#I like this moment between Betty and the Hulk

[daydreamerdrew]

excerpt from The Incredible Hulk by Peter David, based on the screenplay by Edward Norton and Zak Penn

[rebelthree]

@everythingheard (bruce b)

the smell of smoke hangs in the air days later though betty is sure without the efforts of those she’d bore witness to on the television the destruction would had been worse. new york had never been a place driving was easy, but now, she was left to leave her car outside the main area of ruin and proceed on foot amid fallen stone and alien ships. alien ships. aliens. had you asked her years ago if this would be the world’s new normal she’d have called herself crazy and that was saying something considering she took part in hallucinogenic drug experiments (of course, she couldn’t count out the possibility of other planetary life when such a vast universe remained but this--, well, nevermind) but then she had watched as the man she loved changed into a hulk and fought something her father had created (something, they all had a hand in if she was honest with herself). the world, the universe, was stranger than the hallucinations her and bruce had experienced at harvard. 

she watches as crews begin moving rumble, reconstruction already underway and dodges behind a barrier that’s blocking the public’s path to get closer to stark tower. she’s in the thick of the area the battle had transpired just as her phone vibrates for the fourth time that morning, a depression in the earth catching her attention as a likely place the hulk had landed one of his smashes. it’s all a kind of a cruel reminder of a night she had lost him again and yet, it also sparks her determination further; he’s in new york. shield told her that much even if she hadn’t been allowed to go to him right away. he’s somewhere in that building and tony stark was going to tell her where. 

betty ross makes it to the entrance and holds the door for a set of workers carrying a piece of equipment only to find a security guard already eying her. she attempts to use her shield identification in her quest but it does little when he says he has to make a few calls. it clearly states she’s a scientist, not an agent. so, within the next three minutes she’s managed to draw the attention of three more, voices raising and a keycard swiped when one attempts to physically remove her from the building. 

do they not understand she’s not some angry person who blames stark or whoever else for what happened? 

she’s dr. elizabeth ross and she needs to speak with tony stark. when more workers enter she uses it to her advantage, bumping into what they were carrying and sending the items scattering to the floor between her and the guards and promptly dashes to the elevator with the doors closing just before they reach her. she’s not entirely sure where to find him but the top seems as good a place as any, using the keycard when access proves to need it. she imagines, had the building not been hit so hard in battle it wouldn’t be this easy for her to go about her task. this was stark tower and there had to be further fail safes in place. 

when she reaches the top, she calls out for mr. stark only to find a computer’s voice speaking to her and security entering the scene a moment later. she lands an elbow to one, pulling out of his grasp before another grabs her arm. voices are rising again and she can imagine how this whole situation would appear from the outside. betty breaks away again only to halt completely when she sees tony stark himself come into the room holding a bowl of cereal in his hands as if nothing is amiss. 

“mr. stark, i’m--- let go of me!” she cuts off to shove at a security guard again before redirecting her attention. “my name is--” he finishes her name for her, telling them to let her go. “i know how this must look and sound but i need you to tell me where bruce banner is. is he alright? is he still hulk--” speech ceases, however, when her gaze peers behind him at the man who now enters the space with a bewildered expression. her lips part in surprise before she’s moving again in a flash of dark hair. 

when she reaches him she throws her arms around him for the briefest of moments, as if, she’s not entirely convinced this is real until she feels him there, breathes him in. then, she pulls back and slaps him on his chest with both hands every few words as if to emphasize them. “a year, bruce. it's been another goddamn year!" but then, her tone becomes lighter, hands stopping their attack of his chest. "are you okay? when they told me they were bringing you--” she doesn’t clarify who they are or what she means by that. “--and then i saw the battle on tv.. ”

[iam93percentstardust]

Hi! I saw your post about sending titles and ship so here it goes: Stony - That's what he said.

Hopefully I'm still on time. And thank you! Love your fics 😍

very on time! took me a while to get to it (the problems of asking for prompts when i'm sick) but here it is! minor spoilers for she-hulk episode 1 and also warnings for past underage, drinking, and trauma.

that's what he said

it's private, this thing between them. it's private, and steve isn't ashamed of being with tony, but he's not ready for the world to know about them either.

it's just - from the moment erskine signed his paperwork and he shipped off to lehigh, his life has been under constant scrutiny. he was captain america, the uso guy, then he was captain america, the howling commando, and now he's captain america, the avenger, and he can't help but want to keep this small, sweet thing growing between them just for steve rogers.

so there's a night when the team's all together, and there's a night where the asgardian mead's flowing a little too freely, and there's a night where they're all feeling just a little more open than they normally are, and bruce asks about everyone's first time.

he probably should have known better than to ask. theirs is a team full of trauma and hidden pitfalls, and steve can see the moment natasha and tony go quiet. he reaches under the blanket tony's wearing like a burrito and holds onto his hand, silently letting him know that he's there for him. tony leans a little bit more into his side.

"okay, okay, i'll start," bruce says when none of them immediately speak up. then he tells them about meeting betty in undergrad and how he'd finally asked her out at the end of the year and how she'd said "finally" and dragged him up to her room instead.

and then it's clint admitting that he doesn't actually remember the night he probably lost his virginity considering it was an alcohol-soaked night at the circus, but that he counts the night he'd had with coulson when coulson was bringing him in to shield instead.

and clint is followed by tony who simply says that he was fourteen and alone for the first time at mit and so certain he was ready to take on the world.

natasha follows him and tells them about the red room's training and their insistence on making sure their teenage girls were prepared for everything. "he was nicer than he could have been," she says with a shrug that steve can see isn't as casual as she pretends it is.

thor breaks the tension with a very long story about the traditional asgardian orgy following a warrior's first battle, to which the entire team declares, "bullshit!" and then he chuckles and admits that his first was with lady sif, though still following his first battle.

"what about you, steve?" bruce asks once thor is finished.

steve thinks about the hot clench of tony's body around him, about rough hands sliding on slick skin, about tony's low voice whispering, "you're beautiful, you're perfect, you're mine," in steve's ear, about the blue shine of the arc reactor on steve's sheets. he squeezes tony's hand once.

and then he says, "one of the uso girls back in '43."

no one has to know it isn't the truth.

[lunamikk69]

As time went by I feel like they nerfed Bruce and Tony’s friendship. I dunno like it was so strong in the avengers and after what happened in AoU I knew things would change a little bit and be tense but I dunno it seems like the vibe changed a bit like when Tony and Steve talking about Wakanda and Bruce doesn’t follow, it seems like the tables have turned. And now he’s the one left like when him & Tony were discussing science and Steve didn’t understand. I know it’s not really a big deal but it tweaked me a bit, I know that Tony and Steve is one of the most important dynamics in marvel. I just don’t like seeing Bruce left out and I enjoyed seeing Bruce/Hulk’s process in SaKaar, him and Thor are funny together. It just seems like the closer he gets with other people the farther away he gets from Tony? They couldn’t even do the simple thing of letting Tony be the one to calm the hulk down even though he was the closest person to him since Betty and Jen. Romance doesn’t have to the whole point of their relationship, they have a beautiful friendship, I feel like most of our key moments have gotten downplayed. Like we see Hulk being upset at Tony’s funeral yet ppl make it about him being on Thor?! (Btw I have nothing against Bruce being happy in another pairing) it just gets so frustrating sometimes, we saw Steve and Thor sitting with Pepper,Happy,and Morgan, but Bruce/Hulk couldn’t be there? I know they all loved him ehh and whoever the Tony as bachelor meme was going around they automatically make Bruce the one Tony friend zoned?? Star lord makes it to the top three though?? Lol 😆 ok…

They don't nerfed Bruce and Tony’s friendship… For me it's even worse, maybe I see it in the most negative way possible… But there literally comes a point where it seems like this relationship of immediate closeness and friendship NEVER existed. Suddenly they seem almost strangers who must fight together for a common good and since they both know science, they do just that. It's as if they gave those MINIMUM traces in Infinity War (I really LOVE the scene where Bruce looks for Tony's hug), but in Endgame it's smoke, pure smoke… Actually in the end they tried to pull more through other paths, possibly already knowing that Iron Man was going to have the end he has... but as you say, that in the end Bruce/Hulk is not even seen with Pepper, Morgan and Happy, or in a closer way… It's like they started a path in The Avengers, that they continued a bit with Age of Ultron, they parodied in Ragnarok in a good way, they gave miserable traces in Inifity War and ended in Endgame as if NOTHING had mattered, as if all that connection had been forgotten, as if it never existed. In the end it is a bit sad, it makes the final moment of Iron Man and his funeral more miserable for any fan of the two of them, both as a friendship, and as a connection between two people who were on the same path. Thanks for the message Anon, I like to talk like this (ᵔ◡ᵔ)

[appleteeth]

Bruce Week Fic #2

Tuesday (July 20): Trapped, Shield

They could tell they were in trouble, but nobody wanted to make the call to retreat. It was clear the building was unstable from the fight with a villain who enjoyed throwing photon beams their way, but they didn’t know just how bad. Tony’s suit was off the grid, so he didn’t have FRIDAY to warn him of the structural damage at the foundations. Their comms were emitting a sort of pathetic whine from yet more blasts that wiped out pretty much any communication above waving their hands frantically, so any Avengers out of the building couldn’t tell them just how much the building was swaying.

So they had exactly ten seconds to get the heck out of dodge when they heard the floors start to collapse underneath them.

Bruce waved them away, ready to go down with the ship, so to speak, so he could continue the fight with the supervillain without pause. Hulk had climbed out of much worse than thirty floors of steel and concrete. The team members who could fly or teleport grabbed anyone who couldn’t and crashed through the windows, and they had done this so many times, Bruce wasn’t even scared of the impending doom around him

HULK NOT BANNER’S LACKEY.

“What--” but the floor was collapsing and Bruce fell into darkness before he could finish.

He immediately knew this wasn’t like the other times. He wasn’t waking up from having transformed and having helped save the day. Instead, he was waking up in enough pain to know he was in trouble.

He took a deep breath before he tried to move anything, and found his left arm was either broken or felt like it was, his right was trapped under heavy rubble and his right leg was impaled on a large metal pole. He knew he was bleeding in various places as the concrete beneath him felt wet but in his current state, he couldn’t do a thing about it.

BANNER EXPECT HULK TO HELP HIM NO MATTER WHAT.

The sound of Hulk in his head was so much louder when he had a head injury. It felt like he was screaming out into the world, and for a moment Bruce couldn’t hear anything else.

“Hulk… could you pick your moments a little better?” he asked with a hacking cough in replace of a laugh.

NOT FUNNY. BANNER DON’T APPRECIATE HULK.

“It’s hard to appreciate… ow… you when you’re refusing to help me right now.”

BANNER NEED TO LEARN TO APPRECIATE WHAT HULK DOES FOR HIM.

“I do! When do I not?”

BANNER HATE HULK.

Banner sighed and closed his eyes in desperation. Why couldn’t Hulk have had this argument with him when he wasn’t slowly dying? Why couldn’t he have screamed at him this morning, before the supervillain decided to destroy a whole city block?

“I don’t… hate you.”

Even he wasn’t convinced by his words.

“Okay, maybe I do."

Hulk snorted in agreement. That angered Bruce and if he could throw his hands up in surrender, he would have.

"I’m sorry, no, I do. I never wanted this life. I wanted to be a scientist, I wanted to marry Betty, I wanted kids. I wanted a normal damn life with the height of excitement being getting to go to conferences in different countries.”

Hulk didn’t answer this time, so he continued.

“And instead… I lost it all. I had to run for years, hoping my own goddamned government didn’t catch up with me and experiment on me, or worse, turn me into Patient Zero as hundreds of others become what I am. I had to abandon everything. And even now, when I’m supposed to be part of this incredible team, I'm still nothing more than your handler. And all because I’m not allowed to keep even the clothes on my fucking back when I so much as trip over a damn curb.

“So yeah, I don’t appreciate you. I hate what I’ve become and I can’t help but blame you for it.”

There was silence once more and Bruce just listened to the faraway sounds of rubble still moving and things still crashing through what was left of the floors.

Hulk saved Banner. Banner would have died when Hulk appeared. Wouldn’t’ve got the life he wanted anyway.

And boy, he couldn’t argue with that.

Hulk always in Banner. Gamma only made me real. Hulk with Banner when Banner was kid, getting beat up by dad.

“Bullshit,” Bruce rasped, although he felt his defences were slowly collapsing like the building around him.

It’s true. Banner too smart for dad. Banner tried to be good kid but dad hated him. Hated us. Killed mom and said it was our fault.

A sob escaped Bruce’s lips before he could try to stop it.

Hulk always been there for Banner. Hulk always saving Banner.

