Post by jordan on Jan 2, 2013 23:52:57 GMT -5
The Incredible Hulks
#1
In the Desert Sands
Of the Beauty and the Beast Part 1
*
"Beauty is subjective, for I find love to be the beast." - Dr. Bruce Banner.
*
We sit here and watch as the eons pass us by. We sit here and listen as the world comes to a beginning and an end, time and time again. We sit here and watch as our lives flash before us, never actively playing a role in them. Why do we do nothing? What can we do? The world, after all, has proven time and again that it will do as it pleases. For now, we will sit here and watch and we will believe the world’s greatest lie…
*
Everything…everything…everything is black. Black as a new baby’s first seconds from the womb; black as a dark cloak hanging over the horizon; black as a pool of blood on the ground, swimming with the tears of the world. I awaken with tears in my eyes and suddenly they burst, streaming down my face running trails through the dirt covering my face. Where am I?
The fire rushes through my arms, pain at the very epicenter of my being. Even the ends of my hair are blazing with pain. I open my eyes and at first see only black. Waves disintegrating over me, life that seems so lost. Where am I?
My arms feel…dirty, like I’ve been sleeping in…the sand. I’m in a desert. I rustle my hands through my hair but…it’s sticky or are my hands sticky? I stick my hands to my nose and smell iron…blood. What have I done?
The waves of black slowly become lighter, and I slowly begin to realize where I am. Memories flood me. I am Bruce Banner, I am one of the smartest men in the world. But what have I done? What have they done to me?
I suddenly feel a burst of anger and my veins burn again. My head pounds and my heart beats faster. Light floods into my eyes and I’m completely aware of my surroundings all at once. The rage flooding the veins like fire calms at the sight and smell of all the blood once more. Bodies…three by count lie on the ground in front of me. Did I do this? I hear static, a short burst, followed by a voice…a man’s voice. The General’s voice.
“Come in, Lieutenant Seans, are you there?” The voice of that man repulses me and more flames shoot through my veins. I must control it, I must figure this out. “Please, Seans, report now! Did you kill Banner?” Kill me?! I rush at the communication and device, ripping it from the body with more power than I thought I had.
“What the hell do you mean did he kill me?!” I scream into the device, anger bubbling through me. Darkness creates a boarder along my vision, I see only tunnels now. Calm, I have to stay calm.
“Seans? No…not Seans…Banner?! I swear to God, if you killed my men—“
“Shut the fuck up, General Ross. Where are you?!” The line goes dead. I look at the device and see nothing to help me on the outside. I rip apart the device and look at the insides. A small wire—purple. Only the British use purple wires, it’s how MI-5 finds their own devices. No one else is supposed to know, but I was told by an ex-MI-5 agent. God, I haven’t seen him in ages.
Why is Ross using British technology? Are these men MI-5? Why? I have to find out. I begin my long trek through the desert, heading away from the late afternoon sun towards the East. Maybe he’ll get lucky and hit a city with an airport, maybe he can make it too London before Ross gets out.
*
In a small house in the center of London, a man of about fifty-two years of age, and one righteous mustache, turns away from the comm. system he was using and turns towards his top operative, the Rhino. “Alex, it’s time. I was hoping Sean would be good enough, but you’re going to have to take this joker down.” Alex, a Hispanic man of large build, clocking in at about six-foot four, looks down at the General.
“Where is he? Now.” Alex says, but his words sound closer to a grunt than anything else.
“Somewhere in the Sahara, that’s where we dropped him.”
“I need one thing from you before I go.” Alex grunts again.
“And, what would that be, Alex?”
“I need you to destroy everything you’re doing here.” Alex says with a fearsome grunt and then leaves the room in anger. Ross stands there for far too long cowering in his own fear; some even believe he has soiled himself. After Alex is out of earshot, a man looks at Ross and poses the most peculiar question, yet the most obvious of all:
“Are we going to do it, Ross?”
“No, we don’t destroy anything here. After Alex kills Banner, we kill Alex. We have other hunters; no one is above this job. We don’t have loose ends, we don’t have enemies.” Everyone stands in silence.
