Abominations

by Unknown Author

  Morgan had the razor. Sarah grabbed for it and missed and brought the empty hand up and clawed his face. Morgan felt sharp nails dig into the flesh beneath his eyes as he brought the razor up in a long arc.

  A moment later, Morgan felt a thousand stings. Stings in his chest, his face, his hands. But mostly his eyes, because of Sarah’s blood in them.

  The SAFE Helicarrier had a cafeteria as impressive as its basketball court, and it was here that the Hulk and the Abomination had pummeled their way before Emil managed to get the upper hand again. The Hulk saw reinforced plexiglass sailing tbwards his head and winced as he collided with it, spittle flying across the gigantic window.

  ‘ ‘Come forth, hissed Emil. and he had Bruce by one arm twisted up behind him, the Abomination’s barbed and scaly left leg wrapped around Bruce’s right one. Emil twisted Bruce’s head and slammed his forehead against the pane again. “Come forth, you seed of sulphur.” He wrenched back Bruce’s head and slammed it against the pane again. One of Bruce’s lips split and blood ran over his tongue. Emil rasped into Bruce’s ear, the words sliding off his lizard-like tongue. “Sons of Fire! Your stench is broke forth. ’ Bruce looked sideways and saw the burning red eyes. “Abomination is in the house.”

  “Johnson,” Bruce said with a pant. “The Alchemist.”

  “Yes,” Emil said, clicking his tongue. “Very good.

  Look down, Bruce. You see the consulate, don’t you?” “I see it,” Bruce snapped, fighting to break free. Emil pulled Bruce’s arm a bit tighter upward and slammed him against the pane again.

  “I asked you what I was going to make you see— and now you know.”

  ‘' I’ve seen explosions before, Emil.”

  “Don’t play stupid,” the Abomination said. “I’ve seen you stupid, and this isn’t it. You know what you’re looking at. You’re looking at the end of your little Elizabeth. This is it, Bruce. Don’t fight! Stop. Listen. You’ve got to listen to me, Bruce.’ The demon spoke almost softly, whispering in Bruce’s ear. Bruce stared out the glass, looking for an opportunity. And here the Abomination wanted to talk.

  Emil continued, calmly. “We’re a different race, you and I. That’s why I’ve placed us here, right at ground zero. We might come through it. We belong dead.”

  ‘ ‘Speak for yourself. Who are you to say who belongs dead?” -

  The voice rose violently. “Haven’t you been listening?’ Bruce felt his head slammed against the plexiglass again. These were good windows. “I am the Abomination!”

  “You’re insane.”

  “And you are a Hulk. What is a Hulk? A beast? A rock? The kind of name given to you, not taken, surely. I^t me tell you: a Hulk is a shell. That’s what they thought you were when the army first saw you, moving across the desert. A shell. Empty inside. Pure power, pure violence.

  ‘That’s the secret to identity, Bruce. People call you what they know in their hearts that you are.’ ’

  “You’re wrong/’ And we don’t have time for this. “No. You’re not one of these... rodents. Bruce. You’re as much an outcast as I am, except that you have, time and time again, refused to listen to me. You play.

  You pretend. You take a wife. You ignore what you are. And what you are is what I am.’’ He said the word long, slow and slithering. “Abomination, Bruce. I’ve read your psych profile—your father was a murderer, wasn’t he? Killed your mother, beat her senseless right in front of you, didn’t he? But even he knew that as much of a monster as he was, you were all that and more.”

  “No...’* '

  “You were different, smart, an intelligence devilish and pounding from your brain that even a scientist like your father knew to be afraid of. A new breed. And with all that intelligence lay a lover in your mind, another half, dark and powerful, bestial, sensuous, dangerous. Unfit for human companionship. Above it. Beyond it.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh, I do.1’ Emil whispered in Bruce’s ear. ‘Tell me this. When you get up in the morning in your little condominium and that human woman is chattering away at you, do you ever get mad? Do you ever wish she would just shut up? They do go on, you know. Have you ever seen her chattering at you and realized that she’s chattering because she’s afraid of you, that she’s talking to you because it’s a play, and we’re pretending that you’re anything but not normal, not human, the Hulk—did you ever look at her, mocking you with her deluded love and her barely masked fear and wish that you could just smash her?” .

