Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel, only the OCs I've created based on its characters
The third installment in the Marvel 2043 series, introduces everyone's favorite green rage monster: The Hulk. Enjoy!
Chapter 1:Stimulus
In the snowy forests of Quebec, Canada, the air was quiet. Not an animal stirred, nor did the wind dare to pick up. Near a frozen lake sat a small cabin. Out in the front were a blue and silver pickup truck and a small campfire. From inside of the cabin walked out a man in his late 40s, wearing standard winter wear of a fur coat, beanie, and gloves.
The man came to a stop in front of the campfire and would kneel to tend to it for a few moments. He looked around, smiling in contentment before standing up and walking over to his truck. He opened the passenger side door, reached in, and took out a hunting rifle. Upon closing the door and walking back towards his cabin, the ground beneath him shook. This caused him to come to a stop, and look around with a raised eyebrow.
The wind began to pick up, rustling the trees around him as a result. The ground shook again, and a loud thud could be heard to the right of him within the trees. The sound itself was like that of a tree falling. The man turned to the right, pivoting gradually. A flock of crows flew away from behind the trees, cawing one after another.
Another thud, and then another in succession. Each thud increased in volume, and it seemed to be heading in his direction. The man held his rifle up towards the trees and would look through the scope. Bullets of sweat ran down his face, evidence of the fear running through his body. He took the safety off of the gun, but not too long after, he would lower his gun with wide eyes at the sight now before him.
The gargantuan creature was 10 feet tall, covered in thick hair. Before the dumbstruck man could do anything else, the creatures roared and charged towards him.
Lucas' eyes shot open, and he would sit up in a cold sweat. He was breathing heavily and had to take a moment to calm himself down. Once he had done so, he began to take in the environment. There was snow all around, and there he was sitting shirtless. His pants were completely torn apart to where he was almost completely naked. He placed his arms across his chest in an attempt to warm himself from the cold that was beginning to overtake his body.
Upon standing up, Lucas looked in both directions for some sense of where he was. Ahead was a road sign, in French that Lucas could barely make out to say that New York was in that direction. He grabbed what was left of his pants, pulled them up, and began running in that very direction. Behind him, on the other side of the road, was a large sunken crater with two large footprints at the center.
"You woke up in...Quebec, was it?"
"Yes, Quebec. I was lucky enough that an older couple was willing to give me a ride. They were on their way to New York themselves."
"And you believe you sleepwalked…all the way to Quebec?"
Lucas adjusted the position of the glasses on his face as he thought about what he could say in response. Across from him sat a muscular man with short green hair, who could easily be mistaken for a professional wrestler, wearing a red button-up shirt with a yellow lightning bolt patterned tie. This was Dr. Sebastian Samson, son of Leonard Samson.
"I don't know, Doc. It's the only logical explanation. I've been sleepwalking for the past month," Lucas said, finally finding an appropriate response to Samson's inquiry.
Sebastian crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair. The office they were in was small, with Samson's degrees hanging from the wall, as well as pictures of himself and his father.
"Before this, what's the farthest length you've sleepwalked to?" he asked, tapping a pen against his lips.
Lucas looked off to the side in thought back to his previous experiences with sleepwalking.
"The farthest…I would say was upstate New York. Before that, down the street from my apartment. Before that, my front door. I've never…I've never sleepwalked to another country, though. That just…it seems absurd," he remarked.
"I wouldn't say absurd. Is it common? No, but a woman was once recorded having sleepwalked 9 miles. She didn't walk all 9 miles, but she was able to take a bus for much of that duration, all while still asleep. Going from New York to Quebec is…a first, but given what we know about the phenomenon, it isn't out of the realm of possibility," Samson stated.
Lucas placed both hands on his thighs and nodded. At least his psychiatrist didn't write him off, though that was his job.
"Can you recall what you were doing the moment before you fell asleep," Samson asked.
For a moment, Lucas looked uncomfortable. He wrestled with the idea of telling the truth, and would even avoid looking at Samson directly. He rubbed his thighs and lowered his head before sighing.
"I was…working on a cure. A cure for…him," Lucas responded in a lower tone.
At this, Samson leaned forward with far more interest. He reached over to his desk and grabbed a notepad while keeping his eyes on Lucas.
"You're trying to cure the Hulk? Well, how is that coming along?" he asked with intrigue.
"It was going well, initially. I was working on a cure with a colleague of mine, Dr. Flynn Langkowski-"
"The nuclear physicist?"
"Yes, but a couple of weeks ago he stopped returning my calls. I was forced to continue without him…and I haven't had much luck on my own."
"Why do you believe the Hulk is something that needs to be cured?" Samson asked.
Lucas raised an eyebrow, looking as if he was almost insulted by the question.
"Why is that even a question? The Hulk is a monster that was thrust upon me but just being my father's son. What my father experienced as the Hulk…the kind of destruction he caused, I don't want to repeat it," Lucas said.
