Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

Chapter 2292 - 1551: The Sun Chaser (12)_1

Chapter 2292 - 1551: The Sun Chaser (12)_1

The night Gwen left New York for Hollywood, Betty accompanied her to the airport. After seeing Gwen off, she left the terminal to find her boyfriend, Bruce Banner, waiting for her in his car parked by the road.

Betty got in the car, quietly sighing. Seeing her melancholy expression, Banner asked with concern, "What's wrong? Are you okay, Betty?"

Betty shook her head and said, "I'm just happy for Gwen. She hadn't even graduated when we were working together in the lab. She was still an innocent young girl and now she's about to get married to Peter."

Banner swallowed hard, lowered his head slightly, and said, "I'm really sorry, Betty, I just..."

Betty remained silent for a long time. When Banner looked over at her again, he saw a tear in Betty's eye. In his panic, he slammed on the brakes and reached out to tightly grasp Betty's hand.

"I don't understand why you won't stand by me and resist my father, Bruce. Are we going to keep going on like this?"

She turned to him, her eyes filled with tears, "Gwen often tells me how stubborn her father is, yet Gwen and Peter managed to overcome their obstacles together and finally walk down the aisle. Why can't we do the same?"

"I'm really sorry, Betty..."

"I don't want to hear apologies, Bruce. Tell me, why are you always so reluctant to face my father?"

Banner remained silent. Betty took a deep breath and said, "Because you also think he's right. You also think you're an uncontrollable monster. You're always thinking of running away, away from everyone, including me."

"No, Betty, I never once thought of leaving you. I'm just...I'm just afraid I might hurt you." Banner grasped the steering wheel tightly and explained with a painful expression, "The Hulk has been behaving better but he is...he's not something an ordinary person can handle. He could take your life at any moment."

"Either stand by me firmly, even if it means going to Hell together, or leave me completely and quit having those nightmares where you suddenly lose control and kill me."

Betty, looking Banner in the eyes, said, "We're doing nothing but torturing each other right now. If we keep going like this, we'll both go mad."

Betty pulled her hand out of Banner's, adding, "Bruce, it is unbearable for me to see those around me, one by one, entering into matrimony, forming happy families, while we are only burdening each other. You cannot promise me any assurance, leaving me insecure. I can't accept a future like that."

Banner closed his eyes in pain, his facial muscles trembling. But by the time he opened his eyes, Betty had already opened the car door. Before she stepped out, she turned to Banner and said,

"You're not a monster. My father is wrong. We should be fighting against him, striving for our own happiness. If you don't want to take this road, then we really have no future."

With a "bang", the car door closed. The car sat for several hours in the silence of the autumn night until dawn, when the engine finally roared to life again.

Banner stopped his car in front of a convenience store. In a slightly hoarse voice he asked the shopkeeper, "Give me a bottle of wine."

The shopkeeper looked him up and down, glanced at his car, grabbed a bottle and handed it to him, "Have a nice day, sir."

"I will...probably."

The light outside the window brightened and dimmed, the dying rays of the sunset casting a dazzling spot of light on the glass coffee table, creating a radiant red within one's sight.

"Dingling!!"

An urgent ringing went on and on until the cellphone vibrated off the coffee table. A hand took hold and put it to an ear, uttering in a slurred voice, "Hello, what's up?"

"Bruce Banner! What the hell are you doing?! Where's the result of Project No. 1023?! You promised it by today! Look at the time!"

A roaring Otto resonated over the phone. Banner, reeking of alcohol, got up groggily from the sofa, mumbling, "What's the hurry? Tomorrow...let's do it tomorrow..."

"Six project teams are all waiting for your conclusion. Tomorrow! If your report isn't turned in by then, I won't live till tomorrow! ...Forget it, where are you now? I'll pick you up."

"I'm at...my home..."

About half an hour later, Doctor Octopus Otto appeared in Banner's home, only to be shocked at the sight of the messy room and the overwhelming smell of alcohol.

Moving the clutter on the ground with his tentacles, he walked to the coffee table, picked up the wine bottle, took a swift breath and turned to the reclining Banner, "My God, why are you drinking such high-alcohol-content wines? Are you out of your mind?"

"I...I put in...ice cubes..."

Octopus opened his mouth, glanced at the wine bottle, and then at Banner, shook his head and said, "Well, seems like analyzing data really has to wait till tomorrow. I'll go explain to them. You get a good rest."

"No, hang on." The drunk's mood changed as quickly as the East Coast weather, Banner sat up from the couch, grabbing hold of one of Otto's tentacles, he said, "It's okay, I can do the experiment, I will go.to...the lab..."

Having said that, he stood up, used the furniture for support, and walked totteringly towards the washroom. After washing his face, adjusting his glasses, and tidying up his crumpled shirt, he came out looking much better.

After sizing him up, Otto was unsure whether he should stop him. But upon the horrifying thought of the touchy scientists from the re