Loki's gunshot wound healed quickly, but Julian's conscience did not. No matter how he tried to justify his actions to himself, he couldn't move past it. In the ensuing days, he was only able to sleep and eat when his body demanded it, and even then, he felt guilty just for going on living. He remained in his room with the door shut, avoiding any potential confrontation or provocation for fear that either might result in another incident.

Loki, for the most part, left him to his own devices. Elise, of course, worried about him, frequently knocking softly on the door and attempting to coax him out. Julian couldn't even look at her. The weight of his crime was too great, and moreover, he was terrified that he might hurt her. Besides that, no one had told her what had happened until four days after the fact, as evidenced by the sounds of the fight that took place downstairs that same evening.

"What were you thinking?" Julian heard his mother scream. "He could've been killed!"

He buried his head in his pillow to drown out her voice, but a loud thud, followed closely by the sounds of clattering glass and shifting furniture, sent him into distress. He gripped the bed sheets and inhaled deeply to slow the progress of yet another transformation, but with his parents' fight obviously taking a violent turn, he was powerless to resist it, and the harder he struggled, the more he hurt. Doubled-over in pain, he cried out, rattling his own eardrums, and soon after, he lost consciousness again.

It wasn't until the fifth day that Loki visited Julian in his room, knocking four times on the door.

"Go away," Julian grunted from under the covers.

"This is your father," Loki called to him.

"I know," Julian replied. "Go away."

Loki did just the opposite, turning the doorknob, barging in, and flipping the lightswitch on. "You cannot spend the rest of your days in this room."

Julian sat up straight and looked his father in the eye. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing at all," Loki replied. "Everything is proceeding as planned."

"Then it's a fucked-up plan."

In response to his son's defiance, Loki laughed. "You are too easily discouraged," he chastised. "Do not blame yourself for what happened. The blame falls solely on Baccari. He should never have betrayed me, and he should not have provoked you."

"I wasn't blaming myself," Julian spat, sitting up in bed. "I blame you, Dad. I wish I never met you."

"Surely, you cannot be serious," Loki replied, closing the bedroom door and approaching Julian. The muscles in his neck and jaw tensed, and one hand curled into a fist. Clearly, he was fighting to remain calm, but he seemed to be nearing his breaking point. "Everything I have done," he continued through gritted teeth, "has been to build something for you to inherit."

"Bullshit!" Julian accused, springing from the bed and to his feet. "I don't know what the point of all this is, but don't even pretend you're doing it for me. I'm not stupid, so don't treat me like I am."

Loki closed his eyes as he inhaled a deep breath, bringing his temper down to a simmer and his voice down to a hush. "Would you like to know why, then? Hm? Would you like to know why we are doing this?"

"Jesus Christ, yes, Dad," Julian answered, still agitated. "I want to know what the hell is going on."

"Calm yourself," Loki scolded. "You would not want to bring on another one of your episodes, now, would you?" He folded his arms just under his chest and began his explanation. "I am not merely doing this for some immature, vacant idea of power. The things my present counterparts hold dear, none of those compare with true power. I have achieved both wealth and notoriety, but those are only the means to a more worthy end. Twice now, I have assembled an army with the intention of bringing order to this realm, and twice, my best efforts have been thwarted. Do you know why that was, my son?"

Julian just watched him as he began to pace the floor, remaining silent and becoming increasingly disenchanted.

"I failed on those occasions because I made the mistake of aligning myself with certain others who had aspirations of their own," Loki went on. "In their haste, they forced my hand, and I acted too soon. It was not until my confinement in that institution for the mentally afflicted that I realized my mistake."

"Just get to the point," said Julian.

"Conquest is not a sudden change, my son," Loki continued. "It may culminate in glorious battle, but before then, it is like a disease, spreading its roots until it is inseparable from the body as a whole."

"That doesn't explain anything," Julian complained.

