THE LAST STEP POSSIBLE

By Derrick Ferguson

Bruce Banner had long ago ceased to be amazed whenever he regained consciousness in an unfamiliar location. He had grown accustomed to waking up naked in regions as remote as the North Pole and the Sahara Desert. Once he transformed into the Hulk there was no telling where the great green behemoth would take a notion to go and Bruce had woken up in places as exotic as fabled Atlantis and the Great Refuge of Attilan or as common as a bus stop in Kansas City or a Burger King bathroom in Milwaukee.

However, it had been a long time since he had woken up in a state of the art technological wonderland such as the one he now found himself in. Bruce was sitting in a large chair of ceramic materials with metal clamps securing his wrists, thighs and ankles inside of a laboratory that was remarkable in both size and sophistication.

How he had gotten here was still a mystery. The last thing he clearly remembered was the fight with Woodgod and then after they had made peace, Woodgod had cured him of the skin condition that had turned his skin green. Then Woodgod had even provided him with clothes and transportation. In addition, for some reason his memory was a jumble of images and flashes of scenes right out of a nightmare….something with giant bears and a man with red eyes that terrified the hell out of him for some reason he couldn’t understand. But those memories were horrifically painful and Bruce forced them out of his thoughts. He had to concentrate on what was going on right here and now and after he had extricated himself from whatever predicament the Hulk had placed him in, he could worry about the missing gaps in his memories. God knows it wouldn’t be the first time he’d had to piece together whatever shreds of normalcy the Hulk had left him with.

Bruce visibly winced as he heard a psychic howl from deep inside him as the Hulk protested at being blamed for Bruce’s situation. Wherever they were and whoever had them captive, the Hulk was most certainly NOT responsible for it.

Whoever had them was a scientific genius. That much was obvious from the sophistication of the gleaming machinery filling the laboratory. This was a lab that Tony Stark or Henry Pym could have happily spent a year in without coming up for air. Bruce’s trained eye could tell that most of the devices in the lab were for the purposes of genetic research and the application of gamma radiation upon living human tissue in various forms. Some of the devices were even based on papers he had written, designs he had worked on years ago before. Indeed, the lab’s function seemed geared toward gamma research. Bruce briefly wondered if this could be where the Leader was. His slim body tensed in anger and there was an almost sexual thrill of anticipation as adrenaline flooded his system and he just KNEW that in a few seconds, the change would begin and every atom of his being hungered for the rush as his gamma irradiated cells…

…But nothing was happening. The rush was fading. The adrenaline levels were dropping. After so many years, Bruce knew his own body enough to known when he was transforming into the Hulk and it was simply not happening.

Deep within his subconscious, he heard the Hulk’s frustrated bellow at being denied his freedom to smash and destroy.

“You will not transform into the Hulk within these walls unless and until I allow it, Doctor Banner.”

Bruce tried to turn in his restraining chair to see who was talking. Nevertheless, the restraints prevented him from turning his head around fully. The voice was strong, clear, and vaguely reminded Bruce of Jamaican voices he had heard but there was another accent that was tantalizingly familiar but he couldn’t quite place it…

“This entire lab is blanketed in a ‘white noise’ that is attuned to a specific pattern of brain waves. The brain waves that keep you calm and tranquil. If you should become upset, agitated or angry, the sensors in your chair will notice the heightened agitation and increase the intensity of the tranquil ‘white noise’ and you will be relaxed against your will. In short, you will not transform into the Hulk, Doctor Banner.”

“Show yourself! Who are you?”

A woman walked out of the shadows, limping slightly. Bruce’s eyes widened in amazement as she walked closer and he could see her better. She was dressed in a form-fitting metallic suit of intricate design that shimmered an iridescent pale cerulean. Circuitry inlaid on the surface of the suit seemed almost like some ancient hieroglyphics from some future time. A row of crystal bars, perhaps two inches wide ran up the side of her left leg and her right arm. The bars seemed to pulse and throb with their own life and gradually darkened from maroon to sable and then turned transparent and then the entire process started again. Her head was bald save for a thin black ponytail that reached from the back of her delicately shaped head almost to her knees. And as she stepped fully into the light, another striking thing about her was immediately apparent.

