We Have a Hulk Problem (November 2004)

Tony, Steve and Logan were out of the tower for the day. Bruce was in the lab working while Kate and Isabella sparred in the gym. Serena was at the kitchen table studying while she munched on a bowl of potato chips. Isabella panted as she tried to get inside Kate’s defences. Both women had been at it for nearly 20 minutes and they were both covered in a sheen of sweat. “So what’s it like to be in love with Steve...Captain America?” Isabella asked as she stepped back. “From what I know of him he’s all black and white with little gray in him. I think that would drive me nuts, how do you handle that?” She asked as she moved to get a drink from her water bottle.

Bruce was using a pair of long tongs and protective gloves, a rubber apron and safety glasses as he shifted the small, black container from its case into the protective housing. Once he had it just over the top of it he loosened his grip on the tongs and the container rested into the housing The housing slowly dropped down and the container was safely secured inside the housing. This was the 4th of 8 he needed to load then the machine could be ready for programming.

Isabella was glad to have another woman to spar with. However, Kate was just as tough as Steve. She could tell why Steve liked her so much. Kate was a tough woman, but also had a softer, feminine side to her. However, in the gym when she was training she was all business...just like Steve. Kate was giving Isabella a good workout and the two women finally decided to take a break. Kate picked up her towel and dabbed her face and neck as she listened to Isabella's question. She smiled at her.

"He certainly is mostly black or white when it comes to things, but Steve has a good heart. He's funny and sweet and he loves me like no other man I have ever been with. We don't agree on everything, but no couple ever does."

Isabella laughed. “You got that right, Tony and I argue too but we always make up,” Isabella said. “We…” She began but then the lights all flickered.

Serena was writing down a calculus problem when the lights all over the place flickered.

Bruce was about to add the 7th container to its place but when he let go of it a corner of it got stuck on the edge and it tipped. It fell into the others that were already seated and an arc of electricity began to lash out all around it. Bruce was hit and thrown 10 feet away.

“Oh god not here….not now!” He murmured as he tried to contain the beast that was threatening to come out. Try as he might he could not stop it and he began to turn green and his body ripped through his clothes as he grew.

Serena saw the blue light that came from the lab just as the lights flickered back on.

Serena was doing advanced calculus. She currently had private tutors, but she wanted to go to school next year. She wanted to experience high school and have some real friends and a more normal life. Her parents had agreed, which made her very excited. She was going to be going to a special school for students like herself who were intelligent in areas of math, science, and engineering.

The advanced calculus she was doing was more in line of what college students would be doing, but it came easy to her. She was working through a problem when suddenly the lights began to flicker. She could feel the energy from the electricity as it arched in the lab. She slowly got up from her seat and began to walk that way. She could see the blue light but then she began to hear crashes coming from inside the lab. She knew Bruce was in there working.

"Uncle Bruce?" she called out with worry thick in her voice.

Bruce could not contain it and he felt his mind slip into a rage. He heard a voice from outside of the lab but he was so angry that he picked up one of the lab tables and threw it toward the voice. The metal table crashed against the wall near Serena and The Hulk growled so loudly that it made the glass in the windows shake. The two women hear the crash and then the blood chilling growl of the Hulk...in the penthouse of the tower!

Serena had seen images of The Hulk, but she had never seen him in real life. He terrified her! The man she had known her entire life was gone...the man who had done science experiments with her and had taken her out for ice cream sundaes. That man would never try to hurt her. She held out her hand and blasted the Hulk with an energy beam. However, it did almost nothing to stop him and only made him even more angry. He threw a chair at her and hit her and she hit her head against the wall and became unconscious.

Isabella was terrified! The Hulk was loose in her home and Serena was upstairs with him. She and Kate flew up the stairs towards the sound of the destruction. God help him if he hurt Serena!

