Thor's Meteor Hammer swept across in a dazzling arc, forcing back Black Widow and Colonel Rhodes who charged at him with brute force. In the same motion, Thor grabbed the fallen Stark from the ground. Stark's repulsors flared, unleashing concentrated energy beams at the mutated Avengers.
Black Widow was struck head-on by a repulsor blast, sent flying before crashing heavily to the ground—unconscious in an instant.
Though these Avengers had undergone gamma mutation, their minds had already been consumed by the process. All reason was gone. Their fighting was no longer guided by refined combat techniques, only by raw instinct. What was left were fragments of muscle memory, which made them far less dangerous than their reputations would suggest.
Thor's Meteor Hammer crackled with supercharged lightning. One strike unleashed a massive electric surge that dropped Hawkeye to the floor, his body convulsing under the torrent. Stark turned to Stern and sneered, "Big-brain freak, now maybe we can finally discuss which prison would suit you best."
"Is that so?" Stern's expression didn't shift. His hands remained clasped calmly behind his back as he replied evenly, "Don't celebrate too soon, Stark. There's still one big monster who hasn't joined the fight yet."
The words had barely left his lips when the ceiling above them was torn apart with an earth-shaking crash. A thunderous roar followed, and from the haze of crumbling concrete emerged a massive green silhouette. Smoke and dust were blown aside by the sheer force of his breath, each exhale like a fiery gust.
Stark's face twisted at the sight. The one enemy they least wanted to face stood before them now—Hulk.
"Motherfu—damn it," Stark muttered bitterly, "This is the last thing I wanted to see today."
The Hulk's roar rolled like thunder in their ears as the green behemoth charged forward like a juggernaut tank at full throttle. Without hesitation, he clamped one enormous hand around Stark's throat, the other around Thor's, and with terrifying strength hurled them both like ragdolls.
Stark couldn't even count how many walls he smashed through—seven, eight, maybe more. By the time his battered body finally slammed into a massive training rig, he was dazed and reeling. Thor landed hard right beside him, followed by the looming figure of Hulk, a demon-god of rage towering over them.
Stark, dizzy and half-conscious, tried to activate his thrusters. The repulsors under his boots flared, bright orange light blasting as he attempted to retreat. But he was too slow. Hulk's massive hand seized Stark's leg, the armor squealing under the crushing pressure.
The sound of metal groaning was unbearable. Hulk swung Stark like a club, slamming him against the floor and walls repeatedly. Finally, with a roar of savage satisfaction, he drove Stark upside-down into the ground like a nail being hammered.
Armor cracked and split. Sirens screamed inside Stark's helmet, a chorus of warnings blaring in his ears. The integrity of the suit was gone, its seals broken. If the gamma radiation hadn't already subsided, Stark might have started mutating right then and there.
Death's shadow loomed over him.
Summoning every ounce of remaining energy, Stark rerouted his armor's reserves entirely into the weapons system. The ground beneath Hulk erupted as Stark blasted free, shooting upward in a burst of light. He raised both arms, unleashing twin repulsor beams at Hulk. But against skin like living steel, the blasts were nothing—no more effective than a tickle.
Hulk roared, fists raised high. He hammered down at Stark, who barely had time to cross his arms over his head to shield himself. Before the blow could land, Thor surged forward, Meteor Hammer spinning. With a thunderous impact, Thor knocked Hulk back a step and threw himself into the melee, god against monster in a clash that shook the very tower.
Panting, Stark pushed himself up, staring through the cracked HUD at Thor and Hulk trading earth-shaking blows. He gritted his teeth until his jaw ached.
"JARVIS… give me that armor. Now!"
Meanwhile, Stern had not been idle. His brain, warped and magnified by gamma exposure, pulsed with intelligence far beyond any normal human. To him, his devices and plans were flawless. But fate had placed him against something beyond comprehension—a super artificial intelligence.
The Red Queen.
A being capable of tearing through any firewall, bypassing any security, reducing the most advanced encryption to child's play.
When SWORD's orbital satellites picked up gamma radiation levels spiking to thousands of times the normal range within Avengers Tower, Ultron reported it immediately to the Red Queen. She, in turn, notified Gene, then penetrated the gamma device's systems directly, forcing a shutdown before Stern's scheme could escalate.
By the time Gene's projection arrived at the edge of the tower, prepared to end the crisis personally, he paused. His eyes settled on Stark. He wanted to see what Tony Stark's last trump card would be.
A piercing whistle split the air. From the direction of Stark's private lab, a silver-white suit streaked across the sky like a freed spirit—the Genesis Armor.
It reached Stark in an instant. But instead of stepping into it immediately, Stark reached for a small injector mounted at the suit's waist. He stared at the glowing liquid inside, jaw tightening.
Then, with a grimace, he plunged the needle into his arm.
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