CHAPTER FIVE

By the time Paula Del Rio reached San Francisco, the sun had vanished. So had most of the people. They were hiding indoors or outright fleeing the city, until things calmed down. The urban sprawl was full of fires, debris, and, car accidents, and the occasional F-16 corpse. One large neighborhood was still covered in dust and smoke. The power was off-and-on at best; there had apparently been some bombings at the power-plants, and the EMP (which she'd heard about on a far-away radio station) had damaged them, as well. A huge, hovering, spaceship-looking thing was floating over the city and actually giving off a lot of light--she assumed it was one of those SHIELD hovercarriers she'd read about in Newsweek. She saw huge tire tracks that had cracked the concrete. Though the information was sketchy at best, she knew that some new superhuman was on the loose, and she had a pretty good idea about who it was.

Paula refused to give up hope. Even if Eric had succeeded in changing himself, she'd thought of at least a dozen arguments that could hopefully snap him back to normal. She was in a black Porsche that she'd rented near the California/Nevada border, after doing her "I've been wandering around the desert for hours!", damsel-in-distress routine to fool the H1 investigators that were looking into the AIM/Hulk diner battle. As far as she could tell, they'd bought her story that she'd just been passing through while on vacation, and that she'd ran off when the fight started. In truth, she'd sought out Bruce to get him to help her brother. Now, she had one window cracked, so her long, black hair was trailing behind her, and she still wore the same black jeans and v-neck sweater that she'd first met Bruce in. (No time to change, obviously.)

Though it was night, she had to wear sunglasses, as the "emergency light" from the SHIELD hovercarrier was surprisingly bright. (She'd read that they used that technology in nocturnal blackout situations.) Bruce had said that he'd meet her at her brother's place, but that no longer seemed to be an option for two reasons: first, that part of the city was now nothing but ruins. Second, it was blocked off by cops and, yes, even tanks. (She'd been stuck behind one tank for a few blocks, it had been very slow-going.) Paula wondered if her brother had managed to keep his identity a secret, or if one of those cops would be pulling her over. Paula wondered if Bruce had a plan to deal with this new set of circumstances. Paula wondered if things were quiet because SHIELD had killed her brother, and she'd gotten there too late.

Bruce had insisted that they not contact each other by electronic means--H1 sometimes kept an eye on witnesses' calling habits for twenty-four-hours after their Hulk sighting, just to be safe--but she now wished that she'd at least given him her cell number. Screw secrecy, her brother's life and sanity were at stake. She'd gladly get in trouble for lying to the authorities and not reporting a fugitive if it helped Eric. So, she drove through a San Francisco that had become a ghost town, save for law-enforcement and military personnel. Smoke and sirens were commonplace. Had they captured Bruce? No, that didn't seem likely, he'd probably Hulk out…an event she was hoping he could avoid. Paula drove by the remains of a place called Cord Enterprises, and kept going until she reached Eric's neighborhood.

She'd been approaching it from a number of different angles, hoping to find a route that wasn't being guarded. But, again, two cop cars had parked bumper-to-bumper like they were kissing, blocking off the street that led to the rim of debris around the neighborhood. Paula considered sneaking into one of the buildings and exiting on the other side, but, with that huge flying thing up there, they were probably watching this entire area. And even if she made it, what would she do when she got there? While lost in thought, one of the cops started walking over to her car, even though it was over a block away. He held up a hand to signify "stop".

Stupid, stupid, stupid! She couldn't leave, but she couldn't let the guy ID her, either. Paula did work for the police and FBI, she knew how they operated. If a Paula Del Rio was a witness to an incident involving the Hulk in Nevada, they'd definitely notice if a Paula Del Rio showed up at another incident involving the Hulk in California. It'd look suspicious. For that matter, what if they'd already ID'd her brother? She kept waiting for the other cop to call in her license plate--they did that before they talked to you--but he didn't. Paula momentarily raised her sunglasses. Wait, those weren't cops…she'd assumed they were since they were standing by patrol cars, but, no. As they got closer, she saw that they were wearing ugly green uniforms. National Guard.

A guy wearing a bulky, outdated green helmet walked up. He had gaudy glasses and looked more like an accountant than a soldier. "Can I help you, ma'am?"

"I'm sorry, I'm just a little lost," she lied. "I'm used to driving right through that area that's all blocked off. And, well, I tried going some other ways I know, but they're all full of empty cars or--"

He tried to be reassuring, but he ended up giving her a condescending, "Of course you're lost, you're a woman" smile. "Nothing to be embarrassed about, ma'am. That's happening to everyone. Is this an emergency situation?"

"No, I just wanted to check on a friend."

"Is this friend injured or anything like that? Have you heard from 'em since the EMP and the bombings? The cell towers are starting to come back up."

"I know, I talked to her on the phone, and she was fine. I just thought that maybe I should go over there."

