Bruce Banner (notjustbiggreen) wrote in avengers_logs, @ 2018-02-11 21:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | -complete, bruce banner, stephen strange |
Who: The Hulk/Bruce Banner, Dr Stephen Strange & Wong
What: The Sanctum isn't as quiet and peaceful as it has been in the past
When: Couple days ago
Rating/Warnings: Green
After recent events, Strange was happy the Sanctum was back to being just another place of quiet creepiness. Even though it was mid-day and sunny outside, the light through the few windows seemed like it was being sucked into a cavernous abyss, a black hole from which no light could ever possibly escape. And that was just the way that the current caretaker liked it.
Stephen Strange was in the downstairs kitchen area, just off the main foyer of the house. On the counter next to a steaming hot cup of tea was an open book, with various sigils and handwritten instructions written on the ancient pages. He raised a hand toward the refrigerator, moving it through the air until a square symbol formed like fire in the air, and began to utter an incantation.
The fridge shook and the door flew open, landing with a violent smack against the cabinets beside the fridge, and began slamming into it over and over again. A couple cucumbers flew out, followed by a Chinese takeout box of fried rice. The door slammed shut and everything was quiet and still again.
Stephen waved his hand until the sigil was gone, and stared at the fridge, grim-faced.
"You couldn't throw out the pad thai," he groused, turning to take a sip of his tea. "Fine. Wong's bringing me whatever weird thing he usually brings me."
The fridge sat there like a fridge would, but it radiated waves of obstinance and evil back at its current owner.
Stephen calmly sipped his tea until he heard Wong grunt at him, turning just enough to have a styrofoam container of hot...something...thrust at him. He abruptly took it before he ended up wearing it.
After a long moment of them staring at one another, Wong finally said, "Chicken testicle soup."
Stephen wondered if this was seriously food, or Wong's way of screwing with him. Since it was probably a little of both and he was hungry enough not to complain, he set it aside with a monotone, "Yum."
Ever since the destruction of Asgard and the agreement to return to Earth with Thor, Bruce had kept himself to himself because he was a human amongst a bunch of Asgardians and Big Green was tugging at the back of his mind, trying to exert control. It helped to get away, find somewhere quiet and focus on clearing his mind and affirming that he was Bruce Banner and not Hulk.
It was in the middle of this quiet contemplation that Bruce felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up followed by a very cold sensation which seemed to creep over his skin and before he had a chance to fully process that his ears popped and *whoosh* he was gone.
Of course rational Bruce versus the primitive emotion of panic was not an ideal cocktail and all the good work he'd done at keeping the Hulk under control was all for nothing. Mid transport he hulked out and the rest as they say was history.
That was until a very large very angry Hulk happened to smash into a rather fancy looking set of stairs in an otherwise quiet Sanctum. It honestly sounded like a small bomb had gone off and the devastation left behind was impressive enough for it but the loud roar of an all too familiar, "HULK SMASH" indicated that it certainly wasn't a bomb that had landed, but rather an angry confused giant green rage monster.
Stephen and Wong came rushing out of the kitchen, Eldritch magic shields held up, sputtering out coughing at the amount of dust and debris hanging in the air. When they caught sight of something large and green and angry in what was once the main staircase, it was safe to say their eyes looked ready to pop out of their skulls. This said a lot about the sight before them, because they have collectively seen a whole hell of a lot between them.
"Hulk," Wong said, succinctly.
"I see that," Stephen said, lowering his shields. He could see that there wasn't anger there, but also confusion. A given, considering it was unlikely the big green monster meant to aim for the Sanctum. He lowered his hands and took a step forward, clearing his throat and saying, "Hello. Um, clearly you didn't mean to be here, but....can we help you, somehow?"
With the arrival of Stephen and Wong the Hulk's attention swung to them quickly and immediately his expression darkened as he did not know these tiny men.
It was clear how worked up the Hulk was by how his chest rose and fell quickly and he pushed out short grunts before his brow drew together as he was approached by Stephen.
"Why man in dress?" he queried as thankfully during his time on Sakaar the Hulk had learned how to form words to make conversation and didn't immediately lash out, but he was still as unpredictable as ever.
