AN- As usual please leave me feedback!

Also, I take a lot of dialogue and events straight from the Incredible Hulk movie in some of my chapters. Especially on the encrypt-net chats! I'm saying this now so I don't get in trouble later!

And a huge thanks to my Beta Diamondkitty!

Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA or Marvel

Italicized writing denotes thoughts OR emphasis

Bold writing denotes a foreign language.

Chapter 4

Zuko lay on his futon, staring at the ceiling and not really thinking much. It had been about a week and a half since he'd sent Bumi the blood sample. He was beginning to drift off to sleep when he heard his laptop emit a beep. He got up quickly and opened encrypt-net to find that Bumi had left him a message.

Mr. Blue: I got your blood sample several hours ago. Preliminary radiation tests look promising.

Zuko stared at the message, his eyes widened quite a bit at the last part.

Mr. Red: Will it cure me?

Mr. Blue: Yes.

Zuko was about to jump in joy but another beep stopped him before he could.

Mr. Blue: But...

There's always a but,thought Zuko cynically.

Mr. Blue: I need more data.

"C'mon." Zuko said aloud in irritation.

Mr. Blue: Cell Saturation

Mr. Blue: Gamma Concentration

Mr. Blue: Exposure Levels

Zuko was about to throw a tantrum, the familiar heat he felt in his chest told him to calm down. You can't transform now, calm your ass down man.

Mr. Red: Impossible, data is not here.

Mr. Blue: Where is it?

Zuko sighed; a pained expression stole over his face as he gazed at the picture of Katara on his nightstand.

Mr. Red: Home.

Zuko closed his laptop and put his small satellite dish into his messenger bag. He laid down on the futon, one hand behind his head and another on his bare stomach. He drifted off into a light sleep.

Hakoda resisted the urge to massage his temples as his secretary read aloud some of the more tedious events and findings of the Hulk-busters operations.

"Here's a more interesting finding, a man in Milwaukee got gamma sickness from some imported soda." she said with a playful smirk. She knew this would wake the General up.

After hearing this Hakoda stood up, in full General mode ready to bark out orders. "Where's the bottling factory that the Soda came from?" he asked her quickly.

"Rio de Janiero, Brazil." she said looking at her clipboard.

"Call our embassy people in Brazil, and tell them we're looking for a white man with an ugly scar on his face working at the bottling company. Tell them to make no contact with him if he even sees them he's gone." His blue eyes were blazing now, you're not getting away this time Agni.

It was several hours later and General Hakoda was standing next to Colonel Bato on the Hulk-busters military runway.

"It was short notice but I was able to get you some pieces and there all quality."

Bato said smirking at his friend. "I also pulled you an ace." Bato said while pointing at an older light skinned man getting out of a helicopter. "That's Agent Zhou, born in China but raised in England. Was a marine in the Royal Army for 21 years, he'll get you results." Bato said with a smile in his blue eyes.

"I know you had to pull a lot of strings for this Bato." Hakoda said looking at his friend; he clapped a hand on his shoulder in a friendly manner. "I owe you one."

"Glad I could help" He paused to look his friend in the eye. "Just make it good."

After all of the soldiers and weapons were boarded onto the stealth plane, Hakoda's secretary handed out headsets with microphones and a small laminated card printed with Zuko's picture and all of his physical attributes.

Name: Agni, Zuko

Eye Color: Yellow

Hair Color: Black

Height: 6'1

Race: Caucasian

Distinguishing Features: Large, Red, burn scar that covers his left eye and most of the left side of his face. His eyes are golden, a very rare trait among humans.

"Is he a fighter?" mumbled Zhou in his thick British accent, thinking aloud. General Hakoda stood up and grasped a handle to brace himself in the moving plane. All of the soldiers looked to him as he looked directly at each of them in turn.

"Your target is a fugitive from the US. He has stolen military secrets. He's also implicated in the deaths of two scientists, two military officers, a Canadian state trooper and possibly two Canadian Hunters" he counted off on his fingers and then he looked straight at Zhou. "So don't wait to see if he's a fighter!"

Zhou's face was stoic as he listened to General Hakoda's response that was obviously directed at him.

"Tranquilize him, and bring him back." Hakoda finished, his blue eyes were blazing.