And it all came flooding back. The blackouts as a kid and waking up to see his bedroom in disarray, like a beast had torn everything to shreds. It was his only way of coping with the abuse. His only way to gain some sort of control when he felt so helpless. His counsellors said he acted like he was a completely different person, but Bruce didn't remember anything that he did. He wasn't sure he even believed them.

And then, when his dad died, when he finally got away from the misery that was his life, he assumed he was cured. How stupid had he been?

He had buried so much of his past, hated who he was even when he was too young to even process hatred. He suppressed everything because that way he might stop the pain. And that had created the creature he now shared a life with.

Banner needed Hulk, Hulk said, much gentler this time, knowing everything Bruce was thinking, feeling everything he was feeling. Banner always need Hulk.

“You… saved me," he finally replied weakly.

Still do.

“Is this why you wanted to bring this up now? When I’m trapped and can’t refuse to listen to you?”

Banner stubborn. Like Hulk.

“That’s fair.” he sighed and wished he could wipe the tears falling down his face. “I’m sorry. You saved my life. You keep saving my life. And you’re a hero.”

Banner hero too.

He was surprised by that. He always assumed Hulk thought of himself as the hero between them. And then he realised something else.

“I always thought you hated me.”

Resent, not hate. Never hate.

“What can I do to help you? To show you I don’t hate you?”

Let me out when not angry. Let Hulk feel something more than anger.

Bruce nodded feverishly, his vision starting to blur and his body going numb.

And let Hulk eat ice-cream.

He choked out a laugh as his body succumbed to his wounds and felt Hulk envelop his mind, releasing him from his pain and healing him. Saving him yet again.

[webslinger-holland]

The Hidden Hero | Peter Parker Series

Summary: In an alternative universe, Peter Parker has the biggest crush on the reader. Even though the reader doesn’t know his secret, the reader is obsessed with the webslinger. So Spiderman decides to show up at Liz’s Party to impress everyone, specifically the reader.

Warning: some spoilers

Pairing: Peter Parker (Spiderman) x reader

Type: The Hidden Hero Series

MASTERLIST

A/N: THIS IS A HEAVILY EDITED VERSION OF MY VERY FIRST FANFICTION. IT PROBABLY REALLY SUCKS SO I AM SO SORRY ABOUT THAT. BUT IT WAS MY FIRST ONE SO I WANTED TO POST IT.

The bright yellow buses were pulling up to the curb of the school grounds. The large crowd of high school students hustling and bustling down the corridors. The monotone buzz of several-hundred voices hummed like an orchestra throughout the hallways. 

The small group of gossiping girls were hanging around the lockers. They giggled amongst themselves. They always wore those mini skirts and tight shirts. The cliquey jocks were currently talking about the football game last night. They were wearing the exact same athletic jacket that they wore every single day. The parade of band geeks had just walked past them with their huge instrument cases. There were the aerospace tech kids who never did anything but make different robot models to battle between periods. 

The familiar squeaking sound of sneakers were catching against the newly waxed floors. The metal locker doors were slammed shut once the students had gathered their textbooks for that period. The bell was ringing loudly on the sidelines, signaling the start of classes for the day.

At the given moment, Peter Parker was maneuvering his way through the crowd of students with his best friend Ned Leeds. He was currently carrying his textbooks because he had lost his backpack yesterday. The two of them were making their way to their first class of the day.

Last night, Ned had caught Peter sneaking into his bedroom dressed as the Spiderman. He had seen him crawling on the ceiling! It was quite a shock to find out that his best friend was the webslinger that he had saw on youtube. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to keep his secret. And he had a million questions for him.

Throughout the whole day, Ned was asking questions about Peter’s alter-ego. He was able to come up with a handful of different questions in each class. Those questions mostly consisted of the range of the webslinger’s abilities, such as whether or not he could summon an army of spiders or how far he could shoot his webs. He was always given short or curt answers.

Near the end of the day, Peter and Ned were forced to go to gym class. They watched a short video that had Captain America talking about the fitness challenge. As if on cue, Ned asked his friend if he knew the infamous avenger. He said that he did and that he stole his shield.

Now the students were told to get into pairs of two. They would be doing sit-ups. They would alternate every few minutes between partners. At the moment, Ned was holding down Peter’s feet so he crank out those sit-ups. He actually found that they weren’t so hard to do anymore, now that he had this weird radioactive spider venom in his blood. 

“Can I be your guy in the chair?” Ned wondered spontaneously. 

“What?” Peter whispered. He had spoken in this low tone of voice so that nobody would be able to hear them. He didn’t quite understand his question.

“You know there is a guy with a headset telling the other guy where to go. Like if you were stuck in a burning building, I could tell you where to go because there would be screens around me. You know? I could swivel around them. And I could be your guy in the chair,” Ned explained.

“I don’t need a guy in the chair,” Peter insisted. He shook his head at the idea. He heard the gym teacher praising him on the sidelines, causing him to pause momentarily. He was quick to resume his sit-ups. 

In the background, Y/N had forced herself to walk into the gymnasium. She had immediately hurried towards the gym teacher to explain why she was late to class. She had been tutoring another student during the hour. She quickly handed him a slip of paper. He took one glance at him, nodding his head in confirmation. He told her that she could just sit on the bleachers for the rest of the class because it was almost over anyways.

Out of instinct, Peter had shifted into a sitting position and stopped doing his sit-ups. He could feel the little hairs on his arm raise. His spider senses were telling him that someone had just walked into the gym, but it wasn’t just anyone. It was his crush.

“She’s here, isn’t she?” Peter said. He didn’t seem to take his eyes away from his best friend in front of him. He waited for a response. His friend turned his head to look across the small stretch of the room, settling his gaze on the familiar looking student. He nodded his head.

“Yeah. How’d you know?” Ned questioned. He had furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He was slightly taken back by his comment.

“Spider senses,” Peter waved off. He had just briefly turned his head to look at her through the corner of his eye. He could barely see her talking with the gym teacher. He was quick to start doing his sit-ups again. “Can she see me? Do you know if she’s looking at me?” Peter whispered in question.

“Oh yeah,” Ned said with a firm nod of the head. He could see her heading towards the bleachers right behind them. He caught her turn her head slightly towards them. “She saw you,” Ned confirmed.

On the bleachers, Y/N had found herself settling down beside her small group of friends. They were currently playing the game called ‘fuck, marry, kill.’ They would list off three random names of celebrities or artists. Then they would have to decide who they would fuck, marry, and kill. They listed three of the avengers.

“You see for me it would be…fuck Thor...marry Iron Man...and kill Hulk,” Betty Brant concluded. Some of her friends had totally agreed with her lineup, but there were a few friends who would have made a completely different choice.

“What about the Spiderman?” Y/N wondered. She had lowered herself down onto the bleachers, looking at each of her friends with curious eyes. She could see her friend Liz Allen shrug her shoulders at the thought.

“It’s just Spiderman,” Liz claimed. She made a face of disgust. She must not have thought that he was that impressive or attractive.

“Did you guys see that big security cam on youtube? He fought off four guys!” Y/N exclaimed. She was now leaning forward in her place. She was quite eager to defend her opinion. She was practically praising him.

In the background, Peter and Ned had turned their heads to look towards the small group sitting on the bleachers. Neither one of them could believe the words they were hearing coming out of her mouth. They looked at each other in slight shock.

“Oh my gosh. She’s crushing on Spiderman,” Betty joked. Her face had twisted into this playful smirk. She leaned over to nudge her friend in the side.

“No way!” Liz laughed.

“Kinda,” Y/N shrugged. She had dropped her gaze to stare down at her hands in her lap. She tried to hide the bright blush creeping up onto her face. She smiled to herself.

“Ugh. Gross,” Betty scoffed. “He’s probably like thirty,” Betty claimed.

“You don’t even know what he looks like. What if he is like seriously burned?” Liz suggested. She had waved her hands in a dramatic manner. She was just trying to make a point.

“I wouldn’t care. I would still love him for the person he is on the inside,” Y/N said with a small smile on her face. “He’s a good man! And its obvious he really cares about this city. That is something I really admire about him,” Y/N confessed.

“Peter knows Spiderman!” Ned blurted out. He didn’t really know what came over him, but he couldn’t stop those words from coming out of his mouth. He could see that everyone in the room had stopped what they were doing upon hearing his comment.

In response, Peter’s mouth dropped open in absolute shock. He turned his head to look at his best friend with wide eyes. He was quick to scramble to his feet, shaking his head in denial.

“Uh, no. I don’t,” Peter said. He had taken a few steps forward in his place, standing in front of the small group of friends on the bleachers. He was trying to find the right words to explain himself. “No. I-I mean,” Peter stuttered. 

“They’re friends,” Ned added with a smile on his face. 

“Yeah. Like Coach Wilson and Captain America are friends,” Flash teased. He had stopped climbing the rope in the background, landing on the floor with a thump. He started to walk towards his rival because he was very interested in this conversation.

“I-I’ve met him a couple times but its uh…through the Stark internship,” Peter clarified. He stumbled over his choice of words. He had lifted his hand to scratch the back of his head in a nervous manner. He nodded his head in confirmation. “Mhmm. Yeah. But I am not really suppose to talk about it,” Peter claimed.

“Well, that’s awesome,” Flash replied. His voice was laced with sarcasm. He had stopped in his place. He had turned his body towards the small group of friends sitting on the bleachers, gesturing to them with the small wave of the hand. “Hey, you know what? Maybe you should invite him to Liz’s party,” Flash said.

“Yeah, I am having people over tonight. You are more than welcome to come,” Liz said. She could feel the strong sense of embarrassment creeping through her body because she hadn't invited them to the party beforehand. She just felt like they were kinda losers so she didn’t want to invite them. But at least she was kind enough to invite them now.

“You’re having a party?” Ned wondered. He knew that this was the first time that he was hearing about this party. He could only wonder why he hadn’t already been invited to the party.

“W-Will you be there, Y/N?” Peter stuttered. She had lifted her head to look directly into his soft brown eyes. She had smiled shyly at him. She nodded her head in confirmation. He could feel his heart fluttering in the confines of his chest.

“Yeah! It’s gonna be dope. You should totally invite your personal friend Spiderman,” Flash said in a persistent tone of voice. He stood directly in front of his rival, staring him down. He was puffing out his chest to be more intimidating (and maybe a little taller than him).

“Flash,” Y/N warned. “Leave him alone.”

“Ah come on. He’ll be there,” Flash promised. He turned his head to look at her with this playful expression on his face. He winked at her. He smirked to himself in triumph. But he didn’t seem to catch the moment where she rolled her eyes at him.

The whole conversation would come to an abrupt end when the bell rang to dismiss the last class of the day. The students were quick to stand to their feet and make their way towards the door. Meanwhile, Peter had watched his crush stand to her feet. The two of them briefly met each other’s gaze for a split second. She sent him a small smile. She didn’t even know that his eyes were following her figure out of the gym.

“What are you doing?!?” Peter turned his attention back towards his best friend standing behind him. He had thrown his hands up in exaggeration. He just couldn't believe that his friend would do that to him.

“Helping you out. Did you not hear her? She has a crush on you!” Ned exclaimed. He could feel the smile growing at the corners of his lips. He watched his best friend open his mouth to say something against him, but nothing could come out. “You are an avenger! If any one of us has a chance with her, it’s you.” Ned confessed.

Previously, Peter had actually known her since grade school. The two of them had become pretty close friends. He had developed his first crush on her, but he was never able to gather enough courage to tell her. Now here she was, years later with a crush on his alter ego. It almost didn’t feel real to him.

That night, Aunt May had driven Peter and Ned to the house for the party. She parked the car in front of the house. For a brief second, Peter had said that this would be a mistake and that he wanted to just go home. His aunt said that she totally understood how he was feeling. She was eventually able to convince him to go to the party after all. 

The two teenage boys turned to look at the grand house in front of them. They had started walking up the sidewalk, heading towards the house. The two of them had passed by plenty of other students that went to their same high school. And they could hear the music blasting from inside the house.

“You have the suit, right?” Ned questioned. Very discreetly, Peter lifted up his flannel sleeve to show him the web shooters and red costume underneath his clothing. “This is going to change our lives!” Ned exclaimed.

The music was so loud that it would be hard to hear the person talking right beside them. The bass thumped in time with the boys’ heart beat as though they were one with the song. Over the roar of music, a distant hazy chatter could be heard throughout the entire house. The high school students could be found holding red solo cups with harmless non-alcoholic drinks.

Of course, Flash would be in charge of the music for the night. He had a pair of heavy headphones around his neck. He rubbed his hands against the two records at the station to create that iconic record scratch sound. He was just trying to look cool. 

