"Now that Banner can freely transform after losing Hulk's soul, doesn't that make him similar to Spider-Man and Morbius?" Martian Manhunter muttered as he watched Bruce Banner handle his new ability, recalling Tony Stark's earlier analysis.
"He can control his transformations now, so does that mean I can fight him?" Peter Parker was also focused on Bruce Banner, and not just him—Venom's black face was full of excitement too. They didn't care whether Hulk's soul had been expelled; they only saw a Hulk who could now transform at will, just like the one they fought before.
In their minds, as long as Bruce Banner familiarized himself with his powers, they could have a proper rematch.
"Thank you, thank you..." As Peter and Venom grew excited, Bruce Banner, who had gotten a handle on his abilities, stopped his experiments and sincerely thanked Robert and the others.
"You're thanking us already? Didn't you say you didn't want to turn into a monster? We haven't achieved our original goal yet—we were supposed to make you a normal person..." Tony Stark looked at Bruce Banner in surprise as he started bowing in gratitude.
"Uh... well, in this day and age, having some extraordinary powers isn't entirely unacceptable," Bruce Banner admitted with some embarrassment. He then took a deep breath and said seriously, "I just didn't want my body being taken over, doing things I had no control over. Now that I can control my transformations, I won't hurt innocent people or lose control, waking up in strange places anymore..."
"He despises Hulk! How awful! He stole Hulk's body and looks just like Hulk—he's a thief!" Hulk's soul seemed to understand Bruce Banner's words. He angrily shouted, and whether it was due to being in a soul state or sheer anger, his speech had become more fluent.
"But the problem isn't solved yet. If I'm not mistaken, if Hulk takes over your body now, he would have the same control as you," Robert said, glancing at the furious Hulk before turning to Bruce Banner.
"Switch back! Let Hulk come back!" Hulk's anger quickly turned to excitement at Robert's suggestion, like a child with rapidly changing emotions.
"What? No, that's not right, this is my body!" Bruce Banner looked at Robert, hesitant. He could feel that his body was somewhat fearful of Robert. The method Robert had just used to separate his soul had left Banner completely unwilling to confront him, so he meekly protested.
"You said before that you didn't want to kill Hulk. But now that you're in control and ignoring him, he won't last long. So you need to help him create a body that suits him," Martian Manhunter said seriously, glancing at Tony Stark before looking back at Bruce Banner.
"Technically, Hulk could be considered your brother or even your son. He was born because of you, an extension of your consciousness. He's even protected you in times of crisis. Can you really just watch him disappear?"
"I never said I wouldn't help..." Bruce Banner admitted that after gaining control of Hulk's transformation ability, his attitude had changed. He felt that the problem no longer concerned him, allowing him to relax. But even though he disliked Hulk, he still didn't want to deny him a chance at a real life.
"So, what do I need to do? Just tell me; I'll cooperate fully," Bruce Banner took a deep breath, looking seriously at the group around him.
"Alright, let's start by studying your current body to see if we can perfectly clone your Hulk form," Tony Stark said, looking deeply at Bruce Banner. "But if, in the end, you have to give up your powers to bring Hulk back to life, what will you choose?"
"Then I'd rather be a normal person. This power came from him, after all. I can just focus on being a researcher in the Avengers..." Bruce Banner was silent for a moment before making his decision. He didn't want to lose his extraordinary abilities, but he knew they originally belonged to Hulk. Besides, he needed to make a positive impression on the Avengers, so he chose to step aside.
"Looks like I'll be joining you in the lab. Spider-Man, you too!" Robert said, deciding to involve Peter Parker as well since Hulk's soul couldn't be left unattended.
"No way!" Venom immediately retreated into Peter Parker's body upon hearing Robert, not daring to argue. Peter tried to protest, but Robert ignored his cries and dragged him into the lab.
"I only graduated from high school, and you're a college student. You think you can escape?" Robert asked Peter in exasperation as he struggled.
"Everyone else is a college student too! You should get Johnny and the others to help!" Peter's eyes darted around, trying to avoid being the only one suffering by pulling everyone else in.
