Reticence Saga
Severed Web
Chapter 16: Alpha/Gamma
New York has its fair share of villains...be it Doom holed up in his embassy whenever he was in the country, the Wrecking Crew...well...wrecking and your various random villains. Then you got the weird ones...
"Come back here you little french jack-in-the-box!" roared Matt, flying after a villain known as Batrok the Leaper. It had seemed so easy, his superpower was jumping. But as he, Gary, who was finally allowed out to help out, and Chloe were finding out, he was good at it. Chloe and Gary had already collided once trying to grab the pest.
"You know, he's an insulting stereotype of my home country, but I have to admire his fighting style," said Gary, "I may have to learn that myself."
"No way, you'd concuss yourself in anywhere but the launch bays," said Matt before he said, "I'll go left. Chloe, you go right. Gary, sweep him towards us."
"Very well," said Gary before flying up.
Chloe nodded flying faster. Her jaw still hurt where she and Gary had headbutted. "Ok...grab the jerk," she muttered, keeping pace before spasming as a stabbing pain shot up her spine, forcing her down onto a rooftop.
However, Matt hadn't seen that yet. "Ok, Chloe, get ready," he called. Chloe nodded, taking out an injector gun when Matt wasn't looking and shooting it into her arm. Matt didn't need to know about this…
Batrok jumped into view, Gary on his tail. Matt grinned "Ok...one...two..." he said, Chloe's spine aching again and forcing her to her hands and knees as he yelled "NOW!" He shot out at Batrok immediately, who chose that moment to dodge aside. "Dammit, Chloe!" Matt snapped before turning back to see a jumbotron headed for him. "Oh nuts," muttered Matt, just before impact.
There was a loud crack as yet another Daily Bugle jumbotron was broken. It didn't really feel that good for Matt either. Gary paused "M...Lazard...are you well?" he said in horror, hovering in place.
Matt lifted his head to show a goofy grin and a missing fang. "I'll take double jeopardy, Bob where the concussions get really hard." before he flopped back down again, Batrok's laughter heard as he bounced away.
Gary sighed and said, "Dakota, this is really getting tiresome." There was a long unresponsive pause before Gary asked, "Dakota?" He spun around before spotting her, sprawled on the rooftop. "MATT!" he called.
"How long have you been blacking out?" snapped Matt, the trio in the Triskelion's medical bay.
"Only about a day after the prom," said Dakota, "Really, it's not that bad."
"You've been blacking out for a week and it's nothing," said Matt icily, before saying, "I hope it's nothing. You should have told us."
Dr. Connors walked over and said, "According to the test results, there is a considerable amount of venom in Chloe's system. Specifically venom from the black fattail scorpion." "Good...how long will it take to get some anti-venom in her?" asked Matt, sighing with relief.
"That's the troubling thing," said Dr. Connors, "We have an anti-venom on hand, but when it was administered, it only eliminated a small part of the venom before it bounced back. I'd almost say the venom was alive. I'm assuming she wasn't stung by an ordinary scorpion." "No, one of Megan's...staff did it," said Matt coldly.
"Ah, that would explain it," said Dr. Connors, "Some form of enhanced genetic engineering."
"It's simpler to assume it's magic," said Gary, "Manticora may not have been given elemental powers like the others, but that's not to say that Megan gave her some extra abilities than just physical ones."
Chloe grumbled, "So...is there anything that can be done or am I going to that big Jurassic Park in the sky?"
Matt rounded on her, "You are not going anywhere."
"Well, I suppose if we could find a unicorn..." started Gary.
"We are not doing that again," said Matt flatly.
"Surely you brought something," said Gary.
Matt paused. "There might be something at our camp," he said.
"I don't think that's going to help," said Chloe, "I've been using it to keep it under control and it's not working so well anymore."
"Connors, there's gonna be something. I read something about gamma radiation treatment on mana poisons once in the NSC..." said Matt, looking at Connors in desperation.
"Are you out of your mind?" asked Connors, "Granted, radiation treatment can help with particularly bad poisonings. But gamma radiation... I don't think I need to tell you what that can cause."
"Big green and anger issues?" said Chloe with a weak laugh.
"Not as many people fall victim to that as you might think," said Connors, "Often enough, it's just radiation poisoning."
"It was only experimental when I last saw it, but it worked," said Matt, looking at Chloe, "That said, in this reality and knowing my luck… I'd like to take her back to my camp. Try some of the medical tech there."
"There are too many uncertain variables," said Dr. Connors, "She's not even human for starters."
"Ok, we're going that route. How's that Lizard problem holding up?" snapped Matt, poking Connors in the chest.
"Hey guys, doesn't the patient get a say in her treatment?" asked Chloe in an annoyed tone, "This damn well hurts and I would prefer to not be killed by tail pokes."
"There you go. Patient's consent," said Matt.
Dr. Connors sighed and said, "Speaking from experience, experimental treatment will end in tragedy."
"So...what's the first treatment?" asked Chloe.
Matt said, "Well...it's pretty old tech..."
"I WANT A SECOND OPINION!" screamed Chloe, looking at the large rejuvenation emitter...which for some reason, the designer had decided should look like a laser cannon from James Bond.
"Oh relax," said Matt, "It's perfectly safe." A panel partially fell off with a loud rusty squeak.
"Maybe we should do a bit of maintenance first," said Chris.
Gary, reading the instructions as it began to power up, said, "Warning...uses UV radiation...may cause sunburn." before there was a blue flash and Chloe screamed angrily.
"That's not medical equipment, that's a death trap!" yelled Chloe, looking at the glowing green pool.
"It says it works. It also says it cures sunbu-" began Matt before Chloe swan dived into it.
Chris, looking at some papers said, "Hey...when was Nullspace date 1987?"
By now the tests were attracting an audience, and the natural betting pool that appears whenever an experiment was within 20 light years. "Ok, the last one turned her green. What do you think this one will?" said Zira happily.
Chloe meanwhile, was indeed green...fluorescent green. "Ok...and what does this one do?" she growled.
"You just take the pills..." said Matt, holding up a blue pill.
Chloe glared, before swallowing it. "Ok...how long till..." she said, pausing...her voice had come out sounding like she'd been locked in a room full of helium. "Oh, ha, ha, very funny, this had better not- Am I growing taller?" asked Chloe.
"Uh, not really," said Matt as Chloe's feet were lifting off the ground. Matt looked at the bottle, Zira's laughter heard from the rafters. "Oh...wrong pill," he said nervously. The resulting lightning bolt was powerful enough to blow out every computer on the floor...
Sara looked around nervously, eating her breakfast. It was...unnerving to be so near the other splicers, most of them looking at her suspiciously. That was happily the limit, Falcore never too far away. She could have just left. Obviously Lady NegaMorph was missing a few screws. But she couldn't leave Matt, not after finding him again. And also...the idea of powers was rather enticing…
"Penny for your thoughts?" asked Falcore, snapping her to her senses.
"I'm ok. Just thinking about all this. It's a lot to take in," she said, before looking down to see a ticket in Falcore's talons.
"First class...the sooner you are safely out of this city, then the sooner I can have a night's sleep," he said kindly.
"Do I really have to leave?" asked Sara, "I just found you again."
"You'll know exactly where I am...and you'll be away from all this." said Falcore.
Manticora laughed, "Yeah...run on home." Falcore glared at her.
"Maybe I don't want to leave," said Sara, "You guys are getting awesome bodies and superpowers. Why wouldn't I want to be a part of that?"
Falcore said darkly, "You do not want this life."
Sara paused at that. "What about you?" she asked.
Falcore said, "I've been too long like this. You got lucky."
"Yeah..." said Sara slowly. 'Lucky enough to choose my next transformation,' she thought.
"Sara, promise me you will leave tonight," said Falcore sternly...and when a bird of prey looks stern, you know about it.
"Of course, dear, whatever you say," said Sara.
Falcore nodded, smiling before walking away. Sara paused before Taurus said, "Man, he's usually good at spotting bullshit."
Sara glaring before walking off, towards Lady NegaMorph's was odd that she had been so scared of the place when she was brought back. But now she wanted to be inside it more than anything. She sneaked forward. It was a simple plan: find another serum, and she and Falcore could ditch this loser of a supervillain. She was about to open the door when she heard voices within...
"You said you'd make use of the technology...and provide results. So far we are not impressed," said a draconic creature, looming over Lady Nega, who for the first time anyone would notice was looking worried. "We are wondering if you will provide results at all other then showing them failing."
"You've seen that I'm made a lot with what I have. Manticora, in particular, is probably my finest-" started Lady NegaMorph.
"Yes, yes, you've been making strong minions with simple Earth animal DNA," said the draconic creature, waving a hand dismissively, "The real question is why you haven't been using the DNA we have provided you."
"Yes, that will lend so well. I'll make it less conspicuous by hanging a neon sign on my splicers saying 'illegal tech, NSC, please shoot me'," snapped Lady NegaMorph before yelping as the creature picked her up by the throat.
"We paid you to test what we provided," he said coldly, before dropping her. "It's one thing if you were just hoarding these samples and planning on selling them yourself," said the creature, "But just letting them collect dust? That's just insulting."
"They...don't exist...here," coughed Lady Nega.
The creature said angrily, "And my employers don't care." before he sniffed the air. "That said, you may get a chance. Please prep our latest sample," he said, walking towards the door and punching a fist through it, smashing the door and pulling a terrified Sara in. "How nice, a volunteer all ready," he sneered.
"Now just a moment," said Lady NegaMorph, "That one is off-limits."
"She's seen me. My employer wants no connection. Oh well," said the creature, reaching for Sara's neck.
"Wait, wait, don't I at least get to know what you're going to do with me?" asked Sara.
"Does it matter? You're 'off-limits'." sneered the creature. Lady Nega snapping "WAIT!" before she said "Maybe...I was hasty. Miss Triseptus, I'm going to guess you came here to volunteer?" mouthing 'Say yes, dammit. He's going to kill you.'
"Well, actually, I was wondering what kind of superpowers you could give me," said Sara honestly.
Lady Nega actually looked surprised, the creature grinning. "Well...a volunteer indeed," he said, dropping her and walking over to a case, opening it to show a row of three injector guns. "Our latest batch," he said, taking out the one loaded with a sky blue liquid.
"What's in that one?" asked Sara.
The creature clicked something on the device of his wrist and it projected a hologram of a blue bird with a white chest and a very long tail. "This specimen is considered a legend on its homeworld," said the creature, "It has power over ice and has very remarkable-"
"Will I be anthro?" Sara interrupted.
"Well, yes, though-" started the creature.
"Then what are we waiting for? Splice me up!" said Sara excitedly, "But first, I have a few modifications to the idea." She did a rough sketch on a piece of paper and handed it to the creature.
The creature looked at the drawing and raised an eye ridge. "Yes, we can do those modifications," said the creature, which evidently called a 'splitter', "But I'm doubtful about the necessity of it."
"Clearly you don't know how women think," said Sara, "This is something every girl wants."
The splitter turned to Lady NegaMorph with a questioning look. "I don't need to enhance myself, but I can't say the same for everyone. Let's not forget, this is a college girl we're talking about."
The splitter shrugged and said, "It's her choice. Besides, you're the one doing this, not me."
"Of course I am," muttered Lady Nega. It was probably for the best. The splitter wouldn't really know what Sara was asking for. Besides, it wasn't really rocket science to make those changes.
After modifying the serum, Lady Nega said to Sara, "Just so you know, undoing these changes won't be as easy as the last ones."
"Why would I want them undone?" asked Sara.
"It's so rare to find such willing volunteers," remarked the splitter.
"You haven't really been on Earth's internet, have you?" asked Sara before wincing as Lady Nega injected the blue serum into her.
"So...when does this start working?" asked Sara, before Falcore, with Taurus and Manticora ran in.
"Mistress we heard a..." he began before seeing Sara with the injector in her arm.
"Oh, Falcore, you're just in time," said Sara, "I wanted you to see this."
"What have you done?" said Falcore.
Sara grinned, "Made it so we can look after each other..."
Meanwhile, on the edge of the system, a small craft warped in, with an interesting lifeform on board. "Must...kill...Matt..." snarled NegaMorph, his eye twitching. It hadn't taken long to realise where they'd gone. Morph couldn't kep secrets any worse if he was wearing a billboard with the secret written on it. Then he'd found out about the time dilation…
He had no idea how much of a head start Matt had on him. More importantly, he had no idea how long Megan has been here. Hadn't Matt been worrying about her at all while they were playing with nanites? "Requested timeline scan complete. One hit found for subject: Megan Roph," said the computer.
"It's about time!" snapped NegaMorph.
"Reference: SHIELD database. Pseudonym: Lady NegaMorph. Status: Criminal. Time active: 2 Solar cycles," said the computer calmly, news snippets showing. NegaMorph saw pictures of Megan, looking a little older, as a different version of her hybrid form. He also saw plenty of pictures of her robbing banks, attacking people, and fighting superheroes.
"Current status: Dangerous...possible access to offworld mutagens," said the computer, a recent headshot of what was probably Matt fighting some sort of falcon man. "Caution...ship detected in high orbit," NegaMorph looking at another scanner to see a splitter ship hovering behind the moon.
"Them now? I have no time for that!" snapped NegaMorph.