*
“Hello, when is the first flight to London?” I ask the receptionist at the counter. She’s blonde, taller than average, blue eyes. Beautiful. Stunningly beautiful. It’s been six hours since I started walking and now I’m just exhausted. The blood in my veins is cold, and the receptionist knows that I’m tired, it’s completely obvious on my face.
“Three hours from now, would you like me to book you?” She asks, concern…or is that fear…painted across her face. What am I doing? How did I get to the desert? I will find you, General Ross, and I will kill you.
“Yes please, I would love that.” She clicks her computer a few times, and a ticket prints for me. A solo ticket; it’s been a long time since I’ve ridden with anyone else. She thanks more for my time, or is it my money; I can never tell when people are talking to me anymore. I walk away towards the terminal, find a chair, and sit there for a long time waiting…just waiting.
*
Alex O’Hirn stalks the streets of a little town known as Morfiest, thirty miles from Cairo, Egypt. It is at the center of a massive water flow which gives it the much needed income to keep itself running. Taxing water and its airport the size of Denver International give this small town jobs and money. He’s arrived three hours ago by private jet on orders from General “Thunderbolt” Ross to kill the man known as Dr. Bruce Banner, MD, Ph.D, LLD.
He has been searching for Banner, asking everyone in town. He has gone to several frequently busy places and shown a picture of the tall, skinny white man with brown hair and beard stubble. No one knows who he is, no one particularly cares either. Alex stalks the street, searching for the target. He returns to the airport to use the restroom. He takes several minutes and washes his hands with great care. He leaves the restroom and bumps into a small, blonde woman, knocking the photo from his shallow pocket.
“Oh, I’m sorry…” She reaches down for the fallen photograph and sees the man. “Are you…looking for this man?” She asks, handing the picture back to the hulking figure. He thinks about it for a moment, and responds:
“Yes,” he says with a nod of his head. “Have you seen him?”
“It depends why you’re looking for him.” Alex stares into her eyes painted with fear, beautiful blue eyes.
“Does it matter?” He takes a slow step towards her and she cringes.
“Y-yes.”
“No, it doesn’t. Tell me where he is.” Alex’s anger rises and she continues to refuse him information. His muscels tense. He tries not to lose control.
“Y-you tell m-me—“
“Arhg!” Alex grabs her by her hair and flings her into a wall. “Where is he!” He smashes her with punch upon punch. After about three minutes, he stops, looking at her mutilated body. Her beautiful, mutilated body. He looks around and sees no one. He hears a weak sob come from her body. He kneels down in front of her and whispers into her ear. “It’s okay, I’ll give you one last, good night.” He pulls her by her hair into the bathroom. Nobody walks by this part of the airport, he makes love to her in silence.
*
“Argh!” I hear a scream penetrate from not far away in the airport. Adrenaline rushes through my veins as I way the possibilities of what it could be. Was it someone sent by Ross to kill me? Or was it just some one slipping and falling? I check my watch. Thirty minutes till boarding, only a handful of others here. Cheap flights, small planes. I’m scared.
It’s been thirty minutes and no one has charged me yet. I’m safe.
They call for boarding and I stand, heading into the line of huddled bodies, preparing to fly to London. I walk onto the rather large plane, much larger than I’d expected. It must have stopped somewhere before here for there were so many people aboard before us. I hear heavy footsteps falling behind me. “Banner!” A shout pierces everyone on the plane, and they turn to see a monster stalking towards me. Alex O’Hirn, a man I’ve worked with for years. He used to be so small. What happened? How long have I been gone? His eyes search the plane until they land on me. Fear courses through my veins, anger through his.
“You’re the reason she’s dead!” He holds the body of a small, blonde woman. The receptionist. “I loved her! You’re the reason she’s…” he takes a small pause the vault the body of her at me. I duck and it nearly hits me, flying over my head, her lands in the lap of an older gentlemen. He has a heart attack.
Alex comes charging at me. I’m scared. But Ross sent him. Something changed him. What was it? Adrenaline pours through my veins. Heat rises to my head. Black clouds my eyes. Everything goes black…
*
Red. Everything is red. Blood in my eyes. A pounding of fists. Out the side of the plane. Unaware. The fight rages. What’s happening? Blood everywhere. Why me?
