Cover: Bruce Banner in a SHIELD uniform.
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Presents
Before Avengers
2010.
Rio Di Janeiro
Bruce Banner couldn't believe this is where he ended up. He had two PhDs and a Masters degree yet one accident in an experiment and in just two months he's living on the streets in whatever country would take him. "This was not the plan." He thought wearily.
Bruce looked up at the passing people in the street. None of them had any idea who currently was sitting within five metres of them. If they did though, Bruce had a feeling they would not be within 500 metres of him. "Definitely not the plan."
Christ The Redeemer.
Rio Di Janeiro
Bruce had come up here every Saturday since he'd arrived in Brazil. This was a place where he could stare towards the horizon for hours and just relax. He also had taken to prayer. He prayed that the nightmare would end, he prayed for peace and quiet but mostly, he prayed for a cure. A cure to the disease that he carried for, if he was burdened for any longer, he was worried he would break. Mentally and physically.
Today was a horizon day, he wasn't up for the disappointment of fruitless prayer (he was beginning to not believe in God again.) Normally, while in his near meditative sate, he would be completely unaware of his surroundings but today, something felt wrong.
His first clue to this, The mysterious African American man sitting of a bench about twenty feet away. The man was bald, well built and wearing shaded glasses. Bruce thought he recognized him but gave the man less than a seconds thought. This was because his mind was now occupied with the idea that he was about to die for a red dot had suddenly appeared on his chest.
"Just a precaution Dr Banner," Said a deep and commanding voice behind him, the African American man.
Bruce scoffed, "A precaution, ha. More like foresight," the homeless scientist said before turning around, "I know how SHIELD operates General Fury."
Fury took in Bruce Banner. He was average height and weight, with long, scraggly brown hair and a long brown beard that hadn't been tended too in years. "You're perceptive there doctor," Fury chuckled, "Not many people would've noticed me."
Bruce frowned, "I learnt to check my surroundings and never be so stupid as to think that I'm safe…Thanks to you!" Bruce accused Fury, his voice beginning to get angry.
Fury backed up a step and reached for his waist, "As much as some people would like to see you get angry Dr Banner, I'm here on a diplomatic mission…well…Its more of a recruitment mission. You see, I have this idea for a team of people with extraordinary abilities…Much like yours."
Bruce Banner stared at Fury for a second before turning around and storming off, "Not in a million years!"
Fury pulled out a small remote and pressed a button. A sudden flash of silver streaked across the sky and hit Bruce Banner in the back.
The man slumped to the ground and began writing. People were staring shocked and pointing, some taking photos and videos.
Banner turned to Fury and growled, "Damn it Fury, you are the biggest fuhhhhh…"
Banner's eyes began to glow green but stopped just as quickly, "What?..." Banner stood up and staggered all over the place. "What did you do me?" The scientist asked.
Fury smirked as Banner used a railing for support, "We hit you with a heavy sedative, which means that I can do this without having to worry."
Fury then whipped out a gun of some sort and shot Bruce Banner twice in the stomach.
THE INCREDIBLE HULK
Washington DC.
Two Days Later
Bruce Banner woke on a hospital bed. He was connected to many different machines that recorded various statistics but the machine he found most noticeable was the one labeled ST012 (Sedation Test 012-which was an attempted cure for Bruce's problem).
Bruce propped himself up on his elbows and gazed around the room, he noticed a large pane of one way glass and snorted, "Typical," He thought.
Bruce began to try to stand up and was met with the door to the room busting open and about four doctors and three guards running in and yelling at him. Bruce smirked and laid his head back down, SHIELD was very predictable.
Nick Fury walked in next and stood in front of Bruce. "Stand down men," Fury commanded.
The guards and doctors slowly lowered whatever kind of weapon they carried and slinked away as Nick Fury sat down next to Banner in a chair.
"You know, for a man who just shot me off of the side of a mountain you sure are playing the peaceful man well." Banner observed.
Fury smiled, "Oh that. That was more of releasing frustration then actually wanting to hurt you and all I hit you with was an electrical current that would render you unconscious for a couple of days but that is not why you're here."