"Incoming transmission," said the computer, a splitter's face appearing. "Unidentified ship. Alter your course, you are interfering with a Consortium operation."
"Smeg off, you refugee from a tapestry!" snapped NegaMorph, "I've got very personal business down there!"
"You are outgunned. Cease your approach or you will be fired upon," said the splitter calmly, adding, "This is your last warning."
"Go find a knight and get lanced where the sun don't shine!" snapped NegaMorph.
"Warning...splitter ship charging disruptors," said the computer.
"Matt, you better still have a working ship. I'll be taking its keys from your mangled corpse," snarled NegaMorph. A few seconds later, the engines on NegaMorph's ship were blasted out of existence, sending him spiralling down to the blue planet below.
Chloe wasn't really getting better with this treatments. And neither was her temper. Matt was trying to find another way to treat her, which Chloe wouldn't thrash him over if it didn't work. He'd decided to test some of the cures on the computer via sim. "Simulation 49: Gene therapy has failed...Venom survives via sticking to cell membranes. Subject deceased," said the computer, Matt slamming the controls.
"Commander, if I may. There are several decommissioned facilities on planet. At least one is active and has full reality shielding," the computer said, adding, "I can link to its main transmat...if you stop hitting my consoles."
"Would it even have the equipment we need?" asked Matt dourly.
"It was the original test site for gamma treatment. The medical bay has a class 16 reality field to avoid unwanted mutations and has a 97.4% success rate. When the outpost was shut down, there was no time to remove the equipment," said the computer.
Matt thought it over and said, "Well, it's not like we've had any success here. We might as well try there. So...where is it?" A map appeared on the screen. "Oh crap..." he muttered.
"Any landing you can walk away from..." rasped NegaMorph, slithering out from the wreckage, reforming and banging the side of his head till his eyeballs stopped being crossed. A clunk from the ship got his attention at that.
NegaMorph tore open the side of the wreck and soon spotted a storage compartment. He opened its door and white goo spilled out and puddled on the floor. Eventually, four eyes appeared in it and looked at him. "Hi, NegaMorph," said Morph.
"Morph...I...but...I locked the ship. I told nobody I was going. HOW?" NegaMorph managed.
Morph said, "I got lost looking for the canteen."
NegaMorph making a few gurgling noises as his brain failed to comprehend the sheer ridiculousness of that comment. "I...ow...that made my brain hurt. Fine, you can help. We're here to get Megan."
Morph said, "And Gary?"
NegaMorph paused before saying, "Ok, him too."
"And Weirdwolf?" asked Morph.
"Who? Oh, yeah, the dracowolf," said NegaMorph.
"See? You'd have forgotten them without me," said Morph happily.
NegaMorph said darkly, "Yes...forgot."
"All the way up there?" asked Chloe incredulously.
"It has to be isolated," said Matt, "Not to mention pretty far from any settlements."
"Matt, do I look like I'm built for ice and snow?" asked Chloe, spreading her dinosaur wings for emphasis.
"Tough cheese. It won't be a picnic for me either," snapped Matt, pointing at her, "You need your treatment yesterday."
"Almost literally," said Kala, "That venom's getting stronger. If we don't burn it out, it is going to kill you."
"So you're gonna go to the arctic if I have to drag you there," snapped Matt.
"The Ice Age is what killed off the last of the dinosaurs, you know," said Chloe flatly.
"That's complete baloney and you know it," said Matt.
Chloe clamped her claws into the wall. "I am not taking a chance," she snapped, before yelping as Matt began to drag her along, Chris grabbing her other arm and helping. "Et tu?" snapped Chloe.
Chris sighed. "I don't want you to die," he said finally.
"Well, ok, if you insist," said Chloe.
"What?!" snapped Matt, "I've been explaining why you need to go for ten minutes but you only agree when Chris says you have to go?!"
"His idea of 'for my own good' is better than yours," said Chloe.
"Burrrrn..." said Zira from the roof happily, before jumping down. "I'm coming too," she said in a final sort of voice.
"You know there's no plants up there," said Kala.
"How many of you have lived in a gamma reactor for years?" asked Zira.
"Point to you, let's go," said Matt with a sigh, the group walking into a transmat room and vanishing, just as the alarm went off, NegaMorph appearing out a shadow portal with a cheerful Morph in tow.
"MATT, I'M GONNA-where the hell is he?" he roared, pausing in confusion.
"I dunno. Did we miss them?" asked Morph.
"There, a transmat," snapped NegaMorph, stomping over before stepping on something that clicked, a small note floating down.
NegaMorph snatched the note out of the air and read it. 'Dear intruder, Doombot or other idiot...prepare to be two dimensional...' it read in Matt's handwriting.
"Oh no," muttered NegaMorph before the walls slammed into him a few times before stopping.
"Oooh...you ok?" called Morph, a faint 'eeeeeeee' heard from NegaMorph.
The base had sat in the arctic for years, the systems powered down on stand-by, ice formed all over the main transmat room, the only entrance. "Incoming transmat...access codes verified...powering up systems...stand by..." said a calm male voice, lights coming on, lasers burning away ice from controls as the transmat lit up.
As soon as the ice was cleared away, the arriving group appeared on the transmat. "Did that seem to take longer than usual?" asked Kala.
"Sorta, but it's hard to-" started Matt.
"Holy smeg, it's cold!" yelled Chloe, wrapping her wings around her body.
"Please stand by...life support will engage soon. Please state your intentions. I cannot verify that you have not been coerced," said the computer, several cannons folding down from the ceiling.
"We need to use the gamma radiation treatment," said Chris, "She has a venom that cannot be eliminated otherwise."
A blue light shone over Chloe at that before she blinked and teleported away. "76% DNA degradation confirmed...target teleported to main bay...please proceed to observation," said the computer.
"I get the feeling Chloe isn't going to be happy with us when we get there," said Matt.
The main base itself was far larger than expected. Secure wards could be seen everywhere, apparently geared to hold things from the inside. Blaster holes were pitted into the walls and, when they passed engineering, they saw what might be why. A huge green glowing column, pulsing gently...a sleeping giant slowly waking up.
"That gamma reactor is dirty," said Zira with concern.
"Well, I wouldn't have expected it to have been dusted much when no one's been here in years," said Kala.
"No, she means it's leaking," said Matt grimly, peering down to see medical beds, with straps near it. "I vote we leave some C-12 when we leave," he said grimly before walking on.
Chris said with concern, "That thing's powering up. It's better than a flare."
Matt said, "Nobody's looking for this place..."
Gamma Base
Vista Verde, New Mexico
The headquarters for the Agents of SMASH has been quiet for quite some time. Since the Incredible Hulk has been working with the Avengers almost full-time, the Smashers have drifted off to do their own things. But that didn't mean there wasn't someone running the base.
The base had once been local headquarters for the Hulkbusters, run by General 'Thunderbolt' Ross. Technically he still was stationed there, though under a different name. Red Hulk grumbled, his only company being Devil Dinosaur, who for obvious reasons couldn't really go out and about...except to the Savage Land.
Devil Dinosaur looked at him before licking Red Hulk and sticking his snout into the food bowl. "Worth a try," muttered Red Hulk darkly, wiping the slobber off, before the emergency lights came on, an old klaxon sounding. It was a specific alert that Red Hulk hadn't heard since he was human. It was the old gamma sensors and something was causing them to go haywire.
"Something's really glowing green out there," said Red Hulk, "It better not be the Leader again." He ran to the old control room, the screen already lighting up. The alert was coming from one of the few remaining Hulkbuster satellites...and Banner had always wondered how his men had kept finding him so fast. The scan was focussed on what looked like an ice field in the north pole, the HUD highlighting a huge signal under the ice.
"Either the Leader's trying to melt the ice caps or Santa Claus has built a new factory," said Red Hulk. The live feed altered at that, the words 'Incoming projectile' flashing as a glowing orange orb shot up from the target, filling the screen just before the signal was lost. "Looks like the Leader just put himself on the Naughty list," said Red Hulk, "Devil, wanna go hunting?"
Devil Dinosaur looked up at that, eyes wide. He'd been watching the screen and he may have been an animal but he'd seen ice and snow before. He turned and ran off into the base.
"Oh sure, now you wanna go in," said Red Hulk. He looked over at the replay from the satellite. Normally he'd go in, cause some destruction, get the job done way better than Big Green. But something made him hesitate, perhaps the only thing that could...a base visible on the edge of the map.
"I may be a one-man army now, but a general's nothing without his troops," said Red Hulk.
"Hey there, Hulk fans. I know it's been a while since I last posted an episode, but we're back. Red actually called as much of us back together for a trip up north. Something set off Gamma Base's alarms, a big something," said A-Bomb into the hover-cam, the group in the gang's Jump Jet.
"It had to be up where it's cold," said She-Hulk with annoyance, "Why can't it ever be on a tropical island?"
"I don't care if it's in the middle of a volcano. It's less than 10 miles from Betty's research camp," snapped Red.
"Uh, wouldn't she have noticed that?" asked A-Bomb.
"The old Gamma Base satellites were designed to track people like us. Anything else wouldn't penetrate the ice," said Red, Hulk glaring. He had similar feelings to Red and could understand. If the Leader was on Bettys doorstep…
"You know, I have to ask. How do we know for sure it's the Leader? It could be something else," said A-Bomb.
"What else could give off that much gamma radiation?" asked She-Hulk.
"Uh...gamma meteorite?" suggested A-Bomb.
"No...we've seen what that can do," said Hulk.
"Only other thing could be a gamma reactor, but for the signal size I saw..." said Red before the jet shook, the comm beeping before being triggered remotely.
"Unidentified aircraft, you have entered a restricted zone. Alter your course by 62 degrees due west or lethal force will be applied," said a calm female voice.
"Yeah, says who?" snapped Red Hulk.
There was a pause before the voice said, "You are approaching a restricted zone. Alter your heading. Photon cannons are tracking your aircraft. You have 30 seconds to begin altering course."
"Ah, we've gotten worse threats before," said Red Hulk dismissively.
The voice said calmly, "Non-compliance noted. Your deaths may be recorded for training purposes. Have a nice day." before the line went dead.
"You wanna bail out now or just crash with the jet?" asked She-Hulk.
Yellow energy bolts were already shooting past the window. It seemed the elements had interfered with the weapons firing, grey spots below showing where the turrets were, more emerging with clouds of snow to add their own weapons fire.
"When did the Leader get all that installed?" asked A-Bomb, "I mean, seriously, these bad guys spend a lot of time in prison, where do they get all that tech they have?"
The Jump Jet shook with a hit at that, something, apparently the wing spiralling away. The turrets aim was improving...that or there was so much weaponfire, it was starting to become possible to get out and walk. "Where do you wanna crash, boys?" asked She-Hulk.
"Right on top of them," said Hulk angrily, just before a lucky shot sliced the ship in two.
"What...was that?" muttered Chloe. The others had found her on a stretcher in one of the less-damaged bays, a green light being bathed onto her and a lit word 'reality field' active' seen above her.
"That's what I'd like to know but the computer's keeping its mouth shut," said Matt with concern.
He and Chris had a good idea what the green light was, which was confirmed when Zira stuck her head in and said, "That's alot of Gamma."
"Look, I'm sure it's just as safe as the radiation treatment back home," said Matt.
"Safe?" asked Chloe flatly.
"It's got a reality field around you. No mutations today," said Matt cheerfully, Chloe looking confused as Matt's shadow seemed to lengthen behind him. "I mean, it's not like your feathers are going to fall out," said Matt.
"Erm...Matt?" said Chloe, trying to point.
Matt looked confused and turning to be nose to nose with a furious NegaMorph. "Matt...I'm going to give you 10 seconds..." he snarled.
Matt asked, "To explain?"
Nega snared, "No...it's a headstart."
"NegaMorph, there's-" started Chris.
"No. Everyone's getting their due turn. You might survive. Lynch won't," snarled NegaMorph.
"Get real, NegaMorph," said Matt, "You couldn't ever kill me before. You're not even really capable of killing anyone."
NegaMorph yelled angrily, slashing at Matt with his Lockblade, everyone else yelping as Matt barely avoided being an entire head shorter. "NegaMorph! WHAT THE HELL!" snapped Matt, Chris tackling NegaMorph.
"Get off me!" yelled NegaMorph, throwing Chris across the room.
Chloe glared, trying to get up, coughing as she said, "NegaMorph...stop it...stop.."
"Warning.,..patient must remain still," said the computer.
"NegaMorph, this is the worst place to be doing this," said Kala.
"Don't even think about fireballs, Kala. We may be linked but I will knock you out. Matt's had this coming," NegaMorph snapped.
Zira twitched and hulking out before bringing a fist down on NegaMorph, continually hammering as she said, "I'll stop once you agree to LISTEN!"
"Don't know who you are, don't care!" snapped NegaMorph, firing a blast of negative energy to throw her off.
"Chloe's ill, you idiot!" roared Chris as Kira fell backwards.
"What?" asked NegaMorph, temporarily thrown off his revenge streak.
"Megan poisoned her. One of her pets shot her full of a nasty little concoction," snapped Matt angrily, "Your niece has spent the last month trying to kill us...and she might actually rack up a notch."
"And it's your fault that she went bad!" snarled NegaMorph, a red aura appearing around him.
