The Crossroads of Time... a place that existed simultaneously in the very heart of reality, and yet was also forever apart from it. It was a junction point, where all places and times intersected -- and in the center of it stood a signpost, with arrows formed of living hands. These hands shifted and turned of their own accord, always pointing off in some new and intriguing direction.
It was here that the Hulk now stood, his shoulders slumped and his heavy brow furrowed in concentration. He was known to some as the Savage Hulk, a brutish creature with a reputation for smashing his way through life. He was one component of the fractured psyche belonging to Robert Bruce Banner -- and he had been successfully banished here to the Crossroads within "Puny Banner" quite some time ago. "Hulk's head hurts."
"I bet it does, pallie. Your noggin's not made for much thinkin'."
The Savage Hulk glanced over at Joe Fixit, who was lighting a cigar. The gray-skinned Hulk wore a striped suit and hat, making him look like an escapee from an old gangster film. He exhaled a long plume of smoke as the Savage Hulk grumbled "What do you want? Hulk not like the smell of stinky cigar."
Joe aimed a smoke ring at his companion. The Hulk rumbled in response, but Joe didn't back down. "I want the same thing you want, Greenskin. I want freedom."
"Freedom... Hulk has never been free. Always hounded. Always chased." The Hulk's voice took on the tone of a petulant child.
"I know what you mean -- Everybody always lookin' at you like you were a stooge... But I gotta tell ya, there's one of us who's got it made."
"Who?"
"The Professor... He's Banner's favorite boy these days. He's the one who's callin' the shots. But you and I know that he's dangerous."
The Savage Hulk leaned closer, his eyes still narrowed. "Dangerous?"
Joe waved one hand about them, gesturing towards the pathways which spiraled off into nothingness. "You and me, we've got our flaws. I'm not very patient and I sure as hell ain't indirect. You... Well, you're not exactly Einstein. But the Prof -- he's got the best of both worlds. The brawn and the brain. He can avoid dealing with the cancer that's eating away at us for a long time -- and hide it with a bunch of pretty words."
"Betty," the savage one whispered, uttering the name with a gentleness that encapsulated so very much.
"Yeah. Betty." Joe took his hat off and looked towards his own shoes. "He won't deal with it. He just pretends its not here, tearing away at us. And eventually it's going to drive him towards becoming the Maestro."
The Savage Hulk moved away from Joe, away from his painful words and disturbing imagery. He had been thinking about something very intently when Joe had arrived... and he remembered what it was as he stepped around the signpost.
She was still there, floating in mid-air, looking like she was a slumbering princess, waiting for her prince to come. The savage Hulk moved towards her, staring at her long brown hair and her smooth skin.
Betty Ross Banner stirred before him, her eyes fluttering open. He heard her whisper puny Banner's name, like a verbal caress. "Bruce. I'm alive."
Janis Jones sat before the computer screen, munching on a handful of cheesy nachos. Her mind was filling up quickly, absorbing all the data that the Pantheon had offered to her. She was a bright young woman, despite the fact that the Maestro had worked so hard to keep his followers as ignorant as possible. She had her grandfather to thank for that, she knew -- Rick Jones had passed on a love of music and literature to Janis, making sure that she understood the core concepts behind them all.
Freedom. Love. Opportunity.
All things that the Maestro had tried to stamp out of humanity.
"Studly's been busy, hasn't he?" she said, licking her fingers clean. They were stained an orangish color now, but she didn't care. "These chips are flarking fantastic."
"Glad you approve. But as for 'studly,' as you call him... Yes, the Hulk's activities have certainly been interesting as of late." Paris stood nearby, looking fit and handsome in his finely tailored suit. He was very much at home here, in the heart of the Mount. For so very long he'd labored away in the shadow of Agamemnon... arrogant, always mysterious Agamemnon. It felt good to be in charge for once. "The first few months he was under the Barrier, he kept quiet. We think he was adjusting to the changes within him. He once again had complete control over his transformations and he's chosen to allow the so-called Professor persona to dominate. Since becoming a member of the Pendragons, he's been front and center in a number of battles, including the raids at Darkmoor and Symkaria."
Janis sat back, turning away from the computer screen and regarding Paris evenly. She knew he was attracted to her -- hell, you'd have to be blind to miss itt when Paris was on the prowl -- but she didn't care for him. He was too clean, too perfect. People like that stabbed you in the back as often as not. "And now your little seer thinks studly's gotta die? You're going to have to let me in on the hows and whys if you expect me to play soldier for you."
Paris flashed that dazzling smile of his, noting that it didn't seem to have very much effect on his young companion. Janis -- with her punk red mohawk and battle staff -- looked totally unlike the women he usually surrounded himself with. He rather fancied her. "Delphi has seen a future -- a grainy one, to be sure, but that's the way it goes with precognition. In it, the Hulk was ruling over most of Great Britain. He'd declared himself king, slaughtering pretty much everyone who'd dare stand in his way. His ego was so large that he'd given himself a new title, too... he called himself the Maestro." Paris studied Janis, noting her reaction. "You've heard the name before, I take it?"
