By the time Bruce Banner returned home with his shopping bags, Nick Fury had already left.
Betty was kneeling on the living room carpet, lost in thought.
Seeing this, Bruce quickly closed the door, then went to Betty, tenderly helped her up, and sat her on the sofa.
"Betty…"
"…"
Betty came back to herself, focused her eyes on Bruce who had returned home, and without any hesitation, leaned forward and kissed Bruce.
Bruce was stunned at first, then feeling his girlfriend's somewhat wild demeanor, he chose to reciprocate rather than refuse.
With a thud.
The two, locked in a fierce embrace, tumbled from the sofa onto the rug, as their clothes began to come off, one by one…
"Do you love me, Bruce?"
"Of course."
"Really?"
"I swear to God."
"Then you'll help me get revenge, right?"
"Of…"
Bruce, looking somewhat dazed at Betty, subconsciously spoke, but then his hazy eyes began to focus.
But Betty didn't give Bruce a chance to react.
"My father is dead, help me get revenge, Bruce!"
"Okay, I will."
Bruce was lost in the moment.
A look of joy appeared on Betty's face.
She leaned over Bruce Banner, wrapping her arms around his neck, bringing her mouth to Bruce's ear, her voice breathless and murmuring.
"Darling, then turn into the Hulk again."
"…"
Hulk?
Bruce Banner instantly sobered up.
The next second.
Bruce Banner's eyes widened, and he looked at Betty with an expression of disbelief.
"You… what did you say?"
"Turn into the Hulk again."
"The Hulk is dead."
"But you're not dead."
"What?"
Bruce Banner was stunned.
Betty's face, flickering in and out of the light, seemed somewhat distorted: "The person who killed my father and the person who killed the Hulk are the same. Don't you want revenge?"
Bruce Banner paused slightly.
"He killed General Ross."
The image of Hawk facing him at that time appeared in his mind.
Betty, hearing Bruce Banner's words, took a deep breath and looked at Bruce Banner: "You really know who he is, Bruce. He killed my father, help me get revenge."
Nick Fury hadn't told her the killer's name.
But before he left, he told Betty that the killer of her father and the killer of the Hulk were the same person.
Betty had previously asked Bruce who helped him kill the Hulk.
Bruce didn't say.
She didn't pay attention at the time; after all, if the Hulk was gone, it was a good thing for her at that time.
Because General Ross would no longer have any reason to stop her from being with Bruce.
But…
Times have changed.
Now, Betty sincerely hoped Bruce could still turn into the Hulk.
Because only then would she have hope for revenge.
Betty looked at Bruce with immense anticipation: "Tell me, Bruce, you can still turn into the Hulk, right?"
Bruce met Betty's expectant gaze and fell silent.
Betty's eyes, however, lit up.
Just as Gwen understood Hawk very well, Betty also understood Bruce very well.
Silence didn't mean it was impossible, but rather that there was indeed a way.
Betty's heart pounded with excitement. She leaned in, hugged Bruce tightly, and her voice was full of pleading.
"Bruce, I don't have a father anymore, help me get revenge!"
"I…"
Bruce felt his girlfriend crying and pressing against him, gritted his teeth, shook his head, and said, "I'm sorry."
Betty, nestled in his arms, stiffened abruptly upon hearing this reply.
With a whoosh.
Betty suddenly sat up, looking at Bruce with tear-reddened eyes, full of disbelief.
"Bruce?"
"Betty."
Bruce quickly got up from the floor, then looked at Betty, who was stunned and had fallen back onto the rug, and said with a bitter smile, "Betty, the Hulk is dead."
He had come to terms with it.
The Hulk being gone had both disadvantages and advantages for him, but overall, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.
In a word.
He could finally live a normal life.
This was good.
Bruce was not a wild person; he was a scientist. After becoming a normal person, he could find a laboratory and continue to do his experiments with a high salary.
And he had already found his next employer.
Stark Industries had a Gamma Lab in Jersey City, and although Tony was preparing for treatment, he had already agreed that Bruce could use the Gamma Lab there.
So…
Theoretically, if he underwent another exposure to gamma rays, there was still a high probability of mutating again.
This was why Bruce had been silent when Betty asked if he could still turn into the Hulk.
But he didn't want to.
He had finally managed to return to a normal life.
"Betty."