"It explains everything," said Loki. "Those who have been cast out by this world – its crooks, thieves, and lunatics – they now unite around me, and they want nothing in return but the assurance that the codes of their world will become the laws of my empire. They are content to follow, so long as they can be persuaded to believe that my leadership is in their best interest. Moreover, now that I have control of their supply, I have control of their operations as well. I assure you, these people have already managed to embed themselves quite deeply in this society. The only problem is that they have been divided, fighting one another rather than realizing their true potential. They were simply in need of a leader under whom they could unite, and I am that leader. It has taken some… convincing, of course, but now that this is all in motion, it shows no sign of stopping."

"So, like… you're trying to start a gang?" Julian summarized dismissively.

"Far more than that," Loki said. "I am assembling an army, the likes of which no realm has ever seen."

"You're nuts," said Julian. "It's never going to work. You're not gonna make an army out of a bunch of gangsters and drug dealers."

"I already have," Loki retorted, "and they are preparing for war as we speak."

"I don't want to be involved with this," Julian said. "It's not going to work, and it's wrong."

"Is it?" asked Loki. "You know as well as well as I do just how 'wrong' this realm is, how wrong every realm is. Why should I not be the one to right these wrongs, and why should you not be the one to oversee this new era once I am gone?"

"Because that's just not how it works," Julian answered. "I'm not doing it. I'm done with this, and I'm done with you."

Loki chuckled, but then his smile vanished, twisting into a sinister frown. "This is your birthright, Julian, and you will do all that I ask of you."

"Or what?"

"Or I will destroy the one thing you love most of all."

Though he didn't know what that meant, Julian's heart leapt into his throat. "Oh, yeah?" he choked. "Wh… what do you think that is?"

"Your mother, boy," Loki snarled. "If you intend to disown me, then she is all that you have, and if you think for one moment that she is not disposable to me… well, shall we just say that you will regret that mistake?"

Julian wanted to kill him just for threatening it – and he decided to test his luck. He didn't wait for his rage to transform him into the supernatural killer he now knew he could be. He pushed through the pain in his body and lunged at his father, knocking him to the ground. Once he was down, Julian tried to pin him the way he had Robbie Baccari several days prior, but Loki didn't give him the chance. Almost reflexively, Loki kicked, sending his son flying backward.

Julian's head hit the bedframe, and he saw stars. Before he could shake the injury off, Loki was upon him again. He pulled Julian up by his arm, seized his long hair in his fist, and turned him to press his face into the wall.

Mom always told me to cut my hair. The thought was sharp enough to pierce even the seemingly impenetrable veil of Julian's rage. He flailed under Loki's grasp, but found himself unable to escape no matter how he tried.

"Save your strength for those who would oppose us," Loki growled into his ear. "I am not your enemy, and you would do well not to mistake me for one – that is, if I am correct in assuming that you do love your mother."

Julian jerked, trying to drive his elbow into Loki's gut. He failed, and his father grabbed his forearm and twisted it.

"Now, now," Loki taunted. "That is quite enough of that."

"I hate you!" Julian roared. "I fucking hate you!"

"Of course you do," said Loki. "You are your mother's son, after all." With that, he peeled his son's face from the wall and tossed him to the floor.

The ruckus must have caught Elise's attention; in a feat of exceptionally inopportune timing, she pushed on the bedroom door to discover the scene unfolding.

"What the hell is going on in here?" she exclaimed, already pulling at her frizzy hair in her anxiety as she entered the room.

Loki turned and started toward the door. "Elise," he hissed, "our son seems to be struggling with obedience. Perhaps you should have a word with him." Without further incident, he brushed past her and left the room, slamming the door shut on his way.

Julian lay on the floor, wheezing and willing himself to remain still and calm as his mother approached.

"What did he do to you?" Elise whispered, kneeling down beside him.

With one more deep, jagged breath, Julian could feel his body and mind coming back under his own control. "Mom, you gotta get out," he rasped.

Elise shook her head solemnly. "Not without you."

