Marvel: Hunter

The Avengers were startled and immediately raised their weapons, pointing them forward.

"I... I don't think it's worth raving about," Natasha muttered, frowning slightly as she stammered.

Just then, Tony lured the massive steel creature behind him, adjusted his flight height, and leaned forward slightly.

The enormous mechanical beast didn't know why it felt compelled to chase Tony. As he descended, it too lowered its altitude.

Everything in its path was torn apart. Vehicles were crushed and flipped. The sound of explosions echoed in rapid succession.

Banner was a smart man.

He could easily guess why Tony had led the massive creature toward him—because Tony knew he was here.

So, after glancing at the Avengers behind him, Banner calmly stepped forward.

"Dr. Banner," Steve called out, stopping him. "It's time for you to get angry."

Banner turned his head slightly while walking. He paused after reaching a certain distance and said with a calm smile, "That's my secret, Captain… I'm always angry."

"Roar!"

With a thunderous roar, his limbs swelled suddenly, his clothes ripping apart and scattering like confetti, leaving only a pair of tattered pants covering his lower body.

His skin turned green, muscles bulged with immense power, and his face twisted with fury.

Banner had transformed into the Hulk—the green titan whose strength came from rage.

Meanwhile, the enormous steel creature Tony had been baiting toward the ground was now less than three meters away from Hulk.

Grinning savagely, Hulk raised his arms, preparing to use his brute strength to catch the monster head-on.

But before he could act, a deafening voice echoed through the street.

"The Bounty Hunter is here—die for me!!!"

A black blur appeared in midair. Upon closer inspection, it was a figure with glowing green wings, plummeting rapidly like a missile.

The impact was explosive. The figure crashed directly into the head of the towering steel beast—tens of meters high, hundreds of meters long.

Air currents surged violently.

The collision resembled a high-impact warhead, and the sheer force of the kick slammed the creature's head straight into the ground.

The metal that composed the creature's skull was the first to absorb the immense force—and it shattered instantly, reduced to dust.

A powerful shockwave radiated outward. Steve's pupils contracted in alarm.

"Run!!" he shouted.

Without hesitation, he turned and fled.

He didn't need to say more—everyone except Thor had already started running. Thor lifted off using Mjolnir.

But everything happened too fast. There was no time to escape.

The impact zone—stretching hundreds of meters—cracked like a spiderweb around the epicenter of the strike, collapsing several meters into the ground as if struck by a quake.

The air blast, mixed with debris, hurled Steve, Natasha, and Barton through the air. If Thor hadn't quickly grabbed the wreckage of a bus and shielded them, the collision would have turned them into unrecognizable piles of flesh.

Even with protection, the Avengers—excluding Thor and Tony—suffered varying degrees of minor injuries.

As for Hulk…

The unfortunate Hulk, being closest to the strike, was the first to be hit by the shockwave. He was flung across the battlefield, soaring an unknown distance.

Upon impact, the rear half of the steel monster's body buckled and lifted off the ground due to the force's inertia. Violent tremors rippled through its form, followed by the repeated sounds of structural collapse—"thump, thump, thump."

Its body began rupturing layer by layer.

"Crackling, crackling—"

"Crackling, crackling—"

"Crackling, crackling—"

Alien metal shards burst from its body continuously.

The creature had reached its limit.

The armor plating couldn't withstand the overwhelming force.

For a moment, time seemed to freeze.

Then—

"BOOM!!!"

The entire steel behemoth exploded.

Alien metal fragments rained down. Smoke and dust engulfed the area in a terrifying display.

Yet again, pain surged through Thor and Steve.

The debris, combined with the explosive force, could have easily killed Barton, Natasha, or even Steve—if not for the shield.

Only Steve's vibranium shield could deflect such force.

Thus, it was up to him and Thor to shield the others from the flying shrapnel.

Amid the smoke and chaos, the clanging sound of metal filled the air.

As the dust began to settle—

"Tony, have you ever seen footwork that literally falls from the sky?" a voice asked.

And the figure appeared.

It was Blaine.

Standing before them, Blaine had a pair of wings protruding from his back. As he walked forward, the wings disintegrated into glowing green particles and drifted away into the air.

There was no real purpose—just dramatic flair.

He was clearly showing off.

And he was good at it.

At least Natasha was speechless.

The others exhaled in relief.

After all, he wasn't an enemy.

Blaine's motto was simple: If the money's right, he's on your side.

"I saw it," Tony said, landing nearby. "Just now."

Boom.

His suit thudded against the pavement. "Mr. Hunter, mind helping us clean up the mess?"

"Come clean up your own mess," Blaine replied, nodding without even pretending to be polite. "By the way, Tony, there's a little helper headed this way. The guy's pretty strong—probably about three Steves—but he's a bit slow right now. Pick him up at the Manhattan-Queens bridge."

Steve's eyebrow twitched.

"When did I become a unit of measurement?"

But… three of me? Who the hell is this guy? Or... am I that weak?

"No problem," Tony replied without hesitation.

He trusted Blaine. As long as money was involved, Blaine rarely lied. Even if he had conned him once, Blaine had delivered—giving Tony the solution to his energy crisis.

Without another word, Tony's suit engines roared to life as he took off toward Queens.

And just like that, Blaine had accelerated the timeline of Spider-Man and Iron Man's first meeting.

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