super-strength Containment parts 4 and 5 (Hulk Smashed cont.)

[AT2000]

There's been some requests for the continuation of the Containment story.  Though I haven't written anything on that one for a while.  It looks like I've only posted parts 1-3 here.  So here's is a couple of short chapters that I have written but not posted here for whatever reason.  I'll try and write more soon.  If I have posted these chapters here before, sorry for the repeat.

 

A big thanks to those who have expressed interest.

 

A.T.

 

 

 

Containment Part 4

Bruce was utterly stunned by Samson's new strength.  He lay on the ground gaping at the man that had just decisively manhandled the incredible Hulk with such ease.  He shook his head trying to reorder his addled thoughts as he finally managed to catch his breath enough to try and struggle to his feet.

Bruce managed to roll his hulking green form over in order to push himself up, but even that small effort caused darkness to bloom around the edges of his field of vision.  The Hulk was still so oxygen deprived that he remained on the verge of succumbing to unconsciousness.

"Allow me, Bruce."  He heard Samson's voice, which sounded far away, but immediately he felt the waistband of his all but indestructible trunks cinch tight around his waist as Samson grabbed hold of the back of the Hulks trademark purple attire and with a single unstoppable arm, hoisted the Hulk up into the air where the jade giant dangled like an exhausted trout on the line of a victorious sportsman.

The Hulk's superhuman recovery rate was kicking in but it would still be a few minutes before he would be close to full strength again.  "Damn you, Leonard.  Put me down."

"After you spill it, Bruce."  Samson casually flipped the Hulk into the air in a way that spun him over onto his back, catching and balancing the larger man with that same single arm.  Only now, Bruce flailed like an overturned turtle, supported by Samson's hand at the small of the Hulk's back.  "I can't wait to hear all about how you got yourself spanked, including who did the spanking."

Samson turned and started carrying Bruce back toward Northwind.

Unable to do anything against the utter indignity of his situation, the Hulk crossed his arms in a sulk.  "Telling you that means going back on a promise I made to someone, Leonard."  Bruce explained carefully.  Samson came to a Halt.  "Not that I'm reneging!"  Bruce added quickly.  "Just keep that in mind.  I'm asking you for a little discretion here."

"I understand."  Samson said, and continued walking once more.

"So who was it?"  Samson asked with the enthusiasm of a gossip monger.  "Blonsky, Marko...?"

"If only."  Bruce sighed dejectedly.  "His name is Christopher O'Mally."

Samson halted once more, his brow furrowed.  He gently placed the Hulk on his feet and steadied him.  "Who?"

"He's a mutant.  He may be the most powerful mutant that has ever existed."  Bruce explained.

"What's the nature of his power?"  Samson asked.

"Vastly augmented musculature, with correspondingly vast strength."  Bruce continued.  He felt his own strength surging back to full and stretched his arms and shook out the rapidly dissipating aches caused by overexerting himself against Samson.  "He can also generate some kind of elastic molecular cohesion fields, but it's a minor ability compared to his strength."

"Why have I never heard of him?"  Samson inquired.

"He's just a kid, barely eighteen years old.  His abilities have only recently manifested themselves."  Bruce explained as he continued on toward Northwind, Samson fell into step beside him.

"You mean there's high-school aged guy running around out there with enough muscle to go toe to toe with the Hulk."  Samson asked in amazement.

"More than enough."  Bruce confirmed gravely.  "In raw power, he's even further beyond the Hulk than the Hulk is beyond the average human.  That's why what I plan to do here at Northwind is so important.  There is simply no one on the planet capable of containing him."

"Well,"  Samson grinned.  "Recent developments may have changed that."  He added, bouncing his pecs cockily.

"Emphasis on the 'may have'."  Bruce answered.  "I don't think it's wise to take the kid on with anything less than the absolute maximum amount of power we can muster."

"I think I've just proven that I am the maximum amount of power we can muster."  Samson responded.

Bruce shook his head.  "Leonard, as I've told you, I've developed new techniques that will enhance the gamma-augmentation process.  In conjunction with the Hulk's more powerful base-line strength, this will assure that performing the procedure on me will yield the best results."

"Well, I'm certainly up for applying your new protocols to boost my own augmentation, but I'm not convinced that you are a good candidate."  Samson shook his head.  "The bottom line is still this, Bruce; You've had too many relapses - too many long periods of having no control over the Hulk.  It would be irresponsible of me to allow you to exponentially increase the amount of destruction the Hulk is capable of."

