A/N: Warning: This story will get very sad very fast and might have more tragic moments as the story goes on. Just a heads up.
(3,500 Years Ago: Small Village Outside of Athens, Greece)
It was a quiet, warm, peaceful, and beautiful star-filled night as everyone from men farming, women working in the fields, and children playing headed home for a good night's rest. Bruce, who was carrying a hefty basket of bread, vegetables and various kinds of fruit, sighs tiredly as he walked inside his home and set the items down on a table before heading towards the bedroom, where his wife Betty laid, waiting for him to join her. As he walked into their bedroom, Bruce stopped for a couple of minutes to admire his wife as she slept peacefully while moonlight shined down on her body, which in Bruce's eyes made her look even more beautiful. Bruce smiles lovingly at her before looking up at the sky and whispers, "To every god and goddess out there...thank you for giving me such a beautiful, loving, and kind woman like Betty as a wife..."
Betty suddenly wakes up and giggles upon seeing Bruce outside and asks, "Well, are you going to just stand there all night, or are you going to share our bed with me, my love?" She asked as she giggled then gave Bruce a loving gaze.
Bruce chuckled at her before crawling into bed and cuddling with Betty, utterly in paradise whenever he was with her. Betty smiled warmly at Bruce's cuddling as she turned around and kissed him lovingly on the lips. He kissed her in return before the two closed their eyes to get some sleep.
However, just as Bruce was about to fall asleep, he suddenly caught a whiff of something in the air. "Betty...do you smell that?" He asked his loving wife in confusion as the odor seemed to grow stronger.
Betty sniffs the air, catching the same scent that he did. "Yes. It smells like something is...burning." Betty replied as she started to feel concerned. Before Bruce could say anything else, several burning torches crashed into their home, making Betty scream in terror.
"Burn this village! Burn it to the ground!" A deep, loud male voice yelled out in the distance.
Seeing their home beginning to burn, Bruce says to Betty, "Betty, we have to run! I'm staying right by your side! Go!" He said to her in urgency as they both ran outside, and proceeded to run away from the village, which was now ablaze. As they ran away, they hold hands so they wouldn't get separated. They witnessed everyone else in the village, people that they had known for their whole lives, being horribly tortured and killed by a large horde of barbarians, who were all wearing bear-skin cloaks and spiked armor.
As the innocent villagers get slaughtered, the savage barbarians laugh at their fresh kills, taking sick enjoyment from their pain and misery. Suddenly, one of the barbarians called out, "Aldunn, look over there!" He said, pointing to Bruce and Betty, who were running down a hill to escape. "Two more are trying to get away!" He tells his friend with a dark smirk.
"Don't let them get away. No survivors!" Aldunn ordered. This man was large, bigger than the rest of his barbarian horde. He had a long orange beard, and he carried a large war hammer that had tons of spikes on it. "Actually, I want the woman alive." He said upon getting a good look at Betty. "The woman looks rather...appealing." He adds in a creepy tone of voice as he and his men chase Bruce and Betty on horseback.
Bruce and Betty ran as fast as they could, but it was futile, as the barbarians easily caught up with them since they were on horses. One of them leapt off of his horse and tackled Betty to the ground, grabbing and holding her firmly by the arms while another did the same to Bruce as Aldunn arrived on the scene and dismounted his horse, smirking at the two struggling humans.
Betty screams repeatedly as she struggled in an attempt to get free, even biting the thumb of the barbarian that was holding her, but it was in vain since he was too strong and simply put her in a chokehold, cutting off her oxygen as she started coughing and choking.
Bruce saw this and begged to Aldunn, "Stop! Make him stop! She can't breathe! I beg you, please! Don't hurt her!"
Aldunn mockingly chuckles at Bruce's plea, but complies. "Let her breathe." He said, which made the barbarian holding Betty lessen his grip a little, which gave Betty the chance to breathe as Aldunn slowly approached her. He then reached forward and moved a few strands of her dark brown hair aside to get a good look at her beautiful face. "Well, well...Now, I've seen some beautiful and attractive women in my day, but you, my treat...Mmm, you are by far the most beautiful". Aldunn said in a tone that sent unbearable chills down Betty's spine.
Despite being outnumbered and held tightly against his will, Bruce was able to muster up enough courage to plead once again. "You want blood? You want to kill? Then kill me! Let her go and you can kill me instead!"
"Bruce, no!" Betty cried in protest, not wanting anything to happen to her beloved husband. "Dont give yourself to them!"
"Betty, I won't let them have their way with you!" Bruce says back to Betty.
As the barbarians laugh at their captives, Aldunn smirked and then said to Bruce, "We'll spare your lovely wife...but only if she agrees to be my wife instead."