  “Shut up,” Bruce said “Can you stop it? The bomb?”

  “Smash her, like your father would. He was just an ordinary man, but he had no problem being what he was. Why do you have a problem being what you are? Why do you cling to this silly role of humanity?”

  “Emil.g.Bruce shut his eyes. His father was a monster, swinging bony fists and causing bruises, grabbing Bruce’s tiny arm, afraid because little Bruce could take an Erector set and make a skyscraper with working elevators and he was only three. Monster!

  Betty did not mock him. Betty was his partner. Betty was his life. There was a savage beast inside him, rampaging across the desert, and when it saw Betty it saw compassion and love and it saw—even it saw—that Betty was his friend

  Then why are you listening to this?

  “Emil,” Bruce repeated, shaking his head, slowly, the claws holding fast to his neck, “you’re wrong. You’re so wrong. I’m no more another race than you are. You’re uot an Abomination! You’re just a man, Emil. Just a pooi guy who made some mistakes.”

  Emil roared, “Pity me?” He tore Bruce away from the window and flung him across the cafeteria. Bruce slid across eight metal tables, barely missing several sleeping SAFE agents, food trays flying.

  “I don’t know that I pity you,” Bruce said, as he got to his feet. “I think I pity the man that you were. But I don’t pity you, Emil.’ Bruce spoke slowly. “You’ve gone too far now. But you’re still, in the end, just a man. A giant, scaly, green man, but a man. ’

  “I am beyond man. So are you.”

  “Cut it out, Emil. You keep saying that because you have to prove it to yourself, and I think I know why. I think.I understand why you’ve spent all this time embracing this Abomination role, acting it out, showing all the people that ever wronged you.”

  “Oh?” Emil grinned. “Tell me. ’

  “It’s because you’re just not a very good man. And rather than admit that, you’d rather convince yourself that you’re a beast. Or a superman. Anything but a sad, failed human being. ’

  “Liar!” The Abomination soared through the air, knocking Bruce back, and the two tumbled end over end and collided with the far wall.

  “But you’re not,” Bruce cried, as he and Emil rolled.

  “That’s just what you believel That’s what you’re trying to talk yourself out of. Nadia’s down there, Emil! Your own wife! Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” Bruce swung, hard, knocking the creature back so he had room to talk “Do you think she deserves to die because you think you’re so poor an excuse for a human being? And I thought I needed a shrink.”

  “She’s a haughty traitor,” Emil said. “She’s forgotten about me. Fooling around with that Greg Vranjesevic, she’s forgotten everything.”

  “She thinks you’ve been dead a long time, Emil. A long time.”

  “I’m not dead.”

  “I—Bruce shook his head. The worst part was that it was mostly true. Emil was beyond the love of anyone, even Nadia. Bruce firmly believed that. There really wasn’t much hope to offer him. “You wanted to punish her, Emil. Punish her, I don’t care. All you want. But you don’t, you can’t want to kill her. ’

  “I have cried.>. day and night... before thee,” Emil sang.

  Brace shook his head, looking at the bay windows. “You’re hopeless. I’m tired of this. If we’re hovering here at ground zero,” he said, “then it doesn’t make any difference. I’ll see you in hell, Emil.” Bruce began to move, ma
king up his mind, dense green legs pumping, bringing his hands up. Bruce ran and sprang from a cafeteria table like a diving platform, straightening his fingers as he flew for the comer of one of the gigantic plexiglass windows.

  Four inches of plexiglass burst and splintered as the Hulk sailed through, out into the open sky.

  III I i

  1.1 i 1

  .................II I I hi

  111

  §y now,’ came the taped voice of Sarah Josef, “the consulate must have been secured.”

  Selznick looked around him. Spacey and Kimball hadn’t made it back yet with the woman. It didn't matter.

