105 String theory -102

[Two weeks after Stark's kidnapping]

[SITE-160]

"I'll say that experiment is among the best ones yet, right Bruce?" Dr Oliver Bell said to Bruce as he recovered from turning into the Hulk.

"Maybe? I feel like I can almost remember what happened? But it's still not entirely clear." Bruce shook his head, still somewhat confused by the experience.

"Well, I'm sure once you see the footage, you will agree with me. Too bad you missed Dr Morris, though. It was really nice of her to offer her time to help." Oliver couldn't help but take the chance to tease Bruce, who delightfully blushed, much to Oliver's amusement.

"Yes, it was very nice of her! Now, if you are done talking nonsense, then I will start looking over the data." Bruce hissed as he quickly fled the scene. He had no doubt that his face was red right now.

As he hurried out of the pit, he heard the laughter of Oliver and the others. They had all now become so used to Bruce and some comfortable around them that they didn't mind making fun of him from time to time.

In all honesty, Bruce deeply appreciated it. It was more than just teasing; it was acceptance. It allowed him to feel human once again, to build true bonds with others, and to know that they weren't afraid of what he could become.

He imagined this was kind of how disabled people had it: Their friends treating them mostly normally but a bit more cautious about certain things.

Given that he had been doing experiments on his own state once a week lately, the post-change checkup was not as intensive or time-consuming as it had been in the beginning.

So, it didn't take all that long before he was back in a comfy chair and started to review the footage of today's experiment, with his trusty friend Oliver there to ensure he got teased the entire way.

They had gotten a good idea about the Hulk's base strength at this point. They also had been able to confirm that the strength of the Hulk could further increase if the Hulk were angered enough.

They still hadn't truly started to truly study the upper limits of strength possible for the Hulk, nor had they fully looked into what mechanism allowed for the strength to increase in such a manner as it did.

While interesting, those fields of study were also far harder to study given that the damage to the pit and the equipment would grow and delay further testing, reducing the number of tests possible.

It could be considered in the long term. For now, he was instead focusing his attention and research on control and intelligence.

While there weren't many improvements on the control front, there had been several breakthroughs on the intelligence side of things.

The Foundation's resources were seemingly without limits and Bruce was given everything he needed and then some. An example of their reach was that they had gotten Betty Ross involved in this.

Her involvement wasn't substantial. They had simply contacted her and had her record video messages for Bruce and the Hulk. Both had then been played for the Hulk and the responses measured.

The responses seen in that test had been very positive. Allowing them to fully determine that the Hulk was capable of understanding speech and also talking, even capable of holding some manner of conversation, even if limited.

However, the Hulk had clearly been challenged to understand the concept of a recorded message and had shown anger when he perceived that he was being ignored or misunderstood.

For today's test, they had reached out and gotten the assistance of Dr. Lena Morris whom Bruce had worked with on the 1338 case.

Since she was a Foundation agent and was allowed to know a great deal more than some civilians like Ross, they had gone the step further. Rather than recorded messages, they had allowed her to be projected in real-time as a hologram.

Here she had been able to talk with the Hulk and have a limited form of interaction with him. While the Hulk still didn't fully understand the concept of holographic projection, Lena had been able to overcome the limitations and engage with the Hulk on a far deeper level than Betty.

They had been aware that the Hulk could express himself to a limited degree since the very first test. That understanding had been expanded by the call with Betty, who had learned more about how he was able to respond to outside stimuli.

His normal expressions were usually about his hate for General Ross or even Banner himself. It was putting feelings into words. With Betty he was able to listen and form responses, not just based on his feelings but those of others.

The test today then went on to take that even further. Lena was truly worthy of being an expert on non-human humanoid creatures. Her way of dealing with such beings was also pretty unique within the entire Foundation.

Apparently, only someone named Dr. Bright had the same metrology for dealing with SCP creature-type objects. He was, however, also not someone Bruce could easily interact with. He was apparently very high up the ladder within the Foundation and very busy.

Not that Bruce minded having to deal with Dr Morris instead.

Even though Lena hadn't been physically present with the Hulk, it was difficult not to believe that at first glance. The way she acted and interacted with him was so very human.

Bruce particularly had his focus on the segment where Lena attempted to play with the Hulk, she had a set of toys that matched those indestructible ones the Hulk also had access to and tried to have the Hulk join her in using them.

"Even the second time I see it, I still can't believe my eyes when I see that big green guy jumping on a pogo stick." Oliver said from over Bruce's shoulder, all the the man himself sat shocked at the comical sight on the screen before him.

On the screen was the sight of the Hulk, a mighty beast of unending power and strength, jumping up and down on a pogo stick while roaring with laughter while a holographic Lena did the same.

"If it weren't because I was sure you wouldn't dare mess with the data, I would assume this was some kind of prank data cooked up by you." Bruce couldn't help but say as he sat there staring in disbelief.

While the Hulk has played with some of the toys before, those times aren't comparable to this one. Hitting the back button, Bruce went back to closely watch the earlier footage.

