Bruce Banner returned home with shopping bags, and Nick Fury had already left.
Betty was lost in thought, kneeling on the carpet in the living room.
Seeing this, Bruce quickly closed the door and went to Betty, tenderly helping her up onto the sofa.
"Betty..."
"..."
Betty snapped out of her reverie, looking at Bruce as he returned. Her gaze focused, and without any hesitation, she leaned forward and sealed Bruce's lips.
Bruce was initially stunned, but feeling his girlfriend's wildness at the moment, he chose not to refuse but to reciprocate.
With a thud.
The two, passionately embracing, tumbled from the sofa onto the blanket, as their clothing gradually diminished piece by piece...
"Do you love me, Bruce?"
"Of course."
"Really?"
"I swear to God."
"Then you'll help me get revenge, won't you?"
"When..."
Bruce, captivated, murmured unconsciously while gazing at Betty, but suddenly, his dazed eyes began to focus.
Yet Betty didn't give Bruce a chance to react.
"My father is dead, avenge him for me, Bruce!"
"Okay, I will."
Bruce succumbed.
Betty's face lit up with joy.
She leaned over Bruce Banner, wrapping her arms around his neck, leaning her mouth close to his ear, her voice breathy and whispering.
"Darling, then transform into Hulk again."
"..."
Hulk?
Bruce Banner suddenly snapped awake.
The next moment.
Bruce Banner's eyes widened, staring at Betty with disbelief.
"What... did you say?"
"Transform into Hulk again."
"Hulk is already dead."
"But you're not."
"What?"
Bruce Banner was dumbfounded.
Betty, under the flickering light, had a somewhat distorted face: "The person who killed my father is the same one who killed Hulk, don't you want revenge?"
Bruce Banner was slightly taken aback.
"He's the one who killed Rose."
His mind flashed back to the time when Hawk faced him.
Betty listened to Bruce Banner's words, took a deep breath, and looked at Bruce Banner: "You really know who he is, Bruce, he killed my dad, avenge him for me."
Nick Fury hadn't told her the name of the killer.
But before he left, he told Betty that the killer of her dad and the killer of Hulk were the same person.
Betty had previously asked Bruce who helped him kill Hulk.
Bruce hadn't said.
She hadn't cared at the time; after all, if Hulk was gone, it was a good thing for her back then.
Because General Ross would no longer have a reason to stop her from being with Bruce.
Yet...
Times have changed.
The current Betty sincerely hoped Bruce could turn into Hulk again.
Because only then would she have hope for revenge.
Betty looked at Bruce with utmost anticipation: "Tell me, Bruce, you can transform into Hulk, right?"
Bruce met Betty's expectant gaze and remained silent.
Betty's eyes brightened.
Just as Gwen understood Hawk, Betty also knew Bruce very well.
Silence didn't mean no, but that there was indeed a way.
Betty, internally excited, leaned forward and tightly hugged Bruce, her tone filled with pleading.
"Bruce, I have no dad anymore, avenge him for me!"
"I..."
Bruce felt his girlfriend sobbing and holding him tightly, gritting his teeth, he shook his head and said, "Sorry."
Betty, lying in his arms, stiffened upon hearing this reply.
With a swift motion.
Betty suddenly sat up, staring at Bruce with her reddened, tearful eyes and disbelief.
"Bruce?"
"Betty."
Bruce quickly got up from the floor and saw Betty, shocked, once again sitting on the blanket, and said with a bitter smile: "Betty, Hulk is dead."
He had already come to terms.
The demise of Hulk had its downsides for him, but overall, the benefits outweighed them.
In a word.
He could finally live a normal life.
This was good.
Bruce was not inherently wild; he was a scientist. After becoming ordinary, he could find a laboratory and continue his high-paying research.
Moreover, he had already found a place to work.
Stark Industries had a Gamma Laboratory in Jersey City, and although Tony was preparing for treatment, he had already promised him access to that Gamma Laboratory.
So...
Theoretically, if he were to be exposed to Gamma Rays again, there should still be a high probability of another transformation.
This is why he remained silent when Betty asked if he could still become Hulk again.
But he doesn't want to.
He's finally back to living a normal life.
"Betty."
