The underground base was usually a place of cold stone and disciplined silence, but the moment Huang Wen's silhouette flickered into existence, the atmosphere shifted.
"Fruit! You brought the good stuff! Hulk wants the big red ones!" Hulk's massive face split into a grin that would have terrified a normal human, but here, it was just the look of a hungry student. Over the last forty-eight hours, a strange Pavlovian bond had formed.
Every time Huang Wen returned from the surface, he usually had a crate of premium Fuji apples or giant watermelons tucked under his arm. To the Hulk, Huang Wen wasn't just 'Teacher'; he was the 'Fruit Bringer.'
Huang Wen, however, didn't have a crate this time. His expression was uncharacteristically grim as he looked up at the green giant. "No snacks this time, big guy. We've got a situation." He turned his gaze toward the center of the room.
"Banner, I know you're in there. Your father has resurfaced. He's currently tearing up the outskirts of the city, and he's already made a move against the school. He isn't here for a family reunion, Bruce. He's looking for blood."
The Hulk's eyes clouded for a moment, the green receding just enough for the troubled consciousness of Bruce Banner to surface. "My father..." a low, pained voice rumbled from the Hulk's throat. Slowly, the massive muscles began to deflate, the green skin fading into a pale, sickly olive, and then finally back to the slight, trembling frame of Bruce Banner.
"I'm sorry you had to get dragged into this, Master," Bruce said, his voice shaky as he reached for a pile of folded clothes nearby.
Ever since he'd started training under Huang Wen, he'd learned the hard way that high-intensity martial arts and Gamma-powered rage were expensive on the wardrobe. He'd taken to stripping down to his boxers before any serious session, just to save on the cost of shirts. "He's been chasing a ghost for decades. If he's attacking your students, it's my responsibility."
"If we can talk him down, I'll stay out of it for your sake," Huang Wen said, watching as Bruce buttoned up a simple flannel shirt. "Riesfisk is okay, so there's still room for a peaceful exit. But if he pushes it... if he tries to turn this into a war... I won't let him leave that field."
Bruce tied his shoes, his jaw set in a line of grim determination. "I understand. Let's get this over with."
A flash of white light later, the two of them were standing in the middle of a desolate quarry. The air was thick with the scent of wet earth and ancient stone. David Banner, his body still coated in a thick, shimmering layer of marble, turned slowly. His eyes, once dull and aged, were now glowing with a sickly, iridescent light.
"How is he doing that?" General Ross growled back at the command center, his fist slamming onto the console. "The light! Those spatial jumps! We've spent billions on the Philadelphia Project and couldn't get a mouse to teleport without turning it inside out. This kid is doing it like he's taking a stroll!"
"Sir, thermal readings on the second target... it's Banner. Bruce Banner is on-site," the analyst reported, his voice tight.
On the screen, David Banner let out a sound that was half-sob, half-laugh. "Bruce! My beautiful, perfect boy! You've finally come home to your father!"
Huang Wen didn't feel like being part of a dysfunctional family drama. He glanced at Bruce, gave a small nod, and then simply walked away. To the amazement of the military observers, Huang Wen strolled over to a nearby grassy knoll, sat down cross-legged, and produced a bag of sunflower seeds from his pocket. He even laid out a small spread of fruit—leftovers from the base—next to him, as if he were settling in for a Sunday matinee.
"Is he... is he having a picnic?" Ross stammered, his eyes wide. "There is a potential Class-5 threat standing ten yards away, and he's cracking seeds?!"
Down in the quarry, Bruce didn't share his master's relaxation. He looked at the creature that used to be his father—a man who had traded his humanity for a skin of stolen stone. "What have you done to yourself, Dad? This isn't science. This is madness."
"Madness? No, Bruce... it's evolution!" David cackled, his marble skin grinding like tectonic plates. "You were the first success, but you're a prisoner to that green monster. You want to be free, don't you? You want to be a man again? Give it to me. Give me the burden, and I will carry it for both of us!"
