Detective Martin Colvin screeched his unmarked car to a halt next to the lineup of police vehicles that were blockading the Pallas city roadways. Clad in a hastily buttoned shirt and worn out jeans that were obscured underneath a medium, knee-length grey jacket, Colvin jumped out of the car and ran up to the group of uniformed officers stationed behind vehicles. He quickly shoved the bottom flap of his coat open and patted at the side of his pants, feeling for his pocket. Inside, his fingers grasped the familiar shape of his badge and wiggled it out.
"Somebody tell me what the hell is going on?" he shouted to nobody in particular, flashing his detective's shield for anybody who bothered to check.
One of the officers turned their flashlight on Colvin's badge, and flipped it off seconds later, satisfied by what he saw. Colvin recognized the patch on the man's uniform as belonging to Pallas City Police. Local cops. Those were the days.
"Can't tell you too much, detective," said the officer. "We got a call about an hour back about a She-Hulk sighting downtown." He paused briefly. Colvin assumed others had laughed at him tonight every time he had made mention of the monster, but the detective didn't even waste a smile.
The officer cleared his throat, seemingly surprised yet content at Colin's seriousness, and continued. "Well, we figured it was some punks pulling a prank on us, but based on what happened last night, and the night being slow and all, we drove and checked it out, and -"
"You found out she actually exists," Colvin interrupted. "Welcome to my world." Colvin frowned, turning his head to the police cars flashing their red and blue lightbars as he rubbed his sleepless eyes. "Did you clear the area?"
The officer nodded. "Seeing it's after midnight, there weren't a lot of people down here, thankfully. We moved everybody we could find away, and set up a 10-block perimeter to contain her."
The detective grunted in approval. Why is the She-Hulk out again so soon after the lab burglary last night? I figured our Jane Doe would be laying low for a while far from here. Unless our mystery woman is after another target.
"Any reports of break-ins, robberies, or the like?" Colvin asked.
The officer shook his head. "No, sir. But plenty of property destruction. Flipping cars, damaging storefronts. Any attempts to approach has made it worse."
Is this deliberate? Is she trying to make a statement? Does she know I'm looking for her?
"Alright then," Colvin said, looking beyond the cars out toward the barren city streets. "Where is she now?"
The She-Hulk roared into the night air; she wanted all of the puny humans around to hear her anger and stay far away.
Cars with flashing lights had gathered a distance away from her, and many of those puny humans were hiding behind them, clutching weapons. She-Hulk grinded her teeth together; no weapon would be any match for her.
Rage flowed through her veins and her body called on her to release it. Clenching her fists and flexing her gamma-powered muscles, she moved toward a lamppost and backhanded it with minimal effort, knocking it off its support and sending it crashing to the sidewalk. Reaching down, she lifted the large, metallic pole with ease over her head, and she launched it towards the barricade of humans, and watched as they scattered as the pole landed atop one of the cars with the flashing lights, crushing it. Those lights were flashing no more.
"No more lights!" she screamed, yet her rage was not quenched.
Her first thoughts that night, when she awoke, had been of anger, fear, and confusion. Her eyes had opened and seen walls. Always walls. She-Hulk hated being contained.
Her brain had been traveling a thousand miles per hour, and water was in her eyes and falling down her cheeks, and she didn't know why. Despite there being no sign of her, the walls reeked with the feel of Talia Walker, and that made She-Hulk uncomfortable.
She had screamed violently from within the room and had heard shattering in the distance. Instantly, before her mind had been able to even had time to debate a decision, her hearing had recognized the echo of open air and her body had figured out her escape route. As her legs carried her forth, the remaining walls and windows between her and the night air had fallen beneath her might. With the wind at her back, she had just kept leaping, trying to get as far away as possible.
For this short time she had been free. But the humans were trying to trap her again - just like puny Talia had tried with her chains.
She-Hulk growled and felt unbridled rage flow through her. The minimal energy she had used to toss the lamppost was already replenished. She glared down at the humans once more, and saw that they had reformed their group at one of the other cars with flashing lights. Frustrated, she turned and called upon her powerful legs to leap in the opposite direction, away from them.
Landing sharply upon the street once more, She-Hulk stumbled several paces before attaining her balance. She utilized the momentum to guide her path forward, bounding down the paved downtown streets with powerful strides. The red and blue lights behind her faded into obscurity.
The respite was temporary, however. Her bright green eyes narrowed as more cars with flashing lights appeared around the corner. More humans. She-Hulk recognized their cowardice as these ones also hid behind their vehicles, pulling out their weapons as the others had just done. Any second they would attack, and try to cause her pain. Puny humans won't leave me alone! Just leave me alone!
