Experiment Gone Wrong
2011
Asgard
~~~
Heimdall, as the watcher, heard all and saw all that went on in the Nine Realms. In his long life, he had thought he'd seen everything. Heartbreak, betrayal, great love, great hate, mighty warriors and battles to decide the fate of entire societies.
But this...this was new. And like a chariot accident, he could not bring himself to look away.
"Is there something wrong, my friend?" Oli asked him.
If Heimdall was not Heimdall, he probably would've gone 'by tHE ALL-FATHER'S POOFY WHITE BEARD, HOLY F*CKING YGDRISILL, YOUR HIGHNESS YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THE SH*T I JUST SAW!' But instead what came out was: "Merely an interesting development on Midgard, my Prince."
Odin may rule the Nine Realms, but Heimdall was the king of understatements.
~~~
2011
Somewhere in United States
~~~
In a laboratory somewhere in the United States, stood a tall, raven-haired man wearing a white lab coat, green pants and a pair of black boots. His name was Manny Gutierrez. He was currently working on his latest experiment.
The scientist was holding up two beakers, examining the liquids in them.
In his right hand, he held a beaker full of blue liquid. In the left, he held another beaker, but this time it was full of yellow liquid. Transferring the blue into the yellow to combine both liquids, the concoction eventually turned green.
He smiled in satisfaction, knowing that he was close to finishing. All he needed to do was place it in the growth ray and it will be complete. Ready to be tested and approved. Manny was confident it would work just fine, gamma was one of his many specialties.
Setting it down, he paused for a moment to admire his creation. All of a sudden, a fellow scientist burst in, named Maria burst into the room, ruining his peace and quiet. A look of fear and anxiousness was painted on her face. "Manny, we have to get out of he-"
An explosion went off, sending the scientists crashing to the ground, hitting the growth ray. "B*tch-" he said as it fell to the ground too, beakers and other test tubes joining the party.
Great. Just great. Didn't know somebody was testing explosives near my lab.Really now?
Explosives?
This would go on the list of best days of his life. Getting to his knees, he was hit by a blast of green ray.
First explosions, then getting whacked by my own experiment. What's next, me turning into a monster and being hunted by the government?
Manny let out a bitter laugh, though it was soon replaced by coughs. In the corner of his eye, he saw a fire starting a few feet away from him. Sprinklers went off in the room, smearing his make-up.
"You have got to be kidding me," he moaned, reaching out to touch his face. "This ain't a look, I am no Jackson Pollock painting."
He was getting furious. The explosion happened in his damn lab, and no one bothered rescuing this poor, fair maiden?
The audacity of it all! (Manny didn't count Maria, she fled like a dog as soon as the explosion happened)
His experiment will never even be tested and completed now, all his hard work was ruined.
His anger was boiling now, not only at others but himself. Why couldn't he be strong enough to get out of there sooner?
That was when he snapped.
Manny lost total control, his chocolate brown eyes fading into an emerald green. His pale skin was turning into a sickly green.
Then, for the very first time, he hulked out.
~~~
2014
Gotham, New York
~~~
If there's anything Nikita hated more than breaking a nail, it was circuses.
And it just so happens that Fury wanted her to go to a circus to find a guy they called, 'the Hulk'. Who that guy was, Nikita had no idea, she was in Belarus in an assassin program that made her kill all her fellow Black Widows.
But thanks to Teala and a few other Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (or for you uneducated tweebs, S.H.I.E.L.D) agents, that didn't happen. And so she was hired by S.H.I.E.L.D and has been working with them ever since. Guess they wanted her to work for them for her formidable resume, not trying to brag.
And so instead of being an assassin, Nikita turned into... a spy. Not much of an improvement, if Nikita was being frank.
Oh well, at least she's not hired to murder people. Most of the time. The former assassin tensed up at the thought.
In a last attempt to escape the clutches of death, Natasha threw Nikita off her. She let out a shriek, head slamming on the ground. Blood stained her light hair as her opponent tried to jump on her and strangle her, but she was faster, getting back onto her feet lightning quick. Throwing her back onto the ground, Nikita nearly slipped on blood, but didn't let that stop her.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "It's either you, or me."
She stepped on the girl's spine, breaking it.
