Chapter Text
"I am.. truly sorry that we have to do this to you…" The somber voice of a man said as a pair of extremely hazy and unwieldy eyes look upon a red and yellow figure above, alongside multiple others that joined him. The one speaking to him familiar, unusually unconfident, wearing an advanced suit of armor, another wore the markings of a great mage or wizard, the third was lanky and wore a white coat, blue and the number 4 on his chest, and the last one wore a silvery black and held the markings of a king.
But the man below them was incapable of making out anything as his mind, consciousness and every primary senses were heavily sedated by… something. Rendering the man completely immobile and nearly unconscious, almost at the verge of blacking out entirely. The man's mind tried to fight it, break free and let loose his emotions of green rage, his mind already knowing that something was wrong here. Something terrible was happening, something awful, something completely unforgivable. Something that should've made him mad, furious even, and roaring out loud with nothing but hatred and rage fueling his body…
But he was unable to, unable to even feel anything as whatever he was dosed with was strooong and keeping him trapped in how own body, remaining nothing of his emotions or physical strength, remaining his vision only. Struggling with a will to stay conscious on these 4 figures, before a feeling of being pulled up registered dully in his senses. Resulting in a series of actions that felt cold, metallic, programmed, and invasive. Advanced robots and mechanical arms soon enclosing his body tightly with some suit before the feeling of force sent him in an enclosed space.
Soon clamping down on 4 objects that left him suspended in the air. His senses still dull and unresponsive, his still emotions nullified and repressed, and any bit of strength he had pushed back by… something as the last thing he could hear was the sound of a door closing beside him. His vision now slowly dying as the will continue onwards simply ceased.
And the start up of advanced machinery began playing while an ominous rumble came from all around before… taking off…
In the deep reaches of outer space, the distant cosmos shined with a million countless little stars, having their own worlds, civilizations and cultures. With one in particular that was home to the race humanity and their superheroes, Earth. But while the Earth still stood strong as it did thanks to these beloved heroes, thousands of miles away from Earth by now and launched away for the safety of humanity's planet, the shuttle of a small spacecraft, one with a label of S.H.I.E.L.D, flew in one straight direction. Now heading towards a completely separate planet from Earth, sustaining wildlife but no evolving species/society. But while many of its operations, systems and online machinery operated the ship completely automatically, inside a set of eyes belonging to it's only passenger began to stir awake after an unknown length of time had passed.
As within the carefully designed shuttle, the danger that was sent away, held captive a very thin, skinny, and lanky man. Sporting loose brown hair, a frail face, and a body that held no physical strength, this is Bruce Banner. One of the smartest men in Earth but now unconscious, with his drooped down limply.
"!"
Before suddenly opening up and flashing a yellowish green, Bruce Banner's eyes woke up with a startle.
"Ah! Wha..!? What is… huh?!" Bruce gasped as he found his body immobile and in a completely new environment than he remembered. With his body suspended in some sort of ring with thick, grasping metal cuffs. Keeping him bound on every limb as the only thing he had on was a fitting pair of black shorts.
'What is this…!? Where am I…?! What's going on?!' He thought screaming in his mind, but strangely lethargic as he then noticed the little devices upon his chest and head and then finally the shuttle around him. A medium sized rocket-ship pod with sorts of machinery and computers running completely automatic. Leaving him speechless as he gazed upon a strange, advanced and alarming design.
'A space shuttle…? Why am I in a… ahhh…' His mind struggling to comprehend what was going on as he then noticed the sudden lethargy in his body. His limbs remaining stiff and unable to feel anything, and his mind also notably more lax as well. But still able to figure out exactly what was going on.
'This is… someone's trying to keep the Hulk in…' He thought as his still brilliant mind deduces, this whole scenario all too familiar with him and his past. Himself put in a state of forced calm, of tranquility with some sort of potent drug or suppressant, and with the devices all across his body there to observe and keep in check every facet of his body signs.
'Something's wrong… My body… my mind, everything is not responding to me… But I need to find out what's going on… Did someone kidnap me…? Put me in space…? Arrgh…!' He said as he tried to fight the lazy feeling. Trying to break free of his lethargy and focus on his one useful emotion… anger. "I need to… get out of this—!"
Psst!
