Disclaimer: Goes without saying but I do not own Bruce Banner nor the Hulk nor any other Marvel character herein included. They're the properties of the original creators as dictated by official documents, whom you can find out more about in Wikipedia or something. Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, etc.

Tuan aka The Abysmal as well as the plot related to them, the monsters and the military, are original by me, but they're still set in the Marvel Universe so I still hold no rights to them.

Rating: T for a bit of violence. I censor profanity like they would in a comic, if I ever use it.


PART 5: The Tourist

Bruce booked a flight to Vietnam and spent the trip on his small laptop researching the entire situation he was about to get involved in. He started by trying to find out if there was any information regarding the source of the copycat Hulk, but Vietnam was still saying it was the real thing, while U.S. officials maintained that it wasn't.

So he spent most of the time worrying about what really mattered: the sightings. Using map applications, and whatever photos he could put together, he drew up a few guesses of the locations that Bruce would have sought out for isolation and safety, in the past. It was something he and the Hulk had done a lot of, so he was confident he could predict the moves of this new person. He further confirmed that, much like Bruce in the past, this Vietnamese, if he really was Vietnamese, was not a soldier out of control but rather an experiment on the run.

That much was clear from what footage there was of the fights.

And in that, the new Hulk-wannabe was at a disadvantage. People would be hard-pressed to get a good picture of the Hulk back when they were running around scared and confused, let alone produce a myriad of high definition video streams from every point of view imaginable.

While he was at it, Bruce brushed up on his Vietnamese. His accent was terrible, and a lot of the vocabulary was probably more Chinese than it should be, but he wanted to be able to understand people well enough even if he couldn't speak with comparable mastery.

By the time he landed, Bruce already had cheap transportation planned out involving a bunch of bus rides. However, the very second one was canceled for the entire day, so he was forced to hitchhike his way out of Ho Chi Minh. He went far enough that cars turned into carts carrying grain and vegetables, which was when he knew it would be okay to take a nap.

He wasn't scared of being hurt, but he was scared of being robbed, and that's not something field workers were known for. Plus, they wouldn't be able to escape fast enough if they did try, nor have a crowd of people within which to hide.

Waking up, Bruce enjoyed a little more of the scenery and good weather before leaving that cart to stand by a bus stop for a few hours. He got into that bus and took a seat, and had to do a lot to keep himself calm in the midst of impatient people who were so late one of them shouted him off for making the bus stop for just that minute.

The bus was very full.

Right about the time the Hulk wanted to come out to tell everyone to shut up, Bruce got off and went back to hitchhiking. The Hulk didn't really appreciate that.

It might honestly be faster, all things considered, Bruce had posed as an argument.

But it really wasn't.

All and all, the map application had told him the trip could be made in eight hours, but it actually took him a day and a half to finally arrive near the small jungle he wanted to check out. It was located a good distance away from two public appearances of the copycat hulk.

Wearing his buttoned shirt, wearied sunglasses and with his pale skin turning red, Bruce just walked into the jungle. That prompted the couple that had given him a ride to plead for him not to commit suicide, with genuine concern.

"Life can still be good! Don't do this, American!"

Their English was better than his Vietnamese if he were to be honest, and still, he had just chuckled and thanked them before moving on.

"No concern, I not die," he hoped was what he said.

The people were nice, really, but conversation was very minimal because of him. It was not only because of the language difference but also because Bruce had fast fallen into the pleasure of thinking about his would-be inventions and research domains. Despite the massive delay, very few hours had actually been wasted.

The Hulk was beyond bored, but the expectation of a challenging brawl was keeping the big guy from getting too antsy. So into the jungle, they walked, casually munching on some canned tuna. Bruce had figured he'd need a bunch of fast, uncooked meals, so he had filled his large backpack with canned food. And drink, of course. Outside of that, he wasn't really worried about much at all, as far as the danger was concerned.

If something venomous bit him, it would hardly affect him. The radiation coursing his body took care of most threats to his health, and what it didn't address, was utterly pummeled if the Hulk were to take center stage. Threats more on the macro level worried him even less. Something like a tiger was no real threat to the Hulk, despite the beast's mighty power.

