"Now all that's left is to wait for Banner's call," Noah thought, turning off the screen.
All he had to do was wait for Banner to contact him. Previously, Banner was only pursued by General Ross and his army, and he could escape by fleeing to another country. But now things had changed: a new villain had emerged, likely the Leader, who had developed mutated creatures to capture him.
It seemed he had some way of tracking Banner's location, and now, if Banner wanted to live in peace, he would have to seek Noah's help.
Noah stood up, and the screen in front of him went blank. He had been working on a "PROJECT" prototype in his laboratory when Lissandra displayed the link to the Mexican news. He hadn't yet fully mastered the technology that came with the acquired "PROJECT: Warwick," and was now continuing his work in this area.
The Battle of New York was fast approaching, and he began preparing for the upcoming major event. Currently, his army consisted of himself, Lissandra, Gwen, and an army of nanobots led by Blitzcrank. Although it was difficult to call it an army: he had only managed to create about a hundred nanobots, as his laboratory wasn't large enough.
He could continue production if needed. Lissandra had almost established an assembly line for combat-ready robots. However, the main problem was materials. He incorporated vibranium into the robots, which made mass production quite difficult.
But that wasn't so important, as he strived for quality, not quantity. With robots as powerful as his, each one could replace an entire army.
"PROJECT: Warwick," which Noah was currently working on, was an extremely powerful mechanical creature. "PROJECT" technology combined magic and science, and the end result promised to be incredibly strong. Therefore, he had been working diligently on it in recent days.
Today, he had almost finished the work, deciding to take a break after the unexpected interruption caused by the news. He headed towards the elevator in the underground laboratory and pressed the button for the first floor.
Two days had passed since his last visit to Tony Stark. During this time, he had been engaged in research and training, completing two C-rank missions and earning 200 Essence.
[Essence: 3700]
Noah hadn't yet completed today's mission, as his exclusive mission "mobs" usually spawned at night. If nothing urgent came up, he left them for the night. He often completed missions in Hell's Kitchen and always wondered why these guys continued to appear in such numbers. Perhaps the place was truly cursed?
Pondering which area to visit tonight, he exited the elevator. While at home, he rarely used portals, although it wasn't forbidden – there were no anti-magic zones in his house.
As soon as he entered his villa, a purple object zipped past him – Rabadon's Deathcap. It was rushing straight towards him at high speed. Noah assumed the hat wanted to greet him and reached out for it, but it dodged and flew outside.
It looked like the hat was trying to escape. He watched in bewilderment as it clumsily flew away and suddenly noticed a bow on it.
"Hat! Stop!" a clear voice rang out. Noah turned and saw Gwen, holding a blue magical needle connected to a thread of magic in her left hand, and a piece of beautiful silk, the same color as the bow on the hat, in her right hand.
Now he understood why the hat had escaped. Gwen, noticing him, slowed down.
"Noah. Good afternoon."
The sun was shining brightly; it was midday. Noah nodded and, glancing at what she was holding, asked in surprise,
"Gwen, what are you doing?"
"I'm decorating the hat to make it look pretty," Gwen replied, holding up the piece of silk.
"Pretty? Do hats need decorations?" Noah asked, surprised.
"Of course! Girls should be pretty."
"Girls? Does a hat have a gender?!" He was shocked, doubting he had heard correctly.
"Well, of course! The hat is a cute girl. Oh, Noah, it's no wonder you didn't know, I'm a seamstress, and I know these things."
A seamstress knows these things? Noah was bewildered but learned some unexpected facts thanks to her explanation.
A hat? An object with a gender? He shook his head to clear the strange thoughts.
"Gwen, let's postpone creating an outfit for the hat. Now, come with me inside," he said, placing his hand on Gwen's shoulder and gently turning her, guiding her towards the house. He wasn't going to do anything bad, he just wanted to play video games with her.
"Huh? Okay," Gwen sighed and followed him.
When they disappeared into the house, Rabadon's Deathcap returned, hovering hesitantly in the air. Its edges trembled like hands, scratching its top. Then it followed them into the room. The hat liked watching them play, although it was a little afraid of Gwen, but it trusted that its owner would protect it.
...
"Sterns, you promised to bring back the Hulk," General Ross said, sitting in his office at the military base in New Mexico, while a video call with the Leader was displayed on the screen.
"Don't rush me, General Ross. You saw the power of these experimental samples, but this is just the beginning, just a test," the Leader's calm voice came from the speakers.
General Ross looked at the tablet, which was playing a video of the Hulk's battle with the two mutated dogs. It wasn't footage from a street camera; it seemed like the filming was done right from the center of the battle. It looked like the Leader had sent more than just two mutants there.
"I want to see better results!" General Ross stated firmly.
"Don't worry, General. These mutants are just initial samples. In the future, I will send more powerful creatures to capture Bruce Banner. You just need to provide me with sufficient resources, and then Banner will be in our hands sooner or later."
The Leader's sinister laughter came from the phone, to which Ross just snorted and replied,
"I hope you're not deceiving me," then the general hung up.
In a hidden, abandoned industrial zone from wartime, where no one had set foot for a long time, the Leader had set up his laboratory. This was where he conducted his experiments.
Hanging up the phone, the Leader smirked and turned to the experimental table, where a mutilated human body was strapped down. The creature's muscles were severely deformed, and its original form was impossible to recognize. The Leader had already begun experimenting on humans, but so far unsuccessfully.
After observing for a bit, he pressed a button, and the failed specimen was lifted by a mechanical claw and dropped into a deep pit. If someone looked over the railing, they would see that the pit was already filled with the bodies of failed experiments, both animal and human. They were probably homeless people he had abducted from various locations.
"Another failure," he said indifferently, as if the subject wasn't a human but a mere insect.
Failures were commonplace for him, as achieving a perfect fusion of a body with gamma energy was an almost impossible task. Only a few unique organisms, like Banner, Blonsky, and himself, had successfully undergone this process.
Now the Leader sought to create more gamma monsters. Although replicating exceptions like Banner was difficult, his experiments on animals were progressing successfully.
"Hehehe... Banner, soon your power will be mine!"
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