It didn't take long for the news about Fury's decision to spread through the darkest and quietest corridors of Washington.
To many, Fury's move was just another high-risk project among the countless ones the S.H.I.E.L.D. director usually spearheaded.
But for Alexander Pierce, it was a direct threat.
A threat to his power.
And, more importantly… a threat to the plan HYDRA had been building for decades.
---xXx---
The door to Alexander Pierce's office opened.
Brock Rumlow — known to many as Crossbones — stepped in with rigid posture, military precision in every movement, and an expression carved with genuine concern.
"Director Pierce…" he began in a low tone. "We received reliable intel that Nick Fury is planning to recruit Bruce Banner. What should we do? We've already seen the Hulk's destructive potential in the field. If Fury manages to bring that monster to his side… will our plan still be viable?"
The silence that followed felt as if it stretched for minutes.
Pierce didn't respond immediately.
He remained fixated on the computer screen that displayed the recent fight in the National Forest Park.
Only then did he speak:
"Fury is persistent. He always has been. Ever since he took over S.H.I.E.L.D., he's been trying to form a team of extraordinary individuals…" His voice stayed cold and methodical.
"This 'Avengers Initiative' of his is a thorn in our side. If he manages to gather these people… to unite them under a single ideal… then decades of HYDRA's quiet work could crumble."
Crossbones nodded, tense.
"So… should we intervene directly?"
Pierce let out a humorless, low laugh.
"Intervene? No."
He turned toward Rumlow, eyes sharp and calculating.
"We're going to let someone else do it for us."
Crossbones frowned, confused at first.
Pierce continued:
"There is someone who hates the Hulk more than any agent, general, or politician in this country…"
"Someone who sees the Hulk not just as a threat… but as a personal failure."
A slow smile formed on Crossbones' lips as he understood.
"General Ross."
Pierce nodded, pleased like a teacher watching a student reach the answer on his own.
"Ross has spent years trying to capture, control, or eliminate the Hulk. To him, Banner isn't just a fugitive scientist. He's the living reminder of his mistake — and his failure to control his own project."
"If Ross finds out that Nick Fury is hiding information and trying to recruit Bruce Banner in secret, he'll act immediately. And he won't care about consequences."
Crossbones folded his arms, admiring the cruel logic.
"That would take care of Fury without exposing HYDRA."
"Exactly." Pierce smiled.
"We don't need to lift a finger. We just need to make sure the information reaches the right place… through the right hands."
---xXx---
A few hours later, a brown envelope — no sender, no identification, marked only with a stamp reading ULTRA CONFIDENTIAL — was quietly placed on General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross's desk.
Inside:
Field reports.
Unauthorized S.H.I.E.L.D. records.
And one final line, written in red ink:
"Nick Fury intends to recruit Bruce Banner without notifying the Army."
Ross's eyes narrowed as he read it.
His jaw tightened.
His breathing grew heavy.
The restrained fury of the general filled the room like crackling electricity on the verge of exploding.
Ross considered himself a cultured man, disciplined, capable of controlling his emotions — a pillar of self-command amid the chaos that so often accompanied his military career.
But at that moment, all the veneer of civility shattered.
By the time he finished reading the dossier, his eyes were burning with pure rage. He shot to his feet, slamming his fist onto the desk with a thunderous crack that echoed through the room.
"The Hulk is my prey. If I can't bring him down, no one will!" he roared, his voice dripping with barely concealed hatred.
For two whole years, Ross had chased that giant green creature. For two years, he endured mockery from congressmen, ridicule from the media, pressure from his superiors, and the public demolition of his reputation. He had been called incompetent, obsessed, dangerous. He became a joke even among his own soldiers.
But none of that stopped him.
If anything… it made the Hulk into something deeper.
It wasn't just a target. Not just a threat.
It was the key.
The key to restoring his reputation.
The key to proving he had been right all along.
The key to showing the world — and the country — that the military had to evolve.
