The Hulk and the Beast: Chapter Three

November 1, 2013, Afternoon

Wolf-boy looked like a very fluffy cross between a human and a wolf, more wolf than boy. His eyes were human and his snout was shorter, almost dog like. His front dew claws were almost thumbs and his back legs were just a little too long and too oddly shaped. His ears were big and pointy. Overall, he looked like a six month old puppy creeping into the uncanny valley on all fours.

He was currently hiding underneath a supply rack in the Quinjet's cargo hold, shaking like a leaf and whimpering. Gwyllgi, his puppy, was curled up against him, sadly licking up the blood pooling on the floor. Hulk was trying to coax the boy out, but having little luck.

"What if he can't change back?" Sam asked.

"I'll find a way to cure him," Tony said. "It can't be that hard."

"Can you change back, little buddy?" Clint said. "Don't think he can talk like this."

"He's not like the Hulk. He's like Banner."

"Ddiogel," Nat cooed.

"Gesundheit," Clint snorted.

"Shut up, I don't speak a lot of Welsh."

"How do you know the kid does?"

"His dog responds to the Welsh pronunciation of his name. Here, look," Nat turned to the dog. "Gwyllgi, dewch yma!"

The puppy wiggled and took a few steps closer to Nat, but didn't leave her boy's side.

"Eistedd?" Nat tried.

The puppy thumped her wiggling butt onto the floor and panted up at Nat, tilting her head.

"So the dog speaks Welsh?"

"If he trained the dog in Welsh, it's probably the most comforting language he knows or it's his native tongue, but that's unlikely. It's an endangered language and it's not spoken outside of Wales."

"Which is why you only barely speak it. Why do you speak it?"

"I speak a little bit of every European language, including the Celtic languages."

Nat knelt down, "Crap, he's chewing on himself again. Ti'n ddiogel," she cooed. "Come on kid. Stop. Ti'n ddiogel."

"Mea'n ddrwg 'da fi," came a very hoarse response. "Drwg, drwg, drwg," the last three came out as soft sobs. He was pulling at his hair with the hand he hadn't mangled. His other hand was shaking, bleeding out on the floor. He looked so small. "Drwg, drwg."

"What's he…"

"I think… I'm not familiar with dialects, it's Southern, I think? I don't know what he means by that. Bad? It's all bad to me?"

"Os gwelwch yn dda," he pleaded. "Ogwelwch, ogwelwch. Drwg."

"His file did say he speaks English, right?"

"He's having a panic attack. He's reverted to his most comfortable language, probably his first one," Nat snapped. "What's your name? Beth ydy eich new chi?"

The boy blinked up at her. His eyes glowed faintly in the shadows, "Remus." His voice was raspy. He likely hadn't spoken much other than to answer a question, scream, or cry.

"Hi, Remus. I'm Nat. Uh, wyt ti'n siarad English?"

Remus nodded.

"Alright, good. That's good, because I barely speak Welsh."

"I could tell," he whispered.

Clint let out a peal of laughter. The boy flinched and pressed harder against the Quinjet wall.

"Hey, hey, it's alright kid," Clint winced. "I like you, that's all."

"I'm cold."

"I'll get you a blanket. There's one around here…" he stood up and looked around the cargo hold. "We don't have any blankets on this thing," Clint grumbled.

"Be right back," Sam said.

There was a shout from the cockpit and Sam returned with what looked like a giant red curtain, "Best we got. Finest in all of Asgard!"

Sam put Thor's cape on the floor and Remus gently crawled out from under the cabinet and into the cape. He was wearing nothing but a shredded hospital gown, and many of his wounds were still bleeding.

Sam knelt down next to him, "Is it okay if I bandage you up? You're badly hurt."

Remus pulled the cape around his shoulders tighter, but he nodded. Gwyllgi crawled into the cape with him.

Sam pulled down a first aid kit and took out the disinfectant and cotton swabs first. Remus let Sam take his hand first. He was biting his lower lip, trying not to cry.

"You're really brave, Remy," Clint said.

"If you want to cry, you can, sweetheart," Nat said. "We won't be mad."

That broke the dam, and suddenly the poor kid was sniffling, hiccupping, and shaking with sobs. Tony immediately bailed back to the cockpit, the coward. Remus held his arm still for Sam and he made little noise, but he was sobbing. He had a lot of practice crying quietly. More than six months' worth.

