While Ross raced against time — mobilizing troops, pressuring subordinates, and feeding his own spiral of obsession — S.H.I.E.L.D. accelerated its operations as well. The board was set, and every piece was moving toward an inevitable clash.
Bruce Banner and Betty Ross had arrived at Grayburn College not long ago, seeking temporary shelter and any information that could help them on their constant escape route. They hoped to breathe without fear for at least a few days.
But the world had never been kind to Bruce Banner…
And it was there that Natasha had her first close encounter with Banner alone.
She had abandoned her previous mission without hesitation in order to take on this new operation — a direct order of the highest priority. She understood perfectly the weight of what she was carrying now: getting close to a man who, under emotional pressure, transformed into the most dangerous creature on the planet.
But Natasha wasn't just an agent. She was a weapon — meticulously crafted.
And today, her weapon was disguise.
She wore a delicate floral dress made of light fabric, her hair loose, giving her an aura of calm and innocence. The contrast was brutal: anyone looking at her now would never imagine she was someone capable of snapping a man's neck in less than three seconds.
When she smiled, she looked like a gentle student approaching to ask for information, not one of the most dangerous spies alive.
"Bruce Banner and Betty Ross, it's a pleasure to meet you…" she said in a perfectly rehearsed, soft voice.
The impact was immediate.
Banner and Betty tensed up, like cornered animals sensing that something was wrong. But Natasha's disguise was so convincing that, despite the rising suspicion, neither of them reacted dramatically.
Banner only narrowed his eyes.
"Who are you?"
Natasha lifted both hands — the universal sign of I'm not a threat.
"I'm an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.," she replied calmly. "I'm only here to talk…"
The word agent hit Banner and Betty like a bucket of ice water.
They froze.
Their pupils contracted, their muscles tensed.
Banner's first reaction was to look for escape routes.
Betty's first reaction was to protect Bruce.
Natasha noticed everything. She stepped back slightly, reinforcing the illusion of vulnerability.
"Relax. If I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn't have come alone. And I definitely wouldn't be wearing this," she pointed to the dress with a crooked smile.
It was too convincing.
Banner and Betty exchanged looks and scanned the area.
No agents. No suspicious cars. Nothing.
Their tension dropped just enough for Natasha to continue.
After all, even intelligent and wary men… tend to lower their guard when approached by a beautiful woman who seems harmless.
Only after building that fragile sliver of trust did Natasha explain who she was and why she was there. She described S.H.I.E.L.D.'s structure, its global reach, and its secret operations.
Banner and Betty listened, initially skeptical, but every word the spy said came with unwavering confidence. Little by little, their resistance weakened.
But the final blow came when Natasha revealed:
"We tracked you through the encrypted network you used to communicate with 'Mr. Blue.'"
Banner was stunned.
He had always been extremely careful. He had always believed he was using an impenetrable network — isolated, untraceable. It was his only safe way to look for help and research that might save his life… and the lives of those around him.
Learning that this network belonged to a secret international organization left him genuinely shocked.
And, against all odds, he believed most of what Natasha told him.
But nothing compared to the next shock.
"The objective of S.H.I.E.L.D. sending me here…" Natasha said with absolute clarity, "is to recruit you."
"What?" Banner asked, unable to hide the disbelief.
Recruit… him?
For two years, all he had experienced was fear, running, and humiliation.
He had seven doctorates — SEVEN — and, in normal circumstances, he should have been a respected professor, a renowned researcher, or a brilliant scientist.
But instead…
He lived hidden in slums, abandoned warehouses, miserable dorm rooms, always one emotional misstep away from unleashing the worst.
He lived in fear of the military.
Fear of the hunt.
Fear of himself.
No one had ever offered him anything — let alone trust.
Banner swallowed hard.
"You're not worried about… my other side?"
"The Hulk?" Natasha responded immediately. "Yes, we're aware of him."
Banner pressed his hand against his head, exasperated.
"You don't understand! I can't control it! When I get angry… when I lose control… he comes out! He destroys everything! Everything!"
His voice trembled. And Natasha realized, in that moment, that he didn't fear the Hulk.
