They landed four miles away, but Brandon feared Scott or Blonsky or both might find them. He leapt again. The Hulk's body was shrinking, loosing the extra muscle he had developed through his anger, but the man still weighed over one thousand pounds. Brandon could only manage two mile leaps, but got them to a wooded area where he thought the cover would conceal them. He laid the unconscious green-skinned man on the ground.

Brandon had always fantasized about having the super-muscular, super-strong Hulk totally under his command. He placed his hand on the massive, heaving pec, and heard the Hulk groan in pain. He slid his hand over the mountainous muscle, feeling its weight in his hand but also watching the Hulk's reaction. Certain areas were obviously sore, where Blonsky's punches had hurt. As he touched the sternum, he felt that it was obviously cracked. Brandon ran his hand along the contour of the muscle, feeling for broken ribs. The Hulk's painful groans and sudden jitters told him there were many.

Brandon moved his hands over the Hulk's abs. He moved his hands to the top of the Hulk's pants and unbuttoned them. He felt the Hulk's lower abs. The man's spleen was tender, as was his appendix and possibly his liver. Brandon suspected the organs had suffered damage.

Brandon looked at the Hulk. His breathing seemed normal now. Brandon had heard that the Hulk healed fast, and he hoped his gamma-powered body was working to repair the damage. All he could do was wait.

---

Blonsky looked at Scott. "Why not go now? The Hulk is hurt. I can finish him off."

"Then it will be over," Scott replied. "Now, you have the added advantage of having him know that you're more powerful and there's nothing he can do to stop you. At any time, you have the strength to finish him off. No more 'Hulk is strongest' because you are stronger. No more 'Hulk smash' because you can smash him anytime you want. Isn't that the better revenge?"

Blonsky thought, then smiled. "Yes. I like the way your mind works."

"Besides," added Scott. "Where can they go. Brandon 'the campus hero' has to come back here sometime. No doubt Banner will follow him. All we have to do is wait."

Blonsky nodded.

"So now what?" asked Scott. "Do you have a place to go?"

Blonsky thought a second. "No, I don't think so. I've lived in sewers and in caves for so long. I've been a hideous creature for long, shunned. I don't want to go back to that life."

"You don't have to. Why don't we go back to my room and get you cleaned up. You can crash there for a while while we wait for them to return," offered Scott. "I'm not in the dorms anymore. They moved me to an off-campus apartment, but it's close."

"Distance isn't a problem," reminded Blonsky. After a brief pause, he added, "No need for you to power up, my friend. Let me carry you." Before Scott could reply, Blonsky lifted him into his arms. "Where?"

Scott felt the warmth of the muscle giant's hairy chest and the power of his arms. It had been everything Scott had dreamed about. Well, until recently when he got his power. He felt a tingle in his stomach and distracted by the power. "Uhm... that way." He signalled northeast.

"How far?" Blonsky flexed his chest a bit, pressing Scott into him. Did he realize the effect he was having?

"Uh, well, uhm, maybe a mile. By a Wendy's Hamburgers' place." Scott felt flushed.

Blonsky jumped, carrying Scott in the direction he had indicated. Scott could not help feel Blonsky's body flex and harden as he overcame the force of gravity with his legs, the rush of wind as they travelled, and the way his body absorbed the impact of their landing. They were in the parking lot of Wendy's. Customers and passers-by seemed surprised at the nearly seven foot tall blond greek-god-of-a-man falling from the sky. Blonsky put Scott down and smiled at him.

"It's over here," said Scott after a few seconds. They walked over to a nondescript building. Scott pulled out his keys and let them in. They walked up a couple flights of stairs, and Scott unlocked a second door and turned on the lights.

Blonsky looked around. He saw a mirror and walked over to it, staring into it. It was the first time he saw himself since the transformation. He raised his big hand and combed it through his hair, seeming to be making sure both that it was his reflection and that the hair really was his. He noted his deep green eyes that seemed to glow, and his perfect ultra-white smile. His features were perfect and he had a youthful look about him. He noted his massive musculature, a body that made even the most powerful bodybuilder look small. His look became serious, then his upper lip began to involuntarily quiver. A single tear rolled down his cheek. Then, it was joined by another.

"Emil, what's wrong?" Scott asked.

"I'm human," he said. "I never thought I would be human again. I wanted to die, wanted Banner to kill me. I hated him and I hated what I had become -- a monster." Blonsky turned to Scott. "You did this for me." Blonsky looked deeply at Scott, then said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Scott felt like he was being melted by Blonsky's eyes.