This time she refused to turn around.
Colvin couldn't believe his eyes. There she was in living color: his bogey man, his bigfoot - the She-Hulk. A barely recognizable speck of green mass in the distance.
And she was coming straight for them.
He didn't hear the command given to open fire, but the deafening sound of the firearms prompted him to shield his ears with his hands as he placed distance between himself and the squad. Between the muzzle blasts from the firearms and the bar lights atop the variety of police vehicles, the night sky was ablaze.
The She-Hulk, however, was a force of nature. The bullets that were on target harmlessly bounced off her green skin and did nothing to change her course. The distance between the monster and the barricade was rapidly decreasing. The fear across the area was palpable.
The sound of gunfire was instantly traded with a chorus of screams as the She-Hulk charged straight into the barricade. The creature's massive shoulder crumpled the strong frame of the first police cruiser like it were made of aluminum; Colvin had never witnessed such raw power. The cruiser squealed as its tires skidded across the pavement, coming to rest what seemed to be a block away.
Before Colvin could turn his attention back to the creature, the She-Hulk had already made her next move, crouching down and flipping one of the other vehicles onto its roof. With a mighty kick, the car careened across the pavement into a nearby storefront, leaving a trail of sparks in its wake before it exploded through a pane of glass. She then turned her attention to an unmarked SUV. With a quick hop, she landed upon the roof and began to crush the frame into oblivion, bringing her fists down repeatedly like a green jackhammer.
Several officers opened fire once more, but the bullets were no more effective in close range than they had been earlier. Many began to turn and run. His instincts told him to do the same, but Colvin couldn't look away. This was his first time seeing her so close. The naturally inquisitive mind that had earned him the detective's badge wanted to observe.
The creature was a jade giant. She seemed to tower nearly seven-foot tall, and her frame was burlier than the toughest football tackle. Bold green skin covered every inch of her. Dark green hair, long and wild, flailed through the air in her rage, coming to rest across her broad shoulders in those brief moments of pause. Columns of powerful abdominal muscles rippled against the taut skin of her torso as limbs that seemed comparable to tree trunks anchored her hulking body. Muscles - more than he had recalled seeing on any living creature in his life - flexed angrily with untapped power just waiting to crush the next object that dared get in her way.
For all the attributes that echoed of the supernatural, however, the truly fascinating elements to Colvin were the traces of humanity that remained on the She-Hulk - hints to the monster's alter ego, just as he had found in the lab. Tattered strips of denim hung from the creature's broad hips, the sparse remains of what had once served as jeans in her human form. Breasts lay bare among the mass of muscles, a not-so-subtle reminder that his adversary - monster or not - was still a woman underneath. Lastly, the She-Hulk 's bright green eyes contained a rage beyond any human, but also what he perceived to be a hidden vulnerability that any human could relate to.
From the guffawed stares of a handful of officers that had taken cover near him, he wasn't the only one in a state of trance. Most had heard only the stories of the creature, some maybe cheap camera footage. Now, she was here, rage incarnate.
Having effectively pummeled the SUV into scrap, the She-Hulk panned her head in search of her next target. Colvin felt the icy stare focus on him and the men and women next to him, and he had the sudden urge to prevent himself from ending up as a pile of goo next to the vehicles.
"She-Hulk!" he shouted at the creature, his hands cupped around his mouth to amplify. He felt the officers' incredulous stares join She-Hulk's as he became the center of attention. "Whoever you are, listen up!"
He was met with a vicious roar that pulsed through the chilled night air toward him.
Colvin turned to the female officer to his left. "I'm going to distract her, get your people out of here. Go!" She nodded wordlessly, her eyes portraying a healthy skepticism but also an eagerness to leave.
The detective stepped forward, moving himself away from the other police, and was happy to see the creature's eyes following him and not the others. Man up, Colvin. "I don't understand you, She-Hulk," he continued, gulping in a mouthful of air as if it were a dose of courage. "Robbing scientists, destroying property, now attacking police. What do you hope to accomplish?"
The She-Hulk didn't answer. Instead, she continued to bare her teeth, leaning on her leg muscles. One leap would close the gap between them easily.
He shot his eyes to his left and saw the other officers making their move for a nearby alley. His eyes then met with the She-Hulk's once more, hoping she hadn't seen his lapse in eye contact. "We can put an end to this if you turn yourself in."