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Zuko was asleep on his futon when he heard a thump on his rooftop. Years of being on the run made him wake up, instantly alert at the slightest sound. He heard steps rights outside of his door, and the voices of several men. They found me!

Hakoda was in a van that was stationed not too far away from Zuko's house. The thin cobblestone roads were hard to navigate through, they dipped and bended without warning. This was made worse as people were out and about, and the fact that the houses were all squashed together.

"Sir we are sending you a feed from the camera tube right now!" he heard a voice come from his headset. He turned his chair to a monitor and saw what appeared to be a person asleep on the bed.

"Blow up his door and tranq him." Hakoda commanded sternly.

The soldiers, all dressed in heavy black military recon garb recoiled the small tube-like camera from underneath the door. They placed several, small gum-like bombs on all four corners of the door.

"Clear out!" One of the soldiers whispered loudly as they all took cover in the alley on the side of the house.

A small exploding sound was made as the bombs went off, the door snapping off its hinges in one piece. They immediately surged into the small apartment, and they saw a lump under the bed. Zhou shot four darts at the blankets. That's not right thought Zhou. He walked slowly up to the bed his large gun held at the ready by his right arm. With his left hand he pulled the blanket back. All that was under the blankets was several body pillows and a wig.

When Zuko heard steps outside his door he knew he had maybe half a minute to get out. Luckily he had always prepared for an escape. He quickly grabbed his messenger bag, which already had a change of clothes in it, and shoved his laptop and folded satellite dish. He grabbed a red hoodie that was made of a thin and light fabric, appropriate for the Brazilian air, and hastily threw it over him. He started to hear the voices outside talking I have to get out FAST! He put on his sneakers and was about to climb down a rope that led to Jin's house when he saw the picture of Katara on his nightstand. He snatched it and quickly shoved it into his bag. He then swiftly climbed out the window, using the rope to prevent his fall and threw himself into Jin's window which was below his.

"What are you doing here?" Jin shrieked in Portuguese, and he noticed that her skin was damp and that she barely managed to get a towel around her naked body. She was about to say more until he shoved her to the wall and covered her lips with his fingertip, shushing her.

Zhou looked out the window at the end of the small room, and he saw that there was a rope that led to dilapidated street below.

"He's on the ground MOVE!" he said with authority as the small group of soldiers started to pour into the streets.

Jin peeked out her door to see the armed soldiers dressed in black pass her house. She looked back at Zuko and nodded.

"Thank you" Zuko whispered to her and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. He carefully stepped out the door, lifting the hood of his red sweatshirt to cover his hair, and looked both ways. He went down the stairs that led into a crowded square until he saw a soldier who was scanning the crowd make eye contact with him. Zuko tried to inconspicuously turn his head and walk away until he heard one of the bark "IT'S HIM!" Zuko bolted.

He ran as fast he could into one of the crowded alleys, his hood falling away. He took a quick look behind him and saw a group of soldiers on his tail, and he could see they were having a hard time keeping up. Zuko heard a couple of darts hit the walls of the buildings, narrowly missing him.

The slums narrow and crowded paths made them difficult to navigate and it was hard to tell when you were on a roof top or on solid ground. Zuko used this to his advantage. He swerved his way through people nimbly and maneuvered under clotheslines with big sheets that obscured what was ahead. Zuko know that he head to jump in a second or else he would fall into a lower path painfully. He gracefully landed on a roof top about 10 feet away from the one he'd just been standing on.

He looked back and had to hold back a laugh as he saw several of the "well trained" soldiers fall into the lower path with a startled cry. He continued running when he saw that there was still a few guys hot on his trail. Zuko jumped into the balcony of someone's house, a window on the balcony was left open, showing several large kitchen knives in his reach. Zuko grabbed the largest one and quickly threw it at a soldier who was over ten feet away from him. The knife imbedded itself into the soldier's right shoulder, and his pursuer grunted in pain. That was one more down.

Zuko dropped onto a very crowded road and braced himself against a wall. His pulse was racing and he was getting scared. The heat was building in his chest that usually led to his transformation, so he quickly took deep breaths, calming his nerves. He got up and started walking quickly to the bottling factory.