Her skin was a rich, deep green.

The woman was very beautiful indeed with neon blue eyes that immediately demanded attention and respect. Not a tall woman at all, perhaps five feet four inches but her striking appearance along with the bizarre yet beautiful metallic suit she wore gave her a stature that went beyond mere height.

Bruce had to admit that she was extraordinarily beautiful and yet he had to remind himself that she was the one holding him captive. And the fact that her skin was green was the greatest shock of all. ‘She HAD to have been exposed to gamma radiation somewhere,’ he thought. ‘But WHERE? And WHEN? She’s a young girl…how…’

The woman smiled. “You’re wondering how and where I was exposed to a sufficient dose of gamma radiation to turn my skin green, aren’t you?”

“No. I want to know who you are and why you have me locked up like an animal! And where am I?”

The green woman limped closer. “You have to forgive my temporary disability, Doctor Banner. I recently suffered injuries due to a visit I paid to the Savage Land. However, thanks to the healing factor I inherited from my father, I should soon be right back in the…” the woman’s beautiful elfin face broke into a smile, “…green of health.”

“Why don’t you just tell me what it is you want and we’ll get this over with. Do you want money? I have millions.”

The green woman laboriously eased herself down into a high-backed leather chair. She tapped a few buttons on the armrest and the chair rose several feet into the air. She crossed her slim legs and sat back in obvious relief. “If you’ll look around you, Doctor Banner…you’ll see that money is one thing I most certainly do not lack for. In fact, it has been your government and several others of your world that has provided me with these resources you see around you…and much more besides.”

“Who are you? What do you want?”

The green woman smiled. “The name I have chosen for myself is Janelle Ban. On this world, I have been awarded the honorific of Professor. You truly say that I do not seem familiar?”

Bruce Banner snarled, “All I know is that I was contacted by a clone of Glenn Talbot…a clone that had been artificially mutated into a version of the Leader! I rescued that clone because despite everything else, Glenn Talbot was a friend of mine and he loved Betty Ross as much as I did! Now who are YOU? What have you put yourself through? What ISthis place?”

The green woman coughed, spat something up into her hand that she looked at ruefully and wiped away on the cushion of her floating chair. She looked back at Bruce. “What else?”

“The Leader claimed that he and General Ross were part of some kind of conspiracy that was researching using controlled gamma radiation to mutate humans into some kind of super soldiers. I agreed to rescue him from where he was being held prisoner at Hulkbuster Base. He told me that there was some kind of cellular degradation going on inside his cells and he needed my help to stay alive.”

The green woman waved a hand in careless dismissal. “Most of what he told you was the truth but not exactly. Most of what he said was simply to get you into my hands. You’re at what we call Serenity Base and this is where we’re indeed experimenting with gamma radiation. But my work is not solely for the benefit of the United States. Serenity Base has many investors.”

“I still don’t understand what the hell you want with me?”

Janelle Ban leaned forward, her elbows resting her knees. “Everything that has been done has been for one purpose: to bring you here so that I might accomplish several aims. One is that I want the information and knowledge of Robert Bruce Banner, the world’s leading expert on gamma radiation. The Leader contacted me and I was able to have some valuable pieces of equipment brought here from your secret desert lab. But that is still nothing compared to having the man himself. I have eleven subjects here that through genetic surgery and careful doses of gamma radiation have been artificially mutated. But by examining the DNA of the Hulk, I can learn exactly which dose to use to bestow upon them the healing factor and invulnerability the Hulk enjoys.”

Bruce smiled smugly. “And how are you going to do that when you won’t allow the transformation to take place?”

“I’m hoping that the Hulk will help me willingly. And yourself, for that matter. The ‘white noise’ projector is just to keep you calm so that I can talk to you without you getting agitated and you trigger the change before I had a chance to explain myself and my situation to you. Now, you may agree to help me once I tell you who I am and you may not. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Janelle Ban’s chair floated still closer and she look deep into Bruce’s eyes. “Can you honestly say you don’t recognize me? Is there nothing in my face that reminds you of someone?”

