5447/Astral Flux: Bruce Alone

Astral Flux: Bruce Alone
Date of Scene:	26 September 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Doctor Strange, Hulk, Iron Man
Tinyplot:	Astral Flux

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Doctor Strange has posed:
    Droxta: The 19th dimension, of the 98th parallel, a bizzare place that Strange has visited on occassion. Not a wholly remarkable dimension to someone well versed in the arcana, but to someone that might be considered a muggle, it can be bewildering, fascinating, and even haunting.

    It has facists of itself that a similar to the basic Earth dimension; an X-Y-Z axis, it has the basic four dimensions, but it completely lacks a fourth dimension, there is no time in this place. Or there wasn't. It seems there's a small pocket of time within and around denizens of exterior lands. So the guests, Strange and Banner, would have time working within their personal eco-system.

    So travel here is not normally an issue, except that when they arrived, with a tiny spark of an explosion in the basement, Stephen was instantly pulled into a magical green coccoon of sorts. Like the amulet became aware and encased the wizard. And things have not changed for some time since their arrival. Strange is in the basement next to the halted crisis, and Bruce has been left to fend for himself in the world of floating balls of earth and fauna, flora and isthmis of rock and water seem to move and float about like a macro version of the microcosmos of any regular cellular system.

Hulk has posed:
    Normally, Bruce would be happy to be away from others for a while to do research and keep his inner calm while he did his work. Normally, it'd be a vacation.

The trip to Droxta is in no way a vacation for Bruce Banner.

He's been stuck in the bubble now for three months, relatively. The mansion at least makes for a good home base and depot of spare parts to cobble together a semblance of basic appliances. He'd found a decent fuel to base a generator off of in the first week, and has been running it sparingly. Food outside the mansion has been... interesting. A few run-ins with surprise predators have had The Hulk come out... and proceed to lay waste to the landscape around in his attempts to free himself of the bubble of time. The Hulk is one of the biggest physical powerhouses barring cosmic powers.... but even he can't punch his way out of dimensional physics.

Damned if he didn't try though. The western portion of the bubble is completely wrecked from vented rage, and the mansion itself has a few dozen holes in various places now from The Hulk using it as his own base.

The cocoon that Doctor Strange is in didn't go unnoticed either. The area around it is thoroughly smashed in from The Hulk trying to pry it open previously. By some miracle, he hasn't destroyed the rest of the lab in his anger.

Today, Bruce looks every bit the castaway. Long hair has been neglected, barring the occasional washing. Water has been scarce, so it tends to be a while. The recycling system to help with that is crude-but-effective. He's working on his dimensional physics again on a laptop computer near the cocoon, in an attempt to find a way through engineering a way home. This was never a particular interest... so it's been slow going, even after his work with Tony.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Behind and to Bruce's left there's a muffled screaming, the howl of those predators he's been encountering, more and more frequently as they get more and more acquainted with the mansion and Bruce's dangerous presense. They sound like cougars screaming in the night, roughly like a woman being attacked. It's jarring at first and unsettling once you're aware of it. The creatures are prowling and it seems they're going to hunt around the mansion this time.

Hulk has posed:
    "Shit." Bruce mutters to himself. The laptop is placed in it's protective case, before he grabs for the MP5 and ice gun he keeps nearby for self-defense. The ice gun is slung over his shoulder while he readies the MP5, readying the magazine and pulling the charge handle. He's long since created a killzone in the mansion out of cobbled together parts to make it easier on himself.

Moving up to his gun nest in the back, he aims at the entry into the basement, and waits. "Wasted fuel... need to bring the generator downstairs if they're going to hunt at the mansion now..."

At least he isn't answering to himself.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    The creatures stalk the mansion, but none seem to be brave enough to enter the actual building. The Hulk and Bruce have both done their part to keep the structure from becoming a haunt for the terrifying creatures. They have learned that lesson a few times, so now they just lurk around it slowly and loudly to keep the green man and his friend with the slug thrower inside.

    There's a small redish light hovering over the coccoon, and it lingers there briefly before it seemingly taps on the mystic shell twice and Stephen slowly opens his eyes and yet again Bruce would hear another muffled scream, only this time it was a man's voice. Strange is shouting at the top of his lungs and pounding his fists against the green shell around his person. "HEEEELP!!!" Cries out the doctor.

Hulk has posed:
    The sudden cry for help from /behind/ him has Bruce give it a surprised yelp as he points the gun in Doctor Stranges direction, before he realizes what's happening. "Is that...?" Bruce has never been able to actually see who was inside the thing, so hearing english coming from the cocoon is a long awaited answer to the lingering question.

