'Culver University, Virginia' appears on the screen. Bruce is reading a newspaper. 'Days without incident: 17' appear. He walks into the building and notices you need ID to get in.
"Good luck trying to get past." Quill said.
"Actually... I found a way in." Bruce said. It wasn't how he would've preferred but it worked so he didn't care.
He walks up to a sign and sees 'Dr Elizabeth Ross- cellular biology. Betty walks out of the building with two people, Bruce watches.
"Creepy." Shuri commented.
"Yeah, I know." Bruce sighed.
Betty sits down on a bench and Bruce ducks behind a tree, she smiles as a man walks toward her.
"That's gotta sting." Quill said.
"It did but... it was fair. I left... I hurt her... I couldn't-" Bruce said, cutting himself off. "Nevermind."
Bruce walks up to a place called 'Stanley's' An old man puts a closed sign up. Bruce taps on the glass. The man opens the door for him once he sees who it is.
"A friend of yours?" Sam asked.
"Yeah." Bruce answered.
Bruce tells him that whatever he's heard about him isn't true.
Stan says that he knows, and asks if he's talked to Betty.
Bruce says he hasn't and that she doesn't know he's here and asks if she's seeing someone.
Stan says she is and that he's a nice guy.
"Well, at least the guy's nice." Steve said.
Stan asks if there's something he can help with.
Bruce asks if he could stay for a few nights.
Stan says he can have the spare room.
"He seems like a nice dude." Scott said.
"He was one of mine and Betty's closest friends, actually." Bruce explained. "We've known each other for a while."
Bruce says that there's another thing he can help with.
"What are you gonna do?" Clint asked.
Bruce is riding a bicycle wearing a pizza delivery uniform.
"Okay... what?" Rhodey asked.
"I had to get in somehow." Bruce said.
He walks up to the guy at the desk and says that he has a delivery on the 5th floor.
The man says that there's no one up there.
"Uh oh."
Bruce says his boss will give him hell if he doesn't collect and that he needs to try. He tells the man that he has an extra medium and he can have it for free. The man lets him up.
"You bribed him so he'd let you in?" Natasha smiled. "That's so unlike you, Bruce."
Bruce walks into a lab, flashes of different memories appear. He blinks them away. He sits down at a computer and logs in, only to find that all the data is gone.
"I am groot."
"Yeah, it isn't good." Rocket said.
He texts Mr Blue. 'Mr Green, how goes the search?'
'The data is gone'
'without it, I cannot help. so what now?'
'I've got to keep moving'
"This Mr Blue guy still seems a little shady." Maria said.
"Oh he was." Bruce said.
Inside a bedroom, Bruce zips up a bag and grabs his coat.
Stan walks out of the kitchen and says that they're closed.
Betty says that it's Friday night, asking him to let them in. She's with someone.
Stan says he has nothing but marinara left.
"Great for drinking." Peter joked. The only time anyone should ever drink marinara is for a dare. Not that he's none it. No siree.
Betty asks for a Mr Pink.
Her friend says that she worked through dinner.
"Relatable." Tony said.
Bruce walks through the kitchen asking for Stan. Betty and her friend are having a conversation. Betty looks behind him and sees Bruce in the kitchen.
"This could go either 1 of 2 ways amazing or terrible." Rocket said.
Betty gets up and walks to the alley behind the building.
"Bruce?" Natasha asked.
"How was I supposed to face her again after I put- after I put her in the hospital?" Bruce asked. "She could've been dead... and it would've been my fault."
She calls Bruce's name. Bruce is hiding behind the dumpster.
Betty's friend comes out to the alley and asks what's going on.
Betty runs back into the building she walks back over to Stan and tells him to confirm what she saw.
"You did see what you thought you saw." Bruce said.
Stan says he doesn't know what to say.
Betty tells him to tell the truth.
Bruce is walking down the street in the rain, Betty drives up behind him and gets out of her car. They run toward each other and hug. Betty tells him not to go.
"So it didn't go terrible." Rocket muttered.
"I'm not crying, you're crying." Ned said.
Betty says she wants him to come with her. She pulls into her driveway.
Betty hands Bruce an small box with a flash drive in it. She tells him that its their data.
"Oh, good you got your data back." Strange said.
"How does she still have it?" Peter asked. "I thought they'd have taken it from her."
