I don't own any characters except my own. A series of unfortunate events belongs Daniel Hadler and Netflix. Incredible Hulk belongs to Marvel and Disney.
Out of all the guardians that the Baudelaires had, Bruce Banner was the one with the biggest anger problems. As they stared at the green monster who was once their guardian in shock, Violet, Klaus and Sunny all wondered 'How did we get here?'
Of course it all started with Mr. Poe; after their last guardian suffered under Olf, he sent to live with a man named Dr. Bruce Banner. When Klaus pointed out that Dr. Banner was wanted for treason, Mr. Poe ignored him and gave them plane tickets to Djibouti.
Still the plane ride was fun and Mr. Poe did arrange for someone to pick them up for the airport. However, that still didn't stop the Baudelaires from worrying that they could kidnapped or robbed.
As the children met their driver to Dr. Banner's home. Violet turned to her younger brother and asked "Do you think we'll like it here?"
Klaus looked thoughtful as he replied with "I don't know, we just need to give this place a chance. We just need to stay close together and be on the lookout for any creepy strangers."
"Hmmm." Sunny added, which meant "Not to mention Olaf and his troupe."
Violet looked at her brother and said "Do you think he knows we're in Djibouti?"
"I hope not." Klaus replied with a worried look on his face.
Violet and Sunny both nodded in agreement, before Sunny drew her attention to the sights of Djibouti city.
In some ways it reminded the children of their old home in the city back in the states. Only that the buildings weren't as tall that many signs were in languages that the Baudelaires didn't know how to read or speak in.
As the car stopped at a red light, Sunny turned her older brother, pointed at a nearby multi-lingual sign and said "Neep", which meant "What are those languages?"
Klaus turned to his sister and said "The first language on top of the sign is Somali. It comes from the country of Somalia, which is near Djibouti. The second language under Somali is Arabic and the third language is called Afar."
"What's Afar?" Violet interrupted.
"Afar is an African-language that is spoken by Afar's an ethnic group of Africa." Klaus explained. "Also the last language on that sign is French." He added.
"Wow." was all Violet could say, before she realized "We don't know any of those languages."
"Sadly, yes." Klaus replied. Then he remembered "The good news is there are some people from America here and remember Dr. Banner is living here, so he must have an understanding of some of the languages."
"Still I hope he's nicer to us then Olaf." Violet added.
"Op." Sunny agreed, which meant "I hope he's as kind as Uncle Monty."
As the Baudelaires continued to chat about their future with Dr. Banner, wondering what he was like as a person, whether those changes of treason were false, whether they could like it in Djibouti and if they were finally safe from Count Olaf at last, the cab arrived at Dr. Banner's apartment. As the Baudelaires gathered their things and stepped out of the cab, they could only look at the apartment building that was to be their new home.
"Which number did Mr. Poe say was Dr. Banner's apartment again?" Violet questioned.
Klaus searched his pockets for the piece of paper that Mr. Poe had given them. When he found it in his left pocket, the middle Baudelaire looked at it and said "The apartment number 224."
With that, the Baudelaires clung to each other and wandered through the apartment searching for the home of their guardian.
After walking through the various hallways, they found a door with the number 224 on it. Taking a deep breath, Klaus knocked on the door. After several minutes the door opened to reveal a man with dark brown hair, eyes and wearing glasses just like Klaus.
The man opened his mouth as he said something in French. To which Violet said slowly "No, French. Looking for our guardian Dr. Banner."
At this man switched to English as he said "Are you kids lost?"
An unsure Klaus replied with "I don't think so. We were told that Dr. Banner's apartment number was 224 and here it is. If he's out we can wait here with you. Are you his assistant?"
"Where are your parents?" questioned the man with a concerned look on his face.
All three Baudelaires hugged each other as Violet said "Our parents died in a fire a few months ago and according to Mr. Poe, the banker in charge of our money, our new guardian is Dr. Bruce Banner who lives here."
The man paused for a moment and said "Where is this Mr. Poe?"
"He couldn't come with us. He was busy." Violet added, trying her best to hide her annoyance that Mr. Poe left them to their own devices again.
"Let me get this right. This banker let take an airplane to a country that you never been to look for me all by yourselves after your parents died?!" The man exclaimed as he fought to keep calm.