  Greg looked up from where he sat. He had been staring in disbelief for six minutes, from the moment he staggered back when the elevator door opened to reveal a large, green bomb, humming away in his home. “My God, is she talking again?”

  “Your actions,^ the voice continued, “of course, are being filmed and recorded at a remote spot. The purpose of this film is so that there will be a record of what happened here.’1

  “Why would she do that?” Greg mused. “If they want the explosion blamed on the U.S.—’ ’

  “This tape is being sent to Moscow. It is URSA’s firm belief that internal matters should remain internal, that the family should solve its problems without sharing them publicly. The inept, mismanaged government in Moscow will see your deaths and know why URSA has done this. They will see the death of their consul and know it is because of their lack of vision. They will see the deaths of these URSA men and know it is because of our dedication. No one will doubt the loyalty of these brave men, who have chosen to give their lives in service of our cause.”

  “You’ve got to be joking,” Nadia said, rolling her eyes, jjjust let us go. She’s not even here, you idiots, why don’t we just goT’

  “Stay where you are, Ms. Domova,” Selznick said, a little too idly. “There’s no leaving. All right? No leaving.”

  “And if I get up, right now,” said Nadia, “and I walk out that door, you’ll shoot me?”

  | “No,” said Selznick.

  “Nor will I,” Timm said. ‘But I have it on the best authority that there are snipers all around this place. Some of them are ours. And any head that pokes itself out from behind the front door is going to be shot. So sit tight. Not long now.”

  “I wish I could find such easygoing, blithely suicidal help,” Greg murtered to Nadia. “It’s like being held hostage by MacNeil and Lehrer.”

  KpYou don’t understand, Mr. Vranjesevic,” Selznick said, reverting to Russian. He folded his arms, one hand still grasping his gun. “Timm and I are at ease because we believe in what we are doing. Do you believe in what you are doing? You’re a consulate to a country that no longer knows itself. We are a part of an organization prepared to give that country its identity again.” Selznick smiled. ‘I can’t imagine a more calming fact. We are relaxed because we have already won, and need only wait. And our names—yours, mine, Timm’s—will not go down in history, but the right people will know what happened here, and how much we were willing to sacrifice for an idea.”

  “It can’t possibly make a difference,” Nadia said. “Not enough to die for.’-’ '

  “This isn’t an isolated incident, Ms. Domova,” Timm said. “At home, there are people already in place who are ready to receive this news and make all the right moves. Bills to be quickly introduced and passed. War to be declared. All of these things have been ready for a long time, but there has been one thing missing.” The time is ticking away, Nadia thought Ticking away. “All this kindling but nothing like what we needed. A spark. And today, Ms. Domova, Mr. Vranjesevic, we will deliver more than that spark. We will deliver an explosion.”

  “It won’t work,” Nadia insisted.

  Greg shook his head. “Oh, but it will. Remember Ockham’s Razor, the best explanation is the simplest one that fits all the facts? Our friends here will provide just such an explanation. And it doesn' t matter how many people raise questions. It will work,” he said, disgusted.

  “And now,” came the taped voice of Sarah Josef again, “the minutes should be few. It is time for the opening act. Mr. Selznick. You will now kill Ambassador Vranjesevic.”"

  “All in the plan, sir,” Selznick said, standing, brushing off his pants. “Glad to be of service.”

  Selznick had the gun up, the hammer clicking back— —and then several things happened at once.

  A panel in the ceiling over the man fell down, swinging out. Greg Vranjesevic took the moment’s distraction to dive behind the couch. He looked up to see a heavy axe come swinging down, its handle smacking Selznick on the back of the head, and a woman uncoiling from the ceiling like a snake: Betty Gaynor or Banner or whatever her last name was. Selznick’s gun landed on the ground next to Nadia, and Greg dove for it, grabbing the weapon and coming up, aiming it at Timm. Timm was turning to fire on Betty when'Greg fired once, twice, acrid smoke rising in the den. Timm grew an eye on the side of his head and fell violently sideways, his gun discharging as he did so. The bullet was unaimed, glancing off the batde-axe and across the room, tearing the glass face off an antique grandfather clock.

