Marvel’s Omnitrix

Chapter 24: Gamma Magic

—

Dawn crept through the forest in golden shafts, painting the secluded clearing in warm hues that belied the chaos of the previous night. Beneath a natural rock overhang, two figures lay curled together in exhausted sleep.

Bruce Banner's face was peaceful in unconsciousness, showing none of the torment that plagued his waking hours. His arm was draped protectively around Betty Ross, who pressed close to his warmth despite the summer heat. Her clothes were torn and dirty from their flight through the wilderness, but she remained unharmed. The Hulk's protective instincts had guided them here after his latest rampage.

The peace didn't last. It shattered like glass.

Dark tendrils erupted from the treeline, writhing through the air with odd, serpentine grace. Bruce's eyes snapped open just as the magical bonds wrapped around his wrists and ankles, yanking him upright against the rock face.

"What the—" His words cut off as more tendrils coiled around his throat.

Betty jolted awake, scrambling backward as additional restraints seized her limbs. "Bruce!"

From the shadows stepped two figures that belonged in nightmares rather than dawn light. To Bruce, they were strangers, but to them, Bruce was their treasure chest. 

Hex's skeletal face paint gleamed wetly in the morning sun, his gaunt frame draped in tattered robes that dragged against the forest floor. Beside him, Charmcaster walked with the grace of a predator, her violet eyes assessing their captives with clinical detachment.

"Dr. Robert Bruce Banner," Hex said, his voice carrying a weird, dark feeling. "Your reputation precedes you."

Bruce's pulse quickened, and with it came the familiar heat building in his chest. He tried to hold it back. Green flickered behind his brown eyes as he strained against the magical bonds. "Let her go. Your quarrel is with me."

"Please," Betty gasped, struggling against her own restraints. "We haven't done anything wrong. Bruce is sick—he needs help, not—"

"Silence." Charmcaster flicked her wrist, and Betty's voice died in her throat, though her mouth continued to move soundlessly.

The tendrils binding Bruce pulsed brighter as his anger mounted. Hex stepped closer, studying the growing luminescence beneath Banner's skin with fascination.

"Magnificent," the sorcerer breathed. "The gamma radiation has created something truly extraordinary. A conduit between science and the primal forces of creation itself."

"You don't understand what you're dealing with," Bruce warned through gritted teeth. The temperature around him began to rise. "When I change, I can't control—"

"Control is precisely what I intend to provide," Hex interrupted. He gestured to Charmcaster, who began weaving additional binding spells around Betty. "Your companion will remain here, unharmed, provided you cooperate. So calm down."

Bruce's transformation began despite the magical restraints. His muscles swelled, skin taking on a greenish hue as rage overwhelmed reason. But Hex's magic held firm, the dark tendrils growing stronger as they fed off the gamma energy.

"Fascinating," Hex murmured, watching the partial transformation with hungry eyes. "Come, Dr. Banner. We have much to discuss."

Charmcaster snapped her finger, and Bruce floated up. The magical bonds dragged Bruce deeper into the forest, his struggles growing weaker as Hex's magic sapped his strength. Betty watched in silent horror as the man she loved disappeared into the green darkness, led by the wizard duo.

****

Luckily, our latest lead led us away from the populated area and toward a forest once again. The hoverboard hummed beneath my feet as I skimmed through the forest, scanning the undergrowth for any sign of our targets. 

The magical signature Gwen had detected was getting stronger here. "There!" I called into my communicator, banking sharply toward a rocky outcropping. "I see someone!"

Through the trees, a figure sat bound against the stone formation, glowing purple ropes wrapped around her wrists and ankles. Even from this distance, I could tell she was in distress.

I brought the hoverboard down in a clearing about fifty yards away, where the Rust Bucket was already pulling up. Gwen and Grandpa Max emerged just as I jogged over.

"It's a woman," I reported, pointing toward the rocks. "Tied up with what looks like magical restraints."

Gwen's charms immediately began glowing brighter. "Those are Hex's bindings," she said grimly. "I can feel his signature all over them."

We approached cautiously, Grandpa Max with his hand near his concealed weapon, Gwen with her magic ready. As we got closer, I recognized the bound woman from news footage—Dr. Betty Ross, General Ross's daughter and Banner's girlfriend.

She looked up as we approached, hope flickering in her tear-streaked eyes. Her mouth moved, she spoke, but I didn't hear any sound. The three of us exchanged glances.

"Looks like Hex muted her sound," Gwen theorized.

Easy," Grandpa Max said soothingly, while Gwen knelt beside the magical restraints. "We're here to help. What happened?"

Gwen's face scrunched in concentration as she placed her hands near the glowing ropes. The Charm of Telekinesis pulsed with purple light as she worked to unravel Hex's spell. "These bindings are complex," she muttered. 