"You're Dr. Banner?" Klaus wondered.
Dr. Banner nodded as he took a deep breath and said "Why don't we talk this over with some camomile tea?"
Sometime later, the Baudelaires were sitting in a small kitchen/living room as Banner handed Violet and Klaus cups of tea.
"This has to be a mistake." Banner exclaimed. "I'm on the run, I have anger issues, I can barely take care of myself, What kind of idiot would place you guys in my care?"
"You don't want to be our guardian?" Violet questioned.
"Mm!" Sunny piped up, which meant "Jerk!"
Dr. Banner sighed as he replied with "I'm sorry about your parents, and I wish I could look after you guys. However, it's just not possible right now since I'm on the run. I'm afraid the only way I can help you is helping you find the USA embassy, get then to contact this Mr. Poe, and send you back home before it closes."
The children look at each other, feeling let down.
"Can you at least come inside with us?" Violet pleaded.
"I'm sorry. I wish I could but I'm a fugitive." Dr. Banner reminded the Baudelaires.
Feeling curious, Violet asked "If you don't mind me asking what did you do that was so bad that you had to go on the run?"
Dr. Banner became quiet for a bit, before he replied with "I don't feel like talking about it."
"Well, what did you used to do before you went on the run?" Violet wondered.
A look of sadness appeared on the fugitive's face as he said "I used to be a scientist with an amazing girlfriend."
"What was she like?" Violet inquired.
A blush briefly flashed across the scientist's face as he stood up and walked towards a cupboard. "She was smart, pretty, kind and supportive. We used to be co-workers."
As Dr. Banner finished, he packed snacks for the Baudelaires before the four of them left his apartment and went to look for the embassy.
As the Baudelaires did their best to hide their disappointment, they once again let their eyes wander around Djibouti city as they thought about what they knew about Dr. Banner so far. Even though, he didn't appear to be a good guardian, he seemed to be a sad soul. Before the children could dwell on it any further, the smell of food they never tasted before and the sounds of music they never tasted reached their sense. Suddenly feeling hungry, Klaus pulled out his snack. However he couldn't tell what it was due to the fact that is was in Arabic.
"Do you what it says?" Klaus asked as he turned to look at Dr. Banner.
Dr. Banner opened his mouth to reply, however he was interrupted by a strange voice asking "Is everything alright?"
At once, a chill came over all three Baudelaires as they thought Oh No. Please don't let it be who I think it is.
Violet with Sunny in her arms along with Klaus moved closer to the former scientist as they slowly turned their attention to the owner of that strange voice. At first, it appeared to be a Djibouti officer. As the Baudelaires took a closer look, they quickly realized it was Count Olaf.
"I'm Officer Bey and you folks appeared to be lost, is there anything I can do?" Olf said in a horrible Arabic accent.
"Who the hell are you trying to fool with that accent and brown face? Are you even a real police officer?" Dr. Banner questioned with a look of disgust on his face.
At once a look of shock and delight appeared on Violet, Klaus and Sunny's faces, while a look of surprise and horror appeared on Count Olaf's face.
Could it be? Could it be that Olaf has finally met his match at last? All three orphans thought at once.
"What kind of question is that? This is my natural face. Besides I'm an officer. You have to do what I say." Olaf said as he tried to contain his anger. However his accent slipped and Dr. Banner narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
Without wasting a second, he grabbed all three Baudelaires and ran in the opposite direction. Olaf didn't waste a second. He blew his whistle and said "Kidnapper! Stop him!"
As Dr. Banner and the Baudelaires continued to ran, Dr. Banner said "Listen to me very carefully…"
However, Klaus interrupted with "Listen to us. We know that man! He's Count Olf!"
"What?" was all a taken aback Dr. Banner could say.
"He's after our money. He killed Uncle Monty and tried to kidnap us. When he had custody of us, he tried to make Violet marry him." Klaus added.
"Er!" Sunny added, which meant "And he tried me up and threatened to kill me!"
"He did what." Dr. Banner hissed, before stopped to take very slow deep breaths.
However, Violet was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice Dr. Banner's efforts to stay calm. "He once struck my brother the face and Mr. Poe did nothing to help us when we told him! He never listens to us!"
