Fermionic gas

James Spinne had spent the greater part of the day mulling over last night's events. Calling the Mayweathers' party a disaster would be the understatement of the year. He hadn't seen what started it all, but he had most certainly witnessed the stomach churning results. James didn't know Will or Avalon well at all but he knew nether deserved what had happened. Sam was a total bitch, sure, but Spider-boy couldn't imagine how she felt seeing her best friend and her lover make out. James could count on one hand the number of things that made him sick inside. The kind of things he hated. Emotional manipulation was pretty high on that rather short list. He'd seen one of his closest friend torn apart from the inside out like that before. She was never the same. What had happened had left a permanent scar on the poor girl's heart. Seeing someone he cared about so dearly hurt in such a way had left an impression on Spinne's psyche. He had promised to never participate in something like that, even as the son of a super villain. Physical trauma he could handle. Emotional drama? That was off limit's in the naive Delphina Freshmen's book.

It was all made worse by the attack's culprit: Gianna Daniels, Delphina's Queen and Brenna's mentor. His personal connection to her, however thin, had James feeling like this was somehow his fault. There wasn't anything he could have done to stop Daniels, true. But that didn't make him feel any better. The issue was further compounded by Brenna's little speech the night before. The Ice Queen was more than happy with the way Sam had been broken. That scared James. Maybe he'd read the girl wrong. He hadn't known her very long but Arachnid had never pegged her for someone so cruel. She's not cruel. She feels attacked. That Mayweather is her enemy. He reminded himself. Brenna's explanation of her motives had been crystal clear. She's been treated like shit all of her life. Maybe she deserved a little payback? Revenge isn't the answer. James wasn't so dense to think that what Brenna had done was in any way morally acceptable. But we're bad guys. Why should we give a damn about morality? Logically speaking, James shouldn't care about any of this. UURGHHHH! Why is everything so complicated?!

The distant sound of conversation caused James to drift back into reality. He detached his back from the roof to get a better look down at the fountain below. He recognized the pair of approaching individuals as Elijah and Eliana, an odd coupling to be sure. When did they start hanging out? He wondered. The curious little spider made sure nether were watching before producing a web line and silently swinging to a tree below to get a closer look. ”Shall we be off then?” The pyromancer asked as the two locked arms. James heart fluttered. Are they going out?! He gasped internally. I'd totally ship those two! The giddy little Freshman reached into his pocket and pulled out his smartphone, snapping a couple pictures. James dropped out of the tree and into a bush underneath him to avoid any prying eyes. Without a second thought, he sent the picture to Lucas. He (and the rest of the universe) was well aware of his friend's rivalry with the girl and believed that any scrap of dirt would prove more than helpful.

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Bruce Banner is the son of Dr. Brian and Rebecca Banner. Both Briana and Rebecca were respected experts in the field of atomic physics. The two of them helped pioneer the creation of a formula said to rival or even surpass the original Super Soldier Serum in its ability to enhance a normal human into a powerful metahuman. The two of them were hired by the United States government straight out of college to develop the serum for use by the military. It was on that project that they first met, quickly growing attached to one another through their love of science. The creation of the serum was a slow process, considering that they were building it from the ground up. Worst still, the team working on the project consisted mostly of aides and second hand researchers. Only Brian and Rebecca had any true expertise in the field. Their greatest breakthrough came when a tiny sample of Captain America's blood was recovered from a defunct Strategic Scientific Reserve base. The discovery led to the project gaining a huge swath of monetary support from the Pentagon, which in turn led to a much larger and more qualified staff being hired. General Thaddeus Ross was brought on to oversee the logistics of the project and report back to the Pentagon with his team's progress.

Brian and Rebecca were married for less than a year when their son Bruce was born. He spent very little time with his parents due to their busy workload, instead living with his aunt Susan and her husband Drake a few hours from the base. He became close friends with Betty, the daughter of General Ross. As young Bruce grew older, he began to notice just how often his parents fought. It seemed like every time he saw the two together, they were arguing about anything and everything. His aunt had always told him it was because work was extra stressful. But Bruce could tell something else was wrong. His father had quite the temper and was prone to yelling and cursing at both his wife and son, especially when he drank. Which was often. His alcoholism became such a hindrance that Thaddeus forced Brian into a help group, threatening to fire him if he continued to act out. Ross's hard line response only seemed to infuriate Banner, who became increasingly violent as time passed. It all came to a head one night when Brian returned home, incredibly intoxicated and likely high on something. Rebecca greeted him by chiding him for leaving the door open when he left. Doctor Banner responded by striking her in the face. Bruce watched from his room as his father choked the life out of his mother.

