"Where is this?"
"This is the Cube Prison, Bruce."
"I've never heard of it."
"But you are now a member of this prison."
Wyoming, United States, is known to the world for its famous Yellowstone National Park. But in the northern desert, known only to a very few, exists a prison identified only by a codename. It has no external network, power, water, or any other connections. It is composed of several cubic buildings.
The existence of this prison is one of the world's highest secrets. It operates on a local area network only, sends no signals to the outside world, and receives none, physically eliminating the possibility of discovery by the rampant network hackers of the day. Even S.H.I.E.L.D. itself possesses no data on this prison; even knowing the codename yields no information.
At this moment, Dr. Bruce Banner was held in one of its cells. Four thick alloy shackles suspended him in the air, surrounded by incredibly hard alloy walls. Wearing only his oversized purple shorts, Dr. Banner was defenseless as the man in front of him inserted a needle into his vein and drew a tube of blood.
"We need Banner, but you could turn into the Hulk at any time. We must have countermeasures in place before we can cooperate with you, Dr. Banner," the man drawing the blood replied as the syringe slowly filled.
Dr. Banner said nothing more, silently watching the man place the syringe containing his blood into a briefcase, turn, and leave the cell. A heavy alloy door slid slowly shut.
"Actually, I could have transformed into the Hulk when that arrow hit me. Do you know why I didn't?" Dr. Banner looked at the tightly sealed, heavy door and spoke, as if to himself.
"Why?"
As Banner's low murmur faded, Hawkeye, dressed in a dark purple sleeveless combat suit, slowly emerged from the otherwise empty cell and asked, "Have you completely mastered the Hulk state?"
"I've been trying to accept the Hulk. No longer seeing him as a disease, but as an ability bestowed upon me by fate," Dr. Banner said, seemingly unsurprised by Hawkeye's appearance. "I heard Natasha mention the Tesseract releasing gamma rays."
Hawkeye stood beside Dr. Banner, arms crossed over his chest, saying nothing.
"The Hulk's birth was due to gamma rays. I originally didn't want to get involved, but my human conscience makes me hope to use my expertise in gamma rays to solve the Tesseract problem." Dr. Banner's tone was eerily calm, as if the person shackled by alloy chains almost as thick as his own body wasn't him. "But I wasn't sent to S.H.I.E.L.D.; instead, I came to this prison. They drew my blood. Do you think they really want to cure me?"
"No. They want to create several of me."
Hawkeye remained standing beside Dr. Banner, staring at him. "Why don't you just transform into the Hulk and smash everything here to pieces?"
A smile touched the corner of Dr. Banner's mouth, as if at this moment he was not the frail Banner, but the Hulk, brimming with infinite power and immense confidence. "I want to uncover the mastermind. That tube of blood is the bait."
"The mastermind..." Hawkeye repeated the word softly, then said, "Natasha and I were indeed on a mission to deliver you to S.H.I.E.L.D."
Now it was Dr. Banner's turn to fall silent, looking at Hawkeye with confusion.
"But we received a codename on our return journey. The meaning of that codename was to send you into this Cube Prison," Hawkeye stated.
Dr. Banner couldn't help but chuckle, as if the person shackled in the air was someone else entirely. "You didn't even confirm with Director Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
Hawkeye shook his head. "No. The other party's rank is far above Director Fury's. He can only obey orders. You should know that S.H.I.E.L.D. is subordinate to the International Security Council, and the codename directive came from there."
"Hmph, hmph." Dr. Banner let out two forced, insincere snorts.
Hawkeye stopped speaking, turned, and walked towards the heavy alloy cell door. After his identity was verified, the door opened, and slid shut again as he exited.
Now, Dr. Banner was completely alone in the cell.
"S.H.I.E.L.D., General Ross, the mastermind..." Dr. Banner repeated these three words softly, showing no concern about his blood being drawn.
For the past three years, Dr. Banner had injected himself with a special inhibitor every day, waiting for this day to come. Even if blood was drawn or tissue samples were taken, their gamma radiation characteristics would automatically degrade after a few hours, becoming ordinary, worthless samples.
He had planned for everything.
If S.H.I.E.L.D.'s true purpose in finding him was to study the Tesseract, Dr. Banner wouldn't mind demonstrating the wisdom from his seven doctorates. If other situations arose, such as the blood draw at this moment, Dr. Banner would also turn the tables. By using the method of his cells automatically degrading gamma radiation after leaving his body, he would force the other party to transport Banner himself to the experiment site.
That's when the Hulk would get some fresh air.
Meanwhile, after leaving Dr. Banner's cell, Hawkeye's face was clouded with uncertainty. He knew where the freshly drawn blood was being stored, and he decided to stake out that vicinity until he left.
When he had received the codename on the return journey, piloting the S.H.I.E.L.D. jet, he had sensed something was wrong. He had to ensure that the purpose of this blood was truly to treat the Hulk, and not for anything else.
One hour, two hours.
Hawkeye seemed tireless, crouching in the shadows, his gaze as sharp as a hawk's, constantly fixed on the room where Dr. Banner's blood was stored.
Tap, tap, tap.
Faint footsteps sounded in the distance, a rhythm Hawkeye knew all too well. They belonged to his colleague, Black Widow Natasha, with whom he had worked at S.H.I.E.L.D. for nearly ten years.
Natasha entered the room after identity verification. Less than a minute later, she quietly emerged again, her footsteps quickly fading into the distance.
Hawkeye sighed in the shadows, then slipped into the room himself, confirming that Dr. Banner's blood had been taken.
"What are you doing, Natasha?" Hawkeye silently asked himself. He quickly gripped his bow and quiver and gave chase.
"What are you doing here, Mr. Clark?"
In front of the shattered glass main entrance of the Oscorp building, Batman was about to enter, having passed through the throng of reporters and media, when he was stopped by a soldier.
Batman pulled out the employee ID card Harry Osborn had given him, which clearly listed the information for this identity: Clark, a grassroots researcher at Oscorp, employed for five years without any notable achievements.
The Oscorp ID card contained a chip. When the soldier swiped it at the terminal by the door, he found the information was correct and returned the card to Batman.
"Work," Batman replied flatly. "I need this job."
The soldier nodded, offering no further trouble, and waved him through.
Batman had been to Professor Connors's laboratory on the twentieth floor when he purged all Super Soldier Serum-related data from Oscorp's servers the previous night. But he was in no hurry to go there directly. Instead, he remained calm, flawlessly playing the part of a busy, ordinary Oscorp researcher to gather all available intelligence.
Every floor was heavily guarded by soldiers, making the company feel more like a prison. The armed presence exerted considerable pressure on the researchers; almost no one spoke above a whisper, each silently going about their tasks.
Relying on his vast knowledge, Batman impeccably played the role of the researcher named Clark. Using a suitable excuse, he made his way to the twentieth floor and into Professor Curt Connors's laboratory.