[CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/uNV0csR.png[/IMG][/CENTER]
[COLOR=AF7AC5][indent][sub][B]Location:[/B] [COLOR=white][I]Navapo, New Mexico[/I][/COLOR][/sub][sup][right][b]Hounded – 3.03[/b][/right][/sup][/indent][/color][sub][hr][/sub][INDENT][color=AF7AC5][sub][B]Interaction(s):[/B] [COLOR=white][I]None[/I][/COLOR][/sub][SUP][RIGHT][b]Previously:[/b] [COLOR=white][I][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5090613]3.02[/url][/I][/COLOR][/right][/SUP][/color][/INDENT]
[indent][color=F1948A]“Hello, am I speaking to Brian Banner?”[/color]

A long pause came from the other end. Betty’s heart was racing: she didn’t know if he was going to stay on the line or not. A part of her suspected she needed him to. There was no rationale behind it, as she wasn’t even sure what she was expecting to find out, but with this being her best hope of finding a way to help Bruce, as much of a longshot as it was, if it slipped through her fingers then she didn’t know what she was going to do.

[color=884EA0]“...Who are you again?”[/color] came the silvery sound of his voice. Goosebumps shuddered down Betty’s arms, Brian’s words splintering her thoughts, pulling foreboding memories out of places her mind hadn’t reached in years. [color=884EA0]“You seem to be a little confused, Elizabeth. I’m guessing you go by Liz? This is Brian [b]Bush[/b].”[/color]

[color=F1948A]“Actually I was named from my grandma, so it’s Betty.”[/color] There was another pause, then a short rush of air, the beginnings of a laugh garbled by the phone line before a howl erupted in full. [color=884EA0]“Betty Ross!? Well shoot me in the head and chuck me off the side of a building I [i]knew[/i] that name sounded familiar! God, little Betty grew up and now she’s writing sensational pieces on muties. How’s your tea kettle of a father doing? Son of a bitch blew his top every other hour so he’s gotta have a heart condition or two at his age.”[/color]

Betty didn’t know what reaction he was trying to draw out of her, but she pivoted away from the pace he aimed to set. [color=F1948A]“I’m sorry to say, but I didn’t send that email to talk about your work. I wanted to ask a few questions about Bruce.”[/color]

[color=884EA0]“I mean, do you need to? Can’t you just ask him yourself?”[/color] That gave Betty a bit of pause. Perhaps she’d taken the metahuman related news cycle for granted. [color=F1948A]“Well, I found your current name through a postcard you sent him, so I assumed you were in contact. You didn’t hear? About the Hulk?”[/color]

There was a round of shuffling from the other end. [color=884EA0]“Give me a minute.”[/color] Betty waited as long as it took, listening to him walk a few steps, hearing the sound a keyboard going. The next audible thing she heard from his mouth was, [color=884EA0]“Well, I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that.”[/color]

[color=F1948A]“I have some unpublished insights, but I’d like to talk to you personally. Anything you might know that may have led to this. I-”[/color] Betty came to a stop as Brian’s laughter, a derisive chuckle, finally got to a volume she couldn’t ignore. [color=884EA0]“Well that’s just funny. Miss ‘10 Ways to Spot if Your Child is Hiding Powers’. That article is suddenly a dozen times funnier than it’s supposed to be.”[/color] Betty felt her grip tighten on her phone. It should have been something easy to shrug off: she’d certainly felt a sting every time she remembered that article, but that was the pain of lacking foresight. This was mockery from the man who’d fathered someone currently in legitimate danger, who was believed to be a legitimate danger by powerful people. As he finished laughing, Brian wondered, [color=884EA0]“Did you [i]really[/i] assume Bruce and I are in contact? I never really thought he’d reach out to me. [i]I’d[/i] never go back to me. If he kept that postcard he’s more of moron than I thought possible.”[/color]

[color=F1948A]“It was by the trash,”[/color] Betty stated. Knowing she couldn’t let Brian get the upper hand, she opened her mouth to speak, but his words went over hers. [color=F1948A]“Can-”[/color] [color=884EA0]“Yeah that’s what I thought. I know what this is really about. You just want to pick my brain regarding Bruce. Well, sorry, I’m not interested. I’m not interested in him and he’s clearly not interested in me. I moved on along time ago. Moved away even. You should remember, he was crying at your place when it was happening.”[/color]

[color=F1948A][i]Oh, fuck this man.[/i][/color] Starting to boil, the only thing keeping Betty from exploding was that she was legitimately stunned at his complete disregard for Bruce, which in turn cracked open a vault she had yet to strongly consider, so much blocked out or poorly remembered from that period in her life. [color=884EA0]“So, sorry to take up your time, but-”[/color] [color=F1948A]“What did you do to Rebecca?”[/color] Silence.

