"Bruce Banner? Where is he?" Hearing that name, General Ross was so angry that his beard was crooked, what did he need the Iron Monger for? Wasn't it to catch the Hulk?
Note that it was to capture, not kill!
It was only after noticing this detail in the previous conversation that Eric had decided, on the spur of the moment, to bring up the matter of Bruce Banner.
Thinking about a year ago, when Bruce Banner had just transformed, General Ross hated Bruce to almost eat him alive and dismember him, but after today's meeting, Eric clearly felt a subtle shift in General Ross's attitude towards Bruce Banner, or at least it was no longer too heavy to kill him.
Why was that? Erik has been looking around and reading the situation and has finally guessed that Betty is having a baby! General Ross is expecting a grandchild!
General Ross couldn't kill the father of his grandson himself and make his daughter and grandson hate him for the rest of their lives. Just arrest him and teach him a lesson, then study him.
What else could you do? Lock up your daughter, kill off your son-in-law, and wait for your grandson to grow up and stage a comic book version of some wuxia to save his mother? That would be too much of a dogfight.
General Ross was not only a brilliant general, he was also a qualified politician, and in the future would even hold the post of Secretary of State. He knew deep down that political struggle is, in fact, about making fewer enemies and more friends, and before that goal, sometimes you have to make some concessions.
It is the same with life, a stubbornness that will gain him nothing but alienate his daughter and grandson.
Of course, forgiving Bruce Banner that's not going to happen, not in this lifetime! He would be more than happy to send his green son-in-law to God if there was a suitable backstabber who didn't involve himself. No! To meet Satan and eat his ass, he doesn't deserve to meet God!
"I have Dr. Banner at my place." Eric watched General Ross's face turn in many different expression, which was amusing to watch.
General Ross fell silent and Eric said no more, the atmosphere in the office froze for a moment, and all that could be heard was General Ross's ragged gasps.
"Tell me, what do you want to give me Banner?" General Ross gasped half-heartedly, not turning red as Eric had hoped for those, well, except for the eyes.
"General, isn't there something we can discuss again about Dr. Banner?" Eric got up and poured General Ross a glass of wine and lit another cigar. To talk things over with General Ross you either had to have a drink or a cigarette, and to talk about Hulk then it was best to have both.
"Talk? What's there to talk about!" General Ross finished off a glass of vodka in one gulp and slammed the glass down heavily on the table, Eric hastily poured him another.
"General, I've got some information from Dr. Banner, I think this matter, I guess, can't be blamed entirely on him, after all, it was you who arrested him in the first place, wasn't it?"
Indeed, if General Ross hadn't been in a hurry to capture Banner for research, he wouldn't have met Betty so early. In the original plot, it was true that Banner and Betty would have fallen in love over time, but then Betty was in her twenties and had more or less been through a few scumbags.
So, this is a muddled account, General Ross and Banner both think they are victims, but in fact in the end it is Betty who suffers.
General Ross grunted heavily at his words and tried to argue something, but hesitated a few sec but said nothing, just slapped the table heavily.
Eric took a look and smiled slightly, "General, Dr. Banner is a very rare talent, he has seven doctorates! At my place, he helped me solve quite a few problems."
"So what? He screwed my daughter!" General Ross threw the glass viciously, as if he thought it was Bruce Banner.
"So he's going to be punished!" Eric suddenly became all righteous, "If it was me, I would have finished him off!"
General Ross had just opened his mouth and before he could say anything, Eric snapped back, "But not you! You're a general, you can't let your enemies get hold of you over a personal matter! Besides, I guess Betty she ..."
"Betty's had a baby, a boy." At this, General Ross sighed as if he had suddenly aged ten years, shook his head straight, and added at the end, "Two hands!"
"You see, that's all the more reason not to kill Dr. Banner!"
"Why?"
"I don't know if you've looked into it, but Dr. Banner's mutation is no accident!" Eric tapped twice on the table, and watching General Ross' face freeze, he knew he hadn't investigated in detail.
"Over thirty years ago, the military conducted a secret experiment to transfer genes from other animals to humans, thus giving them the ability to regenerate severed limbs and so on, the person responsible for this research, was called David Banner."
General Ross snapped to attention and his face turned a little white.
"That's right, the same David Banner who experimented on himself and was locked up! Bruce Banner is none other than his own son, and the mutation gene in him comes from his father, which means ..."
"Mutations run in families! Damn Banner, I'll kill him!" General Ross stood up in a rage and slammed at the table.
"General, calm down!" Eric quietly released a small EMP to calm General Ross a little, "I think Dr. Banner is the best person to change those mutated genes in your grandson!"
"General, I know you don't want just a Hulk, but an army, and that's something I think Dr. Banner will be able to help you with."
"He wouldn't agree to that!" General Ross shook his head, not at all hopeful about this.
"He might not have agreed before, but now, he has to think of the child!"
Life is precious, love is more valuable, and if it is for freedom, both can be thrown away. Bruce Banner is a man who cares so much about freedom that in the original plot he would have abandoned the love of his life, Betty, for the sake of it. But now it's different, he has a child. A father who would sacrifice anything to save his child, including his freedom.
General Ross thought for a long time and finally nodded, "You are right, as long as he is willing to work for me, I can not kill him, even revoke his warrant and accept him into my research base. But, I still can't forgive him for what he did to Betty!"
"That's for sure, which is why I say he needs to be punished!" Eric cheerfully took out a laptop and opened a video.
The video just started with a few scantily clad women dancing in a luscious manner, General Ross looked at Eric in confusion, what are you doing showing me an 'action' movie for nothing?
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