Beast Hank arrived at Brad's private laboratory as promised.
What surprised him, however, was that Ahmed was already waiting there.
Hank found that strange. He had dragged Ahmed through plenty of tests lately, and Ahmed should have been utterly sick of them by now.
Yet all Hank saw was the burly man silently wiping something off the back of his neck with a disinfectant wipe.
Brad stood before a machine, apparently adjusting some settings.
"You're here, Hank?"
Brad greeted him. "I've finished calibrating the equipment. We can start testing now. You can record all the data."
Hank set his doubts aside. His scientific mindset had already taken over completely.
Brad tilted his head toward the equipment, and Ahmed obligingly stepped onto the testing platform.
A hollow metal cylinder descended from the ceiling, enclosing Ahmed. The upcoming tests would release enormous amounts of radiation, so Ahmed's environment had to be isolated from the outside world.
"Begin releasing oxygen."
Hank watched the computer screen nervously, while Brad made a show of placing two fingers against his temple.
In truth, operating all the equipment in the laboratory now took no more than a thought. He did not need to make any gestures.
But Magneto and Professor X both made similar hand gestures when using their powers.
Brad mainly worried that Hank would find it strange otherwise.
"You stopped at fifth energy level radiation last time. I've modified the equipment, so now we can start directly at the fifth energy level."
"Don't worry about Ahmed. The footage from his last test showed him handling the fifth energy level with ease. I think his potential is greater than we imagined."
Since Brad could operate all the equipment alone, Hank had no choice but to stand by. At Brad's explanation, he merely nodded and focused on