"You know I have," she replied coldly. She set aside the bag of nachos and stood up, uncoiling her long legs. "Studly isn't going to become the Maestro. He's seen that future and that changed it all."
"Maybe it just gave him some good ideas," a woman said, entering from the far end of the room. She was trim and athletic, with a series of freckles that accentuated her beauty. Atalanta held up a hand to ward off the other woman's angry retort. "I'm just teasing, Janis. I agree with you. Professor Banner simply isn't the world-conquering type."
Paris sniffed and reached up to adjust his tie. "Of course he is. All men are, once you strip away their veneer of civility."
"Even you, muffin?" Janis inquired. She didn't wait for his response, instead walking towards Atalanta with such purpose that the other woman's hand drifted unconsciously towards the collapsible crossbow she wore strapped to her leg. "I'm not going to flatline you, don't worry. I want you to take me to Delphi. Let the future witch show me what she saw."
Atalanta case a glance over at Paris, but he merely smiled at her and nodded. "Sure, Janis. I have to warn you, though -- talking to Delphi usually raises more questions than it answers."
The Hulk's massive physique was shown off to good effect as he clambered along the roof of his new home in Leeds. Decked out in a pair of cargo pants and a tank top specially designed to contain his massive bulk. He carried a bucket in one hand and a hammer in the other, stopping here and there to make small repairs to the rooftop. It was a beautiful day with mild temperatures and Bruce could almost imagine himself back home in the States, puttering about the home he shared with Betty...
Only Betty was dead, this was Leeds and the woman inside the house was Molly Fitzgerald.
"You gonna float there all day watching me, or did you have something to say?" he asked, kneeling to check a section of the roof that looked a bit uneven.
Shevaun Haldane -- his teammate in the Pendragons, under the guise of Dark Angel -- smiled down at him. She'd been watching Bruce for a while now, amused to see the world's mightiest being doing house work. "Sorry, mate. I wasn't spying on you -- not as such, anyway."
Bruce smiled at her, reaching up to pull his hair back into a ponytail. He'd been letting it grow lately, enjoying the feeling of rebellion and freedom that came with it. "You looking for a property for yourself? There's a flat not far from here that's affordably priced."
"I'm happy enough at the castle, thanks. Adam's been nice enough to offer me the chance to rebuild my father's estate at Darkmoor but I'm not sure I'm ready to go that route yet."
Bruce nodded, knowing how deeply troubled Shevaun had always been about her father. Looking at her in her dark bodysuit studded with techno-magical items here and there, it was hard to think of her as anything but a strong, grown woman... but once upon a time she'd been a little girl, learning at the knee of a madman. Eventually Ranulph Haldane's evil had come back upon them both and she'd been scarred forever by it.
Those thoughts brought back memories of Bruce's own father... and the terrible abuse that had so marked his childhood. He smiled at Shevaun, hoping to let her know in some silent manner that he understood why she wouldn't -- why she couldn't -- go home just yet. "So what does bring you by?"
"I have some contacts in the Weird Happenings Organization and one of them contacted me this morning. He says they've been working on something called the Overhulk Project."
Bruce couldn't resist a sigh. "Let me guess -- it's the UK's version of the Hulkbusters, right? Damn... and I was hoping that the Hulk Fund would help allay their fears about me."
"It's not quite like that," Shevaun responded. "A researcher named Carl Marx has created a robot that--"
"Karl Marx? He's multi-talented, isn't he? Not to mention the fact that the reports of his death were greatly--"
"You're a regular comedian, aren't you? It's Carl with a 'c.' This Overhulk robot has an adamantium coating and is powered by cells that absorb and channel gamma radiation. At its peak, the robot can perform at a level approximating that of the savage Hulk."
"What a marvelous leap for the human spirit," Bruce grumbled. He walked towards the edge of the roof and leapt off, landing with a resounding thud that echoed throughout the city block. Shevaun floated down gently, a slight frown on her face.
"Bruce... You're not listening to me."
"Yes, I am. You're here to tell me that this government that I've bent over backwards to be friendly to is trying to screw me over, just like the good old U.S. of A. You're ruining a perfectly good day, Shevaun."
"The robot wasn't devised as a weapon to be used against you... Or at least that wasn't the main function it was intended for. It was meant to be the prototype for a new army. And it's been stolen."
The Hulk stopped in his tracks, turning to stare at her with a furrowed brow. "I assume it was heavily protected... so who managed to pull this off? Doom? The Penance Council?"
