Work Text:
The Curious Case of Bruce Banner
Reporter: “Today we are discussing Dr. Bruce Banner’s life before he became Dr. Bruce Banner. Nothing has been heard about him since his appearance from ten years ago. To begin, we need to go back in time to his early childhood. We were unable to contact any living family members, but thanks to our combined effort, we were able to find other people who have known him in those early years. Let’s begin.”
Elementary school teacher #1: "He was gifted from a young age. Always on top of his class. He could read before he was four years old. But he wasn't really sociable. He didn't have any friends, no. The other kids quickly saw him as a target and ganged up on him often."
Elementary school teacher #2: "It was usually his mom who picked him up. Brian Banner, his father, was known to... not be a pleasant person. A very angry and also insecure man.”
Former neighbor: “The neighborhood wasn't really a community. Except for church services, maybe. But yeah, you could hear screams from the Banner house very often. Mr and Mrs Banner went out a lot and the boy stayed with the Nanny. Highly unpleasant person as well. You didn't see her often but you knew that you just didn't want to talk with her.”
Bartender: “Brian Banner was a regular. Nobody liked him because he got really aggressive when he was drunk. And loud. He would often complain about his son, making claims about him being a monster. It was these moments I was glad he was at the bar instead of at home.”
Former neighbor: “Rebecca did sport a black eye every now and then, no amount of make-up was going to conceal that. Plus she wore long-sleeved shirts even in the summer. She was a good woman. She didn't deserve what happened to her. But yes, the clues that something like this could happen were there.”
Reporter: “What happened?”
Police Officer #1: “We got a call. An accident with one person dead. We arrived at the scene and we all knew that this was no accident.”
Police Officer #2: “He was still kneeling beside her bleeding body. His hands, his face, his clothes, they were all covered in blood. I gave him a blanket, guided him away to our car. He didn't show any signs of emotions. But tears were running down his face. Out of nowhere, he said ‘She didn’t slip. He killed her’.”
Police Officer #3: “I remember him. I couldn't ever forget that case. I was with him at the station while we waited for his aunt. He was sitting there all alone, wrapped in a blanket so I decided to get him a hot chocolate. You could see that he had it tough in life. There were bruises on his arms, some handshapped. I brought the hot chocolate over to him and he was holding out his arm. Was muttering something along the lines of ‘I can't find it’. I never understood what he meant by that.”
Reporter: “You were his middle school teacher?”
Teacher #1: “Yes, I was.”
Reporter: “What do you remember about him?”
Teacher #1: “He was a real troublemaker. Not because he had bad grades, but he would cause scenes. He only ever wanted to work alone, which backfired multiple times. And his constant mumbling!”
Reporter: “Mumbling?”
Teacher: “Yes! He would talk to himself so often, even during class! And then he had the audacity to not even pay attention to the lesson!”
Schoolmate #1: “I was in the same class as him.”
“Ohh, yes, he mumbled to himself so often! Oh wait, no, not even himself, his imaginary friend. Imaginary friend! We were teenagers and the guy still had an imaginary friend. Probably because no one else would willingly spend time with him.”
“Hulk. He always called him Hulk, yeah. Even wrote that name down in his notebook that he always carried around.”
“He had this notebook and he would write in it whenever he could. Even during class.”
“I don't know what he wrote in it anymore. Some sort of equations.”
Carla, schoolmate: “He stepped in when Ken, the school bully, harrassed me. He didn't have to do that, but he did anyway.”
“Well, they… they beat him up. He had to go to the hospital. Broken ribs. But once he came back, he asked me if I was okay!”
“What I said? Erm, stuff I regret saying. I don't want to talk about it. We were teenagers and I had a lot to deal with already. I had my own insecurities and your reputation was really important back in school. It wasn't fair, yes, but I was just a girl.”
“He was a good person. Sure, he was weird, but he did not deserve to be bullied. Nobody does.”
Reporter: “How do you know Bruce Banner?”
Former college student #1: “We were roommates during college.”
Reporter: “What was he like?”
Former roommate: “Smart. Passionate. Awkward. He was great at what he did, a real favorite amongst teachers. He studied with Stoddard, another gamma scientist. Stoddard was always jealous of Banner, because he worked much harder but Banner was the one who got all the praise.”
“It wasn't that Banner was lazy, he was just a genius who just instantly understood everything it seemed. When he had a problem, he would immediately try to solve it.”
Reporter: “How do you know Bruce Banner?”
Former college friend #1: “We were friends during college.”
Former college friend #2: “We had a study group in college and we would spend the weekends together too sometimes.”
Former college friend #1: “We were all nerds, which is why it was so easy to talk together. The rest? They didn't understand us. But we understood each other.”
Former college friend #2: “We had fun sharing our interests, sharing knowledge, getting into rambles, going into hypothetical scenarios.”
Former college friend #1: *rubbing the back of his neck* “What we would do in our free time together? Ehh.”
Former college friend #2: “Drugs.”
Former college friend #1: “It was the 70s and we were burnt out college students. I’m sure that’s all that you need.”
Former roommate: “Once, I hadn't seen him for three days straight. I didn't think much of it until he came back. He looked really shaken up and spaced-out. Told me he was at a café three towns over. Apparently he had no idea how he got there and just walked back.”
“If he went to parties? Usually not. Except when he did. See, most of the time he was really timid. He was sure of himself, but still introverted. But when he did go out? The guy went all the way. Would even ask me if I wanted to come with him, which I declined. He was like a completely different person.”
Former college friend #1: “We had a great time together. Parties were so fun! He really knew how to charm the ladies. It was like Clark Kent and Superman, one second an unassuming guy, the next, he knew how to read the room and what to say to people to get what he wanted as if he could read their minds.”
Former college friend #2: “Sometimes we would drive to a casino, he would make some money and afterwards we would get something to eat.”
Former college friend #1: “And sometimes… Sometimes it seemed more like possession than a superpower. I remember one time we were in the car, mentally not 100% present and he asked really panicked ‘Where am I? How did I get here?’. And that whole confident demeanor? It was gone.”
Former roommate: “Yes, this was not the only occurrence. Sometimes he would become… childish? He would talk in a few word sentences. I blamed it on sleep deprivation but when I asked him about it, he told me he didn't remember.”
Journalist: “What happened after Dr. Banner’s college time is mostly speculation. What we do know is that he tried to get funding for his research, but only received rejection after rejection. As to what his idea consisted of, we have no idea. Eventually he would join the military and this was the last officially known thing about him. His contact with friends and family members became less and less. Of course, he had co-workers that would probably know more, but even the ones working with him are mostly classified and the ones we do know of were unable to be contacted. Eventually a missing person report was filed - and immediately closed. Did he die? Is he held captive? Did he see something he was not supposed to see? As of now, we don't have the answers. But there is hope that we one day will.”