Marvel - The Blood God

Chapter 43: Deploy



The battle within the blood was a clash of cells. Maverick's own blood cells attempted to devour those of the Hulk, but the Hulk's blood resisted fiercely, fighting back with rage.

The power of the Blood God was formidable; Maverick's blood quickly consumed the Hulk's, but it became tainted green in the process.

An uncontrollable anger spread from the green blood into Maverick's body. He sensed it carefully and nodded to himself. His earlier suspicion was correct: he could absorb the Hulk's blood, but it would make him irritable and volatile—because the Hulk's power source was anger.

"I don't want to turn green," Maverick muttered.

He reached out toward the green blood suspended in the air. The green blood lost its vitality, fell into his hand, and transformed into a hard green stone.

Maverick pocketed the green stone, then pulled out a test tube and collected a few drops of the Hulk's blood for further study. After that, he opened his hand, and a wisp of blood flew from his palm, hiding beneath the laboratory bench.

"Now, I just need to wait for the Hulk to reach New York," Maverick thought.

He transformed back into Ant-Man and left the facility silently, just as he had arrived.

Meanwhile, General Ross led his forces to capture Bruce Banner. However, Banner transformed into the Hulk, scattering the soldiers and reducing the factory to ruins.

After this incident, Banner decided to return to New York to seek out Dr. Samuel Sterns—"Mr. Blue"—hoping to find a permanent cure for the Hulk.

To retrieve his mutation data, Banner sneaked into Culver University, where he once worked. There, he reunited with Betty Ross. Without hesitation, Betty left her current boyfriend and rejoined Banner.

Betty's boyfriend, a decent man, feared she might be in danger, so he alerted General Ross. As a result, General Ross set a trap at Culver University, leading to another confrontation with the Hulk.

At the Council of Blood Manor, Frank watched in shock as the Hulk overturned armored vehicles on the holographic screen. "Where did this monster come from? He's terrifying."

"It's truly frightening. Not even a tank can stop him," Ivan agreed. Alongside them were Mercury and Electro. They had all been summoned by Maverick to watch the live broadcast.

"This guy is called the Hulk," Maverick informed them, sending a dossier to everyone. "Bruce Banner was originally a brilliant scientist, but due to an experimental accident, he transformed into this monster. His girlfriend once approached me, hoping he could become a superhero, but I declined."

"He can't be a superhero if he can't control his power," Electro shook his head repeatedly. He had always thought his own situation was bad, but now he realized someone had it worse.

Frank said indignantly, "General Ross has gone too far. He's sending ordinary soldiers against such a monster—he's sending them to their deaths. And he didn't even evacuate the students. What is he thinking?"

"Why would he care?" Maverick sneered. "All he cares about is capturing Banner to advance his own agenda. And of course, he'll claim it's all for national security."

In the brief time they spoke, the Hulk had already overturned five armored vehicles, smashing one to pieces. Though the soldiers were brave, they couldn't help but feel fear in the face of such a monster.

At that moment, a man rushed forward with a grenade launcher, firing several rounds at the Hulk. The grenades exploded upon impact, but to their despair, the Hulk was uninjured. Provoked, he picked up a piece of a car door and hurled it at the man.

The man leaped several meters into the air, pulling out a pistol and firing repeatedly at the Hulk. It was, of course, useless—only serving to enrage the Hulk further.

Electro asked in surprise, "Is that soldier enhanced?"

"It must be an experimental enhancer developed by General Ross," Maverick explained. "He's been trying to replicate Captain America's super-soldier serum. Looks like he's made some progress, though it's clearly not perfected; otherwise, he'd be boasting about it."

The man was Emil Blonsky, the future Abomination—a veteran soldier who refused to leave the front lines even at age thirty-nine.

On the screen, Emil received orders to lure the Hulk, who was now wielding two car doors as shields, toward a specific location. There, two sonic cannons awaited.

