“Sounds like you guys had an eventful mission,” Skye said later that night after everyone had been round up. It was just the two of us in the lounge of Avengers Tower at the bar, me with a milkshake and her with some alcohol as we leaned against the bar together. I was wearing some clothes Pepper and Tony had loaned me, which meant a red shirt with an Iron Man helmet in gold in the center, and some designer blue jeans that had to be worth more than a months salary when I was doing construction. Skye wore a brown button-up shirt and a pair of denim short-shorts and was giving me a smirk.
“It really was,” I rubbed at my forehead leaning over the bar. “Seriously, the other groups didn't have to fight anything at all besides HYDRA soldiers. Meanwhile, our team fought gamma tigers, zombie robots, and a god damn Wendigo.”
“At least you saved a lot of people,” Skye said, leaning in towards me.
“Yeah... yeah, we did,” I smiled a bit. “BRIDGE is taking them in to look them over, test them, figure out who has powers, who has family waiting for them, help the ones who the Omnitrix couldn't fix, all that stuff... I'm keeping an eye on them though. Or, X is keeping an eye on them. Jarvis too.”
“You don't trust BRIDGE?” Skye asked, taking a sip of whatever she'd chosen while resting her head in her hands.
“I trust they'll try to do the right thing,” I responded. “But three hundred people and animals were down there, a lot of them with powers. Easy to lose track of them... so, just in case.”
“Huh,” Skye looked at me, and I sighed. “So, the Wendigo... What was that thing?”
“According to files, HYDRA didn't know anything beyond that they picked it up from the Canadian wilderness. And everyone looked at me funny when I suggested magic.”
“Wait, really?” Skye asked, grinning.
“We live in a world with gods of thunder, super-soldiers, and, well, me,” I said simply. “Magic, no matter if it can be explained by science or not, isn't out of the question anymore,” I took a sip of my milkshake, hiding my thoughts on the people I'd tried to get in contact with. “For now, the Wendigo is getting transported to the prison we've been building.”
“The Raft,” Skye said. “Is it even finished?”
“Some of it is,” I said. “Enough to hold him. He'll be one of the first prisoners. As for the scientists and soldiers, they're getting interrogated. So, I guess today went well.”
“Hell, I'll drink to that,” Skye tapped her drink to mine. We sipped for a bit. I wondered, for a moment, about if I should get some sleep or not when Skye spoke again. “You know, um... Ward and I. We used to do this. Talk about missions and stuff. Before he was killed.”
“...What happened?” I tentatively asked.
“John Garrett,” Skye leaned against the bar, her eyes on her drink. “He told Ward to hold off anyone stopping his escape. Coulson tried to stop Garrett, and...”
“I'm sorry,” I said sadly.
“What for?” Skye said with a sour laugh. “He betrayed us. It's not like he was ever really our friend.”
“He may not have been yours,” I said softly. “I never met Ward. Never got to know him... But I think you were his. And that it sucks, knowing that everything he said could have been a lie.”
“It was a lie,” Skye hissed, looking at me with a glare. “He just, spent months with us, pretending he was our friend, that he cared, just to give it all to HYDRA!!”
She stopped for a moment, looking at me. “I thought he was my friend... More than that. And all along, he was using me.”
I didn't know what to say. Damnit, I wish I was good at this sort of thing. “Look, I just know you. So I can't speak for or against this guy. He was an asshole, I'm betting. But it probably still hurts, having to look back at all the times he was nice or kind and having to reassess them,” I rubbed the back of my head. “I'm just... Skye, I can't tell you how to deal with what he did, except that John Garrett is probably the only person alive with real answers.”
Skye blinked at that. Then she seemed thoughtful.
Before I could say anything else, the Omnitrix began to ring for an incoming communication. I raised it up and tapped it.
“Dial,” Natasha said. “I need you at the Enterprise. Bruce's cousin, Jennifer Walters, has been kidnapped.”
“...Oh shit,” Skye and I said in unison.
I got up and ran to the windows, heading for the balcony. “Does he know?”
“Not yet,” Natasha answered. “We're keeping the information compartmentalized for now.”
“Have him meet me in the Defiant,” I said, swinging my catom backpack on. “I'll tell him.”
