When Tony arrived at the military hospital where Banner was being held, he immediately spotted an unexpected figure standing near the entrance of the ward. It was an elderly officer—white-haired but still sharp-eyed, his uniform immaculate and decorated with multiple medals. He was peering quietly through the doorway at the unconscious Bruce Banner.
"General Ross. I thought you were dead."
Indeed—this was General Thaddeus Ross, the commander of the U.S. military's specialized anti-superhuman unit. He had been kidnapped during the breakout incident on the Raft prison by the Abomination. After disappearing for so long, the military had almost certainly listed him as deceased. Yet here he was—alive, silent, observing Banner from the hallway.
"Emil didn't kill me," Ross replied coolly, as though recounting someone else's misfortune. "He said that would be too merciful."
He lifted his hand for Tony to see—his palm covered in dense needle marks.
"So he did to me what had once been done to him. Said it was the only way I'd understand his suffering."
There was only one thing the Abomination could have meant—exposure to the same gamma radiation that had transformed Bruce Banner into the Hulk.
Only a monster wants another to understand a monster's pain. Turning Ross into something like himself had been the first half of Abomination's revenge. Killing him afterward would have been the second half.
But Emil Blonsky never got the chance to finish that plan.
Tony's eyes narrowed.
"So… are you still planning to capture Banner?"
Ross shook his head.
"No. I understand him now. You can't blame him entirely for what happened."
Then, as though shedding his past, he pulled the medals from his chest and tossed them into a nearby trash bin.
"And in any case, I'm no longer a U.S. officer. Glad to be working alongside you now. As for the rest… I can't say more."
Tony watched him walk away, more confused than enlightened.
Since when did resigning from the military make Ross his "colleague"?
And had he truly come here only to check on Banner?
"Forget it. Let Marcus worry about this," Tony muttered and stepped into the room, shaking Banner awake without ceremony.
"Hey, big guy. Get up. I'm not here to watch you nap."
Banner jolted upright in panic, then exhaled when he realized who it was.
"Tony… you scared me half to death. I finally turned back to normal—couldn't you let me sleep a bit longer?"
"What, should I sing you a lullaby?"
"Please, Tony. I'm not in the mood. If you woke up one day and found you'd destroyed several cities and left millions homeless, how would you feel?"
Tony tapped his chin theatrically.
"Hm… I guess that kind of property damage would cost what—0.01-something percent of Stark Industries' assets?"
Banner gave him an exhausted look. Tony sighed and softened his tone.
"Alright, alright. I'm here because I want to know how you turned back into yourself. We need a way to stop you next time."
Banner frowned, trying to recall.
"I only remember that after Captain America appeared, I started hearing… a lullaby. Somehow it reached me even when I was completely consumed."
"A lullaby? At your rage level, that shouldn't do anything. Not nothing, but it can't be the main factor." Tony leaned forward.
"There must've been something else—something keeping your aggression suppressed. Don't tell me someone beat it out of you."
"No one attacked me." Banner shook his head.
"But at that moment, I felt something—like a mind inside my mind. A force helping me control the rage and weaken the Hulk's hold. I don't know what it was… but I'm certain that is what allowed me to change back."
Banner's answer resolved little, but it confirmed one thing: someone with powerful psychic abilities had intervened. Tony left the hospital shortly after, returning to his office to contact Marcus.
"You're telling me," Marcus said after hearing the full explanation, "that Banner was brought back by one of Captain America's secret allies—and no one knows who he is?"
"Exactly. Annoying guy, whoever he is." Tony swirled a glass of whiskey. He knew Marcus well—this would be more than enough information for him.
"A psychic, then," Marcus concluded. "Someone who can bolster another person's willpower. Someone the world believes dead… someone absolutely loyal to Captain America. That rules out all the supervillains."
Marcus paused—and a specific movie post-credits scene came to mind.
"Tony, search U.S. birth records for anyone with the surname 'Xavier'—specifically twins. There won't be many. If one of them is, or was, in a vegetative state, that's your man."
"With my clearance? Easy." Tony smirked. "I'll have JARVIS run it immediately. Also, I ran into General Ross. Turns out the old man isn't dead."
He recounted the entire conversation. Marcus chuckled.
"What else could it be? Someone blasted with gamma radiation only has one likely outcome."
"Statistically? Death," Tony corrected. "Hulk and Abomination are extreme outliers. If gamma exposure worked like that for everyone, Earth would look like Krypton by now."
Tony was absolutely correct in scientific terms.
But unfortunately, the man exposed this time wasn't an ordinary person from this universe.
He was someone who, in the original comics, had already undergone his own transformation.
Another giant was about to be born.