The young man who was wearing a gas mask was none other than Ethan.
He had just picked up the mask in the chaos, its original owner lost to the mayhem unfolding around them.
Ethan was no fool. With security cameras everywhere, he had no intention of revealing his face to the world while trying to help.
As soon as he spotted Ms. Emma huddled in the corner with the children, he let out a breath of relief. He had made it in time.
While he found comfort in that, Hulk was left in total disbelief. Despite his limited intellect, he knew his own strength. To him, buildings were nothing more than brittle shells, and humans? They were as fragile as paper.
Yet, the seemingly ordinary young man standing before him had just caught his hand. Hulk's massive green arm, thick as a tree trunk, was firmly gripped by a much smaller, human hand.
But that hand might as well have been forged from adamantium—it didn't budge an inch.
Instinctively, Hulk struggled, his muscles flexing with unimaginable force, but the grip remained unyielding. His raw power was being nullified, disappearing like a ripple in the ocean.
"Roar!" Hulk bellowed in frustration and swung a massive fist at the masked man in front of him. In Hulk's mind, Ethan's actions were a challenge—a fight had been initiated.
Then, his massive punch was caught mid-air. A single hand, no bigger than Hulk's knuckles, had stopped him cold.
Hulk's strength was undeniable, but Ethan had an edge—his control over vectors. By redirecting the force of Hulk's punch into multiple directions—up, down, left, and right—he canceled out the impact entirely.
"Hulk, die!" Abomination's guttural growl echoed as he charged, his attention solely on his green-skinned rival. To Abomination, Ethan was nothing more than a minor nuisance, a background character in his personal war against Hulk.
Seeing Abomination closing in, Hulk desperately tried to free his hand, tearing up chunks of concrete beneath him in the process. Yet, Ethan remained unmoved.
Then, Ethan smirked. "Are you ready?"
Hulk blinked, confused. "???"
Before he could react, Ethan suddenly swung him like a weapon, gripping him tightly and spinning a full 360 degrees before launching him at Abomination.
"TRUE HULK SMASH!" Ethan roared as he used Hulk as an oversized wrecking ball.
A thunderous sonic boom erupted. The air itself seemed to warp from the impact as Hulk's body collided with Abomination, sending the monstrous brute hurtling hundreds of meters away.
Abomination crashed through cars, buildings, and streetlights, carving a deep trench into the pavement before coming to a violent stop.
Abomination groaned, struggling to push himself up. Blood dribbled from his mouth—internal injuries.
His body was tough, capable of shrugging off tank blasts, but Hulk had been wielded like the ultimate weapon, and it had done some real damage.
Ethan turned his attention to Hulk, who lay sprawled on the ground. "Hey, big guy, you still alive?"
Hulk groaned, dazed, but otherwise unharmed. That suited Ethan just fine. He grabbed Hulk by the arm and started dragging him out of the orphanage's wreckage.
A familiar voice called out. "Ethan, is that you?"
Ethan froze. He turned to see Ms. Emma, recognition in her eyes despite the gas mask he wore. Years of knowing him made his disguise ineffective in her presence.
"It's me, Ms. Emma," he admitted with a nod. "Take care of the kids. Leave these two to me."
Emma hesitated for only a moment before nodding. "Be careful."
As Ethan pulled Hulk free from the debris, the green behemoth finally shook off his daze. The first thing he did? Try to punch Ethan square in the face.
"Whoa, whoa, big guy!" Ethan said casually, dodging the strike with ease. "Same team, remember? That guy over there? He's the real enemy."
Hulk followed Ethan's pointing finger to see Abomination, already recovering and snarling at them.
The brute's wounds were healing fast, his body bouncing back almost as quickly as Hulk's own. Hulk's rage flared once more, but this time, he focused it where it was needed.
With a roar, Abomination lunged at them again. Hulk prepared to counter, fists clenched and ready.
But before he could charge, Ethan held up a hand. "Let me handle this."
Hulk frowned, confused, but stepped aside.
Abomination, single-minded in his fury, didn't even slow down.
He reached Ethan, swinging a monstrous fist at his head.
Then, in a flash, Ethan caught Abomination's arm mid-swing, spun on his heel, and executed a flawless over-the-shoulder throw. The ground cracked and buckled as Abomination was slammed into it with bone-rattling force.
The impact formed a massive crater, fractures spreading outward for several meters.
Hulk, watching from the side, was impressed. He wasted no time, grabbing a nearby car and hurling it at Abomination's downed form.
The vehicle shattered on impact, sending debris flying.
But it barely fazed Abomination.
"This guy's too tough," Ethan muttered, rubbing his chin. "Throwing cars at him is like smacking him with a pillow."
Then, he turned to Hulk, a devious grin forming under his mask. "Maybe I should try throwing you again. That worked pretty well last time."
Hulk narrowed his eyes. Then, with slow, deliberate movement, he raised his massive green hand.
And flipped Ethan the middle finger.
Ethan chuckled. "Fair enough."
"Who the hell are you?"
Abomination's rage burned as he staggered to his feet, his monstrous form still aching from the two brutal beatings he had just endured.
