InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Has Lost been cancelled yet?"

Bruce Banner (notjustbiggreen) wrote in avengers_logs,
@ 2018-04-01 20:06:00

Entry tags:

-complete, -gamewide plot, -open thread, bruce banner, ellen brandt, gamora, loki odinson, peggy carter, pietro maximoff, sif, stephen strange, steve rogers, thor odinson, tony stark, valkyrie, wanda maximoff

Who: The Hulk & Open to Tony, Valkyrie, Wanda, Dr Strange & Anyone else who wants in on the fun
What: Game-wide plot: the Hulk is on a rampage
When: Sometime after this
Where: NYC
Rating: Warning: Definitely not easy being green

The Hulk was angry. No, not just angry, pissed. Somebody had fired at puny Banner and that moment of complete and utter horror follow by an overwhelming surge of panic and ultimately fear had been all that was needed for the Hulk to roar ferociously into being.

They had intended to harm him but all they had managed to do was make him stronger and driven home the point that his sentiments of earth hating him were still very true. The missile had done absolutely nothing to the Hulk but it had caused a lot of collateral damage and probably taken lives, but the Hulk wasn't exactly concerned for that.

Not when he was busy ripping apart what remained of the missile before letting out a sudden loud guttural cry which if anything just seemed to increase his size until he barrelled down the street. Cars stood absolutely no chance under him and the street didn't fair much better, giant holes were ripped into the tarmac as the Hulk's anger was blindly aimed and subsequently damage was to be expected. Holes were ripped through buildings and all the while the Hulk continued forward, the only sign he'd been fired at was the large dark mark on his chest. He was completely unstoppable and caught up in blind undiluted rage, a primal reaction to an attack that had been unprovoked and unwarranted, he was the thing of nightmares, he really was.

It didn't help that the authorities had no idea on how to handle the Hulk so resorted to the thing they knew how to do and that was open fire and all that did was make things worse, so so much worse. Blockades were ripped apart like they were made of paper and the Hulk continued to wreak complete and utter havoc.

The familiar, "HULK SMASH" echoed for all to hear.

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	Header: Hulk Wrangling the_iron_man 2018-04-01 07:30 pm UTC (link)
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the_iron_man
2018-04-01 07:31 pm UTC (link)

Iron Man heard that 'Hulk Smash' and Tony replied with a darkly muttered "Oh boy" under his breath, just as Veronica mark 2.0 arrived from orbit. He doubted anything short of a cage made of foot-thick vibranium walls was going to keep Hulk in one spot. With the Hulkbuster armor augmenting over his suit, he zoomed in on where the rampage clearly started. It looked like a bomb went off, and not the Hulk type of damage. A literal bomb. He just got through answering Val with the location, before muttering to Friday, "Timestamp that fly-over so I can come back to it later."

"Of course," Friday replied. "Time has been stamped on the feed. Do you want the cage deployed?"

"Nope," Tony said, popping the p on that as he rocketed down toward Hulk at full thrust. "Bruce said he was more talkative so gonna try to reason with big mean and green first."

A plan that might not work, but it was worth a shot. The last time they tried caging him, after Wanda got into Banner's brain, there was even more damage left afterward. And looking at the swath of destruction? Not a great idea.

"Open outbound comm," he ordered, gritting his teeth as the Hulkbuster armor slammed into Hulk in what suspiciously looked like a bro hug that carried them both into the side of a building and rolling back out into the street. Now that the outbound communications were opened, Tony cheerfully told his now green buddy, "Hiiiii! It's Tony. Remember me? Gonna get super insulted if you don't."

He hoped like hell that somewhere past all that blind rage, Hulk might remember saving him after falling from a space sphincter, and not the time he robo-punched him repeatedly in the face.

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stonecolddrunk
2018-04-01 07:38 pm UTC (link)

It was the stupidest thing in the world to have to take transportation to battle. Legitimately, Valkyrie was pissed off, and it was more about having to hail a car service to move to where the action was happening - armor on and weapons in their hilts.

