tanks and armored vehicles were children's toys beside them. The torrent of firepower could do nothing more than leave trivial marks on their tough hides, only enraging them further.
At the heart of the chaos, a red-and-gold figure fought like a stubborn seabird threading a storm. Tony Stark, wearing the Mark III armor, pushed his thrusters to maximum, trying to stop the disaster from escalating.
"JARVIS, target that big one's joints—Abomination's joints! And the eyes! Find a weak point!" Tony bellowed beneath the faceplate, sweat soaking his forehead. He kept firing repulsors with precision, blasting Abomination's knees and elbows, occasionally launching micro-missiles at its face to disrupt its vision.
It barely helped. Abomination's defense was far beyond expectations. Repulsor beams vanished into it like water into sand. The micro-missile blasts only made it more irritable.
"Useless, Stark!" Abomination roared with laughter, tanking Tony's attacks as it drove Hulk back for a moment. Then it whipped around toward Tony, a massive hand tearing through the air with a shriek as it grabbed!
Tony shot upward in an emergency climb, dodging by a hair—but the suit's leg armor still got scraped by its fingertips, leaving deep gouges. Warnings blared inside the helmet.
"Sir, leg armor damaged by twelve percent."
"I know!" Tony ground out, feeling the ugly vibration through the frame as his heart sank. This wasn't even the same weight class.
Hulk, furious from repeated harassment, redirected his rage toward the "buzzing iron box" in the sky. He roared, snatched up the wrecked remains of a bus, and hurled it at Tony like a boulder!
Tony's pupils tightened. He went full lateral, and the bus screamed past the armor with horrifying momentum. The air pressure alone nearly knocked him out of control.
"This isn't going to work!" Tony realized it clearly: his attacks couldn't do meaningful damage, and any one hit from them could doom him. He tried to contact Rhodes for heavier military support, but the channel was drowned in static and explosions.
In the instant he lost focus, Abomination seized the opening. The former special forces soldier's combat experience showed—predicting Tony's evasive line. That enormous body burst forward with speed that didn't match its size, and its fist slammed into Iron Man's chest.
"BOOM—!!!"
Like a giant bell being struck. Tony felt an indescribable force hammer through him—so hard the Arc Reactor's glow flickered violently. It was like being hit head-on by a speeding train. His vision went black, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. The armor flew backward out of control like a golden meteor, smashing through two building walls before finally stopping in a pile of shattered brick and concrete.
"Tony!!" Pepper saw the fragmented feed transmitted back through the suit and almost fainted.
"Sir! Chest plating severely deformed. Reactor output unstable. Multiple systems damaged. Immediate disengagement is strongly recommended!" JARVIS's alerts turned urgent.
Tony coughed hard, ribs screaming with every breath. He tried to force the suit to stand, but the thrusters responded sluggishly, and several joints creaked with a terrible, ominous sound.
Abomination's heavy footsteps closed in like a death knell. Grinning, it shoved aside chunks of concrete and spotted the red-and-gold armor sunk in rubble, struggling to rise.
"Got you, little bug!" Abomination reached out with a huge hand smeared with dust and green blood and clamped onto the damaged chest plate. Its fingers tightened—metal shrieked, deforming further, crushing in against Tony's body.
"Ghk—!" Tony let out a stifled groan, his chest cavity feeling like it was about to be pulverized as his consciousness began to blur. Desperately, he pressed a repulsor against Abomination's arm and fired, but even at point-blank range the beam couldn't punch through that dense muscle.
Abomination watched Tony's struggle with relish. Its other hand rose as well, as if preparing to crush Tony and the armor together like an aluminum can—ending it completely.
(End of Chapter)
If I see that this fanfic has support, I will upload 20+ chapters to Patreon!!
[[email protected]/Zukooo]
[Thanks for your support!]