thisavrou | ( text ) private broadcast

[ After the brief Ingress failure, Bruce was left on edge. It's always that sign that comes before the storm, and when it turns back on —but not to how it used to be— he tries to ready himself for when that storm hits.

Of course, never would he imagine this to have anything to do with what happened at Caducus Primary. It's been months, to him it's been over a year if he counts the time he went back home, but when he hears the message, the feelings of guilt and self-hate for what happened with that planet are very quick to resurface.

Actually they hit him like a freight train more than anything. He debates on what to do, but he does know he has to do something, and trying to reason with them or trying to fight is— it's not good. Bruce can't let those on board suffer potential casualties for something he did, and he certainly won't let the other Caduceans meet any similar end to all the lives lost when that planet was destroyed.

So, in the dead of night, when everything seems still but tension is nearly tangible in the air, Bruce locks himself up in the science department, keeps the lights turned off, and writes a message to be sent to the Caduceans.

It's very much private, but to anyone that may have managed to hack into the Caduceans' systems, the message will be accessible, although not possible to intercept before it reaches its destination. ]

This is Bruce Banner. I'm sending this from the Moira. I don't know if you know who I am, but I'm the one who destroyed Caducus Primary. I'm the one who can turn into that monster. The end of that planet wasn't at all intentional on my end, but it still happened, and I still am the one to blame for it. The rest of this crew had nothing to do with it— some even tried to stop the monster, many tried to help save as many people as possible. They're not to blame, and I don't want to see innocent people paying for something I did.

I have a proposal. I don't know if you'd find this an acceptable compromise, but I don't want you to suffer any more losses either by engaging in a fight. I just want this to end before anyone has to get hurt or even more lives are lost.

I'm willing to give myself up to you. I have a few conditions, and a few necessities for my presence around you to not become dangerous, but if you are willing to listen and discuss possibly doing this, then you know how to get in touch with me.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Tony can't hack a private broadcast on the Moira, because nobody can do that. Pisses him off, make no mistake. But he is surreptitiously monitoring the Caducians' communications after several hours of obsessive hacking attempts, which means a broadcast coming from the Moira catches his immediate attention. Worse, he's able to de-encrypt it from the Caducian side when it arrives, just like any of the other communications he's been listening in on.

Motherfucker.

It's only 10 minutes after Bruce sends out the broadcast that Tony sends him a private text. ]

what the hell are you doing?

[ Out of all the things he was expecting and getting ready for, this should probably have been higher on the list. Actually it should have been on the list, period— because somehow, despite being a supposed genius, the chance that Tony Stark of all people would manage to hack the Caduceans' systems and get access to the message that Bruce sent them didn't so much as cross his mind.

So there's a definite moment of 'oh crap' that he keeps mostly to himself, his answer coming some good minutes later. Short and dry. ]

What I have to. Stay out of this, Tony.

[ Bruce is just lucky that tone of voice can't translate through text. ]

don't bullshit me, Banner
you're not being a hero
call this off before you make things worse

I'm not trying to be a hero. I'm just trying to stop this whole thing from blowing up, possibly literally.
Worse than us getting attacked and a bunch of innocent people dying?

then let the negotiations team do their goddamned JOB

[ He can't believe he's the one vouching for rationality and teamwork, here. ]

Right, because negotiating is going to go just peachy.
They're trying to kill us off. All of us. Because of something I did. I'm going to do whatever I can to stop that from happening, even if it means being locked up for the rest of my life.

[ No teamwork when people get death threats because of him, sorry Tony. ]

[ This idiot.

The reality that logic isn't going to work here finally settles in, like a lead weight in his gut. Bruce is blinded by guilt and fear, he's not being rational. There's no other explanation for thinking handing the Caducians the Hulk would be anything but a road to more casualties. The big guy would tear through their ship in minutes, and that's without considering whoever would be responsible for retrieving him back to the Moira. And Tony knows exactly who that responsibility would end up falling to.

He doesn't respond at this point. He has some messages to send. ]

( addressed to Steve Rogers, "Natalie Rushman", Wanda Maximoff, Jessica Jones )

Banner's trying to hand himself over
he's being stubborn
i'm going to get him
who's coming?

Edited 2016-06-22 00:16 (UTC)