Hulk-demic

Chapter 8 "the death of General Ross"

A revolving door turns. A scared boy rampages in his mind at his drunken terror of a father. A scared scientist empathizes with a seven-foot green brute. The brute stands in the faculty lounge of an unknown university. It is rage, and yet it is the one who is calm. I am not the calm before the storm—I am the storm therefore I am the calm too. MY name is Dr. Bruce Banner. What is your name? I do not remember my name. Which one of them said that? Which one of them cannot remember which one of them is Dr. Bruce Banner? Banner-hulk or hulk-Banner?

Two floors above, hulks continued to rampage in the garage and concrete bunker. Ross sent two of the three soldiers down with them to run back and forth every minute to provide him with status reports. Sully he told, "Stand by my daughter, keep her alive. No matter what happens, if she dies before you do, I'll kill you myself!" He was not joking. He was Thunderbolt Ross after all.

Based on their available information, they estimated that Banner had been in there about fifteen minutes now. The most remarkable thing was that the hulk in there had not lashed out at all. No one could explain why. Ross's plan was this-- they couldn't open the main hydraulic door, since it might release another hulk right into their midst. They could not hope to kill the thing, not even attack it without endangering Banner, the person they were trying to save. But, they did know that the monster had not moved a muscle to harm Banner, not yet anyway. Ross's plan was to give it a chance to escape.

Rick and Sully took up the necessary positions to open the concrete slats that formed the ceiling of the prison. Given daylight, they hoped it would simply escape. As it left, they could reseal it so none of the hulks up above could get in this way. Hopefully that would rid them of one problem and give them a chance to save Banner. But no matter what Betty said, her father stood by the order that if the hulk in there went on a rampage, no one was to do anything to help Banner. If anything happened to Banner, Rick was the final option he had to build the bomb they needed.

Everyone got into position, and on Ross's signal the men turned the crank wheels that slid the concrete slats aside. Daylight soon filled the cell, along with warm desert air. Banner did not move or even seem to notice. But the hulk did. It slowly turned its massive face upward. It seemed to smile. The creature's smile showed off oversized teeth. It turned back to Banner. He reached out to Banner and put one massive hand around Banner's neck. Banner did not move or flinch. The hulk lifted Banner up by his neck. Banner's feet were at least one foot off the ground, his head slightly akimbo. Betty buried her face into her father's chest. "No no, do something. Do something!" He did not.

Hulk-Banner and Banner-hulk shared a cup of tea. It was hot, so hot. Like the blood that burned a thousand suns. Anger was red, anger was heat. All these puny humans, none are worth killing. None are worth saving. One of us tried to save one of us. One of us damned the other one to a life of violent rampage. Aristotle wanted to know what kind of life was a good life, was a meaningful life. Socrates advised that only a well-examined life was worth living. But no philosopher had ever had the power of a hulk. A hulk could lay waste to cities, flatten armies, survive explosions. Puny humans were nothing. Hulks smash.

If I can save you I will. If I can cure you I will. Or, I will die trying. Then die. Hulk. Not. Kill. Banner/hulk not die. Banner is a puny human. I never want to see Dr. Bruce Banner/hulk again. Father of hulks. Father of bombs.

With no apparent gesture or word, the horrid green monstrosity released Banner. The weak scientist fell to the floor unconscious. The hulk looked up at the sky. Bending its powerful legs, it leapt up. It cleared half the hole, about ten feet, and then using its massive arms scrambled to the top. The team in the lab didn't see its final escape, as the three concrete slabs were returned to their locations, resealing the top. The hydraulic door was opened and Betty ran to Bruce. The room was still chilly, like a meat locker, so they moved him into the lab.

Ross didn't waste time. "That small prison is now the safest room in this bunker. Get all the gear you need to finish the bomb in there. Now!" Rick started packing the needed supplies into a carrying case and got the stuff in there.

Bruce was not quite unconscious, but he was still mentally out of it. He drooped on the floor. "General," Rick insisted, "how are we going to get to that bomb? We're trapped!"

"You four are going to get out the same way as that hulk did."

"There's hulks out there!" Rick yelled.

"Oh yes there are, I counted at least ten, including our former prisoner, and I bet he isn't too happy with us at all!"

"Then we're trapped!"

"You leave that to me. We'll draw the hulks to the middle floor. Whatever men I have will buy you time. Then we'll cover your retreat."

"Daddy, not you!"

"I'll be coordinating the retreat. Rick, listen to me—" and he described how to find the jeep. "Once you get up that hole, don't wait. A one mile desert run will take you lot about 15 minutes. Do not stop running. I'll be right behind you. Since I'm a military man and not a milksop, I'll probably pass you and get there first. If you can get Banner there, do it. But if he's slowing you down, remember, this mission is all about time right now. So don't waste one second dragging him along."

With the help of Reynolds, General Ross got Rick, Betty, Sully and Banner into the cell with the gear they'd need to finish the new Gamma Radiation Bomb.  Ross said that Reynolds would stay behind and on Ross's "all clear" he would open the concrete slats. Reynolds would guard this position as best he could until Ross returned with whatever men survived. The four of them were to start climbing immediately. Once they were inside the cell, they would not be able see or hear much in the lab. So before they closed the cell, Ross turned to his daughter. She was an army reservist, after all, and he saluted her. She began to return the salute, but then broke down and hugged him, hard. "I love you Daddy!" "I love you too, now in the cell. Remember, time!" As the foursome finally got in, Ross took out his last cigar. He hated lying to his troops. With them safely sealed in, he turned to Reynolds. "Corporeal, with me!"

"But you said..."

"That's an order son!" "Yes sir!" and the two men went out. His two runners returned, "the hulks have breached, they have the first floor."

"Ok boys, its up to us then." Unbeknownst to the scientists, his runners had not just been relaying messages. With every trip they had brought down boxes of ammo, hand grenades, and even some gasoline to the bottom of the staircase that linked the bunker's three levels. Hulks already had the run of the top floor; the four survivors were safely sealed in the chamber on the lowest level. The middle level in between was the living quarters and barracks. This concrete and metal stairway provided he only access between the three levels. He had his men take up a position in the level two stairwell.

The men had lined the stairs with ammo, gasoline and other explosives. Ross's plan was to set off the explosives there, collapsing the stairwell and preventing further access to the lowest level. As a bonus, hopefully he would bury if not killing some of the hulks in the process.

He instructed the men to try and hold the stairwell as long as possible, even if for a few seconds. They heard the rolling violence finally reach the top of the stairwell. It did not take long for the furniture blocking the top to explode as some hulks bashed through. The men fired as if their lives depended on it. He waited, he wanted as many of those damn things in the stairwell as possible. He'd only get one chance to do this and he wanted to kill as many of those beasts as possible.

Banner had to survive, he was the only one who could build his damnable bomb. And, Ross had to protect Betty, his only child. Safely locked in that cell, at least they would survive this assault. Ross would do everything he could to ensure that. So he had lied to them. There was no escape plan, only a survival plan. As he waited for this last stand, he lit his cigar.

The din upstairs continued as well. This was one damn good cigar, the last one always was—it was something officers often said before going on dangerous missions. The racket overhead was loud and frightening. The soldiers continued to empty their clips, but to no avail. The enraged beasts quickly descended towards them. An unholy racket, almost like an earthquake, shook the walls, and suddenly one of the green hulks was right next to him! Thunderbolt Ross released the grenade and the resulting explosion set off all the munitions and gasoline, causing a chain effect leading to the collapse of the entire stairway.