Bruce placed his hands on his girlfriend's shoulders, looking into her tear-reddened eyes, and said in a deep voice, "Yes, I do have a way to become the Hulk again, but I don't know if it will work, because the Hulk is dead. The Hulk was a product of a lab accident. Maybe it will succeed, but maybe I will die. If you really want me to try, just say the word, and I will."
Their eyes met.
Betty looked at her boyfriend, Bruce, whose eyes were firm and whose face read 'If you tell me to go, I'll go,' and completely broke down, once again throwing herself into Bruce's arms and crying loudly.
Bruce said nothing, only holding Betty tightly.
After a long while.
Betty stopped crying, but her eyes were even redder and more swollen.
But her mood seemed to have calmed down.
Betty took the tissue Bruce handed her, lowered her head, and while wiping away her tears, asked in a calm voice, "How exactly did my father die?"
Bruce heard her, was silent for a moment, and then told Betty.
Betty didn't know.
He knew.
Because when Betty learned of her father General Ross's death, he was by her side, and he also returned to Washington D.C. with Betty. While busy helping Betty, who had fainted from crying, with the aftermath, he called Nick Fury and learned the truth of the matter.
It was the same as his own experience.
However, Hawk was much more ruthless than him. He sought revenge without delay, traveling to New Mexico and then pursuing General Ross to Quantico within a single day, where he killed him with a single kick when General Ross attempted to apprehend him.
After Bruce finished listening, he even felt a subtle sense of satisfaction inside.
After all…
He was also involved in the incident. Back then, General Ross had pursued him relentlessly, forcing him to hide in Balat, where even the air smelled like manure.
So, upon hearing that General Ross was killed while pursuing someone else, he felt a secret pleasure.
After listening to Bruce's account, Betty showed no excessive reactions, and her tone was calm again.
"Who is he?"
"Betty."
Bruce heard her, frowned slightly, and shook his head as he looked at his girlfriend, Betty: "No weapon can stop him, and this matter is Ros… forget about this matter."
He had intended to say that this matter was General Ross's own fault.
But…
Considering that the deceased should be respected, Bruce could only tell Betty not to dwell on this matter.
"The Military has already compromised."
"I know, but the Military knows who he is, and you also know who he is."
Betty's voice was calm as she looked up at Bruce: "I just want to know who my father died at the hands of. Don't worry, Bruce, I won't do anything, and besides, I can't do anything."
Bruce looked at his girlfriend's sorrowful expression, thought for a moment, and then sighed.
"Hawk."
"Hawk? What's his last name?"
"I only know him as Hawk."
Bruce shook his head and said to Betty, "He killed the Hulk because his sister was caught in the crossfire during the war between the Hulk and Abomination years ago. So, before Christmas, he found me, killed the Hulk, and spared my life. If General Ross hadn't tried to attack him, General Ross…"
At this point, Bruce chose to stop speaking again.
But he felt he had made himself clear enough.
Even the Military intended to downplay this matter. Was it merely because Hawk was powerful?
No.
The fundamental reason was that Hawk was in the right.
There was no other way.
When the Federal Military's power was insufficient to crush their enemy, then the Military would become exceptionally reasonable.
Betty looked at Bruce, who had abruptly stopped speaking, and smiled slightly.
"Don't worry, Bruce, I really just want to know his name."
"Alright."
Bruce sighed, then looked at Betty, whose expression didn't seem so bad after learning Hawk's name, and asked, "Are you okay?"
Betty smiled again and stood up from the rug.
"I'm tired, Bruce."
"Okay."
Bruce also stood up when he heard that: "Then let's go back to the room to sleep."
Betty shook her head and said to Bruce, "I want to sleep alone tonight, please, can I?"
Bruce heard her, didn't mind, and nodded.
"Then I'll walk you back to your room."
"Okay."
Betty did not refuse Bruce.
After Bruce walked Betty back to her room on the second floor, he went to the door, and as he was about to say something, he saw Betty had already turned over and fallen asleep. He shook his head, turned off the bedroom light, and then closed the door.
The next second.
Betty, lying on her side on the bed, heard the door close, and her previously closed eyes suddenly opened.
Her pupils, which had regained their calm, were now burning with raging flames of anger.
Burning brighter and brighter.
"Hawk."
"New York native."
"Anya."
"Just you wait."
"I will definitely avenge you."
"Father!"
"I will!"
"…"
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