He hated the Hulk.
Hated the monster that tore him away from his own life.
She smiled softly — not mockingly, but knowingly.
"You've been trying to control it, Bruce. And you've succeeded many times. Almost every time you lost control, it was because General Ross pushed you to the limit, wasn't it?"
Tripping over his own emotions, Banner felt his eyes sting. His chest tightened.
For the first time in years… someone other than Betty was extending a helping hand to him.
Betty covered her mouth, tears spilling down her cheeks.
"Bruce…"
She had suffered as much as he had. Maybe more. Forced away from the man she loved, trapped between her father and her fiancé, burdened with guilt and fear. The few days of escape beside Bruce had shown her the terror he had faced alone.
Banner gripped her hand tightly.
His watch began to beep — a warning of imminent danger.
Natasha felt her heart race.
One more second of emotion — joy, sadness, anger — and everything could fall apart.
But Banner took a deep breath and regained control.
And that made Natasha mentally step back, impressed.
Maybe… this truly was a viable chance.
"See?" Banner said, his voice shaking. "I'm unstable. I can't get angry, or excited, or… anything. And still, S.H.I.E.L.D. wants to recruit me?"
Natasha simply smiled.
A calm, gentle smile.
Like a spring breeze.
"Of course we do," she said, extending her hand to him.
Banner hesitated. Then slowly reached out and shook her hand.
"Success…" she murmured, relieved.
On the other side, Nick Fury — secretly monitoring everything — allowed a rare smile to appear. Agents watching the operation silently celebrated. For the first time, it seemed the Hulk might not be a problem… but an ally.
However…
Before anyone could celebrate for more than a second—
BAMMMMM!!!!
A sharp blast echoed.
And Bruce Banner's head simply exploded.
Blood burst outward, hot and thick, covering Natasha and Betty's faces in an instant.
The sound of the impact still rang in the air as Banner's lifeless body collapsed like a discarded puppet.
Betty's screams shattered the silence.
Natasha froze — shocked, stunned — her hands trembling, eyes wide, heart pounding harder than ever in her career.
Banner… was dead.
Murdered right in front of them.
In a single instant, all the hope built up collapsed into a storm of blood.
And now the other guy would awaken in his endless fury.
The consequences of that single shot would echo across the entire world.
(End of the world)
---
Author's Note:
You're probably wondering why, in the name of everything that exists, I've been dedicating so much time to showing parallel events, external scenarios, and secondary characters instead of simply shoving the camera in the protagonist's face all the time, right?
The answer is actually very simple — and maybe obvious to anyone who likes well-constructed stories:
I want to develop the world around him.
Focusing only on the protagonist, without showing what happens beyond his immediate reach, would make everything shallow and artificial, as if the entire universe revolved around a single character and paused whenever he wasn't on screen. And honestly, that would be unbelievably boring.
I've always loved fanfics and novels that care about the setting — stories that show things happening even when the protagonist isn't there to witness them. Stories where the world keeps breathing, evolving, changing — even when the hero isn't at the center.
Because that makes everything feel more alive and immersive.
Let me give you a very direct example:
Imagine if I skipped all these extra chapters and ignored everything.
Then the protagonist escapes S.H.I.E.L.D.'s containment cell, returns to New York, and boom — chaos already in full swing. Hulk and Abomination tearing apart half the city, alarms blaring, and in the middle of that mess, Gwen (as Spider-Woman) fighting.
And of course, the X-Men would inevitably get involved once a crisis of that magnitude hits New York.
Now think about what would happen if the protagonist just showed up and… that's it. He joins the fight out of nowhere. No context. No buildup. Neither you nor he knows how the chaos started, what triggered it, how each character ended up there, or what happened in the hours before.
Can you imagine how horribly dull that would be?
How anticlimactic?
How rushed, lazy, and empty it would feel?
And that's exactly what I want to avoid.
If I show what's happening around him — if I build the details, the movements, the plans, the consequences, the impacts before he enters the scene —
then when he finally arrives, it's not just him that carries weight…
the entire moment does.
And that's the kind of storytelling I want to deliver.