The Incredible Hulk #1

[fan4]

The Incredible Hulk #1
Monsters, Part 1
Monster Mash

Written by Timothy Eklund
Edited by Aaron Martel

New Mexico desert, the present.

A bright green figure known as the Hulk dashed across the orange dust landscape. Far above the jade figure a small military helicopter sporting desert camouflage observed the Hulk’s actions.

“Scout 3 to Hunter 1, I’ve found it, over.” The pilot of the military craft radioed a message to another pilot.

“Roger that, Scout Three, zeroing in on your location now, over.” The voice of the other pilot sounded over the radio, and the scout pilot began to follow the green giant below him on the ground.

The Hulk noticed the helicopter, but didn’t seem to care, and just kept running. Soon, several other helicopters arrived in the air above the Hulk and began to follow him. The newly arrived helicopters were armed to the teeth. They were military helicopters designed for destroying earth-bound targets. After a brief radio conversation, the scout helicopter turned and retreated. After it left, the remaining helicopters attacked the Hulk.

They sped up, pursuing the running Hulk, and began to fire their machine guns. Hearing the noise behind him, the Hulk turned and stopped in his tracks. The bullets from the helicopters bounced harmlessly off of him.

“Flying machines won’t leave Hulk alone! Hulk smash!” he yelled, as he jumped onto the nearest chopper and proceeded to smash it relentlessly with his super-strong fists. The pilot of the chopper ejected quickly, and the helicopter came crashing down to the ground. Seeing this, the other helicopters launched a volley of missiles into the Hulk. The rockets exploded at contact, but they only served to make him even angrier.

“HULK SMASH!!!!!” he yelled and jumped onto another helicopter. Very quickly, all that was left of his attackers were a large pile of wreckage and some fleeing pilots. Hulk then wandered off slowly, his anger dying down. After walking a long time until the sun had begun to set, The Hulk began to shrink. His color faded from green to pinkish-white and his black hair turned brown. The figure of Bruce Banner then collapsed onto the ground and passed out.

[fan4]

Bruce woke up at Desert Base in his lab. His assistant, Rick Jones, was staring down at him. The lab was a very advanced one. It had many cabinets, a sink and lots of scientific apparatuses.

“Ah, you’re awake, finally,” said Rick Jones, turning away from Bruce and walking towards the cabinets. “I heard about the Hulk running to the desert, so I got in a jeep and went after you. I’m just glad I found you in time.”

He opened a cabinet and pulled out a beaker filled with a cloudy liquid. “I take it the cure didn’t work?” Rick asked, looking back at Bruce.

“No, I don’t think it did,” said Bruce sarcastically, as he began to stand up.

“Yes, I, I suppose it didn’t.” Rick looked at the liquid sadly and poured it down the drain with a sigh. “Back to the old drawing board, I suppose.” He let out a little chuckle.

“Um, Rick,” said Bruce. “Could you get me some clothes?”

It had been two months since the incident with the gamma reactor and still, every time Bruce got angry he would transform into the huge green monster known as the Hulk. The Hulk was rapidly becoming famous all over the country for his bouts of rage. General “Thunderbolt” Ross had always given the order to hunt down the Hulk, whenever the green giant reared his head. So far, the army and the general had done no harm whatsoever to the misunderstood green giant. Bruce Banner did not like the Hulk. The Hulk disrupted his entire way of life and he just wanted a cure. Rick Jones helped him whenever he could, but so far all their efforts were fruitless.

[fan4]

Meanwhile, in Russia

Emil Blonsky arrived at his destination. He got out of the cab and paid the driver. He was in front of what appeared from the outside to be a condemned building. He walked up to the door and invisible sensors searched him for his identity. They found him acceptable and the door opened, revealing the broken insides of an abandoned building. Emil walked into the building and closed the door. As the door closed, the image of the inside of the building shimmered, and disappeared, revealing a sleek metal HQ. Screens adorned the walls and tables were set up everywhere with parts of machines littered over them. Emil walked across the room and through another doorway into a room much like the first. In this room, however, someone was there.

“Ah, hello, Emil. I see you have arrived,” said the person. He was a tall, handsome man with wavy blond hair that shimmered in the fluorescent light. Something about his appearance, however, seemed fake to Emil. The man had been looking at himself in a mirror as he waited for Emil, and seemed saddened that he had been interrupted. “Can I see the photos?” he asked.

Emil handed over the photos he had taken of the reactor at Desert Base. The man studied them and grinned.

“Ah, yes, this is exactly what I wanted; now I can finish my work. You may show yourself out, I presume?” With that, the man walked out.

