kore_logs | now i'm stronger than yesterday

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now i'm stronger than yesterday

Who: The Hulk, some unfortunate scientists, and YOU.
When: Early morning hours of Day 22 (before sunrise). Good mooooorning.
Where: Near the woods.
What: After going missing for four in-game days, Bruce comes back... Kind of. Come mingle with the big guy!

At some point in time, Bruce wakes up to find himself held captive, and he decides to break free.

That much, at least, the Hulk knows, or can guess, or whatever – he doesn't really care about Banner's issues very much at all because Banner doesn't care about his, and if he didn't need the Hulk, he wouldn't have let him out in the first place. Why should the Hulk care about him? What the Hulk does care about are people trying to hurt Banner because Banner's body is his body somewhere down the line, and that is so not okay. That is the opposite of okay.

They might be able to contain Banner, but the Hulk is convinced they can't contain him.

He's right. Of course. He's the strongest there is, and these dinky, wimpy little scientists with their stupid machines are so easy to squish. Too easy – there's a nagging, a tugging, and something from Banner's end bleeds through. It isn't really a conscious thought, or a string of words, but it's something the Hulk understands anyway. Take prisoners to interrogate. What were they doing to Banner, what did they want to do with the Hulk?

The Hulk snorts, but nods to himself. Okay, Banner. That's a good one.

While the Hulk's deciding this, his captors realize the Hulk's right – they aren't going to win this one.

The Hulk couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when they start to move him; he's busy fighting, dealing with a particularly thorny (but ultimately destroyed, thanks) machine. He does notice when he starts to fall.

Roaring in rage, he drops out of the sky much like Loki's box did, and he lands on his back, with a loud crash, just outside of the woods. In his arms, he's cradling one live scientist. Two dead ones tumble out with him, in crumpled heaps beside him, but he doesn't really pay attention to that. What matters to him is trying to figure out where those white coat bastards dropped him. He holds out his captive, looking into his face, and thinks of how to interrogate.

Maybe if he just growls in his face.

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Has anyone ever asked the Hulk that? He straightens and blinks in surprise, even though Iron Man here needs to watch his tone. Mostly he goes too fast for the Hulk to keep up with, and the switch from accusation to concern leaves him with his head spinning. What he can do easily enough is show off his prisoner; he's kind of proud of that. He rearranges him so Tony can get a better look at him.

"Prisoner. It'd take more than puny nerds in white coats to kill the Hulk." He says it with a growl, but maybe it's half a reassurance. There, there, Tin Man. It's going to be okay.

"How long was Banner gone?"

He gives the prisoner a distracted glance. "Good. Good plan. We can use this guy to tell us what the hell's going on."

It is a good plan. Maybe someone else would think it odd that the Hulk came up with it, but Tony doesn't think there's anything out of the ordinary about it. Bruce is brilliant. He takes for granted that the Hulk is too, despite how terse a conversationalist he is.

"Four days. You've been gone four days." It may have been four years the way he says it. "There was an earthquake and giant robots that looked like you. I almost died. Steve got poisoned. It's been a long damn time. Don't you ever leave again." Brow furrowing, he shakes his head. "Not without taking me with you. You can't go off and have all the fun yourself. It's not fair."

Iron Man is so weird. He glances between him and the scientist and then shrugs.

"Brought a present?" He dumps the scientist unceremoniously on the ground beside them, but he'll keep a close eye on him for signs that he might wake up.

"Not the Hulk's fault anyway. Banner got caught. The Hulk busted him out." So there, Tin Man.

"I know, buddy. I owe you one." And he does know it. Bruce disappeared, but it's the Hulk who's here now. The Hulk who's given faces, however unremarkable, to their captors.

"Thank you," he says sincerely, reaching out to pat the Hulk's arm. "For bringing Bruce back. For coming back. This place isn't the same with you. Either one of you."

He spares the limp man at their feet a glance, then nudges him with his shoe. "Think you can hang around to help us get some answers out of this bastard?"

He snorts and shrugs. "Banner fights hard." It's not hard enough for a long while, but once the Hulk loses momentum and rage, he can't hold on much longer. At the moment. After the fight against the lizard things and the flying whales, he did okay, held on a little longer. Whatever control Banner thinks he might be gaining goes both ways, as most things do for the two of them; also typical for the two of them, they don't really realize the extent of control they have over each other.

The Hulk isn't really... affectionate, but he watches Iron Man pat his arm, and he files that away.

"They experimented on him. Smashed what there was of their stuff." But his tone implies that he has no way of knowing what he did or didn't actually destroy. He doesn't give a crap about Banner or his issues, but the Hulk fought Abomination, and he didn't like that guy. The Hulk is the strongest there is. He doesn't want anyone experimenting on Banner either.

"Four days is a long time."

