TW:TIH
26:27 – 26:33
"Is it just me or is that backpack familiar?" Kara asked, eyes squinted as she tried to jog her memory. "I mean, I'm sure-"
"It's Banner's laptop bag," Kaldur supplied. "The one thing he seemed to really care about from his apartment."
"You know, now that I think about it, it makes sense that he was so desperate to keep it on him even through the chase," Dick mused. "From what we've seen, every scrap of information about his condition, every byte of data that he's researched, all of it is on that computer."
"Not to mention his communiques with 'Mr Blue,'" Zatanna added.
Dick nodded affectionately at her. "Exactly; without all that information, he'd essentially have to start from scratch wherever he ends up."
"He could pick up communications with Blue wherever he finds himself, though," Green Lantern suggested. "That could help-"
"With what, exactly?" Raquel interjected before shaking her head. "No, Bird Boy's right: even if he does know how to stay in touch with Blue -which, to be fair, is a reasonable assumption- it is extremely unlikely that the mystery man would be of much help. Whatever data he has will be extremely raw -bordering on crudity, in fact- compared to what Banner would have compiled on his own."
"There's also the fact that the General is now in possession of the laptop," J'onn commented. "Even taking a degree of damage from when the bag was tossed aside by the thugs earlier into account, the General is still in possession of what could very well be an in-depth analysis of the creature he has been hunting: strengths, weaknesses, adaptations, conditions for transformations… all compiled by Banner's own hands and now at the General's fingertips.
"If the General was dangerous before, without such a wealth of knowledge to draw from, how much more so is he now?"
26:33 – 26:42
"Wait, why is he so eager to see the paper clipping?" Conner asked, befuddled by the Ace's behaviour. "I thought he'd be more interested in the computer's contents than some random picture?"
"Except that isn't some 'random picture,'" Artemis rejoined pointedly. "Banner's got an entire apartment to clear out and he grabs just his laptop, a few tech odds-and-ends and a picture? There's no way that's random and Blonsky knows it."
"My cute little protege's right, Con: Blonsky's focused on that picture because it is crucial to getting into Banner's head." Oliver explained. "Right now, Blonsky isn't just a soldier, he's a hunter: he wants to find Banner and bring him in. To do that effectively, he can't just stick to knowing what Banner's going to do, he has to understand the how and the why. Like Artemis said, Banner picked the picture together with the laptop, whose importance we've already explained. Blonsky's likely come to the same conclusion about the laptop so he's now wondering about the picture."
"TL;DR: the computer will tell him what Banner did but the picture tells a more personal story: the how and the why. And Blonsky needs to know that so he can figure out the best way to catch Banner." Kara summarized.
26:45
"Considering what we know about the General?" Conner snorted. "I doubt that very highly."
26:48 – 26:52
"He's lying," M'gann frowned. "Well, maybe not lying but he's not exactly telling the truth."
Conner turned to her, a curious look on his face. "What do you mean?"
"I… I'm not sure hot to explain it but… when he said that she was no longer a factor, I could tell that he was lying about something I just can't say what it is."
"He said she was no longer a factor, yes?" Diana murmured, though everyone could hear her quite clearly. "I think I understand what you mean, M'gann: we know that this woman is connected to Banner as a lover yet she also has strong ties to the General so the question is: who is she not a factor to?"
John cottoned on to her thoughts immediately. "You think he's lying to himself? That he's trying to get himself to believe that she doesn't matter to him, not as long as it concerns Banner?"
"It makes sense," Oliver nodded slowly. "Especially if those 'strong ties' she mentioned turn out to be a father-daughter bond. He may be a cold bastard but he seemed… something flashed across his face when he saw her picture, something I'm not sure he even realizes is there."
"Well, knowing the big macho General, I'm pretty sure he's about to twist this whole thing into how effectively they've cut Banner off from talking to her," Artemis scoffed. "Like that's the real problem."
26:54
"I swear, you have the strangest luck sometimes," Zatanna shot at the preening blonde.
"Guess I'm just awesome like that."
"Any bigger and I'd need a tier three spell to pop your ego."
26:56 -27:02
"Looks like the gears are turning in Emil's head," John stated as he watched the ace soldier stare questioningly at the General. "He knows something isn't right about this."