The Hulk appreciated that sentiment.

Bruce walked around the jungle, kind of following his instincts. Obviously, the details of the jungle hadn't been mapped, so he had to look for safe places by seeking them out. Like a good spot near rivers or waterfalls, for there was where a desperate man could get fish. Fish was the easiest to catch, and the least bloody of foods to deal with. On the other hand, there was the possibility that the man was used to a vegetarian diet, being from South Asia, and would therefore be more naturally inclined to think of that.

Bruce only thought of it when there was an absence of fish since he didn't really have the stomach to kill something like a bird or a rabbit with his bare hands.

Well, he hadn't back then.

In any case, rivers and waterfalls, a nice spot in a clearing where it was easier to spot incoming people or caves. Caves would always be his preferred place, seeing as he didn't have to worry about what would be inside. So Bruce looked for caves.

That was it, really. It was very anti-climactic. Despite the fact Bruce had scouted about four other such locations to visit, he suddenly got shouted at right in front of the second spot he checked, which was a cave. The voice was coming from inside.

"Who are you?! Go away!"

The voice yelled in the native language, and very fluently so. And it sounded surprisingly young, too. Bruce thought back to what he knew of the vocabulary. All the sweating was making it hard to think, but he managed to remember.

"No danger," Bruce said, with difficulty. "I want…hum…give. Provide? Assistance. I wish to assist?"

"Go away! Go away, or I will get mad! Then you'll be sorry," he said.

Well, that sounds familiar, Bruce thought, sensing the Hulk's amusement. "No need to get mad! Me help! Just help! Not with an army, I swear!"

Bruce felt like he was skewering the grammar, but there was no way to avoid it. Understanding it was one thing, speaking it was different. If only Natasha were there.

Then out came the young man, and he was young. Bruce didn't know how far into his teens the boy was, but he was short, and his voice went to a higher pitch. His clothes, which amounted to a ragged pair of pants, partly ripped open by the transformation, were all the signs Bruce needed to know this was the person in question. The copycat Hulk.

He hadn't expected a teenager, though. That was really bad.

"I said go! Who are you, white bastard? You're with them, aren't you?! WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Not with them," Bruce said, holding his hands up to try and show he was defenseless, but the kid was paranoid. He was looking around, trying to find signs of an ambush.

"How did you find me?!"

"I uh…" it wasn't the time to sound uncertain, but his difficulty with the language was really making it difficult. "I make guess."

The boy turned a very angry eye at him, with his hair curtaining over the left one. Oh boy…the kid's temperament is going very south very fast.

"Please be calm," Bruce pleaded, soothingly. "Stay calm."

The kid sniffed suspiciously, and his eyes turned to Bruce's backpack, and Bruce then noticed how the kid's teeth and mouth were dirty with the red from berries and fruit. He also had some kind of green stuck between his front teeth.

"I have food," Bruce said, enticingly. "I share."

But the kid scowled hard. "Again? You trick me again?!"

Bruce opened his eyes in realization. Oh no, the people chasing him tried to feed him something bad. Tranquilizers or poison.

"No trick! Trust me!" Bruce said quickly.

Tears came to the poor kid's face, and he twisted, suffering a spasm. "WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Please, I am Bruce. Bruce Bann-"

He got punched. His body set out flying, flipping through the air, beating against some trees. He was faintly aware of the transformation taking place, and it wasn't his. All he was experiencing was a lot of bones breaking.

The Hulk wanted to correct that. He was going to come out and pacify the kid the only way that was now available to them.

Bruce smiled, his face jolting with a green complexion as his body suffered its own spasm.

The Hulk would handle it the fun way.


Part End: Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time. I can't answer some types of review for some reason so I'll say it here: Thank you for the kind words, I'm really glad you're enjoying it!

Yeah! Next up, we hulk out versus the new green kid on the block. Don't miss it!

(Reminder that this story happens in the same timeline/universe as Spider-Man: Repulse, but it's self contained like that one is)