"For God's sake, Nega, don't be an idiot. She has the Virk virus," snapped Chloe angrily, wincing again before laying back.
"And who's fault is it that she got it?" snapped NegaMorph.
"Some alien creep!" snapped Matt.
"That is the lamest excuse you've ever given, Lynch," snapped NegaMorph.
"I didn't deploy that plague and it was Megan's idea to take a ship away. You want someone's head. You take Taleth's. It's his toy," snapped Matt.
"We could have gotten to her before she went bad if you weren't playing around with nanites!" snapped NegaMorph.
"I didn't plan that mess and you know it!" snapped Matt, his eyes glowing.
Kira pushed them both aside. "Both of you, this isn't helping. NegaMorph, I've heard of you. Take a chill pill before you break something...like Chloe's life support." before she turned to Matt. "You...take some responsibility..." before she got even larger and loomed over the two who stared bug-eyed and she snapped in a deep voice "OR I'LL BREAK YOU BOTH IN HALF!"
"Yes ma'am," whimpered Matt.
"Would someone like to make introductions?" asked NegaMorph.
"I am Kira...and Zira," said Kira angrily.
NegaMorph muttered, "Wait...Zira as in that failed terraforming experiment?" He laughed. "No way, she was a weakli-" he began before Kira reached down, grabbed his head and squeezed. "Ok...let's start again...I'm NegaMorph, nice to meet you," he said via his hand mouth, adding, "Please let go...I think my brain is somewhere in my arm at the moment."
Kira let go of NegaMorph, letting him splat on the ground. "Ok...I can agree to shelve this for a later date..." he rasped, his head reforming. "Nothing'll taste right for a week." before he walked over to Chloe. "Are you sure you haven't provoked Megan at all?" he asked.
"If by 'provoke' you mean 'stop her from mutating innocent teens at the prom', then yes," said Chloe.
"Ok, Megan would never do that," said Nega.
Kira looking at Matt. "Denial is never pretty," she said.
"You know how nasty Draconus and Silvia are?" asked Matt.
"That's up for debate," said NegaMorph.
Chloe, staring at the ceiling from her bed, said, "NegaMorph, you know how nasty Silvia could be. Megan's calling herself Lady NegaMorph again. She has a SHIELD rap sheet...and she kidnapped our local versions and turned them into her minions. She did it to the local Kala too..."
"How? Even at her lowest, she wouldn't-" started NegaMorph.
"I don't think you've seen her lowest," said Kala, "And even if you have, a Virk other is always lower."
"She's using gene tech, I'm sure of it. I'm sure it's not local but I'll be damned if I know where she got it," said Matt darkly.
Nega paused. "There was a splitter ship in orbit when I arrived..." he said before the entire room shook, a klaxon sounding.
"Warning...hull breach, upper level. Reality generator 2 compromised," said the computer, adding, "And please remove the white amorphous slug from the cafeteria."
"You brought Morph?" asked Matt, annoyance that predated a major headache in his voice.
"He stowed away with me...somehow," said NegaMorph.
"He's Morph," said Chloe, Chris and Matt in unison.
NegaMorph mumbled, "I should have accounted for smids." Another bang heard.
"Ok, Chris, keep an eye on Chloe. NegaMorph, do you fancy venthing on something?" Matt said, igniting a plasma ball.
"Just stay out of my way," said NegaMorph.
Chloe glared, "Please, you said you'd leave it for later. You can't fight whatever's coming if you're fighting each other."
NegaMorph sighed, "Fine, but only because you're having your blood tanned right now."
"Chris, Kira, keep an eye on Chloe. NegaMorph, wanna go vent on some intruders?" asked Matt.
The blastdoor fell before a punch, several turrets rotating. "This is a class 9 military center. You are in vio-" began a combat droid before a green fist smashed it.
"Hmm...gettin' the feeling that Watermelon Head didn't build this place," said Red Hulk, looking around.
"NSC and Mercenary forces have been informed...surrender," said the computer, more mechs walking into view, firing for all the good it did.
"You know, it kinda tickles," said A-Bomb.
"Guess this really isn't the Leader's work," said Hulk, "He'd at least have the bots be shooting something that stings."
Several blue orbs shot round the corner at that, converging before exploding, knocking them back. "You like that, you little looting...oh dear God no," said Matt weakly.
NegaMorph ran up behind him. "Did you at least leave...oh blitznak..." he said, dropping his Lockblade in horror.
The Hulk was the first back up. "That hurt!" he snapped.
NegaMorph blinked before saying, "He did it." vanishing into a shadow.
"You son of a...let's talk about this like civilized genetic mutants," Matt said nervously. The Hulk just growled angrily. He didn't appear to be a mood for discussion. "Erm..." said Matt nervously looking at the other Hulks. "Little help? This is a terrible misunderstand-OHDEARGOD!" he screamed as Hulk threw a piece of the wall at him.
"Save some for me, Greenie!" called Red Hulk.
"No, don't save some!" yelped Matt, running for it.
The others looked up at NegaMorph shadow-portaled back in. "Wow, that didn't take long," said Kala.
"Nope, not long at all," said NegaMorph quickly before grabbing a table and propping it against the door.
Chloe said calmly, "Ok...what did he do?"
Nega said, "Shot the Hulk."
Chris laughed and said, "That's funny. I thought you said Matt shot the Hulk." NegaMorph glared, Chris pausing and saying weakly, "Oh, dear God, we're all dead."
"Uh, let me help you with that," said Kira, picking up another table.
"Wait a minute. Matt's still out there," said Kala.
"And your point being?" asked NegaMorph. Kala glared before NegaMorph said, "You want to fight the Hulk?"
Kala paused before saying, "Pass me another table."
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE SOMEONE ELSE!" screamed Matt, flying down one of the wider corridors, where he had no idea. He was more concerned in not being turned into a greasy smear. "The one time I didn't bring Spider-Man along. He could have talked down the Incredible Hulk. But no... He had to go to Asia," grumbled Matt.
He turned his head to look behind him. "Come on, one of you must be able to talk him down!" he yelled, using his tail to hit a blastdoor control as he flew past, for all it did. "There's gotta be something in the base that at least slow them down," muttered Matt.
He flew out into an open room and stopped himself. Rows of reality generators were humming away. "Oh please not here," he said, turning and firing blasts at the doorframe to block the entrance. Matt looked around frantically for a way out that won't involved leading four enraged gamma mutates past the very important generators.
When nothing presented himself he took a deep breath, gave a silent prayer and yelled "PARLEEEEY!" as loud as he could. Matt waited a long time before finally daring to open his door had not been breached. Matt allowed himself a long sigh of relief.
Then the wall next to the door caved in. "Of course," Matt said gloomily landing and raising his hands in the universal sign for 'I give up and I do not want my rights read.' "Guys, please, there's no need to continue..." Matt paused and sniffed. "What smells like over-microwaved potatoes?"
Morph waddled through the hole at that, his techpack folding away. "Hey, someone blocked the door," he said, holding a bowl of glowing mashed potatoes.
"Morph, get over here," snapped Matt, dragging him over. "Where's the Hulk?" he snapped.
"I dunno. I'm trying to find someone to fix the microwave. It nuked my potatoes."
"Morph, you sure it was a microwave?" asked Matt.
"There was alot of beds in there," said Morph, before both of them heard a squeak from the bowl, turning to look before the 'potatoes' grew teeth and lunged, Morph and Matt screaming and throwing it back out the hole, a splat heard.
"Please tell me that was Chris," said Matt. The Hulks walked through the hole at that, Matt whimpering given it was She-Hulk who had been hit. "Morph, apologise to the nice lady for creating a potato monster," Matt whimpered, holding Morph up.
"Is that the Incredible Hulk?" asked Morph.
"Yes...and he wants to crush me. Tell him I would not have shot him if I had known," said Matt, desperation clear.
Morph would not be on anyone's choice for a character witness. "Should we ask them why they're here?" asked Morph.
"JUST APOLOGIZE TO THEM!" yelled Matt.
Morph looked at the Hulks before saying "I'm sorry for throwing the mashed potatoes." Matt twitching before snarling and popping Morph on reflex., Morph's head saying "Yay, I'm popcorn."
Matt turned to the Hulks and said, "There is a very good explanation for everything."
"Who are ya working for?" snapped the red one.
Matt blinked. "Erm...pardon?" a little confused.
Hulk picked Matt up by the shoulder and said, "Who owns this place?"
Matt twitched at that, the small part that always got him in trouble, snapped, "You mean the military hospital?" before twitching "I'm so sorry, that sometimes happens."
"Well this place is about to be decommissioned," said the Red Hulk, pounding one fist into his palm.
"Don't you dare. Those generators are all that's-" began Matt.
"I've heard enough of this," said the Red Hulk, walking over to the nearest generator.
"NO!" yelled Matt as Red Hulk emptied a clip into the generator.
"Alert...reality field compromised...backups...offline..." said the computer, Matt staring with pinprick eyes before he began to snarl.
"I'm getting the feeling we goofed up," said the spiky blue Hulk.
Matt's scales glowed before a shockwave shot out in all directions. "MY SISTER NEEDED THOSE!" he roared through the smoke, the steam clearing to show a very angry-looking dragon.
"Ok, that's a new one for me," said Red Hulk.
The dragon turned to look at Red Hulk, his eyes glowing red. "I think I'll start with you," he snarled.
"I've eaten bigger things than you for breakfast," said Red Hulk, pointing his guns at the dragon.
The dragon hissed before its head shot out rapidly, biting the ends off the guns and pointedly chewing them slowly before swallowing. "Get out before you hurt my sister even more," he growled.
"Hey, hey, guys, let's all take a minute to cool down," said A-Bomb.
"You do know this is Red you're talking about, right?" asked She-Hulk.
The dragon roared, just as Red Hulk charged him, the two rolling back into some more consoles before, with rather non-animal tactics, the dragon kicked Red Hulk back before grabbing him. "Shall we go outside?" he snarled before sending a blast into the roof and talking off, Red Hulk in hand.
Hulk sighed and said, "I'll go get Red." With that, he jumped through the hole in the ceiling.
"So...what are we supposed to do?" asked A-Bomb.
"Do you guys want a tour?" asked Morph, who had reassembled at their feet.
"I'm giving you a ride to the top of the world, tiny," snarled Matt with an almost bloodthirsty toothy grin. All his brain could focus on was the struggling Hulk in his claws and the danger he'd put Chloe in. There was another thing that was starting to pierce through to his head: an increasing hotness in his claws.
He looked closer to see his target was glowing red, just as they smashed through the outer shell and into the falling snow. "Hot head, eh? Cool off," sneered Matt, throwing his quarry at the ground. A large cloud of steam came up where Red Hulk landed.
Red Hulk soon became visible, the snow around him melting. "Come down here and fight, you lounge lizard!" he snapped, turning to see Matt had surrounded himself with several dozen glowing red plasma balls, a dark expression on his face. "Oh sure, big hot shot when you've broken my ranged weapons," snapped Red Hulk, "How about me fighting man-to-dragonfly?"
"Now why would I do that when I can play tag?" sneered Matt before with a wave of his claws, the orbs started shooting at Red Hulk.
Of course, Red Hulk was still a soldier and he had trained to dodge artillery fire. He picked up a large hunk of ice and called, "Here's Red in your eye!" He threw the hunk right up at the dragon.
Matt blinked as the heated ice turned to water in the air, a brief burst of plasma flame evaporating it. "Nice...my turn," he said. Once he got to the right height, he allowed himself to drop. He's going to land right on that crimson cranium.
Just then, something big and green came out of the hole in the ice, jumped up, and collided with Matt's stomach like an oversized cannonball. Matt's eyes crossed with a 'oof' before he was sent back up, managing to right himself and scan for whatever got between him and turning the Red Hulk into a smear. It was pretty easy to spot the Hulk as he was a lot greener than everything around him.
"This is between me and the hothead! Stay out of this!" he yelled...and when a dragon yelled, people in the next area code would hear it.
"And I'm putting a stop to it before the two of you melt the North Pole," said Hulk.
Matt landed, walking up to the Hulk, looking down before he swatted him aside and charged Red Hulk, roaring "NOT TILL I'M DONE!" He was yanked off his feet when someone grabbed his tail. Pretty soon, he was being swung around by it. He yelped as he was thrown a decent distance into a drift, getting up. "Ok...both of you," he snarled, sending a horde of plasma orbs out to carpet bomb them.
"...and that's where I made the potato monster," said Morph, pointing to a door marked 'reactor inspection port', before pointing to a blockaded door. "And that's where the others are," he said before a faint swear word heard from the other side, a louder voice snapping "DAMMIT, MORPH!"
"Who's all in there?" asked She-Hulk.
"Would you believe us if we said we were figments of your imagination?" said a voice, before it said, "Ok, let's see you come up with something."
"I'm gonna open the door now," said She-Hulk.
A new voice laughed, "Oh please, my Lockblade melted this rubble together. Do your worst." She-Hulk cricked her shoulders before swinging her arm to build up momentum. The 'smug voice said, "Oh...buncha cowards hiding-" before She-Hulk's punch collapsed the rubble, her and A-Bomb walking in to see several mutants.
"Nice," said the furry one cheerfully, a groan from the rubble said "Oooooww...I hate this planet already."