"He couldn't tell when he was asked to shoot at a civilian?" Conner asked snarkily.
"He's a soldier, kid; generally we shoot first and ask questions later."
"And we just saw the result of that mentality," Kara remarked, her tone a little biting. "They nearly got killed in that factory going up against something they knew zilch about!"
"Except that's not their fault," John sighed wearily. Having argued this fact repeatedly with some of his more opinionated cousins, he wasn't exactly keen on regurgitating the same details to a different -but fundamentally similar- crowd. "In this case -and damned near any other- the blame falls on the CO: their job is to make the best tactical, logistical and whatever other '-cal' decision in a given situation. It's cold and somewhat callous -I sure as hell don't like it- but the best way to think of it-"
"A chess player controlling the movements of the pieces," J'onn stated, much to everyone's surprise. "Do not forget that I have had my fair share of military life here on Earth: I have been on both sides of the coin."
"So… what, you agree that soldiers shouldn't think on their own and should just be mindless robots?" Kara asked, seemingly sickened by the thought.
"No, I do not." J'onn replied. "Neither, I believe, does John. However you must understand that, in a battle -not the fights we have all experienced but a true battle, where large numbers of units on one side are in play against another, you must have a command structure to maintain a degree of order. This command structure is in charge of the strategy and overall tactics of the army they lead and so they must deliver what they feel is the best set of directives for the accomplishment of their task and -unfortunately- these directives must be prepared swiftly in response to the ever-changing nature of war."
"J'onn's right: orders have to be whipped up fast, especially when the battle is hitting its stride." The Lantern agreed. "Problem is, if you wait for a hundred soldiers to give you their opinions, you'll be stuck with a hundred ideas and no real idea of what to do. However-!" He added that forcefully to forestall the deluge of counter-arguments that he could almost recite. "Soldiers are not drones: in most cases, we're allowed to take initiative where the situation calls for it. Occasionally we can bend -or even break- the orders given to us in the face of a changing battle situation. You'd have some heavy queries to answer for doing so but, where your actions lead to positive results or the prevention of heavy losses, you might actually get something out of it."
26:08 – 27:21
"I don't exactly want to admit it but… he's right," Conner grimaced. "If Banner didn't transform into that-"
"Uncontrollable, murdering rage monster?" Wally cut in waspishly. "Because-"
"Wally!" Artemis hissed, her words reinforced by her vise-like grip of his thigh. She had suspected that he was still upset about the Factory Rampage -'Wally West not talking for more than fifteen minutes? Something is definitely wrong!'- but his reaction just now felt almost excessive.
Dick was already ahead of Artemis: by the time the first syllable of the speedster's name slipped out of her mouth, the movie was already rolling on.
27:22 – 27:33
"Something tells me that was a first time occurrence for him," Raquel commented with a faint smile as she thought of the now innumerable times she had watched things far bigger than a forklift truck getting hurled her way. "Because he looks more shaken than my Gran-Gran's maracas."
"It's a two part thing, I think," John frowned. "The first part -the lesser part- is the ego: he's one of the elites in a division of elites; he's been through missions that would make the regular guy curl up in a ball and babble and he's still here. The idea that something could make him feel like curling up in a ball must seriously be eating at him."
"Yeah… that does make sense," Zatanna mused as she thought it over before asking: "Okay, so what's the second part?"
"Indignation on behalf of his team," The answer was clearly unexpected by the sudden, interested silence that fell over the group save a sagely nodding J'onn. The Lantern explained: "Throughout his tirade, he never really says anything about himself: 'he didn't lose us, we had him, something hit us…' At this point, I'm pretty sure he's led quite a number of squads through just about every hellhole you can imagine with minimal loss so watching a fair chunk of his squad get flattened by something they never saw coming…" The man shook his head. "I'm just guessing here, but I think that's what he's really pissed about."
27:34 – 27:41
"Yeah, that's not what Mister Blonsky wants to hear." Zatanna said, wincing just a bit at the almost palpable tension the soldier radiated.
"At this point, I'm not sure a stop-order from the Joint Chiefs could stop him," Oliver agreed. "Maybe Wolfman himself-"
"Wolfman?" M'gann and Kara interjected.
"Current Secret Service code for the President," The billionaire replied with a casual shrug that had Artemis staring at him quizzically.