His fate and future were now completely intertwined with the monster inside Bruce Banner.
And despite being defeated by the Hulk more than once, Ross saw each defeat as confirmation of his beliefs:
the Hulk's power was extraordinary.
A resource that, in his eyes, the military could never afford to lose.
But Nick Fury…
Fury was about to ruin everything.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. director, with his usual cryptic demeanor, secrets, and manipulations, had made moves Ross simply could not — and would not — allow. The dossier revealed that Fury didn't want to neutralize Banner. He wanted to recruit him. To turn him into an ally. To offer him a place.
And that froze Ross's blood.
Because before Bruce Banner became that monster, he had been his daughter's fiancé.
Ross knew the young man's character. Knew his brilliant mind.
And above all, he knew that Banner hated the Hulk with every fiber of his being.
If S.H.I.E.L.D. offered the scientist a real chance at control, redemption, or even a cure… the chances of Banner accepting were extremely high.
Ross suddenly realized something terrifying:
Fury might achieve what Ross, after years of pursuit and billions spent, never could.
"That will never happen…" he growled, pacing the room like a caged animal. "Never."
He lifted his head.
"Bring Captain Blonsky."
"Yes, sir!"
The door closed, and Ross inhaled deeply, trying to restore a shred of rationality.
But he knew what he was about to do.
Knew it was dangerous.
Knew it was reckless.
And yet… he would do it without hesitation.
---xXx---
Emil Blonsky arrived shortly thereafter.
The veteran, well into his forties, still moved like a trained soldier — firm steps, alert eyes, clenched jaw. And yet there was something darker beneath that rigid façade: an escalating hunger. A craving Ross not only noticed but intentionally cultivated.
Blonsky was a proud soldier. He had always been obsessed with being the best — faster, stronger, more lethal. But age had taken its toll, and the slow erosion of his abilities gnawed at him.
The chase for the Hulk in Brazil had been a turning point.
He had witnessed the monster's true power with his own eyes.
Not just its brutality, but its speed, its raw strength, its invulnerability.
And something inside Blonsky — something deep, dark, and ravenous — had awakened.
He didn't fear the Hulk.
He wanted the Hulk.
Ross saw that.
And used it.
He deceived the soldier, offering him an experimental Super Soldier Serum — an imperfect, rejected, archived version due to its severe flaws.
Unlike the serum that had turned Steve Rogers into a symbol of heroism, Blonsky's formula amplified destructive instincts.
Amplified rage, ambition, violence.
The result was inevitable: Blonsky began losing his humanity, piece by piece.
His body became a weapon, and his mind a ticking bomb.
During the battle in the Forest Park, his recklessness reached its peak. He provoked the Hulk with suicidal intensity. In return, he received a devastating strike that shredded multiple internal organs and fractured bones throughout his body. A normal man would have died instantly — or worse, been trapped in a vegetative state.
But Blonsky was no longer a normal man.
He woke the next day entirely healed, whole — and even hungrier.
His miraculous recovery not only exposed the serum's dangers but intensified his obsession.
He wanted the Hulk.
Wanted the Hulk's power.
Wanted to surpass the Hulk.
Ross, however, didn't see his subordinate's growing insanity. Or worse — simply ignored it.
He trusted too much in his supposed control over his soldiers.
And Blonsky was living proof that such control was a delusion.
---xXx---
Now, standing before the general, Blonsky seemed to vibrate with anticipation.
"We've located the Hulk," Ross announced, handing him the dossier.
Blonsky's eyes gleamed with a predatory, unsettling light.
"Then it's time to finish what we started," he murmured.
Ross watched him silently, and in that moment — amid his own fury — he made the greatest mistake of his career:
He believed he could control Emil Blonsky.
Believed he could control him just as he believed he could control the Hulk.
And without realizing it, he placed the fate of countless lives in the hands of a man rapidly becoming a monster.
(End of chapter)