"Boss!" Logan was the first to snap out of the trance caused by Huang Wen's sudden arrival. His eyes, usually clouded by a century of weariness and trauma, flared with a sudden, sharp clarity. He moved quickly, his heavy boots crunching against the gravel. "Boss, you're finally out of that meditation? I thought you were planning on staying under until the next century."
"Hulk, Master!"
Beside him, Hulk let out a booming shout that rattled the nearby trees. He didn't just walk over; he bounded, his massive feet leaving shallow craters in the soft earth. His emerald face was split by a wide, toothy grin as he stood beside John, looking up at Huang Wen like a puppy that had just found its owner—if that puppy was a nine-foot-tall engine of destruction.
"Boss..." Yuriko followed closely behind. She stopped scolding Raz, her face returning to its default setting of cold, professional stoicism. She stood half a step behind Huang Wen, her hands folded neatly in front of her, the perfect image of a lethal bodyguard waiting for a single command to end a life.
Huang Wen didn't speak immediately. He took a long, sweeping look at the chaotic scene before him. It was a mess. On one side, the students from Xavier's School were huddled together, a mixture of fear and absolute confusion etched into their young faces. Some of them were casting glares at Jean Grey—glares that were sharp with betrayal and hostility.
On the other side, the "God-King" faction of mutants stood in a fanatical trance. They didn't just follow Jean Grey; they worshipped her. To them, she wasn't just a powerful mutant anymore. She was the Phoenix, the Goddess of Mutants, a celestial being that had come to lead them out of the shadows.
Jean Grey, for her part, met Huang Wen's gaze with a terrifyingly calm intensity. She didn't offer a greeting. Her eyes, swirling with a faint, cosmic amber, occasionally flickered over to Logan, as if she were debating whether to acknowledge the history they shared or burn it to ash.
BOOM!
The ground shook as a hideous, boney monstrosity slammed into the earth not far away. It was the Abomination, fresh from his escape and dripping with a primal, prehistoric rage. Blonsky's eyes immediately locked onto the Hulk.
During those agonizing weeks in the lab, while he was strapped to a cold table having his very cells drained like a battery, he had heard the researchers whispering about the Hulk. They spoke of the Green Goliath with awe, treating the Hulk as the gold standard of mutation while treating the Abomination as a mere imitation. It had festered in his mind like a rot.
Now, feeling the raw, unchecked power coursing through his new, jagged veins, Blonsky felt invincible. He looked at the Hulk, then at Jean, then toward the distant skyline of Chinatown where he planned to eventually tear Zhong Qiang limb from limb. He didn't believe in limits anymore. To him, the world was made of cardboard, and he was the only thing of substance.
"Hulk! Get over here and die!" the Abomination roared, his voice sounding like two tectonic plates grinding together. He stood his ground, flexing his distorted muscles, waiting for the challenge to be accepted.
Hulk tilted his head, his brow furrowing in genuine confusion. He looked at the Abomination, then back at Huang Wen, then back at the Abomination again. His expression clearly said: 'Who is this ugly guy? Do I know him?'
"What? You coward!" Blonsky snarled, misinterpreting the Hulk's confusion for paralyzing fear. "You're shaking already? What a pathetic waste of skin!"
Without waiting for a response, the Abomination lowered his shoulder and charged, a living battering ram aimed straight for the heart of the group.
But he never made it.
Huang Wen didn't even shift his stance. He simply raised his right hand and struck out with a casual, horizontal palm thrust.
THWACK.
The sound wasn't a hit; it was an atmospheric rupture. A wave of golden, pressurized energy slammed into the Abomination's chest. The force was so concentrated that it didn't just push him; it tore the flesh right off his boney protrusions. Stark white ribs were momentarily exposed to the air before the monster was launched backward like a pebble from a railgun.
The Abomination soared through the air, crashing into the face of a distant mountain with a sickening crunch. A massive, perfectly shaped palm print was etched deep into the rock, with Blonsky pinned in the center of it like a broken insect.
Gulp.
General Ross, currently a towering mass of crimson muscle known as the Red Hulk, stood frozen a hundred yards away. He had just arrived, ready to exert his military authority and take down the "assets" that had escaped his control. But seeing the Abomination—a creature he knew had strength nearly equal to his own—get swatted aside like a fly made his throat go dry.
Ross knew the math. He wouldn't even dream of being able to do that to Blonsky. That single palm strike had carried more kinetic energy than a carpet-bombing.