"But he's gonna… he said…"

"He said he'd kill me, right? Is that it?" She looked nervous, but her tone was steady and low. "I've heard it a thousand times, but I'm still here. See?"

Julian was stunned. "You're not even worried about that?"

"You're the only one I'm worried about," Elise replied. "Whatever's going on with you, with this… disease, staying here is just making it worse. You need to get out of here, not me." She lowered her voice further. "Are you still going out there to see Dr. Banner tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Julian said, finally summoning enough energy to sit up straight again. "Alexis is taking me. We were gonna leave early in the morning."

"Good," Elise replied. "I hope she's right about this. About him being able to help, I mean."

"She's smarter than you think," Julian assured her, though he wasn't entirely confident, either.

His mother just sighed. She looked exhausted and, somehow, older. It was as if she had aged several years since leaving the prison. Living in Loki's house was clearly taking a toll on her, and Julian was finally beginning to understand why that was.

"I'm sorry," Julian blurted.

"What for?"

"For not listening to you when I should've."

Elise shook her head. "It's not your fault. You just wanted what you should've had all along."

Alexis arrived the following morning, as scheduled, to accompany Julian to Watkins Glen for his scholarship reception. Julian had already been prepared to leave for a few hours by then, having slept only intermittently the night before and waking long before he had planned to. His mother was still in bed, and he didn't dare enter Loki's room to say goodbye to her. He slipped quietly out the front door without disturbing either of them and met Alexis at the end of the driveway.

"Hi, Julian!" she called to him, holding her hand high and waving. "Ready to go?"

Her cheerfulness was infectious; hearing her voice made Julian feel a bit more hopeful. "Yeah," he smiled. "Let's get outta here."

He had been looking forward to the trip despite his anxiety over what would happen when he met Dr. Banner, if he even met him at all. The drive to the Finger Lakes was two-and-a-half hours long, and though other teenagers might have complained, Julian appreciated the reprieve from the constant conflict that had been surrounding him since his graduation. He also appreciated the opportunity to learn more about Alexis. It dawned on him a few minutes into the trip that he knew almost nothing about her; he didn't even know if "Alexis" was her real name.

He tried to initiate a conversation as casually and naturally as possible, but he stumbled over his words anyway. "So, um… I don't think I've ever asked you, but, uh… where are you actually from? Like, originally?"

"Oh, you know," Alexis said, "around here."

"You mean back there?" Julian questioned. "Or do you mean, like… around where we are now?"

"Um… back there, yeah," she replied. "Buffalo area."

"So you went to high school around there?"

"Yeah."

"Where'd you go?" Julian asked. "We probably graduated around the same time."

"Oh, I, um… I didn't graduate," Alexis answered.

"Okay, but where did you go?" he pressed. "Were you in the city schools?"

"What's with all these questions?" She was still smiling, but something in her tone suggested irritation.

"Just asking," Julian replied. "I'm kind of curious. We haven't really talked much about you."

"There's not a lot to know that you don't already know," Alexis deflected, reaching for the radio dial.

Julian wasn't deterred. "What about music?" he asked. "What kind of music do you listen to?"

"All kinds," she answered abruptly.

"Oh, come on," said Julian. "Are we just not gonna talk the whole way there?"

"Fine," Alexis sighed. "I'm into classic rock, mostly. What about you?"

Julian shrugged. "Well, I like older stuff, but not really classic rock."

"Like what?" she asked.

"Hey!" Julian laughed. "This is about you, not me!"

"Why can't we talk about you?" said Alexis. "I wanna know about you, too."

"Okay," he said, "you can ask about me if you tell me your name."

She paused, her smile turning down into a frown. "Julian, sweetie, you're not supposed to ask a dancer her real name."

He was a bit taken aback, and more than a little embarrassed. Perhaps he had misconstrued whatever it was that was going on between them.

"Oh, honey, don't look so sad," she said, removing her right hand from the steering wheel and letting it rest on his knee. "It's not, like, personal. You just aren't supposed to know."