The two men exchanged a look, and Wong lowered his shields down as well.
"They're....robes," Stephen said, taking another step closer. "But dress works too. If you...want it to work that way."
This wasn't intimidating at all. He had faced a demonic entity before and his fridge was possessed, so it wasn't as though he was entirely unqualified. He hoped. Because he also sensed enough intelligence to understand what was being said, which contradicted every news report that the Hulk was a reckless unthinking monster to be feared.
"You're in New York," he explained, slowly and cautiously. "This is a safe place. There's nothing that can get to you in here. The doors are warded."
Lucky for both Stephen and Wong this was the Hulk of recent age rather than the Hulk of the past who had in fact been a reckless unthinking monster who would race into situations without consideration of consequences.
As Stephen moved the Hulk did too, shifting uncomfortably and moving so the other man was never out of his sight. He also shot Wong a suspicious look, clearly mistrustful. This was also indicated by the restless flexing of his hands at his sides.
"Not safe," Hulk argued, the volume of his voice having lifted an octave. "Earth hate Hulk" which is why he'd left and found a place that had accepted him for who he was and not what everybody expected him to be. Puny Banner being one of them. Hulk honestly didn't know what warded doors were but there was a giant hole in the roof and he looked at that before seemingly giving Stephen a raised eyebrow.
"You are safe here," Stephen said, eyeing the roof as well. He could turn back time to fix it, but he was wary of doing that. He also knew that Wong had his back right now, and while they could try to magically bind Hulk, this clearly wasn't necessary. "Don't worry about the roof. And no one will get past the front doors who isn't meant to be in here. This is the safest place you could have landed."
"We have magic," Wong added, in what Stephen imagined was his version of helping out.
"We won't let anyone come in," Stephen calmly assured him, standing still so it wouldn't seem like he was circling around him. "I don't think Earth knows...Hulk. Like Hulk is now." A pause and he looked around, thoughtfully. "Would you...like some tea?"
Why not. Maybe Hulk liked tea.
Hulk snorted at the declaration that this place was safe. He had been told before that places were safe only for the army had found him and hurt him.
"Tea?" Hulk asked. "Hulk not had tea before" and he hadn't, it was probably more a Bruce thing than a Hulk thing to be fair.
Hopefully the cups wouldn't be too tiny or Hulk would become very frustrated very quickly.
Strange nodded over to Wong, who disappeared into the kitchen and came back an awkward five minutes later with the largest pot he could find to hold some freshly brewed tea. The pot was steaming and had a whole honey bear of honey squeezed into it. He gave it to Stephen, who held it up for Hulk to take.
"Here," he said. "Green tea with honey. Supersized."
Hulk shifted his weight uncomfortably from one foot to another with his hands still flexing at his side which indicated that while the beast was civil he was still very much on edge and not totally sold on the fact he could trust the tiny men. Upon presentation of the hot and steaming pot the Hulk reached out with hands that were in effect six times larger than either the pot or Stephen’s hands.
Without much further ado the Hulk tipped the pot to his lips and drank liberally until there was literally nothing else and with the pot empty he tossed it to one side and gave a very loud “BUUUUUUUUURP” before brushing the back of his hand over his mouth.
“Tea good. Hulk like.”
Stephen and Wong both turned their heads, in perfect unison, as they watched the pot fly through the air and land with a clang, off to one side of the now broken staircase. Then they looked back up at Hulk's face, again in perfect unison. Stephen raised an eyebrow, but Wong was his usual emotionally guarded self.
"There's more where that came from," Stephen said. "I'd offer you something to eat. But I don't think we have...supersized food. Uhh."
He looked over to Wong and the other man shook his head slowly. Clearly he wasn't going to portal back to Hong Kong to bring back buckets of chicken testicle soup.
"Ok, then," Stephen said, looking back up at Hulk Since it seemed he was capable of conversation, perhaps he could answer some questions in the meantime. "Can you tell us where you came from? What you last remember?"
“Hulk not remember,” he shot back in a tone which was clearly irritated. “Puny Banner was there not Hulk.” A bone of contention no doubt. He shook his head and paced back and forth. “Where Hulk friends?” And by that he of course meant Thor and Valkyrie as those he remembered.