We don’t have time to argue about this Leonard, I’ve got technicians and specialists on the way to Northwind right now to help me configure the gamma-scope’s collector in order to implement the new protocols.

On top of all that, Chris has taken it into his head that he’s going to become some kind of real-life comic book superhero and the kid has got a major chip on his shoulder.  He might mean well, but he lacks the temperament to wield that kind of power.

I’ve convinced him to hold off until we’re sure what the extent of his strength is.  So far I haven’t been able to ascertain his limits, if he has any.

Samson crossed his arms, intrigued.  “Really?  What kind of tests have you been doing with him.”

“None with any scientific rigor.  Basically I’ve just been sparring with him as the Hulk.  So far it’s all just a stalling tactic until I can find a way to counter his power and keep him in check.

But he’s pushed me beyond even the Hulk’s ability to quickly recover several times.  If you rile him up, he’s not above meting out punishment as he sees fit.  He’s quickly becoming a law unto himself.  The last thing the world needs is his type of vigilantism with that much power behind it.”

Bruce pressed his hands into the small of the Hulk’s back, stretched and grimaced.

“I’ve got to get back and do what I can to keep him in line until things are ready here at Northwind.”

“I think I should go with you.”  Samson offered, too eagerly for Bruce’s liking.

Suddenly an idea occurred to Bruce.

Samson was fascinated by a couple of things currently.  One was the idea of testing himself against Chris, (which Bruce was determined to prevent, as learning that his mutant status had been revealed to yet another person might send Chris off the deep end) the other was further enhancing his own strength with the new gamma infusion process that Bruce was intent on implementing with the Hulk.

Bruce decided to use one desire against the other.

“Leonard, the kid trusts me and that’s one of the precious few reasons I have any influence over him at all.  Besides, since I need to get back to New Mexico and keep him entertained, I need someone I can trust here to manage Northwind and keep the project on track.”

Samson’s eyes narrowed as he listened.  “As we’ve already established, I’m no physicist.”

“But you are good with people.  You know how to motivate and manage conflicts.”  Bruce pointed out.

Bruce suspected that Samson knew full well that he was being manipulated.  But he also knew full well that Samson would take the first opportunity that presented itself to subject himself to Bruce’s new gamma infusion process.  And the best way to get that chance was to be on top of everything that was happening at Northwind.

Manipulation or not, Samson wasn’t going to pass that opportunity up.

Samson grinned knowingly and slapped Bruce on the back just a little too hard.  “Anything I can do to help out, Bruce.”

The Hulk stumbled forward under the impact and Samson shoved to keep the Hulk moving along as he fell in step beside him.

As they both headed back to Northwind, Samson decided to gather as much information about Chris as he could on the way.

“So, Bruce.  Before you leave, I want to hear everything you can tell me about young Mr. O’Mally.”

Part 5

The Incredible Hulk slammed into the pale-colored sand.  His broad back absorbed the brunt of the impact.  His lungs felt as though though they had just exploded with the force of it.  As he momentarily lay flat on his back, he clawed up hand-fulls of the white gypsum sand, squeezing it in his hands before forcing himself to scramble back up onto his feet.

Fighting on this stuff was proving even worse than fighting on concrete or bedrock.  At least those things would shatter upon impact, dispersing the energy.  Hitting these dunes seemed to reflect every erg of impact energy directly back into his massive body.

He cast anxious glances all around, trying to locate his opponent.  Maybe an eye-full of the stuff might slow the kid down.  He thought better of that as he let the sand sift away through his thick, green fingers.  Such a dirty tactic might only make things worse for him if it ticked Chris off.

The Hulk had no idea how far across the desert that last punch had hurled him.  He’d blacked out a little.  His phenomenal healing rate had brought him back to consciousness in a fraction of a second but even so, he’d been aware of tumbling through the air for an unsettling amount of time before crashing down amid the dunes.

A sonic boom rolled across the desert.

The Hulk scanned the sky expectantly with superhumanly keen eyes and found what he was looking for.   A few miles away, he could make out Chris as the teen hurtled skyward in a straight line, his head swiveling in search of the Hulk.  Apparently the kid had lost track of his sparring partner.

The Hulk saw Chris make his position and grin.

He strongly suspected that when the young man fell back to earth after his faster-than-sound leap, another would carry him to the Hulk’s position in short order.