Banner looked at Fury curiously, "Why am I here?"
"I would like to once again offer you a place on my team, we have our first mission in a couple of days and I need someone with your firepower to help us."
"Who is us?"
Fury nodded towards the glass and a couple of seconds later four people walked through the door.
The first was a woman with long red hair, medium height and lean and wearing a black get up that Banner thought looked like it was made from some kind of nano-tech suit that would mould to the wearer's body, but science aside, it did not leave much to the imagination.
Next was another woman, this one had long black hair and fair skin. She was wearing a red, yellow and black costume with a half face mask. She was currently also holding a gun at her side.
The third person was a man, or more accurately a boy, who was wearing normal and casual clothes. He also held a staff in one hand.
The final person was also male, but this time a man. He was a in a big silver helmet that had some kind of voice modifier in front of his mouth. His super-hero suit was definitely made from some form of unstable molecules which would change themselves to help combat any environment or transformation. The coloring was all red save for the feet which were black and circuit of black lines covering his body.
Fury introduced the four to Banner in the order that they walked in, "These are the four other team members; The Black Widow, Spider-Woman, Amadeus Cho and Ant-man or, as you will get to know them, "Natasha Romanov, Jessica Drew and Hank Pym."
Banner looked the team up and down before turning to Fury, "And why should I join you?" He asked skeptically.
Fury pulled out a folder from under his black trench coat, "We have a problem developing that could endanger the future," Fury handed Banner the folder.
Banner opened it up and saw a picture of a man in a military uniform. The photo appeared to have been taken quite a while ago and there was a newer one under it. This photo was slightly blurry and had been taken in action, it showed a man in a bullet proof vest with his arms exposed, he was holding a gun and he wore a mask with some kind white marking on it. "Brock Rumlow a.k.a Crossbones. A super mercenary who is a known affiliate with HYDRA. This man was seen just two days ago in Washington and a decoded message has led us to believe that he will present at the president's address of the situation in Afghaistan. We don't want him to complete anything!" Fury informed Banner.
Bruce scoffed, "And why do you need a whole team to take out one man?"
Fury then pulled out a piece of paper with a message written down on it. The paper read, "Send squad 12."
"Squad 12 is an elite HYDRA team of 50 soldiers who are going to gate crash the party tomorrow.
" Banner looked over all of his information and make a decision that he hoped he wouldn't regret, "Okay, you have my help. But not his!" Banner said, referring to his other half.
Fury just smiled.
The Next Day.
White House Lawns.
Washington DC
The five squad members stood on the lawn of the White House in civilian clothing and surveyed the area. There was easily 200 people already here and a promise of more to come. "Does anyone else feel like we've walked into haystack, trying to find a needle," Henry said.
Banner agreed, "Luckily, that needle has a thermal body signature that I can track down. I need Jessica and Natasha to get the equipment in place and Hank and Amadeus to help me get the computer set up."
Everyone nodded and ran off to get their respective jobs done.
Banner grabbed a handful of wires and began plugging them into all the cameras in the area. Making sure that every single inch of the grounds was covered in footage. Once this was done, Banner ran off to turn the computer on and catch their assassin.
Behind the Stage
A group of soldiers wearing futuristic armor that covered their torso and face stood behind the stage, waiting for the moment when they would be revealed to the world.
One man who looked particularly excited leaned over to the soldier next to him, "Just think, we're going to be the first super soldiers since Captain America." The man said quickly, so excited he was speaking faster than a bullet.
The other soldier leaned back over, "Not exactly, Germany made a few super soldiers back in the 50's."
The first soldier seemed surprised, "You know your stuff. By the way, I'm Robert Reynolds." Robert said, extending his hand.
The other soldier took the handshake up and introduced himself, "Brock Rumlow."
5 Minutes Later.
The Podium
President Ellis walked onto the stage and, despite the amount of people in the crowd, looked straight towards the podium, creating a sense of seriousness that lowered the volume of every person's voice immediately.
