CHAPTER 14

Bruce contorted in the gas-filled passageway as the Hulk began to take over. Green energy shone in his eyes and surged from the base of his skull, gamma power flooding through his face and neck and shimmering in his arms. His feet split through his boots and his expanding body shredded his clothes.

Outside, Betty got to her knees, staring up at the overpass. A hand slapped onto the glass, clawing at it desperately. The hand glowed green, and its whole arm swelled, plumping with thick muscle before sliding back into the cloud of gas. The entire overpass seemed to vibrate with the sound of Bruce’s anguished cries. When he fell silent, all anyone could see from the outside was a huge shadow, shifting in the gas as it rose and took the shape of—not a man, Betty thought. It was way too big to be just a man.

“Now she’ll see,” Ross said. Betty had thought her father was a monster, but she was about to see who the real monster was.

The shadow spread its massive arms and the whole center portion of the glass shattered at the impact of its fists. Tear gas poured out, and the soldiers could see the giant green creature, twice the height of a man and slabbed with muscle. Feral intelligence gleamed in his eyes. He snarled and leaped to the ground, trailing wisps of tear gas. When he landed, with one knee bent, Betty felt the impact in the ground under her feet.

The Hulk slowly rose to his full gargantuan height, and all the soldiers on the field took a step backward.

With three powerful strides, the Hulk cleared the courtyard, pounding toward the open field. He spotted Betty on the ground with General Ross beyond her, and he roared with rage, shaking his boulder-size fists in the air.

“Alpha Team, let him have all of it,” Ross ordered.

A barrage of automatic weapons fire peppered the Hulk’s right side, the bullets ricocheting off his skin in all directions. He flung up one arm and turned, seeing Alpha Team: six soldiers with assault rifles near the metal sculpture, arrayed around a tripod-mounted machine gun.

The Hulk raised his hand like a shield and charged toward the fire team. Another fusillade pounded into his palm and raked down his legs. But he didn’t stop storming ahead. The soldiers scattered as he got closer.

Ross’s rangers grabbed Betty, who was stunned by what she was seeing. Quickly, they hustled her away.

Ross swore softly, watching as the giant moved in the wrong direction. “Where are the .50-cals?” he roared. “Move!”

Two vehicles with roof-mounted .50-caliber machine guns roared into view and accelerated to cut the Hulk off from his approach to the sculpture.

The first pulled up alongside the giant, and the gunner opened fire. The Hulk veered to his left, driving his shoulder into the vehicle and tipping it into a spectacular rolling crash. The roof gunner jumped free and tumbled across the grass. The second vehicle headed straight for him as he got closer to Alpha Team, still holding their position in and around the sculpture.

Hearing the vehicle’s engine approach, the Hulk pivoted and stomped a foot down on its hood. It jacked up like a skateboard, its front wheels and bumper driven into the ground.

The Hulk heaved it into the air, shaking the soldiers loose. He smashed the wrecked vehicle into the sculpture, tearing it to pieces. Its engine fell near his feet. Thunder cracked across the sky as the Hulk roared and flung the engine at the other line of vehicles, smashing them into one another in a giant explosion.

“Blonsky! Now you’re up!” Ross barked.

“Cover me,” Blonsky said. He shouldered a grenade launcher and marched steadily toward the monster, firing as soon as he was clear of his own lines. The first grenade hit the creature square in the the back of his head, and he roared in surprise when it exploded. Then another detonated against the backs of his legs. But even though the grenades rocked the giant, they didn’t take him down.

Peppered by bullets ricocheting off his enormous back, the giant snapped off one of the sculpture’s large steel plates. He held its center bolt like the handle of a huge shield. Then he tore a second plate loose, the sound of popping rivets echoing between gunshots from Ross’s retreating forces.

He held up both metal plates, shaking them angrily in the air and clashing them together in a challenge to Blonsky, who fired another grenade and watched the creature duck behind the makeshift shields. Then he looked around the edge, green eyes burning with fury.

“Remember me?” Blonsky asked.

The creature roared and charged, hacking at Blonsky with the metal plates and trying to pin him to the ground. But Blonsky was feeling the Super-Soldier formula. He dodged the scything sheets of metal and fired his pistol when he ran out of grenades. The bullets weren’t going to hurt the green giant, but that wasn’t the plan. Blonsky was trying to lead him on a chase.

“He’s doing it!” Ross said from the mobile command post, a larger version of the van they’d used in Brazil. It was incredible to see. A battlefield-ready Super-Soldier! This was the kind of moment Ross had been building toward for his entire career. It even eased the sting of Banner’s disastrous failure… a little.

“Move him toward the cannons!” he shouted.

Ahead of Blonsky appeared two vehicles tearing through the woods to the edge of the field. They skidded to a halt fifty yards apart. On each was a massive conical sound projector—another of Ross’s research projects.

With another burst of speed, Blonsky dashed into the speakers’ range, with the creature hot on his tail. The soldiers operating the speakers hesitated, unsure if they should fire with Blonsky in the way.

“Do it now!” Blonsky howled.

The operators fired the sonic cannons, unleashing low-frequency sound loud enough that the waves of it rippled visibly in the air.

The edge of the sonic blast caught Blonsky and flung him aside. He rolled when he hit the ground and popped back up to watch the fireworks.

The overlapping sound waves converged on the Hulk, stopping him in his tracks. He roared in agony and dropped his makeshift shields to clap his hands over his ears.

Blasting beyond the Hulk, the sonic waves split trees and shattered windows.

The Hulk’s suffering bellows were barely audible over the basso thunder of the sound projectors. He crouched down, dark green blood trickling from his ears, and dropped to his knees, trying to hold himself upright. Clearly the sound was doing more damage than machine guns could.

“Please, please, no!” Betty begged her father, and she broke free of the soldiers guarding her to grab the front of his uniform.

“Get her back,” General Ross ordered.

As the soldiers dragged Betty away, she screamed, “You’re killing him!”