"When we get back, you can have some of my Mom's chocolate chip cookies," Sam promised. "You like chocolate."

Remus nodded reverently between sobs. "It… it… my favorite," he managed.

Around the time Sam started wrapping the large bite wounds with gauze, Remus calmed down enough to speak coherently.

"You're the Avengers, aren't you?" He asked.

"Earth's mightiest," Clint assured him.

"Red Skull hates you guys," Remus frowned. "That means you're the good guys. Right?"

"Last I checked," Clint nodded.

"Okay."

He fell asleep from exhaustion shortly after, swaddled in Thor's cape with his puppy held to his chest. His sandy brown hair was long, shaggy, and fell in his face. His cheeks, though gaunt, squished as he leaning against Clint. Even in sleep, he couldn't relax, and his shoulders remained tensed, and his brows furrowed. The smudge on his nose could have been cute if it wasn't his own dried blood.

Sam continued to work, humming gently so he didn't scare him. The boy was covered in scars. Most of the old ones were made by his own claws and teeth. The new ones were horrible burns, cuts, surgery scars, the works. He was painted with bruises, from fresh red, dark purple, and sickly green and yellow. His jaw was yellow, his eyes red and purple, and his cheek green.

"Poor kid hasn't caught a break in a long time," Clint sighed.

When they landed, Hulk grabbed Remus before anyone else could and carried him inside. He growled when Thor came close to try and reclaim his cape. He almost punched Tony when he approached to try and get a baseline reading from the kid.

"Easy, Hulk," Steve said. "We want to help him as much as you do."

"Wolf-boy's tiny," Hulk complained. "Fragile."

"We know."

"Hulk is strongest there is," Hulk insisted. "I'm the best Avenger."

"No one's arguing with you," Tony said. "I just want to get some readings so I can try and figure out what they did to him."

"HYDRA hurt him!"

"I know!" Tony snapped. "You're making this more difficult, Hulk. If you had just shown some restraint, I could have gotten a sample of the serum and even a bit of the kid's blood before the serum. But you knocked the table over!"

"Hulk smarter than Iron Man!"

"Sure, big guy."

"I have seven PhDs! How many do you have? None!" Hulk scoffed.

"Now wait a minute! Just because I don't like going by Dr. Stark doesn't mean I didn't get those three PhDs. I was seventeen, by the way! How old were you when you got your first PhD, Professor Hulk, thirty?"

"Hulk smarter!"

"Maybe your next PhD should be in grammar," Tony snapped.

"Easy!" Steve shouted. "You'll wake him up."

Remus was already squirming against the Hulk, but he was still asleep. In the Hulk's arms he looked even smaller, paler, like he could be shattered as easily as a China doll. He couldn't possibly be twelve. He looked eight at the oldest.

"I'm going to go track Skull down," Tony grumbled.

"Hulk go tuck Wolf-boy into bed," Hulk huffed.

After Hulk wrapped Remus into a blanket and placed him on the bed in the spare room across from his, Nat went in and double checked that the boy was sound. Half an hour later, Sam and Clint checked on him. Ten minutes after that Tony caught Steve looking into the room watching the boy breathe. He only caught him because he was going to do the same. Thor paced back and forth outside the door, staring at the blood stains Remus left on his cape. He was acting like he hadn't done the same countless times and didn't know how to get the blood out.

"JARVIS," Tony said. "What size is the kid? We don't have anything that fits him. What do kids these days wear?"

"T-shirts and jeans are the most common style for a boy of twelve," JARVIS answered. "How large of a wardrobe do you want?"

"Maybe just two or three changes of clothes for now. I should ask him what he wants when he wakes up," Tony looked at the video feed of Remus sleeping. He'd turn the feed off and take the camera out as soon as the kid woke up, but for now it was a comfort to know he was safe and breathing. "Don't buy anything black or red."

"Of course, Sir," JARVIS answered.

November 2, 2013

When Remus woke up, he felt better than he had in long time, even with his laundry list of aches and pains. He was in a bed, which wasn't novel, but it sure felt like it. His mouth felt funny, like it was full of iron. That was odd, since he knew there wasn't a full moon last night. Maybe it was a bad dream?

