Greetings.
To begin, I am now contractually obligated to inform all fellow observers that I am guilty of viewing worlds that I did not possess the necessary clearance to view. I apologize sincerely and will see to it that I refrain from doing so henceforth.
AND?
...And I likewise apologize sincerely for divulging the existence of Earth 598-B. There exist such worlds that not even we of The Watchers should look upon.
VERY GOOD, YOUNG APPRENTICE. PROCEED WITH YOUR STUDY.
Yes... Thank you, oh wise elder...
We return to the disused roof of an office building to once again find Izuku Midoriya and a weary Dr. Bruce Banner, who just minutes prior had been the strongest being to walk the earth, or any earth for that matter. The Incredible Hulk.
"Y-you're sure you don't know where you are, sir?"
"No. The thing is that whenever I transform, my mind sort of takes a back seat. The other guy, the big guy, he's the one with his hands on the wheel."
"So then... your quirk is sentient."
"Quirk?"
"Your special power. I-it has a mind of its own, apart from yours."
"That's right. But... why did you call it a quirk? I've never heard of a mutation being referred to as a quirk before."
The older man's words puzzled Izuku, and the young boy cocked an eyebrow before replying.
"Are you serious, sir? Quirks have been around for at least eight generations now. A-almost 80% of the world's population possess some sort of power."
Eight generations...? That sounds about right, the mutant population on earth has spiked in the last two centuries, but... 80%...? That's not possible, the X-Gene only presents itself in about 0.4% of the present population on earth. This can't be...
Unless... The weary doctor's eyes suddenly broke wide, a realization that was corroborated by sudden flashes in the back of his mind, memories both belonging and not belonging to him.
"I am truly sorry for what we've had to do..."
"...you are a force of destruction."
"...cannot deter you."
"...no limit to your rage."
"We picked your destination carefully..."
"I know you must hate us..."
"...always said you wanted to be left alone."
"May you finally find peace."
It dawned on him. The mission that S.H.I.E.L.D. had sent him on. The 'rogue Hydra satellite' that had in reality been yet another of Nick Fury and his organization's follies which he had been sent to clean up had been nothing more than an excuse to trap him, contain him in space.
It had all been a setup. To exile him, to rid the world of the destructive force that the Hulk possessed...
And it appeared that in that effort they had succeeded. Beyond what they had initially hoped.
Izuku stood silent as the man fell to his knees, his brow creased over his hard shut eyes, conveying great incredulity at his situation. The boy approached slowly, and set a hand on the man's shoulder.
"S-sir. Are you alright?"
The man looked up to see the boy, a concerned look on his face.
"Am I? I really don't know if I can answer that. They did it. They finally did it."
"T-they?"
"This may be difficult to believe... have you ever heard of the many-worlds-interpretation?" The boy nodded with trepidation. "Well, it's far from just a theory. An infinite multitude of possible realities that exist simultaneously, unaware of one another? All true. I know. I've been to a few and met a few people claiming to be from these other worlds."
The man stood up and walked towards the side of the building, resting both hands along the edge before continuing, Izuku looking on, words caught in his throat.
"The big guy? He means well most of the time, he really just wants to be left alone, to be accepted. He never wants to hurt anyone if they've done nothing to hurt him, and if he sees that somebody is in trouble, in spite of all the pain and turmoil he's seen at the hands of others, he still tries to save them."
To be accepted...?
Banner turned his head just enough to see Izuku, transfixed. Waiting with baited breath for him to continue, holding in any questions that arose in his mind's eye.
"The problem that they, the others, the heroes of my own world, had with him, is that he's too strong, too powerful. If left unchecked, if someone or something took hold of him and twisted him to their will. That raw, immense, incalculable destructive force that he has the potential to unleash..."
"He could break the world."
Izuku's eyes contracted in shock at that.
"Break the world? Is the Hulk- is he really that strong?"