Before Nikita could backslide further into her anecdotes, she shook her head, trying to devote herself to her mission. Even if the sound of screaming and pleads for mercy resonated in her ears.
She pursed her lips, shoving down the guilt in a box that was like Pandora's Box, one where she isn't supposed to open, but ends up opening anyway. Despite the fact that the Red Room was long gone, whilst those in charge and the girls who were fostered there were dead, it wasn't like when she first arrived to the academy, where her memory was obliterated.
No, those recollections were embedded in her brain and will stay there until the day her body is buried underneath the ground just like every other person she deprived of life to get to this exact episode of her life. Well, unless there was nothing left of them to entomb.
To give a succinct account of how the heck she ended up on the 'good guys' side, Teala and a few other agents infiltrated the Red Room because they had been waiting to strike, then found the perfect moment when they planned on giving one of the girls a replica of the Super Soldier Serum that Captain America had injected him long ago during World War II, the War Against H*tler-
It's a long story for another time.
They were supposed to eliminate her as well for her association with the organization, but Teala spared her and insisted that Fury recruit her. To give her a shot at redemption, a second chance at life.
Plus, it'd be handy to have someone like her at S.H.I.E.L.D, Teala had claimed and eventually, the pirate wannabe agreed.
As much as the Black Widow would love to tell her whole life story, she's got a job to do. And that requires a few disguises and tricks, watching her steps and always being on her guard.
Luckily that's what she's been doing her whole life.
~~~
One of many reasons Manny was stuck here was because he pissed off the wrong people and went into hiding, but was at the wrong place at the wrong time, so he ended in this egregious place he calls hell.
Stuck in an old-fashioned and ornate wooden cage, painted orange, red and blue. There was a large sign labeling him as 'The Monster.'
With his dirty and raggedy black hair, purple sweatpants that had without a doubt seen better days, shackled from head to toe, chains around his neck, wrists and ankles, barely recalling the last time he'd been fed and the way he never looked up, he looked completely harmless and could hardly even stand, let alone be a 'monster.'
Fortunately, 'the other guy,' hasn't decided to come out yet despite the raging storm that stirred in the ex-scientist. Manny hated it when the other guy took control because it made him feel so helpless. He hated that all he'll ever be is 'The Monster,' now.
It's not like he could kill him either, even if Manny wanted to. It wasn't because it would take the human part of him with it, but because nothing could kill the Hulk. As much as he wanted to get out of this blasted stockade, it was better in here than when he was a part of the show.
To have an audience watch him as circus workers jab him with long, sharp metal sticks through the bars of his prison. And flesh would tear, blood was spilled, panic heightened, and suddenly those massive gauntlets and shackles were the perfect size for an enraged, terrified man the size of a bear - probably bigger.
And the crowd was just laughing at him. Laughing like they've never seen something more entertaining in their lives as the creature threw things in rage trapped in his cage.
And just like that it was over, the other guy shrinking back to regular old, broken Manny. Shaking with both dread, shame, exertion and all things in between, sobbing about the things he'd just done, even if that wasn't really him.
But after five minutes, he would glue himself back together and sit back in his wistful stance at the center of his enclosure as he was wheeled away.
There was another act going on, one which Manny had heard was a new one, but didn't hear anything about who it was. There was no roaring laughter to be heard, so Manny assumes the audience is in awe.
Thankfully, his guards left their posts for their act and after a minute or so, a pair of footsteps could be heard. He learned to recognize everyone's footsteps, and these were unfamiliar. No doubt the person heard of him and came to taunt him like everyone else does.
"Um... hi," a female voice said and his eyes snapped up, seeing a woman, who was maybe a few years younger than he was, he would guess 20 or so. Dark red hair fell to her waist and she was wearing a spandex trapeze costume. A duffle bag was resting on her shoulder, likely ready to change out of her costume, but made a stop here. She didn't appear particularly friendly, but
She was definitely new if she was coming to his cage.
"Hello," he replied, not wanting to be rude. He was a little bit dizzy and a lot bit cranky, and he was still bleeding from several lacerations and would continue to do so for probably another hour until someone came to tend to him with a washcloth on a stick, but he didn't want to be rude. This was the first conversation he'd had in months.
"I'm Nikita," the trapezer said. She didn't bother with a last name. They didn't mean anything here anyway. Even first names were a unusual. Most people referred to each other by their stage names, it kept things impersonal.