"Can you break them?" I asked, crouching beside her.

"Give me a minute. I think I can break them and the Silence spell together." Sweat beaded on Gwen's forehead as she channeled more power through the charms. The magical ropes flickered, then began to dissolve like smoke. "Got it!"

Betty rubbed her wrists gratefully as the last of the restraints vanished. "Thank you! Can you help Bruce too?! They took him! But we must hurry, they took him deeper into the forest. The man with the skull face, he said something about harnessing Bruce's power."

Shit. Hex is trying to steal the Hulk's gamma energy. Just as I feared, Hulk and magic. That was a terrible mix. This could go very, very badly.

"Do you have a phone?" Betty asked desperately. "I need to call for help—military, my father is General Thaddeus Ross, I—"

"Here." Grandpa Max handed her a satellite phone from his kit. "This will reach anyone you need."

Just as Betty started dialing, a deafening CRASH echoed through the forest, followed by an energy wave that made the leaves around us rustle violently. The magical signature Gwen had been tracking spiked like a seismograph during an earthquake.

I exchanged a look with Grandpa Max. His expression was grim, but he nodded at me.

"Gwen, with me!" I said, already twisting the Omnitrix dial. "Grandpa, get her back to the Rust Bucket, call for Plumber backup if I don't return soon!"

"Ben, wait—" Gwen started.

"You kids, it's dangerous!" Betty shouted, but I wasn't hearing any of that as Grandpa took her away. 

Once we were out of sight, I slammed down on the watch face. The familiar rush of transformation swept over me as my body streamlined into XLR8's sleek form. Without hesitation, I scooped Gwen into my arms—she barely had time to yelp in surprise—and took off in the direction of the disturbance.

"I hate it when you do this!" Gwen shouted over the wind, her arms wrapped tightly around my neck.

"What, save the day?" I called back, weaving between trees at superhuman speed. "You love it!"

"I hate being carried around like luggage!"

"Would you prefer I leave you behind?"

"...No," she admitted grudgingly.

After half a minute of running, kilometres away from our earlier location, we were at our destination. We skidded to a halt behind a massive oak tree, and what I saw in the clearing beyond made my forehead go cold.

A complex magical circle glowed intensely on the forest floor, and its geometric patterns pulsed with sickly green and purple energy. Inside it, Bruce Banner was on his knees, screaming in agony as arcs of gamma radiation and dark magic lashed around him like living things.

But it was Hex that made me curse under my breath.

The sorcerer stood over Banner, also screaming, but his cries were a mixture of pain and manic triumph. His body was visibly contorting, skin taking on a greenish hue as his muscles bulged unnaturally. The ritual was transforming him too, trying to make him into some kind of magical Hulk hybrid.

This is so much worse than I thought. This was completely uncharted territory.

My eyes then fell on someone standing just outside the circle, her violet eyes wide with alarm and frustration. Wait, is that Charmcaster? I was stupefied for a second seeing her, she looked completely different than what I remembered. 

No, that wasn't important. "Ben, there's something weird," Gwen said from beside me. "Even from this distance, I can tell that girl is trying to modify the spell without notifying Hex." 

My eyes watched as Charmcaster's hands weaved frantically through the air. But damn… she looks good even when she's panicking. The way her long platinum hair reflected the magical light, how her form-fitting outfit emphasized her curves as she moved—focus, Ben! People are dying!

"The ritual's going wrong," Gwen whispered beside me, her magical senses no doubt picking up the chaotic energies. "Hex is losing control! And no that's not good news for us. Whatever that girl is doing, I don't understand, but it's no less dangerous than Hex's own magic. We need to do something!"

She was right. The magical circle was becoming unstable, energy crackling wildly as Hex's transformation accelerated beyond his ability to contain it.

"Well, damn," I cursed, realizing Banner was about to hulk out right in the middle of a magical overload. "This is about to get really ugly."

Without hesitation, I darted forward in a blue-green blur. The world slowed around me as I activated XLR8's maximum speed, zipping into the volatile circle just as Banner's skin began turning green.

I grabbed the gasping scientist and yanked him clear of the magical construct just as his transformation began to accelerate.

"Go! That way!" I shouted at a disoriented Bruce, pointing him toward where we'd left Grandpa Max and Betty. "Betty's there! My Grandpa is with her, help's coming!"

Bruce, still crackling with residual gamma energy but thankfully human, stumbled off into the trees.

I turned back to the circle just as the magical construct reached critical mass and exploded. The shockwave hit me like a freight train, uprooting nearby trees and sending dirt and debris flying in all directions. 

I rolled behind a fallen log as chunks of earth rained down around me. When the dust settled, Hex stood amidst the wreckage—and he was definitely not the same man who'd entered that circle.