"Ahhhh…." He said as he tried to rile himself up before a machine booted up and a new wave of suppressants began to flow into his blood stream. Immediately dulling his senses once more as another sensor beeped and finally detected his awoken conscious.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
As then a blinking light came on and a holographic projection made itself clear, with many screens beside him showing the same thing. Standing right in-front of Bruce as the figures of some of the world's greatest heroes showed themselves in his blurred vision. From the Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange, the King of the Inhumans BlackBolt, the leader of the Fantastic Four and smartest man of Earth Mr. Fantastic.
And finally, at the center of it all being Iron Man. Tony Stark and leader of the Avengers. All apart of the most universally secured, privately founded superhero group, the Illuminati. Made up of some of the Earth's most brilliant, most capable minds. All whom now were staring at him.
"What…? What is this…?" Bruce said as he stared upon the face of his long time friend. Someone he trusted and respected, someone the Hulk trusted and respected, part of and leader of the Avengers and close scientific partner.
"Bruce… It's me… this.. this is a recording for when you wake up." Tony said in a deep, somber voice, one definitely unfitting of his character. "I know you must have so many questions of what's happening, who's doing this, why this is happening... There is no easy way to say this… but we had to launch you away from the Earth… permanently."
"What…?!" He said solemnly as the words resonated in Bruce's mind! Exclaiming inwardly as the memories of before started to seep in slowly. From his time back on Earth as himself, the sudden meeting with him and Iron Man… and then him being knocked unconscious, and dragged to… wherever…
"Tony…" He said as his droopy eyes now started to regain more clarity, more than what should've been expected. Now fixated upon the hologram as Iron Man's words continued and the man's weak physique began to change…
The color of his eyes now starting to glow a bright emerald green… "Tony… Stark…"
"I want you to know that we had no choice in this. We all decided this had to happen." He said as the scrawny scientists face turned into a deep scowl before growling and growing more aggressive as the suppressants in his body now began to fail. "Me, Reed, Strange, Black Bolt, ALL OF US had needed to do this—"
"STARK!" Bruce growled and SNARLED as the memories of past events swelled within him. From the first encounter with Wolverine and the mutant kind, the skirmish between him Thor and the Asgardians, the battle with the Avengers and eventual joining of them, their heroics and so on! Playing out in a flash in his head festers with anger and his blood boils!
"You were getting too violent, too aggressive, too much destructive and everyone was still afraid of you—" His body began to change!
"We had to send you away. There was no other option—!" His skin began to turn and shift into a hue of grey as his limbs began to expand and grow as his veins began to fill with hot gamma!
"with so many people still afraid of you…" Iron Man continued, but his words no longer registering correctly or at all in the man's eyes… as it was no longer just Banner listening. Cause after everything, after all the promises and words said to HIM throughout the years by Stark, the Avengers, and every other puny human he thought he could trust, it seemed as though it all still meant…
NOTHING.
"STAAAAARK! RAAAAAA-AAAAAAAGH!" He roared, feeling the heat surging within as his voice changed into a deep animalistic roar as his body steamed and groaned as the Hulk began to fully emerge! His bones break and shifting under his skin, his muscles and DNA tear Andand flare up as his skin now began to turn completely grey and pulsating with green veins as his brain and body swelled with white hot twisting rage and gamma radiation.
Crack!
"ARRGG!" His first two arms suddenly jutting out of his shoulders painfully as they then swell in size before twisting in their shackles and exploding into a violent heap of visceral muscle mass! His tiny torso filling up the same as he began forming layers and layers of dense muscle compacting into a massively toned broad chest and his abdomen stretching into a wide and heavy set of hardy six-pack. And lastly to his legs as his calves and normal leg muscles juts out and explodes the same as the dense heap of muscle and mass filled his flesh, expanded his thighs and calves to enormous proportions, and finally gave unimaginable power to his feet below.
"AAAARGGH!"
His entire grey body soon then shifting into a deep shade of emerald green as his veins now bulged and surged with incredible power, with his blood boiling in pure rage and fury, and his entire body was being transformed from one scrawny man into a monstrous HULKING beast that struggled to contain his own muscled form from breaking through the skin, could scarcely be described as human.
"NAAAAAGH! ERAAAAGH!" Screaming in momentary agony as own skin began to stretch and expand even further, contorting his body gruesomely as it only barely manages to contain the incredible power surging through his flesh and blood. As finally his head too exploded and grew in size! His spine and his neck growing, extending, before bulging out as his roaring jaw extends and grows as his face filled with muscle and edgy as the structure of his face contorts itself into a gruesome visage! His hair turning jet-black, receding from his head as his scrunched nose shrank, his teeth biting down hard into a large set of molars and his eyes and eyebrows shrinking and jutting from his head as the HULK'S eyes finally crack open with red pupils and an enraged snarl!
