1 Year Later
Steve's hands didn't shake anymore.
That was the first thing people noticed about him. Not his age, not the way he barely spoke, not even the way he kept to himself. It was his hands and right now, those same hands were stained with blood as he pressed down on a torn piece of cloth, applying pressure to a deep wound on a man's side.
"Hold him still," Steve said, his voice calm but firm.
The small room was crowded, the air thick with heat and panic. The walls were worn, the ceiling fan barely working as it creaked with every slow rotation. A woman stood nearby, crying quietly, while two men struggled to keep the injured man from moving as he groaned in pain.
"He's losing too much blood!" one of them said.
"I know," Steve replied, not looking up. His eyes stayed locked on the wound, his mind already working through the problem. He didn't have proper tools. No clean surgical kit. No hospital. Just scraps, basic supplies, and whatever he could improvise.
But that was enough.
"Boil more water," he added quickly. "Now."
The woman rushed to do it without hesitation.
Steve pulled the cloth away just enough to check the bleeding. It was bad, deeper than he wanted, but it was not fatal but only if he moved fast. His jaw tightened slightly as he reached for a needle he had sterilized earlier, threading it with practiced hands.
"Hey," he said, his voice quieter now as he leaned closer to the man. "Look at me. Stay with me, alright? You're not dying today."
The man barely nodded, his face pale.
Steve didn't waste another second. He started stitching. He worked like he had done this a hundred times before, even though a year ago he hadn't done it once. Blood soaked into the cloth beneath his hands, but he didn't hesitate. He just kept going, focusing on the rhythm, on the steps, on anything except the thoughts trying to push their way into his head.
Gunshots.
Screaming.
Green light.
Steve swallowed hard, forcing it all down as he tied off the final stitch. "Bandage," he said, holding out his hand.
One of the men quickly passed him a clean strip of cloth. Steve wrapped it tightly, securing the wound before finally easing his pressure.
"…He'll live," Steve said after a moment, his voice quieter now.
Relief flooded the room and the woman covered her mouth, tears falling as she rushed forward. "Thank you… thank you…"
Steve nodded once, already pulling his hands back, already creating distance.
"It's going to hurt," he added. "Keep it clean. Change the bandage twice a day. If it gets worse, come get me."
The men nodded quickly, grateful, almost in awe. But Steve didn't stay and he never did.
He stood, wiping his hands off on a cloth before stepping past them and heading toward the door. The sunlight outside hit him immediately, warm and bright, but it didn't reach whatever part of him felt cold all the time now.
"Steve!" the woman called after him.
He paused as she stepped outside, holding something in her hand and it was a small bundle of food, wrapped carefully. "Please… take this," she said softly. "It's not much, but….."
"You don't have to," he said.
"I want to."
For a moment, he just stood there then he nodded once and took it. "Thank you." She hesitated before speaking again. "You're a good person," she said.
Steve didn't answer.
He couldn't.
Instead, he turned and walked away, moving down the dirt path that led out of the village. The sounds of people talking and moving around slowly faded behind him, replaced by the quieter sounds of nature. Wind through the trees. Leaves shifting under his feet.
It didn't take long before he was alone again and that's how he liked it.
Steve walked until the village was completely out of sight, until the only thing around him was forest. Then he stopped. His shoulders dropped slightly, like he had been holding something in the entire time and was only now letting it go.
Slowly, he reached into his coat pocket and the locket was still there.
His fingers tightened around it before he pulled it out, staring at it for a moment before opening it. The small picture inside was worn now, but still clear enough and the picture made his throat tightened.
"…I saved him today," Steve said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. "You would've liked that, Mom."
He let out a slow breath, his thumb brushing lightly over the image as his eyes lingered on it for just a second longer.
"I did it right… I think," he added quietly, his voice cracking just slightly.
The words felt empty the second they left his mouth.
Steve closed the locket and slipped it back into his pocket before letting out a small sigh. He didn't stay there long. He never did. After a moment, he turned and continued walking, his footsteps quiet against the dirt path as the village slowly disappeared behind him.
