Chapter 3: A Titan's Bargain
Disorientation was a new and unwelcome sensation for the Hulk. The world swam in a nauseating swirl of green and brown, the ground feeling less solid than it should. The throw hadn't just been powerful; it had been technical. It had exploited physics, leverage, and momentum in a way a simple brute could never comprehend. For a single, disorienting second, the rage was secondary to the shock.
Talon gave him no quarter.
He descended on the dazed giant not with wild, animalistic swings, but with the devastating precision of a master martial artist amplified by titanic strength. Each punch was a piston strike, cracking the earth beneath the Hulk's body. Each kick landed with the force of a wrecking ball, driving the green behemoth deeper into the crater. This wasn't a brawl; it was a systematic dismantling. In Talon's mind, forged in the crucible of combat sports, holding back was an insult. To go all out was the highest form of respect in battle.
The Hulk, a creature of pure, overwhelming force, found his advantage neutralized. He was facing a strength that surpassed his own, wielded by a mind that knew exactly how to use it. He was being suppressed, contained, and dominated.
From the treeline, the Abomination watched, his own brutish jaw tightening. "Impressive," he grunted, a reluctant admission forced from his lips.
High above in the command helicopter, General Ross watched the one-sided beatdown with a mixture of awe and grim satisfaction. This "Talon" was an unforeseen asset, a weapon of unimaginable potential.
"Dad, you have to stop this!" Betty Ross pleaded, her voice trembling as she gripped her father's arm. "He's going to kill Bruce!"
"Your 'Bruce' has survived worse," Ross snapped, his eyes never leaving the scene below. He had seen the Hulk tank artillery shells. This was... different, but the principle held.
"Then let me go down there! I can calm him down!" she insisted, falling back on the one card she always played.
"Absolutely not!" Ross's voice was a whip-crack. "You will stay here and not interfere." His frustration with her was a palpable force. If she weren't his daughter...
Below, the storm of blows finally elicited a reaction. A deeper, more resonant roar erupted from the crater. The Hulk's anger, stoked to a fever pitch by the relentless assault, finally overrode his disorientation. With a surge of incandescent rage, he ignored the punches and lunged forward, wrapping his massive arms around Talon's legs. With a grunt of pure effort, he lifted the three-meter-tall Titan and, with a furious heave, slammed him bodily into the cliff face.
The rock face shattered, burying Talon in an avalanche of stone.
Seizing the opening, the Abomination charged with a guttural cry, leaping onto the Hulk's back and locking his thick arms around the green giant's neck in a chokehold.
A moment later, the pile of rubble exploded outwards. Talon emerged, his bronze skin scuffed but unbroken, his eyes burning with cold fury. The Titan's physique had absorbed the impact without injury, but his pride was stung. He had been careless.
"You had your chance," Talon's voice was a low, dangerous rumble, like an avalanche beginning its descent. "Now, you face my wrath."
He crouched, and the ground beneath his feet cratered. Then he launched himself, not like a leaping animal, but like a surface-to-air missile. He crossed the distance in a blur of bronze, his foot connecting with the Hulk's chest just as the monster was struggling against the Abomination's hold.
BOOM!
The Hulk was driven into the earth like a tent peg, creating a new, deeper pit.
Talon landed gracefully beside it. He reached down, his hand closing around the Hulk's throat with an unbreakable grip, and lifted him effortlessly into the air. Dangling in his grasp, the mighty Hulk seemed, for the first time, small. The Hulk's fists hammered against Talon's arm and chest, creating thunderous reports, but the Titan didn't even flinch. The blows simply washed over him like rain.
"Yield," Talon commanded, his voice devoid of emotion. "Allow me to extract your genetic template willingly. Refuse, and you die."
The Hulk, his airway constricted, choked out his defiance. "Hulk... never... yields!"
A sneer twisted Talon's features. He increased the pressure, his fingers like industrial vices. The Hulk's eyes bulged, his tongue lolling, yet the terrifying life force within him refused to be extinguished.