Betty glares at Aldunn's demands, bravely saying, "I'll never be your wife. I will love Bruce forever!" She said defiantly before spitting in Aldunn's face.
Aldunn sighs as he wipes the spit off of his face. "Pity. We could've been a really good couple." He said before pulling a large knife from his belt and then slashes Betty's throat, causing copious amounts of blood to spray out.
"NO!" Bruce screams out as Betty falls flat onto the ground and chokes on her blood gushing from the cut on her throat. Angered beyond compare, Bruce elbows the barbarian holding him hard enough to make him let go as Bruce quickly crawled over to Betty and cradled her in his arms. "No no no no no! Betty, please! Don't leave me! Stay with me! Please!" He begs and pleads as he cries.
Betty gently smiles as she touches Bruce's cheek with her blood-soaked hand and whispers to him, "Bruce...My...My love...It's okay...I'll always...be with...you..." She says before dying, her arm sliding away from Bruce's cheek and falling to the floor.
"NOOOOO!" Bruce lets out another cry of anguish and heartbreak as he keeps cradling Betty's dead body.
"Ha! You can't even protect your own wife!" Aldunn says as he heartlessly taunts Bruce before gripping his axe. "Pathetic! Truly pathetic!"
Filled with incomparable fury, Bruce looked to the sky once again and cried out, "Goddess Bia! Please give me the power to kill theses monsters and bastards...and my life...is yours for all eternity!"
Aldunn and his barbarians merely scoff at his plea as Aldunn raises his large axe to kill Bruce. "Nobody up there is listening, little man!"
Suddenly, time seems to freeze in place as the Titan Goddess Bia materializes out of nowhere and stands before Bruce. She stood at 10-feet tall, had long, light brown hair that was tied into a ponytail. She was also wearing a tight-fitting toga around her voluptuous body, and had white angel wings protruding from her back as she held a burning torch by her waist.
"I heard your call, mortal. I am truly sorry for the passing of your beautiful wife...but I can give you the strength and power you desire to avenge your wife, but only if you become my champion in return." She says to Bruce.
"I will do it, Great Goddess Bia. Make me your champion. Let me avenge Betty...and i am yours." Bruce says without hesitating as his tears fall to the ground around Betty's body.
Bia smiles and simply says, "Good, my champion. Now...Loosen your anger. Take your revenge on these murderous dogs!"
Time returns to normal as Bruce's eyes glow bright green, full of incomparable fury. He then spins around and catches Aldunn's axe before it could hit him, much to the shock of Aldunn and the other barbarians. Bruce glares at Aldunn with a dark expression as he slowly stands up and changes into Hulk, who stood at 8 feet. "You took everything from me! So now I take everything from all of you...You bastards!" Hulk roared out as he slaughtered the barbarians with his bare hands, crushing skulls and tearing off limbs, leaving Aldunn untouched, but naturally terrified, to say the least. "You killed my people!" Hulk said as he lightly punched Aldunn with a left hook. "Tortured them!" He then lightly hit Aldunn with a right cross. "KILLED MY WIFE!" He roared out as he purposefully holds back his attacks so Aldunn would suffer a slow death. He then pushed Aldunn to the ground and stomped onto Aldunn's kneecaps, breaking his legs. Aldunn screams in anguish, which grows in volume as Hulk grabs his left leg and tears it off with a single pull, then does the same with his other leg.
"Ahhhhhhh!" Aldunn screamed out as blood continually spurts out of his leg stumps. "My legs! My fucking legs!"
"Oh, I'm not done yet, you bastard!" Hulk said with a wide grin as he picked up Aldunn's large axe with his right hand. He then gripped Aldunn's right arm and with a single chop of the axe, sliced Aldunn's arm clean off at the elbow. As Aldunn screamed in bloodcurdling agony, Hulk dropped the axe and pulled off Aldunn's other arm at the shoulder, leaving Aldunn as nothing but a bloody hunk of meat with no limbs. "How does it feel to be helpless?!" Hulk roared out at his broken enemy. "Just like my wife!"
As Aldunn screamed some more, Hulk has had enough of his screaming, and repeatedly punches Aldunn in the head again and again until his head was flatter than the ground itself and Hulk's fists were drenched in Aldunn's blood and brains. With his revenge finally obtained, Hulk roared to the sky, which was so loud that the ground itself literally shook as if the Earth itself was scared of him. Hulk then looked down at Betty's dead body and tenderly picked it up. "Betty...I'm so sorry..." He softly said to her body, apologizing for failing to protect her before leaping back to the village, carrying her body bridal style.
