milliways_bar | (no subject)

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There's a man by the bar.

He's got his wallet out, and seems to be making a point to the bar.

"Put this on Bruce Banner's tab, please. And, I'd sooner you kept it anonymous, thanks."

Those with attentive eyes, will notice either the 4 $10 bills vanishing from the bar top, or maybe the $40 of credit that then goes onto the tab of one B.Banner.

"And I'll have a pint of Kopparbergs. No, not the cider, the beer."

So, there's one scientist, with a pint, at the bar. Eminently botherable.

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Well. Damn. Caught.

Mind, who else would it be?

He nods. "Yeah."

He sighs, and shakes his head.

And doesn't look at Erik when he says, in a weary tone,

'Bar, put the money back on Dr Selvig's tab, please.'

Fortunately, the money never was on Dr Selvig's tab in the first place, so it can't go back.

"Bruce." Erik says, looking at him and not continuing until he has Bruce's attention.

"I can understand you don't want to live on charity. But, please, accept this. If it makes you feel any better, consider it a substitute for the five years of the departmental Secret Santa you haven't been able to take part in. And seeing you alive is a gift enough for me."

He plants his elbow on the bar top, and rests his forehead in his hand. Just for a moment.

'Erik...'

It's hard to know how to proceed without hurting his feelings. But he'd like him to understand.

'I can't, OK? This whole mess-' he breaks off, because he doesn't want to get into that either. '-it's my own fault. And I feel stupid enough about the whole thing without being made to feel like I can't support myself as well.'

That came out harder than he intended.

'I appreciate the gesture. But - really, please. Don't make me feel worse.'

Ah. Now there's a point they disagree on. Another one.

"So." He lowers his voice, "You're saying you knew the risks, you knew the possibilities, you knew everything about that serum when you drank it. Including what the military wanted from it."

I'm sorry Bruce, this is a point he's going to push.

Bruce glances at him, horrified. Is that what people think?

'No.'

Christ, no.

'Ross told us we were working on radiation resistance. We had no idea he was trying to make super soldiers.'

He takes a deep breath, and looks away.

'I knew there was a possibility it might not work - that's why we test things, right? But I was pretty sure. And hey, I'm not dead.'

He should be dead. That was the risk he was prepared for.

'I didn't anticipate...this, though.'

It's not what people in the know, know. It is what people who know the usual scientific method would assume, though. You don't usually (these days, anyway) test things on humans, until there have been several rounds of animal (or other stand-in) trials.

But, good, he's shocked.

"You didn't know what they actually wanted from it. If the serum had worked perfectly, just like the original one, you'd have classed it as an unexpected side-effect, right? So it can't be your fault when there's an unexpected side-effect. If it's anyone's fault, it's Ross'"

Otherwise, it's just the vagaries of the unknown. Personally, Erik's of the opinion that blame lies solely at the feet of Thunderbolt Ross.

He's shaking his head before Erik finishes.

'It was my experiment. My research. I can't blame him for the failure of it - though I guess it did resist the gamma enough for me to still be here.'

It's hard to feel grateful for that.

'I can blame Ross for his behaviour afterwards, but I can't blame him for the accident. It was my own...hubris, I guess.'

Erik can sort of see Bruce's point, but he does want Bruce to acknowledge he's not completely to blame (for what can be blamed to people, as opposed to the vagaries of research). So, he'll push on for now.

"If you'd known what the serum was actually intended to do, would you have taken it? At that point in the development."

Some of issues do stem from his hubris, but he's certainly not the only guilty party involved. And he certainly shouldn't have had to live as a fugitive for the past five years.

'No.'

No doubt on that one. He has no interest in becoming a super soldier.

It does remind him of something, and there's a small, sardonic, smile.

'You know what I heard? Captain America comes to this bar. I told someone he was dead on my world, and they said 'don't count on it'.'

He thinks it's pretty much a joke, just an amusing anecdote to divert from talking about himself. So, y'know. He'll have a shock later on.

Just the sort of person who 'deserves' to become one, then, based on Erskine's assessments.

"Then don't blame yourself. Completely blame, at any rate. When not all the parameters were under your control."

Erik pauses as Bruce mentions Captain America.