"! DAH! URRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" He roared in contemptuous hatred at the still talking holographic projection before him. Unable to express anything but his rage at the man and men in-front of him at the act of their betrayal. The Hulk's now massive body LURCHING forwards in hatred as the machines around him began to break and disrupt while the hologram is still playing.
"You get so angry and so destructive that not even the mightiest heroes of Earth can deter you from your rage…" The LYING Iron Man said.
"HRRRGH!-URRAAAAAGH!" Snarled the Hulk as he roared once more and the monitoring machines began to haywire and the tightened, reinforced cuffs upon his limbs began to dent and come apart! The muscle-layered beast of a man raging himself to break free and they started to spark before—!
Bzt! Bzt!
BOOM! BOOM!
"RAAAAAAAAGH!" Being ripped open by his own two hands! His sheer superhuman strength bursting through tons of solid steel and pure metal, coming apart like tissue paper as the Hulks hands were set free full of muscle and power. Veins of explosive energy coursing through his hands as he then grabbed hold of his leggings and crushed them beneath his mighty palms as wires and thick steel cables sparks and flies out, fluid inside the cooling systems and machinery leaking, and it's many computational systems beginning to malfunction and fall apart.
"GRRR-GRRRRAAAAAAGH!"
BAM!
BZT! BZT! BOOOOOM!
He grunted and roared as his thick digits smashed his leg restraints before ripping them apart with his bare hands! Now freeing himself completely as the green Goliath now leapt in fury at the hologram before finding himself in the middle of a zero gravity space of the ship, but his wrath unquenched as he glares at EVERYTHING in the ship with a new, sickening, white-hot, feeling of wrath and disgust as the voice of Tony Stark continued with his… words.
"We've picked a destination for you, a world full of vegetation and game." He said as the ships controls at the front displayed various an acute map of the world the ship was heading towards. "It'll be peaceful, nothing for you to fight anymore…"
Pitiful, pathetic and meaningless words that he’s heard countless times by now…
'LYING PUNY METAL MAN! LYING PUNY STARK! LYING. PUNY. HUMAAAANS!"
His once developed mind now quickly reverting back to that of savage simplicity as he screamed, going mad and primal with pure unfettered rage as all the years of running, chasing, and FIGHTING finally came to this point. The man no longer able to contain himself as even the man within him raged the same way.
He had trusted these people. He had tried to make friends with these people and help them in their so called "noble" mission. To save and protect innocents. To protect and save the world!
TO MAKE HIM NO LONGER A MONSTER!
But in the end it was all just a…
"After all like you always say, you'll finally be left alone…"
'LIEEEEEE!'
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" He screamed and shook with pure rage and utter hatred as he smashed, destroyed, and, for the first time ever, both the Hulk and Bruce Banner had both screamed equally in their ruined mind as he went forth and began to tear everything in the ship apart in his wake! His hands clutching the walls and equipment of the ship as he tore more electrical circuits and wiring out, ripping the wall entirely and slamming it into another, and tearing through more metal and machinery before going for more as he sought to SMASH everything!
But doing now left the ships controls and systems now being dismantled and ripped to pieces as the set coordinates of the computer altered internally and blared loudly in red.
"WARNING! SET DESTINATION COORDINATES ALTERED!"
But as the green Goliath began to tear the ship and everything in it apart piece by piece with an uncaring and unyielding rage, the whole structure of the ship began to be destroyed. As so did its set systems coordinates as it began to malfunction and destabilize heavily with its trajectory now glitching and fizzing out as it dies with the rest of the ship. Its coordinates now completely re-altered from a peaceful, vegetative, game-filled world and towards the vast, unknown reaches of the cosmos.
The ship now heading in a completely random direction as its wings fail and one of its engine begins to muster out and its operations began to malfunction entirely.
BOOM!
The small singular shuttle now "containing" a raging Hulk then soon prematurely activating its hyper-thrusters once more as it launched itself aimlessly across the universe itself, not even close towards the intended planet as it began to hurl itself through space as fast as it could go and with no clear aim or direction. Flying aimlessly and aimlessly in the blackness of the void for an unknown period of time as the man within sought to end it all completely.
