Arthur agreed to Banner's request.
However, Arthur couldn't decide about the residence on his own.
After all, the house belonged to Lily.
So Arthur called Lily, and after explaining his situation, the girl roared like thunder on the phone but finally agreed.
In fact, she was a girl who liked to put on a fierce front but was soft-hearted and kind inside.
Whenever Arthur met such people, his heart felt softened.
"But… what's going to happen next?"
Arthur had a headache. Even if everything was as he suspected and this was all part of Agent Carter's plan, he hoped she wouldn't keep sending people his way.
To be honest, even if it was Agent Carter's request, he didn't want to deal with various problems all the time.
Besides, he still couldn't be sure if this had anything to do with Peggy Carter!
...
...
After Banner successfully moved in, the first thing he did was help Arthur with the basement.
It had been unused for a long time and was quite damp, so it needed some work.
The place was relatively secluded and Arthur didn't want to involve others, so the two men just rolled up their sleeves and got to work.
Banner was a man of few words, often with a melancholy look in his eyes.
To many, the Hulk was an impressive ability, but to Banner, it was an extreme and troubling burden.
Given the choice, Banner would rather not be the Hulk.
It made him perpetually melancholy and sad, perhaps reminiscing about his past romantic escapades.
After all, it seemed he couldn't even enjoy a romantic moment after becoming the Hulk.
It was said that an accelerated heartbeat could trigger his transformation, so scenes that were supposed to be exciting could turn out to be horrifying or even bizarre.
This kind of Banner was somewhat wooden and somber at work, but at least he didn't let up.
Combined with Arthur's formidable physical abilities, their working speed was quite good.
Still, it took the two of them almost three days to organize the entire basement.
The finished basement looked even better than expected. When Pepper's equipment arrived, the two of them moved everything in.
A complete set of equipment wasn't possible; even if they managed to get it, it wouldn't fit in the basement.
The entrance to the basement was even too small for some items.
Fortunately, some basic equipment was enough to support certain aspects of Arthur's research… after all, he wasn't planning to mass-produce the serum just yet.
But when Arthur saw Pepper, he was confused. Why would she be associated with Agent Carter?
Upon reflection, it seemed logical.
Pepper had joined Stark Industries while Howard was still alive.
Anything was possible in those days.
After a casual conversation with Pepper about Tony, she told Arthur, "Tony said that when he was captured, he encountered a… well, a madman?"
"…"
Arthur was speechless. Who taught this kid such bad manners?
Howard wasn't that rude.
Seeing Arthur's frustration, Pepper couldn't help but smile. "The articles have been delivered. I have to go to a ball tonight. See you later."
After saying goodbye to Pepper, Arthur remained silent for a while. He didn't ask about anything, and Pepper didn't seem inclined to explain either.
That in itself was a form of communication!
As for the troublemaker, Arthur decided to let it go for now, hoping that sooner rather than later he would evolve into an Iron Man troublemaker!
...
...
In the lab, Arthur studied the test results in silence.
After a while, he scribbled and rearranged notes on paper.
Banner sat quietly off to the side, not daring to interrupt. After a while, Arthur put down his pen, sighed, and said, "Your problem is even more serious than I thought!
Banner sat up straight: "Go on."
"First and foremost, the biggest variable is that the data from your experiment is unstable."
Arthur scratched his head and continued, "The most direct result of this is that your current state is even more unstable! Of course, to a certain extent, this is also the basis of your improvement! Your strength has almost no baseline, it's determined by your anger. But at the same time, anger also causes you to lose your rationality! It's not just… well, it's a Hulk thing, it's not just a Hulk thing. Even a normal person loses their rationality when they're angry. It's just that the Hulk is more easily provoked. Also… you usually transform under extreme emotional conditions, which also affects the Hulk. This results in every appearance of the Hulk being in a state of extreme instability!"
"Have you ever tried to transform in a completely calm state?"
Arthur asked.
"..."
Banner paused and then said, "That night!"
"The night you fought the Abomination?" Arthur said. "No wonder you were so focused that night. You must have been conscious most of the time, right?"
"Yes."
Banner nodded.
Arthur thought for a moment: "This could be a possible approach, but it's not definitive!"
With that, Arthur summoned Abomination, also known as 'Strong Green Bald Guy'!
Banner immediately tensed up, looking at Arthur and then at Abomination: "This… Abomination?"
"You learned from me too? There's no time to explain. I'm afraid this guy might wake up. I don't want the lab we've worked so hard to set up to be destroyed by the two of you."
Arthur took some blood samples from the Abomination's wounds and then placed the Abomination in the Disassembler space.
"Where did he go?"
Banner asked with a surprised expression on his face.
"To an interesting place," Arthur said. "Actually, I have an experiment to perform. Would you like to be my test subject?"
"No!"
Banner said firmly. From Arthur's expression, he could tell that this was definitely not an interesting experiment!
Arthur clicked his tongue in annoyance: "How boring."
After diluting the blood samples, Arthur extracted a new sample and began conducting research.
Banner was also skilled in this area as well, and their progress was rapid.
When the data results came out, Arthur compared the data of the two and couldn't help but smile: "Interesting. Strictly speaking, what you both used is essentially the same thing. Even though the serum he later used was optimized in some way, it could not have led to such a significant leap! So why is there such a big difference… Could it be a matter of physical constitution?"