Thunder rolled through the rubble as Juggernaut charged, every step shaking the earth. His bulk carried relentless momentum, his armor and mass driving him forward like a living battering ram. Dust and debris trailed in his wake.
Kurogai watched with a faint interest. The voyager-eye that marked his vision took everything in, and he noticed a pattern, a subtle build, as Juggernaut ran. With each pounding step, the titan's power seemed to rise, stacking like pressure in a sealed vessel, accumulating until it could erupt.
Is he charging himself, Kurogai thought, curiosity sharpening. He had seen plenty of strange phenomena, but the way Juggernaut's force gathered with motion was unusual.
Kurogai made a decision, his hand moving with quiet intent. He shifted his weight and aimed a calculated motion at Juggernaut.
A pull tugged at the giant, invisible and fierce, dragging him sideways toward the shattered remains of the base. The force slammed Juggernaut into the earth, the impact detonating a crater far deeper than their earlier collisions. The concussion mattered, the ground fractured in concentric lines, and the shock was louder than the previous clash.
Kurogai's eyes glinted with a thought. If Juggernaut could draw power by charging, then the amount he could release might eclipse even the strongest Hulks Kurogai had fought. He remembered the condition keyed to his pupil-ring, the requirement for the fifth ring: endure enough raw attack power. To meet that threshold, to force the ring's next step, he needed an opponent that would hit him with extraordinary force, a foe who would dare to unleash everything.
The current Hulk had become cautious in their encounters, holding back more often than not. That made accruing the necessary force from the Hulk difficult. Juggernaut, however, was exactly the kind of test Kurogai could use. He let himself smile, quietly pleased at the unexpected opportunity.
Juggernaut rose from the crater, swaying, awareness returning to him in jagged bursts. His voice was a low, questioning roar, he wanted to know who had pinned him like that.
"What did you do to me?" he demanded.
Kurogai stayed composed, calm as stone. "No trickery here. I am not interested in wasting time." He glanced toward Wade, who was still getting patched together, and then back at Juggernaut. "When you can free yourself from my next move, we will fight properly. Until then, I have business to attend to."
Juggernaut bristled, confusion turning to impatience. "No sneaky stuff, fight me full on," he growled.
"Later," Kurogai said. He didn't want to bleed time on a prolonged exchange now, he needed to test another margin. He wanted to press Juggernaut far enough to add the kind of pressure his ring demanded.
Juggernaut's face registered that he was being put off. He wanted a true contest now, not a promise for later. With a frustrated roar, he charged again, intent on smashing whatever stood in his path.
Kurogai's hand sliced through the air in a single, controlled arc, his voice steady, "Repulse."
The air bowed away from him like a wall of force, then split and gathered into a concentrated pull. The effect was immediate, the sky itself seeming to darken as a monstrous object ripped into being high above them, an enormous mass hurtling down like a meteor.
Juggernaut's commander instincts flared, and for an instant he considered dodging. But his confidence, and the momentum he'd already built, cost him the split-second decision he needed to avoid impact. He squared his shoulders, planted his feet, and braced to stand under the incoming weight.
The cosmic-sized rock slammed into Juggernaut with an ear-shattering detonation. The blast carved a deep pit where he had been, the earth blown outward in a wide ring. For a breathless moment, dust and shock filled the air. The impact left a crater so deep the rim cast long shadows.
Kurogai watched the pit, expression unreadable. He knew the titan was not dead, he had not used a full-bodied physical manifestation to create that strike, he had applied controlled repulsion and focused mass. Juggernaut would be trapped, battered, but alive. The technique had been intended to test, not to destroy.
Kurogai turned away from the crater, its rim still smoking. He headed toward Wade with deliberate steps. At Wade's side, the woman who had been with Ajax crouched over the mercenary's torn form, clutching an instrument that looked like a syringe, its barrel inset with a dark stone. For a moment she was frozen, staring at the crater where Juggernaut lay buried. Ajax and his few remaining men shared that same stunned look, fear cutting through their bravado.
Ajax broke first. "Quick, inject TNG15 into Wade and get out of here," he ordered, voice tight. He had counted on toughness and hired muscle to cover his operation, but Kurogai's power had shifted things into a different scale entirely. There was no time for theatrics, only extraction.
But before the woman could reach for Wade, Kurogai's form blurred. He arrived in front of them in less time than human eyes could track, his presence sudden and controlling.
Ajax's hand tightened around the pistol at his belt, uncertainty and greed flashing across his face. He had brought dangerous players into the same room, and he had a plan built on leverage. The black-stoned injector was meant to neutralize Wade's healing long enough for them to do something valuable with him. Kurogai watched the device with practiced focus.
"You shouldn't move," Kurogai said plainly, voice calm but low.
The woman hesitated, the instrument trembling in her grasp. For a moment she considered running. Jobs like Ajax's rarely came with moral instructions, only payment. But a tool like that attracted attention, and Kurogai's intensity made it clear she had been discovered.
Ajax swallowed hard, his bravado evaporating under Kurogai's gaze, "We just want to leave, you don't have to make this harder."
Kurogai's silhouette was unhurried, but his patience was a thin thing. He stepped closer and his eyes flashed. "I need what's in that box. Hand it over, and no one else has to get hurt."
The woman's jaw worked, torn between loyalty and survival. She glanced at Ajax, who gave a helpless nod. Slowly, she extended the small case toward Kurogai, every muscle in her body tight with fear.
Kurogai took it without haste, letting his fingers rest on the cold metal before opening it. Inside were vials and a small sample of a dark, metallic composite, its sheen unfamiliar, but the intent was clear. Experimental material, designed to tamper with regenerative systems, perhaps a variation of Carbonadium or a prototype alloy Ajax thought he could weaponize.
Kurogai packed the device away, eyes never leaving Ajax. "You will tell me everything you know about this," he said, "and then you will leave. If you resist, Juggernaut will be the least of your problems."
Ajax met his stare, weighing threats he had never imagined before.
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