It was then that the Abomination saw another opening. He darted in, the sharpened bone spur on his elbow aiming not for Talon, but for the vulnerable, exposed back of the struggling Hulk. The point sank deep, seeking the heart.
The Hulk convulsed, a strangled scream tearing from his lips. The vibrant green of his skin seemed to pale momentarily, his struggles weakening significantly.
"Stop!"
Betty Ross, having broken free from the helicopter, sprinted across the broken ground, her face a mask of terror and tears. She ignored the two monsters and ran straight to Talon, her small hands clutching at the green canvas around his waist.
"Please," she begged, her voice breaking. "Please, let him go."
Talon looked down at her, his gaze impassive. "The extraction does him no harm. His stubbornness is his own death sentence. He merely needs to consent."
From his position, General Ross watched, his face a stony mask. He said nothing. A live Hulk was ideal, but a dead one still offered priceless biological data.
"Banner, please!" Betty cried, turning her desperate eyes back to the Hulk. "Just do what he says!"
Empowered by her presence, the Hulk found a final reservoir of defiance. "No... Hulk... never... gives in!"
Talon's patience, a thread already stretched to its limit, finally snapped. In a move of chilling swiftness, his free hand shot down and seized Betty by the throat, lifting her until her feet kicked wildly in the open air.
"And now?" Talon asked the Hulk, his voice dangerously calm. "Does your answer change?"
Betty's choked gasps were the only answer for a moment.
"Talon! Release her! That is my daughter!" Ross's voice boomed from a loudspeaker, finally laced with genuine panic.
"Her survival is now a function of the Hulk's cooperation," Talon replied, his voice carrying easily across the clearing. He was learning the brutal calculus of this new world: mercy was a liability. Power was the only true currency.
"Blonsky! Stop him!" Ross ordered.
The Abomination hesitated, his eyes flicking between the General and the terrifyingly powerful Titan. Loyalty, or perhaps fear of Ross's retribution, won out. He roared and charged, driving his remaining bone spur into the small of Talon's back.
There was a sound like a diamond scoring glass. The spur failed to pierce the bronze skin, instead snapping off at the base.
Talon didn't even turn. He simply pivoted on his heel, his leg a blur of motion. The kick connected with the Abomination's knee with a sickening CRACK. The monstrous soldier screamed, collapsing to the ground. Talon placed a foot on his chest, and with a casual, crushing weight, brought it down. Ribs splintered. The Abomination's roar of pain was cut off into a wet gurgle, his body going limp beneath the Titan's heel.
One hand held the Hulk. The other held Betty. His foot pinned the Abomination. Talon Reeve, the man from another world, stood supreme amidst the wreckage of his enemies. A surge of primal triumph filled him. He threw his head back and let out a roar that shook the very heavens, a sound of victory and absolute dominion.
High above, General Ross's face was ashen. He keyed his private comms. "Snipers. Armor-piercing rounds. Target the subject's head. Take the shot."
The sharp, distinct cracks of high-powered rifles echoed through the clearing. Three rounds impacted Talon's temple in quick succession. They did not pierce, but the impact was like a series of sledgehammers to his skull—painful, jarring, and infuriating.
Talon's head snapped to the side. He glared directly at Ross's position. "Are you trying to get your daughter killed by my hand?" he bellowed, his voice thick with rage.
Ross, his gambit failed, snarled into the radio. "All units, armor-piercing barrage! Full saturation! I want that thing down!"
Talon knew the limits of his new form. He was mighty, but he was not invincible to a sustained military assault. He had what he came for. The Hulk was his. Betty was his leverage.
He needed to retreat and regroup.
With a final, contemptuous glance at the military forces amassing, he tightened his grip on his two captives. He crouched, the muscles in his legs coiling like titanic springs, and launched himself into the sky.
He never made it far. A volley of .50 caliber armor-piercing rounds, fired from a hovering gunship, hammered into his broad back. The force was immense, disrupting his trajectory. The air left his lungs in a grunt. His leap was cut short, and he began to fall, a bronze giant tumbling from the sky with his precious cargo.