Because having S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill for a cousin wasn't trial enough. Marlo just HAD to get her genes altered by the Tesseract Energy. Typical. Well, at least there's this really cute guy… who turns green… and has serious anger management problems. Did I mention he's cute?


Thanks to all that favorited/alerted and special thanks to Pati G W Black, RedDragonKing, Guest, and .1656 for the reviews. On with the show.


Hit Me With Your Best Shot:

Chapter One: An Unfortunate Wake-up.


This world is going through a powerful change- a violent change; we can only hope, when the dust settles, that it is for the better. There are so many strange, formidable individuals- with incredible, sometimes frightening powers, all seeming to pop up overnight. A man who could turn big and green at the drop of a hat was not nearly as unique as he would believe, but that didn't make it any easier to have such a thing as the Hulk contained within, not for Bruce Banner.

So much good. All those people he'd helped, healed, he could almost pretend to have made up for the lives hurt by the Hulk. By the Other Guy.

He could almost pretend to forget.

But that's all it was. All just pretend, because he could never make up for what he did when he lost control. So, as much as he hated it, as much as he didn't want to think about it at all, he knew it was inevitable. He knew someone would find him. That it was SHEILD, and not someone with a much more… nefarious purpose, was something he was thankful for. That didn't mean he wanted to be here.

Not with SHIELD, not on their helicarrier, and certainly not sitting at a table, being briefed on a possibly world ending event. He was also rather displeased when, while he was sitting in said helicarrier and being debriefed under the unpleasantly watchful eye of SHIELD director Nick Fury, there was a sudden uproar at one of the command stations and an agent came scampering up to whisper (rather loudly) to said director. "She's awake again!"

This was enough, apparently, to distract the man from eyeballing Banner. "Status?"

There was no telling what the agent would have said, because at that moment a whirlwind of female fury came storming into the control center shouting at the top of her rather impressive lungs. "Fury! Where is that two-faced, traitorous bitch?"

For someone who had been so alarmed but a split second ago, Fury looked remarkably unfazed by the woman shouting at him, though Bruce did note the careful way the director remained out of her reach. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about Miss Hill."

She did not appreciate this response.

She growled, stomped her foot, and then pointed a finger that was suddenly crackling with blue electricity at the tip of the director's nose. "Would you like to try again?" Bruce was thankful that the attention was not on him at the moment, because a feeling in his eyes and mind told him that the Other Guy had been roused by his brief alarm, and was now looking out of his eyes curiously. Fury looked unimpressed.

"You are going to shock me like a petulant child?" His brows were in the air, it was only because of the Hulk's presence in his mind that Banner could sense his slight unease.

The woman's scowl morphed suddenly, and she bared her teeth in a most unpleasant smile. "No. You see, I stomped here, like a petulant child, so I imagine that when I shock you, it will be a bit more like a bug to a zapper. Would you like to test the theory?"

"No need." The Zappy Lady, as Hulk was now apparently calling her, turned at the female voice behind her. It was an agent, one Bruce now remembered was named Maria Hill. "Please stop threatening the director Marlo."

"Maria," it was a snarl, "we need to talk."

"Stop your shameful display first."

Marlo snarled again, but she took a step back from the director and suddenly clapped her hands in front of her. There was a flash of light and the sound that was released with it was like thunder, deafeningly loud, and the air in the room stirred with it. "All better now. I am disarmed."

"You'll never be disarmed again, Miss Hill." She glanced at Fury at the comment, but made no response.

"Let's go somewhere more private for this conversation." Again, Marlo made no comment, but she followed the agent she was apparently related to out of the control room.

The command center calm again, several people visibly relaxed.

Bruce took a deep breath, and the Hulk, no longer interested now that the Zappy Lady was gone, settled back into his dormant state. Just in time too, because Fury turned back to face him with an even more pronounced scowl than usual.

"Who was that?" Bruce's gaze slid to the Captain. To be honest, for a moment he'd forgotten the man was there.

"Currently? The second biggest pain in my ass," Stark came sauntering in like he owned the place and Fury heaved a sigh, correcting himself before the inventor could open his mouth, "make that the third."

Ironman raised bemused eyebrows, "What'd I miss?"


Marlo was following her cousin at a steady, sedate pace, careful not to shuffle nor stomp her feet. She was furious, but, despite her display in the control room, she did not actually have any intentions of hurting anyone. Not even her cousin. Deeming them far enough from the rest of the populous, she came to an abrupt halt, slammed her fist into the nearest wall to release any remaining energy that had been built up, and slapped her cousin who had halted when she did.

"How could you let them do that to me?" Her voice was angry, but there was also a tone of underlying hurt.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Maria's face was completely blank. She was wearing her Agent face.

"Don't patronize me Maria, you should know better than to leave me alone with a computer you don't want me getting into. Eric chose me as his aid for a reason, and it's not because I make the best freaking coffee he's ever had. Although I do." Agent Hill made no move to respond. "How could you let them do that to me?"

"Director Fury wanted to-"

"I don't give a damn about Director Fury. You're family Maria, I trusted you to protect me to the best of your ability!" Marlo clenched her jaw, realizing that she was losing control of herself again. "We're finishing this conversation later. And just so you know, I'm not forgiving you for this." She turned and stomped away, snarling at anyone to cross her path- missing the guilty expression on her cousin's face.

Marlo was correct, she'd done what she believed to be right at the time, but in the process, she'd horribly betrayed her trust.

Maria decided to have a discussion with Fury as soon as she could.