Chapter 24: September 11

"This is incredible!"

Cerion smiled at the gobsmacked look on Dr Banner's face. The guy was understandably freaked out to know he was saved by an alien. But, that bit of detail got swallowed up when he offered his resources to cure the guy.

Honestly, he had no idea whether curing Dr Banner was possible. Or curing the Hulk was even a smart thing to do.

Looking at the projected view of Dr Bannner's blood sample he felt a perfect cure was impossible.

"It looks normal." Bruce observed as he took in the enlarged projected image of his blood cells.

"Optima show the exploded view and this time use the Gamma scanner." Cerion ordered.

"Yes sir." Optima responded and the projected image began to expand into the exploded view under the new scanner.

"Highlight the radiations in green colour."

The image flickered and then they saw a completely different picture.

While Banner's blood cells looked as normal as possible a closer look at the nucleus with a Gamma scanner revealed just how different Banner was from an average human.

"That's impossible." Bruce muttered in shock.

"Not impossible Dr Banner. You have undergone what I'd like to call Terrigenesis." said Cerion as he changed the image to a DNA strand of Banner and a normal human DNA strand.

"Terrigenesis?" asked Bruce.

"Yes. The human DNA is too long to be shown in this image but look at the highlighted portions. This is a normal human DNA yet there remain some parts of it that are suppressed."

The image of the DNA strand flickered showing small yellow spots.

"These small spots or as I call them the Celestial triggers are inherited from your ancestors. Every human being born on Planet Earth has these triggers hidden deep inside your DNA strands. Through experimentation, these triggers can be activated which leads to Terrigenesis – an evolution from human to something else."

"But…that doesn't make any sense!" Bruce sputtered. "Surely people have been exposed to radiations and yet no one else has undergone a change like mine."

"Right you are doctor. You are right! The Gamma radiations alone would not have triggered Terrigenesis. You already had something else inside you that helped you not only to survive the radiation but also absorb it and bond it to your individual cells." said Cerion as he removed the image of the DNA strand to show Bruce's cells.

It was truly a beautiful vision. The nucleus lost its oval shape and now looked more like a pentagon with several hard layers at the outer shell.

"Look at the green shades on the nucleus Dr Banner. This is the absorbed radiation clogging the outer layers. Now…" Cerion changed the image to another cell where the green shade was absent. "This was the state of your cells before the change. The nucleus looks like it is slowly undergoing a structural change."

"But…but…how?" Bruce stammered with wide eyes.

"I theorize…"

"Sir, Miss Foster is trying to reach you." Optima interrupted his explanation.

"Put her on hold. Now, where was I…yes! I think you were treated with a serum of some kind or experimented on but the Terrigenesis failed to trigger a change. The Gamma rays on the other hand empowered your cells which allowed you to achieve a transcended state briefly owing to your suppressed Terrigenesis."

"That's not… how is that even possible? I don't remember anyone ever experimenting on me." said Bruce.

Cerion could see Bruce was slowly phase shifting as green pigmentation began to spread over Bruce's skin.

"Dr Banner, please calm down. You are triggering your transformation." cautioned Cerion.

He observed Bruce keenly as the transformation reverted back after Bruce took several deep breaths.

"Now, it is entirely possible no one experimented on you. It could be that you inherited it from one of your parents or even grandparents."

Bruce looked lost and for a long time continued to stare into his own hands.

"Can it be cured?" Bruce asked finally coming out of silence.

"It is not a disease to cure Bruce. You have literally undergone an evolution."

"If it was evolution then why do I retain my human appearance?"

Cerion grinned as he was expecting such a line of query. "That's because your body has yet to undergo the full transformation. You are in a transitional state. Despite the immense power locked inside you, your cells seem to have walled themselves keeping the energy inside. That's why you always revert to your human form."

"What if…?" Bruce gulped in fear. "What if I change and never come back?"

"Sir, Miss Foster is trying to contact you again." Optima reported.

"Hold the call." said Cerion before focusing on Bruce. "As of this moment, we both know very little of how your mind has accepted your recent evolution. I'm taking a guess here but I think your psyche split into halves during your evolution."

"You mean like…I'm schizophrenic?"

He could trace frear in Bruce's voice and that was the last thing he wanted for the guy.

"Well… let me put it this way. You are in the same situation the mythical werewolf is in. The instincts of the wolf emerge when the wolf is active while regaining humanity when the transformation is reversed." said Cerion. "In short, your human body can only house a human mind. It cannot bear the instincts and thought process of the Hulk."

"So, how can we cure this?" Bruce asked, after going through several high intensity pacing in the room.

"As you well know Bruce you have undergone an evolution of sorts. You are standing at a knife's edge. We don't know what is going on inside you right at this moment. It will take time to get a clear picture of your evolution."

"Sir, I'm afraid Miss Foster is calling you once again." said Optima.

"You should take the call." said Bruce, sitting down and thinking about the conundrum he is in.

"Yeah, just a minute…" Cerion hastily took the headphone a drone handed him and placed them around his head. "Hey, Jane. What's happened?"

XXXXXXXXX

Sometimes he pinched himself from time to time to make himself believe he was not dreaming. The events of the last two months notwithstanding, it was surreal to think he was in a city with an alien entity for company.

Despite the sheer ridiculousness of the situation, Bruce felt a smudge of relief that he was far away from his home country, at least, for the time being. It certainly gave him a much-needed breathing space to properly construct a plan to cure himself and the facilities that were now open before him.