He could see that the creature was thinking, but her face also betrayed a confusion. Colvin furrowed his own brow. The evidence at the lab had shown a woman who could run laps around safeguards and security systems, yet this creature seemingly lacked the brain power to find her way out of a paper bag. Yet they're one and the same, right?
"You may scare the rest of them, but I know your secret," Colvin said, bringing his hand back over his head, fingers moving through his hair. The She-Hulk growled at him in a warning. The detective, however, put on his bravest smirk. "You may try to scare us all with the monster act, but behind all of it, you're still just a human."
Colvin didn't have time to react before the She-Hulk was on him. The ground shook as she landed, the shockwave sending him to his hands and knees as the creature towered over him. He tried to breathe but his lungs were paralysed.
"I. Am. Not. HUMAN!" screamed the She-Hulk. Colvin clutched his ears in pain. Suddenly a huge pressure erupted in his chest as he felt the monster's foot contact his torso, a harsh kick sending him tumbling across the pavement into a nearby wall. The impact with the brick knocked the wind out of him, and waves of pain spread throughout every corner of his body.
Again, the She-Hulk was on him before his senses had time to adjust. He felt the fabric of his jacket grow tight as she lifted him off the ground singlehandedly clutching a fistful of the material. She raised him up until their gaze met once more at eye level. He wondered if she could see the fear through his eyes.
"Puny human," she spat. "I am not like you."
"No," Colvin hissed. "You're worse."
The creature's eyes darkened. She's going to throw me! Acting on adrenaline, Colvin immediately grabbed a hold of the She-Hulk's jeans, grasping at the frayed waist with his left hand and one of the remaining pockets with his right in an attempt to anchor himself. It failed. He heard a growl, and with a tug he easily lost his grip. The She-Hulk threw him to the ground, and pain shot through his sides. Shit! Cracked a rib, at least.
"Stay down!" came an amplified voice from the distance. Colvin's eyes widened as he went flat and covered his head with his hands.
The sound of bullets filled the air once more, though this time the familiar droning was consistent with semiautomatic rifles. Attempting to ignore the pain in his side, Colvin cautiously looked up and saw his saviors in the form of a SWAT van pulled up a healthy distance away from the now-broken police barricade. A fully-geared unit, some positioned inside the van with others spreading out in waves, unleashed their firepower all at once upon the green giant.
The bullets continued to bounce off of the She-Hulk's thick skin, but this time her face contorted in a twist of pain. The creature turned away from Colvin and into the barrage, lifting her hand in front of her face in an attempt to shield herself from their full force. Colvin used the opportunity to roll away toward the alley, cursing to himself as his injured rib throbbed with pain.
As he looked back up from a safer distance, what he saw looked promising. The sheer amount of bullets seemed to be succeeding at slowing the She-Hulk's movement. As the monster took several slow paces forward, the SWAT team took turns continuing to unleash their weaponry on her.
Taking what looked to be an exaggerated step, the She-Hulk instead brought her foot down with an incredible amount of force, splitting the pavement and sending a shockwave rippling through the ground. Several SWAT members stumbled off balance, their gunfire tapering off. WIth the decreased rate of fire, the She-Hulk sprung forward, throwing herself into the side of the SWAT van like a battering ram. The van crashed to its side and began to skid, carrying with it the members of the squad still inside.
Those outside began to open fire once more. The She-Hulk spun and roared at them, backhanding three at once square in the chest with her arm, launching them skidding down the road atop their body armor. With a quick spin, her mammoth hands shot out and clasped the barrels of two rifles. With a fantastic squeeze, the weapons crumbled beneath her might.
Her victory was short-lived. A look of triumph evaporated as the monster rapidly raised her arm to protect herself from a tear gas mortar that instead hit her square in the chest. The impact caused a cloud of smoke to erupt across her upper body, and the creature began to cough in fits as she was consumed by the irritant. A second SWAT squad, arrived by a fresh van, poured out of the side and fanned out. The She-Hulk was dazed. Encouraged by the success, several more tear gas canisters sailed through the air and hit the behemoth, creating a cloud of smoke to surround the beast.
Once more the She-Hulk screamed. This yell, however, was of anguish and pain - a cry consistent with the vulnerability Colvin had briefly seen in the gamma-irradiated eyes of the creature. Consistent with a human.
The gas cloud parted and the She-Hulk leapt from the haze and into the air, landing on the roof a nearby business. The SWAT opened fire with bullets once more, but the creature wasted no time before propelling herself again off in a new direction.
Colvin sucked in a lungful of night air and released in a large sigh. Smooth move, asshole. Almost get yourself killed, and now's she's been scared off. How the hell am I ever going to catch that thing? Still lying on the ground, he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to the pavement, clenching his fists tightly and pounding them on the ground a few times in frustration.
