Being a Banner [ 1 of JA ]

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When I open my eyes, the first thing I see is the Other Guy's green face and bright green eyes. I scream, scaring him, causing the Other Guy to jump and hit his head on a rock. My eyes look around, and I realize I'm in a cave, probably somewhere in the woods near the park. Or far from it. The sound of rain caught my attention, and I realized that my torn, bullet-holed filled shirt was soggy against my skin. I was cold all over, goosebumps covered my whole body. Nothing was numb but I was scared my body parts were going to be soon.
The Other Guy growls at me, narrowing his eyes as he ducks out of the cave.
"Hey, wait!" I croak. My arms and legs were incredibly soar. Each movement felt like every tendon in my body was about to snap. I lean on the rock wall as the Other Guy turns around and looks down at me.
"What happened?" I ask, "What did you do?" The Other Guy shakes his head and grits his teeth. It was night, and through the darkness his green skin was prominent.
"What did I do wrong?" I ask him. "I was trying to save you, get out of the situation, but you decided to drop kick an army soldier!" The Other Guy turns his back to me. I brush my wet hair behind my ear.
"Don't ignore me! You're the one who got us into this mess! Now everyone's going to be on the lookout for us!" I yell. "Dad is going to freak out. Why didn't you change back when I asked you to? Dad would've gotten us out of there before the helicopter came! What makes you think it was a good idea to start throwing soldiers around the whole—"
"Puny Banner!"
I stop and stare up at the Other Guy. "Did you just—"
"Puny Banner, Banner puny," The Other Guy growls.
"Y-You talk!" I gasp. "How-When-You've never talked before!"
"Teeny annoying," The Other Guy says, leaning down to meet my face. "Teeny mean,"
"Teeny?" I ask, "I'm Teeny? Wait—I'm mean?"
"Teeny loves Banner more," he says, "Teeny no talk to Hulk,"
"Hulk?" I whisper to myself. That's when I remember the small jar back in the lab with the liquid Dad had told me to use on him. It was labeled 'HULK.'
      "Oh my God," I say quietly. "That's you," He slowly sat down on the ledge of the cave, his gigantic feet dangling off the small cliff.
      "I never talked to you because I never knew you," I say. "When you appeared the last time in the lab, I was focusing on Dad being there inside your mind. I guess I should've been focusing more on you—that was my promise!" I place my hands at my forehead. "I said I could help you, but I was paying too much attention to Dad. . ."
      "Hulk been gone too long," Hulk says, head hanging low. "Banner hate Hulk,"
      There was silence between the two of us except for the rain hitting the rocks and the trees. I made my way next to the Hulk on his right, sitting not too far and not too close. I watched the rain fall on his massive trap muscles and drip down his arms. There were thin white scratches on his body, which I could only guess were scars. He looked a lot like Dad too. They had the same eye-shape, nose and chin. Hulk's hair was messier and longer; there were some curls, but now they were wet and matted down.
      "Do you know who I am?" I ask Hulk. He looks down at me, his green eyes taking in every detail.
      "Teeny," he answers.
      I laugh softly. "Yes, but do you know me?" Hulk grunts and looks away, his jaw shifting tightly.
      "Tiny Banner," he says. "Mini Banner, Teeny,"
      I smile small. "My name's Kerry, and yes, I'm Bruce's daughter." I suck in a deep breath as a shiver creeps up my spine. "I'm sorry, Hulk, I should've spent more time with you. I didn't know you could be this relaxed, you're always so. . ." I should've just stopped at the apology because Hulk grew quiet again.
      "Angry," he finishes.
      "I'm sorry," I say. "I'm sorry that I didn't give you a chance. These two months have been crazy. . .one day I'm a normal kid and the next I find out my dad has an alter ego. I want to help anyway I can, just so I didn't lose Dad again," I see Hulk look down at me.
"Lose Banner?" He asks.
I nod, "He works all the time, well, worked. I didn't see him at all up until a month ago when he said he was going to take a week off work. It was the first time he's ever felt like my dad, I felt like I had my family back."
"Family?" Hulk asks.
"Yeah, family includes a lot of people; like a dad, so Bruce, a mom, maybe brothers and sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins. But family doesn't have to be related by blood, I like to think that my two best friends are my family. They're there for me when I'm sad, and they were always there to help me when Dad wasn't. Please don't tell him this, if you guys ever talk or whatever, I don't want him to think that he's a bad father. He's not, I just wish we could go back to the old days where he didn't work and we'd spend all of our days having fun and hanging out with my uncle and cousin. . .I'd do anything to have that again,"
"Teeny was. . .lonely?" Hulk asks. I shrug with a slight nod. "Hulk gets lonely too, a lot," looking up at him, I see Hulk frowning with puckered lips.
"I guess we're not that different from each other," I smile small. A violent shiver shakes my whole body, and my teeth begin to chatter. Hulk leans away from me, a confused look on his face.
"I'm starting to get cold, how about you?" I ask. Suddenly, Hulk wraps his big green arm around me. I lean right into his big bicep in the crook of his arm. I don't recall falling asleep, but I do remember him carrying me back into the cave and making sure the rain wouldn't get to me.

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The sound of birds chirping woke me up. The sun warmed my body and the cool October breeze softly brushed against my face. I open my eyes to see Dad laying on his stomach, head on his arms and back in his original form. My hair was still stringy and wet, my clothes cold, soaked, and torn and weighing a lot. Dad's hair was wet, stringy and cold too as I approached him. His pants, his only piece of clothing were extremely large cargo shorts. Even though he was sleeping he still looked exhausted. His breathing was normal, but he was also shivering.
      I couldn't imagine living with a secret like his for fourteen years or more. Leaning down, I give him a tight little hug on his back before he starts moving. Dad groans as he pushes himself up on his hands.
      "Dad," I say, trying to see his face. He starts vomiting and gagging. "Woah! Woah! Woah!" I pull him away from the small puddle of puke and bro him settle on the slab of rock I was sleeping on. Dad groans as he looks at me, and when he realizes it's me his brown eyes grow wide.
      "Oh my God—" he throws his arms around me. "I thought I killed you," his hug tightens as he brushes my hair. I hug him tightly back and laugh lightly.
      "I'm amazed that Jeep didn't break my hip," I laugh. Dad pulls away alarmingly fast and stares into my eyes.
      "That was real?" He asks.
      "I'm fine though!" I say, "I think I have powers! Look at my shirt! Those are bullet holes!"
      "What?!"
      "I'm fine though! See? No blood!" I exclaim. "I'm indestructible when it comes to my powers, I feel stronger too!"
      "No green?" He asks.
      "Not a shade," I reply. "Speaking of which, I talked to Hulk last night," Dad looked surprised hearing the name. "I'm a bad tamer," I frown. "I should've had more time with the Hulk. If I did, maybe yesterday wouldn't have happened,"
      Dad smiles small and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Yesterday wasn't your fault, that is unless you called the army on me. You snitch," I laugh with him as he hugs me one last time.
      "I'd never snitch on you, I love you too much Dad," I say.
      "I love you too, I couldn't have asked for a better daughter," Dad says softly. I debated whether or not to say what I wanted, but just so he knew I was here for him I reply, "You fall, I fall,"
      And to my surprise he did. "You fall, I fall,"

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Edittted 👏🏼