The situation had spiraled out of control.
Over a hundred soldiers were surrounded by two "people."
They were well and truly surrounded.
They could neither leave nor stay.
In the crowd, Natasha looked troubled and grim as she watched military personnel and civilians suffer heavy casualties.
"What do we do now?" Barton drew his bow and aimed at the two monsters, his expression ugly. "There doesn't seem to be anything we can do."
"With just the people we have here?" Natasha glanced around at the terrified soldiers and shook her head. "There really isn't."
Nick Fury did know a few people who might be able to resolve this.
Krillin and Captain Marvel could probably handle it.
But Nick Fury had no intention of asking Captain Marvel to come back.
He didn't know whether Old Man and Ah Xing had a solution.
Well, even if they did, he couldn't get them to come anyway.
Natasha carefully studied the street, her mind racing. Ideally, she wanted a good escape route-or at least a decent vantage point to watch from.
"Barton, follow my lead in a moment," Natasha whispered.
"Huh? You're not planning to get involved, are you?" Barton looked astonished.
Natasha rolled her eyes. "Do I look like an idiot to you?"
"It's too dangerous to stay here," Natasha continued. "There are only two of them, so they can only block two directions at once. As soon as they move toward another direction, we get out."
"Get ready..."
Just then, the two monsters tried to grab each other by the neck and lock each other in chokeholds.
In an instant, countless fragments of rebar, bricks, and stone flew everywhere.
"Go."
Almost the moment Hulk and Zhang Fei turned, Natasha led Barton away from the center of the battle.
A few reckless soldiers saw the two of them leaving and followed without thinking, only to get impaled by flying debris.
Natasha's retreat made no difference to the battle.
The two sides continued their fierce clash.
Hulk growled, driving forward with his arms and legs as he hurled his entire body at Zhang Fei.
At the same time, Zhang Fei casually pulled two large iron pillars from the surrounding wreckage.
Clang-clang-
He smashed them into Hulk's face, stopping him in his tracks.
"Aaargh!"
Hulk roared in fury, as if to say, You're asking for death!
Zhang Fei roared back, seemingly saying, Bullshit!
After several roars, Hulk seemed to grow even larger, though it was hard to tell whether that was real or just an illusion!
[Emotional Value from Natasha of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. +75] [Emotional Value from Nick Fury of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. +55] [Emotional Value from Bruce Banner +76] [Emotional Value from General Ross +17] [From...]
Jiang Xiang didn't know whether they were happy.
He was very happy right now.
The battle in the street had been going on for quite some time.
Ever since Zhang Fei appeared, Emotional Value had been pouring in for Jiang Xiang.
He had already received nearly twenty thousand, and by a conservative estimate, the total could break a hundred thousand!
Hulk's body had grown enormous, making him look very intimidating.
But Zhang Fei was no pushover either.
Just as Hulk rose to threaten him again, Zhang Fei swung out the wheel on his back as a weapon.
Hulk and the wheel collided, pressing firmly against each other at the point of impact.
A deep rumble came from where the two met.
The enormous man and the enormous object seemed almost locked in a stalemate.
Still, the disc appeared to be losing ground.
But just then, Zhang Fei suddenly struck from behind the disc, launching a swift attack at Hulk from below.
Hulk took two huge slaps to the face.
"Aaargh!"
Knocked back to where he had started, Hulk let out two furious growls. Despite their ongoing battle, he turned and ran toward a building beside the street.
Zhang Fei froze for a moment. Was he running away?
A moment later, it became clear that he wasn't.
Hulk tore out two pillars and held them in his hands.
"Aaargh!"
"He even knows how to use weapons?" The soldiers trapped nearby, too afraid to move, were astonished.
Without hesitating, Hulk gripped his two makeshift clubs, ready to hack his way from one end of the street to the other.
He wouldn't stop until he had killed the gorilla in front of him!
Swinging the pillars, Hulk attacked Zhang Fei again.
By then, the smarter onlookers had already taken advantage of Hulk's trip to fetch the pillars and fled.
Unfortunately, some people still insisted on risking their lives to stay nearby and watch the battle.
Zhang Fei didn't hesitate. Neither his weapon nor his footwork faltered as he charged straight at Hulk, who was practically bursting with rage.
But if someone had stood between them and compared their speeds, they would have noticed that Zhang Fei wasn't moving particularly fast.
Hulk ran and leaped, closing in on Zhang Fei at an astonishing speed.
Just as Hulk was about to collide with Zhang Fei and engage him in battle-
Dodge!
Zhang Fei sidestepped.
Boom-
Hulk charged straight past him.
He smashed through several buildings, bringing them down.
Instinctively, Hulk lifted his head with one hand while bracing his body with the other.
He was just about to turn and look for his enemy.
Clang!
A huge disc slammed into Hulk's head.
No fair!
Zhang Fei smiled in satisfaction.
Clang!
Clang!
Zhang Fei pulled an ugly grin and climbed to a high spot with the disc in hand.
Then he leaped down!
Clang!
Hulk's head was almost driven into the ground!
Hulk's vision went black.
"Aaah..."
It was as if he were saying, This isn't fun!
Finally, Hulk's body shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye.
He turned back into the comparatively small Bruce Banner.
Whoosh-
Figures crowded the area once Hulk had returned to his thin, small form.
Those soldiers had suddenly appeared from who knew where.
General Ross pushed his way through them.
"We're with the New York military. Thank you for helping us capture this test subject.
"Put him down over there. Our people will take custody of him.
"I'd like you to come with us. We need your cooperation on a few matters." General Ross could tell that Zhang Fei was sentient, but his tone was anything but polite.
It never even occurred to him that a sentient person might object to his suggestion.
Perhaps he had been a general for too long.
Perhaps his life had been too comfortable.
"Heh."
Zhang Fei let out a mocking laugh.
He picked up Bruce Banner and left with a few enormous leaps.
Bastard! Damn it! Seeing Zhang Fei leave without so much as acknowledging him, General Ross could only curse inwardly.
Other than cursing to himself, there was nothing else he could do.
He ordered the soldiers to clean up the aftermath.
Boom-
Occasional explosions still rang out along the street, which was filled with glaring flames.
People were scattered sparsely along the street, and many lay forever still in pools of blood.
Natasha, Barton, and the agents who had come with them looked grim.
Although Natasha and the others had experienced conflicts even more brutal than this, those massacred hadn't been people from their own country with the same skin color.
They grieved for their own kind.
That was all there was to it.
What's more, these casualties had been caused by two enormous monsters, something they had never seen before.
They couldn't help feeling that the same fate might someday be theirs.
Perhaps they, too, would die in the line of duty someday?
Perhaps they would die at the hands of this monster?
Before you continue