  Betty breathed, looking around, holding the axe before her. “That’s all of them?”

  “Yes,” Greg said.

  ‘Then let’s go.”

  “We can’t,” Greg said. “Snipers, apparently.”

  Betty chewed her Up. ‘ Never heard of an embassy without a helicopter on the roof. How about you?”

  “The pilot’s gone,” Greg said.

  “Not so,” Betty said, walking quickly to the elevator.

  She dropped to inspect the gamma device that sat there, humming away. She froze for half a second when she saw the timer’s digital readout. “Your pilot’s right here, Mr. V.” ~

  “You fly?”

  “About twelve hours in a helicopter, but I’m the best you’ve got. We have five minutes,” she said. “Let’s go.'f

  A moment later, Greg, Betty, Nadia, and the other hostages had found their way up the stairs to the roof exit. Betty slammed the metal door open, looking around quickly. She spotted the helicopter and looked back at Greg. “There’s no reason for all of us to risk getting shot at once. I’ll try to get her started, then you guys come when I do.”

  Betty sprang out onto the long, flat roof, naming across the tar-and-gravel rooftop. Almost immediately, the roof began to explode, echoing a far off crack! of gunfire, bits of gravel flying behind her as she moved. Someone was shooting, sure enough.

  She had lied about her time in helicopters. Not counting simulators, her time in the air was more like five hours. One hour for every minute we have left, she thought. Okay, girl. You can do this.

  Betty jumped up into the cockpit and took the pilot’s seat, surveying the controls. She wasted fifteen seconds trying to remember where to start before she saw the fuel gauge. Empty? Why would they keep it empty? Betty sniffed. She smelled fuel... Betty stuck her head out the side of the helicopter and saw her worst fears confirmed. A metal tube splayed out the side of the tail, having been tom through with, most likely, a pair of clippers. Dripping off the end was the same amber liquid that now collected on the rooftop in a pool. There would be no flying away.

  ' “No!” Betty smacked the, dashboard with her fists. “No!” There was another crack! from across the street and something tore through the comer of the chair she was sitting in. Betty jumped, scrambling out of the helicopter and running again. Bullets chased her ankles, gravel exploding and scraping against her.

  “Forget it,” Betty said, slamming herself against the metal door once she’d shut it and were they all back inside. “It’s not going anywhere. And your friends didn’t lie—we’re being watched.” Once they were back on the second floor, she slid down to the carpet in the hallway, her head resting in her hands. “I guess that’s it”

  And then, the embassy shook from its roof to its basement, as it might if struck by a green, seven-foot-tall, twel
ve-hundred-pound human missile.

  Betty looked to her left and saw her husband crashing through the ceiling, through the floor, and down to the lower floor.

  “What in hell?” Greg stared.

  Betty raised an eyebrow, getting up, slinging her axe over her shoulder as she stood on the rim of the hole Bruce had left as he moved through the embassy. She looked down below, holding back her hair. “Kind of you to drop in.”

  Bruce looked up, through the hole, and said, “Betty! I nearly hit you, I’m sorry. It’s kind of hard to aim when you’re—”

  “Bruce—”

  “The bomb, its a gamma device. Where is it?”

  1 J.‘Elevator, ” 1 said Betty, as she and the others ran down below. “Bruce, I don’t think there’s much time.”

  Bruce Banner crouched down at the open elevator door and stared at the readout, rhree minutes. “You’re right.” The device was on tractor belts, resembling something like a mesh between a vacuum cleaner and a globe. “It’s so tiny,” he muttered. “The one I built was two stories high. It needed its own platform.” Bruce wheeled the bomb gingerly toward himself as he got down Indian style, curling his gigantic legs underneath him. “This green glass on top. I think this is just a panel.” The Hulk cleared his throat. “Okay,” he said. “You—you’re the ambassador? You think you can find me a screwdriver and a pair of clippers?”