"Natalie Romana?" Mark said slightly unsure as he approached her.
"Mark Greyson," she said with a beaming smile as she stood up and offered out her hand
Mark returned her handshake. 'Huh that's weird,' he thought to himself as he felt her hand. Just like all his other senses Marks sense of touch had been dialled up beyond what was normally human and while he nulled his senses when he didn't need them they were still peak human level. Because of this he noticed her hands, not only were they calloused like his and Colleen's, but she seemed to have gone through the effort of covering them up.
"Oooo a strong grip you have," she said before giggling and raising her other hand up to cover her mouth.
"So I've been told," he said letting go.
"So I hear you have a place for me to look at," he said with a smile.
Natalie nodded before pulling his arm over to sit down. "I have a few properties I think you'd like, but honestly only one of them meets all your criteria," she said as she reached into her back and brought out several folders. She placed them on the table and leaned forward which strained the top button of her blouse so much then Mark thought it might burst off.
Mark took the folder with her only sparing a glance at her cleavage before looking at the listing.
*220 St. Nicholas Avenue, New York, NY 10027*
"A bit of an old loft style apartment, but it has a massive floor space as well as an open second floor, a large balcony and it's close by to the power grid, you're also only half a mile away from Malcolm X Boulevard," she said excitedly.
Looking at the pictures Mark had to admit he was impressed, there was plenty of space, an open second floor where he could set up a lab. He was also close enough that he could tap into the power grid. "Asking price?" Mark asked as he looked back up at her.
"Fifteen fifty," she said a little sheepishly.
Mark chuckled. "What's the catch?" He said. There's no way an apartment like this goes for fifteen fifty a month without something being extremely wrong with it.
Natalie seemed to cringe as she leaned back in her seat. "The area the apartment building has seen a rise in violent crime, the last person living here was shot twice on his doorstep," she said pretty grimly.
Mark nodded. "If you don't mind I'd like to take a look at it, but if it's as advertised you've made your sale Miss Roma."
Natalie clapped her hands "Yay!" She said giggling. "We should celebrate, this is actually my first ever sale," she said excitedly while grabbing his arm.
Mark laughed, amused by her enthusiasm "I'm all for it, but I do wanna see the place before signing anything," he said.
"Pfffft leave the boring stuff till later, I wanna have some fun!" Natalie said as she pulled him up, her enthusiasm infectious.
For the next few hours Mark and Natalie walked around Harlem taking in the sights, visiting the stands they had out for some sort of culture festival. They ate food, played games, drank some cocktails. It was kind of strange of Mark was honest, while he couldn't say he'd met many real estate agents he can't imagine many were like Natalie. Though maybe it's just down to her youth and inexperience, or maybe she was attracted to him. Though he doubted it was the latter, he didn't know why but he could tell that Natalie wasn't attracted to him, or at least she didn't feel any sexual desire when she looked at him.
She'd even taken him to a club called Harlems paradise, another strange place. It somehow managed to be pretty sophisticated and yet seedy at the same time, though the drinks were good and so was the music so he couldn't complain. It was kinda late when she finally took him to what he hoped would be his new apartment. Walking inside, he noticed immediately the walls weren't painted, you could see the layered brick on all sides. Though the walls that housed the open second floor were painted a dark orange colour. Overall it looked pretty good, the kitchen was spacious, there was even a closet for a laundry room.
Natalie was looking a little tipsy from all the cocktails they had last night, she kicked off her heels when she walked through giggling as she made her way to the fridge. "The owners were kind enough to spring a little when they finally sold the apartment," she said as she opened the door and took out a fancy looking bottle.
"Réserve d'Or de Champagne," she said showing him the bottle. "It means—"
"Champagne golden reserve," Mark finished as he walked through the apartment to the kitchen island.
Natalie made an 'O' shape with her mouth "I didn't know you knew French," she said. "Any other languages I don't know about?" She said with a wide grin.
"A few others maybe..." Mark said with a sheepish expression.
"When I was younger I got it through my head that I'd travel the world, so I thought I should at least learn some of the languages," he explained.
"How far did you make it?" Natalie asked as she attempted to open the bottle.
"This is my first stop," Mark said with a chuckle as he took a seat at the island.
"Oooh where are you from originally?" she asked.
"New Jersey... so I still have quite a ways to go," he replied.
"You gotta start somewhere," she said encouragingly as she tried to open the bottle. "This should definitely be easier," she said nearly falling over and giggling when she did.
"Here let me have a crack at it," Mark said holding his hand out. She handed him the bottle and he easily popped the cork.
"Oooo strong and smart, I bet you're a hit with the ladies," Natalie said brushing her hand against his arm.