After another deep breath, the detective looked up and saw his vehicle was still standing. Against his better judgment, he pushed himself to his feet, ignoring his injuries, and ran to his car. You're an idiot, he thought as he turned the ignition and roared past the SWAT van in pursuit of the creature that had almost killed him.
She-Hulk landed clumsily on one of the downtown rooftops and jerked to her knees, tumbling forward and falling off of the roof down a distance to the street. The pavement cracked beneath her with a deafening crunch.
The creature lay motionless. She couldn't see. Her face felt on fire.
Her eyes glued shut, she contemplated the pain. Flashes of her last time of consciousness flooded her mind. Shackles. Walls. Puny Talia.
The other human, however, had helped that pain go away.
"Raytch-el!" She-Hulk called out desperately. She needed the pain to go away once more. She thought of the woman; her image helped give She-Hulk a focus through the pain, however brief. "Ray-CHELLLLL!"
There was no answer. She-Hulk growled, forcing herself to roll over and climb to her feet. The human who had called herself "friend" was nowhere to be seen, so perhaps the human was just like the others and didn't care about her.
She-Hulk blindly pushed forward. She sprinted down the street briefly before stumbling into a parked car, prompting an alarm to respond with a shrill screech. The monster flipped the vehicle into a nearby store in response, and fled in the opposite direction.
Her vision was slowly returning, but her surroundings remained blurry and unrecognizable. Her body no longer was guiding her down the right path; everything was an obstacle. Around any corner could be more flashing lights, more painful gas.
That thought made her angry. And anger made her strong.
With a booming roar, She-Hulk banished the doubts from her mind and charged forward without her vision. Why did she care if she hit a car, or ran into the flashing lights, or the puny humans? She was stronger than all of them. If they dared block her, she'd make them pay.
She-Hulk ran forward, her thick, muscular arms ahead of her, and burst through the side of the nearest building, her limbs tearing through concrete, glass, and drywall with ease. Her powerful bounds quickly brought her through the interior with amazing speed, her arms continuing to clear her path until she once more was able to tear through the thick wall to the outside once more.
Her ears pricked up soon after with the sound of tires. She pivoted her head in its direction and the blurs that her eyes could interpret lit up blue and red. The puny humans were stupid too; they were chasing her.
She relied on her ears and her body to guide her in a way her eyes couldn't. She could hear the yells of the humans gathering once more, the click of their weapons as they prepared to attack her. She could smell hints of the gas that had blinded her shortly ago as their smoke weapon was launched in her direction.
Her senses firing, She-Hulk's arm shot out in front of her and her thick fingers wrapped themselves around the cannister. She let the momentum of the weapon carry her arm around as she curved its direction, allowing her body to spin with it, before she tossed their weapon back at them, hearing the gas explode amongst the humans. As they yelled, coughed and attempted to flee, She-Hulk was on them, swatting their weapons to the ground and crushing them as quickly as they could draw them. They attempted to hide inside their vehicle, but that only provided her further cause to smash the front of their armored car with all her might, bringing her fists down until she felt the sparks of fire ignite beneath her.
The sound of more vehicles and more humans filled her ears. Soon after, She-Hulk felt the tiny pangs of their bullets bouncing off of her skin, and the fiery feel of their gas weapon being launched against her. She shut her eyes tight and held her breath; she had been surprised once, but not again.
Drawing deep into her core, She-Hulk plunged her hands through the scrap metal on the side of the human's vehicle, and called upon the limitless strength within her muscles to lift it over her head, and with a yell, she heaved the flaming van in a burning arc through the air and listened as it exploded in a ball of flame in between where the humans were gathered.
Slowly, the bullets and the gas began to stop. However, there was no stopping her; she was the strongest one there was.
As her vision grew clearer, she saw the puny humans running. Finally, she had forced them to leave her alone. She yelled in victory.
She-Hulk was the strongest one there was.
She-Hulk completed another leap into the night air once more, soaking up the freedom from the barrage of bullets, gas, and blinking lights that had been following her all night. They were nowhere to be seen now, and that made her happy.
The creature soared majestically in rainbow arcs, using her powerful legs to instantly propel her skyward every time she landed, hopping from road to road, rooftop to rooftop. As the threat of the humans faded into memory, the lengths of her jumps began to shorten, their heights not as impressive.
Soon, She-Hulk landed on one of the city roads and let her legs absorb the impact, allowing the momentum carry her forward several steps instead of heading back upward. Instinctively, she tensed up her muscles defensively, glaring around for any signs of threats. If she had to, she was ready to smash once more.
