Hulk Knows

There are some things Hulk knows.

Hulk knows he wants to smash things.

Hulk knows life sucks, pain is everywhere and it doesn't stop. Hulk knows there's no escape. Hulk knows Banner hates him.

Hulk knows he's a monster. Hulk knows smashing things makes things worse. Hulk knows he can't stop.

Hulk knows Banner fed him metal to make him go away.

Hulk knows sometimes things are horrible and sometimes things are not as bad.

Hulk knows that Banner knows a lot of things. But Hulk knows something Banner doesn't.

Things are not as bad when people are kind, and some people are kind.

It's something too big, solid and important to fit into the tiny twisty maze that is Banner's brain.

Banner only wants the Hulk to go away but Hulk won't. Being kept in only makes Hulk angry.

Hulk watches through Banner's eyes, when he can, when Banner isn't pushing him down, blocking him out.

Hulk sees that Banner is helping people in this dirty, sad place. Hulk thinks that is kind. Hulk tries not to interrupt.

Now Banner is talking to a woman - Natasha. Banner is thinking, being clever. Hulk knows the feel of that. Banner is testing her, measuring her. Hulk sees Natasha point a gun at them. Hulk doesn't like Natasha.

Banner goes with her anyway.

They go in a plane, and Hulk doesn't like planes because Banner always blocks him out especially hard. Then they get out and there are people. A blond man says hello to Banner, and the man tells a lie.

Then the ground moves under them. Banner tamps down especially hard and Hulk is blinded for a moment, but then Banner lets up once they are inside. Not all the way. This is one of those places where Banner keeps tight control. Hulk hates this place.

Banner follows Natasha to a working place, and Banner begins to think very hard. The tickle of that, the rhythm and monotony, can put Hulk to sleep. Hulk knows now that this is why Banner is here, to help, to think, so he puts aside his anger and sleeps.

Hulk wakes up to a feeling that something is very wrong.

He looks through Banner's eyes and he sees a man smiling at them. No, not at Banner. The pale man looks through Banner and smiles at the Hulk.

This is not a kind smile. Hulk hates the pale man.

Hulk would like to smash the pale man. Very much. The pale man finds the Hulk amusing and Hulk would like to beat the amusement right out of him.

The pale man's eyes dance with chaos.

Banner leaves the lab to find things out. There's a new person, very large and blond. Hulk finds him vaguely annoying.

Then another smaller person walks in. Something about the way he moves tickles Hulk, like Banner thinking. Perhaps the way he's always talking, always gesturing. He thinks out loud; he thinks with his body. Hulk can feel Banner thinking in response.

Stark, he's called.

Stark walks up to them. He greets Banner, shaking his hand. Then - and Hulk likes this - Stark looks at Banner's eyes, then through Banner's eyes, and greets Hulk.

Hulk likes Stark.

When Banner and Stark go back to the working space, they are both thinking intensely and it nearly puts Hulk to sleep but something is still bothering him. Something is still wrong.

Stark startles Banner, but it tastes like thinking, not like meanness. It's like the test Banner gave Natasha. Stark is a lot like Banner and they need to test people and things to find things out. Hulk gives a 'hrumph' sort of response but doesn't try to come out. That would be failing the test and Hulk likes Stark.

The man who lied - Rogers is what Stark calls him - comes in then and argues with Stark. This makes Hulk angry and Banner starts to push down. Hulk wants to see, but he can't stop himself from being angry. He wants out. Banner's thinking now, thinking in the way that means he's just trying to put Hulk to sleep. Hulk fights the blindness, fights the sleep, but for the moment, Banner dominates.

After a while, Rogers goes away, and Banner's thoughts go back to being working-hard-to-help tasting ones, with just an edge of tension. Hulk almost manages to drift off but there's still something irritating him, worrying, like an itch. It's the wrongness that woke him up before.

Hulk hates this place.

Too soon, everyone comes back and the arguing starts again. Banner is trying to think, trying to tamp down but he's thinking all these people are idiots, and now he's remembering when he fed Hulk metal to make him go away. Hulk knows the bitter taste of that memory. Hulk hates these people for bringing it back.

Then everything explodes.

Banner is hurt. Banner is trying to focus, to think. Pain and anger and confusion fill Hulk. He tries to get out. Banner is pushing back, reaching for the rhythmic coolness of thought. Hulk can feel the humming, tickling, just outside Banner's reach.

Then Natasha calls their name.

"Bruce."

They try to ignore her.

"You've got to fight it. This is just what Loki wants."

The pale man. Hulk hates the pale man.

Banner scrambles for thought, but it's slipping away.

"You're going to be ok, listen to me. We're going to be ok, right?"

Hulk can taste her fear. It's bright in her voice, and Hulk hates her for it. Hates this place. Hates himself.

He wishes it would all go away.

