Inside Samuel Sterns' laboratory in Harlem, Bruce Banner lay strapped to the experimental table.
Electrodes were attached to his temples, chest, and spine.
Samuel Sterns — the mysterious online collaborator known as "Mr. Blue" — monitored the gamma readings anxiously as he activated the device.
Electric current surged.
Banner's muscles convulsed.
His heart rate spiked.
Gamma levels surged.
His bones began to expand.
Skin darkened…
then turned green.
His spine arched upward as massive cellular growth surged through his body.
Banner was transforming.
"Bruce… look at me!" Betty Ross cried, dropping to her knees beside the table. "You can do this! I believe in you!"
Banner's eyes flickered — human… then emerald.
"Doctor! Inject it now!" Betty shouted.
"O-okay, okay—!"
Samuel frantically switched consoles, then slammed his hand onto a secondary activation pad.
A containment syringe extended.
A violet anti-gamma serum injected into Banner's bloodstream.
The gamma radiation levels on the monitor began to drop.
Cellular expansion slowed.
Green pigmentation faded.
Muscle mass receded.
Thirty seconds later, Bruce Banner lay on the table — human again.
Betty gasped and embraced him.
"Oh my God… you're okay!"
Banner blinked, disoriented but conscious.
Samuel removed his goggles, cautious.
"Well… I wouldn't celebrate just yet," he said carefully. "We suppressed the transformation. Whether it's permanent… I can't guarantee."
"What do you mean?" Betty demanded. "He's cured!"
Banner gently held her shoulders.
"Betty… this is already a miracle. Even if it's only suppression… it's something."
They moved into the main laboratory area.
Samuel revealed something else.
He had successfully synthesized Banner's gamma-altered blood samples.
Banner's expression hardened instantly.
"They must be destroyed."
Samuel froze.
"Destroyed? Do you understand what this means? Regenerative medicine… radiation resistance… cellular evolution… this could revolutionize biology!"
Banner's voice sharpened.
"You don't understand. The military will weaponize it. People will die."
Before the argument could escalate—
THWIP!
A tranquilizer dart shattered the glass and struck Banner in the neck.
Within seconds, soldiers stormed the lab.
Banner collapsed.
Betty screamed as both were restrained and dragged away.
Only one officer remained to question Samuel.
Minutes later—
The lab doors burst open.
Emil Blonsky stepped inside.
He moved stiffly, but his eyes burned with obsession.
He struck the officer aside with brutal efficiency.
She slammed into a console and fell unconscious.
Blonsky grabbed Samuel by the collar and lifted him off the floor.
"She's too slow," he growled. "I want power. Hulk-level power. Can you do it?"
Samuel stared at the gun barrel pressed under his chin.
"You mean replicate the gamma mutation? Yes… theoretically. But you've already been enhanced. Unknown interactions may occur. Severe instability is possible—"
"Do it."
Blonsky lay down on the transformation platform.
Samuel's hands trembled as he loaded Banner's gamma blood into the injector system.
The injection began.
Blonsky convulsed violently.
Bones cracked and reshaped.
His spine extended outward in jagged ridges.
Skin hardened into a sickly yellow-brown armor.
Muscle mass exploded outward.
His skull elongated.
Veins pulsed with radioactive energy.
Moments later, the creature that rose from the platform was no longer human.
The Abomination roared.
Samuel staggered backward.
"Wait! I can reverse it! Just give me—"
CRASH!
Blonsky backhanded him across the room.
"I don't want to change back," the monster growled. "I've never felt power like this."
He smashed through the laboratory wall and leapt into the city.
Silence fell.
Samuel lay amid broken equipment.
Banner's blood dripped from shattered containers.
A thin stream flowed toward the cut on his forehead.
The gamma-altered blood seeped into the wound.
Moments passed.
Samuel's eyes snapped open.
His skull began to swell.
Bone structure expanded outward.
Neural activity spiked dramatically.
Within seconds, his cranium enlarged to an unnatural size.
He inhaled sharply.
His thoughts accelerated.
Connections formed instantly.
Patterns emerged.
Solutions unfolded before he even finished asking the question.
He smiled.
Then he began collecting the remaining blood samples.
He needed to leave.
Now.
But as he turned—
Shadows filled the laboratory.
Black-clad figures emerged from every corner.
Scarlet eyes glowed in the dim light.
Samuel froze.
His expanded brain calculated dozens of escape routes.
None viable.
Then a calm voice spoke.
"Impressive evolution, Mr. Sterns."
Karl sat casually atop a lab stool.
Shadow ninjas immediately knelt.
Samuel's pupils contracted.
"You knew this would happen," he said slowly. "You expected my… evolution."
Karl smiled faintly.
"I prefer the term advancement."
He stood.
"My name is Karl Auguston Zhang. Stark Industries shareholder. Tony Stark's associate. And someone who can offer you opportunities beyond anything on this planet."
Samuel's breathing quickened.
Karl continued:
"You like genetics. I can provide samples you've never imagined. Enhanced genomes. Exotic organisms. Even extraterrestrial biology."
Samuel's enlarged brain raced through the implications.
Unknown DNA.
Non-terrestrial life.
Evolutionary frontiers beyond Earth.
He swallowed.
"I will need a laboratory," he said.
Karl's smile widened.
"You'll have one."
Samuel nodded.
He had already made his decision.
The future of human evolution stood before him.
And he intended to shape it.
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