章 18: Banner’s decision -17
Alex sat in the protection of the armored vehicle while his men began ensuring the area was safe for him. Even just a tiny chat with Banner needed a considerable amount of caution and preparation. He found it all rather bothersome but knew that his men were just doing their jobs.
He knew that he shouldn't even be here right now. After all, Banner was a danger to those around him since he had poor control of the Hulk at this time. Alex just couldn't help himself; after all, wouldn't he have wasted the fact he was in the MCU if he didn't go out and meet all the heroes?
So once again, he sat here while his men ensured nothing short of something anomalous would be able to surprise them.
Once the area was clear, one of his guards stepped up to his door and knocked on the window before opening the door to let him out.
Alex felt the morning air's chill and even faintly saw his warm breath as a mist in the cooler air. Looking around the forested landscape, he took in nature's simple beauty and enjoyed the fresh air out here.
"Let's go meet the man then." He said to his men as he started walking, flanked by his heavily armed guards.
Alex saw Banner coming out to meet him as he got closer to the cabin/research outpost. The Dr. looked much better than the last time he saw him, not just because he had better clothes this time.
No, it was clear that Bruce had improved a lot in the short three weeks he had lived as a white American man should, eating plenty of fatty red meat.
"It's good to see you again, Mr. Banner. I trust you have been well in our care." Alex said lightly as he and his men came to a stop a good five meters from the nervous Doctor.
"Yes, I have been well, Sir. It has been good to get a chance to study and research again. Even more so with something so unique as this SCP, as you call them." Bruce said, trying to ignore the many heavily armed men all around him, which reminded him of Ross and his chase.
"Most SCPs are indeed quite unique, alright. So we have plenty of other interesting ones you can work with if you decide to join us, Doctor." Alex wasted no time starting to tempt the poor man into his employ.
Bruce quickly nodded his head. "Yes, I would gladly join the Foundation. Given my own condition, well I honestly think the Foundation is perfect for me. And I do believe in the work you appear to be doing. While I have only worked with a single SCP, I can already see the need for the Foundation's work."
"I'm glad you understand the importance of our work, Doctor. May I ask if you have had any thoughts about what you want to work on next?" Alex knew himself that he wasn't nearly as smart as Bruce Banner, so while he had ideas about what Bruce could do, he would give the man some freedom.
"Well, if possible, I would like to review the data and samples I have taken from the mice and other objects here. hopefully with some more advanced equipment, and well after that, I thought that maybe I could try to understand my own condition more deeply." Bruce said, sounding a bit nervous towards the end.
"That is wonderful, Doctor. We have the equipment you need at many of our SITEs and as for your own condition. Well, we naturally are more than willing to help you to get a greater understanding of it." Alex was barely hiding his joy at the fact that Banner seemed to be willing to explore his Hulk side some more.
Alex himself hadn't been sure if Bruce had been willing to even consider anything but a cure for the Hulk, but with his own hints and the careful work of psychiatrist Tanja, which he had sent to help him, doing his time at this SITE. It seemed that he was at least willing to humor them, if nothing else.
"I hope you aren't afraid of the chill, Mr. Banner; we have made the proper preparation for you at a SITE up in Canada. It has the needed containment area set up for you should you lose control. It also happens to be far enough away from any other people that should containment fail, you won't have to worry about harming civilians.
Alex had wanted to send him to work alongside Pym but had, in the end, decided that starting somewhere more remote would be better for now. Doubly so, given he would want to Hulk out for research.
"Well, while I do prefer the warmer climates, I can understand why you chose somewhere more remote for me." Bruce said in a sad but understanding tone.
"Well, once we have your condition under control one way or another, you can join Dr. Brown and Dr. Pym in studying vibranium." Alex threw out some bait, and from the look on Banner's face, he was clearly tempted.
"Dr. Pym? Like the Hank Pym? Is he also working for the Foundation now? And studying the near-legendary vibranium? The stuff Captain America's shield is made from?" Bruce asked, clearly interested.
"The very same guy and the very same stuff. I dare say that both Pym and myself agree that using it on a shield was a huge waste of it. I will grant you class 2 security clearance so you can read his reports on the stuff in your own time." Alex kept throwing out bait to pull Banner deeper into both the Foundation and his desire to study his own condition quickly.
'Now I just need to make him accept the Hulk, and I get myself a very powerful card to use.'
Suppressing his smirk, Alex kept talking with Banner for a bit longer before taking his leave again and letting the prepared transportation take Banner and the others away and onto their next assignment.
------------------
[SITE-001]
Having made it back home again, Alex returned to his work after having had his fun playing around with future superheroes.
One exciting report was about the status of the arc reactor, with both Anton Vanko and his son aiding them. The Foundation now had not just the larger, more powerful arc reactor but also the smaller one Tony used for his suits.
It had apparently not been easy to get the two Vanko's to work for them at first. Given that Anton was used to a rough life, he was not easily threatened. Even his son was proving to be tough.
The key to breaking them had been the chance to beat the Stark father and son pair. As soon as Anton learned about the new element Stark had found but also failed to create, he had jumped on the chance to beat him and prove himself better than the dead man.
Ivan had also been dragged in by his father and was almost equally eager to work and prove not just his father's worth but also his own as he learned that Stark the younger also hadn't managed to create the element yet.
They didn't need to know he hadn't even tried yet, right?
