The Soulmate Initiative: Book 2

19. The long-awaited discovery

LOCATION: SAKAAR

Tasia, while unconscious, is being tended to by maids. She suddenly wakes up, scaring them all away. She sits up and looks around, seeing a huge bed made from a skeleton of a creature. Water splashes from one side of the room and she looks over to see a large pool, in it she sees the Hulk, bare chested, but it doesn't really identify the Hulk's gender, it could easily be muscle. Tasia raises her hands in surrender "Are we cool?" The Hulk growls softly and Tasia chuckles to herself a little "It's Hulk in a hot tub." She then addresses the Hulk "So how long have you been like that?" The Hulk replies in a deep voice "Like what?" "Like this. Big and green." "Hulk always Hulk." Tasia walks over to a large window to look out over the city "How'd you get here?" "Winning." "You mean cheating, huh? Were they wearing one of these when you won?" She points to the disk impeded into her neck.

"How'd you arrive here?" Hulk imitates flying, then splashes a huge hand down into the water making a big splash "Quinjet." Tasia smiles "Yes. Now, where is the quinjet now?" The Hulk gets out of the hot tub and Tasia's eyes widen, seeing Hulk is… a female. She quickly averts her eyes, feeling awkward, even though Regina is one of her soulmates "That's naked. She's very naked." Hulk walks past Tasia, still naked, over to the window, where she points "Quinjet." Tasia hurries over to have a look, seeing it on the ground, surrounded by random items "Yes!" Hulk pulls on some clothes as Tasia smiles "I'm getting us out of here. This is a terrible, awful place." Hulk sits on the edge of her bed and starts eating a large fruit as Tasia keeps talking "You're gonna love Asgard. It's big, it's golden, shiny." "Hulk stay." "No, no, no. My people need me to get back to Asgard. We must prevent Ragnarok." Hulk seems uninterested, but asks anyway "Ragnarok?" "The prophesied death of my home world. The end of days, it's the end of-" Hulk yawns loudly "If you help me get back to Asgard, we can afterwards head back to Earth." "Earth hate Hulk." "Earth loves Hulk. They love you. You're one of the Avengers, one of the team. One of our soulmates." "You're Banner's soulmate." "I'm not just Regina's soulmate, I'm yours too." "Banner's soulmate. Tasia go. Hulk stay." 

Tasia frowns, realising Hulk isn't about about let Regina have control, she needs to find another way to bring her home. She starts to slowly walk towards the doorway, talking as she goes "Fine. Stay here. Stupid place. It's hideous, by the way. The red, the white, just pick a colour. It's ridiculous." "Smash you." "You didn't smash anything. I won that fight." "I smashed you." "Yeah, sure, sure. Baby arms." "What?" Tasia turns, just as Hulk throws her fruit at her "Baby!" "You big child." "Tasia go!" "I am going!" She turns and steps into the doorway, but an alarm beeps and she gets electrocuted. Hulk laughs "Tasia go again. Tasia home." 

A while after Tasia has recovered, she is standing at the window, looking at the quinjet, trying to think up a plan. Hulk, in her armour again, walks towards the doorway "Hulk trains." "That's great. Have fun." Bruliel is waiting for her "Hey, big guy." Hulk greets him "Angry man." "What have you been up to?" "Winning." Bruliel laughs. Once they're gone, Tasia takes a deep breath and closes her eyes "Heimdall, I know you can see me. I need you to help me. Help me see."

LOCATION: ASGARD

Tasia opens her eyes to see she is now in a corridor somewhere on Asgard, it's eerily quiet. Heimdall speaks to her "I see you, but you're far away." "What's going on here?" "Come see for yourself." She follows Heimdall to a window, where they can see the Palace a bit in the distance, and a few civilians are hiding. Heimdall explains "I'm providing refuge in a stronghold built by our ancestors. But if the garrison falls, our only escape is the bifrost." "You're talking about evacuating Asgard?" Behind them a creature snarls, they lean up against a wall to see undead soldiers marching by "We won't last long if we stay. He draws his power from Asgard and grows stronger every day. Come on." The civilians follow him through a door "Herlan is ravenous. If I let him leave, he'll consume the Nine Realms and all the cosmos. We need you." "I'm working on it. But I don't even know where the hell I am." "You're on a planet surrounded by doorways. Go through one." He starts to back away from Tasia, watching behind her "Which one?" "The big one." He pulls out his sword and swings.

LOCATION: SAKAAR

Tasia opens her eyes again, back in front of the window in Hulk's room, gasping for breath. She tries to remove the disk from her neck.