Bruce Banner/Hulk
January 21st,2014
In the early morning in the labs of the Avengers Tower, Bruce watched as Mahmoud in his Upgrade form flowed across the surface of Jennifer's cryotube. The tube had been put in his lab, with the deprogramming machines BRIDGE had created to remove the various forms of brainwashing and conditioning HYDRA had employed on their victims and operatives alike erected around the tube. Maria had listened to his appeal to let him do the work himself alongside BRIDGE’s best scientists in the field (and coincidently the one's Bruce trusted most) to assess the health of a new gamma-enhanced human. As of now, that was Bruce himself, the leading expert on gamma radiation in the world, Jemma Simmons, a skilled doctor despite her young age and who had experience dealing with enhanced biology, Tony Stark and Leopold Fitz, some of the most skilled engineers in the world, and Mahmoud Schahed, who had access to aliens that could build things beyond the current scope of human technology and had a device with the most advanced genetic scanner ever built in. With all that combined brainpower in one room, they would be able to find out-
“She is perfectly healthy,” Simmons said as she circled the cryotube with a scanner in hand.
“Yep,” Dial said as he flowed away from the cryotube returning to his bipedal form, his circular green eye brightening and dimming with each word before he changed back to human again in a bright green flash. “She's put on about four times the amount of muscle mass she had before, increased a couple of feet in size, burned away quite a lot of body fat, is about as radioactive as the Hulk so no alarms there, and is apparently extremely hungry, but other than that, she's healthy."
“W-What, there are no trackers in her?” Bruce asked, stepping forward and snatching the scanner out of Simmons' hands to circle Jennifer. “No cybernetic parts, no surgical wounds, nothing wrong?”
“No, she's fine,” Simmons said, frowning at the frantic Dr. Banner. “In truth, it makes sense that she is so stable. Blonsky had the flawed super-soldier serum to protect him and your blood to give him the genes, while Rana Philips simply had her genetic template altered for the same effect, but Ms. Walters is a pure carrier of the Gamma Gene just like you,” when he only seemed more agitated, Simmons spoke without thinking.“Sir, she's a Hulk, she won't-”
“Don't-!” Dial and Simmons recoiled in surprise at the loud shout from him, Tony and Fitz looking over from the computer the two had been working on. For a moment, the room was still, Simmons biting her lip nervously. Fitz looked at him, then at Tony, who crossed his arms. He took a deep breath. “I just... she can't...”
“She-Hulk,” Dial said softly. Bruce felt his fists clench. “That's not the name I gave her, it's what people are calling her right now. Bruce, she's going to get compared to you, and there's nothing wrong with that. Look, just... let us wake her, and you'll see.”
“I-” He bit his lip, looking over at Jennifer. “...I didn't want this. It's why I left Betty, left everyone. I didn't want them hurt by anything related to the Hulk,” Bruce winced internally at how offended the Hulk got within him, sending a silent apology to the ‘Other Guy’.
“It's what assholes do, Banner,” Tony said, finally speaking. “They attack nice guys. It's up to us to keep knocking them down. Now, look, your cousin needs you. All the brainwashing has been, well, washed out, so she'll be herself now. You going to talk to her? Help her?”
“...Dial. Turn into something that can fight her,” Bruce said sadly.
“No,” Dial responded.
His neck snapped to let him stare at Dial in shock. “Mahmoud-”
“Bruce. Ask the Hulk what he thinks would happen if the first thing he saw when waking up was Rath or Four Arms ready to fight.”
The gamma-enhanced man's eyes flashed green. He scowled, then nodded. “Okay.”
Simmons looked around, then nodded at Fitz, who ran forward to begin the unlocking procedures.
As he worked, Carl Creel walked into the room. Tony blinked at the sight of the tall bald man stepping in. “What's up, Knockoff?”
“Don't call me that,” Creel said with the ease of practice.
“Stop stealing my 'Man of Metal' schtick,” Tony quipped.
Creel snorted, then hesitated. “I just... I've been brainwashed, so I thought... I don't know what I thought.”
Bruce blinked at the sight of the tall and usually confident man looking uncomfortable. Dial stepped forward and punched his fellow Reserve Avenger in the shoulder. “Yeah yeah, you big softy,” Dial said with a mischievous look in his eyes. “You can stay.”
Creel scoffed, crossing his arms across his barrel chest.
Together, the small group watched as Jen woke up within the tube as the steel and glass door was slowly opened.
“I gotta admit, I didn't expect her to be so...” Tony trailed off, horror filling his eyes as he realized what he'd been about to say.
