The Hulk and the Beast: Chapter Eight

December 7, 2013

Remus was really nervous. He really, really didn't want to go to the Tricarrier. He wasn't entirely sure he was coming back. He kept having to remind himself that Captain Rogers was there with him and he promised not to abandon him. Captain America didn't go around breaking promises willy-nilly.

Spider-man was a bit overwhelming. His costume was the brightest colors Remus had ever seen and he was higher energy than all of Remus' friends combined, which was impressive, considering his friends. He also literally stuck to the walls, which was disorientating. Somehow he talked more than Clint. Remus was sure he'd be funny, if Remus wasn't so close to throwing up from nerves. No one had ever tested his full abilities. Not even HYDRA knew about his magic. And just thinking about HYDRA testing his limits made him nauseous.

"Are you really Iron Man's long lost nephew?" Spider-man asked.

"I guess," Remus squeaked.

"That's awesome. He's my favorite Avenger. No offence Cap."

"None taken," Captain Rogers laughed. "That's common knowledge at this point. How's school going?"

"Ug, don't remind me," Spider-man groaned. "I had an essay for English Lit and Sandman destroyed my school bag on my way home yesterday, so I've got to reprint it. Hey, don't suppose you'd let me use Tony's printer? Mine can smell fear."

Remus was at least fifty-percent certain that printers couldn't smell anything, but honestly, last week there had been a twelve foot tall robot man-dragon ripping trees out of Central Park and setting the baseball courts on fire, so he really didn't want to question anything. Though really, if there was a printer that could smell, it would belong to Tony 'I attached a shrink ray to the coffee machine' Stark. 'It makes mug storage easier,' he said. 'I didn't mean to shrink Hawkeye, he should learn how buttons work anyway,' he said. 'I'm gonna kick his ass,' tiny Clint squeaked.

"You've got powers, right?" Spider-man turned on Remus next.

Remus shrugged, not meeting Spider-man's giant white… goggles? And Mr. Stark made fun of Remus' fashion choices. Sweaters were comfortable. He didn't think he'd be able to stand all this brightly colored, skintight spandex.

"I got bit by a radioactive spider," Spider-man offered. "Now I stick to walls and I'm really strong. The webbing's tech, I don't produce it naturally, if you were wondering."

Remus looked to Captain Rogers for support. The encouraging smile was what did it. Remus knew the Avengers liked Spider-man, and honestly, Remus was getting so tired of hiding who he was.

"I got bit, too," was all Remus was able to say. Mercifully, Captain Rogers didn't elaborate. "Not by a spider. By something else."

"Cool, cool, cool," Spider-man nodded. "So what can you do?"

"I dunno, stuff, I guess. I… I'm good at maths."

"Ah, the ol' radioactive mathlete," Spider-man nodded knowingly. With most of his face covered, he resorted to mechanical lenses in his mask and over the top body language.

Remus managed a small giggle. If SHIELD worked with people like Spider-man, maybe they weren't too bad. They couldn't possibly be as bad as HYDRA, if the Avengers were willing to cooperate with them and their agents hadn't had their sense of humor beaten out of them.

When they arrived at the Tricarrier, Director Fury himself greeted them. Captain Rogers handed him an encrypted flash drive and said quietly that it was everything Mr. Stark thought Fury needed to know. The intel from HYDRA about Remus. At least that meant that whatever HYDRA had done, SHIELD wouldn't repeat. Except that the serum made him different.

The worst part was when Captain Rogers and Fury went one way, and Spider-man pulled him the other.

"It's just the training room. Don't worry, I won't let anything in there zap you too hard."

Remus hoped he wasn't pale and shaking. That would be humiliating. It was bad enough that he couldn't stop picking at the ends of his turtleneck.

"They're just going to the observation deck to watch from a safe distance."

That only made Remus shake harder.

"Are you sure he's up for this?" Spider-man said into his coms. "He looks more than just green at the gills, Nick. I can call you Nick, right?"

"We're just going to have him run through an obstacle course. No combat," Fury's voice came over Spider-man's com.

Remus wasn't supposed to be able to hear that. His greatest advantage, people forgot about his enhanced hearing pretty much all of the time. He was unassuming like that.

Remus found himself in the training room, Spider-man standing near the door, giving him a thumbs up that did not quell Remus' churning stomach. The ground was rising and shifting, panels opening and closing. It was a maze of machinery and he was supposed to hit the yellow button somewhere at the top of a shifting, broiling mountain of metal and machinery.

"You can do it, buddy," Spider-man said. "Think of me as your emotional support Spider-man! And I'm really fast, so I'll catch you if you fall, okay?"

Remus looked up at the window, where Director Fury was standing with his hands behind his back and his one eye scowling down at them. Captain Rogers gave him a thumbs up and an encouraging smile.

