Chapter 33

"This is quite the welcoming committee." Bruce Banner, better known to the world as the man who turned into the Hulk, said with a smile as he sat in front of Scott and Emma while some of the more prominent members of the X-Men like Wolverine; Beast and Colossus stood behind him, looking ready to leap into action at any moment. "I believe that I told you that the big guy isn't here anymore."

"With all due respect, doctor Banner, it has been proved quite strongly to us that Hulk always comes back." Scott said with a glare, the phantom pains of the time the green goliath had attacked their mansion and basically manhandled their whole team with little to no difficulty. A manhandling where Scott had found his head in the grasp of Hulk and almost got cracked open like an egg. It wasn't a pleasant memory.

"Heh, I guess I walked into that one." The genius scientist said with a chuckle. "Then I guess I should be assuring you that he won't be coming back today. That should be enough time for us to have a talk, preferably about a certain pair of children on your island and the chances of me meeting them in a non-hostile environment?"

"You already met Skaar but Kala is not currently on the island, I already sent someone to inform him of your arrival so that he can come back. And about non-hostile... that would be rather hard while on an island full of people you beat the crap out of."

"Would it be less hard if I apologized?" The only answer Bruce got to that was the sound of Wolverine's claws unsheathing behind him. "Guess not."

"Would you actually mean it?" Emma asked with a raised eyebrow. "Would you actually do things differently if you had the chance?"

"Of course. The day I came to your mansion, I came for a man that was the associate of the group that had, as far as I was aware, caused the explosion that killed my pregnant wife and about a million innocents near the explosions; including children." Bruce said with a glare. "If I had known that the explosion was not engineered by that insect Miek, I would have never come back to Earth and none of the war would have happened."

"But let's just say that you did come back, would you still have gone after Charles?" Emma frowned at the man, who seemed to be deep in thought instead of answering negative like most people in his position would do so. The only reason she didn't try to get inside his mind was that she wasn't sure how much she believed the man about Hulk being gone and not wanting to take the risk of a mind like that of Hulk's.

"I... probably would have went after him but not in order to kill him and I definitely wouldn't be fighting you guys." He finally said with a nod. "I would have waited in hiding till he was alone and then go up to him in order to scare him, make my displeasure towards the whole Illuminati known. Maybe rough him up enough for him to need a wheelchair for a week of two."

"It would have been okay to let it end at the not killing part." Scott deadpanned at the benignly smiling man. He wasn't sure how to properly process the man's words, or that he even wanted to properly process them. "Is there anything other than meeting Kala and Skaar that you wanted to do while you're here?"

"Well, I was thinking about taking the boys on a road trip and learn a bit more about them." Bruce said with a friendly smile as he pushed his glasses up.

"Absolutely not." Only to be immediately shot down by Emma. "You might not have realized it since you were in hiding for a while, but we are in a war against Osborn and are on an island full of mutants. We need all the powerhouses we have among us, or do I need to remind you what happened the last time a mutant country was founded?" She ended with a glare that promised untold mental agony at the hands of her telepathy if Bruce tried to argue.

The occupants in the room all could understand her point of view. The former White Queen had been on Genosha when the Sentinel attack had taken place and if it hadn't been for the emergence of her new mutation, her diamond form, during the moment of panic and stress; she too would have been a part of the mountain of corpses, just like her students.

"While Emma was a bit more intense than I would have been, she isn't wrong doctor Banner. Not to mention Kala has started a more... personal conflict with Norman Osborn. Staying here among us is for the safety of your sons as well."

"Somehow I'm having hard time believing that, but okay." Bruce said with a chuckle. "I am guessing that asking for a place to stay would be too much."

"There is too much animosity towards you for that, unlike Kala and Skaar who fought beside us against Osborn."

"Heh, go kids." The genius scientist said with a smile but Scott could swear that there was a glint in his eyes that seemed almost sinister.

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