(Later)
Village Ruins
Back at the burnt ruins of the village, Hulk set up a large funeral pyre for Betty and smaller ones for all of the villagers that the barbarians butchered and tortured to death. As Hulk stood over Betty's dead body, he softly said, "I'm sorry I couldn't save you, Betty...You were the most important person in my life...and I couldn't even protect you...But I will never...let myself be vulnerable like that again..." Hulk said tearfully as Betty's body burns. After her body is burned to a pile of ash, he collects the ashes in a small bag and then straps it to his waist. He then turns around and walks off to parts unknown as a fierce and loud thunderstorm rolls over him.
(Present Day: Mount Olympus)
"Grrr, where in every Hell is she?" The Titan Goddess Bia growled to herself. She was currently waiting for Athena to show up and meet her by the scrying pool, and she was starting to become a little impatient by Athena's delay, even though it's only been three minutes. It wasn't uncommon for Bia or any of her siblings to easily lose their temper or patience, as it was one of the many downsides of being powerful deities of strength and rage. Finally, after another minute comes and passes, Athena arrives. She had dark blonde hair, which she had tied into a long ponytail. She was also clad in her battle armor, with her sword strapped to her waist and her shield on her back and an Aegis that barely covered her very well-endowed chest.
"You, uh, wanted to speak with me, Bia?" The Goddess of War, Wisdom and Battle Strategy asked as she looked up at the much taller and way more powerful Titan Goddess.
With an annoyed sigh, Bia said, "Yes, I do." She then walked over to Athena's scrying pool and waved her hand over it, activating it. "Come have a look." She added.
Curious by what Bia was doing, Athena walked over to the scrying pool while trying to avoid being knocked over by Bia's large feathery wings. She then looked into the scrying pool, spotting Bia's champion. Hulk. Since that day where he gained his powers and became Bia's champion, he had grown a long black beard and his hair was overgrown, now down to his shoulders. He was also wearing impressive and shining armor that covered his left shoulder and the entirety of his left arm and numerous parts of his impressively muscular and well-toned body as he battles against a large pack of werewolf beasts called Wülvers. "It's about my champion, Athena. His name...is Hulk." Bia said with a smile as she watches Hulk battle the Wülvers with immense rage and ferocity that was greater than that of Ares himself.
"Raaagh! Stupid Wülvers! I'll kill you all!" Hulk roars out thunderously as he punches and pummels the Wülvers with his fists before slicing others with a large sword that could channel his own rage into powerful gamma blasts.
"Impressive beast." Athena said as she observed Hulk tear the Wülvers apart with untamed fury and ferocity that impressed the Goddess of War greatly. She had a thing for strong men, and Hulk was the strongest being that she had ever seen. "What about him, Bia?" She asked as she turned her attention to the Titan Goddess. "He seems to be doing just fine on his own."
Bia rolls her eyes at Athena's observant words and replies with, "Thanks, Ms. Obvious, I can see that. Clearly." Bia couldn't help but be turned on by seeing Hulk fighting and roaring at the Wülvers that he was slaying left and right. She definitely had plans to visit her champion for...'fun' when she had the chance. Although, right now, there were more important matters at stake than her personal carnal desires. "The main reason I wanted to speak with you about him is because...I believe it's time to retire him as my champion, and I want him to live a peaceful life...on the Island of Themyscira."
"What!? Why would you want him to be placed on Themyscira of all places?" Athena asked as she glanced at Bia, like she had finally gone mad. "You know the Amazons and their rules against outsiders, especially outsiders from the World of Man."
Bia simply replies with, "I am fully aware of the Amazons' policies. But if they want to hold policies against men being on their island, why don't they kill Hercules, since he visits them on a regular basis?"
Athena sighs and says, "That's because Hercules is allowed when Hera is in a good enough mood to let him. Plus, he is Hippolyta's lover, and the father of Diana, Jason, Donna and Cassie. That enough of a reason for you?"
Bia was now starting to become enraged at Athena, but she kept her anger under control so she wouldn't have to face Zeus' wrath head on. "Why are you against my champion living on Themyscira? He is far from others like Ares or any mortal scum foolish enough to dare set foot on that island, lest they risk death by dismemberment or impalement." Right after she asked that question, Bia couldn't help but smirk at the Goddess of War and Wisdom, figuring, "Wait...I know why. You're fearing that if he goes to that island, you'll have to share your former lover with the other women..." Bia says in a teasing tone, remembering that Hulk and Athena had gotten very close and intimate with one another in the past millennia shortly after he became Bia's champion.
Athena blushes at Bia's crazy but very true theory and says, "No! T-This has nothing to do with our...past feelings! Plus, Themyscira is not a retirement home!"
After Athena said that, a deep and booming voice could be heard, asking loudly, "What is this I hear about a retirement home?" Bia and Athena quickly turn around to see Zeus enter the room, a curious expression on his face. He stood as much as 7-feet tall, and was just as muscular as Hulk and Hercules. His body was adorned and covered with shiny silver armor, with a long green cape running down his back. He also had long red hair, and a great big bushy red beard.
