Bruce spent most of his waking hours going over what information they had on the Stones they’d been able to examine. His own notes on both the Mind Stone and the Tesseract gave him something to compare when he did the same kinds of tests on the Soul Stone. When those sent into the Soul Stone neither communicated nor returned, Bruce continued his work.
The Other Guy remained quiet. It was almost a concern to Bruce. Almost.
He finally got to a point where he determined there was nothing more he could do outside the Soul Stone. There were a few arguments when he let the others know he was going. Beyond the fact he was one of the few brilliant people left there was the matter of his condition. The fact his system had the gamma radiation levels it did meant that Hank was unsure what kind of effect shrinking and gong into the Soul Stone would have on him. Bruce didn’t care and he made it clear that he wasn’t asking he was telling them he was going. He figured there were probably a few veins of green climbing up his neck because suddenly the discussion was over.
He packed for the trip shoving his research, spare clothes, some rations and a few other things into a messenger bag then grabbed a military grade field medic bag as well. If he found anyone inside they might be injured and some part of him was still a doctor. The journey into the stone was a bit like being drunk, he felt sympathy for the glass of water he had before he left.
Then he was falling. He had a momentary glimpse of the ground before he rolled over and used his body to protect the bags. The landing was softer than he expected but it still hurt. “You’re such an asshole,” he said painfully to his alter ego. He swore the bastard laughed.
“I’m just going to lay right here for a moment,” he said though he did look around. “It’s not that bad.” He paused for a moment. “I’m not saying I’d like to build a summer home here, but the trees are actually quite lovely.”
When he finally got on his feet he was sore, but nothing seemed broken. “Is this some kind of micro universe inside the stone? Astrological events do emit gamma rays so that might explain some things,” he said to himself out loud.
“I knew you’d become a monster. Here you are. Monster inside and out ready to destroy the world like I knew you would.”
Bruce didn’t need to turn to the source of the voice to know who spoke. The voice alone was enough to make him shrink instinctively and feel like a terrified little kid. He backed away when he saw the man standing a few feet from him. “You- you- you can’t- you’re dead,” he said fear making it difficult to form words.
“You would know,” his father said. “After all you are the one that killed me. Told you that you’d go to Hell. Welcome, there are so many people here that want to greet you.”
Bruce couldn’t help it, he began running in a blind panic.