A blue cube pulsed with a strange and beautiful light.
Arthur gazed at it silently before reaching out a finger to touch it, but then shook his head and abandoned the idea, realizing it would be too foolhardy and reckless.
"I hope this doesn't take up too much of my time," Arthur muttered before he closed the box, still feeling a little insecure with this thing.
His ears twitched at the sound of someone approaching. In a flash, he slid the box under his bed just as a knock came at the door.
"Come in."
It was Banner.
Banner said while shrugging with a slightly helpless smile on his face, "Do you have a moment? If possible, I'd like to talk."
"Of course," Arthur replied, blinking curiously.
"It's nothing much, really," Banner began hesitantly. "I'm mostly concerned that you might be feeling a little pressured."
Arthur scratched his head before answering. "Well, I-"
"No, you don't have to say anything," Banner interrupted. "It's natural to feel pressured. After all, you're carrying the hopes of me and Dr. Connors. I just want you to stay calm and not rush into anything. Frankly, the progress you've made has already exceeded all of our expectations. None of us imagined that you could complete the 'Perfect Formula'. It's like a miracle in the field of genetics!"
He paused for a moment, then patted Arthur on the shoulder. "So I just want to say that I believe in you. It may take some time, but we have all the time we need, right?"
Arthur nodded after a moment of reflection.
Banner breathed a sigh of relief and was about to say something else when Arthur interrupted: "Since you're here, let me show you something.
Banner's eyes widened in surprise, and he instinctively started to shake his head.
But then he saw Arthur pull out a box from under the bed…
"What is it?" Banner asked, obviously relieved, but still feeling a little curious.
Arthur shrugged his shoulders and opened the box.
"Oh my God!"
Banner could hardly believe his eyes. He quickly moved to the window to check the street, making sure that no one was spying on them from across the street or from the rooftops. Satisfied, he returned to Arthur's side before asking. "Where did you get this?"
"From the Joint Dark Energy Mission Research Institute," Arthur explained. "Remember that map Tony gave us?"
Banner paused, looking confused. "Has something happened that I don't know about?"
"It's complicated to explain."
"Not as complicated as this," Banner replied, pointing to the cube. "What exactly happened?"
"It's a long story. I'll tell you later. But with this, our work on the Gamma-Ray project should be trouble-free, right?"
Arthur looked at Banner, knowing his expertise in this area.
"It will take some time," Banner replied thoughtfully. "But I'll make sure it's foolproof."
…
In truth, Banner's current role was quite perplexing.
Despite having seven doctorates and being a super-genius, he seemed to prefer spending his days in the kitchen experimenting with culinary creations.
However, as it turned out, when Banner stepped out of the kitchen, his super-genius attributes were still very much intact…
Setting up the conduits, reviewing security protocols, and designing the gamma-ray transmission system – he did it all in less than a week!
One week later, the three of them gathered in the lab once again, ready to restart the experiment.
During this time, Banner was the one primarily involved in the preparations. Arthur and Dr. Connors had only one task: to use the lab equipment to create a perfect serum in preparation for the experiment.
With everything in place, Arthur summoned the bald idiot with the nickname of Abomination once again.
Yes, they were still using him for the experiment.
If all the calculations were correct and the experiment was successful, the idiot would regain the rationality and thought processes of a normal person.
But for now, he looked as blank as ever; his eyes were vacant, and drool was hanging a foot from his mouth—it was an extremely unpleasant sight.
Arthur placed him in the modified experimental chamber Banner had designed, closed the door, and turned to face Banner and Dr. Connors.
"Guys…" Arthur began but was quickly cut off.
"We're not leaving," Banner said firmly.
Dr. Connors nodded in agreement. "This is our experiment."
Arthur scratched his head, wanting to say, "If you're so brave, why don't you do the experiment while I go out for a while…"
But what came out instead was, "Then you two go upstairs. I'll stay here to handle any emergencies!"
Using the Tesseract as a power source – who knew what might happen during the experiment.
Even though Arthur stayed, it was mainly because he had a small amount of the Space Stone's power within him. At least he wouldn't be completely helpless in case of an emergency.
After exchanging a look, Dr. Connors and Banner didn't insist on staying to face whatever might happen next to Arthur.
Especially since Dr. Connors, now an ordinary man missing an arm, would not only be unable to save himself in an emergency but might also become a burden to Arthur.
He still shuddered at the memory of how Arthur had unceremoniously pushed him into the Disassembler Space last time. It had left him with a strong urge to vomit…
As for Banner, when he transformed into the Hulk, he might just throw Arthur out of the lab and send him into orbit like a star.
Once the two were upstairs, Arthur looked at the experiment chamber and said, "Perfect serum, the second experiment… begin!"
Banner activated the console immediately. The first step— injecting the serum!
Re-injecting the Perfect Serum wouldn't cause a double effect. The ultimate purpose of the serum was to refine and adjust the genes to their optimal state and to grant some special abilities.
If the genes were already in their best condition after one injection, the second injection of serum would only seek out and modify any deficiencies.
If all the genes were in perfect condition, the serum would have no effect.
The first half of the experiment went normally.
When the Gamma-Ray was introduced, the only noticeable change was that the chamber turned green— nothing more.
But for some reason, Arthur's nerves suddenly tensed to an unimaginable degree.
At that moment, Banner noticed that the Gamma-Ray progress bar on the monitor suddenly start to spike!
"Something's wrong, something's very wrong!" Banner's face turned pale as he called urgently to Arthur, "Arthur, there's an unknown error – get out of there now!"
As Arthur registered Banner's words, he saw the entire experiment chamber emit a series of cracking sounds. The once green glow changed completely to a pale blue and grew brighter and brighter!