Emil Blonsky quickly left the building and headed for his apartment, where his wife greeted him lovingly.

[fan4]

Desert Base, the next day

Bruce Banner and Rick Jones worked on their project: the gamma reactor. The reactor and its blueprints were stored in a separate room from their lab and it was only accessible to them and security. Unfortunately it had recently been sabotaged, and they had been repairing it and fixing the bugs in it for several days, but hadn’t made much headway. As they worked they talked very little and the silence was only broken when the door opened and Betty Ross stepped in wearing a black evening dress and necklace.

“Are you ready for our date?” she asked with a smile. “Though, I can assume that since you’re here that you aren’t.”

“Oh, right, the date!” exclaimed Bruce, slapping his head. “I totally forgot! I’ll go get changed and meet you at the restaurant in, say, thirty minutes?” He got up and walked toward Betty.

“Okay, but you better hurry!” said Betty, and they both walked out of the room.

Rick watched them go carefully, and when they vanished out of sight, he closed the door and looked nervously around. He then opened up a module connected to the gamma reactor and ripped out several wires. The improvements they had made to the reactor for the last week had been impaired by Rick. He then opened the door, and walked away casually.

[fan4]

Later, at a nearby restaurant

Bruce and Betty had reserved a table at the swankiest restaurant in Desert Base. It still wasn’t very nice, but they liked to go there anyway.

“Hidey ho, happy campers!” said the apron-wearing waiter, appearing beside them. “May I take your order?”

In this restaurant, Betty and Bruce in their fancy clothes stuck out like a sore thumb. This restaurant was a small, Wild West-themed BBQ restaurant.

“Yes, I’d like a Texan trucker special with a side of cheese sticks,” said Bruce.

“And I’d like a medium-rare steak please,” said Betty. The waiter then collected the menus and departed to get their food.

“You know, we should really find a restaurant with a better… atmosphere,” said Betty, twiddling her straw.

“Well, Desert Base is in the middle of nowhere and it’s not exactly designed with catering in mind,” replied Bruce.

“I’m just saying…” said Betty defensively.

They remained in silence until the food came. They started eating and then began to chat again. Soon they were chatting about all sorts of things, from work to Rick Jones to General Ross. All too soon the meal was done and they paid the bill and walked out the door into the dark, cool night. They drove back to the lab and Bruce went back to work on the reactor. He could have sworn that he had already done much more work than what he saw.

[fan4]

Russia, Several weeks later

Emil Blonsky left his apartment, kissed his wife goodbye and hailed a cab. Inside the cab he pulled out and read a sheet of paper. The paper was instructions from his employer, the “handsome man”. He got to his destination and stood at the door of what appeared to be an abandoned building. The invisible sensors found him acceptable and he entered the HQ. Following the instructions, he walked down a hallway he had never been to before and came to a door with a combination pad. He pressed the combination of buttons specified in the instructions and the door opened to reveal a small room with an observation window and airlock looking out onto a large empty room with tubes running into it. Inside the observation room was the handsome man.

“Ah, you’re here just in time!” said the handsome man as Emil walked into the room. “Are you ready for the procedure?”

“Yes, I’m ready,” said Emil defiantly.

“Good, just step in here and I’ll begin.”

The man gestured to the airlock doors and walked over to a complex control console. Emil walked up to the door and it opened. The first door closed and the second door opened. Emil walked out of the airlock and into the chamber. He could see the handsome man through the window and Emil gave him the signal to commence the procedure.

The man punched some buttons on his control module and pushed a lever to the highest setting. Inside the chamber the bright white lights turned green. At first, Emil didn’t feel anything, but then, he felt a strange sensation all along his body. He began to grow and his skin grew rough and turned green. Emil screamed in pain as he grew and grew. His ears grew large and pointy, his eyes grew small and beady, and his nose diminished in size. His hair began to fall out and soon he was over eight feet tall and bright green. Then the lights turned white again. The procedure was over. Emil was now a monster.

He exited through the airlock and entered the observation room.

“So, did it work?” asked the handsome man. “Are you super strong?”

“I don’t know,” said Emil Blonsky in a much deeper voice than he had before.

“Well, then, let’s go find out!” said the handsome man and he scurried out the door with Emil following.

[fan4]

Weeks later, somewhere in the desert

It was morning, and Bruce Banner had business to attend to. He and Rick Jones had decided to create a shelter and small lab somewhere in the desert so it would be easier to recover from the Hulk's rampages. They had loaded themselves and some food and medicine into a military jeep and rode off, searching for a suitable shelter. They had settled on utilizing a cave, as that seemed the easiest place to hide. They just had to find a suitable cave. They had spent several hours searching for one, and they had found several caves, but most were either infested with insects, or too well known to provide shelter and hide Bruce’s alter-ego. He had brought along a gun and tranquilizer… just in case.