[center]---[/center]
Shaking his head, a hand scratching at his short black hair, Brian’s eyebrows arcing as a notification popped up on the corner of the display. Pulling his phone away from his face, his hand lowered to pat down his wiry goatee while his thumb went to work on his phone screen. Bright colors and a cheery tune played for a moment as he went to work, collecting his daily bonuses, before clearing his throat and going back to the phone. [color=884EA0]“Sorry, you still there? Something important came up.”[/color]

[color=F1948A]“If that was a game I just heard then I swear-”[/color] [color=884EA0]“Oh calm your tits. You grew some right? Anyway, I thought I was done with this shit 20 years ago. You fucking journalists are more interested in pushing your twisted narratives then reporting anything real. Funny you haven’t done an article in a while. Since the Hulk thing, right? It’d draw in the clicks too. Really makes you think. But no, I never touched...I didn’t kill her. I loved her. They say sometimes that if you love, you should let go, and maybe I should have let her go before I put...whatever [i]that[/i] was inside of her. But I couldn’t. So if you know what’s good for you then you should let Bruce go, because if he’s smart enough he’ll keep far away from you.”[/color] Brian paused, blocks sliding together in his brain as he made a smooth connection.

[color=F1948A]“What I do is none of your business you disgusting creep.”[/color] Brian grinned, the sleeves of his black sweat bottoms brushing the floor as he took a seat on the recliner in his dimly lit apartment, the light of the nearby computer screen lit with green. [color=884EA0]“Oh, but you’re trying to make it my business. You wanted to talk to me, didn’t you?”[/color] In the silence, Brian took great joy in imagining Betty’s frustration and anger. The responding voice was less mad than he’d hoped.

[color=F1948A]“Wanted too, but having actually talked to you, I can’t imagine anyone ever wanting to go to you. Bruce is probably just keeping to himself. Sorry to bother you.”[/color] Brian clicked his tongue chidingly. [color=884EA0]“On the contrary, I’ve been seeing someone. Funnily enough, her name’s Elizabeth too! She goes by Liz though.”[/color] Letting that hang in the air, his tone relaxed. [color=884EA0]“Anyway, I should apologize. You’ve been a big help, I didn’t know how far out of the loop I was. I just got a little [i]heated[/i] there. If you’re ever in the area I’ll treat you to dinner, to make up for it. And if you want to pick my brain about Bruce well...I’ll think about it.”[/color] No response. She hung up.

Letting his arm fall, Brian turned his head to look out the window, the shades slightly ajar, the city lights in the night peeking through into half lit apartment. Standing up, he flicked on a standing lamp, illuminating it properly. The apartment was fairly upscale, but its current state was one of disarray. Loose packages of food and boxes once housing new computer parts littered the ground, the nearby kitchen area had counters covered in old dishes and cookware.

Bruce was coming. Brian chortled to himself. Betty had made it clear to him: if that boy cared for his father he was an idiot, but that wasn’t going to keep him away. No, Bruce had always been soft, weak. If he could turn into some big green monster then he wouldn’t want to go to someone he might hurt, oh no, he’d go to someone he didn’t care as much about. There was something else too. Betty mentioned her unpublished insights, wisely kept to herself. If Brian could trust that they were relevat, then he could trust in his hunch that Bruce was on his way.

[color=884EA0]“I’m gonna need to pick up a little...”[/color]

[center]---[/center]
Phone dropping onto the couch, Betty sat up, moving away as if Brian’s slimy voice had contaminated it. Her hands trembled in anger as she brought both of them up to rub at her temple. She’d thought she could deal with someone else’s anger after having been brought up by her father, but this man was a level of despicable she couldn’t fathom. All the snide remarks, the genuine disregard for those in his family, let alone anyone else. Betty felt tears rimming her eyes from sheer frustration. The bruises, cuts, and tear stained faces of Bruce and Rebecca kept floating to her mind. If she did take up his offer, hopefully he was smart enough to keep out of arms reach because slapping him upside the head was about the nicest thing she could think of right now. Fast food would be ideal: no silverware to consider taking to his face.

Body shaking as she kept herself contained, visualizations of herself kicking a hole in her wall held in check, Betty instead brought her knuckle to her mouth and bit down. So much anger and nowhere to release it.[/indent]