Shevaun hesitated before answering and Bruce felt a cold chill pass through him. Not much in this world scared a woman like her, but he definitely saw something akin to terror in her eyes. "The robot seemed to break itself out, Bruce. It... spoke. And it identified itself as the Maestro."
Molly Fitzgerald stared at herself in the mirror, fighting the urge to laugh aloud. She'd pulled one of her old Shamrock costumes out of storage, eager to test a suspicion of hers... and it had been proven correct beyond any doubt.
Her body had changed, subtly but noticeably.
The costume that had once hugged her form so perfectly now looked out of place and comical. It was stretched tight across her bosom and didn't quite fit the new firmness of her bottom. "I feel like I've gone through puberty all over again," she whispered.
This was just the latest in changes for her, all of them dating back to her near-death experience... she'd been resurrected by the powerful Phoenix Force and it had seemingly unlocked something within her. She was more confident in many ways now and that confidence had brought with it a few physical changes as well, it seemed.
Molly heard the front door open and she hurriedly activated the power within her. The costume slid away from her like a living thing, propelled forward by the Phoenix Force. It draped itself across the back of a chair even as her old clothing appeared over her body. By the time Bruce stepped inside, looking weary and sad, she was relaxing on the couch. "Something wrong?" she asked, flipping idly through the pages of a magazine.
"Molly."
She looked up and saw a tortured pain in his eyes. She resisted the urge to peer into his mind -- that ability had come so easily to her with her new powers that she often found herself picking up the stray thoughts of others. "What's wrong?"
"You remember what I told you... about the biggest fear I have in the whole world?"
She nodded, thinking back to his long discussions with her about the corrupting nature of absolute power. "The future version of yourself that you met... But you prevented that future from ever happening, Bruce. And when he followed you back to this time, you destroyed him. Twice." She paused, reading his expression. "Didn't you?"
Delphi ran her fingers through the cool water, ignoring the fact her own skin was dotted by goose bumps. She was nude, seated at the edge of her reflecting pool, letting her long blonde hair trail over one shoulder and breast. "I am not an enemy of your friend," she said, her voice tinged with sadness. "I can only speak of what I have seen... and what I believe that it means."
Janis sat down heavily, drawing her knees up and resting her battle staff across them. Atalanta stood a short distance away, looking wary but interested. Janis liked her a lot, sensing that they were two kindred souls --- women of strife and battle. Delphi was another type of woman altogether, though. She was soft and fragile-looking. She wouldn't have lasted a month where I come from, Janis thought. "What did you see?"
Delphi looked up at her with shining eyes. "Look for yourself."
Janis leaned forward, staring down into the waters. They were still at first, but she saw shapes begin to appear as Delphi's fingers sent ripples through the surface. She saw a silver-tinged being striding over a broken and barren landscape. The figure was carved in the general likeness of the Hulk, but there was no mistaking his lack of humanity. This was a robotic being, one that housed a keen intellect... the twisted mind that had once been Robert Bruce Banner.
The Maestro stopped his progress, coming to a rest just before the halls of Parliament. People lined the streets around him, keeping their eyes downcast as armed guards moved amongst them, careful to make sure that no one dared offend their dread lord.
The Maestro stared up at the great halls of power and at the dried husk of a woman who was nailed to the door. The tattered remains of her Captain Britain uniform hung loosely from Betsy Braddock's body and when she spoke, it was through dried and cracked tissues that bled from the effort of speaking.
"Are you going to kill me today?" she asked, in a voice so soft that only the Maestro could hear her.
The cruel being reached out a hand to lightly caress the woman's shoulder. "Poor Betsy. You could served me well in my harem. A doxy like you would have kept me very satisfied... but your stubborn pride wouldn't let you, would it? Instead, you're another in a sad line of wretched wastes who tried to stand in my way. A pity."
"I'm not going to beg...."
"Of course you won't. You're too strong-willed for that." The metallic structure of the Maestro's face shifted then, as the fluid metal mimicked a human smile. "It's not time yet for death to come. I'm sorry."
Betsy Braddock felt the bones in her shoulder crush together under the Maestro's grip and she opened her mouth to cry out... but no words would come. Only a hoarse wheezing filled the air and all those assembled felt pity and revulsion for the great hero who now suffered before them.
Janis jerked away from the water, closing her eyes in an attempt to blot out what she'd seen. It had brought back awful memories of her own childhood, of growing up in an environment ruled by fear and oppression. "That wasn't Studly. That was the Maestro."
"And who do you think is going to become the Maestro?" Atalanta asked. "I know what you're going to say -- that history's been changed. But maybe only the circumstances leading up to the change have. You didn't watch the rest. You didn't see all that Delphi has to show you -- but if you did, you'd know that the Maestro and the Hulk end up in each other's bodies. That robotic shell you just saw -- that was Bruce Banner in there."
"I don't believe you," Janis whispered.
"Then watch," Delphi replied, her voice sounding strained.
Against her will, Janis complied.