It didn't take long before the trees swallowed him again.
The deeper he went, the quieter everything became, until the only sounds left were the wind brushing through the leaves and the occasional snap of a branch under his feet. This was where he felt… not safe, but safer. Away from people. Away from the risk.
After a while, a small structure came into view.
It wasn't much. Just a worn-down wooden house tucked between the trees, barely noticeable unless you knew where to look. The wood was old, the roof slightly uneven, but it stood. That was enough.
Steve walked up to it and pushed the door open, stepping inside.
He shut the door behind him and moved automatically, grabbing a few pieces of wood and placing them into the small fireplace. It didn't take long before he had a fire going, the soft crackling sound filling the room as warm light flickered against the walls.
The place was messy but organized in its own way.
Papers were scattered everywhere. Across the floor, pinned to the walls, stacked on the desk. Equations, notes, sketches of cells and structures, fragments of ideas that never fully came together. Some pages were crossed out aggressively, others rewritten over and over again like he was trying to force the answer out of them.
Steve stepped further inside, his eyes scanning everything for a moment before settling at the desk.
He sat down slowly and for a second, he just stared at the mess in front of him.
Then he reached for a small kit beside him and without hesitation, he pricked his finger, watching as a small drop of blood formed. He didn't react to the pain. He barely felt it anymore. Carefully, he placed the sample onto a slide before leaning forward toward the microscope he had built himself from scraps and salvaged parts.
Steve adjusted the focus, his expression sharpening as he looked through the lens and there it was…the same thing. His jaw tightened slightly as he adjusted it again, like maybe this time it would be different. It wasn't because his cells weren't normal but were… wrong.
Misshapen. Uneven. Like they were constantly shifting into something they weren't supposed to be. And underneath it all, faint but unmistakable, was that same green tint running through everything.
Like something was alive inside him.
Steve pulled back slowly, his hands tightening against the edge of the desk as he took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.
"It's the same thing…" he muttered under his breath, frustration creeping into his voice. "Every time…"
He looked back at the microscope, anger building now.
"I don't understand what it is," he continued, his voice rising slightly. "I don't know what it's doing, I don't know how to stop it…."
He stopped himself, his breathing growing heavier.
"The tech won't…" he shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "…it won't help me. It's not enough."
His fist slammed down onto the desk and the sound echoed through the small house but for a split second, his eyes flashed green and Steve froze.
His chest rose and fell rapidly as he stared down at his hand, his fingers still clenched tightly. He could feel it again the pressure under his skin, that heat building just beneath the surface, like something trying to push its way out.
"…No," he whispered.
He forced himself to breathe
In… and out.
Again and again.
Gradually, the glow faded but the tension in his body eased, but it didn't disappear completely. It never did.
Steve leaned back slightly, dragging a hand down his face as exhaustion finally started to catch up with him.
"I need sleep," he muttered quietly.
He stood up, his movements slower now, heavier. The adrenaline, the focus and it was all fading, leaving behind nothing but fatigue and the weight of everything he couldn't fix.
He moved over to the bed in the corner of the room, barely more than a thin mattress and worn blankets. It wasn't comfortable, but it was enough.
That word again.
Enough.
Steve sat down, then laid back, staring up at the ceiling for a moment as the firelight flickered softly across the room. His eyes drifted slightly, his mind still racing even as his body begged him to rest.
After a moment, his hand moved to his pocket.
The locket.
He didn't take it out this time but just held it there then slowly, his eyes closed and for the first time all day everything went quiet.
The Watchtower
The Watchtower hung in silence above the Earth, a steel guardian orbiting a world that never stopped breaking itself.
Inside, the meeting room was dimly lit, the glow of a massive holographic display casting shifting blue light across the gathered figures. The planet rotated slowly beneath them in the projection, calm and distant, as if none of the chaos below could ever reach it.
Batman stood at the center with the others already there Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, and Black Canary and each of them carrying their own weight of responsibility, their own expectations. But something about the atmosphere felt different this time.
"This happened a year ago vut I just found out about it 3 hours ago." Batman said, his voice cutting cleanly through the room as he activated the display.
