"Who are you?" asked the man. He had pretty much been minding his own business, when an old man wearing a trench coat walked up, proposing a deal that could 'solve most of his problems'.
Which was very doubtful… unless this guy could get total access to massive amounts of money to continue his research.
"You've never heard of me before, but my name is … Mephisto. Now tell me, Bruce Banner, how is it that I can't help you when the simple fact of the matter is, in truth, I can give you total control over the Hulk?"
"WHAT? How is that possible?"
"All I ask in return is your soul and your service as my bounty hunter, the Ghost Rider."
After a moment of brief thought, Bruce replied, "Wait, isn't there already a Ghost Rider?"
"Yes, three in fact. But two of them no longer work for me, and the other is weak, pathetic. But you, Bruce, you could very well be the answer to my problems, just as I could be the answer to yours."
Bruce was in turmoil, but he never stood a chance.
"We both know that you simply can't afford to refuse this arrangement. I mean, just think of all the innocent people that were hurt by the Hulk, and of all the innocents to come. But with my help, the Hulk will never again put the lives of innocent civilians at needless risk! You could use the Hulk to truly help people, maybe even get that windbag Ross to quit hunting you and, just maybe, he would approve of you being with Betty. You do want to be with Betty, don't you?"
Bruce Banner, AKA the Incredible Hulk, signed the contract. At the moment, he felt no ill effects. That would change soon enough. And it would begin with pain… an all but literal baptism by fire.
He began to burn, the flesh melting away. But the more he burned, the more suffered, and the more he suffered, the more he began to rage.
His agony was driving him insane… infuriating him. The adrenaline was pumping through his mutated genes, the radiation mixing with the mystic hellfire flowing through his bones.
Night had come; his pain dulled. At first clouded by anger, his mind slowly began to clear. He found himself by a lake, was both horrified and fascinated by his reflection: a flaming skeleton, like the Ghost Rider, but the flames were green, like burning ink, and this skeleton was actually taller than The Hulk, standing at nine feet and five inches tall.
Mephisto spoke from behind him.
"Bruce, I've given you complete control over the Hulk's raging strength, and, with time, you will learn to manipulate the abilities of the Ghost Rider. You can use either 'form' at a time, and, as you are now, combine them and use all the collective power of both. You are stronger, no, simply more powerful than any other Ghost Rider, in fact, you could fight all three others and win."
"So what am I? Ghost-Hulk? Or maybe… Hulk-Rider?"
"Use what ever name you like. But I've got some work for you to do. And you will comply."
"What is it that you want done?"
"Simple, Bruce. I want you to stop the Juggernaut's rampage. You may do so however you please."
"What've you got to do with the Juggernaut?"
"He's been trying to obtain a certain gem, known as the Devils' Opal. With it, he would nearly be able to take over my realm, and use its powers to destroy all humans. If he chose not do so, he certainly might anyway, because no living human, not even a Ghost Rider, could have all the powers of Hell without being either controlled by it, or else torn apart from within."
"And why do you want humanity saved from destruction? If they all died, you'd get a lot of souls."
"True, but it's a long-term investment, of sorts. If everyone died today, no potential sinners could be born tomorrow, and so after I got all of those souls, I would get no more afterwards. So the longer humanity remains, the more souls I could take. In the end, my profit will compound itself in interest."
"Fine. But where is he?"
"Don't you watch the news, Banner? He's in New York, and if you want specifics, he's going to visit the Museum of Natural History. You don't have to kill him or burn his soul, just… incapacitate him."
"Fine."
"Oh, and the Devil's Opal? Bring it to me… I let a human borrow it some time ago, and he died before I got it back."
"Who was it?"
"A man named… Faust, I believe."
_________
Bruce, in the form of Hulk-Rider, was moving at insane speeds towards NY. The night was over before he arrived, but at least he made it to Gettysburg before that.
Ghost Riders normally drove a hellfire motorcycle these days, but Bruce, being much larger, had merely gotten an equally larger motorcycle, about the size of a rhino.
As he neared the city, he reverted back to his normal self; he needed a plan. And sure enough, right on schedule, the Juggernaut appeared and started trashing the streets on his way. Chaos reigned, despite a few X-men arriving to try and prevent casualties.
"NOTHING CAN STOP THE JUGGERNAUT!"
Wolverine, Colossus, and Cyclops were going all-out, but couldn't stop him.
"Oh, yeah, well take this, you overgrown crybaby!"
Some random civilian muttered, "Whoa, I didn't know that mutant could fly, too."
And so Wolverine did fly… right into the Juggernaut's fist, and then fly back.
As the red behemoth began walking up the steps, he realized that there was a puny shrimp in his way. Just as he was about to step on the little prick, it spoke.
"You're making me angry. I don't think you want that."
