Disclaimer: I don't own The Avengers, She-Hulk and all related characters are owned by Marvel Entertainment.
Prologue - Changing Of The Guard
New York - Lower West side of Manhattan
"In this form, I'm ignored all the time. It's like I don't even exist in their eyes. I am a good attorney as plain Jennifer Walters, but as the She-Hulk it turns my court cases into three ring circuses. Seriously, when I change and go into court wolf whistles always follow! I can't take being made into a sexual object when I just want to overturn a wrongful conviction." Jennifer Walters said, and set her tea cup down on the table with a loud clink on its saucer, getting some looks from the other paying customers in the restaurant. Jennifer meets their stares, and her green eyes flash with emerald light. The other paying customers quickly divert their eyes, and start coughing nervously.
"That's right! I am not just some meek woman you can intimidate with your little looks! I'm not weak anymore..." Jennifer stares down at her english breakfast that she ordered, and began to play with her food using a fork. "The Avengers want me back on their new team...do I want that life back? I never told Cap this, but there were times that I felt out of place on the team."
Jennifer took another sip of her morning coffee, and tilted the cup around slightly in her hand watching the liquid move around in the cup. "Savage, Sensational, whatever name they came up with for me didn't stop people from making comparisons with Bruce. 'Its only a matter of time until she shows her true colors, and pulls a Hulk on us!' Hawkeye! Hawkeye of all people! Who gave him the right to be judge, and jury over me, or Bruce." Jennifer frowned at the thought of working with the loud mouthed Avengers archer again.
"Cap told me that the roster will have new members, so maybe Cap gave him the boot? If only! I can't stand that big mouth. Cap, Thor, and Wasp are great to work with. Iron Man is tolerable when he isn't hitting on me. I finally had enough of that, and told him where he could stick his helmet. The face he made was priceless. It was like no woman had ever turned him down before, and he deflated like a hot air balloon." Jennifer giggles softly at the memory, and begins to eat some of her English breakfast. The sound of police sirens made Jennifer turn her head to look out the restaurants large glass windows to the outside. Multiple police cars raced past the building to an unknown destination, with Ambulances immediately following the police vehicles.
Jennifer stood up from her seat, and glanced down at her half eaten breakfast and sighed. "So much for the most important meal of the day..." Jennifer trailed off, and put a slender hand in her purse to place the money she owes for the meal with a small tip for her waiter. Jennifer wills the change to begin, and her business suit with matching skirt start to rip and tear at the seams, Her skin changes from pale to emerald green. Her height changes from 5' 10" to 6'7", and she now has very defined muscles, but more streamlined and not as bulky as the Hulk's. Her shoulder length hair turns from brown, to green and her modest bust increases to a D Cup in size.
The change completes, and its revealed that Jennifer has on a purple, and white costume that resembles a swimsuit on underneath her business attire. She-Hulk rips the torn pieces of her business suit from her body, and grins over at the shocked faces of the other customers.
"Gotta go! A heroes work is never done! Later!" She-Hulk gives a saucy salute, and runs out of the establishment to catch up to the speeding police cars.
Meanwhile - At The Scene of The Disturbance
A man with short brown hair standing at 6' 2" in height with a medium build holding a black briefcase in one hand. He is keeping the surrounding police officers at bay using water attacks from his free hand. "These diamonds are mine now, Cops! You really think you can stop Hydro-Man with bullets? Get real, you pansies!' Hydro-Man laughed, and turns his arm into water to launch a high pressure burst at one of the police cars cutting off access to the rest of the street. The police vehicle is soon swept off down the street toward a scared couple huddled together on the street corner. They both shut their eyes, and wait for the impact.
"Hey folks! I've got this handled! Hurry, and get clear of this area!" The homeless couple both look up to see the Jade Giantess She-Hulk with the police car lifted above their heads with She-Hulk's fingers dug deep into the metal of the car. The couple nod their heads quickly. "Thank you!" The older woman smiles at She-Hulk as her husband takes her hand and they run to safety.