The mindless brute felt the beam hit him and then threw whatever was to hand. The chair hit Serena so hard it threw her against the wall and she slid to the floor. The hulk ran up to her and bent over her. It growled furiously at her but before it began to beat on her he saw the women come up from the stairs. He growled at them and then lumbered toward them. “DOWN! Go back down!” Kate said urgently. And she pulled Isabella back toward the stairs.

Isabella saw her daughter laying lifelessly on the floor and her heart nearly seized in her chest. She had to get to her...to check on her. Her maternal instincts were in full gear and she ignored Kate. She tried to get past the Hulk, but he swatted at her like a fly and she was thrown hard into some equipment. She didn't move as she lay on the ground.

Kate was left alone against the Hulk and as he came towards her she used her telekinesis powers to keep him at bay. She knew there was a powerful sedative that could knock the Hulk out. She just didn't know where it was. She used her comm link to contact Tony as she continued to hold the Hulk still. It took nearly all of her energy.

"Tony! Bruce Hulked out in the Tower. Isabella and Serena are hurt. Where is the sedative?!"

Tony was surprised when he got the call from Kate. Logan and Steve were nearby him but were not looking in his direction. “Kate, whats going on?” He asked. When she told him it was the hulk, a panic moved up and down Tony’s spine. When she told him that she was holding him with her telekinesis and asked for the sedative he tried to recall where they had put it. Ofcourse it was in the lab but he couldn’t worry about that right then. “Kate, you’ll need to get to the locker that’s up against the West wall in the lab. The code is 3681. The sedative is already loaded into the hypogun. However you need to touch him with the tip for it to go off,” Tony said as the hulk banged against her shield and growled. Steve and Logan heard that from his phone and turned to face him. “Tony, what’s happening?” Steve asked worriedly. Tony raised up his hand as he tried to hear her.

Kate listened to what Tony said and she glanced over at the locker he spoke of. Holding the Hulk was extremely difficult, but Kate was a powerful Telekinetic. She slowly moved over to the locker, while keeping her concentration strong. She knew if she slipped up even a little bit that he would break free and likely kill her. She reached the locker and put in the code. It unlocked the door and she got out the hypogun.

"Alright, I have it. Is there anywhere in particular I need to hit him with this?"

“Kate, are you kidding me? Just hit him!” Tony said commandingly.

In order to do this Kate was going to have to let go of the Hulk mentally. That was a rather terrifying thought, but there was no way around it. She swallowed hard and held the gun tightly in her hand. She could see the Hulk's rage burning in his eyes as he looked at her. She took a deep breath and dropped her power. The Hulk charged at her with a scream and she charged right back at him. She slammed the needled down into his thigh as he then brought his knee up and hit her. Her body felt like a rag doll in the air and she spun before hitting the floor. She remained conscious, although her ribs ached. She watched as the Hulk stumbled and thrashed about. His legs finally gave out under him and he collapsed down to the ground. He continued to fight against the sedative, but eventually his eyes closed and his body began to shrink down and turn back into Bruce.

"He's down," she groaned into the comm link as she pulled herself up to her feet.

When the boys arrived Kate had Serena in the biobed at Isabella’s urgings. Despite how Isabella looked, as if she had been hit by a car, her injuries were not life threatening although she did have a concussion and likely some bruised or broken ribs. Serena had gotten the worst of it. One of her wrists were broken and her concussion was worse than what Isabella had. Her left cheek was swollen badly but Jarvis assured them that she would not have any permanent damage.

Tony rushed up to Isabella as they came down into the medbay with the other hot on his heels. “Hows our baby?” Tony asked concernedly. His cheeks, face and neck were red from the fear and exertion of running and his voice was tight from the worry. The floor, walls and ceiling were badly damaged in several places and there was broken furniture and equipment everywhere like a truck ran through there. Steve moved up to Kate. “Are you alright?” he asked. Kate had to sit and even though she sat she wasn’t all that steady. She had over exerted herself in trying to hold the Hulk back.

Isabella, despite her own injuries, was far more concerned about Serena. They had taken her down to the medical bay and she was in one of the biobeds. Isabella looked over at Tony when he, Logan, and Steve walked in. The worry was evident in Tony’s eyes.