By the time she got there maybe the Big Guy would have done things he might regret, or maybe she'd find a dazed and confused Bruce Banner in need of a dignity blanket. She'd offer him her cape.

On the third red light, Valkyrie had gotten impatient, gotten out of the car and knocked down a pizza delivery guy to steal his shitty scooter. She told him he could find it near Broadway and Fifty-second later, and sped off. Dodging and weaving through traffic was more "her speed", it felt more like the prelude to a real battle than riding the back of an Uber.

The noises were unmistakably Hulk-like in nature well before she had gotten within view of him, so Val parked the scooter on the sidewalk where the street signs signaled exactly what she had told the man - first collateral damage of the day - and ran the rest of the way against the direction of most other people. Screaming, panicking people.

It wasn't surprising but it was infuriating to find a large group of some kind of authorities shooting at the Big Guy. Val stomped over to one of them, pulled his gun off his hands with ease and broke it over her knee. "Stop doing that. It only makes it worse! Focus on getting people out of here, you can't shoot him down you pisspot!"

"I'm only following the Captain's orders!" Squealed the gun-less man, pointing to the large man barking orders behind the firing squad. Val pushed the guy away and stomped again over to their leader.

"Hey! Tell your men to stop shooting it'll only make him angrier, stupid! That's the problem in the first place!" The man didn't seem convinced, so Val punched him in the stomach, twisted his arm and bent him over a vehicle. "Do it."

In a second a few of the confused soldiers had turned the guns onto her, which was...progress. Val knelt down behind a car door, pulling the Captain with her and whispering some serious threats at him as she shoved a bullhorn into the man's chest.

"Do it!" She screamed, to no avail. "Get the people away from here you fucking lunatic that's the best you can do leave the big one up to us!"

"And who's us? A bunch of outlaws is who! You're toast, missy." Snarled the Captain. Valkyrie's nostrils flared, and she punched the man so hard he'd take a while to even sit back up. Getting up, she pulled and kicked at the car door until she was using it as a shield, holding the bullhorn in front of her face with her other hand. "Stop fucking shooting him you'll only make it worse, get the citizens away and let the Iron Man stop him, we can reason with him, you'll only cause death! If you don't I will legitimately surf this car door into each and every one of your fuckin' faces!"

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notjustbiggreen
2018-04-01 08:54 pm UTC (link)

The Hulk's head swivelled as if it were on an elastic band as the infamous Hulkbuster armor made an appearance and the roar that accompanied its arrival indicated that actually the Hulk did remember that armor. Vividly so. And it was not a pleasant memory nor one he wished to revisit anytime soon.

Bruce hadn't been lying when he'd told Tony that the Hulk was more talkative but that was under much different circumstances. Circumstances that didn't involve being shot at not just by the missle but by annoying little men with annoying little guns that stung at him like swarms of hornets.

And then the Hulkbuster armor slammed into him with all the force of a small rocket and the pair of them went barrelling through a nearby building and into a street or rather what was left of the street. There was for a fleeting moment what looked like a flicker of recognition on the Hulk's face as he heard Tony's voice but then it was coupled with the armor and honestly all the Hulk saw was something else to get through.

"HULK NOT WANT TO TALK" was the response Tony got before sure enough a large green foot landed a substantial kick to the chest of the Hulkbuster armor and the Hulk followed this up by surging forward, arms wrapping around the armor and loud booming roar accompanied the nothing less of a football tackle.

Once down the Hulk drew his fists back and began to pummel the crap out of the Hulkbuster armor until he suddenly leapt into the air. It might have seemed like he was retreating but the truth was he was simply leaping high enough to escape the reach of the armor and sure enough he made ground on an adjourning building.

"EARTH HATE HULK. HULK HATE EARTH" And with a further jump he came crashing down into the midst of the soldiers and authorities, hands swatting the vehicles as if they weighed nothing at all.