Betty says she got in before they carted it away, she says she hoped that it could tell them something.
Bruce asks if Ross knows about it.
"I hope not." Tony said.
Betty says she doesn't think he does because they haven't spoken in a couple years.
Bruce says that she needs to be sure.
She says she doesn't understand why they can't talk to him.
"It wouldn't have been safe for either of us if we did." Bruce said.
Bruce says that Ross told him that he wants to dissect the Hulk and weaponize it.
"If I didn't think Ross was an asshole before, I do now." Gamora said.
Ross enters an old lab. He opens a container and pulls out a vial of blue liquid.
"Idiot." Clint mumbled.
Betty walks up to Bruce. They greet each other. She hands him a few things. She says she thought he might want to- She finishes the sentence with a gesture.
Bruce thanks her and says that he should leave as soon as he can.
"Damn."
Betty asks if he can't stay at all.
Bruce says he wants to but it isn't safe, he asks to borrow some cash because he needs to take a bus.
Betty asks him to let her walk him to the station and if he has everything he needs.
Bruce looked away from the screen. He missed Betty. He never wanted to leave but it was better for her- better for everyone that he did. He couldn't risk hurting her again, he'd never forgive himself if he did.
Blonsky walks into a room, he's shirtless. Ross says that they're giving him a low dose and that he needs to be sharp and disciplined in the field and at the first sign of side effects, he they're going to pull him off the team until he straightens himself out.
"Except you didn't and he only got worse." Bruce muttered. "More obsessed with completing the impossible task that you gave him."
Blonsky agrees. The doctor he'll get 2 infusions one into the muscle and one into the bone marrows, he warns Blonsky that the bone ones will hurt. Blonsky gets an injection on either side of his neck, they turn him over and inject one into his back.
"Oh my God." Pepper whispered.
"That's not even the worst thing he volunteered for." Bruce muttered.
Bruce and Betty are outside. Betty asks if everything's okay.
Bruce says he thinks so.
Betty un-tucks his shirt and says it looks better like that.
"She's right." Natasha said.
She takes his hat off and ruffles his hair. Bruce looks over her shoulder and notices some soldiers and tells Betty she has to get as far away from him as she can and tells her not to argue. He starts running.
"Idiots." MJ says. (Meaning the army)
Ross says that they would have had snipers on the target in 3 minutes and he wants to know who jumped the gun. The men and vehicles pull into a large field. Blonsky starts running faster. Ross tells him not to go in yet.
"He won't listen." Clint said.
Bruce starts running through the outside of the building, he quickly moves inside. He starts running through a library and up the stairs soldiers chase him. He ducks behind a bookshelf, takes the flash drive and eats it.
Bruce rubbed his throat, remembering what that felt like.
"You ate it?" Hank asked, incredulously.
"Had nowhere else I could put it." Bruce said.
"Fair." Hank replied.
Betty goes to stop one of the vehicles. Betty begs them to stop and calls out to Ross, saying that she knows he's in there, then continues begging for him to stop.
"Listen to your daughter." Nebula said.
A soldier says that they have visual on the target.
Ross tells them not to engage.
The soldiers that were chasing him lock him in the room. Ross says to put 2 canister in with him. The room starts fogging up, Bruce uses his shirt to cover his face.
"That won't help for long." Natasha said.
Betty starts running. Ross says to get her back there. Betty elbows one of the soldiers in the face the other one tackles her.
Bruce's eyes turn green. He puts his hand against the glass and it starts turning green. Hulk punches the glass. Ross says that she'll see what Bruce is now.
"So let me get this straight. He made you turn into the Hulk so Betty could see who you really are?" Bucky asked.
Bruce nodded. "Didn't really work out the way he planned, though. It made her want to defend me even more."
Hulk jumps down and roars. Ross says to let Bruce have all of it. The bullets bounce off of Hulk's skin.
"Bulletproof, nothing to lose." Ned sang.
"Fire away, fire away." Shuri continued.
Ross tells the soldiers to move their asses. Hulk pushes over one of the vehicles. He picks up the other one and starts smashing things with it. He throws something at two more Vehicles and they explode. Two college kids start recording.
"You'd think that they'd be running, but no." Bruce said.
"They're college kids." Strange explained. "This is kind of what they do."