*
Everything is coming back now. Life returns to my senses. I smell more iron. Blood surrounds me, a puddle. Is it mine or his? I sit up and look around me. I’m not at the airport anymore. Somehow I made it back to the desert. Lying at my feet is Alex O’Hirn. I stand there in silence for just a moment and listen, listen for the beat of his heart. It takes a few seconds, but I hear it. I take in my surroundings and I see exactly what I didn’t want to: I stand in the same pool of blood I stood in almost twelve hours ago. A dizzying pool of blood in front of the man named Seans. I pick up the device I tore apart and I take my time piecing it back together.
It takes a little over an hour, but I finally get it working. I speak through it. “Hello, my name is Bruce Banner.” A low rumble penetrates my voice. It’s scary. It scares even me. A crackle on the other end, and then:
“Banner, I command you—“
“You do not command me. End of sentence. Send one of your men to meet me in Cairo, Egypt in three days time. I won’t tell you where I’ll be, I’ll trust you to be able to find me. I want answers and I want them now.”
“Well that’s a fuckin’ shame, isn’t it? You don’t get answers till we get you.” I think about this for a while.
“No, we play by my rules. I’ve spent years in your shadow. We play by my rules.”
“I hope Alex slaughters you.” There’s venom in his voice. I’m a little scared. Then I remember that I already fought Alex. I won. I think.
“You can get his body when you give me answers.” I shoot venom back through my voice. Silence. I’m done with him. I use my brute strength and destroy the comm. Unit. More silence. I take a deep breath, and I start walking. Alex will be fine. I keep walking. I need answers. My feet start aching. I need them now. I fall. I need water, not answers. I rise. No, I need answers…not water. Before I know it, I’m being glared at by the Cairo police department, but I’m not scared. I’m Bruce Banner. I’ve spent the past twelve years of my life building Project HULK. I think I’ve been injected with the serum. I’m not scared, I can’t afford to be. I’m Hulk, the Hulk.
Obviously, to be continued…
#1
In the Desert Sands
Of the Beauty and the Beast Part 1
*
"Beauty is subjective, for I find love to be the beast." - Dr. Bruce Banner.
*
We sit here and watch as the eons pass us by. We sit here and listen as the world comes to a beginning and an end, time and time again. We sit here and watch as our lives flash before us, never actively playing a role in them. Why do we do nothing? What can we do? The world, after all, has proven time and again that it will do as it pleases. For now, we will sit here and watch and we will believe the world’s greatest lie…
*
Everything…everything…everything is black. Black as a new baby’s first seconds from the womb; black as a dark cloak hanging over the horizon; black as a pool of blood on the ground, swimming with the tears of the world. I awaken with tears in my eyes and suddenly they burst, streaming down my face running trails through the dirt covering my face. Where am I?
The fire rushes through my arms, pain at the very epicenter of my being. Even the ends of my hair are blazing with pain. I open my eyes and at first see only black. Waves disintegrating over me, life that seems so lost. Where am I?
My arms feel…dirty, like I’ve been sleeping in…the sand. I’m in a desert. I rustle my hands through my hair but…it’s sticky or are my hands sticky? I stick my hands to my nose and smell iron…blood. What have I done?
The waves of black slowly become lighter, and I slowly begin to realize where I am. Memories flood me. I am Bruce Banner, I am one of the smartest men in the world. But what have I done? What have they done to me?
I suddenly feel a burst of anger and my veins burn again. My head pounds and my heart beats faster. Light floods into my eyes and I’m completely aware of my surroundings all at once. The rage flooding the veins like fire calms at the sight and smell of all the blood once more. Bodies…three by count lie on the ground in front of me. Did I do this? I hear static, a short burst, followed by a voice…a man’s voice. The General’s voice.
“Come in, Lieutenant Seans, are you there?” The voice of that man repulses me and more flames shoot through my veins. I must control it, I must figure this out. “Please, Seans, report now! Did you kill Banner?” Kill me?! I rush at the communication and device, ripping it from the body with more power than I thought I had.