Bruce looked back into Janelle’s face just as deeply and slowly, horrified realization came to him.

“Dear God…it can’t be…you couldn’t be…now that I look at you close up, I do see a resemblance…but HOW…”

Janelle Ban was smiling in triumph as her chair floated backwards. “It may be most difficult for you to believe but I assure you that I indeed am Jarella’s daughter. And my father is the Hulk.”

The Vice President of the United States sat in his office in the White House and gloomily contemplated the information on the screen of his computer. The funds he had been siphoning off to pour into the coffers of Serenity Base had been taken from various government programs and were now beginning to show up. It was to be expected. In the last year or so, the Vice President’s name had come up in far too many government reports and he had to appear before far too many congressional committees, along with the President and various other key presidential staff members. No matter how well he hid his trail, no matter the generous bribes or the deadliest of threats, his connection with Serenity Base was going to come out eventually.

His secret masters would not like that at all. They had long range plans for Serenity Base and the results of Professor Ban’s research and his being linked to such an operation would cause his removal from the position he now occupied and if that happened, his secret masters would happily and gleefully provide him with the proverbial fate worse than death. And worse it would be, indeed. He had seen them inflict such a punishment on others.

He had thought his plan for the Hulk would have borne fruit by now. It had seemed simple elegance itself: convince Bruce Banner to go to Genosha and once there offer his services to Magneto. But Banner’s real mission would be to turn the Hulk loose on the Master of Magnetism and kill him. The Vice President intended to offer Banner a new lab if he did so but actually, he had no such intention of honoring his promise. There would be a good chance that Magneto would kill the Hulk or the Hulk would kill Magneto or even better they would kill each other but in any case, the Vice President’s purpose would have been served: to give the American public, God bless ’em, something else to fear and worry about and demand that the ever watchful eye of the media be turned on for a time. At least long enough for him to point the trail that led from Serenity Base to his office door somewhere else. He reached out and flicked on his intercom.

“Missus Bailey? Has Hardbottle reported in recently?”

The crisp efficient voice of his secretary answered at once, “He last checked in four hours ago, sir. Said he was at the Vault. Do you want me to get in touch with him?”

“Yes, please. I want to speak to him personally.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Vice President turned back to his computer screen and continued reading but had only read two lines or so when he felt the cell phone in the breast pocket of his suit jacket vibrate. He took it out and checked the number before flipping it open.

“Go ahead.”

The voice was that of one of his informants inside of Serenity Base who kept him informed of everything that Professor Ban did not. “It’s Bertram, sir. “

“Report.”

“Sir…HE’S here.”

The Vice President took in a deep breath of impatience “Don’t waste my time, man. He? He who?”

“The Hulk. Well, he’s not the Hulk now. He’s Bruce Banner. And he’s here at Serenity Base.”

“If this is a joke or if you’re lying to me…”

“I swear on the heads of my children, sir. They found Banner in a Seattle hospital and brought him here. Professor Ban has him in her personal lab and has ordered Serenity Base shut down. I’m on the roof now. That’s the only way I could use my cell phone. If I’m caught-“

“Then go back to your duties. I’ll handle things from here.”

As he put away his personal cell phone, his intercom bleeped for attention. “Sir, I have Lieutenant Colonel Hardbottle on line one.”

“Tell him to call me back in an hour,” the Vice President snapped. Damnation. How in the hell had Professor Ban gotten her hands on Bruce Banner so quickly? Especially when nobody knew where Banner had disappeared to after his fight in the desert with the Human Torch. And the fact that Professor Ban hadn’t contacted anyone else in the inner circle of the Kwaidan Corporation to inform them that she had Bruce Banner was more than enough evidence that she was up to something. But now the problem was how to get word to Hardbottle so that he could get to Seattle and secure Banner before anything else went wrong. Hardbottle was a lot of things but a fool wasn’t one of them. If the Vice President gave him the exact location of where Bruce Banner was being held prisoner, Hardbottle was going to wonder exactly how the Vice President had come by that information. And that would set another curious nose to sniffing. And that would not please his secret masters one tiny bit. But there was another way to get the information to Hardbottle.