Ross had Brian arrested and Bruce sent off to live with his aunt and uncle, his new legal guardians. The project was suspended and all assets frozen when it was discovered that Brian had been experimenting on himself with the formula. Investigators claimed that the Super Soldier Serum in Brian's blood had actually been driving the scientist insane and forced Ross to close the project, deeming it a total failure.

Meanwhile, Bruce began to isolate himself from those around him. He gave himself to his school work, graduating every class with a perfect score. His concerned aunt tried to get Bruce to interact in any way every chance she got. Any attempt to get Banner to befriend another living soul failed miserably. The only one who made any progress was Jennifer Walters, Bruce's stubborn cousin who vacationed in New Mexico every six months and spent every waking minute with Bruce. The boy refused to admit it, but he enjoyed her company immensely. The two were quite close by the time he graduated high school. The genius prodigy received no shortage of college invitations, with Oxford, Harvard and Yale offering him completely free rides. Instead, Bruce decided to stay local and chose to study nuclear physics in Navapo, New Mexico, at Desert State University as the star student of Professor Rex Tyler. He also briefly transferred to Pennsylvania State and met Walter Langkowski while studying there. Bruce received his masters degree in nuclear physics and went on to work on his doctorate at Caltech, alongside Philip Sterns. One of the more memorable moments in Bruce's education was attending the Forward Thought Conference by Harrison Wells at Oxford. He met a number of interesting individuals there, such as Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne. The conference itself was one of the major influences on Bruce's decision to return to New Mexico and restart the Super Soldier Project.

At first, Ross and his superiors outright refused the now twenty-three year old Bruce's request. Try as he might, there was no convincing them to change their minds. Not without evidence that he could finish what his parents started. So, Doctor Banner set out to do just that: prove himself capable. He approached a shady group known as AIM and acquired a small amount of funding from them and a laboratory to work in, as well as colleagues to assist him, in exchange for the finished project. Bruce had tried to come up with something tangible on his own and had failed. He didn't like having to work with Advanced Idea Mechanics, but in his mind it was the only way. He was determined to finish the formula; it was his family's legacy. And he knew he could do it. He'd spent his entire life up to that point proving it. Now Banner had the money and manpower to finish it. He spent the next six years creating a working version of his Super Soldier Serum. The secret, he discovered, was injecting gamma radiation into the subject's blood stream prior to releasing the actual serum. By the time animal testing produced a 68% success rate, AIM's higher ups decided to move on to human testing. Doctor Banner was against the idea, of course, but was forced to administer the process to a willing volunteer. The first successful human test subject was a famous boxer turned ex-con named Carl Creel. His absorption abilities were an anomaly, to say the least.

It was at that point that Bruce decided things had gone too far. He had gotten caught up in the excitement of fulfilling his life's dream and accidentally turned a common, every day criminal into a super villain. He took all the research he and his team had done and torched the laboratory, causing an explosion that destroyed the entire complex and killed everyone inside. What he didn't know was that Crusher Creel had not only survived, but managed to save the lives of the project's heads, Samuel and Philip Sterns.

Robert approached Ross with all of the research he had done, choosing not to inform him or anyone else of his exploits within AIM. The general took the information to his superiors and Project: Gamma World was reinstated. With the full force of the United States military at his back, Banner was able to perfect the formula in only two years. Ross brought on a much larger staff for the first official test on a human being. The team included a number of interesting individuals, such as: Igor Drenkov and Yuri Topolov, a pair of Russian scientists who fled to the U.S during the Cold War; and Chang Lam, a Chinese doctor who participated in less than legal experiments in Afghanistan prior to being arrested by SHIELD and pardoned by the United States government in exchange for his assistance. The actual subject was a British Royal Marine by the name of Emil Blonsky who had been hand picked by Ross for his fierce loyalty and fighting spirit.

