The next day when Bruce woke up he was greeted with the smell of breakfast being cooked. When he walked out into the living room he saw Betty over in the kitchen cooking which made him smile. As he approached she turned around with a skillet in her hand, she smiled when she saw him and said, “I was just about to wake you up.”
Bruce started to smile back before he frowned and said, “Sorry about yesterday… I thought I had the transformations somewhat under control.”
Betty shook her head as she finished plating the food and said, “No, it was partly my fault… I didn’t want to believe you.”
Bruce and Betty spent the next half an hour talking as they slowly ate breakfast. Once they were done they moved to the living room and just talked on the couch for a couple of hours until someone knocked on the front door. Betty and Bruce glanced at it before it creaked open a little bit and Ezekiel said, “Are you guys naked or can we come in?”
Ezekiel let out a grunt of pain a moment later before he asked, “What the hell was that for?”
“You know exactly what that was for.” A woman said before Ezekiel replied, “OH! I forgot you were a pervert like toad sage and probably wanted me to just open the door.”
“Ouch! Hey, not the face!” Ezekiel said before he cried out in pain again.
Bruce and Betty shared a glance before they got up and went to the front door to open it fully. Outside the door they found Ezekiel bound to a tree by glowing red bands of energy as a red haired woman poked him in the chest and said, “Don’t you dare compare me to that pervert.”
Ezekiel with a red handprint on his face glanced over towards the door and smiled at Bruce and Betty as he said, “Hey guys, looks like you were dressed.”
“Umm, what exactly is going on here?” Betty asked as she glanced between the red haired woman and Ezekiel.
Ezekiel tried to shrug as he said, “My master has a temper worse than your boyfriend, I personally blame it on her red hair and teenage hormones… She also has a BDSM fetish, which is why I am forced to call her master and currently tied up .”
Betty’s eyes widened slightly as Tao turned an icy glare towards Ezekiel and said, “Just for that comment, you're getting extra training for three months.”
“Three months?!” Ezekiel said as the color drained from his face.
Tao nodded as she added, “Full contact sparring for the duration too.”
Ezekiel looked like he lost the will to live as Tao turned around and said, “Miss. Ross, Dr. Banner, I’m The Ancient One. Sorry for the late introduction, but my apprentice likes to run his mouth.”
Both of them glanced at Ezekiel who was still tied to the tree with a hollow look in his eyes before they turned back to Tao. Tao smiled at them both as she said, “Can we come inside? We came here to discuss something important with you.”
“Umm, sure. Come on in.” Bruce said as he stepped out of the way and gestured into the house.
As Tao walked towards the house the spell binding Ezekiel disappeared and he was released from the tree. He slowly followed Tao inside and once everyone was settled down in the living room, Tao turned to Ezekiel who looked depressed and asked, “Are you going to tell them why we’re here?”
Ezekiel glanced up at Tao who raised an eyebrow before she nodded towards Bruce and said, “This was your idea, you explain it to them.”
Ezekiel slowly glanced at Bruce before he asked, “Do you wanna get rid of Hulk?”
Bruce nodded quickly as he said, “Yes, of course I do.”
Betty frowned as she asked, “You told me yesterday that Bruce and Hulk were the same person? How could you get rid of one of them?”
“We want to split his soul in half and give each of them half of it.” Ezekiel said with a monotone voice.
Ezekiel nodded as he said, “Yeah, it will be the best way to split the two of them apart.”
Bruce frowned as he asked, “Souls are real?”
Betty nodded in agreement to Bruce’s question before she asked, “If… If souls are real… Wouldn’t splitting his soul in half be a bad thing?”
“Souls are pretty resilient and any damage they take will heal after a while.” Tao said before she pointed at Ezekiel and said, “He regularly damages his soul and it heals within a few days to a week.”
“That said, the more a soul is damaged. The longer it takes to heal.” Tao said to Betty and Bruce who still looked unconvinced.
After a few moments Ezekiel asked, “So what do you think?”
Bruce shared a glance with Betty before he said, “I'm not sure about the soul part… But if it can get rid of Hulk I'm willing to try it.”
Betty glanced at Bruce with concern as she asked, “I'm not sure about the soul being a real thing either… Are you sure you want to do something though?”
“Absolutely. I don't wanna live the rest of my life knowing at any moment I could lose control and change into that thing.”
“Hulk isn't a thing.” Ezekiel said with a slight shake of his head.
“I don't care what Hulk is or isn't. I don't want it taking over my body anymore.”
Betty reached over and took Bruce’s hand and gave it a squeeze before she said, “Okay… Do it and I'll be with you through the entire thing.”
Bruce squeezed Betty’s hand back before he looked at Ezekiel and asked, “What do we have to do?”
Ezekiel glanced towards Tao who stood up and created a portal before she said, “Follow me.”