“Are you sure?” Natasha said. “Bruce has control over the Other Guy most days, but when he finds out about this-”
“There are only a few people who can take on the Hulk,” I replied. “One is Creel, whose asleep. The other is Thor, who isn't answering my calls,” Natasha snorted at that. “The last one is me.”
I turned to look at Skye, who'd rushed after me. “Sorry we couldn't talk more, Skye.”
“No biggie,” Skye brushed her hair behind her head and smiled at me. “You still owe me that suit of armor though. I'm getting jealous of Pepper.”
“Raincheck,” my backpack grew, becoming a simple flightpack rather than my full armor. It wouldn't let me fly for long, let alone with any maneuverability, but it would let me get up the Helicarrier above. “Talk more tomorrow?”
“If you have time,” Skye grinned. “See ya, superhero.”
I gave her a grin, then launched into the sky. As I rocketed towards the helicarrier, my smile began to fade. HYDRA had kidnapped Jennifer. Most likely to make her this universe's She-Hulk. Bruce was going to be pissed. Guess it was time for something impulsive.
I looked down at the Omnitrix thoughtfully.
------
January 17th, 2014
In the early morning over the deserts of Colorado, Bruce looked over at me from the co-pilots seat of the Defiant. “You finally going to tell me what this is about? Natasha told me you needed my help with something secret.”
“I do,” I told him calmly, flying towards a plateau, the large brown mountain looking very pretty in the sunlight. “Something has happened, and I think we need to talk. I have some suspicions, and if I'm right... we need to deal with it.”
“Okay, what is it?” Bruce asked. I didn't answer. “Mahmoud? Seriously, what is going on?”
“...Something bad happened, Bruce. Natasha gave me all the information before you came to the Quinjet, and the other Avengers are getting contacted.”
“Oh,” Bruce winced. “Is it HYDRA? Did they send Blonsky? Is it a... is it a Code: Green?”
I took my right hand off the control to rub my eyes, only to grab it again when the Defiant shifted slightly. “God, I'm tired. Look, I'm going to land us real quick, do you mind?”
Bruce nodded, still looking confused.
I moved the Defiant to fly over the plateau, landing on the flat top. The back door opened and I walked over to exit the Quinjet, Bruce hurriedly following me out. We walked for a bit across the stone and dirt.
“Mahmoud,” Bruce said. I stopped. “What is going on?”
“...I brought you out here for two reasons. First, it's offer to help you and Hulk find some sort of equilibrium.”
“Mahmoud, I told you-” Bruce began to say, annoyed.
“Emil Blonsky is a trained killer, and he's no longer testing his powers,” I turned to look at Bruce, still wearing my Iron Man shirt and armor backpack. “That woman who kidnapped Sharon and Trip is proof they have even more gamma-enhanced individuals fighting alongside them.”
“Can't you just cure them?” Bruce asked. “You did to the people in the Graveyard.”
There was an unspoken accusation to his words. If I could that for those people, why couldn't I do the same for him?
“Omnitrix, repair Bruce Banner's DNA,” I said simply.
The Omnitrix beeped, and my voice came from it. “Unable to comply. Bruce Banner's DNA is undamaged.”
“Are you kidding me?” Bruce asked, stepping forward and glaring at the Omnitrix with anger in his eyes, his neck a slightly lime-like color. “What does that mean?”
“We talked about it before Bruce,” I reminded him. “The Gamma Gene. That little bit of DNA that lets you transform into the Hulk, rather than dying or becoming a genetic monster.”
“I'm already a genetic monster!” Bruce stepped to glare at me. I tried to stay calm.
“You're not a monster, Bruce. You and Hulk have both shown that you can be in control, that you can do some good. But the people in the warehouse weren't like that or the animals. The way I heard it, some of them had spent years in pain, growing random mutations across their bodies, bones and muscle getting exposed. Compared to them, you got off lucky, Bruce.”
He seemed to deflate at that. I watched him turn with his hands on his hips, breathing deeply.
“...Bruce. The Gamma gene. There's more to it... It might be hereditary.”
He turned to look at me, brow furrowed. “Yeah, I know.”
“As in people in your family might have it. People like Jennifer,” Bruce stared at me, uncomprehending. I tried to figure out how to say what needed to be said. I went for blunt. “I'm not the only who thought of that, Bruce. Sterns did too. Sharon and Trip, yesterday? That was just the start. HYDRA has Jennifer Walters. And I think Sterns is going to turn her into a gamma-enhanced.”
