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 9: Waking up the Beast
Bruce was sort of angry.
That wasn't saying much since he was always angry because the Hulk was always angry and so to fight that anger was to fight a tiring, losing battle. It was easier to be angry and not give in under the relative certainty that the time would come to do so.
That time always came around.
Both of them much preferred when it served some sort of purpose. With all of that said, Tuan's story was a pretty angering one. It began on the day when they followed him to his home and then killed his parents and took him, and when Tuan first mentioned it, Bruce had assumed that had happened recently.
In actual fact, Tuan was four years old at the time. He had spent all the years since living a life Logan would probably find familiar. Experiments, growing up alongside other kidnapped children, all of which regularly died away. As far as he knew.
Tuan had witnessed one of them transform, so that meant there was the possibility that there were more knock-off Hulks.
In any case, whether by accident or not, someone messed up on Tuan's medication. His counterpart was able to wake up and catch them by surprise, successfully fleeing. Tuan first tried to reach the police for help but was intercepted by his captors, and that was the first transformation.
The other two transformations happened when he tried again at other towns.
Tuan didn't even know the names of his captors. Whenever they talked, it was never with him, and by his descriptions, he was treated very much like a lab rat. Only even lab rats were sometimes treated well. Bruce had the impression that his captors really had no intention to keep Tuan around, but rather to learn how to iterate on the gamma experiment to produce a Hulk who was analogous to the Red Hulk or at least the Abomination. Perhaps they wanted to standardize the process, and mass produce copy cats.
If they did plan to weaponize Tuan, then they would have to implement some kind of mind-controlling device because Tuan hated them with a passion, and there was nothing nor no one they could use to blackmail him.
Bruce scowled hard, thinking how crazy it was that Tuan couldn't even read. He sensed the Hulk's anger growing, and guaranteed him that he had no intention to take the high road as far as these people were concerned.
What was he going to do? Call S.H.I.E.L.D? Call the Avengers? Tony? Who could he really trust to do what needed to be done? Who could he trust to utterly and completely destroy any remnants of the organization and its facility? All of their research and technology needed to not exist, and who could he trust to carry that out?
Only one person, whom Bruce sensed smirking within, pumped and ready to start smashing.
He had given Tuan strict instructions to stay in the cave and not leave until Bruce came to get him.
"What if you don't come?" Tuan had asked.
Bruce had shaken his head, helplessly smiling to the side. "If that were the least bit possible, I would have died a thousand times over. Still, fair enough. If I'm not back by dawn tomorrow, here." He gave the kid his Avengers card. "Do you feel this tiny button? Press it three times. Help will come."
If they're not too busy fighting off some galactic menace, Banner had thought, with a sigh. He could only hope Tuan would wait like he had asked him, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if he didn't.
Now, Bruce was at the edge of the jungle, looking ahead and up at a gathering of helicopters. They were flying his way.
"How long until they figure out it's us and not the kid?"
Pff, went the Hulk, or at least that's how Bruce interpreted the sensation. The big guy didn't care. It didn't matter to him, and why would it? While the Hulk could accept Bruce's thoughts about the disadvantage of charging into an ambush, and being entrapped, that was not what was happening. So why should he care how soon into the fight they realized that the real thing was coming for them?
The real thing was there, coming for them. The strongest one there was, is, and always will be.
"Is it just me, or does this fight feel completely different? I'm really into it. I really want to help that kid."
It wasn't just him. The Hulk demanded they change at once, and Bruce shrugged. By his calculations, they could take out the choppers in about five minutes, and then they would need one or two hours to reach their base of operations, should Tuan's guess of their location be accurate.
"We should take one of them with us, just in case. Make them tell us exactly where the base is."
He felt the Hulk rolling his eyes in admonishment and smiled helplessly.
"Sorry. I just…I really don't want us to mess this up. With everything the kid's gone through, he has to be feeling incredibly anxious, not to mention scared. We can't mess this up for him."
The Hulk's impatience grew since they could already hear the helicopters loud and clear. Bruce felt that old familiar sensation that only had one interpretation.
Let me out!
His fingers twitched, but he took a deep breath and contained it, without meaning to. It was a pure reflex, reaching out from his past instincts. Just then, a bullet shot through the air and hit him near the shoulder, throwing him back onto a bush."
"Augh!"
Bruce bounced off and landed on his hands, which were already green. "Sorry," he said, nervously chuckling before the incredibly strong emotion coming from the Hulk. He was angry beyond belief at Bruce's hesitation, which had gotten them shot.
"Force of habit," Bruce whispered, feeling his body stiffen with pain.
Bruce heard the bullet falling on the floor, having been pushed out by his growing musculature. He noticed he hadn't actually talked, they had already switched seats as far as their conscience was concerned. He watched, through Hulk's eyes, as he gained height all while taking more bullets. These did not blow him back, this time, but rather hit him like rocks, flattening and bouncing off, causing no more effect than a flinch.
The Hulk's mind roared, and so did his voice, and Bruce mentally sat back to enjoy the show.
Go to town, Hulk.
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!
Next time, we see Hulk going to town! We find out more about this military organization that has done so much wrong to Tuan, but do we find out enough?
