Hello, Readers! I posted this on Ao3, and I figured I'd post it here as well. I prefer Ao3 these days, but it's always nice to get back to my roots, you know.

Also, for any of my returning readers, guess who's not dead, I guess. Sorry about the cliffhanger with Brotherhood, it's... a work in progress seems like lying. I want to continue it but in all likelihood, that's a few years off, if ever.

I will try to post two chapters a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. Alternatively, if you're comfortable with Ao3, you can read it there. I kind of decided to post it here super late. The main reason why I didn't upload this story here to begin with was because this is actually an Avengers Assemble/Ultimate Spider-man crossover but I can only have two fandoms here, so I chose Avengers (Movies) because it's got a larger audience and Earth-12041 is based on the MCU anyway.

The Hulk and the Beast: Chapter One

June 8, 2013

"You have what I ordered?" Red Skull asked.

The man before him, Nikola something, was small and pitiful, as all men are at their core. He was a lesser magician, but adept in what Skull needed. Incompetent in everything else.

"I got one right here," Nikola kicked the crate he'd brought with him. It was four feet in every direction and covered in cloth. "Bit small, but they're hard to come by, you should be happy I found one at all. Little shit was hiding."

"And the books?"

"I couldn't… find all of them, but I got most. I located your top order, the Grimoire of the Cosmic Wolves, but the castle it was in is too heavily fortified. On top of that, it's kept in the most secure part. One of a kind, so I can see why. Don't get me wrong, Mr. Skull, you paid top dollar, but even I have my limits."

"Shame," Skull placed a hand on the cloth covering the crate. "It's rather quiet in there."

"It's quiet in general," Nikola shrugged. "It's young, frightened. Figured that'd be better to work with. I could have gotten one of the bigger ones, but the only one I could track down was loud and violent. He wasn't tamable."

"An adult would require extra work," Skull agreed. "You're certain it will grow?"

"As certain as any can be. It's strong, I'll give it that."

"Physically, perhaps. That is to be expected."

"You got the rest of my payment? Those weren't easy spells, I'll have you know. Difficult to track the ingredients. There was math involved. I would thinking I should get more than the agreed amount. It put up a fight," he held up the back of his hand. There were three scratches.

"Cry me a river," Skull scoffed.

"Do you have any idea how illegal it is to smuggle one of these across dimensional boundaries?"

"That was never the issue," Skull sighed. He pulled the cloth off the crate. Just as he expected, there was his newest little project, small and frightened, cowering in the farthest corner.

"Then where's my money?"

"Right here," Skull drew his gun and put a bullet between the magician's eyes. "Such a waste. I might have spared you, had you not gotten greedy. But it was to be expected."

The boy in the crate began crying harder, covering his ears at the sound. Enhanced hearing, that was good. The crate itself was made of a titanium/adamantium alloy. Not as strong as pure adamantium, but the boy had already bent some of the bars in a foolish attempt to escape. That also boded well. This venture was already proving successful.

"Do you have a name, boy?" Skull asked.

The boy only whimpered, trying his hardest to get away from Skull. The bars he was leaning against bent in protest.

"No matter, if you did, you don't anymore."

Remus was scared. He was frightened. He was terrified. He was running out of synonyms. He wanted his parents, his friends, anyone. He didn't think anyone could reach him here. It smelled wet and moldy. Remus wanted to throw up, but he was muzzled. He wanted to cry, but they'd beaten him until he had no tears left.

"You belong to HYDRA," they said. Over and over and over.

At least, he thought morbidly, the Ministry hadn't found him. Would that have been better or worse? They would have killed him quickly. The Ministry wouldn't have killed his mother, he didn't think. He didn't think he'd ever forget the smell of her fear, of the death rolling off of her and his father.

At one point, HYDRA chained him to a table and asked him questions. How old are you? I turned twelve last March. When were you bitten? I was four, but I turned five before my first Moon. How much weight can you lift? I don't know. They beat him when he said he didn't know, even though he really didn't know. He never tested how fast he could run. He wasn't allowed to run around before Hogwarts.

They made him lift weights, run on a treadmill, identify smells, listen to things and repeat back what he heard. If he got anything wrong or refused to cooperate, they beat him, reminding him "You belong to HYDRA." He didn't refuse often. Usually he just couldn't keep going.

Every time he passed out he woke up in his room, chained to his cot by his ankle. It wasn't really a room, it was a cell, with only his dirty, uncomfortable cot and a bucket. Remus preferred to call it his room. It made him feel a little better.