"I don't know who you are, but that thing is stuck." Bruce shouts as he makes his way over. The Hulk has made passage hard, but not impossible... but already Bruce has the MP5 on the ground as he tries to pull the cocoon off, "Hang on!"

Doctor Strange has posed:
    The verdant shell doesn't budge and it doesn't even seem to have a crease, there's no way into it. So there must be a way out, right? "What is going on? Where am I?" Strange hollars back and yet his own voice echos and pierces his own ears at the moment so he starts to quickly get less loud. The wizard is busy looking left and right and at anything he can see really when his cloak slips between him and the shell and binds his hands and it starts moving them up and down, trying to tell him something.

Hulk has posed:
    "I have no idea, on both counts." Bruce replies as he once again gives up on opening the cocoon. "We're in some sort of enclosed region in a bubble. There's enough of an ecosystem for a human to survive here, but not much real estate." Bruce pauses a moment, before he takes on a grimace, "I'm Bruce, by the way. Bruce Banner. One minute I was in the Avengers mansion, the next we were... here. The mansion was taken somewhere."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "S-stop." Strange whispers to his cloak, getting the idea and trying to listen to Bruce's words. "Banner!" The wizard notes aloud and he sounds surprised. "We're in a pocket dimension it sounds like." Strange muses, as his hands curl up against his chest and he simply touches the amulet and the shell disolves around him quickly into nothingness and the tall sorcerer is dropped onto his back a few inches. "Ow."

    Slowly trying to rise to his feet Strange looks to Bruce and offers the man a handshake. "Nice to have someone else along with me for once, but I'm terribly sorry that you're here." Stephen says looking back over his shoulder and studying the room they're in. "The Avenger's, mansion." Stephen squints his eyes, thinking to himself.

Hulk has posed:
    When Doctor Strange pops out of the cocoon, the MP5 is dropped. The only things that Bruce is wearing are a set of jeans and some sandals. He's dirty, has long hair, and is visibly shocked when the man comes out of the cocoon. Then... he begins to cry. "Oh thank you thank you thank you." Bruce repeats quickly as he completely ignores the handshake... and just moves to /hug/ Doctor Strange.

"Thankyouthankyou." Bruce takes a big breath, "I have no idea how long I've been stuck here, and nothing I've tried has worked. Time keeping devices aren't working."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Strange has his arms pinned to his sides and he looks down at the doctor wrapping him up. "Um... you're welcome?" He asks, not sure what's going on. "Wait." Stephen starts by trying to pry Bruce away from him, "Time keeping devices don't work?" Strange inquires, and just as quickly, he's starting to run out of the basement, having completely not seen the explosion stopped in mid air, Strange runs up the stairs to the first level to get a look outside.

Hulk has posed:
    Bruce is pried off fairly easily, the shock making the effort send him to the floor. As Doctor Strange starts to head for the outside, "Wait! The prowlers are roaming around. You'll get ambushed if you aren't careful." Bruce shouts after him.

Nothing for it. Bruce is moving to keep up with Doctor Strange, MP5 in hand.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Strange bursts open the doors to the front yard- Or he thought he was. He looks up to the bright sunless sky and towards the countless chunks of various types of terrain floating in the sky or attached to one another by slime, or land, or force of will, but Stephen doesn't get to look at those for too long as a mantis like creature leaps out from behind a writhing plantform and attacks the good doctor.

Hulk has posed:
    The round of a burst of rounds rings through the air as Bruce fires at the Prowler from behind. Bruce is by no means a proficient firearms user, but he's at least aiming at the thing, so one or two rounds should at least graze it. "They're all over the place when they're circling the mansion." Bruce explains as he keeps aiming, "It hasn't been this bad in weeks, though. I think they were waiting for you."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    The gunfire catches Stephen by surprise as well as it silences the beast and it skitters off towards the bush it jumped out of, screaching loudly and bleeding a deep red color from the wounds inflicted by the multiple-doctor. "Th-thank you." Stephen says, with a look to Bruce before he motions that they both should go back inside and he frowns. "That ... I am certain I know where we are." Stephen speaks as he shuts the doors and starts to move back towards the basement. "How long did you say it was we've been here?"

Hulk has posed:
    There's a moment that passes as Bruce calms himself. He usually doesn't come out here for a reason, "I didn't. Because I don't know." Bruce clarifies for Doctor Strange as he walks alongside. "I was in technology storage when I felt some sort of movement or something in my stomach. The next thing I know, everything was quiet, and outside was... that." Bruce gestures back to the entrance, "I've managed to build decent defenses and basic appliance needs, but I'm starting to get low on water. I haven't found an equivalent in the bubble. I was lucky a few of Tony's bots had the tubing for a recycling system. For once, his obsession with AI was useful beyond enabling his ego."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "While you're not wrong Doctor Banner, I do not think now is the time for shooting jabs at the armored avenger." Strange says with a sharp finger pointed at the explosion that he just noticed. "Tell me that wasn't some form of dimensional portal..." The wizard says with a soft sigh. "And if you must, please, by the Vishanti, tell me there's something to be salvaged from it."