Flying… over and over across the stars and distant planets.
"RAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Going further into a place no one ever reached before, somewhere in space completely unknown and barren.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Before soon coming to find itself heading towards a completely unexpected and bewildering phenomenon in the middle of the cold infinite void.
A hole.
That of which, is of a massive, collapsing fissure in the middle of space and reality itself. It was big, a giant, gaping vortex that looked like some sort of horrific cosmic entity's maw that opened up and sucked whatever material of baryonic matter came close to it. One that was slowly opening up out of nowhere as the collapsing, sucking hole in space time began to pull it and the Hulk in it's circling vortex.
The ship soon finding itself being accelerated in speed as the depths of the wormhole circled around it and began to heavily affect it. Going faster and faster as outside forces elevated to a point near light-speed, and flung it further and further into the universe and reality itself.
BOOM!
CRACK! BOOM! CRACK!
Lighting flashed and energy of overwhelming power enveloped it, the ship soon becoming a blur of color as the ship distorted and began to soon traverse into a realm outside of its own. The space around it soon changing color as the brightness of the wormhole changed to blue, then red, and a radiant, transcendent violet. The ship going further and further in it's speed increased to incalculable levels.
"UGHH…! Ughh…"
While inside, the ship shakes and rattles uncontrollably and incessantly as the Hulk now laid unmoving in a thin layer of liquid as the powerful reality-shifting rift now began to suck all the powerful gamma energy out of his body and slowly reverted him back into the tiny form of Bruce Banner.
"Ughhh…" Now leaving him weak and on the cold metal flooring groaning, soon going completely unconscious as the ship's travel affects him as it now leaves behind the once intended world of peace and flora, and flings itself into spaces unknown as on and on he and the ship went into the infinite sea of reality, drifting and drifting as they sped across the universe, faster than sound and even faster than light as the wormhole carries and pulls them out of their dimension and into realms beyond.
Outside of his own universe, and into another one, with far, far worse things than the unfortunate man could ever dream of…
NUCERIA
In another time, another space, and another universe altogether, the great Milky Way Galaxy stood decades and centuries ahead of the current modern 21st century, and now finds itself splintered and wounded, with many mighty and terrible storms ravaging it's space. All because of the aftermaths of a great and terrible war/schism amongst the stars. One that birthed a great and terrible God that all but nearly ATE the whole of one of the most ancient, powerful alien empires, and another that completely shattered and almost destroyed the future of all mankind in the stars. Who, were once a powerful, promising and deeply interconnected society, now lied fractured, separated, and completely ignorant of their true origins, home and once grand existence.
This, was 31st Millennium of humanity and all were left to fend for themselves.
And upon/throughout the many worlds that once belonged to the great human race, one drew the focus of attention. A single planet, existing in its own solar system and nearly apart of a section of the galaxy that was home to a young but highly prosperous galactic empire known as Ultramar. The planet itself was a greatly habitable world that remained unknown but was rich and resource-filled that depended mostly on its own. But while the planet itself was good, living upon the lands of its crust layer was a society that deserved nothing more than scorn and disgust.
For it was a bloody, cruel and brutal society, with unloved, alone, savage people and an even worse corrupt and hedonistic ruling class that lorded over all that were beneath them. An society that was fueled on the laboring of peasants, and most of all, it's innumerable slaves.
This is Nuceria.
And up, far above it's primitive skies and blue colored atmosphere, a small rift in space time formed as a ship, once white but now withered and torn for an undeterminable amount of time, shot out from the swirling vortex and into the direction of the planet.
Propelled by nothing but gravity and kinetic force as its engines and systems were now completely dead as it began to reach and descend upon the harsh world of Nuceria. Soon reaching and entering the atmosphere as it curves around the world and began to heat up with incredible energy. Careening ever down as it began to come apart at the seams and fly through the skies of a dimly lit moonlit sky.
The trail of heat and energy lighting it up as it rips through the skies of Nuceria and through the various cities settled within. Disturbing the somewhat quiet and peaceful night as it soared up above the various city-states and kingdoms across the landscape. But with one in particular catching the most attention.
Desh'ea.
Home of the high-rider overlords and their authoritarian power, and their massive gladiatorial arenas filled with their slaves…
And upon this particular night as the starship fell from the heavens, many who were awake and still scheming immediately took notice at this new oddity. This… new and bizarre thing that had fell out of the heavens. The many high-rider clans/family unable to take their eyes away from the unexpected shooting star as it shot up and above before descending down into the mountain ranges and forests a ways away from the city.
