Revamped!


Chapter 52: Symbiosis Part Five

South Pacific Ocean - 10:49 AM

Many people say that the best way to conquer your worst fear is to go out there and face it. Those are the people with tangible fears you could actually see or do in person. Daniel's greatest fear for his entire life has been his Hulk and he has only transformed into it five times, not counting this moment because he still isn't sure what exactly happened.

He didn't exactly transform but he's still seeing his Hulk. It didn't feel like a transformation but a separation.

He's face-to-face with his Hulk. It shouldn't be that frightening for him since it's his Hulk, but Daniel finds this to be much more terrifying especially since he has no idea how this is even possible.

The Hulk looks at Daniel with narrowed eyes. Does he recognize him or just doesn't want him to be around? Daniel can't blame The Hulk since he doesn't want to be here either.

"What the fuck?!" Daniel screams, swallowing some ocean water and not bothering to spit it out.

Immediately, Daniel turns around and starts swimming in the other direction. Xavier does the same, but on his back so he could keep his eyes on the Hulk and so Daniel can swim faster. The Hulk roars again and starts thrashing in the water as it starts to catch up to them. Xavier tries to think of a plan on the spot but is coming to a blank. Nothing in his training prepared him for this. There is nothing around them but the ocean.

From above, Angela looks down and sees that the boys need help. She quickly turns and begins zipping down towards them. Once she's a few feet above the water, she freezes at the sight of Daniel and his Hulk as two separate beings but there's no time to be in shock. In response, she pulls out her gun and begins firing at the Hulk to distract him and increase the distance between it and Xavier and Daniel. Once she hears her empty gun click, she whips it over the Hulk's head. When the Hulk turns around to see where the gun went, Angela grabs one arm from Daniel and another from Xavier and pulls them out to go back to the quinjet.

Once the three of them land on the quinjet, Merida closes the hangar door. James takes a peek out the window and is just as stunned.

"What do we do about the Hulk?" James asks.

"Pray it doesn't cause trouble," Angela says optimistically.

"Babe," Emily says, wrapping Daniel in a towel and holding his shaking body close. "Babe, tell me you feel okay."

"I can't breathe…" Daniel mutters, feeling faint.

James quickly straps one of the quinjet's oxygen masks on Daniel's face as he passes out on Emily's lap.

-o-

SHIELD Headquarters - 19:13 PM

Once they all returned to SHIELD Headquarters, Daniel was immediately brought to SHIELD's Recovery Center accompanied by Emily. The others knew that they would be debriefed by Agent Tapper. Lucky for them, they rehearsed it. They reconstructed their mission in a way that would make the most sense without mentioning Daniel and his Hulk's separation. Only for each other would they risk perjury but if Agent Tapper never mentions a rogue Hulk, then they would never get caught lying.

Agent Tapper: Do relay your self-given mission.

Angela clears her throat. While creating their alibi, they decided that Angela and Xavier would do the talking (despite them being the worst liars) since Merida would give attitude and not being taken seriously, and James would make some joke and not be taken seriously. And if the two of them weren't to do any of those, the Council would catch on. Besides, if Agent Tapper had favourites, Angela and Xavier would be his least despised.

"Stark found an article about a laboratory in Antarctica that was financially supported by Sergei Sorokin who went missing after kidnapping Agents Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff," Angela starts. "Our team split: I took Stark and Agents Barton and Pym down to Antarctica. While there, we found a lead on Sorokin's whereabouts and sent the details to Captain Rogers and Agent Banner."

The Council now looks at Xavier to start explaining his half of the story since Daniel isn't present. As he examines the members of the Council, he can't tell if they believe the story or are just going along with their fiction it comes back to bite them.

"Agent Banner and I followed the lead to Australia where we encountered an aerial battle with Sorokin's jet," Xavier continues. "We were faced with a situation in which I had to force the quinjet down. I placed Daniel on Sergei's plane so he could get a surrender from him. That part of the mission didn't go in our favours since Sergei blew up his jet and took his life so I had to crash our quinjet to go save Daniel whom I caught mid-air where he passed out from the explosion."