"Well, with all due respect, ma'am, we've got two class-nine superhumans and a few SHIELD divisions like two hundred yards thataway, and you don't wanna get too close. I don't think your friend would want you getting hurt because you're out in the open when this thing decides to act up, again. Maybe you should settle for going home and giving her another call."

"Okay, I'll do that. Thanks."

"Don't let the class-nine thing fool you. To be class-ten, you have to be like Galactus or something. Some planet-eating cosmic guy. So the niners might as well be at the very top."

"...right." She put the car back into gear and took off.

Fighting every urge in her body, she continued to get further away from Eric. That had to be done--she had to get to a place that they probably weren't watching and figure something out. But what could she do…go back and bonk those two National Guard guys on the head and sneak past them? Tell the truth and hope they'll let Eric have a normal life, afterwards? Neither seemed that plausible. She eventually found an apartment building that had left its parking-garage-divider up (or maybe the EMP had done it), so she drove right in and parked. It was deserted. Paula drummed her fingers on the steering wheel and listened to the news on the radio, hoping to find out something new. They said the standoff was still going on, but they didn't give any details--just vague "The situation is under control" nonsense. "In the unlikely event of another EMP, don't worry, the hovercarrier won't fall, it's shielded", etc.

That was when she noticed the butterfly that had landed on her passenger seat. At any rate, it looked like a butterfly, but it was clearly robotic in nature, and made up of a spectacular mixture of silver, bronze, and gold. Its long, bronze feelers seemed to be looking right at her. She had no idea how it had gotten into the car. Before she could react, it flew over, landed on her wrist, and wrapped its wings tightly around it. A mind-bending stream of colors filled up her field of vision, and she suddenly found herself standing right next to Bruce and a tall, claylike being, surrounded by armored SHIELD vehicles that were blocks away but still close enough to shoot.

Initially, she thought she was falling, because she couldn't feel the ground underneath her feet--upon looking down, she saw that she was glowing yellow. Her black clothes and hair were backlit by it, and her skin was the color of the sun.

Bruce--who was in even worse shape than the last time she'd seen him--looked up at her, unsurprised. "Don't worry, they can't see or hear you. You're a hologram. Your body is back wherever you last left it. The butterfly has a security device, so it'll be safe. I mean, your body will."

Clayface had his back turned to her. He was still telekinetically working on the portal, which had gotten much larger, as he added more technology to it.

"He wanted to do something for me, since I got hurt--I said I wanted to talk to you. This is the safest way for everyone." Bruce had to remember not to use any names, since SHIELD was listening in to his side of the conversation.

Paula raised her eyebrows at that…he definitely looked like he'd come close to Hulking out, and the front of his shirt was all torn, revealing an anorexic-looking physique. "What's going on?!"

"Clayface--they know him as Clayface--wants to leave this dimension. He's tired of humanity. He's building a portal so he can go to a realm that's uninhabited."

Paula marched right up to him. "Eric, that's enough. Stop screwing around."

He didn't react or respond.

"Eric!!"

"He doesn't really notice humanity, anymore," Bruce clarified.

"Eric, stop being stupid and talk to me. It's me, Paula. Your sister."

Nothing.

"His senses are overwhelmed by the higher spectrum of reality, I'm pretty sure. And he unlearned everything about being human. I don't think he remembers any of his life before a few hours ago."

Paula's prepared arguments suddenly seemed a lot less impressive. "Oh, God…please tell me you figured out a plan."

"Kind of."

"…" "I kept trying to think of a way to talk him out of it, but then, I realized something. I was so caught up in trying to stop him that I never thought about whether or not he should be stopped."

"What!? What are you--"

"He isn't insane. He isn't human, he isn't 'normal', but he isn't insane, either. I've been talking to him, and he's completely lucid. If he doesn't want to be human, why make him? I don't see any reason to stop him from leaving. There's nothing fundamentally illogical about wanting to change yourself or wanting to go to another dimension. Besides, since he isn't really aware of what his new body is doing to people, he needs to get to a place where he can't hurt anyone…and where nobody can hurt him, for that matter."

Paula was panicking. Though it was pointless to whisper, she did so anyway: "It's a trick, right? You've got some secret plan?"

"When I first said it, I was just trying to see things from his point of view, so I could figure out how to win him over. But then I started thinking, and…"

"No. You can't do this to me. No, no…"

"I'm sorry. There's just one other thing."

Right after he told her, all hell broke loose. A fleet of AIM war craft teleported in, opening fire on SHIELD from behind, and dropping dozens of mechs down to the ground, just like the ones the Hulk had fought in Nevada. The SHIELD hovercarrier was forced to open fire with its vast amount of weaponry, even though they were in the middle of millions of people. Clayface took notice of humanity for the second time in his existence, deciding that he wasn't going to let them destroy his portal. And Bruce was shot through the head with a stray blast. He was technically dead when he hit the dirt, but his DNA was still as radioactive as ever, so the change took place regardless, kick-starting him back to life as something very different.

What he said, before it happened: "When he leaves this dimension, I'm going with him."

Continued…