Revamped!
[As I was writing this, I realized what a savage Daniel is and I loved it. He grew up from how I was writing him in Emily and Britney's stories]. [2020: *cries because my baby's growing up*]
Chapter 58: The Hulk
Location Classified - 6:26 AM
Councilman Neilson: From the earliest days of The Avengers, the nightmare known as The Hulk has been given a free pass - allowed to roam the Earth, no matter what horror he brings to innocent people of the world. No matter how much damage or how many kills.
Daniel sits in this early morning debriefing, this time with The Council instead of Agent Tapper. It's been about two days since he and his Hulk merged back together and he has shown no side-effects that came with using the virus that plagued him to cure him. This is the first time he's sitting face-to-face with the Council and they're not happy to see him (as if they're ever happy to see anyone). And as much as he likes history, he doesn't appreciate the horrible lesson that's a direct attack on him and his father.
Councilman Neilson: The fact is that in its early incarnation, The Avengers actually embracing The Hulk as a teammate was the first sign that The Avengers were a flawed concept at best.
"So, now you're saying that having their kids around is a continuation of this 'flawed concept' since we share the same ideology," Daniel states.
Councilman Neilson: If that's what you take out of it then yes.
Daniel sits up straighter. "I'll have you know that those statements are all false and you already know why. The only one who has been having nightmares this whole time about the Hulk is me and unlike all of you, I couldn't run away from it. I know why the Hulk is a risk because I have been walking on eggshells my whole life trying not to let it out although it sometimes got the best of me."
Councilwoman Kwon: Damage has been done.
"I know and I take full responsibility for my actions."
Councilman Rosario: An action of this severity will result in revoking you of your ranking. No longer will you be Agent Banner.
Daniel smiles a little. "Okay."
All the Council members are surprised, looking at each other's holograms to make sure they heard him right.
Councilman Rosario: You seem alright with that.
"I'm not an agent. I never was. I'm a scientist and a doctor. Take that 'agent' title away all you want. I'll be a consultant at best, like my fiancée."
-o-
Xavier's Apartment - Manhattan - 13:14 PM
Daniel walks into Xavier's apartment, knocking on a door that he already opened since Xavier gave him a key to his apartment. Xavier and the others have been living here ever since SHIELD put them on probationary leave for lying on oath and they're all healing from injuries they got from the battle again the Hulk - all in all it was perfect timing for them to take a break. Nobody got severely punished since they were already in pain from solving the main issue. Daniel's apologized for all that over a thousand times but none of his friends are accepting only because they believe that it was never his fault. Nevertheless, he always stopped by to take care of them hence the reason why he has a key to Xavier's apartment.
"I came with Chinese food," Daniel says, putting a plastic bag in the middle of the living room's coffee table since they were all camped out on surrounding couches.
"Stop feeling guilty," Merida says to him as she holds her sides to get a container of dumplings. "That fight was the greatest experience of my life and so worth being out of the field for another three months."
"Wow," James states, "Merida is complimenting again. I like you better when you're on painkillers."
Merida's ribs hurt too much to fight back so she throws a packet of soy sauce at his face.
"Consider yourself lucky that the Hulk didn't jump on your neck and break your knee," James grumbles before meeting Daniel's eyes. "I mean take your breath away."
James awkwardly eats some noodles. Daniel stares at him with narrowed eyes.
"I'm just happy that we're all alive," Angela says optimistically. "And even if SHIELD didn't put us on a probationary leave for x months, I would've taken a leave of absence."
"If you really think about it," Xavier adds, "this job gets harder and harder by the minute. That fight against the Hulk is probably nothing compared to what may or may not happen in the future."
"What does that mean?" Daniel asks.
Xavier takes a breath. Now is a better time to bring up what he's been meaning to tell the team for a while since they were so busy with Daniel and his estranged Hulk, and now they're all here. Well, not Emily but someone could just fill her in on the loop.
"Before Sergei blew up the jet," Xavier starts, changing positions in his seat. "He told me that we were being betrayed by someone and that Daniel was just the first one to go."