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the_iron_man
2018-04-01 09:16 pm UTC (link)

"Ok, well. Shit?" Tony said, after being battered around like a rag-doll inside two layers of titanium armor. By this time, he had gotten his cage rattled further from Karen's message, multitasking enough to text Steve, answer a group text, and frown at a notice from one of those suspect Twitter accounts. Today was looking like a super hot mess all around. Time to walk it off now and have a meltdown later. "Friday, hit my lower right arm with the numbing injection."

There was a pinch and a tingle as some of the pain died down to a dull roar.
It was only enough to dull it and not hinder movement. And Tony knew he had to move fast. He was barely making a dent and they were going to run out of island at this pace. Still, there had been that split second where Hulk paused, just a moment, where Tony swore he might be able to talk him down out of a very shaken tree. He put the pedal to the metal on the thrusters, getting the suit back on it's feet out of a large pit of broken asphalt.

"Hey, oh no you don't!" he shouted over the outbound comm, "Remember Tony? Tony likes Hulk! Put that damn car down, c'moooooon!"

The car came flying at him and Tony had to bat it out of the way, so it landed halfway lodged into the side of a building.

"Craaaaap," Tony said, with a miserable wince. He knew Val was doing what she could to get the soldiers to stop shooting, but it appeared they were shooting at her now, which was a dumb move on their parts. "Ok, well...here goes nothing."

The Hulkbuster armor took off into the air in pursuit of Hulk, but Tony guided it down in a high speed descent, landing on Hulk's back and locking both arms around his throat.

"Wait wait wait wait, slow that roll," Tony was saying on the outbound com. "Hey, big guy? Can we talk this out, so the pea-shooting stops? Wanna nice cup of fuzzy wuzzy calm time tea? We can hang out. Watch some Netflix. Order a pizza. Or fifty pizzas."

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stonecolddrunk
2018-04-02 12:05 am UTC (link)

Things had more or less been brought to a good port where Val and the soldiers were concerned, with her successfully explaining that unless they could put him down, which they couldn't, it was visibly evident that they were only making things worse. Some of them had started trying to form barricades between the destruction and the people.

Some others kept shooting at her, and at the Hulk, and Val no longer had the patience to argue; she left her plea with the recently recovered Captain and decided to respond to Tony Stark's own request for help. She climbed over multiple military vehicles, bringing the bullhorn with her. As the Hulk swatted at a line of vehicles, Val decided to go with it and grab onto one, then jump on over to a nearby building, hanging off a balcony at the Hulk's face level. Bringing the bullhorn to her face, she cleared her throat.

"Hey Big Guy! I missed you!" She threw a potted plant at his head playfully. "Wanna fight?"

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notjustbiggreen
2018-04-02 11:54 am UTC (link)

The Hulk was less than happy when the Hulkbuster armor landed on his back and this much was evident in how his mouth opened into a loud booming roar that would have burst anyone's eardrums. He also made distinct grabby hands for the arms locked around his throat though it stopped the moment Valkyrie appeared.

"ANGRY GIRL?" He queried, for a moment the out of control beast was seemingly quietened as he recognised a familiar and friendly face. And then he got smacked in the face with a potted plant and his lips pulled apart into a grin that was nothing short of childlike and playful.

Maybe just maybe this would work.

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stonecolddrunk
2018-04-02 06:19 pm UTC (link)

Val grinned, cape blowing in the wind as she hooked her arm around the railing of the balcony a little better. She was elated that he had recognized her and seemed happy to see her; it had even paused his rampage for a moment. "Come on, leave these boring things behind and come have a real fight! No cars or buildings, just you and me."

Without warning Val shot off of the balcony and made a grab for the closest lamp post, one of the old ones with plenty to hold onto and a little more flair, if you asked Val. She climbed up to its top and stood on the iron bar that held the lamps, one foot in front of the other turned to the Big Guy, still grinning. "I'm comin' atcha!"