“Okay. We are gonna have Spiderman swing in, say you guys are tight. And then I get a fist bump or one of those half bro hugs,” Ned said in a low tone of voice. He really had this whole thing planned out.

A familiar figure had found herself walking around the corner of the hallway. She had turned her head to look at the two teenage boys standing in the short distance. She was quick to make her way towards them, feeling a smile stretching across her face.

“Oh! Hey guys,” Y/N said. She waved at them. She had walked towards them until she was standing right in front of them. She quickly looked between the two of them with the softest and kindest look on her face.

“Hey Y/N,” Ned said with a silly grin on his face. He had forced himself to straighten his back in posture, standing at attention. He turned his head to look at his best friend through the corner of his eye. He nudged him in the side. 

“Hey Y/N,” Peter’s voice squeaked.

“I’m glad you guys came,” Y/N confessed. She was holding onto her own red solo cup in her hands. She lifted her other hand to gesture to the table behind her. “There is pizza and drinks so feel free to help yourself,” Y/N claimed.

“Wow! What a great party,” Peter had choked on his own words. He had turned his head to look at her with this sweet boyish grin on his face. He could feel his heart hammering on the inside of his chest. 

“Thanks. I barely did anything. It was all Liz,” Y/N insisted with the wave of the hand. She could hear someone calling her name in the background. She turned her head towards the sound of the voice, spotting one of her friends in the crowd. “Oh! I should go,” Y/N said. 

“Yeah,” Peter nodded his head. She found herself hurrying towards her small group of friends in the short distance. She had looked over the small stretch of her shoulder, waving goodbye to them. 

“Dude! What are you doing?” Ned wondered. “She’s here, spider it up!”

“No. No. No. I can’t. I cannot do this. Spiderman is not a party trick,” Peter said. He shook his head in denial. He quickly straightened his back in posture. He ran his hands over the invisible wrinkles in his shirt. He shrugged his shoulders to himself. “Look, I am just gonna…be myself,” Peter whispered.

“Peter,” Ned groaned. He had closed his eyes for a brief second. He shook his head at his friend’s comment. “No one wants that,” Ned said harshly.

“Dude,” Peter said hurtfully. He was quick to turn his body to walk away from his friend. He heard his name being called over the speakers in the room. He turned his head to look across the small stretch of the room, looking directly at his rival holding the microphone. 

“Penis Parker! What’s up? Where is your pal, Spiderman? Let me guess, in Canada with your imaginary girlfriend?” Flash teased him. He was only encouraged by the sound of laughter coming from the high school students in the room. “That’s not Spiderman. That’s just Ned in a red shirt,” Flash joked.

Somehow, through peer pressure, Peter found himself standing on the roof of the house. He had disregarded his regular clothing onto the top of the roof. He was now wearing his red and blue suit of his alter-ego. He knelt down on the rooftop and gazed down at the small house.

“Hey! What’s up? I am Spiderman,” Peter whispered to himself. He lifted his hands to the neckline of his white shirt. He pulled the shirt over his head. “Just thought I would swing by...say hello to my buddy Peter. Oh hey! What’s up, Ned? Where is Peter anyways?” Peter said to himself.

Now Peter could see his best friend standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. He felt bad that he had left him alone for a few minutes. However, there was still this part of Peter that did not want to make his presence known at the party. He just didn’t think that it was right. 

“I can’t do this.” Peter whispered. He shook his head at the crazy idea. He could see his crush walk across the small stretch of the room, stopping to stand beside his best friend. She had asked him a question, only receiving a small shrug of the shoulders in response. She sighed to herself in defeat. 

In that moment, Ned had yanked out his phone to dial his best friend’s number. He had turned his body so that his backside was facing the large crowd of students in the room. His best friend had answered his phone without hesitation.

“Peter! Where are you? She is asking for you,” Ned said desperately. He turned his head to look over the small stretch of his shoulder, spotting her familiar figure in the distance. He waited for some kind of response.

“I will be there in a second,” Peter concluded. He had this fluttery feeling in the confines of his chest, thumping against his chest in a violent manner. He didn’t know if he was nervous or excited. 

With great hesitation, Peter had pulled his mask over his head. He stood to his feet. He had jumped down to the ground, landing on his feet with a small thump. He had started walking towards the house, making his way through the heavy crowd of people. 

“Oh sorry,” Spiderman apologized. Every single person had turned their heads to look at the infamous superhero standing amongst them. The high schoolers’ mouths had dropped open in absolute disbelief. The webslinger was currently maneuvering his way through the crowd of students until he was finally inside the house. “Sorry, I just gotta…find my friend Peter,” Spiderman claimed.

“Spiderman?” He forced himself to turn around upon hearing the sound of that sweet voice. His robotic eyes had dilated subconsciously. His head moved up and down her body. His actions did not go unnoticed by her. “W-What are you doing here?” Y/N wondered. 

“Oh, you know. Peter called me and asked if I could show,” Spiderman claimed. He had lifted his hand to wave in dismissal (like it wasn’t a big deal).  

“No way,” Flash said. His voice was laced in the tone of disbelief. He pushed his way past the crowd. He had shifted to stand in the middle of the room, stopping in his place. He soon came face to face with the webslinger himself. “You’re really him? Are you really friends with Peter Parker?” 

In response, Spiderman had turned his head to look over his rival’s shoulder. His large robotic eyes had settled on that familiar figure standing behind his face. He found himself pushing right past him to approach her. He stood directly in front of her. “Hi,” he said awkwardly.

“Hi,” she smiled at him.

“What’s your name? Wait. No. Let me guess,” Spiderman teased. He had lifted his gloved hand towards the front of his face, tapping his chin in thought. He pointed his finger at her. He was able to ‘guess’ her name pretty easily.

“Y-Yeah!” Y/N exclaimed. She was more than surprised to hear that the webslinger actually knew her name. She could only feel her smile growing bigger and bigger with each passing second. “How did you know?” Y/N wondered.

“Peter talks a lot about you,” Spiderman explained. He was hoping that his other persona could score some points with her. He could only wonder if she would give his other self a chance.

“H-He does?” She gasped.

“Spiderman!” Ned shouted. He had found himself taking a few steps forward in his place, shifting through the heavy crowd of students. He just knew that every single person was looking at him. He smiled at his best friend. “Hi! It’s Ned. Remember me?” Ned said with a bright smile on his face.

“Yeah! I do. How are you doing?” Spiderman said enthusiastically. He did give him the fist bump that he so desperately asked for. Of course, Ned was trying to play it cool. But he could hardly contain himself knowing that he would be popular for the rest of his life.

"I am doing fine,” Ned said cooly. He had this smug look on his face. He crossed his arms over his chest. He was hoping to maintain that cool looking stance. “But I’ll let you get back to Y/N. She’s a big fan of you,” Ned observed.

“Really?” Spiderman teased her. He had turned his head to look back towards the smaller figure standing behind him. His robotic eyes had made it look like he was quirking an eyebrow at her in amusement. He could easily spot the bright blush flooding her cheeks. 

“Well, kinda,” she replied shyly. She didn’t mean to fiddle with her fingers nervously. She had dropped her gaze to stare down at the ground, feeling the blood rushing to her cheeks. She shuffled on the heels of her feet in her stance. 

“Well, I should get going.” Spiderman didn’t want to prolong his stay at the party for his own sake. He placed his hands on his hips. He held that heroic stance for dramatic effect. “New York isn’t going to save itself,” Spiderman came up with a lame excuse. 

“Yeah,” she said quietly. She couldn’t help but dreamily admire him. She could only imagine that he was this incredibly handsome looking young man underneath the mask. She smiled at him.

“It was nice to finally meet you. Could you also tell Peter that Mr Stark needs him at the internship at four thirty tomorrow?” Spiderman had tried to make another excuse for her to talk to his other self tomorrow. “Can you do that for me?” Spiderman wondered.

She had nodded her head in confirmation. He did not hesitate to wink at her with those big robotic eyes, which only caused her heart to flutter in her chest. He used his web shooters to swing away from the party. He made his way back up to the rooftop to change back into his regular clothes. 

“I can’t believe he actually showed,” Flash said to her. He had turned his head to look in the general direction they had last seen the famous webslinger swing off to. He crossed his arms over his chest. He shook his head and scoffed to himself. 

“What’s the matter, Flash? Jealous of Peter or Spiderman?”

[caniaskyouabouttoday]

“He was conceived out of desperation and born into a mess,” Don Draper narrates from his own therapeutic diary. He’s referring to his youngest son, Gene, born from a fleeting moment of passion in Don’s decaying marriage to Betty — but clearly this sentence describes his own bleak, sordid origins.

Mad Men is one of the most spoiled shows ever so this will have spoilers. Don’s moment of zen became a meme seconds after the show wrapped. What’s strange is that the meme doesn’t seem to have an opinion on this ending of this series. The end of Mad Men isn’t beloved like Six Feet Under, polarizing like The Sopranos, or reviled like Dexter. It simply is an ending.

Much like Mad Men’s ostensible parent series, The Sopranos, there is some ambiguity. I guess you could interpret that the smirk followed by the “Buy the World a Coke” advertisement means that Don made a triumphant return and penned a masterpiece ad for his dream client. But does the smirk mean that Don has let such things go? Has his mentality changed to regard these conquests as trivialities? After his disappearance nothing indicates that McCann Erickson would continue to placate Don let alone give him creative carte blanche on their largest account. Don’s career, for all intents and purposes, appears over in 1970. He is a very rich man and McCann Erickson is a very unhappy workplace.

Mad Men is a hulking 92 episodes, a long show in today’s era of shows doing 8-10 episode seasons every two years; and sags heavily after season 5. The first half of Season Six is nigh unwatchable and the show got bogged down in constant business intrigue with multiple mergers and new names for Sterling Cooper. We’re saddled with pointless characters like Ted Chaough and Lou Adler who are one-dimensional and the show spins its wheels hard including a very poor creative decision to mostly pull the show out of New York and thrust it into Los Angeles to make Don “bi-coastal” — a move that was pretty clearly designed to accomodate outside film projects, not to bolster the quality of Mad Men itself.

Harry Hamlin, who had been mostly missing from TV since major stardom in the 1980s in L.A. Law does add to the proceedings as soft spoken and self-serving weasel, Jim Cutler. I never felt like Mad Men needed an antagonist character, but he was the most worthy one and had a unique presence and delivery. Don is his own worst enemy. Dick Whitman is the hero. The contradictions of Don, and Dick, who I think are primarily distinct (Hamm makes it very clear which he is playing) are the conflict.

Much has also been made of Jessica Pare. She performs a notorious burlesque at Don’s birthday party that embodied “cringe” before that was an ubiquitous word. By the time they had developed any chemistry together the show started ripping them apart by her acting career causing conflict about where they should live; and cooled tensions between Betty and Don reminded audiences of their superior chemistry and more fascinating relationship.

I skipped locating all my discs and watched Mad Men on IMDB TV which gave the series, appropriately, advertisements. Some were loud, garish, and artless; but there were some like a sexy beach themed ad for Calvin Klein “Eternity” set to a sultry lounge cover of “Unchained Melody” - I could imagine Don Draper flashing a whisky soaked grin of approval at the spot. This is a good way to watch the show; monitor your volume button as some ads are much louder than the show volume and horribly obnoxious.

Mad Men is a long, uneven, and imperfect show but its grace notes are incomparable. The “Carousel” sequence from Season One is one of the most perfect bits of TV drama ever. Jon Hamm’s performance as Don Draper and Dick Whitman, what little we see of the latter, are fascinating television characters portrayed to perfection. His work in The Town shows that he has presence in film and I’m baffled at how such a versatile talent has had a tepid career in the six years since the show signed off. Elisabeth Moss has launched into the stratosphere and I sure would like to see more of John Slattery, Christina Hendricks, and Vince Kartheiser (making Pete relatable and somewhat likable is a small miracle of the writing and performances on this series.)

Mad Men isn’t as good as The Sopranos, it isn’t as marketable as Breaking Bad, and it certainly could have told a more compact story; yet I loved spending time in its beautiful dream of the turbulent 1960s. I do not believe we’d have masterworks like “Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood” that were made in its wake without it.

My time with the show was much like Don’s relationships; thrilling highs and plunging lows - yet I can’t wait to hop on that carousel and revisit the series again soon. It truly is a time machine.

