Chapter 1.
A Night on the Town.
Dr. David Banner locked the door to his apartment, opened the glass door to a nearby cabinet that housed a fire extinguisher and placed his key inside, just out of view. It was a precaution he'd taken everyday since the very beginning of his stay at Golden Estates. He knew from past experience that if he were to transform into the creature while he was out and lost his key, he'd have to break into his apartment when he got back. That was a scene he wanted to avoid. Besides, the date marked on the fire extinguisher told him it hadn't been checked in six years, so he figured his key was fairly safe there.
He zipped up his jacket as he went down the 8 flights of stairs and out onto the street. He struck off south, toward work.
It was the end of a beautiful autumn day, and the setting sun created tunnels of light as it shone down the westward streets. A young couple nearby held hands as they stopped in front of a jewelry store and browsed window display. The woman leaned her head on the mans shoulder like an idyllic young couple in love. It was a Norman Rockwell painting come to life.
David's only thought at the scene was that he wasn't in love with the city, but New York City offered an excellent opportunity to hide. It was easy for one man to melt into the background in a sea of seven million, especially when most people were too busy in their own lives to even notice anyone else.
As he stopped at the crosswalk to 10th avenue he noticed he was standing next to a buxom young woman in a red dress with dark, curly hair and shapely legs. As they crossed over to 10th ave, he reflected idly that while she didn't seem to fit "his type" of woman, he found her attractive nonetheless. She was not as tall or slender as Laura or Elaina, and her sense of style was different too. Her face was pretty, but there was a certain hardness to it that was different than Caroline's. Caroline's was due to a seriousness in how she approached life, but this woman seemed more stoic and closed to the world outside; harder in some way.
That was a feeling he could appreciate. Nearly 5 years of living on the run from the local authorities, the reporter McGee, and himself most of all, had worn him down. An earlier version of himself would have struck up a conversation with the woman on the street. But these days he seemed to be just going through the motions; an observer in his own life instead of a participant.
He was roused from his thought by a muffled cry, cut short: "NO! LET ME GO! WHAT ARE YOU-"
It was a woman's voice and it came from an alley nearby. He stopped and looked around, realizing that he was now alone on the empty street.
Ever the reluctant hero, David made his way to the alley where he had heard the scream. As he got further down the alley and off the street, he got closer to the heart of the events. He saw the girl with the curly hair in the red dress that he had first noticed on the street. She was struggling with three men who were trying to pull her through a door and into what looked like an abandoned building.
"Hey - leave her alone!" David heard himself shout.
The thugs stopped what they were doing and looked at each other for a second, in disbelief. Two of the men let go of the young woman and walked toward David. The other man continued trying to shove the woman through the door.
"This don't concern you." Said the taller of the two men, while the other bent down to pick up a broken piece of masonry off the ground.
"Look, I don't want any trouble, so why don't you guys just move on? Leave her alone and I won't call the cops." David had his hands held out in front of him with his palms up, to show he meant no harm.
"Ha.. Get a load of this guy, Jimmy. He's gonna do us a favor." Said the taller man, as Jimmy moved to out-flank David and prevent him from fleeing to the street to find the police.
David was unaware of that however as his attention was taken by the woman who had managed to shrug off the third man's grip and was able to shout a desperate plea of "HELP ME!"
As Jimmy struck David in the back of the head with the brick, David could feel his sense of apathy suddenly replaced with a surge of exhilaration; powered by rage and anger. It was as if a dam had burst inside him. The transformation used to fill him with a sense of terror and feeling of losing all control. It was like being on a roller coaster that felt like it would leave the track at the height of its ascent. But lately the sensation had grown more powerful and fear had given way to excitement. He was no longer terrified but eager to take the ride.
That realization frightened a part of him in the recesses of his mind. Then he blacked out.
Job Loss.
David awoke shivering on a cardboard box full of old clothes. It was now morning, and he had no shirt, no shoes and a pair of jeans that were ripped halfway down each leg. What remained of the tattered jeans swung freely as he stood. He had no recollection of the events of the night before, only that he was making his way down 10th avenue on his way to work when he heard a woman scream. He knew he had to get back to his apartment and into some clean clothes before he could begin to piece together what had happened.
With the air of a man resigned to misfortune, he began to rummage through the box of abandoned clothes. He found a shirt that was slightly too big and some pants that almost fit. He put them on anyway, left the pants zipped but unbuttoned. He found no shoes, but two mismatched socks. He put them on anyway, because his feet were freezing, and struck out for his apartment. He realized he was now several blocks away from the alley on 10th avenue, which was the last place he remembered. He made his way back. No one seemed to notice him. He looked like one of the homeless multitude that wandered the street, pan-handling. It was a welcome bit of anonymity in David's interrupted life.
