So, the She-Hulk is human after all. And thankfully, like a human, she's making mistakes.

Detective Martin Colvin, slumped over an oversized lab table, lifted his fingers to his eyes and began to rub them repeatedly. It had been a long day of work in the Buscema Lab, but finally the type of day that he had been hoping for in the She-Hulk case.

Colvin chuckled as he looked over the items that lay in front of him on the lab table.

I'm so tired I'm laughing at myself.

Four months he had been assigned to tracking down a bogey man that's only trail was destruction. While this lab had plenty of that to go around, it also had more this time.

Evidence. They finally had more compelling evidence.

While the room that housed the stolen material from the lab was of great concern, especially to the scientists who worked there, it was this lab room that Colvin was standing in that intrigued him more. This room told a story.

"OK," he said to himself, bringing a hand across his shortly-trimmed hair. "Let's go over this one more time."

Colvin stepped over shards of broken glass that had littered the floor and moved his way down the oversized lab table to several items that had been placed in evidence bags. The first was a small backpack, empty, that was found discarded on the floor. The second was a pair of shattered glasses, with a slightly noteworthy nearsighted prescription. Beyond the possible fingerprints on both, which had already been taken, these items didn't interest him as much. The next few were much more intriguing.

The next bag held the sky blue remains of what used to be a women's blouse. The fabric had been torn at the seams, stretched to its limit and left in pieces on the floor. The next was a white, 36B brassiere, its back clasp and shoulder straps had snapped - like the blouse, stretched beyond its limit. In the fifth bag were shoes, or at least what was left of them, as their tops had been split open and soles left discarded on the floor.

Colvin glanced up from the evidence bags and glanced over to the nearby wall, where a giant hole had punctured the wall, a Hulk-sized fist. He smirked.

The She-Hulk didn't break into the lab, the She-Hulk didn't steal sensitive material from the lab - no, a human woman did. It was the She-Hulk that left the lab however, and whatever the process was that separated the two of them, it had happened right here.

The monster's trail had always been easy to pick up due to destruction and frightened bystanders, but it was usually impossible to follow after a certain time, for that trail would always vanish mysteriously. That had never made sense - at least not until these destroyed pieces of clothing confirmed that the She-Hulk was not always the She-Hulk, but she had an alter-ego.

Beyond the fact that a woman transformed into the creature, Colvin and his team didn't know much else about the person. The woman who was the She-Hulk by all means seemed to be an intelligent person. She had disabled the security system - albeit a bit too late to stop police response - but the camera footage had been wiped, leaving them without any visuals to go on. With all the care she had taken to erase her trail, leaving these items behind seemed like a sloppy follow-up, which Colvin had been pondering.

Either she became the She-Hulk in desperation, or unintentionally.

"Sir?" Colvin snapped out of his deep thought and turned to the entrance of the lab room, where a uniformed officer was standing with a few loose papers clutched in his hands. "You asked for a compiled list of witness statements?"

Colvin nodded, then carefully tiptoed his way around the glass-covered floor to meet his colleague. "Thanks, Jones." The detective took quick glances at each of the sheets, catching glimpses of what looked to be completely useless information, his face soon betraying his feelings. "Anything worthwhile in here?"

"Not really," Jones answered. "Though the conspiracy theories are an entertaining read."

Colvin smirked. "Noted. Anything else I should be aware of?"

"Actually, yes," Jones said. "One of the scientists is insisting on talking with you."

"Didn't you take his statement?"

Jones shook his head. "Wouldn't speak to me. Said it was important and it had to be you."

Probably wants to report another broken test tube. "OK, very well," Colvin sighed. "Let's get this over with."

Officer Jones led Colvin out of the room, zigzagging down a few hallways. The detective let his eyes wander around as he walked, re-scanning all the traces of the She-Hulk's presence he could get his eyes on. Soon, they entered into a small computer lab, where a heavy-set bald man in a lab coat was waiting impatiently.

"Detective Colvin, this is Dr. Julian Manfred."

Colvin didn't extend a hand to shake, nor did the doctor offer the same. Good, formalities are a waste of time.

"OK, doctor," Colvin said, crossing his arms across his chest. "I'm all ears."

Manfred rolled his eyes. "About time." The doctor turned to a nearby computer and reached out for the accompanying mouse, scrolling through some visual data that all looked like gibberish to Colvin. "While you all have been detailing the minor details of this intrusion," he said, pointing to a picture of wavy lines, "I've discovered something a bit disturbing."

Colvin squinted at the screen. "What am I looking at?"

"This waveform here is from a scan we did of the lab where you found your clothing samples," said Manfred. He traced his fingers over the waving lines. "See these small wavelengths? Those are gamma rays."

"Gamma rays?" repeated Colvin, "Like, radiation?"

"Yes, exactly, like I've been trying to tell your colleagues for some time now." Manfred scrolled through a few more sets of pictures with the mouse, using his left index finger to continually motion to each new image. "We initially picked up some trace amounts in the hallways, but here, in this last one, this is the highest concentration, which is situated in the lab where you just were."

