The Comprehensive Evolution of American Comics.

Chapter 498 The Origin of Robert Reynolds
"We found him!"

Who is speaking?
Bruce Banner seemed to hear someone shouting in a trance. He wanted to get up and get his glasses on the bedside table as usual, but found that he could not move. He felt waves of pain in his body, but he could not make any sound.

Then he passed out again, and when he woke up, Bruce found that he seemed to be moving. He tried to open his eyes and found that a fully armed soldier was standing above his head. He also saw the ruins around him out of the corner of his eye.

'What happened?'

Bruce's memories began to emerge in bits and pieces.

...

"Are you sure you want to sign this contract, Mr. Reynolds?"

Although the man in front of him was a little unkempt, the undisguised wisdom in him showed his extraordinaryness.

Bruce Banner, the man in front of him introduced himself the first time he saw him and shook hands with him very politely. This was something Robert Reynolds, who came from the bottom of society, had never experienced in his life.

"Yes... yes, sir." Robert sat awkwardly in the chair, his hands hidden under the table constantly rubbing the corners of his clothes, forming a sharp contrast with Bruce who was calm and composed opposite him.

"Why, Mr. Reynolds?" Bruce leaned forward. "You know this is human experimentation, right? I mean, do you understand human experimentation?"

"I know, I know." Robert was startled by Bruce leaning forward in the soil, his body curled up even more compactly, looking like a baby penguin hiding under his parents' crotch.

"Before I came here, a staff member had already explained everything to me, and I had read all the relevant documents. The staff member was very kind. Knowing that I couldn't afford a lawyer, he still wanted to help me apply for a lawyer. After I refused, he even explained everything to me."

"That's what he should do, Mr. Reynolds. You're just enjoying your rights." Bruce adjusted his glasses. "I saw your medical report. You have liver cancer, right?"

"Yes." Robert's face turned even paler when he heard the word liver cancer. His breathing stopped for a few seconds before he continued weakly.

"I've been living a lazy life before. Do you know those short videos circulating online about bullying mutants?"

"I know." Bruce frowned, and the disgust in his eyes could not be concealed at all, but that was because Robert was still talking, so he just answered the question and did not make any comments.

"I used to make a living by filming that." Robert lowered his head in shame. Bruce's eyes were like two sharp swords piercing his heart. In the past, he would not care about such looks. As long as he could have enough to eat, everything would be fine. Now, maybe he is about to die, so he thinks what a bastard he used to be.

"We started out with about five or six people, one of whom was our boss. He led us in filming these videos. Because of the June 616th incident, our team made a small fortune from these videos."

"But unfortunately, none of this is my thing." Robert gave a dry smile, as if mocking himself. "I'm too frail to bully others. I can't even lift anything big, so I can only do odd jobs. And our team is paid according to work."

Although what they did was not decent, Robert had to admit that the boss who tried to find a way to make money for them was indeed very loyal. Not only did he not get rid of the useless Robert, he even paid him a salary for small things like serving tea and water, which anyone could do.

But this money was just enough for Robert to live on. Fortunately, the boss provided him with meals during the filming, otherwise Robert would have lived even more poorly than he does now. Fortunately, Robert also saved some money.

"Life is tough. Although people hate us and dogs despise us, we can still survive." When he said the word 'survive', a hint of longing appeared in Robert's eyes.

"Until one day, we hit a wall." Robert paused, looking timidly at Bruce. "Did you know about the murder case in Hell's Kitchen?" "I've heard of it," Bruce recalled. Although he was always in the lab, Betty would always tell him about the news when she came over. He knew about this metahuman case that required the Supreme Squadron, his brother-in-law, to take action.

"Those dead were our team," Robert said, his smile uglier than tears. "I was lucky. I was sent out to buy pizza, so I managed to avoid it."

Bruce didn't know how to respond. He couldn't bring himself to say words of comfort like "Rest in peace" because they were a bunch of bastards who abused mutants. But looking at Robert's expression and his upbringing, he also couldn't say anything like "It seems like! Open the champagne!"

"That scene scared me." Robert seemed to recall the horrific scene and trembled like a quail in the water. "I almost vomited my internal organs."

Robert grabbed the cup in front of him, but didn't drink it. He just held it. The temperature of the iced coffee finally calmed him down.

"…After that incident, I never worked in a related field again. I realized how precious life is, so I asked for help from friends and finally found a decent job."

"Perhaps this was punishment for our previous atrocities. The boss and the others were killed by the mutants they had bullied. But God hasn't forgotten me, who luckily survived. I took the pre-employment physical, and the result, as you know, is liver cancer. Although it hasn't shown advanced symptoms yet, it's probably not far away."

Robert seemed to have lost his soul, relying only on the skeleton in his body to support himself and prevent himself from collapsing to the ground.

"When I got the medical report, I felt like the sky was falling. I didn't even know how I was going to get home. You know, I can't afford the money needed for cancer treatment, not to mention the chances of success are so pitifully small."

Robert pulled his hand back and placed it on the corner of his clothes, his pupils filled with bloodshot.

"But I want to live. I really want to live."

"That's why you came to us, pinning your hopes on the super soldier serum." Bruce looked at Robert in front of him seriously.

"Actually, it was your staff who came to me." Robert complained in his heart, but someone had warned him before he came to see Bruce. He knew there were some things he couldn't say to the scientist in front of him, so he could only nod and acknowledge Bruce's words.

"I must remind you, Mr. Robert, that the full effects of the Super Soldier Serum on humans are unknown. It's even possible that it could worsen cancer after injection."

Bruce wasn't really trying to scare Robert with these words. This was how experiments worked. There were too many unknowns involved, and Bruce couldn't tell whether Robert would become a superhuman after being injected with the serum, or would get a super cancer named after him.

"It won't be worse than it is now." Robert shook his head. He was not scared by Bruce's words. He was a coward. Faced with his life coming to an end, he longed for treatment, but deep down he knew that it was impossible.

Cancer was like a wild beast chasing him. Although it had not yet caused him much harm, the process of escaping had exhausted him.

But he didn't have the courage to commit suicide, so he resolutely accepted this human experiment with a very low chance of survival and a high probability of death.

"Life and death are both my desires, and I will not lose anything no matter which one."

Robert comforted himself in this way.

(End of this chapter)