He staggered into his apartment and shut the door behind him. It felt very much like he was shutting out the world. He went into the bathroom and took off the filthy clothes he had been wearing. He washed up in the sink and left the bathroom. He grabbed some clean clothes from his bag on the floor by the bed. As he buttoned his shirt, he sat on his bed and surveyed his surroundings. His apartment was a one room efficiency; a kitchen area with a two burner gas stove and half size refrigerator opposite the bed, and a bathroom barely big enough for one. His bed was a couch by day, but he mostly just left it as a bed these days.
The phone rang. David knew who it was even before he answered.
"Hello Mr. Harrison...", David said.
"Hello David." Larry Harrison was David's boss and owner of Regal Tower Apartments where David worked as a 3rd shift maintenance man. Truth be told, it was more tenement than apartment building, but the work was easy and the pay was steady. Best of all - it was low visibility, so he could stay out of sight.
"David, I'm going to have to let you go."
"But Larry, I know I missed work, but it won't happen again.. I-"
"Look kid, I know you've got some personal problems right now, but so do I. And I need to know that I have someone I can count on to be at their desk when a call comes in... " Larry was always calling David "kid", which irritated him greatly at first. David was in his 40's and nowhere close to being a kid, but then he realized Larry called just about everyone "kid." David speculated that when you're pushing 70, everyone looks like a kid. Besides, Larry was a good man and a good boss.
Larry went on, "The fact of the matter is that you weren't at your desk last night, and missed the call about the water heater. Now I've got angry tenants with no running water and the city office of Housing & Development has already contacted me about legal ramifications. I'm sorry kid, but I'm going to need someone else, if I even have an apartment building after all this mess... You can come by the office later today and get your last check." and with that the line went dead.
False Bottom.
The next thing David knew, it was an hour later and he was still holding the phone. Where had the time gone? David got up and got into bed, even though it was only 9:30 in the morning. He realized he was bone weary after the events of last night, but he wondered if it wasn't more than that.
For the next several days his routine consisted largely of sleeping and watching the sun make its way across his room. He only got out of bed to drink and use the bathroom.
By the time he finally felt any urge to get up and do something, it was Thursday and his rent was due in a week and a half. He knew he needed to get a job in the next day or to if he was going to be able to make his rent payment. With what seemed a Herculean effort; he managed to get up, shave, shower and dress. He went down to the street and found a newspaper booth, bought the daily paper and went back to his apartment.
Three hours later, he sat by the phone with the want ad section neatly folded to the current page of circled jobs. They all had X's crossed through them. He had called all of them, and none panned out. They wanted something he didn't have - a valid driver's license, a college degree, years of provable experience in the given field. He had all these things and more, but as David Banner, not David Bismuth. He couldn't even provide a simple reference, since all of his job history had been under assumed identities different from the one he now used.
He marveled, not for the first time, how far he had fallen. Once a leading scientist in his field on the verge of a great discovery. He had a home and a career with a network of friends and colleagues that spanned the globe. Now, he was a hapless victim of his own impatience. An itinerant man living hand-to-mouth in a one room hovel that he was likely to be thrown out of in the days ahead.
He felt like crying, but the tears would not come.
For the first time in days, he felt hungry. He moved to the kitchenette and opened the tiny fridge. Peering inside, he saw only a head of spoiled lettuce. The cabinets were no more fruitful. He didn't even have so much as a can of soup left. He resigned himself to braving the world outside to find some food.
David passed the Empire Dinner on his way to the corner convenience store and saw a "Help Wanted" sign in the window. He figured he had nothing to lose at this point, so he went inside.
The inside of the diner was a cacophony of controlled chaos. Waitstaff bustled to and fro, while patrons engaged in vigorous discourse. David made his way to the young woman at the cash register.
"Excuse me, could I speak to the manager please? I'm interested in the job."
Without missing a beat the woman turned to yell over her shoulder, "Hey Bobby, tell Dan he's got someone interested in the job!"
Another young woman wearing a waitress uniform nodded her acknowledgment and went toward the back of the diner.
"Mr. Richardson will be with you in a moment sir. If you'd like, you can have a seat while you wait." She motioned him toward the bench behind him, near the coat rack.
David didn't have to wait long before the boss came to see him.
Dan Richardson was only a bit older than David. He wore blue dress pants and a cream colored button shirt with the neck opened. He wore no tie or jacket, and the sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to just below his elbows. His sandy brown hair was cut just below the top of his ears and parted to the right.
"So you're looking for a job?"
"Yes sir."
"Well, I need a new waiter. This place is pretty hectic during the peak business times. You think you can handle it?" Dan's bright blue eyes seemed to burn through David as he took his measure.
"Yes sir. I know I don't have a lot of experience, but I assure you I can keep up." He had waited tables in a small truck stop out west once, but that was much more laid back than any place in New York City.
Dan look at him thoughtfully for a few moments, and then nodded his head as if deciding something internally. "Alright. I'll give you a chance. You can think of it as a probationary period, say, 2 weeks. If you can't hack it by then, I'm going to have to cut you loose."
"Thank you Mr. Richardson."