That was unfortunate. Not only the answer, but that Hulk seemed irritable. That was the opposite of what was intended, and so Stephen had to change tracks a little bit. Maybe not telling Hulk about injured fugitive Tony Stark until he could talk to Banner, instead.
"Maybe if you tell me which friends you're looking for," Stephen asked, "I can help you. There's many people here that know you."
Wise move to change tracks, especially as the Hulk didn’t like being reminded that he had to share with Banner. “Thor and Val, Hulk friends.” Like it was that obvious. “Who knows Hulk?” He asked, turning all of his attention on Stephen. “Ross?”
Hopefully the Hulk and General Ross’ paths would never cross because that was just asking for trouble.
"No, uhh, I don't know a Ross." Bad time to say that Ross had Stark arrested too, Stephen imagined. It wasn't a lie, so he was able to keep a straight face while saying it. "Thor and Val are here. Everyone's fine."
He looked around, and there was nothing big enough for Hulk to sit on. Offering him a seat to wait in was out of the question.
"Want to sit on the stairs?" he asked, holding one hand out to indicate the part of the stairs that weren't broken. He looked over to Wong and hinted, "Maybe you'd like to try some chamomile tea?"
Wong didn't want to mess with an angry Hulk, so he grumbled and got the pot, disappearing into the kitchen to boil...well, an entire box of chamomile tea in that pot.
Hulk gave a small approving grunt when Stephen said he didn’t know a Ross. Good, Hulk didn’t like Ross after all. Ross made Hulk hurt, hurt a lot. He did however light up when Stehen said that both Thor and Val were there and both were okay.
“Hulk want to find friends,”, Hulk grumbled as he shifted and lumbered in the direction of the stairs where he settled his heavy weight. “Hulk tired” was the complaint that came next.
He did feel sleepy and he didn’t know why, maybe Chamomile tea was exactly what the Doctor ordered (no pun intended) to help Hulk go to sleep and for Banner to return.
"You can rest here," Stephen said with a smile. "We'll let your friends know you're safe. They'll be glad to hear it. I'll be right back."
He walked into the kitchen and quickly dodged the fridge door that flew open in an attempt to hit him.
"How much chamomile do we have?" he asked Wong, before digging into the cabinet full of tea containers.
"Not enough," Wong said, pointing at an empty box. He was watching the pot as it slowly warmed, flying in the face of that rule about watched pots taking longer to boil. "Find more."
"Didn't see this coming," Stephen grumbled and opened several canisters of tea, until he found the last of the chamomile. He opened it and dumped it all into the pot. He proceeded to stare into the pot like Wong was, as though they were scrying all the secrets of the universe.
Finally, blessedly, it warmed enough to steep the tea. They both scrambled with large slotted spoons to get all the tea bags out and poured about two honeybears worth of honey into it.
A battle ensued over who was going to stir the pot, so they both wagged the spoons around in a duel until it looked mixed. Mostly.
"Go," Wong ordered, and Stephen took the pot, walking out to where he hoped Hulk still was. Because if he found no Hulk and no Banner in his place, that would be very very bad.
"More yummy tea," Stephen said, holding the pot out like an offering.
Thankfully for Stephen the Hulk was exactly where he’d left him and he took the tea happily without much thought as he had already drank tea before so he knew it was good and could be trusted. This one tasted different but it wasn’t a bad different, just different.
Again it really did not take him very long to finish off the tea and smacking his lips together a few times it was clear that drowsiness was rapidly overcoming the big green monster.
“Hulk sleep now” he declared as he shifted to make himself more comfortable, the stairs groaning under the strain.
"Sleep's a good idea," he murmured and all but tiptoed off to another room, returning with an oversized blanket that he and Wong both unfurled over Hulk, so that it covered...about one sixth of him.
He was dragged back into the kitchen door by Wong.
"I'll get the roof, floors, and stairs fixed," Wong told him, and all Stephen could do was nod. Not only because it was rare for Wong to even bother talking to him in full sentences, but because they both knew the sort of sensitive things that were being kept there. Or locked up there, so they didn't get outside.
