Never Meet Your Heroes (It honestly could've gone a lot worse)
[Or, a Bruce Banner x OC One-Shot.]
"You're..." The female blinked, slightly taken aback still by the veracity of small but so very impactful string of words she was about to pronounce. "You're Bruce Banner."
"Yes." The scientist replied, head faintly tilting to the side as a hint of fondness settled in his gaze. A young woman in STEMS, he assumed, earnestly surprised every time someone looked at him like that, with such genuine admiration, There was nothing awing about him. At least Bruce had always thought so, but then, then he'd met Tony and he'd met Peter and he'd done the symposiums at colleges. Just Bruce Banner. As a result, Bruce was trying, to be an inspiration. What a hubristic thought to have, but it was what he was trying to achieve wasn't it? To have a more positive impact. Nothing to feel guilty for and yet...
"Doctor?" The female spoke, leading the middle aged man to blink. "Elsewhere, were you?"
"Hardly." Bruce replied. "I don't need to wander much to get lost."
She chuckled. "Spending a little too much time in your own head will do that to you."
The corners of the male's lips lazily curled, eyes slanting ever so slightly as he seemed to grow more relaxed. More tired too, Judith noted, but less guarded. "Yes. Something like that." He replied, feeling slightly ashamed at the shallowness of his own thoughts, at their self-absorption really.
"Were you thinking about something you'd like to share with the class? Because trust me, your inner workings would be fascinating to me." Judith assured, eyes widening a little as her smile grew.
Infectious. That's what Bruce thought at first, her smile was infectious. But as soon as his own started to mirror hers, it faded, constructing ugly meanings to her innocuous words. "My... inner workings," The scientist gaze drooped, warmth receded as his features gained in neutrality. Bruce slumped ever so slightly as he went on: "as you said, shall not, ever, be government property." The 'not again' kept quiet but so very vehemently implied.
Judith blinked, taken aback by the sudden reaction. "I..." Her brows creased as her eyes wandered to escape his gaze, uncertain about how to end this conversation when it just... clicked. "Oh." Her eyes widened. "Oh no, oh no no." She raised a surrendering hand up. "I'm a scientist like you."
Bruce chuckled. "Trust me, you don't want to be like me. Spare yourself kid. The venue's going to get overcrowded soon for a formula that frankly should've died with Dr Erskine. There's nothing to better and trust me, I know what failure looks like, you don't want that."
"Kid." She echoed softly in a breathy but definitely unamused chuckle. "Okay first of all, Dr Banner you might be the only person who would sum up the Hulk to just a failure. Second, I trust a great many deal of people would love an army of Hulks, including Uncle Sam. And finally, I have no interest on formulating the next iteration of the super soldier serum. It doesn't take enhancement to make a great man and I trust the current Captain America is just that. Without it." She felt the need to clarify. "No, you see Dr, I, am of the school of social sciences."
"Oh." Bruce let out, both relieved and bored at the same time. "Politics then."
"Exactly." The female replied, nose scrunching up as her lips curled to reveal a sharp grin, her expression cocky. "And unapologetic about it too." She added, almost able to taste the distaste her interlocutor was now exuding. "I'm not even going to beg you for an introduction to Tony Stark or whatever Congressmen he has in his pockets, don't worry,"
"Tony doesn't do that anymore."
"Suuuuure." The female replied. "Regardless, Dr Banner I have little interest in 'making relations' or 'building a network'. At least not through you." Judith declared, her tone clearly portraying the sarcasm that came with the air quotes. "But I honestly cannot believe someone whose done so much multidisciplinary and field changing work would look down on social sciences."
"Politics." Bruce specified, now visibly miffed. "It's politics I frown upon, I don't look down on any science."
"Oh my apologies, how's that going down at dinner in between a couple pardoned war criminals and an arms dealer once labeled the merchant of death? Do you just pretend not to see politics or not to have any political alignment then, hm?" Judith chuckled, more in frustrated disbelief than amusement. "You don't even know what I do but you've already decided it's upsetting to you."
"There you are." Nick Fury spoke, approaching the pair. "I see you two have already met each other."
"Something like that, yes..." The woman answered, a now unimpressed if not slightly miffed gaze settling on a visibly shrinking Bruce.
The doctor's features however sobered, not betraying much emotion anymore. "I haven't caught her name yet though."
"What? You're the one who put her on our radar Dr Banner, you know her." Fury spoke, surprising the doctor.
"I don't believe so." Bruce replied. "I'd remember if I'd ever met..." His gaze trailed to the young woman, whose eyebrows had risen in a come hither look, lips pursed down. "her." He ultimately settled on. "Before." He added, clearing his throat.
"Not in person no, true." Judith admitted. "But we've exchanged prior. I believe you called my paper on the common foreign policy enforced by all nations during the Blip riveting, was it? Oh and perhaps, field—" "Forward. Field forward, yes." Bruce admitted, readjusting glasses that had hardly moved.
"Something about reading foreign policy and grand strategy in the excerpt and expecting a pro-military and authoritative stance but finding a—" "a creative multidisciplinary piece that makes best use of our current knowledge in radicalisation theory to critique said grand strategy's approach to civilian militias as well as both highlight a shift towards human security in times of urgency and encourage a greater anchoring of policies in the human security realm." He remembered his own words so very vividly. And so did she, apparently. Enough to quote them at him.
"Yes, something like that." The female acknowledged, lips lazily curling with as much fondness as satisfaction shining in her gaze.
"Ah." Bruce knew her name after all. "You're... You're Judith Fero."
"Herself." The young woman replied. "And I'm sure you'll be delighted to know that my M.A thesis, which I will be turning in soon further expands on that and is labeled 'Towards a communal grand strategy and foreign policy vision to approach extraterrestrial and extra-dimensional threats.' Shall I, perhaps, mail you a binded copy?"
"Please do." The good doctor said. "I'm sure it'll be just as, huh, riveting."
"Surely, to such an attentive reader." Judith shot back.
Fury, sensing the tension but caring little for it cut in: "You two done? I was hoping to speak to you about an offer." His gaze settled on the young researcher who blinked, evidently surprised.
"Run for the hills." Bruce immediately let out, earning himself an unamused glare.
"No, I don't think I will. The kid's old enough to make her own decisions. Lovely to meet you Dr Banner, true to the saying."
"Which is?" Bruce asked, brows faintly creasing. Was there even a saying about him? Hulk, more likely. But he hadn't heard anything, surely....
"Never meet your heroes." Her voice neatly interrupted his track of thoughts.
"Ah." The famed scientist let out. Yeah, that one had a fatalist universality to it. Well-known of all, no one ever intended to be the person proving it true yet, it just kept happening. So much for being an inspiration...
Bruce: 0. Feeling Guilty. Mostly.