Both Betty and Bruce looked at the portal cautiously as Ezekiel stood up and followed Tao through it. A few moments later Betty and Bruce joined them on the other side before they followed them to the magic school in Genosha. As they entered the school, Bruce and Betty noticed the handful of people there practicing magic and started to discuss with each other what they could be doing. If it was innate powers or some kind of technology that each person was using to create what they saw.
Ezekiel just shook his head but kept his comments to himself since most science types rarely believed in magic at first. They moved to the bottom of the school through some hidden and locked passages before they arrived at the hidden chamber Ezekiel used to portal to Hel. Setup inside the chamber was a large runic circuit that encompassed three circles in a line. The circles were connected together and made out of vibranium along with a few other precious metals. Each one was inscribed with runic script and connected to the circles in the middle was a small stand.
Bruce and Betty glanced at everything in the room as Tao moved over to check everything. As she did that Ezekiel said, “In a few minutes you will need to stand in the middle circle after she confirms everything is ready.”
“What exactly is this?” Bruce asked as he looked over all the foreign runic script.
Betty nodded in agreement as she added, “I thought you were going to use some special machines or something?”
“We never said anything about using machines… This is runic based magic and best used for rituals like the one you are about to go through.” Ezekiel said as he pointed at the circles on the ground.
Bruce shared a glance with Betty before he asked, “Is this safe?”
“It’s safer than the experiment you performed on yourself.” Tao said after she finished checking the circles.
Tao moved back to the middle circle and sat down next to the small stand as she said, “If you would please step into the circle in front of me and we can get started.”
As Bruce moved towards the circle, Betty pulled him back before she gave him a deep kiss and after she let him go, she said, “For good luck.”
Bruce had a stupid smile on his face as he walked over to the middle circle where Tao said, “Please sit in the middle of the circle.”
As Bruce sat down Ezekiel motioned Betty to follow him as he stepped back from the runic spell scripts on the ground. Once they were near the entrance to the chamber he touched a ward on the wall and injected magic into it. A soft glowing barrier appeared in front of him and Betty and blocked them from entering back into the chamber fully.
Once that was in place Ezekiel said, “You might not want to watch this part.”
Betty glanced at Ezekiel with a slightly frown as she asked, “Why? What's going to happen?”
“He's about to be ripped in half.” Ezekiel said as Tao took out the device that contained the soul stone and placed it on the stand.
Betty’s eyes widened and her voice raised as she asked, “Ripped in half?!? But you said it had to do with his soul?”
Ezekiel just nodded and pointed towards the circles where Tao was in the process of starting the ritual. As Tao waved the spell together Ezekiel said, “She is splitting his soul… But also his body too. The Hulk has his own body which is the same but also different from Bruce.”
Betty looked at Bruce in concern as she said, “Maybe we shouldn't do this… You said he could learn how to control the Hulk right?”
“Too late, it's already started… Besides, Bruce wouldn't want to wait twenty years to figure it out.”
As the ritual began in earnest, Betty watched with anxiousness filled eyes as orange colored strands of light slowly wrapped around and through him. For the first few minutes everything was fine, but once Tao unsealed the soul stone and weaved it into the spell he grunted in pain. As Bruce started to moan in pain Betty attempted to move towards him and was stopped by the barrier Ezekiel placed.
Betty turned towards Ezekiel and said in an urgent tone, “You need to stop this, Bruce is in pain. She's hurting him!”
“Did you think this was gonna be easy? I told you, we’re splitting his body and soul in half.” Ezekiel said before he pointed towards Bruce and said, “This isn't even the hard part, it's why I said you probably shouldn't watch this.”
Betty turned to glance at Ezekiel and when she caught his eyes, her eyes glazed over and she collapsed. Ezekiel caught her and placed her on the ground as he said, “That's better.”
After he made sure Betty was completely under genjutsu, he turned back towards Bruce who was currently screaming in pain. It was a weird mix of him and the Hulk as he would shift in between each other. Part of his body was normal while part of it was Hulk's larger green frame. As the spell continued and more streams of light came from the soul stone to connect with Bruce, a change started to happen.
Slowly he was pulled towards one of the runic circles while at the same time Hulk was being pulled towards the other. It was amazing to watch but looked incredibly painful as both Bruce and Hulk screamed in agony as it happened. It started with their heads first which made it easier for both of them to scream at the same time.
Slowly the streams of light from the soul stone ripped Hulk and Bruce apart bit by bit. The whole process took almost an hour and when it finished both Bruce and Hulk were passed out in one of the circles. Ezekiel lowered the barrier when it finished and walked over to Tao who stood up before she used a spell on Bruce and Hulk to lift them into the air. Tao then turned to Ezekiel and said, “They'll probably be out for a few days after what they just went through.”
Tao glanced towards Betty who was on the floor and asked, “What happened to her?”
“She was freaking out after you started, so I put her to sleep.”
Tao nodded slightly before she said, “Let's take them back and then go start your training.”
Ezekiel started to sweat before he said, “It was only a joke.”
“I know. But your training isn’t.” Tao said with a smirk.