Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel


Chapter 4: Similar Creatures

"What are you…how are you…?"

Lucas found it difficult to properly convey his thoughts, as they were all over the place. Sitting in front of him was the man he'd been looking for, the man he thought had been hurt by the Sasquatch. Flynn moved a strand of hair out of his face and shifted his positioning a bit.

"You seem quite confused, Lucas. For a man as smart as you are, I figured this would be quite simple for you to grasp," he said in a condescending tone.

Lucas looked back at Fury as if seeking further confirmation. Fury said nothing, instead, he simply shook his head. Lucas turned back to Flynn and would stare at him for a few more seconds in an attempt to process the revelation.

"How? Why? When? I have…I have so many questions, Flynn. How long have you been-"

"The Sasquatch?" Flynn asked, cutting Lucas off mid-sentence. "A couple of weeks ago after our last test in making a cure. You may have wondered why I suddenly dropped off the face of the planet, well it was because the dormant gamma radiation in my blood finally triggered. I'm the result of the sins of my father, just like you."

"Why didn't you call me?" Lucas asked, his voice straining a bit. "I could've helped you."

Flynn scoffed.

"Help me? No offense Lucas but I was the one helping you. I intended to cure myself and return to you. To do that, I needed to move myself to a remote location. Unfortunately once my existence was found…it became impossible to work in peace. He saw through to that," Flynn said, nodding towards Fury.

Nick raised an eyebrow, unphased and unperturbed by Flynn's words.

"Think about the fact that I didn't elect to kill you as soon as you reverted, just for a moment," he said.

At this, Flynn stood up and pressed his fists against the chamber glass, appearing aggravated.

"No, but you sure did send your clawed animal after me. Did you bother to tell him that you didn't wanna kill me? Because I'm confident he tried his damndest," Flynn said.

"Darkholme doesn't work for us, he works for Department H. They were supposed to wait for us to handle you ourselves before getting involved, but evidently, they have no patience," Fury responded.

Flynn shifted his line of sight down to Lucas.

"And you…you helped SHIELD to capture me. You had the Hulk…fight me," he said with betrayal in his voice.

"I didn't know it was you. I was looking for you. I didn't wanna fight, but you hit me. You brought out the Hulk after I'd…after I'd kept him under wraps for three months," Lucas, looking down.

Flynn found himself relaxing a bit. He lowered his hands and took a step back away from the glass. A look of regret washed over his face.

"I'm sorry. I was…angry, thinking you betrayed me," Flynn said.

At this, Lucas raised an eyebrow. He had previously noted Flynn's choice of words when referring to the Sasquatch as himself, but now it had begun to come together in his mind what it all meant.

"Wait...you were angry with me? As the Sasquatch…were you…in control?" Lucas asked, almost as if he was scared of the answer.

A SHIELD agent walked up to Nick and pulled him aside.

"Director Hudson is here, sir," the agent said.

Nick looked up towards the ceiling and sighed. He turned to the agent and nodded.

"I'll be there in a moment," he said to the agent, before refocusing on the conversation between Banner and Langkowski.

Flynn rubbed his face, pondering Lucas' question.

"Yes…I'm in control when transformed. It wasn't always that way, it took a few…transformations until I suppose my mind and body became one as the monster. I believe with another transformation, I might be able to speak. When I saw you, I recognized you. I didn't want to hurt you, but when that…animal attacked me, I was angry. I jumped to the conclusion that one of my closest friends had betrayed me," Flynn explained.

"I was only ever brought on to help track you. That's it. However, that doesn't mean I'll just leave now. I'm sticking around to make sure nothing bad happens to you," Lucas said while glancing back at Fury.

Fury gave a noncommittal shrug in response.

"What happens next isn't up to me, Dr. Banner," he said.

"That's right, it's not."

From behind Fury came a feminine voice belonging to a tall woman, standing about 5'7 with red hair. She wore a red trench coat over a white tactical uniform that bore the Canadian Maple Leaf. Walking alongside her was Raze, who had his hands deep into his jacket pockets. Fury turned around, as did Lucas at the sound of the voice. Fury glanced at Lucas before taking a step forward to meet the woman.

"Claire," Fury said in greeting.

"Nick," she responded with a nod.

Raze looked between the two before turning to Claire with an eyebrow raised.

"First name basis, huh? I thought only I had that privilege? I thought we had something special going on," he said, feigning a look of hurt on his face.

