InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I wear a Stetson now."

im_always_angry (im_always_angry) wrote in reality_crisis,
@ 2012-05-26 18:24:00

Entry tags:

bruce banner, pastor john tudor, status: complete

Stranger in a strange land (Open, but can work as narrative)
Wet.

He tried to inhale, and water filled his mouth and nose. Bruce erupted in a fit of coughing, and jerked his head to the side. His face had been half submerged in a puddle. He spat out a mouthful of muddy water and opened his eyes. What he saw didn't make him feel much better. Concrete streets and sidewalks overrun with grass and foliage, half collapsed skyscrapers towering all around him.

Bruce pulled his aching body up from the ground, looking around him in awe. "Alright..." he said evenly, going over the last thing he remembered. Stark Tower, the lab, 2:30 in the morning. My research. Time for coffee. Then a point of light, tearing across the wall. The Tesseract? Similar, but it lacked the blue-hue. And none of my Gamma instruments gave any kind of warning. A portal of some kind. And then- white. All white.

Bruce paced up to what had once been an intersection, and looked down one street, then the next, then the next. In every direction it was the same thing. Empty streets, cracked pavement, rodents and small game grazing next to traffic signals and deserted vehicles. He thought about yelling, but his instincts prevented him. The gravity of the situation began to dawn on him. "Right, so I'm alone, in what looks like a major metropolitan city. Aaand it's deserted..." He nodded, interlacing his fingers, turning in circles as he considered his predicament.

This isn't right... A sinking feeling came to his stomach, the kind that happened when the data was inevitably pointing in a direction the researcher didn't want it to. Bruce was too well read to have missed a major city of this size suddenly being deserted. The vegetation suggested it had been this way for some time- at least a year at his best guess.

"So there are three possible explanations, " Bruce muttered to himself. "One, that I've been away long enough for some disaster to strike, for a major city to be deserted, and for vegetation to overrun it. Two, that I'm experiencing some sort of hallucination, or have finally lost my goddamned mind. Or three, that I'm not on Earth at all...". He thought about Thor and Loki- maybe this was one of the nine realms they talked about? He took a deep breath for a moment, closing his eyes, accepting the crushing terror and hopelessness of the situation. That it was a distinct possibility that he had had a complete break from reality, or that the world had finally descended into nuclear war. That he would likely never see any of his friends ever again. Exhaling his eyes snapped open, a serene expression on his face. "So par for the course, really."

--
An hour later saw Bruce in full-scale survival mode. A lifetime spent on the run from every government agency had given the man more than a few skills that would come in handy in this bleak new world. He'd located some shelter in a ruined storefront, then had set about gathering whatever resources he could. He'd quickly discovered that a number of items from the laboratory had been pulled through the rift with him, and he scoured the are for anything he could find.

As night fell, he made his way back into his shelter and hunkered down for the night. A small pile of objects sat at the opposing side of his small fire. There were a few pieces of lab equipment which wouldn't be of any immediate use, but it was nice to have all the same. The real find had been his "go-bag". Really it was just a canvas shoulder bag any college professor might carry, but Bruce was always ready for the possibility of running at a moment's notice. He had a change of clothes, some dehydrated fruit and energy bars, a bottle of water, a shaving kit, an empty shoe polish tin filled with basic survival supplies, and his laptop, the real gem of the collection. A Stark Granitebook- the same model used in combat zones, but Bruce's titanium casing had a drab green sheen- Tony's idea of a joke. Add to that the smartphone he'd had in his pocket, his wallet, his watch, his glasses, and the clothes on his back. He'd been worse off.

Something rattled in the street. Bruce looked up with concern, his heartbeat jumping. His fire was small and concealed behind rubble, but Bruce quickly stomped it out all the same. Peeking over the edge, Bruce saw there were figures in the street. He stayed silent, prepared to wait out the night unless he heard some actual human voices...

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gcboy
2012-05-27 03:08 am UTC (link)

John had gotten lost, and was more or less ready to kick himself for it. Night had fallen and the pastor, who'd taken the day to explore more of the ruins outside of the "safe zone". He wanted to learn more about the world and see if there were any churches at all in the old ruins to get a feel for how the people here might have worshipped before the disaster. It was a slim to none shot at finding anything, but you could never be sure unless you looked for yourself, and John wasn't one to simply here "it's no use" and take another's word for it.