"Violet. Keep the volume down. Olaf and his troop might hear you." Klaus whispering. "Besides your upsetting Dr. Banner." He added.
No sooner had Violet turned to look at their guardian, a shot rang out with warning and Dr. Banner fell towards the ground.
Before the horrified Baudelaires could scream, they found ambushed by Olf and his troops, who quickly grabbed them and covered their mouths.
"Did you really think you could escape me so easily?" Olaf mocked as she stepped out of the shadows. "I must admit that Djibouti threw me for a loop, but no matter. Your guardian is dead and I have the three of you. Soon your money will be mine."
"We won't go anywhere with you." Violet tried to say, but it was blocked by the gag in her mouth.
As the children fought against Olaf and his trope, Dr. Banner stood up feeling angry that this evil man and his trope tried to kill him and hurt the children. He may not know them very well, and was still wondering why would anyone place children in his care, but he wouldn't stand by and let any child by harmed in his presence. As the anger overtook him, his skin slowly turned green and his body began to expand. As Banner transformed a few trope members stopped and stared in spite of themselves. Slowly everyone, including the Baudelaires and Olaf were staring at the sight of the monster who looked ready to charge at them.
"HULK! SMASH!" cried the green being as smashed his fists into the ground. At the sight of the ground breaking apart all around them, Olaf and his theater troupe ran screaming in fear, dragging the Baudelaires with them. Sadly for the troop, Hulk quickly caught up to them and freed the Baudelaires from their grasp before continuing to chase after them. As Violet, Klaus and Sunny fought to free themselves, they could vaguely hear the sounds of people screaming and running through the streets as well as the sounds of buildings, roads and cars being smashed.
All three Baudelaires got scared and thought Was is that thing?! Did our guardian really turn into that?!
However, Violet was the first to think to herself Pull yourself together Violet and focus.
After taking a deep breath, she looked around for something, anything that was sharp. Out of the corner of her eye, the eldest Baudelaire spotted a shiny sharp looking item on the right hand sidewalk. Not wasting a second, all three Baudelaires started crawling towards as fast as they could, all the while hoping that Olaf and his troops wouldn't come back and that Dr. Banner was okay.
After what's seemed like forever, the Baudelaires finally reached both the sidewalk and the sharp shiny object. Violet was the first to cut herself free by laying down on her back and moving her tied hands against it. Once she was free, Violet wasted no time untied Sunny and removing the gag from her mouth as Klaus cut himself free.
"Ooo." Sunny said. Which meant "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet, I still need to make sure you're okay." Violet answered as she looked over her baby sister.
"Well, we shouldn't just stand here. We need to find shelter." Klaus interjected as he stood up and rubbed his wrists.
"What about our guardian?" Violet questioned.
"Violet, you saw what he turned into! I don't think that Dr. Banner is in any mood to listen." Klaus reminder his sister. He signed as he added "If anything good came out of him transforming into that creature, I now know why he's on the run and fled the country why he didn't want to take care of us and that he managed to scare the pants off of Olaf and troops."
At this all three Baudelaires gave each other a weak smile, before Violet added "Maybe Dr. Banner will scare them so bad, that Olaf will never want to come near us again."
Klaus and Sunny nodded in agreement. In spite of their surroundings and the fact their were lost in a strange country that didn't speak the language, they couldn't help but feel hopeful that Olaf had been scared away.
Slowly, Violet and Klaus helped themselves up before they picked up Sunny.
"Do you we should look for Dr. Banner and help him calm?" Violet wondered.
"I don't think so Violet, something tells me he's not in a listening mood right now." Klaus replied.
"Breepe." Sunny added. Which meant "You said it."
"We got to do something, the military's going to come at any moment. We can't just leave him high and dry." Violet protested.
"None of us have any military training and we have Sunny, we risk her getting hurt." Klaus pointed out.
As Violet pulled out her ribbon and tied back her hair, a look of pain appeared on her face as she thought over her choices and the risks of both. On one hand, the Baudelaires owed Dr. Banner for saving them from Olaf and it wouldn't be right if they let left to his unknown fate. On the other hand, they had no idea what exactly Dr. Banner capable of as the Hulk and from what they saw he destroy anything in his path. Also, they had never been in a situation like this before. Normally they would get out of bad situations by looking for a weakness and exploiting...suddenly an idea came to Violet.
