005 ☢ [location: ncis forensics lab, then sanctuary (for all)]

[hulk]

Most times after he's woken up from an episode (episode is the best word he can think of to describe it - like a seizure, only instead of biting your tongue there's immeasurable collateral damage), Bruce slept for a few days straight. Even though he couldn't remember most of what had happened and he never had a mark on him afterward, it was still an enormous physical strain. He was still tired even now, and this was after four days of constant sleep.

When he'd woken up in the infirmary of the Sanctuary for All, there had been a fresh set of clothes and his tablet next to his bed. He had spent the first few moments wondering just what had happened, then everything came rushing back - the party, Ross and Blonsky's sudden appearance, then nothing but vague flashes until someone had woken him up in the middle of a wrecked house. He did remember something about a pipe in someone's chest, but that had to be some kind of weird, post-monster dream. After that, it was a simple matter of figuring out what he had to do.

Run. Not that there were many places to run to while in this city, but he could at least get out of the Sanctuary and find some other place to crash. Bruce grabbed the clothes and ran through the network as he pulled them on. When he saw Abby's post, he knew what had happened - and who knew how many other people who weren't able to make such calls for help - and felt horribly guilty for it.

So, even though he was determined to leave the Sanctuary and avoid anyone who knew him as 'David', he still felt badly enough to be compelled into leaving a note at Abby's lab. It took him a few tries to actually write it (Hallmark really needed some 'Sorry I turned into a monster and hurt you' cards), but eventually settled on a simple 'Sorry'. Bruce taped it to the door and walked away. Maybe he'd leave a similar note at the Sanctuary later.

[ooc: Locked to Abby Sciuto first, then whomever wants to grab Bruce sneaking back in to the Sanctuary for All to leave the note for Magnus. Hee, silly hobouncle.]

Comments

[location: NCIS forensics lab]

[abigailsciuto.livejournal.com]

Her arm still hurt, but that didn't stop her from keeping herself safe. As soon as her shoulder had been reset, Abby had constructed cameras outside of her lab. She hadn't left the lab much. She'd been too afraid to. Part of her wanted to find David, to ask if he knew what had happened, but he was there right before it. Happened. She still wasn't sure if she could believe what she saw. Had he turned into that thing? It was impossible, wasn't it? He was so sweet and calm and. Not green.

Motion sensors detected him, turning her screen into the feed from the outdoor cameras. She recognized him. No one else had posture or movements like him. Involuntarily, she smiled without thinking. It was just a small one, barely turning the corners of her mouth up, but it was there. She thought he was about to knock, to check on her, but she saw the slip of paper. He turned his back. Abby jumped out of her chair, wincing as her arm jarred. It was still sore. She had to keep reminding herself of that.

Crossing the lab took way too much time, in her opinion. By the time she reached the door, she had to shout to get his attention. Alright, maybe she didn't have to shout, but she did.

"David!" Her voice carried, mixed with more emotions than she could count. She looked to her right and grabbed the piece of paper. After reading the solitary word, she held up the paper. "This the best you can do?" Humor was usually a strong suit for her, but it was hard to not be genuinely hurt. She had thought she meant more than a passive apology. Nevermind the fact that by writing it, she was convinced he was admiting that it was him that night, which caused a whole new set of dizzying thoughts to spiral through her brain.

"What happened?" She asked, hoping he'd answer her without all the bullshit from before. After this, it was going to be impossible to accept his need for privacy. After this, she felt she deserved more.

[location: NCIS forensics lab]

[hulk]

Bruce had turned involuntarily at the sound of the door opening, wincing when she called after him. For a long second, he debated running like hell - he'd done what he came here to do, and staying here would only put her in more danger. But... Damn it.

There wasn't anything like getting tossed around by the monster inside him that earned you clearance to be read in.

His shoulders slumped as he finished the turn, but he couldn't meet her eyes. "Couldn't think of what else to put," he shrugged quietly. He stared at the ground, hands stuck in his pockets awkwardly. What happened...? Bruce sighed sadly. "It's a long story. And. If you really want to hear it, um. It's gonna take a while. So."

[location: NCIS forensics lab]

[abigailsciuto.livejournal.com]

"So." Abby repeated while stepping enough away from the door to give him space to walk past. The look on her face and her posture was enough of a clue to get inside. She wasn't mad at him. She was confused and a little hurt (both emotionally and physically), but somehow anger had escaped her during this whole thing. She was patient, and waited for him to enter before heading that way herself and closing the door. She grabbed a chair and kept it near the door. She wasn't stupid, after all, and if she needed a quick exit, she'd have one.

