angermanaging | IC contact (TuShanshu)

[Suddenly slightly cautious,] I... wouldn't mention you spoke to the one before him. It's just easier if you don't.

We can work together on it if it makes you feel better. [Smoothly evading that I like you. This is a trust issue, right? Trust issues make sense to Bruce.]

[A cautious nod.]

Sure. I'll keep it under my hat. And hey, who's to say all three of us can't collaborate? You trust the guy.

[Oh, Bruce. He gets you, bro.]

[Bruce has given up predicting how Tony is going to react to this multiples issue. It never makes any sense to him-- he just gets left with the fallout. Might as well prevent it if he can.

And he's more willing to admit to actual friends at this point, but it still feels a lot safer if he doesn't. For their safety, not his.]

I... Yeah, I do. [He sounds entirely rueful to admit it.] And maybe you can explain to us what you're doing with diatomic lithium as a fuel source back home.

Wrong dilithium. This one's a hypersonic. Crystal. It's dilithium, diallosilicate and heptoferranide in varying amounts. Atomic weight of-- what, 87? Chekov could probably walk you through the specifics, I'm not really a chemist. Engineering, sure. Chemistry not so much.

[He saves the argument that there is only one dilithium as a lost cause. Unfortunately, he is more of a chemist than an engineer-- and he's actually tugging a piece of paper and a pencil toward him to scribble down Jim's description for future curiosity.]

Right. I'll... maybe I'll track him down sometime. [If he ever gets a moment of free time with the other ten things he's working on. Bruce sets the pencil down.] This can be an educational experience for all of us.

[He's sure Tony would be interested in hearing about what they use in some alternate future with ubiquitous space travel.]

[Jim gives a little salute and is about to hang up entirely but-- give him a sec.]

-- So how've you been, anyway?

[How has he been? That takes him aback for a moment. Bruce doesn't get asked that very often.

But it's Jim, so he gives a (mostly) honest answer, if couched in more distant terms. Not touching on the emotional impact all of this has had on him.]

I-- well. It's been crazy. There's... people who know me that I don't know. Fallout from things that happened months ago. Murders. Mostly I just, try to figure out the molar extinction coefficient for molecules affected by magical energy.

[He nods. Sympathetic, a little bit, but in the way where he gets it. Minus the molecular jargon, it's basically a mirror of his life. Except--]

Wait, murders?

[He grows visibly more serious.]

Yeah. Did you miss Hayley's post about it? There were... at least two victims.

[His brows draw down.]

I don't do the whole network thing. What happened?

[Bruce spends a lot more time lurking than talking on the network, because it yields him information like this.

He hesitates for a moment, though. He doesn't think either Hayley or Tony would want it spread around that they were the victims. So he'll go with vague.]

The victims weren't able to see who did it, and were... distressed at trying to remember any details. But it wasn't pretty. [And it's clearly bothering Bruce, if the way his expression tightens is anything to go by.] It happened during that spell that went wrong, when everyone was-- mixed up. It could've been anyone.

Jesus.

[He exhales, pinches the bridge of his nose.]

Anybody looking into it that you know?

I am, [he says darkly, something shifting behind his eyes that makes it clear just where the Hulk had come from.]

I'm not having any luck. I'm not an-- investigator. And when they were resurrected it was in new clone bodies, so there, there isn't any DNA to sample.

[Bruce hates being at a dead end. Feeling useless to protect those few he's decided to protect explicitly. But he doesn't know what else he can do, except wait for another murder.]

[Jim sits back from his console. It's easy to see he's affected by this whole... scenario. Jim's from a world where outright murder, for murder's sake, is relatively rare.]

If you think a tricorder would help, you've got it. And if there's anything else I can do.

[He's been keeping it under wraps because holding it together is what Bruce does. It takes a substantial amount of pressure to push him to the edge, and this hasn't reached it. What it's doing is making him angry, making it harder than ever to ride that line of letting off some steam without exploding entirely.

He remembers using Spock's tricorder to sequence his genome, and at the time he'd been rather nosy about its capabilities, so he understands the offer. Bruce lets out a slow breath.]

Thanks. Right now, I don't know. It's... it's like there's nowhere to start.

[HE'S A CAPTAIN NOT A CRIME FIGHTER give him a minute as he tries to turn this into something he can parse. He rubs a hand against his temple and up into his hair, which is longer than usual and stands on end when he does it.]

So how much can you tell me?

[Wow he's not a crime fighter either!! And Bruce is too much a secretive bastard to want to ask the actual crime fighters.

Even now he looks torn.] Not much. I know the-- the two victims, obviously, but I don't think they want to be public. There might be more that I don't know. We could look for them, see if any of them remembers something.

No one volunteered anything on Hayley's post, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. It was about a month ago.

[Weird, that Bruce knows them both. He's not exactly chatty. Jim's brows draw down. Bruce would know if it was his little green problem, right? Probably best not to ask.]

Yeah, you mentioned that. During that big mix-up. Good opportunity, lots of chaos. Where'd the murders happen? Was there anything similar about them, or...?

[It's definitely a good idea not to ask if Bruce is sure he hadn't inadvertently murdered two of the people he most wants to protect.

As it is, he's reluctant to admit his ignorance, because he knows how close the answers might be to him, and he hadn't pressed out of respect for their mental balance.]

I don't know. I tried to ask, but neither of them were-- in a state to be forthcoming. Dying and coming back is... traumatic. [He would know.]

[Jim doesn't even like that it occurs to him. It's a sign of how badly this place has been messing with his head. Jim's mouth thins, though, at the statement.]

Yeah. I know.

[He sighs.]

Is there another way? There's probably a telepath or two here that could lift the information without them having to relive it.

IC contact (TuShanshu)

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