Bruce stared pointedly at him, then at Creel, Dial, and Fitz. The three men coughed and focused on other things to avoid his gaze.
Deep inside Bruce, an ancient instinct belonging to all overprotective family members awoke as the Hulk felt the urge to grab a shotgun for some reason.
------
Jennifer Walters/?
Jennifer woke up and felt as though she had been given... something. Something intense. Like she went out and painted the town red to supernatural levels or something, though she hadn’t done something like that since college with her more rambunctious sorority sisters. She blinked awake and more energy than she could ever remember coursed through her body. What happened? She had been in her kitchen, tired from a long day, and that... a big headed guy had shown up? What happened after that? She reached at one of the walls of the tube surrounding her, pulling at it. Why did she feel so powerfu-?
A loud wrenching sound filled the air as something flimsy tore apart in her hand. She looked at the wall she'd grabbed at and had a weird moment as she stared at the steel bent under her green fingers.
Bent steel. Green fingers.
“Uhhhhh-”
“Jenny?”
At the sound of someone speaking to her, she looked up. Bruce was standing under her. No, wait. He was... he was shorter than her? By like, two feet?
“Bruce?” Jennifer coughed. Why did her voice sound so different? “What happened? Where am I?”
“Hi there!” Jennifer turned to her left to see a very short, cute redhead with freckles and a British accent.
Looking around, Jennifer saw a young man with frizzy brown hair and a smooth face standing next to the redhead, a brown-skinned man with a beard and ponytail wearing an odd green watch, a tall bald man, and Tony Stark.
“Hi?” Jennifer surprised herself when she immediately stepped out of the tube she'd been laying in. For some reason, she didn't feel nervous. Dressed in the tiny patient robe she’d just realized she was wearing in front of so many people, normally she was sure she would have panicked. But she didn't. If anything, she felt a smirk rise to her lips, and almost preened under the gazes. “Bruce? What happened? Why am I green?”
Her cousin sighed. “Well...”
------
Jennifer watched as Simmons took her pulse, Bruce finishing the story. “So... I was kidnapped by a former friend of yours who was working for HYDRA, and then you came in with an army to rescue me, but not before they brainwashed me and made me... well, this?” Jennifer waved the arm not currently occupied at herself. Her once mousy form was now six foot seven inches with six hundred and fifty pounds of green muscle. She clenched a fist and grinned at the size of it, the look and feel of her forearm muscles moving beneath green skin. Funny, she'd never been neither very confident in her appearance nor obsessed with fitness before. Now she just wanted to see what she could do. In fact, she was starting to feel a little antsy.
Also, she really liked how long her hair had gotten, she should have grown it out years ago!
“And that's about the gist of it,” the dark-skinned man, who'd introduced himself as Mahmoud said.
“I gotta say, I don't feel like I was brainwashed,” Jennifer admitted. She considered the idea that she was even now under someone's control before her new self-confidence brushed the thought aside.
“Enjoy that,” the tall bald man, Creel, said. “I was under HYDRA's control for a while. You're lucky we got you out of there when we did, you were mostly on ice the whole time... Sorry for the pun.”
“Huh,” Jennifer thought about that. “I guess you guys got me out just in time,” for some reason she didn’t feel the near-panic that should have felt at the close save. In a way, it was almost as though she ‘knew’ that she would make it somehow.
“I gotta say, you're dealing with this pretty well,” Bruce said, adjusting his glasses and frowning at how relaxed Jennifer seemed.
“I mean, why wouldn't I?” Jennifer grinned. “I feel good,” the final word came out in a purr that came from deep in her throat. She smirked at the way Mahmoud and Creel blinked, then coughed and looked away, Tony smirking back lazily at her. “I kinda want to stretch my legs, Bruce, see what I can really do.”
“A-Are you sure?” Bruce asked, looking confused. “We should do more tests-”
Jennifer laughed, rising to her feet and reveling in the feel of the cold air on her skin. “Sweetie, just look at me!” she stretched to her full height, arms over her head. “I feel like someone just lit my fire! I want to go out, I want to hit something!”
“Yeah, that pans out with what I expected,” Mahmoud mumbled.
“Come on, Brucey,” Jennifer smiled at her cousin. “What do you say? You and me, see what I can do? We should have some fun, make up for all the years apart!”
“That's not something we should-” Bruce began to say.
“Let's not be hasty, Banner,” Tony said, stepping forward with a grin. “We've got the weight room. Let's see what she can do.”
