The quiet Dr. Banner arrived several days later. The first day after he arrived he listened to witnesses and reviewed the videos and records of her actions, abilities, and known history. Eldworth decided that he wouldn't be given access to any of the video footage of her past; deeming it too horrific, and likely to cause the doctor to lose control and destroy the room. Althia didn't even meet the man till the fourth night he was on the carrier.
Sam was called away and the new guards didn't know how to calm her when she woke begging some phantom to just kill her. Agent Davis had black hair and eyes so dark brown the pupil vanished in low light. He walked up to her and pulled her from the floor as he tried to talk to her. She shrieked as he began shaking her small frame. His eyes and voice held no emotion, his commands only made her scream harder and she struggled more. He terrified her and the other guard pulled out ties to bind her hands before she hurt herself. It was the first time Dr. Banner was close enough to hear her tortured screaming. He was not a normal man; his studies and youthful foolishness had led to self-experimentation rather than using animal subjects. The result was a definitive Jeckel and Hyde like change. His only result was to become an indestructible humanoid tank of volatile temper and very limited thought.
Hearing her screams triggered him and he left giant sized holes through walls in a straight line to her. He proceeded to snatch her out of the arms of the guards, her body shaking and covered in sweat. She completely unable to speak as she clung to the growling monster. His body was triple Thor's size, green and hard as a rock. Contrary to all assumptions and previous experiences the alternate form of Dr. Banner was very careful to shield her as he worked down to the lowest level. Cradling her head and body as he leaped fearlessly from the carrier to the forest below; a drop of nearly 40,000 feet.
6 hours pass before they found the two passed out in a forest north of Boulder, Colorado. Althia was sleeping quietly on top of the normal form of Bruce Banner both of them were filthy from the trip through the unpopulated wilderness. They put Lt. McCarty back on her night detail indefinitely with instructions to wake the woman at the slightest whimper.
Bruce Banner sat spinning a pen as he waited on Fury. There was something different about his reactions this shift. For one his head didn't hurt and there wasn't the fog. He remembered everything except the first minute or so. The door opened and Fury came in; his long stride purposeful this was a man built of determination and a ruthless drive. "I only have a minute doctor make this as short as possible." Was his opening statement. Dr. Banner decided to get his attention "I remember almost everything that I did." He said watching as the intense brown eye locked on to him in the middle of sitting down. "Exactly what are we talking about remembering Doctor?" he asked and Banner told him an abbreviated list of the events from the time he saw the woman Althia Sacmich to the moment the retrieval team woke them in the forest. He focused on the fact that instead of the almost juvenile behaviors usually associated with the change he was actually able to think and direct some of the things he had done. "Is that why instead of tearing apart my ship you went down to the lower levels and jumped?" he asked and Dr. Banner nodded. "She feels different when I change and something about her took the edge off. It let me see and think to get us off the ship with as little damage as possible. The thoughts were incomplete but she changed the way I experience the change. I didn't have a head ache when I woke up, no major loss of time, no flash backs. I was able to avoid populated areas completely it's different than what happened with that time I was with Betty. Easier to think; I managed to keep us in the area instead of ending up on the opposite side of the continent." The two talked about the possible ramifications of having someone around who could give him some control and if it could be used or replicated. "Whatever powers she's got they make me function a heck of a lot better. She spoke to me as if I were a child and it helped calm me down; she can make more of herself glow than just her hands too." he elaborated. He described setting her down in the clearing and moving to the far side trying to prevent lashing out and hurting her. The way she called him and started glowing like her body was full of lightening bugs fascinated the doctor. How fearlessly she walked up and stroked his hair and face till he wrapped around her and laid down like she was a stuffed animal was more confusing. He remembered going to sleep with her on his chest the Hulk calming far faster than he had ever done before. Fury liked the idea of a more controlled Hulk shift and asked the doctor to stay on until he could have a ground base prepared for them. He wanted to know how she was doing to astonishing things with the Hulk and healing, most of all he wanted to know if this was something he could use.