David didn't wait for an answer. He lunged. To a normal man, it was a blur of grey stone. But Bruce had spent the last week dodging Huang Wen's lightning-fast strikes.
"Roar!"
The flannel shirt didn't stand a chance. The Hulk exploded outward, but this time, there was a difference. He didn't just charge blindly. As David reached out for a 'hug' that would have crushed a tank, the Hulk pivoted his hips, caught David's lead arm, and used the old man's own momentum against him.
Over-the-shoulder throw.
CRACK.
The ground shattered as David was slammed into the dirt.
"Nice form," Huang Wen remarked, spitting a seed shell into the wind. "The hip rotation could be tighter, but for a first try under pressure? Solid B-minus."
David Banner scrambled up, his marble face cracked but rapidly healing as he drew more minerals from the ground. He realized quickly that the 'beast' he remembered was gone. This thing had technique.
"You think a few parlor tricks will save you?!" David screamed. He slammed his hands into the earth. The ground beneath the Hulk's feet didn't just break—it liquified. David wasn't just absorbing stone anymore; he was becoming the very element of Earth.
A massive wave of mud and silt rose up, wrapping around the Hulk's legs like a dozen wet pythons. Within seconds, David had transformed into a ten-foot-tall humanoid mud-titan, his body merging with the landscape. He climbed onto the Hulk's back, his 'hands' sinking into the Hulk's green skin.
"Yes... feel it, Bruce! The drain! It's so warm... so much power!" David's voice echoed from within the mud.
The Hulk struggled, but the more he pulled, the deeper he sank into the softening earth. His rage was building, but it was unfocused. He felt his strength being siphoned away, his gamma-radiation flowing into the mud-monster like water down a drain.
Up on the hill, Huang Wen sighed. He reached into his pocket and threw a handful of empty seed shells. They didn't just fall; they whistled through the air like bullets, stinging the back of the Hulk's neck. "Hey! If someone's got you in a clinch, what do you do with your fingers? Did I teach you to stand there and get hugged to death?"
The Hulk's eyes widened. A memory of a training session flashed through his mind—Huang Wen poking him in the ribs until he learned to guard his vitals.
"HULK... STAB!"
The Hulk didn't try to pull away. Instead, he reached back over his own shoulders and drove two massive, tree-trunk fingers straight into the 'head' of the mud-titan. David, acting on pure instinct, flinched. The 'eyes' of his form were a weak point, and even as a mud-monster, the fear of blindness was ingrained.
That split second of hesitation was all the Hulk needed. He tore his arms free, the mud spraying everywhere, and began to pound the ground. But David was relentless. He sank deeper, dragging the Hulk with him. Soon, only the Hulk's head and shoulders were above the churning soil.
"It's over, Bruce," David's voice was a rhythmic thrumming in the earth. "Give in. The pain goes away if you just let go..."
Bruce's consciousness, buried deep within the Hulk, felt a wave of crushing depression. He was tired. Tired of running, tired of the military, tired of the monster. Maybe his father was right. Maybe if he just stopped fighting, the Hulk would go away.
Huang Wen watched the Hulk's eyes begin to glaze over. He shook his head and stood up, the bag of seeds tucked away. He didn't move toward the fight, but his voice echoed directly in Bruce's mind, bypassing the physical world entirely.
"You really want to give up now, Bruce? After all that work? I guess I'll have to tell Betty Ross that you couldn't make it to dinner because you decided to take a nap in a mud puddle. Shame. She seemed like a nice girl."
Betty.
The name hit Bruce like a shot of pure adrenaline. His heart rate, which had been slowing, suddenly spiked to a rhythm that sounded like a machine gun.
The earth didn't just shake; it began to boil. The green glow emanating from the pit became so bright it was visible from the military satellites three hundred miles up.
"You want my power?" the Hulk's voice roared, but it wasn't just the beast speaking anymore. It was the unified will of a man who finally had something to fight for. "THEN TAKE IT ALL!"