Fortunately, the gamma energy took effect very quickly. Almost immediately, the blood vessels across Lock's body began to swell, snaking across his skin like a spiderweb. Green-tinted blood surged beneath the surface like writhing reptiles.
A tidal wave of energy drove his blood to circulate at breakneck speed. His heart rate skyrocketed—70, 300, 400, 500 beats per minute…
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
His heartbeat thundered like war drums.
Lock's mind was nearly overwhelmed by the sheer violence of the transformation—his consciousness teetering on the brink of collapse.
But now was not the time to lose control. The gamma energy hadn't reached its maximum effect yet.
His skin began turning green. His body swelled in size.
The reinforced experimental bed made of steel groaned under the pressure, joints creaking, the frame warping. It was on the verge of collapse.
Lock's body continued to mutate, growing to monstrous proportions. The mechanical bed looked like a toy beneath him.
He finally stopped growing when he reached nearly three times the size of the Hulk.
Even in a half-lying position, his massive head nearly touched the ceiling.
He was teetering on the edge. One more second of delay, and either he'd forget to take the recovery serum and lose his mind—or his body would rupture from the strain.
Now!
"Crack!"
The glass bottle between his teeth shattered. He swallowed the recovery serum—glass shards and all.
In an instant, his entire body blazed with emerald light. The lab became a beacon, too bright to look at directly.
Outside the building, green light flooded through the windows, illuminating the quiet campus.
Fortunately, everyone knew the lab had a reputation for strange phenomena. No one thought to investigate.
As the light subsided, Lock's body returned to its human form. Naked, he lay on the twisted wreckage of the experimental bed.
He slowly sat up, flexing his fingers.
With each clench, the air hissed, compressed and detonated between his palms.
The Abomination was already stronger than a non-boosted Hulk. But Lock had just taken ten times the dose of Blonsky's serum. He was undoubtedly stronger than either of them now.
A slow smile formed on his lips.
No longer just a Marvel bystander, he now had the power to protect himself in the battles to come.
"Thank you, Doctor," Lock said, slipping on a white lab coat.
Dr. Stern blinked in awe. "Incredible! Incredible! How did you do that? That green light just now—what was that? That wasn't science—it was sorcery! Tell me! I must log this in my records!"
The scientist had completely forgotten the fact that Lock had threatened him just minutes ago. His mind was consumed with scientific obsession.
Lock said casually, "I'll tell you. But I have one condition."
"Anything! Just name it."
"You tell no one about me. Not a word. No matter what happens, don't mention me unless I allow it."
"Deal! I swear on my doctorate—I'll stay quiet. Not even about the part where you pointed a gun at me."
Lock smiled, satisfied. "That's good. As for the green light... it's from a potion I took."
Stern's eyes lit up. "A potion?! What kind of potion? Can I see the formula? I'll pay anything!"
Lock replied, "Maybe. Someday. If you keep your word."
He wasn't ready to expose himself to the wider world—not yet. He needed Stern for now, but he wasn't going to kill the man just to tie off a loose end.
Stern was too valuable.
The doctor eagerly handed Lock his contact information, begging him to return soon—with the potion—so he could analyze it. Lock promised nothing.
To Stern, science was a religion—and Lock, a prophet.
He respected that, in a way.
Unfortunately, he didn't know if the system would ever give him another recovery serum. He'd tried multiple times with no result. So far, he'd only ever received that one bottle.
Still, if more came, he wouldn't mind letting Stern run some tests. Who knew—maybe the potion could even be mass-produced.
After leaving the university, Lock made his way to a fast-food joint—the Golden Arch Fried Chicken.
He devoured thirty family meals in a row.
The staff stared in shock. He had just eaten more than a grown man's body weight, and yet his belly remained flat and toned.
As his strength increased, so did his metabolism. His body absorbed food at dozens of times the normal rate, turning calories into raw power.
Just then, commotion erupted outside.
"Run! Someone's shooting over there!"
"The army's here! They're after someone—get out of here!"
Lock paused. No way… seriously? He'd barely walked out of the lab, and the Hulk's storyline was already playing out?
Had he arrived just in time to beat the clock?
In the original plot, Bruce Banner and Betty Ross had come to Dr. Stern to try and remove the Hulk's gamma radiation.
Stern had drawn blood from Banner, mixed in an antidote, and reinfused it. It worked—briefly. But the treatment didn't touch the root of the mutation.
Gamma energy was embedded in Bruce's DNA. Suppressing it only delayed the inevitable.
And of course, General Ross had found them soon after and brought the Hulk down with tranquilizers.
Ross, thrilled with his luck, had Bruce restrained and flown away.
Lock's eyes scanned the crowd until they landed on Betty Ross.
Just like in the movies—gentle, intelligent, and calm. Her large, expressive eyes radiated empathy. She was the only one who could soothe the Hulk's rage and bring back Bruce Banner.
Lock admired her from afar.
Then he remembered something that made his expression twist.
Black Widow would be the one doing the comforting soon.
My wife comforting another man... No matter how logical it was, he couldn't help but feel sour about it.
Of course, Natasha didn't think of him that way. Their wedding had been part of a mission—nothing real, just an illusion.
But Lock touched the marriage certificate in his bag and smirked.
Fake or not—you married me. And I'm not letting you walk away.
While his mind wandered…
BOOM!
A massive machine was hurled from the window of Dr. Stern's lab, crashing onto the street.
A deep, reverberating voice boomed across the city.
"HAHAHAHA! POWER! THIS IS POWER!!"
Lock's eyes narrowed.
Blonsky had transformed.
The plot of The Incredible Hulk had officially begun.
As a soldier, Blonsky had faced the Hulk with raw courage. He'd been broken—literally. But Ross had admired his tenacity, injecting him with more serum.
Now, greedy for more, Blonsky had forced Stern to inject him with Hulk's blood.
Poor Stern. Within hours, two superhumans had barged into his lab looking for injections. He barely had time to breathe.
This time, when Blonsky—now the Abomination—smashed Stern to the ground, a few drops of gamma-irradiated blood dripped onto the doctor's head.
Stern's skull began to swell, ballooning unnaturally, pulsing like a water balloon filled with jelly.
In the comics, Stern would later become "The Leader," but Lock didn't know what his fate would be in this universe. Stern never reappeared in the later Marvel films.
Lock considered chasing the Abomination but chose instead to help Stern.
The doctor had helped him, after all.
He found Stern on the floor, face contorted in pain as his head continued to mutate. The transformation had begun.
This was not the place to handle it.
With a few giant leaps, Lock whisked him away across the city and laid him down somewhere safe.
Ding!
"You saved a life. Reward: 1 Recovery Potion."
Huh?
The system actually rewarded saving people?
It was stingy, sure—but at least it wasn't heartless.
Seeing Stern's head still swelling, Lock left the recovery serum beside him.
"If it gets unbearable, drink this," he said.
Stern's eyes lit up through the agony. "This… this is what you took before, right? The one that reversed the mutation? This potion is miraculous… I must study it…"
"Do what you want," Lock said, turning away.
If the system said Stern would survive, he'd live—as long as he could withstand the pain.
But Lock had a more immediate concern.
Abomination was still rampaging.
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A/N: Please Leave A Comment Or Drop A Powerstone It'll mean alot to me...