A tall, strong figure appeared at the torn warehouse entrance, wearing a tactical vest.
His sharp, hawk-like gray eyes swept over the three charred bodies in the warehouse, finally settling on William, who was kneeling on one knee, exuding an ominous aura.
Emil Blonsky's brows furrowed into a knot, and the rich smell of blood and char in the air made him feel a hint of displeasure.
He had initially thought it was just an ordinary problem.
He hadn't expected his boss to be forced into such a half-dead state.
"Boss!"
Lei Ling's petite figure squeezed in beside Bronski, her face full of anxiety, yet her actions showed no trace of panic.
Her boss couldn't die!
Her dream of building a secret Base hadn't been realized yet!
The funding chain couldn't break!
She rushed to William's side immediately, taking a bracelet-shaped scanner from her toolkit, intending to place it on William's wrist.
"Don't touch my… hand…"
William's voice was as weak as a leaking bellows; his charred right arm slightly lifted, signaling Lei Ling to avoid it.
Lei Ling glanced at the arm, which was still emitting green smoke and the smell of roasted meat, a flicker of horror in her eyes, and immediately turned to scan his other hand.
The miniature screen on the bracelet lit up, and a series of alarming red alerts and rapidly declining vital signs data scrolled wildly.
"Potent neurotoxin, directly acting on mitochondria, is disintegrating your cellular energy supply! Your bodily functions are shutting down on a large scale!"
Lei Ling's speech was extremely fast, her voice tense.
"Blood purification and targeted drug injection must be performed immediately!"
William felt his consciousness sinking like a stone, each breath exceptionally difficult.
He didn't even have the strength to think about the professional terms Lei Ling was spouting, merely maintaining consciousness with his last shred of willpower.
Bronski strode over, his tactical boots making heavy sounds on the concrete floor.
He looked at William with complex eyes.
This man, who was always at ease and calculated everything, was now so fragile he seemed like he would shatter at a touch.
This Stark contrast quietly added a different emotion to Bronski's transactional obedience.
He didn't ask another word of nonsense.
He bent down.
In a standard battlefield first-aid posture, he effortlessly hoisted William onto his shoulder.
"Maurice! The boat!"
"Com… coming!"
Maurice, the Water man, finally recovered from his immense fright and scrambled towards the high-speed speedboat by the dock, which had been modified by Stark.
The speedboat, like a black arrow, cut through the sea and sped towards the isolated island.
Manhattan was behind them, that steel jungle which once symbolized human civilization and prosperity, now like a giant beast disemboweled, howling in agony amidst the flames.
The roar of the Leviathan.
The explosions of energy weapons.
The roar of fighter jets.
All intertwined into a symphony of the apocalypse.
William was laid flat on the deck of the speedboat, Lei Ling kneeling beside him, fumbling to connect various instruments from a first-aid kit to him.
Bronski stood at the bow, his broad back like a wall, shielding the two behind him from the cold sea wind.
He looked back at William, who was lying on the deck, his face ashen and his breathing weak, then glanced at the space portal in the distant sky that was continuously spewing out alien armies, a flicker of imperceptible irritation in his eyes.
Damn it, what was that idiot Hulk fighting?
Making the whole city a mess.
William's consciousness repeatedly bounced between lucidity and unconsciousness.
The excruciating pain and powerlessness brought by the toxin felt like countless ants gnawing at his nerves and bone marrow.
But his strong mental resilience kept his brain passively operating even in this state.
He thought about how he had just completed a perfect assassination, dealt with a major hidden danger, and conveniently made a fortune.
This should have been a moment worth celebrating with champagne.
But now he was like a dying dog, struggling even to move a finger.
Cloak and Dagger, those two brats, he knew without a doubt that their sense of justice had kicked in, and they were probably shining brightly in some corner of Manhattan.
The most miserable boss in history, nothing more!
"Vital signs have fallen below the safety threshold!"
Lei Ling's voice was tearful.
"Boss, hold on! We'll be at the Base soon! I… I will definitely be able to formulate an antidote!"
The surrounding seascape changed rapidly, and the island Base appeared before their eyes.
Bronski scooped William up from the deck and strode towards the still unfinished medical laboratory in the center of the island.
That building, which he had personally supervised the construction of, now became their only hope.
Inside the laboratory, it was filled with a cold metallic feel.
Various precision instruments, whose names William himself didn't know, began to operate automatically under Lei Ling's instructions.
He was placed in a semi-enclosed medical capsule, with various probes and catheters connected to his body.
According to Lei Ling, Dr. Helen Cho was also invited to participate in the design of this medical capsule.
"Toxin samples have been isolated!"
Lei Ling's eyes were fixed on the screen of the microscopic analyzer, her hands flying across the control panel so fast that afterimages appeared, "Oh my God… this molecular structure… it's self-replicating and mutating, and it's even resisting self-healing factors!"
Bronski stood outside the medical capsule, silently watching William, whose complexion inside the capsule was getting worse and worse.
William's enemies were far more powerful and bizarre than he had imagined.
And his work, as part of the transaction, as the Guardian of this island, might have just begun.
William felt himself falling into a cold, dark deep sea, his body sinking, sinking… surrounded by endless silence.
Just as he was about to be completely swallowed by the darkness, a cold, emotionless electronic synthetic voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
"Host's vital signs detected to be on the verge of collapse…"
"Unknown highly effective neurotoxin invasion detected…"
"Super Soldier Serum (Optimized Version · Potential) is being over-activated… Cell optimization process forcibly accelerated…"
"Warning! Warning! Genetic sequence showing unstable mutation!"
William's body suddenly convulsed inside the medical capsule.
"What's going on?!"
Lei Ling screamed in horror, watching the various data on the monitoring screen instantly spike, then instantly return to Zero.
Bronski's pupils suddenly contracted.
He felt a power far more terrifying, more violent, and purer than before, awakening within the man in the medical capsule…!
Why was there still the aura of the Hulk?
Just then, a piercing alarm blared across the entire island without warning!
"Alarm! Alarm! Unauthorized flying object detected rapidly approaching! Outer defense identification zone breached! Repeat, unauthorized flying object detected rapidly approaching!"
Bronski suddenly turned and looked at the huge tactical screen on the laboratory wall.
On the screen, a Quinjet icon with the S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem was heading straight for their location!
Nick Fury!
That old bastard had finally come knocking!
And he chose precisely this most critical moment!
A ferocious and cruel smile appeared on Bronski's face.
"Good, it's been a long time… since I've stretched my muscles."
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