The implications of what the Hulk’s telling him render Tony silent for a moment. A long, seemingly endless moment during which he looks back at the scientist lying on the ground. Unconsciously, his hands curl into fists so tight that his fingernails bite into his palms.

“They experimented on him for four days?” He asks it quietly, rhetorically, but there’s a note of cold, icy fury in his voice that he doesn’t try to conceal. Experiment. Torture. So often, it’s the same thing.

He looks back up at the Hulk. He doesn’t have his armor. He doesn’t have missiles or repulsors or guns of any kind. But right now, in this moment, he doesn’t think he’d need any of that to tear the place down on top of the people who’d done that to Bruce.

“How mad can you get, Hulk? Mad enough that the two of us can go back to that place you were and smash them into dust?”

The Hulk has no idea what happened, and he can't be sure, but he thinks Banner was unable to let him out until recently. There's nothing from Banner's end, but that nothing is a palpable absence, like Banner's hiding. Whatever. He thinks Iron Man has the right idea anyway, except for the problem where the Hulk doesn't want to see him get hurt. The Hulk doesn't; Banner doesn't either, but the Hulk was still the one driving when he caught Tin Man back with the flying whales. He nods at him.

"Suit up. We'll go."

"No suit this time, Big Green," he says, with a shake of his head and a wry smile that doesn't reach his eyes. "Gotta go as is for this one. Au naturale."

He doesn't like it, but it's the best he can do. It isn't like he's willing to sit on the sidelines and let others act just because he doesn't have armor anymore.

"It's fine, though. Angry as I am, I'll probably give you a run for your money."

He narrows his eyes. He knows how vulnerable people are, and Iron Man's squishy without his iron. Even with his suit, he needed the Hulk to save him before. Reaching out, he pokes him lightly in the shoulder.

"Puny human." It's almost, almost a joke, but mainly it's a reminder. "Not enough anger in the world to make you stronger than the Hulk."

Whether the Hulk means it to or not, that comment stings. It strikes a little too close to home, touches too hard on the way he's bee feeling since he arrived here. It wipes the lopsided smile off his face and straightens his spine.

"I'm not as puny as you think." His voice is quiet, solemn, and beneath it all is an undercurrent of frustrated angry. "But hey, you know what, you want someone better, take Steve."

Turning on his heel, he starts off back the way he came. Two of the scientists look dead. The other he assumes the Hulk will watch, at least until he gets taken off his hands. Either way, it doesn't matter. He doesn't need him. No one does.

Waving over his shoulder, but not turning around, he calls back, "I'll send him out this way in a couple minutes. Try not to get into too much trouble while you wait."

He can tell he did something wrong here, but he's not sure how to articulate what that is. Or how to fix it, or how to bring Iron Man back. People are confusing, and Tin Man more than most. He hesitates briefly, and then follows after him.

"The Hulk is the strongest there is," he points out. Duh. "Flag Man's puny too. Don't need him."

What is he trying to say? Why does it bother him that Iron Man's leaving? Doesn't he like being alone? Isn't that always the goal? He frowns deeply, and then pokes Iron Man again. It's the closest he can get to figuring out affection just yet.

"Don't... go."

"I think that's the only time I've ever heard anyone call him puny."

It makes him smile slightly, black as his mood is, and he stops with a sigh. Half turning, he looks up at the Hulk. He can see a little of Bruce in his face, but he isn't just Bruce. He's his own person too, or at least that's what Tony's starting to think the more he interacts with him.

"Between you and me, buddy, I envy you right now." Reaching up, he lightly taps his knuckles against the back of the Hulk's hand. "I wish I could do what you do, instead of, well, being me." It's not about him though, not really, and he's not going to let it turn into a pity party.

"This place needs you. These people need you, even if they don't recognize it. But they will. Remember that, okay? Just in case someone freaks out."

They are two different entities; they share a lot, and there's a lot of bleed over, and they'd work far more seamlessly if they would only accept one another, but the Hulk's personality is developing on its own terms. His individuality, apart from Banner, is something he desperately tries to hold onto, and it's partly why he just wants to be left alone. He's trying to define himself, not define himself in context of others.

He really doesn't need any human, puny or otherwise, but... he did ask Iron Man to stay. He looks up at the village, but doesn't trust what Tin Man says; no one ever wants him around unless they need him for something. Other than that, they just want him out of the way. That's the way people always are and always have been, so he doesn't need reassurance otherwise. He's starting to think that the one who needs reassurance here is Tin Man.

"Banner needs you." The Hulk really doesn't know anything about these people, but he knows Banner, down to his core.

"You're the... least annoying person I know." Betty excepted.