Everyone is tense at the sound of those words. If there's anything that this group of friends is based on, it's loyalty. The fact that someone may or may not be betraying them is frightening because who could it be?
"Maybe he was talking about the Hulk beating us up," Angela guesses.
Xavier shrugs and then looks at James. "I can't believe you grew big for the first time during that battle."
"I'm still the same guy."
"Yeah, but with power!"
James takes in this moment as Xavier finally respecting him and he'll never forget it.
"And a broken everything," Merida cheekily adds.
James narrows his eyes at her.
"Hey," Angela says to Daniel, "when you finally showed up to the battlefield with a gun and shot it once into the sky to prove to your Hulk that it was loaded, if worse came to worst, would you have fired it at yourself?"
"I wouldn't," Daniel say with all seriousness before breaking into a smile. "That was the only bullet in the gun."
-o-
Stark Towers - 14:45 PM
After visiting his friends, Daniel sits on the couch back at home eating a pint of ice cream that's so frozen that it bent the spoon. Bruce walks out and sees his son struggling to get a decent spoonful although he knows that's the least of his problems. A spark of happiness came from Dr. BV when she heard the news, not only of his eventful Hulk episode with the use of the nuclear fission Ph.D he only got at her request, but when he stepped down (or was pulled back) as an agent. She offered him a remote position at the Academy under her watch again.
"What flavour is that?" Bruce asks.
"Despair," Daniel responds.
"Wow, my favourite. Want to talk about it?"
"The ice cream? Yes, please. Emily bought it from-"
Daniel stops talking and sighs, shaking his head. He puts the ice cream on the table and sits back.
"Your mother explained your plan to me," Bruce says.
Daniel lights up a little. "The nuclear power plant or the gun to my head?"
"The power plant."
Daniel smirks, pointing his ice cream spoon at his dad. "Pretty smart, right?"
"Smart and risky. What were you thinking?"
"I had nothing to lose. We were all running out of time, but it worked."
"Exactly, so what's there to be sad about?"
"When the Hulk and I merged back, I got his memories from when we were separated."
"Oh…" Bruce takes a seat on the couch's arm.
"I almost killed everyone." Daniel looks up at his dad. "And they all seem okay with that, especially you."
"We didn't object to being out there, even if it's their job. You also saved everyone, including yourself."
"That's the only redeeming part of all this. You know, I only thought of that plan because I wondered what would happen if I injected it in the Hulk. Then the whole concept of him being pure gamma and needing a host came to mind." Daniel smiles proudly at himself. "Hypothetically speaking, could you ever make something like that?"
Bruce shrugs. "Whoever made that is beyond any of us. Someone extremely intelligent came up with that and I want to know who. Your mother and I are heading to that lab in Antarctica to study that virus. We didn't want to tell you at the time but it's a fascinating pathogen."
Daniel smirks. "It is when it's not killing me. Have fun down there."
"Emily's coming with us."
"Oh, then it was nice knowing you."
They laugh as Emily walks in wearing her finest winter apparel. She doesn't ask what they were talking about but just goes straight for the freezer-burned ice cream.
"SHIELD is letting you go there?" Daniel asks. "I thought they would be the ones to search."
"They wanted to and thought they were more qualified but I found the lab and told them 'finders keepers' with a side of a lawsuit. It's also a chance to do some in-law bonding."
She smirks at Bruce who leaves the room to give them a moment. Emily sits on the couch next to Daniel and faces him. Her bright expression tells him that she regrets giving him the silent treatment back then and just wants to love him.
"I love you but your oh-so-powerful brain already knew that, didn't you?" She says to him.
Daniel grins. "Of course it did."
Emily kisses him and Daniel pulls her closer again, just like the kiss they shared before SHIELD took him in but Emily puts her hands on his chest and stops him.
"I'm leaving for Antarctica now," She tells him. "Pick out some wedding cutlery while I'm gone and when I get back we'll continue this."
Emily blows him a kiss before running out the door. Daniel laughs a little to himself.
[If this story had to be divided into seasons like television shows, then this concludes season one.
And just to let you know, the creator of that virus will be revealed eventually].