"General Ross?" Huang Wen raised an eyebrow, a thin, playful smile playing on his lips as he looked at the Red Hulk. "Hulk, aren't you going to say hello to your father-in-law? General, what brings the army out to the middle of nowhere today?"
"I'm here to... to arrest that runaway," Ross said, his voice unusually slow as he tried to regain his composure. He stood a little straighter, though he notably didn't move any closer to Huang Wen.
"Father-in-law?" Hulk looked at the Red Hulk, his eyes widening. Aside from the angry red hue and the different facial features, the creature was a mirror image of his own power. Hulk's simple mind struggled to process why the world was suddenly being populated by giants that looked like him.
"Arrest him, huh? Interesting..." Huang Wen nodded, casting a side-glance toward the mountain. "You have to admire the vitality of these Gamma-mutants. Look at him go. His healing factor is almost on par with Uncle Wolf's, though I'm afraid he's missing the adamantium skeleton to keep it all together."
He looked back at Ross. "General, let Hulk take this one. The Abomination came here specifically looking for a fight with him. It's only polite to let them dance. Don't worry, once the kid is done practicing his footwork, you can take what's left of him back to your lab. I have zero interest in keeping a pet that ugly."
General Ross was silent for a long beat. He looked at the mountain, then back at Huang Wen's calm, almost bored expression. He was a man of pride, a man of war, but he wasn't a fool.
"If Mr. Huang Wen says so, I'm inclined to agree," Ross said, forcing a polite smile that looked more like a grimace on his red, monstrous face.
"He's even stronger than before..." Mystique whispered from the sidelines. She had seen Huang Wen use the Tathagata Palm before, back when they first met, but this was different. The raw physical power behind the move had doubled.
She wasn't wrong. Huang Wen hadn't even touched his Law of the Sword yet. His physical evolution during his seclusion had pushed his basic attributes into a realm that defied common sense. A "casual" palm strike from him now was equivalent to a finishing move from his previous self.
"Hulk, you've been complaining about wanting to practice, right?" Huang Wen said, gesturing toward the mountain where the Abomination was currently pulling himself out of the rubble, his flesh knitting back together in a gruesome display of regeneration. "There's your sparring partner. Use him to get the feel for your Bajiquan. Don't just smash; focus on the flow."
"Hulk!"
The Green Goliath didn't need to be told twice. He let out a roar of delight and pushed off the ground, the force of his jump shattering the concrete beneath his feet. He flew through the air like a jade comet, aimed straight for the dazed Abomination.
"Lord Phoenix, are we really just going to stand here and watch this?" Mystique asked, her voice low as she moved closer to Jean Grey.
Jean didn't move. She watched the two giants with the detached interest of an apex predator. "Of course we watch. Let our brothers and sisters see the reality of this world. We are not the only ones with gifts. We are not the only 'others.'"
Her voice was projected by her telepathy, echoing in the minds of every mutant present. "Look closely. Do not let your pride make you blind, and do not let your fear make you weak. We must understand the power that exists outside of our own blood if we are to truly fight for our place in this world."
"They... they aren't mutants?" one of the younger students from the school whispered. They had assumed that anyone who looked like that had to be one of them. Seeing the raw, earth-shaking power of the Hulk and the Abomination made them realize that the world was far more dangerous and complicated than the walls of a school could ever prepare them for.
CRASH!
Hulk landed directly in front of the Abomination, his fist connecting with Blonsky's jaw before the monster could even stand up straight. The impact sent a shockwave through the ground, burying the Abomination even deeper into the mountain's face.
Hulk didn't stop. He lunged into the cloud of dust and rock, his hands moving with a newfound precision. He wasn't just flailing; he was using the leverage and explosive power of Bajiquan, his elbows and palms striking with a rhythm that left the Abomination reeling.
But Blonsky was a soldier, and his body was built for war. He managed to catch Hulk's attacking wrists, his superior weight allowing him to brace against the mountain. With a guttural roar, he slammed his forehead into the Hulk's.
CLANG.
The sound was like two steel beams colliding. Hulk's head snapped back, his vision swimming for a split second. Taking advantage of the opening, the Abomination kicked Hulk square in the chest, sending the green giant skidding back across the field.
In a pure contest of raw, un-enraged strength, the Abomination still held a slight edge. But the Hulk was just getting started.