"What is that!?"
"A meteor!"
"A sign from the gods!?"
"It's landing in the mountains!"
"A FILTHY XENOS! IT HAS TO BE!"
Curiosity, interest, and fear began to stir within them all, before their unabashed greed, self-service, and distain took hold of them entirely. From thoughts of some kind of fallen rock from space, to a sign from a higher power, but most already believing it to be a clear sign of some sort Xenos/alien threat. Some disgusting, inhuman thing that didn't deserve to live and more deserving of being put to the chain and in the hot dust pit, many of the nobility already ordering or planning out their men and soldiers to investigate, take down or more favorably shackle whatever inhuman filth had landed and discover it's origins.
"ALL OF YOU, TO THE MOUNTAINS IMMEDIATELY!"
"Whatever it is, find it now!"
"Bear your arms! A Xenos has landed!"
"GO! GO! GO!"
But, while many of its high-rider nobility screamed for the discovery of this crashed thing in the mountains, only one family truly grew intrigued at this new… but quite familiar sight. That of the house of Thal'kr, one that already experienced on such event, and came out with it the most powerful gladiator of the hot dust they'd ever seen. So while the other high-riders sought investigation with a notion of fear and disgust, house Thal'kr only saw it as sign, a sign from above that they soon would have another promising upstart in their gladiatorial pits from the mountains, with one that already came from there years ago, but now seen a bit… sullen by some recent events.
Such as it was, House Thal'kr deployed with a sense of high validation and arrogance to the snowy mountains of Desh'ea, ready to find whatever this… Xenos was and add it to their collection of slaves, or better yet, add it to their recently victorious but unfortunately horribly depressed fighting champion. What was once a larger than most girl, turned into a viscous and unbeatable mountain monster of a woman. Whom now was currently chained up and crying in the deepest pits of their dungeons, her scalp red and imbedded with the accursed butchers nails and only recently forced to slay her own mentor/father figure, Oenomaus.
That of whom, simply named Atalanta Thal'kr, the Child of the Mountain, Daughter of the Great Bear, and finally, The Lady of the Red Sands.
And so, this world's high heads of arrogance and brutality detected and sought to investigate this new anomaly from the stars. While deep in the mountains, away from any sign of civilization the ship no longer labeled S.H.I.E.L.D crashed, embedding itself in the snow and dirt as it had plowed right through a group of trees, leaving nothing but steam and water as the frost and snow around melted it all down. Leaving nothing more than a rusted, heavily damaged and torn asunder heap of metal.
Within laying nothing but darkness and dead steel, everything all dead and completely useless now. The only thing not dark being a big, gigantic hole ripped from the side of the shuttle, bringing in the dim sunlight and the cold. Laying on the ground a heavily worn but still alive body of Bruce Banner, seemingly unchanged from the distant travel through the stars.
His body as skinny as ever and covered in rocket fluids as his eyes slowly began to open up.
"Mmm… Huh? Argh!" Weariness and drowsiness taking over his eyelids before a wave of soreness struck his entire body and a feeling of cold chilled his body. His limbs able to move, but feeling like sand with in-between his bones rather than ligaments or tendons, and his head aching with a slight migraine, thumping against his skull. And his body now starting to feel and shiver from the sudden chilly atmosphere.
'W-What is…' All in all as he began to pick himself up, he quickly realized that whatever happened left him severely weakened. But his memories were hazy, unclear, but full of rage…
'W-What happened to me…? D-Did the Hulk come out…?' He thought, guessing as he tried to piece together anything that happened and navigate his surroundings. His vision growing clearer as he steadily stood up, thankfully not so weak he couldn't stand up, but still shivering and shaking in the cold liquid.
The light of the outside, torn wall, hitting his face clearly.
"Where the hell am I…?" He said as he began to move, only slightly moving his limbs as he struggled but forced himself to go towards the Hulk made entrance, wobbly and with a sense of nausea, but soon coming into the dim light as his feet came into contact with the ground and his body froze.
"GAH!"
He shrieked as his shivering feet now froze in direct contact with pure white snow, and his body assaulted a horrible atmosphere of chilly icy winds and a small feeling of heat. The frost overwhelming him in his tight but uncovered body suit as he instinctively puts his arms close and began to shiver terribly while the steam around him contrasted with a rising steam.