Bruce Banner, whose mind was currently ascendant in the powerful body of the Hulk, looked around in vain for some kind of cover.  Finding none, he decided that a leap of his own was probably the best way to keep himself out of Chris’s reach and buy a few moments to catch his breath and think.

He watched carefully as Chris slowed to a stop and then began to plummet back to the ground.  At the moment just before he began to accelerate downward, Chris pointed directly at the Hulk, smirked and then pounded his right fist into the palm of his left hand.  A full second later, Bruce felt the compression wave from the power of that gesture of intimidation, even at this distance.

Expecting the kid to immediately launch himself into the air on a trajectory that would bring him down on the Hulk’s current position, Bruce decided not to be around when he arrived.  As soon as Chris dropped out of sight behind the surrounding dunes, the Hulk launched himself into the air with the most powerful leap he could execute on a course at ninety degrees to the line between himself and where he’d lost sight of Chris.

As he accelerated upward, Bruce turned his head to look in Chris’s direction.  He didn’t like what he saw at all.

“Damn it!”  He cursed, then started pin-wheeling his massive, muscular arms, trying to reorient himself in midair, so that he could be as prepared as possible for what he knew was coming.

Chris hadn’t jumped after all.

Two giant fountains of white raced toward the Hulk across the dunes, one on each side of Chris as the boy sprinted across the desert, kicking up massive amounts or the white sand in his wake.  His massive arms and legs were a blur of motion as they worked to propel his supremely muscular frame at a phenomenal speed.

“He’s just too fast.”  The Hulk lamented, knowing that as fast as he was moving, Chris was moving many times faster.  He was going to be at the Hulk’s landing point waiting and there was no way the Hulk could stop himself.

What was almost as unsettling as the powerful teen’s strength and speed was the way he was starting to out-think the brilliant physicist.  Certainly, combat strategies weren’t Bruce’s strong suit, but the way Chris had just anticipated and countered his plan to leap out of reach left Bruce feeling that he was being toyed with on yet another level.

As he fell to earth, Bruce tracked along as best he could, keeping Chris in sight as the kid overtook and passed him.  Chris skidded to a stop then turned and with a big wolfish grin, struck one of those infernal muscle-man poses he was alway practicing, waiting for the Hulk at the exact spot where he was destined for impact.

Bruce hated it when the cocky teen hit one of those ridiculous poses.  He knew they had names but he’d never had the interest to learn any of them.  The one Chris currently assumed prominently exposed his impossibly broad thick chest.

At least this meant Bruce probably wasn’t in for a direct attack.  Chris usually did the body-builder pose thing as a way to demonstrate how unmovable he was or how ineffectual the Hulk’s attacks were against his hyper-muscular body.

Not that this isn’t going to hurt.  Bruce acknowledged at the last second before he collided with Chris’s exposed torso with all the force of the Hulk’s mightiest leap.

The Hulk’s massive frame slammed to an immediate bone-jarring stop against the massive shield-like muscles of Chris’s exposed chest.  The young man didn’t move a millimeter as the booming thud of the collision rolled across the desert.

A sound that started as a cry of pain and ended as a breathless wheeze was forced from the Hulk on impact.  Before the stunned Hulk could start to slide downward after losing every iota of momentum to Chris’s immovable body, the teen brought his arms up and wrapped them around the Hulk, pinning him in place.

“Going somewhere?”  Chris taunted.  “We had a deal.  This session, you’re supposed to do more attacking and less evading.  You’re the one who said I need more experience with hand-to-hand combat, right?”

When the heavily breathing Hulk didn’t answer immediately Chris bear-hugged him a little more firmly.  “Right?”, he repeated more forcefully.

The Hulk began nodding frantically and gave Chris’s back two quick slaps as a way to indicate that he understood and for the boy to release him.

Chris did so, and the Hulk stepped back wobbling a bit on his massive, but quivering legs.  He stooped, placing his hands on his knees for a moment as he caught his breath.

Bruce sometimes wished the Hulk’s healing ability wasn’t quite so effective.  Maybe if the bruises, contusions and broken bones Chris dealt him didn’t fade so quickly the boy might have a better sense of how much damage he was capable of causing the Hulk.  Then again, having to deal with such injuries in a prolonged manner might not be worth any compassion they might or might not engender.

Bruce stood straight and stretched out the Hulk’s thickly muscled, aching body.  He had indeed suggested sparring with Chris, hand-to-hand.  But it was more a ruse to keep the young man occupied than a result of any real concern about his fighting technique.  After all, what did skill matter when you were completely unstoppable.