Somewhere out there, someone had forgotten that Remus was supposed to be a mild mannered professor, not a super soldier in training. James was the athlete, Remus was the brain, Sirius was the charmer, and Peter was the moral support. That was the first time in ages that Remus allowed himself to think of them. He'd done crazier things than he ever thought he'd be able to do when his friends were cheering him on.

Remus took a deep breath, centered himself, and launched himself at the moving obstacle course.

He lost his balance immediately and feel flat on his butt. He felt his face flush all the way to the tips of his ears.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Remus stuttered. "I'm really clumsy…"

He could hear Captain Rogers telling Director Fury that Remus often walked into walls when he wasn't paying attention. Remus somehow flushed an even more violent shade of scarlet. He was almost as red as Spider-man's suit. He pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his stupid face into his stupid arms.

"Hey, it's okay if you can't do it the first time," Spider-man knelt next to Remus. "Not everyone gets natural athleticism when they get enhanced. I'm sure you'll be ready for field work with a little bit of practice."

"I don't want to be an agent or a hero or… I just want to be normal," Remus sniffled. "I don't care that I'm as strong as or as durable or have the same endurance as Captain America. He's cool, I mean, I'm so, so grateful for everything he's done for me. But I'm not like him."

"It's not just strength that makes Captain America who he is," Spider-man said. "He was hero material long before he got supered up by Dr. Erskine."

Remus sniffled sadly.

"Not that you're not… I mean…" Spider-man sighed. "If you want to be normal why are you here?"

"Director Fury said because I'm enhanced, I have to at least be on SHIELD's roster, even if I'm not actually an agent or in training," Remus said sadly. "So they can protect me if something happens to Mr. Stark or the Avengers."

"Redundancies are a good thing," Spider-man said. "And as much as I love being a solo act, they've got some fun tech. They're the good kind, even if they're scary at first."

"That's what everyone's been saying. I don't want to let anyone down. And… well… I don't think I'm cut out for hero stuff, but… if I can help, I'd like too, suppose. Just never thought I'd be… in a situation where I was allowed to talk to people, let alone help them."

"One of my personal heroes, a great man, really, used to tell me 'With great power, comes great responsibility'. I get that responsibility is the hard part, right? You know you have the power, but you don't think you're up for the responsibility?"

Remus nodded.

"But that's what makes us different from the people who misuse their power. People like us want to help others, and we've got the power to do that. Even if you don't think you're up to it now, all you have to do is try and you're already leagues ahead."

"I'm just… useless at best and a danger to others at worst."

"Nah, if you were dangerous, my Spidey-sense would be going crazy right now," Spider-man laughed. "And if you were useless, you wouldn't be here. I know Fury can be tough, and he pushes really hard. But it's only because he knows that we're capable of being our best selves."

"I can try again, right?"

"As many times as you want."

Part of Remus wished Spider-man hadn't said that. He tried for two hours just to get past the first three obstacles. Half an hour in, Captain America got on the com and asked Remus to stop holding back, to which Remus replied, quite tearfully, that he was giving it the best he had. He was even more humiliated when Captain Rogers scrunched his face up in disbelief.

Finally, finally at 1200, Remus made it past the first layer of obstacles, and then the second. He could jump really high and landing in a roll meant it didn't hurt when he hit the ground again. He was also more than capable of climbing. He was really strong and also really light, at only sixty pounds, much less than he was capable of lifting. He wasn't that winded or sweaty, after so long struggling against an obstacle course that by design didn't want to cooperate. He was more frustrated than anything.

He could hear Captain America cheering him on quietly in the booth, over the pounding of his heart in his ears. The little 'Come on, Remus,' gave him one last push. The button was so close. He could almost reach it. He grabbed the ledge and started pulling himself up the platform when he felt something buckle under him.

The platform he holding onto started tilting. He tried scrambling onto it, but it was turning too fast. He was slipping. He was also twenty feet up in the air. He could see the platform with the button drifting away, out of reach. He was so close, if he could just…

He fell.

The air around him pressed in tight, squeezing him like a tube.

He hit the ground way sooner than he thought. His ears were ringing like someone fired off a gun. Everything was black. Oh, his eyes were closed.

"What the hell was that!?" Director Fury's voice boomed over the speaker system.

Remus opened his eyes and somehow, he'd landed on the platform with the button, lazily drifting away from the rotating platform he'd just fallen off of. He couldn't have fallen up, could he?

"Push the button!" Spider-man called to him from the other side of the room. He was giving Remus a very exaggerated thumbs up.

Blinking, Remus pushed the square yellow button, and the room started turning back into a room.

"Last I checked, nowhere in this report did he say he could teleport," Fury's voice was not over the coms, but once again, they'd forgotten Remus had enhanced hearing.

"I mean, he's never done that before."

"Anything else he's never done before that's not in the file?" Director Fury was, for lack of a more accurate word, furious. "The fact that he can teleport is pretty important intel, Rogers!"

"Hey, way to go, kid!" Spider-man walked over to where the button platform had deposited Remus on the floor. He was holding his hand out for a high five.