Discarding the bullhorn, Val flexed her knees and jumped, aiming to grab onto the Hulk's arm. Everything was going well, a bit of a dash added to the jump so she could reach her destination, the wind in her face, a fun romp with an old friend in the horizon. Hopefully, one that wouldn't cause even more destruction.

Mid-air, however, Val felt something strange. A hit to her lower abdomen, more to the side if she thought about it, that knocked her off course enough that she was... falling? Backwards, relentlessly down; suddenly everything burned in ways she couldn't comprehend but all Val could think was of how similar this felt to when she'd fallen backwards away from her beloved, who had died in her place while she fell. Val reached for the Hulk then, confused, halfway into a flashback while the foreign concept of horrible pain took over her body enough that she held her breath. She almost had him, dammit. She almost had him.

Hitting the floor, Valkyrie felt removed from reality for good, eyes wide but mind gone, the only sensation breathlessness and burning and deep down some hope that maybe Goldie would be along shortly to take her home.

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notjustbiggreen
2018-04-02 06:32 pm UTC (link)

The Hulk was all ready for Val as she launched herself at him, seemingly distracted from the world trying to take him apart piece by piece and he was even reaching for her when she suddenly jerked in the air. Confusion flooded his expression before he realised she was falling and on instinct alone he tried to catch her but missed her, large fingers missing her prone figure by a mere centimeter.

She hit the ground.

The Hulk stared, frighteningly still, and then there was a burst of anger unlike any they'd seen today. "EARTH HATE ANGRY GIRL TOO. HULK HATE EARTH"

And just like any chance they had of calming the Hulk was gone, shattered into a million pieces, the rage was all he knew and a nearby car was thrown in the direction that the shot had been fired. And just like he turned on his heel with the Hulkbuster armor still clinging to him desperately and sprinted with the intent of driving himself and Tony through the nearest building.

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the_iron_man
2018-04-02 06:43 pm UTC (link)

That building was coming up fast, and he knew he might not be going on this piggyback ride for long, so he tightened up the Hulkbusters arms and got ready for impact.

"Ohholyshitsticks, uhhh...guys?" Tony had opened the channel so he could get a message out to everyone. "Valkyrie's been shot and Hulk is super angry at Earth right now."

He scrunched his eyes closed as they hit the wall of the building. It shattered like Lego bricks being kicked at by an angry two year old. Only the two year old kept right on going, like a freight train of anger, and the Hulkbuster armor was taking further damage. Tony tried not to think about who might have been hiding in there, as a cloud of dust and debris was left behind them.

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rightoutoftime
2018-04-02 07:00 pm UTC (link)

Steve had from the moment he'd hit ground zero been working on getting as many people either away from the area or out of the collapsing buildings. He'd also been prying people out of cars, carrying injured, and deflecting as much firepower as he could away from the Hulk because honestly all that was doing was pissing the big guy off. It got easier when Pietro confiscated a majority of the guns but there were always more guns it would seem.

He was cut and bruised but all his injuries were superficial to say the least so Steve was still very much in the mix. He'd heard Tony's message and immediately returned it with orders, the Hulk needed to be brought down, sooner rather than later. They'd tried talking, reasoning, and it hadn't worked as some idiot had shot their best chance out of the sky. He'd seen Valkyrie fall and immediately he turned on his heel and began running towards her.

This was easier than it seemed because in the chaos somebody opened fire on him but thankfully Cap now had his shield back so was able to keep moving and it didn't take him very long to disarm and throw the weapons to the moving blur that was Pietro. "Just because you have a weapon doesn't mean you should use it," he muttered to the dumbfounded cop before he continued to where Valkyrie was. The shield was set back into its normal place and Steve crouched beside her, wincing at the wound on her left side and the amount of blood.

