[Pakistan and India border]

*ROAR* A tank flew towards the small battalion of soldiers trying their best to stop the enemy from advancing to the Indian border.

“Retreat!” The captain cried out... *Thud**Squelch* …just before he was crushed by the tank in the heavy snow.

The soldiers looked at the scene of the green raging monster, walking away from the wrecked border of Pakistan, in terror as they ran back following their captains' last command.

“GO! I will cover!” A woman screamed at her running comrades as she turned around with her gun.

“Aditi don’t!” One of the soldiers turned around as he realised what the woman was about to do.

*Bang* Just as the first bullet left the automatic rifle the green monster's attention turned towards the woman running away from the group.

*ROAR* The monster bellowed as it jumped towards the woman. “DIE!” The woman kept firing as the man’s teammates dragged him away.

“NO!” The man shouted in horror as he saw the woman he had liked crushed under the fist of the monster before the snow-covered their sight.

The man wretched free from the grip of his shouting teammates and ran towards the abomination that he hated with his whole life. The same abomination who took the lives of the 2 people he liked the most.

“RAJ STOP!” One of his teammates shouted just before the soldier started firing. *Bang* The monster lost in the visibility of the snow found its target…

“ROAR!” …and it jumped.

[30 minutes later]

*Whizz* A fiery orange portal opened up in the snow inside the Pakistan border. David stepped out and looked at the raging flames and mutilated bodies of the soldiers on both sides of the border, with a frown.

Passing over these bodies were several trucks. Trucks passed in front of David allowing him to see the contents carried on the back barely: weapons, golds, ammunition, and people.

The strange thing was none of the people noticed the being in an alternate dimension as he observed the group passing into the border of India.

A truck pulled up on the side. Out of it came few people with scarf having covered their faces, carrying rifles. They guided the truck they were in over the large foot imprint in the snow while still inside the Pakistan border.

The masked men walked over to one of the destroyed camps inside the Pakistan border. David followed him to see him taking out some equipment’s and fixing the wires of a communication machine. The man took a deep breath as he looked at his fellow member who nodded beside him, before flipping the switch and began speaking.

“To the HQ…” Several of the men by his sides began firing the guns up in the air along with throwing the grenade in their hands towards an empty spot. *Bang**Bang**Boom*

“…we are being attacked. The border has been breached. I repeat…” The man tore off the wires as they moved towards the truck waiting for them.

As soon as they got into the Indian border a similar process of wiping out the track of the monster was repeated, along with fixing the machine. “To the HQ…” *Bang**Bang**Boom* The sound of guns and grenades going off was heard while the man tried communicating.

“…the border has been breached. We are being attacked. I repeat…” Similar to before the wires were torn off not allowing the man to finish his words before all of them got into the truck and moved off.

David quietly followed them until their path and the path of the footprints David was after began diverging.

Ignoring the group David rushed his way after the footprints. 10 minutes later he appeared before the monster that had massacred the groups of soldiers ruthlessly.

“Huah!” A small petite man shivered nakedly in the cold as he threw up while leaning on a tree.

*Snap* Exiting out of the mirror dimension David walked up to the person quietly.

“Sorry, I was late, Bruce.” The person throwing up turned around frantically just as he transformed halfway into the green monster.

“Dav…id…” Bruce’s last remaining struggling conscience managed to spell out as he lost control.

*ROAR* The Hulk roared towards David who calmly stayed in front of it. “Let’s take this somewhere quiet.” *Snap* Reality began folding upon itself.

The green monster looked around in distress and confusion as it stepped away from the moving ground in annoyance. It angrily looked towards the being it believed to have been the cause of its problems right now.

*Roar* It made an angry roar before jumping towards David. “First comes the stick…” David muttered.

David extended his left hand out causing thousands of fiery strings to erupted from his palm and rush towards Hulk in the air.

*Chssshhh!* **Roar* The strings began to burn his green skin causing the green monster to be even more furious just as David slammed his hand down.

*Bam* The strings followed David’s hand movement and slammed the beast to the ground with it.

The ground suddenly folded around Hulk and locked its arms and legs in place just as the strings disappeared to show the burn marks visibly healing.

