Soren sat back on his couch, idly flipping through the channels as the evening news droned on. His attention was caught by a flashy headline on screen.
"The history of human peace is one step closer! Tony Stark, America's largest arms dealer, will showcase the latest scientific research results in Afghanistan!" Soren sighed.
Soren already knew what fate had in store for the billionaire. Soon, Tony Stark would go from celebrated genius to a prisoner in a cave somewhere in the Middle East.
His gaze drifted toward the coffee table, where the sleek business cards rested. He had given Stark one at the last reception. If Tony still had it when things went south, it might just change his fate.
Shrugging off the thought, Soren stretched and clicked off the TV. "Another day gone." He muttered, heading for bed.
As he lay down, a distant rumbling reached his ears. The sound of explosions echoed through the night, growing louder by the second.
Frowning, Soren sat up. What the hell now?
The chaos outside intensified. The roar of car engines, screams, and the unmistakable thud of something massive hitting the ground made it clear… something big was happening.
Soren swung his legs over the bed and strode to the window. His eyes took in the distant street, engulfed in flames. Helicopters circled overhead, their searchlights scanning the destruction below.
BOOM!
A car shot through the air, crashing down in front of the Everlife Medical Center before erupting in a fiery explosion. The force of the blast shook the ground, blowing the doors to the medical center wide open.
Soren's eyes darkened. He clenched his fists, his anger surging.
"Again? First, I get my sleep interrupted, and now my damn neighborhood is getting wrecked?"
In a blur, he moved out of the shattered entrance, past the burning wreckage, and onto the chaotic streets.
When he reached the scene, the devastation was staggering. Buildings lay in ruins, civilians lay injured or fleeing in terror, and fires raged unchecked.
And at the center.
Two towering figures, easily over five meters tall, were locked in a brutal battle. Their bodies rippled with monstrous strength as they threw cars like toys, each impact sending shockwaves through the street.
Soren's jaw tightened. The Hulk. And Abomination.
Just as he took a step forward, a car came hurtling toward him. With a flicker of movement, he dodged it with ease.
Above, a military helicopter hovered, and through its loudspeakers, a gruff voice called out.
"Mr. Macaluso! This is General Ross. For everyone's safety, can you stop them?"
Soren slowly turned his gaze to the helicopter. His already simmering irritation boiled over.
A moment later, Ross's radio crackled as a voice came from right behind him.
"General Ross… was it your idea to bring this fight to my medical center?"
Ross stiffened. He turned, eyes widening in shock. Soren stood inside the helicopter as if he had simply appeared out of thin air.
"Holy! How the did...."
Ross swallowed hard, quickly regaining his composure. "Sir, this is a misunderstanding! We didn't lead them here. The battle's been spreading across the city, and we've lost control of the situation. We need your help to contain them!"
Soren's gaze remained cold. "So it's just coincidence that my medical center nearly got flattened?"
Ross exhaled sharply. "Look, I know this is a mess, but you're the only one who can stop them before more people die. The people of New York would be grateful."
Soren didn't care if General Ross had intentionally lured the battle here or not. It didn't matter. What mattered was that these two brutes had disturbed his night and nearly leveled his center.
For that, they had to pay.
He snatched the PA microphone from Ross's trembling hands. The general barely had time to react before Soren's voice boomed across the battlefield.
"You two STOP! NOW!"
The voice cut through the chaos.
The Hulk's massive green form froze mid-motion. His heavy breathing slowed as recognition flickered in his wild eyes. Even in his transformed state, some part of him remembered, Soren had helped him before.
But Abomination was different. The hulking, grotesque beast had no sense of reason, no restraint. He seized the moment, grabbing a nearby car and hurling it straight at the distracted Hulk.
BOOOM!
The car struck the Hulk with bone-crushing force, sending him hurtling across the pavement. His massive body skidded, tearing through asphalt, leaving deep gouges in the street. He didn't rise immediately.
Soren's eyes darkened. Tch. That serum must've weakened him.
Abomination, grinning savagely, didn't hesitate. He grabbed another car, muscles rippling with monstrous strength, and lifted it high over his head.
"No one to save you now, Banner!" He snarled before bringing the car down in a devastating arc.
Soren's irritation turned to full-blown anger.
He disappeared from the helicopter.
A split second later.
BANG!
The car was about to crush the fallen Hulk, but before it could land, a force stopped it. It hovered in midair, suspended by an invisible power. Abomination's glowing yellow eyes widened in confusion.
Then the car flew backward.
Soren stood before the downed Hulk. The flames from the explosion reflected in his eyes, giving him an ethereal presence.
"You?! What the hell do you think you're!" Abomination snarled.
"Did you not hear me the first time? I said stop."
Abomination let out a guttural laugh, cracking his thick knuckle. "Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do about it, little man?"
Soren smiled. It wasn't his usual doctor's smile.
Before Abomination could react, Soren's body disappeared again.
In the next instant, every intact car within a four-block radius lifted into the sky.
Ross and his soldiers in the helicopter watched in silence as hundreds of vehicles hovered, suspended by an unseen force.
"Holy Jesus..." One of the pilots whispered.
CRASH! BOOM!
The cars rained down upon Abomination in an unrelenting assault.
One. Five. Ten. Twenty. Fifty. Hundred.
The sheer weight of the impact sent shockwaves across the battlefield. Each explosion rocked the streets, engulfing everything in a furious inferno.
General Ross barely had time to shout before the helicopter lurched violently, caught in the shockwave of the simultaneous detonations.
"We're losing altitude!" Inside, a soldier screamed.
Ross gritted his teeth. "Hold steady, damn it!"
Below, in the center of the inferno, a deafening roar of pain echoed. Abomination, buried under a mountain of burning wreckage, howled in agony. His once-invincible body twitched and convulsed under the relentless barrage.
THWACK!
A brutal, earth-shattering impact sent the massive monster flying.
Soren stood at the epicenter of the destruction, his eyes glowing with energy, his fist still extended from the blow. The force of his punch had launched Abomination like a cannonball, sending him crashing through buildings and finally slamming into the far side of the street.
The impact was so immense that the wind pressure alone extinguished every flame on Abomination's body.
For a moment, everything was silent.
The battlefield, once filled with explosions, screams, and destruction, had gone completely still.
The remaining soldiers, civilians, and even Ross himself stared in stunned silence.
Soren's gaze never left the crater where Abomination lay motionless.
꧁𓊈𒆜༺⚜༻𒆜𓊉꧂
Fellow Phantoms and aspiring Phantoms to be, if you seek to access advanced parts of this story procced to my shadowy realm of p@treon.
PhantomDream