[getreadytosmash]

well NOW i need to hear your Thoughts about skaar and hulk finding out things 👀👀

@mistyflame1

Sjsjsjjs w.well....if u say so sir 👉👈😳

Takes place within the end of my s3 ideas

A lot of gamma mutates have been appearing and fighting by now and this is during the point that Betty Ross and a collection of other people have slowly gone missing over the season as well as a bunch of mysterious gamma related attacks

Leader is hesitantly shifting onto their side but isn't quite with them??? Still off on his own and researching and overall very standoffish still since he knows whose related to it all still

Skaar's probably been suffering some odd dreams at this point and I wanna relate them to prophesies since Sakaar was quite connected to them within the comics

Probably something cheesy like uh "when green was torn away we wept. And while you fell as the sun falls from moon, she has cried and she has wept. Face your destiny, Sakaarson, and reignite what was once one." Or smth that's all I got at the top of my head rn

And yeah, Skaar wants to go and has a brief fight over it with Red who thinks it's stupid to go catering off into space just because he dreams of talking rocks

But Hulk points out the fact that they're needed on Earth right now, to figure out what's going on and how to help people, even though humans are disrupting them more and more

And Skaar can see how tired Hulk looks, how he's trying so hard and how even the mention of space settles something on him and Skaar can't make his family go through any of that again. Can't make them ensure that hopelessness of dying in a metal can in a place where most of the world would think they deserved to stay after simply trying to help. Making them all go would just be selfish.

So. I mean. Its not selfish to drag Leader on a trip to Sakaar. Is it?

And yeah this is where it gets a bit blurry cause I imagine Skaar is somehow stuck there for a few days and a lot of cut scenes between him exploring Sakaar culture and Hulk worrying so much and now trying to get to Sakaar.

Its messy for Hulk. Because a part of him fears space now but Skaar is up there. And space and fear is only something you ensure for so long until you reach something grounding and solid again. It'll be worth it if he can get to Skaar again and to help the younger hulk and keep him safe.

Hiro-Kala...I definitely think yeah he's settled as some sort of bad leader and I don't mean as in "he's a shitty person!!" But he's away from Caiera and alone so that makes a lot of his decisions panicked and bad and he can't rely on anyone for help

And now suddenly he has someone with a similar tattoo that isn't fully complete (because yes I use physical symbolism) and now Skaar is putting what he's learned from Hulk to use while searching for the source of the voice that rings out to him across a galaxy.

And I want this to be a thing where it cuts and shows how Hulk worries and becomes rough in his decisions because he only does that when it comes to family! And I want it to show examples of how Skaar has come further now, become someone who could lead and shows examples of what he's learned in comparisons from flashbacks!!

Like...one flashback of Hulk teaching Skaar an important lesson and it cuts to Hulk completely disregarding while Skaar follows it perfectly? It has a good view of how they are and the way their relationship has developed over the past year and a half.

I haven't got all of it but I definitely picture the big moment when Skaar eventually unlocks what's hidden within Sakaar and Hulk and the rest of the Smashers arrive and its absolutely some of that shit that cuts between Leader and Hiro-Kala yelling at Skaar to stop while Hulk rushes to find them before a giant blue and white light cracks between the ground and makes everything go black at a cliffhanger

Tbh I kinda want Caiera to be a villain at first? But more of uh...that scene in Moana where the goddess is angry because she got locked away by the Red King??? Yeah that. And with Cai's emergence, all of these MEMORIES about her come spilling out, a bit like Lup and TAZ

Hulk remembers. Remembers a mission where he got stuck away from the Avengers for a month and a half and how he met this woman who made the Earth move and at the time, had been the only one who matched him in strength that either wasn't his baby cousin or Ben Grimm being a good friend

Remembers the thrill and taste of revolution. The joy of being seen and accepted by someone for bother sides of himself and how Caiera would call him "Holku" with that same smile and eyes that struck his heart and make his stomach clench funny

And its easy and hard to remember the quick vows they made before the king was defeated and Hulk decided to go back. Before the King turned out to have survived and locked Caiera away after she gave birth to the most powerful twins on Sakaar

And the memory is there. The clarity is there. Skaar was his son and Hiro-Kala is his son. One got forced to fight and tortured and mind washed and forced to fight his own family in order to claw for any sense of self while the other had been left to fend for themself and they had to find their way and they hadn't done a good job and that just makes it sting more because Hiro-Kala had tried their best but it just wasn't the good type of best.

Big fight. Just. Big fight. Lots of pain and screaming and both of his parents going out of control before Hiro-Kala calms Caiera down and Skaar calms Hulk down. And tbh hell fucking year im picturing ur art here now where they hug and cry because it fits perfect.

Hulk and Caiera...soft moment with their children before finishing what they started properly and killing the Red king. Well. If it was proper HatAoS they would seal him into the Earth instead of Caiera but I mean. Kill.

And after that there's still a lot to be done and the others need to go back but Caiera and Hiro-Kala take over at royalty with the rest of the Warbound being part of the palace and tbh this is mostly so we can see the relationship develop more over the next season and stretch it out a little more?

Hulk and Caiera agree to pen pal while she fixes Sakaar and he fixes Earth. Maybe a bit of a shippy moment ;) and Skaar... hm. Probably stays on Sakaar for a little bit and I like how it gives him a taste of his home and ultimately would mean that he decides whether or not he wants to be Heir Skaar or Smasher Skaar

And while this happens I'm totally picturing cheesy stuff on Earth where all of the Smashers have a moment of missing Skaar and overall needing a fifth member and the fact that Hulk has growing issues about the fact that he has two sons now and he's...kinda failed them both horribly.

What a time for his daughter to make her first appearance by attacking them and kidnapping Jen eh.

[spaceorphan18]

Marvel Movie Night: The Incredible Hulk

So, It’s been almost a year since I paused my Marvel Movie Night series, and a lot of it had to do with the fact that this was on the list next.  It’s one thing to go into a movie, knowing it’s bad, but waiting to see just how bad it is.  It’s another to try to put yourself through a movie you already know to be bad.  

I tried.  I really did.  But I ended up skipping around a bit, too.  Cause who has the time to waste on things you don’t really enjoy? 

Here’s my thing -- this movie is at least passable.  After watching the drecks of Daredevil, Electra, Fantastic Four, and the freakishly horrible Punisher, this movie seems like a goddamn masterpiece.  But I mean, this is the reason the critics groan when they think of comic book movies.  Despite the fact that there was so much turmoil behind the scenes, it is a perfectly competent film in terms of story.  The characters are fine.  The action is adequate.  And the CGI, while very aged, isn’t that bad.  

But I still think it’s the worst MCU film.  Even Iron Man 2 had humor and Thor 2 had character.  This one feels like a refried origin story (complete with Hulk jumping from NYC building to NYC building like the end of Spider-Man).  Believe it or not -- it is a good rendition of the comics, but the problem is that the comics they’re basing this off of aren’t all that interesting either.  

Every time I’ve run into a Hulk comic in my travels (except for purposely reading Planet Hulk), it’s always the same.  Bruce running away from the government who is trying to experiment on him, only to run into other monsters, mad scientists, good guys, bad guys, and aliens.  He Hulks out - big fight, the end.  Sometimes Betty.  And this is exactly what we get in this movie.  The script is so incredibly uninspired, you can map out every beat taken from a script writing 101 course.  This film has no style or character or anything that injects any kind of life to it.    It’s standard issue -- which makes it boring. 

Edward Norton still feels like a miscast.  Maybe I’m biased because I adore Mark Ruffalo.  Norton is a fine actor, but I can’t see him playing well with the other Avengers, tbh.  Liv Tyler is bland as the love interest, and there isn’t much chemistry between them.  -- Though there is one light moment where she gets angry, and he tells her he can give her tips on how to be less angry, and it’s one of the few times this very serious film has some fun.   That’s what’s missing from this film -- fun.  

The rest of the characters are kind of flat and not really worth talking about.  The bad guy ends up becoming another Hulk-like monster for CGI fest showdown that’s kinda boring to sit through.  (There’s a decent story here if the movie had any idea how to hold onto tension.)  I even have to laugh at the fact that Betty has a second love interest that holds no purpose in the film, cause he’s dropped half way through it without a thought -- why even bother with this dude? 

The only enjoyable part of the film is the two minutes Tony Stark shows up at the end (ah - I see what you did there saying that the Super Soldier program was put on ice, wink, wink.)  

Final Thoughts: Meh. It’s about as bland as staring at the wallpaper.  But, at least I’m now past it! 

Next Up: My god, why is there another Punisher movie? 

[avengerscompound]

The Frame Job - 2

The Frame Job: A Bruce Banner Fanfic

Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Square: @brucebannerbingo​ - E1 Genre: Detective Story

Rating:  G

Warning: Canon Typical Violence

Word Count: 1026

Pairing:  Bruce Banner x Reader (eventual), Bucky Barnes x Sharon Carter x Steve Rogers (Background)

Summary: When Bucky Barnes is taken from the compound and the only clue anyone has is a large damaged area of the compound and a faint Gamma signature, everyone suspects Bruce.  It is up to you and him to get to the bottom of the disappearance.

Chapter 2

There was not a woman on the planet that cut a figure quite like Jennifer Walters.  You had heard of the emerald haired goddess of course.  She was the kind of woman who attracted attention.  All eyes would move to her as she passed through a room.  She was not a woman for the weak.  Nor was she a woman to be trifled with, so despite how happy she looked, and how pleased to see Bruce she was, you were a little concerned that may not last given the circumstances of your visit.

“Bruce!”  Jennifer said, opening her arms up to her cousin.  The bashful smile that crossed the scientist's face was something you never tired of seeing.  He shuffled into her outstretched arms like an old man into a coat, and when she closed them around him, he all but disappeared.  “I haven’t seen you in so long.  To what do I owe the pleasure?  And who is this?”

Bruce pulled back from the embrace and looked up at his much taller cousin and introduced you.  “It’s not under pleasant circumstances I’m afraid, Jen.”

Jennifer frowned and gestured for you both to sit.  Her furniture was larger and comfortable and you felt dwarfed as you took a seat next to Bruce.  Jennifer didn’t sit immediately, instead, she went into the kitchen and seemed to busy herself.  “Can I get you tea?”

“That would be lovely,” Bruce said.  “Thank you.”

She put some water on to boil and took a teapot out of the cupboard.  It was small and made of brown clay and in her large green hands looked like a toy.  You wondered if this was all a delay technique.  A moment where the two cousins pretended like they would be as close as they were in childhood forever, instead of finding out that they would soon be a complete odds and you wondered how safe you were trapped between two Hulks.

“Is this Avenger’s business or personal?”  Jennifer asked.

“Avengers,” Bruce confirmed.

“What did you all do?”  She asked.  “Do you need a lawyer or some brute strength?”

“Neither,” Bruce answered and you looked over at Jennifer, confused as to what was going on.

You had assumed you’d come here to accuse her of kidnapping Sergeant Barnes.  He had gone missing a day ago and all that was left was a lot of damage and a faint Gamma signature.  Bruce had been accused of hurting him first, but he’d said there was more than one Hulk.  There was no denying that.  You were sitting on her couch now, and she was standing in the kitchen, all six feet and seven inches of her.

She brought the teapot over to the table on a tray with three tiny cups.  “Then what is it, Bruce?”  She asked.

“Bucky has gone missing,” Bruce said simply.

There was a pause that sat heavy in the air.  Jennifer poured the tea into the cups and lifted one.  It was comically tiny in her large hands but the last thing you felt like doing was laughing.  You moved a little closer to Bruce and when no one said anything, Bruce continued.

“The last place he was seen was at the edge of the compound.  The area now looks like it was hit by a bomb.  Or more accurately, a Hulk,” Bruce continued.  “Complete with a gamma radiation signature.”

Jennifer crossed one leg over the other and narrowed her eyes.  “I certainly hope you aren’t accusing me of anything, Bruce.”

“Of course not,” Bruce said.  “Jen, I’d more likely accuse myself.  It was nearer to me, and I do blackout.”

“I think your friend was coming to accuse me,” Jennifer said, looking over at you.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Walters,” you said.  “I was just under the impression that we were hunting a Hulk.”

She scoffed and looked at you like you were lacking any kind of common sense.  “Has she met your angry green other-half?”  Jennifer asked.

“She has,” Bruce said, with a nod as he took a sip of the tea.

“Oh,” Jennifer said with a smile that said she knew all the secrets to the universe.  “So beauty can tame the savage beast.”

“I’m just here to help clear his name, Ms. Walters,” you said.

“No need to be so formal, dear,” Jennifer said.   “Jen is fine.”  She turned back to Bruce and raised an eyebrow.  “So, if you don’t think I did it, why are you here?”

“Either a Hulk took my friend or someone who wants everyone to think a Hulk did.  I wanted to come here and warn you, and ask if you had any ideas?”  Bruce said.

Jennifer poured more tea into her cup and sipped it. “You and I both have lots of enemies, Bruce.  But the only ones that come to mind that would also consider James Barnes a threat are military.”  She put her cup down and tilted her head.  “Perhaps you should try talking to your ex.  I saw her recently, she said she was looking at your old project again.”