“What the hell do you mean did he kill me?!” I scream into the device, anger bubbling through me. Darkness creates a boarder along my vision, I see only tunnels now. Calm, I have to stay calm.
“Seans? No…not Seans…Banner?! I swear to God, if you killed my men—“
“Shut the fuck up, General Ross. Where are you?!” The line goes dead. I look at the device and see nothing to help me on the outside. I rip apart the device and look at the insides. A small wire—purple. Only the British use purple wires, it’s how MI-5 finds their own devices. No one else is supposed to know, but I was told by an ex-MI-5 agent. God, I haven’t seen him in ages.
Why is Ross using British technology? Are these men MI-5? Why? I have to find out. I begin my long trek through the desert, heading away from the late afternoon sun towards the East. Maybe he’ll get lucky and hit a city with an airport, maybe he can make it too London before Ross gets out.
*
In a small house in the center of London, a man of about fifty-two years of age, and one righteous mustache, turns away from the comm. system he was using and turns towards his top operative, the Rhino. “Alex, it’s time. I was hoping Sean would be good enough, but you’re going to have to take this joker down.” Alex, a Hispanic man of large build, clocking in at about six-foot four, looks down at the General.
“Where is he? Now.” Alex says, but his words sound closer to a grunt than anything else.
“Somewhere in the Sahara, that’s where we dropped him.”
“I need one thing from you before I go.” Alex grunts again.
“And, what would that be, Alex?”
“I need you to destroy everything you’re doing here.” Alex says with a fearsome grunt and then leaves the room in anger. Ross stands there for far too long cowering in his own fear; some even believe he has soiled himself. After Alex is out of earshot, a man looks at Ross and poses the most peculiar question, yet the most obvious of all:
“Are we going to do it, Ross?”
“No, we don’t destroy anything here. After Alex kills Banner, we kill Alex. We have other hunters; no one is above this job. We don’t have loose ends, we don’t have enemies.” Everyone stands in silence.
*
“Hello, when is the first flight to London?” I ask the receptionist at the counter. She’s blonde, taller than average, blue eyes. Beautiful. Stunningly beautiful. It’s been six hours since I started walking and now I’m just exhausted. The blood in my veins is cold, and the receptionist knows that I’m tired, it’s completely obvious on my face.
“Three hours from now, would you like me to book you?” She asks, concern…or is that fear…painted across her face. What am I doing? How did I get to the desert? I will find you, General Ross, and I will kill you.
“Yes please, I would love that.” She clicks her computer a few times, and a ticket prints for me. A solo ticket; it’s been a long time since I’ve ridden with anyone else. She thanks more for my time, or is it my money; I can never tell when people are talking to me anymore. I walk away towards the terminal, find a chair, and sit there for a long time waiting…just waiting.
*
Alex O’Hirn stalks the streets of a little town known as Morfiest, thirty miles from Cairo, Egypt. It is at the center of a massive water flow which gives it the much needed income to keep itself running. Taxing water and its airport the size of Denver International give this small town jobs and money. He’s arrived three hours ago by private jet on orders from General “Thunderbolt” Ross to kill the man known as Dr. Bruce Banner, MD, Ph.D, LLD.
He has been searching for Banner, asking everyone in town. He has gone to several frequently busy places and shown a picture of the tall, skinny white man with brown hair and beard stubble. No one knows who he is, no one particularly cares either. Alex stalks the street, searching for the target. He returns to the airport to use the restroom. He takes several minutes and washes his hands with great care. He leaves the restroom and bumps into a small, blonde woman, knocking the photo from his shallow pocket.
“Oh, I’m sorry…” She reaches down for the fallen photograph and sees the man. “Are you…looking for this man?” She asks, handing the picture back to the hulking figure. He thinks about it for a moment, and responds:
“Yes,” he says with a nod of his head. “Have you seen him?”
“It depends why you’re looking for him.” Alex stares into her eyes painted with fear, beautiful blue eyes.
“Does it matter?” He takes a slow step towards her and she cringes.
“Y-yes.”