So, dressed for a day of urban hiking (including his collar, though because despite his reluctance to believe in superstition it made him feel more likely to succeed) he left the walls, a small day bag of food, water, and a utility knife all he took along with his bible.

Still, he hadn't found anything all day, and instead gotten turned around. The ruins just looked so bleak and similar it was hard to distinguish which he'd passed and which he hadn't seen before. When night started to fall he stopped looking for the way back and instead started looking for shelter, wanting to escape the dangers of the night. Instead, however, he wound up getting distracted by finding a small tool. What looked like some odd pair of needle nose pliers, though they were much thinner than the usual tool, and didn't look to be cast in a typical metal. He blinked, they were certainly new looking, and definitely not of this world.

He put the plier in his bag and walked a bit further and suddenly noticed something else odd. Signs of somebody moving about subtly. Most wouldn't have noticed them, whoever was here was obviously trying to keep a low profile, but John was trained to notice things out of place. He paused. There was little time to find safe shelter, but he didn't want the trail to go too cold. He looked around, noticing a small shop that looked like it could be a good place to hide for the night. And it was near enough the tracks that whoever it was might have also taken shelter there.

John started forward, trying to be quiet until he got a sense of what was going on. But the darkness impeded him and he stumbled over a pile of rock, making more than enough noise to be heard by anybody around. He froze, senses on alert, then suddenly heard another noise, like a stomping. It seemed like he was most likely correct about somebody being in the ruins.

The pastor hesitated, not wanting to believe to worst but also not wanting to be caught unaware by a potential threat. He looked around and grabbed a short segment of pipe out of another rubble pile, testing the weight of the two foot piece and then slowly creeping forward and towards the shop, both hands holding the pipe up like a baseball bat. Despite former military training the golden haired Texan had found the idea of violence a bit more unnerving since he joined the Church, probably because he wasn't supposed to be reverting to these skills after swearing himself to a life of peace and faith.

"H-hello?" he called out unsurely, deciding it might be better to attempt a verbal communication before a physical one, if it was just another human being out there. "Is anybody in here? Anybody you know... not a zombie, or a fairy...." He stopped, wondering if he heard something. He let out a low breath and looked up towards the sky.

"God, if You are there, I'd appreciate there not being any zombies in there," he said softly, giving a chuckle and then squinting in the dark before shaking his head. "Come on, John. It's time to find a place for the night, not to jump at every shadow."

He cleared his throat and spoke up a bit louder as he took a few more steps towards the store front. "If there is somebody in the shop... well, I certainly hope you'll forgive me for coming in, but I'd rather get off the street before the night critters start waking up." Not that he wasn't still on full alert as he moved forward. And he hadn't let the pipe drop, either.

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im_always_angry
2012-05-27 04:12 am UTC (link)

Bruce perked up at the sound of a human voice, more concerned at the idea of a confrontation than anything else. These days he knew that he didn't actually have much to worry about in the self-preservation department, but liked avoiding situations that might bring out the Other Guy.

Standing slowly, Bruce waved at the other man, showing he had nothing in his hands. "Of course, you're welcome to share what's left of my fire" he said, smiling with his usual sense of empathy. "I'm a bit new here, so I'm sorry if I'm a bit jumpy" he said, smiling.

The other man seemed more scared of him than anything else, and the sight of a pastor's collar surprised Bruce. He extended a hand "My name's David" he said, instinctively giving one of his aliases.

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gcboy
2012-05-27 04:43 am UTC (link)

As soon as the other stood and introduced himself John relaxed, letting down the pipe in one hand and then chuckling. It was a great relief to see that the occupant of the building was indeed a man. And a friendly enough sort of fellow if a few words enough to go on.

"Oh, hello," he said. He didn't waste time in going in and letting himself down. He smiled and looked at the small surroundings, noting the pile of tools in the corner. So perhaps this guy did have something to do with it. He took the hand and shook it. "Hello. My name's John, John Tudor. And thank you very much for the invitation. I was... not expecting to be spending the night out here."

He put the pipe down then and took off his bag, looking again at the tools. "Are those yours, or have you been finding them around?" he asked curiously, then glanced over and flashed a grin. "If you don't mind me asking."

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im_always_angry
2012-05-27 04:58 am UTC (link)

Bruce poked at the fire to get it going again, then took a seat- casually glancing outside again to make sure they were alone. The relief on John's face seemed genuine to him, and Bruce didn't think the other man would cause any trouble. "Pleasure to meet you John" he replied.