Hulk has posed:
    "I actually don't know what that is either. It was here when I got down here. It's just... there." Bruce explains, "the rest of the team was supposed to be on crowd control. I was bringing a sonic cage out to head to a museum when whatever it was occurred." He looks to Strange with an apologetic smile, "I have no idea what's going on Doctor. Really. I got stuck here out of nowhere with the mansion. Going by my own internal clock, I've been here at least a month, or not more."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "A month. Wow." Strange says with a quirked eyebrow to Bruce. "I think that should be okay..." Stephen says with a glance around the manison's basement and a frown. "I can get us back, but I can't promise what time it will be when I get back." The wizard moves his hands to the amulet he wears around his necklace and the man focuses. "We'll just leave this all here and come back later." Stephen says and motions for Bruce to come closer. "Hold on, this might make you loose your lunch." Strange warns.

Hulk has posed:
    "Anything is better than here." Bruce gives with a note of finality, before he steps over to Doctor Strange, "The Other Guy doesn't like being caged. I've been able to feel the anger even while he's dormant."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "Meaning to talk to you about that, but that's neither here..." Stephen begins and suddenly the two of the Avengers are hurtling through time and space, and even then betwixt dimensions. There is a feeling of falling, having one's nose turned inside out, and then having your toes curling forward to touch your eyebrows. And then in the very next instant, the two doctors are standing where the basement of the Avenger's mansion used to be. A hole in the ground with mud and water surrounding their feet.

Iron Man has posed:
    The response from the area around the mansion is just about immediate, when they appear out of dimensional where-ever. Two drones flying above the empty Avengers lot whiz down, scanning actively. They are about the size of large volleyballs. One of them announces metallically at them: "Connection pending!" While the other says, "Welcome home, Dr. Banner. Dr. Strange. Your return is eagerly anticipated!"

Hulk has posed:
    When he drops out of the portal Doctor Strange creates, Bruce is flung unceremoniously onto his ass, having not traveled that way before, "ARgh!" *crash*.

"Ow." At least the nano-tech clothing still has power.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Strange quickly holds up one finger towards Bruce and towards the bots before he turns around to hide his face and he heaves heavily and again, loosing more than his lunch. "Oh... Made it." The wizard says with a cough and a hand to quickly clean up his goatee. Shifting in the mud, Strange frowns down at his feet as the chunks of dirt plop back down onto the ground.

    "Alright Doctor, get up. We have work to do, time is certainly of the essense."

Iron Man has posed:
    "Please wait, connection to Mr. Stark is still pending," chirps the robot, until Strange holds up a finger at it. It knows exactly what that means, Mr. Stark does that all the time, the gesture is familiar and certainly in programming. The robots dutifully quiet and wait.

Hulk has posed:
    "I'm good here for a bit. Thanks." Bruce replies with the air of a man completely exhausted. Spending months in a survival horror wasteland with The Hulk constantly trying to get out, seems to have taken a lot of energy. "I think I'm going to go to sleep for a week. Take a load off."

It's hard to tell if he's making a joke or not with his tone.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "Alright, but you know how things happen to individuals like us." The wizard says with a tap of his head and he turns to the bot. "I'll speak with Tony shortly, I have - I have to eat something first." Strange says towards the machine as he starts to float up out of the muck and he begins to make his way towards the Sanctum with mud still dripping from his tight shoes.

Iron Man has posed:
    The little drone changes its tune, and ignores the previous request to be quiet. And it is probably immediately obvious why: Tony's taken control of it, and his 'dulcet tones' of sharp relief come through in his voice. "Ah, there you are. Did you have a good adventure? You were a bit missed. I'm sending a car," Tony says, quickly. "Food, rest, debrief," Tony adds. "Possibly in that order, unless there's something vital I need to know this instant."

Hulk has posed:
    "I am never. Ever. Coming back to the mansion when dimensional hopping people are under psychic control again. Spending months in a horrific wasteland pocket dimension is an experience I hope to never repeat." Bruce sighs as he s-l-o-w-l-y stands, the grime from the mud and debris not really making him more dirty, given he hasn't had a bath for almost a week. "How long was I gone?" Even from here, it's easy to see that Bruce has lost a bit of weight, and that his hair growth is consistent with three months without a trim.

Then, he looks up into the sky finally. "Oh. The mansion actually moved. I wasn't just in a copy."