"He's fought beings that could devour planets, that could destroy an entire universe, and held his own. The nature of his strength... It's fueled by his rage. When I reach my limit, when I'm angry or outraged, at wit's end, he comes out. When he's out, the madder he gets, the stronger he gets. If he were to couple that pure, unfettered furiosity with the right drive, the right motivation..."
The doctor's face fell as he held his head in his hands once more as he kneeled down in despair.
Izuku did, as the man before him said, find it difficult to believe. All his life he had seen and analyzed countless heroes, logging information regarding their quirks and skills in notebook after notebook. An individual with a quirk such as Hulk's was not too uncommon. Yet, for as much as he had felt the man may simply be confused, his story of alternate realities and world breaking beasts may well have been some delusion or fabrication, the timbre of the man's voice as he uttered these words, it was not that of a man who didn't believe what he was saying.
And so, Izuku was willing to give the man the benefit of the doubt. Regardless of the validity of his story, he still felt he should help the man who was clearly in need.
"I-if I may, sir. I think I can help you. If you'll let me, I can try and get you in contact with some heroes, if anything they should be able to help you find a place to stay for the time being, at least so you can assess your situation and find out what to do next."
"I really just want to help."
The man looked up, seeing the boy with an outstretched hand. He looked from it, to the boy, and back again before taking it, pushing off the ground and rising to his full height.
"Thank you. I-"
BA-BOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOOOOOM!
The two looked with a start off into the distance, as a massive plume of smoke and fire burst into view. They looked to see several heroes rush to the scene, as terrified onlookers recoiled at the sight of 'something' which must have been the cause of the explosion.
"Another villain attack..."
The boy shot up to his feet before dashing towards the stairwell.
"Kid, wait up!"
"No time! That came from near my school!"
We return now to a familiar location, which just prior had been the scene of the Hulk's arrival. The scattered remains of the sludge villain remained dormant, several small puddles of thick, viscous green-brown lay scattered about the tunnel's mouth.
"Well... what do we have here?"
A tall, thin figure cast a stark shadow across the ground below. With an outstretched hand, it groped at a large globule of the sludge before a sickly green glow began to build around it.
The same glow began to envelop the rest of the sludge that dotted the area. Slowly they began to crawl towards one another, compounding until they began to take on a human shape. Two low yellow lights began to grow within the shape's head. They grew brighter and brighter before bursting through the sludge. Below them a crude opening took shape, several strands of the gelatinous sludge flowed along it from top to bottom before a deep, guttural gurgle began to resonate from within it.
"GRGGGHHHH-GRahhhlll... RrrAAaaaa! Wh- who?"
"Oh I'm nobody my dear little mud pie, merely a good samaritan helping someone in need."
"GRRgghh-ggood samaritan...?"
"Your body's cellular structure was almost completely damaged. I have saved your life. Quite a nasty piece of work that green savage managed."
The restored form of the sludge villain began to bubble and shake in anger.
"WRRRGHHH...WWhere is he?! Where's that damn hero that splattered me?! When I find him again I'm gonna-!"
"Ah, ah, ah!" The figure spoke in a sing-song voice, wagging his finger as if scolding a child. "At present that seems inadvisable, as it seems to me that any further encounters with the beast will result in nothing but you yet again becoming a giant-size Jackson Pollack."
The sludge villain muttered a curse under his ragged breath in defiance, but he could not deny the stranger's words. The enormous green hero had smashed him like a bug. He'd bet that he could even give All Might a run for his money. He couldn't possibly measure up to that kind of power.
"However..." The stranger began, "I might be able to give you something of an edge against that brute."
"Hnnnghhh... an edge? Yeah... wait. What's the catch?"
"Ah, nothing so big."
The figure swiftly withdrew a piece of technology, a metal disc, the same sickly green glow from before emanating from a hardened glass panel in its center. He then lunged forward at the sludge villain, forcing the device onto his chest. Three prongs sprung from its sides which then embedded themselves into the villain's body with a sickening squelch.
"GRRRGGHHHaaaah! What the hell!? What is this?! Wha-!"