Wait, why was he in a bed and who had tucked him in? He felt like a baby, he was swaddled so tight. It took him a little bit to wrestle out of the blanket. When he emerged, out of breath and a little sweaty, he found Gwyllgi curled up on the foot of the bed, her tail thumping happily against the goose feather mattress. The ply thickness and thread count on the sheets was obscene, they must have cost a fortune.

Oh, crap, he'd gotten blood on them. Whoever put him in this bed was sure to beat him for that. He was so tired of new aches and bruises. Maybe they wouldn't hit him that hard. Or they'd hit him really hard and trigger his healing? He wasn't sure which he preferred. He just wanted it to be over.

But hadn't he been rescued by the Avengers? That had to be a dream. The only way Remus would ever get away from HYDRA was if Red Skull decided he wasn't worth the trouble and sold him to the highest bidder. He wondered how much money he cost. At least fifty galleons, he suspected. Not more than a hundred. That was how much a well-bred Crup cost. Red Skull probably sold him and they drugged him for the transfer so he couldn't escape. But…

He had a very nice view of Central Park outside his expansive bedroom window. If he angled his head just right, he could see massive letters on the building. Eight of them. The angle made it hard to read, but he managed.

He had been saved by the Avengers. That wasn't a dream. It still seemed farfetched.

If they had rescued him, which Remus concluded that they had, then why hadn't they handed him over to SHIELD? He knew SHIELD was probably leagues better than HYDRA, on account of not being founded by Nazis. Getting handed off from a criminal spy organization to a legal spy organization couldn't be much of an upgrade. The only difference between the two would likely be the amount of times they shot Remus just for the fun of it. Either way, he'd end up someone's super soldier.

Remus was spacing out again. If they wanted something from him, he should get ready. He was pretty sure they weren't going to hurt him as badly as HYDRA did. Yeah, he was more than used to it by now, but he didn't like the idea of getting slapped around because he did something wrong again. There had to be a reason they stole him.

When he crawled out of the bed, he found a pile of neatly folded clothes on a dresser. There were three pairs of faded blue jeans, not bell bottoms like he was used to seeing on the teenagers in the village, but still more stylish than he'd ever worn before.

There were also three pairs of plain t-shirts, one green, one blue, and one yellow. He grabbed the yellow one. He would have preferred the green one, but his friends complained when he wore his green jumper on casual dress days. He was already wearing the yellow shirt when he remembered he'd never see his friends again.

He dressed as quickly as he could, but he had difficulty with the jean's button and zipper. He had done a number to his hand. At least it was bandaged this time. He hated looking at the scabs as new scars formed. He didn't remember hurting himself or anyone treating it, but a lot of the last day was really hazy, so he looked for something else to think about.

There was a chew toy for Gwyllgi, sitting next to the clothes. It was a rubber yellow bone that smelled like bacon. No one had ever given him anything for Gwyllgi other than puppy food. He handed Gwyllgi the chew toy, but she didn't know what to do with it and pawed at it, barking a few times.

"You chew it, Gwyll," Remus laughed. "Like this," he mocked chew his hand.

Gwyllgi's eyes widen in fear and she started barking at Remus desperately, bounding over to him and pushing against his legs.

"No, no, I'm not hurting myself!" Remus pleaded. "I'm sorry, Gwyll, Gigi, sorry girl. It's a toy, it's a toy!"

She whimpered up at him and he knelt down, scratching behind Gwyllgi's ears and cooing.

"It's a toy, see?" He demonstrated a second time, but he didn't put the toy in his mouth. "It's fun, I promise."

Gwyllgi tilted her head and glared at the toy for a moment. She pounced on it, yipping, and then gave it a mighty bite. She froze, then started thumping her tail on the concrete floor. Remus laughed as she happily chewed away at the yellow bone.

"Good girl, Gwyllgi," Remus scratched behind her ear. She thumped her tail harder. "Ci da, Gwyllgi. Ci da."

Someone knocked on his door. Three quick wraps of knuckles against high quality mahogany. He didn't recognize the smell. He could tell all the HYDRA guards apart by scent, though he didn't know their names. It was helpful, let him know what kind of beating to expect when someone came to bring him to training or to the labs. He didn't know what to expect with Avengers.