She-Hulk grins, and places the police car down carefully on its wheels. "It's people like her that remind me why I keep doing the hero thing." She-Hulk thought to herself aloud, and takes a mighty leap over to where the police are fighting a losing battle against the Hydro-Man.
She-Hulk flips in mid air, and land with authority in the midst of the surprised police officers. "She-Hulk! Are the other Avengers with you, we have a real situation on our hands!" One of the rookie police officers said to a now frowning She-Hulk with her hands on her shapely hips. "No, but maybe we can wait around for Thor to show up, I've apparently got nothing better to do."
A senior officer pulls the rookie to the side before he can embarrass himself further. "Sorry about Mike. He's new, and he doesn't know your history with the perp. Hydro-Man robbed the local diamond exchange, and has about 5 million dollars worth of them in that briefcase he's holding." The senior officer points over at Hydro-Man, and She-Hulk narrows her eyes at her old Frightful Four adversary. Jennifer takes in the surroundings, and sees Hydro-Man manipulating the water in the fire hydrant's on the street corners to add to his own mass.
"Looks like Morrie's getting ready to try to push you all back to make his escape. Captain, move your men back and let me take a crack at Hydro-Man!" She-Hulk punches her right hand into the palm of her left, and grinned confidently at the Captain. "No way! Captain! If she cuts loose, the collateral damage will triple in size! She's one of them...a Hulk!" Another of the Captain's officers points at She-Hulk with a scowl on his face.
"Shut the hell up, and listen good Junior! She-Hulk's been an Avenger, a member of the Fantastic Four, and helped save the world more times than I care to count! Give her some respect, she's more than earned it!" The officer backed up like he had been struck by the Captain's words, and lowered his head. "We've got no time for this crap!" The Captain waves his arm in the air gaining the attention of the other uniformed officers. "Bullets don't do jack on this guy! Fall back to 5th, and Main! She-Hulk's going to take the fight to him!" The Captain looked up at She-Hulk. "Tell me that you have a plan."
She-Hulk grinned down at the senior officer, and gave him a thumbs up. "Of course I do! I've had Bench as a dance partner before, so I know the best way to stop him." She-Hulk starts walking past the senior officer, and stops to place a green hand on his shoulder. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. It helps more than you know." With that said, She-Hulk rushed over to a now smirking Hydro-Man.
"If it isn't the Cover-girl of the Avengers! It's been a while green cheeks! You can't stop me from getting away with my millions!" Hydro-Man unleashes torrents of high pressure water from his hand, and She-Hulk uses her superior speed to dodge the dangerous blasts.
"All I wanted was a little me time at this nice quiet restaurant, and you just had to go and ruin it, Bench." She-Hulk distracts Hydro-Man by kicking a parked car directly at him, Hydro-Man quickly changes his whole body into water, and evades She-Hulk's attack. He starts to re-form, and is startled when he notices his briefcase is missing. "Where?! Where is it?! My diamonds!"
"Looking for this, Morrie? Gee, you really shouldn't have." She-Hulk is holding the black briefcase with the diamonds close to her bust, and starts hugging it tightly.
"Give me back my diamonds, or you'll know what it's like to drown slowly on dry land!" More high pressure water shots are released by Hydro-Man, and his teeth start grinding in frustration when he keeps missing hitting the She-Hulk.
She-Hulk flips over a parked car, and taunts Hydro-Man some more to break his concentration. "Sorry, Bench! Diamonds are this girl's best friend, and besides you'd look terrible wearing this much jewelery!" She-Hulk waved the briefcase up in the air. "If you want it, come and get it Morrie!" Hydro-Man took She-Hulk's bait, and turns his whole body into water again, and moved his liquid body quickly over to She-Hulk's location. Acting quicker, She-Hulk puts down the diamonds and rips a nearby lamp-post up from the concrete. "Dry up, Bench..you're all wet!"