"Listen folks, what I'm about say could be sugar coated in every which way and while some may believe that that is the best way to address this problem, I'm gonna give it to you straight… We have a major crisis on our hands. The war situation has become dire and we need a way to stop this. We are desperate to save lives and we need to do this quickly and efficiently. But we have found a solution and we're here to show you the solution to our problem. Please welcome to the stage the Secretary of Defense, Dell Rusk."
Back on the Lawns
Bruce Banner watched the 12 different screens in front of him, trying to find the assassin that brought this team together with little success.
For one, the man was trained to be among the most dangerous people on Earth and two, well, Banner never got to two because then 50 HYDRA soldiers dropped from the sky and held everyone hostage with automatic rifles.
"WE NEED THOSE SOLDIERS ACTIVE!" Yelled some army official.
Dell Rusk began commanding them out on his walkie talkie but what he saw was a shocking sight, out of the stage walked one Brock Rumlow, guns in hand and a room full of bodies and blood behind him. Brock walked over to Rusk and threw him off the stage then grabbed the microphone, "Hail HYDRA." He said before he shot the president.
"Shit," Banner muttered under his breath, "Guys, screw the plans, start taking the men out!" Banner said over his communication device.
"Copy that," responded Jessica Drew and the others but she continued, "Banner, if those rumors about you are completely true we could use your special ability."
"No, I'm not doing that, I can't." Banner said and then turned his walkie-talkie off.
Meanwhile, Hank Pym and Amadeus Cho were focused on the pulley system behind the stage. They figured if they could reach it and lower Hank down in a non suspicious way then they could get Brock distracted. Only problem, and one soon to be solved, was how Hank was getting there.
"Wait, I can figure this out. I just need something to launch you off," Amadeus told Pym.
Hank pulled up a wooden board and a couple of sand bags (they were on the side of the stage), "Will this do?" He asked.
Amadeus nodded and then got to work. He arranged the bags with precision, his mind working out the force and trajectory needed for each position he tried perfectly until he found the right spot, "Okay Hank, hop on." He exclaimed.
Hank shrunk down to Ant-Man size jumped on the wood. He then waited and saw Amadeus step on the other side of the plank and he was thrown forward. He heard Cho instruct him to hold his right arm out and he was glad he did because when he reached the pulley his right hand clasped on and he swung around it, ending up facing outwards and towards Rumlow.
Hank then began lowering himself towards the ground slowly, hoping that when the time came for action, the team would be ready.
He was powerless. There was nothing Bruce could do to stop this…well…there was one way but Bruce wouldn't even entertain the idea. Bruce continued fiddling with his machines, trying to remove the idea of a certain course of action.
"Bruce, Pym and I are about to smack down Rumlow!" Cho reported over the communication devices.
Bruce scrambled for his own device worriedly, "NO! Cho, abort the mission, Rumlow is one of the best soldiers on Earth, we need to take him out. All of us. Together!" Bruce replied but as he looked to the stage, Bruce Banner knew he was too late.
Henry seemed to appear out of nowhere, falling towards Rumlow with a fist outstretched. Pym landed a blow and stood up to face Rumlow in a fighting position. However, as Henry charged, Rumlow pulled out a gun and shot him twice in the abdomen. Henry slumped onto the ground, losing blood fast.
"NO!" Banner shouted.
Rumlow heard all of this and then gave the damning order, "Kill some hostages." He commanded confidently.
A barrage of bullets was fired and the sound of screams echoed through everyone but none as hard as Bruce. He felt numb, he hadn't been able to think fast enough. He was sad and broken and…angry. Bruce was becoming madder and madder at Rumlow.
He arched his back and cried out in pain as fire ran through his veins. His body started to grow, his muscles bulging. Bruce's shirt ripped to reveal dark green skin that kept growing and his glasses fell off as bright green eyes reveled themselves.
"ARRRRGHH!" Bruce screamed as the transformed continued, but as he became closer to his other self his scream became more of a roar.
"RAAAAARGHHH!" The other self, better known as the Hulk, roared.