"The Hulk is…destructive, yes but the time your father spent as the Hulk was largely spent as a hero. As an Avenger. Someone who protected others protected the world. The destruction Hulk causes just by the nature of his strength isn't his fault. It isn't the fault of a tornado or a hurricane when it destroys a home, it's simply nature," Samson proposed.
Lucas looked off to a corner of the room and scoffed at the notion.
"Tornadoes and hurricanes don't go around proclaiming that they're the 'strongest there is'," Lucas retorted.
Sebastian smiled and nodded in agreement, finding that there was nothing he could say to refute that point.
"On the topic of the Hulk, when's the last time you transformed?" he asked.
"Three months ago. I'm still very much incident-free."
"How have you felt as a result?"
Lucas tilted his head to the side in thought.
"Better in my day-to-day life, not that I really go anywhere. It's to the store, or here and then back home. The less I'm out and about, the fewer risk factors there are to cause a flare-up. If this whole sleepwalking thing went away, everything would be great."
Lucas shifted a bit in his chair before continuing.
"Well…except for the nightmares."
Sebastian raised both eyebrows at the information and would make a quick note of it.
"Nightmares? Tell me about them."
There was a brief moment of hesitation from Lucas, but considering this was his psychiatrist, he supposed that it was best to air all of it out.
"It's of the Hulk. Not like when I was a kid, when I had nightmares of him chasing me but…nightmares of him leaving behind a path of destruction. I'm inside of him, I can see everything he's doing, but I can't do anything. I can't even talk, I try…but no words come out. I simply watch as he goes…somewhere. I don't know where, I don't know what he's after but all I can do is watch," Lucas detailed. His face strained throughout the entire telling as if the recollection made him physically sick.
Sebastian nodded in understanding. He wrote down a couple of parts from Lucas' description before looking back up.
"Now, when you transform and the Hulk takes over, can you normally see what he does?" he asked.
"No, it's like I fall asleep pretty much. When I wake back up, I awake to whatever damage Hulk has caused. Often I'm in a completely different place than I remember being last-"
Lucas paused. His eyes shifted to the left for a brief moment. A look of realization washed over his face, and he would stand up from his chair.
"What's wrong, Lucas?" Sebastian asked in confusion.
"S-Something's come to my attention. Can I go?" he asked while nervously adjusting the position of his glasses.
Sebastian pushed up his sleeve to look at the watch around his wrist.
"We were getting close to time anyway, sure. If you need to come in before our next session, do call me," he said with a sincere tone.
Lucas nodded and walked towards the door.
"Thanks, Doc."
Manhattan, New York City - 11 AM
Lucas walked across the busy Manhattan street with his hands buried deep within his jacket pockets. His focus was straight and direct on getting to his apartment, and he did his best to ignore virtually everything else around him. In doing so, he didn't notice the car in process of making a turn, which blew loudly as it stopped mere inches from Lucas.
This brought Lucas out of his thoughts, and a tint of green rose from his neck. He held his hand out to the car and mouthed "sorry" before rushing off towards his apartment.
Once he reached the apartment, he nearly ran up the stairs and inside before slamming the door shut. He placed his keys on the counter and made a beeline for his bathroom. Lucas stood in front of his bathroom mirror, took off his glasses, and stared into the mirror.
"I don't know if you can hear me, but I don't care. I'm onto you. I know exactly what you've been doing while I'm asleep. Me waking up in Canada? Shirtless, half-naked? That was you. I didn't sleepwalk there, I've merely been a passenger. You know what, not even a passenger, I've been a car that you've used! Those nightmares I've had where I'm watching through your eyes? Those aren't nightmares, they're real! While I'm sleeping, I'm seeing everything you're doing. I never thought it possible, but you're able to transform while I'm asleep and that is the reason why I'm making a cure! I can't even get a good night's sleep without you taking me out for a joy ride! You're not the same Hulk that my father had…that Hulk at least learned to work with him, they could trust each other at times but you…I can't trust you. I'll never be able to trust you."
Lucas found himself breathing heavily, but still in control of his emotions. It was at that moment that he had let out all of his frustrations towards the Hulk, and even if the monster couldn't hear him, it felt better to release that frustration as Lucas than the Hulk.
"Lucas?"
The soft voice of Betty Ross came from behind Lucas, and upon turning around, he would find Betty standing in the doorway of the bathroom, concern on her face. Lucas sighed and made his best attempt at a smile.
"Hey…mom. How much of that did you hear?" he asked.
Betty gave a kind, understanding smile in return.
"Enough," she said.
Lucas nodded and walked out of the bathroom, rubbing his face.
"I'm fine. I promise," he said while moving to grab the remote to his TV.
He pressed a few buttons in a specific order, which would open up the wall next to the TV. Inside was a small lab, full of a scientist's dream in terms of equipment. Lucas walked inside the lab, with his mother behind him in tow.