Bruce sat up straight and his eyes went wide.  “She’s what?”

“I was a little shocked too.  She said she had it under control,” Jennifer said.  “But if she’s been doing more than looking, perhaps you and I aren’t the only two Hulks.”

Bruce scowled and stood.  “Thank you, Jen.  I’ll go speak to her.”

“Sorry I blamed you for what happened,” you added, getting up with him.

She waved you off. “Won’t be the first time someone blames me for something I didn’t do.  Won’t be the last,” she said.  “Come back soon.  For something more pleasant.”

She walked you and Bruce out and he led you back to the car, putting his hat on.  “Do you really think Betty was looking back into the program that turned you into the Hulk?”  You asked.

“If she is, I doubt she was doing it of her own accord,” he answered and opened the car door for you.  “Either way, she might have a lead on who took Bucky.  Hopefully, we make it to him in time.”

// NEXT

[daydreamerdrew]

Comics read this past week:

Marvel Comics:

The Incredible Hulk (1968) #274-279

These issues were published across May 1982 to October 1982, according to the Marvel Wiki. All were written by Bill Mantlo. The breakdowns of issue #274 were drawn by Sal Buscema, which was finished by Joe Sinnott. Issues #275-278 were penciled by Sal Buscema and inked by Joe Sinnott. The layouts of issue #279 were drawn by Mark Gruenwald, which were finished by Greg LaRocque.

In issue #274 Bruce finally acknowledges that the Hulk’s personality isn’t completely gone, even though the Hulk has made his presence known by taking control when Bruce got upset several times since this change in them where Bruce is able to switch between their human body and gamma monster body at will. The Hulk lashes out, and there’s nothing different about this instance other than perhaps that Bruce’s confidence has been building, and finally Bruce thinks, “Maybe the Hulk side of my persona isn’t dead- but only deeply submerged within my subconscious- but not so deep that that a momentary fit of rage can’t dredge it up! If I’m to use the powers of the Hulk, I’ll have to keep a tighter rein on my emotions than ever before- because from now on I won’t have the excuse of acting out of ignorance or mindlessness!” I do also think part of Bruce’s hesitation about acknowledging this/confusion is because he now has access to the Hulk’s memories and remembers what he does, when before the change in them was definitive both because of the physical transformation and because Bruce didn’t remember what the Hulk did.

I liked the phrasing in the opening of issue #275 that this change in the character could either be “a more humane monster, or a more monstrous man.”

I liked the contrast between Bruce and Betty’s mindsets in these issues, where Betty is upset and pulling away from Bruce just as it seems to him that his life is getting back on track. She is not thrilled to see Bruce fight as the Hulk in issue #275, saying, “Don’t you realize the horror of what’s happening?! The man I love is the Hulk- and for the first time he’s reveling in that fact!” Again in issue #276 she says, “Oh, Bruce- Bruce!” looking horrified while in contrast next to her Bereet cheers for the Hulk. She was already on edge when Bruce first appeared in the Hulk’s body; at the first sign that they were under attack and Bruce was going to have to defend them in issue #275 she exclaimed, “I knew it! Some new danger! There’s always danger whenever the Hulk is present! That’s why I wanted you to find a cure, Bruce- So you’d be out of danger forever!”

In issue #276 Betty tells Bruce, “I stood by you because I believed you wanted to find a cure, Bruce- to be free of the Hulk forever. Your new condition is a compromise- one I can’t accept.” She tries to abandon Bruce in a time of need, explaining, “I can’t take any more mock heroics, any more insanity. Maybe I’m just a coward. Maybe the Bruce Banner I thought I loved never really existed.” She does ultimately agree to help him one last time, but in a moment of high tension she takes this mentality to an extreme in issue #277 by questioning, “Why should we want to?” and saying, “The world would be better off if we let the monster perish.” At the beginning of issue #278 Leonard Samson finds Betty alone in the destroyed Gamma Base in the middle of the desert, having been abandoned there by the group in an unseen scene. She tells him, “No one knows how I feel anymore! Not even me!”

The rest of issue #278 is dedicated to Bruce securing a presidential pardon for himself for all of the Hulk’s past crimes. And issue #279 is all about an absurd celebration for the Hulk, where just about every superhero ever comes out for the ceremony. To me it’s more extreme than the World Stinger Day celebration in Dragonfly and Dragonfly-Man (2019) #5, which I read last week, where an international holiday is declared for Stinger and he also gets a kiss in the cheek from the winner of the annual Fortune City beauty pageant, free ice cream for life, a special badge that allows him to “search any premises without a judge’s warrant,” and a car. The one hiccup in the Hulk’s festivities is Betty’s presence in the crowd with Leonard Samson, now cooled down she seems to be wishing him luck before disappearing.

Fawcett Comics:

the Captain Marvel stories in Whiz Comics (1940) #87 and Captain Marvel Adventures (1941) #74 and The Marvel Family (1945) #13

In this batch of 7 stories I read the Captain Marvel appearances in July 1947, according to the issue cover dates. The stories ranged from 7 to 9 pages.

The stories “Captain Marvel and the War of the Gods” (written by Otto Binder; artist unknown) in Whiz Comics #87 and “Captain Marvel and the Fate of the World” (written by Bill Woolfolk; drawn by Pete Constanza) in Captain Marvel Adventures #74 contain both appearances of the Wizard Shazam and Captain Marvel’s empowering gods and an anti-war theme, neither of which are recurring stapes in these Captain Marvel stories.

In the Whiz Comics story the god of war Mars incites conflict among Captain Marvel’s empowering gods with the thinking that “with Captain Marvel out of the way, I can plunge the earth into the most terrific war of all times!” The story is kicked off by an anti-war lecturer Billy was going to interview getting killed, of who Billy said favorably, “If enough men like him keep working for peace, there will never be another war!” And the Wizard Shazam gives Billy a tip he needs to prevent the assassination of another peace advocate. In his concluding broadcast Billy said, “As long as Captain Marvel is on the job, he’ll see to it that we have peace, not war! But he can’t do the job alone! It will take the efforts of all of us, working together, to keep Mars, the god of war, from wrecking civilization!”

In the Captain Marvel Adventures story the gods decide, “This little planet has been torn with war, misery and mortal greed for thousands of years! In vain, we’ve searched for some sign of improvement… I think it’s time we admitted we made a mistake, and ended the world once and for all!” The Wizard Shazam gives Captain Marvel the responsibility of convincing the gods to not destroy the Earth that night, which he does succeed in doing, proving that “There is hope, after all, for a world where such love exists!”

[jademight]

What does it *feel* like for Bruce, sharing space with another consciousness? Does he feel like the Hulk is a part of him that has been separated/exacerbated, or does he feel like an entirely separate entity within Bruce?

Character development time! Give me some interesting questions about my character and I will answer.

This is a great question and I’m going to split it into three chunks. One, what Bruce thinks about the Hulk, and two, what Hulk is in relation to Bruce and three, how it Feels on a given day.

Massive wall of text below lmfao.

So Bruce’s views on the Hulk and their relationship changes and varies extremely over the years, so I’m going to break this into yearly chunks.

PART ONE: BANNER V HULK.

The First Two Years- Early Days and On The Run

So, in the early days, Bruce’s views on the Hulk are....really not kind. For the first two years, really up until the end of The Incredible Hulk movie, Bruce considers Hulk a foreign entity. A monster that was unleashed in the wake of the Gamma Bomb, a genie that Bruce had to actively work on keeping in the bottle. Bruce was genuinely afraid of the Hulk and did all he could to not cause a trigger. Only after being told of Hulk’s interactions with Betty and his discovery that he can ‘aim’ the Hulk, he started to somewhat see It in a different light.

Yes, It, because for a while Bruce didn’t consider the Hulk an individual.

Year Three - Avengers Days

So this is the period of time when Bruce really starts to make a concentrated effort at trying to understand the Hulk and what it-- he is. He starts to key into the fact that Hulk isn’t an entirely foreign entity, and that there is a deeper connection between the two of them. There is a part of him that suspects the DID diagnosis deep down, but he absolutely denies it and goes to the conclusion of ‘Hm, maybe it was a buried part of my subconsciousness, the Freudian ID to my Ego.’ 

So while Bruce no longer sees the Hulk as an altogether foreign entity, he still feels like he is merely a fragment, base thoughts and desires given green form. Something that can be kept at an arm’s length but still something he’d rather avoid. ( Hence, his aversion to Code Green.)

Year Four. - Planet Hulk

This is when shit gets complicated. 

So Hulk gets sucked up through the portal and ends up in Sakaar. Initially he is still operating on survival instincts, fronting for days on end so Bruce doesn’t get hurt. But then days become weeks, weeks become months. And Hulk starts...having a kind of a life there. A life where he is not seen as The Green Monster but rather someone people cheer on, and he really likes that. So he shuts Bruce out, on purpose. Bruce, in the aftermath of AoU and being forced to go on a rampage, is emotionally shut down, so he doesn’t put up much of a ‘fight’, as it were. And as a result Hulk remains Hulked out for a whole year until Thor comes and manages to switch him back to Banner. (In my canon it’s not a recording of Nat but probably a recording or a picture of Betty or something along those lines.)

However, once Bruce comes to and realizes what has happened, he can no longer deny that Hulk is a person wholly his own and not merely a fragment. After Sakaar, Bruce has to admit to himself that he has some form of an identity disorder.

Year Five - Just A Man and his Green Friend

They get back on Earth, and at this point Hulk is no longer operating on childlike survival instincts, he is fully cognizant and has a full vocabulary. Both of them have a somewhat contentious relationship because Bruce is back to being afraid and apprehensive of the Hulk, so he’d rather avoid a full transformation. But he now recognizes Hulk is not a Thing he can ignore now, so they are attempting to communicate and reach some form of common ground. 

PART TWO: WHAT IS A HULK ANYWAY?

Though Bruce tried his best to deny it, Hulk is absolutely a separate individual within Bruce’s mind. He was ‘created’, as you will, during Bruce’s childhood, when his young brain couldn’t handle the verbal and physical abuse at the hands of Brian and function as a normal kid so his brain created a separate individual who could endure the blows, someone who could take in all of Bruce’s rage and anger and fear and hold onto it for him. Once Brian was institutionalized and was no longer a factor in Bruce’s mind, this personality went dormant.

Until the Gamma Bomb.

So up until the Avengers, a.k.a. when Bruce made the conscious effort to ‘reach out’ to the Hulk, every time he surfaced, he existed within the moment of trauma, of being caught up in all the anger and fear and thus living in a state of perpetual Fight or Flight. This is why the Hulk we see in the early days have the vocabulary of a child and exists purely on instinctual reactions. Once he gets to Sakaar and he has the opportunity to calm down and exist outside the moment of trauma, the actual personality buried underneath all the emotions start to come out, and he becomes more verbal and has a more extensive vocabulary. (It’s not babyfied like Ragnarok, but he nevertheless likes to stick to short and to the point sentences). He is still a being of emotion and will revert back to that anger and rage when sufficiently distressed, but he is more cognizant overall.

I do want to make a point to say that even though Hulk can be really annoyed by Bruce and his attitude towards him, he is ultimately there to protect Bruce from harm and be the Caring Grown Up figure he never had. But there is also that push and pull of wanting to have his own life but also being part of Bruce and sharing the body. So it’s a complicated issue they have to get through. (Is integration into one cohesive mind possible? Sure, but they have a LOT of work to do before they can get anywhere near it. And whether or not they want to integrate into one mind is a different question entirely. The fact that Endagme did all this off-screen pisses me off to no end.)

Another point I want to make is comics delve into Bruce’s DID way more than I am. There is a massive sprawling system of alters within comic Bruce’s system (Joe Fixit Hulk is the Teenager Bruce never got to be, Savage / Childish Hulk is the repressed rage, Devil Hulk is the Protective Father etc. There are literally hundreds of Hulk alters.)  I am very much compositing Savage Hulk and Devil Hulk into one figure and making him the only alter in the system for convenience’s sake and to make Hulk a more defined character rather than the mess of trauma and psychological issues that he is in the comics.  (Of all the alters Joe has the most probability of making it to the blog eventually but not anytime soon.)