The experiment would've been a success if it were not for the intervention of outside forces. Dr. Deidre Wentworth, a former colleague of Bruce's parents on the old Super Soldier project, had seen what the serum could do first hand. She feared Bruce's creation, and chose to sabotage the first trial in the hopes that the entire project would be cancelled. Unbeknownst to Deidre, her plans only caused further havoc. The main pipeline pumping the serum into Blonsky's chamber exploded, dousing the entire room in hazardous chemicals. The room quickly flooded with gamma radiation as well, thanks to a series of catastrophic system failures caused by the pipe bursting. Blonsky was the first to change. His body rapidly took on mass. His skin shifted and cracked, transmogrifying into tough emerald scales. Despite the trauma and confusion brought on by the sudden change, Emil managed to smash his way out of the lab and lead the people inside to safety. Everyone inside the main testing area when the 'accident' occurred was placed into quarantine. For the first two weeks, only Emil showed any symptoms of the serum. Slowly, over the course of several months, the scientists' powers began to manifest. Each was different, but almost all of them shared a similar monstrous appearance. Only Wentworth remained human in image.

Bruce's transformation came last and was the most violent. Unlike the others, who couldn't free themselves despite their best efforts, he destroyed his containment cell (which was meant to hold rogue Kryptonian prisoners) and injured three dozen guards and base personnel before escaping into the Nevada desert. General Ross brought in General Talbot and SHIELD to assist in the hunt, but they couldn't find the monster. Bruce found a dark cave and decided to seclude himself from civilization to protect them from himself. He would've stayed there forever, if not for happenstance. Or perhaps it was fate. Whatever the case Rick Jones, a young college student on vacation for the holidays, was out rock climbing when he discovered Bruce's particular hiding place. The terrified doctor tried to get the boy to run, yet he refused. The two sat down and Banner explained what had transpired. Rick decided to assist in the doctor in any way he could. He procured food, water and shelter for the doctor. Over the course of months, Bruce set up another laboratory in that cave where he would work day and night to find a cure.

One day, Jones returned to Banner's 'home' with distressing news. Someone had attacked Gamma base. The monsters held there had all been freed by a man the media were calling the Absorbing Man. At first, Banner refused to act. His presence would only make matters worse. Besides, he couldn't control his...other form. He'd leave it up to Ross and the super heroes. Eventually word reached him that Emil Blonsky, now calling himself an 'Abomination,' was rampaging through Las Vegas. The beast had already beaten a number of heroes and would continue on his path of destruction if he wasn't stopped. Jones convinced Bruce to leave the cave and go to Las Vegas to stop Blonsky. Banner confronted Emil, pleading with him to stop the madness. But the marine wouldn't hear any of it. His mind was too far gone and he only to make others suffer for his condition. Bruce's anger flared when Abomination attacked a fleeing family, and he transformed for the second time. Dozens of onlookers broadcast the footage of the battle between this 'Hulking creature' and 'Abomination.' Hulk's name was coined, and the world was left to ask: was he a monster? Or a hero? Or something else entirely? Bruce couldn't answer. He didn't know.

Flashfoward to April 1st, and the Hulk is needed once more. Bruce leaves his hole and does battle with the alien invaders attacking the west coast. The Hulk's rage burned against the Kryptonians, for they thought they were stronger. But Bruce's inner beast couldn't accept that. It seemed obsessed with proving that it was the strongest there is. So the Hulk fought, harder than it had fought even the Abomination. Many were killed in the crossfire. The monster knew no self control. And the aliens gave no quarter. Destruction was wide spread. When the Hulk reverted back to Bruce, the doctor fled back to his home in terror. He was horrified by what he'd done. The next morning, an image of the Hulk standing atop a pile of rubble and holding the decapitated head of a Kryptonian in his hand circulated the internet, further proving to the downtrodden doctor that he was nothing more than a monster. Rick was quick to rectify that, pointing to numerous incidents of the Hulk shielding civilians from the aliens. Bruce argued that it was merely coincidence. Whatever the case, he was determined to cure himself.

There could be no more Hulk.

The Knights were established after the Aspect war by the now defunct League of Nations, as an international task force for peacekeeping. When the United Nations rolled around at the end of the Second World War, the Knights took on a more independent role in the peacekeeping process; this is where the term 'mercenary' first was used to describe a Knight.