Bruce examined the massive eighteen-year-old as he stretched.  Chris had taken to trying out different types of costuming as he eagerly prepared for his plan of assuming the life of a superhuman hero.  Today he wore mid-thigh length, skin-tight shorts made from the same material as the Hulk’s nearly indestructible and remarkably elastic purple shorts.  Today’s selection was jet-black, however.  A gold infinity symbol inside a white circle was printed on both the front and back of the shorts.

Bruce found the display of the symbol on the young man’s bulging crotch to be in bad form, but since there wasn’t a shirt to this particular costume, there weren’t really too many other places to display a logo.

Bruce continued to stare in astonishment.  No matter how many times he was confronted with it, Chris’s physique invariably left him bewildered.  The kid was shorter than the Hulk and on one level seemed slighter somehow.  His waist, wrists and ankles seemed no larger than anyone else his height, but those muscles!  They were every bit as huge as the Hulk’s own and seemed even more impressive as the Hulk’s massive trunk and joints didn’t contrast so much with his great green musculature.

Overall the kid looked more like Doc Samson.

Bruce winced inwardly at the thought of Samson.  He didn’t know how much longer he was going to  be able to keep the psychiatrist away from Chris.  He’d only managed to keep them apart this long by agreeing to put Samson in titular charge of the gamma-scope reconfiguration project at Northwind while Bruce was away keeping Chris occupied.

He knew that Samson was angling for a way to make sure he was the subject of the full effect of the augmented gamma-scope enhancement and not the Hulk.  It was the reason he couldn’t resist the offer to be involved with the project.  Bruce still wasn’t sure how he would thwart Samson in this.  He’d just have to cross that bridge when he came to it.

Chris noticed Bruce staring, obviously lost in thought and not really paying attention to what he was looking at.  There was something he didn’t like about how his reluctant mentor kept lapsing into such mysterious ruminations.  Surely he knew better than to be up to something Chris wouldn’t like.  He decided to snap Bruce out of it.  He flexed the muscles of his upper legs.  Already massive quads and hamstrings surged to a size that dwarfed even the Hulk’s once unmatchable leg muscles.

Bruce gaped as Chris demonstrated the degree to which he could, when he wanted, flex his muscles to a magnitude that beggared comprehension.  His train of thought totally derailed, Bruce turned his attention to Chris’s face to find the boy staring at him impatiently.

“Come on, big man.”  Chris goaded as he raised his fists in front of himself like a boxer.  “Let’s get back to it.”

Bruce knew better than to hold back.  Sometimes it was hard for the kid to tell, but if he suspected that the Hulk wasn’t coming at him with everything he had, he got down-right mean.  Bruce didn’t want anything to do with Chris’s mean-streak.

Hoping against all reason that surprise might gain him some small edge, Bruce lunged at Chris before he had even finished his sentence.

Massive green knuckles thundered against Chris’s densely muscled abdomen driven by a punch that would have obliterated granite.  Bruce gritted his teeth against the pain of the recoil as the force of his own punch nearly broke his arm.

Chris just chuckled.  “Good one.  Didn’t even get a chance to flex down.”

Bruce didn’t let up, moving with speed surprising for the Hulk’s size, he whirled and brought his elbow crashing into Chris’s Jaw.  He quickly followed through turning until he was facing Chris again, he then grabbed Chris by the kid’s shoulders and using that leverage, pulled his knee up into Chris’s abs, hammering them again, before pushing off to reestablish some space between the two of them.

The knee the Hulk had driven into Chris’s abs almost gave out and Bruce cried out in pain as he forced his leg to hold his weight against the throbbing pain of his deeply bruised joint until it healed.

Chris sighed and crossed his arms over his chest.  “I don’t see the point of this.  Why do I need to learn how to defend myself against punches that I barely notice.”

The Hulk raised his hand trying to placate Chris until he caught his breath fully.  But the kid’s impatience only seemed to grow.

“If the Hulk himself can’t even land a punch on me without breaking something then I think I might be ready to take on a super-bad-guy or two, easy.  What are we wasting time here for?”

Wincing, Bruce approached Chris, his limp decreasing with each step.  “I’m not really the measure of the kind of power you might find yourself up against.  The Hulk is never at full strength with me in control.”

“I know that.”  Chris agreed,testily.  He grabbed Bruce roughly, clamping his powerful hands around the Hulk’s thick upper arms, Chris hoisted him off his feet and shook Bruce to emphasize his every word as he continued.  “But big green and stupid won’t come out and play anymore, will he?”  Chris shook Bruce harder with each word, as though he was trying to shake loose the Savage Hulk persona inside of him.”

