A/N - What if there was more to season 4 of The Incredible Hulk?

Please let me know what you think.

Plague.

The Factory.

As he walked off of the bus for his third week of work, fingering his new ID card, David couldn't help but wonder if he would ever get used to the constant disguises he needed to pull off just to get work; he might have adapted to the nightmare his life had become when he had accidentally taken that gamma injection after he'd become frustrated by the lack of real results during that research he and Elaina had undertaken to study the superhuman unexplained strength all humans were capable of during moments of danger, but that didn't mean some aspects of it didn't bog him down.

Looking up at the large, ultra-modern factory in front of him, David remembered how long it had taken for him to get here without stopping except for meals and a place to stay for a couple of days while he checked the local papers for anything, anyway he could find a cure or just an odd job that needed doing nearby; he had quickly learnt after he had gone on the run there was no point being picky and choosy about where he got his money from when he needed food and a constant supply of clothes and shoes since they got damaged easily thanks to that mutant abomination he transformed into.

Only a few more days, he told himself.

David showed his ID and smiled at the security guard, but aside from a few pleasant greetings, he was otherwise allowed to walk inside. Once he was in, David immediately got changed into his overalls and donned his face mask to start work.

The routine was painfully simple. He would work with a few people sorting the different chemical products into bottles and jars, and simply package them up.

As he worked, David noticed out of the corner of his eyes the young woman next to him was sending him looks (he mentally sighed, remembering the looks he had gotten from Miriam and Joan during that mess with the so-called 'Deathmask killer; while he had liked both of them, he had known nothing could have come from it which made things even sadder; after Laura and Carolyn, the last thing he wanted was to have another relationship only for something to happen to them).

While Sarah was beautiful and nice, certainly, David knew he couldn't be allowed to tempt fate. Even if he allowed himself to fall in love with her as he had done when he had fallen in love with Carolyn even knowing one day she would die from her condition while they tried to discover a way to help him control the Creature similar to Li Sung's own methods, David knew it would not end well. He had been attracted to Joan more than Miriam at the time of that 'Deathmask' mess he had gone into, which was already chaotic thanks to how the Male Student Alliance and Rhodes had latched on to him as a suspect - although that was all they had been doing the whole time since they'd been either out of their league or their investigation was being manipulated by the real killer who was one of them.

He had no desire for that to happen here, but he wouldn't upset or mistreat Sarah. He was too much of a gentleman for that.

"How long do you plan on working here?" Sarah's muffled question needed a moment to reach his ears due to the noise of the factory floor, but David heard it.

"As long as possible," David hoped he was being sincere, but he knew there was no guarantee since he either transformed into the Creature by accident or when he tried to stop needless violence from happening to the people he had met and quickly formed a bond with. "Why?" He asked when he turned his head slightly to see her shrug.

"Oh, no reason. It's just we know you're a drifter, and I was curious."

"I don't plan on leaving any time soon," David reassured her. He was telling the truth. With the resources of the factory, he hoped to continue his research into his condition from a different point of view. Unfortunately, he didn't bother telling her there was a chance he would be forced to leave, especially if he transformed into the Creature again and McGee caught wind of it.

"Good," Sarah paused while she packed away a few more bottles at her station. "How long have you been travelling?"

"Almost 4 years now."

"4 years? Why, what happened? Oh, sorry I'm being nosy-," Sarah quickly said sheepishly when she realised she had pushed the boundaries into topics better left alone.

"No, it's okay. I lost my wife a few years back and I decided to travel around the country to try and get over it," David forced himself to swallow the bile that rose up from within at the half-truth he had just told Sarah.

"You were married and she died?" Sarah's tone, muffled and low as it was, was filled with nothing but sympathy.

"Yes," David nodded solemnly as he recalled the project to understand superhuman strength and his anger at how he had shown no signs of it when he had tried to get Laura out of the car (he immediately closed off those memories thanks to years of practice; he needed the resources of the factory to help him, he didn't want the Creature to appear right now). "Shortly after that, I took to the road. What about yourself? Are you a local?"

"No, not really. I moved out here because I was tired of my life in Detroit."

"You came all this way just to escape?"

"No, not quite," Sarah paused as she stopped a few more bottles before she resumed the conversation with the handsome man working right next to her. "I was like you. I drifted from one town to another to see more of America. I had grown up in Detroit, by the time I was 30, I was so bored of it I decided to leave. I even sold my business."

"What did you do?" David asked interested.

"I was a dentist once. After a few years, I opened a successful practice; oh, it was great the day I opened it, you've no idea, David. I made dozens of new friends, but a few years down the line I became so tired of my life there, doing the same things or variants of the same things day after day I decided to just leave and see more of the country."

"How did you do that?" David asked curiously.