"I do okay," he said with a grin.
"Why don't you look around the apartment, while I find some glasses, I think you'll like the view from the balcony," she said.
"Sure," Mark said as he walked behind her and started looking through the apartment proper. He started with the second floor and then worked his way down, it was all pretty perfect for his needs, at least for now. Later he would like to own a bit of land outside the city, if he was ever gonna get home he'd need some peace and quiet to try and figure it out. Mark went to the balcony, it was once again pretty spacious, enough for a six seater table and a bbq, even a hot tub if he wanted.
He leaned against the edge looking down at the city streets below, his apartment wasn't too tall so it was quite loud, but he didn't mind all that much. As he leaned over the railing he looked at Natalie's ID that he'd lifted from her when he walked past her. There were lots of things about the woman that just didn't add up, the way she looked, the way she acted. She pretended to be carefree and loose but he could see the minute shifts in her body whenever he would reach over to her.
Though he could just be being paranoid, he had spent so long in Gotham he always second guessed people and their intentions. She hadn't done anything negative towards him so far, so he'd give her a chance.
"I found some glasses!" Natalie said as she brought them through. "They aren't champagne glasses sadly," she said with a little pout as she approached Mark.
Mark palmed her ID and slipped it back into her pocket when she handed him over the drink. "A drink is a drink," he said with a smile.
"Here's to my first sale, and your first New York apartment," she said holding up her glass and clinking it against his own. They both then drank from their cups, Natalie hummed in delight at the taste and almost tripped over as she downed the whole thing. Mark snorted as he stopped her from falling over, she gladly took his arm laughing and putting her head on his chest.
"Sorry... I think I'm a little tipsy," she giggled.
"Just a bit," Mark said as he took another sip of his drink.
"How is it? Do you like it?" She asked with bright eyes.
Mark tilted his head before taking another sip and swishing it through his mouth. "I haven't had champagne before, but it's good," he said.
Suddenly there was a massive explosion, that shook the building. Mark steadied himself and Natalie. "Are you okay?" He asked, when she gave a nod he quickly ran over to the building, he could see a large fireball blow up into the air as another explosion rocketed off.
"Shit! I need to go," Mark said to Natalie as he set the champagne glass down and quickly started to gather his things.
"Isn't it too dangerous?" She asked with worry on her face. "Wouldn't it be better to stay here until whatever that is sorts itself out?"
"I'm sorry but I gotta make sure my friends are alright," he said before he rushed out of the apartment. "I'll call you soon, make sure to stay inside."
...
Mark flew across the skies, pushing himself to go faster and reach the devastation. As he got to it he could see the wake of destruction of whatever monster was loose. He landed on the street where he saw numerous fires, broken storefronts, exploded cars, torn up concrete. Mark moved quickly helping as many people as he could, a lot of them were trapped so he did his best in getting them out before following the trail that had been left behind.
"Mark!" Someone called out as he jogged down the street.
Mark turned his head. "Luke!? What the hell you doing here," he said as he rushed over to the man who looked like he was trying to lift a truck up.
"I was visiting a few friends in Harlem when some abomination started killing everyone," Luke replied. "Help me with this," he said as he started trying to lift again. Mark joined him and they managed to lift it enough that the man's legs weren't trapped anymore.
"Help him to the refuge centre down on 22nd I'm gonna go see if anyone else needs some help," Mark said as Luke lifted the man up.
"You be careful man, whatever that monster was, he isn't right," Luke said as he started heading back.
Mark continued forward this time forgoing running and flying. He knew he was getting close when he heard the sound of gunfire. Turning a corner he saw what could only be described as an abomination attacking the city. At least twelve feet tall, heavily muscled, bones protruding from different parts of its body. But that wasn't the only monster causing damage, there was a big green one that was fighting the abomination. Their fight was causing even more destruction than he had seen when coming up here.
Mark tensed his whole body and coiled himself while he floated. He then shot toward both monsters so fast that the wind displaced slipped several cars. The abomination was pounding the green one's face into the ground when Mark was upon it. He flipped forward mid air before gripping both hands together and slamming them into the creature. He was sent skidding across the concrete creating a large grove as he did. "Stay down..." Mark said as he landed on the green one. Though from the angry look expression on the creatures face he didn't think that would happen.
He didn't stay down.
(AN: So here we are. The Incredible Hulk. To make things a bit more equal I'm gonna be using hulks comic strength, well not all of it because immortal hulk is kinda broke. World breaker hulk would be cool though. One of my favourite hulk storylines. Tbh I still think illuminati did him dirty.)
Sus port.
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