The image shifted and a crater appeared and it was not just damage but total destruction. Twisted metal, shattered concrete, scorched earth. Whatever had been there before was gone without a trace.
Barry leaned forward slightly, eyes narrowing as he tried to process it. "That's not just an explosion… that's…." He paused, then looked back at Batman. "What was this place?"
Batman didn't answer immediately and instead he brought up another image.
Two bodies that was a man and a woman.
Superman's expression tightened almost instantly. "Bruce Banner…" he said quietly.
Barry's eyes widened. "Wait that Bruce Banner?" he said, stepping closer to the display now. "Like, gamma radiation, theoretical bio-enhancement, possibly one of the smartest guys on the planet Bruce Banner?"
"Yes," Batman replied simply.
Barry blinked, processing that, then let out a small breath. "Okay… wow. That's wow. I mean, I've read some of his papers, or at least tried to. Half of it goes over my head, but the stuff I do get? It's insane. Like, way ahead of anything we've seen publicly. If he was working on something off the grid…" He trailed off, glancing back at the crater. "…that makes this a lot worse."
"It does," Batman said
Diana crossed her arms, her gaze steady on the image. "What happened to them?"
Batman shifted the display again, bringing up a series of scans and reports. "The lab was completely destroyed. No systems left intact. No data recovered. Whoever hit it made sure there was nothing to salvage."
Hal frowned slightly. "So this wasn't an accident."
"No," Batman said. "It wasn't."
Canary leaned against the table, her expression serious. "Then what are we looking at? A targeted hit? Assassination?"
Batman didn't hesitate. "Yes."
The room fell quiet for a moment as Superman's jaw tightened slightly as he looked at the images again. "You said bodies," he said. "That means…."
"Their son is missing," Batman finished.
Barry blinked again. "Son?"
"Steve Banner," Batman said, bringing up another image and this one a younger face. Sixteen with brown hair.
"Sixteen?" Barry said, his tone shifting. "And he's just… gone?"
Batman nodded once. "No body was recovered."
Hal crossed his arms. "So either he didn't make it out…"
"…or he did," Canary finished.
Batman's gaze didn't leave the screen. "There were no remains consistent with a third victim. No blood traces indicating a fatal injury outside of the parents."
Diana stepped forward slightly. "Then he may still be alive."
Batman finally looked at them. "That's the working assumption."
Barry rubbed the back of his neck, pacing slightly now as his thoughts started racing. "Okay, okay, so we've got a destroyed black-site lab, a dead genius-level scientist working on something big enough to get him killed, and a missing teenage son who may or may not have been in the middle of it. That's… not great."
"Understatement," Hal muttered.
Batman tapped the console again, bringing up a new set of images that are close-ups of the ground near the crater and it showed footprints
"Initial scans showed nothing," he said. "Too much damage. Too much debris."
Barry leaned in again, squinting slightly. "But?"
Batman zoomed in further. "There were disturbances just outside the main blast radius," he continued. "Faint. Nearly erased by the shockwave." The footprints became clearer "Size and depth indicate a teenager," Batman said. "Barefoot. Directional movement away from the site."
Barry stopped pacing.
"…He walked out," he said quietly.
"Yes."
The weight of that settled over the room and Superman looked back at the image of Steve. "If he survived that…" he said, trailing off slightly.
"He didn't just survive," Batman said. "He left."
Diana's expression hardened slightly. "Alone."
Canary straightened a bit. "A sixteen-year-old kid, alone, after something like that…" She shook her head. "He's not just hiding. He's running."
Batman nodded once. "Agreed."
Hal looked back at the map. "So where does he go?"
Batman shifted the display again and a map appeared, zooming in on the region surrounding the destroyed lab.
"There's a village approximately eight miles from the site," he said. "Minimal medical resources. Isolated. Easy to disappear if you don't want to be found."
Barry tilted his head slightly. "Or if you don't know where else to go."
"Exactly," Batman said.
Superman looked at the map, then back at Bruce's file. "If he's Bruce Banner's son… he's not just any kid."