The Hulk stood up, revealing his position to all of the people. He was a massive beast, towering over everyone. His skin was a dark green and his muscles were extremely oversized. He was wearing what remained of Bruce's top and purple pants that Bruce always wore in case of an…incident. He had a shaggy head of dark green almost black hair which made his vibrant green eyes stand out even more.
The Hulk grunted and puffed at the man who was the source of his rage, "HULK SMASH SKELETON MAN!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.
Skeleton man, or Crossbones, stared at the beast before giving another command, "Kill the Hulk."
Guns fired and bullets flew but the Hulk just ran through them, his incredibly thick hide stopping the bullets before they could hurt him, they felt like little sugar ant bites.
The Hulk jumped at a group of soldiers who all stood in shock before a giant hand swatted them to the side, each man dying upon impact. He then attacked the next group who ducked and rolled for a bit but one by one they all were destroyed by a large green fist. The Hulk was beginning to slow down as the bullets took their toll, but he continually got angrier and madder and just kept pushing. He jumped at one group knocked all back with his landing then leapt to a lone gunman, grabbed him and flung him into a wall. With just 14 men left, HYDRA's mission was beginning to fail.
Crossbones then began to approach his opponent, pulling out an automatic rifle. He shot a clip at the Hulk but only achieved the green behemoth's attention. Both enemies charged at each other and the Hulk swung his fist but Crossbones slid under his legs and threw a grenade at his face.
BOOM!
The explosion rocked the Hulk a couple of feet but he shook it off and engaged his opponent.
Black Widow, Spider-woman and Amadeus Cho were taking on the last 14 soldiers. The three were highly capable fighters and were steadily stopping the enemy. As the last man fell, they stopped and watched their jolly green ally trying to annihilate Crossbones.
"Fury didn't lie. He gets angry real good!" Spiderwoman mused.
"Yes, now let's free the hostages." Widow instructed tensely. The trio went about gathering hostages and setting them towards the nearest exit as the Hulk continued his rampage.
"I was promised a challenge, not some green monster." Crossbones said as he shot the Hulk again after dodging an attack.
The Hulk just roared and kept swinging. He missed his first two punches but the third clipped Crossbones and the mercenary went flying. He felt a couple of bones snap but got up and was unfortunately greeted with a giant hand clasping his head. Hulk then swung his arm back and slammed Crossbones into the ground before throwing him miles away from the lawn.
Hulk then turned and saw some men in military uniforms stirring and growled before stomping over to them. He raised a fist but was stopped by a small voice. "Mr Hulk." She said, the Hulk turned, it was a little girl who was just escaping but was stopped. "Thank you, you're a really good hero." She said and then ran off.
The Hulk smiled before slowly reverting back to Banner. The small scientist stood still in his spot before surveying the carnage around him then looking at himself. He sighed and looked at his teammates who just stared at him.
"Well Dr Banner, do you have any words to describe that?" Widow asked. "
Nope," Bruce replied, then he looked at the very baggy pants he was holding up, "But does anyone know where I can get some new pants."
Epilogue 1
Being a Hero
Nick Fury stood on the curb with Banner. They were waiting for the Doctor's ride and talking about the Hulk's activities in DC.
"Sure I can't convince you to stay?" Fury asked.
Bruce looked away, "Nope, I don't think I can work for SHIELD. Too high a risk of you know who emerging inappropriately." Bruce replied.
Fury nodded, "Just remember, SHIELD now considers you and the Hulk allies." Fury informed Banner.
Bruce frowned, "I appreciate the idea, but me and the Other Guy remember it was your team who caused this, then restrained us and then hunted us for six years." He said.
Fury also frowned, "That was not completely my idea, there were other forces at work then." He stated.
Bruce continued his frown, but this time in thought, "Any idea who?"
"No clue. There are some things even the SHIELD isn't allowed to know."
Banner laughed, "Even the master spy isn't in on all the knowledge." He joked.
Fury however did not laugh but noticed Banner's car, or rather motorbike, arrive, "Looks like you're off," he announced, "I hope one day you'll reconsider, both of you are pretty useful."