As soon as the Hulk entered the attack range, the sonic cannons fired at full power. Visible waves enveloped the Hulk, and even he struggled against the sonic onslaught, dropping to his knees in pain.

Ivan remarked, "This thing is pretty good."

Maverick glanced at Ivan and smiled. "Look at the logo—it was produced by Stark Industries."

"Anything that guy makes is bound to be useless," Ivan immediately changed his tune, prompting laughter from everyone.

At that moment, the Hulk used one of the car doors to block the sonic waves, then hurled it forcefully. The door sliced through the sonic cannon like a blade, causing it to explode.

Then, with a roar, the Hulk leaped onto the other sonic cannon and smashed it flat.

"I told you it's useless." Ivan laughed, and everyone was speechless.

On the screen, the enraged Hulk kicked the taunting Emil, sending him crashing into a tree, his body twisted and broken.

Frank shook his head. "Looks like General Ross is going to fail again."

Unwilling to admit defeat, General Ross sent in a gunship, which nearly killed his own daughter. The Hulk protected her with his body, and ultimately destroyed the helicopter before escaping the university with Betty amid the flames.

"Alright, it's over," Maverick said. "Ivan, can your suit handle that monster?"

Hearing about the suit, no one was surprised—not even Electro, since Maverick had told him about it beforehand.

"You mentioned earlier that there'd be a big fight in a few months," Ivan said. "Were you referring to this monster? How did you know he'd appear?"

"I didn't know it was him specifically," Maverick replied. "But I knew there would be a disaster in New York soon. Given the current situation, it's likely to be him."

"He can't control himself," Maverick continued. "If he goes berserk in the city, a lot of people could die."

"We can't let that happen." Electro exclaimed. "We need to stop him before he loses control, or drive him out of New York."

"It all depends on Ivan's suit," Maverick said.

Everyone looked at Ivan. He said confidently, "This monster is strong, but if the four of us team up, we can take him down."

"Excellent." Electro was delighted. Frank thought for a moment and said, "We can't fight him in the city center; it would be a disaster."

"Let's prepare first," Maverick suggested. "We'll formulate detailed tactics once we locate him."

"Alright," Ivan agreed. "I'll make some adjustments to the suits. Frank, Mercury, you should prepare as well. To deal with that big monster, we'll need some aces up our sleeves."

Ivan was excited; it was finally time for him to shine.

A few days later, Banner and Betty arrived at Greyburn College to meet Dr. Samuel Sterns—"Mr. Blue."

At the same time, the local police received alarming reports: someone had found a bomb in a street trash can, accompanied by a note claiming there were nine more bombs hidden nearby.

Shocked, the police immediately called for backup and began evacuating residents near the college.

Unaware of the chaos outside, Banner and Dr. Sterns were locked inside the lab, where no one knew of their secret meeting.

"I've decided—I want to inject the antidote," Banner declared.

After hearing Dr. Sterns' explanation, Banner disregarded the risks and chose to proceed with the experimental antidote. He was tired of being the Hulk; he didn't want to become that monster again. He wanted to be normal.

Betty couldn't dissuade him, so she could only hope for the best. To Dr. Sterns' credit, though there were complications, his antidote was successful. Under its influence, Banner, who had begun to transform, reverted back to his human form.

The Hulk was temporarily suppressed—not cured, but restrained.

As they celebrated, a portion of blood hidden beneath the lab bench silently climbed up and quietly penetrated Banner's body from his back. The blood gathered around his heart and merged with it.

If Banner had been in his normal state, this intrusion would never have succeeded—his green Hulk blood would have fought back. But due to the antidote's influence, Banner's defenses were suppressed, allowing the blood to invade smoothly.

Even if Banner recovered later, the blood wouldn't be expelled; it had fused with his heart. The only way to remove it would be to remove his heart entirely, which was obviously not an option.

Setting that aside, Banner's relief was short-lived. He was soon captured by Emil Blonsky and a team of soldiers. Emil had been injected with a second dose of the serum and had returned to normal.