"W-W-What i-is h-h-happening?!' He thought as he shuttered heavily with clacking teeth, his body's unusual weakness draining him even further as the nauseous feeling mixed with the cold and hot air renders him even more distraught. But frail man still keeping on as he tried to figure out what he should, if anything.
"I-I… I crashed here…? Am I… am I on Earth somewhere?" He said as he shivered and did his best to analyze the situation with what little information he had. But all he could deduce around him was nothing, nothing confusion and fear at this… sudden situation he found himself in. Looking up as he found the sunlight above almost nonexistent as only a thick, misty fog overshadowed the land.
'What is going on? Why did I crash here? And… what happened with the Hulk?!' He thought as he began to step forward—
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Over here! I see something!"
Before a shot rang out to the right side of his body as a man's voice, thick and heavily accented, rushed forth following from the ships smoking melted trail. Sporting on his body thick layers of furs and cloth against the cold, and holding some sort of unknown firearm, the heavily armored and dangerous man called out from behind him as he saw the escaping form of Bruce Banner and immediately began to speedup and sprint towards him!
"Shi-"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"HALT! STOP AND SILENCE BEFORE HOUSE THAL'KR!"
Bruce cursed as he instinctually tried to move before another series of shots rang out, this time right beside and fully around him as they shock and halt him in his tracks as the man's quickened steps caught up with him and tackled his quivering body. Roaring a slur that was full of rage and vitriol as the man's leather covered hands grabbed his neck and held him tightly by the skin of his head, holding the gun's barrel chamber right at the back of his head.
"W-What are you—Ugh?!"
BANG!
Banner tried to say again before another fucking shot, one only INCHES at his face, fired and the unknown man slammed his face into the ground hard.
"SILENCE! ANOTHER WORD OUT OF YOU AND I'LL BLOW YOUR HEAD CLEAN OFF, YOU HEAR ME?!" He demanded harshly from him as the sudden impact almost knocked him completely unconscious. "YOU ALL! OVER HERE! I FOUND IT! IT'S A MAN AND A SHIP OF SOME SORTS! I REPEAT IT'S NO XENOS, A MAN! A FUCKIN MAN!"
The armored brute said as he called out to an approaching group of people, all seemingly wearing the same or similar garb as him as they began to steadily come forth running.
"I see him! Right over here!" One man cried overjoyed.
"Finally!"
"Yes!"
"HA! As always, it looks as like the Gods are on the side of House Thal'kr's!"
""""WOOOOOOOO!"""
The many men said cheered and hollowed at the declaration, amazed and once again provided proof of them and their House's greatness! Many more soon arriving last as they soon formed up, grouped and begun circled around the dismantled ship. All lording over it with various words of praise, astonishment and relief. But all of it quite inaudible to the shivering, pained Bruce Banned as his head now ached painfully and his vision was starting to darken.
"Me'er! You found it!" One final man said, excited and thirsty. "It is a ship! And—OI! Is that…?" Going up to the first man and the ship before looking and gasping in genuine surprise upon the scrawny, frail, but still very much human man before him.
"Yes sir, this… is the thing that was aboard the ship. But it's no Xenos… it's a human man..." The first man, now identified as Me'er, said to his superior hunting squad leader, before turning his attention to the person held below him. "A human… I wonder how in all the God's name he came ended up here in that…"
Me'er said, gesturing towards the surrounded smoking ship as he contemplated for a second on what exactly this meant. Something far behind him and anyone else here…
His first captain however sparing no such thought."
"Who knows… but he is still alive and breathing… but wait one moment… OI! ALL OF YOU! LISTEN UP!" He said as the captain signaled for him to take a look, but not before ordering all the others to investigate the ship further. "BEGIN TO SEARCH THE AREA THIS BLASTED WRECK OF SHIP BEFORE BREAKING IT DOWN FOR SCRAP! NOW! THAT'S AN ORDER!"
He cried as the group of many began crying in agreement before going to do as told, coming inside the ship as the leader then knelt down and began examining this unknown human man. Cupping his chin as he raised his head up, Bruce's head already quite frail and weak looking.
