Chapter 13

Hulk watches with a severe expression as the Warbound pull apart the engine section of the salvaged space ship that has been cobbled into the victory memorial. The expression changes to fury as Korg dumps an armful of advanced-looking explosive charges at his feet.

"I recognize these things, they're nuclear-armed explosives, the Red King's forces used these when they wanted to make damn sure there was nothing left standing when they were done. The human is right, they've been defused, but if these had gone off inside the warp core... every living thing within a thousand miles would have been nothing but ash."

Picking up one of the now-harmless devices, Hulk stares at it for a moment, before gritting his teeth and reducing it to scrap metal in his fist, before dropping it in pieces back to the ground. "The moment I think I have managed to find peace... there is always someone trying to take it from me again." He turns around, his eyes actually flashing with green for a moment as he adresses the Warbound "I want to know who would DARE to do this!! I want them on their knees begging me for mercy that will never come! Turn the city upside down if you have to, I want these miserable fucks found!"

Jen looks a bit uncomfortable at her cousins unexpected ruthless streak, which I'll admit is a good deal scarier than his most violent rampage in Savage Hulk mode. A vindictive Hulk is a scary Hulk. Miek, who's been trying to stay out of view during the whole search suddenly seems to think of something and steps forward "Worldbreaker, how do we know that anyone native to this world was responsible at all? There has been no word from any of the Red King's followers since his fall, and had they been responsible, surely someone would have spotted them? If the Earthlings power is as great as your relative claims, perhaps he is the one who planted the devices himself, as a way of gaining your favor? Surely the timing is suspicious?"

Oh hell no, bug guy, you are not squirming your way out of this one.

Unfortunately, the Warbound are probably more likely to listen to the guy they've been through hell and back with than with two random strangers they just met, if the distrustful looks they're shooting me is any indication, even as Jen steps in to defend me.

"You don't know what you're talking about, there's no way Ginnungagap is behind this!"

Miek decides to press his luck "Can you be so sure? You yourself have admitted to only knowing him a short time, and Sakaarians have long experience with beings of great power who claim they're doing what's best for you."

Better nip this in the bud "I have an easy solution to this. It just so happens that before we arrived on Sakaar, Jen came into possession of something that might prove useful for this situation. Does everyone here know what an Infinity Gem is?"

THAT catches their attention. Even the lowliest slave in the gladiator pits have heard of the Infinity Gems, and it's almost comical to watch the shock on their faces as Jen removes the Time Gem from the subspace pocket she's been storing it in. Jen smirks as she realizes my idea and holds up the Gem to Bruce.

"Remember this, Bruce? Used to belong to Thanos, was part of that tacky gold glove he wore?"

Hulk blinks "...an Infinity Gem? How the hell..?" His face stiffens at the sudden realization "Stark!"

Jen shrugs "And Reed. And Namor. And Strange. And Black Bolt. Ginnungagap decided that the Stones should be with some more deserving holders, and apparently he thought I was suited for the role, so he gave me the Time Gem. From what I understand, one of it's minor powers is allowing the user to see into the past. You're the king, Bruce, it's your decision. You think the evidence we get with this will be clear enough?"

Hulk thinks for a moment before nodding "Show me."

Huh, I didn't think bugs could panic sweat.

....

"Please.... my lord...I beg you!"

The Warbound watches angrily as Miek struggles vainly in the Hulk's giant fist, his insect shell beginning to crack from the pressure of a furious Hulk. Hulk cuts off his pleading by slamming him against the palace wall, snarling in his face "YOU WRETCHED COCKROACH!! YOU ENDANGER MY WIFE, MY SUBJECTS, MY ENTIRE KINGDOM, AND YOU DARE BEG FOR MERCY!! YOU WANT THE WORLDBREAKER, YOU HAVE HIM!"

The viewing of the warp core sabotage went pretty much the way I expected them to, though to my surprise, Miek somehow thought it would be a good idea to stick around rather than trying to flee. I'm guessing he thought it'd make him look guilty, or he hoped he'd somehow luck out and the Gem wouldn't show his part in it. He wasn't that lucky.

Using the Gem wasn't an issue, even if Jen hadn't had previous experience with the Power Gem, since the Gems respond to will and intent within their domain. As such, all she had to do was want it, and the events replayed themselves in front of us like a recording. Hulk watched in anger as the Red King's loyalists planted the bombs inside the warp core, anger that quickly turned to murderous rage as the Gem showed Miek watching the sabotage without lifting a finger or warning anyone. The recording hadn't even finished before Miek suddenly found himself surrounded by his betrayed comrades, but before he had a chance to try and explain himself, Hulk had grabbed him.

"I did this...for you..."

