insurgents | OPEN POST.

"That's true. I'm... a bit of a different me."

Since just about anywhere in this place is only a short walk away, the motel is already in sight.

"I'll show you when we get to my room."

He glances curiously at her, an eyebrow raised slightly.

"Is this going to be a nice surprise, or..."

"It's kind of a 'I'm not sure how you'll feel about this' surprise."

Bruce has always been very supportive of her ambitions when it comes to fighting the good fight, but how will he truly feel when faced with the reality that she has actually been out there putting her life in danger?

Especially since unlike the Avengers, Hellcat is not sanctioned by the government in any way. Like the Devil of Hell's Kitchen, she is an outlaw.

"I'm not sure how I feel right now."

Her remark only leaves Bruce feeling more curious, and admittedly worried, about what she has to show him. Not a single idea comes to mind either, which only makes things stranger and scarier in his head.

But he can be patient. Besides, soon they're stepping into the motel, so he can wait for a little while longer until they make it to her room. Better to just wait and see what it is for himself rather than try to imagine what it might be.

"Better show you before your overactive worrybrain starts making up weird horrors."

She opens her suitcase, fishing something out from what appears to be a sort of secret little compartment.

"I kind of picked up a new hobby while you were away..."

She holds up the yellow bodysuit, trusting that he'll be able to make the connection himself since she is also holding up a mask.

"Please. I think my brain's already getting started on that."

He still keeps his tone light and playful, though. She doesn't seem all that somber about it, so it can't be that bad. Right?

He's not sure whether or not that's the case when she holds up the bodysuit and the mask, his eyes giving the costume a very slow and pointed once-over. His eyebrows raise up his forehead, eyes widening just a little, the corners of his lips twitching a little as he finally looks at her.

"... wow."

Yeah, he'll get to the whole 'putting her life at danger' bit in a moment.

That gets a full-on laugh out of her, another reminder of just why she loves this man so much, not to mention the fact that it reminds her of her discussions with Jessica about costumes and aliases.

Well, Jess can think what she wants, Trish is high-profile enough that it's pretty necessary for her to conceal her identity.

"Just to be clear, it's not a fetish thing. I don't know if you've been following New York news at all but if you've seen anything about a masked crime fighter called Hellcat... yeah, that's me."

"No, I... I figured it wasn't a fetish thing."

She'd told him how she wanted to help and save people before after all, make a difference. So when she shows him a suit and mask he makes the natural leap to some kind of crime fighting during her free time.

"I haven't, actually. Your show was about the one thing I kept up with. Looks like I have a lot of news to catch up on."

He steps closer, reaching for the mask and giving the suit a cursory glance.

"Have you been... safe? I mean, since you started this."

The mask is designed to cover half her face and the back of her head, and has a small pair of cat ears on it. So maybe it's a little cheesy, Trish is fond of it.

"There were a couple of close calls."

She's not going to lie to him about that.

"I got pretty banged up, but I'm okay now."

He doesn't pay much attention to it, instead focusing on what she tells him. He presses his lips into a thin line, sighing quietly as he hands the mask back to her.

"I'm not particularly happy to hear that."

In fact, he's even more worried now than he was when they were headed to the motel, and he had no idea what she was going to show him. But that hardly matters, because he knows that she'll keep doing it anyway.

"Guess it might be for the best that I'm in New York. Just in case."

He's not comfortable about 'close calls', and if he has to turn to get her out of a bad situation, then he will.

She tucks the costume back in where it belongs, biting back comments about how she can take care of herself because if there is one thing she has learned it is that sometimes you need some help getting out of a bad situation.

"Jess doesn't like it either. And she's not the biggest fan of you at the moment, just so you know."

Apparently it's okay for her to just drop out of Trish's life and break her heart with no notice, but other people aren't allowed.

Maybe she could be able to take care of herself, but that still doesn't mean he won't want to keep her safe himself. He's sure she'd feel the same way, were their roles reversed.

"I imagine she's not the only one."

Not just among his friends and acquaintances, but even the average New Yorker likely won't be happy to hear the Hulk's back in the city.