"Valkyrie, right?" He said. "My name's Steve, I'm a friend of Thor's. I'm here to get you to safety, alright?" He looked around himself for a moment and when he spotted something in a nearby car he slipped away to collect it and was back a moment later with a sweater. The same sweater he ripped apart with relative ease and used that to wrap the injured side in the hopes of slowing the blood loss. "Alright, this is going to hurt but just stay with me, alright?"

And then Steve very promptly gathered her up into his arms.

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stonecolddrunk
2018-04-02 07:40 pm UTC (link)

It was weird to live for centuries and centuries and still have no words to describe something. But here Val was, splattered onto the dirty smelly ground of New York with the Hulk wreaking even more havoc off in the distance while her body burned in a way she couldn't really understand.

Her nerves felt shot, fingers and toes twitching while she drifted in and out of consciousness; the only underlying constant was confusion. What had happened, how had it happened, how come she was hurt? And then sometimes her mind went wholly blank, nothing existed except the sky above and sometimes not even that. She felt herself sweat, her heartbeat accelerate too much to be normal, but Val continued on the ground, feeling misshapen and wrong.

She heard someone come up, a blurred face crossing her vision and someone saying something but all Val could respond with was incoherent mumbling. This might not even be real for all she knew. If it did hurt, Val made no mention of it. Her eyes continued intensely staring at nothing despite her eyelids being half closed. Someone moved her, and it burned more, so much more that Val simply held her breath again and shut her eyes. She wanted to go limp but couldn't; every nerve in her body was on edge.

This wasn't death, not yet. This felt like punishment wished upon her by all she'd let die. Seemed fitting.

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the_trickster
2018-04-02 08:24 pm UTC (link)

It wasn't long before Loki ran out from an alleyway, in full Asgardian armor, pausing to look around. He quickly spotted the Captain and Valkyrie in his arms. There was no time to make a snarky request for a rousing speech about truth, justice, and patriotism. Instead he ran to where they were, giving Steve a brief nod and looking over Valkyrie as though assessing her injuries. He gingerly lifted the piece of ripped sweater and his fierce frown turned into a furious scowl. This was worse than what Thor endured. It would require much more healing, of which he wasn't trained in. Practice would make perfect, at this rate.

Even so, this damage was...significant.

"They have further perfected their craft," Loki confirmed through firmly clenched teeth. He tried to rein in his temper, as it wasn't directed at this Midgardian hero. He had shown great care with his friend and comrade, and that was appreciated. Loki expertly schooled his expression into something more neutral, straightening up and conducting himself every bit like a prince of Asgard should. "I will return with her to our home and begin healing her. This will free you, so that you might continue to assist others in need."

He held out his arms to take Valkyrie.

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rightoutoftime, 2018-04-02 08:31 pm UTC

doctor__strange
2018-04-02 12:50 am UTC (link)

Doctor Strange stepped out of the portal, leaving it open for Wanda and Pietro Maximoff to walk through from their hotel room. Portals were easy to manipulate, and so was the sigil shield that he quickly summoned with a wave of a hand, in order to block a shower of bricks from raining down on top of them.

They were a half block away from where the Hulk was, and Stark looked to be having no luck at all in stopping him. Only slowing him down.

Bullets were flying, and Strange had to shield the twins from them for a moment, before a couple of soldiers wasted their ammo and had to reload. That act gave Strange enough time to drop them through a portal and let them splash down into a pond in Central Park.

"That's taken care of," Stephen said, after dealing with that minor inconvenience. He surveyed the scene, looking back at Wanda and Pietro. He knew what they could do, and it went without saying, but he put in the request anyway. The amount of destruction was bewildering. "Pietro. Can you relieve the soldiers of those guns, and see if any of these buildings have people who need help? Wanda. I'll shield you after trying to get you as close as possible. Do you think you can help Hulk...take a nap?"