And what she saw horrified her beyond belief.
The Hulk slammed both fists downwards, easily crushing the powered battlesuit that his opponent wore. It was near noon, one day after Dark Angel had told him that the Maestro had returned -- and Bruce had eagerly answered the calll that had come to Pendragons Castle, announcing the presence of armored warriors in downtown London.
"You boys are so damned stupid," he muttered, shrugging off an energy blast from the one calling himself the Silver Marauder. The Rainbow Brigade all wore multi-colored suits, each focusing on their color of choice: the Silver Marauder was joined by the Emerald Destroyer, the Crimson Giant and the Azure Stinger. "Why not just call yourself second-rate Power Rangers and be done with it?"
The Marauder, whom Bruce had concluded must be the clod in charge, activated his boot jets and flew upwards. Only he and the ten-foot tall behemoth called the Crimson Giant were remaining, with the rest lying on the ground sparking and groaning. "You're going to regret this, Pendragon. We're not to be trifled with!"
The Giant stomped towards the Hulk, tossing aside an overturned car like it was a paperweight. An injured elf lay trapped beneath it, one of his pointed ears half-torn from his skull. "Blast 'em, Marauder! I'll keep him busy in the meantime!"
The Hulk smiled coldly, cracking his knuckles. "Busy? You? Give me a break...."
The Marauder unleashed another torrent of energy, striking the Hulk in the back. The emerald behemoth staggered but didn't cry out. Gritting his teeth, he wrapped his arms around the Crimson Giant, ignoring the armored man's blows. He whirled about, using the Giant as a shield. The energy blast shattered the Giant's armor, causing it to crack in several places.
"This has gone on for far too long, guys. I was supposed to meet Molly for tea." The Hulk hurled the Giant through the air and he laughed out loud when the two armored villains smashed into one another, knocking both to the ground.
"You are pretty late -- but I guess I can forgive you."
Bruce looked up to see Molly hovering nearby, her Phoenix costume hugging her curves enticingly. She'd been looking good lately -- really good, in fact, but he couldn't put his finger on exactly what had changed. Her attitude and confidence, perhaps.
Walking towards her, the Hulk cast a baleful glance at the destruction around them. Police wizards were hurriedly casting spells to repair the damage, but it would take time. "One good thing about the Barrier and its magic," he said. "Cleanup is definitely easier."
She landed near him, the playful tone in her voice vanishing completely. "We're going to have to put that tea on hold, I'm afraid."
"You found him?" he asked, his tone a mixture of anticipation and dread. He'd asked everyone to keep an eye out for the Maestro -- but he'd known his best hope lay with Molly, whose Phoenix Force abilities were without measure.
"More like he found us, Bruce. This arrived at Lyonesse this morning." She reached into her cape's hidden pouch and retrieved a small packet.
The Hulk took it from her, slowly unwrapping it to reveal a single piece of paper, with a scrawled handwriting that he recognized as his own. The words, too, were familiar... taken from one of his first meetings with the Maestro.
You don't know what lies ahead for you. I do. Listen to me, Bruce... They're going to take it all away. You're going to end up with nothing and no one.
Bruce remembered his response to that -- You said yourself that time has split off. Maybe what happened to you won't happen to me. Maybe things will be different.
The Maestro had leaned forward then, his eyes blazing with a pain and a hate so deep that it rocked the Hulk to his core. Persecution. Betrayal. Hatred.
These things don't change.
Next Issue: "Saving Beauty from the Beast" part 3 of 4! Janis confronts the Hulk, while the Maestro reveals his plan for power.
Author's Notes
David Evans was kind enough to offer up a few words about our first issue, so let's get straight to his letter:
Hello Barry,
It was a surprise to see the Hulk, a pleasant one but a surprise none the less but after the first issue I am very excited. Its getting rather crowded inside the barrier now which leaves me wondering if there is anyone left to fight the Martians outside, but their loss is our gain as far as I'm concerned. I am very glad The Hulk and Celtic Phoenix have moved to Leeds as its my home town so if you need any geographical knowledge or whatnot I'm your man. It did make me smirk when I read about the Hulk's apartment, imagining him leaping across the view from my window. The idea that it is the Professor that becomes the Maestro -- is that you or are you just reestablishing it, if it is you well done that is brilliant.
Thanks for writing in, David. I don't plan to bring in any more old Hulk villains, as the Leader and the Maestro are the two that I felt most important to what I was planning. I'll be sure to keep you in mind if I need any help with the Leeds area!
As for the Professor/Maestro connection, I don't recall Peter David ever explicitly stating that it was the Professor who grew into the Maestro, but I always felt it was a rather obvious conclusion to come to. I certainly can't see Joe or the Savage Hulk managing that sort of thing. So I'd say the idea is Peter David's as opposed to mine. :-)
Keep In Touch,
Barry
