119 Chapter 113
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BOOM!
The Iron Man armor crashed into the ground like a meteor, flipping over a parked car before tumbling heavily away.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
After several somersaults on the ground, it finally shed the force of Hulk's punch and came to a stop like a dead dog.
Although protected by the armor, Tony Stark inside still felt like his entire skeleton had shattered, his head buzzing.
He was almost knocked senseless by Hulk's hammer blow.
"Multiple contusions detected," JARVIS's reminder immediately came through the headset, the considerate AI noticing it right away.
"Yeah, I detected that too," Tony Stark's mouth twitched slightly.
The pain spreading from various parts of his body had already informed Iron Man of this.
After getting up off the ground, Tony Stark found that where Hulk had struck the armor's chest, it was even caved in.
This made Tony Stark increasingly alarmed in his heart.
No wonder he could rub Thor in the future!
Although his current strength was obviously far from that level, not even close.
But he was still ridiculously powerful, not at all easy to deal with.
"JARVIS, looks like we're in for a bit of trouble this time."
But Tony Stark was undaunted, just fixing his gaze ahead at the Hulk as he quipped to his AI.
"It appears so, sir!" JARVIS immediately concurred.
"ROAR!" Under Tony Stark's gaze, Hulk let out another bestial roar from his mouth.
Then like a small mountain, he came rumbling towards Tony Stark again.
Having learned his lesson, Tony Stark wised up and no longer tried to clash head-on with Hulk. Instead, he directly extended his hand towards him.
A dazzling light flashed from his palm.
Whoosh...BOOM!
A repulsor blast was immediately fired off by Tony Stark.
In this state, Hulk had no idea how to dodge and was directly hit by the repulsor.
But it must be said, Hulk is Hulk.
The toughness of his flesh was simply unimaginable to ordinary people.
Withstanding a blast from Tony Stark's repulsor, he only wobbled slightly, his movement hindered a bit, nothing more.
There was absolutely no damage whatsoever.
Not only that...
"ROAR!"
Hulk's roar sounded even more soul-shaking.
"Sir, he appears even angrier," JARVIS's voice piped up by his ear, promptly alerting Tony Stark.
"Seems so, guess I really pissed him off this time?"
Tony Stark had barely finished saying this when Hulk, his rage tripled, was already charging at him.
Whoosh!
Iron Man immediately took to the air in his armor.
Then he fired off a tear gas canister at Hulk with a whoosh.
Clang clang!
After rolling twice on the ground, the tear gas grenade began spraying out a large volume of irritant gas.
Quickly engulfing Hulk's figure.
"JARVIS, switch to penetrating scan vision."
Hovering in the air looking down at the cloud of smoke below, Tony Stark issued this command to JARVIS.
Shoom!
JARVIS faithfully executed Tony Stark's order. In an instant, the view before Iron Man's eyes changed.
The scene inside the irritant gas was fully projected before his eyes.
"Oh, this isn't good!"
Tony Stark immediately let out a cry.
Because in his field of vision, Hulk was glaring up at him, eyes wide, furiously staring at him.
Making even Tony Stark feel a chill down his spine.
Whoosh!
The next moment.
Hulk's legs powerfully pushed off the ground, cracking it with a crunch.
His massive body shot into the air like a cannonball, rocketing towards Tony Stark at incredible speed.
"JARVIS!"
Tony Stark's pupils suddenly contracted as he subconsciously cried out.
Although he only had time to call out a name, JARVIS naturally understood Tony Stark's meaning.
Even before the other party spoke, he had already controlled Tony Stark's armor to evade.
Hulk flashed past Iron Man's armor, almost grazing it.
BOOM he heavily smashed into the opposite building, even caving in a huge crater in the structure.
"ROAR!"
Hulk's hands dug deep into the wall, spider-man style.
He turned his head to glare at Tony Stark and roared again.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
BANG BANG BANG!
Just like that.
A fierce battle erupted between Tony Stark and the Hulk.
Tony Stark temporarily relied on his air superiority, flying around in the sky launching various attacks on Hulk.
Trying to find Hulk's weaknesses and suppress him.
But it was completely useless.
Hulk was an unkillable cockroach.
No matter what kind of attack Tony Stark used, besides making the other party angrier, it had no effect at all.
But fortunately Hulk couldn't fly. Although his leaping power was startling, able to jump up dozens or hundreds of meters each time.
But JARVIS was no slouch either, right?
Controlling the armor to dodge this way and that, although it looked precarious, he still evaded all of Hulk's attacks.
The battle between the two temporarily reached a stalemate.
Unfortunately, this situation did not last long.
After all, the Tony Stark before him was indeed much weaker than the Hulk in absolute strength.
"ROAR!"
Another earth-shaking angry roar.
Hulk, after repeatedly failing to smash Stark, had maxed out his rage value. Grabbing a car, he hurled it at the iron scrap in the sky.
He really used the car like a sandbag, throwing it dozens of meters away.
In the blink of an eye, it crashed in front of Tony Stark.
Whoosh...BOOM!
Could Iron Man not block the Hulk, but be unable to block a car? Extending his hand, he fired a repulsor blast.