"Zip it Darkholme," Claire said with a sharp tone. She changed her line of sight from Fury to Lucas and would offer her hand to him. "Ah, you must be the Dr. Lucas Banner. Nice to finally meet you."

Lucas looked down at her hand with caution. He glanced at Fury, almost for confirmation of sorts before shaking her hand.

"Dr. Banner this is Claire Hudson, Director of Department H," Fury explained.

"Director Hudson, I've heard about you, once or twice," Lucas said.

Claire withdrew her hand and smiled, raising both eyebrows.

"I imagine Nick had nothing but nice things to say about me," she said.

"I told him of our agreement, and that you were to stay out of our way while we dealt with the Sasquatch," Fury began. He gestured to Raze with an annoyed look on his face. "Evidently that was too much to ask."

Claire rolled her eyes.

"Truth be told, Nick…we only needed you to help corner the Sasquatch. We were in control of the situation for a long time," she said with a confident smile.

Lucas seemed taken aback by this and looked to Fury for his reaction, but the SHIELD director appeared to be less surprised, and more irritated.

"Care to elaborate?" he responded.

"That innocent civilian you believed to have been captured by the Sasquatch? You're looking at him," she said while turning to Raze.

The blue mutant looked up at Claire, who stood only an inch taller than him and grinned. His entire body began to change and would morph until it reshaped into the form of the civilian who was thought to be captured by the Sasquatch. Lucas' eyes widened in shock. He looked back to Flynn, who gave a dejected nod of the head.

Fury, on the other hand, sighed.

"Hudson you have about five seconds to explain yourself before I kick your ass," Fury pointed to Claire, and then Raze in succession. "And your ass. I don't give a damn about your powers."

Claire chuckled at the threat, almost as if it was a joke.

"Raze was the trap for the Sasquatch. We knew he'd be in the area, and so we had Raze play the part of your average working man who lives in a cabin in the woods. Once the Sasquatch showed up, Raze engaged and had been on the hunt ever since. Where SHIELD and the Hulk came in, was cornering the Sasquatch. He was being chased by the both of us, and as you saw, it took both of our people to take him down," she explained.

Raze shapeshifted back into his normal blue form, and would adjust the collar of his jacket.

"The green guy made things harder for me, but whatever," he said casually.

"It was a win for all of us, as far as I can see. Think about it like that, Nick," Claire said.

Nick was silent. He looked to be processing the information, due to the way his eye was shifting around at various parts of the room. Lucas timidly looked over to Fury, unsure of what to say.

"I…suppose it's not often you're on the receiving end of being played," Lucas estimated.

Nick shot a glare in Lucas' direction, before moving it in the direction of Claire and Raze.

"I seem to recall putting him on his ass myself. Just me and a taser. No claws, no shapeshifting, no bullshit."

Claire chuckled and walked past Fury, only stopping to place a hand on his shoulder.

"Try and look at the bigger picture, Nick. We both stopped a gamma mutated monster, who made the final blow is irrelevant," she said before walking up to the chamber that held Flynn.

Flynn stared at Department H's director with pure hatred in his eyes. Claire looked up at Flynn with a small smile, that seemed as if it were genuine and not condescending.

"Welcome home, Dr. Langowksi. I only wish it were under a different set of circumstances-"

"Don't treat me like a fool, Director Hudson. Skip to the part where you tell me, and everyone else that you knew it was me from the start," Flynn said.

This grabbed the attention of both Fury and Lucas, who both seemed a combination of taken aback and upset.

"Wait you knew it was him?" Lucas said, with a hint of anger under his tone.

Claire sighed and turned slightly to look back at Lucas and Fury.

"We kept tabs on him. Not close enough to where we knew for sure, but close enough to where I had a good enough hunch," she said before turning back to face Flynn. "We knew the gamma radiation in your blood was becoming an issue to you, but once you took off, we lost track of you. I simply put two and two together and got Sasquatch."

Lucas scoffed and looked between Hudson and Fury, placing his hands on his hips.

"I don't why I'm surprised…spy agencies keeping secrets, from each other at that."

Fury remained silent once again. He looked towards the ground with an expression of a man whose blood was boiling on the inside. He turned around sharply on his heel and walked towards the exit of the tent.

"Do what you're gonna do with Langowksi and get the hell out of here," he said, venom dripping from his words.

On his way past Raze, the blue-skinned mutant found himself smirking at the comment.