The villain stops short as his body begins to shudder.
"Oh don't be such a baby. I merely needed a volunteer for a little science experiment."
The villain began to scream as he fell to the ground writhing in pain. This eventually became muffled, as to his horror, his mouth was beginning to seal itself shut. Soon the only indication that there had once been an opening were the tight vertical strands of sludge that lined the area. His body began to balloon outward and upward, his limbs becoming as thick as tree trunks, his body becoming an immense mass of green-brown sludge that easily dwarfed the stranger in height.
Finally, still crying out muffled screams of pain and anguish, the villain's bloodshot yellow eyes began to dilate before his pupils seemed to fade away into nothingness, and his eyes began to emit an eerie red-orange glow, his voice fading. Silence.
"Hm... interesting. I expected the transformation to give you a similar appearance to them given your cellular make-up, though I was hoping you would at the very least maintain some of your more versatile abilities as well as some of your... 'higher' mental faculties..."
The changed villain stood silent, giving no indication that he could even understand the figure's musings.
"Ah well, I prefer an assistant that doesn't ask too many questions." said the figure, as he drew a remote control from a pocket on his belt. With a flourish of his finger, he pressed a switch on its side, and the disc stuck to the villain began to react.
"Now then... Hm... what did they call him... Ah, yes."
"Glob. Destroy the Hulk. And let nothing stand in your way."
"Hey, Katsuki. What's buggin' ya?"
We come to find Katsuki Bakugo and his two cronies wandering down an alleyway at school's end, the afternoon sun above casting heavy shadows all about the area.
"Nothing's buggin' me, extra. That damn nerd just doesn't know when to learn."
"Midoriya? I hear ya. That whole 'even a quirkless person can be a hero' bit of his is so old."
"At first it was funny, but now it's just sad."
Bakugo carried on down the alleyway as his companions followed.
In another world, so very similar to this one, the sludge villain would escape from the clutches of All Might when the bottle containing him is knocked loose as the hero grapples with a panicking Izuku Midoriya. He would then encounter Katsuki Bakugou and attempt to use him, overtake his body as a form of safe refuge.
The two will likewise meet here, though the sludge villain... he is no longer the desperate criminal we are familiar with.
BOOOM... BOOOM... BOOOM...
"WH-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"
The mobile mound of muck marched in a maladroit manner, one loud and lumbering lurch after another as the trio looked on. He seemed to pay little heed to, or not at all be aware of their presence as he came ever closer.
"Hey!" came the voice of Bakugo, "Watch where you're goin' ya giant-size shit-thing!"
Always so eloquent in speech, Young Katsuki Bakugo.
The Glob, possessing of just enough of the villain's mind to recognize when such colorful vocabulary had been uttered, stopped dead in its tracks.
"Tch... Lousy wall of muck, you almost crashed right into me! You blind or dumb, or what?!"
The creature remained still. Unresponsive.
"What? Nothing to say?
The Glob stayed as he was, not responding in the slightest, bright red-orange orbs glazed over. This did nothing to mitigate Bakugo's growing anger.
"Hrrghh... THAT'S IT!" roared Bakugo as he drew an arm back. When it connected with the creature an explosion rang out, momentarily blinding all those nearby.
When the trio of boys came to, they saw that the small blast had done nothing to harm to the monster. Further, it was staring directly at Bakugo. And its eyes were glowing bright red.
And let nothing stand in your way...
The Glob was merely following orders.
"Hmph... Alright... guess I'll need to let you have it!"
BA-BOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOOOOOM!
Izuku rushed towards the street where he had seen the explosion ring out, Dr. Banner following close behind. The scene before them was pure chaos.
Heroes left and right working to get civilians to safety as others attempted to quell the fire and flame, even more trying with all their might to contain a massive villain. As the duo drew closer to the scene, the sight would inspire shock in both. Though not for the same reasons.
"K-KACCHAN!"