Instantly blowing the car away.
Shoom!
But at that moment, Tony Stark's vision suddenly blurred.
Hulk's body had already rocketed before his eyes!
"Not good!"
Iron Man inwardly cursed at the bad turn.
Hulk looked like a mindless beast, but he could actually use tricks!
BANG!
This time, Tony Stark had no time to dodge at all before being hammered by Hulk's fist.
His entire body shook violently as if struck by lightning, smashed to the ground by Hulk.
Crack crack crack!
The ground even caved in with spreading cracks.
Even Iron Man's armor was sparking in places, a testament to the incredible force behind Hulk's punch. Tony Stark was hit so hard he nearly vomited up last night's dinner. It felt like his skeleton was about to shatter and he had lost half his life from the impact. His head spun and his vision blurred.
"Now's the chance!" thought a middle-aged man hidden in a secret corner, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes. He immediately took out a device, aimed it at the prone Tony Stark, and pressed a button.
Whoosh! A targeted EMP pulse was instantly released, striking the Iron Man armor as it lay on the ground, unable to get up. EMP pulses are invisible waves of energy, imperceptible to the human eye, unlike how they are depicted in movies. So when the man fired the EMP, the scene remained still and silent, as if nothing had happened, alarming no one.
But the reality was far from that. "Jarvis? Jarvis!" Tony Stark immediately sensed that his armor systems had completely shut down. He had instantly lost control of the Iron Man suit! However, he assumed the total system failure was due to Hulk's violent strike. Without an omniscient perspective, how could he have anticipated that Hydra had secretly sabotaged him?
That's right. The middle-aged man who had ambushed Tony Stark was a veteran Hydra agent! He had been covertly lying in wait for this critical juncture. But how did Hydra know Hulk would suddenly appear in Manhattan, allowing them to center this plot around him?
The answer is simple. Hulk was also Hydra's doing! With their capabilities, secretly manipulating events to lure Bruce Banner to Manhattan and then triggering his transformation was not difficult. In fact, from start to finish, even Bruce Banner himself would not realize this was all an elaborate scheme. Not only Banner, but afterwards, no agency or organization, including the military, would be able to find anything amiss. Such was the ability of a top intelligence mastermind! Such was the prowess of Alexander Pierce.
If someone of Tony Stark's status were assassinated, it would indeed cause a huge uproar and greatly impact Hydra. But what if he died as a hero? What if he perished in the process of fighting crime? Wouldn't that be completely different? It must be said, no matter how you looked at it, Alexander Pierce's plan was flawless and impeccable.
And as it turned out, the plot was indeed proving effective. "Jarvis?" "Jarvis!" Tony Stark began to panic as he realized the gravity of the situation, adrenaline spiking. The ground shook as the beast-like Hulk charged at him again.
"This is bad!" Iron Man's expression changed drastically. With the armor systems offline, he could only operate it manually. But against a monster like Hulk, manual control was a joke. What could it possibly accomplish? Most critically, a system shutdown meant the armor lost its flight and mobility capabilities. It wouldn't be long before Hulk pummeled Tony Stark to death.
But Tony Stark was no ordinary man. In this critical moment, though alarmed, he remained calm. He quickly scrambled to his feet, raised his right arm towards the oncoming Hulk, and began frantically working the manual controls with his left hand.
Click click! A micro-missile immediately popped out. Tony Stark took aim and fired it at Hulk. Due to Hulk's immense speed and Tony's compromised manual targeting, the missile missed, exploding on the ground next to the green behemoth.
Boom! Amidst the thunderous blast, scorching flames buffeted outwards, the shockwave sending Hulk's massive body flying. But Tony Stark knew this was futile. Based on Hulk's demonstrated strength, even a direct hit would be pointless, let alone a near miss. It merely bought some time.
"Roar!" Tony Stark's guess was correct. In the next instant, Hulk, sent flying by the missile's shockwave, rose to his feet again. He charged at Iron Man once more, the ground quaking with each step. By now, Tony Stark had run out of micro-missiles. He could only laboriously raise his arm again, struggling with the manual controls, intending to fire his repulsor ray at Hulk.
Unfortunately, Hulk did not give him the chance. Before Iron Man could finish his manual input, the raging Hulk leapt into the air like a meteor, fists raised high, poised to deliver a fatal blow to Tony Stark. The Hydra agent hidden in the shadows could not help but smile in satisfaction. If Hulk's furious pummeling continued, even the Destroyer armor would be reduced to a bloody pulp! The mission was about to succeed!
Whoosh! But who could have imagined that in this critical split second, Hulk's body would suddenly freeze in midair, mere moments from smashing Tony Stark.
Phew! Tony Stark, pupils dilating rapidly, could not help but heave a long sigh of relief. His heart, nearly leaping out of his chest, finally settled back down. Heaven have mercy, Iron Man had once again felt the threat of death, no different from when a missile struck him in Afghanistan. Both times, he skirted so close to death that one foot had practically stepped through the gates of the underworld.
But what exactly happened? After catching his breath, the rattled Iron Man was a bit confused. Why did Hulk stop in midair?