"No, yeah, I get it," Julian replied, somewhat hurt. "That's fine."

"It's not like I don't like you," she assured him. "I really do, and I'm not just saying that. It's just, like… I don't think now is a good time for us."

Julian knew she was right, though he didn't like it. "Yeah, I understand," he said. "But, uh… we're still friends, right?"

"Well, obviously," Alexis laughed. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"Just checking."

There was a brief silence before Alexis changed the subject. "Anyway, how excited are you to meet The Hulk?"

"Well," said Julian, "I'm excited to maybe not be so… short-fused anymore. I just hope he knows what to do about this."

"Are you, like, nervous?" she asked. "I mean, you're kind of meeting a celebrity."

"A little, I guess." In reality, he was petrified. The idea of being in the same room with the only other person on earth with a condition comparable to his was more frightening than anything else.

"You'll be fine," Alexis said. "He's a nice guy. I mean, from what I hear."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I think so. Like, I don't know him, but everyone knows of him. He's got his stuff under control. Don't worry!"

"But what if we don't get along?" said Julian. "That could be… well, I don't have to tell you. That could be a disaster."

"You're overthinking it," Alexis replied with a smile. "Worst case scenario, he can't help, and everything just goes back to normal, right?"

"Normal," Julian repeated with a half-hearted laugh. "Yeah."

"You still get a scholarship out of it either way, though," said Alexis. "It's, like, a win-win. You should be happy."

"Yeah, but I'm not going to college," Julian replied. "Not like this. Especially not if my mom-"

"This isn't about her, though," Alexis insisted. "It's about you."

Julian nodded in agreement, not because what she said rang true, but because he wanted to bring the discussion to an end. "Can we talk about something else? Something other than… you know, me turning into a blue monster?"

"Yeah, totally," Alexis said. "Um… we could play a car game. Have you ever played 'Cows in the Graveyard?'"

"I haven't been on a lot of road trips," Julian admitted. "You know. Foster families."

"Oh, right," she said. "Well, okay. All you have to do is count all the cows you see out the window. If we go by a graveyard, you say, 'bury the cows,' and whoever has the most, wins. Then we just start over, if you want."

Julian smiled; the rules were refreshingly simple. For the last leg of the trip, he stared out the window, dreamily adding "cows" each time they passed a farm, until Alexis shouted:

"Ooh! Graveyard! Bury the cows!"

It wasn't until then that Julian looked at the car's digital clock. They had been driving for nearly three hours. "Hey, um… shouldn't we be there by now?"

"Oh, I just drive kind of slow," Alexis said.

"Yeah, but not extra-half-hour slow," Julian replied. "Maybe we missed it."

"Okay, um… I guess I'll just turn around somewhere."

Alexis slowed the car and made a right-hand turn onto a side-road that sloped downward toward a lake, but before they reached the end, she took another right rather than reversing course.

"Where are you going?" Julian asked, puzzled. "I thought we were turning around."

"Sorry, sorry," she said. "I'm just seeing if we can get back on the road from here."

It quickly became apparent that they could not. The road went on and on, and from the passenger-side window, Julian could see signs directing drivers to a vineyard.

"I guess we can just turn around up there," he said.

Alexis kept driving until they reached the parking lot in front of the winery. There, she stopped the car and shut off the engine.

"What are you doing?" said Julian, becoming increasingly agitated. "You're acting really weird."

"Sorry, Julian," she said as she reached for something under her seat.

"No, it's fine, you're just… you're freaking me out."

"Yeah, that's understandable," she replied calmly as she extracted a handgun from beneath the driver's seat and aimed it at Julian.

"Whoa!" he shouted, instinctively throwing his hands up to shield himself.

"No, no, don't panic," Alexis said, her finger curling around the trigger. "You have to stay calm. Get out of the car. We're gonna go into that building right over there, and then I'll explain. Okay?"