PART THREE - WHAT IT FEELS LIKE 

The analogy I’ve grown attached to is the imagery of a door. All the abuse Bruce endured and the memories and the pain got put inside The Room Behind That Door, and Hulk was inside keeping it all locked in. The door was always there, but beyond Bruce’s ‘gaze’. When the Gamma Bomb went off, the door became ajar and Hulk was out. In the first two years, when Bruce has not much of an understanding of the Hulk, he feels like a ticking time bomb, like a dynamite with its fuse lit that’s going to go off at any moment. In year three, once he has more of an understanding, he starts becoming more cognizant of the proverbial door and starts getting more of a ‘feel’ of it, like a subtle pressure at the base of his skull.  Year Four, the roles are reversed and Bruce is the one locked behind the door, but Hulk is fully cognizant of the fact and is actively keeping it locked until he Can’t. Year Five, aka the Current Status Quo, Bruce feels the Hulk as that pressure at the back of his skull that intensifies if he is feeling some kind of way. Sometimes, more often than not really, he will see the Hulk as his reflection instead of his ‘own’ face. They are also becoming more prone to ‘talking’ in the Inner World should they need to communicate, but Hulk usually prefers to give Bruce a ‘sense’ rather than a full blown conversation. 

God this has been a wall of text I hope this makes sense and answers the question lmao.

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I thought about the MCU (Phase One)

I love Marvel. More specifically, I love Marvel movies. And more specific than that, I love Marvel movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (with the occasional Deadpool from the X-Men universe). Within eleven years, we have gotten twenty-three movies. Most of them successful, with a few cracks in the armor here and there. And I want to show my love for this success by reviewing each movie in their respective phase. But I'm going to be doing things a little differently than others before me. I'm going to rank each film from worst to best in each phase of the MCU. After I get through all three phases, I'll rank them all from worst to best, with only a sentence explaining my ranking. With that said, let's get started, shall we?

6th: The Incredible Hulk (5/10)

I wish that I could be that guy who says The Incredible Hulk is an underrated masterpiece that doesn't deserve any of its hate...but I'm not, and it isn't. Don't get me wrong, I do love the first few minutes, I love how the Hulk is presented as a danger rather than a hero, and there is some decent visual storytelling on display. Seriously, there are scenes with little to no dialogue, and it is easy to tell what's going on in the characters' heads from their movements and expressions. Which is a treat, because the lines aren't great, and the delivery is not any better. It's worse with Liv Tyler as Betty Ross, who has two different speech patterns: Shouting and sounding like a robot pretending to be human. Plus, the CGI is butt ugly in this movie, and it's easily the worst in the MCU. Say what you want about Black Panther and it’s CGI, but at least the hero and villain don't look like ugly green blobs punching each other. If you think it's Incredible, more power to you. For me, it's just...meh.

5th-Iron Man 2 (5/10)

I actually like this movie. Or, at least, I like parts of this movie. I like the performances, the action, and a couple of well-handled scenes. For example, the party scene is actually pretty decent as it shows how irresponsible a hero can be when drunk, even if the latter half of it becomes a rock'em sock'em robots fight. Separately, scenes like this work. It's when they're put together does the movie fall flat. There are too many plot points and story threads to follow that the movie becomes a jumbled mess as a result. Also, Sam Rockwell's Justin Hammer is just a dweeb of a villain. Which is a shame because I can see how he can be the perfect foil for Tony Stark. It's just that he lacks a lot of the charisma that RDJ gives his own character. But an even bigger shame is the underutilization of Mickey Rourke as Whiplash, who seems like a unique villain that I would have loved to see more of. But instead, we just get some jerkoff in a suit. That being said, I still don't think Iron Man 2 is as bad as people claim it to be. Yeah, it's bottom five, for sure, but that doesn't mean it isn’t irredeemable.

4th-Thor (6/10)

WHAT IS UP WITH THE EXCESSIVE DUTCH ANGLE SHOTS?! Seriously, was the majority of the movie shot on a hill? Did the crew lost a wheel on one of the cameras and decided to roll with it? Why does it keep happening?!

A dutch angle shot only works if you're showing something cool. NOT whenever you feel like it! 

With that said...this movie is ok. There are some good things to like. Chris Hemsworth definitely has the physique of a Norse god, there are some well-handled comedic moments, and the action is pretty cool at times. It's just that the supporting cast is a little bland, and Thor is not Loki's best appearance. Tom Hiddleston certainly nails the trickster character, but the chaotic personality doesn't really let loose until future movies. Still, I think Thor is fine. And definitely better than Thor: The Dark World.

3rd-Iron Man (7/10)

What can I say about this movie that hasn't been said already? Robert Downey Jr. is still the definitive Iron Man, the acting is top-notch, the action is even better, the CGI still holds up to this day, and the story is pretty amazing...for the most part. The stuff with Jeff Bridges as Iron Monger, while not as bad as everyone else says, is still not as engaging as everything else. Personally, I don't hate him, and I think the final fight between this giant robot man with a tiny robot man is still pretty entertaining. I can maybe see why others wouldn't be as entertained, but that doesn't change how this film is a great start for something big.

2nd-Captain America: The First Avenger (7.5/10)

Now, THIS is an underrated movie...for the most part. I can see why some people can be less than thrilled about certain aspects of this movie, but I can still argue why those aspects don't bother me. Yes, it becomes a cliche action movie halfway through, but at least the action is cool. Yes, the scene where Captain America becomes a dancing monkey is embarrassing, but at least that song slaps. Yes, Red Skull is boringly evil for the sake of an evil villain, but he's a nazi. What were you expecting? The intricate reasons for why he's a nazi? And yes, Captain America's reasoning for crashing the plain is stupid, but...it at least give us two more awesome movies?

Alright, that one I'll give to you.

Regardless, I still consider this my favorite Captain America movie. Because it has moments that come to mind when I think of our star-spangled man. He's the guy who jumps on a grenade to save his fellow soldiers without an ounce of hesitation. He's the guy who will continue to do the right thing, no matter how hard it might be. And he's the guy who has a sense of humor, but not overly quippy like other characters. I'll admit that the other two movies are better, but as for which one has what I love about Captain America, it would have to be his very first adventure as the First Avenger.

1st-The Avengers (9.5/10)

At first, this movie has nothing more than cool action and corny jokes, some funnier than others. But by the time the film reaches The Battle of New York, that's when it goes from a good movie to a great one! Every film before The Avengers has been building up to this gigantic fight. With The Avengers hyping itself up as well. And trust me when I say: It's worth it. Add that with some fun characters with phenomenal chemistry fighting Loki at his best, then you've got yourself one hell of a movie.

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And that's all of the movies in phase one. I'll see you soon as I talk about phase two.

[cutereylochan]

𝐌𝐲 𝐓𝐨𝐩 𝟏𝟎 𝐋𝐨𝐰 𝐊𝐞𝐲/ 𝐑𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 

1. 𝒸𝒶𝓇𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓌𝑜𝑜𝒹 ( 𝒫𝑒𝑔𝑔𝓎 𝒞𝒶𝓇𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝓍 𝒟𝑜𝓉𝓉𝒾𝑒 𝒰𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝓌𝑜𝑜𝒹 ) 

►Dottie’s fascination and interest for Peggy to me is definitely a dangerous woman in love with a tough and independent kind of woman without a doubt. The way Dottie looks at Peggy every time they interact, is absolutely beautiful. Yeah she may be psychotic but god I wanna see more scenes of Dottie teaming up with Peggy. Dottie’s a Catwoman to her Batm-- I mean Batwoman’s Peggy.

2. 𝑒𝒹𝒶𝓃𝒶 (𝐸𝒹𝓌𝒾𝓃 𝒥𝒶𝓇𝓋𝒾𝓈 𝓍 𝒜𝓃𝒶 𝒥𝒶𝓇𝓋𝒾𝓈) 

►The relationship between Edwin Jarvis and his wife is so sweet and precious that I can’t get enough of their adorableness between them as husband and wife. I mean who doesn’t hate them being together as a married couple.

3. 𝒾𝓇𝑜𝓃𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒 (𝒯𝑜𝓃𝓎 𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓇𝓀 𝓍 𝒮𝓉𝑒𝓅𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝒮𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒) 

►Ever since Doctor Strange came out, I’ve always wanted to see Stephen S. teaming up with Tony Stark in battle. And it did at the Infinity war, the chemistry between Stephen and Tony is undeniably amazing and them being together is seriously a love/hate relationship from the way they argue then the next both agreed in each other’s decisions.

4. 𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓁𝑒𝓃 (𝒮𝓉𝑒𝓋𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝑔𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝓍 𝐻𝑒𝓁𝑒𝓃 𝒞𝒽𝑜) 

►This pairing is definitely to me, the rarest of the mcu pairings that deserves to be in the spotlight. They only had a few interactions during the events of AoU though I can’t help but secretly love it when Steve was the only Avenger here who saves Helen not once but twice, one at the Avengers tower when an iron legion was about to kill Helen but was quickly saved by Steve with the help of Thor then second at the U-GIN facility where Steve rescues Helen again, tending her wounds. I mean c’mon, wouldn’t it be kind of sweet if these two are together as a couple? A love story between a soldier and a doctor? I honestly think in my opinion they would’ve been a cute pairing though it is unlikely to most of the Steve R. stans and others loving Helen being a sweet mama to Vision from which I somehow found it a bit weird. 

5. 𝒸𝓁𝒶𝓊𝓇𝒶 (𝒞𝓁𝒾𝓃𝓉 𝐵𝒶𝓇𝓉𝑜𝓃 𝓍 𝐿𝒶𝓊𝓇𝒶 𝐵𝒶𝓇𝓉𝑜𝓃) 

►They are the couple that no one ever expected. It is revealed in Avengers: Age of Ultron that Clint has been married to Laura for his whole career with SHIELD. They live on a farm and have three children together. I know a lot of people didn’t like their relationship because we never saw it develop on screen. I really enjoyed it. I love that Clint is able to have a normal and stable life outside of SHIELD and the Avengers. He has a family to give him a reason to fight and to come home at the end of missions. Laura is very supportive of Clint’s role as an Avenger. She tells him the team needs him to keep them down to earth. I think they are the normal pairing that they MCU needed.

6. 𝒷𝓇𝑒𝓉𝓉𝓎 (𝐵𝓇𝓊𝒸𝑒 𝐵𝒶𝓃𝓃𝑒𝓇 𝓍 𝐵𝑒𝓉𝓉𝓎 𝑅𝑜𝓈𝓈) 

►Bruce and Betty were really good together. I love that Betty loved Bruce even after discovering that he was the Hulk. I love that she wasn’t afraid of him and that she was ready to run with him where ever he wanted to go. She even turned her back on her father after his actions forced Bruce to have to go on the run. Both of them deserve to be together as one of the MCU couples. I really wish the MCU would have brought Betty back as Bruce’s love interest. She was the only woman he ever had a true connection with.

7. 𝒪'𝓀𝒶𝒷𝒾 (𝒪'𝓀𝑜𝓎𝑒 𝓍 𝒲'𝓀𝒶𝒷𝒾) 

►O’koye and W’kabi’s relationship is one of the things that I am horribly invested and how two reticent people who are so in love with wakanda they dedicate their lives to it. Yes, they both have different opinions when it comes to protecting their country yet they both love each other no matter how much they had their differences. However, It’s just highly likely they won’t ever be the same again after the events of the movie. All because of W’Kabi’s shortsightedness. Though I honestly got sweetened from the way they say “my love” to one another. 

8. 𝒹𝒶𝓇𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓃 (𝒟𝒶𝓇𝒸𝓎 𝐿𝑒𝓌𝒾𝓈 𝓍 𝐼𝒶𝓃 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓉𝒽𝒷𝓎) 

►Their relationship at first is professional, kind of like a student helping another student out for their project of some sort. But during the battle of the dark elves in London where Ian unexpectedly saves Darcy then both had a random “My Hero” moment together and kissed. I gotta admit they’re kind of cute together. I mean, a romantic relationship between a very sweet boy and a very impulsive girl reminds me of a high school anime with a genre of romantic drama.

9. 𝒿𝒶𝑔𝑔𝒾𝑒 (𝒥𝒾𝓂 𝒫𝒶𝓍𝓉𝑜𝓃 𝓍 𝑀𝒶𝑔𝑔𝒾𝑒 𝐿𝒶𝓃𝑔) 

►Jim and Maggie’s relationship is one of the most amazing things I have seen in Ant-man and the Wasp when it comes to their relationship with Scott Lang. Maggie and Scott treat each other respectfully as you would another adult and parental figure. She accepted him still being part of Maggie’s family despite her having remarried. These are not two people harping on each other and trying to find flaws and faults. No, the two people who care about each other and trust each other and have each other’s backs. Jim and Scott on the other hand, had a frenemy rocky relationship in the first film but then got along very well as a family together with Maggie and Cassie. How many movies would have gone the route of ex-husband and ex-wife still fighting and being angry or controlling or jealous? When is the last time mainstream movies have allowed two divorced people to simply just be amicable and supportive? Jim and Maggie to me are the relationship goals when it comes to making a truce with their exes and be friends with them.