"It's fine. I'll find a way to deal with it."

She absolutely would, she would even put herself in danger just to spare him from turning, since she knows how much he hates it.

"Yeah, people have a funny way of turning against something when it stops being useful to them."

As he may have heard, she has bitterly and very publicly defended him tooth and nail, both on her show and elsewhere. She might have been angry at him, but that didn't mean she was going to let people punish him for something he can't help. Especially not since it hadn't been Bruce's idea to make him one of the Avengers.

"It's just the way the world works."

He doesn't sound quite as bitter as she does, just resigned. It's been over a decade and by now he's all too familiar with people turning against him, especially after whenever he happens to lose control. He can't really fault them for that, either.

But he is very grateful to know that there are a few left that don't think of him as just a monster. Trish's remarks while on the air have made him smile more than once, even if he missed her all the more because of it.

"Anyway, can I help you with something?"

She doesn't seem to have a lot, like she said, but he offers anyway.

Maybe he can't fault them for it, but Trish can. She is fiercely protective of the people she loves, and even if she understands more than well how terrifying the threat of the Hulk can be, she is too well aware of how good a man Bruce is to accept when people want to make him nothing but a monster. Especially since the government was all too happy to use that monster when it suited them.

The Hulk was only a problem when he couldn't be controlled.

As if they had ever been in control of the big guy.

"Well the world can kiss my ass."

Said with familiar anger as she stomps around to collect her things.

"It'll just take me minute to get my things together, I just got here."

In the blink of an eye, the packing's done.

"Let's go check out."

He watches her silently as she moves around the room and gathers her things, stuffing them all into her suitcase. He's all too familiar with what she's feeling, both by having felt it and having seen it in other people, and it's not something he likes much. She might not be at risk of turning into a literal monster like him, but he's seen what anger can do, how it can eat someone from the inside out without them even realizing it.

And there's no point to it, either. He doesn't want her to be like this on his behalf, it's not worth it.

Once she's all ready to go, he steps closer to her, one hand settling on her arm and another cupping her face as he leans in to kiss her again, pulling away once he no longer feels that anger brewing inside her anymore. At least not as strongly.

"I appreciate you defending me, but I don't want you to be angry for my sake. Please?"

She lets out a sigh and nods, smiling a little though it's not exactly a happy expression.

"That whole zen thing you do can be a real pain in the ass sometimes, you know that?"

He smiles a little, brushing his thumb over her cheek.

"Those feelings aren't worth holding onto, trust me. Just let go, you'll be better off."

And he doesn't want her to be angry for his sake, either. It's a normal feeling to have sometimes, but it's not good for her to let it sit and fester.

Dropping his hands to hers slowly, he pulls back.

"Let's go."

"Yes, Master Yoda."

She takes his hand and leads him out of the room, and after that checking out is a simple matter that doesn't take much time at all.

"So, where is your place?"

He can't help chuckle at the comparison, following after her as she checks out and steps outside. He gestures towards the way they came from before, then starts walking, headed to where they'd met.

"Just around the corner of that little café. It's not far."

Then again, nothing is in this place.

"I really feel like I've been punked. I have no idea what my tipster thought I'd find here."

Not that she isn't glad that she came, but still.

Bruce, on the other hand, is already one step ahead, theory-wise. This place is small and insignificant, some days they don't even get warm water or electricity - he seriously doubts she'll find anything useful about this IGH here.

"Let me guess," he looks over at her with a bland smile. "It was an anonymous tip."

She raises an eyebrow at him, curious but at the same time rapidly coming up with theories of her own.

"You think you know who it was."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I know who it was."

Maybe not specifically, but he has a close enough guess.

"You think it's a coincidence that you found me? I don't."

"No, it probably wasn't."

Maybe someone thought the Hulk too might be the result of IGH experimenting, but who would really have the resources and skills to track Bruce down apart from the people they are both thinking of now?

"Are you sure you want to do this, then? Play into their hands?"

She has to ask, even if the thought of leaving this place without him is torture.

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