The moment Nick Fury uttered those words,Bruce froze on the spot.
The next second,he snapped back to the tombstone in front of him.
There, in the photo, Betty seemed to be smiling at him.
A radiant smile.
Bruce fell silent.
An hour later,Bruce Banner returned to his apartment, carrying a cardboard box containing Betty Ross's belongings.
He walked out of his bedroom and down the stairs to the living room on the first floor.
He carefully took down the wedding photo from the wall, placed it against the wall, and then plopped down on the floor, staring at the photo.
Bruce was lost in thought.
Just then,a ding sounded.
Bruce snapped out of his reverie, took out his phone, opened the email Nick Fury had just sent, looked at the SHIELD hospital's examination report, and without saying a word, simply found Nick Fury's number and dialed it.
The call was quickly answered.
"Bruce."
"Are you also part of the plan, or did you help devise this plan, Nick?"
"What?"
Nick Fury on the other end of the phone was taken aback by Bruce Banner's words, his heart skipping a beat.
Bruce looked calmly at the wedding photo in front of him.
"Betty knows that the killer of General Ross is the same person who killed Hulk.
You must have told Betty that, right?"
"What?"
"I'm not stupid, Nick."
Bruce Banner's voice was also calm.
While looking at Betty in the wedding photo, who seemed to be smiling at him, he calmly laughed self-deprecatingly at Nick Fury on the other end of the phone: "My IQ may not be high, but it's definitely above yours.
However, I now wish my IQ wasn't as high as yours."
Nick Fury on the other end of the phone didn't speak immediately.
After his breathing became slightly heavier for a few seconds, he spoke again.
"I don't understand, Bruce, you."
"Betty can't be pregnant, at least I don't have the ability to get her pregnant."
"What?"
"I was exposed to high-intensity gamma rays."
Bruce took a deep breath, his gaze fixed on the wedding photo in front of him.
"I'm curious, Betty wants me to transform into the Hulk again to avenge General Ross, but what about you, Nick? Why did you fabricate this fake pregnancy report? Did Betty ask you to?"
In a flash,Nick Fury couldn't help but chuckle to himself on the other end of the phone.
"Yes."
"You're lying, Nick."
"What?"
"Again, my IQ may not be high, but it's definitely higher than yours."
Bruce Banner's tone was chilling.
"I've been on the run from General Ross. I can tell whether someone is lying or not just by their tone of voice, even without meeting them. And you, Nick, you're lying."
"…"
"But your IQ is really not that great. Betty clearly rejected your offer, but you still did it. I'm curious, why?"
Bruce Banner interrupted Nick Fury on the other end of the phone while taking out another phone from his pocket.
He then found the last video Betty left behind and played it.
The video was recorded on the morning of the day Betty died.
Betty sat calmly on the sofa, facing the camera in front of her.
"Bruce, by the time you see this video, I will be dead."
"I'm sorry."
"I thought about forgetting everything, about starting a new life with you."
"Really."
"But I can't. My father may not be good in many people's eyes, but in my eyes, he was the best."
"In the years we've been apart, I can never forget every moment we spent together."
"Similarly, I can never forget the horrific scene of my father's death."
"…"
"Just when I finally made up my mind to take action, Nick Fury found out and offered me a good plan."
"Pregnancy. This was my key bargaining chip to ensure you would avenge me after I got involved."
"But I refused."
"I could use love to force you to avenge me."
"But I would never use deception to force you to avenge me."
"…"
"He's here."
"Finally, Bruce, whatever decision you make, please remember, I love you.
At least, the moment I walked into City Hall with you, I married you because I loved you."
"Farewell, Bruce."
"Forever your Betty."
"…"
Betty's video ends here.
After Bruce finished leaving a video message, he said to Nick Fury, whose breathing was becoming heavier on the other end of the phone, "Nick, you didn't expect Betty to leave me a last message, did you?"
Indeed, he hadn't.
Nick Fury thought to himself.
But.
"He's too dangerous."
"We need someone who can step in and stop him from doing anything unpredictable."