A-Bomb shielded his eyes and said, "Jen, either that's an alien tanning bed, or someone's taking a gamma bath."
"It's fine...the reality field stops mutation..." said the patient weakly, the ground shaking. "Ok...who pissed off my brother? I know a plasma explosion anywhere," she said in a calm voice.
"Your brother being the dragon that carried off Red?" asked She-Hulk.
"Oh for God's sake...did any of you insult our ship?" said the lizard, peering up.
"Wait, I think I know that face," said A-Bomb, "Where have I seen it before?"
"I might have been in the news with my brother," said the lizard, wincing as another explosion was heard.
"Alert...outer hull compromised...backup generators compromise...reality contamination at 3.9 gigarins and rising," said the computer, pausing before saying, "Unable to disengage treatment...fireteam to ward 49."
"Ok, those words sounded bad but I don't know what they meant," said A-Bomb.
"Get me out these restraints! OH GOD GET ME LOOSE!" snapped the lizard in a panic. The wolf-bat creature immediately ran towards the bed she was clamped to. Just as he was about to reach it, the air rippled and he was thrown across the bay.
"Containment field active...please contact Security Chief Hanson for override..." said the computer, "Reality contamination now at 14.9 gigarins. Reality field failure imminent."
"What's going on?" asked She-Hulk.
"Chloe's about to take a full dosage of your reality's gamma radiation," said the redheaded woman, the only one in the room who looked normal, "And I don't think it's just going to give her a tan."
"Reality fields: Offline...reactor emergency shutdown in 30 microns...29...28...27..." said the computer, the lizard now banging from the other side before starting to twitch.
It started out with a few of the smaller ones, but pretty soon all of her feathers were falling out. There were several unpleasant cracks as her bones were being forced down into smaller forms, her claws losing the edge before they shrank into simple fingers and toes. Her wings and tail were withering up and being swallowed up by her back. The grunts and cracks as her muzzle was forced back into her skull did not sound very pleasant either.
The wolf-bat stared, as the field dropped. "Reactor shutdown complete...emergency power engaged," the computer said.
The newly-changed human blinking before air punching. "Yes...no more scales," she said before she said, "Ok...NegaMorph? Come out." her hand crackling with static.
A black ooze came out from under the smashed door before forming into a twisted black creature in a black trenchcoat and fedora. "The gamma just made you human again?" he asked, "Huh, that was lucky."
"Yes...now then...where's Matt?" she said, another explosion heard.
NegaMorph smirked. "By now, so pissed off he'll have started arm wrestling the nearest polar bear," he said evilly.
"Did you have to give him the rage?" asked Kala with annoyance.
"What do you mean 'give him'?" asked Chloe suspiciously.
"Uh, I mean I kinda got him mad when I tried to attack him," said NegaMorph.
"Yeah, except that when NegaMorph is angry enough, his anger literally spreads to other people, particularly people with bad tempers," said Kala.
"You...so obviously an accident. Go fix it," said Chloe, her eyes glowing green, something She-Hulk spotted.
"I'd do what she says," she said carefully.
"Why should I?" asked NegaMorph, "Matt more than has it coming. This isn't even covering what he's due."
"You infected him with rage and sent him at the Hulks?" snapped Chloe, twitching, the others noticing the glow now.
"Chloe, I don't think that's a healthy golden glow you're showing," said Chris with worry.
"Chris...shut...UP!" snarled Chloe, pointing a hand and a ball of lightning sending Chris flying into A-Bomb, her hand started to shake.
"Chloe...you need to calm down..." said Kala, making her voice as soothing as possible.
"Calm down? The first friendly face in weeks and he's trying to kill my brother like the pillock he is...back in the Hunt we'd have gutted him," snarled Chloe, her nails distending into claws.
"The Hunt? Chloe, I don't think you're thinking straight," said Kala. "I'm...thinnnnking...strrrrrrraiiight enough..." snarled Chloe, gripping her head.
A green glow was surrounding Chloe as electricity sparked off of her. Before long, hair started appearing on her exposed skin before it quickly thickened into fur. Chloe grunted and growled as her feet became digitigrade again and her tail grew back. But this time, both feet and tail were distinctly lupine. Her clothes started ripping as she became taller and more muscular. The way she was gritting her teeth made it easy for them to see they were becoming sharper even before her face started pushing out into a muzzle.
To her friends, her new form was very familiar except for three differences: her fur was golden, she was much taller than before, and her eyes were glowing green. To She-Hulk and A-Bomb, Chloe had just turned into a She-Hulk-sized werewolf.
The werewolf shook her head before looking around. "Where am I?" she snapped, in a tone of voice tone that expected immediate obedience.
"Er, Chloe?" asked Chris uncertainly.
"Who?" snarled Chloe, before looking at him. "What curse did you befall?" she said, her hand started to glow.
"Uh, Chloe, I'm not sure you know what you're doing," said Chris, backing up.
"Of course I do, I'm fixing you," said 'Chloe' a blast of energy hitting Chris, before, as Chris grunted in pain, she seemed to finally notice everyone else. "Oh...meat that delivers," she said smugly.
"Hey, that's no way to look at your future sister-in-law," said Kala.
"Oh? And what makes you think you'd be welcome?" sneered Chloe, flexing her claws and readying a scratch before She-Hulk grabbed her wrist.
"Ok, I know you just Hulked, sorta, but you need to rein it in," said She-Hulk.
"Get your hand off me, Orc." snapped Chloe.
"Orc? That's a new one," said She-Hulk before looking at A-Bomb, "What are orcs?"
"Knock her out for pete's sake," snapped Kala in a panic.
"Ok, just gotta put her in a sleeper hold," said She-Hulk. She tried to grab Chloe with her other hand, but Chloe's skin was looser than it looks.
Chloe grinned, before letting her feet slip allowing her to flip over She-Hulk and into the doorway. "It takes more than that to catch a Daughter of the Hunt," she taunted, before running out of view.
"Great...now a Nirn werewolf's loose," snapped Kala, before pausing, as a growl from Chris was heard.
NegaMorph turned to Chris and said, "Chris, you better not be going feral on us." He turned to Kala and asked, "When did he get the bat wings?"
"Long story," said Kala. Said bat wings were starting to wilt at that, their mass adding to his muscle mass, bringing it up to a more normal lycan look.
"I think I know what the cure was," said Kira, peering closely, "Are you gonna play nice?" Chris snapped his jaws an inch from her nose. "Guess not," she said, bringing a fist down on his head with a surprisingly hollow noise.
"Don't worry, he's no stronger than he looks," said Kala. Then Chris grabbed a bed, ripped it out of the floor, and threw it at them. A-Bomb managed to catch it before it could hit them, Kala saying weakly, "Ok...he's tougher than he looks now."
"But not that tough," said NegaMorph, "He isn't nuclear-powered."
"That's gamma-powered," said Kira.
"There's a difference?" asked NegaMorph.
"Well..." said Kala carefully, before Chris grabbed NegaMorph.
"Ok, wolfy, let's get this over with so we can focus on the bigger problem," said NegaMorph.
Chris's response was for his hand to glow and an obsidian and rather unfriendly-looking mace to materialize there, which then was embedded in NegaMorph's head.
"Since when could Chris use magic?" asked NegaMorph through another of his mouths.
Kala's response was to yell "RUN AWAY!" as Chris lifted his other hand and a fireball shot out.
"Werewolf warlock, didn't see that coming," commented A-Bomb, "Still, nothing an Agent of SMASH can't handle." With that, he rolled into a ball before bowling right into Chris. Chris growled before grabbing A-Bomb; digging his claws in before trying to bite him...and yelping, clutching his muzzle. A-Bomb uncurled and said, "Not as tough as a wendigo, huh? Good to know." With that, he punched Chris into a wall.
Chris yelped, hitting the far wall, before pulling himself up, wiping his jaw before charging with an angry howl. However, A-Bomb turned invisible and Chris missed him. Another punch to the back made him land on his snout.
Chris rolled to the side to avoid a kick from Kira before closing his eyes, sniffing, then swinging out with his fist and hitting A-Bomb. A-Bomb was sent flying across the room and smacked a wall. "Ok, invisibility doesn't work well with trackers," said A-Bomb, fading back into view.
Chris turned to look at She-Hulk then. "You...out of my way," he said in a guttural tone, his mace re-appearing.
"You didn't say please," said She-Hulk before punching him.
Chris yelped as he was sent flying, his eyes spiralling. "NegaMorph, tie him up," yelped Kala, grabbing a cloth and tying Chris's feet together.
"Right," said NegaMorph before wrapping shadows around and tying them tight.
"Morph, you know what to do," said Kala.
"Leave him on the tracks and wait for the train to come?" asked Morph.
Kala blinked before she said, "Nooo...the other thing." with desperate patience, "Gag him? Plug his mouth? Muzzle him?"
Morph said, "Ok." reaching into his techpack and removing a black sock, Kala's eyes crossing.
"Is that one of Matt's..." she began.
"Yep," said Morph.
"You're not gonna..." started NegaMorph.
"Nope," said Morph before pushing the sock around Chris's muzzle. Chris's eyes widened at that. It was worth noticing that once an entire deck of the Bladestorm had gone into bio-weapon lockdown when it had detected the sock's fellow...and that a canine's nose is 10,000 times more sensitive than a human's…
"I think he'd rather have it in his mouth," said Kala, wincing in sympathy. Chris nodded desperately, a small white flag appearing in a blast of magic that he waved mutely.
"Let's wait a few more seconds," said NegaMorph, "Make sure his mind's back to normal."
Another boom was heard at that, Kala saying icily, "You've done enough. Go make Matt think straight."
"Ok, ok, it ought to be wearing off soon anyways," said NegaMorph. "Go...make...sure..." said Kala warningly, the air seeming to get warm around her.
"Alright, alright already," said NegaMorph, walking out.
Matt landed with a crash, a pile of snow piling over his nose before he forced himself to his feet, shaking his head. Two against one wasn't good but they'd endangered his sister and they were all going to pay.
Just then, a shadow formed at his feet before NegaMorph came out of it. "Ok, Matt, I would let you knock yourself senseless, but we've got more pressing matters," said NegaMorph.
Matt, his eye twitching, snapped, "I SAID NO INTERRUPTIONS!" before stomping on NegaMorph, several cracks forming around said stomp.
"Matt, the polar bears are already losing a lot of hunting ground. You don't need to contribute," said NegaMorph under Matt's foot. Matt's eyes narrowed before he lifted his foot. "Thank you very-HEY!" he snapped as Matt stomped down again harder. NegaMorph's muffled voice said, "This is beneath you...so am I."
Matt lifted his foot and got ready to stomp down even harder. "Ok, this is getting ridiculous," said NegaMorph, his eyes turning yellow. But then Matt's foot came down again and there was a yellow flash underneath of it. Matt blinked, before his leg gave out. NegaMorph pulled free, saying "Hah...that'll teach...oh no." turning to see Matt falling on him. Matt was about to get up before his eyes went from red to yellow and he got a content half-asleep smile.
Red Hulk leaped over there and snapped, "Alright, let's see how tough you are up close and personal." When Matt didn't respond, he poked at Matt and said, "Hey, I'm talkin' to you, lounge lizard."
"That's nice...not in the mood to fight anymore..." said Matt with the same half-asleep smile.
NegaMorph's muffled voice said, "Get him off. Avalarians literally weight tons. I think my techpack's is now techpaper."
Hulk walked over and pulled up Matt's leg, revealing a black puddle in the crater beneath it. "Thank you" said the puddle, flowing up into NegaMorph, who looked up and peeling his new flattened fedora from the underside of Matt's leg. "He'll be in hippie mode for a good hour, the dose I gave him."
"And who are you supposed to be?" asked Hulk.
"'What' is also a valid question," said Red Hulk.
"I'm the guy who knocked Dragonheart here out before he carpet bombed the North Pole into a water park trying to kill you," said NegaMorph in an annoyed tone, "Look, my sloth power's only temporary. As long as nothing sets him off, we'll be fine."
A roll of thunder was heard before a crack appeared in the ice, a gold furred fist punching up. "Like that," said NegaMorph darkly.
"Oh now what?" asked Red Hulk with annoyance.
A golden werewolf pulled herself free at that, NegaMorph saying in shock. "Oh crap, that's his sister," he said, facepalming.
Matt raised his head, "Hey sis...you need a haircut." NegaMorph sighing with relief as Matt went back to his stupor.
Hulk glanced between the two and said, "Don't see much family resemblance."
The wolf looked around and spotted them before seeing Matt. "You dare drug my brother?" she snapped, sending a blast of lightning out.
The blast hit the Hulk, giving him a nasty shock. "Ok, ow, now I see it," he said. Chloe glared before charging the Hulk, jumping at the last second to turn it into a two-footed flying kick, landing in a crouch.
"She's got moves, I give her that," said Red Hulk, "But I bet she never saw any good ol' army trainin'." With that, she charged at Chloe.
"I'm not sure how much she remembers her past at the moment, but I'm more than sure-" started NegaMorph.
He signed and ducked as Red flew overhead, Chloe sneering. "You think to best a Daughter of the Hunt?" she sneered.
"Does the 'Daughter of the Hunt' have a name?" asked NegaMorph dryly.
