"Alert, arc reactor energy is critically low. Estimated flight capacity: less than ten minutes. Recharge recommended immediately."
After grappling with Obadiah Stane for a while, Tony Stark's Mark III armor blared a warning, echoing JARVIS's familiar tone. But others drawn by the chaos Stane created were already arriving on the battlefield.
Ground forces, mobilized with modified S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjets and retrofitted StarkTech tanks, gathered near the ruins of Tony's Malibu mansion.
This deployment mirrored the Hulkbuster Protocols used in Harlem during The Incredible Hulk (2008)—except now, the suburban setting allowed for a larger, more aggressive force.
BOOM! BOOM! Once Stane's position was confirmed, military units unleashed fire without hesitation.
Civilians had already been evacuated via emergency SHIELD protocols, so collateral damage was no longer a concern.
High-yield vibranium-reinforced shells, designed by Wakandan consultants, rained down like meteors—slamming Stane to the ground. The payloads rivaled the concussive blasts used by War Machine in Iron Man #238.
Blown backward, Stane—his mutated form powered by Extremis-like enhancements—shook his grotesque head. He slammed his right hand into the earth, stabilizing himself like Doomsday in Superman: The Death of Superman.
The blasts stunned him, but barely penetrated his bio-engineered exoskeleton.
Ross, frustrated, ordered deployment of anti-tank sonic cannons—a design reverse-engineered from Project Insight's Hydra tech.
"This thing isn't immune," he growled. "It's just built different. Keep the pressure up!"
U.S. military coffers were bottomless now, ever since the post-Blip defense budget tripled. Casualties could be written off; the hardware would be salvaged.
Sustained shelling soon caused microfractures to appear across Stane's carapace.
Realizing passive resistance would lead to disintegration, Stane surged forward.
His reinforced limbs slammed the ground with the rhythm of a maddened Red Hulk. Lurching like a mutated ape, he bulldozed through artillery.
Though his reflexes were sluggish by Spider-Man standards, he outpaced projectiles easily.
One desperate leap let him avoid a barrage, and within moments, his adaptive carapace began regenerating, not unlike Sabretooth's healing factor.
Before the restoration could finish, Stane smashed into the front line. His brute-force strikes tore apart reinforced tanks—armor-piercing claws rendering them obsolete.
One twist, one crunch—and a tank lay broken like a child's toy in World War Hulk #4.
As ground forces scattered, aerial units regrouped, locking missiles and high-speed rotary fire on Stane's mass.
Irritated by the persistent "mosquitoes," Stane twisted around. His pustules erupted like Venom's symbiote shards, spewing corrosive bio-acid.
It melted through rotor blades and cockpits alike. The choppers fell like LexCorp drones in Batman/Superman Annual #1.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who arrived moments later froze at the carnage. This wasn't cleanup—this was suicide.
Black Widow glanced at Hawkeye, eyebrows raised. Why wasn't he loosing arrows?
Clint just shrugged, exasperated. "You see his armor? That's not coming off with trick arrows."
Tony, now recharged, rocketed back into the fray. But even with his full power restored, his repulsor blasts barely staggered Stane.
The battle settled into a tense stalemate.
Watching from the Main God Space—a dimension not unlike The Source in DC cosmology—Qi Yun scowled.
"This thing was supposed to be a breakthrough," he muttered. "A one-use weapon? What a waste."
"Ajie! Enough training!" he shouted.
The training dummy crumpled beneath Ajie's final blow.
Ajie walked over, knuckles cracking. "What's up?"
Qi Yun gestured to the battlefield. "You see that thing? Go take care of it. I want its body. Maybe I can extract some latent metahuman potential."
Ajie leaned in, eyeing Stane's grotesque form. His smile grew wider—finally, a worthy fight.
Qi Yun snapped his fingers, opening a dimensional rift similar to Boom Tubes used by the New Gods.
Without hesitation, Ajie stepped through.
The battlefield trembled as he arrived—tall, imposing, surrounded by a crimson aura similar to Iron Fist's chi in overdrive.
"Who the hell is that?" Ross demanded.
"Not ours. Not SHIELD either," his adjutant replied.
Tony's HUD zoomed in. "Ajie?! What are you doing here? This is serious!"
Ajie smiled wide, gave a thumbs-up. Stark blinked, caught off guard.
Stane lunged at the distraction—but before he could make contact, a crimson blur shot through the air.
CRACK!
Ajie landed a bone-shattering kick that sent Stane crashing backward. The shockwave silenced the battlefield.
"High-energy spike detected," JARVIS reported. "Caution: unidentified combatant possesses omega-level output."
Tony wisely floated back. "Let's see how this goes."
Stane's wound rapidly closed, like Wolverine's regenerative tissue. He roared, launching every pustule in his body toward Ajie.
Ajie's aura pulsed violently—condensing, then detonating, ejecting the bio-matter in every direction like a Nova Force blast.
"Cheap tricks," Ajie muttered, unimpressed.
He shifted stance, then beckoned. "Come on."
Stane responded in kind, roaring like Doomsday on Kryptonite steroids.
The moment Stane charged, Ajie's eyes glowed crimson.
Then—WHAM!—an uppercut shattered Stane's carapace along the arm, sending him airborne like Juggernaut knocked off trajectory.
Ajie moved faster than Stane's fall, snatched his leg mid-air, and began hammer-throwing him like Thor swinging Mjolnir.
Tony gawked from above. "What... What kind of power level is that? This guy could crush my Hulkbuster in two hits."
He mentally bookmarked a future upgrade: Anti-Ajie Armor—priority one.
Spun like a ragdoll, Stane's rage boiled over. His virus surged, pushing his physiology into overdrive.
Desperate, he anchored himself into the dirt. A trench erupted beneath him.
Ajie looked back, confused.
Then—BAM!—Stane sucker-punched him, breaking free.
Ajie stepped back, grinning. "Now that's better."
He cracked his knuckles. "One-sided beatdowns are boring. Might as well be punching one of Batman's training bots."
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