His eyes widened, his breath came out in a soft blast of air. He stumbled back in horror. “No. No, nonono-”
“Bruce, she's going to be all right,” I said gently. “We're going to work to find her, I just want you to be ready for the fact that Sterns may be-”
“NO!”
Bruce's voice changed, becoming a deep and booming echo of sound. He went to his knees and slammed his hands against the plateau. The earth shook. He grabbed at the ground, his eyes wild with rage and panic. Not enough.
“He's going to change her!” I yelled, stumbling as the whole mountain shuddered from his strike. “To make her a Hulk!”
His shirt began to rip. His eyes glared up at me. I kept talking, my Omnitrix already at the ready. “And when Blonsky has a Hulk of his own, your cousin, to fight against, what is he going to do? He'll see her as practice, someone he can hurt until he can get to you!”
Bruce stopped growing. He stared at me. For just a moment, I wondered if I'd gone too far. If I'd failed.
“Jennifer... Jennifer!”
He got to his feet and stared at his arms as they exploded in size, changing from his tanned brown to a familiar shade of green. He screamed, raising his hands into the sky, his shirt and shoes exploding away from him. He grew in height and weight, muscles growing to insane sizes. The transformation looked... rough. Painful. I thought it would be like when I transformed. But there was something raw and horrific in Bruce's change.
Then it was done. Bruce Banner was gone, and the Hulk stared down at me. The eight-foot-tall, muscular, green, and extremely pissed off badass gamma monster. He eyed me, rising up with a growl, and clenched his fists with an audible crack.
Well, mission accomplished... yay?
“Raagh!”
Hulk threw a punch at me, a slow and lazy one that told me he just wanted me to back away. At least, slow and lazy for him.
“Oh shit!” I ducked, feeling the wind from his giant green fist fly past. Holy crap, was he fast or what? I raised a hand up and leaped back. “Hulk, Jennifer needs your help! But you need to work with Bruce!”
He roared, a mindless, unthinking sound of rage. I grimaced when he leaped away rather than listen to me. I ran to the edge of the plateau to see him jumping across the desert.
“Okay, fine,” I activated the Omnitrix, raising the watches dial lift up as the hologram floated over the watches face. “Percussive therapy...” I found myself grinning. “Gotta say, I've wanted to see this fight since I was a kid!” I slammed down on the Omnitrix. It was a risk, but... for this alien, it was just the right thing to do for my first transformation into him. Along with a certain battlecry. “Going Hero!”
My skin changed color, going from brown to a deep red as two new eyes grew beneath my original set. My Iron Man shirt became a black and white striped muscle t-shirt, stretching out as my biceps, my chest, everything expanded with layer upon layer of muscles and my body grew in height, taller and taller. My ponytail became longer, while the rest of my hair disappeared. My five toes became two talons, and the backs of my forearms grew large spikes as my smooth skin became thicker and tougher. Then, two bulges grew out of my oblique muscles, before exploding outwards becoming arms as massive and powerful as my other ones, golden armbands wrapping around my four wrists. I extended them, raising the two new arms with my other ones, and cried out with all the power in my superhuman lungs.
“FOURARMS!”
The plateau cracked beneath my feet at the shockwave caused by my voice. I grinned. “Oh yeah! Let's go wild!”
I leaped, whooping with joy as the wind rushed past me. My four arms extended outwards into the morning sky. I landed hundreds of feet later, my feet digging deep imprints on the desert floor, and jumped again, cratering the wasteland below.
Hulk had a head start, so I moved quickly to catch up with him. The two of us jumped over and over, covering miles in leaps.
I jumped one more time, aiming for Hulk at the apex of his leap. “Hulk!” I yelled wrapping all of my arms around his waist from behind. He roared in anger as the two of us fell from the sky for hundreds of meters. We crashed into the side of a mountain, sending dust and rocks flying as it cratered under our giant forms.
“Ggraaagh!” Hulk spun around, punching me into the air. I grunted at the impact, spinning in the air for a while before hitting the desert at high velocity. I ground into the earth for a long while, finally coming to a stop after leaving a trench. I blinked as I laid in the large amount of dirt I'd kicked up.
“Huh... didn't hurt. He must be going easy on me.”