*Roar* The monster screamed in anger as the ground began to crack. David raised both his arms up making several of the surrounding glass-like reality launch themselves over the Hulk and weighed on him and restraining him.

Seeing it still for a moment David smiled. “…then comes the carrot.” David reached into his pocket quickly as he saw Hulk getting angry increasingly while the several hundred tons of weight on top of him starting to shift as it continued to roar.

David took out a black cube from his pocket. *Crack* The ground laying on top of the monster broke in half.

*Roar* Hulk’s roar this time caused even the flaps of David’s robes to sway from its might.

*Thud* It ran towards David angrily just as David opened the box and extended it towards the Hulk with a smile.

The monster suddenly stopped in its track as it suddenly looked at the green cube sat inside the box. “Made this especially for you after examining Bruce’s blood sample and combining it with a bit of magic.” David smiled as an orange string emerged from David’s hand and extended the box towards the Hulk.

*Sniff**Sniff* It sniffed at the box before looking at David warily.

“Roar?” David smiled as he moved back hearing the pitiful roar as the monster tried to restrain its urges and impulse going towards the green cube.

Seeing David backed away the Hulk quickly turned its attention back to the cube. Quickly grabbing the black cube from the string it threw the box into its mouth.

A small orange portal quickly opened up beside the black box and grabbed it with an orange string before being pulled towards the portal while the green cube flew into Hulk’s mouth.

Hulk ignored the action just as the black box appeared in David’s hand from the portal opened beside him.

An unreal scene happened before David as he saw the rage monster’s eyes closing with a blissful expression as its tongue began rolling around its mouth. “Haaaa…” Hulk sighed in content as he sat down like a child before lying back on the floor happily as his arms swayed on his side, light as a feather.

David watched this calmly with a smile and waited.

A few minutes later Hulk opened his eyes and looked around with a calm expression. He suddenly began transforming back into his alter ego. “Uhh!” Bruce heaved as soon as he gained control back of his body.

“What the… hell was… that?” Bruce looked up at David in revolt.

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“I figured the big guy might be angry since I never once fed it when you were staying with me. So, I decided to make something for him to eat; hardly anyone ever asks him for food when he comes out.” David shrugged as he walked up to the shivering Bruce.

Bruce looked at David in surprise before he went back to throwing up what little was left inside him.

David took out a small vial containing a blue liquid and knelt beside Bruce.

“Drink it up.” David opened the led.

“Can you make solutions that look safe to consume?” Bruce asked David who chuckled.

“I was in a bit of a rush as soon as I realised what was happening with you. So, I had no time to alter the colour.” David reasoned as he held the vial up to Bruce’s lips causing him to drink it.

As Bruce drank the liquid he failed to notice the mirror-like reality around him collapsing to a normal one.

“Doesn’t taste bad.” Bruce complimented to which David just smiled.

“Let’s get you somewhere warm.” A small fiery ring appeared under Bruce.

“Woah!” He yelped as he went down.

David smiled as he jumped in after Bruce to arrive inside the New York Sanctum. “First of all, what the heck are you wearing? Then what the hell just happened? Where are we? And what was that?” Bruce looked up from the bed to see the portal closing.

“My uniform of sorts while I am here, which is one of the safest places in the world. Now I recommend you to be quiet as everyone here is quite wary against me, and won’t take it kindly if they realise I brought someone here without asking the person in charge permission, not that I need to anyway.

Not to mention, I wasn’t even supposed to meet or teleport you here, so I will have to put you back where you originally belonged later.” David got out of his bed and walked towards his wardrobe.

Bruce looked at David in shock. “Teleportation? As in Quantum Teleportation?” Bruce tried to clarify causing David to shake his head.

“No, more like a wormhole but without the time travel.” David grabbed a set of his old clothes and threw it towards Bruce.

Bruce failed to catch the clothes as he just looked at David in disbelief. “Bullshit!” Bruce stated to which David shook his head.

“Can you keep your voice down or do you want to go back into the freezing snow?” Bruce held his hands towards his mouth.

“Sorry, but seriously?” David nodded towards Bruce’s question.