After driving around for another couple hours or so, the pair spotted another cave. They drove up to it and disembarked. They then entered the cave. At first it seemed ordinary, but after coming to a large open area, Rick, out of the corner of his eye, thought he saw something golden down another rocky tunnel. He motioned for Bruce to look and looked closer himself. What he saw surprised them both. Across the tunnel was a large rectangular door with markings lining the sides. Next to it stood a huge gold coloured creature with three huge claws on each hand and two pointed toes on each massive foot. On its head it had two faces, one on top of the other, both independently scanning the tunnel. The bottom head suddenly saw them and roared in a strange language. The top head looked straight at them and the creature began to run towards them. Bruce and Rick were really scared, but they knew that if they ran from the creature it would follow them.

“Make me angry!” yelled Bruce. He figured he could take the creature if he was the Hulk (even though the creature was almost twice the size of the Hulk).

“What? Why?” yelled back Rick, but Before Bruce could answer, Rick realized why. “Oh, right. Okay, uh… you suck! You suck a lot!”

The creature was getting close to their end of the long tunnel.

“It’s not working!” yelled back Bruce.

“Uh, uh… Your momma’s so fat…” Rick was cut off as the creature stormed through the tunnel and bowled both of them over. It then began to circle around Rick, preparing to strike.

“That did it!” groaned Bruce as his skin began to change color and his muscles began to bulge out of his clothes. The monster was about to strike when the Hulk smashed his fist into its head. The monster reeled and the top head roared in the strange language and retaliated with a strong punch that made the Hulk reel. Soon, the fight erupted into a super-strong brawl. Not wanting to get smacked by any brawling monsters, Rick ran back up to the cave entrance and dashed out. He went up to their jeep and grabbed the pistol and the tranquilizer gun. He was about to run back in to see if he could lend a hand when he stopped and hesitated. The Hulk was having a hard time with the monster.

I should probably run away home, he thought. He was debating still when he noticed a vehicle in the distance. He grabbed the binoculars from the glove compartment of the jeep and looked out over the desert. What he saw shocked and scared him. He saw a huge, green scaled monster and a handsome man with blonde hair in a jeep. Neither of them looked friendly. The jeep was moving slowly from the weight of the creature, but he could tell they were driving directly towards the cave. Not wanting to meet another monster without Bruce nearby, Rick ran back into the cave towards the sounds of battle.

He emerged into the clearing to find the Hulk still savagely pummeling the beast. The green monster was bleeding from wounds inflicted by the monster’s claws, but he was far from beaten. Rick pulled out the pistol and shot the beast in the head twice. It did some damage, but not much, and the beast slashed the Hulk into the wall and turned on Rick. It picked him up and snarled at him in the strange language. Then, it suddenly stopped and looked surprised. It dropped Rick and dropped limply to the ground, a broken spike of a stalagmite sticking out of its back. The Hulk seemed to smile slightly, and pushed the beast into the side tunnel they found it in and pushed a boulder in front of the entrance. He then transformed back into Bruce Banner and fell over, unconscious and bleeding.

Then Rick heard voices. It was the green creature and the handsome man that he had seen. They were coming down from the cave entrance and arguing.

“How do you know Banner is here?” asked a deep, gravelly voice.

“Shut up, fool! Do you want them to hear us?” said another, higher voice.

Rick grabbed Bruce and jumped behind some stalagmites, hoping they wouldn’t see them. He pulled out the pistol just in case. Two figures entered the clearing. One was a huge, hulking abomination; the other was a tall and handsome blond man.

“There was a battle here,” said the Abomination.

“Yes, I see the blood,” said the handsome man.

“But I see neither Banner nor a Hulk,” said the Abomination, disappointedly.

“Well, he was here, and I think he still is,” said the man, glancing around.

Sensing the two didn’t have his best interests in mind, Rick raised the gun. The handsome man looked right at him, and summoning up all his courage, Rick stood up and shot him in the head. He felt a tap on his shoulders and turned around.

“Boo,” said the handsome man, appearing behind him.

Rick glanced at the thing he had shot. It appeared to be a robot.

“I knew you would do that, so I cloaked myself and sent in the robot,” said the handsome man, grinning. “Now give me that.”

He expertly grabbed the gun from the startled Rick and coolly shot him twice in both his legs. Rick fell over and yelled. The Abomination then picked up Bruce and carried him out of the cave. The handsome man smiled back at the bleeding Rick as he left.

Rick lay there, barely breathing…

To be continued