The booming sound of something landing nearby brought my four eyes to look at the Hulk, who had landed in the trench I'd made. He glared across at me. With a grunt, I lifted myself up.
And up. And up, until I towered over him. I blinked, surprised. Hulk was around eight and a half feet tall. Which meant he was up to my waist in height.
“Wow. I didn't know I'd be so much taller than you,” I mused.
He took offense to that. “Gragh!”
I got punched in the jaw, hard. I stepped back under the impact, my right foot stepping back to stop me from falling. I blinked my four eyes. Then I narrowed them. “Okay...”
I rose and punched Hulk in the face with my upper right arm. He fell to his knees, a shockwave flying through the air at the impact of my fist on his jaw. The Unfriendly Green Giant spat out a tooth, roared in rage, and leaped at me. I roared back, taking his next punch before we began to brawl.
------
Director Maria Hill of BRIDGE
“Where did they go?” Maria demanded as Natasha and Steve followed her through the halls of the Enterprise. Maria wore her blue uniform, while Natasha and Steve chose to instead dress in navy blue t-shirts with BRIDGE logos across the chest and military pants.
“Dial said he wanted to tell him in a location far from any civilians,” Natasha said. “But he used the Defiant's cloaking system to keep us from tracking him and his comms are off deliberately. Whatever he's doing, he wants privacy.”
“We can't bypass it?” Maria asked, frustrated.
“The Defiant is the most advanced ship on the planet,” Steve reminded her. “Tony said he's going to try and track it, but...” Steve sounded like he was amused, frustrated, and happy all at once.
“Tony says he trusts Dial,” Natasha said.
Maria shook her head, her ponytail waving with the motion. “Look, I get Tony likes his little proteges, but Dial can't just kidnap our most emotionally unstable Avenger and take him to the middle of nowhere without letting us know about it.”
“Tony says Dial has a plan,” Natasha said with a shrug.
“A plan to do what?” Maria asked.
“To help Banner control the Hulk,” Tony walked around the corner, joining the three. He wore a shirt that made Maria blink in surprise, a black one with Dial's logo in the center. “Remember the TV Dial made?” TV was the codeword for the dimensional viewer, to keep eavesdroppers from knowing anything about it. “Some of the channels gave him an idea, showed him some solutions. He's betting on the Omnitrix making those solutions possible.”
“Tony,” Steve said softly. “We need to know where he is.”
“I've got X and Jarvis working on it,” Tony said dismissively. “In the meantime, we have other problems.”
Maria grimaced. “He's right. I've transferred the prisoners the Reserve Avengers rescued moved to a facility Fury gave us. It's called the Playground. We'll be using it to train and help any superhumans we find from now on.”
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“What are they like?” Steve asked, worried.
“Scared,” Maria said simply. The four stopped in a room with a large table in it. “It varies, but that's the general feeling between them all. We're still finding out where they're from. Some aren't even American, so now I'm worried about the immigration fanatics getting on my ass.”
“Is that a real concern?” Steve asked incredulously.
“You really aren't the political sort, are you?” Maria asked. “And don't forget the animals with powers, people have been asking about them.”
“We going to start the Pet Avengers?” Tony quipped.
“Our first priority should be protecting everyone,” Steve said firmly, everyone ignoring Tony's joke. The billionaire didn't seem to care.
“A lot of these people are as strong as you are, or have some limited form of Creel's abilities,” Natasha said. “We already know China and Russia have made inquiries to be allowed to 'take in' their citizens, despite the fact some of the ones they've named actually are US citizens. People in the US government are doing the same thing, asking to study the people we've found. The fact is, we just got hundreds of super-soldiers of varying quality for free.”
“And most of them just want normal lives,” Maria eyed the group. “When we made BRIDGE, this was one of the reasons. To protect both worlds. We'll do that, no matter the cost. You understand?”
“Yeah, yeah, hoorah and all that,” Tony said. Despite his dismissive tone, he seemed to approve. “You said most of them?”
“...Some of them have asked to join BRIDGE,” Maria said.
The three Avengers blinked at that. Maria smirked. “I'm thinking of taking them up on it. We still need to figure everything out first. In the meantime, there's what your team discovered. Not as... flashy, as what the Reserve Avengers discovered, but it may have given us another target. In the meantime, Natasha, you have someone to talk to.”