Remus very gently patted Spider-man's hand, "Thanks, I guess."

"Didn't know you were bitten by a radioactive Nightcrawler," Spider-man joked.

"I wasn't," Remus turned a very unflattering shade of green. "I wasn't supposed to do that. It's supposed to be a secret."

"Who told you that?"

"My Dad," Remus said.

"Could he do that to?"

Remus nodded, "Yeah, but… I'm really not supposed to talk about it."

Director Fury and Captain Rogers came into the room. Remus could smell the anger on Director Fury. At least Captain Rogers was concerned more than anything. It was a small comfort. If Director Fury didn't kill him, the Ministry most certainly would. This was the worst kind of breach to the Statute of Secrecy ever. He was on camera, for crying out loud, being recorded fifty different ways.

"You mind explaining yourself, kid?" Actually spittle came out of Director Fury's mouth.

Oh, this was bad. He could feel the wolf clawing at his insides, on the back of his skin, trying to get out.

"He said he's not supposed to talk about it?" Spider-man offered.

"He's been really closed lipped about the whole thing," Captain Rogers said, carefully putting himself between the Director and Remus. "We've been waiting for him to be comfortable before we started asking questions…"

"Well I'm not comfortable, how about that?" Director Fury spun on Captain Rogers. "I want an explanation. The ability to teleport was nowhere in any of the reports."

They were going to kill him. Oh god, he was gonna die. There was fur growing on his arms.

"Nick, I need you to remain calm…"

"I am calm!" the Director shouted.

Remus knew it! He knew SHIELD was going to be a bad idea and now the worst had happened and if they didn't kill him, someone else surely would arrive with a nice big silver axe just for his neck, like Dad said and… and… he couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe and his nose wasn't the right shape. He couldn't tell if it was too short or too long but he couldn't breathe.

"Hey, what's with the lights?" Spider-man asked. "Is he okay?"

"Remus, Remus, breathe," Captain Rogers ordered. He had his hands on Remus' shoulders. "No one's mad with you. You're not in trouble. You're safe."

"I can't…" Remus choked. "They're gonna…" Remus hiccupped violently, "come and…" another hiccup, "and… kill me! I don't wanna die, I didn't mean too, honest! It was an accident!"

"Remus, please, calm down."

"Should we be losing altitude?" Spider-man asked.

"Captain, what the hell is going on?"

"We think he's afraid of some shadow organization coming to kill him if he uses his powers," Captain Rogers said. "Maybe if he even talks about them."

"Shit."

"And when he panics he emits out low power EMPs. We haven't found an explanation yet and asking him would panic him."

"Hill, land us in the bay, we have a situation."

By the time they landed in the water, Remus was brought to the medical bay, half transformed, but changing back slowly. Spider-man was with him, jabbering away to keep him distracted. It was lucky Fury chose his friendliest 'agent' to keep an eye on Remus. It was unlikely that any of the other trainees would be able to handle a panicking EMP bomb that was rapidly turning into a wolf.

"You want to start explaining yourself?" Fury asked the Captain sitting calmly across the table.

"We don't know a lot. He's not from this dimension."

"That's in his file," Fury said.

"And werewolves were hunted like animals, recently enough that Remus' father was considering the career before Remus was bitten. And it was his grandfather's profession, as well."

"Last time I checked, werewolves couldn't teleport. That's more of a Count Dracula thing."

"We didn't know he could do that," Steve winced. "He panicked, the last full moon, and fritzed Clint's Nintendo."

"So there's more to him than just Red Skull's pet werewolf…"

"Now that's just not nice…"

"And you didn't think to try and figure out what?"

"He's really jumpy," Steve sighed. "And very small. Honestly, we would have felt bad interrogating him, so we put it off. It's one of the reason's Tony was so against you getting your hands on him. He's so full of secrets, we knew you wouldn't be able to resist."

"Was Red Skull aware of Lupin's extra abilities?"

"If he was, he didn't write it down. It's unlikely. Remus wasn't the only thing he brought back here from that dimension."

"Which dimension was it?"

"Tony's got it narrowed down to Earthspace 777, 49881, or 49080. All three of them are undocumented, and considering how much occult artifacts Skull was able to get his hands on and the extreme violence they'd likely show Remus if he ever returned, Tony decided it was best we didn't know for sure."

"That's not a good enough excuse. I need to know everything about this. If there's things from there more powerful than Lupin and Red Skull knows about it, that's very bad. We cannot let HYDRA be two steps ahead of us. This isn't about your baby werewolf, Captain, this is about the security of this planet. Hell, this entire damn dimension could be at risk if we don't get a handle on this."

"I understand," Steve sighed. "We've been tracking down the artefacts Skull brought with Remus. I'll have Tony send you those files as well. We'll work together to clean up this mess and make sure nothing more powerful than Remus ends up here."

"Good, I'm glad we're on the same page. Took long enough."

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