All of these close-in weapon systems were designed by Zoddhis, with an effective range of an unbelievable eight thousand meters — effective range, mind you; beyond eight thousand meters, nobody knew how far those rounds could fly.
They were enough to intercept ninety percent of incoming missile attacks and the like.
And the helicarrier still had its missile systems.
"Weren't we just under attack?"
When the fully-prepared superheroes charged out, they discovered the helicarrier was perfectly fine, while the attackers had vanished without a trace.
"The helicarrier isn't so easy to destroy. The attackers are probably already gone."
Nick Fury said it evenly.
Secondary Kryptonian alloy might not be as tough or durable as Adamantium or Vibranium, but the fact was it far surpassed any alloy currently in existence — which gave this helicarrier off-the-charts defensive strength.
A mere transport plane and Hawkeye's explosive arrowheads trying to breach the helicarrier's defenses? Wishful thinking.
Zoddhis looked at Fury with a strange expression. Normally, saying something like that was practically begging fate to prove you wrong.
Sure enough, the next moment the helicarrier shuddered violently.
"What's happening?"
Fury's expression shifted at once and he demanded answers from his subordinates.
The subordinates, well trained, pulled up the surveillance feed, which showed a huge, shit-yellow giant hammering madly at the top of the helicarrier.
"Brownski! He's turned traitor too!"
Fury couldn't believe it.
To Fury, Brownski had always been a very straightforward man. When he had joined S.H.I.E.L.D., he had openly said it was for power.
Afterwards, he had been extremely proactive in taking down freaks. Even though he looked rather ferocious after transforming, his popularity was high.
Actually, Brownski was still under Zoddhis's control at this moment — but Zoddhis was curious to see Super Abomination versus Hulk, or versus Thor, and find out who was stronger.
This was a long-awaited showdown.
"I'll stop him!"
Just as expected, as if summoned, Bruce Banner stepped forward.
"I'll go with you!"
Thor declared with righteous fervor. Now that he had checked the surveillance and confirmed his little brother was unharmed and locked up nice and tight, Thor's passion for battle flared right up.
After all, a big bruiser like Super Abomination looked like he'd put up one hell of a fight.
Bruce Banner didn't refuse. Hulk had been trained well by Zoddhis; he had learned to cooperate with others instead of relying on brute force alone.
Rumor had it Zoddhis was even planning to teach him Bajiquan soon — a fist art from an ancient Eastern legend, said to be capable of slaying gods.
After Fury signaled to open the hatch, an arrow shot straight in, caught in midair by Thor's hand.
"There's someone outside!"
"Hawkeye's still alive!"
"Boom!"
Then Thor was blasted flying by the explosive arrowhead.
Hawkeye nimbly leaped through the hatch — and came face-to-face with the rapidly expanding green giant.
The moment their eyes met, Hawkeye swore.
"Shit!"
He turned and bolted. The green Hulk hesitated, unsure whether to chase him or not. As a result, Hawkeye had barely run a few steps before a pair of beautiful legs scissored through the air and locked around his neck, bringing him crashing to the floor.
That was Black Widow, Natasha. She had quite a few things she wanted to talk about with her old, now-traitor partner.
"Hulk!"
The green Hulk confidently bounded out of the hatch, then gripped the gaps on the helicarrier's surface with his fingers, climbing his way up the hundreds of meters to the top in two or three moves.
Thor, who had been blown away, also flew back out with a face full of grime.
Super Abomination had been pounding away for a good while, yet all he had achieved was a ten-centimeter dent in the secondary Kryptonian alloy.
But the helicarrier's hull was a meter thick — an absolutely insane thickness.
On top of that, the power source's energy covered the entire helicarrier, so any dent would heal itself within a few minutes.
If it had been the original Kryptonian alloy Zod had brought from Krypton, it would probably have recovered within seconds.
"Hulk!"
As soon as the green Hulk spotted Super Abomination, he lunged. The two massive bodies crashed together.
The people inside the helicarrier suddenly heard a tremendous crash from overhead, as if something huge was up there.
And it had to be something really big.
"Hulk!"
This time it was Thor shouting. Even as he yelled, he hurled his hammer.
Mjolnir tore through the air. The green Hulk, hearing his name called, dodged away in time — because by now, when someone shouted his name, it generally meant "get out of the way."
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He had learned that after getting hit a few times.
Super Abomination Brownski reacted even faster. Both of them heard Thor's voice at the same time, but the green Hulk only dodged.
Brownski, on the other hand, flipped backward twice in succession, opening a great deal of distance while also causing Mjolnir to miss entirely.
"That big guy is so agile!"
Thor's eyes lit up. This was exactly the kind of close-quarters, fist-against-flesh opponent he loved.
These three physical monsters were fighting at high altitude, where the oxygen was thin and the wind brutal, yet they didn't seem affected in the slightest.
This was nine thousand meters up in the sky.
Everyone else could only sigh at the sight, powerless to join.
Of course, Tony Stark had intended to fly out and help, but Fury grabbed hold of him.
What a joke — they hadn't even secured the place yet.
Stay put, so that if something unexpected happened, Ben Grimm alone would be hard-pressed to handle it.
Tony thought it over and found it reasonable, so he didn't insist.
Thor slammed Mjolnir into Super Abomination, but that immensely powerful blow didn't even budge him.
After all, this Brownski wasn't the same Abomination from the original storyline. After being modified and enhanced by Zoddhis, Super Abomination had gained the ability to absorb kinetic energy and grow stronger from it.
And so, the green Hulk and Thor found themselves in a two-against-one fight — and they were losing.
Super Abomination grew more fierce the longer the battle went on, gradually overwhelming the two of them.
Yet Thor, for his part, was not the type to proactively use lightning attacks, especially in a situation like this where fist met flesh.
Using lightning gave him a sense of winning unfairly, so even as he sensed Super Abomination getting stronger and stronger, it never even crossed his mind to try electricity.
Watching this, Zoddhis could only feel concerned. No wonder Odin thought this son of his would have a hard time becoming a worthy king.
He was far too reckless.
Sigh. Zoddhis exhaled, then walked to the place where Loki was confined.
Naturally, Loki couldn't see Zoddhis either. He was racking his brains over how to escape this place.
The people of Midgard were indeed more formidable than he had expected. The minions he had recruited still hadn't managed to break in — and several of them had even died.
Then Zoddhis pressed a button. Loki, sitting inside the custom cell, suddenly felt his whole body go weightless as he fell into free fall.
He was falling down?!
Loki's face went blank with confusion. Wait — the scepter was still up there!
Zoddhis looked at the Mind Scepter now in his possession, then crushed its outer casing.
The golden Mind Stone dropped into Zoddhis's palm.
As usual, the energy tried to erode his hand — but this time, it couldn't even penetrate his palm before it was suppressed.
Zoddhis embedded this Mind Stone into the palm of the same hand.
Space Stone, Power Stone, Mind Stone!
/-\
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