“Director?” a woman said from the door. The group turned to see Victoria Hand standing with Falcon. The Reserve Avengers leader gave everyone a smile, Steve and Natasha returning it while Tony gave him a wave. “We've got the interrogation with Hale.”
Maria nodded, turning back to the others. “Tony, you work on tracking down Dial and Bruce. Natasha, get to your appointment. Steve, meet up with Fury and work on what all the teams found. We are going to hit another HYDRA facility as soon as possible. In the meantime, I want us to be ready to mobilize the next time HYDRA tries to take one of ours. They try it again, we stop them all.”
With that, they broke off, Sam and Hand following Maria. As Maria walked, she tried to relax.
“I feel the same way sometimes,” Sam said.
Maria looked at him, surprised. “What...”
“Being a leader, after spending your time following... it's hard,” he said in a low voice. Hand stepped further away, the pink stripped woman apparently realizing it was a moment for privacy. “Not to mention the people we're in charge of now, some of them just insanely more powerful than us... I've been faking it as best as I can, personally. You seem to be doing a lot better than I am.”
Maria almost stopped walking. Since becoming Director, she'd worked hard not to show how... overwhelmed, she was now. All the new things coming at her that she had to deal with personally, HYDRA, new technology, new superhumans, new laws, paperwork so insane she could barely handle it. She was dealing, sleeping a few hours a night to keep in top form, but... she didn't realize she'd been showing the exhaustion she'd been feeling.
“I only noticed because I feel the same way,” Sam said, apparently reading her mind. He smiled. “Well, kind of. In a really small way. But you're doing fine if you ask my sorry ass.”
Maria bit her lip, thinking. “...Thank you, Sam. I appreciate that.”
They got to their destination, and Maria walked in without hesitation. “Hale.”
“Hill,” the older woman responded, smiling in her white prison uniform. “Ah, and this must be one of your new superheroes.”
“Sup,” Sam said, standing tall in his full armor.
“We're here about the Graveyard,” Maria said, sitting down across from Hale. “About everything we found there.”
Hale frowned. “It should have just been failed experiment. Dead bodies and destroyed machinery.”
“It was more than that,” Maria said with a frown. “Sam?”
Sam explained what his team had found. Maria watched Hale carefully, watching as she paled, frowned, and suddenly became angry. Once finished speaking, Hale clenched her fists.
“...They lied to me. Or just felt I didn't need to know the full truth,” Hale smirked. “Men. Always keeping secrets, looking down on women.”
Maria didn't respond. Hale had shown resentment towards men before, seeing them as holding her back. Understandable, considering the misogyny Whitehall exhibited. She had a tendency to blame all her problems on it, to an illogical extent. Once again, an understandable reaction considering how HYDRA and the Air Force had treated her.
“...Ruby?” Hale asked.
“She's in her first meeting,” Maria said simply.
Something seemed to 'pop' inside Hale. Some kind of anxiety, a deep worry in her heart. She leaned back in her seat. “Okay. Then it's time I told you everything about the Confederacy. I have a feeling you'll need it.”
------
Frank Castle/Raven
Frank Castle sat in a room in front of a table, his leg bouncing as he waited. The morning before, he'd been in Iraq, for the next mission. Next thing he knew, top brass had shown up and told him to pack up and move out. Then they'd taken him to a random room in the middle of building in the desert. He was still dressed in his uniform, the green camo sweater and pants he always wore in his off time between missions. The military soldier sighed in annoyance, looking at the one-way mirror that dominated one side of the room. “You know, if you CIA assholes are going to drag me over here, the least you can do is actually talk to me.”
There was no response to his grumpy comment. He growled, staring at himself in the mirrored window. “Will you just-”
The door opened. A man walked into the room, wearing a business suit. “Lieutenant Frank Castle,” the man said with a smile.
Frank was immediately on guard. While it had been a long time since he'd seen the asshole, this man reminded him of Agent Orange. A spy. “Who the fuck are you?”
The man smiled. “Agent Phil Coulson. I work with BRIDGE, an organization that is continuing from SHIELD.”
Frank scoffed. “Yeah, I heard about you guys. The Avenger's pet toys.”
Phil chuckled. “Not so much actually. We do work with them, but I don't think that descriptor would work.”