She's still talking.

"I swear on my life, I will get you out of this, you will walk away..."

"YOUR LIFE?"

Hulk is laughing at her, the tiny girl, who thinks her life is somehow solid enough to swear on. They could swat her like a bug...oh God, Banner is thinking, we probably will. Hulk is snarling at her, liar, who brought them to this terrible place. Hulk is crying, because he knows he will only make everything worse but he just can't stand all this anymore, he wants OUT...

"Bruce..."

He KNOWS he's going to hurt her because he HATES her so much right now.

Hulk tries to stop, he tries to let Banner take over. Banner looks at her and they scramble away, trying to give her a head start.

WHY?

WHY IS IT ALWAYS LIKE THIS?

WHY DO YOU HAVE TO SET ME OFF?

Hulk hates this place, and now that his hands are his own he will tear this place open, destroy it, turn it to dust. Maybe when this place is no more, there will be peace.

Hulk smashes, and smashes, and smashes. He struggles, and hurts, and falls.

And finally, the place is gone, and there is peace enough that Hulk can sleep.

Motorcycles are good.

Hulk doesn't like cars because they're like planes or elevators. They're all closed in and Banner clamps down and Hulk can't see anything, one way or another.

Hulk wakes up and the motorcycle is humming under them and there is no one else on the streets.

Hulk is still angry about Natasha and the terrible place she brought them to, but aside from that, everything seems good, and Hulk wonders what woke him.

Banner coasts to a stop, and there are people gathered here. The liar. The long haired one. The one who swears on her pathetic life. And one more, who tastes like the crazy in the pale man's eyes.

Banner talks to them. These people all seem happy to see them. Then Banner prods Hulk.

Banner woke him on purpose.

Banner is loosing his hold.

Banner looks to the sky where a shiny metal man flies toward them. The taste of Banner's thoughts tells Hulk that this is Stark.

The beast that follows Stark smells of lizards, strangeness and fear. Hulk hates it.

This, we smash, Banner tells Hulk, and lets go.

Hulk takes hold of their body, and puts all of his anger into this blow.

The beast falls.

The smaller creatures all around them scream. Hulk roars back. They are not meant to be here. But Banner doesn't like it when he kills.

Hulk watches as the liar - Rogers - talks to the others. Stark listens to him. Stark goes where he points. So do the others.

Then Rogers looks at Hulk.

He points at the lizard things around them.

"Smash," he tells Hulk.

Hulk smiles. This, he can do.

He TEARS THE THINGS APART.

Small ones, large ones, flying things. He crushes their skulls and tears off their limbs. He finds sharp things and cuts them open. Then he punches the annoying man in the red cape, just for fun.

More and more lizard things drop out of the sky. They hurt him with blue balls of light. Hulk just roars and smashes more of them.

Then all of them fall down and stop moving and Hulk doesn't think they need much smashing now, so he goes to see if he can find more, up where they've been coming from.

He doesn't find any more, but he does find the pale man.

Hulk HATES the pale man.

Hulk hits the pale man, but he just keeps yelling at Hulk. Calling himself a god.

Hulk wonders if gods are stronger than Hulks.

Hulk picks up the god and uses him to smash things.

Not as good as Hulk fists.

Hulk is the strongest.

The god doesn't get up again, so Hulk leaves to find if there are more things to smash.

"Puny god," he says, smiling.

Hulk goes outside to look up at the hole in the sky where the lizard-smelling things were coming from. He doesn't see any more of them, but he does see the shiny man.

Stark.

Stark is falling.

Hulk remembers falling. Falling hurts.

Hulk likes Stark.

He jumps.

Hulk puts Stark down but he isn't moving. The one in the red cape tears the metal away from Stark's face.

He isn't moving at all.

If Stark doesn't wake up, there will be no more of that way he thinks with his hands, creating rhythm and tasting of joyful excitement.

The one in the cape and the liar are only watching. They don't know how to wake him up.

Banner knows how to help people.

Banner.

Banner.

Banner!

BANNER!

The rhythm of Banner's thoughts begins again. Hulk can't understand them; they are only noise, sounds like "autonomic response" and "epinephrine levels" and "auditory reflex."

Banner! WHAT?

Roar!

Hulk ROARS!

Stark moves.

And his stream of words is back. Hulk is glad.

Hulk is glad of Banner.

Hulk is glad of Stark.

Hulk is glad that he got to smash things and nobody minded.

Hulk is glad.

There are some things Hulk knows.

Things are not as bad when people are kind, and some people are kind.

Stark is kind.

Hulk is good at helping people in some ways, and Banner is good at helping people in other ways.

Without both of their help, Stark would be dead.

If Hulk and Banner listen to each other, they can help many more people.

This is a big thought. Banner might not know it.

But Banner is clever.

He'll figure it out.