Lost in Thought

Chapter 16

Readying myself both physically and mentally for the journey ahead, I took to a dark corner several yards away from my companions. I wasn't ready for this, I thought, but I had no other choice in the matter. It had come down to this and I was needed to help save the world.

As I was preparing myself, I noticed a little figure come trotting up to me. Hulk, tongue wagging out of his mouth, came to a stop just in front of me. He looked at me for a moment before giving his rear a shake and sitting down on the cold floor.

"I, uh, I just came to see how you were doing," he said nervously. I don't think I'd ever heard him sound so reticent before.

"Oh, you know," I said. "Preparing for a journey that could not only mean the end of me but this strange new world I've come to enjoy. Handling it with all the calm of a raging sea."

My jokes usually missed with my companions, but this one seemed to do so for an entirely different reason.

"I'm coming with you, you know," he said, stern as he could be.

"Buddy, I appreciate that," I interrupted, "but I can't let you do that."

Standing up, his face formed a scowl and his teeth began to show.

"There is no way I'm letting you face this without me," Hulk said through gritted teeth. "I've come this far and there's no way I'm letting you fail."

"Buddy," I said once more, this time with more calm and soothing than I thought I possessed. "I know that you mean well and you're doing what you feel you must, but I can't let you come with us." As I said this, he took a step forward, shuffled a moment and sat back down on his hind legs. I continued. "You mean the entire world to me, Hulk. I care about Xavier and Michelle, too, but you're different and you should know that. You're all I have of my old life. The good parts of it, anyway. If we leave and don't make it back, I want to know that you're safe. That you'll go on. I couldn't possibly focus on the task at hand knowing you were in danger because if anything happened to you, there would be nothing left for me. Nothing left to fight for. That's why I need you to stay here."

His ears matted back to his head, Hulk stood up and sauntered up to me. Leaning against my leg and thumping his tail, he looked up at me. Our glances met and I couldn't help but tear up. Hulk lovingly licked my pant leg and I let out an involuntary chuckle. I wiped the tear from my cheek as I gave him one last vigorous pat on the head.

"You better at least leave a light on for me," Hulk said playfully.

Finding the entrance to the underground facility actually turned out to be far easier than you would think. Then again, it helps when you have someone in your party who knows exactly where the location is. So maybe it shouldn't have been all that difficult to find now that I think about it.

From the outside, the entrance looked like any other cave opening you might see: a giant, gaping hole in the side of the hills with nothing but blackness as far as the eye could see. As we entered slowly, Xavier turned to me.

"This, my friend," Xavier said to me as he pointed to the walls, "is where your gift comes in. We will need a pathway we can navigate and we will need you to provide the light."

A few seconds later, I managed to line the wall with lit torches, making the path in front of us as clear as it possibly could be. The cavern was ominous, as are most large, dark holes, and we proceeded as cautiously as we could given our urgency.

As we walked, I felt a nagging sensation. There was a very real possibility that we wouldn't be coming out of this place. It wasn't doubt, but an overwhelming sense of what was at stake and the consequences involved. Michelle walking alongside me, I noticed that she seemed a bit somber as well. Perhaps the weight of what we were walking into was heavy on her shoulders as well. I took the opportunity to lighten the tension a bit.