"Ok. I'll keep an eye on Hulk. Or Doctor Banner. You know what I mean," he said as Wong put on his sling ring. The other man walked further into the kitchen to open a portal back to Hong Kong.
Stephen peeked outside the doorway to see if Hulk was still Hulk or not. If it was, he'd let him slumber in peace.
It was still Hulk however the longer he slept the smaller he became until eventually the once large creature was smaller, human, and very much Bruce Banner.
Thankfully it would seem this transformation wasn't a permanent one as Bruce had been fearing though who knew what would happen next time?
One thing was for certain when Bruce woke up he would be confused, very confused.
Stephen didn't want to wake the man up. It was probably very tiring after such a transition, but he didn't want to leave Banner sleeping on a hard staircase wearing only stretched out pants and a blanket.
Since Banner appeared to be back to his default setting and had enough chamomile tea to overdose coursing through his system, he drew close enough to rest one hand on the sleeping man's shoulder and gave him a very light shake.
"Doctor Banner, I presume," he said, dryly, unable to help himself. "I hate to wake you, but....wake up."
Just because he was a doctor, didn't mean his bedside manners were the best.
The last thing Bruce remembered was being in space before that strange sensation had crept over him so honestly he did not expect to be woken by a stranger on a very hard staircase so Bruce awoke with a start. His eyes unlike the Hulk’s were full of intellect and Stephen would be able to see the cogs turning as Bruce’s gaze darted around and he very quickly scrambled backwards but clutching onto the blanket just in case.
“Where am I? Who are you?” He asked quickly. “What happened?”
Given the fact he had nothing on save for stretched pants then clearly he’d hulked out and the destruction was a testament to that as well.
While Hulk had seemed intelligent enough to hold basic conversation, this certainly brought things up to speed. Stephen heaved a sigh of relief that he hadn't realized he was holding, and leaned against the banister like it was holding him up in a time of crisis.
"Hi, I'm Doctor Stephen Strange," he said by way of introduction. Time to get down to the nitty gritty, so to speak. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Doctor Banner. You...Hulk you, rather....crash landed through my roof. And the upper floor. And through my staircase. It's ok. He likes tea. With honey. Lots of honey."
Stephen coughed to clear his throat, as a piece of the flooring fell off into the hole in the staircase.
"Going to ignore that," he said, not even bothering to look. "You're in New York. No one's been in contact with Ross, other than Tony Stark." That hadn't ended well, but he was more set on setting Banner at ease, than mentioning someone that obviously upset Hulk. "Your friends are here. Thor and Val. If you're looking for anyone else, Hulk didn't mention them."
“Uh, yeah, nice to meet you too,” Bruce offered as he tugged the blanket that much closer and tighter around himself as he felt very cold and awfully exposed as he was pretty much half naked.
Wait, New York? How was that even possible?
He shifted a little so he was less sat down and more on his feet though the blanket didn’t really move. “How did I get here?” Though immediately he latched onto the news that both Thor and Val were here and instantly he felt better, much more relaxed.
Stephen pointed up.
"You fell. Apparently from very, very, very high up." At least he was being calm about it. By this point, Stephen was certain he had seen just about everything, but wasn't about to say that out loud. He didn't want the universe to say 'oh really?' and prove otherwise. "Your fellow Avengers are here as well. Although, they aren't...really...Avengers anymore."
He made a face and looked around at everything but Bruce, in what had to be the world's most awkward pause.
"Uhh. Is there anything I can get you? Clothes? Food? I have some chicken testicle soup in the kitchen, if you're interested."
Yep. Because that was the sort of thing that Stephen Strange offers guests.
“Chicken testicle soup?” Bruce repeated, brow furrowing in confusion before he caught himself and merely shook his head. “I think I’ll pass, but I will definitely take you up on the offer of clothes. More the merrier.” He ran the risk of getting arrested if he wandered around in his currently half naked state.
The reality of where he was would hit him eventually and he’d start to think about seeing Natasha again and facing up to the shame of his running away not to mention how he’d basically left everything and everybody behind. At the time it had felt like the right thing to do but now? Now he wasn’t so sure.