10. 𝓇𝒶𝓂𝒻𝓊𝓇𝓎 (𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒾𝒶 𝑅𝒶𝓂𝒷𝑒𝒶𝓊 𝓍 𝒩𝒾𝒸𝓀 𝐹𝓊𝓇𝓎)

►The two only a few interactions with Carol but I can’t help love them being together as buddies. Both giving each other fist bumps after successfully eliminating one of Yon-Rogg’s cronies. I don’t consider them as a couple but wouldn’t be interesting if they are?

𝙃𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙈𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨:

► 𝓘𝓻𝓸𝓷𝔀𝓲𝓷𝓰 (𝒟𝒶𝓃𝓃𝓎 𝑅𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓍 𝒞𝑜𝓁𝓁𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒲𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝐼𝓇𝑜𝓃 𝐹𝒾𝓈𝓉)

► 𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓼𝓸𝓷 (𝒮𝒶𝓂 𝒲𝒾𝓁𝓈𝑜𝓃 𝓍 𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒾𝒶 𝐻𝒾𝓁𝓁)

► 𝓻𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓫𝓮𝓻𝓵𝔂 (𝑅𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝒷𝑒𝓇𝓉𝓈 𝓍 𝒜𝓁𝑜𝓎𝓈𝒾𝓊𝓈 𝒮𝒶𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇𝓁𝓎 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝒜𝑔𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝒞𝒶𝓇𝓉𝑒𝓇)

► 𝓼𝓹𝓲𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓵𝓲𝔃 (𝒫𝑒𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒫𝒶𝓇𝓀𝑒𝓇 𝓍 𝐿𝒾𝓏 𝒯𝑜𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓈 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝒮𝓅𝒾𝒹𝑒𝓇𝓂𝒶𝓃: 𝐻𝑜𝓂𝑒𝒸𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑔)

[guerilla935]

Review: The Incredible Hulk (Spoilers)

I was very hesitant to start this movie, this is because I had heard that it wasn’t great and I haven’t seen it before. But I knew that it tied into the rest of the MCU so I felt like I owed it to myself to give it a shot and I’m mostly glad that I did. The Incredible Hulk doesn’t start at the Gamma incident that creates the Hulk but rather starts showing a peace-of-mind seeking Bruce Banner (Ed Norton) who is running from members of the U.S. Government after learning that his Gamma research was not meant to help radiation victims, but rather to weaponize Gamma radiation in tandem with the super soldier serum (used to turn Steve Rogers into Captain America). Banner is being hunted by General Ross (William Hurt) who enlists the aid of Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) and subjects him to human experiments that turn Emil into the Abomination. The rest of the plot follows Bruce fighting to regain his life of solitude while making things right with his ex-girlfriend Betty Ross (Liv Tyler).

So I mentioned before that this movie ties into the MCU, and it does, but also mostly doesn’t and that’s the worst part of this movie. The movie gives a very intimate look at the Hulk that we never get to see in any of the other Marvel movies. The film explains certain things that are never used, or never brought up again, things like Bruce wearing a heart rate monitor to manage when he is about to turn into the Hulk. These details are important to coloring in the battle that Bruce Banner has been fighting with his aggressive side. A scene in the beginning of the film explores how careful Bruce has to be with his blood which ultimately ends up revealing his position to the U.S. Government. I don’t even know if Hulk or Banner ever bleed again in the rest of the series but there are moments in other movies where I would have wished we could have explored cool details like that and have other characters in the MCU either show compassion and try to cure Banner or show interest and try to study him.

I want to take a moment to talk about the action scenes in The Incredible Hulk. The first action scene sees Banner disappear in the soda pop factory that he is working at and becomes the Hulk only to murder an entire squadron of soldiers (minus Emil) and does so hiding in the shadows and only very briefly showing himself. If you know absolutely nothing about the Hulk you are now given the same impression of the Hulk that the U.S. Government and Banner have of the Hulk and that is that he is a monster. This scene sets up really nicely the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde dynamic that leads Banner to so badly desire to find a cure for his illness. The next time we see the Hulk is back home when he confronts Betty Ross and in turn, General Ross as well. This is when Emil returns with the super soldier serum inside him and confronts the Hulk after the Hulk killed his entire team. Emil’s acrobatics in this fight are so reminiscent of Captain America and as an audience member it’s very easy to piece together the fighting choreography here that would set the stage for how the super soldier serum affects Steve Rogers in The First Avenger. Finally, the last confrontation between the Hulk and Emil (now the Abomination). I go back and forth about this fight, the CGI goes from very passable to slightly unbearable and I can’t sell myself on whichever green screen background that they decided on. The fight itself is fun and emotional however the special effects and CGI hasn’t aged as well as other movies from the same era. Also, when Ed Norton gets green eyes before turning into the Hulk it is so cheesy every time and I absolutely hate it.

I’ve talked a lot about Hulk now lets talk about Banner. Ed Norton’s performance as Banner is very sincere and I think he makes a great Hulk that could possibly compete with Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner. His relationship with Betty Ross feels in the realm of King Kong, which is something weird to think about but ends up working fairly effectively in helping the audience understand why they couldn’t be together in the end. In all hindsight, it makes no sense how General Ross lets Betty be around a secret operation to detain an incredibly dangerous monster, but the dynamic between the two becomes one of the most interesting relationships in the movie, setting up General Ross to be a cold villain, both in how he treats his daughter and how he treats his soldiers. Throughout the film Banner has a pen pal called Mr. Blue who pretends to help Bruce and I think that the reveal of who he actually is was something that I was definitely looking forward to but was ultimately disappointed by. At the end of the day the action scenes overshadow the scenes of plot development and that is true with most super hero films but is very apparent in the films like Hulk or Iron Man where the transformation from human to monster is so visual and obvious.

The Incredible Hulk is not a bad movie, but it has aged and has almost no plot significance to the rest of the series. After watching this film I have decided it has only hurt the Hulk of later movies to not include these humanizing details into his character. If anyone has told you to skip this movie then they were right because you don’t really have to, but if you have become a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe then this is definitely worth a watch to see characters like Tony Stark and heavy plot devices like the super soldier serum represented even before they are shown to audiences.

[mo-nighean-rouge]

You Can Call Me- Part III

Special thanks to my beta ‘Betties’, @phoenixflames12 and @whiskynottea

It’s been a bit, so thank you for sticking around!

Modern AU: Inspired by a Fanfiction Trope Mash-up prompt - Bodyguard and secret relationship. A look at the life of Prime Minister Claire Beauchamp behind closed doors.

Previously: Part I | Part II | AO3 | Masterlist

As she attempted to gain her bearings, another figure appeared in her periphery. She looked up to see that her vision of Frank Randall had now doubled, both smirking at her smugly.

Claire blinked once again to clear her vision.

Standing above her were two Franks.

Part III

Claire fought her disorientation as she squinted up at Frank.

“What am I doing here?” she managed to croak out at last. She did her best to shift to a sitting position, inhibited by the rope biting into her bound ankles, flitting her eyes from her feet to her home secretary and narrowing her brow as she did so.

“Oh, my sincerest apologies for that, my dear,” Frank shrugged. “We didn’t think you’d go without a fight.”

Sunlight streamed through the round windows above Claire’s head, warming her back as she took in her surroundings. The dark wood paneling that swirled in her vision at last betrayed their station to be the hold of an old yacht.

“You haven’t answered my question,” Claire bit back, anxiety mounting. Frank’s behavior had made her weary and suspicious before, but his eyes were now cold and calculating, holding dark potential she hadn’t thought him capable of. “Where are we?”

“Your location will be disclosed, Madame,” the deeper voice of the figure looming behind Frank sounded. “At such a time when you…”

Frank waved his hand to cut his identical accomplice off. He hadn’t missed the way Claire curled protectively over her belly. He glared at her middle, his eyes tracing back over her figure to meet her own disdainfully.

“I thought something seemed different about you, Prime Minister Beauchamp.” He looked at her speculatively. “The way you moved.” He leaned closer. “The gleam of your hair.”

His lip curled, making Claire shiver. “It was that hulking bastard that follows you around, wasn’t it?” He stood and began to pace around her slowly, his partner looking on with interest. “He does look at you like a puppy.”

Frank turned suddenly, his next words cutting sharply into the still air. “That’s quite an indiscretion, Claire. What is the public to think, their beloved minister shamed by a child out of wedlock?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Claire spat. “We’re engaged, if you must know. He’ll be here soon.” She could hear her voice waver, even through the haze that was steadily building around her as twinges echoed all over her body.

“I don’t think so, Minister,” the third member of the standoff sneered. He waved a smashed mobile in her line of vision. Hers, she realized. And now destroyed beyond function.

“Claire,” Frank’s face formed a self-satisfied smile. “I don’t believe you know my cousin, Jonathan Wolverton.”

“The family malevolence is hard to miss,” she snorted as the sight of them swam before her. The more she looked at them, she noticed the subtle differences between their appearances. Wolverton’s features were sharper, more haggard. His eyes were more sly, and his sinister grin worried her as to what he might put Frank up to.

Frank and his cousin exchanged glances once more.

“I’m sure you’re anxious, Right Honorable Beauchamp,” Frank sneered. “To know why you’re here today.”

“Please,” Claire bit back. “Don’t keep me in suspense any longer.”

The despicable smirk rounded Frank’s mouth once more. “You never do lose your wit, do you darling?” He straightened and his face grew sterner. “Be careful how you exercise it today.”

Clearing his throat, Frank leaned back against the paneling of the wall, his eyes never leaving her face. “I’m sure you know, Claire, that my true potential is not being met in my current position.”

Her eyebrows rose of their own volition. Frank was barely holding onto his office, going out of bounds with his ideas about limiting the benefits tied to Universal Credit.

“So, you have a couple of choices, Minister,” he continued. “Ring the queen and a few others to withdraw from your position now, making sure to promote my own strong qualities as your successor…”

Claire’s icy stare into Frank’s cold eyes didn’t waver. He must be mental.

“Or, you can sit here and rot with Johnny until you are missed and declared unfit for your own title,” Frank finished, clearly satisfied.

Behind him, Wolverton lifted a pistol from the counter, swaying it menacingly.

Claire cocked her head, even as bile rose in her throat. Time was of value in this predicament, and the surest way to gain it would be to humor Frank by pretending to consider his options.

“Do you truly think either of those plans will work?” She tried to keep her voice even. “I’ll be missed this afternoon. Today’s events are held dear in the hearts of a great percentage of the United Kingdom’s population, whether you give a care for its diverse voices or not.”

Frank tipped his head, lips pursed. “Fine. You may do it the hard way.” He strode to the door, not sparing a glance behind him. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be making some appearances to apologize for your unforgivable absence and offer Her Majesty and the people what counsel I can in response to your grievous apathy.”

At that moment, the yacht tipped and he was thrown off balance, wobbling as the floor shook beneath them. He threw a concerned glance to Jonathan, whose face mirrored the same startlement and confusion.

Claire’s heart raced. She’d seen Jamie make quick work of a situation before, but she didn’t know if she could dare to hope that he’d already found his way to her. She was barely able to finish the thought when the yacht tilted again and her eyes and stomach rolled in unified discomfort. The wooden floors of the boat creaked ominously as it rocked back and forth, settling into motion.

“Tell him the child is mine.” Frank grinned, his voice was soft with malice, his face barely an inch from her own.

“I beg your pardon?” Claire choked.

Randall pulled her up to face him, bony fingers digging into the flesh of her upper arms. “I’ve thought of a third, more generous option for you,” he began, grasping her cheeks with his chilled palms. “Acknowledge the child as my own and marry me. And of course, accept any and all of my political counsel.”

Claire grimaced in his grasp, unable to stop the memories of just a few nights ago from resurfacing.

“Are ye no’ feeling any better, mo nighean donn?” The sound of Jamie pacing outside the locked loo door had further tightened the knot in her belly as she had stared down at the plastic wand in her shaking grasp. It would be just 30 seconds before either her life would change, or her hopelessness would be affirmed.

“Do ye suppose it’s something ye ate?” Jamie’s voice cut into her thoughts again. “Should I speak with Mrs. Fitz? Or even run another sweep of the kitchen…” He rambled urgently. He was surely anxious to see her, as she hadn’t emerged since his return to the suite from a debriefing with Murtagh and the other lads.

The timer shrilled as her mobile reverberated against the marble countertop.

“Claire?” Jamie’s voice drew closer as he leaned against the other side of the door.

“A bit of privacy, Jamie, really!” she responded at last, sharper and louder than she had intended.

A dead silence, followed by the slow shuffling of boots down the hallway toward the sitting room.

She squeezed her eyes shut in regret, then took a deep, shuddering breath, turning the stick over in her palms.