"My name is Mist, demon. Remember it in the few minutes you have le-" snapped 'Mist' charging Nega who just shot a yellow beam into her face, Mist crumpling and sliding to a halt at his feet, snoring.
A second later, NegaMorph heard laughter getting louder. He looked to see Red Hulk still in the snow and laughing. "Her name's Mist?" he laughed, "Seriously? What do her friends call her? Misty?" He laughed even harder at that.
"Shall I wake her up so she can finish seeing how far she can drop kick you?" said NegaMorph smugly, as the Hulk landed.
Matt twitched and opening one of Mist's eyes. "NegaMorph, an explanation for why my sister has green eyes?" asked Matt.
"Your scrap caused her to get dosed up on gamma energy. This was the result," said NegaMorph, leaving out that it was technically his fault for dosing Matt up on negative energy.
"Chloe is a gamma mutate? Oh geeze. This is gonna be a headache, literally," said Matt.
Human Matt struggled as Gamma Chloe was giving him a noogie. "C'mon, Chloe, I never did this to you," said Matt.
"You should have when you had the chance," said Gamma Chloe before applying her knuckles again.
"Ok...ok...we can fix this...there's gotta be a cure..." said Matt, starting to hyperventilate a little before he said, "Wait, she's already a werewolf. Why's she snapped now?"
"I dunno. Might have something to do with the fact that she was a dinosaur just before that," said NegaMorph.
"This is the Dakota that keeps bein' in the news?" laughed Red, lifting the snoring Mist up.
"I wouldn't do that. They don't need to bite you to infect you. I learnt that the hard way," said Matt, shaking his head to dislodge a yellow mist from his body.
Let's get her someplace where she'll cause less damage," said Hulk.
"Like where?" said Matt
There are few people who trust the Hulk, or even know for sure who he was before it all. One such person made her living in the unforgiving northern part of Canada: Dr. Betty Ross. She'd tried to help cure the Hulk before, and though she understood why he had been forced to reapply his condition, it still hurt.
Her base however had grown, an independent company from Japan showing interest in her gamma cure research, especially in view of the Fukushima disaster several years ago. Her base also had a special guest all the way from SHIELD.
"Now, Mr. Jameson..." started Betty.
"Please, Mr. Jameson's my father," said the patient, a young man with surprisingly white hair and a pointy overbite, "Call me John."
"Right. John, you should know that my research is mainly in gamma radiation," said Betty, "Your condition...I'm not entirely sure of its source."
"Well, that makes two of us," said John.
"The stone did this? I understand Spider-Man smashed it. It's a shame, if it was intact, it would have helped. That said, I'm sure there's a cure," Betty said kindly, checking the latest test results. Several images showed some strength tests, showing that, even with his change stuck halfway, John still had serious abilities.
"We still don't know where those stones came from or why anyone put them on the moon," said John, "Even that sword is made from an unknown metal."
"Indeed, but for now the priority is curing you." said Betty.
Another doctor nodded. "If I may, doctor. My labs back in Tokyo have been experimenting with nanotech for problems like this..." he said.
"I'm not quite sure how nanotech can help with this," said Betty, "We still aren't even sure if this energy is scientific or mystic in nature."
"Magic? Most doctors wouldn't give magic the time of day," said the other doctor with amusement.
"I've seen more than enough weird things to remove my skepticism," said Betty, "I don't get involved with it, but I'd be foolish to ignore it."
"I could have one of our super-computers linked here. They might be able to find something," said the doctor calmly.
"Unless there's an obscure Japanese legend about a wolf god hiding treasure on the moon, I don't think you'll find something we don't already know," said John.
"Never overlook anything..." said the doctor cheerfully, walking out of the lab. John narrowed his eyes. A small part of him he thought of as the wolf was screaming not to trust that doctor...that he was hiding something. But he had good reason not to trust the wolf itself. The only thing he knew about it was that it tried to kill everyone it came across.
"John...John, are you ok?" asked Betty, snapping him out of it. "You zoned out. Are you ok?" she asked.
John nodded. "Yeah...how long has that guy been here?" he asked.
"He came here when his company invested in my research and expanded my laboratory," said Betty.
"Right, and what company is that?" asked John.
"Tin-sen Technologies," said Betty, "Some up and comer. We don't get the news much up here."
"Don't get much visitors either, I imagine," said John.
A ring was heard at that, John raising an eyebrow as Betty took out a modified mobile and looked at the number. "Urgh...Dad," she muttered, answering the call.
"I was worried about meeting him so soon," said John jokingly.
"You should be," said Betty.
"Sweetheart?" said Red's voice over the other end.
"Dad, is this important? I'm busy with a patient," said Betty.
"Well, uh, you might have another patient soon," said Red.
"Is it Bruce? What happened to him?" asked Betty, sounding worried.
"I'm fine, Betty," said Hulk's voice.
"Thank God. Who's the patient?" asked Betty, a faint female voice screaming "Hircine will have your heads on pikes for this traves-ow...you hit me...how dare-OW...QUIT IT!"
"Uh...it's a complicated story. You mind if I tell it to you in person?" asked Hulk's voice.
"Urgh...how much longer must I keep this charade up?" muttered the 'doctor' walking into his quarters and pressing a button on his watch, revealing a catlike alien. He sat at a computer at his desk, typing in a command, before he said, "This is Agent K'ness reporting. Miss Ross is still...secretive about what's in Lab 16."
"Affirmative. You have 24 hours. Command wants to know what her gamma research led to. You have orders to infiltrate the lab and copy the data. No witnesses," said a voice on the other end.
K'ness sighing. "Sir, if they find bodies..." he said, the voice saying "You have your orders...command out."
K'ness sighed, standing up and walking out, turning his holo-cloak back on first and therefore missing when his computer flashed the warning 'Shadow rift detected at perimeter'.
Falcore stepped out into the snow, shaking his head a little. Lady NegaMorph's stupid rift had popped them out in a snow drift...and that...thing. She had done anything it had said, including raiding some obscure base. He turned as Sara walked through, her eyes unfocussed. It seemed the serum was taking a bit to kick in.
What worried Falcore was that Sara was so exposed to the cold. She wasn't even wearing a coat or boots. In fact, while her outfit was covering her upper body, it hardly looked warm...some sort of skin-tight material that the alien had said would shield her from sensors.
"Sara...are you ok? You should go back. You'll pass out," Falcore said, walking towards her while pulling out his communicator to get Lady Nega to reopen the portal.
"I'm feeling fine," said Sara, her tone a little hazy, "Better than ever."
"You're going to get frostbite," said Falcore.
"Frostbite?" said Sara, as if the word was alien before she laughed in an almost musical tone...like birdsong.
"Sara, you really should get out of the cold," said Falcore.
"On the contrary," said Sara, "I need to get even colder."
"NO..." snapped Falcore as she literally threw her back onto a snowdrift, her body shivering. "Lady NegaMorph, call us back! Sara has delirium! She's freezing to death!" he screamed into the comm.
"It's part of the process," came Lady NegaMorph's voice, "What did you think we put in her?"
"She's freezing!" yelled Falcore, running over and trying to rub some warmth into Sara's shaking limbs before she pushed him back, her nails turning back into talons.
A bluish glow was surrounding her as her body was becoming covered with blue feathers. Falcore backed up as a tear began to rip down the middle of her chest as her breasts grew, covered in white feathers so smooth they almost looked like skin themselves, the back tearing up as a pair of wings tore themselves free. Very long tail feathers grew from her lower back as well.
Her feet grew larger and turned grey. Her toes became longer and dwindled to three as talons appeared on them. What looked like a high-heel emerged from the back of her foot until it revealed itself to be a fourth talon.
Finally, with a look of pure bliss on her face, her mouth distended into a short beak, sky blue feathers covering her face and a crest of 5 long blue feathers going down her back like hair before she paused.
Her look was now of a large anthropomorphic bird, Falcore blushing a little. While her front was still covered, it still gave a...ahem...good view. Sara looked down at herself and said, "I turned out even better than I expected." She hefted up her now larger breasts and said, "The girls back home won't be able to compete with these."
Falcore glared at that. "Sara, focus. This is not the time at all. We are on a mission," he snapped, coping by focussing on the job. There would be plenty of time to behead that lizard thing that had done this to her later.
"We've already done the mission," said Sara before breathing out a gust of very cold air.
"No...we have a base to raid," said Falcore, adding, "And then I have someone to kill."
Since the Jump Jet was once again scrapped, getting to the research facility required doing something more old-fashioned.
Matt was panting as the Hulks were leaping in front of him. He had reason to be panting as he was carrying both werewolves. "Chris just had to lose his wings," grumbled Matt.
Chloe, ie Mist, snapped, "Release us Dovah and I'm sure my father will be generous."
Matt, now at the end of his tether, said, "Look down and then rephrase your demand."
"I demand you put me back on the ground," said Mist, speaking a little softer.
"Make me," said Matt smugly.
Just then, Kala called on his comm, "Matt, it looks like you're falling behind."
"You could have flown with me and share the load," said Matt pointedly.
"I don't have my wings back yet," reminded Kala, "Besides, someone needs to decommission this case." She and Zira had stayed behind to shut down all the reactors and other equipment.
"Leaving me alone with two brain-zapped werewolves and a homicidal NegaMorph," said Matt dryly.
"Well, at least you have Morph with you," said Kala.
"Actually, NegaMorph is taking Morph. That doesn't really fill me with comfort, especially since we're going to a research station that probably has very sensitive equipment. You sure you couldn't watch him while we deal with our business?" asked Matt.
"Can you imagine what would happen if Morph was left alone with the gamma reactors for even a nanosecond?" asked Kala dryly.
An image immediately popped into Matt's head.
A smoldering crater was glowing bright green in the Arctic ice. "BLLLLAAAARRRGHH!" roared a glowing green Morph as he climbed out of the crater, "Must...destroy...mankind…" Just then, his techpack started beeping. "Ooh, lunchtime," said Morph happily before shaking off the green glow and walking away.
"Yes. Yes I can," said Matt in a rigid tone that showed justified fear, "We'll have NegaMorph keep a close eye on him."
"So how will you know when you get there anyways?" asked Kala.
"I think they'll be relying more on remoteness than camouflage when they making this a hidden base," said Matt, "Should stand out from the rest of the terrain."
"Well, there's not much out here in the part of Canada that's in the Arctic Circle," said Kala.
Matt glared ahead before seeing shapes that the Hulks were headed for. "There...follow the red and green gamma mutates," he said, Mist snapping "SILENCE!" before trying unsuccessfully to bite Matt, yelping and spitting a tooth out.
"Kala, you think Chris is in control of himself?" asked Matt.
"We might know if you take that sock off his muzzle," said Kala.
Matt paused before shaking Chris till the sock fell off...and Chris snapped "HIRCINE WILL HAVE YOUR HIDE!" Matt sighed and steered towards a mountaintop, lowering Chris just enough to bash his head against the mountaintop before continuing after the Hulks.
"Yeah, I think he's stuck in pack mentality mode," said Matt, "He's not gonna get better until Chloe gets better."
"I am better..." snapped Mist.
Matt glared. "I will drop you if you do not shut up...into a lake. It'll be like a giant...bath," he said evilly.
"You think a daughter of the hunt would be so easily intimidated by water?" sneered Mist.
"We might be close enough to the ocean," said Matt, "Let's see what the narwhals will think of her."
"The ocean? Sea serpents?" said Mist nervously.
"Yeah...and dreadful sea monsters called...cruise liners," said Matt after a minute.
Just then, the Hulk's voice said on their shared comlink, "Hey, we're almost there."
Betty wasn't expecting Bruce to return again, especially after what happened with Ronan. But she heard he had made some independent research with his problem. She hoped it was something meaningful. One of the staff, looking at the camp's radar said, "Doctor, I'm reading an aerial contact with what I assume are the Hulks."
"They mentioned they were bringing someone with them," said Betty.
"It's a big something," said the technician before a winged shadow shot past the window, Matt landing in the middle of the base's airfield with a crunch that shook everything.
The shock of a real dragon landing in their base was soon ruined when Matt said, "Ok, we're here now. Everyone get off my back." The dragon shrank down into a humanoid form, before kicking two shapes on the ground. "I'm not carrying you now. Get up," he snapped.
A shadowy creature emerged from the ground and said, "We could just drag them in."
"Nobody drags Mist anywhere," snapped a female voice, Betty taking some binoculars offered her to see some sort of wolf creature get up, with clear signs of gamma mutation. The green eyes were the biggest giveaway, along with the golden glow of her fur.
"Oh Bruce, what trouble are you in now?" she sighed.
"Oh shit..." muttered the agent/doctor, pulling out a communicator, "Control, Lynch is here."
"If this is an attempt at humor or trying to rush the job, it is not amusing," said the voice on the other end.
"I just saw him land from my lab's window. I think I saw Chloe too, but she's got clear signs of Nirn mutation," snapped the agent, sending the footage from his eye cam.
On the other end of the communicator was the clear sound of a head hitting a desk multiple times. "Keep your cover till you have a chance. Command wants him alive..." said Control's voice.
The agent snapped, "Sure, I'll get my lance."
"He's not at full size now, is he?" snapped Control's voice pointedly.