Ross tells Blonsky that he's up. Blonsky drops his gun, grabs someone else's and walks toward Hulk. He fires at him.
Hulk picks up a piece of metal to use as a shield. He picks up another piece and starts charging toward Blonsky. Blonsky asks Hulk if he remembers him.
"He probably does." Bruce said. "And I don't think he's too pleased to see you again."
Blonsky leaps up, grabs a handgun and starts shooting Hulk in the face. Hulk starts swinging at him with his metal. Ross tells Blonsky to move Hulk toward the cannons. Hulk starts chasing Blonsky. Two vehicles start emitting giant sound waves.
Bruce flinched. He had vague memories of how painful that was. Sometimes he felt like he could still hear it.
Hulk tries to block it with the metal, then starts screaming. Betty begs them to stop, and says that they're killing him.
"Listen to her." Gamora said.
She screams Bruce's name, but its distorted. Hulk gets up off the ground he throws a piece of metal at one of the vehicles, slicing it in half, then jumps and crushes the other one. Blonsky picks up another gun and starts shooting.
Ross tells Blonsky to pull back.
Blonsky rips his earpiece out. Blonsky asks Hulk if that's all he has.
"Taunting him is not the smartest idea." Bruce said.
"They're making him angrier and in turn, making their jobs harder." Natasha said.
Hulk kicks him into a tree.
"And that is why we do not taunt." Scott said.
Ross says to fall back. Betty's friend starts running toward her and yells her name. Betty walks toward hulk. Ross tells them to fire. A helicopter appears behind Hulk it starts shooting. Hulk moves to cover Betty from the bullets.
"So like he does know the difference between who's an enemy and who isn't?" T'Challa asked.
"Kind of." Bruce said, remembering the incident on the heli-carrier.
Ross tells them to stop firing. Hulk throws the other piece of metal at the helicopter. It falls out of the sky and explodes. Hulk hugs Betty to protect her from the explosion. Ross screams, thinking he just lost his daughter.
"As much as I hate to say this, if Betty died in that explosion it would have been Ross's fault." Thor said.
"And even though he knows that, he won't stop." Bruce said.
Hulk stood up, with Betty in his arms, he growls at Ross.
"Same" Peter whispered.
Betty's friend is sitting on a porch. Ross walks out of the house and says that he did the right thing by calling them and that he needs to know where they're going because she's in danger if she's with Bruce.
"Technically, you're the only one who's put her in any danger so far." Peggy said. "Hulk seems to be able to recognize that she's important and therefore I don't think she'd be in any real danger with him."
Betty's friend says that Bruce protected her, and that Ross was the one who almost got her killed.
"He's right." Maria mumbled.
Ross says that Betty's safety is his main concern.
"I don't believe you." Natasha said.
"I think my capture is his main concern." Bruce said.
Betty's friend says that his point of professional pride is that he can always tell when someone's lying.
The spies in the room all made noises of agreement.
He tells Ross that he's lying and that Betty will help Bruce in any way she can.
Ross says she's aiding a fugitive and he can't help either of them.
Betty's friend says that he used to wonder why she never talked about Ross, but he knows why now.
"Damn. No matter how true it may be, that is still one of the most hurtful insults. But then again, it's not really an insult if its true, right." Scott said.
Hulk jumps down into a stream, Betty still in his arms. He walks up to a small cave and sits her down.
"He's protecting her." Quill said. "That's sweet."
Betty opens her eyes and screams. Hulk hits his head on the roof of the cave. A clash of thunder is heard. Hulk throws a rock at the sky and roars.
"He doesn't like storms?" Tony asked.
She tries to lead him back into the cave, she tells him to watch his head. They sit down in the cave. She says that they're okay and its just the rain.
"That's nice and strangely sweet." Hope smiles.
General Ross enters a hospital room. He asks if Blonsky will be able to walk again.
The nurse says that most of his bones are crushed gravel.
"Holy shit." Quill whispers. Bruce paled. He did that.
The nurse opens up a curtain and says that Blonsky has a heart like a machine and he's never seen anything like it apart from a racehorse.
"Wow." Shuri said.
Ross steps inside and looks at Blonsky's bloody body then walks away. Blonsky's fingers twitch, he curls his hand into a fist and opens an eye.