"Let's see here… Brown hair… fair skin… and quite a thin body… But his.. garb, I've definitely never seen the like." He said as he tilted Bruce's head from side to side, seeing a completely normal human being though highly, highly unusual. But still not appearing very much impressed with this discovery. "Whoever or what he is this man is quite weak it seems, and he appears drugged to somewhat too, all in all just another man… but with nothing worthy of a real catch safe for his sudden arrival…"
He said, appearing to be dishearten somewhat… "Ahhhh… and here I thought we would find something like another Atalanta. Tch!"
"Ugh!" He said as he dropped Bruce's head back down in frustration and the disgruntled scientist grunted in pain. The other man Me'er coming back to tighten his grip on him as the leader scoffs and shrugs his shoulders.
"What a waste of time, seems like this ship is more valuable that this puny weakling." He grunted as he looked upon the ship with more attention. But still needing to deal with this new stranger. "I just thought we'd find another good xenos to get in the Hot Dust." He said, completely disappointed and severely unamused.
"Well, whatever or whoever he is, he belongs to House Thal'kr now." Me'er said as looked back to his boss, ready to end this. "We should bring him back to them, they would love to know who is and what he was doing riding this thing up above. As well as maybe get a new slave regardless. I'd bet he'd make good money on someone."
He suggested, as his captain shrugged his shoulders again, letting out an exhale of reservation as he looks upon Bruce's body once more. "Hmm, yeah I guess you're right. He could at least be fresh meat for the gladiators, looks like a squealer anyways this one. Hahaha!"
He said with with malicious, sadistic grin, showing a side of ruthlessness that served to only please himself and no one truly else as he commanded the man once more.
"Alright, lock him up."
BAM!
"ARGH!" He ordered as the Me'er immediately raised his rifle, switched to the butt of the gun, and bashed it roughly against Bruce's cranium. Leaving a visible thump as Bruce's body and mind now completely went unconscious, blacking out once more as his head deepened into the snow.
"This better be worth it" He spat as his gloved hands wrapped around Banners tiny torso and hauled him up and over his shoulders like a dead body or a piece of wood, readying him for some rope and chains as he went down the mountain and towards their metal carriage.
Tossing into the wall of a steel cage as the man shackled his hands and feet in iron below finally shutting the door behind him. Leaving Bruce Banner, who was once a brilliant genius, scientist, and a mighty "Avenger", now as nothing more than a slave. The carriage soon up and running and it rolled forwards and towards Desh'ea. Ready to be entertainment for the High-Riders and their masses.
At an unknown time in the city of Desh'ea and in a dark and deep pit, the various gladiators and slaves hung about, chained up and together. All but one as he was recently thrown in, and on the hot ground unconscious.
"GUH!"
Cried Bruce as he came to with a horrified cry! His voice ringing an echo as the feeling of sudden warmth hit his skin and once again found himself even more dazed and confused and in a far different location immediately. His sense of time now completely muddled as he tried to piece together what just happened. Realizing too soon what he had just gone through.
"Just what was—Ah!" Before the sharp pain in his head came back with full force!
"Agh! Ahhh…" He groaned horribly as his hands, now dirty and cold, quickly wrapped themselves across the back of his head and his neck. The feeling of stinging and severe soreness feeling like a hammer was being pounded upon both. His eyes also stinging with slight numbness as he felt to the ground and floor beneath him. His entire body was still weak, and splayed upon a dry, hot, and dirty rocky floor. With his body also changed as well, immediately noticing that no longer wore his previous outfit.
And that the place he was in, was extremely alarming.
'What… What?!'
From his toes to his feet were a new pair of leather, strapped shoes, and from his legs and towards his pelvis was a new pair of simple black shorts and a simple loin cloth worn haphazardly with what little care someone had to give. His face gasping in shock as then all around him was nothing but rocks and a strange hot dusty air.
But his memories soon returning to him as the events prior played out in his head like wild flash bang. From the crash, to the heat and snow, and finally to those men who had found him, captured him and send him here with brute force and savagery like an animal…
'What the hell is going on here…? Why is this happening to me…?!'
It was dark, hot and humid, and it was certainly NOT where he'd been last time in the melted snow. With the only thing coming across his mind now being that of not just confusion, but a deep and passionate frustration as he couldn't help but cry out in his weak, exhausted, and furious state!
"Where… am I?!"
Crying out with what little control of himself he had left after all this, with the fury of a man just wanting some kind of damn answer for his current predicament!
"Quiet…!" But, the only immediate answer he got had soon come from beside him in a rough and course yell, one that laid in the darkness and shadow of the rocks. That of a weak, frail, old, and dying old man.