"Well what do you expect me to do?!" snapped the agent. There was a click followed by silence. "Hello? Dammit!" he snapped, slamming the comm against the wall. "Stupid idiots..." he muttered.
Matt looked at 'Mist' who glowered from the containment cell. "You sure this'll hold her?" he asked carefully.
"I should remind you that magic isn't my field of expertise. But if she doesn't have any abilities beyond physical strength, it should hold her," said Betty.
"She can usually manifest and control electrical charges up to 200 gigavolts," said Matt.
Mist glared at them. "When I get out of here, you two die first," she snapped.
"The cell is electrically insulated," said Betty, "She won't be able to shock her way out."
"Good, Chloe, if you're in there, I'm gonna cure you," said Matt.
Mist snorted and said, "If you are referring to the weakling whose body I share, she doesn't need a cure."
Matt snarled at that, slamming his fists against the containment cube's shield. "GET OUT OF HER!" he snarled.
Mist smirked. "And go back to being a weakling? Constantly kidnapped or replaced by a crazed spirit?" she sneered.
Betty put a hand on Matt's shoulder and said, "You should keep in mind that gamma radiation tends to radically affect the mind. Even Bruce was a different person when he was first transformed."
"No, I know that voice too well..." said Matt, hanging his head. As well he should. He'd...bent the truth when he'd told the others he hadn't remembered what had properly happened as Taelina's companion. That smugness, lack of compassion, he was hearing it all from Mist.
"Don't worry, it will all work out in time. We can start with a treatment. Come on, if you are related, then your bloodwork could help," said Betty in a kind voice.
Matt followed her down a corridor and into the lab, a thin man in a labcoat near a computer. "Hey...who's Captain Scrawny?" said Matt.
Betty froze in shock. "Bruce?" she asked in surprised.
The thin man turned to look at her and said pleasantly, "Hello Betty. I've been reading up on your work. You've made quite a lot of progress."
"Wait...that's Banner? I thought he was in permanent Hulk mode," said Matt in confusion, looking at his wristcomp.
"Things have changed since then," said Banner, "Particularly because of a certain Igor Drenkov. It's not a perfect solution yet. It doesn't take much to change me back into the Hulk, but it's not as impossible for me to be me."
Matt smiled at that. "So, the two best gamma scientists in the damn multiverse. I'm actually feeling good about our chances now," he said, shifting to human.
"I wouldn't get ahead of ourselves," said Banner, "There's still a few unknown variables. I'm afraid I'm just as clueless about magic as Betty is."
"I've seen this stuff. It's nasty but not incurable," said Matt with a sigh, adding, "I don't know how it can manifest here. It doesn't work outside its homeworld...usually."
"In most cases, gamma mutations release the person's id," said Betty, "What was your sister like before she was mutated?"
Matt paused before saying darkly, "She spent almost a decade as the top general for a psychotic napoleon complex warlord against her will."
Then he added in a more somber tone, "But, probably more relevant to her current condition, she's spent over three years on a barbarian world without memories. She adapted very well to it.
"When we found her, she was part of a...mercenary guild, is the best to describe it and she ended up joining their little werewolf cult. THEN we ended up in the realm of the patron god of werewolves," said Matt, his temper starting up and his eyes glowing lupine for a second.
"Mhm, go on," said Betty, writing it down.
"Wait...I just admitted we met the literal god of the hunt...and you're not fitting me for one of those special jackets that tie the arms behind the back?" said Matt in confusion.
"My boyfriend turns into the Hulk," said Betty pointedly.
Matt and Bruce both looked surprised at that, Matt clearing his throat. "O...ok then. Well, in the realm we both got infected...and both turned into what were called royal werewolves. Kinda like the god guy's best of the best. I...ahem...got infected by his daughter...and...well, you don't wanna hear that part..." said Matt nervously.
"Noted," said Betty in a dry tone.
"Hah, I sense doubt. I knew it. You do think I'm nuts...wait a minute," said Matt cheerfully, before frowning.
"You got lucky with the daughter of the god of werewolves?" asked Betty dryly.
"No, she took a liking to me after I tried to incinerate her in self-defence," said Matt, adding, "She has issues...really big issues."
In a dimension not that far away, Taelina sat up. "What is it?" asked Fenris.
"I'm not sure...but I have the urge to bite Matt," said Taelina, "And not in a romantic way."
"Well, we'll be seeing him soon. I'll even hold him in place," said Fenris kindly, Taelina grinning toothily.
Matt shuddered at that, saying in a faint voice, "I sense pain and fur in my future..." with a distant look. Bruce looked concerned and waved a hand in front of him, to no reaction, before Matt suddenly snapped to sense. "Bleh...anyhow, It wasn;t exactly by choice. She twisted my personality up like a damn pretzel till I was snapped to my senses. I'm technically probably still a carrier," he said as if he hadn't zoned out a few minutes earlier.
"Interesting..." said Betty, "Could I take a blood sample?"
"By all means...one second," said Matt, pressing a few buttons, a small voice saying "Nanites in blood test mode."
Betty and Bruce gave Matt odd looks. "There are certain things in my blood you do not want on your planet," explained Matt.
Betty took the blood over, making a slide and peering, and frowning. Several small squid-like machines were visible under the microscope, though they were clearly self-destructing. What concerned her was that they matched the samples Dr. Zai had brought over from Japan.
"Is there a problem?" asked Bruce
"I'm afraid I can't really confirm whether or not Matt is a carrier," said Betty, "I'd need to compare it with his sister's DNA." She turned to Matt and said, "Also, you have a minor Vitamin C deficiency. You should have more fruits in your diet."
"Lovely," said Matt darkly, adding, "Least it can't get any worse...crap." sighing the last word as he realised what he'd said.
NegaMorph grumbled as he walked around the snow on the perimeter, yelling "MOOOOORPH!" before his ears picked up flapping wings...and an argument.
"Couldn't have gone inside with everyone else. No...you had to look for penguins," grumbled NegaMorph, "There aren't even any penguins on this end of the Earth."
The argument was getting closer, NegaMorph glaring and headed for them, peering out to see two bird people, a male and female apparently arguing hard. "I told you, once this raid is over, you are getting cured," snapped the male.
"And I say I don't have to be cured if I don't want to be!" snapped the female. NegaMorph noticed the female was dressing a lot skimpier than should be worn in such cold weather...or warm weather for that matter.
"Sara, you don't know what you're saying," said the male desperately.
Sara snapped, "That name, it doesn't really suit..." before she paused.
NegaMorph froze and ducked down. Normally, black would be a very suitable color for stealth, but not in a snowy wasteland. He silently cursed, remembering what Matt had said about Megan's new hobby. These were clearly two of her experiments and there was really only one place to raid.
He turned to ready a shadow portal out and was nose to beak with the female who smiled and jammed her claws into his chest, ice spreading rapidly from the contact. "Spying's rude," she said with a cold smile.
"Wait...he looks familiar..." said the male.
"Oh please, he's just a spy," snapped Sara, grinning more evilly at Nega as he finished freezing solid, before she span and kicked him, shattering him, "Like you said, we have a raid..."
"Let's get it over with," said the male.
The few turrets placed were torn apart by a mix of wind blades and ice shards that Sara seemed able to cast with a wave of her wings. "This is too easy," she laughed.
"Even heroes know not to say 'it's too easy'," said Falcore.
"Oh Falcore, you worry too much," laughed Sara in the same birdsong tone that sent a not-unpleasant shiver down Falcore's spine.
"I think I'm worried enough as we're attacking a top-secret, heavily-guarded base, Sara," said Falcore.
"That's not my name..." snapped Sara, before a red orb knocked her flying, Falcore looking down to see not all the staff were running, several pulling out some sort of rifles and opening fire.
"Who's running this place anyways?" asked Falcore before throwing razor-sharp feathers at the shooters.
"Who cares?" laughed Sara, firing a beam from her palm at a trio, freezing them solid before sending a hail of ice shards at several more. "This is laughable," she giggled, before she yelped, flying up to dodge a thrown snowmobile.
"Hey, who threw...oh, you've got to be kidding me," said Sara.
"I don't know who you are, but you picked the wrong place to attack," called Red Hulk.
One of the shooters said into his com, "Agent Zai, gamma mutate just turned up. Who do we shoot?"
Agent Zai snapped, "Help the mutate, cut the birds in half. I'm going for the target." The guy nodded, waving to his fellows before they began firing again.
10 minutes earlier...
Meanwhile, the other Smashers were helping themselves in the cafeteria. "I don't like this," grumbled Red Hulk.
"Yeah, not as great as Gamma Burgers," said A-Bomb, "But a Hulk's gotta eat."
"Not that, Jones," said Red, "Banner being alone with Betty. It makes my skin crawl."
Matt, munching on a sandwich, said in an offhand tone, "Oh grow up. This isn't the prom. Trust us, we know. They're adults."
"Yeah, a modern woman is allowed to show interest in a..." stared She-Hulk before pausing as she noticed a white-haired guy sitting at one of the tables. "Cute guy," she finished.
Matt looked over, sniffing. "Werewolf," he muttered.
"Hey, I think I know that guy," said Red.
"How many white-haired werewolves have you known?" asked A-Bomb dubiously.
"Nah, that's JJJ's kid, the astronaut," said Red.
"J...J...That's familiar...wait, JJJ as in Jameson?" said Matt, perking up at that.
"Yeah, the loudmouth who has it out for the Big Guy almost as much as Spider-Man," said A-Bomb.
"Oh, the jerk," said Matt abscently, getting the white-haired man's attention.
"You know, I wish people wouldn't keep associating me with him," said Jameson with a growl, "We don't have that much in common."
Matt shrugged. "You could at least try to tell your old man to cool his thrusters," he said, throwing the last of his meal in his mouth.
"We're...not really on speaking terms," said Jameson, "Dad wasn't that grateful when Spider-Man saved my life, considering I ended up a freak."
Matt blinked. "And just when I thought he couldn't go lower," he muttered, before a boom was heard, a siren heard. "Hmm...looks like the 'how hard could it be' a whole hour to manifest. The Fates must be ill," Matt muttered icily.
"Finally some action," said Red before throwing back the rest of his food, "Jones, you ready to go?"
"Ready." said A-Bomb, his cameras hovering down.
Matt glared as one started following him, before sighing, "I'll go make sure Miss Ross and Banner are Ok."
"I better come with you," said She-Hulk before turning to Jameson, "How about you, JJ? You in?"
"The more the merrier," said Matt, taking out a spare blaster and tossing it to Jameson. "I assume NASA recruits from the Air Force here," he said .
Agent Zai walked down a corridor, three of his men, disguised as technical crew, with him. "No witnesses...set to stun," he said in a dark tone, adding, "Lynch is the exception. Blow his head off."
"Isn't he supposed to be the live capture?" asked one of his men.
"Command isn't here and there's no way he'll come quietly..." snapped Zai, the group turning the corner to see Matt, with two of the locals.
"Oh son of a-" he began, before Zai snapped "BLAST THAT DAMN MERC!"
Of course, Matt had been called that so many times, he responded to it as well as to his own name. "Down!" yelled Matt, pulling Jameson to cover.
The new blasts were knocking far larger holes than expected, even forcing She-Hulk back as she shielded herself with her arms. Matt peered out and fired a plasma orb, which impacted harmlessly, the vaporized inch of clothing revealing... "Ashen armor? Ok...now I know why there was a delay. Those jerks wanted to make my life even worse." before he glared at Jameson. "What is this? Spectator day? Shoot!" he snapped, peering out to see Zai taking a step backwards and nipping down a side corridor.
"This...this was a mistake..." said Jameson, his blaster shaking in his hand.
"This is not a good time for PTSD!" snapped Matt. "Not...shellshock..." said Jameson, his voice getting more growly.
Matt blinked as he noticed fur growing. "No, bad astronaut," he said in a panic, trying to back up, looking through his gear, "Come on. This better bloody work."
Another blast bounced off of She-Hulk's Gamma Gauntlets, which knocked her back a bit. "Guys, I could use a little help," she called.
"Oh...you wanna babysit the werewolf?" snapped Matt, pulling out an orb. "Not that," he said, throwing it down the corridor, where it began to roll by itself, stopping when it bounced up and attached to one of the trooper's chestplate, blowing him to pieces. "HA HAAAA!" he said, holding up a bracelet, covered in dust, turning to be nose to snout with a white wolf man in gold armor. "Hello," he said, trying to clamp it to his wrist.
The wolf snarled and tried to slash at Matt. Matt screamed, the two grappling, as Matt managed to clamp the inhibitor on. "Inhibitor activated...error: 22% efficiency only," it said.
"BAD...DOGGY...HAVE A FACE FULL OF DRAGON!" snapped Matt, headbutting the wolf man, to its surprise more than its pain. "I'm giving a chance to think properly. I've dealt with werewolves bigger than you," said Matt.
The wolf snarled before snapping "Wherrrre...ammmm...I?" in a slow voice, like someone who had not spoken for a long time.
Matt blinked, before he, with effort, pushed the wolf's head to peer at the last two troopers and he said childishly, "They did it."
The troopers looked at one another before one snapped, "That's a load of smeg."