Julian nodded as he pushed open the car door and started toward the winery. Alexis followed him closely, never lowering her firearm.

"Okay, just open the door, and then you're gonna go down those stairs on your right," she instructed.

Julian looked to his right, but the only staircase he saw went upward. He was sure she had gone crazy, but then, she pressed on what appeared at first glance to be a thermostat, and an empty shelf shifted to reveal the entrance to the basement.

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to trick you," she said, speaking slowly and quietly. "Go on."

The shelf slid back into its right place as they descended the stairs, darkening the corridor. Julian had a feeling that the steps didn't lead to a wine cellar. At the foot of the staircase, they rounded a corner and entered another hallway – a better-lit hallway – and continued on toward something that didn't suit the rural landscape at all. There, in a vast, sterile room furnished with unidentifiable, presumably-scientific equipment, sat Bruce Banner – much older and smaller in person, but still instantly recognizable in his violet shirt and gray jacket. Standing at his side was an unknown, black-suited woman, probably about the same age as Julian's mother. She instantly turned her head to face Julian and Alexis when they entered the room.

"You made it," the woman said. "What took you so long?"

"We're actually on-time, Director," Alexis replied, finally lowering her handgun.

"If you're on-time, you're late."

"Sorry," said Alexis. "I didn't want to leave anything to chance."

"Is that really him?" Bruce Banner interjected quietly, removing his glasses and squinting at Julian. "He looks different."

"Of course he looks different, Bruce," the unnamed Director said. "The last time you saw him, he was a toddler."

Dr. Banner smiled, driving deeper creases into the corners of his mouth. "I thought I was being funny."

Already tired of being out-of-the-loop, Julian worked up the courage to speak. "What's going on? And what are you talking about?"

The Director was the first to answer him. "I'm sorry we had to have you escorted in the way we did," she said, crossing her arms. "We weren't sure you'd come if you knew why you were needed."

"Who are you?" Julian demanded. He then turned to Alexis and posed the same question. "And who are you, even?"

"I'm Alexis," she replied casually.

"Seriously?" Julian groaned. "After all this, you still can't even tell me your name?"

"That is my name. I'm Agent Alexis Blackwell," she said. "Strippers have fake names. I was undercover as a stripper, so everyone assumed it was a stage name. Pretty smart, right?"

"Undercover?"

"Maybe I can explain," said the Director. "But first, I should tell you that there's no such thing as the Bruce Banner Young Scientists Scholarship. Still, I'd like to congratulate you on your academic success despite your… numerous challenges. You didn't exactly have an easy start in life."

"How do you know that?" Julian snapped. "I don't even know you!"

"I'm Maria Hill, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.," she said. "It's alright, you wouldn't remember me. You were too young."

Julian was speechless. It certainly wasn't the answer he was expecting.

"So," said Director Hill, "you want to know what S.H.I.E.L.D. has to do with you, right?"

Julian just nodded.

"We've been monitoring Loki since his trial, nineteen years ago," Hill explained. "Your mother was supposed to be his attorney, but… well, a lot went wrong, to say the least. We didn't learn that he had returned to Earth unexpectedly until he had already taken her hostage and involved her with one of his plans for global domination. At trial, your mother was, essentially, convicted of his crimes. Loki was committed to a psychiatric facility, and at that point, our hands were tied. There wasn't anything we could do without causing another moral outrage over his 'rights.'"

"So you're saying my mom was sitting in prison all that time for nothing?" said Julian.

"She didn't want our help, and she didn't want to help us," Hill said. "At least, not until you were born."

"But I went into foster care after I was born," said Julian. "That's what happens to kids born in prisons, right?"

"Most kids," Hill admitted, "but not you. We knew you'd need some extra protection, though I guess Loki tracked you down, anyway. Besides that, well… Bruce should probably explain what happened next."

"It's a good-news, bad-news sort of situation," Dr. Banner said. "At first, the idea was that we could find out more about Loki by watching his closest relative on Earth – and that's where you came in. I was leading the team S.H.I.E.L.D. put together for that project."