June 23, 2013

The first full moon was approaching. He could feel it in his bones. That familiar ache that started in his left arm, where he'd been bitten, and spread, bone deep, to the very tips of his toes.

"Please don't let me hurt anyone, please, please," he begged.

It was only hours away now. They dragged him to a new cell. This one was more reinforced. He started crying harder when he saw the dog chained to the far wall. A ratty little mutt that looked half dead already.

"Please, please, I don't want to, please."

He struggled. He broke free. They jabbed him with the cattle prods until he couldn't move anymore. The room was a nightmare. It was at least forty feet tall, but only ten feet in width and length. There was a bright lamp hanging from the ceiling and an observational window. This was the most important test. They wanted to see how vicious he was. They wanted to see him shred the poor dog that was shaking as hard as he was.

He was still begging and crying as they locked him in the room. He could see the bright red of the Skull's face. It haunted him. Skull hadn't talked to him since the first day, but he shadowed him, watched his progress. Remus hated him and the cruel look of glee he'd get whenever someone hurt Remus. He hated the glint in his eyes now, as they waited for Remus to lose his mind to the monster.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to the dog. "I'm really sorry. I don't want to hurt you. I'm sorry."

Remus woke covered in his own blood. The dog was unharmed. That was a relief. Until Red Skull himself came in to retrieve him and shot the dog. Remus couldn't take his eyes of the little dog as they dragged him from the room.

"At least we can see how advanced it's healing factor is," Skull sighed.

It took Remus four days to heal after the full moon. When he was at Hogwarts, Madam Pomphrey could heal him in half that time. He usually hated being cooped up in the hospital wing or his room, but this time it was a blessing. They let him rest, did nothing more than monitor his healing with no outside help other than a few bandages.

He didn't like what followed his four day vacation.

He got to spend the rest of that month being beaten, tortured, and shot. It took him sixteen hours to heal from a gunshot wound. Bruises healed only slightly faster than normal. The leading theory was his body prioritized more fatal wounds and reserved his healing, letting less horrendous wounds heal normally. A run of the mill beating left him sore, but a broken bone didn't decommission him for more than a day. Remus would rather never have found that out.

July 22, 2013

The second full moon there was a baby deer in the moon room. Maybe they thought he didn't attack the dog because the wolf thought it was his friend. Deer were a wolf's natural pray, so it was only natural.

He didn't hurt the baby deer either, he wasn't a wolf. Not a real one, anyway. If he hadn't already been half dead, he was positive Red Skull would have beaten him personally after that.

As soon as he was healed, only three days this time, they gave him treatment, he was back to the tests. Endurance tests this time. His least favorite was when they zapped him every time he started falling asleep. They didn't even give him a book to read. He could have told them he could stay awake for three days before collapsing, he'd done it enough last year. They wanted their own test results.

August 20, 2013

The third full moon there was another human in the room with him. Remus struggled harder than he'd ever struggled before. He knocked out one of the guards dragging him to the moon room. He cried, he begged, he pleaded, everything. The other human was barely conscious, smelled of alcohol and sewage.

Remus once more woke covered in blood. He was beside himself until they dragged him out and saw the homeless man was still alive and completely unharmed. He was incredibly shaken, but alive. Until Red Skull went in and shot him. But Remus hadn't hurt him. He hadn't. He didn't know how to feel about that.

August 27, 2013

Red Skull beat him personally after he recovered. It took him a week that time. He had nearly chewed off his legs. That sucked.

"Useless!" Red Skull slammed his fist into the side of Remus' head. "Do you have any idea how much I paid for you?"

Remus didn't answer. He stayed curled up in the fetal position on the floor, praying it would be over soon.

"You are the first of my new army and you will obey me! If I tell you to kill, you kill, do you understand me?"

Remus curled up into a smaller ball and cried. Red Skull kicked him, over and over and over.

"You are nothing without HYDRA! Nothing! Next time you will rip apart whatever I tell you to, or I'll kill you myself."

Remus thought that sounded quiet nice. Painful, but at least it'd be over.

"Begin testing his mind," Red Skull said to the scientists that had been working on Remus. "Find what makes him tick. Assess reprogramming. We will have to proceed with Phase Two of the project, even with the inconclusive results."

"Should we start with the dog or the mental aptitude test?"

"Start with the dog," Skull said.

