Disclaimer: Goes without saying but I do not own Bruce Banner nor the Hulk nor any other Marvel character herein included. They're the properties of the original creators as dictated by official documents, whom you can find out more about in Wikipedia or something. Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, etc.
Tuan aka The Abysmal as well as the plot related to them, the monsters and the military, are original by me, but they're still set in the Marvel Universe so I still hold no rights to them.
Rating: T for a bit of violence. I censor profanity like they would in a comic, if I ever use it.
FINALE: The Abysmal
Bruce Banner was back in the cave, talking to Tuan's back. The moonlight was somber in its attempt to penetrate the inside of the cave, mostly being drowned out by the fire he had made.
Or rather, that Tuan had made. It was the first practical thing Bruce had taught the young man.
"So in this place called Sakaar, in this other planet, the greatest, most important change occurred. I had been betrayed by all my friends, who sent me there to die. After all my efforts and all of the times the Hulk helped them, they discarded me."
He threw another nut into his mouth, hoping Tuan was listening. And understanding.
"So I retreated. I relinquished every ounce of control and accepted what I thought would be the death of me. Of my conscience. There would be nothing but the Hulk. And nothing the Hulk could do really made any difference, because this was an alien planet, and alien people, and terrible monsters, so I really didn't care what he did to them."
Munching away on the nuts, Banner breathed out, remembering the day of the epiphany.
"And then one day, I could see through his eyes. Up until that day, we had always been fighting each other for control. I was afraid of the damages the Hulk might cause, and the people he could hurt, and he was afraid of being gone forever. But on Sakaar, because I stopped fighting for control, his thoughts opened up, and we began to understand each other. That's the most important thing for you to understand, Tuan." Bruce yawned and reached out a hand to his shoulder.
He shivered beneath his touch, but relaxed, which was a massive improvement to be showing after only two days. Bruce smiled at the inch of an eye glancing back at him.
"The Hulk became a king. With a queen and a prince on the way." Tuan's eyes opened wide, marveled. "You are not a monster, and you don't have a monster in you or anything. You and him, you two are in this together."
The poor boy sniffed and looked away, disgruntled.
"That is a hard thing to believe in," he said.
"It's believing in yourself," Bruce retorted, chuckling. "It's most definitely hard."
"And how long? How long will you stay and help me?" Tuan asked, a bit hesitantly
"Oh, we can't stay," Bruce told him, in a friendly manner. "We'll be leaving at dawn before S.H.I.E.L.D. finds us."
Tuan looked over at the cave's exit.
"S.H.I.E.L.D?"
Bruce nodded. "Friends but not really. They'll want to help you, but they don't know how. There's a slight possibility they'll stop me from trying, and take you away into confinement. For everyone's safety."
"No," Tuan protested, accidentally growling, and Bruce lifted his hand soothingly.
"Exactly…no. I agree. But don't worry, I know how to stay hidden. For a very long while, I didn't, and like you, I kept being found out. But I do now." Bruce massaged the boy's shoulder for a second and then patted it in a way that he hoped was encouraging.
The Hulk appreciated Banner's wish to take care of Tuan by himself. The Hulk always appreciated independence, much as he might enjoy some of the friendships they had forged.
Tuan took a breath and, for the first time since Bruce had met him, shed a few tears.
"My parents are really dead. And I've…what is to become of my life? I cannot do school. I cannot just…how am I supposed to go on?"
Bruce squirmed under the questions. Indeed, the situation was terrible. Not to say catastrophic. That was exactly why Bruce had been so mad, and why he had made the decision thats he had made.
Less than a week ago, he had declared to the world he was going to be a research scientist. He had applications with the government in process that very moment. But how much more important might it be to help Tuan like nobody else could?
Nobody understood what it was like. The Red Hulk. The Abomination. She-Hulk. None of them were like the Hulk. Not one of them.
The Hulk emoted harshness, and that's what Banner gave the poor young man.
"They are still out there, and they will come for us, sooner or later," Bruce began. "And that's if we don't come for them first. They won't be the only ones looking for us, either, even if most of the others won't be looking to harm us. So there's still a lot of struggle to come, Tuan. A lot of pain. You'll never forget your parents, not really, or what you've suffered at their hands."
Bruce glared at Tuan, grabbing hold of his eyes. With the flames of the fire flickering in-between them, they shared something akin to a spiritual sync. A life one had already lived was so much like a life the other had yet to live.
"I'll stay with you for as long as it takes, Tuan. I'll be your school, and I'll be your job, and by the time we're done, you will have a choice. You will either be destroyed by what they've done, or you will overcome it by what you do."
Tuan looked down at the fire, deep in thought. His knees slid up to his chest so he could hug them. Bruce continued.
"Die. Be a villain. Or be a hero. For someone of your power, there is no other option."
"What if…" Tuan scratched his leg, twitching it nervously. "What if I just want to be a painter. Or a fireman."
"That is heroic," Bruce stated, without hesitation, and Tuan's eyes came back up. Bruce was ready to receive them with a hopeful smile. "Trust me. That is heroic."
It would not be possible to explain that right now, but if Tuan could trust him, then there was hope for him yet. And it wasn't the least bit miniscule or negligible.
Tuan shivered. Then he trembled. His eyes shut close, pushing down tears, and he hiccupped. In a spasm, Tuan dove for Bruce, right over the fire, and hugged him. He started crying like he hadn't for years, most likely. The fire flickered back into a calm meanwhile.
Tuan began ranting in unintelligible Vietnamese right onto his lap, but Bruce simply grabbed hold of the young man's back and patted it in a comforting manner, feeling nothing but compassion for what Tuan was going through. Knowing exactly what he was going through.
More importantly, knowing Tuan was putting his trust in him.
In us, inflexed the Hulk, proudly and no less content, and Bruce nodded, brushing against the wild hair of a boy who had been too abused. We won't fail you, Tuan.
"Abysmal!"
Bruce lifted his head and looked down in surprise. Had he heard it well? He had spoken in English.
Tuan glared at Bruce through tears of pain, but his look was that of determination. With a clear fighting spirit, Tuan shook Bruce's clothes and repeated.
"Abysmal is his name! I am Tuan, the Abysmal!"
The Hulk felt immensely proud, and Bruce did as well. He brushed the young man's hair and nodded at him.
"Good," he said. "A strong name."
Part End, story end! Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time. I can't answer some types of review for some reason so I'll say it here: Thank you for the kind words!
And that's a wrap. There's a lot less to unpack in this story than in Spider-Man: Repulse, and that was because that story had a third element to it that had to be a lot more developed (Repulse) but here, the third element had to be purposefully drowned in vague mystery (the guys behind Tuan's kidnapping and all those shenanigans). I mostly wrote this story to explore Bruce's character in a way I haven't seen yet, and bring him and Tuan together.
They will come back in a future story, probably stand-alone, but will feature prominently in the the cross-over event that I'll be building throughout the next year. The villains here are not some randos that I'm discarding, there's story here! But let's not get ahead of ourselves since we only have two titles out :).
Next week, I'll start posting the next story. Carol Danvers herself will have to lead a team of power-house avengers to keep a civil war from erupting in very the heart of the Kree empire, involving the very same aliens that Nhaca is a part of (Nhaca is that peculiar alien featured in Spider-Man: Repulse). That one is going to be wild and a way more crazier than this one.
That said, I'd love to hear your opinion on my take on Bruce Banner, the Hulk. Thank you again for reading and I hope to see you again.
Your story writer,
Kuzcopia