“She’s alive. She has a broken wrist, concussion, possible broken ribs.” Isabella was shaking still and tears filled her eyes. “I thought she was dead.”

Kate felt incredibly weak and unsteady on her feet. She had been forced to sit down and she looked at Steve as he approached her. “I’ll be alright. I just need to recover. I used every last bit of energy to hold him back. I’ve never had to use my powers like that before. He’s still out. I put him in his room.”

Logan stepped up to look at Serena. When he saw her his brows furled down and his face took on a look of anger. He didn’t say anything though and then looked at Isabella. His expression didn’t change much when he looked at her. “Why aren’t you in the other bed?” Logan asked. “Everything that can be done is,” He said plainly. Tony looked at Logan and then back at Isabella. “Yes, I can watch over her,” He said and gestured toward the bed. It was already lit up and prepped thanks to Kate. “Kate, let me take you to bed and get you something to eat and drink,” Steve said but as Kate tried to stand up she faltered and fell back into Steve’s waiting arms. He just picked her up like she barely weighed anything. “I’ve got you Kate,” He said.

Kate would be fine, but it would just take time for her to regain her strength. She rested her head against Steve as he picked her up and took her up to their room.

Isabella lay down on the biobed and watched as Steve picked up Kate and carried her out. “Kate saved our lives. If she hadn’t been there Hulk would have killed us.”

Tony came over to hook Isabella up into the biobed. Before he attached the fingertip heartbeat monitor he held and kissed isabella’s hand and rubbed her hand against his face. He mouthed the words ‘I love you’ to her and then attached the device and took a step back. ‘I could have lost my family today’ he thought. There was no need of an explanation as to what happened. But Tony wanted to be certain there wasn’t anything harmful in the lab. Clearly he didn’t want to leave Isabella’s side and she would see that he was torn.

“Logan, stay with them please, I need to check on something,” Tony said as he stood up. Isabella would also see that he was barely holding himself together. He took her being hurt badly. He took Serena being hurt much much worse. “You got it boss,” Logan said in an angry rasp and crossed his arms over his chest like he would stand guard over them. He thought of Serena like a niece or little sister. Seeing her injured like she was made the veins in Logan’s neck and arms pop out.

Steve pulled back the covers and cover sheet and laid Kate down onto the bed. He pulled off her boots one by one though all the while she insisted that she could take care of herself. Her fatigue betrayed her though when Steve was able to lay her back onto the pillow as if she were a child. “Kate, you did good today. You kept everyone alive. I’ll go make you some soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. Some tea maybe. Just rest and I’ll be right back,” he said.

Isabella was still very much shaken up over what had happened. In all the years that Bruce had been living with them this had never happened before. She considered Bruce almost like family, but the Hulk had hurt her daughter and she wasn't going to be able to easily forget that. She was nervous now about him being in her home around her family.

She glanced over at Serena and tears came to her eyes. "I feel like I've failed her. I let him in to our home and encouraged him to stay. I don't know what set him off but...my trust in him...it's gone."

Kate was rather hungry and the thought of soup and a grilled cheese sandwich sounded wonderful. She didn't fight him anymore and just laid there. She knew she wouldn't be able to get up on her own for a few hours. She looked at Steve before he left. "I'm glad they're going to be alright."

By the time Steve returned Kate was asleep. Grilled cheese and canned soup was the extent of his culinary expertise but Kate seemed to like it when he made this for her. She liked tomato soup and grilled cheese but he had seen just about everyone eat that including himself. He shut the door and head back out toward the kitchen with the tray.

Tony began to clean up the mess in the lab. That and he examined the damage to the tower and make mental assessments of what he’d need to do the repairs. ‘What a mess!’ He thought as he sighed. This was going to take weeks!