"Are you even supposed to know that? Or to use it so… freely?"
"… let's get back to the movie eh?"
27:42 – 27:48
Conner whistled softly through his teeth. "Well, that cleared things up nice and quick."
"Really, SB? It wasn't clear before?" Raquel asked, her eyebrow hiked up to an impressive height. "I mean, the green cells, neon floodlight eyes-"
"I was talking about that guy," Conner jerked a thumb at the TV where a slack-jawed Emil Blonsky remained frozen. "Because the whole 'hotel for flies' look really doesn't spell anything else."
"… Point taken."
27:53 – 28:04
"Again, not the answer Blonsky's looking for," This time, it was Dick that made the comment. "It's looking more and more like he might just head out and try to pull the 'foot on throat, gun to the head' thing on his own."
"Yeah, that wouldn't be the… uh… let's say it wouldn't be the best use of his time," Kara winced, thinking of how Banner might react to having a gun to his face.
"Agreed, Miss Danvers," Kaldur nodded. "However my thoughts have revolved more around the General and his reticence to explain why he wants Banner."
"The man destroyed public property, killed people and nearly killed a woman who might be the General's daughter," Wally stated, trying his utmost to hold in his annoyance, much to Artemis' relief. "Then he's done it God knows how many more times. His reason for hunting that monster's pretty self-explanatory to me."
Ignoring the way his red-haired friend's tone grew biting at the end of his statement, Kaldur stated: "While I do not doubt that the factors you raised play a role in the General's continued hunt for Banner, I do not believe those are his main reasons."
"Please continue, Kaldur'ahm," J'onn nodded, intrigued by the faint mental echoes he could read from the young Atlantean's mind.
"In my experience, when a person fights for what they believe is a righteous cause -in this case, hunting a perceived monster- they do not hesitate to explain to all and sundry why they want the creature dead or in chains. When asked for the origins of the monster, they say what they know in a drive to draw more sympathy for their cause." Most of the adults present nodded, agreeing with his words. "In the General's case, rather than simply tell the soldiers that they were hunting a monster, he led them on with lies. He could have prepared them more adequately for what they would face in the field but he did nothing. Why?"
"Maybe… he didn't want to scare them off?" M'gann suggested but, somewhat surprisingly, it was Conner that picked out the flaw in that line of thought.
"That's… it won't… argh, I don't know how o put it but the soldiers would be better off knowing what they would be facing before getting thrown into the line of fire." He explained. "Plus, even if they did get scared off, it would be better to take the wimps out before starting the mission."
"Kid's got the right of it," John agreed. "Advanced warning would have helped the commandos' performance. Maybe not by much but it might have led to an advantage of some sort."
"Exactly," Kaldur nodded. "So, if telling his troops the truth about Banner might have increased their chances of -if not success then survival, for sure, why didn't he?"
It took a few moments for them to figure it out -and even then, it was only the adults present that figured it out.
"You think he's playing it close to the chest," Oliver stated, his eyes narrowed in deep thought. "There's a deeper connection between the General, Banner and that experiment."
"A military connection!" Kara gasped. "I mean, if it was a purely civilian thing, why was the General even there in the first place?"
"The lady scientist could be the answer to that one," J'onn suggested before shaking his head slightly. "But… no, I see your point, Kaldur'ahm: it may very well be as you have suggested."
"Which means he's saying nothing to Blonsky -at least for now- to keep the circle small." Diana finished. "This is getting interesting."
"Dick, that's your cue," Raquel mimed tapping a remote and Dick nodded.
28:06 – 28:32
"Well, he's clearly not done with this hunt," Zatanna muttered quietly to her boyfriend.
"Ain't that the truth…"
28:41 – 28:50
"Hey! He's back to normal!" M'gann pointed excitedly before growing more sombre as she took in the man's physical state. "He's lost most of his clothes though, and he looks really confused."
"Not to mention tired," Raquel noted. "Whatever that transformation was, it looks like it wiped him out during the reversal."
"At least he isn't green and murdery anymore," Wally grumbled.
It was enough to finally get on Raquel's last nerve. "What is your damage, man?! You've been up in arms against the guy since his big green self punted that guy through the pipes! I get it!" She raised her voice as she rode over his boiling rejoinder, standing firm. "We get it, you're not a fan of innocent people getting killed but -like Supergirl already said like a thousand times!- the big green monster lashed out in self defense! If the thug-idiot hadn't kept pushing at Banner then he wouldn't have kissed the bloody wall!"
