Location: Bhuj, India – Outskirts of a Remote Slum
Time: Two Years Before Battle of New York
The clinic was barely more than four walls and a roof. A sign in fading paint read:
> "No Cost. No Records. No Names."
Inside, a man hunched over a child with a broken arm. Quiet. Gentle. Unseen by governments and wanted by at least five.
Dr. Bruce Banner.
He wore humility like a disguise. But inside him, rage lurked like a second soul.
Outside, a ripple passed through the alley's shadows.
Victor Ashburn stood at the edge of the slum, watching.
> [Target Profile: Bruce Banner – The Hulk]
> Status: Isolated. Emotionally fragile. Morally stable. Power level: Cataclysmic.
Manipulability Index: Moderate
Recommended Approach: Psychological Distortion / Mirror Conditioning
Krieg, beside him, whispered, "This one is volatile. We could break him."
Victor nodded slowly. "Eventually. But first, we mold him."
---
Three Days Later – The Same Clinic
Banner stirred his tea absently. A package had arrived that morning. No return address. Wrapped in plain brown paper.
Inside was a journal. Old, leather-bound. Handwritten notes in a script that almost resembled his own.
They detailed experiments in rage suppression. Meditation through magnetic brainwave realignment. Something called "Theta Shadow Entrainment."
No signature. Just a phrase scribbled on the inside cover:
> "The monster is not your enemy. The cage is."
Banner blinked.
Somehow… it made sense.
---
Shadow Nexus – Zurich
Krieg reviewed the neural scan from Banner's clinic.
"He's reading it. Rewriting parts. Trying to improve it," Krieg said. "Exactly as predicted."
Victor paced slowly, hand folded behind his back.
"The Hulk is raw instinct," he murmured. "But Banner is fear. Shame. Repression."
He turned toward a projection of Banner's stress-cycle charts.
"Give a man knowledge," Victor said, "and you feed his mind. But give him permission—and you free his soul."
---
Location: Kathmandu – Rooftop
Bruce knelt at the edge of the world.
The whispers had brought him here.
Not voices, not dreams — just a… pull. A logic he couldn't explain.
He stared into the sky. The wind was still. The city below chaotic.
And for the first time in weeks… the Hulk was quiet.
Behind him, a man's voice broke the silence.
"Strange, isn't it? To feel peace… when you were told you never could."
Bruce stood, startled.
The man was cloaked, face half-hidden in shadow. Elegant, ageless, voice smooth like dark water.
"Who are you?" Banner asked.
"Someone who understands monsters," the man replied.
He stepped closer.
"Do you know what happens when you stop running from yourself, Doctor?"
Banner hesitated. "You lose control."
"No," Victor said calmly. "You become whole."
---
Later That Night – Banner's Lodging
Victor was long gone. Left nothing but a single card on the floor.
On it, a black symbol etched into obsidian: a crown formed by wisps of shadow.
> No contact information. Just two words: "When ready."
Banner stared at it for hours.
---
SHIELD Surveillance Intercept – Director Nick Fury's Briefing
Subject: Dr. Bruce Banner – Location Pinged in Nepal
> "We've got Banner in the Himalayas. Not moving. Off the grid but stable. Meditation retreats, esoteric material downloads, no gamma surges. Almost… peaceful."
"Either he's found God — or someone's teaching him how to tame the beast."
Fury folded the file shut.
"Either way," he said, "it wasn't us."
---
Shadow Archive – Entry Log: Operation Green Veil
> Phase I: Deliver psychological seed — SUCCESS
Phase II: Direct contact — INITIATED
Phase III: Induce identity synthesis (Banner + Hulk) — ONGOING
Phase IV: Subtle trigger test in controlled conflict — PENDING
---
One Month Later – Wakhan Corridor – Bandit Territory
A local militia had overrun a humanitarian convoy. Seven hostages. No time for negotiations. UN unwilling to intervene.
And yet… something happened.
Witnesses said the sky turned black — not from clouds, but from something darker.
The militia was found unconscious. Unharmed.
Stripped of weapons. No injuries. But terrified beyond reason.
The hostages spoke of a giant green being… who didn't rage.
He protected.
Moved calmly.
Controlled.
Watched over them with glowing green eyes.
Then vanished.
They also remembered something else.
A man standing in the mist, far behind the Hulk — robed in shadow.
Smiling.
---
Victor's Shadow Sanctum – Reflection Chamber
Krieg watched the recordings.
"He's not smashing anymore," Krieg said. "The Hulk listens to him now. Like a child learning words."
Victor stood in silence.
"He's learning who he is," he said.
He turned toward the Mirror of Intent — an ancient relic showing the truest path forward.
In its surface, Banner stood tall.
Not just as Hulk.
As something more.
Victor narrowed his eyes.
> "He could be a god."
"Or a weapon."
"Or both."
---
Meanwhile – Kamar-Taj
The Ancient One's brow furrowed as she poured over fate threads.
"Someone has touched Banner," she said.
Wong glanced up. "Touched how?"
"Not corrupted," she replied. "Worse."
"Given him permission."
She turned toward the Void Gate.
"The shadows move like teachers now. Not conquerors."
---
Back in India – Banner's Journal (Final Page)
> "I've spent my life trying to silence him. The Other Me. The Hulk.
But maybe… maybe I was meant to speak through him.
Not run. Not resist.
Maybe he is not my failure.
Maybe he's my truth."
— B.B.
Beneath it, a single line added later in unfamiliar handwriting:
> "Good boy."
---