"I-It's nothing, Father. Bia says she's retiring her latest champion and wishes for him to spend his remains of his immortal life on Themyscira. With the Amazons." Athena stuttered as she explained the situation to Zeus. "I beg you, tell her that it's a great mistake." She added before looking at Bia, which caused the Titan Goddess to fold her arms across her generous and beautiful bust before looking away from Athena and Zeus.
Zeus simply raised his brow at this concept before glancing at Bia and he then asked, "Your champion...He is named Bruce, correct?"
The gorgeous Titan Goddess nodded and replied with, "Y-Yes, my Lord. That is his name."
The powerful Skyfather goes into a long process of thought for a few long moments before finally making a decision. He then said, "I say...We let him live on Themyscira." His words shocked both Bia and Athena, though it brought a lot of happiness and relief to the Titan Goddess.
"What!? B-But Father-" Athena began to argue, but Zeus cut her off by holding his hand up to silence her.
"I stand by my decision, daughter. You will give Bia's champion a residency on Themyscira." He said as he gave Athena a stern glare of authority. "And whatever I say goes. You know that." He added.
Athena sighs in defeat as she looks down at the ground before nodding her head slightly. "Yes, Father. I will speak with Artemis, then we will notify Queen Hippolyta that she will have a new and unexpected resident on the island." She says before angrily disappearing in a bright flash of light to find Artemis.
Bia smiles as she turns around and glances at Zeus. "Thank you, my Lord. I feel that my champion deserves this. More than anyone."
Zeus nods his head in understanding. "I owe your champion a debt, Bia. I remember Hulk and my son Hercules saving me from the Titan Typhon when he escaped from his imprisonment millennia ago to get revenge on all of us Olympians. This is my way of repaying that debt." He said with a smile.
Bia then smirked before disappearing in a flash of light as well, leaving Zeus alone.
(Scandinavian Wilderness)
Hulk was now killing the last of the many Wülver packs that were ravaging a nearby fishing town, and Hulk was killing them to remedy the town's terrible plight. As Hulk walked away from a large pile of mutilated Wülver corpses, some of which were missing limbs or even heads, a large Wülver with red fur prepared to leap onto Hulk from behind, but before the wolf-beast could strike, it was caught in midair by Bia, who grabbed it by the throat and effortlessly tore the monster in half with a smile on her flawless face.
Hulk's eyes widen in surprise at the arrival of the Titan Goddess and immediately kneeled down on one knee in a greeting way. "My Lady." Hulk said kindly.
Bia lets out a cute giggle of amusement at Hulk's gesture before saying, "Oh, you do not have to do that anymore, my champion. We have been good friends for 3,000 years."
Hulk chuckled as he slowly stood back up. "Sorry. I guess it's like a reflex whenever you're near me." He joked before asking, "So...What brings you here, Bia?"
The lovely Titan Goddess smiles at Hulk in a sad way before telling him, "I am deeply sorry...but it's time for me to retire you as my champion. You no longer have to serve me."
Hulk is utterly stunned by the news. Was he really free from her service after all these years? He asks her, "Are you being honest? Because...I don't know if I'm ready for this!"
Bia nods at him in a sad gesture before slowly approaching Hulk and putting a hand on his cheek. "My beloved champion...You have served me faithfully for many years. You've gone on various quests, both large and small in scale and fighting horrid beasts that would give even normal superhumans nightmares, and have fought in many different wars all over the world through the centuries and across the nine realms, and you saved thousands of innocent lives in the process. You deserve to spend your eternal life in peace, and to finally meet your grandchildren and great-grandchildren one day." She says before adding with a sly smile and wink, "Plus...I will often stop by for...private visits."
Hulk chuckles a bit before looking down at the dirt floor, trying his best to not cry, which he always thought would make him look vulnerable and weak, especially in front of Bia. He then looks at Bia and with a deep breath says, "I...I...I accept my retirement, my Lady."
After getting his permission, Bia smiles, practically beaming at him as she holds his hand. "Believe me when I say you will love where you will be staying." She says in a loving and compassonate way as they both disappear in a flash of bright light.
(Author's Note)
What's up, everybody! Hulkfan96 and his awesome co-writer, Jason Chandler here and if you are reading this, then you've taken an interest in our epic story. (:
The main pairings of this story will be Bruce/Hulk x Wonder Woman x Power Girl x Wasp x Jean Grey x Ms. Marvel x Storm x Mistress Death x Donna Troy x Supergirl x Lois Lane x Vixen x Hippolyta x Grail x Bia x Aphrodite x Athena x Artemis. Some of these pairings will be brief, but most will be permanent. ;)