If not calm him down, then a nap would work so that Stark could get him out of the city. It wasn't just buildings that were damaged, but Strange was sure there was plenty of injuries and a body count racking up. Hulk was going to be on the law enforcement hit list, for sure. And he didn't want to know what sorts of things that law enforcement had up their sleeves as options to stop him. He could open a portal, and drop Hulk through it for an hour or two, but it would likely cause more stress. Resulting in an angrier Hulk, who had a more childlike personality and wouldn't understand what was happening.

He also wasn't sure if a perpetually on edge Stark or the introverted (but deceptively angry) Banner would be receptive to Wanda helping, but that was something for another time. This amount of death and mayhem wasn't exactly a planetary threat, as Hulk wasn't a threat, but it wasn't acceptable to Dr. Strange to let it continue for much longer. If he had to, he would vouch on Wanda's behalf later on.

Some of these bystanders and civilians weren't going to be able to simply walk it off after dying. The timeline wouldn't return them to life again. Stephen was certain of that.

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seethiscoming
2018-04-02 12:06 pm UTC (link)

Travelling by portal was never going to stop being weird but Pietro was quiet as Wanda seemed to trust and like Strange and he had so far shown Pietro that he had actual care for his sister so that extended him patience not often seen by the speedster.

He turned his gaze towards the ruined city and for a moment he had a horrible flashback to Sokovia though he did rein that in as that wasn't going to help anyone in this particular situation. "I can do that," he assured Strange before he clasped his sister's face in his hands and met her gaze. "Be safe, sister." A kiss was pressed to her forehead and a smile was given before sure enough Pietro sped off in the direction of the soldiers.

Honestly he was a complete and utter blur as he literally ran circles around the soldiers and their guns were soon removed from their grasp before being utterly taken apart. Once Pietro was certain the soldiers were sufficiently disarmed and no longer a threat to themselves because all they were doing was pissing Hulk off and the angrier he got the more chance he'd end up smashing them.

With that job complete he took a breath to steel himself and then pushed himself into the buildings as they wobbled and collapsed all at the same time, racing along floors and up stairs, over walls, and pretty much any way that he could to retrieve innocent civilians.

If he could save just one life it still wouldn't be enough for him.

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highlyconnected
2018-04-02 12:28 pm UTC (link)

Wanda was not interested in having Pietro separated from her but before she could protest he was gone. She knew that what he had seen in Sokovia before his- before his death had sparked something in him, a desire to save people with the gifts given to him. Wanda, too, wanted to do the right thing but not at the expense of her brother's life again. She watched him for as long as she could until he disappeared from sight, his blue trail vanishing.

She turned her face to look up at Stephen and nodded, clearly distressed that Pietro was not with her but trying to work past it. This was not Sokovia. The Hulk was not Ultron. Pietro was not going to die. She had to banish the thought because it was not beneficial right now.

"I can try," she told him after a moment, "though Doctor Banner doesn't like me." She didn't blame him, but she had not had a chance to make amends with him as she had the others. Even if she knew that truly, only Steve and Clint trusted her. It hurt deeply as she was only doing her best, but there were still some who held her responsible for the deaths of the Wakandans. Who still considered her to be a weapon of mass destruction.

She pressed her lips together and lifted her hands, the now-familiar magenta glow surrounding her fingers as she levitated herself off the ground. Her attention was drawn when she saw a large vehicle was sent flying in their direction. She reached out with both hands, cushioning it with her powers and stopping it landing on a group of fleeing civilians, dropping it down with a thud on a car but it was better than crushing people, surely.

"We should move," she told Stephen.

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doctor__strange
2018-04-02 07:07 pm UTC (link)

The moment the call went out that one of theirs was down, Strange shifted their course from trying to make it down a street where shots were being fired, to getting on the other side of collapsing buildings. Easy to see. Just follow the incredibly large clouds of dust.

He looked to Wanda while opening a portal. There wasn't much time.

"Wanda," he told her, as calmly as he could given the circumstances, "once we go through, look for my shield sigils under your feet. Use them like stepping stones. I'm going to get you to Hulk. And then you do what you have to."