Sure enough, the young hot tempered boy was struggling to free himself, as his body had been engulfed by the villain's gelatinous muck body, legs poking out of the beast's back, a face and an arm just barely jutting out the front of this strange, unfamiliar villain that Izuku had never seen nor heard of before.
Bruce, while likewise worried for the boy, was all too familiar with the creature.
"It can't be."
"You know who this monster is?"
"I do. But how can he be here?"
"You folks all need to get back, it's not safe here!"
The crowd looked to see the hero Deatharms waving his arms to direct them away from the carnage. Meanwhile, Bakugo struggled to free himself, explosions firing off wildly from his one free hand.
"Nobody can help him... all the other heroes are either too busy trying to keep the people safe or to get any damage this thing has done under control." said Izuku.
Sensing that Bakugo had exhausted himself of his remaining strength, the Glob acted. Using one of his massive, dripping hands, he took the boy's free arm and forced it into his body. Slowly, his face began to sink further and further into the sludge.
"KACCHAAA-AAAN!"
"S-stay back... Deku..."
"Izuku, wait!" cried Dr. Banner.
But the boy's body was already moving on its own.
He ran full speed at the Glob, and the creature's arms rose up to grab at him. Thinking quickly, Izuku managed to duck and slide under the monster's legs. He swiftly turned and began to pull as hard as he could at his classmate's feet to free him, but it was not enough. And soon the creature, shifting its body's structure such that his front and back were now in opposite places, seized the boy in one of its massive hands.
Izuku screamed in horror, and slowly he was smothered as the creature's body engulfed him entirely.
"NOOOOOOOOO-OOOOOO!" came a hard guttural roar. And all who were near were astonished to see a new figure enter the fray. An enormous, hulking green brute just as large as the sludge monster who looked ten times as mean.
"HNNGHH... SLUDGE MONSTER HURT GREEN HAIR BOY... HURT HULK'S FRIEND... NOW HULK HURT YOU!"
No, Hulk! Wait!
Huh? Puny Banner in Hulk's head?
Before you start attacking him, remember that the boy and his friend are inside! Get them out first, and fast! Then... do what you do best.
Hmph... Puny Banner is right. First Hulk saves kids... then Hulk SMASH!
"Who's that?"
"Some new hero?"
"He's so big!"
"Hulk? Never heard of him."
"He's sorta scary..."
"I think he's kinda hot."
"You would."
The crowd of civilians looked on as the jade giant began to step towards the now changed sludge villain, one deliberate, earth-shaking step after another.
Destroy the Hulk... The command echoed in Glob's mind as he mirrored the Hulk's actions, and began to approach the green goliath.
The two behemoths' walks quickly turned to runs and finally sprints as they came closer, closer, until finally they found themselves locked into a struggle, arms interlocked as both tried to overtake the other.
The Glob took one of his arms and drew it back before it stretched and shot forward, a hard right cross to the Hulk's face. Hulk slides back from the blow though swiftly recovers before delivering a wild haymaker that hits paydirt, sending the Glob flying into a nearby storefront.
The Hulk leaps atop the creature and firmly plants his hands into the monster's abdomen. With a wet, nauseating rip he tears the creature's stomach open, and pulls until it is split from groin to gullet, freeing the youngsters from within.
"Holy hell..."
Hulk turned to see the figures of three heroes approaching. Deatharms, a thin hero covered in some sort of wood armor, and a woman in purple and white, a horned mask on her face framed by long platinum blonde hair.
"Man... nice work if a bit excessive." said Mt. Lady.
"Hmm... Puny heroes help boys. Take them away, to doctors."
"Puny?! I can grow to be 68 ft tall!"
"Not now, Yu." said Kamui Woods.
"We'll get them to safety, don't worry."
"Good. NOW HULK WILL-"
The Hulk is stopped short as a large pillar of sludge shoots him out into the street once more.
"Move, now!" yells Deatharms, and the three heroes quickly exit the area along with the two unconscious students.
Back on the street the Hulk rises from the rubble that had once been a brick wall. He sets his sights on the Glob as he begins to approach him.
