I want to sleep
Swat the flies
Softly, please.
--Shiki

The insidious presence in his mind began to fade, and he regained a measure of his sanity and will, though all was darkness still. A jolt of electricity brought him back to consciousness and slowly, the Hulk realized his surroundings.

A sense of calm washed over him, emanating from a tanned, white-haired man in a dark-suit. The irrational fury in him almost disappeared when the man suddenly disappeared, a flash of loud silence heralding his departure.

"Cable!" A woman's voice. The Hulk recognized her, or thought that he should--certainly some part of him remembered Storm, a part that was rapidly fading once more. Without Cable's telepathic assist, Bruce Banner could not reassert control over his body.

Now all he remembered was that she had hurt him, grievously, more than had anyone else he could recall, calling lightning from the heavens to smite him.

The Hulk was momentarily confused by the figure who suddenly stood in front of him, replacing Cable, a toothbrush (and yet the concept of even that simple instrument eluded him as suddenly as he remembered it) in his mouth, staring wide-eyed at the titan before him. The remnants of Banner's personality dimly noted that the man was dressed in a faded pink karate gi, which half-covered a torn black shirt. A belt that was more gray than black completed his unusual ensemble. Long brown hair was tied back in a pony-tail, but that did not disperse the disheveled look of this strange character, made all the more comical by two-day's growth of beard on his chin.

The last emotion that Banner felt as he completely left the Hulk's mind was of pity for this ill-fated and no-doubt doomed individual.

* * * * *

Dan Hibiki had no idea where he was, or how he had gotten there. One minute he was brushing his teeth in anticipation of the karate demonstration that his dojo was hosting later that day--he wanted to look his best when they took pictures of his latest chohatsu; the next minute, he stood before this green-skinned monstrosity that came out of those nightmares which made him wet his sheets till the age of ten, when his father Go, tired of replacing stained bedcovers, explained to him that such monsters existed only in movies and in comic books.

Yeah, right.

Motivated completely by fear, Dan leapt into the air and propelled himself at the Hulk, throwing all of his strength behind a fearsome roundhouse kick, right into the astonished Hulk's right eye.

Even the eye felt like a brick wall, and Dan landed on his bum, teary-eyed and clutching his bruised foot. A tremendous roar brought Dan's gaze upward, where he saw the Hulk with an enormous hand over his eye, bellowing out his anger.

Haha, Dan thought, suddenly invigorated. He jumped up and landed with an awe-inspiring stomp on the Hulk's little toe.

The not-so-jolly green giant gave another roar and grabbed the foot, hopping up and down.

Dan flashed his million dollar smile, flexed his right arm and taunted, "Ikuzora!" Come on! The bigger they are, the harder they fall! He started to take out one of the dozen poster-sized pictures of his victory over Sagat that he always carried with him.

The Hulk lost his balance and with a tremendous crash, squashed the taunting little Saikyo-Ryu master.

Still alive, Dan crawled out from beneath the green behemoth and modified his earlier impression: The bigger they are, the harder they fall on you!

"Move aside, young man, that I may unleash the might of thunder and lightning!" Some dark, silver-haired woman in a silly-looking silver jumpsuit ordering Dan around? No way!

As the Hulk rose, Dan crossed his arms in front of his face, gathering the necessary chi to perform his spectacular attack.

"This is my Certain Victory Relying On Nobody But Myself Fist," he proclaimed to Storm, then started flailing his arms and legs with abandon at the Hulk.

The green titan absorbed the first few hits with mere irritation, reached out with one mammoth-sized hand, and grabbed the spazzing fighter by the head.

Dan did not realize that he was ten feet above the ground, nor that his attacks were nowhere near hitting his target, but continued with the legendary hisshou burai ken, his arms and legs flailing at the empty air. The finishing ko ryu ken nearly caused Dan to snap his own neck as his body spun around while his head remained firmly fixed in the Hulk's hand.

The Hulk twirled Dan around several times before tossing him at the airborne Storm, sending both of them plunging to the ground in a heap.

Storm quickly rose and prepared to call upon the forces of thunder and lightning to strike down the charging Hulk, but Dan stepped in front of her, displaying his incredible tolerance for damage, and announced, "You have forced my hand! This is my greatest technique! It will kill you for sure! I guarantee it!"

"Get out of the way, you fool!" Storm shouted. The Hulk was almost upon them, and she saw Dan crossing his arms again, almost as if he was afraid to look, and start his technique, rushing towards the Hulk.

Storm sent a gust of wind to whisk Dan away, but as he flew by, he managed to grab and latch onto the Hulk's head. Storm ran forward, hoping that the Hulk was sufficiently distracted for her to attack, when all the air in the vicinity started to rush in towards Dan as if in a vacuum. She stopped, somehow sensing the tremendous gathering of energy around him, and started backpedaling.

"Otoko Michi!"

The explosion blinded her, and concussive shockwaves battered her to the ground.

She heard a wild scream that quickly grew fainter and fainter and recovered her sight in time to see Dan disappearing in the horizon, the explosion having apparently propelled him almost into orbit.

Thus she did not see the blinded, but otherwise unharmed, Hulk rampaging towards her.

Wrinkled and burned pictures fell all around him. One landed on his pounded face, and Dan started to get up, slowly. The slightest strain could send him into unconsciousness. Such was the price one paid for the ultimate technique. No doubt the Hulk was feeling it right now.

Dan started gathering the fallen pictures and stuffing it into his shirt when he saw a fresh, bright line of red on his palm.

Paper cut!

"Aieee! That hurt!" he wailed as he slipped into oblivion.