"Johnny? He's still recovering, and I heard you and Venom hurt him. Pretty strong, huh? Got some energy to spare? How about a sparring match?" Robert teased, looking at Peter.
Peter's body trembled at Robert's words, his Spider-Sense screaming in alarm, and Venom cowered inside him, making Peter nearly jump out of his skin.
"Help out, JARVIS, with the robots," Tony Stark called out, giving Peter an excuse to rush over and assist, abandoning any thoughts of dragging others into his predicament.
"So boring..." Once Tony and the others got busy, Robert found himself with nothing to do. The only one left was Hulk's soul, who seemed afraid of Robert and not too bright. With nothing to talk about, Robert floated in the lab, meditating while enveloping Hulk's soul in a special aura to keep it from dissipating before the work was done.
The plan to create a body for Hulk turned out to be more difficult and time-consuming than Robert had imagined. While he thought cloning a body wouldn't be too hard with Tony Stark and the team's current technology, he was clearly oversimplifying it. Cloning a freely mutating body would be easy, but perfectly replicating Bruce Banner's Hulk form, including the energy within, without causing additional mutations, was much more challenging...
Meanwhile, on the other side, Doom had finally secured funding with his silver tongue and started his space project.
Perhaps because the space project was simpler, it succeeded before Hulk's new body could be created!
However, it was unclear what the investors were thinking. They didn't assign any professional astronauts, giving all the seats on the space mission to Reed Richards and his two companions, with no room for anyone else.
Of course, Reed Richards and the others were happy about this. For them, the space mission wasn't even necessary; it was just a prestigious entry on their resume to help secure more investment for future projects.
But with this mindset, Reed Richards made another small mistake. A minor calculation error caused the spaceship to malfunction before even reaching space. Despite Reed's efforts, he couldn't correct his earlier mistake mid-flight.
"Damn it, Reed! I never should have trusted you! Is this what your brilliant mind came up with? You're going to ruin our future; no one will ever invest in us again!" Doom couldn't hold back his anger anymore, roaring at Reed Richards as the ship's alarms blared.
Reed didn't argue, knowing it was entirely his fault. He tried to fix the problem with a grim expression, but to no avail...
With a loud thud, Doom grabbed Reed Richards, punching him to the ground. But even that didn't satisfy his anger; he climbed on top of Reed, ready to keep beating him.
"You've ruined my future, you high-score fool! You bastard!" Doom shouted as he continued to pummel Reed.
"Stop it!" Ben Grimm pulled Doom off of Reed. He was just as panicked but couldn't let Reed be beaten like this. Ben knew that fighting among themselves was pointless, so he locked Doom in a hold and said sternly, "You're worried about your future? If this ship explodes, we're all going to die—that's no future at all! Instead of fighting, we should be figuring out how to survive!"
"Survive? How? You're not seriously thinking of skydiving, are you?" Doom struggled briefly against Ben's grip, then gave up, sneering as he asked, "Do you know how high we are right now? Do you know the highest skydive record? Can you skydive in a spacesuit?"
"Sorry, Ben, Doom, this is my fault. I've let you down; I've doomed us all..." Reed Richards lay on the ground, glancing at the environment outside the ship. After a quick calculation, he looked at Doom and Ben with a bitter expression, full of guilt.
"Ben, let him go. Before we die, let him beat me up to vent his anger. He's right; I really am just a high-score fool for missing such a simple problem..."
"Who said we're going to die!" Ben Grimm released Doom, smiled at Reed, then took a deep breath and shouted, "Help! Somebody help!"
"Are you crazy? Yelling for help in a spaceship—who's going to save us?" Doom sneered at Ben's outburst as he stood up. "I always thought you were stupid, but I didn't know you were *this* stupid..."
"Help! Superman! All-powerful Superman! Somebody's about to die here! Help!" Ben ignored Doom, continuing to shout. Doom was momentarily stunned by his words.
"Crack!"
"Crack!"
Just then, the strange sounds in the ship grew louder, and Reed Richards's face turned pale as he joined in the shouting, "Help! Superman! Help!"
Seeing Reed also calling for help, Doom's expression darkened. But in the next moment, he too let out a cry for help: "Superman, save me!"
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