Reboot: Marvel

"Beep, beep, beep, beep."

Medical equipment continued to beep beside his ears.

Stephen Fang tried to open his eyes, only to find that his eyelids felt as heavy as mountains.

The first sensation to return was coldness.

It was not pain, but a deep, irritating numbness, as if his muscles and bones had been soaked in thick oil, too heavy to lift even a fraction.

Stephen Fang laboriously forced his eyelids open, and the blurry patches of color in his vision gradually came into focus.

The glaringly cold white light made him squint uncomfortably.

Metal frames, flashing indicators, wires wrapped around his body. Everywhere he looked, there were cold, impersonal instruments.

He was strapped to an inclined medical bed, like a specimen laid out on an operating table for dissection.

Heh, they really went all out.

He tried to move a finger, but his brain's command vanished like a stone into the sea. All he felt was sluggishness, as though he were wrapped in thick cotton.

The anesthetic was still potent.

Soft footsteps approached, carrying the particular caution of a scientist.

Banner's face, filled with exhaustion and anxiety, appeared above him. Behind those thick lenses, Banner's eyes widened round the instant he saw Stephen Fang's open eyes, his jaw practically dropping.

"OMG!" Banner's voice shot up, filled with incredulous shock. He instinctively adjusted his glasses as though confirming he was not hallucinating. "S-Stephen Fang?! H-how could you possibly be awake?! The dose I just gave you was enough to knock out three adult African elephants! The biosensors said your neural transmission should have been completely suppressed!"

Stephen Fang's throat felt painfully dry. He parted his lips slightly, his voice hoarse and muddled from just waking up. "Being sleepy is only natural." He tried to shift his eyes and survey the