Bruce pressed his girlfriend's shoulders with both hands, gazing into her red, tear-soaked eyes, and said deeply, "Yes, I do have a way to become Hulk again, but whether it works, I don't know, because Hulk is already dead. Hulk was the result of an experiment gone wrong, maybe it would work, but maybe I would die. If you really want me to try, just say it, and I will."
Their eyes met.
Betty looked at her boyfriend Bruce, whose determined eyes seemed to say, 'If you want me to go, I'll go,' and she completely broke down, once again throwing herself into Bruce's arms and crying uncontrollably.
Bruce said nothing, just held Betty tightly.
After a long while.
Betty stopped crying, but her eyes were even more red and swollen.
But her mood seemed to have calmed down.
Betty took the tissue Bruce handed her, lowered her head, wiped her tears, and asked in a calm voice, "How exactly did my father die."
Hearing this, Bruce fell silent for a moment, and then he told Betty.
Betty didn't know.
He did.
Because when Betty learned of her father General Ross's death, he was right beside her, and he also followed Betty back to Washington, busying himself with taking care of the fainted Betty while calling Nick Fury to learn the truth of the matter.
Just like how it happened to him.
Only, Hawk was much harsher, taking revenge overnight, rushing to New Mexico within a day and then following to Quantico, where he killed Ross, who was trying to capture him, with a kick.
After hearing this, Bruce even felt a little secretly delighted inside.
After all...
He was involved too. Back then, General Ross had chased him so relentlessly that he had no choice but to hide in Bharat where even the air smelled of dung.
So upon hearing that General Ross, while trying to capture another person, ended up being killed himself, there was a sense of delight in his heart.
After listening to Bruce's account, Betty did not have any extreme reactions, and her voice was very calm again.
"Who is he?"
"Betty."
Hearing this, Bruce frowned slightly and looked at his girlfriend Betty, shaking his head, "No weapon can do anything against him, and this matter... forget about it."
He wanted to say it was Ross's own fault.
But...
Considering the dead deserve respect, Bruce could only urge Betty not to dwell on this issue.
"The military has already compromised."
"I know, but the military knows who he is, and you also know who he is."
Betty spoke calmly, looking 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 there's nothing I can do."
Looking at his girlfriend's mournful expression, Bruce thought for a moment and sighed.
"Hawk."
"Hawk? Last name?"
"I only know he's called Hawk."
Bruce shook his head, saying to Betty, "He killed Hulk also because his sister died due to the battle between Hulk and Abomination, so before Christmas, he found me, killed Hulk, and spared my life. If General Ross hadn't tried to attack him, Ross..."
At this point, Bruce chose to stay silent again.
But he felt he had made himself very clear.
Even the military wanted to downplay this affair, and is it merely because Hawk is powerful?
No.
The fundamental reason is because Hawk is justified.
There's nothing that can be done.
When the Federation Military's force isn't enough to overwhelm the enemy, the military tends to be exceptionally reasonable.
Looking at Bruce, whose words came to an abrupt halt, Betty smiled slightly.
"Don't worry, Bruce, I really just wanted to know his name."
"Alright."
Bruce sighed, then looked at Betty, whose face seemed less troubled after knowing Hawk's name, and said, "Are you okay?"
Betty smiled again, got up from the blanket, and stood up.
"I'm tired, Bruce."
"Okay."
Upon hearing this, Bruce also stood up, "Then let's go back to the room and sleep."
Betty shook her head and said to Bruce, "I want to sleep alone tonight, please, is that okay?"
Bruce, hearing this, didn't mind, and nodded.
"Then I'll walk you back to your room."
"Okay."
Betty didn't refuse Bruce.
After Bruce escorted Betty back to her room on the second floor, as he reached the door and was about to say something, he saw that Betty had already turned to sleep, shook his head, turned off the bedroom lights, and then closed the door.
The next moment.
Lying on the bed, on her side, Betty, heard the sound of the door closing, and her previously closed eyes suddenly opened.
The pupils, which had previously been calm, now were ablaze with furious flames.
Burning brighter and brighter.
"Hawk."
"New Yorker."
"Anya."
"Just wait."
"I will definitely avenge you."
"Dad!"
"I surely will!"
"..."