Ugh, he was getting a headache, he could feel one starting.
“And I’m sorry about your roof,” he offered belatedly. “He’s kind of hard to aim.”
"I can see where steering might be an issue," was Stephen's incredibly wry reply. "Be right back."
He left Bruce alone only so long as it took to set up a change of clothes in one of the side rooms. Normal clothes, including a plain t-shirt, coat, and pants among other items. There were some plain shoes, neither too big nor too small, and he hoped they would do. Thankfully, they were not clothes that looked like they should be worn by mystical kung fu monks. They were kept on hand in case someone in trouble needed a change of clothes someday. While it might not be a perfect fit, it was better than nothing.
"There's a room that way, the library. You can change in there, and I'll set you up with the welcome package. Before you get up? Don't." And he steadied a look at Bruce, like he meant business. It was very ominous. "Touch. Anything. That moves on its own."
There was one book in there that had actual teeth. The last thing he needed was Hulk busting up irreplaceable books.
Bruce took the clothes gratefully as he would never ever look a clothes horse in the mouth, especially when it was so frequent that he found himself in need of them.
"Oookay then," Bruce drawled as he realised that Stephen's previous quirky demeanour had given way to a much more serious one. As luck would have it he wasn't the sort to do the exact opposite of what he was told like a certain man called Tony Stark so he could be trusted to do as he was told. That one time with the Loki's staff had been a blip, complete and utter blip.
He headed to the room Stephen had directed to him and proceeded to get clothed until he felt something approaching human. And whilst he could be trusted not to touch anything he did in fact gawk with complete astonishment as they were in fact remarkable.
Considering some books were open and displayed all manner of iridescent inks that seemed to move with a life all their own, it was like a treasure trove of knowledge. There was one book with a shimmering orange gem, lit from within, on the cover, chained so it was kept shut. And from some dark corner of the library, there was a disconcerting flap flap noise and the sound of thumping.
Stephen's voice could be heard outside the door, "Please tell me it hasn't bitten you yet."
Bruce had in fact moved closer to the book with the shimmering gem like a magpie to something shiny though he didn’t touch just looked and admired, the same curiosity which had seen him being turned into the Hulk asking the unspoken question of “why chained?”’
“Bit me?” He said over his shoulder as he tracked the thumping sound to a rather dark corner of the library.
Thump. Thump. THUMP! ...thumpthumpthump.
Stephen heard that through the door and opened it, keeping his eyes closed.
"Are you dressed yet?" he asked, scrunching his face up. "Because that's the book I was talking about. There's this demonic entity, you see...."
From the back corner of the library, a stack of books jiggled as if they were bumped into, followed by THUMPATHUMPATHUMP...thump.
"Yep. It's not a good idea to be in there," Stephen said, before he disappeared from view, leaving the door open for Bruce to escape through.
Well that wasn't intimidating or frightening at all. Nope. Not at all. Bruce didn't at all feel freaked out by the fact there was some demonic entity in the room with him.
Not a place he wanted or needed to be considering he had literally just unhulked and the last thing he or anyone else needed was Hulk right now.
"Yeah, I'm gonna leave," he affirmed with a nod of his head as he quickly departed through the nearby open door.
Stephen waited until Bruce was out, before he closed the door. Ten seconds later, there was a loud crash and what sounded as if there was someone knocking.
"Let's not open that again," Stephen said, nodding toward the kitchen area. As he walked in, he threw up a magical shield to stop the fridge door from smacking at him, leaned his shoulder against it to keep it from shutting, and grabbed the container of pad thai.
"Here," he said, stepping back so the fridge could slam shut with a vengeance. "There's a fork on the counter there, next to the cellphone and laptop. And your other things you'll need. The fork isn't possessed. It won't stab you. It's safe. So is the pad thai. What's not safe is that you fell through a tear in time, as did several of your friends. My fault. Sorry about that. I broke the universe."
Looks like it was chicken testicle soup night for Dr. Strange.
This was by far the worst place that Bruce could have landed in as the Hulk given the amount of stress he could feel pouring off everything though he simply focused his mind on something else by breathing in and then letting it out just as slowly.