The wolf growled before charging at the troopers. Matt covered his eyes as the wolf grabbed one of the troopers, ignoring the blaster fire before cracking their heads together and throwing them up the corridor, before looking down at the blaster. "I don't think so." snapped Matt, grabbing his own blaster.
The wolf turned to glare at him and She-Hulk. "Are...yoooou enemies toooo?" he managed, his speech getting better.
"We're friends of John Jameson," said She-Hulk.
"Weak..." snarled the wolf.
Matt glared. "Hey...speak nice to the lady," he snapped.
The wolf sneered, his hand going to part of his armor before throwing a small dagger that jammed Matt's blaster. "It didn't work for them," he smirked coldly.
"Who are you anyways?" asked Matt.
The wolf paused before he said darkly "My name is irrelevant." with a tad of uncertainty, before he sniffed the air and growled. "You have two of his here?"
"Whose?" asked She-Hulk.
"The great enemy..." snarled the wolf, before charging down the corridor...towards the cells.
"Oh shit, I think I know who he means. Go collar him. I'm going after their boss," said Matt, charging after Zai.
Mist didn't look up as the door to the containment cells was kicked in. "Normal mortals knock," she said, not looking up from the book she'd been given by one of the staff.
"Hounds of Hircine, you have no place here," growled the Man-Wolf as he stalked into the prison.
"Oh, I know that voice...and I was sure my brother left you headless," said Mist, putting her book down carefully and standing up, "Claw is next door if you want to talk to him. But he's having trouble with his host so don't expect an interesting conversation."
"So you don't even have the courage to return here in your own bodies," growled the Man-Wolf.
"Well, you did tear it to pieces," said Mist, adding, "My lord did not see a reason to reward the loss of 500 of his souls."
The Man-Wolf sniffed before saying, "You stink of something. Something that the green giantess had."
"Oh...some magic the humans here call Gamma. I was stuck in this bitch's head since her and her brother wandered into the Hunting Grounds. But of course the princess took a liking to his brother so Hircine blessed her. It took that exposure to gain control," said Mist, looking at her reflection, "Not a bad choice."
"Enjoy that body while you can because I will be removing you from it," snarled the Man-Wolf.
"Oh, and how are you going to do that? Chop my head off? I'm not the only one using it, remember?" sneered Mist.
"He won't do that." laughed the wolf, apparently Claw, in the other cell, "Like he hesitated all those centuries ago. Was it fun in that soul gem? Must have been utter torture. All alone on the moon as we massacred your people."
"It does make me wonder how you're here now," said Mist, "The moon is not a place that mortals should be able to access."
"A human found my gem and your foul magic put me in him. I went mad there. I was little more than an animal," snapped Man-Wolf, slamming his fists against Claw's cell.
Claw laughed. "Oh, I think I struck a nerve, beloved," he sneered.
"Here's some news for you: you are an animal," sneered Mist, "Not even worthy of the Hunting Grounds. Even if I would like to throw you to our lord's..." Just then, the part of the wall that Mist was leaning her hand on turned into a small portal. Mist stumbled a bit at the sudden lack of physical support.
She pulled her hand free just in time before grinning. "Well...this gamma is a good stand-in for daedric magic," she sneered to herself, before looking with a smug look at Man-Wolf, "I'll need some more of course."
"You know not what you're toying with," said Man-Wolf.
"I know that Hircine would love to have his daughter-in-law back, even if the mating was cancelled. And now I know a way out this cell..." said Mist, pressing her hands to the glass and phasing them through before pulling Man-Wolf into the charged glass, electrocuting him and shorting both cells out. "And I know you still cannot best me," she sneered, kicking Man-Wolf before, with concentration, summoning her mace, getting ready to bring it down on his head when a green hand grabbed her wrist.
"That's far enough," said She-Hulk.
"She is fairly tall, even for an orc," commented Claw, "Very fair for one too."
Mist snarled at that before pulling her hand free. "Get away from my mate, beast," she snapped, swinging her mace at She-Hulk.
"Beast? Look who's talking," said She-Hulk before ducking and kicking out.
Mist yelped as she was knocked flying, She-Hulk turning just in time to avoid a daedric broadsword from beheading her, given how it sliced through the wall with little effort. "And nobody touches my beloved," growled Claw, before jumping back and throwing a fireball.
"Remind me when this is over to look up whatever roleplaying game you're playing," said She-Hulk as she punched the fireball away from her.
"Oh that wasn't an attack," sneered Claw, before Mist jumped on She-Hulk's back and cast a draining spell, Mist looking confused when the usual red energy of enemy vitality was instead green.
"I'm supposed to be draining your health, not your stamina," said Mist. Her eyes widened a second later and she moaned. She'd tapped into the beast's magic...the...gamma...it was filling her and it was wonderful. She could feel her magic increasing by the second.
"Love, are you ok?" said Claw with concern.
"Better than ever," said Mist, her eyes glowing a brighter green, "This she-orc is brimming with gamma magicka."
"Get...off...me..." snapped She-Hulk, wincing with each drain.
"Let me have a taste," said Claw.
"Don't be an idiot. It'll poison you," said Mist, adding "She's almost dry anyway." releasing She-Hulk.
Claw looked at Mist and said, "My love, you are glowing."
"Yes, I am feeling vigorous right now," saida Mist.
"No, I mean you're actually glowing," said Claw.
"What are you blabbering about?" snapped Mist, pointing a finger and seeing her fur was indeed glowing. "Oh dear...maybe I overdid it?" she said, "Apparently she wasn't an Orc after all," said Mist.
"What about the Orc?" asked Claw, smirking, adding "We could use some cannon fodder when we escape this place."
"Don't waste your time or the gift," said Mist, "We've got to find more of this gamma magicka."
"And somewhere to cast. That's technology...and she has it, I dread to think what the humans have," said Claw, looking at the Gamma Gauntlets with concern.
A crash was heard at that, Mist and Claw sniffing the air. "Gamma..." Mist said almost hungrily, to Claw's concern. She was the only thing holding him to this body. The last thing he wanted before they got home was for her to get herself killed from a feeding frenzy...and she was gone. He turned to see her running, following a sign marked 'exit'.
"By the light," he muttered, running after her.
"What's going on?" asked Betty into the intercom. A few screens showed some sort of bird thing attacking the staff that had come with Dr Zai...and they were heavily armed.
"The radio tower's not working, doctor. We can't call SHIELD or anyone," came the reply.
Bruce sighed as he took off his glasses. "I was hoping for a little more time to work," he said.
"Be careful, Bruce," said Betty with concern, stepping back.
"I rarely need to be," said Bruce before his eyes started glowing green. He had the foresight to remove all his clothes except his pants, considering how many times those got ripped up. He soon started growing rapidly in size, his muscles expanding as his skin turned green.
"This won't take long," Hulk said with a grin before he carefully went out of the lab before leaping through the roof.
Betty sighed, looking over at a small vat in the corner. Bruce wasn't the only one she wanted to cure. She and her father may not be on proper speaking terms but she wanted him cured...meaning she'd called in quite a few favours to get the rest of the Red Hulk serum. Were they after it?
She heard the door opening again. "That was quick," she said happily, presuming it was Hulk, before turning to see Dr Zai, a futuristic blaster in his hand.
"Dr. Ross, I was hoping to do this in a more...stealthy matter but it seems I've been forced to move my timetable up," he said, walking into the room. "If it means anything, I have no wish to see you or your staff hurt," he added with sincerity.
"Who are you really working for? AIM? Hydra?" asked Betty.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. But I assure you, it doesn't concern your planet at all," said Zai, calmly, walking over to a computer and plugging a small stick in, the screen flickering as its security was hacked and everything was downloaded.
"You're with the Kree, aren't you?" asked Betty, "Or the Skrulls. You're getting ready to invade Earth."
"No, my employers just want a weapon. Earth does not interest us. This universe does not interest us," sneered Zai before pointing at the canister, "That interests us. Please prepare a case for transport or I may be forced to do something drastic. I'm the best tech retrieval agent around."
"Absolutely not," said Betty sternly, "I have too much...investment in that research."
"I'm sorry..." said Zai, firing a bolt near to Betty's feet, leaving a hole. "I'm not asking and my patience is wearing thin. So do it or I will do it over your corpse," he said smugly, before noticing Betty's expression change, before he turned, hissing and spitting a yellow liquid into Matts eyes, who fired wildly while keening in pain...till Zai shot him in the chest. "Idiot..." he muttered smugly.
"No!" yelled Betty.
Zai aimed his blaster at Betty. "Such concern for others," said Zai mockingly, "You ought to have been a nurse. Now...serum...NOW!" He walked up and pushing the blaster into her face. "Unless you want your friend, Banner, to find you a head shorter," he said darkly.
"You have no idea who Bruce is," said Betty.
"One of the first gamma mutates on this planet. A Member of the Avengers and the Agents of SMASH, practically unbeatable in straight battle," said Zai calmly, watching as Betty backed up. "Yes, we know all about you, now make the serum…" he began before pausing, hearing a groan from Matt, "Or you can watch me take off limbs till he stops screaming."
As Betty began to, reluctantly, prepare some tubes of the serum, Zai noticed something in a cabinet, walking over and seeing a row of blood samples. "Hmm," he said, doing a scan.
"Gamma sample confirmed...viability 100%" said his wrist comp, Zai's eyes narrowing.
"You don;t happen to have...any samples, from mutates, do you?" he asked calmly.
"I'm afraid that's doctor-patient confidentiality," said Betty.
"That's as good as No. Such a shame...if you'd been honest…" said Zai, turning and aiming at Betty.
"You can't be serious. Those samples were only taken so I could cure Bruce," said Betty. "And they're perfectly viable," said Zai calmly, looking at one of the samples. "Hmm...I wonder if this is even real?" he said sarcastically, before grabbing Betty by the arm.
"Are you crazy? Even you have to know the dangers of exposing other people to contaminated blood, gamma-irradiated or not," said Betty.
"I'm seeing this as testing the product," said Zai with an evil grin, injecting her in the shoulder before stepping back. "Now then, Hulks are supposed to be invincible," he said, aiming at Betty, before pulling the trigger, just as Matt's eyes slowly opened.
He heard the gunshot and the sound of breaking glass. Then Zai cursed in an alien tongue. "Stupid mammal," he snapped, "You had to knock that over, didn't you?"
Matt turned to see Betty on the ground, smoke rising. "You..." he growled, his eyes sharpening to slits before he lunged at Zai, biting down on the arm holding the blaster, neatly severing it before throwing him across the room.
"Clearly I should have prioritized your death first," said Zai. Matt tilted his head, Zai looking at his stump of an arm. "Oh, I had my pain centers burnt out years ago," said Zai conversationally, reaching with his other hand for his backup.
Matt snarled and lunged, knocking the blaster aside and putting his hands on either side of Zai's head. "You killed her in cold blood...you small..." he snarled, Zai starting to yelp, his head making cracking noises as Matt began to push his hands together, "weak...small-minded...MURDERER!" Matt roared, Zai screaming before it was cut off as Matt...brought his hands together with a squelch noise before letting the new-headless body drop and collapse into dust.
Matt then turned around to look at Betty. She didn't look well as she was lying in a growing red puddle. But then Matt noticed the puddle wasn't just her blood. There was a broken container lying right next to her and he could smell something a lot stronger than iron.
He padded forward carefully, sniffing before seeing the blast had also hit the canister which was leaking on her. He also couldn't smell any injury. He reached out carefully and gently shook her. "Dr Ross? This might be a shock. But it's just me, Lazard," he said carefully.
"Lazard...I don't feel so good," said Betty weakly as her eyes started to glow green.
Matt backed up. "Oh, that's a healthy green glow you have. I'm gonna find some anti-rad treatment," said Matt quickly, loping over to the coolers.
"No," said Betty, "That shot...the gamma might be my only chance."
Matt paused. "Are you nutso? Even the medical computer said it was thousands to one it wouldn't just kill you," he snapped.
"That formula isn't just any gamma formula," said Betty, "It's what changed my father." She was actually starting to sound stronger.
Matt blinked, his body noticing the rising heat. "Erm...I think you need some cure immediately," he said carefully, adding "Which cabinet is it in?" nervously, wincing as he tore a cabinet door off its hinges. "That'll buff out," he said with a gulp.
"It's too late for that," said Betty, the air starting to shimmer around her, "The serum is unstable. I need a catalyzing force to push the change through or I'm going to explode."
"Great," said Matt dourly, "And where are we going to find such a force?"
"About three labs over," said Betty.
"Three labs over...how long before you explode?" asked Matt.
"At my current rate of temperature rising, probably 10 minutes," said Betty before looking at Matt properly. It was then she noticed that his arms were covered in blood and tiny bits of what looked like grey matter.
"Uh, I can explain," said Matt.
Betty groaned and bent over as the temperature rose higher. "Better make that 5..." she groaned.
Matt grabbed her, plopping her on his back before asking "Which way?" he asked, before snapping "Which way? You don't have time to follow the signs." after she didn't respond. Betty weakly pointed in one direction.
"Send the bill to Fury." said Matt, opening his mouth and breathing white hot, blue tinged flames at the wall, melting it and the cabinets in front to slag in seconds, before walking through.
