Banner and Noah returned to the island laboratory to continue with their plan – using the gamma radiation detector to track the energy traces and find the person behind all these events. However, Noah warned the scientist not to get his hopes up, as the opponent would likely escape before they could pinpoint his location.
"You're saying he possessed the bird using some kind of mental power? Is that magic too?" Banner asked, having changed into clean clothes and now standing in front of the device.
"Not exactly. It's more of a superpower, a type of mutation, like your transformation into the Hulk," Noah explained. The opponent's abilities resembled magic, but were essentially mutated superpowers, not pure magic.
"I see," Banner nodded. There were still many things in this world he didn't know. If mages like Noah existed, then the appearance of people with special abilities wasn't surprising.
Approaching the detector, he looked at the screen, which displayed a map of the forest where they had fought. Now, the two red areas, indicating the battle sites, were heavily contaminated with gamma radiation after the destruction of numerous mutants.
He zoomed out on the image to see a larger area. This allowed him to trace the path the mutants had taken to reach the forest and try to find the source of their origin.
"Let me see..." Banner began, studying the map. It turned out that two streams of mutants had come from different locations: one group by land and the other from the sea.
"How did they get from the sea to land? Do they have underwater mutants?" Banner asked, puzzled.
"Unlikely. I didn't detect any mutants in the sea," Noah replied, looking at the screen. One of the gamma trails did indeed originate from the ocean, but in his opinion, they all came from the same source.
Noah advised him not to dwell on how the opponent had moved but to focus on finding their point of origin. Banner agreed and began tracing the gamma radiation trail to find the starting point.
"America? Is it there?"
Although the gamma radiation traces were gradually weakening, he was able to determine that the mutants had come from US territory. They had crossed the US-Mexico border, avoiding major cities, and reached the forest where he was located.
Finally, he discovered the source of the mutants – New Mexico. Even the group that arrived from the sea originated in this region, crossing the Gulf of California to reach the city where they were.
"Well, now we know where their base is. Let's see what's there," Noah said and contacted Lissandra, asking her to display satellite images of the location.
When they looked at the image, both were stunned: where a factory had once stood, a fire now raged. It was clear that the building had been destroyed by an explosion.
"I thought he wouldn't wait for us to find him," Noah smirked, having anticipated this outcome after the last battle. "It seems our mission will have to be postponed."
"Lissandra, can you show the images before the explosion?" he asked, deciding that this might help identify who was behind the attack.
"No, Noah, this satellite doesn't record video in real time."
"Is that so... I'll have to accept it. American satellites are complete garbage. Lissandra, we'll make our own satellite later," he said with annoyance, deciding to create his own surveillance tool so that such situations wouldn't happen again in the future. Perhaps even add weapons to it.
Banner was also disappointed. He didn't know how to find the opponent now – they were acting too cautiously. As soon as he learned that the Storm Swordsman was helping Banner, he abandoned his base and fled. Banner looked at Noah, hoping he would offer a solution.
"What are we going to do, Lee? The opponent is too cautious, and even the scanner can't detect his traces."
"Don't worry," Noah replied thoughtfully, before saying, "I have a guess who this person is."
"Who is it?" Banner asked with interest, anticipating the answer.
"It's someone you're probably already familiar with," Noah said, displaying an image on the screen. Banner recognized him immediately.
"Dr. Samuel Sterns?"
Of course, he recognized him. Samuel Sterns was the same "Mr. Blue" who had once helped him. When he, under the pseudonym "Mr. Green," sought help online, Sterns responded and temporarily helped him suppress the Hulk.
"Yes, I suspect he's the one behind all the recent events connected to you," Noah confirmed, pointing at Sterns's photo.
"What? That's impossible! Dr. Sterns helped me with many things; how could he want to harm me?" Banner frowned. He refused to believe that Sterns could wish him harm. They were friends, and Sterns had helped him many times. Besides, he had no reason to attack him.
"Lee, why do you say that?" he asked, not understanding what Noah's suspicion was based on. Perhaps Noah knew something he didn't? After all, Noah wouldn't accuse Sterns without good reason.
"I have my reasons. Take a look," Noah said and displayed several images on the screen.
"What... Is this?!" Banner's eyes widened in shock, unable to believe what he was seeing.
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