And so, Bruce Banner's flesh started to become green, he grew to seven feet tall, and was even more muscle-bound than his opponent.
"You think you're Unstoppable? Meet the Incredible."
It was the Unstoppable Juggernaut vs. the Incredible Hulk.
And the poor Juggernaut was doomed from the start.
He leaped at the Hulk, and managed to punch him back about twelve feet, but then got his comeuppance in the form of a 20-ton punch, or that was the equivalent.
If the Juggernaut's attacks were like getting hit by a fully loaded freight train at 100 MPH, then the Hulk's were like getting hit by Mt. Rushmore at 250 MPH.
And while Juggernaut was slightly faster, the Hulk just got stronger and stronger, until he grabbed his opponent by the face (still in its helmet mind you) and threw him so hard that he didn't land until he reached The Vault.
The Hulk showed no signs of injury, but he was almost invulnerable and did have a healing factor.
His face was completely impassive. And then, he asked, "What are you wimps staring at? Never seen a giant green guy before?"
Then, before anyone had a chance to respond, he started morphing back into his human form—even his clothes had regenerated—and walked into the Museum. Once he was in the shadows, Bruce managed to channel some of the Ghost Rider's supernatural speed, grabbing the Opal and leaving a written note:
To the Museum of Natural History:
This Opal is the property of Mephisto, to whom I have returned it. I am sorry for any inconvenience.
A Ghost Rider
Then, after pointlessly strolling around for a few minutes, he heard a magnified voice from outside shouting for him to exit with his hands up and surrender.
Calmly walking back towards the entrance/exit, Bruce muttered, "This, I believe, is the first time he's said that… and hasn't led to a few million dollars worth of damage."
Then, once again out in the daylight, Bruce casually waved to the various tanks, mechanized combat units, and other military vehicular units. He called out, "General Ross! Nice weather today, isn't it?"
The grey-bearded general was about to start yelling obscenities at the scientist, but stopped and asked, "What?" Then, remembering his megaphone, he shouted, "Banner, get in that containment unit right now, or else!"
Bruce shrugged and followed his directions, cheerfully shouting, "Contrary to popular belief, I'm not out to get you, General! No hard feelings, right?"
Still fairly confused and off-kilter, Ross merely got in his Jeep without saying a word.
____________
(A few hours later, at a secret military base…)
Bruce sat on a bed in his cell, cheerily whistling a tune he'd just come up with. The various people who had been running different types of tests on him were at a total loss regarding how he could have possibly gained control over the Hulk.
When somebody asked him, Bruce coolly lied, "I just woke up one morning, got angry, and nothing happened. Then, I turned into the Hulk on purpose, and was able to revert at will."
So, after another day or two of examinations, including both physical and psychological, his fellow scientists released him back into the world. However, not without precautions….
"Banner, I want you to wear this tracking device. We can't take the risk that whatever… apparent cure you've found might wear off and without us knowing exactly where you are."
Bruce calmly took the tracking mechanism and after a couple minutes of tinkering, applied it to his watch. As he did so, the world's foremost scientist on gamma radiation said, "Hey Ross, don't sweat it. I'm cool with a leash, at least while it's reasonable. Now then, if I'm released from quarantine, am I free to go meet my visitors… all two of them?"
The last part he'd said with a bit of a smirk.
"Fine, just go already."
Bruce walked out the door and into the sunlight, smiling as he approached his best friend and the love of his life. "Hey guys, guess who's out of the slammer?"
Instantly, both heads turned to him in shock, watching as he casually waved.
"Bruce?" they both shouted.
As they ran over to meet him, Rick asked, "Is it true—that you can finally control the Hulk?"
"As a matter of fact, I can. Would you care for a demonstration?"
Rick was slightly unnerved, but Betty had complete faith as she said, "If you want to, then go ahead."
"Alright then, just hold on a moment." He then closed his eyes, calling out to the rage inside him, taming and funneling it into calmly withheld wrath. His skin began turning green, as did his hair, and he started growing in size. But now, instead of the growth ripping his clothes apart, they merged into his body, while his pants simply stretched to fit.
Usually, when the transformation was complete, the Hulk would roar in anger, but this time, he simply said (in his altered voice) "Top o' the morning to ya!"
Then, he punched the ground, tearing out a huge slab of earth before crushing it in his bare hands. Then, he began to revert exactly the way he had transformed. His pants fit normally again, and his other clothes reappeared… even his glasses.
Now completely Bruce Banner again, he said, "Now you can kick me, bite me, knife me, and shoot my dog, but I still won't transform unless I consciously think, 'I want to become the Hulk.'"
Now Rick and Betty were completely awed. Rick, absolutely blown away, muttered, "This is better than… than… a year of free pizza!"
Bruce asked, "What about a lifetime of free pizza?"
Rick's eyes got a little shifty as he muttered, "Eh… that's a tie, I think."