"Oh and that makes it all better doesn't it?" Wally fired back, almost jumping to his feet if it wasn't for Artemis holding him down. "Sure, the next time I get bullied I should just superspeed-shoulder tackle a bully out of 'self-defense' or Conner should crack a few skulls the next time someone picks on him or M'gann! Jeez, your method is just perfect!"
"Unfortunately, Wallace, your examples are not quite accurate," Diana stated, her tone ringing with a sort of commanding imperiousness that few present had ever heard from her. "Your anger had prevented you from seeing it but the monster that Banner became… It is little more than an animal: primal instinct only barely retaining a hint of human intelligence."
"No way," Wally decried instantly. "It spoke, remember? It said-"
"'Leave me alone'? We heard." Diana agreed before narrowing her eyes at the much younger boy. "It said three simple words carrying no extraneous demands or pleas and through the rest of the fight it only ever made grunting and roaring sounds. Like an animal, giving a warning growl before it attacks. Believe me, Wally: I have dealt with monsters, creatures out of myths and animals the world has long forgotten; I know the way of beasts and I tell you with utter certainty that the creature Banner became is little more than a primal beast. Hating it for its actions -especially in light of the fact that those actions were in self-defense- is much the same as hating a lion for killing a man that attempts to wrangle it."
Wally stared, first at the Amazon then at everyone else before sighing loudly. "I don't believe this: you guys are justifying that thing's actions-"
"It is only a justification if we are wrong about it," Kara said softly.
"How about this," Dick stated, holding the remote up. "We keep watching: if it turns out the Wonder Woman and Ka-um, Supergirl are right then that's that. But if it turns out that you were right, Wally, and the big green… whatever that was, is actually malicious, each and every one of us will owe you."
"Hey wait! I didn't sign up-"
"Deal!" The speedster shook hands with his best friend over Raquel's protests. "Alright, let's get to it!"
28:58 – 29:04
"That word's the mother of all understatements," Artemis snorted. "Incident. Kids have incidents in their diapers or on their beds; a factory-destroying rampage like that though?"
"Technically, it was still an 'incident,'" Dick shrugged. "I get what you mean, though but that's what we're stuck with so…"
29:06 – 29:20
"You are not doing that on the side of a Steel City highway," Raquel smirked. "You'd be a popsicle before you got a ride off anyone."
"Well, you'd probably get one in the back of a cruiser," Artemis rejoined, sharing a smirk with her dark skinned teammate. "Still get frozen though."
29:23 – 29:27
"I'm sorry… was that Spanish?" Kara blinked in surprise.
"Something tells me Dorothy ain't in Kansas no more," Oliver drawled.
"How'd you arrive at that conclusion?" John asked. "There's gotta be a number of Spanish-speaking Brazilians right?"
"Well, while a number of Brazilians do speak Spanish, you need to consider the fact that the driver doesn't speak Portuguese. He's a local farmhand type; if he doesn't speak the local language then he'd get fleeced to death in the markets. So if he doesn't speak Portuguese then it stands to reason that Banner's ended up somewhere the local language is Spanish, not Portuguese."
29:27 – 29:35
"Guate- mother of God!" Raquel exclaimed as she quickly estimated the distance between the two locations. "That's more than three thousand miles! In less than a day!"
"What's with the noise?" Conner frowned before jerking his thumb at Wally, Kara, John, J'onn, Diana and finally resting his arm on M'gann's shoulders. "All six of these guys could probably do that in their sleep and everyone except Wally and maybe M'gann could do it in three hours tops."
"Yeah but… it's just a big bag of muscles!" She countered. "It's strong, not fast!"
"So am I but I can usually keep up with M'gann or BioShip by jumping." Conner tossed back immediately. "Strength isn't all about punching, you know?"
"I… didn't think about that…" Raquel admitted.
"But… could he have jumped from Brazil to Guatemala in a single night?" Zatanna asked skeptically, sending her boyfriend into a calculating fit.
