Chapter 544 Children and Bookworms
Meanwhile, in Kamar-Taj, Strange, under heavy protection, watched over the unconscious Banner. At that moment, Banner was actually communicating with the Hulk, but Strange did not intervene, nor did he intend to.

To buy more time, Kamar-Taj will be exposed to Kang, thus attracting Kang to attack Kamar-Taj with the Cosmic Cube. This period will be the time for Spider-Man and his team to gather their strength, collect intelligence, and find a way to fight Kang.

There were roughly 72 hours between the time Kamar-Taj was exposed to Kang and the time he could no longer withstand the power of the Cosmic Cube. At most, that was only 72 hours, and that was an optimistic estimate.

Meanwhile, Hulk and Banner are arguing, and the argument has escalated to a fever pitch.

"Don't you understand? They don't need me! They need you! Otherwise, why would that skull come looking for you!"

This time, Banner wasn't afraid of the big green guy who looked just like him at all, and roared at him, "And then what? You just hide here?! Go to hell!"

Hulk doesn't want to fight Banner!

"You fight for me? Huh? When have you ever fought for me? You always went there because you wanted to!"

Then, in the dream, Hulk actually managed to tear a large stone slab off the floor in a pristine, boundless space and throw it at Banner, though he missed completely.

Banner has broken down.

He had initially thought that Hulk would negotiate, that Hulk would save the world, but at a price: Banner would leave completely, a price Banner was already prepared for. But it turned out Hulk's plan was to simply abandon the project?

Is something wrong here?

And then Banner has to take responsibility for the psychological problems of this big, three-year-old kid?!
“Listen to me, they need you, Hulk!” Banner roared at Hulk, his voice almost hoarse. “They need a super strongman who is incredibly strong, indestructible, and can take down anything! Nobody wants a Banner who can’t even beat a cat, who just sits there doing nothing whenever something happens, and who needs someone else to protect him! Nobody needs Banner! They need Hulk!”

"Don't you understand?!"

Banner was met with another boulder thrown by the Hulk. This time it hit Banner, but he felt no pain at all. Banner quickly crawled out from under the boulder, and then another boulder came crashing down on him.

As if trying to outdo Banner, Hulk's roar even surpassed Banner's.

"Nobody likes Hulk!"

Banner was sent flying again, but Hulk's voice in his ear did not diminish at all.

"Nobody likes Hulk! They like Banner!"

"They run away when they see Hulk! They cry! They're scared! That stupid, old general just wants to take Hulk back and lock him up! Banner won't! Nobody's afraid of Banner!"

"Hulk is a monster!"

Banner, who had climbed out from under the rock, saw another rock that had hit him on the forehead.

My goodness, this is never going to end.

After more than ten minutes, when everything had completely calmed down, Banner walked over to Hulk, who was lying on the ground. Looking at Hulk, he said weakly, "I remember this position of yours. Every time you finished smashing something and got tired, you would lie like this, close your eyes, and then you would turn back into me."

"Get out of the way, Banner!"

“Let’s… let’s just talk like this, sorry, buddy. I think those psychologists are right, personality disorder and all that, it all comes down to me… When you come out, I can see you, but can you see me?”

Banner laughed at this point. He remembered that Hulk had stopped attacking after Betty calmed him down. There was no doubt about it, otherwise why would Betty have calmed Hulk down?
Bruce Banner had always known that the Hulk was a part of him; he just hadn't dared to admit it. "I... I'm afraid of you, not because you're a big, green guy who can smash everything, sorry, buddy."

Banner took a deep breath and put his hand on Hulk's shoulder: "Do you remember? When we were kids, our father was always an alcoholic, and our mother would push us into the room so we wouldn't see how our damn dad was abusing us."

“Sometimes if we didn’t dodge, we’d get beaten up by that damn old bastard too, remember?”

"Hulk will beat him up!"

"Yes, that's what I was thinking back then. If I were strong enough, if I could knock that old bastard down with one punch, that would be great. Maybe that's when you appeared, a child, a child who wanted to protect his mother and beat up his bastard father."

“But… I’m scared. I’m scared that you’re not the part of my body that I want to be able to protect my mother. I’m scared that you’re the part of our bastard father who messes everything up, hurts the people around us, and then refuses to admit his mistakes… I, I’m scared that we’ll become like that bastard…”

Hulk heard Banner sobbing. He turned over and saw Banner weeping with his face covered. He hesitated for a moment, then put his hand on Banner's shoulder.

"Banner will never become like that, Hulk knows."

After a while, Banner sniffed, took a deep breath, and calmed down.

“Thanks, buddy.” Banner looked up. “Parker said that Kang shaped the new world using everyone’s wishes, and you were out there, but your wish was that you never existed. Why?”

"Nobody likes Hulk, Hulk knows that, even Banner doesn't like Hulk, Hulk doesn't want to go out."

Banner remained silent for a while before raising his head.

“You know what, Hulk? Someone likes you, I’m not kidding, but the kids like you.”

"They believe the Incredible Hulk is a hero, using his immense strength to smash bad guys and lock them up in jail. Not a single kid thinks the Hulk is a monster, not one. Have you ever met a kid like that?"

Hulk is silent.

"It's a fucked-up world out there, and some idiot is trying to create a world where kids can't find heroes. They need you, man, they need you, not Banner."

Hulk hesitated for several seconds, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't, as if he were trying to fabricate an unprecedented and rare lie.

"Hulk needs Banner."

Banner couldn't help but laugh.

"I need you too, buddy. Do you know what I need from you?"

"what?"

"Use your big fists to smash those bad guys hard."

"After all, I don't have a fist as big as yours."

(End of this chapter)

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like