"You're awake?"
Zhang Fei held a water jug, gulping down water.
Bruce Banner's muddled brain registered the voice.
Chinese?
"Hel... lo..."
Banner clutched his head.
Why does it hurt so much?
Zhang Fei glanced at him. Had he knocked the guy stupid?
Banner stood up. "Where am I? I remember turning into a big green guy, I think? And then getting... knocked out..."
Bruce Banner's memories gradually returned.
He remembered being exposed to gamma rays, turning into a green monster, and wrecking the streets.
And... killing a lot of people.
Still, Bruce Banner wasn't entirely to blame.
When Banner survived exposure to a massive dose of gamma rays, the military took notice.
It was a military research facility, after all.
But the effects of the Wraith incident had thrown the timing off slightly.
That was how he had ended up transforming into Hulk ahead of schedule.
After being irradiated early, Banner had fallen straight into a coma without revealing Hulk's terrifying power.
Having never seen how frightening Hulk was, the military showed no restraint in their experiments.
That spelled disaster.
Enraged near New York, Hulk had taught them a lesson.
"Are you the same kind as me?" Zhang Fei's voice reached Banner's ears again.
"I don't know, but we might be somewhat similar." Banner seemed to suddenly remember something. "Betty!"
But he quickly deflated like a punctured balloon, collapsing limply to the ground.
For one thing, his strength really was exhausted.
For another, how could he face Betty now that he had become like this?
"Sorry, I lost my composure." Banner recovered. "Thank you for stopping me before I caused any more damage."
Though things were already bad enough.
"Mm." Zhang Fei was more restrained in human form, nowhere near as wild as he was in gorilla form.
Banner pulled himself together again. "Uh, my name is Banner. Bruce Banner."
"Zhang Fei."
"Uh, right."
Seeing him hesitate, Zhang Fei said, "If you want to ask something, just say it. Stop fidgeting like a little kid."
"Can you make him disappear?" Banner looked at Zhang Fei with hope in his eyes.
"No. I don't have that kind of ability." Zhang Fei gave Banner an odd look. "I just hit you in the head. Maybe that brought you to your senses?"
With power that strong, instead of thinking about how to control it or use it, you want to make it disappear?
Are you all right? Seriously?
"So it's only temporary?" Banner sighed, then regained a little hope. "Then could you teach me how to calm him down or keep him from coming out?"
"That I can do." Then Zhang Fei asked, "What can you give me in return?"
"Huh?"
"What, you expect a free ride?" Zhang Fei gave Banner a mildly disdainful look.
"Of course not. Uh..." Banner carefully considered what he had to offer. "I have a doctorate in physics, I speak several languages, and I have a little money..."
Banner slowly listed what he had.
"Money?" That seemed to be the only thing that interested Zhang Fei. "Fine, I'll take a bit of a loss and accept your money. And teach me that language you lot keep babbling in while you're at it."
Banner's face lit up. "All right, it's a deal."
Soon, with Zhang Fei's help, Banner sneaked back to where he kept his secret stash and withdrew all his assets from an anonymous bank card.
Fortunately, it hadn't been frozen.
Banner scoffed at its supposed anonymity.
He was sure that if he hadn't withdrawn the money before becoming a wanted man, the account might have been frozen a few days later.
In a small cabin on the outskirts.
Banner could barely contain his excitement. "Can you teach me how to calm him down now?"
"Of course. I can't say whether he can disappear, but since he's already been born, the first thing you need to do is accept him." Zhang Fei looked at Banner with a serious expression.
"Accept him?"
"The two of you might have a symbiotic relationship. Maybe you can communicate better if you stop rejecting him."
"But... he's just a monster. How could I possibly..." Bruce Banner recalled the chaotic fighting in the streets. The moment he remembered those gruesome, blood-soaked scenes, his adrenaline surged. He trembled uncontrollably, his face flushing red and even beginning to turn slightly green.
"Calm down." Zhang Fei lightly whacked Banner on the head with the disc.
Banner panted, seemingly calm again. "Thank you. I felt like I was about to lose control."
"Maybe what you said upset him."
Zhang Fei continued, "Whether you want to admit it or not, he's probably part of you. He's only just awakened, and his mind hasn't fully developed. That's where you're different from me. The two of us awakened almost at the same time. We grew together, accomplished things together, and developed our outlook on life together."
Zhang Fei looked Banner straight in the eye. "You need to guide him as he grows and help him develop the right values, not reject him and isolate him, leaving him to grow up in a hostile environment."
Banner looked thoughtful.
Zhang Fei continued, "I can sense that he has enormous potential. If something else goes wrong, the damage he caused today might seem like child's play."
Banner nodded repeatedly, listening intently to Zhang Fei.
"So, start by giving him a name."
"Hulk." Bruce Banner blurted it out almost instantly.
"Well, well." Zhang Fei laughed. "See? You can communicate."
Zhang Fei had made a safe, uneventful retreat with Bruce Banner.
But the aftermath on New York's streets was far from over.
First, the New York police and the FBI started arguing over responsibility.
The New York police argued with General Ross of the military.
The FBI argued with S.H.I.E.L.D.
The news media acted as though someone had struck a nerve.
They reported on it in a frenzy.
"They Were Actually Doing This on the Streets of New York!"
"Roaring Streets at Noon: Why Did Soldiers Invade New York?"
"..."
The protest marches arrived right on cue.
There was no large-scale looting, though.
After all, so many soldiers were stationed there.
In a private room at a restaurant.
Three people sat around a round table.
"Are those two monsters our targets too?" one man asked the other two, fervor written across his face.
The other two looked at him as if he were insane.
Doesn't he have any idea whether we can handle them?
"No. Our targets are those people at Michigan University." The woman on the other side took out several photographs and documents.
"All right."
"For humanity!" The three stood, revealing the four-leaf clover symbols tattooed on their forearms.
Only one of them looked somewhat fanatical. The other two remained quite composed.