“No, it doesn’t. Tell me where he is.” Alex’s anger rises and she continues to refuse him information. His muscels tense. He tries not to lose control.
“Y-you tell m-me—“
“Arhg!” Alex grabs her by her hair and flings her into a wall. “Where is he!” He smashes her with punch upon punch. After about three minutes, he stops, looking at her mutilated body. Her beautiful, mutilated body. He looks around and sees no one. He hears a weak sob come from her body. He kneels down in front of her and whispers into her ear. “It’s okay, I’ll give you one last, good night.” He pulls her by her hair into the bathroom. Nobody walks by this part of the airport, he makes love to her in silence.
*
“Argh!” I hear a scream penetrate from not far away in the airport. Adrenaline rushes through my veins as I way the possibilities of what it could be. Was it someone sent by Ross to kill me? Or was it just some one slipping and falling? I check my watch. Thirty minutes till boarding, only a handful of others here. Cheap flights, small planes. I’m scared.
It’s been thirty minutes and no one has charged me yet. I’m safe.
They call for boarding and I stand, heading into the line of huddled bodies, preparing to fly to London. I walk onto the rather large plane, much larger than I’d expected. It must have stopped somewhere before here for there were so many people aboard before us. I hear heavy footsteps falling behind me. “Banner!” A shout pierces everyone on the plane, and they turn to see a monster stalking towards me. Alex O’Hirn, a man I’ve worked with for years. He used to be so small. What happened? How long have I been gone? His eyes search the plane until they land on me. Fear courses through my veins, anger through his.
“You’re the reason she’s dead!” He holds the body of a small, blonde woman. The receptionist. “I loved her! You’re the reason she’s…” he takes a small pause the vault the body of her at me. I duck and it nearly hits me, flying over my head, her lands in the lap of an older gentlemen. He has a heart attack.
Alex comes charging at me. I’m scared. But Ross sent him. Something changed him. What was it? Adrenaline pours through my veins. Heat rises to my head. Black clouds my eyes. Everything goes black…
*
Red. Everything is red. Blood in my eyes. A pounding of fists. Out the side of the plane. Unaware. The fight rages. What’s happening? Blood everywhere. Why me?
*
Everything is coming back now. Life returns to my senses. I smell more iron. Blood surrounds me, a puddle. Is it mine or his? I sit up and look around me. I’m not at the airport anymore. Somehow I made it back to the desert. Lying at my feet is Alex O’Hirn. I stand there in silence for just a moment and listen, listen for the beat of his heart. It takes a few seconds, but I hear it. I take in my surroundings and I see exactly what I didn’t want to: I stand in the same pool of blood I stood in almost twelve hours ago. A dizzying pool of blood in front of the man named Seans. I pick up the device I tore apart and I take my time piecing it back together.
It takes a little over an hour, but I finally get it working. I speak through it. “Hello, my name is Bruce Banner.” A low rumble penetrates my voice. It’s scary. It scares even me. A crackle on the other end, and then:
“Banner, I command you—“
“You do not command me. End of sentence. Send one of your men to meet me in Cairo, Egypt in three days time. I won’t tell you where I’ll be, I’ll trust you to be able to find me. I want answers and I want them now.”
“Well that’s a fuckin’ shame, isn’t it? You don’t get answers till we get you.” I think about this for a while.
“No, we play by my rules. I’ve spent years in your shadow. We play by my rules.”
“I hope Alex slaughters you.” There’s venom in his voice. I’m a little scared. Then I remember that I already fought Alex. I won. I think.
“You can get his body when you give me answers.” I shoot venom back through my voice. Silence. I’m done with him. I use my brute strength and destroy the comm. Unit. More silence. I take a deep breath, and I start walking. Alex will be fine. I keep walking. I need answers. My feet start aching. I need them now. I fall. I need water, not answers. I rise. No, I need answers…not water. Before I know it, I’m being glared at by the Cairo police department, but I’m not scared. I’m Bruce Banner. I’ve spent the past twelve years of my life building Project HULK. I think I’ve been injected with the serum. I’m not scared, I can’t afford to be. I’m Hulk, the Hulk.
Obviously, to be continued…