บท 94: C94 Death of a Father

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In a rundown apartment in Russia, an elderly man was tucked into a small worn-out discolored bed. His face was turning pale and it was hard for him to keep his eyes open for long periods of time. He coughed regularly and looked to be on his last legs of life.

[Insert picture of Anton Vanko here]

This is Anton Vanko. A former Soviet scientist. Upon moving to the United States of America in his youth, Vanko became partners with Howard Stark at Stark Industries where he and Howard created the first Arc Reactor.

However, when Vanko sold his designs on the black market, Stark had him deported back to Russia, where Vanko spent decades drinking himself to death. The fruit of that labor was showing now.

The alcohol has taken its toll, draining the man's life day by day. Now he's just a husk of his former self, ready to die at any moment and even hoping for it on most days.

The TV at the end of the bed was tuned into a news channel, where Tony Stark was speaking to a news reporter in his Iron Man suit. They were talking about the recent attack in New York from the now officially named Abomination.

As he was watching with a scowl on his aged face, the door opens, and in comes a man about Tony's age.

[Insert picture of Ivan Vanko here]

The relationship between the two men was hard to see, as the alcohol and age have morphed the elderly man's body, but this is Anton Vanko's son, Ivan Vanko. Ivan is a Russian physicist, but it was hard to get a good job in his field as he is the son of a disgraced scientist.

Who would want to hire or work with a man that could steal or sell your research? Ivan isn't his father and wasn't the one to sell blueprints on the black market, but the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

"That should be you." Anton says weakly from his bed as he shakily lifts his finger towards the TV.

"Don't listen to that crap." Ivan takes a seat at his fathers bedside and shakes off his words, as he has heard them a million times by now.

Suddenly, Anton grabs Ivan's Hand with two aged hands of his own, grasping them as tightly as he could. Looking down at his father, Ivan could see a tired and apologetic look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry... All I can give you is my knowledge." Anton croaks out his last words.

The sound of coughing fills the room for a brief moment before silence returns and Anton's body stills. He wasn't breathing. His heart wasn't beating and he already looked like a corpse.

Ivan is naturally distraught. His father just died in front of him and all he could hear was Tony Starks smug voice from the TV at the end of the bed.

Staring at the TV with a vengeful look in his eyes, Ivan pulls out a set of blueprints for an arc reactor and gets to work.

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A week after the Abomination incident, the Avengers were surprised to find Blonsky turn back into his normal human form.

He tried to escape from his prison by slipping through with his smaller body, getting the idea from Banner who could switch back and forth as well.

Though, Blonsky seems to have far more control than Banner does.

Blonsky succeeded in changing but failed to escape as his body was still frozen. The cameras picked up on this instantly and Jarvis notified the Avengers.

Since he was being held in Avengers Towers detainment floor, a new cage was swiftly made and Blonsky was loaded in by the end of the day.

There is a silver lining to this change though. Blonsky seemed to become less erratic ever since changing to his human form.

If they can rehabilitate the man, then the Avengers may have a strong member in the future. The council didn't like the idea, but Peter contacted a therapist to come in on schedule to see Blonsky.

Hopefully, he can show good results within a year and Peter can use that to bring this idea to the council once again. It would be hard to disagree at that point.

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After going through all of General Ross' facilities, including the one in New York where Abomination was made, Fury brought back mountains of evidence against Thaddeus but that wasn't all he found.

The General's years of work toward perfecting the Super Soldier Serum were now in the hands of the Avengers. Compared to the research Betty gave them, the up-to-date research was leagues ahead.

Five years is a long time after all.

Peter and Tony took a copy of each set of data before calling Banner to talk.

Walking into Tony's workshop after going through multiple layers of security, Bruce found Spider-Man and Tony waiting for his arrival.

Banner has been staying in one of the apartments in the Tower for the past week and found the place very luxurious. Well, anything would be luxurious compared to the room he rented in South America.

Just give the guy some air conditioning and a strong wifi signal and that would be heaven.

"You called for me?" Banner says as he walks in.

"Bruce, take a seat." Tony calls out and gestures to a rolling chair at a computer desk.

"What's this all about?" Bruce asks as he turns his head to Peter. "Are you finally giving me the research Betty gave us?"

"Yes, but we have to get through some things first." Peter says as he taps a button and the video of Abomination being made starts to play on a loop.

"Why are you showing me this?" Banner says as he and everyone else in the world have seen this video a thousand times already.

"Do you know who this is?" Tony says as the video freezes on a full-screen image of Dr. Sterns.

"No idea..." Banner answers after a moment's look.

"That is Dr. Samuel Sterns otherwise known to you as Mr. Blue." Peter informs him.

"What!?" Banner exclaims with an incredulous look on his face.

"It seems like since your last conversation back when we first met, Sterns didn't see any progress in working with you anymore and went to your enemy." Peter says as the video switches to a zoomed-in image of the syringe Sterns used on Blonsky.

"Did you send your blood to Mr. Blue?" Tony asks as Banner's eyes widen upon seeing the image.

"...yes." He answers as realization dawns on him. "Is that my blood in there?"

"Yes..." Peter says as Banner starts cursing and pacing around the room, causing his watch to begin beeping. "Bruce, calm down."

"R-Right..." He says as he forces himself to sit and breathe like a meditating monk.

Once he was finally calm, Peter got straight to the point.

"Listen, I have no problem giving you the research that you need and a place here to work on it, but you need to keep it to yourself. Sterns wasn't captured so he may contact you. If he does, pretend to not know of his involvement and alert us immediately." Peter says as Tony nods along beside him.

"We'll help with your research when we can as well. Your condition is interesting so I don't mind lending a hand." Tony says with an interested look in his eyes.

"Thank you." Banner says sincerely.

With someone as experienced and skilled as Tony Stark helping him, then Banner felt like they had a chance to actually fix himself.

"Personally, I don't think you should get rid of the Hulk." Peter drops a bomb that shocks both Banner and Tony.

"Why?" Bruce says incredulously. "He's a monster."

"A monster that helped us a week ago." Peter corrects with a shrug. "Does he have problems, definitely. Though that's not his fault. You have to look at Hulk like a child. He's been fighting since his birth. I think that if we use meditation and therapy, you and the Hulk can form a friendly relationship."

"..."

Both Tony and Banner looked at Peter as if he were telling them that the earth was flat.

"Look, I'm not saying you can't continue your research, but maybe give the Hulk a chance while you're at it. You never know. He might just surprise you."

Peter didn't plead this case any further. It would take time for Banner to accept the Hulk. All Peter is trying to do is plant those seeds early on.

Will Banner and Tony find a cure before then? No, Peter didn't believe there is a cure for the Hulk to begin with.

A/N: 1465 words

[DONT FORGET MY STONES! Pls & thnx 😊]