"Manny," the man responded, and he seemed a little more relaxed. Nobody had asked him his name in a very long time. This girl was stupid, but probably special.
His hands resting on his knees started to fidget, touching his thumb to each of his fingertips.
"You hungry, man?" Nikita asked, fishing in her bag for a granola bar. Manny didn't argue when she slid the morsel between the bars, but didn't make a move towards it. Despite the fact that he could slip his hands out of the massive shackles, seeing as a whole watermelon could have fit with room to spare in one of them, he remained perfectly unmoving. He watched Nikita with careful eyes the whole time, but didn't so much as breathe harder.
"I'm on a specific diet," he said carefully.
Nikita lifted an eyebrow at the man. Manny was so thin he should be jumping at any food he could get. The guy was half starved. And he was turning down a granola bar?
"What for? Trying to lose weight?"
Manny didn't look amused. "Specific nutrients. Don't want to throw myself off my routine." He looked down at the wrapper more closely. "And I don't like peanuts."
"Your loss." Nikita said, taking the bar back. She quickly opened it and took a bite. "So what do you eat then? Lots of veggies so you'll grow up big and strong?"
Manny didn't reply, flinching and Nikita knew she made the wrong move by making that quip. "You're going to get in trouble if anyone sees you talking to me. The staff doesn't like to acknowledge I'm human. It helps them sleep a night. You're not nearly important enough to keep around if you're found breaking their biggest unspoken rule. I don't want you to get fired because your humanity had you itching to talk to me."
Nikita laughed, entertained by his response. This guy didn't know the first thing about her. Being human wasn't exactly the first thing people usually thought of when they thought of her. After the life she's lived, she doubted there was any real humanity left in her. That would mean giving a damn about other people and she didn't. At least she could ignore it long enough to put a bullet through someone's head.
"I don't care if they fire me. I'm here to have a nice chat with you out of my inquisitiveness," she bluffed. "Don't get ideas, this doesn't mean anything."
Yes it does because Fury gave you a job and you need to get this guy to S.H.I.E.L.D one way or another. Whatever happens to him after that, you couldn't care less. He's a mission.
"If it doesn't mean anything then you can turn around and walk away right now," Manny tested, peering at the agent in disguise.
"Maybe I will." Nikita huffed, but made no move to leave. She took another bite of her bar, eyeing Manny, trying to figure him out. She was good at reading people, another necessity she had developed over the years, but she wasn't getting anything from this guy. The man seemed like a blank slate. At least on the surface.
There was something more to him, Hill mentioned before she left for Gotham that he was some gamma scientist, which made Nikita think he was at least in his thirties, but Manny turned out to be only a few years older than her at most, which stunned the spy.
"If you're not going to say anything, you're not going to throw anything at me, and you're not here to laugh at my scars, then you should just go." he said after a long moment, breaking eye contact and ducking his head in his usual position again.
"Where you from?" Nikita asked because it was the first thing that popped into her head, needing to gain his trust. She didn't really care but it had sounded like Manny was challenging her. And Nikita Dragun never backed down from a challenge.
"I'd rather not talk about my previous life," Manny answered vaguely.
Nikita shrugged and kept talking. "I'm from Russia. Raised in a tiny town in Belarus."
That was... a half-truth, really. If you count an academy to be a tiny town. Sure felt like it.
"I didn't ask." He can't help but sort of like him, against his better judgment.
"Well, you seem like you need a friend. Go on, ask me whatever you want. I can't promise it'll be the truth but I guarantee you'll be entertained." Nikita finished off her granola bar and stuffed the wrapper into her bag, crossing her arms.
Manny's head snapped towards a noise in the distance that sounded like someone knocking something over, and his pupils dilated a small amount.
"Please, leave," he said firmly. "Please."
He didn't want to like this girl. He didn't want to have anything to look forward to. He didn't want anything to worry about. He didn't want connections, and if this girl kept on with his silly questions and honesty, Manny was going to want to be friends with her. He'd managed a very long time without friends and it was the easiest way to live his life.
Nikita nodded and started to ease back into the shadows. Just before she was out of sight she shot a smile at Manny.
"Same time tomorrow, big guy," she said and then she was gone.
As if it was all a dream.