Book One: A Wolf Among Beasts

Chapter Twenty

Bruce sticks to his word and doesn't ask about the Hulk or the sex, but she can see he wants to. A look on his face. But he doesn't ask and she doesn't press him for anything. They're better too, more in sync again. They've even taken up running together, Eli, of course, has no issues but Bruce is getting better. In the months after Valentine's Day they become one of those couples, overly in love, touchy, feely, Bruce is far more open with himself and with her and with their relationship. He feels better about it. Like something has shifted in them, a good shift but a shift none the less. April and the rain is falling but they are still out there and running, up in the hills, past the fringes of the favela, ahead of Bruce Eli runs bouncy in her steps, they descend toward the chaos of houses and streets of the city, sprawled like a living organism, teeming with people. Bruce slows to check something on his wrist: his watch shows: 90. Low for somebody running hard. He smiles and looks to Eli who's stopped and moved back to him, she raises an eyebrow, he reaches out and pulls her closer.

"It's working" he whispers softly. "You're working" he amends before kissing her. "I love you" he tells her pulling back.

"I love you too" she tells him. "Market" she reminds him. "That book may have come by now"

"You are now so excited for me to pick up this book" he offers.

"This is what you want" she reminds him softly. "I'm supporting you like a good girlfriend" they share a look and he smiles at her stroking her back.

"Even if you don't agree?" he asks her, she shrugs and gives a tense smile.

"That's what morons in love do" she answers, he snorts a laugh and pulls her closer to kiss her again.

..................

Bruce and Eli walk through the market, Ricky having now found them runs around them both barking. Bruce kisses Eli's hand and then veers off stopping at a market stall and picks up a package, thanking the vendor before catching back up with Eli. He opens it and takes out a book of rare South American flowers. Eli looks to him, her expression guarded but something sad slips through. He looks to her and it's gone, she takes his hand and looks to Ricky.

.................

Eli sits on their bed with Ricky who is happy for the attention, Bruce sits at his worktable, he turns on the satellite link and the computer and starts to

Instant Message:

[Mr. Blue?]

[Mr. Green...hello. Did you find what you were looking for?]

[Yes]

[And you have my notes on derivation of the inhibitor?]

[Yes]

[For most cellular exposures a concentration of 50-80 parts per million will suffice. Keep me posted. And good luck :)] Bruce nods to himself and takes a breath, startles slightly when Eli touches his shoulder.

"I'm going to take Ricky for a walk" she kisses Bruce's cheek. "Let you work" he looks to her.

"You don't have to" he assures her, she smiles and shrugs.

"Yeah, I do" she whispers and then leaves with the dog. Bruce looks to the door, mind working, but he turns back to his work.

.....................

Methodically and painstakingly Bruce extracts tiny amounts of juice from his precious flowers, mixing it carefully with chemicals from self-labelled bottles and mixing it all in an assortment of glasses doubling as home made test tubes; cooking it down over a small gas flame. Referring to Blue's notes on his computer. Finally, all seems ready...a final step, he pricks his own finger...so carefully placing one drop of his blood on a glass slide. He slides it under the microscope and looks at it: red blood cells fringed with a subtle glowing green energy. Like residual radiation. He takes the slide back out. Takes a breath. This is it. In a dropper, he extracts some of the purplish liquid he has been slowly refining from the very small amount in the glass. Carefully he brings it over the blood sample... and squeezes one, two, three drops onto the blood. He places the slide under the scope and looks again: The Purple liquid seems to be literally boiling away around the cells. Frying. No change. The green tinge is still there. Bruce pulls back from the scope and puts his forehead against the heel of his hands.

..............

Bruce moves to his computer again.

[No mitigation] he types.

[None? Your tissue exposure must be relatively high]

[Very high]

[Try a higher concentration. Slightly. 100 parts per million = lethal toxicity] Bruce leans back and looks at the flower, wilted, useless now.

[Impossible at present. Supply is limited]

[Not here. We're making pure synthetic by the gallon. Why are we doing this backwards? Chasing flowers in the jungle = silly. Send me a blood sample]

[Not prudent]

[Living with Gamma poisoning not prudent. Most people not alive long enough to be helped. Intrigued by your case]

[Not safe for either of us]

[You need help. Gamma not something to mess with]

"You can say that again" Bruce mumbles and looks up as Eli returns, he glances to his watch and frowns. She gives him a smile. "Can you?" he asks her holding out the needle. She moves to him.

"For future reference" she starts sitting in his lap. "I'm not really into the whole blood play thing" she teases taking the needle and vial from him.

"Thank you" he whispers as she takes his blood. She hums a little. "I'm sorry" he adds, she frowns. "I've kind of neglected you today"

"Bruce, you were working on something important to you" she argues. "I can go a day without you feeling me up" he smiles a little, she pulls back the blood and holds it out to him, he labels it; Mr Green.

..............

Bruce wraps his arms around Eli as he climbs into bed with her and Ricky. He kisses her cheek and she relaxes back against him, feeling content and safe in his arms even after a day practically apart.

"Did you send it?" she asks him, he nods into her neck.

"I sent it" he answers running his hand along her waist. "I'm all yours" he whispers softly, she turns to face him, wrapping her arms around his neck before she kisses him.