Blonsky looked around. The apartment was sparse, barely lived in. There was a suitecase with some clothes. The bed was unmade. By the bed were several issues of Muscle and Fitness and Men's Exercise. Blonsky smiled.

"You are a homosexual, right?" he asked knowingly. "You said that to Brandon."

"Ya, I'm gay," Scott said.

Blonsky walked over to the magazines, and opened one to a photospread of some bodybuilding show. He carried it back to the mirror. He looked at several men doing a side chest pose, and copied them His biceps formed huge medicine-ball-sized mounds below his boulder-sized delts. His pecs flexed into globes of power that hung perfectly over a thin waist. His legs would have made redwood trees jealous of their size. His body exuded hardness and power. He looked at himself, comparing his body to the men in the magazine, then looked at Scott. "You like muscles, right? Strong muscles. A hard body. Right now, I am the strongest man in the world. My body makes the men in your picture book look small. Do you like this body? I know in a moment you could overpower me, but don't. Stay the way you are, and, if it pleases you, show me if you like my body."

Scott looked at Emil. He felt horny, that was for sure. Emil Blonsky was now a beautiful man. He was everything that got to Scott. Scott wondered whether he had subconsciously manipulated the gamma rays to do this to him. At the same time, he had some sympathy for the man. He couldn't take advantage of him. "Emil, are you gay?" he asked.

Blonsky thought. "In the Soviet Union ... in the KGB ... there were no homosexual people. Homosexuality was a weakness that was not permitted. I married, and I told myself that I loved her, but I abused her. I used her. I hated myself for that and I convinced myself that was love. I'm not sure I know how to love." He stopped talking for a minute. "I do love my body. When you overpowered me, I felt something. I have always loved the muscles and the power, and you are so much more than me. Then you did this... this great gift you have given me."

"We had a deal, Emil. You lived up to your end..." Scott reminded him.

"Yes, but you made me not be a monster. I am a man again. I have the power, and..." Blonsky stopped. "I offer myself to you. I feel for you. More than a friend. More than I have felt for anyone. Do you not want me?"

Scott laughed. "Emil, I do want you. I want you so much that I want to make sure. I don't want you to do this because you think I want you to. Anything that happens, I want it to happen because you want it. As Abomination, you had power but you were hated. I know that, but there is something about you. Something human. Maybe it's your suffering. I've always liked lost puppies, but I won't take advantage of you."

Blonsky walked toward Scott. He lowered his head until their lips touched, and he kissed him. "Please, Scott, worship my body, it will make me happy." Blonsky stood up. He extended his arms into a T shape, then raised his forearms and flexed his biceps. Flaring his lats, flexing his chest, sucking his abs into a vacuum, and extending his right leg into a massive flex, Emil Blonsky displayed his magnificent musculature.

Scott walked over and knelt down. He reached out and felt Blonky's calf. Placing his tongue to Emil's leg, he began to tongue-bathe his man. --- Hours went by, and the Hulk did not wake. At dawn, Brandon noticed the green monster stir.

"I feel like I was hit by a bus," the Hulk said, sounding more like Banner than the monster.

"It was Abomination. I saw it. Scott used his gamma ray device and changed him. He has his original strength back. He did this," Brandon explained. "Are you OK?"

"Yes. The Hulk heals fast."

"But," Brandon paused, then said, "you don't sound like the Hulk."

"I have more control now. It's taken time and effort, but I am still David Banner, mostly. Unless the anger takes over. But enough about me." At that, the Hulk began to change. His body shrank and his muscles became smaller as he changed into David Banner. "I think I have a solution to our problems. You said you saw the gamma ray machine?"

"Yes," said Brandon. "I guess Scott and Abomination..."

"His name is Blonsky. Emil Blonsky."

"OK, Blonsky. I guess Scott and Blonsky left to fight you. I explored Scott's lab. I couldn't understand anything."

"That's OK. That's where I come in. I've been thinking about what you told me, about the chemicals you took. Do you know how they might react to gamma rays?" Banner asked.

Brandon thought out loud. "I never thought about it. The chemicals serve as a power store. I guess that the energy in the gamma rays would be absorbed by the chemicals."

"That's what I was thinking. Right now, you are as strong as the Hulk. If we get you in front of that machine,"

"I'd be stronger than Scott!" Brandon's eyes lit up and he smiled like a Cheshire Cat.

"Exactly," said Banner. •