Chapter 34: Hulk Escapes
"Fire!"
The military commander still had at least some sense of decency and immediately gave the order to attack, trying to suppress the Hulk.
But what the military was doing now could only be described as having ideas but no brains.
They had been chasing the Hulk for so long, yet they still had not figured out the core problem.
If there was one sentence to describe the Hulk, it would be this: what does not kill me only makes me stronger.
The Hulk roared, directly ripped up the airport floor S.H.I.E.L.D. had set up here, broke off a chunk, and hurled it toward the armored vehicles in the distance.
In the Hulk’s limited understanding, aircraft were greater than armored vehicles, armored vehicles were greater than people with guns, and people with guns were greater than ordinary people.
That was why he had gone berserk and taken out the three helicopters in the sky first, and even the passing Quinjet had been shot down along the way.
"So, your superior wanted you to negotiate with that thing?"
Pietro pointed at the Hulk, who was smashing an armored vehicle, and asked Coulson as he walked over after landing. "Are you sure you didn’t offend him, and he sent you off to die?"
"That’s right. That’s what I thought too... Wait, how do you know that?"
Coulson looked at Pietro in confusion. He clearly remembered never telling anyone about it.
Could it have been... when he was drunk?
"Not telling you."
Pietro covered his mouth.
"All right, we can talk about that later. First, let’s find a safe place."
Coulson glanced at the crashed Quinjet in the distance, looking a little puzzled. "Where’s Orion Cross? Didn’t he come down with you?"
"No, but..."
Pietro and Wanda both craned their necks and looked up at the sky.
"What are you looking at?"
Coulson was completely confused.
"A shooting star."
"You’re looking for a shooting star in broad daylight?"
Coulson was speechless. "Also, don’t change the subject. Where exactly is Orion Cross? Don’t tell me he didn’t get off the plane."
After saying that, Coulson glanced at the Quinjet that was now billowing black smoke.
Although he was not sure exactly how strong Orion Cross was, he should not have been taken out that easily, right?
"What is that in the sky?!"
Someone suddenly shouted.
Everyone looked up and saw a burning object rapidly falling in their direction.
A meteor? A missile?
"You actually launched a missile without authorization?"
The military commander looked furiously at the S.H.I.E.L.D. person in charge there.
"Don’t throw every dirty accusation onto us. Launching missiles isn’t something only your military knows how to do!"
The S.H.I.E.L.D. person in charge showed no fear and immediately fired back.
"Of course we know how to do it, but if we did it, we’d admit it. This has absolutely nothing to do with us!"
The military commander picked up the communicator, immediately connected to his highest-ranking superior, General Ross, then handed it to the S.H.I.E.L.D. person in charge.
"Wait, the target of that ’missile’ is the Hulk? And you’re still saying you didn’t launch it?"
The S.H.I.E.L.D. person in charge pointed irritably into the distance.
Seeing the military speak with such righteous confidence, he had almost believed them.
"Hulk!"
The green giant also seemed to sense the threat from the falling object in the sky. After letting out a roar, he stomped down and leaped straight up to meet it head-on.
"You keep yelling your own name all day. What are you, a Pokémon?"
The Hulk only heard a voice ring out from within the blinding light. Then came a wave of dizziness, and his body slipped out of his control.
Boom!
From the perspective of those watching, the green giant leaped high into the air, only to be struck by that "missile" and slammed hard into the ground, carving out a long trench as he was dragged across it.
Of course, by now everyone knew that it was not a missile.
What kind of missile was that small and did not explode?
At the end of the trench, the Hulk briefly lost consciousness for nearly ten seconds. Then he shook his head violently, grabbed his head, and woke up.
The moment he woke up, the Hulk roared at Orion Cross, expressing his anger.
"You should be glad I used a shield instead of a spear."
Orion Cross dispersed the weapon in his hand and turned around to leave.
He had no intention of dealing with the Hulk. After all, the future team still needed a tank and fighter durable enough to take hits.
Now that Orion Cross had already "changed class" into a mage, he could not charge at the very front every single time, taking damage and dealing damage all by himself.
"Hulk!"
The Hulk did not understand why Orion Cross was acting this way and froze in place.
"If you want to leave, go that way. Follow the river and don’t look back."
"Hulk!"
The green giant glanced in the direction Orion Cross was pointing, then obediently left.
It was not because the Hulk had become docile. Rather, Orion Cross’s attack just now had made him experience something similar to an out-of-body sensation.
That hollow, powerless feeling made the not-so-intelligent Hulk feel lingering fear whenever he recalled it.
Of course, that sensation really had been his soul leaving his body.
Just like how the Ancient One had knocked the souls of Doctor Strange and Dr. Banner out of their bodies with a single palm strike in the movies, Orion Cross had used the same method.
It was just that Orion Cross had only roughly glanced over how to use the move, and this was his first time using it, so naturally, its power was not very good.
But the feeling of soul and body splitting apart was something any living being would never forget after experiencing it for the first time.