Bruce rubbed his hands together, it was the nerves. He was getting caught up in the moment. Trent had called him up and said he wanted to discuss his big green problem. Bruce didn't know if he suspected anything, Natasha wanted him to play it cool, see if he could coax anything out of him. Natasha was a beautiful woman and she had a lot of talent at that sort of thing.

Bruce had a big, green problem that was threatening to burst out of him at any minute but he also didn't want to disappoint her, so he was going to try.

Good luck with that.

"Dr. Banner," Trent said, opening a door to his office in the SWORD facility in California. Trent was a tall man, always impeccably dressed and with his hair carefully cared for. He had a five o'clock shadow that made him look roguish today, but tomorrow he could have a clean shave and a jawline to envy or next week a full, reddish beard. He was always a good looking guy. "Please, come inside."

Bruce followed him into the office, a space with dark wood, comfortable chairs, and surprisingly warm paint colors. Bruce had expected more books and bookshelves, but the only books were on his desk, a neat little stack of paperback action novels, pulpy, popular stuff that followed action heroes from the government thwarting terrorists. Was that a display for his benefit? Was it how he unwound? Who knew. There was a picture of his family on a wall, a professional looking photograph, and a picture from his wedding, which Bruce had attended, on his desk. The pictures made Bruce feel a little guilty. The feeling didn't make sense - Having a family didn't make you a good guy, Stalin had a family, Mussolini had a family.

"Mr. Trent," Bruce said, extending his hand. "I'm always amazed that you don't have a few PhDs before that name." It was a common enough form of flattery, there wasn't any harm in it. It was also true - The man who had defined the last five years of human civilization with his work and collaborations didn't even have a bachelor's degree.

Trent shook Bruce's hand before laughing with seemingly genuine humility, "I had enough school in a previous life," he said. "I don't think I'd have the attention span for the sort of doctoral work you did."

"It was interesting work," Bruce said honestly. Those had been heady days, his nose deep in a book, his brain running a mile a minute, surrounded by colleagues, arguing about theory. God, Bruce did miss having colleagues. His own folly had taken that from him. He'd been so sure… But that was a long time ago. He had the green guy now for company. "Nothing's boring if you look close enough at it." Did that come out sounding like a threat? Bruce hadn't meant it as a threat. Was he giving himself away right now?

"I guess you're right," Trent said with a smile, "But I confess to an ambition for writing on the wall, mene, mene, tekel parsan, kind of subjects."

"I don't get the reference," Bruce said, looking at Trent as he sat down behind his desk. It was hard to imagine him as being a nefarious figure who'd tried to put down rebels in Sokovia. But the evidence pointed that way, for sure.

"It's biblical, it was a prophecy of the fall of Babylon and the judgment of God, interpreted by the prophet Daniel."

"And you're Daniel?" Bruce asked. This guy had an ego at least.

Trent pinched his nose and said, "Well, I'm just trying not to be Belshazzar. The guy getting judged."

"That's understandable," Bruce said. It was. Earth had come to the brink too many times in the last few years. "So, why'd you call me in today?"

"I was thinking that I was the world's second most qualified expert on your condition," Trent said, "And I wanted to offer you my expertise."

"Why do you say you're an expert?"

"Well, I made the Monstrosity with a fairly similar program to the one that created the Hulk. Used Tesseract gamma radiation instead of standard, but the principles should have at least some overlap. And the Monstrosity retained his mind."

"The Monstrosity is his big blue self all the time though."

"It's more of an issue for him at fifteen feat then it would be for you at eight."

Bruce knew his face had not shown a ton of interest at that. The idea of being the Hulk full time was not at all appealing. And if history was any guide, a government agent like Trent wouldn't be able to resist taking a shot at his blood. Especially a government agent who was as famous for breaking rules and cutting corners as Trent had become in his rise to super stardom.

Trent spoke before Bruce could contemplate an appropriate response, "I can see you don't like the idea of being green."

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"It's, uh, I mean, no offense, but I have my issues with the green guy."

"He saved the world. A lot of great people in the world."

Natasha. The green guy had saved Natasha. Trent had the decency not to say it, since he had been the one who had designed the poison gas. "I'm not saying he doesn't have his virtues," Bruce said after a moment. "But I've got him under management. I'm not saying he's never helpful but… I don't want to be the Hulk full time."

"Dr. Banner, can I have permission to say something blunt?"

"Do you need it?" Bruce hated that kind of question. It was always so presumptuous. It always implied that you couldn't or shouldn't say no.

Trent looked a little offended but after a moment, he tilted his head in internal concession and said, "Yeah, of course I need permission - We barely know each other, even if you did come to my wedding. You're welcome to say no, take my card, and come back when you want to. Or don't. I'm not going to tell you how to live your life." Trent held out a business card to Bruce across the desk and Bruce reached out and grabbed it.

It was a nice business card, clearly Trent's government business card. SWORD, Coordinator of International Development and Education, and an office number. Bruce wanted to take it and tuck it into his pocket and walk out the door. But he'd come here to get information.

"How about you go ahead and say your something blunt and I decide if I'm going to walk out afterward."

"What happens if the next time you go under, he has you under management?"

"That won't happen," Bruce said instantly, but then the thought started gnawing at him. Bruce was smarter than the other guy, yeah, and he had more clarity of self… But the green guy had a will like nothing else and a fury inside him that Bruce was always holding on a leash. "Look, it could happen. Anything could happen. But why start caring now?"

"The Hulk was never a global threat and you never asked," Trent said. "But…" his eyes got distant here and he stared off, "Maybe I'm jumping at shadows. But the universe was almost destroyed last November."

Bruce did a double take, "Jesus…"

"That's not what we put in the paper, just an alien artifact of mass destruction, but they tried to destroy all life. We got lucky. Lucky Thor was there. We're a protectorate of Asgard and if ever they should decide that we're too much of a risk…"

They could abandon us. "And you think the other guy could replace him?" It was only Bruce asked this that he realized that something that happened eight months ago wasn't going to cut it as a reason for doing it right now.

"It would be a start," Trent said.

"And you want to replicate him. To turn all of the Defense Team into big green humanoid dragons."

"I… Yes. Obviously I want that."

"I won't do it." There was no way he was going to put that much power in the hands of SWORD. Armies upon armies of green men, stronger than tanks, immune to injury, burning through the land like living bombs. Even one Blonsky would kill hundreds and ruin thousands of lives.

"What if I promised you that I wouldn't use the research. It's use would be your sole discretion."

Trent's word wasn't worth anything and everyone knew it. Even a binding government contract would only last until an emergency justified it, just like Loki's invasion. Bruce wasn't going to agree to the deal. Even if Trent could deliver on a full time Green Bruce, he didn't want that. "That's a big promise. Why now? Why not seven months ago?"

Trent pursed his lips together in thought and then said, "I had a recent visit from Odin. The topic wasn't cheerful."

That had been an honest answer, "What, are you afraid Asgard is going to attack us?"

"I don't think it was Odin's intention to convey that message to me," Trent said. It was very precise language. think, intention, convey. But what It amounted to was that Trent had been spooked by a conversation with one of the very few people more powerful than him. The father of a man who had broken Trent to his will. Bruce didn't blame him for the anxiety, but he didn't feel it was well placed. Powerful people, they usually didn't do well being made to feel small.

"I'll think about it," Bruce lied, doing his best not to massage his palms like he usually did. Natasha pointed it out whenever he got nervous. She didn't mean anything by it - It was just her training working itself out in her observations.

He wondered if Trent had caught his hesitation. "Alright," Trent said heavily. "I guess I can't ask you to rush this kind of decision. It's important, I understand that."