A chill rain through Colvin's spine, snapping him out of his ambivalence. "In that lab? Isn't gamma radiation harmful?"

Manfred nodded. "It can be. It packs the most energy and can do the most damage." The doctor looked up and noticed the concern etched on Colvin's face, before grinning. "Don't shit your pants though, detective, the amounts we found aren't going to do any serious harm."

Colvin frowned, trying to ignore the quip but a bit relieved about that revelation. "So, you're saying there's some correlation between gamma rays and the She-Hulk? Have you eliminated any of them coming from your equipment here?"

"We don't work with gamma rays in this lab," Manfred said, spinning around from the computer screen. "We have the equipment to recognize radiation, and sure there are times when we'll see them here, but nothing in this building can cause them at the scale we've seen here."

Colvin looked back to Jones, who was standing quietly in the corner listening, then to Manfred, then back to the computer screen with the gamma ray waves. "So, we've got missing nanotech, shredded clothes, holes in walls, and gamma radiation. You a fan of puzzles, doctor, because right now a lot of this isn't sticking together for me."

"Detective, whatever the creature that busted out of here was, it left a trail of destruction. The energy required to do what it does is far beyond the capabilities of even what you or I could ever dream to do with steroids." He motioned back to the gamma ray visuals. "Like I said, gamma rays are dense with energy. It appears that there's some correlation between the She-Hulk and gamma radiation.. If, theoretically, the She-Hulk is fueled by gamma energy, then not only is it providing her with raw power -"

Colvin's eyes lit up. "Then it's also leaving behind a trail."

Manfred nodded. "Absolutely."

"OK, doctor, I owe you a beer for this one." Colvin motioned Jones over, and the young officer sprinted over with a youthful energy. "Tell us, where's the nearest lab that can help us scan for gamma rays?"

Though her humanity was returned, Talia did not feel very human at all.

As she had awakened from her triggered change, her clouded mind struggled to rationalize the situation. Her last memory was standing on the platform in the center of her lab, limbs restrained, feeling the power of the creature take over her body and mind until everything faded to black. According to her plan, she was supposed to wake up on that platform, still restrained, with Rachel nearby to help her.

Instead, Talia was on the ground, no restraints, no platform, and no distance between her and her friend, with Rachel's arms wrapped around her.

Her eyes looked at Rachel's face as the doctor reached out and pushed away the long strands of her friend's sand-colored hair, which had to be peeled away from her freckled cheeks. They're wet. Why are her cheeks and her hair wet?

Her brain slowly continued to process. Wet. Wet? Tears. She's…

"Rachel," Talia mumbled. "You're crying. Why?"

Rachel sniffed and shook her head. "I'm fine Tal. I'm just glad you're OK."

Talia's senses returned to her bit by bit, and her brain fired a chill up her spine as a warning: This was not right. The doctor's eyes widened, and she immediately pivoted her head away from her friend and scanned the lab. It didn't take long to find that her platform was no longer in the middle of her lab, but instead embedded into the smoking remains of one of her monitoring machines. Searching a bit further, scattered shards of what had been her gamma cuffs were spread across the floor.

Talia's head whipped back to Rachel in realization. The creature had escaped.

"Rachel! Oh no no no, Rachel," said the doctor, grabbing her friend and pulling her in, tears rolling down her own cheeks. "Rachel are you OK?"

"Tal, seriously, I'm fine," her friend pleaded through sniffles. "I'm just, it's just - the adrenaline that's all."

Talia felt her heart began to pound against her chest in fear. "Did it hurt you?!" She began to examine Rachel's body, noticing her left arm was limp. "Oh my god, Rachel, did it hurt you?!"

Rachel's eyes widened. "Talia, seriously, it's OK."

Talia's mind raced a mile-a-minute. Nothing made sense. Her mind was one giant black hole, void of any detail of anything that had just happened, and all she knew was that her plan had failed and she had put her friend in danger, unleashing the monster on the one person she had never wanted to hurt.

Her breathing became labored and her hands began to shake. Immediately, however, they were steadied by the grip of Rachel's hand.

"Talia," Rachel said. The doctor looked at the ground, her mind still in panic. "Talia, look at me!"

Talia shot her head up and met Rachel's cloudy eyes. "Talia," she pleaded, "stop it right now - stay with me here, OK?" Talia felt Rachel's grip on her hand tighten. "I need you to stay with me, become the analyzing doc who was in this lab earlier. Emotion is only going to cause you to change again, and what is that going to solve?"

Talia had no words, so she just nodded and took a deep breath. She felt her body slowly returning to her control.

"Rachel, tell me everything. Please, don't hold back. I need to know what happened."

Rachel ran her arms across her eyes quickly, attempting to quickly rub the tears away, also smearing her makeup slightly. "Tal, it was working at first. Really well actually. But then the She-Hulk got clever, she started testing the different cuffs. She'd pull on three of them, then break out of the four, then repeat with the others."