At this point, the Hulk was still not very good at using the Pogo stick. Bruce could tell from his expression and behavior that he was frustrated. Yet with Lena encouraging the Hulk, her holographic form clapping as he made another successful bounce. Each leap seemed to build up his confidence.

Multiple times after he had fallen, Bruce was sure that he was about explode into an episode of rage, but each time Lena calmed him down and had him trying again, and each time the Hulk grew better.

As Bruce and Oliver watched, they saw the Hulk not only improve in his pogo stick antics but also begin to show a rudimentary form of joy, a rare emotion for the green giant. This emotional response was particularly intriguing. Bruce paused the video, highlighting a frame where the Hulk's face, usually a mask of rage or confusion, was split by an unmistakable grin.

"His ability to learn is better than expected, though his learning is clearly geared towards the more physically focused style." Bruce noted, to which Oliver agreed.

"Perhaps that is to be expected. Yet, his intelligence seems higher than previous estimates; either that or it's growing at an incredible pace." Oliver added.

"Given the unique situation with the Hulk, it could be either. After all, he should be able to pull on my intelligence. Perhaps that's what he is doing—opening up for more of me. This could explain why I have a vague feeling of remembrance this time."

Bruce wasn't sure what to think about this theory. It could be the key to fully understanding and controlling the Hulk.

If his theory were correct, then it would be possible for the Hulk to call upon his mind and maybe the Hulk's body. If that was the case, there was a possibility to merge the two sides together. Allowing Bruce Banner to replace his fragile human body with the immortal body of the Hulk.

If that really did happen, he would indeed become the perfect super soldier that Ross had tried to create. Something Bruce wasn't sure he wanted to become.

"He really seems to like Morris, more so than Betty at that. I wonder who he has that from, eh?" Oliver's teasing broke Bruce out of that thought and brought his attention back to the screen.

"Yes, he does seem to respond very well to her. Clearly, he enjoys the attention and affection." Bruce said, ignoring the latter part of Oliver's words.

He did agree that the behavior he displayed was startling different between the two of them. Bruce cared deeply for Betty. While at some level he might admit that he found Lena a truly fascinating and interesting woman.

He didn't think she had taken Betty's spot in his heart. So perhaps the reason for the Hulk's reaction was that Betty was someone deeply connected to him, like Bruce Banner, while Lane was someone who was much closer to the Hulk.

Perhaps the Hulk could tell the difference and, therefore, liked Lena more since the attention and affection he felt from her were just as much directed toward himself as they were toward Bruce.

That pointed towards the Hulk being more an entity and personality of its own than something derived from Bruce's subconscious.

As Bruce continued to watch, he wrote down his ideas and theories, planning out possible future tests and experiments.

While he continued watching the footage, he couldn't help but notice the many differences between how Betty and Lena acted. Lena clearly acknowledged and accepted the Hulk to a far greater degree.

This difference, Bruce reasoned, might be pivotal in how the Hulk responded. Lena approached the Hulk not just as an aspect of Bruce but as an individual entity, which might be why the Hulk seemed to trust her more readily.

Oliver leaned closer, scrutinizing the screen. "Do you think that difference in approach could help us develop better intervention strategies when the Hulk is out? Maybe more personalized based on who he feels comfortable with?"

Bruce nodded thoughtfully. "It's possible. If we can identify what triggers positive responses from him, we could tailor our approach to be more effective. Lena's interactions might provide a template for how we handle him moving forward."

The potential for using these insights to enhance Hulk's cooperation and perhaps even stability was enormous. It was a nuanced strategy that required a deep understanding of psychological triggers and behavioral conditioning—areas that Bruce was keen to explore further.

-----------------------

[20 days after Stark's kidnapping]

[SITE-98]

At SITE-98, where the focus was dimensional research and containment, Hank Pym was finally seeing some success in dealing with the Quantum energies destabilizing the cells in Ava's body.

He still wasn't sure how to go about removing the energy, but he could now force it into a tangible state. Which would disable Ava's ability but also free her from the pain, all of it.

The key had indeed been those reality anchors of the Foundation—truly fascinating pieces of technology. He couldn't even begin to imagine how they had gotten the idea or turned it into a reality.

What he did know was that they could strengthen reality around them. Or, as he preferred to see it, they calmed down the vibrations of the universal strings that constituted what they considered as reality.

Through testing he had learned that the quantum energy and even his Pym particles would cause these strings to vibrate. Now, the strings were always vibrating, but that was just the background sound of existence itself.

No, the vibrations that he was interested in were those artificial ones made by non-natural energy. Calming the strings down with the reality anchor meant that a much greater amount of such energy was needed to achieve the same effect.

For Pym particles, that just meant a larger dose being required, but for Ava, who couldn't draw more energy from the quantum realm, it meant the energy could be manipulated by trapping it in certain vibrational patterns.

Now, the real challenge he was still working on was making the reality anchor work on those specific wave lengths only. Once he had achieved that, Ava would be stabilized and no longer suffer either pain or shortening of life.

This meant that she should be able to live a normal life and live long enough to see a proper fix be found. It also meant that he would be able to afford to pay more attention to his SCP object that had arrived on SITE, this so-called Red Sea object.

A/N

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