He took a seat opposite John, bracing his back against some rubble. "Uh- well these actually belong to a friend of mine" he said pointing at the damaged pieces of equipment. "I was working with some of them in a lab, and then I was here." He scratched the side of his head "I guess some of them came along for the ride" he said, scratching his forehead. The situation sounded a tad ridiculous, but then so did most things in Bruce's life these days. "I guess I sound a bit crazy" he said, with a grin.

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gcboy
2012-05-27 05:08 am UTC (link)

John smiled slightly, picking up his bag again and opening it, looking for the pliers he'd found earlier. "Not at all. One minute I was reaching out to put the keys in my car at my church in Dallas Texas and the next I was in the middle of a road... well, here. Not too many seem prepared for being brought here," he said. "I'm sorry if it's a shock. I mean, I'm sure it is. It was for me."

He found the pliers and took them out, offering them over. "Are these yours, by any chance? I found them outside, but they don't really seem to belong here. Too small for construction, I think." But they might be good for something small, like in a lab. John wondered what type of lab the other had been in, but it was probably better to take it one question at a time.

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im_always_angry
2012-05-27 05:24 am UTC (link)

He squinted as John held out the pliers, then nodded. "Yeah, those look familiar. Thanks" he said, as he took them from the other man's hand. "They're electrical pliers. You use them for stripping or cutting wires. Most labs wouldn't have that kind of stuff lying around, but I tend to get a bit...creative, with whatever machinery I'm working with." The smile dropped from his face for a moment "Hasn't always worked out for the best" he added.

"So I'm not the only one who showed up here like that? Well that's a bit of a relief." Bruce nodded toward the street. "Yeah I must admit, waking up in the city out of 'I am Legend' wasn't exactly what I expected" he said. "At least there are no zombies out here" he said with a smirk.

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gcboy
2012-05-27 05:45 am UTC (link)

"Ah. So you're an inventor, or a scientist?" John said, smiling. he was glad the pliers had been returned to their rightful owner, sort of. He tilted his head at the drop in cheer. "Well, whatever doesn't kill us," he offered, not finishing out the phrase. He thought it sounded a bit much like some pop song he'd heard on the radio frequently recently.

"Far from it. There are many of us... the locals here call us the 'chosen', though it's unclear what that means," he said. Then he half smiled. "And... sort of. No vampires here, though there's supposedly some sort of zombie. I haven't run into any myself, thank goodness."

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im_always_angry
2012-05-27 06:04 am UTC (link)

Bruce considered a moment before answering "Well I used to be a Nuclear Physicist and Molecular Biologist." He shrugged "That kind of fell by the wayside for a while, but I've been able to pick it up again lately."

He listened intently to John's explanation, raising an eyebrow at the mention of zombies. "Really? I was only joking" he said, shaking his head. "Do you have any idea whats going on here? What caused all of this?" he asked.

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gcboy
2012-05-27 11:32 am UTC (link)

"Used to be?" John repeated. Those weren't often jobs you heard of being left behind early. Then he smiled. "So now you only hang around laboratories for fun?"

It was well intended joke, even if it might have revealed his less than academically positive past. John have never been a star student, and more often than not had let it fall by the wayside when he thought he had more important matters to attend to. He'd just always preferred to be doing something, which perhaps was ironic since he'd dedicated himself to reading, memorization, and weekly essay writing for his life. Still, school had always seemed very different from church in terms of reading material.

He nodded slowly to Bruce. "Sure wish I was," he said regretfully. "This is... this is a very broken world, from what little I've seen. Whatever happened, nobody remembers or will talk about it. There are only a few human settlements, and it seems that things like magic and monsters are very real here... though they are in some of the worlds the other Chosen come from, too. Not all, not mine, but some." He was still unnerved by that, though he concentrated his attention now on digging out the rations from the bag he'd brought with him. There weren't many; enough for lunch and dinner not because he'd expected to need them, but because he was trained to always carry about survival supplies. He hadn't stopped for lunch, though, so he was now in posession of two servings. "Are you hungry? I brought some food along... we should be more than capeable to getting back to the city tomorrow in time to get more. If you're heading towards the city, anyway."

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im_always_angry
2012-05-27 08:18 pm UTC (link)

Bruce chuckled at John's reply, shrugging. "Yeah, something like that." It hadn't exactly been planned, but Bruce had been forced to go on the run after his accident. Before joining the Avengers, it had been years since he'd last used the majority of his academic credentials.

