"Damn it—Angie!"
Bella's voice trembled as she stared at her phone, the call having ended in a burst of panic. Her grip tightened, and a ripple of pressure emanated from her body. The apartment's temperature seemed to drop a few degrees, and an oppressive silence filled the air.
Even Nina, the fat blue cat nestled in her pet bag, recoiled instinctively. Her fur puffed out, and she curled into a tight ball. Her feline instincts screamed one thing: Don't mess with the alpha right now.
Bella didn't move for a few seconds.
Then—golden light flashed across her eyes, a shimmer like sunlight reflected on water.
Her heightened senses came alive instantly.
She filtered out background noise—honking cars, people yelling about rent, barking dogs—and honed in on specific frequencies. Words and screams reached her like a patchwork radio transmission, pulled from blocks away.
"Ahh! Help! Monster—"
"Run, Aisley! Run!"
"That thing—it's just like the one from the Manhattan Bridge!"
"Another military monster?! What are they doing?!"
"Go, go! Get out, get out now!"
"John, take the flank—echelon three—main objective is containment! We've got more coming in behind!"
"ROAAAR!"
The final roar cracked like thunder in her ears, shaking her back to full focus.
No time to waste.
Bella dropped the pet bag gently onto the floor.
"Stay here, Nina," she said quickly. "Don't eat the sofa."
"...meow?"
In a flash, she was gone—her figure vanishing in a blink.
The next moment, Bella was on the rooftop of her apartment building. Her boots scraped the concrete as she crouched at the ledge.
Boom!
With a violent leap, she launched into the air, using a compressed burst of magic energy beneath her heels to simulate jet propulsion. Her trajectory arced high above the street, and her figure streaked across the sky like a shooting star wrapped in gold.
Yeshiva University was located in Manhattan—fortunately not far from her position. But the sounds of chaos carried through the city. Gunfire. Explosions. Shrieks.
Angie… hang in there.
Yeshiva University – Campus Grounds
Panic.
That was the only word to describe the scene.
The once peaceful campus had been transformed into a battlefield.
Students, faculty, and visiting parents screamed and scattered in all directions, desperately trying to escape the carnage unfolding in the center of the athletic field. Explosions rocked the ground. Fire roared from shattered vehicles. Smoke curled skyward in thick black plumes.
And in the eye of the storm—stood a monster.
Towering over two meters tall, the green-skinned brute was all muscle and fury. His roar shook nearby windows, and every step sent cracks spidering through the pavement. Soldiers swarmed in formation, surrounding the field with weapons drawn.
Armored vehicles and tanks formed a perimeter. An Apache helicopter hovered overhead.
But nothing was enough.
Gunfire blazed. Shells rained down in controlled bursts.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Bullets peppered the green giant's skin like rain on steel. It didn't flinch.
Then, with terrifying speed, the creature surged forward. His fist collided with a tank, and the armored war machine crumpled like foil. Screams followed. Blood sprayed against cracked glass.
On the field's edge, General Thaddeus Ross, clad in desert camouflage, watched grimly through binoculars. His jaw was clenched tight, a walkie-talkie pressed to his lips.
"Pull back," he barked. "That firepower's only pissing it off."
But it was too late.
The creature—Hulk—leapt into the air.
Bullets continued to ricochet off him as he arced above the tanks and smashed down with the force of a meteor, landing atop another vehicle.
BOOM!
The shockwave toppled two soldiers and flipped a nearby jeep. A dozen men screamed as they were thrown like ragdolls.
Ross cursed under his breath.
The super soldier program he'd been nurturing had cost millions—and now this asset, this uncontrollable force, was loose on a college campus. The irony wasn't lost on him.
They'd cornered the Hulk. Pinned him.
But like a caged animal, he was now fighting harder than ever.
Another vehicle exploded.
The Apache overhead fired a missile—only for Hulk to leap, grab the rotor, and hurl the entire helicopter into a stone wall.
Ross winced.
He could afford the death of soldiers. It was cruel, but true. The media could be spun. The budget covered it.
But if the Hulk escaped, he'd lose more than control. He'd lose the serum. His future. His reputation.
Ross's hand trembled slightly as he gripped the radio.
"Deploy the failsafe. I don't care if the school gets wrecked—we can rebuild it. Get that monster back under containment!"
Above Manhattan – Midair
Bella's form tore through the clouds, propelled by bursts of magic energy at her feet.
She could already feel the mana drain—short-distance flight wasn't her specialty—but she pushed her body to its limit. Golden light blazed behind her, the sound of wind like a hurricane in her ears.
Then—she saw it.
Smoke. Fire. Chaos.
The university campus came into view, and so did the emerald figure rampaging through its courtyard.
Bella's eyes narrowed.
That's… Hulk.
Or something like him. Mutated muscle mass, animalistic fury, and that unmistakable roar. But this version was different from Abomination—less grotesque, more primal.
She had no time to evaluate further.
Back on the ground
Ross's eyes widened as he spotted something streaking toward the battlefield from the sky.
"What the hell—?"
A golden blur shot downward like a meteor.
BOOM!
Bella landed with explosive force, her boots cracking the asphalt as she slammed into the courtyard in front of the fleeing Hulk.
Dust exploded outward.
The green behemoth skidded to a halt.
Both stood still.
Bella, dressed in a modified version of her suit—with her iconic black long coat fluttering behind her and white gloves gleaming—faced down the monster calmly.
A moment of silence stretched between them.
Then—Hulk roared.
ROAAAAAAR!
Bella didn't flinch.
Behind her mask, her lips curled slightly.
"Round two already?" she muttered to herself. "And here I was hoping to cheer Angie on with juice and donuts."
Hulk charged.
Bella raised her fists.
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