Frank scoffed again, looking dismissively away from Phil. The agent sat across from the soldier and put a tablet on the table.
“I must say, Lieutenant Castle, I had a hell of a time with your files. All I wanted to do was talk to you. But then, I had to deal with the CIA. Are you familiar with a man by the name of,” he looked at his tablet, reading from it. “William J. Rawlins the Third?”
Frank stared at Phil, nonplused. “How the hell should I know?”
“Because you beat his eye out,” Phil smirked. “I actually liked hearing about that. I'm not someone who takes pleasure in the pain of others, but everything we've uncovered tells us he deserved it.”
Nothing Phil could have told him would have surprised Frank Castle more.
“Operation Cerberus,” Phil continued. “Was an unsanctioned operation. We're going through, taking out all the ringleaders. You, however, were pointed out for a potential recruitment for something more.”
Frank shook his head, crossing his arms. “No thanks.”
Phil blinked. “You haven't even heard my offer.”
“Don't want to hear it,” Frank said simply.
“You don't want to go home?” Phil asked, sounding honestly confused.
Frank stilled. “...what?”
“Well, that's what the job would have as one of the benefits. You fight the enemies of the world during the day, then go home at night,” Phil passed Frank the tablet. “It's part of our new Elite unit. Some of your old squad will be on it, once we find out who was tricked by Rawlins, or 'Agent Orange', as he was called at the time,” Phil chuckled. “You'll get an increased salary, of course, better equipment, and-”
“This damn thing goes how fast?” Frank asked, staring at the specs of one of the vehicles being described as standard equipment.
“Escape velocity is one of the descriptors I've heard so far,” Phil said. “But you should know about the current enemy we are fighting. HYDRA.”
“Nazi's?” Frank asked, looking up.
“Well, they don't follow that doctrine anymore, mostly, but that is where they started. You'll be working under Steve Rogers and the Avengers, aiding them in hunting down HYDRA.”
“...Let me get this straight,” Frank put down the tablet and looked at Phil. “That asshole Agent Orange is getting arrested. You want me to join BRIDGE. I'd be able to see my family every night after work. Work which would be me hunting Nazi's with Captain fucking America. That about right?”
Phil frowned at the language but nodded. “Essentially, yes.”
“What's the catch?”
Phil sighed. “I won't lie to you. You'll be seeing a lot of combat, Lieutenant Castle. We've been fighting HYDRA for some time, and we may end up fighting them for even longer than that. This job... there won't be too many times on the job when you won't be fighting. Killing.”
Frank thought about that for a moment. “...Again. What's the catch?”
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Dial
My fist slammed into Bruce's sending a shockwave outward that destroyed vegetation and stone nearby. No, it hit the Hulk's fist. I couldn't treat them as the same exactly. I had to do more.
God, I had no idea if this would even work. What if this was all useless? For a moment, doubt filled me. Hulk hit me during my moment of hesitation, his fist hitting me in the ribs hard enough to send me into a boulder and shatter it beneath my bulk. I shook my head after a moment.
No, trust the Omnitrix. Heck, maybe Allah had something to do with this. I had gained the brute force alien, then Jennifer had been kidnapped. It had to mean something.
“Is that all you've got!?” I yelled, uppercutting Hulk with all four of my fists, sending him spinning into a mountain. I leaped after him, punching him deeper with a double right cross. “Jennifer is in trouble and this is all the power you can bring to save her!?”
“GRAGH!” Hulk brought his feet up and kicked me in the chest, sending me up. I spun in the air and timed the moment for when he leaped towards me, his eyes wild. As soon as he was close enough, I reared back. When my fists hit his chest, time seemed to slow as the power gathered.
BOOOOM!
Time restarted and Hulk was yelling as he rocketed back towards the mountain, ripping through the top of it. I landed after a moment and jumped. A rockslide had started because of Hulk's passage through the top of the mountain, making it sort of hard to reach the top.
When I did, Hulk had gotten there as well. We eyed each other.
“...Jennifer is being held by HYDRA,” I told Hulk. His face lost the constant angry glare, changing into something more pitiful. “If you want to save her, you can't just brawl! You and Bruce need to work together!”
His anger returned. “NO BANNER! ONLY HULK!”
Despite his negative response, I grinned. Hulk was talking.