"Guys I know what to do now." Violet announced.
"Lee lee." Sunny wondered. Which meant "What do you mean?"
"I mean that we need to find some bottles, some small bits of cloth and bring them to me." Violet ordered.
"What are you going to do with them?" Klaus wondered.
"I'll be making some homemade smoke bombs to keep the US military or possibly Olaf and his tropes dissected in case either show up during the search for Dr. Banner." Violet decided.
Both Klaus and Sunny once again wanted to argue against that decision, they wanted to point out that they had no military training and only got through their brushes with Olf through luck and apart from those factors, they weren't even sure if Dr. Banner wanted to be found. However, both siblings could see that Violet had made up her mind and set about to look for the various items she requested. Then, not long after the Baudelaires started looking for bottles and cloth, they heard a rumbling sound. At first they thought they were hungry, but as the rumbling drew closer, they realized it wasn't the sound of their stomachs, but the sounds of an army tank driving through the streets, right where they were!
At once, Klaus quickly picked up Sunny as he and Violet began to run as fast as they could towards the opposite detection, however they didn't get very far when they heard a megaphone cry "You are in a restricted military area! Leave at once!"
At once, all three Baudelaires became frightened and Violet cried out "We don't mean any harm! We only want to find our guardian."
"I'm afraid it's too late for him, kids. The Hulk probably got him by now." The voice on the megaphone replied in almost sympathetic tone. "Now leave at once!"
"The Hulk? That thing's called the Hulk?" Klaus muttered in a confused tone.
"Wait a minute. You children saw the Hulk in person and don't have a scratch on either one of you?" The voice on the megaphone replied in a confused yet suddenly interested tone.
Sometime later, the Baudelaires found themselves waiting with USA embassy officers with a couple of US soldiers in a small room. After what seemed to be a long time, a general entered the room. He was a large tall no nonsense general with gray hair and a gray mustache.
At the sight of him, all three Baudelaires felt intimidated and Sunny let out a little whimper. Violet pressed her baby sister against her chest as the General turned towards the soldiers and said "I've got it from here."
As the soldiers left the room, the General turned to the children and said "You must be the Baudelaires. I'm General Ross, the head the operation to capture the Hulk."
"Why do you want to capture him?" Klaus asked in spite of himself. "Sir." He quickly added not to seem disrespectful.
"That's classified." The General replied as he added "Besides I'm the one asking the questions. My men have told me that the three of you not only saw the Hulk, but were sent to live with him too?! Why?"
Violet looked at briefly looked her younger siblings before General Ross demanded "Look at me and answer the question young lady."
Violet looked at the General as she said "It was Mr. Poe who sent us to live with Dr. Banner. According to him, he was the next choice after our Uncle Monty died, sir."
"How did your parents met Banner and how long have they been friends with him?" General Ross questioned, unable to hide this disbelief.
At this, all three Baudelaires became uncomfortably silent.
"Well?" The General prompted and Violet answered with "Our parents died in a fire that destroyed our home not to long ago, sir."
The General became silent before added aloud "What kind of idiot would send a bunch of children to live with a man wanted for treason?!"
"That's exactly what Dr. Banner said." Klaus piped up.
"He was going to take us to the US embassy so they could send us back to the states." Violet explained as she hugged Sunny close to her.
"What kind of idiot would send a bunch of children to live with a man wanted for treason?!" The General repeated in a tone that was both amazed and angry. Then he opened the door to one of his men inside and said "Get me everything you have on this Mr. Poe. Then have him arrested for treason and make sure he's removed from his duties as manager of the Baudelaire estate. Also put these kids in protective custody and the witness protection program."
At this Violet, Klaus and Sunny turned to look at each other feeling stunned.
Witness protection program. They thought to themselves.
Even though, Dr. Banner didn't want to look after them, he still scared off Olf and his tropes to the point that the Baudelaires didn't even know if Olaf was still alive. For this reason the Baudelaires would never forget Dr. Banner and hoped that he would remain safe.
I've never to Djibouti or its capital. If I got anything wrong, please tell me.
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