"That didn't sound like fine to me Lucas, that sounded a lot like pain. Pain your father experienced, and to a lesser extent so did I," she said while following him.
Upon walking into the lab, Lucas turned the lights on and grabbed a lab coat off of a hangar.
"That's good to know. Do you know what would also be good to know? The cure he used on you to make you normal because I could sure use that right now. Unfortunately, things tend not to go my way, so I have to start from scratch," he responded with bitterness.
Lucas placed his lab coat and glasses on to stand over his workstation, where there were microscopes, syringes, vials, chemicals, virtually anything one could think of in terms of creating a serum.
"You're your father's son, Lucas. If anyone could make it, it's you. Though I think it's important we talk about what you said in there-"
"What's there to talk about?" he interjected. "The monster living inside of me has been doing whatever he wants while I'm sleeping."
"I understand, but perhaps there's a reason why," Betty suggested.
"I'll tell you the reason. He's upset that I've been locking him away, that I've been incident-free for three months. To get back at me, he takes over while I'm sleeping. Goodbye are the days of him waiting for me to get angry or feeling threatened, he just takes it upon himself, and I'm not having any of it," Lucas said with a stubborn edge.
He looked over his materials in an attempt to remember where he had left off. He opened and closed his hands for a brief moment before taking a hold of two beakers. Once was filled with a clear liquid, while the other was filled with a blue liquid.
Betty sighed and crossed her arms as she watched Lucas.
"Have you ever…tried talking to him? Not yelling at him in the mirror but, genuinely having a conversation with him?" she asked.
Lucas poured the clear liquid into the beaker full of the blue substance, which would cause the liquid to bubble up. He briefly glanced up at his mother while doing so.
"This isn't the movie Split, there's not a place in my psyche for us to chat," he scoffed.
"There was for your father."
The liquid continued to bubble, to the point of nearly overflowing. Once it subsided, the liquid was now purple. Lucas placed the two beakers down and looked up at his mother, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"From what he told me…he had built a place in his mind where the two could talk to one another, even while the other was in control. It was like a…viewing room of sorts. One could see what the other was doing," she explained.
Lucas' lip quivered, which had become a sign of anger for him. He sighed and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
"That must have been great for him, but it's not a luxury I have. I see nothing the Hulk does, I only have the misfortune of waking up after the fact. For the past month I've been seeing what he does while I'm asleep, but not in a coherent fashion. Like a nightmare."
"Maybe it's something you can work on with Dr. Samson? I mean you're paying him for psychological help. If there's anything I know about how the Hulk worked for your father, is that there was a vast psychological component," Betty replied in earnest.
Lucas gave his mother a look of exasperation at the topic. He grabbed the beaker of purple liquid and would pour it into a vial.
"Right now the only thing I need to work on is this cure, but I appreciate the concern," he said.
Betty's face fell, but she nodded in understanding. She turned around and began walking out of the lab, only to stop at the entrance to look over her shoulder.
"Maeve called while you were out by the way. I told her you were at your appointment."
"I'll give her a call later," Lucas said, eyes focused on the vial in his hands.
"She's your only living cousin, you guys should be closer than what you are," she said before exiting the lab.
Lucas continued to stare at the vial. His eyes were full of hope and desperation. The cure had become the focus of his life, and it would continue to be so until he finally rid himself of the Hulk for good.
Quebec, Canada - 11:30 AM
Several armed soldiers dressed in black moved through the forests, weapons at the ready. Ahead of them were collapsed trees and large, monstrous footsteps that lead them to a familiar cabin. The blue pickup truck that sat outside was turned completely over. The doors had been torn off; now lying several feet away from the truck.
On the snowy ground laid a sniper rifle, along with several drops of blood leading up to it. While a few soldiers made their way to the cabin, the rest stuck around to inspect the scene. The large footprints had stopped altogether, as whatever left them disappeared. One of the soldiers, who had a distinct eagle insignia on his shoulder came to a stop and looked to his left.
"What do you think?" he asked.
Standing next to him was Josh Hammond, who straightened the position of his tie.
"It was here. Footprints aside, I'm picking up quite the gamma signature," he responded.
The soldier tilted his head to the side in confusion.
"You can just…do that?" he asked with a puzzled expression.
"Director Fury equipped me with such an ability, which is why he sent me along with you," Josh replied in his usual direct and emotionless tone.
He placed his finger to his ear and took a few steps away from the soldier.
"Director Fury, the monster has been in the area. What's the next course of action?" he asked.
For a few seconds, there was no response. However, that changed, as Josh soon heard the familiar voice of Nick Fury Jr. on the other end.
"Head back to camp until further notice. Within an hour I'll be there…with Doctor Banner."
Next Chapter 2: Monster Hunt
A/N: As you can probably tell, this story is going to dive heavily into the psychology behind the Hulk, which I've always found to be his most interesting aspect. Also just to put in perspective how long Lucas has been dealing with the Hulk, he's currently 30 years old.