But there were no threats, not anymore. The humans and their guns had fled from her power. Satisfied, She-Hulk felt herself relax.
Letting her feet carry her slowly across the pavement, She-Hulk weaved her way around parked cars and the sidewalk, moving parallel to the storefronts that lined the streets one-by-one. As she moved, she slowly noticed a doppelganger in the window. She quickly tensed up again, before realizing it was only her reflection - a mirror image staring back at her from the pane glass window.
She-Hulk found herself drawn to the reflection. She hadn't ever looked at herself, not like this.
The humans were small, of different colors, frail. She was large, strong, and a different color from any of them. She was different, but that's what she wanted. She was the She-Hulk, or so Rachel the human had called her. She was glad she wasn't human.
Her green eyes found their match in the mirror, and her gaze locked into a trance as the creature reached out and met her counterpart's fingers on the glass. All traces of anger slowly melted away as the green in the eyes began to vanish. The rigid, hulking muscles of the creature began to vanish, leaving behind the soft curves of a woman. Jade skin faded into a pale hue. The large, wild green mane atop her head retracted into a frayed heap of brown hair. A brain focused on rage fell asleep, while the dormant brain of the scientist awoke.
Talia opened her eyes, and found her gaze locked with her mirror image's blue eyes. She was...human. Where am I?
Shaking off the look, the scientist looked upon her reflection as her senses slowly returned to her. She found herself averse to her reflection: half naked, scuffed with dirt, tatters of jeans barely clinging to the curve of her hips - the aftermath of the creature having taken over once more.
Tearing herself away from her reflection, Talia took a few steps before collapsing to her knees. Her energy was sapped and her body weak from its third metamorphosis over the past 36 hours. Despite wanting to roll over and collapse, the doctor pushed herself back to her feet and forced herself to move.
As her brain slowly returned to its old self, she recognized that she was in downtown Pallas, albeit a bit more empty than usual despite being night. Talia however wasn't counting on being alone forever; she had to make her way to safety, to clothes, to rest. WIthout her cell phone, she was on her own for help. If I can just get to a phone to call Rachel.
As Talia walked, she felt her heart slowly inch up into her throat. She was tired. She was tired of it all. Tired of not knowing when the change was going to happen, and what the disastrous results of the monster being unleashed would be. She felt chills down her spine imagining why she was in the city after her metamorphosis. What has it done this time?
It was no matter. Talia knew resolutely what her next step had to be. It was the only answer.
Colvin had followed the monster recklessly. He found himself swerving around city blocks to trail the fleeing She-Hulk, as she continued to encounter one group of police and subdue another. He had watched her successive battles with the SWAT team, and their ineffective attempts to stop her.
The detective cursed himself for thinking it, but the She-Hulk was simply incredible. Every weakness they had found and exploited, she quickly had learned from and adapted. Bullets, tear gas, barricades - none served to stop her for long.
This had been his closest encounter with the beast after four months of thankless work following in her wake. He had tested the limits of his luck with her earlier, and despite all common sense telling him the opposite, he wasn't going to let his near-death at her hands stop him now. She still may kill me yet, who knows.
After hearing a booming crash, the detective had steered his car and that direction, but he saw nothing. The sounds soon stopped, and he found himself driving aimlessly, scouring each block for a sign. By the time the sun had started to come up, he found himself collapsed in exhaustion against his steering wheel, his car pulled over onto the side of the road in a location he couldn't have been bothered to identify with his weary eyes.
Suddenly, his phone rang, making Colvin almost bounce out of his seat into his car's ceiling. "Son of a bitch," he yelled to himself, shaking his head at allowing a ringtone to scare him just as much as the She-Hulk had. Sighing, he attempted to rub the sleep out of his eyes, at the same time shielding them from the red rays of the morning sun as he answered the call. "Colvin speaking."
"Detective," said the woman on the other line. "You wanted an answer by morning, and I have it now."
Colvin's sleep-deprived brain was confused. "Who's this?"
"Talia Walker. We spoke about the monster last night."
"Doctor Walker?" asked Colvin. The scientist had completely slipped from his mind once the She-Hulk had made her appearance. "Oh yes, the She-Hulk."
Now that the creature had vanished into thin air though, her voice was much welcomed. "Glad to hear your voice. I hope you're willing to help me find the She-Hulk - we need that now more than ever. Last night was a rough night."
There was a pause. "I can definitely help you find the creature, detective," Talia responded, "because the creature is me."