He knew the smell wasn't Hulk, he had a very distinct smell. It wasn't Black Widow, because it was a man at the door. It wasn't Iron Man either, he suspected Iron Man would always smell of grease and electricity. And it probably wasn't Thor, since he didn't think an Asgardian would smell like a human. That left Hawkeye, Captain America, and Falcon.

"Remus, son, you alright in there?" Probably Captain America. Remus was pretty sure that Falcon wasn't much older than him and the voice wasn't young. He was too polite to be Hawkeye and he had a deep, commanding voice. He didn't know why he was convinced Hawkeye was rude, he hadn't met him that he remembered.

"Um, yes, sir! I'm alright."

"It's almost breakfast, do you want to join us?"

Remus froze. Breakfast? He hadn't had breakfast since… he hadn't had anything other than meal bars and military rations. But as soon as Captain America said breakfast, he realized that the smell of bacon wasn't just coming from the chew toy. He could smell a whole feast of breakfast foods.

"It's alright if you're not comfortable yet. We can have food brought here instead. But I do want you to eat, alright?"

"Yes, sir," Remus answered.

"Is that yes, you'll eat or yes, you want to eat with us?"

"Um… whichever is fine. Um… did anyone…"

"Clint walked Gwyllgi while you were asleep. Did I pronounce it right?"

"Close enough. Can I… can I really leave my room?"

"The door's not locked. I didn't open it. I thought it might make you uncomfortable."

"It's okay, I actually… could you leave it open?"

"Of course!" Captain America opened the door. He was moving slowly, like Remus was a wild animal and if he moved too fast Remus would bolt. It was too accurate for Remus to feel insulted. That was always how Mam moved after full moons. Remus hated that it helped almost as much as he missed his Mam.

Captain America was bigger in person. Or maybe that was just because Remus was so small. The Hulk didn't seem too big. But then again, Remus had expected the Hulk to be Hagrid size. Hagrid was taller, but the Hulk was broader, more square and significantly more muscle.

HYDRA had only shown him pictures of Captain America in his uniform, with his shield. Steve Rogers was much less imposing. He was blond, blue eyed, tall, muscular, and defined. Aside from being over six feet tall and built like a GI Joe action figure, he looked like a regular person in his beige slacks and a tight white and gray t-shirt.

"I see the clothes fit," Captain America smiled at him. It was genuine, but Remus still felt on edge. "Tony wanted to ask if you had any preferences."

"Um, I like jumpers," Remus whispered, fidgeting with the end of the t-shirt. "Really big cozy ones with the turtle necks and sleeves that are too long."

"I'll tell him. Unless you want to?"

Remus could feel his hands shaking. He was supposed to be in Gryffindor, but he'd never been brave a day in his life. He was still so scared. He was certain he wouldn't enjoy being disciplined by Captain America, considering how strong he was. His shirt looked like if he flexed too hard it would explode.

"It's alright if you're not ready."

"I… I… I…" Remus whimpered. "I wanna eat at a table, like a person."

That was the wrong thing to say. Oh no, he really did it. That was bad of him to say. He shouldn't have said that. Captain Rogers looked so upset. Remus could smell the negative emotions overwhelming the room, anger, hatred, and a twinge of sadness, even if Captain Rogers did his best not to show it with his body language or his expression. He was coming closer. Oh, Merlin, he was going to hit Remus, he knew it he knew it he knew…

Captain America was hugging him?

"It's okay, Remus. You are a person, okay? Always have been, always will be."

Remus started crying. His whole body had been tensed and it sprung like a coil. His knees gave out, but Captain America was holding him, so he didn't hit the floor.

"Hey, kid, It's okay. You're safe, I've got you. Just let it all out."

"I… I… sorry… sorry," Remus choked between hiccups.

"Don't you ever let people like HYDRA tell you that you're not worth anything. I didn't fight them tooth and nail just so that people like them could ever make you think you're less of a person for any reason, okay?"

"Okay…" Remus sobbed.

He wrapped his arms around Captain Rogers and buried his face into the strongest chest in the world. Captain Rogers made it sound like he'd fought in WWII personally for Remus, like he was the most special little boy in the world. To top it all off, he was kneeling down so he could hold Remus better, just like Dad did… like Dad used to and would never again.