“As long as we go easy,” Simmons said cautiously. “We still don't know why your transformation appears to be permanent. Are you sure you're feeling alright? No major feelings of anger or other extreme emotions?”
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“I feel Perfect,” Jennifer said with a sigh of happiness.
“Then your transformation may be triggered by something we don't know,” Simmons said.
“Yes,” Bruce agreed as he adjusted glasses while looking up at Jennifer. “What if you turn human when angry, in a reversal of what I do? We don't want you bench-pressing three hundred pounds, getting angry, then returning to normal.”
Jennifer smirked at the clear challenge. “Then maybe you should spot me?”
Bruce blinked up at her. Then his face stiffened in determination. “Sure.”
The change was instantaneous. One second, she towered over her cousin. Then he was standing over a foot taller than her, his massive bulk a green wall before her, wrapped in purple armor as the tatters of his clothes fell to the floor. Jennifer's confidence didn't disappear, but it was muted. “Whoa.”
The Hulk smiled at the sight of his cousin. “Hi, Jenny! I'm Hulk!”
Apparently, he'd realized they never technically met, and so decided to introduce himself.
Jennifer practically crumbled at the sight of Hulk's happy smile. “Aw! You're just a big puppy, aren't you?”
“Not how I’d put it,” Fitz whispered, eyes wide at the sight of Hulk in a reverse of Jennifer’s reaction.
“I always forget how big he is,” Creel mumbled in the background, Fitz and he stepping back from the massive beings now taking up the lab.
As Hulk smiled bashfully and Simmons giggled, Tony rubbed his eyes. “Could have waited till we got there to change,” Tony grumbled. “Now I gotta figure out how to get two Hulk’s into the weight room without breaking the elevator. You two will overload it as is...”
“I’m sorry, did you just make a crack about my weight,” Jennifer said with mock anger and her hands on her hips.
“Aww shit, I was once better than this. Nerds! Explain what I meant by that.” Tony said, deciding a strategic withdrawal was in order.
“Well, in that case,” Simmons said, moving forward enthusiastically. “The interesting thing about your transformation is that like the Hulk you gained a significant amount of muscle mass though not quite to the same degree..”
Fitz apparently caught onto what Jemma was saying and continued. “Yes, you see while your cousin is a big densely pack powerhouse your own growth seems more lean and athletic, your muscle density and thus muscle weight is increased by the same factor as the Hulk however, explaining the increase in weight.”
“They bounce off of each other real quick,” Mahmoud whispered to Creel.
“Not quick enough,” Creel rumbled, looking at the closeness of the two, rolling his eyes when Fitz blushed as his hand brushed Simmons.
------
Later, after going down some stairs that creaked under the weight of the Hulk and Jen, the group stood in a weight room together, watching as She-Hulk worked out. The room was extremely fancy, with a pool on one side, a boxing ring in the center, punching bags on the other side (curiously a couple lay on the floor in the back and sand poured out of fist-sized holes in the center of the bags), dozens of machines, and equipment meant specifically for the superhuman inclined to use them were dotted around the place. Including weights in excess of what normal people could lift.
Jennifer had replaced her medical robe with some clothes borrowed from Creel, the only one among them with clothes big enough for her. The hoodie and sweatpants were a little baggy even on his massive frame. On Jennifer’s new bulk, they were barely able to fit, stretching on her and leaving her midriff exposed. She took pride in that.
“Woo!” Jennifer called out happily as she bicep-curled a bar with massive plates on each side. “How much weight is this again?” she asked, curious as to why she felt nothing at all in terms of strain.
“About seven hundred pounds,” Fitz said, staring at the long bar that Jennifer was easily lifting, her arms pumping seemingly without effort. “Fifty pounds more than you weigh.”
“Calling me fat?” she asked him with a wink, the young Englishman sputtering nervously in response. She laughed. “This feels great! Hey big guy, wanna arm wrestle later?”
Hulk grinned down at her. "Yes. But when safe. Banner say should wait,” Hulk scowled. “Banner always say wait. But nicer now. No more yelling.”
Jennifer blinked at the thought of that, doing five more reps. “So wait, you can hear him? I don't hear any smaller version of me in my head, don’t think she would take me being nearly nude all that well either.”
“That's one of the questions we want to answer!” Simmons said, watching Jennifer lift nearly a ton with just her arms. “Why is your transformation so different? Why can't you change back?”
“Why would I want to!?” Jennifer laughed, tossing the weights down with a crack of sound, and curling her arms up. “Look at me! I feel awesome.”