"I've got nothing but time, David." She said as she sat. "I just. I don't understand any of it. That was you? But how?"

[location: NCIS forensics lab]

[hulk]

Stepping inside the lab, he took a chair that was close enough to Ab's to have a conversation, but far away enough to hopefully keep her from getting uncomfortable. Bruce took off his baseball cap and ran a hand through his hair fitfully. He kept the cap in his hands, twisting it in his lap.

"That thing is not me," he said defensively, eyes darting up to look at her earnestly before returning them to the floor. "It's... I don't know what it is, but it's not me. It's just. Something inside me that..."

Bruce shook his head. He was beginning in the middle, and this was too complicated a story to get muddled right off the bat. "Let me start over. ...My name's not David Harrison. It's... It's Bruce. Bruce Banner."

He paused then, expecting some kind of recognition. He wasn't any Einstein, but he was pretty well-known in most scientific circles before all of this. Bruce hadn't figured out the entire "different realities" bit yet.

[location: NCIS forensics lab]

[abigailsciuto.livejournal.com]

Abby had a flash to the first time they had met. He had stumbled over his name. First Bruce, then David. He'd told her it had been a mistake, that his name was David. That had been the first lie. How many more had there been? She pulled her feet up into her chair, tugging her knees up to her chest.

"Alright. Bruce. Got it." She'd never heard the name, but wasn't too surprised. No one seemed to know much about the people in her life, either. The world was a big place, after all.

"What does that mean, though." She shifted herself in her chair, trying to find the right words. "'Something inside you.' What does that mean, exactly? You were, you were huge. And green. How does that happen?"

[location: NCIS forensics lab]

[hulk]

To be fair, that was the only real lie. All the rest had been omissions, which didn't really count. At least, that's what Bruce kept telling himself.

"I don't know what it is," he admitted. "Before all those odd jobs that I told you about, I used to be a scientist - biology, chemistry, physics, nuclear physics. About five years ago, I was on working on a research grant from the U.S. Army, working toward improving gamma radiation resistance for infantrymen. Things were going well enough that we were ready for human trials pretty quick, and... Well. I kind of volunteered to be the guinea pig. Stupid move, I know, but all the math figured out right, and I double and triple-checked everything. It should have been safe.

"But when it came down to it, something went wrong and I ended up getting a full blast of radiation. By all rights I should have died from that much exposure, but instead... I turned into that thing you saw the other day. Next thing I knew, I was waking up in the middle of some national park a week later. Found out after I got back that it wrecked the lab. Put most everybody who was there in intensive care." He shook his head to dispel the image of Betty lying there, covered in tubes and bandages. He took a deep breath before plowing on. "The general in charge thought what had happened was lucky, wanted to find a way to use it, duplicate it. He tried to put me into military custody, and I've been running ever since."

He dragged a hand over his face once he'd finished. This was the first time Bruce had ever actually told the story to anyone - it helped a little to say it out loud. Even if it sounded like some kind of dime-store science fiction novel.

[location: NCIS forensics lab]

[abigailsciuto.livejournal.com]

Abby listened, not speaking up, just absorbing. Strangely enough, she believed him. Her mind was working on how to make it all possible. It wasn't her specialty, but she had studied different sciences over the years. She knew basics of almost anything. It was possible, improbable, but possible. Her legs dropped back down and she shifted to lean forward in her chair. When he was through, she just sat there for a minute. She tried to look at him, but eventually her gaze hit the floor.

"That's why you monitor your heart rate, isn't it? It's tied to that somehow." The creature, whatever it was, wasn't Bruce. She couldn't imagine running from the government, hiding who you were for so long. Abby couldn't imagine a lot of it happening to her, to be completely honest. Her life just wasn't about those sort of things. Taxon had changed that, though, and had forced her to deal with the reality of strange and wondrous things that the world could do to a person.

This was really more of the former and none of the latter.

"Are they here? I mean, Taxon seems like it's own bubble sometimes. We've got no clue who brought us here, and I certainly don't have a massive creature lingering inside my DNA. Not that I've been made aware of, anyway. So it can't be about you. Right?"