It’s easier to be genuine around the Hulk. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t him, hasn’t watched TV or read the news stories about all the things – crazy, stupid, or otherwise – that Tony’s gotten up to during the course of his life. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t have any preconceived notions about who he’s supposed to be and how he ought to act. Could be it’s just because he doesn’t seem to care about much, aside from Bruce and being left alone. Whatever it is, it makes talking to the Hulk easy, but opening up is still hard and Tony can’t maintain it for long without falling back on humor.

“Really?” Frowning, he shakes his head in mock concern. “We gotta introduce you to a better set of people. Obviously you’ve been hanging out with the dregs of society. Or politicians. Same thing, really.”

If Bruce needs him, it’s for the same thing everyone else does: the possibility that he’ll figure out a way to get them home. And maybe he actually will. He’s certainly going to try. “Don’t worry, buddy. I’ll get us home or die trying.”

This is probably the most involved conversation the Hulk has ever had in his life. No one really stops to talk to him, and even with Betty, it was less a conversation and more a quiet reunion; he was overwhelmed with Banner's feelings, besides, and already starting to lose touch as soon as she started to calm him down. After the fight, he talked to the others, but it wasn't really like this.

"Most people shoot me." He shrugs. So Tony's at the top of an extremely short list of candidates, but hey, it's an accomplishment.

If that was all Banner needed him for, it's very likely the Hulk never would've noticed.

"Get us home. But don't die."

"Yeah, well, we have a word for people like that, Hulk," Tony says dryly, tipping his head to the side. His lips curl into something that isn't quite a smile, but it's still sharp nonetheless. "It's called asshole. You need to stop hanging out with assholes."

The military. The government. Special interest groups. The list of assholes was long and varied.

"I'm not really planning on the dying thing. Kind of like to avoid it, actually." Straightening up, he nods toward the town. "So what's the plan? You want the grand tour?"

Assholes. He grins, slow and a little dangerous looking, but it's a good smile. Iron Man's right. They are all assholes.

A tour? Sure. He wants to get out of this place, but he can walk with Metal Man. Not Metal Man? No. Just because he doesn't have his suit, he doesn't have to get a new name.

He nods curtly, then bends to pick up his hostage, who he tosses over his shoulder. Done. He turns to Iron Man expectantly.

"Okay, right. Well, today on our tour," he begins, adopting the theatrical tone of what he assumes a tour guide would sound like. He's never been on a cheap $5 tour, so he has only the most rudimentary of ideas about what it's like, but as a caricature, he does all right. "We have the lovely Cape Kore."

He gestures to the town as they move toward it. "It's got a bunch of dilapidated houses with some really fucking ugly furniture. There's next to no food because we've eaten it all and there's surprisingly not a grocery store anywhere around. And if it wasn't for the appliances, which, I might add, look like rejects from the Seventies, I'd start to think we're in some kind of Amish paradise, the way there's next to nothing technologically advanced about the place."

Which is odd in and of itself. To say nothing of the fact that before he'd woken up here, he'd been wearing his suit.

"Over there," he points toward the distance. "Is the ocean. It's great for a brisk, icy swim. Or drowning, if that's more your style." He glances up at the Hulk, smirking. "What do you think so far?"

Most of that he doesn't actually give a crap about, but he listens anyway. It's fun listening to Tin Man, anyway.

"Needs more exit doors," is his appraisal of the lay of the land. He turns and looks into the woods. "What's back there?"

"Couldn't agree with you more."

Tony's gaze follows that of the Hulk, and for a moment, the levity bleeds out of his expression. "Giant robot versions of you. And apparently robot bears, but I haven't seen them. That's where we went when we went looking for you and Bruce. But we didn't get very far."

You and Bruce. He grins, a little viciously, and glances down at Tin Man, though his approval doesn't last long; he curls a hand into a fist and snorts.

"Robot Hulks?" He growls lowly. "Hulk is the strongest there is." But if those are as strong as the metal monsters they already threw at him, well, he's not too concerned. He starts stomping back in the direction of town, even if the idea of entering it gives him some pause.

"I gotta agree with you on that one. I took out three of the things." And if he'd actually done the work, not just been a receptacle for the power Loki had given him, he might even sound proud about it too. "Electricity. Magic lightning, basically. Shorted them out. Not so tough if you ask me."

He falls silent then, walking alongside the Hulk with his eyes on the town, scanning the houses and the ground between them for signs of movement. Will the people freak out when they see him? Tony doesn't know. There are a lot of people here who know the Hulk, but there are a lot who don't.

"You gonna be okay? If you need me to run interference with anyone or, I don't know, play public relations guy, I will."

He's rethinking this heading into the town thing, but Iron Man had just made him feel so... okay. He still doesn't understand what makes Iron Man so willing to vouch for him, and it's strange to trust it.

"Hulk's okay," he says decisively. He doesn't say no, though.

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now i'm stronger than yesterday

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