Even his simple, violence-driven mind was momentarily clouded with confusion. Across from him stood a man who should not have been able to do this to him.
"Me?" Ethan tilted his head and then smirked, pointing at himself. "You can call me daddy, because I'm gonna spank your thorny yellow ass once we're done here."
"You fucker!" Abomination growled, flexing his claws. "I will smash you into pieces!"
With that, he lunged, his massive fist tearing through the air toward Ethan's head.
Bang!
The next instant, Abomination was sent flying backward, crashing through a streetlamp and skidding across the pavement.
His own attack had been reflected right back at him.
The raw physical might of Abomination and Hulk was legendary, but brute strength alone meant nothing against Ethan.
His vector manipulation rendered direct attacks useless. Even if he stood still, he was untouchable.
A sharp cracking sound snapped Ethan out of his thoughts. He glanced down at his mask, now sporting a fresh fracture.
Then, as if suddenly struck by a far more pressing concern, his gaze shifted to Hulk, who stood nearby in his usual, impossibly durable purple shorts.
"Hey, Hulk," Ethan called casually. "Where do you get those pants? They never rip, no matter how much you get thrown around."
Before Hulk could answer, the thunderous roar of machine-gun fire erupted. A military helicopter, led by General Ross, had entered the fray, unloading rounds at Abomination.
With Hulk and Ethan flanking him, the three-on-one fight seemed all but decided.
But the attack only enraged Abomination further. He let out a guttural roar. "ROSS!"
Hulk and that annoying kid were bad enough, but Ross?
That coward had been hiding behind his soldiers, barking orders from the safety of a helicopter.
Now he wanted to join the fight?
Seething, Abomination spun around, grabbed a nearby car, and hurled it into the sky.
The pilot saw it coming and attempted to veer away, but the vehicle's tail-end clipped the rotor, sending the chopper spiraling toward the ground.
Hulk's face twisted with alarm. Without hesitation, he sprinted toward the crashing aircraft. Ross might not be his concern, but Betty—his Betty—was inside.
"Running away, Hulk?!" Abomination roared. Maybe it was some twisted instinct, but his hatred for Hulk ran deeper than anything else. He couldn't let him escape.
He charged, but before he could take more than two steps, his feet were suddenly yanked from beneath him.
A massive invisible force slammed him onto his back, his body forming a crater on impact.
"Who told you to go anywhere?" Ethan quipped, arms crossed. He wasn't thrilled that their coordinated attack had turned into separate fights, but he wasn't about to let Abomination slip away.
Abomination lifted his head, glaring at Ethan. He was furious beyond measure—but deep down, beneath the rage, there was something else. A bitter sense of injustice.
This wasn't how it was supposed to go. He had given up everything—his humanity, his looks, even his damn manhood—for power.
He was supposed to crush Ross. He was supposed to destroy Hulk.
Why was this happening instead?
"I am the destroyer!" he bellowed. "Even Hulk fears me! I am powerful! Unrivaled! I am ABOMINATION!"
Ethan yawned. "Cool story."
Before Abomination could react, Ethan grabbed him by the ankle and swung him like a ragdoll, slamming him into the ground again and again.
The pavement cracked beneath the relentless assault. Only when he was satisfied did Ethan finally stop, planting a foot on Abomination's chest and spitting to the side.
"Lame."
Abomination groaned, barely able to move, his massive body sinking further into the rubble.
His struggle only made things worse—Ethan redirected the force of his efforts downward, ensuring that the more he tried to get up, the deeper he sank into the ground.
"What should I do with you now?" Ethan mused aloud, hands on his hips.
Abomination writhed beneath him, but Ethan barely paid him any attention. "Maybe I should hand you over to S.H.I.E.L.D.," he muttered. "Ross is gonna have his hands full with this mess, and I'm not exactly his biggest fan. Professor X wouldn't want anything to do with you, either."
A slow grin spread across his face. "But S.H.I.E.L.D.? Yeah, they'd love to get their hands on you.
Fury might lock you in some adamantium cage and drop you into the Mariana Trench. Or maybe he'll strap a nuke to you and call it a day." Ethan shrugged. "Either way, not my problem."
"ETHAN!"
Ms. Emma's panicked voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned sharply.
"What's wrong?" His voice lost its playful edge.
That was when he saw her. Katie lay limp in Emma's arms, a jagged metal pipe lodged deep in her abdomen. Blood had already soaked through her clothes.
Ethan's pupils shrank.
In that instant, Abomination thrashed wildly beneath him, seizing the opportunity. "You'll never hold me! Ross and S.H.I.E.L.D. won't either! You can't stop me! I'll escape—I'll kill you and Hulk both!" he spat venomously.
Ethan slowly turned his head back to him.
Something in his expression shifted. The casual smugness faded, replaced by something cold and deadly.
His eyes, once playful, now held nothing but sheer murderous intent.
"Then I guess," Ethan said quietly, "this is where I make up my mind."
He lifted his foot slightly—then drove it down with devastating force.
BOOM!
The ground beneath them shattered.
The street caved in, forming a deep crater more than ten meters wide, cracks spiderwebbing outward from where Abomination's body lay buried.
_____________________
Word count: 1848