"Natasha and Barton won't do it."
"Captain America won't do it either."
"Tony Stark has already decided to remove the reactor from his chest and stop being Iron Man."
"Thor hasn't appeared since he went back."
"Right now, only you, Bruce, only you who have reawakened the Hulk can stop this from happening."
"So, I'm sorry for Betty's death."
"But Bruce, you should step up."
Nick Fury explained in a deep voice on the other end of the phone.
In short, the core idea was simple:
Hawk is too dangerous and needs to be controlled, and you, Bruce Banner, are the best weapon we can use to control Hawk.
But after hearing Nick Fury's plan exposed, Bruce showed no regret, instead offering a self-righteous explanation that made him chuckle.
"Nick Fury, you're such a hypocrite."
"Bruce."
"Aren't you just worried that Hawke will one day find out that General Ross was able to find and attack him because of the information and location you provided to him? Aren't you worried that Hawke, knowing this, will crush your head like he did with General Ross?"
"You're scared."
"So you wanted to use Betty's eagerness to avenge General Ross to complete your plan."
"But you didn't expect Betty to reject your offer."
"After Betty died, you didn't show up at first, just to observe whether I wanted to avenge Betty."
"But I remained unmoved, with no intention of revenge, and then you couldn't sit still."
"So you appeared, and fabricated this fake pregnancy report."
"What justice, huh?"
"You're such a hypocrite, Nick Fury."
Bruce Banner showed no mercy, tearing away Nick Fury's fig leaf without any hesitation, exposing his gleaming black ass in its entirety.
"But this is just like you, like last year when I accepted your invitation to help you fight Loki, and you ended up preparing a prison cell for me."
Nick Fury,on the other end of the phone, listened to Bruce Banner's words without any change in expression.
"Bruce, I'm sorry you think that way."
"You should indeed be sorry."
Bruce Banner didn't mince words with Nick Fury, scoffing and directly seeing through Nick Fury's thoughts: "Nick, the reason you haven't hung up yet is because you don't want me to tell Maria Hill and the others about this, right? Don't worry, I won't tell them.
Now you can hang up in a huff." As soon as he finished speaking,the dial tone went dead.
Just as Bruce had just said to Nick.
His IQ might not be very high, but it was definitely above Nick Fury's.
Bruce Banner looked at the disconnected phone, shook his head, and didn't take the matter to heart.
He really didn't intend to tell Maria Hill about it.
There was no need, and it didn't matter.
Because his heart was dead.
Bruce Banner sat on the floor, continuing to play the last video message Betty Ross had recorded for him.
Actually, he already knew what Betty was doing on the day Betty died.
As he said, his IQ was decent.
What he hadn't expected was that Betty had recorded everything and told him everything.
In the video, Betty, knowing her death was imminent, had a calm expression, recalling the moments she had shared with him, and imagining the future they would have had if none of this had happened.
Three meals a day, a family of five, the park downstairs, supporting each other through thick and thin.
Betty spoke earnestly, and with regret.
Just as she said in the video, she loved Bruce, and she loved her father too.
So, because she loved her father, she chose to get involved.
And because she loved Bruce, she chose to lay everything bare, leaving the choice to Bruce.
Bruce had already made his choice.
He hadn't actually made a decision at first, but after seeing the video Betty left behind, he had made his choice.
"Actually."
"I told you Hulk was dead, and I wasn't lying."
"Hulk is dead, but I feel I can bring him back."
"But that comes at a price."
"My life, for Hulk's life."
"A life for a life."
"Betty, I don't really like Hulk, really, I really don't, because Hulk destroyed everything I had."
"But that doesn't matter anymore."
"You're dead, so there's no need for me to continue living."
"So!"
"I will trade my life for Hulk's."
"Wait for me in hell."
"I'll come find you soon."
In the dark, unlit apartment,
Bruce Banner looked at Betty on his phone, murmuring to himself.
...
Read 100+ Advance Chapter At Pa Treon.
patreon.com/MrsFahad
Remove @ to a...
(End of Chapter)