"You know you're in our country, right Patch?" he said in jest, though it was clear that Fury found none of it funny in his exit.

Flynn crossed his arms at the situation. Walking away from it was Nick Fury, which now left him at the mercy of Claire Hudson. From the look on his face, Lucas could tell that he was contemplating which one was worse.

"What exactly is it you plan to do with me? Kill me? That'd be mercy," he said in defiance.

"Kill you?" Claire asked, before chuckling at the thought. "No, of course not. I don't think we have the weaponry to do so anyway. What I plan to do, and what the Canadian Government wants to do are two different things. They want you to rot in prison for however long you gamma mutates live. Me on the other hand…I have an alternative that you'll find much more appealing."

"I'm listening," Flynn responded.

Claire folded her hands together and took another step towards the glass chamber.

"Join Department H. Work for me, work for your country to make it a safer place. You won't have to run, you won't have to hide. You'll be a respected member of Department H." she said. Her voice had softened in a clear attempt to make the offer seem more appealing.

Flynn scoffed at the notion.

"I'd be on a leash, like a dog. Like him-" Flynn said in reference to Raze. "-and that's not something I'm interested in."

Raze growled at a low pitch, though it was still loud enough to be heard by those close to him.

"Let's get one thing straight buddy, I'm on no one's leash. I'm no one's dog. What I am, is the best there is at what I do, and what I do…well as you saw, it's kicking peoples asses no matter the shape or size." Raze said in irritation.

Claire turned her head to look back at Raze and shot him a look. It was a look that he seemed to recognize, and because of such, he began to calm himself down. Claire returned her attention to Flynn and would move a strand of hair out of her face before continuing.

"If you join Department H, you'll still have a life of your own to live. Even when we don't need you in the field as the Sasquatch, you'd be a valued member as a scientist. This is a much better alternative than spending life in a cell like the one you're standing in right now. I understand you may have your preconceived notions about me, but I'm offering you a chance to use what you may think to be a curse, as a gift," Claire said.

Flynn looked down to the floor. He pressed a hand up against the glass and sighed in reflection of the offer proposed to him. He looked up, eyes meeting that of Lucas off to the side. Flynn tapped his foot and turned his line of sight to Claire.

"Give me some time to think, and to talk about it with a man I trust more than anyone else here," he said in reference to Lucas.

Lucas raised an eyebrow, finding Flynn's decision to be one he hadn't expected, but it was one he welcomed regardless. Claire squinted her eyes a bit and would nod.

"Very well, I'll give you an hour," she said before turning around to leave.

Raze narrowed his eyes on Flynn, as well as Lucas for a fleeting moment. The blue-skinned mutant ultimately turned around to follow Claire out of the tent.


Raze quickly moved ahead to catch up with Claire, and would stop in front of her, causing the director to stop as well.

"Listen, now's a good a time to mention as any. I did the job you told me to do, now what about your end of the deal? Getting me a fresh coat of paint called Adamantium?" he asked with a sarcastic tilt of the head.

Claire sighed, appearing a bit annoyed at the mention of their initial bargain.

"Trust me Darkholme, I know very well what I owe you. However, you'll have to wait a while, as we have yet to have obtained the Adamantium. Once we get it, you'll go through the very same excruciating procedure that your father did. Okay? Good," she said without skipping a beat.

Claire walked around him, and towards Nick Fury, who was carrying on a conversation with Josh Hammond.

"Are you sure, Director Fury? It is a new model. Perhaps I could head back and help guide them in the flight-"

"We don't have time for that. I wanna pack all of this shit up and get back to the Triskelion as fast as possible. You tell them to launch, now," Fury ordered. Once he saw Claire heading towards them, he sighed. "Have you come to tell us that you'll be taking your monster back to Department H and out of my nonexistent hair?"

Claire gave a rather disingenuous smile.

"Not yet. He has an hour to decide whether or not he wants to spend significant time in a prison cell or working for me. He's discussing it with Banner," she said.

"An hour? Well, what the hell do you plan to do for an hour, play Uno?" Fury asked sarcastically.

"Well I do believe we are due an extensive conversation, that should eat up most of the time. Is there anywhere we can talk in private?" Claire asked.

Fury scanned the setup of the camp and would stop once he locked eyes on the cabin once believed to belong to a victim of the Sasquatch.

"That cabin oughta work," he said with a nod towards it.

