To the world, the Hulk was someone they could count on when they were in trouble. When they weren't, however, the Hulk was something to fear. It destroyed their homes, threatened their lives, and was protected by the government simply because it was an asset when things went Nordic. Or robotic. Either way.
To the beings attempting to take over/destroy the world, the Hulk was a formidable adversary. He was by far the strongest of the Avengers, while his alter ego was arguably the smartest. The only one to challenge him for that title was the billionaire tech expert. He was also a loose cannon, which made him even worse. He could not be intimidated like the others, he'd smash whoever tried. He wouldn't listen to threats, or bribes. He was unable to be blackmailed. At first, some of their enemies had hoped that putting such an unstable beast on their team of Earth's Defenders would lead to the Hulk turning on them, eventually, but such a thing never happened. Well, aside from a few instances, that is.
But to the Avengers, the Hulk was their very own guardian. And, for a group of people who were so used to being everyone else's guardians, that was a surprising, but welcome change. It obviously didn't happen overnight, but after a while, they began to take notice.
Yyyyy
The Black Widow
Natasha knew she was in trouble the moment her gun clicked, signaling that it was empty. The Avengers had been called out to handle Lord Zaltak, an escapee from the local asylum. He had been forcefully admitted four years prior due to severe, often violent delusions. His real name was Morgan DeLancey, and he used to be an up and coming genius prosecution attorney. That life had come to an end, however, when he had been handed the case of psychotic, vengeful, chemist, Peter Quartz. The man had killed eleven people over the course of two years, and when he'd been convicted at the hand of DeLancey, he had sworn revenge. One month after a mass breakout of the local prison, the attorney was attacked in his home. During recovery in the ICU, Lord Zaltak made his appearance. And, unfortunately, he had (as this was New York, after all) amassed a sizeable number of followers to help him take over the world. As he had been planning this for a while, it was more than the police could handle. Especially since Lord Zaltak was apparently a robotics genius and had equipped his army with power ups.
"Iron Man, I need back up! Where are you?" She hollered into her earpiece.
"I'm a little busy right now, Nat." Came the slightly breathless response. A moment later, she heard him grunt in pain.
A man ran at her, wielding a handgun. Snarling in frustration, she leapt in the air, spun, and landed a solid kick to the side of his head. Barely even pausing, she landed, grabbed the fallen gun, and fired off two shots at a pair taking aim at the Demigod that was her teammate. They both fell to the ground, but she had already turned and ducked behind an overturned car, taking refuge for just a moment to check how many bullets she had. Two bullets left. That was all.
"Might as well make 'em count." She growled to herself. Standing up, she instantly locked her eyes on her target, a burley muscle builder of a man pointing a grenade launcher at their team leader. The moment she pulled the trigger, though, she found herself having to dodge flying bits of rubble as something slammed into the building right beside her. Spinning and pointing her last bullet, she paused in surprise as the Hulk stepped out of the hole he had just made.
"Watch back." Was all he grunted before leaping off to take on another foe. Inside, under the pile of rubble, rose a whimper from her would-be attacker.
Yyyyy
Okay, so, I saw that there are a lot of stories out there where the Hulk shows that he cares (in his own way) about his team, and this popped into my mind. It was originally going to be a one-shot, but it got to be too long, and I split it up into a chapter story. Please tell me what you think! Review! :3