After thinking it over, Daisy decided the mission wasn't all that difficult—the Hulk wouldn't hurt Betty, and would even protect her if danger arose. She nodded and accepted the assignment.
———
On the other side of the city, Dr. Bruce Banner had no idea his future father-in-law was gunning for him. The Virginia University battle that had occurred in the original timeline never happened, thanks to Daisy's involvement. He was enjoying the late-afternoon sun, spending a perfectly peaceful afternoon with Betty Ross—talking science, swapping old memories, letting the hours drift by.
Of course, Dr. Banner couldn't afford any emotional fluctuations at this stage. Both of them understood that implicitly. They didn't so much as hold hands—just an ordinary afternoon together, two people who kept their chemistry carefully in check.
Betty forgot she had a boyfriend waiting at home. Banner forgot he had a head full of problems.
After dinner, a light rain began to fall. They tentatively reached for each other's hands and, finding no dangerous emotional surge, wondered whether they might take things a step further. In the spirit of scientific inquiry, they strolled hand-in-hand toward a nearby hotel.
Walking with someone you love in the rain—there's nothing quite like it. But there's always someone ready to ruin the moment.
A bright, clear female voice rang out from just ahead, carrying equal parts surprise and admiration: "Dr. Ross? I've read your paper on improving radiation detection resolution using semiconductor detectors…"
Daisy played the starstruck science fangirl to perfection. As a quantum physics expert herself, tossing out a few harmless, surface-level questions was no challenge at all.
Getting stopped on a rainy street by a woman who wanted to talk gamma radiation—that was a first for Betty Ross. She hesitated, then indulged Daisy with a few words.
Looking at this beautiful woman, Daisy couldn't help but notice: that face was long. Long enough that she'd probably need custom face masks. And she was tall—in those heels she had a solid few inches on Daisy, pushing close to five feet eleven. (around 180 cm)
Despite those quirks, Miss Betty wasn't bad-looking. Even in the amber glow of the streetlamps, her skin was porcelain-pale and her eyes glittered like sapphires.
Daisy grabbed her hand. "I have this one question—"
Betty waited for the question.
Daisy bolted.
Dr. Banner had been standing off to the side, invisible as a ghost, desperately itching to join the scientific discussion—and now he stood frozen. What is going on here? Experiencing the effects of radiation on the human body through running?
Before he could puzzle out the logic, Daisy had already covered two hundred meters (about 660 feet). Even holding back her speed, even dragging a full-grown adult alongside her, she moved with frightening ease. Dr. Banner watched helplessly as she dove into the roadside shrubbery and vanished.
Kidnapping. Dr. Banner didn't know his future father-in-law was pulling strings—the only explanation his mind produced was kidnapping.
Evil, right there in front of him. Banner felt himself about to explode. Every meditation technique he knew evaporated. Rage surged like a tide; his blood began to change, the transformation ignited in his chest and spread outward with each thundering heartbeat.
His body was being rebuilt. Cells, bones, muscles—every structure underwent a seismic shift.
He was becoming something other than human. An inside-out metamorphosis. His arms thickened, his fingers swelling to the width of a normal man's forearm. His waist and legs inflated at a grotesque rate. In under two seconds, the slight academic had become a monster standing over six-and-a-half feet (around 2 meters) tall and weighing over a thousand pounds (around 500 kg).
"RAAAAGH!" He bellowed at the shrubbery. The Hulk had no sonic powers per se—but raw, limitless force is its own kind of physics. The shout carried a shockwave. Trees snapped. Daisy was exposed, still running with Betty in tow.
"Who ARE you?! Let go of me!" Betty—tall face and all—couldn't match Daisy's speed or overpower her grip. Two quick vibrational pulses shattered the heels clean off her shoes, and under that relentless drag, Betty had no room to struggle.
Love, however, gave her the will to keep trying.
Daisy glanced back at the shockwave rippling behind her and smiled. She picked up another twenty percent.
Bruce Banner had fully transformed into the Hulk. The immense power and raging fury left him almost entirely out of control. His bloodthirsty gaze locked onto Daisy and Betty sprinting in the distance. He coiled his legs, ready to leap.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Three armored multi-purpose combat vehicles rolled in and surrounded him.
The Hulk recognized these camo-and-helmet types. In his blunt, straightforward mind: these guys were here to catch him again. Next second there'd be missiles, same as always.
He was wrong.
The three vehicles nervously raised their emotion-suppression devices and hit the switches simultaneously.
A dazzling cascade of light bloomed before the Hulk's eyes.
The Hulk didn't know anything about color theory, or the complex knowledge and computing power needed to calibrate those wavelengths and frequencies to dial down his excitement levels and reverse the transformation. He just knew one thing: huh, that's actually kind of pretty.
His rage, without him noticing, began to ebb. Slowly—the Hulk's subconscious fought it every step—but the signal was reaching his brain, and his brain had already begun to respond.
The soldiers manning the vehicles had come to this mission with their hearts in their throats. Now, watching it actually work, they quietly thanked God for surviving—and loudly cursed every commander who'd come before them. Morons, all of them. A stupid light solves everything, and it cost us hundreds of U.S. soldiers to figure that out.
General Ross, watching from the command vehicle, wore a real what-the-hell expression. It's really this simple? It's really. This. Simple.
Blonsky had spent the whole evening psyching himself up for the fight of his life—only to discover he wasn't needed at all.
Bruce Banner, transformed back by the emotion suppressors, stood there in an enormous pair of oversized shorts, looking thoroughly bewildered.
The soldiers were terrified of the Hulk—terrified enough to piss themselves. Banner, though? Not so much.
Several of them ran over, each jabbing a sedative needle into him—then, not trusting the first round, gave him two more. The quantity would have kept an elephant under for half a day. Solid-steel handcuffs and leg irons followed, four or five sets stacked on, before anyone finally relaxed.
As the soldiers hauled the unconscious Bruce Banner before him, General Ross had to fight a strange sense of unreality. That's… it?
"Dad! Let him go, please, let him go!" Daisy had taken Betty on a wide loop, and Betty, the moment she spotted old Ross, understood exactly what had happened. She burst into tears, threw her arms around him, and refused to let go.
"He's not a bad person, please let Banner go…" The light rain fell, leaves rustling in the wet breeze. Betty's anguished sobs filled the air—and standing there watching, Daisy almost felt like she was the villain.