"Wonderful," Claire said with a more genuine, delighted smile. "Shall we, Nick?"

Fury sighed and turned towards Josh, who had watched the entire exchange with inquisitive eyes.

"Alert me as soon as the Helicarrier arrives," he said before walking off towards the cabin with Claire in tow.

"Yes, of course," Josh said with an affirmative nod.

With Fury and Claire headed towards the cabin, Josh turned his attention to Raze. The mutant watched the two directors for about five extra seconds before glancing at Josh with a raised eyebrow.

"So…you're an android, huh? Never met one of you before."

Josh, for an initial few seconds, seemed to pause at the comment. His eyes shifted around in thought before he nodded.

"I have only met a single mutant before yourself. He had the ability to rotate his entire body at superhuman speeds, by the name of Whirlwind. Perhaps you knew him?" Josh asked.

Raze scoffed.

"What, you think all mutants know each other?" he asked, giving off the impression that he was offended.

"No…no, I assure you I did not intend to give off such an insinuation-"

Raze chuckled and hit Josh on the shoulder lightly.

"Relax, I'm just busting your metal balls," he said while passing by Josh to go lean up against a tree.

Josh blinked a few times. He turned around sharply and tilted his head to the side.

"...I…don't quite know what you mean-"


Lucas stood with his arms crossed, watching Flynn pace back and forth within the chamber. He felt for his friend's predicament, and in fact, he was still reeling from the entire situation. Things had become far more complicated than he expected when he took on this job, and he saw no pleasant ending in sight.

"What do I do, Lucas?" Flynn asked. "The choices ahead of me are to be locked up for who knows how long or be forced into working for that woman. This is a rock and a hard place if I've ever seen it."

Lucas tilted his head to both sides, weighing both options.

"I don't know, I mean what Hudson said about working for her doesn't sound that bad. Sure you'll have to become the Sasquatch and fight who she points you towards, but you also get to keep your normal life outside of that. You get to still be a man of science," he said, trying to give a rational look to the situation.

Flynn came to a stop and scoffed.

"You can't believe a word that comes out of her mouth, or anyone like her, like Fury."

Lucas shrugged his shoulders and dropped his hands to his sides.

"Fury's kept his end of our bargain. At no point did he ever intend for me to become the Hulk, I was simply to help track you. Things just got complicated," he said.

"Okay but that's for now. After this is all over, you know what's going to happen. He'll call you again. Next time he'll want the Hulk, and before you know it, he's got you on a leash. People like them are textbook manipulators who look out for only their best interests. I want no part of that," Flynn sighed and rubbed his face. "I just wanted to get away, to be left alone, and get rid of this monster."

"Maybe…having him isn't all that bad."

Lucas said this with a bit of apprehension, as he knew that it likely wouldn't be that much of an appreciated take on the situation. As expected, Flynn appeared unamused.

"What are you talking about? You know exactly what I'm going through, how is living with a monster inside of you not bad?" he asked, raising his voice just a bit.

Lucas sighed and took another step towards the chamber.

"You said it yourself, you're in control when you transform. You can do actual good things with your monster, because like you said, you're one and the same. I don't have that luxury. I'm far, overwhelmingly far from having any kind of control. I mean, the Hulk has been coming out while I'm asleep! I woke up this morning in Quebec when I know damn well I went to sleep in New York-"

Lucas paused at the realization of a specific part of the sentence. His eyes widened and shifted around while his mind began to combat the realization rushing in. The dam had broken, giving way to the truth of his problems.

"No way…" he trailed off.

Flynn raised an eyebrow, clearly puzzled.

"What? What is it?" he asked.

Lucas pressed his hand to his forehead and took a step back while continuing to process his current line of thought.

"The Hulk…got to Quebec. Every time I woke up, he'd gotten closer and closer to Quebec until he eventually made it there this morning. Why? Why Quebec? What the hell would the Hulk want in Quebec?" Lucas gestured to Flynn, smiling a bit. "The Hulk wanted me to find you."

Flynn raised both eyebrows this time but didn't comment. He looked up and around slowly as if making the same connections. Lucas ran a hand over his hair and shook his head.

"Somehow, somehow he knew you were here. He knew you were the Sasquatch, maybe. That's why I saw his path as nightmares. He was…he was letting me in, he was letting me see…because he wanted me to know. This…this entire time…I was looking at it from the wrong perspective. The Hulk…was trying to help me."


Next Chapter 5: Control