Bruce sighed as he waited for his next visitor, he knew who it would be, there was only one other person left in this place who would want to speak to him. Ross would want to gloat about besting Bruce in the end and how he was going to use the Hulk as a part of the military. He watched the door carefully noting that Ross hadn't come in yet, maybe he was making him bask in the post break up despair. It hurt him to do that to Betty but it was for her own good and that was good enough for him in the end.
The knob of the door finally turned and Thaddeus Ross walked into the room silently looking Bruce up and down. He took the seat across from him and pulled out a folder, setting it down on the table and looking at Bruce.
"Thank you for letting me say goodbye to Betty" said Bruce wanting to get that out there before things got more hostile between the two of them. Ross kept a stern look showing no emotion or any hint on what he was thinking. He opened the folder and started lining up photos in front of Bruce. Some of the pictures were of demolished buildings but most of them were bodies and Bruce realized that Ross was showing him the victims of the Hulk.
"I didn't let you talk to Betty for you, it was for her. She needed to see you and you needed to end it so she can move on" explained Ross staring bullets into Bruce's eyes. "Did it ever occur to you if you had surrendered to me in New York after your transformation that all of these people could have returned to their families. They could be sitting down right now enjoying dinner with husbands and wives, perhaps a few of them had children to get home too."
Bruce's guilt returned to him in full force, all the destruction that Hulk had caused in the less than a year that Hulk had been on this earth. All the people around him had almost made him forget everything that the Hulk had done "You will rot in a prison cell until the day you die and then you will rot in hell that I guarantee you."
"I never intended for any of this to happen and I am sorry for what has happened but you can't use this. It can't be controlled, the Hulk has urges I can barely keep them under control and I have learned dozens of techniques and it hasn't been good enough. It's too much for anyone to control, you have to see that" pleaded Banner hoping he could convince Ross to let the Hulk die in some hole somewhere.
"You can't control it Bruce, I will find someone who will" replied Ross.
"Who? Someone like that Blonsky guy cause I can tell you right now that guy does not have anything under control right now" explained Bruce hoping to breakthrough to Ross in some way.
Ross stood up and started pacing the room, Bruce could feel his belief starting to slip, Bruce wasn't fighting for his own skin he was trying to protect the rest of the world from the madness that could be unleashed if Ross and the military could weaponize someone with Hulk-like abilities.
"Maybe he's right" Ross thought to himself. He might not like Bruce but he did not doubt the brains of his prisoner. It was kind of funny for Ross now that he was thinking about it, there was a time when he would have taken Banner's word but the months of chasing the man around the globe and witnessing the destruction he caused had warped the relationship beyond repair at this point. Bruce wanted nothing to do with him and he wanted nothing to do with Bruce but getting his hands on the Hulk was too important, if he failed to bring some kind of super powered assets for the military he could easily be forced into early retirement.
Talbot was sitting in the observation room when he heard a commotion outside in the hall, he walked out and stopped one of the soldiers that was running around "What's going on?" he asked.
The soldier looked at him and stated "The Hulk is loose in the city."
"That doesn't make sense" said Talbot as he pulled a tablet from the soldier and pulled up the news stations that were reporting a monster rampaging through Harlem. He entered into the interrogation room.
"I'm not finished talking with him yet" yelled Ross when Talbot entered.
"Sir, we have a major problem" informed Talbot who handed the hand held device to Ross to let him see.
Ross watched carefully and Bruce looked on using the mirror to get a glimpse of the screen but all he needed to do was hear it. Something was rampaging through the streets of New York and it wasn't the Hulk.
Ross thought for a second and looked out into the hallway "Sir, the doctor we took into custody is gone" came a voice.
"Find Blonsky right now" he said as several men went running through the base looking for Blonsky. Ross knew in his bones that Sterns being gone could not have been done without his approval except for Blonsky who could bully his way into any situation at this point.
"You know as well as I do he's not here anymore" stated Banner from inside the interrogation room. Ross looked at Bruce knowing in his gut that he was right but he hoped he was wrong, bringing in the Hulk was nearly impossible but Hulk was easier to predict, but Blonsky was trained if he managed to transform himself into some kind of monster bringing him in or down might prove to be beyond human possibility.
Bruce got nervous, another monster out there is one thing but his mind kept flashing to Blonsky and his "See you soon" statement, if Sterns had been convinced to give Blonsky the cure mixed with Bruce's blood he could easily cause a similar reaction in Blonsky.
A soldier came running up confirming what both Ross and Bruce had feared, Blonsky was gone and the guard of the cell said that Blonsky visited the cell just before the doctor escaped custody. Ross finally managed to get his hands on video footage of the monster attacking New York.
The beast was huge and it looked dead into a security camera, "ROSS!" it shouted "Bring me the Hulk" it said before the footage cut out.