“But I didn’t invent or discover it. Just using my organisation's tool.” David pointed at his sling ring causing Bruce to narrow his eyes.

“You belong to an organisation?” Bruce asked David who nodded.

“Yeah, the same one who send you away from me.” David pointed at Bruce’s clothes by his bed.

“You are naked, get dressed.” Bruce looked down before quickly grabbing the clothes.

“Sorry.” He apologised as David waited for him to finish getting changed.

“You can rest here for today. I will arrange for your accommodation and safe passage to a place called… Calcutta in India, I think it was. You can stay there for the next 2 years, just that this time a government agency will be…” David couldn’t finish his words as Bruce interrupted him with his serious face.

“David, can you cure me?” Bruce asked David.

David closed his eyes and sighed. “We have been over this Bruce,” David answered Bruce.

“David I killed people today. That monster made me crush those soldiers under my fist along with those...” Bruce held his head while trembling.

David watched Bruce quietly. “It wasn’t you,” David spoke up after a while.

“What do you mean it wasn’t me? I was watching from a corner of my rational mind as that thing slaughtered those people. Do you know what that feels like?” David chuckled as he heard that question causing Bruce to frown as he looked up at David.

“I don’t care if you believe me or not, but I understand what that feels like more than anyone in the world. However, unlike you, I have control over my strength, Bruce.” David looked down helplessly, as Bruce listened quietly.

“But sometimes I wish I could just lose control and run away than live in control of my life. That way I would have never met her, and she would have been happier.” Bruce suddenly realised who David was on about.

“What happened after I disappeared?” Bruce asked David who just smiled as he shook his head.

“Topic for another time. Coming back to our matter at hand, answer my question: who is at fault when an innocent dies by a gun: the gun or the person who fired the gun?” Bruce stared at David who was unwilling to dwell into the matters between him and his girlfriend for now.

“The person, but the gun is partially at fault for being used as a tool to kill someone,” Bruce replied seeing the direction David was going at.

“Alright. Now say if you could destroy guns and weapons of mass destruction by taking away technology from people would you do it?” Bruce clenched his hands at that question.

“But that’s different.” Bruce countered to which David shook his head as he took out his phone.

A video hologram of Bruce appeared surprising, Bruce as he saw it was video feedback of the last place he remembered he was in before he transformed. “Hulk is the gun, and you are the technology in my analogy,” David explained as the video started playing.

It was Bruce attempting to cross the border peacefully amongst the several groups of people crossing the border in the boot of a bus.

Unfortunately, they found Bruce and pulled him out with their guns raised. Just as Bruce was out someone fired a shot causing a bullet to hit his chest. Just as it met his skin a green patch appeared around that area much to Bruce’s horror.

Very quickly Bruce transformed into the Hulk. David paused the video and rewound it. “And the person that pulled your trigger is the real criminal here.” The video stopped just before Bruce was hit. A bullet was highlighted in red on the screen and the camera suddenly began to follow its initial trajectory.

Bruce clenched his fists tightly as he saw the bullet leading up to a man 200 meters away inside a building with a sniper rifle. “You were simply used for their plans, without you realising it, Bruce.” David watched calmly as he saw Bruce getting angry by the minute as he watched the sniper grinning from the shot.

“You can never accuse a stone of being a dangerous weapon when people use it only against each other when it is perfectly capable of hurting man and beast alike but also capable of using it to build houses.

Technology is never to be blamed for the weapons it develops. Weapons are just there to defend from threats, just like Hulk protects you from danger. The true dangers are people like him, who just loves to pull the trigger and watch the chaos that follows up.” Bruce gritted his teeth as he watched the sniper watching with a binocular as he rampaged and killed several innocents and soldiers on the border before running off.

“Who is he?” Bruce asked in anger.

“Wrong question.” David shook his head causing Bruce to look at David.

“It’s who are they?” Bruce sat in his place quietly wanting to know more.

“They are a group called Ten Rings. A terrorist organization dedicated to destroying world peace by any means necessary. They were behind Stark’s disappearance and your attack on both Pakistan and Indian border.” Suddenly Bruce realised something.

“What is happening?” He looked at his body in amazement to notice he had not transformed despite feeling fury like never before.