"So, do you know why I'm like this, then?" Julian asked excitedly. "Did you figure it out?"

"Like I said, there's good news and there's bad news," Banner continued. "S.H.I.E.L.D. had other plans they didn't tell us about until after they had us locked-in for a two-year commitment. We thought we were just going to be studying you, but S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to…"

"To weaponize you," Hill said. "Regrettably."

"That sounds about right," Banner confirmed. "We figured out early-on that you do take after your father – above average physical strength, longer projected lifespan, immunity to certain pathogens – but all that is a little 'watered-down.' Or, well… it was a little watered-down. The point is, you weren't going to grow up to be a superhuman, probably just leaps and bounds above average. The upshot for us was that we had some idea of what we could expect from Loki at that point."

"Wait," said Julian. "What did she mean when she said 'weaponize?' You tried to turn me into a weapon?"

"That's basically it," said Banner. "S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted us to keep going. Rather than you being half-superhuman all the time, they wanted you to be all-superhuman when it counted."

"Kind of like Bruce," Hill added, "but without all the trial-and-error he had to go through. The Council wanted a second Hulk. Nothing scares Loki like the Hulk does."

"I'm just an old scientist now," Bruce deflected modestly. "But anyway, S.H.I.E.L.D. stopped the experiments once they convinced the Council that you would be too dangerous if you got into the wrong hands – and it sounds like you did. The problem is that all the radiation you were exposed to before then probably resulted in some… side-effects. That's the bad news."

"What's the good news?" Julian asked.

"Well, it isn't reversible," said Banner, "but my research has advanced since the last time we met, and I'm confident that with more treatment, you could have more of the benefits of being the son of a god and fewer drawbacks."

Julian didn't like that answer; Dr. Banner seemed too uncertain about the probability of success. "Would it mean I'd stop… um… mutating?" he questioned. "Because that's the part I'm worried about."

"Probably not," Banner replied. "But you would be able to make a complete transformation and learn to control it. You're probably experiencing all these symptoms – the pain, the fainting, the sensory disturbances – because you're trapped in this sort of limbo. That doesn't happen to Loki because he is what he is all the time, and it wouldn't have happened to you, either, if we hadn't been pressured to expose you to radiation in the first place."

"Again," Director Hill said, "I'd like to reiterate that S.H.I.E.L.D. never intended for this to happen."

"I wasn't implying that you did," said Bruce. He drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly before he continued speaking. "All I'm saying is that I wouldn't have exposed an infant to those levels if it were up to me."

"Anyway, Julian," said Hill, turning away from the Doctor, "you're not a child anymore, and you have a choice to make now."

Julian pulled a puzzled look. It didn't seem like there was much of a choice to be made. He could either risk the radiation "treatment" or suffer with his condition for the rest of his life.

"Oh." Hill frowned. "You don't understand what we're asking of you, do you?"

"I didn't realize you were asking me for anything," Julian replied, aggravated at the suggestion that he somehow owed something to S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Agent Blackwell," Director Hill called to Alexis, "has Julian been briefed?"

"I didn't brief him, ma'am," Alexis answered. "He's fully aware of the situation because he's integral to Loki's operations."

Hill brought a hand to her head and rubbed her temple. "Don't cut corners," she sighed. "Everything by the books, you know that."

"Alright," said Alexis, turning her attention to Julian. The playfulness in her voice had all but disappeared. "I mean, you know the basics already. Loki is trying to establish some sort of criminal syndicate through his drug contacts. The plan is to consolidate power either by intimidating or killing off the leaders of other organizations and absorbing their operations and so-called 'soldiers.' Right now, we don't know how far this goes; it could be another few years before he makes a move, or it could be another few weeks. The fact is, he's moving fast, and we have to be ready."

"Ready for what?" Julian asked.

"To neutralize him," Alexis answered bluntly.

