After the Superhero Association was established, Zod Heath had the Black Queen begin searching for Bruce Banner's whereabouts.
No matter what, Bruce Banner was still a powerful combat asset.
Thanks to his knowledge of the previous plot from his past life, the search area for Bruce Banner had been greatly narrowed. Otherwise, with the whole world being so vast, finding him would have been extremely difficult.
Although Bruce Banner knew Ross was no longer hunting him, he still chose to live under a false name in order to avoid others with ulterior motives trying to obtain the Hulk's power. He had even thrown away his phone and all electronic communication devices.
While researching a way to deal with the Hulk on his own, he had also gotten in touch with someone called Mr. Blue. The knowledge the other party displayed resonated deeply with him, and Mr. Blue had even proposed a different angle for solving the Hulk problem, though he needed Bruce to provide a blood sample.
After hesitating again and again, Bruce Banner had still mailed his blood sample to him.
"Dr. Bruce."
That night, when Bruce Banner got off work and returned home, he discovered that there was an unfamiliar man inside his shabby little house.
Zod Heath was dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit. Although the two of them had never met before, at least not in Bruce Banner's memory, Bruce still recognized him immediately. After all, with looks like that and with all his scientific achievements, how could Bruce Banner possibly not know who he was?
"Zod Heath!"
Bruce Banner was genuinely surprised. He was already a monster, yet Zod Heath actually dared to approach him?
"Please rest assured, Dr. Banner. I mean no harm. I'm only here because of this."
Zod Heath took out a file and handed it to Bruce Banner.
Bruce Banner hesitated for a moment before accepting it.
When he opened it, he found that it was an evaluation form.
"Hulk"
Bruce Banner
Rank: S-Class Hero
Traits: Incomparably strong, nearly indestructible.
Weakness: Easily loses control.
Assessment: Invite to join.
"This is...?"
Bruce Banner had no communication devices at all, and he did not have the habit of reading newspapers either, so he still knew nothing about the Superhero Association.
Zod Heath could not be bothered to explain everything from scratch, so he simply showed him videos, including the footage posted on Spiderweb by the superheroes who had already joined the Superhero Association.
Bruce Banner stared at the screen in disbelief as he scrolled through it. In an era like 2002, before smartphones had become common, the smartphone Zod Heath took out had already become a global bestseller. Bruce Banner had never seen one before, but a genius like him only needed to fiddle with it a few times to figure out how it worked.
The shock of the smartphone was one thing.
The shock of the Superhero Association was something else entirely.
"So you want me to become a superhero?"
Bruce Banner found it utterly unbelievable.
"Have you never seen the Hulk? It can't be controlled. It won't do what you or I want it to do. Every time it appears, all it brings is chaos and casualties. It's a curse!
My condition doesn't allow me to do something like that."
Bruce Banner let out a sigh.
"Welcome aboard, Dr. Banner."
Zod Heath said with a smile.
Bruce Banner merely nodded and did not say anything else.
Meanwhile, Zod Heath had already begun planning his debut.
The Hulk's first appearance had to be explosive enough to shake the entire city. Only that way could he minimize most people's fear of a giant being like the Hulk.
Bruce Banner did not really have anything to pack, so he simply got on the plane with Zod Heath and returned with him.
When he finally saw the Superhero Association headquarters, Bruce Banner was clearly stunned all over again.
After all, seeing it in a video was nowhere near as shocking as seeing it in person. By now, the Superhero Association headquarters was practically on its way to becoming one of New York City's landmark buildings.
"Oh, welcome aboard, Dr. Banner. Or should I say, big green guy?"
The moment Tony Stark saw Bruce Banner, he spoke up at once.
Bruce Banner had clearly made some progress in cultivating his patience, so he did not take Tony Stark's foul mouth to heart at all. Zod Heath, meanwhile, completely ignored Tony's death wish. If Tony Stark could change that habit, then he would not be Tony Stark. This man was hopeless.
"So from now on, I'll be living here?"
Bruce Banner asked curiously after being taken to a room.
"Mm. But first, let's do a physical examination."
Zod Heath said.
/-\
Enjoying the story? Want to read ahead?
Support the novel and unlock early access to unreleased chapters!
~ +20 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon! (+1 Chapter daily)
https://p-atreon.com/Its_Zack
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access Patreon normally)