Chapter 4: He's Always Angry

Rick Jones adjusted the large backpack slung over his shoulder, letting out a grunt as he did. It felt like it weighed a ton, and with everything he'd stuffed inside of it, it probably did. He wiped his brow, feeling the heat of an Arizona summer beating down on him. He'd been hiking for weeks, but he couldn't stop. Not until he found who he was looking for.

Through the hazy heat, Rick could see a small town in the distance. At the sight of civilization, Rick let out a grateful sigh. He could restock on food, water, and probably get some information.

He approached a small diner, pausing for a minute to make sure he didn't smell TOO bad, then he headed inside. As the cool air hit his sunburnt face, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Honey, close the door." A waitress with a beehive hairdo told him, "You're letting out all the cold air."

"Sorry about that." Rick replied shutting the door. "Just passing through and I was hoping to get some water and food."

"Well, there's a general store not far from here, but something tells me you could use a minute to rest."

"Yeah I probably could." Rick admitted taking a seat. "I could also use some help. I'm trying to find someone."

"Your girlfriend run out on you?" the waitress questioned.

"No, it's not that." Rick corrected. "Just a friend who's in trouble."

"What's your friend look like?"

Rick choked a bit, then ran his fingers through his sweaty hair.

"Well, he's tall… very tall… and muscular… VERY muscular… and he was wearing a pair of purple pants the last time I saw him."

The waitress paused for a minute.

"Hang on a second," she told him. "Does this friend of yours have green skin?"

Rick snapped up at that remark, not expecting that response.

"Yeah… how did you-"

"Saw him on the news the other day." she explained. "He was tossing around tanks like they were baseball bats."

"Wow." Rick remarked. "Any idea where he was heading?"

"Report said he was heading towards the desert." she supplied. "Don't know why. There ain't anything out there but cacti and coyotes."

"That's why he's going out there." Rick said to himself, getting up out of his seat. "Thanks for your help."

"Be careful dearie." she told him. "That thing is a hulking monster. He'd probably squish your head without a second thought."

"Somehow… I doubt that."

Miles away in the middle of the desert, a large green man landed on the ground after leaping through the air. He continued walking through the wasteland, the heat barely registering to him. As he walked, he looked down at his massive, green hands. For a second, a vision flashed across his mind, of a set of hands much smaller, and without the green tint. The creature shook his head, trying to clear his mind.

"No..." he growled. "That's gone now..."

He then began breathing in and out heavily. As he did so, his muscular demeanor began shrinking down, the green hue of his skin fading to a more natural skin tone. He fell to his knees, panting hard as the heat, and the strain from his previous fight, took its toll on his body. He looked at his hands, a grin on his face.

"I- I'm back?" he questioned. "I'm back!"

He then got back to his feet, nearly stumbling as he did. The hot sand hurt his bare feet, but he didn't care. He just stumbled forward, seeing a canyon in the distance he could use for shelter. He carried himself across the hot desert towards it. As he made into the canyon, he rested on the canyon wall and slouched down to the ground to catch his breath. As he sat there, the sound of helicopters emanated overhead. He looked up to see several military helicopters

"No, not now." he cursed. "I just got back!"

He could feel his adrenaline accelerating, but he knew he had to keep it in. he just kept breathing, working to keep the monster from coming back out.

"Easy Bruce." he told himself. "Breathe... "

As Bruce continued breathing, the copters continued their flight path past him. Bruce let out a sigh of relief, not having to worry about having another 'incident' so soon.

"Way too close." he sighed. "Ross is one tough son of a-"

"Bruce!"

Bruce turned to the canyon entrance to see Rick Jones coming down towards him.

"Rick?" Bruce let out.

"Man, am I glad to see you. I've been trying to find you for weeks!"

"How'd you find me?" Bruce asked standing up.

"The Big Guy leaves quite a trail."

"Yeah, I've noticed." Bruce remarked.

"We'd better get going before Ross' Hulkbuster units find us." Rick decided before wrapping his arm around Bruce's shoulder. "Man, seriously, I am so glad to see you're okay."

The two then started walking out of the canyon.

"Well it sounds like you've gone through a lot of trouble to find me." Bruce noted.

"I had to, ya know?" Rick replied. "I mean, if it wasn't for me, you'd be eating lunch in some fancy restaurant with Betty Ross, not tromping around half naked in the Sonoran Desert."

"I never blamed you for that, you know." Bruce told him.

"Doesn't mean I don't blame myself." Rick retorted. "I knew I was out on a test sight, and like an idiot, I ignored the signs. I thought no one was out there, and my stupidity nearly got us both killed."

"We're alive though." Bruce reminded.

"But you're…. You know…."

"Yeah I know. But it's my problem. You at least can have a normal life."

"Normal life?" Rick snorted. "Bruce, I have had more fun these past few weeks looking for you than I had with my 'normal life'."

"Right..." Bruce dismissed. "You had fun chasing the other guy across the country. Pardon me if I'm a little skeptical."

"I backpacked across the Grand Canyon, got to see the Bryce Canyon, and I even saw Old Faithful. I've always wanted to see the world, and chasing you these past few weeks, it kind of felt like I was living my dream."

Bruce chuckled at that little realization.