[location: NCIS forensics lab]

[hulk]

Bruce nodded, still looking at the floor - it was very clean, and shiny. "If I get too angry, scared, upset, get into any kind of excited emotional state, it happens. I've tried learning how to control my reactions - breathing techniques and meditation - and the monitor beeping helps me know when things are getting too intense." It didn't always work, but it helped.

His knuckles went white at that suggestion, he gripped his hat so hard. "I... I don't know. When I first showed up here, it... Well, it was right after another episode and I thought they'd finally gotten me. Once I change back, it's. I'm totally exhausted, usually sleep for a few days straight, so. Wouldn't have been hard. After a while without anybody in white coats showing up, I thought it was something else." He swallowed then, trying to stop his shaking.

"But then, on Halloween... They were there." His voice had gotten hoarse and small from fear. He had to clear his throat a few times before he could continue. "Right outside the Sanctuary. General Ross was there, with his men and his tanks and his helicopters... I tried to get away, but they were just everywhere all at once and then one of them beat the crap out of me and." He began breathing rhythmically, quick short in and out and in, but even that wasn't enough to stop the shivers.

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ]

[notthatnormal.livejournal.com]

For something that had started out fantastic it had ended rather crappy for many parties - she'd turned back into her creature, David back into his and who knew what other people were hiding or what they had also done. Ashley had been lucky, lucky that her mother had found her on the tablet and in Taxon, lucky that she'd been able to calm her and help her change back - had it been someone else Ashley didn't know what could have happened.

The hours following Ashley had isolated herself other than going to tell her mother to get some rest herself. She hadn't slept much, not that it showed, so by the time anyone else was up and about she'd already been so for several hours. By the time David came back Ashley had grabbed her jacket to leave for a couple of hours: she hated just waiting around and feeling useless like she did now. He looked a little worse for wear but after what had happened she couldn't blame him, and if someone did then they obviously needed something pointing out to them.

"Hey." She threw a small greeting at him, pausing on her step on the stairs. Hoping that this was a dream was a long shot but far too much had seemed real.

[location: sanctuary (for all)]

[hulk]

Caught. Bruce shut his eyes and exhaled. He knew this was a bad idea, but he'd come back to the building anyway, because the least Helen and Ashley had deserved was a note. But it would have been much smarter to check and make sure there wasn't anyone around before walking in.

"...Hi." Ashley had no idea how much Bruce had wished the last five years had been a dream himself.

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ]

[notthatnormal.livejournal.com]

"You know I think you're more likely to get caught sneaking around than just acting like you live here." Which he did and at least if he acted like the latter he'd look less suspicious.

[location: sanctuary (for all)]

[hulk]

"Well. ...Won't be living here too much longer, so it's. It doesn't really matter that much how I act."

Bruce was gonna stick to his guns on this one. His mind was made up. ...Yep.

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ]

[notthatnormal.livejournal.com]

"You're leaving?" That sounded insane: there was no way her mom would throw him out, not with everything else they had back home, and where else would he go?

"You do realise that you're not the worst thing we've had around here?"

[location: sanctuary (for all)]

[hulk]

"Yeah. I am." It wasn't right to put everybody in the Sanctuary at risk.

"And I really, really doubt that."

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ]

[notthatnormal.livejournal.com]

"Well that's stupid." Very stupid.

"Really? Okay... I'm a vampire, Henry's a werewolf, we have a Bigfoot who likes to help around the house and if we were still home I'd show you the Shoe. My dad put me in there and I nearly died. And he's Jack the Ripper so whatever you've got, we've seen just as bad." Or worse.

[location: sanctuary (for all)]

[hulk]

He blinked at that. It wasn't as if he was expecting something that blunt and straightforward. Flustered, Bruce shook his head. "No, it's the smart thing to do. The smartest thing I could have done was not come here in the first place."

And... Okay, that was quite a list, but still. He was pretty damn sure that none of those things matched the monster in him. "You don't know what it's capable of," he said quietly. "Even I don't. And I can't let you stay near me when I'm this much of a liability."

[ location: sanctuary (for all) ]

[notanemptymotto.livejournal.com]

Helen found herself silently carrying a grudge against the city. While it was beautiful and she had met many people, the city changed the people she cared about. Ashley, Gabriel, and now John was out in the town, committing acts as Jack the Ripper again. Helen had thrown the EM Shield up and instructed Ashley not to teleport within the Sanctuary. Not when the shield was up. Though she gave little reason as to why she needed the shield up as fast as possible.