“You have 3 bruised ribs Isabella and a moderate concussion,” Jarvis said. “I’m applying the topographical antibacterial on the small cuts. You will not require stitches,” he added. “Logan just grunted. “Well you were very lucky. We’ve seen the hulk destroy entire city blocks,” Logan said then looked over at Serena as two small, white robotic arms began to suture the large cut on her forearm. Her cheek glistened with the healing ointment that was put on her flesh and two other arms used sonic waves to relieve the swelling of her brain do to the serious concussion she had sustained. He glanced over at Isabella whose eye were watching Serena.

“Serena’s a tough kid, Isabella. She’ll be begging to get out of bed in a day or so,” Logan said and he was likely right. Serena hated being confined to her room and even moreso to her bed. Grounding Serena had been an extremely efficient punishment as punishments went and that had only happened a few times in her entire life.

Several hours later Isabella sat up in the biobed with Tony sitting beside her. Serena was still unconscious, but Jarvis had reassured her that she was not getting any worse and would likely wake up soon. The sedative Kate had given the Hulk would keep Bruce out for about 24 hours. Tony had brought Isabella some tea and something to eat. She was too worried about Serena to eat a lot, but Tony encouraged her to eat something. They spoke about the repairs that would be needed and the amount of time it would take to complete them.

"What are we going to do about Bruce?" she finally asked.

Tony sighed as his mind tried to rationalize the situation. “Out of all of the years Bruce has been here, he has one Hulk out and it almost cost us everything,” Tony said aloud though he was in thinking mode. He tugged at the hairs on his chin. He didn’t need to mull it over long. The tower just wasn’t a safe environment for him. He nodded to himself then his eyes shifted to Isabella. His eyes were resigned. It was then that Serena began to stir. Isabella tried to push the white console away but Tony held it closed.

“No, you have 2 more hours. You stay,” Tony said to Isabella and stood up and moved to the other bed. Serena opened her eyes and winced. Tears came to her eyes and her head felt like someone had hit her there with a hammer. “Take it easy kiddo,” Tony said. The chair had fluids and anti-inflammatories going into her.

Isabella hated the thought of sending Bruce away, but it was what they needed to do. She felt sorry for Tony though. Tony was the one who had wanted him to stay in the Tower and he had found a great lab partner in him. They hadn't always agreed on everything, but they had made a great creative team.

Before she could say anything she heard Serena begin to stir. She quickly looked over at Serena and tried to get up to go to her, but Tony wouldn't let her. She sighed and laid back down, but looked over to watch Tony and Serena.

Serena was in a tremendous amount of pain. Her head was throbbing to the point where she felt she might be sick from it. Her entire body ached and when she tried to move her left wrist she realized it was in a cast.

"What happened?"

“You don’t remember? Something happened to Bruce which turned him into the Hulk. He...was out of his mind with anger. I won’t say ‘he’ tried to harm you but the Hulk did. He nearly...you have a severe concussion and your mother’s hurt but your both going to be alright,” He said and then she made a sound that made him grow pale. “I know you’re in pain,” He said as he reached over and squeezed her hand. “I need you to fight it Serena,” He said as tears fall down the sides of her face.

Slowly, the memories of what had happened came back to her. She remembered being in the kitchen working on her calculus homework when she realized that something was happening in the lab. She had gone to see what was going on when she had encountered the Hulk. She had never seen the Hulk in real life before and she remembered being terrified. She felt her father's hand take hers and squeeze it.

"Please...please don't send him away..." she pleaded through her tears. She had known Bruce her entire life and the thought of him not being there made her sad.

“Serena I won’t debate this with you here and now. All you need to do is ge better,” Tony said as he tried to hold it together. When it came to Serena it was like someone sliced open his chest so that his heart would be visible and vulnerable to the world. Her ties made pieces of his heart burn as if it really was on fire. He did not let go of her hand. The biobed was as good as any specialist when it came to concussions and other injuries that were likely the most common from their line of work. “Jarvis, 50ccs of hydromorphone….now,” Tony said and the biobed complied and gave her the shot. Serena felt suddenly sleepy and her eyes fluttered closed and then she fell asleep once more.