The prize for success being the chance to name the new element after themselves rather than give Stark more time to work and possibly succeed down the line. While the world still does not have Antonium or Vankoium just yet, it was just a matter of time by now.
Alex wasn't sure what to do with them now that they really had served their purpose with the miniature arc reactor being built. Still, he might as well keep them working on the new element since they were so eager to work for free. And who knows, they might prove useful somewhere down the line.
Other news includes about a dozen new SCP objects being found and many already contained. All safe objects so far. However, there were also mentions of living SCP objects, which were both future heroes and villains from the MCU, as well as a few others that he had no idea about.
The substantial quantity of vibranium was enthusiastically received by his research team, and new information about the metal was uncovered daily. More significantly, each day brought innovative applications and technological advancements. Consequently, the power of the Foundation grew steadily.
He still needed to find out how to deal with Wakanda. So far, he had gotten some ideas, but he needed more manpower, more nukes, and many more SCPs to feel safe about it.
The only problem was he couldn't just summon a bunch of SCPs since he had no control over which one appeared. After all, he already had two of them able to cause an XK-class end-of-the-world scenario, and he didn't want more of those.
"Still, I have to summon one again real soon, though thankfully, my points are starting to add up on their own now."
Sighing, he leaned back and rested his eyes as he was finally finished with today's work.
------------------------------
[SITE-014]
[flashback]
[with Hank Pym]
Hank had not been working at this place for long, but he had already been shocked a few times. The first surprise was the sheer size of the place and the fact it was hidden so damn well.
He had been picked up and driven to a large old, well-maintained office building. Its size was also nothing to scuff at, being about 20 stories high. The even more impressive thing was it went down just as much!
The underground complex was nothing short of amazing when one considered it was built in total secrecy. The number of armed guards and scientists at levels his own company would have been willing to offer almost any price to get was also unbelievable.
The price of running this place must have been at least two or three times his own company, and yet this was just one SITE of the Foundation.
He had been given a tour of the place by director Brown, who was indeed a lovely woman of British descent, though her accent was very faint and her mind as sharp as Janet's. Though sadly he was kept from seeing most of the base due to his low security clearance. Which he could get upgraded by joining up fully. They sure knew how to tempt a man.
After the tour, he was allowed to begin working with the vibranium almost right away. He was also given a bunch of data on the stuff from all their other tests of it.
And boy, was the metal a wonder! The things it could do when used right completely blew his mind! The stuff could push science decades ahead in a few years if only there was enough of it.
Hank soon discovered he was one of many who lamented the low amounts of the metal for study and use. Even Brown kept cursing the low amounts every time she came down to check out their progress. At times, she even joined in as well.
The woman clearly liked doing hands-on research though she had little time with all the admin work. Hank had felt the same and didn't bother with the admin, which was why he ended up getting ousted like that.
Still, Hank kept most of his focus on the research and work being done while getting to know some of the people he worked with. Quickly becoming friends over their shared disappointment for Stark using it for a shield of all things.
Even though he focused mainly on the vibranium, Hank kept an ear open for chatter about everything, wanting to overhear stuff about the Foundation. Most of the stuff sounded crazy, though he did learn that it seemed Wakanda held some vibranium and only pretended to sell everything they had to Stark back then.
However, he didn't like how aggressive they all sounded when whispering about wanting to take it by force. He had looked up the nation and didn't think sending dozens of nukes at the poor place sounded necessary.
And hadn't that been another huge surprise. Learning that this Foundation held a considerable amount of nuclear weapons and even held some in D.C., it sounded like from whispers he heard about a facility there. Janet had lost herself in the Quantum realm to stop a nuke from hitting it, and here, the Foundation could nuke the place at any time they wanted to.
Then, all of a sudden, one day, Brown had kicked in the door all excited with an assistant behind her carrying a bottle of champagne and glasses.
"I have great news, everyone! Upper management finally decided that vibranium was an important enough asset to make a move to get some. Today, a mobile task force secured more than 200 kilograms of it," she yelled out in excitement, causing her accent to come through clearly.
The room was dead silent after her announcement; all of us were no doubt shocked at the unbelievable news. The rest of them all recovered before him. All letting out excited exclaims of their own.
Hank took a lot longer to recover as he hadn't known such an amount had even been possible. "200kg? That much? Is that even possible?" he couldn't help but ask while glasses were being passed out.
"That's right, Pym, more than 200kg of it. Finally, we can start making things out of it and using the stuff rather than just researching it." Brown said, handing the still half-stunned man a glass.
"Did we raid Wakanda for it or that arms dealer?" a younger researcher by the name of Johan asked.
"It was from that arms dealer, yeah, we got every bit he had. However, it seems plans are being drawn up for dealing with Wakanda as well. A request for ideas and suggestions was sent out as well. You should see it in your foundation mail later." Brown said as the assistant started to fill their glasses.
Hank was still trying to get his head around the situation here. He thought vibranium was nearly impossible to obtain in a quantity of more than a gram or two. Now he was learning that just some random arms dealer had 200kg of it. Not to mention, it seemed Wakanda had even more still.
"Alright, everyone, I need you to continue to work hard on this. The more and better the results, the easier it will be to convince the command to get us more of it. Now, I have sent in requests for more already, so let us have a drink for our future success and for the glory of mankind!"
Brown finished her speech, and everyone raised their glasses and cried out, "Glory to mankind!" before drinking.
Hank was a bit slower than the rest as he was starting to get a better understanding of how little he knew before all this, and he had worked for SHIELD before!
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