Talia found her fingers shooting to her forehead, effectively trying to massage her brain into working back at full speed. "It must've drawn the energy flow to the other cuffs, leaving one weak enough to break."

Rachel nodded in affirmation. Talia shook her head.

"I try to plan ahead, but I always underestimate. The creature always gets the better of me." Talia met Rachel's eyes. "And I keep dragging you into the middle of my battle with it. I guilted you into doing this"

"Tal, stop it," said Rachel. "I've told you I'll be there for you, and this is of my own volition. I chose to help you." She looked to the broken monitor, which the She-Hulk had destroyed with the platform. "What you need to do right now is stop worrying about me and check your experiment."

Talia's head snapped up. "Wait, it finished?"

"Yup, our friend didn't cause trouble until afterward. Though she did fry that computer."

Talia shook her head, though this time in excitement rather than sadness. The scientist shot to her feet and sprinted over to the row of equipment. "That machine isn't important."

Rachel smirked. A new splash of life was flowing through her friend's veins, providing a temporary respite for the gamma-irradiated blood that continuously tortured her. Rachel herself even felt happier in her friend's distraction, though images of the She-Hulk would not cease dominating her mind. She tried her best to ignore the uneasy pit in her stomach that would not go away. I can recover later, she needs this now.

The scientist felt her fingers take over and typed furiously upon her keyboard, her eyes glued to the monitor. She squinted to make out the rows of tiny data, straining her unfocused eyes to try to make out any piece of information that would clue her into the secrets of her alter ego.

Two hands dropped to the sides of her head, and she felt two metallic bars settle atop her ears as two glass lenses dropped over her eyes, coming to a rest upon her nose. Immediately, everything was clear again. "Thanks, Rachel," said Talia, turning her head over her shoulder to thank her for her glasses.

"Don't thank me yet, doc," said her friend, holding up a long white lab coat. "Arms out." Only then did the cool air of the room bring forth goosebumps along her bare flesh, reminding her that she had yet to put on any sort of clothing. She held out her arms, and Rachel slipped on the long covering, the fabric pressing up against her naked back. Talia wasted no time returning her hands to the keyboard, letting the lab coat's front folds come to a rest upon her shoulders, draping down over her breasts and dangling down to her knees.

The now-clear data whirred down one of the screens, absorbed by Talia's eyes and analyzed by her brain. The nanobots transmitted their data consistently, that's good, thought the scientist.

Rachel watched observantly from Talia's side, trying to read her friend's reaction. Now that she was back in scientist mode, emotion once again had more or less evaporated, leaving the raw emotion of the She-Hulk a distant memory.

Except for a sudden frown.

"What's wrong, Tal?"

"The nanobots … disappeared."

"Disappeared?" An oddly nonspecific word for her scientist friend analyzing specific data.

"Yes," Talia replied. She furrowed her brow in a mix of frustration and confusion. "They just vanished."

"Did the She-Hu-" Rachel caught herself. "Did the creature's immune system destroy them?"

Talia shook her head. "No, in fact I planned for that. Previous devices have been destroyed as soon as the metamorphosis took place, the enhanced metabolic response annihilating anything foreign.

"The nanobots, however," she continued, "were not destroyed during the transformation. In fact, they were sending data all through the creature's struggle. I have blood pressure, gamma-irradiation levels, blood cell count, really great information." Talia stabbed her index finger onto the keyboard, scrolling back and forth through the the readings. "But as I changed back, the nanobots just disappeared."

Talia turned away from the computer and walked past Rachel, heading toward the back of her lab. From a table, she grabbed a small wand-shaped device, and began waving it over her body - arm to arm, limb to limb, from her neck to her knees.

Rachel appeared to her side. "You scanning for the nanobots?"

Talia nodded. "There's no trace of them. Even if they had been destroyed, I would get some sort of signal. But nothing." She let the wand drop back to the table, clanking as it crashed back to the hard surface.

"For every answer, two more questions pop up, Rachel."

"True." Rachel put her hand on her friend's shoulders. "But silver linings here, Tal, you do have usable data, and you also have more of those nanobots."

Talia nodded. "Also true." The scientist let her left hand drop down to the front of her lab coat, pulling together the front to cover her more completely, and using her right hand to reach up and squeeze Rachel's.

"One last thing," Rachel said, before stopping herself.

"What?" asked the doctor.

Don't say it. "She talked to me."

Talia didn't turn her head. "What? Who talked to you?"

"Her," Rachel responded. "The creature."

Talia stopped typing, her head pivoting to meet Rachel's gaze. "It talked?"

The moment was interrupted with a jump as a buzzer echoed across the chamber, jolting the two women with surprise. "What in the -" Talia mumbled as she ran over to a small square device on the wall, equipped with a speaker.

The scientist hovered a finger over the button hesitantly, allowing Talia to take a quick breath before pressing in. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"Yes, hi," came the voice from the other end. "I'm told I can find a Dr. Talia Walker here."

Talia delayed for a moment. "May I ask who this is?"

"I'm Detective Colvin with the State Police. I'm here to talk about the She-Hulk."