Ever since New York, Helen had come to associate Dr. Banner with the raging green monster who could tear her limbs from her body. That was how she saw him and no one could change her mind. However, it was rather odd watching him shift awkwardly in the door, as if he had no intention of coming inside for a drink. If he didn’t want to drink, then why was he standing in the door? She didn’t pay enough attention in the beginning, for once she bumped into him and realized who it was, her mind seemed to instantly shut down. Loki.exe basically, but that’s what tended to happen when you walk face first into a thing of nightmares.
Brushing her thoughts aside, he eventually stepped inside with more bumbling apologies that were actually kind of cute.
Cute and Banner did not belong in the same sentence. Loki inwardly slapped himself because absolutely not.
With his hand finally extended, she managed a smile of her own as she placed a smaller one into his own, greeting him properly. “ Bruce. It suits you. ” She paused. “ Would you like a drink? My treat of course. ” There’s a pause as a familiar voice tickles her ears and she frowns, turning towards the flat screen at the bar. They were playing a Magneto sound bite with Ross in the background speaking at some conference. Helen scoffed. She wasn’t in charge of Magneto’s fan club, but she didn’t dislike him either. Helen was firmly in the middle on these Accords and for a time, had considered helping Team Stark enforce, but… Ross had a lot of shady business going on. Kids were being dragged off to the Raft as if a five year old truly understood how to control their powers. They were being cruel to mutants in a manner that struck a nerve with someone who has always been an outcast. Helen didn’t like it one bit and enjoyed when opportunity allowed her to thwart one of their master plans.
“ That man is truly something else. With all the problems in the universe, why start a war with the very people you may need to fight dangerous aliens someday? ” The words were spoken quietly —— almost under her breath —— for in the heart of NYC, speaking too loudly about politics in a public place was sure to draw the wrong kind of attention. That she did not need given that that, for the most part, she had a squeaky clean reputation.
Bruce shook her hand carefully, wondering if it was a compliment or not to say that his name suited him. He let it go, since god knew there were already enough things happening here for him to be uncertain about. At least Helen seemed to be getting less nervous by the second. Whoever it was she’d mistake him for at first, he must have been some kind of bastard. He smiled a little more genuinely at her offer, amused despite himself. “Your treat? Because I was stupid enough to not look where I was going? That’s a nice offer, but...” He trailed off when he realized her focus had wavered. He followed her gaze to the televisions, and tensed unconsciously.
There he was again, the monster himself. Bruce didn’t care how far up Ross got promoted, or how many supposedly noble speeches he gave. Didn’t matter how much authority he had or how many people said he was some kind of salvation for the country against the threat of anyone different. He was never going to be able to look at that face and see anything except the man who had ruined his life. Screwed with his science and then hunted him down like an animal, for years, because he felt like he was entitled to Bruce’s body. Like Bruce was US Army property. The only thing about Ross that Bruce felt at all conflicted about was the fact that he had an amazing daughter who didn’t deserve to be stained by her father’s policies. Luckily Betty loathed her father as much as Bruce did.
He glanced back at his companion when she spoke, though he wasn’t sure the words were even meant for him. His eyebrows rose as she fumed against the men on the screen, and felt himself relaxing in the face of her anger. “Well, that’s easy. You start a war with people because they’re not people. They’re different. That’s more than enough to put targets on their backs.” He tried to speak easily but he had more than enough bitterness inside of him for some of it to leak free.
Still, he found himself smiling at her after a moment. “You know, I think we should get that drink.” Anyone willing to speak out against Ross, even under their breath, was a person Bruce didn’t mind spending a few minutes with.