Jim Hammond, the Human Torch had used his considerable influence to get himself a slot on Hardbottle’s team. The last anybody knew of Hammond, he was checking in with the West Coast Avengers to see if they had a line on the Hulk’s whereabouts. Now all the Vice President needed was a sucker that he could feed the information to and the sucker could be manipulated into getting it to Hammond.

The Vice President looked through the various files and memos on his desk. He had seen one, just a few days ago which had been forwarded to the Chief of Staff concerning a new government appointee. He found the memo and read it through quickly. A satisfied smile spread across his face and he pressed a button on the intercom again. “Missus Bailey?”

“Yes sir?”

“I need to get hold of Everett K. Ross. He’s either here in Washington or in New York. Wherever he is, get him on a secure line for me.”

“Out of all the inane lies you could have used to try and gain my trust, young lady THAT was the stupidest one,” Bruce snarled. He wasn’t even angry. He was heartsick. It had been so long since he had thought of Jarella and Janelle Ban had brought back a whirlpool of memories that filled his brain and flooded his heart with feelings he had thought long ago dealt with and locked away deep inside of him somewhere. “And I don’t care how long it takes I will make you pay for using the memory of what Jarella and I had together against me in this way. How DARE you use her memory in such a-”

“And what other explanation can you give for my appearance? Or my abilities? The gamma-irradiated genes of the Hulk combined with the unique DNA of Jarella, a native of the sub-atomic world of K’ai were responsible for that. I have considerable superhuman strength as well as control over the density of my body as well as one or two other rather remarkable talents. And we cannot ignore my considerably advanced intelligence.”

If she expected to surprise Bruce by mentioning Jarella’s homeworld of K’ai, she was disappointed. Bruce snorted in disgust. “Just you knowing the existence of K’ai isn’t proof of what you say, Janelle. Scientists right here on Earth knew of the existence of K’ai and hundreds of other microworlds long before I was accidentally shrunk down to sub-atomic size and found myself on K’ai. And Jarella died right here on Earth. The Hulk took her body back to K’ai and buried it there. Needless to say, Jarella was most certainlyNOT pregnant. My only question is why you would tell such a transparent lie?”

Janelle Ban crossed her legs and her smile was one of smug superiority as she answered, “And what if I could provide you with complete and unalterable proof that the Hulk and Jarella are my parents? What then?”

“I’d have to see the proof first. Then and only then would I be able to give you an answer. And how would you prove that the information was not tampered with?”

“By letting you run the tests yourself here in this lab. The white noise will remain on so you do not transform into the Hulk but I will let you take a DNA sample from me and run the tests by yourself. Alone. You will be free to inspect my instruments, computers and equipment so that you can assure yourself that they have not been altered or tampered. Would that satisfy you?”

Bruce took a minute or so to think before answering. The woman certainly seemed sincere and the more he looked at her the more he could see Jarella in her eyes and in her way of holding her head and the way her lips quirked when she said certain words….but then he put a lock on those thoughts. He was a scientist and he required proof of what she said before he would allow any emotionalism or sentimentality to make up his mind for him. If nothing else, it would get him out of these damned restraints. He could figure out what to do about the white noise projector later on. The most important thing was to be free.

“Okay. You’re on. Get me out of this chair and let’s verify your parentage.”

The Leader’s thin emerald lips twisted in amazed hatred as he listened to the conversation between Banner and Janelle Ban. Could it actually be possible that Janelle Ban was the daughter of the Hulk? The Leader had just assumed that Janelle had exposed herself to controlled gamma radiation and that accounted for her appearance and abilities. But this was most definitely an entirely new can of worms that had been opened. But if it were true then it certainly explained a lot of things about Janelle’s behavior and her acute interest in the Hulk.