"No," Batman agreed. "He's not."
Diana stepped forward, her voice calm but firm. "Then we should not approach this like a standard search."
Canary nodded. "Yeah. If he's scared, the last thing we want to do is come in like a military operation."
Hal raised an eyebrow. "We're not exactly subtle."
"That's why we don't send everyone," Canary shot back.
Batman turned slightly, already considering. "We need a small team. Controlled presence. People who can de-escalate if necessary."
Superman looked at him. "And if it's not just fear?"
That question lingered and the room stayed quiet for a second before Diana spoke again. "Who goes?"
Batman's gaze moved across the group.
"Superman," he said first.
Clark nodded without hesitation.
"Wonder Woman."
Diana gave a small, resolute nod.
"Green Lantern."
Hal sighed lightly. "Yeah, figured."
"Black Canary."
She straightened slightly. "I'll keep things calm."
Barry looked between them. "And me?"
Batman glanced at him.
"Stay on comms. I'll need you analyzing anything we get in real time."
Barry nodded quickly. "Got it."
Batman turned back to the display, the image of the village glowing softly in the center of the room.
"We proceed under the assumption that Steve Banner is alive," he said. "We also assume he witnessed the attack."
Canary's expression softened slightly. "Then he's not just a missing person…"
"No. He's a witness on what happened at that lab a year ago" Batman said.
Superman exhaled slowly. "Let's hope we get to him before someone else does."
Batman's voice didn't change.
"We will."
Timeskip
The sun hung high over the village, casting a warm golden light across the fields as people moved through rows of crops, working with practiced rhythm. The air was thick with heat and the quiet sounds of life with hands pulling vegetables from the soil, baskets being filled, low voices passing between neighbors. It was simple work, steady and honest, and for most of them, it was enough.
Steve moved among them in silence.
A bundle of crops rested over his shoulder as he walked from one end of the field to the other, his steps firm and controlled. His body had grown stronger over the past year, leaner, more efficient, and his movements reflected that. He didn't rush, didn't waste energy. He just worked. That's what they knew him for the quiet kid who showed up, helped, and asked for nothing in return.
"You take too much," one of the older farmers said as Steve set the bundle down beside him. "You'll wear yourself out."
"I'm fine," Steve replied simply, not meeting his eyes.
The man studied him for a moment before nodding, used to the short answers by now. "Still… you help more than most. Don't forget to take care of yourself too."
Steve didn't respond. He just turned and went back for another load.
That's when the sound came.
At first it was distant, barely noticeable over the wind moving through the fields, but it didn't belong there. It grew louder quickly, cutting through the calm like something sharp and unnatural. The villagers began to notice, their movements slowing as heads tilted upward toward the sky.
Steve froze because his chest tightened instantly as the sound became unmistakable.
A jet.
It descended fast, engines roaring as it approached the edge of the village, sending a rush of wind across the crops that bent them violently in its wake. Dust lifted into the air, and the ground trembled faintly as it touched down not far from where they stood.
People stepped back, confused, cautious, some even curious. Steve wasn't as his stomach dropped, and something cold settled deep in his chest.
They found me.
He didn't wait while everyone else stared, he turned and walked away, his pace quick but controlled. He didn't run not yet but every instinct in him screamed to get as far away as possible. He kept his head down as he moved toward the tree line, slipping away before anyone could call out to him.
Behind him, the jet door opened and four figures stepped out and even from a distance, they were unmistakable. The man in blue and red. The woman in armor. The man glowing green. The woman in black.
Heroes.
Real ones.
Steve didn't look back as he was already moving through the trees, his pace quickening as soon as the village disappeared behind him. His breathing grew heavier, uneven, his thoughts racing faster than he could control.
They found me.
They know.
He pushed harder, branches brushing against him as he made his way deeper into the forest until his small house came into view. It stood where it always did, quiet and hidden, but now it felt exposed, like it wasn't enough anymore.
Steve rushed inside, shutting the door behind him harder than he meant to. His hands were already moving.
