[right][i][color=AF7AC5]“I saw my father today, and for the second time, he told me...he told me that the Devil is inside of me. And now I say, in front of God, that...I think he’s right.”[/color][/i][/right]

Hands trembling, Bruce buttoned up his labcoat with some difficulty. It was Monday, his first day back on the job since the accident. He barely remembered anything since he’d met his father a couple days ago. He knew he took the shuttle here as usual. He wasn’t hungry so he must have eaten something. He was there and now he was here. Despite it being his first day back no one had said anything to him. Not too odd, it’s not like he hadn’t been around. Easier to just leave things as they are, as normal as possible. Yet that could not be said either. He felt like he was being stared at. Turning to see eyes moving away from him. Like they saw the rot inside him he was trying to hide away.

He went into his lab. He’d barely sat down when Talbot said, “Er, Bruce...shouldn’t you be at Stern’s? I heard the experiment’s happening today.”

Bruce sheepishly ran his hand over his face, only to pause. Looking up at Talbot vacantly, he murmured, [color=AF7AC5]“What?”[/color]

“You should probably get there sooner rather than later.” Talbot’s irritation was abrasive. Looking to see the others in the lab watching him expectantly, Bruce shuffled out of the lab without even an apology. His already burdened mind was sinking.

“Hey Bruce,” came a call from the hall as  he walked. Bruce looked to the man vacantly. He’d never spoken to him before in his life. “Normal time tomorrow?” He gave a thumbs up. Bruce, half on reflex half in a hope and a prayer to be left alone, mimed his motion. Full of vertigo he felt like he was going to throw up he went on through spinning halls. Entering Stern’s lab he saw the man himself shuffling through a few papers. [color=AF7AC5]“S-sorry I’m late.”[/color]

Sterns paused, taking of his glasses as he gave Bruce a hard look. [color=2fa39c]“I don’t like a man who apologizes a lot. It reeks of attempts to annul personal agency and accountability. Besides, your work was done. I’m glad you’re here for what I hope is to be a victory lap.”[/color] Bruce felt as though he was walking on the ceiling, one step at a time. [color=2fa39c]“Come, Tala’s in the next room.”[/color]

Bruce followed as Sterns moved on. Entering the dim chamber, he saw a woman in a black dress bent over the ground. Four machines like floodlights were positioned around a dense magic circle that might have been drawn in blood. Bruce felt bile in his throat.

[color=7e6ab8]“Glad you could join us Mr. Banner. To have two projects come together in such short time, aren’t you a lucky one~”[/color] Putting a bowl of red liquid on a nearby table, she said, [color=7e6ab8]“We’re almost ready to begin.”[/color] Following Bruce’s eyes, she added with a giggle, [color=7e6ab8]“It’s only the blood of a goat.”[/color]

Trying to distract himself, Bruce focused on the floodlights. He’d seen them before, in his notes. Drafts of small gamma emitters, which he thought could be used for sanitation through flash bursts of radiation that would dissipate in no time. He’d discarded the idea for cost and impracticality, and yet here they were. He had a feeling it wasn’t to decontaminate the surfaces.

Clearing his throat, his voice was weak as he muttered, [color=AF7AC5]“What do we need to start?”[/color]

With a slight curl to the lips, Sterns observed. [color=2fa39c]“You didn’t seem to enthused earlier, but I suppose it’s hard not to get a little excited as two flavors of our natural world are blended to uncover something quite novel.”[/color]

Sweat beading on his forehead, Bruce turned away as he tried to grapple with with the one who’d been here in his form. He hadn’t remembered at all. Was he drunk? Had he taken Doc Samson’s substance recommendations after… There was a knock on the lab door. Tala invited in a blonde man with ears deformed by physical activity. He seemed on edge but excited. [color=99CC33]“This shit is fucking crazy.”[/color]

[color=7e6ab8]“Oh we have not even [i]begun[/i] my dear.”[/color] She began to guide him onto the circle.

[color=AF7AC5]“Are we really doing this?”[/color] Bruce blurted out. He felt his heart in his ears. His face was hot.

Sterns sat down near a control panel. [color=2fa39c]“Banner, we’ve been working on this for the better part of two weeks. It’s a bit late in the process to be getting cold feet.”[/color]

[color=AF7AC5]“Do you know what’s going to happen?”[/color] Bruce spoke before Sterns had even finished, looking to Blonsky.

[color=99CC33]“Yeah man, I already had a say-ance with, uh, Belphagor? Or one of his boys. We’re both getting what we want, that’s how these things work.”[/color]

Bruce’s jaw hung open. [color=AF7AC5]“I don’t think that’s how these things work.”[/color]

Tala gently chided him. [color=7e6ab8]“I am quite curious as to how you think they go, but it’s not my first time consorting with devils. They have a logic and psychology to them as all things do in the universal weave of consciousness. The deal has already been struck, and if we do not fulfill our end of the bargain, well...let’s not dally much longer.”[/color]

Blonsky stepped into the circle as Bruce fell back, leaning against the wall to keep himself from collapsing. Tala held her arms out and began to chant, each word carrying the weight sin, pressing on Bruce’s ears. Stern’s worked off of a tablet computer, wires leading to the four gamma emitters that flashed in their operation. And Bruce was two weeks too late to stop anything.

From the red light came wisps of white. The spectral energy flowed about Blonsky, who screamed. His skin split and more blood spilled. Muscles grew into sinewy flesh and bones splintered into new bones. They sublimated into layers of green flesh. Every flex of the arm was like watching a car driving gravel into the asphalt while watching from underneath. His security guard uniform was subsumed into the form. His ears became pointed, his mouth full of endless teeth. The Abomination spoke.

[color=99CC33]“In this day and age I now traverse,
with souls of men beset by moss.
I hear your plea, for life’s converse:
and so I’ll take the one called Ross.”[/color]