Hulk frowned, apparently thinking on that. Mahmoud seemed nervous for some reason.
Creel, who had been looking at the boxing ring with longing eyes, stepped forward and leaned down to grab the tossed aside bar. “I know you're new, but you need to respect the gym and its equipment.”
“Whoa,” Jennifer's eyes widened in worry as Creel began to pull. “Wait don't! You'll hurt your-” she stopped as Creel's skin changed to the same dark metallic color as the bar. Jennifer's jaw dropped as Creel lifted the bar and plates with ease and walked away. “Oh, wow...”
“Well, thankfully,” Fitz said as though the sight of metal men was old hat. “You seem to be able to use your strength safely so far. Let's go to the treadmill.”
The rest of the day was spent testing. Each test made Jennifer feel better. She was unstoppable! She could lift anything, run forever at top speed, leaping hundreds of feet, punch through concrete, even take rubber bullets without a hint of harm.
She wanted more. She wanted a real fight, a real test.
She just had to wait until tomorrow.
------
Thor Odinson/God of Thunder
Thor was sitting on the roof of the Avengers Tower, thinking on all he had heard recently. In all honesty, he hadn't expected much to change. Despite everything, he had hoped that Earth would have calmed down after the Convergence. Instead, it was as though the world had exploded. Though to be fair, in many ways, things were the same as always across Earth.
But then there were all the changes Thor had discovered. HYDRA, apparently a villainous group from Steve Roger's time, had risen from within SHIELD, the deceivers somehow hiding within them and corrupting the noble group from within, like poison within the body. Thankfully, Steve had not only called in his fellow Avengers, but three more worthy heroes: War Machine, Dial, and Falcon, to aid him in battle.
Thor was saddened he couldn't have helped. The battle had sounded truly incredible, with warriors on both sides fighting their best and heroism rising to the forefront.
Actually, he was sort of jealous. And hearing about all the other fights didn't help. At heart, Thor was a warrior and finding out he'd missed so many impressive battles was a disappointment. Pushing down those thoughts, Thor focused on the work he had to do. He put Mjolnir down on the floor next to him and looked up into the sky, closing his eyes. “Heimdall. I need your advice.”
All Thor heard was the wind running over the rooftop. He frowned. “Heimdall, my friend. You haven't answered me in some time... do you, uh, can you hear me? I mean, it has been a while. Should I call later?”
“I hear you,” the voice of the All-Hearing Asgardian responded. “Apologies, Thor. Home has been... interesting.”
Thor's fingers twitched. “What happened?”
“Nothing of import. Strangeness, that is all. You said you needed advice?”
“Uh, yes. My friend, things on Earth have changed in unexpected ways,” Thor dived into his explanation, telling Heimdall everything that Maria Hill had told him, ending with the proposal for an alliance between their realms. “And so, I am to approach my father about allying with BRIDGE and the rest of Midgard. I have also heard that a nation by the name of Wakanda is looking into a similar proposal.”
“I'm sure they are,” Heimdall said mysteriously. “I will speak to him of this, if you like?”
Thor held back a sigh of relief. He really didn't have the head for things like treaties, documents, and trade deals. He wasn't unintelligent, but his skills lay more in languages, tactics, and space travel, with a small skill in wormhole physics. “Thank you, Heimdall.”
“Of course,” Heimdall sighed on the other end of the mental link between them. “But I do not know if your father will agree to this.”
“Why not?” Thor asked surprised, his father always seemed one for diplomacy.
“He has been... strange, as of late. He recently had the builders begin work on a statue of your brother and a small theater for a play in his honor.”
“...Father did that?” Thor asked incredulously.
“Yes. It may be that the grief of...” Heimdall trailed off.
Thor looked down at the gravel beneath his feet, sadness filling him. “Mother and Loki... Heimdall, please tell him about the proposal. If he refuses, let him know I will come myself to Asgard to discuss it either way. And there is something else. A mortal I wish my father to meet.”
Heimdall let out a surprised noise. “Thor? You think that wise?”
“Yes. He is... well, he is not Asgardian. But he can become one now.”
“This Mahmoud Schahed,” Heimdall agreed. “You haven't told him? About the possibility of what he may face?”
“I don't even know if it will happen,” Thor admitted. “Is he a true god because he can simply change forms? Is there even a... place for him? Does he count? So much of what Earth has brought to my attention is impossible to predict. All I can do is try to protect them... I'm seeing Jane tomorrow,” he finished with no small amount of trepidation.
“Best of luck,” Heimdall said simply.
Thor smiled sardonically. “I will need it.”