Blaine received a phone call.
A call from S.H.I.E.L.D.
He was a little surprised by this call.
But looking at the news report on the TV, Blaine quickly figured it out.
The appearance of that grayish-brown monster on the screen was all too familiar to him.
Abomination.
This guy is much stronger than the regular Hulk. Its body can withstand tremendous impacts—like artillery shells and powerful energy explosions—which basically can't hurt it at all.
To be honest, if this were later in the timeline, with the fully established S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers assembled, any one of them could easily handle this little Abomination.
Thor, the Hulk, the mature version of Iron Man...
But now, things were different. The era of superheroes hadn't truly begun. Currently, S.H.I.E.L.D. only had access to Tony Stark, Natasha, and Hawkeye.
Natasha was out of commission, rendered powerless by him.
Hawkeye wouldn't be much use against Abomination either.
As for Tony... his armor hadn't truly been completed yet, and its weapon systems were still lacking. Even if he confronted Abomination, he might deal some damage, but definitely couldn't kill it.
Besides, Abomination had incredible jumping power. At his peak, he could leap kilometers. He might even be able to yank Tony right out of the sky.
Thinking this far, it all made sense.
If S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to take down Abomination now, they'd have to deploy heavy weaponry.
Nick Fury, that bald egghead, probably didn't want to use such weapons—after all, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, special forces, and even civilians were gathered in the area.
Using heavy weapons could result in horrifying casualties.
So, they contacted him.
Not bad.
Blaine didn't expect to deal with S.H.I.E.L.D. so soon, but since they approached him in a contractor capacity, he had no objections.
Money's money—no reason not to earn it.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had been around for so long; they could probably offer a very generous price...
Maybe he'd be able to upgrade his Absolute Hit to level 4.
Blaine licked his lips, put on his Hunter outfit, slung the Elemental Bow on his back, and slowly sank into the shadow beneath his feet.
Silent and elusive.
...
...
Far underground.
Inside S.H.I.E.L.D.'s base, in Nick Fury's office.
"How's it going?"
Looking at Natasha in front of him, Nick Fury asked.
"He said he'd take the job but wants to speak with you in person. He'll be here soon..."
Natasha was a little confused herself.
Because right after saying that, Blaine had hung up.
"?"
Nick Fury frowned.
They had full confidence in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrecy.
Could that so-called Hunter know S.H.I.E.L.D.'s location?
Surely not...
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s New York base was 30 floors underground. Every agent acted like an ordinary staff member. Nothing about their comings and goings raised suspicion.
But that didn't mean these agents were actually ordinary.
Who knows? That scruffy middle-aged guy brewing coffee in the corner might be a legendary agent who once took down a world-class crime syndicate...
Anything was possible.
Still, Nick Fury didn't believe that anyone other than S.H.I.E.L.D. agents or certain high-ranking individuals knew where the base was.
"Nick... wait!"
Suddenly, Natasha's pupils shrank. She quickly pulled a pistol from her waist and pointed it at Nick Fury.
Nick Fury froze for a moment.
No—she wasn't pointing it at him!
She was aiming behind him!
A chilling aura surged up from the soles of his feet to his shiny bald head. But as the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and a level 10 agent, Fury reacted quickly—using his right hand to brace against the desk, he leapt over to stand beside Natasha and drew his own pistol.
He aimed warily at the chair where he had just been sitting.
And then—
The two of them saw a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
A man in a black Hunter outfit, hood up, face shrouded in shadow, and a bow slung across his back... rose slowly, as if surfacing from underwater, out of the shadow behind Nick Fury's chair.
Natasha stared at the figure, stunned and horrified.
She seemed to recognize who it was.
After all, the Hunter outfit hadn't changed much.
But... Natasha didn't dare to confirm it.
That scene just now was too mind-breaking, too terrifying and unbelievable. She wasn't even sure if this person was still human!
"Who are you? How did you get here?"
Unlike Natasha, Nick Fury was seeing this person for the first time. Gripping his gun tightly, he stared him down and asked in a low voice.
Came out of a shadow?
Sh*t! What kind of freak is this?
An alien again?
Unlike Natasha, Nick Fury had actually seen aliens before.
But emerging from shadows like that... it was too surreal—even a hardened war veteran like the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director couldn't help but be shaken.
If this guy had meant to kill him, it would've been over...
"Who am I? How did I get here?"
The newcomer seemed amused by Fury's question.
He let out a low, raspy chuckle and said, "Weren't you the ones who wanted to hire me? What, is this how you treat your contractors?"
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