Marvel-ous Ninjutsu

00200.Smart but stupid?

Ezekiel arrived before Banner and started going over the safeties he put in place. Most of them were magical in nature and created with help for Tao or Agatha. They were mostly runic wards around the area that would contain the blast from the experiment if Banner went through with it that is. After Ezekiel finished he went over to one of the desks and pulled out his tablet to check over the fall out of the live stream while he waited for Banner to show up.

Ezekiel wasn’t disappointed in the slightest as most news organizations were covering the committee meeting live stream that was still going on. Sure some of them were trying to downplay the whole thing and some even tried to make him look like a bad guy. Something about him being a meta human with mind controlling powers and that whatever was being said currently couldn't be trusted. Even with that, the overall reception was positive and normal people liked what Revival was doing.

The only real bad news was someone in Klein's camp immediately filed the lawsuit against Revival. As for the lawsuit and it affecting Revival and its insurance business? Ezekiel already had a contingency plan in place if they tried to stop the business from running. Well it was more like he would keep running the business and not worry about it.

Sure they could stop by the offices and try to shut them down with court orders and other things. But Revival only had a single room office where a clone of his would hang out. Everything was done online with the help of software and clones that normally worked from his training facility or the secret base. Sure the clones would need to answer calls and handle in person inspections for business claims, but most things were done through an online portal that was easy to use. Could the government try to shut it down and block it? Sure they could try, but it wouldn’t work just like the live stream people were trying to stop.

As Ezekiel was working on his tablet Banner entered the secure laboratory and didn’t notice Ezekiel who was off to one side of the lab, partly hidden from view. As Banner started to boot up a couple of machines and mumble to himself, Ezekiel put away his tablet and stepped into the main area of the lab as he said, “Eh, what’s up, doc?”

Banner, who looked a lot more like the comic book version, instantly spun around to look at Ezekiel with widened eyes as he asked, “You again?”

Ezekiel nodded his head as he said, “Yup, it's me again. So planning to rush your experiment uh? I already warned you… It won’t end well if you do that.”

Banner frowned slightly and turned around to continue working as he said, “I have to do it, I have no other choice.”

“For a guy with so many PHDs, I thought you would be smarter.”

Banner shot a small glare at Ezekiel as he kept preparing for the experiment and said, “I’ve run the simulations millions of times, the experiment will work. I’ve just been putting off live testing because I wanted to get more data points just in case we missed something.”

Ezekiel moved to one of the desks and sat on it as he said, “I’m surprised you haven’t called security yet. The last time you pushed that button by now.”

“I've already been threatened with the cancellation of the project if I don’t show real results soon. If I alert security at this point, the project will be canceled today… It doesn’t help that the only evidence of your last visit was me.” Banner said in an annoyed tone.

Ezekiel smirked slightly as he said, “At least they upped the security a little, even though they found no evidence anyone was ever here besides you and Betty.”

Banner glanced over at Ezekiel as he moved over to check the experiment table underneath a large device that hung from the ceiling and said, “Yeah, thanks for that by the way… They almost canceled the whole project after that incident.”

Ezekiel chuckled a little before he said, “That was honestly hilarious. The fact they thought you were hallucinating from over work just made it even better.”

“I was forced to take a two week vacation because of that.” Banner said in a frustrated tone.

“You say that like it's a bad thing.”

“It put me behind on the project and I had to do simulations on my home computer the whole time, which took ten times longer than normal.” Banner said in an annoyed tone.

“You had two weeks of vacation from work and wasted it on more work… How Betty even puts up with you, I'll never understand.”

Banner turned towards Ezekiel with a glare as he asked, “What's that supposed to mean?”

“You had two weeks to do anything and could have easily spent it with Betty… Instead you did what? You wasted it on working.” Ezekiel said with a shrug.

Banner frowned again and turned back to his work as he said, “I am doing this so me and Betty can be together.”

“Wow, you really are afraid of Ross’s threat to separate you from Betty.”

Banner whipped back around as he asked, “How do you know about that?”

Ezekiel raised an eyebrow as he asked, “Why do you ask the dumbest questions when you’re supposed to be so smart? Or is it the trait of geniuses to have no common sense?”

Banner frowned as Ezekiel said, “I told you last time I could see the future. I showed up today because I knew you would attempt your experiment and I wanted to warn you again not to do it.”

Banner turned back around as he started putting some information into his main computer as he said, “It's too late for that.”

