//------------------------------// // Anger Management // Story: Avenging is Friendship // by Boltstrike58 //------------------------------// Equis, Ponyville As he once more walked down the barren path leading toward the edge of the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy's cottage coming into view, Bruce Banner thought, not for the first time, that it looked like something straight out of a children's book. Then again, this entire planet looked like something out of a fairy tale, so it fit pretty well. With the multitude of woodland creatures surrounding it, including several deer and one large brown bear, the home of the pegasus would've been a child's dream come true. Speaking of the animal caretaker, Fluttershy was busying herself by filling all the birdhouses with seed, humming to herself as she did so. Bruce smiled at the sight. Fluttershy always managed to bring out a feeling of peace in him. And thanks to the Other Guy, he needed those as often as possible. "Hi, Dr. Banner," said Fluttershy. "I'm glad you could make it today. A-as long as it doesn't inconvenience you..." "No worries, Fluttershy," replied Bruce. "I'm basically crashing on Tony's couch full time, I don't have many obligations." Realizing how that could come across, he hastily added, "Not that I don't enjoy your company, of course!" "No, no, I understand you didn't mean that. I don't get easily offended," insisted the pegasus. "I just need to finish feeding everyone, and then we'll go inside to have our tea." "I could help with that," replied Bruce, grabbing some of the bundles next to her. "Make it go by a little faster." He unwrapped one of the packages, discovering it contained fresh salmon. "Oh! That's for Mr. Bear," Fluttershy said, pointing to the massive brown bear. "He gets grumpy if he doesn't get his food fast enough. I try to teach him the value of patience, but he just won't listen." Bruce tossed the fish over to the bear, who caught it in his vice-like jaws, swallowing it down with glee. Galloping over to Bruce, the startled physicist was enveloped in a literal bear hug, and grunted at the squeezing pain. "Mr. Bear! What have I said about hugging other creatures too hard?!" Fluttershy admonished, giving the bear a scolding look. With a sheepish frown, he released his grip on Bruce, letting the physicist catch his breath. "W-well, I can cross that one off my bucket list," said Bruce, with a laugh. Soon enough, the two friends were seated comfortably in Fluttershy's cottage, drinking warm tea. Bruce was also struggling not to laugh at Angel constantly making 'threatening' faces at him, considering the rabbit was smaller than the Hulk's big toe. Fluttershy gave Angel a glare of disapproval in return. "So, I've been meaning to ask: how'd you learn to manage the Hulk?" Fluttershy piped up, knocking Bruce out of his thoughts. "Well, at first I tried to just never get angry. Or, to be more specific, I tried to stop my pulse from ever going high enough to trigger the transformation." Bruce shrugged. "Suffice to say, it didn't exactly work. Something always came up. Whether it was me getting beaten up, or me getting shot at. Basically, a lot of it involved me in pain in some capacity." The empathetic pony gasped at the thought. "I then tried a different approach. I tried to train myself, get my body more used to getting angry or scared. Make it so that emotions wouldn't raise my pulse so much. I tried to be always angry without getting riled up. It sort of works, and now I can trigger the transformation when I want to, but it still happens outside of my control. When I make it happen, it's like the Hulk and I both have a hand on the reins , but when it just occurs, he shoves me out of the way and drives our body." "I can't imagine that's particularly pleasant," replied Fluttershy. "The one time I changed, while we were trapped in a magic comic book, it was still me, but it was like my temper was pushed to the extreme. You're saying the Hulk's like a completely different being from you?" "Yeah," said Bruce, "and he's frequently not happy with me. If I don't change for a long time, he starts to get restless, and I hear him grumbling in my head. It's a nightmare. And I can't just let him out, because no matter what's happening around him, he just breaks everything within reach." The physicist looked down somberly. "I don't know how to fix it." "What if there was a way you could talk it out with him?" Fluttershy asked. "What if you could come to some kind of deal? Then you might not have so many problems." "Pfff. Yeah right. The Hulk doesn't care about anything but smashing. It's all he does. The only thing he would accept would be me locked in the trunk for the rest of our lives, and him driving all the time. He's just rage. Even when I do trigger the change, I just sorta aim him at bad guys, and trust everyone else to get outta the way. He's not a hero." "I don't think that's true. You said you don't see everything he sees, so you probably don't recall, but during our battle in the Crystal Empire, he actually remembered me. He protected me. He knew I was his friend. He can't be all bad." Bruce sighed to himself. "I wish I could believe that, Fluttershy. I really do. But being the Hulk has brought...well, it would be a lie to say it's never done anything good. He's an Avenger, after all. But...I don't know if there's any chance we could ever form any sort of...compromise." "Are you sure that's what the Hulk wants?" asked Fluttershy. "All he wants is to break things? What if he just wants to know some of what you know? Peace, and friendship? What if he's just violent because people keep attacking him, and he would be kind if he had the chance?" Bruce sighed. He'd be lying if he said he'd never thought about the Hulk in that capacity. Most of his rampages had been triggered by people shooting at him (thanks, Ross). His first transformation was an exception, but that had been the birth of the Hulk. Maybe the other guy was just scared at the time, and didn't know what anything was yet. But could the Hulk really be tamed? He'd shown in the past that he wouldn't harm certain people, but he wouldn't really act chummy with them, either. Not even Natasha. Bruce's mood grew more somber, as he recalled the time he'd attempted to shoot himself in the mouth, just to end the painful existence of living with the Hulk. He couldn't bring himself to tell Fluttershy about it, not wanting to break her heart. At that point, life with the Hulk had felt hopeless, like a nightmare he'd never wake up from. But when the Avengers had come along, not only had he found friends for the first time in so long, but he actually found a purpose as both the Hulk and Bruce Banner. And even then, he'd never truly 'reconciled' in any way with the Hulk, or come to terms with it in any way. Part of him believed Fluttershy was being naive to suggest that such a thing was even in the realm of possibility, but another part, the part that'd never given up hope, wanted to accept her idea. "I...I'll see what I can do, Fluttershy," he finally settled on. It was a non-committal answer, but it was all he had at the moment. "I think that's all we can do," replied the pony.