Well at least some good came out of this." Bruce replied.

"But you want to know one thing I learned during my journey?" Rick asked.

"What's that?"

He pulled Bruce closer.

"Being alone sucks!" he exclaimed. "And having some angry guy sharing a space in your head doesn't count. That's why I'm gonna stick with you til the end, Bruce."

Bruce just smiled at that prospect. Unbeknownst to the both of them, some of the helicopters from before made their way back around. One of them saw two individuals making their way across the desert.

"General Ross," one of the soldiers called out over the radio. "Have some unidentified individuals crossing the desert. One of them could be Banner."

"Find out." Ross ordered. "If it's Banner, you know what to do."

The helicopters moved in on the two, the sound of the helicopter blades drawing their attention.

"Oh shit." Rick cursed. "They found us."

"Then let's get out of here." Bruce decided.

The two then began running from the oncoming enemies, the rush of adrenaline was beginning to send Bruce's heart rate through the roof. He could feel the other guy threatening to surface, but he forced it down.

"Not now." he snapped. "Not near Rick."

As the copter kept pursuing them, it was able to make out the identity of one of the individuals. Bruce Banner.

"Sir it's him." the soldier reported. "It's Banner."

"Then take him down!" Ross ordered.

"And what about his companion?" the soldier inquired.

"I said take him down!" Ross repeated

The soldier paused for a moment before responding.

"Yes sir."

The copter swerved towards the two. The copter then fired a missile at the two. It landed on the ground just behind them, launching them through the air. Rick went flying, landing in a heap in the sand. Bruce landed a bit next to him, and as he did, his adrenaline began spiking again. This time however, he couldn't keep it inside. He started breathing heavily as his heart rate spiked. His eyes snapped open with a shade of green. He muscles started growing and slowly turning a shade of green.

"Oh no..." Rick gasped, scrambling as far away from Bruce as he could.

As Bruce stood up, it became clear that wasn't Bruce Banner anymore, but a large, angry, green, hulking monster. The Incredible Hulk. The Hulk let out a massive roar at the pursuing copters. The copters then began opening machine gun fire at the Hulk. He took a bit of the fire before running towards a large rock formation. Hulk jumped onto the formation and then jumped at one of the copters. He then broke off the tail of the copter causing it to crash to the ground. Another one of the copters fired a missile at the Hulk. He caught the missile and let it blow up in his hands. This only made the jade giant angrier.

"Uh, sir?" one of the pilots squeaked. "Target angry! Target angry!"

"Deploy the tanks!" Ross ordered. "I want that monster taken down now!"

"Yes sir!"

The copters began retreating from the Hulk. Before he could do anything else, a shell blast hit him in the back. He turned around, naturally pissed, and saw a line of tanks rolling towards him.

"Ross…" Hulk spoke.

He let out a growl before running towards them. He then jumped through the air and landed right in front of one. He picked up the tank and smashed it against the ground repeatedly. He then tore off the top of the tank and used it to bash another one of the tanks repeatedly. He dropped the top of one tank and grabbed the barrel of another tank and spun it around repeatedly before throwing it through the air. The final tank fired a shell at the Hulk, but he batted it away with a hand. The shell flew and hit one of the retreating copters. It began crashing to the ground.

"Holy..." Rick swore.

Hulk saw an opening that allowed him to make an escape. He was about to when he turned back to the crashing copter.

"Mayday, mayday!" the pilot called out. "Going down!"

The copter was about crash into the ground. Suddenly, some unknown force stopped the copter. The pilot opened his eyes to see the Hulk holding up the copter. He then put the copter on the ground as Rick walked up.

"Umm…. Big Guy?" he asked tentatively.

Hulk turned to Rick.

"Yes?" Hulk asked.

"You… you saved them." He said. "You actually saved them."

"So?"

"Well… you did kill a few of those guys." Rick told him. "I mean, I'm sure a few survived but-"

"They shot at me." Hulk replied.

"Right..." Rick said, rubbing the back of his head. "But why save that guy?

Hulk didn't answer, he just turned around and started walking away. Rick's eyes went wide.

"Hey, wait!" he exclaimed.

"What?"

Rick paused.

"Umm, look. I just spent several weeks trying to find you. And even with everything I've seen, I would not want to have to search for you again. So… uhm…. Can I stick with you?"

"Why would you want to be with me?" Hulk asked.

"Because- well…" he tried, rubbing the back of his head. "I owe Bruce for kind of…. Making you."

"Then I guess I owe you too." Hulk decided.

"So, that's a yes?"

"... guess so."

Hulk then picked up Rick and placed him on his back. He then leapt up into the air. Rick grinned widely, throwing his arms up in the air and cheered loudly.

"This is totally awesome!"

Hulk glanced at Rick over his shoulder, a small smirk playing on his face. He wasn't alone. Not anymore. And part of him was starting to like the idea.

...

Hope you've been enjoying it so far! Hulk is kinda a combination of sources.

Bruce Banner is MCU's Mark Ruffalo while Hulk himself is EMH's version. I feel both these versions combined make the definitive version of the Hulk.

Rick was an addition I was initially iffy about until my co-author Author Of The Insane convinced me. Let me know what you think and see you next time!