I looked into the Red She-Hulk's eyes as she declared that she would give all the information she had if I promised to help her. I could admit, it was a rather enticing offer but…
"What is stopping me from ripping all that knowledge out of your head with force?" I asked with a smirk, genuinely curious and getting curiouser as I saw her smirk as well.
"Even if you were willing to pull that kind of shit in front of Ororo and Logan, you still couldn't." She said, her voice laced with smug. "My mind has barriers in it that we're created by the strongest telepaths in all of history who is not a cosmic avatar. And I know for a fact that even you can't get through them."
"Quite the boast." I said with a smirk. "But I think I would like my chances against anyone who… isn't…" My smirk died an ugly death as I realized that she was getting more and more smug each of my words.
"I put those barriers, didn't I?" I said with resignation.
"Clever boy." She answered with a snicker. "Not gonna lie, it's kind of fun having the upper hand in our conversations for once."
"Ha ha. Good for you." I said with a huff. "Whatever, I guess I can help you save your husband; must be hell of a man if your first thought is to get back together with him when you go back in time." I said and her smile dropped.
"I won't get back together with him." She said with a sad look on her face, which really did not suit a Hulk. "He is not the man that I once loved. And I am no longer the woman he loved. Trying to get back with him would just hurt both of us." She sighed.
"But me of this timeline still loves him, and he loves her. I might not have gotten the happy ending I wanted with him, but damn it she will have it." She ended her words with a growl, which did some… things to me.
"Quite noble of you." I said with a chuckle before offering her my hand. "I agree to your terms, miss…"
"Elizabeth Ross. But you can call me, Betty."
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"What do you mean nobody calls me Damian in the future?" Damian asked with wide eyes and Betty once more found herself shocked by his differences and similarities to the man she served in the future. "Don't tell me I also joined that stupid Codename thing!"
"You called yourself H'ronmeer." Betty said with a smirk. "There were times you were even speaking in third person too." The way he squawked at that information followed by his pout would make one have hard time connecting him with the creature of fire and destruction in the future.
Not to Betty.
She had spent years beside H'ronmeer, she was one of the closest people to him other than the women who warmed his bed and his 'bros'. She could see the same spark in Damian's eyes as the one she had seen in H'ronmeer's countless times.
The spark of a tyrant.
Sure, H'ronmeer had not exactly been evil; even if he wasn't the poster child of morality. He might have took all the power he could; which was a lot considering that he was an Omega level telepath, Omega level telekinetic, Omega level strength possessor and a very strong sorcerer, but he hadn't used that power to actually hurt anyone who did not deserve it. He had just used it to live a carefree and hedonistic life with people he cared about, uncaring of how his acts were perceived by anyone.
Until Genosha.
He had been off the world for only a week, a week that people took advantage by bombing the mutant nation. Genosha had been what that led to Damian Owen becoming H'ronmeer. It was there he had lost Professor X, Cyclops, Jubilee, Blindfold, Rockslide, Polaris and countless others.
Betty did not know who was the one that had actually attacked them, she only knew that H'ronmeer had claimed that he had 'devoured' them and that she had been far too afraid to know if he was being literal. A fear that she didn't linger on for very long as H'ronmeer had decided to deal with all of their problems at once.
A goddamn hate rally with that fucking bastard of Sabretooth leading them, right after becoming president! H'ronmeer had quite literallly walked up to the bastard, uncaring of the Avengers that had tried to stop him. He had sent Wonder Man to the moon, stripped Iron Man of his armor within a second and sent Quake to sleep with a thought. Then he stopped in front of the racist bastards, who was still hurling insults at H'ronmeer, and slapped him. Not even a superpowered one, he had slapped him with the strength of a completely normal person. That may have been the biggest insult Graydon Creed had ever endured.
After the Slap, as the act was widely known, H'ronmeer claimed that he and he alone was declaring war upon those who would persecute others for the way they were born and that he would start it in America.
Both the remaining X-Men and the Avengers, along with every other hero on earth, had tried to stop him but he had somehow managed to either make them all stay down or actually join his side. The only ones who hadn't were those who had been too patriotic or stuck on the status quo for their own good. Those had allowed Betty to see the true face of H'ronmeer.
Damian had been quite good friends with Captain Marvel, he was the one who had helped Carol with her alcoholism when everyone was just standing around awkwardly. H'ronmeer had destroyed her and then used her as a living battery for his technology.
Damian had been willing to just sit down and listen to Antman's problems with his self esteem and offer him advice on how to productively channel his anger. H'ronmeer had squashed Hank under his foot and rewrote his mind to be a loyal lapdog.
There had been many others, many others that Betty would have to protect from the man Damian could become.
"So, any ideas about how to find your husband? After we talk to professor about the whole time travel gimmick you and my 'loyal servant' did."
Even if it meant giving the world to him on a silver plate.
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