Brazil.
Bruce Banner hadn't fled there for any dramatic reason. He came to learn judo and local meditation techniques-to keep his heart rate from rising too high.
During previous "incidents," he'd noticed a clear pattern. His heart rate would spike first.
Then he would turn green.
To escape that constant threat, Banner split his efforts. He researched how to cure his own cells while training under a judo master to control his emotions and remain calm.
The results were obvious.
He had gone over a hundred days without transforming.
Of course, as a fugitive, his assets were frozen. And being Bruce Banner, he refused to trouble anyone he knew-robbery was out of the question.
So he took a job at a local bottling plant.
Which was exactly where a drop of blood from a cut finger fell into a soda bottle.
And exactly how Ross's men found him.
"So you see," Morin said casually, "being too kind makes it easy to get bullied."
"Who's there?!" Banner jolted upright from his computer. He had been messaging Mr. Blue, the person helping with his blood research.
He backed away instinctively and checked the heart rate monitor on his watch.
Below 200.
He exhaled.
Once it hit 200, Banner wouldn't be Banner anymore.
Turning into the Hulk in a crowded slum wasn't something he could even think about.
"Are you here to arrest me?" Banner asked.
"No. The opposite," Morin said. "I'm here to help. I'm Morin."
He raised a hand.
A magic array spread around Banner.
Banner tried to block it-his hands passed through empty air.
A cool, soothing sensation washed over him. His heart rate slowed, stabilized, even dipped slightly below normal.
Banner barely noticed.
His eyes were fixed on the glowing lines he couldn't touch.
"What is this?" he asked. "How are you doing this? A hologram? I don't see any equipment."
"It's not a hologram," Morin said. "It's magic. Using natural energy properly can produce effects you'd call miraculous. This one stabilizes emotions. Makes it harder for you to enter that 'other state.'"
"...Magic?" Banner stared. "Are you joking? And how do you know who I am?"
It hit him late.
Morin had called him Dr. Banner from the start.
"If your body can transform like that," Morin said calmly, "why can't magic exist? Or can you explain your own condition?"
He smiled.
"Just because you don't understand the principles doesn't mean it isn't real. And you've already felt the effects."
"...Fair point," Banner said slowly. "Then... why me?"
"Your character. Your morals. And your future," Morin said. "You had countless ways to live comfortably. You chose the hardest one to avoid hurting others."
"So I decided to help."
Banner flushed. "I'm... not really-well. Thank you."
This time, Morin was being sincere.
At first, he'd planned to stay in the background and wait for filming opportunities. But Banner's integrity made him change his mind.
Heroes and villains were often separated by a single thought.
Some heroes endured more suffering than villains and still chose kindness.
Morin wasn't a hero.
But he respected them.
Any suggestion that this was about profit, experience points, or future footage was baseless slander and would be silenced immediately.
Completely groundless.
Ahem.
"I can help you control your condition," Morin said. "You can return to normal society without fearing transformation. In return, you'll help me research a type of blood-and become my filming subject."
"...What?" Banner wondered if he was hallucinating.
"You can cure me?" Banner asked. "And the price is... blood research... and what?"
"Filming," Morin said, smiling. "I'm a photographer. Side jobs are normal. Knowing magic doesn't contradict that."
Banner: "..."
He wasn't good at sarcasm.
"V-Very normal," he said.
"If you accept," Morin said, "one question first?"
"The blood," Banner said cautiously. "What is it for?"
He had run precisely to avoid being used as a weapon.
"This blood doesn't belong to this world," Morin explained. "It's for treatment, not weaponization. With my strength, it wouldn't qualify as a weapon anyway."
It was dragon blood.
From another world.
If technology couldn't decode it yet, then he'd use protagonists.
Protagonist-tier geniuses didn't follow rules.
Tony built an Arc Reactor by hand. Synthesized new elements in basements.
So Morin cast wide nets.
Banner was just the first.
"...Okay," Banner nodded, questions piling up behind his eyes.
"But I believe you."
The array had proven itself.
Morin felt like his last lifeline.
"Then it's settled," Morin said.
He stepped back.
A ring of sparks appeared behind him.
"My advice? Come with me," Morin said. "Three months ago, you cut your finger at the bottling plant. Your blood fell into a soda. An old man drank it."
Banner stiffened.
"Ross noticed. They're preparing a raid. Soon."
"Unless you want to be arrested," Morin added, "or turn green."
"Is the old man okay?!" Banner blurted, eyes flicking between Morin and the burning ring.
"Perfectly fine," Morin said. "Your blood isn't poison. And that old man is... special."
Stan Lee special.
"But if you're coming, pack up," Morin said. "Everything else is provided. Salary included."
"I'll take my computer," Banner said, dismantling it quickly. He stepped toward the ring. "I just walk through?"
"Yes. Don't touch the sparks. Spatial cutting debris. Not solid. Very sharp."
Banner yanked his hand back just in time.
He stepped through.
And immediately began shivering, almost triggering a transformation.
"Sorry," Morin said quickly, casting temperature control.
"Where... are we?" Banner froze mid-rub.
Snow.
Wind.
Ice everywhere.
Yet he felt warm.
"Himalayas," Morin said. "Minus forty or fifty. I stabilized you. Otherwise you'd have transformed instantly."
He led Banner inside and handed him a slip of paper.
"gymlhhhh?" Banner squinted. "A spell?"
"Wi-Fi password."
Banner: "???"
I'm a scientist. You're a mage. Why are you talking tech?
Roles reversed.
Exposure therapy complete.
"You become who you hang around," Morin said. "Power is power. Tools are tools. What matters is the user."
He waved.
"Rest. Tomorrow we start."
Even in bed, Banner felt unreal.
Eventually, he slept.
The next day.
"First, I fix you," Morin said. "Then you work."
"Magic healing my cells?" Banner asked eagerly.
"No," Morin said. "I'm treating your brain."
"My... brain?"
"Your body was always your body. Hulk included. The mutation fractured your psyche."
Morin's voice stayed calm.
"You split. One consciousness escaped the pain. The other endured it."
"That other... is Hulk."
"He's also you."
"That's impossible," Banner whispered.
"Your heart already knows," Morin said. "But I'll show you."
"How?"
"Like this."
Morin pressed a palm to Banner's chest.
Physically light.
Spiritually crushing.
Banner's soul was torn free.
Time slowed.
Space froze.
He saw a body.
His body.
Then he heard a roar.
He turned.
A child stood there.
Green.
Furious.
Familiar.
"...Me?"