“Don’t worry. Something I added to the food. He won’t come out unless you are hurt for the next few hours.” Bruce looked at Dan in amazement.

Bruce shook his head of amazement before he sighed in relief as he laid back down. “Why did they try to attack me?” Bruce asked David.

“They were using your attacks as a distraction to smuggle several hundred millions worths of weapons, goods and wanted criminals/ terrorists across the border. Not to mention very soon both countries would begin a temporary fight with each other, thinking they were the ones who tried to cross the border; just what they wanted.” Bruce sat up to look at David in his eyes.

“What are you going to do with them?” David sighed hearing that question.

“Nothing.” Bruce had an angry look.

“What!?” David smiled sadly.

“My hands are tied for few years for the very same reason I didn't come to your aid sooner, despite wanting to.” Bruce didn’t accept that reason.

“What kind of bullshit are you saying? People are going to lose their lives if you don’t do something.” David smiled sadly hearing that.

“500 people would die at most if I did nothing…” Bruce stood up in anger hearing David’s answer.

“…but billions more would die in the future if I wiped out the Ten Rings from the face of the Earth.” Bruce’s anger vapourised to terror as he heard the numbers.

“What? How?” Bruce asked but David didn’t reply.

While David imagined a future without Strange to bargain against Dormammu. Unlike Strange, David didn’t believe he had it in him to live through an endless loop of being constantly killed. He would have to use his powers to aid him on that front. A future where David would have to use his rooted potato to go in a loop for hundreds if not thousands of years in the dark dimension to bargain with Dormammu.

Just nearly 2 decades of using rooted potato consistently caused David to emerge as a cold-hearted ruthless person. David couldn’t even imagine what would happen to his mind if he stayed once more under the grasp of rooted potato indefinitely. Maybe this time not even love would move him, and he would end up killing everyone, including Natasha. Such was the future David wanted to avoid.

“Such is the weight of the choice I have to make and carry now Bruce." David didn't answer Bruce's question.

"Save billions of potential future lives or save the current lives of hundreds of innocents who can only helplessly wait for the terror of death that comes under the guise of war.” David smiled helplessly.

“Sometimes I wish you and Nat simply wouldn’t have changed me to make these kinds of choices. I preferred to have just been the cold and logical person I was to easily make these kinds of choices.” David looked up at the roof regrettably.

“No pressure and no guilt if it was the old me.” Bruce sighed as he sat down, not intending to ask anymore as he was used to David's conservative nature.

“Sorry.” Bruce apologised.

“I thought I was the only one suffering. Looks like we all have a burden of our own to carry in our lives.” David smiled hearing that.

"If it's any consolation I will make sure you won't hurt many innocents from now on." Bruce smiled as he heard that.

"You better do, now that you can teleport around." Both of us sat there quietly.

"You were saying about me settling down in India?" Bruce asked David who nodded.

"Not for too long. Just 2 years." Bruce had a thoughtful look on his face.

"I am going to lose the bet, right?" Bruce deduced why David said 2 years instantly when he pieced together the time frame of the bet.

David smiled hearing that as he nodded. "There is an organisation called Shield. A world government-funded group. You heard of them?" Bruce nodded.

"Bit of like the Interpol but more stealthy?" Bruce asked to which David bobbed his head in reply.

"They will be watching you when you are in India. But don't worry they won't interact, do or say anything with your life for 2 years. They will from now on divert general Rose from you, and keep you safe." Bruce looked at David in shock.

"How do you know that?" Bruce asked David.

"I mean is your source of information reliable?" Bruce rephrased his words.

David nodded as he saw Bruce still had concern on his face. "You can say I am nearly omni-present." Bruce worry turned to a look of intrest.

"A story for another time when I come to visit you.

Don't worry about anything and just relax. You can just live normally for the next 2 years. Think of it as taking a break of sorts for 2 years, because you are going to deserve that break after 2 years. If you need money don't be shy to ask me." David smiled as he looked up at the roof.

"I know everything is very different and difficult for you to comprehend." David closed his eyes.

"But once I am free from my limitations, I will answer you what you need to know. Along with taking care of several pests of this world." David opened his eyes with a plan formulating behind them.