Rrrrrghh... HULK GET SUCKER PUNCH. NOBODY SUCKER PUNCH, HULK!
Wait! Look at his shoulder! The back of his shoulder!
Sure enough, lodged firmly in the spot indicated on the Glob by Banner, there is a metal disc embedded in the creature's body.
Destroy the disc!
But the Hulk is a monster-of-a-man possessed, and with a white hot fury he charges the villain and tackles him onto the hard asphalt below. Using every ounce of his immense power, he pulverizes both of Glob's arms before picking him up, legs in the air, and splattering his head against the pavement in an earth shattering piledriver.
"HULK SMASH!"
The disc! The disc!
The Hulk looks at the prone form of the Glob. Finding the green and silver disc on the back of his shoulder, he pulls it off of the creature and tosses it away. The Glob's body stirs and begins to shrink, becoming more and more loose and viscous, until finally fully transforming back into the sludge villain.
Izuku awoke to the sight of Katsuki Bakugo lying unconscious next to him, as well as heroes coordinating relief efforts. Assisting fire and rescue in quelling any remaining fires, picking through rubble to locate any lost and injured people. Members of the press were interviewing civilians, heroes and police alike. One figure stood out to him among all that were there.
"H-Hulk!"
The jade giant, who had been largely ignoring any of the reporters that had crowded around him following his defeat of the sludge villain (one of whom had been over eager, probing his microphone much too close to the Hulk's mouth. His response being to bite into it and chew it up before spitting up a mangled wad of wire, metal and plastic at the poor reporter's feet) looked up at the familiar sound of the boy's voice and immediately walked to meet him, gently nudging any reporters out of his way.
"Green hair boy is alright?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Thanks to you, Mr. Hulk."
"Hm... Hulk say yes."
"H-huh?"
"Green hair boy ask Hulk if he can be hero. Hulk say yes."
Izuku stared at the larger than life figure in front of him, eyes wide, mouth agape.
"Green hair boy saw bomb boy in trouble and went to help, even though you not have power, even though you puny and weak."
"Hulk not always understand puny humans... they always too afraid of Hulk and sometimes that make them attack Hulk. But... even if Hulk not always like stupid puny humans, Hulk not want other people, people who did nothing wrong, get hurt."
"Green hair boy saw person in trouble. Knew he could get hurt, but still help. That good. That what hero would do. Can boy be hero? Hulk say yes."
"I couldn't have put it better myself, friend."
The two turned to the source of the voice. And the Hulk almost covered his ears at the ear splitting scream that came out of Izuku's mouth.
"HAHAHAHA-HA! I can see this must be quite exciting for you, young man."
"Now that I AM HERE."
And with that, we leave Izuku and the Hulk once more.
As they now come face to face with the Symbol of Peace. The Number 1 Hero himself.
All Might.
I now feel obligated to state that I am very much thankful for the positive reception that this foray into another world has received, and have thus resolved to reserve a portion of space to reply to feedback from fellow multiversal observers in a segment I shall henceforth refer to as, 'Ask Soj'.
Jason Chandler, awesomenessomar5, Jestalnaker94000, the mysterious Mr.E, IdleManRPG, Joevani6161, dinossaass
Many thanks for your interest and support. I shall do my best to prove myself an able narrator and hope to meet and exceed your expectations.
XenonKirito
You are correct in your observations, as this scene is that of the prologue of the Planet Hulk storyline wherein Hulk of the main Marvel universe, Earth-616, would be shot into space by the group consisting of Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Black Bolt and Mister Fantastic: Marvel's Illuminati.
Digidestined0252
It remains to be seen how their relationship shall advance from here. As for young Eri, let us simply say that for the members of the Shie Hassaikai, a reckoning is coming.
To Guest Reviewers asking: Will Deku gain Hulk powers?
We shall see. ;-)
Until we meet again, I am Soj, Watcher-In-Training.
May your travels across the cosmos bring you to strange and wondrous new worlds.