He was smaller than the real Hulk, maybe seven feet tall instead of nine, but distinctly green and muscular. Dark energy crackled around his transformed body like purple lightning, and his eyes glowed with an unholy mixture of rage and magical power.

Mini-Hulk Hex. Great. As if regular Hex wasn't bad enough.

"You wench!" he roared at Charmcaster, his voice a monstrous parody of his usual rasp. "How dare you interfere with my ritual! If not for your meddling, I would have achieved perfect control!"

Yeah, right. Because Hex is known for his restraint and careful planning. And because gamma energy is so easy to control.

Mini-Hulk Hex charged at his niece with surprising speed for his new bulk, who looked like she'd pee her pants. Charmcaster threw up a hasty magical shield, but I could see she wouldn't be fast enough.

Gwen reacted instantly, yanking Charmcaster out of Hex's path with a powerful telekinetic pull. The sorceress stumbled backward, shooting Gwen a look that was equal parts gratitude and suspicion.

And there's that hero instinct Gwen tries to hide, I thought. She just saved the life of someone who's technically our enemy.

"Thanks for the assist!" I called to Gwen as I blurred into action, intercepting Hex with a flurry of high-speed kicks and punches.

"Just don't get yourself killed, dweeb!" she shot back, already positioning herself to help.

Hex's new form was incredibly resilient. My attacks connected, I could feel the impact, but he barely staggered. Instead, he roared in recognition.

"The blue pest from the museum!" His voice carried that same magical resonance as before, but now amplified by gamma-enhanced vocal cords. "I'll crush you like the insect you are!"

He swung a massive fist where I'd been standing a split second earlier. The blow cratered the ground, sending up a spray of dirt and rock.

Okay, definitely stronger than regular Hex. But he's also bigger and less agile.

I used my speed advantage, circling around him in tight spirals while landing hit-and-run attacks. Each strike was precisely placed—joints, pressure points, anywhere that might slow him down.

But it wasn't enough. Mini-Hulk Hex adapted quickly, predicting my patterns and nearly catching me with a backhand that would have sent me flying.

"Stand still and fight like a warrior!" he bellowed, smashing the ground with both fists. The shockwave knocked me off balance, and only a desperate dive-roll saved me from his follow-up attack.

"Fighting like a warrior is overrated!" I called back, using a tree as a springboard to change direction. "I prefer fighting like someone with a brain!"

From the corner of my eye, I saw Charmcaster hesitantly throwing spells at us, some aimed at Hex to slow him down, others that seemed designed to test my reflexes. She was playing both sides, as usual. If I won, she wanted to be sure she could take me down. At least she looked good while doing it.

"Gwen, I need an opening!" I shouted as Hex charged after me again.

"Working on it!" she replied, her charms blazing with power.

Just as Hex raised his fists for another ground-pound, Gwen's telekinesis caught his feet, tripping him forward. He stumbled, arms windmilling for balance.

Perfect.

I used my speed to slip past his grasping hands, and delivered a rapid-fire series of strikes to the base of his skull—a pressure point that worked on most humanoid species. I didn't stop, I continued hitting until I knew it was enough.

Mini-Hulk Hex's eyes rolled back, making him groan, and he collapsed like a felled tree. The green energy around him dimmed but didn't disappear entirely.

I stood panting over his unconscious form, the Omnitrix starting to beep its timeout warning.

"Is he...?" Gwen asked, approaching cautiously.

"Just unconscious," I confirmed, though I kept my distance. "The transformation isn't complete. He's stuck somewhere between human and Hulk."

"You… you are the group who stole the Charms of Bezel," Charmcaster stepped forward, her expression unreadable as she studied us. Then her eyes fell on Hex. "Impressive. Most people would have killed him."

"Most people aren't heroes," I replied, still on alert. "Why did you mess with his ritual?"

She tilted her head, studying me with those piercing violet eyes. "Hero. Is that what you call yourself? And I'm not going to answer that question."

"You were trying to backstab him," I said, watching her grumble.

For a moment, something flickered across her face. Then her usual mask of cool detachment slipped back into place.

"I suppose fate doesn't have this for me," she said, eyes on her uncle's transformed body. "Still, the ritual may have failed, but the knowledge gained..." She smiled, and it was both beautiful and terrifying. "Thank you for saving me. As a reward, I'll go easy on you next time we meet."

Before either Gwen or I could react, she snapped her finger and vanished in a swirl of purple smoke, leaving us alone with the unconscious Mini-Hulk Hex.

"Well," Gwen said after a moment, "that could have gone worse."

I looked around at the destroyed clearing, the unconscious magical Hulk hybrid, and the lingering traces of Charmcaster's presence.

"Yeah," I agreed. "But somehow, I don't think we've seen the last of this mess."

Of course we hadn't. This wasn't even the fateful event for Hulk, that'd be in Harlem. Next time, I must choose my alien more carefully.

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