A Lost Legacy - Bruce Banner

Chapter 3

Bruce's POV: The drive to Bailey's mom's house was about thirty minutes. I decided to turn on some classical music for the drive to relieve tension. I didn't want to Hulk out or anything in front of her mom.

"So..." I trailed off, breaking the silence.

"How's your mom treating you?" I asked.

"Honestly, it's miserable there. She hits me when she gets angry, she hit me in the face when I was a kid, and honestly I just hate her and I hate living there." she said.

I gripped the steering wheel a little harder causing my knuckles to turn white. Hearing that she was treated badly made me so angry that I started to turn a little green. I quickly acted on impulse to turn up the classical music and to try to relax again.

Bailey looked at me in fear.

"I'm sorry." I said.

"It's okay." she replied.

We pulled up to her mom's house which was relatively small. We both got out of the car and went up to the front door. I knocked a little aggressively on the door and the both of us waited for an answer.

The door flung open and there stood a woman who looked to be about 5 feet tall.

"Bailey I was so worried about you. Where have you been? I heard about the monster at your school. Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did the horrible, ugly, and big green monster hurt you?" the woman said, hugging the young teenager.

"Mom, I'm fine. And actually, I have something to tell you. Or should I say we have something to tell you." Bailey replied, gesturing towards me.

"Who is this?" her mom asked.

"Ma'am, I'm Dr. Bruce Banner. I'm Bailey's biological father, and that big green monster that you saw was actually Bailey, it was the she-hulk form of Bailey." I said.

"I don't understand. You're telling me that my child is some horrible monster?" the woman asked.

"Not at all. I'm telling you that your child has anger management issues that can get ugly." I replied.

"I'm sorry, but I can't raise a monster like her. I'm done with this." she replied, closing the door in our faces.

At that point, I got so mad that I thought the other guy would come out, but then I remembered I had a 13 year old girl I had standing next to me. I turned to face her. She had a sad look on her face and tears in her eyes.

I simply gave her a hug and stroked her hair.

"I'm sorry." I said.

"It's okay. Someone like her doesn't deserve kids anyway." she said, sniffling and going back to the car.

I got into the car, took a deep breath, and I drove the two of us back to the Avengers headquarters. The drive back was silent and awkward for the most part.

"Hey, I just wanna know something. What was the last thing you remember before turning into a she-hulk?" I asked.

"Some kids at school were bullying me and making fun of me and then I just got really angry." she replied.

"I'm really sorry you had to go through that." I said, giving her a sympathetic look.

"Hey, um Bruce, I have a question." she said.

"What's up?" I asked.

"What happened to my mom? Like my biological mom?" she asked, looking up at me.

I took a deep breath before answering her question. Thinking about Betty, thinking about how I would have to tell Bailey what happened to Betty the day that she was born terrified me. I didn't want her to find out, but she had to know the truth.

I shook my head and looked at her.

"I'll let you know when we get back. What happened with your mom is a lot to take in and I don't want you to freak out in the car." I said, turning my head to look back at the road.

"You didn't do anything to hurt her, did you?" she asked.

"God no, I would never do that. I could never do that. I loved your mom with all my heart. I still do love your mom, it's just, what happened with her is complicated." I said.

She nodded her head and looked out the window.

"You don't have a cell phone, do you?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"We'll get you one in the next few days." I declared.

She smiled at that and whispered a little "thanks dad" that I probably wasn't supposed to hear, but still heard anyway. I drove the rest of the way back to headquarters with a stupid grin on my face.

As soon as we got to headquarters, Bailey was up my ass asking me all sorts of questions about her mom.

"Bailey, I need you to come with me to the lab." I said.

She nodded her head and followed me down to the lab and I sat her down in a chair to tell her what happened to her mother.

"The day you were born was actually the best and worst day of my life. I am so glad that your mom and I brought you into this world and I am so glad that you're here with me, but when your mom was in labor, she was in a lot of distress and she didn't survive the childbirth. She didn't even get the chance to hold you. I didn't want to raise you on my own yet because I wasn't ready to be a single parent so I made the ultimate decision to give you up for adoption. Had I known that you would turn out like me, I never would've given you up." I told her.

She had a heart broken look on her face and I honestly didn't know what else to do, so I just hugged her.

"I love you kid. It's not your fault. Don't beat yourself up over this. Your mom wouldn't want you to." I said.

She nodded her head and she eventually fell asleep in my arms.

I carried her upstairs and put her in a small bedroom that we had for any heroes that needed a place to stay.

After I put her to bed, I got out my phone and I called Nick Fury. I was sure he would want to hear about what's going on.

"Hey, listen, I need your help." I said as soon as he answered the phone.

"Help with what?" he asked sternly.

"I have a kid and I just need for something to be arranged as far as a living situation goes. We need to be away from the world where neither one of us are a threat to society and my kid can grow up feeling at least somewhat normal. I know it's a lot to ask, but can we please arrange this?" I asked him, thinking he would say no.

"I'll see what I can do." he responded before hanging up.

I smiled to myself. I was finally going to be able to live a good life with Bailey. I was finally going to be away from society and away from people where I won't be a threat to other people. Everything was going great.