"We've been playing fair up until now," Director Hill added, "but Loki doesn't play fair. We have to take him down."

Once Julian realized what they meant, it was like a blow to the stomach. "Are… are you asking me to help you kill my father?"

"Julian, you know what he's like," said Alexis. "He's a monster."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Julian yelled. "Does that make me a monster? Does it?"

"Take a deep breath, Julian," Dr. Banner urged, rising slowly from his chair. "Try not to fly off the handle, okay?"

His vision was already beginning to blur, and he could feel the familiar aching in his limbs. He tried to follow Banner's advice, but when he inhaled, the warm air gnawed at the inside of his chest.

"I know it hurts," Bruce Banner nearly whispered. "You can't let it get to you, okay? Just take a seat. Breathe."

Rather than finding a chair, Julian knelt on the floor, doubled-over and without sufficient clarity of thought to speak. The transformation was slowed, but it was coming. He could feel reality slipping out of reach. When he sensed the overbearing presence of two handguns aimed at his head, he knew that serenity was unattainable.

"Just stay still." Dr. Banner's voice was close now. "Don't move…"

Julian felt the unmistakable prick of a needle at the base of his neck. As Bruce Banner injected him with whatever was in the syringe, Julian wrestled with the urge to fight him off. The diminishing, human part of his mind trusted the Doctor; the rest interpreted his closeness as a threat. The pain in his body began and the urge to lash out crescendoed, but then, something strange happened. The process was reversing itself. Julian could feel his heart pounding in his fingers, and the beat was slowing noticeably. He became drowsy and sick to his stomach, but the compulsion and fury of his altered state were abetting.

"Don't try to stand up just yet," Banner instructed. "You're going to feel a little nauseous, but that's okay."

Julian took in another deep breath, just to be sure. His lungs still ached, though it was bearable; when he coughed, he gagged. He could see clearly, though his thoughts seemed to be shrouded in a fog, and although he felt ill, he felt sane.

"What… what was that?" he asked weakly.

"That was the antidote," Banner informed him. "It's… not pleasant, but it gets the job done."

"Welcome back," said Director Hill, lowering her firearm. "I hope you're ready to talk."

"Maybe now isn't a good time," Dr. Banner said.

"Time is a resource we don't have a lot of," Hill replied.

"There's nothing to talk about," said Julian. "I'm not gonna let you kill my dad."

"I'm sorry you feel that way," said Director Hill. "I can understand where you're coming from. You're not the only one with misgivings about the permanency of the solution we've chosen. Unfortunately, that's just the way it has to be."

"And what if I say 'no?'" Julian challenged. "What are you gonna do about it?"

"Well, if that's the case, then for obvious reasons, we can't let you go back there," said Hill, "and you certainly won't be getting any help from us. You can cooperate, and you can get a handle on your condition, or you can stay here, and we'll find some other way to get what we need from you. I'm sure you have some information we could use."

"So, what happens if I lie? What if I go back home and decide I don't want any part of this?"

Director Hill shrugged flippantly. "Then you'll be neutralized as well. We have other ways of making this happen. It's just easier if you're on board."

Julian was beyond mere anger, but rather than reacting in the usual way, he just felt sicker, dizzier, and more helpless than ever. He had to go back, if only to defend his mother. Still, though, Loki was family, and Julian didn't want to be responsible for his death. There simply had to be some way to make him see that what he was doing was wrong. His father just needed help; he didn't need to be "neutralized."

"He's mentally ill," Julian argued. "He can change. He just needs… he just…"

Alexis chimed in. "You and I both know that's not all this is," she said. "He's evil, and he's dangerous. You've seen the way he treats people."

"Maybe if someone treated him the way a person deserves to be treated," said Julian, "he wouldn't be like that."

"We're way past that point now," Director Hill said. "It's decision-time. Are you with us, or not?"

Julian sighed and shook his head. "I mean, you're not really giving me much of a choice…"

"Good," Hill replied. "We're glad to have you on board."