The gene mapping performed by his new alien friend was extraordinary. Although, it would take a while for him to make sense of all the data Cerion had gathered about the human genome it was undoubtedly helpful in his quest to find a cure.

But, another main reason he was thankful to be out of the US was because of the present situation unfolding in his homeland. On the expanded holographic projection in the lab, he watched with an open mouth as smoke and fire come out of the World Trade Centre. It was September 11 and the world looked upon in shock as the largest terrorist attack take place in the heart of the US.

Bruce was in parts relieved that he was far away because he feared General Ross would somehow pin this on his head. He flinched when the footage of the South Tower collapsing came upon the holo-projector.

"Why did this happen?"

Bruce looked at a shell shocked Cerion who was sitting on a couch staring in disbelief at the carnage unfolding.

"History of humanity is ripe with conflicts. This is just the recent form it has taken." said Bruce.

"But, it wasn't supposed to be like this…" Cerion trailed off making Bruce frown.

"What'd you mean?" he asked but he got no response.

Bruce went back to staring at the video feed put up by CNN.

"I have to do something."

Bruce heard Cerion mutter before his new alien friend rushed out of the lab in a hurry. He immediately followed when he realized Cerion was somehow planning on involving himself.

"Wait! Think about what you are doing! You will expose yourself." Bruce shouted after the guy.

"I can work around that little problem Dr Banner."

"But if you get exposed you'll undoubtedly create chaos. Is the world really ready to know of alien life?" asked Bruce.

Oh, he was more than okay with Cerion helping out in the disaster that befell his homeland. But, that doesn't mean he had his concerns about the fallout that'd follow. If Cerion was exposed what would that mean for him?

While it was selfish of him to think like that, his entire existence was in jeopardy if the government gets wind of his location.

"Don't worry Dr Banner. The world won't hear a peep about alien life." said Cerion as a panel on the wall scanned his retina.

Bruce took a step back as the whole room shook and began to slowly spin. He felt as if the room was slowly rotating downwards.

Well, his intuition was right. The room did move down and Bruce took in an even larger workspace with dozens of drones floating around doing some work.

Bruce blinked in surprise as the roof suddenly folded back showing the blue skies up above. He watched on curiously as Cerion picked up a silver armband from a glass case.

"What are you going to do?" asked Bruce.

"Save a plane from crashing." said Cerion before pressing the armband.

A silver coloured metal covered Cerion's body burning away his otherwise normal clothes.

"I'll be back before you know it." said Cerion as a half mask covered his face before taking his flight to the sky.

Bruce stared after Cerion who broke the sound barrier in the sky. "That's cool."

XXXXXXXX

Megan watched the news with horror gnawing at her heart. The burned remains of the World Trade Centre and collapsed buildings of the Pentagon shook her mind.

Tears ran down her cheeks as she saw men and women covered in soot wander the chaos ridden streets of New York. She had a little sister working over the city and she has been trying to reach her all morning to no success.

She didn't know why or how these madmen could callously snuff out innocent lives. This was not how wars are fought.

Megan clutched the cross her mother gave her before passing say last year. The cross gave her a sense of protection. She prayed for her sons who were in school to stay healthy and sound of mind. She prayed to her Lord Jesus to help the people of New York and to punish the wicked men who concocted these attacks.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of a plane in the sky and it felt too close for her comfort.

Megan ran to her door and saw a huge plane flying over her house. She gasped in fear as the plane was far too close to her house and was at an odd angle. She could make out the rivets on the plane's body while strong gales of wind made her stumble back.

"Oh Lord!" she gasped as the plane went straight in the direction of the school of her children. She gripped her heart in fear but then, her eyes traced a silver light falling from the sky.

She stood there frozen even as her neighbours rushed outside asking her what happened. Her eyes remained fixed on the horizon.

"Megan, what happened? What did you see?"

"An angel. I saw an angel!"

XXXXXXX

Felix Thompson lit a cigar and took a deep draw listening on his car's radio. Supposedly, New York and Washington were attacked. He didn't believe what these fools were saying. They were all just fake news for all he knew.

Honesty was lacking in much of this country, thought Felix as he enjoyed the open air of Stoney Creek.

He was sure, a day later these same 'news people' are going to make up another ridiculous story while the good people like him worked day and night to make a living. Oh, he had no complaints with his lot in life. He had an honest job running a repair shop nearby making hard-earned money. And he went to church every Sunday so he was a pious Christian.

The roaring of engines drew his attention and up above he saw a plane flying upside down.

The cigarette fell out of his mouth as he watched in shock as the airliner flew over his position. It felt like a scene from one of those stupid movies his son harped on about. It was at that moment Felix realized the 'news people' were not making shit up, at least, this time.

A flash of silver light dropped down from the heavens and caught the plane by its nose.

"Good God in heaven!"

Felix shook his head and rubbed his eyes but he saw what he saw. He saw a man in shiny silver armour trying to stop the aircraft from holding on to its nose.

The plane passed him by blowing away his hat off his head. Felix stared dumbly after the plane until finally, he heard a loud sound. He rushed into his car and drove to the crash site. He could see the plane had safely landed on a field. Just as he pulled his car over and stepped out he saw a flash of silver taking to the skies.

Felix looked up trying to see something but found nothing.

"It was you God, ain't ya! You send your angels! I saw an angel!" Felix began to laugh hysterically.

It took him a moment to regain his bearings but he immediately dialled the number of local PD reporting the crash.