And seeing the fact that David had taken leave of the infirmary without much warning just caused her to worry more. While it was John's note to go after females, she could hardly put past that he could go after people that she cared about. She did end up putting a bullet in his leg, after all. So when David - Bruce - walked back into the Sanctuary? She was standing at the stairs with her hands folded in front of her. Slightly relieved.

"Good to see that you are up and about again."

[location: sanctuary (for all)]

[hulk]

Meanwhile, Bruce was still feeling incredibly stupid. He really failed at this whole sneaking around thing. When it came right down to it, he couldn't stand saying goodbye and was far too easily held back if someone hit the right buttons - of which Bruce had far too many.

He looked up the stairs at Magnus, swallowing past the lump in his throat. Of course this had to happen right after finally finding somewhere he kind of belonged. "...Yeah, I was... I was just planning on stopping by before. Going."

[location: sanctuary (for all)]

[notanemptymotto.livejournal.com]

"Going?" She repeated and turned into a question. The way he had said it almost implied there wouldn't be a 'returning' to accompany it. Helen walked over to him. The feeling that it provoked was similar to when her father told her that he would not be staying at the Sanctuary. The breaking apart of a family.

She stopped in front of him and tried to find a proper way to say it without coming off as hurt. It was proving difficult. "Are you sure you want to leave?"

[location: sanctuary (for all)]

[hulk]

He couldn't even look at her when she sounded like that. Bruce ducked his head, hiding under his cap when he spoke. His voice was quiet, and full of regret.

"I... I don't have a choice. I can't stay here anymore, shouldn't have even come in the first place. It was stupid, and selfish, and." He shook his head, angry that he had allowed himself to be so careless - not in regards to his own life, but that of everyone else in the Sanctuary. "It's best for everybody that I go."

[location: sanctuary (for all)]

[notanemptymotto.livejournal.com]

Helen looked to the side as he talked, biting down on her lip. It was something she had heard from a number of people before. And every time it was always different. She knew she had never really told him about what the purpose of the Sanctuary was. Helen didn't want to over step the boundaries. Though now it was clear that he had been running for some time, and had nowhere to go. She could point out that 'going' in Taxon wasn't far. It wouldn't have helped much if she did, Helen figured.

"The creature outside the Sanctuary on Halloween." She tilted her head in hopes of being being able to see his face. "You became it, and now you're worried of hurting others. Am I correct?"

[location: sanctuary (for all)]

[hulk]

"It already has hurt people here," he corrected her. True, Bruce only knew for sure about Abby, but there had to be others. There always were. "I've got the equivalent of an atomic bomb inside me waiting to go off on people and I can't put anyone else at risk."

Yet for someone bound and determined to leave as soon as possible, Bruce was finding himself rooted to the spot.

[location: sanctuary (for all)]

[notanemptymotto.livejournal.com]

"The unfortunate circumstance is, David, is that we are all in a city underground. Even if you leave the Sanctuary and that creature comes back? It could still do damage." She raised her hand and put it on his arm gently. Though he was stubborn, just as stubborn as she was. Helen didn't speak ill of the creature or what had happened. Than again, given what she housed normally, it wasn't so much of a surprise.

She took in a deep breath. "Ashley has most likely informed you of what the purpose of the Sanctuary is. Please, if you truly want to leave, let me show it to you."

[location: sanctuary (for all)]

[hulk]

"Doesn't mean I can't find a corner farthest from everyone." Some other people would be sarcastic about that. Not Bruce - he was completely serious. He could lock himself in a room with a hatch and he'd be able to stay there indefinitely, free of any stimuli that could trigger him. And that was exactly what he planned to do.

He paused at the offer. "She told me what you do here, yeah," he said cautiously. He raised his head to look at her stubbornly. "But you can't help me with this. It's my problem, and I'll find a way to fix it. I will." That last was said quietly, like he was trying to convince himself more than anything.

[Location: Sanctuary for All]

[notjustthegeek.livejournal.com]

Henry was good at seeing people come and go from the Sanctuary. He was in charge of security after all, with monitors at his finger tips.

His running into David wasn't contrived, however. It was just a matter of being in the right hall at the right time. "Hey," he looked at the other man concerned, "you alright?"