"Kill him!" Sterns reacted swiftly...
The moment he saw Sean's composed demeanor, one utterly devoid of panic, he wasted no time issuing the order.
The mercenary captain, Bol, was the first to obey. With a savage grin, he lumbered toward Sean, his bulging muscles rippling with sickly green veins, and his eyes alight with murderous intent. His massive hands could twist steel bars like taffy.
Sterns hadn't fully eliminated the serum's side effects. Instead, he used his psychic control to temporarily dominate these mindless, frenzied beasts. That was why Bol obeyed him so unquestioningly, ignoring even Justin Hammer's authority.
The towering mercenary captain raised his hand, intending to seize Sean's body and slowly crush every bone, savoring the crisp snapping sounds and agonized screams that would bring him the deepest satisfaction, "I told you I'd take good care of–"
"Huh... AHH!" Sean caught the descending hand midair.
Ignoring the mercenary captain's stunned expression, a cold smile curled his lips as a searing red beam sliced through Bol's arm like a hot knife through butter.
It took Bol's sluggish brain two full seconds to register the pain. Green-tinged blood gushed like a fountain as he clutched the cleanly severed stump, howling in agony and disbelief.
The last thing he ever saw was Sean raising a hand toward him before a golden torrent engulfed his vision. His brutish head exploded like an overripe melon, painting the warehouse floor with blood and brain matter.
At the same time...
*CRASH!*
A compact, wiry figure tore through the reinforced steel door of the warehouse with his bare hands, striding toward the momentarily stunned Sterns and his men.
His footsteps were heavy, each one sending tremors through the ground, his heartbeat a deafening drumbeat as his body pumped blood like a hydraulic engine.
By the time Blonsky reached Sterns, he had already transformed into a hulking yellow behemoth...
Jagged bone spikes tore through his clothing, his mountainous muscles casting a terrifying shadow over everyone present. His sheer presence was like a hurricane-force gale.
"Next time, if your boss has to handle this kind of mess himself, I'm firing you." Sean said with an ice-cold tone as he strode past, heading straight for the room where Betty and the others were held.
Blonsky stiffened, then turned his attention to Sterns' inferior creations, his eyes flashing with disdain. Compared to the Hulk, these knockoffs were laughable.
"My boss isn't happy. So you'll pay." He lunged forward, seizing one of the serum-enhanced mercenaries by the shoulders, and with a brutal yank, ripped him in half.
The sickening sound of tearing flesh and snapping bone echoed through the warehouse. A spray of blood splattered across Sterns' face, snapping him out of his daze.
This yellow green monstrosity possessed overwhelming power and a terrifying aura. Even Bruce Banner's Hulk transformation paled in comparison!
Another mercenary, under Sterns' psychic control, charged with a roar. Blonsky sidestepped effortlessly, his spiked fist hammering into the attacker's skull like a wrecking ball.
A wet crunch later, fragments of bone and brain matter scattered across the floor.
"Who's next?" Blonsky scanned the warehouse, his bloodlust boiling, yet his mind remained razor-sharp.
Sterns desperately tried to exert his psychic control, attempting to turn Blonsky into his puppet. But unlike natural-born mutants like Professor X, his artificially awakened abilities were limited. Controlling mindless beasts was easy... but against a lucid, disciplined opponent? Useless...
...
Meanwhile, Sean stormed toward the holding room...
Four serum-enhanced mercenaries yanked the door open, alerted by the chaos outside. Before they could transform, Sean's arm lashed out like lightning, his fingertips wreathed in golden light.
His hand punched clean through the first mercenary's chest, seizing the still-beating heart before crushing it in his grip.
Blood drenched his palm as the second mercenary drew his pistol, only for his body to be slammed into the wall like he'd been hit by a medieval battering ram. His ribcage caved in, and his bones shattered his organs... He became instantly lifeless.
The third mercenary slashed at Sean's throat with a tactical knife, a strike that could cleave steel... yet, it left not even a scratch against Sean.
The mercenary's eyes bulged in disbelief.
Sean tilted his head, then slammed the man's skull into the wall with enough force to embed him in the concrete.
Blood oozed from the mercenary's body like juice from a squeezed fruit. Though his veins bulged green with the serum's power, he couldn't break free from that iron grip.
"Ghk–"
With a final crunch, Sean pulverized the mercenary's skull, letting the limp corpse slump to the ground.
"D-Don't come closer! I'll kill them!"
The last mercenary, having witnessed his comrades' gruesome deaths, finally had time to mutate. His body swelled into a monstrous green giant with veins writhing beneath his skin.
Yet as Sean advanced, primal terror gripped him, like prey facing an apex predator.
Sean's chest burned with killing intent. He took a single step forward...
Cornered and desperate, the mercenary let out a final roar and lunged toward the three terrified women, his clawed hands poised to shred them apart.
"Even if I die... you'll pay–" His thoughts ended abruptly as an energy blast vaporized his head.
*Thud*
The three women stared shell-shocked as the decapitated giant collapsed, and green-tinged gore splattered the walls. The sheer brutality of the scene short-circuited their minds.
"Sorry I'm late." Sean's calm voice snapped them back to reality.
Having witnessed his merciless slaughter, Betty and Gwen could only gape as the cold-blooded killer before them seamlessly overlapped with the gentle young man they knew.
Both girls threw themselves into his arms, their frayed nerves finally unraveling. The terror ebbed away, replaced by the solid reassurance of his presence.
Only Maya Hansen remained awkwardly standing aside...
"Dr. Hansen, my shoulder is available," Sean said with a playful wink, suddenly becoming the cheerful youth again.
As he soothed the traumatized women, a deafening roar shook the warehouse.
The green beast had broken free. Shattering through the walls like a living hurricane, the Hulk crashed into the fray...