He knew Wanda was capable, but they didn't have a large window to catch up with a rampaging Hulk. If they didn't get it right the first time, then they would be playing catch up over and over again, and more people might get hurt. Porting her to try to grab onto an angry Hulk's back was a risk he wasn't going to take. Wanda didn't need to risk personal injury when there were other means at their disposal.

"I'll keep you shielded from the crossfire." The portal opened and Strange nodded that it was time to go through. "Here goes nothing."

He stepped through, roughly estimating that they would be a little ahead of where Hulk might be heading. His estimate was good, and it seemed Stark realized as much, since the Hulkbuster fell away and remained behind, landing with a thud that they could feel under their feet. Strange made a gesture to focus his magic, and his hands lit up with the glow of the sigil shields so he could help get Wanda within range.

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highlyconnected
2018-04-02 07:37 pm UTC (link)

Wanda had little idea what to expect as they were swiftly moved; she had seen someone - whom she assumed was Valkyrie - be wounded and taken out when she had been approaching the Hulk, successfully having drawn his attention away from the battle and her injury had only seemed to make him madder. She pressed her lips together and did a quick scan of the field for her brother to make sure he was still alive before the portal was created once again and she followed Stephen through, her own hands glowing and helping her balance herself.

She landed heavily on the first of the stepping-stone sigils and kept her balance with her own abilities. She did not speak to Stephen: words seemed utterly pointless at this moment in time so she just used the sigils as she saw them, running through the air until she came face to face with the Hulk.

She was breathless, not with exertion, she realised but with anticipation. With fear. Doctor Banner, as he was, hated her. The last time they had met, he had threatened to choke her without 'changing a shade'. She felt that it would take more than the time that had passed for him to forgive what had happened between them, the things that she had made him remember, the darkness that had been in his mind which had been so very easy to draw out.

As the Hulk barrelled towards her, she held her hands out, lifting herself up into the air, her whole body glowing with her magenta aura as she told him to "Stop."

A distant memory of a dream had her lifting one hand, palm outstretched, the movement that would have been familiar.

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notjustbiggreen
2018-04-02 07:48 pm UTC (link)

To any person watching this live or via their smartphone or television set at home the sight of one Wanda Maximoff, a young woman by all acounts, putting herself in the way of the charging barreling enraged Hulk was quite one to behold.

It also seemed suicidal.

Like throwing up a wooden fence to stop the force of a tsunami.

The very same tsunami that continued to plunder forward as though the Hulk was possessed. Honestly the chances were slim to none that this was going to work but against all odds the Hulk did just as she commanded.

He stopped, dust and debris being kicked up in his wake.

It was the hand that had done it, familiar and reassuring, the palm outstretched and the Hulk blinked slowly as if he were trying to sort out his troubled thoughts.

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highlyconnected
2018-04-02 07:56 pm UTC (link)

He was afraid. Confused. Worried. There was a thin line between fear and anger and when Wanda gently reached into Hulk's mind, the flashing images she saw - a tall man silhouetted in a doorway -- a shrill scream -- the pressure of a fist against ribs -- open palm against face -- a small closet -- darkness - gave her some insight. It took her breath away, her eyes filling with tears.

The memory was hazy; she could hear something about the sun going down but was not sure that she would be able to do that. She did not have the right hair, she was not the right person. He did not trust her.

"It's okay," she told him, rooting through his mind even as she spoke for the switch that would shut him down like a computer, placate him long enough for her to nudge him into unconsciousness. The shielding that was surrounding them was taking fire, from some fools who had not yet learned that firing at the Hulk only made him madder.

She felt guilt, then, for twisting Doctor Banner's mind. Guilt that was familiar but anew because of the insight she had just gained.

"No one's going to hurt you anymore." She stretched out a slightly trembling hand, still hovering in the air.