The Leader had placed a listening device in Janelle Ban’s lab on one of the infrequent occasions he had been allowed inside that most holy of holies. The device was no thicker or longer than a human hair and could only be used for less than a minute or two at a time. Any longer than that and it would be detected by the random sensor sweeps of her lab. But even that limited amount of time was enough for him to hear what was important and he could guess the rest.

The Leader had a small, cramped laboratory of his own where the machinery that had been stolen from Bruce Banner’s desert lab was being kept until Janelle Ban could get to it herself. She’d been extremely busy of late and had left the machinery exclusively in the Leader’s care and that had proved to be very enlightening for the Leader. Superior intelligence breeds superior ambition and the Leader had been thinking for some time now that he was rapidly becoming expendable here at Serenity Base, especially now that the Hulk was in Janelle Ban’s grasp. But with these machines and his own considerable intellect….could not the Leader become a power in his own right to be feared?

But first things were first. He would need half a dozen of the maintenance robots to carry the equipment to one of the fliers used by Serenity Base. They were low altitude craft with full stealth capabilities and perfect for his purposes. But he would need a distraction. And there was the best distraction in the world right in Professor Ban’s laboratory….

The thick door of Janelle Ban’s laboratory hissed as it swung open just barely enough to accommodate her slim body. She extended her right arm and the crystal bars on that arm glowed bright green as the door closed itself. She walked over to where Bruce Banner was standing, hunched over a long metal table, dressed in a plain white jumpsuit.

After allowing him to take a DNA sample, she had left him alone here in her lab where he had been for the past seven hours. She had not returned to the lab until he had requested to see her. In that time he had eaten twice, slept once for about forty-five minutes and the rest of the time had been taken in examining her DNA.

As she walked closer, Bruce turned and she could instantly tell from the look in his eyes that he knew she was telling the truth. She smiled in triumph as she said, “And so we have at last come to the moment of truth, have we not, Doctor Banner? Or perhaps under the circumstances I should call you…Uncle Bruce?”

“Don’t you dare!” Bruce snarled, taking a step back. His harsh breathing was ragged and loud over the hum of computers and the other machinery in the lab. “How could such a thing happen? Jarella is DEAD!”

“But her body was on K’ai and her genetic material available. And there was…how can I put this as delicately as possible…enough residual DNA samples of the Hulk necessary for the process.”

Bruce’s face was pale with anger and he was shaking all over as he said in a low, dangerous voice, “You’re going to tell me how such an abomination as you came into being and you’re going to tell me now or so help me….”

Janelle Ban laughed recklessly. “Oh, please! No empty melodramatic threats! You’ll just embarrass yourself! You can’t change into the Hulk thanks to the white noise projectors and the weakling Bruce Banner is powerless to do anything to me! You’re mine, dear Uncle Bruce! Both you and my father and the both of you will-” Janelle Ban stopped talking as she realized that something was very wrong here. Bruce was doubled over, his arms wrapped around his torso and he was shaking all over as if waves of electricity were coursing through his body. The material of his jumpsuit was bulging and writhing as though the skin underneath had suddenly come alive. Janelle Ban stepped backwards, her mouth slack with surprise as the jumpsuit split, Bruce’s back bulging upwards and out…his green back.

Janelle turned and ran for the door to her lab, extending her arm to open it. Somehow, she didn’t know how, the white noise projector had been shut off and that meant that-

A long metal table sailed over her head and smashed against the slowly opening door, blocking Janelle Ban’s escape. She turned and looked up into the grinning face of the Hulk.

“I think you need a lesson in respecting your elders.” The Hulk lifted a massive hand and a finger that looked as thick as Janelle Ban’s body crooked slowly in a ‘come here’ gesture. “Come to poppa.”

NEXT ISSUE: It’s not exactly ‘Father Knows Best’ as the Hulk and his long-lost daughter Janelle Ban resolve their differences gamma style! But what does this mean for Serenity Base and the Leader? And will Hardbottle’s Hulkbusters get there in time to make a difference? The answers to these questions can only be found in Hulk #11!