"Who does know what happened to the Captain? What's to say he didn't go off on that last mission, which, everything I've heard says was successful, then come back to the states in secret, and start living a civilian life?" It's not likely. The comics of him characterise him with too much of a sense of duty to keep his head down.

"You know some of the kids these days don't believe the Cap ever existed?"

That, that is plain foolishness to Erik. There are still enough people who swear they owe their lives to the Captain to doubt his existence, in Erik's book.

He doesn't answer the first comment, because he can't not blame himself. But it seems clear he and Erik aren't going to agree on that - and he appreciates the man's attempt to change his mind.

'I don't know. I doubt - well, I don't know him, obviously. It doesn't sound like a very Captain America thing to do.'

He does shake his head in disbelief, though.

'If kid's don't believe in him - hell, they didn't exactly keep him under wraps. The education system should teach them how to research a little better.'

...OK, now he sounds ninety years old even to himself.

"I agree. I'm just making the point, we don't know he's dead. He's classed as MIA and legally dead, sure. But, hey, as I understand it, they never found his body."

And God knows Stark looked hard enough over the years.

'Yeah, but it's been seventy years.'

Not a length of time that can be overlooked.

'If he didn't die, he would have had to keep his head pretty far down. But-' he holds his hands up here, because he was only reporting what he heard, 'I couldn't guess. The person who told me was from a different world, but one with another version of him. And Iron Man. And me, for that matter. So it doesn't necessarily equate.'

No, it can't.

As for a parallel world...

"Well, you know the Multiversal interpretation of QM as well as I do, Bruce. Although,"
Erik raises his hands to gesture at Milliways at large,
"this place kind of blows any ideas of it being 'just' a theory out the window. For a given definition of universe, of course."

Because, of course, it's possible to argue that this place and everywhere connected to it, is one large single hub-connected universe.

He quirks his eyebrows at that.

'You'd define it differently? If there are multiple versions of one person, and proof of it, it's hard to think of this as a single entity.'

Though more data is needed, obviously.

'But I agree that it's moved past the theory stage. It'd have to be researched, obviously.'

Nothing counts unless it's researched. You can take the scientist away from the textbooks, but you can't take the urge to read up out of him.

"I don't know that I would. But, if there are worlds that can access Milliways, then logically, there's a parallel one that can't."

Erik considers Bruce's other statements for a moment.

"You've got proof of multiple versions? Or just a reliable source?" For a given definition of reliable, of course. Because, well, it's Milliways.

He can't argue with that logic. And shrugs minutely at the question.

'Reliable source on one other version. Educated guess on others - I wasn't really in a good state to ask the other people who seemed like they'd heard of me.'

"People have heard of you?" Erik asks.

Sorry Bruce, Erik can't help but wonder whether it's the other guy, that people have heard of.

He flinches slightly - just around the eyes - and looks down at the bar. In the pause that follow, his fingers toy with the edge of a napkin.

'They've recognised my name, and knew what it meant. That work better for you?'

"That's as explicit as we need to get."

"This reliable source of yours the same one that said that Captain America comes here?" Erik asks to draw the conversation away from that topic again.

'No, actually. That was someone else.'

He says it absently, still a little stung. Then a question occurs, and he turns on his stool so he's facing Selvig directly.

'Has anyone mentioned something called 'The Avengers' to you?'

"Not to me," Erik replies.

He might hear rumours in a little while, though. Maybe.

He looks for a lie, but sees none. And then feels bad about looking, but just nods. He's not going to expand on something he's pretty sure will have nothing to do with him.

'OK.'

He slides off his stool, leaving most of his dinner untouched.

'I'm going to go sleep. Good to see you again, Erik.'

"You too Bruce," Erik replies.

He watches Bruce up the stairs, before turning back to contemplate the window, and their discussion. He sits there for some time, thinking.

Eventually, though, he gets up and leaves. But not before making sure that, if Bruce won't take the $40 straight up, then somewhere over the course of his stay, his total bills are reduced by that amount, and shifted onto Erik's.

Because Bruce deserves some nice things to happen to him.

[ooc: thank you for the thread, sorry it's been so slow! :D]

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spit_it_out - 2013-01-04 00:39 (UTC) - Expand

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