However, it was Wally -surprisingly- that provided the answer. "He probably could." The answer was slow and grudging but the speedster, knowing he had committed himself by speaking, forged on. "Conner can clear more than a quarter-mile if he really pushes himself and -no offense man- but that… brute… looks a hell of a lot stronger. If we take the distance to Guatemala at, say two thousand four hundred miles and we say it clears a quarter-mile with each jump then that's about 9600 jumps. Give him… ten seconds air time per jump and that rounds up at about 24 hours, give or take an hour or two."
"Sweet mental math bro!" Dick cheered. "And that's just considering it jumping a quarter-mile per leap; personally, I'm leaning toward half-mile jumps at least."
"So there we go," Kara nodded. "A conservative twenty four-hour estimate with half that still being very likely. Not the best we've seen in terms of distance covered in a similar amount of time but still pretty impressive considering that this was all via jumping which isn't exactly the most efficient way to travel."
Diana nodded to that. "The amount of time it takes to push off into a new jump grows with each subsequent leap because of the amount of energy you need to put in. In addition, the… what is it called, the amount of time you remain in the air before falling?"
"Air time?" Kara suggested.
"Hang time?" Wally suggested as well, thinking of his some of his schoolmates who were into skateboarding.
"I'll go with hang time," The Amazon nodded to the speedster. "As I was saying, the hang time during each jump leaves you completely exposed to attacks, especially when you are being chased."
"Yeah, a decent fighter pilot could nail you with a missile with as little as a three second hang time," John admitted. "The really good ones would make Swiss cheese out of your hide."
"Considering what we've seen of the big guy, though…" Conner shook his head just a bit. "Somehow, I think it could make jumping work anyway. It's not like the bullets would actually hurt it."
"True…"
29:36 – 30:00
"Home?" Zatanna asked. "I thought… I thought he didn't want to go home?"
"It was less that he didn't want to go and more that he couldn't," Oliver explained. "You heard the General when Blonsky talked about the lady scientist helping him-"
"He said they'd closed that door to him," Artemis supplied and the archer nodded.
"Exactly. Now consider what that really means, especially if Banner and the lady were lovers."
"… I think I get it…" M'gann began slowly. "If they stopped him from contacting her and she was the closest to him then… then they must have stopped everyone else from helping too."
"You're on the money, M'gann," Oliver shook a finger at her. "We've touched on it a bit here and there since we started watching but that scene with the General was a clear explanation to why Banner can't just head back to the lab or just head home for a nap: the General's found a way to lock him out of his home and, in doing so, has prevented Banner from getting help from those who should be his staunch allies."
"But… he's talking about going back now," M'gann said hesitantly. "Isn't that… dangerous?"
"It is," John admitted. "The General's bound to have a million and one forms of supervision around Culver and the lady from the picture: if Banner shows up, that place will probably end up becoming a warzone."
"So… he should stay away then."
"He should," J'onn agreed, his tone becoming sad as he spoke. "However Mister Banner grows desperate. Without his laptop and the information he has on it, he must begin from scratch, a process that will take longer now that he has no money to even get a laptop with. He feels the General's noose closing around his neck, M'gann, can you blame him for making a choice as this?"
30:01 – 30:17
"Unfortunately," John muttered quietly, though many in the room still heard him.
30:18 – 30:41
"Crude," Kara grimaced in slight disgust. "Effective analogue and all but still so very crude."
"Agreed to both counts." Diana stated.
"Hey, it looks like Banner's arrived at his next stop," Dick commented. "Chiapas, huh?"
"He's still a long way from home," Artemis sighed at the still image of the lanky man slowly making his way up a sparsely populated street, practically radiating loneliness. "And with the way he looks… he's got a lot more than distance to cover if he wants to get back."
30:54 – 30:04
"And that's the beauty of an innocent mind," John smiled softly, a sentiment shared by everyone present. "It's not like adults want to ignore the people around us but…"
"Sometimes we just don't notice them," J'onn finished. "There is just so much on our minds, so much to do in so little time that we miss out on the chance to touch lives. We often do our best as the heroes they look up to but even I am guilty of not seeing the man on the corner of the road as John Jones walks by."
"During the War Steven spoke to me about his religious beliefs," Diana started quietly. "He would often try to convince me that the God he worshiped was greater than Zeus."
"Must have had one hell of a time trying to sway you on that one," Oliver smirked, though not entirely teasing. After all, what does a Christian say to living, breathing proof of the Greek Pantheon's existence?