“You broke the universe?” He queried, turning very much a “what the fuck” expression on Dr Strange even as his hands reached out to happily help himself to the pad thai.
What? He was hungry, he wasn’t about to turn down free food.
The implications of a tear in time were massive, too large to even comprehend, and immediately Bruce started to consider whether or not they were now in some sort of alternative reality or universe that was running parallel to the primary universe.
"I broke it," Stephen confirmed, with the sort of placid expression one has when they're talking about today's weather being sunny with a few fluffy white clouds here and there. While he wasn't keen to mention use of The Eye, Dr. Banner wasn't a bad choice to mention it to. "I used an Infinity Stone to rewind time in Hong Kong, when another dimension tried to consume the entire planet. It split everything off into two branches, incredibly similar to one another. Except for things like this happening."
He looked at Bruce like he was one of the this' that were happening.
Bruce clocked the look and merely lifted an eyebrow in response, “I’m only here because you broke the universe,” he pointed out. He ate a further bit of pad thai. “So what you’re saying is that we’re in an alternative reality?” He poked the fork back into the pad thai and pushed it around. “I assume everybody else is aware?”
He now wondered if this was in fact an alternative universe what was happening in the other, would he be in the same place or would he still be in the middle of space?
“And did you stop the other dimension from consuming the entire planet?”
"It was stopped, but I lost count of how many times it killed me until I was able to strike a bargain with the entity causing it," he explained, opening up the soup container and grabbing a spoon from the silverware drawer. "Everyone that's been affected the most by it. The rest of the general populace has no idea that it happened. If not for the anomalies causing people to randomly arrive in New York, none of us would ever been made aware of it at all. And certain events that have already transpired, are likely going to shape what happens in both places. There is...a bit of an overlap, I suppose."
Strange felt like that was his best way of approximating the state of things, but it was probably lackluster coming from a neurologist to a scientist. Especially so, considering the magical means in which he was able to study it or sense what was going on.
Since there was no avoiding it, it was better dive into the deep end of the crazy pool.
"I saw it coming on the astral plane," Stephen continued, "then Loki showed up, and I went to Stark immediately. Immediately after he swore he was having a heart attack. It hits some people harder than others."
Bruce was quiet as he ate and chewed on the pad thai as Strange spoke, mind whirring and conclusions being drawn that for the moment remained between Bruce and the four walls that made up his skull.
“This sounds a lot less weird to me than it would have done a few years ago,” Bruce offered with a pointed gesture with his fork. “I mean who am I judge, right? I turn into a giant green rage monster.” Tony’s words, not his, but adequate. “So, I’m guessing the cellphone and laptop will help get me in contact with everybody else that’s here?”
Of course if Nat was there then things had a chance of getting awkward, but he’d cross that bridge when he got to it.
"No judging here. I live in a den of weird," he said, trying a spoonful of tepid soup and then making a 'eh' noise, like it wasn't half bad at all. "Anyway. Yes, Stark set up a network for everyone who arrived due to the time distortion, or felt it. I have a spell cast over this area, so I know when it happens. There have been complications. As a past Avenger, you should know there's no more Avengers. And that Stark was arrested and is now a fugitive after he was broken out of a high security floating prison ship. By the...not-Avengers."
Stephen sighed like he was done with the universe throwing them curve balls, but the universe was clearly not done throwing them.
“Well that definitely complicates things,” Bruce muttered as he picked up the cell and flipped open the laptop. “But Tony was never very good at playing by the rules.” Which was something of an understatement.
He blew out a breath as it seemed from looking at the network that he had a lot to catch up on.
“I’m just gonna catch myself up.”
Stephen tried to school his expression when it came to Stark, so that he didn't look as exasperated as he felt.
"Apparently not. He won't be zipping around in any super suits any time soon," was his reply, and he wasted no time in pointing out the hotel key and money, inside the same envelope that had the network information in it. "That's advisable. You'll probably find more peace and quiet in the hotel room. I'll contact Uber and get you a ride there."
He didn't envy Banner one bit, since he dropped into one hell of a fine mess.
"As you can see, Doctor Banner, things are in a state of...flux."
That was a vast understatement.