Then he leaped forward, punching me in the gut. I grunted at the impact, folding over his fist. Holy shit could he hit hard! He punched me in the face, leaping to get up high enough, then kept punching me, bringing me to my knees. I roared in pain as my back hit the floor, bring my arms up to block my face as he punched down at me.
“HULK SAVE JENNY!” Hulk screamed. For all his rage, there was a desperation in his voice. As though, if he yelled and punched for long and hard enough, he could make it true.
“Save her!?” I yelled, my massive arms blocking his, just as massive, fists. “How? Blonsky, Sterns, that gamma-enhanced woman, whatever else HYDRA can drum up! You can't beat them all up, Hulk! Not alone! You and Bruce need to work together, to be smart and strong together!”
“HULK NEEDS NO-” In mid-yell, I reached a hand up to wrap around his mouth, pulling him down to look into my four eyes.
For a funny moment, his anger filled eyes bounced up and down from one set of my eyes to the other, confused which one to glare into. “How can you beat them, when you can't even stop me?”
I punched him with three fists. Then I kept on doing it, holding him in place as my fists drummed across his chest. The earth and air shook I around us, Hulk kicking at me as I held him in place and beat on him. Then I pushed him back, rising to tower over him as I panted. He looked up at me, his chest healing before my eyes.
“I'm not a fighter, Hulk. Not really. But at least I can think beyond anger. I can plan, I can think and plan. You're holding yourself back, both of you. Bruce won't let you use your full power, and you won't let him help you think things through. All you can do is punch and punch, the both of you struggling to hold onto control. Abomination doesn't have that problem. Not even a bit.”
Hulk rose to his feet, staring at up at me. When he spoke again, it was with a pausing tone. He clearly wasn't used to talking without screaming at the top of his lungs. “...You, jerk.”
I winced, realizing what a pontificating asshole I sounded like. “Sorry. It's just... I saw other dimensions Hulk. When you and Bruce work together, you become something so powerful almost nothing can stop you. You've both gone through the same bullshit, been hurt by the same people... you both love Jennifer. We can save her. And I bet, based on your personality, you don't want to just let someone else do it.”
“Hulk save Jenny...” he blinked, as though surprised by something. “B...Bruce, save Jenny.”
Oh thank god, my stupid impulsive plan had worked. “Then you guys have something you both want to fight for. Jennifer Walters. You work together, stop holding each other back, really fight, and Blonsky can't beat you.”
Hulk scoffed, turning around and pacing for a bit. “You help Hulk?”
“Like I can do that,” I said with a sigh. “Bruce told me he learned meditation, to try to learn to control you.”
“HULK WON'T SLEEP!” He turned and walked towards me, fists clenched in rage.
“I'm not telling you to sleep,” I said, raising my four hands up. “We have some hours to ourselves. So instead of stopping the anger, we focus it. Focus on what you need to do. To get as mad as you can, and still have control! A tranquil fury.”
“Talk too much,” Hulk grumbled, yawning dramatically.
That surprised me so much I laughed. He was more like a big kid when he wasn't in combat! “Yeah, I do! How about this?” I slammed two fists into to palms, grinning with slightly fanged teeth. “Let's fight, while you and Bruce try to work together! We'll go for as long as we can, or at least until someone finds us. And if it works, you can beat down Blonsky, show HYDRA and anyone else what happens the next time they try to hurt your family.”
Hulk seemed to think about that for a moment.
Boom!
Then his fist was slamming into mine as he grinned. I grinned back, then I punched him in the jaw. He stepped back as I took the boxing stance Steve taught me, stepping over to tower above him. Hulk raised his hands to mimic my stance, stepping in and giving me a jab. It was a bit rough, slightly telegraphed. I blocked it and returned with a right cross, only for him to grab my arm, twist his hips, and flip me to the floor with a cratering smash. I blinked up at him as he grinned.
“Banner know ju...juijit..." He seemed to get frustrated, going for an easier word. "KUNG FU!”
Wondering how the hell they'd gotten such a quick rapport, I grinned up at him. “...For Jenny.”
Hulk nodded fiercely. I pictured Bruce, smaller but no less determined, doing the same.
Then I flipped up and tackled him, our enormous forms falling down the mountain, smashing into each other with our fists.
Dude, turning into giant monsters, no matter the reason, is so much fun!