That was when he saw a large military van, and a familiar face, dressed in green camo stepping out. General Hakoda Zuko thought with disdain. The two men made eye contact; blazing gold eyes met cold blue.

Hakoda took in Zuko's shaggy hair, scruffy appearance, and increased musculature that was easily visible through Zuko's sweat drenched Hoodie. Zuko immediately turned and sprinted away.

"KEEP ON HIM!" Zuko heard the General shout behind him. Zuko made a quick turn until he crashed into someone, sending the other person to the floor. Zuko looked up and realized it was the three brutish thugs that were harassing Jin.

"What's the rush scar-face?" the thug that Zuko knocked down sneered before charging at Zuko, pulling his fist back for a punch.

"You gotta be fuckin' with me!" Zuko growled at no one as he got into a stance and grabbed the thug's incoming arm with both hands. Zuko then proceeded to flip the thug over his shoulder, using the momentum of his punch and a bit of his strength. Another thug came at Zuko, who anticipated this and jammed his left elbow into the second guy's midsection, causing the thug to collapse. Zuko then kneed the third thug, who actually wasn't doing anything, in his groin. Dirty tactic, but now's not the time to be honorable Zuko though with a smirk. He stopped smirking when he saw the thugs get up, I don't have time for this!

Zuko sprinted towards the factory. He managed to get in and tried to hide in the locker room. He felt the heat in his chest return, and he started to breathe deeply as he leaned against the lockers.

"Gringo!" he heard one of the thugs call out playfully. Fucking god, I have to get out of here.

Zuko quietly made his way out of the locker room and up the stairs so he could sneak out one of the back doors. When he opened the door he found that two of the brutes were there, and they had evil smiles on their face. Zuko was backing away when he felt two huge arms encircle him, trapping him. One of the thugs took his messenger back and threw it away.

"No, give that back!" shouted Zuko. He elbowed the thug holding him and made a mad dash to his bag, but two of the thugs grabbed him by the arms and slammed him hard into a metal wall. Zuko groaned in pain. The sprinting from the chase had left him absolutely drained and he couldn't fight back anymore.

"Alright scar-face let's see you try those fancy moves again" the thug that wasn't holding him sneered. "Well, Come on!" the thug yelled.

"Let me go, please!" Zuko said tiredly. "Me Angry, it's not good!" he continued in Portuguese.

"You very angry? Me, very angry!" the thug laughed at Zuko.

Zuko looked at the large windows at the front of the factory and saw several snipers. He started to panic, forgetting to speak in Portuguese.

"You don't understand…something very bad is about to happen right now!" he said frenziedly. The thug punched him in the gut really hard. Zuko collapsed in the corner. The heat in his was chest rising and he couldn't control it anymore. As the thugs laughed they didn't notice the heat rolling off of Zuko or his eyes turn red.

"Is anyone else seeing this?" said one of the two snipers. They were on a rooftop that overlooked the bottling factory, using binoculars to see what was happening. After Zuko had fallen to the ground they noticed that his body was thrashing and his shoes were ripping open. They heard groans that were too deep and rough to be human. One of the thugs tried to kick the downed Zuko but a sickening snap sounded and the thug was pulled into the darkness. The two remaining thugs looked at each other stupidly.

Zhou had made it into the front of the factory with about 5 other men. They moved slowly with their guns at the ready. All of a sudden they heard a ferocious primal roar and the bodies of several screaming men fly out of nowhere and hit the metal wall in front of them with a huge amount of force, the sickening cracking of bones was heard throughout the factory. In the darkness Zhou briefly saw the outline of something humanoid and...big. Zhou opened his eyes wider, trying to be sure of whether he saw what his brain told him he was seeing.

"What's going on there Zhou?" He heard the General's voice demand through his ear piece. Zhou turned to a soldier wearing a camera helmet. "Give the general some eyes." Zhou said in his British accent. The soldier nodded and turned on his helmet's camera. In the dark factory it was hard to see. But they all saw the outline of a huge red... thing.

Hakoda opened his eyes in shock; he wasn't prepared for the Hulk! He was doing a quick and quiet, incapacitate and capture mission.

"THAT IS THE TARGET! USE EVERY DART YOU GOT!" Hakoda shouted into the mouth piece of his headset.