After Red Skull was done beating him into the ground, he woke up in his room again, chained like always. Everything was usually as he left it, not that he had anything to make a mess. He wasn't even allowed clothes, just hospital gowns. He'd grown used to the lack of modesty, but he still hated it. He didn't even have underwear.

This time there were two differences. On the bed was the first change of clothes he'd been given in three months. A black long sleeve shirt and black tracksuit bottoms. He would have preferred corduroy trousers and a jumper, but he knew if he asked for anything he'd be beaten again. He couldn't get the bottoms on because of the manacle chaining him to the bed, but he appreciated the thought.

The second difference filled him with dread. In the far corner of the room there was a little puppy, black fur and dark, soulful brown eyes. It was a Flat-Coated Retriever and Remus hated her. He hated her because he knew why they'd given him a puppy. He hated everything here. He fell asleep holding the puppy to his chest. The puppy licked the tears from his face and her tail thumped happily against his chest.

Remus named her Gwyllgi and she was his best friend in the entire world.

Remus thought that Gwyllgi's name suited her as much as Remus' own name fit him. Remus was Wolfson Wolfy, the Werewolf. Gwyllgi was a light in the darkest place. Though her name implied that she was a shadow in a dark place, sort of. It was poetic.

They were still doing routine checks on his strength, endurance, and heightened senses. Unless they were experimenting on him, Gwyllgi became his constant companion and only comfort.

They started training him. He didn't like to think for what. He knew it was combat, but he wasn't aware of any wars going on that would require a twelve year old like him. His hand to hand trainer was a man called the Winter Soldier. Remus didn't know what to think of him. He didn't talk much. He just pushed Remus around until Remus started pushing back, which wasn't often. Remus didn't like hurting people, but Red Skull had other plans for him.

They tested his intellect. Red Skull was pleased to learn that Remus could speak English, Welsh, French, and enough Latin to get by in a pinch. His Mam taught him Welsh, his Dad taught him French and Latin. He tried not to think about his parents anymore. He wished he had a picture of them.

Remus had been planning on scoring poorly on the mental exams. He didn't care much, and the beatings were getting familiar. But that was what Gwyllgi was for. Do well, if you pass, we'll only beat you. If you do very well, we won't. And if you fail we kill your puppy.

September 19, 2013

The fourth full moon was bearable. They let Gwyllgi go in with him and he only hurt himself a little. He spent most of it playing with Gwyllgi and only a little bit of it chewing and clawing at himself. He recovered faster than he had, even when Madam Pomphrey had healed him. Maybe that meant Red Skull wouldn't kill Gwyllgi. The chance was slim, but there.

Phase Two consisted mostly of more intense training with the Winter Soldier. If he didn't cooperate, which was often, or the Winter Soldier held back, which happened less often, Remus was beaten until he lost consciousness. Red Skull was displeased at how little Remus learned.

Remus didn't want to become the next Winter Soldier. He didn't think the Winter Soldier wanted that either, but it was hard to tell with him. He didn't talk at all. Remus wasn't sure if the Winter Soldier didn't want Remus to be the next him because he didn't want Remus to suffer or because he didn't want to be replaced.

Personally, Remus would rather die than hurt someone, especially for Red Skull. No one cared what Remus wanted, least of all Red Skull.

Despite his resistance to combat training, they started giving him mini-HYDRA agent lessons. Remus confirmed what he already suspected. This wasn't the Earth he was familiar with. Even if it was, that would mean he'd been missing for over forty years, since it was 2013 and the last he checked it was 1972. The other giveaway was when he was informed he was the only werewolf on the planet. Even if it was time travel, he didn't think lycanthropy could be eradicated that quickly.

Red Skull wanted to use his enhanced abilities to make super soldiers to rival a man called Captain America, who was even stronger than Remus. The only catch was Red Skull wanted his soldiers to be able to transform whenever they wanted to and only when they wanted to. A werewolf made for a terrible long term sleeper agent. That was the only reason they hadn't used Remus to turn other people yet.

They were grooming him to be an assassin, but he couldn't hurt anyone. His fifth moon they'd put him in a different room, armed a guard with a cattle prod, and tried to train him like an attack dog. The only thing he attacked was himself. At least he was consistent.

November 1, 2013

They started injecting him with chemicals after the fifth moon. They made him feel funny. They also hurt, like he was melting from the inside, like the wolf was trying to rip him apart from his veins. Like his bones were turning into claws and ripping him apart. He was scared. He was frightened. He was terrified.

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