After a two year hiatus I have finally returned! To celebrate my return I am going to redo all of my unfinished fics! :D

If you happened to be following this fic already and have stumbled upon it once again, don't worry! I'm not going to be doing any major remodeling; I'm just going to retouch them. My old writing style was pretty icky. Not that this style is any better, of course.

Just to be clear, Bruce is a kid in this fic. However, the abuse is totally canon. You can thank the comics for his horrible childhood.

Also, this fic was originally called Bruce Banner: The Modern Dougie Howser (*eyeroll* I know…)

And without further ado, here is the first chapter~!

Bruce Banner is special. He is gifted. He is different.

It was because of these reasons that he was constantly bullied, abused, and left alone to wallow in his own self-pity to lament on why he was not normal.

No one cared that he was hurting- both physically and emotionally. Not the teachers or the students at school; not his dysfunctional family at home; nor the strangers that he passed by who noticed the adult hand shaped bruises on his small frame when he hurried home right after school. And why would they?

He is Bruce Banner.

He isn't like other children.

However, their views soon changed. One day, poor little Bruce Banner cracked.

He couldn't take the beatings, the lies, the sneers- none of it. How could he? He was only a kid.

So he did what any other kid would have done.

He planted a bomb in the school.

It was a dud, but the school didn't hesitate to expel him.

He was no longer "That Geek"- a nickname thrown around in response to his abnormally large intelligence -but instead was given a new nickname. This nickname was originally a gift from his father, yet it caught on both on and off campus. He nearly cried when he heard it from one of his neighbors.

"That Freak" was hissed from every street in the neighborhood, diminishing what little self-esteem he had.

He regretted planting the bomb. All he wanted to do was scare everyone who ever bullied him. He wanted to see their regret about teasing, pushing, and slowly destroying him.

He never did see the regret on their face, but underneath it all was hatred. Disgust. Terror.

In that moment he felt like his father. He cried.

Before he could be charged with anything, the military got involved. They caught wind of Bruce's brilliant, freak of a mind. He had designed the bomb itself, catching the attention of one General Ross.

General Ross was a man of honor. He would never endanger a civilian if he could avoid it. To him, this was a special case. He couldn't avoid it. He needed this kid.

Bruce Banner was what exactly the military needed. With his help, they wouldn't need support from Stark Industries. The kid read Stark's tech designs like how General Ross himself read the Daily Bugle. To say they were ecstatic was an understatement.

He soon became the military's secret. The name Bruce Banner was wiped clean. No records of anything before the school incident.

Bruce Banner now had a fresh start.

Still, Bruce kept to himself. Although he was thankful for the new beginning given to him, he was hesitant to explore it inside the military. He knew what they were capable of. He didn't want blood on his tiny hands. The thought alone caused him to swallow down bile.

The reason he decided to stay was of a promise made by the general. General Ross took Bruce of to the side, took of his hat, and promised Bruce that the weapons being created were to only hurt bad people. People like his father.

Bruce had nodded his head furiously, not even given it another thought. The general made a promise, and to Bruce, promises were meant to never break.

So, Bruce made weapons- mostly things only a child could ever think of. There were many trial and error, but it never really phased him. He knew he was a failure; no use getting beat up over it emotionally when he used to receive it physically.

Then she came along an altered his whole perception on himself.

Betty.

Betty Ross.

She was his friend.

Not just his friend, but his best friend. (There may or may not have been a crush on his part.)

Betty supported him and made him smile; she joked with him and smiled back- it was enough to make him believe the bomb he planted at school really did go off and he was sent to heaven. She was his angel, his anchor, and his best friend all wrapped into one. Never before has he felt so alive.

But Betty didn't want to hurt people. That confused Bruce. Didn't she see he was helping people? Didn't see see he was doing a world a favor by ridding it of people like his father? Didn't she see he was doing the right thing? He made weapons, true, but they weren't made for destruction. At least, that's what he's been told.

Whenever he explained this she would frown. Despite her excitement over his experiments, there was always a sad glint in her eyes. Her eyebrows would crease and her lips would twitch downward slightly. She would always be disappointed.

Bruce understood.

He would always be alone.

Eventually, Bruce left ran away. An experiment with gamma radiation had gone wrong, making him an even bigger freak. General Ross was no longer his father-figure, he was now his hunter hell-bent in destroying him.

Bruce Banner was so different, he wasn't even human.

He was such a freak the military wanted him dead.

He was a freak.

An abomination.

He didn't deserve to make Betty cry. He didn't deserve her comfort. He didn't deserve her friendship.

He was such a freak, his only friend suffered from her own father because of him.

An agency called S.H.E.I.L.D. took him soon after. They kept him under vigilant watch. They fed him, sheltered him, and gave him things to work on. And most of all, they left him alone.

That's how it should be Bruce thought softly to himself, adjusting his monkey wrench on the unfinished prototype of a gun before pushing up his glasses. Because I just want to be alone.

Bruce Banner is also a liar.

If you have any questions or find any errors, don't hesitate to PM me!

R&R