Emil repeatedly beat Banner, trying to provoke the Hulk to reappear. But the Hulk didn't emerge; Banner remained his frail, scholarly self. Frustrated but bound by General Ross's orders, the soldiers took Banner away.

Unwilling to accept this, Emil grabbed Dr. Sterns and demanded that he inject him with the Hulk's blood.

Dr. Sterns was reluctant, but after being threatened and assaulted by Emil, he complied.

Nearby, Maverick sensed what was happening in the lab and thought, "The super-soldier serum amplifies a person's nature—good becomes better, evil becomes worse. The incomplete serum Emil took seems to have that effect."

When the Hulk's blood was injected into Emil, his body swelled rapidly, his clothes tearing apart. In moments, Emil transformed into a massive, grotesque creature nearly three meters tall, with muscles bulging and bones protruding—a monster even more hideous than the Hulk.

Abomination was born. Unlike the Hulk, he was hairless, and his spine and bones jutted out grotesquely. Compared to him, the Hulk looked almost handsome.

"This is power." Abomination exclaimed, clenching his massive fist. Far from feeling disgusted, he was exhilarated. Dr. Sterns, thinking Emil was angry, babbled nervously, but Abomination knocked him out with a single blow.

Dr. Sterns was thrown into a cabinet and lost consciousness. Above him, a vial of the Hulk's blood teetered, ready to spill onto his wounded forehead.

If nothing intervened, the blood would drip into Dr. Sterns' wound, causing his head to swell and turning him into a mutant.

But then, as the blood was about to fall, a large hand made of blood silently moved Dr. Sterns aside, and the drop fell harmlessly to the floor.

The owner of this hand was Maverick, who was remotely controlling it from nearby. He didn't want another unpredictable, high-IQ villain on the loose.

Unaware of any of this, Abomination, filled with newfound power, smashed through the glass and leaped outside. The building shook from the impact.

Immediately, gunfire erupted below—the remaining soldiers had discovered Abomination. Unfortunately, they were no match for him and were quickly slaughtered.

Maverick paid no attention to the chaos below. He controlled the blood hand to collect all the research samples in the lab. These were valuable materials, and more importantly, he couldn't leave them for the military or S.H.I.E.L.D.

With the help of Pym Particles, it wasn't difficult to take everything away.

Before Maverick finished gathering everything, Abomination had already wiped out all the soldiers at Greyburn College. Still unsatisfied, he burst through a wall and charged into the street.

To his surprise, the street was deserted. There were a few police officers in the distance, but upon seeing Abomination, they immediately turned and ran, showing no inclination to confront him.

In fact, this was under the orders of Captain George Stacy. At that moment, he was remotely directing the police from headquarters—Electro had informed him that a Level B incident was unfolding.

A Level B incident—an event capable of destroying an entire district of New York—was the alert level set by the Watchmen Company.

Staring at the hideous and ferocious Abomination on the screen, Captain Stacy muttered, "Is this the monster that can destroy a district?"

"Captain, this monster is terrifying, but isn't calling it a Level B incident an exaggeration? Is it more powerful than Iron Man?" a policewoman asked.

Captain Stacy was about to respond when, on the screen, Abomination roared and began chasing the fleeing officers. He smashed cars along the way, sending them flying into nearby buildings with explosive crashes.

It didn't stop there. Many of the cars exploded upon impact, turning the surroundings into a fiery inferno.

In just a simple pursuit, half a street was nearly destroyed.

The scene left all the officers in the control room gasping. No one doubted anymore that this was a Level B incident. Captain Stacy felt fortunate that they had evacuated the area in advance; otherwise, the casualties would have been immense. But who had planted the bomb?

Picking up his radio, Captain Stacy ordered, "All units, retreat immediately. Electro, Hell Sisters, are you in position?"

Electro's voice crackled over the radio, "Almost there."

"Hurry. The police can't stop this monster." Captain Stacy urged.

The policewoman asked, "Captain, should we deploy the Thunder Squad?"

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