The soldiers all raised their guns and a hundred darts went towards the Hulk's back. The needles of the darts bent and bounced off upon impact of the behemoths back.

Zhou and several of the soldiers started running away quickly, switching to live ammo so that they could shoot at it... whatever it was. Zhou saw some the dumber soldiers get caught in the huge hands of the beast, the cracking of the soldiers rib cages echoed throughout the factory. The bullets were connecting with the beast, who roared in frustration as it threw the lifeless bodies of the soldiers at the shooting men. Zhou went up the stairs so he could get some high ground on the beast. He was one on the many platforms and from here he could see more clearly.

One of the soldiers threw a flash grenade at the beast, the light and smoke from it highlighting the behemoth's extremely large and muscular figure. When the smoke cleared, the factory was deathly quiet. Zhou couldn't see the Beast anywhere. The soldiers on the ground had already peed themselves and were very scared.

"...Leave me alone..." the phrase seemed to be carried with the wind; they were spoken so deeply that it could've easily been mistaken for a very low growl. All of a sudden a huge metal tank about the size of a truck, it was used to store the soda, rammed into the four soldiers on the ground. A wet noise could be heard to go along with the cracking of bones. The unmistakable able scent of blood filled the air of the factory.

Zhou heard loud booming steps as he saw below the ramp he was on that the beast was walking towards a brick wall. He shot at the things head, it turned around and lifted its head up to face Zhou, Zhou shot several more bullets at the beast's silhouette, the bullets bouncing off of it and landing on the floor with a few clangs. Zhou was about shoot some more until the thing came forward, the moonlight shining in from the factories windows shone on the beast's face.

Zhou was taken off guard; the beast had a huge red face, proportional to its eight foot tall frame. It was extremely muscular, built like football running back. Its red eyes were obscured by shaggy black hair. The thing bared its teeth at Zhou and let out a snarl. Zhou could vaguely make out that its left eye was squinted significantly compared to the other. Zhou was still in shock as the thing grabbed a forklift and threw at Zhou. He barely jumped out of the way, the forklift breaking off part of the ramp that he was on. Zhou managed to grab onto the railing of the ramp as he jumped onto it, and could only watch in awe as the beast rammed its powerful body clean through the brick wall of the factory and jump high into the night sky. A deafening roar could be heard for miles.

"NO! FUCKING NO!" Zhou could hear the General's voice roar into his ear piece.

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Zhou, General Hakoda, and Hakoda's secretary were in Zuko's now abandoned Brazilian hide out. Zhou put down Zuko's gray messenger bag on the table.

"I found this in the factory; he had it on him when he bolted." Zhou said his voice barely above a whisper.

His short black hair was matted to his forehead. He had a couple of scrapes, but he would be fine. As Hakoda's secretary emptied out Zuko's bag, Zhou snatched a picture that had fallen out of it.

"His girlfriend? She helps him maybe?" Zhou said in his British accent as he handed the picture of Katara to Hakoda. Hakoda looked at the picture, his blue eyes softening for a moment before they turned cold again.

"She is no longer a factor. He stopped accepting help a long time ago. He's alone...wants to be alone." said Hakoda as he folded the picture and put it in his pocket. Hakoda walked away and examined the rope at the window that led to the crowded slum road.

"If I may sir?" Zhou waited for permission to speak freely. Hakoda nodded at him.

"Is someone going to mention the fact that we didn't lose Agni?" he asked with an incredulous look on his face. "We got there and something hit us, something... BIG... hit us!" Zhou's face grew more confused when he was that the General's face didn't betray the slightest emotion. "IT THREW A FORKLIFT LIKE IT WAS A BLOODY SOFTBALL!" shouted Zhou. Zhou then turned from the general and started ranting "If Agni knew what that thing was, I'm gonna hunt him down, I'm gonna put

my foot on his throat-"

"It was Zuko" Hakoda said. Zhou turned around and looked at Hakoda with a humorless smile on his face. "That thing... was Zuko." Hakoda said with finality.

"You have to explain sir-" Zhou said before he was interrupted by Hakoda.

"No I don't." Hakoda said, effectively closing the conversation. "You did well today Zhou." Hakoda said as he made his way out the door. "Pack everything up. We're going home."

That beast, that powerful brute. It was Agni? Thought Zhou with fear and awe.