She-Hulk waits for Hydro-Man to get closer, and starts spinning the lamppost at high speeds like a giant propeller. Bench realizes his mistake too late, and all of his watery body is flung in different directions into tiny particles of water. The molecule of his body that contains his mind is separated from the rest of his body, and it becomes ordinary water. She-Hulk stops spinning the lamppost, and watches the water molecules slowly start evaporating with the light, and heat of the morning sun. She-Hulk dropped the lamppost on the street, and blew a strand out green hair out of her eyes.
"All that wind I generated with the spinning dried out my costume! Win/win!" She-Hulk smiled, and picked up the diamonds, and traveled at a brisk pace to the waiting and relieved police officers.
"Did one of you order a briefcase of diamonds? No? Can I keep them then?" She-Hulk received blank looks from the Officers. "What? I was just kidding! Geez! Grow a sense of humor already!" She-Hulk chuckled, and handed the briefcase to the senior officer.
"Thank you, She-Hulk. Can you tell us what happened to, Hydro-Man?" She-Hulk nodded down to him. "Without the molecule of water that has his mind, his body is just regular old water. Its going to take him a while to pull himself back together since he's used up all the water in the area. There are two different methods I know to contain him: Either by turning his body to ice, or keeping him in a high temperature container of some kind. I was planning on heading over to Avengers Mansion anyway. I'll let them know about Bench, and the next time he shows up, we'll be ready." She-Hulk holds out her hand for a shake, and the Senior Captain gives her hand a firm shake.
She-Hulk gives a two finger salute to the other officers, and releases her handshake. "I never did get your name." The senior officer shook his head, and chuckled good naturedly. "Captain James Briggs, it's been a pleasure ma'am." She-Hulk gives him a hundred watt smile, and then turns around to leap high into the sky to make quick time over to Avengers Mansion.
At the Avengers Mansion - 721 Fifth Avenue - New York
She-Hulk stood on the sidewalk next to the front gates of Avengers Mansion, and stared up and whistled to herself. "Whoever Stark has that does the renovations on this place sure works fast! It's even bigger now, and is that a landing strip on the roof?" She-Hulk shook her head, and her green hair swayed from side to side. She-Hulk took a deep breath to relax, and it had the unintended purpose of drawing the attention of passersby to her chest area. She-Hulk growled at the men, and they soon found the sidewalk to be more interesting.
"No time like the present I suppose. *sigh* Time to give Cap my answer." She-Hulk hit the red button on the intercom on the brick wall next to the front gates. "Hello? Man, I hate these things! Hello? This is She-Hulk...anybody there?" Jennifer waited for a while, and starts tapping her bare right foot in slight impatience. "Oh! Is that you, Ms. Walters? This is Edwin Jarvis. Please wait a moment, and I will clear you for entrance."
She-Hulk smiled widely, and tilted her head closer to the intercom. "Jarvis! How are you? My stomach misses you're cooking so much! Can I whisk you away from here without the others knowing? Pleeasse?" She-Hulk hears mirthful laughter on the other end of the intercom.
"I am afraid you would have Master Tony to contend with. All of his technical know-how, and he still cannot prepare french toast without burning it." She-Hulk starts laughing out loud, and has to hold her left hand over her mouth to try to stop her laughter. She can hear Jarvis talking animatedly with someone, and another familiar voice chimes into the intercom.
"Jennifer! Glad you could make it! Steve, and the others are waiting for you in the main lobby, come on in!" The synthetically generated voice of Iron Man said, and the front gates slowly swung open. She-Hulk hesitated for a moment, before entering through the gates, and making her way to the equally large front doors of the mansion. "I hope that I'm making the right decision." Jennifer thought, and opened the doors as they automatically began shutting behind her.
Author's Note: This is my first story that isn't a crossover. It takes place in the older version of the 616 Universe. She-Hulk is the main character for this story, and most of the action and character interactions will have lasting effects on all the characters. Thanks for reading the prologue for Earth's Mightiest Heroes: She-Hulk! Let me know what you thought of the prologue in a review! :D