“Why? Because you think Betty would really follow her dad's order to distance herself from you?”

“Wouldn’t she? She’s extremely close with her father… She would have no reason to refuse.” Banner said as he used a machine to start mixing some chemicals together. 

“I swear, you are more dense than a black hole.” Ezekiel said as he shook his head.

Banner glanced up from the machine after he finished inputting commands and asked, “What are you talking about now?”

“You, not realizing Betty is completely in love with you and if forced to choose she would choose to stay with you instead of her father.” Ezekiel said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

Banner stopped working for a few moments before he shook his head and started powering up another machine as he said, “You’re wrong, her father is the only family she has. She would never choose me over him.”

“I give up, you’re a lost cause. Just do your experiment and see how well it goes for you.” Ezekiel said as he pulled out his tablet and started to type on it.

Banner glanced up with a frown as he said, “If you know the future, you should just tell me how the experiment goes instead of telling me not to do it.”

Ezekiel looked up from his tablet as he asked, “Would knowing the results stop you in any way?”

“Does the experiment fail or kill me?”

Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “No but it will change your life forever.”

Banner paused as he was entering data into a machine before he looked up at Ezekiel and asked, “In a good or bad way?”

“Mostly good…” Ezekiel said as he thought over what he knew of the Hulk and Banner.

Banner turned his attention back to the machine in front of himself as he said, “Then I am not gonna worry about it.”

Ezekiel worked on his tablet as Banner went about the lab and finished getting everything ready. Once the serum Banner created was ready, Ezekiel put his tablet away and said, “Well, I would say good luck but you don't really need it.”

Banner glanced up from loading the serum into a syringe and asked, “Oh, you're still here?”

Ezekiel shook his head with a slight smirk before he started to fade away as he said, “Catch you on the flip side, doc.”

Banner glanced around the room for a moment before he went back to getting ready. Ezekiel was outside the lab next to a handful of people in anbu gear as he asked, “Is everything in place?”

“We've double checked the entire building and the surrounding area. No one is currently within the vicinity and everyone is on patrol to stop people from entering.” Minato with his fox mask on said.

“What about the secondary target?”

“Already under surveillance and can be picked up at any time.” Minato said as he glanced towards another person down the hallway and asked, “Do we really need him if this place is going to blow up already?”

Ezekiel glanced at the other person who was in the process of placing explosives and said, “The seals I placed will contain the explosion and the gamma radiation. Once it's cleaned out, we will need his powers to make the rest of the building explode properly.”

Minato nodded in understanding before he said, “I know… I just feel like we could have used normal explosives instead of him.”

“His explosives are undetectable. Sure they might have some suspicions, but without trace evidence, they will have to drop it and rule it as an accident with Banner's experiment. Besides, he isn't that bad.” Ezekiel said before the man made a small clay sculpture and asked the clay sculpture, “You’re going to make a beautiful piece of art, aren’t you?”

“Okay… Maybe he is a little eccentric.” Ezekiel said with a forced smile.

The lights in the hallway started to dim which made Ezekiel glance towards Banner's lab as he said, “You guys get to a safe distance just in case the shield doesn't contain the blast.”

As Minato disappeared in a flash of light, Ezekiel’s body broke apart into mirror fragments as he entered the mirror dimension. Ezekiel quickly moved back into Banner's lab to find the man strapped down to a gurney as he injected a serum into his arm. Afterwards he pressed a button and the lights in the lab dimmed as the machine above Banner powered up.

Banner was sweating like crazy and his veins were bulging as the machine started to move. There was a ring around it that started to slowly spin as the machine started to hum with power and a green light emanated from the tip. Banner looked to be in physical pain as the machine above him got louder and the focus ring spun faster. It took almost a minute before the machine finished its charging routine and fired a blast of green light at Banner.

Banner let out a pained scream as the light fully covered his body for a few moments before the machine started to smoke. It was hard to see through the green light that lit up the room, but Ezekiel could see Banner's body grow at random and even looked to turn green sometimes.

About half a minute in, alarms started going off as the main gamma laser above Banner started to spark and overload. A few moments later the machine exploded in a massive blast of gamma radiation that filled the room along with smoke and fire. A massive roar in front of Ezekiel cleared the area of smoke for a moment to show Banner now transformed into the Hulk. Ezekiel looked up at the massive green monster in front of him at that moment and smiled.