Dr. Banner felt a little miserable.
There were three souls crammed into that small body.
In addition to Bruce Banner's own soul, there were Hulk and Black Zetsu—two guys who could seize control of his body at any time.
Perhaps the only blessing was that, with Black Zetsu restraining Hulk's soul, no matter how fast his heart beat, he could at least keep his body under control.
That really was pretty miserable.
According to Uehara Naraku's original plan, he'd wanted Hulk to act as his spy so he could directly control Bruce Banner's body and force Banner to become his accomplice in the Avengers Squad.
In the end, there was no way to communicate with Hulk at all…
By comparison, Dr. Bruce Banner was much more obedient.
This somewhat uptight man not only didn't resent that there was an extra soul in his body, he actually thanked Black Zetsu for helping restrain Hulk's existence.
Honestly…
At least this way Bruce Banner could ensure he had something resembling a stable life; he didn't have to worry that a slight increase in his heart rate would unleash a terrifying monster.
Not to mention anything else…
Just being able to let Bruce Banner see his ex-girlfriend Betty again, and even safely be in love with her, was enough.
In the past, Bruce Banner couldn't even engage in any overly intense activities with his girlfriend, because that would speed up his heartbeat and bring Hulk out…
"Um… could you maybe introduce yourself a little?"
Bruce Banner rubbed his palms a bit awkwardly, his face clearly embarrassed: "I'm really grateful you can help keep the Hulk inside me under control…"
"The Black Zetsu inside you will tell you."
Uehara Naraku patted Bruce Banner on the shoulder and gave him a gentle smile: "Now I'm going to take you back to New York to join a Superhero Squad. What you have to do is very simple—just become a teammate that squad can trust…"
As long as they were willing to trust Bruce Banner…
Bruce Banner could make them trust Uehara Naraku.
No one would ever suspect that Bruce Banner would be a spy Uehara Naraku had planted in the Avengers Squad; this was a man with an extremely kind and mild temperament…
Uehara Naraku looked at the pensive Bruce Banner, the smile at the corner of his mouth growing deeper: "If you leak our secret, you could turn into Hulk at any moment and smash the person in front of you into a bloody pulp, whether it's your lover or your teammate…"
"…"
A faint sheen of cold sweat appeared on Bruce Banner's forehead.
Now he more or less understood what exactly he had to do—he was to become a spy embedded in a Superhero Squad. Could he really handle this kind of work?
"Ah, sorry, I don't think I'm really suited for—"
Before Bruce Banner could finish, he suddenly sensed the awakening of a beast inside him!
The man could only slowly clench his fists, trying to suppress the raging Hulk within, and forced out a slightly trembling smile.
"We could actually talk this over a bit more…"
Outskirts of New York City.
A S.H.I.E.L.D. safe house.
Ever since Nick Fury had gone through an alien invasion incident, he'd started intermittently building safe houses all over the world, paying particular attention to top secrecy and security.
This way, no matter what crisis arose in the future, as long as Earth wasn't destroyed, any one of those safe houses could serve as Nick Fury's survival bunker.
That bald hard-boiled egg really had taken survivalism to the extreme.
Yet today Nick Fury was uncharacteristically generous, actually willing to open a safe house in the New York area to receive Uehara Naraku and the Bruce Banner he'd brought back.
Fine.
Uehara Naraku wasn't the important one.
The important one was the highly dangerous Bruce Banner.
Even though Uehara Naraku had stated in his report that Bruce Banner could fully control the Hulk inside him, Nick Fury still had to ensure both safety and secrecy.
At the very least, they had to settle Bruce Banner somewhere first.
"Dr. Bruce Banner."
Nick Fury, dressed in a trench coat, extended his hand in a friendly gesture and greeted him politely: "Welcome back to New York. Would you like me to introduce the Avengers Initiative to you?"
"No… uh, sure, I guess…"
Bruce Banner scratched the back of his head a little nervously, then subconsciously turned his head to glance at Uehara Naraku standing behind him.
"Special Agent Uehara Naraku."
Nick Fury gave Uehara Naraku a look, then continued, "Special Agent Coulson is probably about to run into a bit of a situation over there. Could you give him a hand? Help calm our old soldier down a little…"
"Yes, sir."
Uehara Naraku slowly nodded.
After watching Uehara Naraku leave, a faint smile appeared on Nick Fury's face: "It seems our agent didn't overstep… I hope his methods didn't cause Dr. Banner any displeasure."
"Uh… it's fine…"
Bruce Banner awkwardly folded his arms around himself.
What else could he say at this point?
What Uehara Naraku had done went way beyond "might cause a bit of displeasure"; the guy clearly never even considered other people's feelings, did he?
This one-eyed man called Nick Fury really had lost an eye; he'd completely failed to see what kind of person his subordinate actually was, hadn't he?
Nick Fury had no idea what Banner was thinking.
Right now Nick Fury just felt that his plans were going more smoothly than ever before!
First, Iron Man Tony Stark had joined the Avengers Squad; now Hulk Bruce Banner had been brought back to New York by Uehara Naraku; and on top of that, two days ago Special Agent Coulson had dredged up Captain America Steve Rogers…
With just the combat strength they had now, it was enough for them to operate as a Superhero Squad, and once you added Clint Barton, Natasha, and Uehara Naraku—those three ace S.H.I.E.L.D. agents…
The entire Avengers Squad was basically taking shape.
Even if S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal situation stayed chaotic and infiltrated with spies, it wasn't much of a problem for Nick Fury anymore; he already had a Superhero Squad he could deploy at any time.
The more troublesome part was that these Superheroes all had strong personalities, and he'd need people like Uehara Naraku mixed in with them to slowly nudge them along…
On the other side.
Uehara Naraku got back into his pickup truck, pulled out a phone he'd kept hidden, and dialed Alexander Pierce's number.
"Special Agent Uehara."
Alexander Pierce sounded in a good mood; his voice carried a relaxed air: "You did a good job in India cleaning up Hittwell… That traitor actually couldn't bear to leave S.H.I.E.L.D., and even wanted to sell me out in exchange for a higher position…"
Here, Pierce shifted his tone, his voice suddenly becoming much gentler: "Special Agent Uehara, you're directly under me, and I've always trusted you a great deal… I hope this time you'll bring me some good news."
Because of the recent massive internal review at S.H.I.E.L.D., the number of subordinates Alexander Pierce could trust was shrinking; or rather, the number of Hydra agents who could access S.H.I.E.L.D.'s core secrets was shrinking, which made Uehara Naraku's existence especially valuable.
"Director Pierce."
Uehara Naraku tightened his grip on the phone and let out a soft sigh: "The reason I'm contacting you this time is indeed because I have some important news…"
"What news?"
"Our Hydra's greatest enemy from back then…"
Uehara Naraku's fingers tapped lightly on the steering wheel as he murmured, "Steve Rogers… has been revived."