043 VIDEO LIST EIGHTEEN

[deadliestviper]

So we're back to this again, are we?

[It's Bea's third time going through this particular snafu in the communication, and she remembers well the previous times. This time, however, she's not only prepared but looking forward to it. And this time she won't see Elle. She hopes, anyway -- she shouldn't.]

This is Beatrix Kiddo, alias Arlene Machiavelli, alias Beth Solberg, alias Rachelle Quinn, alias Black Mamba. If you know any of those names, I want to talk to you.

Comments

[theonlyresponse]

Bea.

[Just a Nod. It's how they roll.]

How've you been?

[deadliestviper]

Bruce.

[She nods back, not smiling but nonetheless looking pleased.]

Much better. And the same for you, I hope.

[theonlyresponse]

We get by.

[But she can see how much lighter he is, since he left the ship.]

Your daughter?

[deadliestviper]

Glad to hear it.

I found her. [And lost her again, but that's not the way she'll leave it. The memory of their years together is enough to keep her going.] Her name's B.B.

[theonlyresponse]

[Heartache over their children is never something that needed saying, and Bruce's expression flickers, commiserating with her, but then, he changes it up.]

I was promised pictures.

[deadliestviper]

[She smiles, for real, and turns the communicator around to show a row of framed pictures hanging on her cabin wall. There's B.B. at her sixth birthday, chocolate cake smeared over her mouth; there she is at age nine, wearing a riding helmet as she sits atop a horse; at eleven, pulling a funny face in a school photo; at fourteen, a portrait of mother and daughter, both beaming with their arms around each other.]

[theonlyresponse]

[They're pictures over the video feed, but his memory's always been excellent, and to see her like that is new... and good. She should have it, after what she went through.]

Bring her over. Alfred would spoil her.

[deadliestviper]

[The feed swings round to catch Beatrix again and her smile goes a bit sad, eyes dimming a bit, but she nods.]

I'll try to bring her around.