Sarah's sigh was not just muffled by the mask she was wearing, but by the sounds of the factory floor. David only just caught it on the peripheral of his hearing. "I'd saved up and I sold my business, with that cash in reserve I just drifted from place to place, just like you. I keep my money in reserve and save it up. But when I moved out here, I fell in love with the place and I bought myself a house. I was just tired of endlessly walking around."

"I can relate to that," David agreed with a solemn nod; he had long since hoped to find a cure so he could reveal to the world David Banner had survived, or at the very least cure himself and live a new life without the Creature's shadow haunting his footsteps.

"You just want to find a new home, don't you?" Sarah said knowingly, but when he glanced her way David could see something else in her eyes that he didn't really need right about now. David was starting to wonder if he should make it clear to people like Sarah when he wasn't looking for that kind of relationship when someone walked over to their stations, pushing a loaded trolley.

"Hey, have you guys heard, Mike's lost some of his sheep," he said.

David had to hide the sigh that threatened to rise in his chest. One of the biggest problems he had discovered soon after he'd begun his cross country travels in the hopes of finding a cure for his transformations into the Creature was the town's he visited tended to be close-knit where everyone knew everyone, and everyone soon learnt a lot about their neighbours. It was easy for people to see he was an outsider since he hadn't been born in their town, gone to their schools. David merely hoped this news meant nothing went wrong with his plans; he had learnt about the chemical factory by chance, knowing there would be resources present inside which would make his job much easier. He was just relieved when he arrived the place had an open door for new employees since it had an endless stream of jobs open. His current job didn't pay much, but it was more than enough to pay for food and clothes, but it was the facilities the factory possessed which had attracted him. As a scientist, David was aware chemical factories like this one possessed laboratories where chemists could work. It also helped this factory combined chemical packaging and pharmaceutical research, which was rare in itself, but for David, it made life easier. It could be years or months before he found another chance.

Sarah had been in the town for a good 5 years and she had been accepted as one of the community, so she knew who this Mike was. "Lost some of his sheep, how?"

"They just vanished from their pen last night and they haven't been seen since. He's going mad apparently."

Sarah snorted as she turned to focus on her work. "I don't blame him; those sheep are his livelihood. How come he didn't hear anything?"

"I don't know. I only heard about it now. Matt was the one who told me, and he doesn't know much more than what I've just told you."

While the two were talking, David decided not to pay much attention to the news. It was intriguing, yes, but he didn't see any way that it bothered him too much.

X

John Harwood, the manager of the chemical and pharmaceutical factory fingered his gas mask covering his face and head. The air from the oxygen tank tasted hot, but despite the urge to take the mask off and breathe in the fresh air, he couldn't. He was grateful these experiments were taking place underground, but since the military had wanted this to be a low key experimental program they hadn't given them all of the facilities they needed.

All they had was a small bunker fitted with reinforced walls which made it almost impregnable. The bunker was split up into a Testing Area, an Observation Area, and the Main Research area.

Unfortunately, he wasn't impressed the military had made them collect their own test animals for the experiments so they couldn't be tied into any of it themselves. Harwood had learnt, after a lot of effort, that a couple of years before the military had been performing experiments into creating a form of nerve gas that rendered a victim blind.

The applications for such a weapon were obvious. An enemy was hardly likely to be deadly if they couldn't see, could they? Unfortunately, the army running the experiments made a number of foolish mistakes in disposing of one of the canisters containing the gas, and it affected a handful of people and there were a few deaths.

Harwood knew the military was constantly on the lookout for new weapons, and while they were capable of doing it themselves they were not above letting others do the work for them. In any case, the massive blunder resulted in 2 deaths and a court-martial, plus an investigation that not only looked into the army's disposal of hazardous chemicals and gases but the judgement of military personnel. The whole thing had been hushed up and kept out of the press, but rumours had abounded. The military did not want to go through the same mess again, so all weapon research especially of the chemical and biological kinds were now being performed as silently as possible. Unfortunately, Harwood believed they hadn't thought this particular contract through.

Not only were they the ones responsible for the collection of the test subjects for the experiments in the first place - which had likely attracted unwanted attention in itself, considering how small the community - they had to conduct the experiments

"Do you know what to do?" He asked.

One of the scientists in a protective suit nodded.

"Okay, do it.

The scientists turned and looked at the situation through the observation port, Harwood watched as the capsules dropped in the other room. Once the capsules broke, white gas exploded all throughout the bunker's testing room. The livestock, the sheep were stolen last night, started to panic. But within moments everything went silent.

When the gas cleared as the specialised and well designed environmental systems cleared the contaminated air away from the testing room, Harwood looked grimly through the port. All of the sheep were dead.

"Take the corpses to the autopsy labs. Make sure the bodies are guarded by people who have the sense not to touch any of them with bare skin," Harwood ordered clearly.

"Yes, sir."