"…Quiet." He demanded in a less, more dried and exhausted voice, unable to even really speak as Bruce turned to look at him, seeing what was less of a man and really was a sack of skin hanging off bones. His skin was dust covered, red and blistered in some areas, but most alarming of all, were the numerous injuries and scars painting his entire body. From slashes, beatings, and bites, the tired withered and dying old man now looks at him with the most saddest, hopeless eyes he'd ever seen from anyone in his life. Someone who had known nothing but true suffering and hopelessness in life, but still looking at Bruce, this newcomer, with some small sympathy.
One that Bruce couldn't help but respect and feel empathy towards, someone who he felt he was in the same boat as he was.
"You are… whoever you are…" He said with weak, shallow, and labored breathing, still alive but only barely from what it seemed... "in the pits of Desh'ea… the Hot Dust… And you are… slave to the High-Riders now…" Every word of coming out of his hoarse mouth requiring so much effort to even speak, but each word spoken with such dire undertones. The last thing he'd said with the utmost contempt, layering onto Bruce as his mind ran with what little information he now had.
Desh'ea… Hot Dust… High-Riders… Slave?!
'What…?'
"…what?!" He shouted again, but this time in a much more hushed and fearful whisper, now noticing the golden chain around his neck as his mind ran with nothing more than question after question! Unable to come up with anything other than, wherever he was, he was not on Earth, he was not on any world he'd heard of before, and most of all, wherever he was… he was no longer a free man, able to do what he wanted despite his issues. For he was now here, somewhere, in a place with far less noble intentions than he'd ever been subjected to before.
Unknowing that he would soon see exactly he'd been forced into, who were the controlling power of the world, and the bloody horrors he would have to endure on this place called Nuceria. A ruthless, bloody and barbaric world that only held value to bloody, gladiatorial fights for the masses and their masters.
And, one other that holds an even worse fate than him, or anyone else that had ever been born or will born on the planet. A woman that had known nothing but ruthless combat, bloody victory, and slavery, a woman that is the daughter of the empire of man. A woman that he, Bruce Banner, the Hulk, would soon see for himself, in time and in the ring.
But worse off, an unbeknownst to anyone and himself, of how even crueler and bloodier fates awaited him now in the galaxy beyond. One that was not his, one ravaged and consumed by war, tainted with the blood and corpses of billions across eons, and plagued with the influence of a dark and twisted pantheon.
Chaos.
Because as while the small, ignorant and isolated mind of Bruce Banner found himself in a truly desperate and hopeless situation. In a realm unknown, beyond and underneath the current one, one that existed parallel and as old as the universe and reality itself, things inside this immaterial space began to shift as powerful beings born thousands of years ago or in just a second out of pure emotion and belief, privy to almost all things witg a conscious that existed within the galaxy, noticed a difference.
A shift, a small little thing that had just occurred.
For the Warp had something… new in it. Some sort of space shuttle, but more alarmingly, a person, a new being that had JUST entered a small, tiny, insignificant section of the galaxy and crashed upon the dark soils of the bloody and primitive world of Nuceria. Arriving upon a planet that held a crucial piece of a grand, eons-long galactic scheme. A masterpiece of a ploy that was going well as intended, until this little oddity appeared.
And those who held the highest powers and influence over reality and the Sea of Souls, detected him the most. Those being the 4 Chaos Gods, the 4 Great Ruinous Powers and rulers of the Warp that held intrinsic influence over life, death, ambition, lust, change, and the deepest emotions of every sentient being. From Khorne, the God of War and Bloodshed, Nurgle, the God of Disease, Death and Life, Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways and God of fate, and finally the youngest amongst them, born out of a long since dead alien empire and Prince of Excess and God/Goddess of Lust, Slaanesh.
Each of them already sensing this person, this Bruce Banner. A brand new soul within the material world, something and someone that had entered the great game and the sea of souls that no one was aware of until minutes prior. He was little, tiny, insignificant now with no discernible presence, but he was there, and did not exist before. Something that no creature or entity in the Warp saw coming, one that grabbed the 4's attention and more importantly their interest.
Hidden eyes in the souls of thousands were now set upon the feeble form Banner, awaiting to see what this… new man would bring. For nothing special seemed to be off about him at first.
With only a slight feeling of something buried deep, deep within him, unknown to the forces of Chaos, of course at least…
For now…