Claire felt her cheeks warm and her eyes flood as she studied the distinct lines that had formed in only moments, but would determine the course of her life for years to come. She covered her mouth as a noise of unidentifiable feeling attempted to escape.

It was the best that news that she could imagine, that which had filled her dreams abstractly in recent years, especially after holding her newly born nephew for the first time.

But countless doctors had been almost certain that no, such a promise was not in the cards for her.

Now that promise would be fulfilled at a time when she had least expected it, with a man that she had never dared to hope for.

She had dragged Jamie into every aspect of her life in the past year, asking him to give up more than she could offer in return. He had done so completely, constantly. His presence fitted into her empty spaces naturally, filling gaps that she hadn’t acknowledged before.

Claire had even been the one to initiate a proposal to him, seeking stability and something for them both to look forward to under the strain of her office and the unknown future. But as soon as he realized what she was doing, he had taken over, calloused palms holding her jaw delicately, wiping the tears from her face just as she did his own.

But this. She couldn’t ask him to rise to a role they had never discussed, accept a circumstance that she had thought impossible.

Claire suspected how he might feel. She had observed the look on his face as she visited her brother’s patients in the pediatric ward of the local hospital.

But what if this was his breaking point? Raising a child while they were still very much in the public eye, opening them up to gossip about the abrupt timeline of their relationship and impending marriage.

She wasn’t ready to watch him walk out of the door for the last time, unwinding his soul from hers. But she would have to let him go. She couldn’t prolong the impasse any more.

Claire tucked the evidence into the pocket of her dressing gown and twisted the doorknob slowly. Her light steps creaked on the old floorboards, causing Jamie to look up sharply as she appeared in the doorway in front of him.

His knee bounced under him and the fingers of his right hand tapped against his thigh, his face unreadable. The dim light reflected in his piercing gaze, casting shadows over his features. He stood stiffly as she came closer.

She shook her head and placed her hand on his shoulder, guiding him back into Lamb’s overstuffed arm chair.

Jamie braced her thighs to help her settle as she climbed onto his lap, pressing her forehead against his. His fingers resumed their rhythm, this time on her knee as she remained silent.

“Please, dinna keep me in the dark,” he rasped, breath stilted against her ear.

Claire’s loose braid bobbed against her neck with the subtle movement of her head. She cupped his cheek, his face contorting as he leaned into her touch.

Her mouth slowly collided with his, her hot tears streaming into the mix of their lips and fingers. One last time, she thought.

Jamie grasped her hips, tightening his hold as she pulled back, his eyes suddenly wild, fearful.

Claire took a quaking breath and extracted the future from her pocket. She held it within his line of vision, bracing for impact.

He met her gaze, then trailed down to what was clenched in her grip, blinking at the two pink lines, stark against their white background. His eyes flew up to hers, his hand landing over her belly.

A shuddering gasp emitted from Jamie. His features trembled as his eyes shone. “Christ, but I should have known.” His low laugh vibrated where her ribs pressed into his.

“What?” Claire chirped.

Jamie’s hands trailed lower, caressing and inspecting. “Ye’ve been aglow, and ripe as a peach.” He hummed in approval, rolling the ‘r’ sound as his burr thickened.

Claire squirmed and pinched his shoulder in retaliation, tampering down her rising elation as she waited for reality and rationale to settle over him.

“How far along are we, do you think?” he asked, one hand settling to rub circles into her lower back, while the other returned to its place of honor on her abdomen.

She swallowed thickly, the question still pressing. “W-we? You want this?”

Before she realized what he was doing, Jamie’s hands met each other to cup the back of her head, drawing their faces close as his mouth twitched to the side. “It’s everything I could want, Claire.” The words rumbled from deep in his chest. “Ye and our… our child. Our wee family.”

Claire laid her cheek against his shoulder and allowed the air to flow freely through her. “It’s just… You’ve already given me so much…”

Jamie shrugged to urge her back up. She nearly couldn’t face the dismay he did little to hide. “And ye thought I’d do less for ye now?”

She shook her head, mussed curls falling from her hair tie.

“Shh shh shh,” he cooed into her ear as he brought her closer against him. He didn’t have to hear it again to understand that the anxiety she battled after losing so many loved ones in the early stages of her life had tried to rule her heart again. He rocked her as if she were a babe herself, letting their connection speak for them.

At last, Jamie patted her rear to indicate he was going to lift her, then stepped lightly across the apartment to lower her onto the edge of the bed. Before she could lie down and roll over, he clutched the tie to her dressing gown. “May I?” he whispered, adoration gazing into her eyes.

Claire nodded, touched. She held and kissed the top of his head as he untied the knot, then raised her arms one by one as he freed her of the lightweight robe, leaving her clad in a summery vest top and shorts. She scooted backward on the mattress as he shed his boots and outerwear, then crawled toward her. Eyes locked on hers, he rolled her shirt up and tenderly palmed her flat belly.

They whispered to each other for what felt like hours before Jamie reached for the Burns collection that had taken up permanent residence on the nightstand since he had begun to stay over regularly. Claire drifted off as his reading voice grew lower and slower, the lamplight glowing outside her eyelids.

Claire stirred by the dawn’s light to a shift in her surroundings. Before running the back of her hand over his pillow as she was accustomed, she gazed down to find the light quilt drawn down around her knees, and Jamie crouched by her bare belly.

As Claire awakened fully, she recognized the low cadence of Jamie’s voice, rumbling in Gaelic phrases. Some she’d heard in her own ear, others she didn’t recognize. Once he had finished speaking and was reaching for the quilt to cover them again, she planted her hand on his head, fingers raking through his wavy locks.

Jamie looked up at her slowly, cheeks tinted pink. “I didna realize...”

“It was so special to hear it,” she admitted. “Unless you would rather I didn’t.”

A grin lit up his face. “I dinna mind. No secrets, remember?”

Claire nodded, all other thoughts fleeing from her mind as he grabbed onto her knees and placed a kiss on the inside of each before continuing higher.

A jolt returned her to the present, leaving only the ache in her chest. No, Jamie would never believe it. But Frank would doubtlessly be in danger if he so much as suggested such a notion in the presence of the former.

________________________________________

The wee fool had positioned his under-renovation yacht far out on the Thames. It was perhaps inconspicuous, unless one knew what to look for.

Jamie leapt from the secured speedboat to the deck of the yacht just as Murtagh disarmed the guard in front of the main cabin.

Murtagh advanced on the cockpit, leaving the first man in Jamie’s vengeful hands. He delivered a few harsh blows, enough to put the man under for a while, and handcuffed his bulky wrist to the railing.

He watched his godfather do the same to the man at the wheel, before shifting gears and taking a sharp turn back to shore.

Jamie pressed his ear against the door of the cabin, ready to enter but afraid of what he might find. He had no doubt that Claire had been brought here, and against her will at that.

He raised his boot to the doorjamb, kicking with the power of the adrenaline that his fear had amassed for the past two hours.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, they narrowed in on the sight before him. Frank Randall was sitting on a bench on the other side of the cabin, tossing back a cocktail with one hand and pressing Claire to his side with the other. At first glance, Jamie was relieved to see her conscious and upright. But as he looked closer, she appeared dizzy and anxious, barely keeping her eyes open. He wondered if she would be able to sit up if she was under her own power.

“Agent Malcolm!” crowed Randall. “You know, I don’t recall extending an invitation to you.”

“Dinna make this difficult, Secretary,” Jamie responded cautiously. Though it killed him, he couldn’t make a sudden movement with Randall closer to Claire than he was. He didn’t know what weapons the man might produce. “Unhand the minister and no one will be hurt.”

Randall sniffed, setting his drink to the side. “Well you see, there’s no harm here,” He shrugged. “Just celebrating my impending fatherhood. His gestured to Claire with a tilt of his chin.

Claire’s eyes floated toward Jamie, wide with relief at his appearance, all the while begging him to remember the truth.

“You heard me correctly, Malcolm,” Randall snickered, drawing his filthy hand lower on Claire’s hip. “Sorry to dash your little fantasy of romance.”

Jamie barely registered the man’s words as he watched Claire struggle in the man’s hold. “I ken that to be false,” he growled. “And if I find out otherwise, I’ll kill ye for the way she cowers from you now.”

Taking his chance, Jamie lurched across the room and dragged Randall up, heart clenching as Claire slipped to the floor in the process. “Frank Randall, you are under arrest for the abduction of—”

“Mr. Fraser,” a voice boomed. “Isn’t it considered rude to not speak to everyone when entering a room?”

Jamie froze with Randall’s collar bunched in his fist. In the periphery, he noticed Claire’s eyes shift to the unidentified voice, as well. No one in London knew his true name unless he had entrusted them with it. He had entered Protection Command as Alexander Malcolm, and that was the only way anyone needed to know him.

A figure emerged from the shadows cast by the scarce natural light. Jamie squinted as he took the man in. At first glance he seemed to be a grotesque caricature of Frank Randall, with scars marking his countenance and dark circles highlighting his glaring eyes.

“Perhaps I should introduce myself.” He nodded slowly, apparently taking in the situation before him. “Jonathan Wolverton, at your service.” Reaching out to shake Jamie's hand and realizing that it was otherwise engaged, he shrugged.

Jamie tensed. “Wolverton… Ye’re the man who—”

“Denied James Fraser acceptance to the London Metropolitan Police Force.” Wolverton nodded. “Yes, yes. Clever of you to reapply under a different name. Thought you’d given me the slip, didn’t you? Gave me cause to consider you more strongly.”

“But why?” Jamie asked. Why did this matter now?

“Well, we couldn’t have a family connected to a military scandal sully the name of the force, could we?” He smirked. “Brian Fraser caused quite a stir when he abandoned his post in Kosovo.”

“W-what?” Randall spluttered, forcing his head out of Jamie’s headlock. “This is James Fraser?”

Jamie tried to hold on to his patience. He didn’t have time for this debate when he could see that Claire was slipping away from him, her breath drawing shallower.

“My father was declared killed in action after being missing for years, Mr. Wolverton. I dinna care to discuss it further.”

Before Jamie could react, Wolverton was standing over Claire. He yanked her up, half by her hair and half by her underarm as she yelped.

“The thing is, Fraser, I know something you don’t.” The man smirked before a prolonged pause. “Brian Fraser was spotted in Canada, around three months ago.”

Jamie shifted. He knew better than to listen to this farce, but was sorely tempted to believe that this man might bear some truth. That his father might be out there somewhere.

“I knew I could get your attention.” Wolverton stepped closer, shoving Claire along. With his free hand, he rummaged in his breast pocket and produced a small blade, holding it delicately to her cheek. “And so I’ve a proposition for you. You help me lure good ole Da back to London, and I won’t harm the prime minister… very much.”

“Johnny, we said we weren’t going to hurt her!” Randall growled the words out as he struggled in Jamie’s tightening hold.

Without a second thought, Jamie hurled Randall across the room toward Wolverton, who dropped Claire in his effort to dodge his cousin. Claire landed hard on her bottom, but recovered enough to swing her bound feet around and trip both men, who had staggered, trying to stay upright.

They hit the ground hard, neither successful in their efforts to stand against the yacht’s rocking motion.

“You used me!” Randall bellowed, clawing at his cousin.

Jamie closed in on the mix in time to be struck in the face by the butt of Wolverton’s drawn pistol. He grunted and staggered for a moment, but managed to get a hold of Randall’s lapels, promptly pulling him out of the struggle and bashing his head into the marble countertop.

Jamie spotted Wolverton crawling toward a quickly drooping Claire. He caught the bastard by the seat of his trousers, turning him around and clutching at his jugular.

He could kill them.

He could kill them both.

He could break their necks with his bare hands for threatening to harm his family. But something in the knowing gleam in Wolverton’s eye stopped him. It offered him the promise of reunion, or at least of closure. Jamie struck several sedating blows to the man’s face, then watched him sloppily fold to the floor.

Jamie huffed hot air from his nose and mouth before falling to Claire’s side. She was quickly responsive to his touch, whimpering and leaning into him in her compromised state.

“Shh, shh. I ken. Mo ghraidh, mo calman geal. Dinna fash.”

He sliced the rope that bound her wrists, then freed her ankles, wincing to see the blisters burned into her swollen skin. He tried to lift her into his lap just as she raised herself to her knees to stand. He tsked between his teeth, but gripped her elbows as she rose.

Claire reached for him, hands trembling as she swept her thumb across the cut under his eye.

He hissed at the contact against the open wound, but couldn’t find the energy to truly mind. He basked in her touch, preserved for him after all.

“Oh, Baby,” her voice wavered.

Before Jamie could answer, Claire went limp in his arms, dead weight held up only by her oxters draped over his elbows.

 To Be Continued...