"I don't think I'm fit for the Secret Warriors."
"I have other ideas, some off the books."
"Sorry Fury, but I'll still decline," Banner concluded, walking over to the bike, "However, from the fragments of memory I have of being the Hulk, he enjoyed being a hero…and so did I."
Then Banner was off, once again disappearing from the public eye for who knows how long.
Epilogue 2
The Other Forces
General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross stared at the screen in front of him. The man on it was dressed in yellow protective gear that looked like something a bee keeper would wear. The man and Ross were discussing the Hulk and what to do, or more precisely, what the man in yellow wouldn't do.
"He's a monster and we need to remove him from the world." Ross said angrily but the man was having none of it.
"General Ross, we've been chasing the Hulk for six years now and not once have we succeeded, unfortunately we here at A.I.M have come to find this project a pointless waste of our time, money and resources." The man informed Ross.
"NO! We just need some more gear and my Hulkbusters can bring him in." Ross argued.
"We're very sorry, this was a promising endeavor but it is no longer worth our attention." The man continued.
"Don't do this, you're letting the millions of people die…" Ross accused but was cut off.
"Goodbye General." The Man concluded and the screen switched off.
Ross slammed a fist on his desk and held his head in despair, he was losing everything. No more funding, SHIELD had turned their back on him, his daughter, Betty, hadn't spoken to since he started hunting the Hulk/Bruce Banner who had been her boyfriend and now AIM were giving him a massive red light. There wasn't many options left.
Ross picked up the phone and dialed a number then waited for the answer.
"Yes General?" The voice said.
"It's time, we need to fight fire with fire." Ross responded.
"Agreed. So General Ross, who do you want to make a Hulk?"
Epilogue 3
Whatever Happened with Crossbones?
Crossbones stood in the office of his boss. His boss was staring out of the window at New York and all of its people, he tended to do that a lot and it was a usual occurrence to talk to only 50% of his focus.
"What do you have for me?" The man asked.
"We failed as you saw but we can assemble more teams." Crossbones said.
"Do not bother. We have missed our chance now but we still can take something away from this battle." The man replied.
"What could possibly have been positive about that?" Crossbones asked incredulously.
"Well, we now know what lengths Nick Fury will go to and we now know that that the Hulk is an active player." The man informed Crossbones.
Crossbones nodded, "So what are my next orders?"
"Nothing, we continue building our group. We have the money and the time so we will do the job right." The boss said.
Crossbones nodded again.
"Then it is settled," the boss said.
He turned around to Crossbones and revealed the face of Dell Rusk but this was not the most surprising part for he then tore away at the mask that Dell Rusk's face and revealed the blood colored visage of the Red Skull.
"One day we will have the world at our fingertips. One day, I will reign supreme. Hail HYDRA!" The Red Skull said and saluted Crossbones.
"Hail HYDRA!" Crossbones saluted back.
A.N
Hey Guys, hope you enjoyed Tales To Astonish #1. This book will primarily follow the adventures of Avengers in their solo time. Of course, others will feature and Avengers characters will get solo books but this is for stories that don't need a whole book.
The Hulk I included because I wanted more than just the Avengers book (which is currently in the works) as an introduction.
As for other inclusions, we see Black Widow and Spider-Woman (both after their evil days) the Original Ant-Man (oh no! Who could we get to replace him?) and Amadeus Cho (He is really smart). Plus we see SHIELD looking to make a superhero team and who knows, maybe we'll se more of the Secret Warriors. Finally, what team could Nick Fury possibly mean by an off the books, non secret hero team?
Anyway, if you have read my Amazing Spiderman story you'll know that the Red Skull is a major player in this universe and that he is making startling advancements in his chosen area of work.
Also, please go check out Secret Avengers, my title for the Marvel NEW! FanFiction site I'm running. Then go check the site and send in a submission if you want to write a title there.
Thanks for reading and please review.
Issue #2: Midgard is threatened by a group of ancient creatures known as the Dark Elves. Who could possibly save us? Enter the God of Thunder Zues...wait...sorry...THOR!