Agent 43 said with a smile, "Mike, why are you here? The Director has been looking for you. Is there something? It's fine, just give that thing to me, and I'll take it to the Director for you."
That thing referred to Banner's blood.
Mike said, "Oh, that's perfect."
After speaking, he took out the blood bag from his system space.
With his hand halfway extended, Mike said with a half-smile, "Are you treating Fury as a fool, or are you treating me as a fool?"
Firstly, besides the parties involved, only Stark and Natasha knew about Mike's commission from Fury.
Fury and Natasha, needless to say, were veteran Agents. Unless they willingly divulged information, how many people could extract intelligence from them? As for Stark... to make him leak information, you first had to be a woman, and a beautiful one at that. Otherwise, Stark would show you what 'difficult to communicate' meant.
Unfortunately, Agent 43 was male.
Wrong gender.
And he was plain-looking.
So, the question was, how did he know about the commission?
Mike bet it was absolutely Fury who intentionally leaked it to test his Agents.
"It seems Nick has realized the seriousness of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s problems. No wonder he's in a hurry to form the Avengers. No wonder the preparations for this Hulk operation were so shoddy; it turns out he didn't want to use S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents."
Fury threw out the bait, and Agent 43 took it.
Or perhaps he knew it was a trap but was determined to get Banner's blood even if it meant exposure.
It's just that Mike wasn't stingy with using the highest level of 'old fox' to describe Fury; such a person, when dealing with important items, would absolutely do it himself if conditions allowed.
Besides, now that Banner was caught, there would be as much blood as they wanted. What was the rush?
Agent 43's face changed. He raised his wrist, where a sleeve dart was hidden.
However, Mike's movements were much faster than his.
Crack.
His elbow was forcibly broken backward by Mike.
Ugh!
Agent 43 actually endured this inhuman pain, clenching his molars, trying to bite open the poison sac hidden in his teeth.
However, Mike was still a step ahead of him, dislocating his jaw and slapping him unconscious.
Mike carried Agent 43, walking directly through the hall, getting into the elevator, and reaching the top floor. The employees had already left, and Jarvis had taken over the security system, so there was no need to worry about scaring the company's staff.
He casually threw Agent 43 onto the floor.
"Huh, why is there a lump on the ground? By the way, who is this? Looks familiar." Stark walked over, holding a goblet.
Mike gave him a direct side-eye, "The driver, he drove us twice."
Stark tried hard to recall, "Sorry, just familiar, nothing else... Don't mind these details. Who was so cruel to beat him up like this?"
"Me."
"Oh." Stark didn't care at all why Mike had beaten Agent 43 like that. He swirled the golden liquid in his goblet. "The best champagne, want a glass? To celebrate the great success of tonight's operation."
"Can I have whiskey instead?"
"Whatever you want."
At this moment, Fury arrived. He glanced at Agent 43, his face so gloomy it looked like water was about to drip from it.
Stark: "Wow, Fury seems to be about to explode. Do you want to hide for a bit, avoid the brunt?"
"Why?"
"You hit the subordinate, so the superior will naturally come to settle the score with you."
"Oh." Mike was indifferent. He found a glass and poured himself a whiskey.
Fury exhaled and said to Mike, "Thank you."
Mike: "You're welcome."
Stark was surprised, "What's going on?"
Fury hesitated, then grabbed Agent 43's ankle.
He dragged him away.
Stark couldn't help but ask again, "What's going on? I mean, it's so abrupt, even if I'm a genius, I can't understand it."
Mike: "Isn't it better to shut up and drink?"
Stark: "How can I drink with my mouth shut? Haha."
Mike looked at Stark's nose. He now had an idea: to pour the remaining whiskey from the bottle into Stark's nose. If Stark continued to chatter, this idea was very likely to become a reality.
...
Underground Room.
Bruce Banner slowly woke up.
He remembered the last scene he recalled from last night.
"Betty!" Banner called out what he was most concerned about at the moment.
He propped himself up, trying to get up.
Pain!
It was then that he realized he was wrapped all over in White bandages, like a zongzi.
Banner looked at his surroundings.
This was a very large room, with a ceiling at least three meters high. Besides an exceptionally large iron bed, there was no furniture in the room.
"This is a cell built for Hulk." This thought came to Banner's mind, but the problem was, he saw that the room's door was open.
At this moment, a familiar figure walked in from outside the door.
"Betty!"
"Bruce! You're awake, don't move around, or your wounds will reopen." Betty was carrying a tray with a cold water pitcher, a cup, and two apples.
She had just gone out to get Water.
There was nothing in this room.
"Betty, why are you here too? I've harmed you," Banner said anxiously.
He thought Betty had also been captured.
"Don't worry, Bruce, prisoners don't get to eat such fresh apples." Betty quickly comforted Banner, "We haven't been imprisoned."
"Where is this?"
"The Underground Room of Stark Tower."
"That Stark who's always in the news?"
"Yes."
Bruce shook his head.
When he transformed into Hulk, his consciousness didn't completely disappear, but it was very chaotic. After the transformation ended, only fragments remained in his mind. These fragments were not enough to connect all the events into a coherent timeline.
"Betty, tell me about last night, about what happened after I transformed into Hulk."
"Don't rush." Betty first fed Banner a few sips of Water, then began to recount the events of last night.
Actually, to put it simply, it was two sentences: One, the shit-green monster was scared off by the mask man. Two, Hulk was knocked down by the mask man.
"Wait, did I mishear or misunderstand?" Banner looked bewildered.
Mainly, in the scene Betty described, there were pink petals flying everywhere, and a pink long blade suspended in the air.
Pink?
Banner suspected Betty was hallucinating.
Mainly, Banner had two impressions of Hulk: extremely powerful and uncontrollable.
Someone knocking down Hulk sounded too fantastical.
"Let me be quiet." Banner tried his best to recall last night's memory.
Hiss!
Headache.
Why did it feel like Hulk didn't want to recall it?
Betty asked with concern, "Bruce, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, just after-effects." Banner waved his hand, "Betty, we need to leave here quickly."
Betty: "You're covered in injuries, how can you leave, and where would you go after leaving?"
Banner paused.
Before, he had evaded Military pursuit alone, living a wandering life. Now that Betty was with him, was he going to let Betty suffer such hardships with him?
Banner's face darkened.
Betty held Banner's hand and said softly, "Wherever you go, I'll go. Compared to suffering, I'm more afraid of being alone at night without news from you. But they said they want to talk to you when you wake up."
"They?"
"Yes, I think we should listen to what they have to say." Betty pointed to the unlocked door. "I feel they are not quite like my father."