The more he heard about this world, the worse it sounded. At least there were others like him out there, these "Chosen". More superhumans, from the sounds of it. I hope they're more Tony Stark than Emil Blonksy...

"That's generous of you" Bruce replied to his offer of food, and pulled out some of his own. "How about we share" he said, laying out some dehydrated fruit. "If you don't mind I will come back with you tomorrow, its not like I have anywhere else to be" he said with a smile, as he started chewing some apple slices. "What's this city like?"

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gcboy
2012-05-28 03:30 am UTC (link)

John nodded at the offer to share, and also took out the water containers, giving one of the rations and containers to David and then opening the other, looking at the dried fruit. "You may want to hang onto most of these, actually. The food here is... well, you'll see. It might be nice to have something sweeter later if your taste buds get tired of the food here."

He nodded at the request. "Of course. We can head out at first light, I'll just need to find a rooftop or something to relocate the place... this isn't really terrain I'm used to keeping track of."

He thought about the City for a moment. "Well, it's run by the locals, they call it die Festung. I'm probably pronouncing that wrong, though. There's not much to say, it really is a world of survivors left. The locals have... lost a lot. But most seem decent and they are hard working, and generous to us. The leader is a woman named Belia, and she's quite..." he paused, thinking for a moment. "Dedicated to her people. She seems to be more than accomodating for most of the Chosen, providing housing and such. I've heard some Chosen are trying to stay under her radar, though not why."

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im_always_angry
2012-05-28 04:47 am UTC (link)

The Preacher had a point, considering Bruce might be trapped here indefinitely, dried fruit might be a luxury. "You've been here a while, have your share" he replied. John's rations were mainly staples, but they were nourishing all the same. Bruce tore a strip of dried venison and bit off a mouthful. He chewed it thoughtfully for a few minutes, grinding the gamey meat between his teeth, as he listened.

"Well I can't disagree with that attitude, I tend to stay under the radar myself." He considered the other man for a moment. He reminded Bruce of himself soon after his first transformation. "You seem like a regular guy who's been swept up in all this. How are you handling all of this craziness?"

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gcboy
2012-05-28 10:40 pm UTC (link)

"Thank you," John smiled. He hadn't tasted anything similar to the fruit since the time he'd gone camping with the youth of the Dallas area, abut it was a real treat compared to the typical food here. He allowed himself a small, sympathetic snack before he returned the rest to the newcomer.

"Mostly with my faith," he admitted, thinking for a moment on the very subject of David's question. He'd had a very difficult time with it and the church as a young man, but a lot of the guiding principles had served him very well throughout many of his ordeals and trials later in life. Especially when it came to situations that were alien to him. "I'm just an average man, without super powers or supernatural background, but I believe in the guiding principles of my religion and savior. I believe God has a plan for all of us; in the world we inhabit, or another, or the next. And as long as we adhere towards the righteous principles we'll never be truly lost."

He trusted what he knew; what had never failed him before. And, frankly, what gave him hope for surviving the night tonight.

He didn't miss the regular guy comment, though, and tilted his head, though he didn't address it directly. Not yet, this man seemed a bit reserved and it wasn't really any of the pastor's business to pry into.

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im_always_angry
2012-05-29 03:08 am UTC (link)

"That's an admirable way to look at things. It isn't always easy to maintain that kind of attitude," he replied. Bruce envied anyone who was able to maintain that kind of positivity in the face of adversity, something he had lost long ago. He pushed his backpack between him and the rubble, giving himself a bit of cushioning. "Might be an idea if we take watches, I wouldn't want to wake up to a pack of hungry zombies" he suggested. "I can take the first and wake you up in a few hours, how about?"

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gcboy
2012-05-29 05:48 am UTC (link)

"That's true, it can be difficult. But it's worth the effort and sounding like a cliche vendor," John chuckled, taking a drink of water.

At David's suggestion John nodded, quickly putting away the rest of his rations. As a soldier he'd learned to eat food so fast it almost didn't touch his tongue, usually when he'd spent a long time pinned down in extended firefights or when he was lying in wait out in the field. He put the now cleaned out tin in his bag and then settled back. "Sounds like a good idea," he said. It had been a long day and it was good to know he was with company that seemed to know how to take care of himself as well. It made for better odds of them seeing daylight.

He got himself comfortable nearish the fire and then closed his coat. "Here's to a peaceful night," he said, mostly to himself before he turned back to his companion. "Wake me whenever you need a few z's."

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