Chris dropped Bruce back to the ground as a child would discard a toy with which he had grown tired.  “Besides, I’ve already proved that I could handle everything he could throw at me so again, I’m asking what you think this is accomplishing?”

Bruce hesitated as he got his argument in order in his head.  “Once people hear about you - once they see you in action, word is going to get around.  Believe me, I know what it’s like to have every character with biceps bigger than his own head gunning for you.”

“Sounds like fun.”  Chris grinned, cracking his knuckles.

“THEN I’M NOT GETTING THROUGH!”  Bruce shouted, getting in Chris’s face.  He was taking a big chance, but the kid’s inexperience was really his only weakness - the only thing that Bruce could exploit.

To Bruce’s relief the kid narrowed his eyes but didn’t retaliate.  He had Chris’s attention.

“There are guys out there who make the Hulk look like a creampuff.”  Bruce declared, lowering his voice only slightly.

“Yeah, I’m one of ‘em.”  Chris responded even while not quite coming out of the cowed state that Bruce’s shouting had placed him in.

“Yeah, you are, but what happens when you go up against the Gladiator?  Or the Champion?  Never heard of them?  You might want to Google ‘em.  Or any number of the true bad-asses out there that not only have ridiculous power at their disposal, but know how to use it?”

Bruce threw his hands in the air and stalked away from Chris.  “But fine!  I thought you were through getting your ass handed to you at every turn in life, but if you are determined to let it happen again then fine!  You are on your own.”

Bruce stood with his back to Chris, waiting to see if the kid was going to buy in.  This tactic was one Samson had worked out with him after Bruce had given the psychiatric specialist his best profile of Chris’s personality.  Samson suggested the tactic as a last ditch effort if Chris started getting restless or impatient with Bruce’s stalling.

And it worked.

“Alright.”  Chris declared from behind Bruce.  “I guess you know more about this stuff than I do, so I’ll take your advice on it.”

Bruce turned to look at Chris, but said nothing, pretending to consider whether or not to continue “helping” the younger man.

“Good.”  he finally answered.

Chris flashed a grin.  Then he was on Bruce, lifting the Hulk into the air by the throat.  “Just wish you weren’t such a wimp!”  He declared as he pulled back his right arm in preparation.

The Hulk had just enough time to take in the spectacular view of that mountainous biceps flexing up as Chris bent his arm.  The teen might have bought Bruce’s line, but he was going to make the man regret raising his voice to him.  The punch the boy then dealt the Hulk snuffed out the brute’s consciousness for nearly a full day, depositing him somewhere in the badlands of eastern Arizona.

 

[Guest]

YES!

More Samson, PLEASE!

[Strengthlover]

I don't see anything all I see is a blank page. Am I doing something wrong?

[flamedelft]

@rippedstud79: ctrl + a should highlight it, the writing is in white, which is impossible to read on some forum themes

[Dude]

I'm trying to read on my phone. Can't see anything anyway can be re posted in black text please? Thanks

[MrAlice]

Yeah, seriously, white text

[AT2000]

Yeah, seriously, white text

Apparently the forum has multiple color scheme themes.  I changed the text to white thinking there was only one, when someone messaged that they couldn't see the black text (my default scheme makes black almost impossible to see as well).  But then I started getting messages that the white text was invisible to people using different themes.

 

So I'm trying green text.

 

If you can't see a specific color of text in your theme, highlight the text to make it visible then you can read it or paste it to another application for easier reading.

 

It's the price we pay, I suppose, for variety.

 

Sincerely, from the "Can't please all of the people all of the time desk."

 

A.T.

[gogr2]

The solution is to NOT SPECIFY a color of text and let it go to default (Select "Automatic").  This allows each theme to maintain the text color designed for the theme.

[AT2000]

Thanks. Good to know.

I never specified a color until the issue with viewing black text popped up.

There is probably a setting in Google docs that is changing the text color selection from automatic when I paste text from there into the forum. I will look into it.

Thanks again.

A.T.

[flamedelft]

Thanks. Good to know.

I never specified a color until the issue with viewing black text popped up.

There is probably a setting in Google docs that is changing the text color selection from automatic when I paste text from there into the forum. I will look into it.

Thanks again.

A.T.

Run the story through notepad (copy paste the story into it, and then to the forum), that should get rid of all the formatting like text color.