"He had some pretty good points," Diana laughed, though her humor was touched with a hint of regret as it always was when she remembered her old flame. "Anyhow, I remember him saying something -a quote from the Bible- about how we must become like children to enter Paradise."
"Luke eighteen verse seventeen," Raquel said. "I attended Sunday School every day for the first twelve years of my life and I still go whenever I get the chance."
"Well, I may remain unconvinced about Steven's 'Paradise' but I have never denied the truth in those words," The Amazon continued. "I try to live by them where I can, too; after all, the heart of a child knows no bigotry, no divisions, no hate as the minds of adults do."
"Mm… Most kids end up absorbing the intolerance of the adults around them," Kara agreed. "You just need to see a playground at recess to see how open kids are."
31:06 – 31:21
"He's still giving those… sacks a check-up?" Zatanna exclaimed. "He'd fit three of himself into those!"
"He's checking for his… larger half," Dick reminded her. "Better safe than… well, depantsed."
31:24 -31:27
To say that the Cave erupted would have been a gross understatement: Oliver, Wally, Conner, Kara and Raquel exploded in wildly raucous laughter at the scene, using up their oxygen so quickly that they were left gasping within moments, though their laughter continued.
Artemis, Dick, M'gann and Kaldur were far more restrained with their laughter, though they certainly couldn't hold it in and John, Diana and J'onn shared amused smiles.
"You know, I don't get why that was so funny to you," Zatanna frowned at her boyfriend and the rest of the Team. "Not only was that rude and insensitive to the poor woman, her butt wasn't even that big."
"Oh come on, Zee," Artemis giggled. "You can't tell me you didn't think that was a little bit funny."
"Do I have even the tiniest smile on my face?" The magician replied archly. "Like I said, she's not particularly fat anyhow, certainly not compared to the 'forklift throwing' brute we saw; there's really no point in this comparison."
"I'll agree to disagree on this one, Zee," Artemis shrugged. "I think the idea that he could compare her waist to the monster's is what's funny."
31:28 – 31:38
"Well, debatable humor or not, at least now he's got himself a decent pair of emergency clothes," Kara commented as the scene changed to show the man -now clothed in his customary sweatshirt and pants combo- huddled in a corner somewhere. "I wonder-"
31:39 – 31:42
"Wait a second, what was that?!" Conner demanded as, onscreen, Banner jerked out of his sleep. "Rob, play that back!"
"What?"
"From the point where the lightbeam shone on him, pla it back slowly!"
Confused and wondering what his friend could have see, Dick did as Conner asked, reversing to the specified point and playing it in slow-mo.
"Wait, there's something there!" Artemis exclaimed, having caught a glimpse of…. something as the movie slowly rolled past. "Go again, Dick, but slower. Particularly between the gunshots."
Now thoroughly intrigued, every one sat forward in their seats as the playback crawled forward, frame after frame inching past on the screen until…
"What the hell!?" Wally breathed quietly as they stared at the still image of the woman from the newspaper clipping, blood caked on her forehead from a bullet wound. "That… that never happened… did it?"
"You think…" Raquel swallowed quietly. "You think that's what the General meant when he said they'd closed that door to him permanently?"
"He wouldn't," Zatanna growled angrily before her fear slipped through the cracks. "I mean… would he?"
"It's not improbable," Oliver grimaced, knowing that there were those who could do such, before shaking his head. "In this case, though, I think it's Banner's mind that's doing this."
"Wait, you think it's Banner's mind?" Conner frowned. "What, like an illusion? Or a dream or something?"
"More of a nightmare," Dick corrected with a slow nod. "I think I get it… it's the fear, isn't it?"
Oliver -and the rest of the adults present- nodded. "Banner has a literal monster inside of him; more than just a fear for himself, a huge chunk of the fear he's facing is tied to how his problem affects those he loves. In this case, he's afraid she'll get caught in the crossfire one of these days and… well, that could be the end result."
"The really scary part is that it could happen," Conner muttered in a hushed tone. "What with the General's unshakable focus…"
32:01 – 32:09
"Looks like Mister Hotshot just got his 'need to know' pass," Raquel commented as the scene shifted to show both men as they walked through a hangar.