With a roar of incoherent rage, Hulk throws Miek across the hall, his body impacting against a pillar and damn near knocks it over. "LIAR!! BETRAYER! I SHOULD HAVE LEFT YOUR MISERABLE HIDE IN THE PIT I FOUND YOU IN!"

Struggling to sit, Miek keeps pleading "This...this isn't you! Ruling, peacemaking with the tribes... you're a warrior! A conqueror! You should be leading us into battle among the stars, not sit here tied to a throne! I thought... maybe if you thought the Earthlings who sent you here was responsible... the Worldbreaker would come back!" He glares resentfully at me and Jen "You... you two ruined everything! It would have been magnificent!"

I roll my eyes. It's the same damn story no matter where in the universe you are, it's never THEIR fault their plans are psychotic garbage, it's eveyrone elses fault for not indulging them and just letting them have their way. I remember he had some sob story about being the last of his species or something, and I COULD fix it easily enough, but really, this prick can go fuck himself.

If he lives that long, considering that Caiera actually looks even more enraged than Bruce does. Pulling the poleaxe-thing from her back, she advances on the downed Miek, but Jen grabs her arm.

"Stop! You can't just kill him in cold blood!"

Caiera yanks her arm loose "Keep out of this! I don't care if you are my beloved's kin, you have NO IDEA what this filth almost cost us! He betrayed his king, he betrayed his war mates, he is lower than dirt!"

"I know, but-"

"SILENCE!!" Hulk bellows, cutting off any further arguments. "I'm the king, I will decide his punishment! This isn't the Red King's court anymore, it's mine! I'm loathe to admit it, but Jen has a point. Miek will live. For now." He scoffs "Though I think he'd find death preferable to being punished for high treason. Throw him in the dungeons until I decide what to do with him!"

Caiera seems like she's about to argue for a moment, but finally lowers her weapon, sending the slumped Miek a disdainful look before walking back over to her husband. Korg grabs his former partner by the arms and begin dragging him away, leaving the rest of us in a rather awkward silence. Hulk shakes his head as he watches them leave.

"I can't belive he'd betray me like this. Or any of us! We fought beside eachother, we were brothers! And he threw all of it away because he wanted me to keep fighting. Is there nowhere in the galaxy I can just be myself without someone demanding I be a weapon?!"

I shrug "Better you find out now than, say, if the bombs went off and you blamed Stark and the others and decided to invade Earth, right? Besides, I'd say overall you're doing pretty good in the whole peaceful life department. Wife, kid on the way, undying loyalty of your friends, only one of whom turned out to be a jerk. Frankly, I'm surprised it wasn't the Brood guy."

Hulk looks down at Caiera who wraps her arm around his, before looking back at the rest of the Warbound "I suppose I can't argue with that."

Jen taps Hulk on the shoulder "Uh, Bruce, what does he mean with "kid on the way"?"

...

"Married, I can get, but KIDS? I just... I never expected that to be in Bruce's future. I didn't even think it would be possible!"

"Because of the radiation exposure, or because of the logistics involved? Because the latter is probably easier to handle when he's in human form."

"Ugh, come on!" Jen laughs and lies back on the bed opposite mine. We've retired to the room Bruce had quickly cleaned up and prepared for us, guest quarters were apparently not high on the priority list while fixing up the damage to the palace, but atleast there's two beds in here, otherwise he'd have been sending some rather confusing messages. I could just pop us back to Earth anytime, but Jen had wanted to join her cousin for the feast being planned for tomorrow before saying goodbye, so we'd be staying the night.

Staring up at the ceiling, Jen sighs "I guess he really is happy here, isn't he?"

"As far as I can tell. Going from being hunted day and night to being the hero of an entire world will do that to you."

"I know it's selfish but... part of me almost wishes we'd have come here to rescue him so he'd come back home with us."

"It's a little selfish, but considering you're one of the people who actually cared about him, I think it's forgivable. And we did rescue him, in a way. If we hadn't come here, that bomb would have gone off, and then who knows what would have happened." I do actually, and it wasn't pretty.

Jen rolls over on her side so she's facing me "You never told me why you were doing all of this, you know? The Infinity Gems, I get that part, but why all of this? Why bring me all the way out here with you? You could have fixed all of this yourself, why go through all of this trouble just to give me closure? Don't get me wrong, I REALLY appreciate it, but I have to admit, I'm curious."

She actually has a point, I could easily have helped Bruce all by myself, even without Jen's Gem, and I realize I don't really have a good answer. "I kind of wish I could give you some long-winded altruistic explanation, but to be perfectly honest, the best I got is "because I felt like it at the time". Which sounds kind of bad now that I say it out loud."

She smirks "And here I was thinking it was just because you thought I was hot."

"Well, that helped."