Agent Tapper eyes the four of them as if something in their story doesn't add up. The team thinks that their story is solid and perfectly explains why Daniel would be unconscious.

Agent Tapper: Agent Pym, why do you have a scratch on the side of your neck?

James tenses, not expecting to be asked anything. The hairs on his neck creep up as he reaches up to trace the scratch with his fingers. For a moment, he forgets where got that scratch from but then he laughs nervously with a small smile.

"Stark's got sharp nails," James replies. He got the scratch from when Emily was fighting against his grip on the quinjet.

-o-

SHIELD Recovery Room - 19:15 PM

Emily sits next to Daniel, holding his hand as he inhales and exhales slowly. His vitals seem to be stable and normal considering what just happened with him and his Hulk separating. When SHIELD doctors and nurses asked what happened for the medical reports and she gives them the same story that her friends are telling Agent Tapper about passing out from a mid-air explosion. They have to keep the stories consistent so SHIELD doesn't catch on.

Emily continues reviewing the documents from Antarctica and still doesn't understand how this was meant to kill Daniel if he's still here breathing. She can't wrap her head around this whole experiment since its science is too complicated for her, which is saying something. Her university professors could never stump her but this paperwork takes the cake.

Then, Emily jumps a little at the sound of an alert coming from one of her friends' left behind tablets. She stands up and goes to view it. It shows footage of a rampaging Hulk in Egypt.

Emily bites on her bottom lip. She knows that she should tell some SHIELD authorities about this since her friends are in a classified debriefing and how she should go check it out but SHIELD will only respond with, "No. You'll fuck it up and die." (With those exact words). So Emily decides to go check it out.

Daniel is here unconscious and there are many doctors and nurses checking him often so he'll be fine. Emily gives Daniel a quick kiss on the forehead as she runs out to deal with it.

-o-

Luxor, Egypt - 4:36 AM

Emily runs down the streets of Luxor following the trail of destruction ahead of her. She regrets not telling her friends, sneaking out, stealing a quinjet to get here, and not bringing any powerful weapons once she realizes how scared she is. She isn't even in a proper SHIELD uniform, she's wearing a short white shirt with sleeves going halfway down her arm with three black stripes on the arms, jeans, and sneakers. Thin and not Hulk-proof. Emily sprints until she sees the green beast. She pauses. Emily takes a few steps before the monster notices her presence.

"Hey, Big Guy," Emily states. "It's me, Emily. This probably isn't what we should be doing now, right?"

The monster stares at her, full of rage. She has to pick her words carefully, and delicately.

"You're not yourself. You don't have that little conscious inside of you keeping some control. That little conscious is Daniel."

The Hulk roars and picks up a car that seems as if it'll be hurled at her. It's almost as if saying Daniel's name is taboo.

Emily takes a step back. She's his fiancée and now he sees her like this - like a threat. However, she forgives him because she loves him with all her heart, and, like she said, his conscious isn't in there now. Besides, if she had a virus that reenacted evolution in her body, she'd be pretty pissed too.

"C'mon, Daniel…" She mutters with hope in her trembling voice.

-o-

SHIELD Headquarters - 19:27 PM

Agent Tapper: Any final remarks?

They all shake their heads as a collective negative response.

Agent Tapper: Are you sure?

Nobody shakes their heads. If they're being asked to verify their answer, Agent Tapper is definitely on to them and their lies. They decide to nod together.

Agent Tapper pulls up live video footage of a Hulk appearance in Egypt that appears beside his holographic face. The team knows in their gut that it's Daniel's Hulk but they make sure their faces are neutral to avoid showing anything.

"Daniel's here," Merida tells them. They can't make that up. "He's in the Recovery Room. That's obviously his father."

Agent Tapper: For what reasons would Dr. Banner be needing his Hulk in Egypt?

"Better view of the pyramids?" Merida guesses sarcastically. "How are we supposed to know?"


[If you're faced with problems, just do what Daniel did when he saw his Hulk - swim away and swear. I do the same thing just not the swimming part since - and I'm not kidding - I haven't gone swimming in years]. [2020: I'd estimate that this chapter first came out in 2017 or 2018 … still haven't gone swimming since].