32:11 – 32:21
"Of bloody course," Artemis groaned as she dropped her head into her palms and sighed explosively. "I know we guessed it earlier but it just couldn't be anything but a bloody weapons development program."
"There, there, babe," Wally patted her shoulder. "I'm sure someday we'll have a movie that doesn't abuse some trope or the other."
32:23 – 32:30
"Well, there's another division between our world and wherever these movies came from," Diana pointed out with a hint of surprise in her tone. "To my knowledge, there were no bio-enhancement projects going on during the war."
"Maybe they had something on the hush-hush?" Oliver suggested, to which Diana just shrugged.
"It isn't impossible but if so, it wasn't the Americans' work," She replied. "They were too busy working on the atomic bomb."
32:32 – 32:47
"They should get a hold of Bane's Venom," Dick scoffed. "That oughta get them drooling."
"Dude he said they were trying to make them better not crazier," Wally rejoined with an eyeroll. "Besides, Bane's Venom needs to be supplied into the bloodstream constantly. Maybe they'd prefer Kobra's version?"
"Blergh!" M'gann scrunched up her nose in disgust. "Not even the strength gain is worth the mindless ugliness!"
"It's funny, though," Kaldur sat forward, clearly intrigued by something. "I didn't think about it before but the effect of the Blockbuster and Kobra Venom formulas are extremely similar to whatever happened to Banner."
"Hey… you're right on the money there Kal!" Raquel excitedly smacked a fist into the Atlantean's shoulder. "The main difference is that Banner can change back to himself while the Blockbuster and and KV users can't."
"Yeah but -at least according to you guys- Banner's far less in control of his actions than either Blockbuster or Kobra Venom users," Wally countered, scowling just a bit. "At least Mammoth and Blockbuster are still somewhat reasonable."
"Says the guy that runs away when they throw a punch at him," Conner scowled lightly. "Trust me, those guys are not reasonable."
"Okay, so maybe my choice of words needs a bit of fine-tuning," Wally admitted with a slight wince as he recalled the few times he'd had the bad luck of being on the receiving end of one of Mammoth's punches. "The point about the control issues still stands though."
"Well we've barely seen anything about Banner's Mr Hyde so any comparisons are still pretty premature," Kara pointed out.
"Huh." Dick hummed in thought before nodding. "I'm surprised nobody noticed it sooner. The 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde' undertone to Banner and his monster." He explained when he saw the confusion in Zatanna's eyes. "We ready to go on?" When everyone nodded, he hit the play button.
32:51 – 32:58
"You know, that would actually be a pretty good thing to crack," Raquel hummed thoughtfully. "The applications to that would be pretty widespread."
"Yeah but it would probably require genetic engineering to make it stick," Dick rejoined. "I can't imagine radiation resistance being anything like building a resistance to poisons or something."
The dark skinned girl grimaced at the thought. "Yeah, genetics are definitely the way to go for that."
32:59 – 33:14
"Okay so Smokestack definitely needs a swift kick up the ass," Oliver scowled darkly. "Not only did he not tell Banner what he was really supposed to be doing, now he considers the creation of a rampaging rage monster something going 'very right?' Really?"
"This time, I'm in full agreement," John added, a scowl present on his features as well. "Not communicating the full scope of a mission to a soldier is one thing; not telling a civilian scientist what they're supposed to be working toward? That's begging for disaster."
"Well he's certainly got a decent amount of that," Diana remarked.
33:15
"… he's not exactly wrong…" J'onn started slowly…
"Uncle J'onn!"
…much to the horrified astonishment of his niece.
"I am sorry, M'gann, but it is the truth," The Martian persisted. "Obtained under false pretenses or not, Banner was working for the government and whatever results his research produced legally belong to them. The General's actions, distasteful as they are, do not change that fact just as the fact that Mister Banner now holds the results to his research in his body does not change anything."
"But… he's a person!"
"Which, were the General taking this through the right channels, would change everything." J'onn explained. "In that case, Banner would likely still be treated as a specimen but his input as the head scientist would be sought, together with the input of others who would work to stabilize and correct whatever went wrong in the initial test phase."
"But because things aren't being done on the up and up, we're stuck where we are now," Kara noted. "With the General doing whatever he feels like."
33:18 – 33:31
"And that's what Banner tested on himself," Oliver sighed. "No wonder Ross considers Banner property of Uncle Sam; with how he was running things, Banner must have thought the serum was for radiation resistance without realizing that was the only working sample."