Remus started crying even harder. He cried until his couldn't cry anymore, then he cried a bit more, for good measure. He felt so small and foolish. Until Captain Rogers gave him the kindest smile in the world and asked if he felt any better. If he wasn't cried out, he would have started crying again. At least his friends weren't here to call him a cry baby. Oh no. He missed his friends. Maybe he had some tears left after all.

"I bet what you need is some sausage and eggs. And a big pile of pancakes and maple syrup," Captain Rogers ruffled Remus' hair gently. Remus did his best not to lean into it, like a dog would, but he couldn't help it. No one had done that since he was bitten. It felt even better than he remembered.

"I smell bacon," Remus rasped.

"You can have the whole plate," Steve promised. "Anything you want. We'll get you a big cup of orange juice. Unless you want tea or milk?"

"Hot chocolate?"

"Anything. If we don't have it, I bet Tony will buy it."

"Baked beans?"

"Anything."

There was more food on the buffet table than Remus had ever seen. There had been a lot of food at Hogwarts, especially at the feasts. There was a massive mound of sausages, a huge pile of bacon, a stack several feet tall of pancakes the size of hubcaps, a fifty gallon vat of baked beans, and gallons more of tea, coffee, and hot chocolate.

Remus was going to wait for everyone else to serve themselves first, but Iron Man – he did smell like grease, but also cologne, metal, and whiskey – said kids first, and gave him a gentle nudge towards the buffet table. Remus felt really bad because Hulk and Thor were being manhandled by Captain Rogers to keep them away from the food until the rest of the team had their fill.

He tried not to take too much, but whatever he put on his plate, either Falcon or Hawkeye put more when he wasn't looking. He ended up at the farthest end of the table with a plate he had difficulty balancing. Not lifting, on account of how strong he was, but he had to remember not to try and hide how light such a heaping plate was. HYDRA punished him for trying to hide his abilities. But then again, Dad had done the same for not hiding them, so really, anything could happen.

It became apparent why there was so much food for only eight people when Captain Rogers released Hulk and Thor. They fought over what constituted fair portions for each of them. They seemed to enjoy it, but it was very loud and very violent. Hulk dumped the entire vat of beans into his mouth at one point. Remus was unable to look away.

"You get used to it," Falcon laughed. "Doesn't get less impressive. Did you sleep well?"

Remus nodded.

Despite the fact that Remus had left more than enough room for the Avengers to have their own space, they all sat around him. Like he was important and they wanted to be near him. That was odd, since Remus was certain they knew he was a werewolf.

"You can eat that, you know," Falcon said.

"I know," Remus whispered.

He needed permission to eat. He wasn't allowed to eat without it at HYDRA and he'd been beaten for doing it before. He wasn't sure what the point of that exercise was other than to hurt him, since HYDRA had wanted him at peak condition, not half starved. Probably something about mission compliance. Red Skull loved mission compliance.

As soon as Sam had given the go ahead, Remus found that he couldn't stop. He knew he was eating too fast, he knew it was probably gross and impolite. But he wasn't sure when someone would crack him over the head for eating too much and he was so, so hungry.

"Whoa there, kid, don't choked," Iron Man said.

"Sorry!" Remus whimpered.

There it was, he ate too much. He wondered morbidly which of them was going to start hitting him. Maybe they'd all take turns. He hadn't realized he'd scrunched up, anticipating a blow until Iron Man spoke again.

"You can keep eating, I just don't want you to throw up," Iron Man frowned. "I can't stand pukey kids."

"Oh," Remus took a few more bites, but he was starting to feel nauseous. "That's okay, I'm not hungry anymore. May… may I please be excused?"

"Yeah, sure, kid," Iron Man was still frowning.

Everyone was looking at Remus like he'd grown a second head. He didn't belong here. He wasn't supposed to be here. These were the Avengers and he was nothing compared to them. He wasn't even a kid. He hadn't been for a long time, even if his Mam thought he was. Dad said himself that Remus wasn't a human anymore, but he loved him anyway. And now they were gone and he was alone and he wasn't supposed to be here.

Remus found himself breathing heavily, wedged firmly under the bed in the room he'd woken up in. Gwyllgi was nested against his chest, still chewing on her toy. Despite everything, he still had tears left.

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