Kowalski's voice cut in before he could say anything more. "You might want to turn down the testosterone in here boys. Unless you forgot you have a visitor that turns big and green when he's angry. Not to mention he has a flaming skull."

Blaze and Dan asked the same question together, "What?"

Kowalski rolled Bruce Banner's eyes. He was currently inhabiting that body, and it was feeling decidedly crowded.

"What did you mean by flaming skull?" Blaze wanted to know.

"Did you really think it would be so easy to get Zarathos out of the Hulk? All you managed to do was get the Hulk turned back into Banner. Don't ask me to explain it, but it looks like Zarathos is bound to the Hulk and not Banner. The two of them are in here still fighting for dominance, along with all the other personalities."

"So, if Banner loses control and gets angry…"

Kowalski looked at Amanda Sefton, who had asked the question, and nodded. "Yeah, the Hulk comes back out and he could be possessed by Zarathos."

"You have got to be kidding me," Blaze exploded. "Here, let me kill Banner and we won't have to worry about it."

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Kowalski fought to remain calm, although the tension in his jaw alluded to his true feelings. "Which part of Banner angry, Hulk comes out, don't you get? Besides you can't kill him."

"Really? He can't weigh more than one fifty soaking wet. I could..."

Whatever else he had been about to say ended in a groan. His eyes rolled back into his head, and he collapsed in a heap on the floor. Marc Spector was standing behind him.

Ignoring the astonished looks on his teammate's faces, and the grin on Kowalski's, he said quietly, "You said there were things we needed to know."

"What the…" Dan Kale shouted.

Spector turned dark eyes on him. "I want to find Jennifer. I want to know what he," he pointed at Banner/Kowlaski, "knows, and we don't have time for his hysterics. So shut up and let him talk."

Only because Dan agreed with the logic, he struggled to rein in his temper. Amanda's hand on his arm made him turn away to look at her.

Sympathetically she said, "He's right, although his bedside manner needs a lot of work."

Spector ignored the comment and focused on Kowalski.

Next

"You lot are going to have so much fun working together," he muttered before getting down to the meat of his business.

"I don't have much time, as it's very crowded in this body. So, here's the skinny on what's going on. First off, Banner. Yes, this is the real one. Some of you fought him at the Cross-roads. He's only got a limited time here before he's pulled back into his right place in the time stream. As such, killing him, or letting him get killed, wouldn't be a good idea. Right now, Zarathos is bound to the savage Hulk. There's something preventing him from taking over Banner, or any of the other Hulk's wandering around in here. But if Banner turns into the Hulk again, you lot are going to have your hands full. Seems that Fannin has neutralized your most powerful member in one move. There might be a way to get Zarathos out of here, but I don't know what it is. Doubt you'll find it in the library either."

"Now, the library. Kale already knows about it. No, not this one. The one that's missing." He was pacing as he talked, and his speech grew quicker as he went on. "Downstairs, in the basement, there's a hidden library of all the Seeker knowledge gathered over the last five hundred years. It's open now, but you'll want to figure a way to keep it hidden.

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Also, you need to check out the ley lines running through this place. It's not your headquarters for no reason."

"Finally, Wayne." Everyone followed his gaze to the young man who had been with Banner. He was curled up tightly in a large armchair. "Obviously, he's a bit shocked right now. You're going to need him if you want to stop Fannin. Don't ask me how, I don't know. I just know he's important. The rest is up to you lot."

"That's about all. Now, I've got to be off. Oh, so you know, the body I was in, the one that got killed, that was his uncle, so he's going to have to deal with that too."

Before any of the Seekers could say anything, Banner's body collapsed onto the couch he had stopped in front of.

Marc Spector looked around the room. Banner was unconscious on the couch. Blaze was out cold at his feet. Wayne Martin was curled up like a fetus in the armchair. Firestar was still unconscious from the blow he had dealt her in New Orleans. Kale was glaring at him, and Magick had huge, dark circles under her eyes as though she had not slept in days.

Next

"We need to find Jennifer," he said.

Next: We take a look at some of the other players...

To #13...