33:32 – 33:38
"He's bullshittin' again," Raquel frowned. "He's avoiding the question."
33:41 – 33:49
"Age comes for all of us. Eventually, we have to stop and realize we can't keep doing what we used to." Oliver admitted. "Of course, it does depend on how well you take care of yourself."
"Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how well you take care of yourself," Wally sighed. "Grandpa Garrick has one of the healthiest lifestyles I know and even he can't move like he used to."
"Guess those sci-fi novels you read haven't figured an out for aging yet," Artemis teased.
"Nah, there are a number of promising hacks," Dick stated. "Peter Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga uses cloning and personality transference to counter aging. Nigel Sheldon was… how old in Pandora's Star?"
"Over four hundred." Raquel replied instantly, earning impressed looks from Dick and Wally. "They're kinda long but the books are really good."
"Any of you have a copy?" John asked. "Sci-fi novels are a good read on really long space patrols."
"I'll have to check but I should have it somewhere up here." Wally offered.
"Thanks."
33:50 – 34:04
"Amen to that," Oliver nodded in agreement. "Skills, knowledge, experience… all that in a body that's just that little bit faster and just that little bit more flexible…"
34:06 – 34:08
"And that's not ominous at all," Wally snarked. "What, does he have a time machine lying around in his back pocket too?"
"That would be stretching the limits of believability," Dick agreed. "Mostly because the big question would be 'why the heck wasn't said time machine already in use?'"
"Considering everything we've just seen?" Zatanna shook her head. "My money's on them finding something relating to this 'Super Soldier' subprogram."
"You think they have a spare serum vial lying around?" Conner asked with an arched eyebrow. "Because that's actually even less believable than the time machine theory. At least we could claim that the time machine is what they just got from Stark Industries."
"… is it weird that I don't find it difficult to believe that Tony could create a time machine?" Artemis asked. When no one who had seen Iron Man responded, she sighed. "So it wasn't just me, then."
"It would probably take him a bit of work and a heck of a lot of reasons but… yeah," Dick admitted. "He probably could."
"Yeah but they'll probably stick to the serum," Oliver added his two cents. "Remember, Smokestack said one serum looked promising which probably meant there were a few other serums that weren't at the top of the list whenever it was that Banner knocked back his version."
"You think they've worked something out with some of the other serums?" John asked, though his tone was more thoughtful than disbelieving.
"I mean, there's no reason to think the General would drop everything to chase Banner exclusively," Oliver shrugged. "There's gotta be a back up of some sort."
"Well… is that legal?" Kara asked, honestly stumped by the question. "I mean, there has to be some sort of law against using people as test subjects."
"I honestly have no clue," John admitted freely. "I suppose it boils down to whether or not the test subject chose to be a test subject: if all the details are laid out for him -the risks, potential benefits, the whole nine yards- if all that is made clear from the start and he still chooses to go along with it then… I guess it's legal?"
"But… that's the stuff that turned Banner into the Hulk, right?" Conner asked hesitantly. "I mean, that can't be good for his health?"
"First off; the Hulk?" Oliver asked.
"Hey, that's the title of the movie!" Conner replied defensively. "I think it's safe to say, at this point, that Banner's monster is the only thing they could be referring to with that."
"Makes sense…" The archer mused. "Anyway, the stuff Blonsky's practically signing up for isn't what made the Hulk; remember, there was only one serum that looked 'promising' and Banner's already got that. My guess is, Blonsky's about to take the Diet Cola version of what Banner got. The Bane Venom to Banner's Kobra Venom, so to speak."
"Oh…" Conner nodded slowly. "Well that-"
Whatever else he was about to say was cut off by a loud shout of:
"Wallace 'Wally' West you get yourself out here right this instant!"
TW:TIH
And here's our next chapter!
There's really not much to add: I'm just making my way out of a nasty illness so I'm still feeling exhausted and my brain feels kinda taffy-ish. If I missed anything you'd like me to explain please ask in the reviews or send me a PM and I'll answer you ASAP.
A huge thanks to the usual trio of Katana of the Blade, Vein Bloodborne and Mr War for their undying support.
Next chapter should be up by the 15th of August.
Later guys.
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