Papers. Notes. Supplies. Anything important went straight into his bag as fast as he could grab them. His breathing picked up, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it might burst out of his chest.
"Come on… come on…" he muttered, his voice tight with panic but his eyes flickered.
Green.
He stopped suddenly, gripping the edge of the desk as his body tensed.
"No… not now…" he whispered, forcing himself to breathe.
In… and out.
The glow faded, but the tension stayed.
Then the door creaked open and Steve spun around instantly, his body locking up as his eyes landed on the two figures standing there.
One in armor.
One in black.
They didn't move toward him, but they didn't leave either.
"…Steve Banner," the armored woman said, her voice calm but steady.
Steve's chest tightened as he backed away slightly, his eyes darting toward the window, toward the door, toward any possible way out.
"You need to leave," he said quickly, his voice sharp with urgency. "Right now."
The woman in black raised her hands slightly, showing she wasn't a threat. "Hey, we're not here to hurt you. My name's Dinah. This is Diana."
"I don't care," Steve snapped. "You need to go."
Diana stepped forward slightly, careful, measured. "We came because of what happened to your parents."
The words hit like a punch.
"Don't," Steve said immediately, his voice tightening.
"We know about the lab," she continued gently. "We know it was attacked."
"Stop."
"We know your parents were killed."
"I said stop!"
Dinah softened her tone, trying a different approach. "Steve, listen to me. We're not your enemies. We just want to help."
"Help?" Steve let out a short, bitter laugh, shaking his head. "You're a little late for that."
His breathing grew heavier, his fists clenching at his sides as the memories pushed forward again, louder this time, harder to ignore.
The gunshot.
His dad falling.
His mom screaming.
The green light.
"You weren't there," he said, his voice shaking now. "You didn't see it."
Diana didn't move. "Then tell us."
That was the last thing he needed to hear.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Steve roared.
The room seemed to shake with the force of it as his body locked up immediately after, his back arching slightly as a low, pained sound escaped him. His hands clenched so tightly his knuckles cracked, and his breathing turned sharp and uneven as something inside him surged forward again.
Dinah took a step back. "Diana…"
"I see it," Diana said quietly, her stance shifting. Steve shook his head violently, trying to fight it. "No… no, I can't…."
His skin began to change. Green spread across his arms, fast and unnatural, his veins pulsing visibly as his muscles expanded beyond anything human. His shirt tore under the sudden growth, fabric ripping as his body grew larger, stronger, heavier with every second.
"Steve, listen to me!" Diana called out, her voice firm but calm. "You can fight this!"
But he couldn't hear her anymore as the pain overwhelmed everything else, his body surging as the transformation took over completely. He dropped to one knee, his hand slamming into the floor hard enough to crack it as a scream tore out of him and it was half pain and half rage.
The house began to break with splintered along the walls, the structure groaning under the pressure as his growing form pushed against everything around him. Dust fell from the ceiling, the air itself vibrating as the transformation reached its peak.
Dinah grabbed Diana's arm, pulling her back slightly. "We need to move."
"Not yet," Diana said, her eyes locked on him.
Steve's body surged one final time, his muscles expanding fully as the last pieces of his human form disappeared. The transformation ended with a violent release of energy that shook the entire room, forcing both women to brace themselves as the structure barely held together.
Then everything stilled and the dust drifted slowly through the air as what remained of the house struggled to stand.
Where Steve had been something else stood and it was massive and green and towering over everything around it, its presence filling the room in a way that made the air feel heavier. Its chest rose and fell with deep, rumbling breaths, each one carrying a weight that felt almost physical.
Dinah exhaled slowly, her voice low. "Yeah… that's not good."
Diana didn't respond. She simply watched as the creature lifted its head slowly, its glowing green eyes locking onto them, filled with raw, uncontrolled fury. For a brief second, something flickered beneath it and it was something human but it vanished as quickly as it appeared.
Then it roared and the sound shook the house, rattling the walls as pure rage tore out of it, loud enough to echo through the forest beyond and in that moment, there was no doubt left.
The boy they came to find was gone and something far more dangerous was standing in his place.