Chapter 172: Meanwhile, British Columbia. 2010 CE

[After the Duel in Harlem]

Pluto is now walking through the forest of British Columbia as he sees a small cabin in front of him. He was with his son Helios, who looked nervous and annoyed at the same time. Just back at home, Summer just started, and the Harlem incident just happened, wreaking havoc on the neighbourhood. The place is in Martial law right now, trying to contain the incident, Pluto's phone was ringing constantly, but he ignored it altogether.

"Where are we going? There?" Helios questioned. "I thought you wanted to 'train' me again…"

"Oh yes, you'll be trained." Pluto hummed as he put his hands to his pocket. "Prepare yourself."

"What? But where's the target?" Helios asked again in confusion.

Pluto pointed at the cabin. "There."

"The target's a cabin?"

Pluto chuckled. "He should appear right about… now."

As soon as Pluto said that, the Cabin suddenly exploded into pieces, and in the middle of the wreckage, a big green monster was staring at Pluto and Helios with rage on his face. The monster roars loudly, making birds around them run away from the scene.

"You want me to defeat that monster?!" Helios exclaimed in disbelief. "That thing just destroyed Harlem!"

"Technically, he isn't alone in destroying it." Pluto shrugged. He then saw the hug sprinting towards him with full force. "Oh look, he's approaching us, prepare yourself boy."

"I swear! I will report you to child protective services!" said Helios angrily as he stepped in front of Pluto. He summoned a thick and gigantic tower kite shield, and he planted it on the ground. The Hulk then arrived at them, and he punched the shield, making a loud booming sound that scattered the dirt around them, and it knocked both of them down.

"Sure, you can do that, but your toys will stay with me." said Pluto casually, watching the two fight it.

Helios clicked his tongue as he stood up, and he constructed a suit that covered his whole body. The suit looked like it came out straight out of a Justice League Vs. Batman comic page, it was chunky, looks high-tech if not for the golden colour of the construct, and it towered over the hulk.

"Haha! I designed it myself! Prepare to get a beating green guy!" Helios laughed like a madman, and it made Pluto cringed just hearing about it.

"He's already in that phase huh…" Pluto massaged his nose bridge.

Helios then sprints towards the Hulk, who just recovered himself from the impact. As soon as the green guy stood up, Helios punched him roughly, and when the fist touched the Hulk's skin, it made a burn mark, not enough to make it permanent, but it was still a burn mark.

The Hulk was thrown away tens of feet to the depths of the forest. "How tough is your skin!?" Helios exclaimed. He then unsummoned his suit, but then his body suddenly was enveloped with golden energy, and he floats from the ground.

"Hey dad! I just figured out how to fly!" Helios said excitedly, but then saw that the Hulk recovered from the punch. He rushed towards the Hulk, and he quickly enveloped the green guy using his golden constructs.

The hulk tried to escape, but Helios just made his walls thicker and thicker, and Hulk was unable to rip it open anymore. He was now covered in golden walls, and Helios created a machine just on top of the square that contained the hulk.

"Can't fight if you can't breathe huh buddy?" Helios stated with a smirk as the gears of the machine turned rapidly. Suddenly, Helios started to see the Hulk chokes from the lack of Oxygen inside the square. The hulk tried desperately to escape, but the walls just kept getting thicker and thicker, the hulk even tried to dig, but the construct also enveloped the ground.

Helios then saw the hulk start to weaken, he dropped to the ground, and his body started to get smaller. As soon as he saw that, Helios frowned, the Hulk kept getting smaller and smaller, and eventually, he passed out, and it was a human that passed out, not the hulk.

"Wait what?" Helios asked himself as he dispersed his construct. He landed near the human, and walked towards the man. "A human?"

"Doctor Bruce Banner." said Pluto as he appeared beside Helios. "A scientist. He wants to recreate the super soldier serum, but backfired instead."

"You didn't tell me he was a human." Helios frowned.

"Does that matter?"

"Of course it is!"

"Oh, so if it's a human, you're hesitant to kill them, even though he or she can destroy an entire city in just a day." Pluto hummed. "But if it's not human, even though it's harmless, you'll kill them without a doubt."

"That's not what I just said..." Helios murmured.

"Then what did you say boy?'

"I just… it feels wrong… I grew up with humans dad…"

"Just because you grow up with them you will spare them? Even though he is clearly a threat to the world?"

"N-No…"

"Then what?"

"I-"

Pluto sighed as he ruffled Helios's hair. "We're Eternals Helios, we're not supposed to be biassed. But I get it, sometimes it's hard to not doubt what you're doing."

Helios turned towards his father. "Did you… Have you ever regretted killing someone?"

Pluto chuckled. "Not really, most of them deserved it. But, in the future, if you ever decide to take that path, Helios, to take lives, I suggest you should remember every kill you've done."

Helios raised his eyebrow. "Why?"

"It makes you remember what made you do it in the first place, and it will help with the bloodlust that came with it." said Pluto. "Maybe find an anchor as well… so you won't lose yourself in the blood."

"Anchor?"

Pluto hummed. "My anchor is your mom," he said. "She keeps me in check, whenever a battle comes up, I used to just lose myself in the fight, killing blindly, whether it was a deviant fight, a human battle, or even a squabble between ourselves. Your mom will snap me back to reality, she doesn't realise it of course, I just look at her, and I snap out of it. I obviously don't do that anymore though, the world's at peace for now."

"An anchor…" Helios murmured.

Pluto chuckled as he stood up, and he ruffled Helios's hair again. "Come on, let's go home, you have a free summer this year, you've beaten the Hulk, that's good enough for me."

"Really?!" Helios said in excitement. "Yes!"

Pluto shook his head in amusement. "Let's go."

"Wait, what about Doctor Banner?"

"Let him be." Pluto hummed. "He'll deal with his problems himself, unless he asks for help of course…"

Helios nodded, and the father-son pair vanished from the place, leaving the knocked out banner out in the wilderness.