A few people looked away. They were squeamish leave them alone, Blonsky's blood covered and scarred skin was not something they felt comfortable looking at.
Betty is walking out of a store, Bruce is sitting on the ground behind a vending machine. The scene switches again. Bruce is in the shower he looks up at the shower head and sees a gun shooting at him. He flinches and falls down.
Bruce sighed, he hated PTSD. Steve shot him a sympathetic look. Flashbacks were not a fun thing to deal with, he should know.
Betty opens the door to their motel room, she had 2 bags in her hand, She hears Bruce vomiting.
"Why are you throwing up?" Rocket asked.
"I had to get the data back." Bruce said and shuddered. That was an experience he did not want to remember, thank you very much.
Bruce steps out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth and greets her. Betty asks if he's okay.
Bruce says he feels better and that he had to get their data back.
Betty asks if he ate it.
Bruce says that the circumstances called for improvisation.
Everyone giggled. "I mean... do what you must, I guess." Rhodey said.
She empties the contents of one of the bags, she tosses him a new watch, and a pair of purple pants. Bruce just says no and tosses the pants back to her.
"What? I think you'd rock those purple pants." Tony said.
"Purple and green do compliment each other." Natasha teased.
Betty says that they were the stretchiest ones they had.
Bruce says that he's take his chances.
A few people smiled at the banter between to two. "Are you 100% sure you'd rather take that chance?" Sam asked.
Ross is watching TV. A reporter talks about rumors regarding a clash between the military and an unknown adversary at Culver University. She introduces two boys, Jack and Jim, who witnessed it.
One of them says it was huge and calls it a Hulk.
"There you have it folks, Hulk is the only adjective fit to describe Hulk." Tony said.
The reporter says that one of the boys is a reporter for the canvas paper and he recorded the fight on his phone. Then she says that thunderstorms have postponed the search for the Hulk.
"Well, thank God for thunderstorms, I guess." Clint said.
Betty is cutting Bruce's hair. Bruce tells her not to cut it too short.
Betty reminds him that she's done this before. She runs her fingers through his hair a few times and says that she doesn't know how he's done this on his own his whole life.
Bruce says he does it with clippers.
"Haha." Tony said.
"I don't think that's what she meant, Bruce." Maria said.
Betty bends down and kisses his cheek. Bruce stands up and kisses her. They start making out, he leads her to the bed, his watch starts beeping, he tells her to wait and that they can't do this.
Betty says its okay and she wants to.
Bruce says that he can't get too exited. He rests his head on her chest in apology.
A few people looked at Bruce, he ducked his head and sighed.
Ross is looking at a map, smoking a cigar.
"I just realized this, both of the 'villains' so far have been old white men who smoke cigars, does that tell you anything?" Shuri asked.
"Stay away from white men who smoke?" Peter asked.
A woman walks into the room and tells him about Blonsky he walks with her to where Blonsky was previously.
Ross asks if anyone knows if he had a next of kin.
The woman says to ask him himself.
"What? He- he's awake?" Gamora asked.
"How is that possible?" Strange asked.
Blonsky is sitting on the bed being helped by a nurse, he greets Ross.
Ross walks to him and says its good to see him on his feet.
Blonsky thanks him.
Ross asks how he feels.
Blonsky says he's pissed off and he's ready for round 3.
"Well, he's a fighter. I'll give him that." Sam commented.
"Right? He should be dead after what Hulk did to him." Shuri agreed.
"Well... he was injected with a serum. Maybe that has something to do with it." Clint suggested.
Bruce empties the contents of Betty's purse onto the bed and says that they can't use any of it because the government can track it all.
Betty asks about her lip gloss.
Bruce says she can take it.
Betty says she needs her glasses.
"You probably should've been clearer on what you couldn't take." Maria said.
"Probably." Bruce agreed. "I thought it was obvious. Don't take anything that can be tracked."
Bruce says she can take her glasses and her watch and says that they can use everything but credit cards, ID and phones, then he says they can take the cash.
"There you go." Maria said.
Betty asks how they're going to get to where they need to with 40$ and no credit cards, then says that they can sell her necklace.
Bruce says that its the only thing she has left from her. Betty says they can try and get it back.
"Where, even, are you trying to go?" Quill asked.
"New York." Bruce answered.