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notjustbiggreen
2018-04-02 08:07 pm UTC (link)

The Hulk was for the time being completely still save for the heaving rise and fall of his large chest and the way his hands flexed restlessly at his side.

It felt like she might be in his head or that could just be a headache from all the collapsing building, it was hard to tell. He swatted at an invisible fly like that would somehow stop the rooting of his brain. Poor silly Hulk, so dumb and yet so angry.

"EARTH ALWAYS HURT HULK," he pointed out petulantly like a child. Still, he tilted his head and let out another harsh breath that basically kicked up a hell of a wind around them. He eyed the hand which was being presented to him and a memory tugged at his mind and he tentatively and slowly reached out with his own much larger hand.

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highlyconnected
2018-04-02 08:12 pm UTC (link)

"That's because they don't understand you," Wanda said soothingly, her accent looping around the words even as she spoke calmly and clearly. "They don't deserve you," she added after a moment, mind latching on the switch that was linked with the lullaby routine. Unfortunately, as the words weren't being used, or the actions, she could just flip it and put him to sleep but it was better than nothing. Better than him running away more.

As their fingers touched, she pressed her hand against his, her eyes glowed again and she pushed against his mind with her own, forcing his mind to shut down.

She let herself drift a little closer, "Everything's okay now," she said softly. "Just sleep."

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	notjustbiggreen 2018-04-02 08:14 pm UTC (link)
	Hulk's eyes widened as he felt the press of Wanda's mind against his own and immediately it overwhelmed and all the Hulk could do was feel the pull of exhaustion and he gave the biggest yawn before hitting the ground on his knees. "HULK GO NAP NAP NOW," he muttered before sure enough the behemoth slumped to the ground, fast asleep, and snoring. Loudly. (Replies frozen) (Parent) (Thread)

highlyconnected
2018-04-02 08:20 pm UTC (link)

Wanda's feet hit the ground first, then her knees, and then she caught herself on her hands as she landed beside Hulk, who was now sleeping. She did not have an earpiece but she knew Stephen was watching and so lifted her eyes to where he was, nodding her head. Hulk was asleep now, but for how long was anyone's guess. If they were to move him, they should do it now.

She touched his shoulder, where he was lying down and moved slightly to the side, lifting her voice, a little breathless as she spoke because using her powers like that was absolutely exhausting. "You can let Tony know that I am done here," she said, "I should go and see what else I can do to help."

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doctor__strange
2018-04-02 08:35 pm UTC (link)

He knew the stepping stone sigils would enable her to save enough power to levitate the rest of the way and had hoped that she could stop the Hulk, and it was a gamble that he was glad paid off. Stephen closed in and kneeled down to check on Hulk, giving a nod in the direction of the waiting Hulkbuster, with Tony Stark in it. Even the armor looked like it was watching and waiting for something to go horribly wrong, but had taken up a more relaxed pose. In fact, if it was possible for an expressionless suit of armor to look relieved? Stephen thought that it looked that way.

Then he turned and grinned at Wanda. Stephen Strange didn't often do that. His smiles were rare and mostly had been offered in a moment of sarcasm with close friends. But this was more genuine, and done with pride that she was coming so far along in honing her talents.

"What you've done is exceptional," he assured her, offering her a hand to help her onto her feet. "I'll open a portal where your brother is, and you can help one another."

He doubted that Wanda wanted to be parted from her twin for much longer. And that would leave him and Stark to deal with the matter of clearing out Hulk as fast as possible. It seemed that Stark was still in a holding pattern, backed off for the time being. But if they didn't evacuate quickly, the military would move in and attempt to seize Hulk for all the damage that was done and lives lost. And who knew what else.

He held up a hand to Stark to gesture for one moment longer, and then opened a portal for Wanda.

"We'll get Hulk to a safe place. Thank you, Wanda," he said. "This entire city is in your debt. Be careful, both of you, and text me if you need to make a quick escape."

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highlyconnected, 2018-04-02 08:45 pm UTC

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