NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 19: 19
'.....'= Thoughts
"....."= Conversations
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John along with Banner finally reached his mansion. As Banner had no where else to go, John insisted to bring him along despite Banner's reluctance to intrude on John's personal life. John unlocked the front door and motioned for Banner to enter.
"Make yourself at home," John said, trying to ease Banner's discomfort. He had known Banner for a short while, but their recent experiences fighting side by side had created a bond between them.
Banner stepped cautiously into the grand entrance, taking in the size and elegance of the mansion. As an exiled scientist, Banner had spent most of his life living covertly, always on the run. He was not accustomed to such luxury.
"Are you sure about this, John?" Banner asked, his eyes darting around the opulent surroundings. "I don't want to overstep my boundaries."
John smiled reassuringly. "Trust me, Bruce, I wouldn't have invited you if I didn't want you here.
"Do you mind if I ask why you're doing this?" Banner finally mustered the courage to question. "I appreciate your kindness, but I'm curious about your motivations."
"It was quite spontaneous," John shrugged.
Truth be told, John knew how loneliness and abandonment can affect a person. He understood the feeling of having nowhere to go.
In his previous life, his parents had abandoned him, leaving him on the doorstep of an orphanage.
Furthermore, during his time at the orphanage, he had never been adopted. While most of the kids he knew were chosen by parents, he remained seated, waiting for someone to pick him. However, no one ever did.
As John grew older, he realized that he needed to take matters into his own hands if he wanted a better life. So, on his eighteenth birthday, the day he aged out of the system, he made a decision.
He packed his bags and just walked out of the orphanage. He didn't have a plan. He didn't know where he was going or what he was going to do. He just knew that he couldn't stay there anymore.
He found himself wandering the streets, sleeping rough and relying on scraps of food from trash cans. It was a grueling experience, but John refused to give up. He worked odd jobs, doing whatever he could to survive.
Still, loneliness never stayed away from him for long. He died a virgin at the age of 25 and was transmigrating into this world. Although John was a hard worker, he was never happy with his previous life. Most of the time, when he wasn't working or doing anything else, he found solace in the world of movies, anime, and novels.
As for the trouble caused by Banner staying with him, John didn't think much of it. Even with his current strength, he was strong enough to protect himself, so he didn't worry too much about it.
It may seem like a foolish decision, but John didn't care about the consequences. He saw his previous self in Banner, and his heart overruled his brain in deciding to let Banner stay with him.
Moreover, this was not the only motive of John. He also wanted Hulk on his side. The conversation he had with Tony in the restaurant had really stuck in his mind. The idea of creating his own team or organization, without having to rely on anyone else, seemed feasible to him.
'Well, if I want to create my own team in the future, it will definitely have a limited number of members. I will only trust those who I know will have my back, no matter what. Building that level of trust may be challenging, but it will be worth it,' John thought to himself.
"I don't know what to say, John," Banner said gratefully. "If you weren't strong enough, I probably wouldn't have stayed here despite your persistence. I don't want the monster inside me to harm anyone else. And as for the army..." Banner was interrupted by John.
"Why do you call Hulk a monster?" John suddenly asked.
"Huh, isn't it obvious?" Banner was confused by John's sudden question.
"Well, I don't think you should call him a monster. If he was one, why did he try to save your girlfriend back then? Was he influenced by you, or was it his own decision? And if he was a monster, as you say, he wouldn't have cared about her," John put forward his argument.
Banner seemed stunned for a moment, and after thinking for a while, he answered, "You don't know him, John, or the destruction he can cause. You don't know how it feels to lose sanity and control over one's own body. The people who die because of my outrage..."
"To be honest, Bruce, from my perspective, Hulk feels like an angry kid causing trouble. Although the magnitude of the trouble in such a case is quite huge. What I am saying is, why don't you try to see things from his perspective for once?" John countered.
Hulk has a lot of potential. John had no idea why he was shown as so weak in the MCU or why he was so nerfed that he couldn't even defeat Thanos with just his physical strength. And John didn't want all that potential to go to waste.
"What do you think I should do? I will do anything to stop him from causing all this chaos or endangering anyone else," Banner asked.
"Well, I'm not sure, but why don't you try communicating with him? Have you ever done it before, you know, without transforming?" John asked.
"No, this is new," Banner answered negatively.
"Let's go to the meditation room then," John stood up and asked Banner to follow him.
As he walked in the direction of the meditation room, he received a call from Tony.
"What's up?" John asked after answering the call.
"The ginormous green monster we tangoed with previously? Well, turns out his hulking body, all nicely wrapped up by those soldiers, mysteriously vanished while en route to the military base," Tony relayed.
"Disappeared? Wasn't he dead?" John asked, his doubt evident in his tone.
"Yeah, he was definitely dead. I checked twice. The soldiers who were transporting the body had no idea when it disappeared from the truck. There was no injury or incident that could explain the disappearance," Tony answered.
"That's strange," John said, furrowing his brow. "Have you looked into any possible explanations?"
"I've been trying to gather information, but I haven't found anything concrete so far," Tony tinkered. "It's as if it just vanished into thin air."
"Keep digging," John said, his mind racing with possibilities.
"Consider it done," Tony Stark replied in his signature voice. "Exercise caution, John. There's a chance this situation is far more treacherous than we initially comprehend."
John nodded, even though Tony couldn't see him. "I know, Tony. I'll do my best to stay safe."
With that, John ended the call and quickened his pace toward the meditation room. Whatever was going on, it seemed like the situation was escalating. He needed to find answers.
John crossed out the option that Abomination was alive. If he had been alive, he would have caused quite a commotion while escaping the military.
Shaking off his thoughts, John decided to focus on the current situation. After all, he couldn't do anything about the things that he couldn't control, and he just had to wait for news from Tony. He didn't have the necessary equipment and resources to look into the disappearance of the Abomination.
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••Well, it has been three weeks since the start of the fanfiction. I have been uploading six chapters per week, and I intend to continue following this pattern. Additionally, I have a few questions to ask you all and would appreciate your opinions on them.
1)Does the MC feel bland and unrealistic?
°°Yes
°°No
2) Does the MC feels like a guy with no ambition and motivation whatsoever?
°°Yes
°°No
°°Too early to tell as the story has just started.
3)Does the things MC do, feel unintelligent and illogical?
°°Yes
°°No
4) If it was in your hands, how would you want the character of our protagonist be shaped into?
°°Hero (Sacrifices himself for others)
°°Villain
°°Loyal to his close ones and ready to sacrifice his life for them and at he same time helps people if it doesn't endanger his life or the people close to him.
°°Neutral
°°Selfish MC and trusts only himself. His life comes even before his close ones.
••Moreover guess the type of person our MC would be in the future. (character wise)
°°YOUR GUESSES
••Also, you guys don't have to worry. I am not adding all these questions to increase the word count of the chapter. The chapter itself has already exceeded 1200 words in total without all these questions. The reason I am putting all these questions at the end of the chapter is that I don't want to create a 'non-chapter' for all these questions, as readers hate it when someone does it constantly, and it can be a mood-downer for them.
••However, if you want, I can create a non-chapter for all the questions and opinions. So, the question is, do you want me to?
°°Yes
°°No
Adiós Muchcachos
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