That night Althia couldn't calm herself down with Sam's help. She didn't recognize him and kept covering her body like she was naked. Davis stayed back letting Sam handle the woman but his eyes never left her terrified face. It was Dr. Banner working late who came in and took her off the confused guard's hands. He pulled her down on his lap as he crouched on the floor and started talking about himself in her ear. He could feel the Hulk stirring inside him and when he thought he was about to lose it she placed her hand on his face stroking him and she started muttering "It's ok. I know. It will be ok." She hadn't been reacting to him but the other guy. Slowly she sank down into sleep and with the guards help he got her back in bed. He quickly hooked up a number of leads to himself and her registering a variation in the biometric levels he hadn't seen before. He made notes and sat on the stool in her room till one of the infirmary staff made him go to bed packing all his theories and notes into a bag for him to sort later.
After that when she relapsed and the guards couldn't break it Dr. Banner held her like a child rocking her and whispering softly that the other guy and her angel wouldn't let anything happen to her. It wasn't long before Doctor Banner had another episode. No one knew exactly what cause him to change; only that a pressure leak was register in one of the engine cooling pipes near him. Upon hearing him roar and the tearing of metal Althia made her way to the source of the sounds. The Hulk screamed at her as she stepped up to the transformed man. 'Like stars that dance. To ease the tortured mind.' She remembered without remembering and her power rose without her conscious thought. According to witness statements including Hawk's she "lit up like a Christmas tree." After that the Hulk just stopped to stare at her and then curled around Althia as if she were his security blanket. His body slowly changed back into Banner. He suffered none of the normal side effect of the change and he reported he had complete recollection of the events. That report was enough to leave those informed speechless.
Half the crew started calling her the ships mascot; showing her real warmth. Most wanted her in Dr. Banner's constant company and worked hard to keep the two within proximity. The head of engineering gave her a diamond pendant after she stopped the Hulk during his second episode. Eldworth smiled a real smile as he joked that he was going to put her on the pay roll just because of the damage costs she saved him by reducing the Hulk's destructive antics.
Thor stopped by during one of Dr. Banner's examinations of Althia. It was strange to see the man wearing something other than his armor. Jeans and a fitted white t-shirt caused all the women within viewing to walk by and stare at him. His smile and gentlemanly manners made it very easy for Althia to feel comfortable around his massive and intimidating physique. She knew from healing him that he hid nothing as he spoke to her. Sitting on an exam table her ankles crossed she looked like a different woman. Food, exercise, sleep and the expansion of her knowledge have freed her from a good deal of the haunted look she'd had when rescued. "Althia it is wonderful to see you, you look breathtakingly beautiful. The time you spend in the sun agrees with you." Thor says raising her hand to his lips. He showered compliments on the poor woman until she laughed for him. Only then did he turn to greet Dr. Banner who respectfully grasping Thor's forearm. Banner smiled and joked "Trying to steal my patient away with sweet words is going to get you in trouble with Jane." The two men laugh and exchange news for a moment before Thor turned back with a serious look. "I am going to seek the wisdom of the All Father about your magic and see if the records in Asgard's massive libraries might hold an answer to the source." Placing a hand gently on her arm he looked into her eyes "You are safe here with the Hulk to protect you and our allies around to help. While I am gone grow strong and know you have my friendship." Althia blushed she like the Asgardian prince and trusted him. He had at times calmed the terror that threatened to overwhelm her when dealing with so much change. His jokes always made her laugh and he was always so gentle with her. She told him she would miss him and to be safe hugging him before he left. "Why would there be information on me on Asgard?" she asked Dr. Banner after the prince had left. He just shrugged "Their libraries are advanced compared to ours. He might find out where you are from and we could start looking for any family you have left." He smiled "Maybe a boyfriend?" Althia blushed and stared at her feet. "I doubt that." She stuttered out and he chuckled before going back to the data he was collecting. She waited for him to tell her what he wanted to do trusting him to not hurt her in a way she didn't trust others.
Still most of all she waited and trusted her angel, as she refuses to stop calling her. She was assigned to Althia as a special trainer to help get her adjusted to life in the world. One word from her calmed Althia's worst panic and strengthens her hold on reality. She was the first to give Althia hope and that was something Althia wouldn't seem to let go of no matter what rumors she was told.