The last wall took slightly longer, but as soon as it was down, Matt's eyes shot open to pinpricks. A dragon was, as Draco could tell anyone, very mana sensitive, and Matt suddenly felt the best he'd ever felt, his eyesight shooting to such quality that it was like he'd been blind a second ago. Sitting in the middle of the room was a glowing blue cube, the magic emanating from that. "What...what is that?" asked Matt.
"It's called the Tesseract," said Betty, "It's a cosmic energy source as well as an energy amplifier."
Matt shrugged Betty off his back before slowly walking towards it. It seemed to be calling to him, promising him everything he wanted. The power to cure the Virk plague, reignite Kala's core, put Lumina in her place...all he had to do was take it.
"Hey!" snapped Betty. Matt blinked, remembering she was there. "There's a reason we keep it locked up in a shielded room instead of using it to solve the world's energy problem," said Betty.
Matt shook his head, giving a low keen of panic. The last vision he'd happily accepted had shown him on a throne… "You shoulda dropped that fucking thing in a black hole," he said in a weak voice.
"There have been some evidence that the Tesseract may be self-aware..." started Betty before wincing, "I need to get closer..."
"No...No...that thing's eviiiiiiaaah!" snapped Matt, yelping as Betty effortlessly pushed his hand aside to walk towards it.
"No, I mean I actually need to get closer," said Betty, "The Tesseract needs to be in closer proximity to-" Just then, the Tesseract glowed brighter and shot a beam into Betty's chest.
"NOITDOESN'T!" yelped Matt, jumping aside.
Betty grunted as she started growing. Her shoes were the first to go as her feet ripped through. Her pants were ripping up as her legs became longer and more muscular. Her blouse was shredded as her figure became grew muscular and curvier. Her hair grew longer and black with two red streaks as her skin turned a bright red.
Matt glared at the Tesseract before snapping in Avalarian, "That's enough you tiny blue rubix cube!" The beam cut off and Matt got the feeling that somehow, despite eyeless, it was glaring at him before he was blasted into the wall.
Matt's eyes spun as he felt energy tickling his teeth and his left eye. Then he heard Betty's voice say, "Lazard, are you alright?"
Matt's eyes found their focus and looked up at the new gamma mutate. "Wow, you look like a red She-Hulk," said Matt.
As unimaginative as it was, it wasn't a bad description. Betty did resemble a palate-swapped version of She-Hulk, though her eyes were more like Red Hulk's. "Well, I may as well start calling myself that," said Betty as she offered Matt a hand.
Matt took the hand and yelped as he was helped up with apparent ease...and given he weighed close to a ton in his current full dragon form, that was impressive. "Well, you got the strength," said Matt, shaking his head before shifting to hybrid form.
"I really do," said Betty, flexing her thicker arm, "I've never felt so much energy. I hope Bruce and the others haven't fought off all those intruders yet. I want some of that action."
"That might not be a wise idea given the state of your attire," said Matt, point at Betty. Her blouse and pants had barely survive her transformation and were revealing a lot of skin. It probably wouldn't take a lot for them to give out completely.
"Huh, I guess I do need a new outfit. I wonder if Jen has anything I can wear, we look to be the same size. Where is she?"
Matt's eyes widened. "Oh crap..." he muttered, running for the door, pausing to blast it off its hinges.
"You didn't have to do that," called Betty, pointing to the holes he'd made earlier.
"Where I am going, there is no time for doorhandles," called Matt as he ran towards the cells. Betty sighed before jogging after him. She really hoped she'll find something to cover herself better.
For a moment there was silence before some barrels at the back of the room moved and Mist and Claw poked their heads out. "Why didn't you drain her?" asked Claw.
"She's clearly going nuts. I'm not sticking my drain spells in the crazy and giving Sheogorath an excuse. Besides, that is a far more worthy prize," said Mist, looking at the Tesseract.
"That thing? It's a paperweight," snapped Claw.
Mist slapping the back of his head. "No, it's a fuel source. We could actually complete the quest father sent us on," she said, walking towards arms outstretched.
There was a hum of energy in the air and Claw's fur actually stood on in. "Mist, perhaps you shouldn't be so direct," said Claw.
"Oh, don't be a ba-" began Mist, before a blast of energy shot into her mouth and eyes.
Claw could barely stand the amount of power coming from the cube. "Mist, get away from that!" he called, "You can't handle that much power!"
The light finally ceased, Mist staggering back, before she began laughing. "Now that's MAGIC!" she laughed insanely. Her eyes were glowing a brighter green as she started growing taller.
"Mist, you can't take in that much magic," said Claw.
"We're royals, Claw. We can store as much as we wa-OW!" she snapped as her head hit the ceiling. "Ok...maybe a little too much," she muttered, sighing when she saw her clothing had grown too. That...would have been awkward.
Claw sighed and said, "Like always, you just can't stop eating until you can't fit through the doors."
Mist glared at that and leaned down. "Did you just call me FAT?" she snarled.
"Uh...no. You're just...awkwardly-sized," said Claw nervously.
Mist started to shrink down to normal size as her body finished absorbing, her armor turning to a daedric armor, her past armor. "Oh...I feel like a newly born royal again," she said, before looking around and sticking her hand into the air. "Father...father, I have returned," she thought in her head, only opening the portal enough to communicate for now.
The shadow of an antlered figure appeared in the portal. "Bloodmist, I was wondering where you have disappeared to," said a voice on the other end, "You are so far away I can barely hear you."
"My brother and I were stopped after the traitors destroyed our packs. Only one remains and he remembers little. I have found enough power to open a portal to bring your hunt to this earth," said Bloodmist calmly.
"Really? You were to fight to the death and yet you speak to me," said the figure, Claw and Bloodmist yelping as they were forced onto their chests by a crushing force.
"We...found...new bodies...we will not...fail..." managed Bloodmist, the pressure being released after a minute.
"We will see. Succeed and bring that body you wear home...and you will be rewarded," the figure said.
Claw made a small whimper. There were not many royal werewolves known to have failed...because few knew about what happened to them. "Yes, Father. I shall accomplish both," said Bloodmist.
The portal closed with the figure saying "See that you do not..."
"Beloved, you know I support you...but ARE YOU NUTS? We had an army last time! This time it's just us!" snapped Claw, shaking Mist.
"Maybe it should just be me," growled Bloodmist.
"What are you saying?" asked Claw with worry.
"I have the gamma magicka and can channel a limitless supply of power from this cube. What can you contribute?" asked Bloodmist.
"My love...what are you saying?" said Claw, reaching carefully behind to an orb on his leather armor. They had both been werewolf hunters before Hircine had enlightened them...but he always kept a few.
"I'm the one who can actually accomplish this mission and all you've been doing is doubting me," said Bloodmist.
"The wise hunter is careful after being hurt. We've already died on this world once," said Claw angrily.
"Last time I wasn't a living reservoir of power. As far as I can see, the only reason I'm keeping you right now it so I can have something between my-" started Bloodmist.
The roof began to ice up at that, the two looking up to see two slashes in an x appear on the ice before the roof caved in, Falcore and Sara landing. "I think we lost...oh come on," snapped Falcore, looking at the two surprised wolves.
"What have we here?" asked Bloodmist, "A pair of lost birds?"
"What do we have here? A pair of mutts?" mocked Sara, Falcore glaring.
"You know, Claw, I don't think I've had anything to eat since taking this body and raw energy doesn't fill a stomach," said Bloodmist, "I think a pair of roast pheasants would do the trick."
"What did you call me?" said Sara in a low voice, her eyes starting to glow.
Falcore gave Claw a beleaguered look and asked, "Is your girlfriend as power hungry as mine?"
Claw paused, summoning his sword. "Well, you know how it is. Now hold still," he said, charging Falcore who took off to avoid the first lunge.
"I didn't come all this way just to be dogmeat," said Falcore.
"Tough. My beloved is right. We need to HUNT!" Claw laughed, throwing a few knives that Falcore destroyed with a wingblade.
Sara and Bloodmist meanwhile were circling, Sara noticing a tiny portal. "Oh...is that your exit? Don't let the planet hit you in your...desperately oversized butt on the way out," Sara taunted.
"My butt is oversized?" laughed Bloodmist, "Look at yourself. I'm surprised you can walk upright with those giant eggs on your chest."
"At least they suit me, blondie," said Sara smugly, Bloodmist's eye twitching before she snarled.
"Does she even realize what 'blondie' means?" asked Falcore.
"I think she has an idea," said Claw.
Falcore turned in time to see Bloodmist lunge at Sara who flew up, the two males watching before, without looking away, sat down on a crate next to one another. "Shouldn't we be fighting?" asked Claw in an aimless voice.
Falcore shrugging, "Yeah." the two continuing to watch.
Meanwhile Man-Wolf was starting to come to. His revival was hastened when someone picked him up by the scruff of the neck. He shook the stars from his vision to be nose to nose with Hulk. "What did you do to my cousin?" growled Hulk.
Man-wolf managed, "What? Who?"
"Jen, you ok?" asked A-Bomb, crouching next to She-Hulk.
"Yeah...I think so. I feel like I went several rounds with Galactus though," grumbled She-Hulk.
"This mutt has a lot of explaining to do..." Hulk growled at Man-Wolf before She-Hulk said "Not that one."
"Yeah, we're a few strays short," said Red Hulk, looking at the empty cells.
The sound of footsteps was heard at that, running ones and a voice going "shitshitshit." before Matt ran in. "Oh thank God," he gasped, panting, another set of running steps heard too.
"Ok, dragon boy, what the heck's goin' on around here?" demanded Red Hulk.
"It's a long story, Dad," said Betty's voice before a red version of She-Hulk wearing ripped clothes walked in, "But I don't think those financiers were from Japan."
There was an awkward silence before Matt said nervously "Surpriiiiiise."
"Betty?" asked Hulk and Red Hulk in shock.
"I kinda had to do an emergency procedure," said Betty, "I wouldn't still be alive if I didn't."
"Erm...I'm gonna go...erm...wash the guy who did it off my claws..." said Matt, looking around for a water fountain.
"Uh...I guess you and Betty will have more in common now," said A-Bomb awkwardly.
Red Hulk glowed hotly as he snapped at A-Bomb, "This ain't funny, Jones! My daughter just turned into a monster!"
Betty glared at that. "Oh that's rich. You never asked how I felt when you got so desperate to catch Bruce that you turned yourself into a 'monster'!" She snapped, doing air quotes with her fingers as she said the last word.
"Betty, turning yourself into a Hulk isn't something-" started Hulk.
"Shut your jade jaw, Banner!" snapped Red.
Betty started blazing red and snapped, "Don't you talk to him like that!"
"Ah...it's so nice to observe family traits like tempers. In this case from behind a plasma shield," said Matt, encased in a glowing field.
"I guess heat radiation runs in your family," said A-Bomb.
"Don't be stupid," snapped Red, "I was mutated with both gamma and cosmic energy..." He paused before turning back to Betty suspiciously, "So where'd you get the cosmic part?"
"The rubix cube from hell? It's somewhere over there," said Matt, thumbing behind him. before noticing Betty's glare "What? I'm not gonna cover for it. It shot me."
"You have the Tesseract here?!" snapped Red, "You could have blown yourself up!"
"Oh, now you care if people could have been blown up," snapped Betty.
"Don't get on your high horse with me, young lady! You're not better than me for Hulkifying yourself!"
"At least I had a decent reason instead of you wanting to butt heads with him personally!"
Hulk glared before yelling "QUIEEET!"
Matt crossed his eyes before he yelled, "I think he wants quiet."
"There's a lot to be said about what's happened, but we got another problem," said Hulk, "We're still missing two werewolves."
"Not to mention those bird guys who attacked the place," said A-Bomb.
"Did you say bird guys?" asked Matt.
"Yeah...you know them?"
Matt paused before making a hologram of Falcore appear. "Did one of them look like this?" he asked.
"Yep, the other one's...well you wouldn't believe it if I told you," said A-Bomb.
"I know enough..." said Matt in a dark tone.
"We still need to find them," said Hulk.
Just then, the lights overhead dimmed and flickered a little. "The Tesseract," said Matt and Betty at the same time.
"You left it unguarded, didn't you?" asked Red Hulk dryly.
Betty and Matt gave him a synchronized glare. "Not helping," said Matt.
"I'm telling you, 5 septims my mate can beat yours," said Claw, his and Falcore's fight forgotten.
"You know, it's not a completely fair fight," said Falcore.
"How so? Besides the obvious?" asked Claw.
"Well, your mate is wearing heavy armor," said Falcore.
"While your mate is dressed like a serving wench?" teased Claw.
"What?" said Falcore before lunging at Claw.
The fight had done some serious damage to the rest of the room, Sara having to keep her distance to take advantage of Bloodmist's heavy armor. "STAY...STILL...HARPY!" snarled Bloodmist, before an ice beam sent her flying.
"I am not a harpy!" snapped Sara, "My name is...uh...Iceshaide!"
Falcore glared, headbutting Claw before snapping, "3 DAMN HOURS...AND THAT'S THE BEST YOU COME UP WITH?!"
"Oh, like your own name is so original, Falcore," said Iceshaide.
"I didn't choose it," said Falcore calmly, Claw lunging and being knocked flying again. Iceshaide turned as Bloodmist lunged again before blasting her with another ice beam in mid air, Bloodmist hitting the ground hard and her daedric armor shattering. Fortunately, Bloodmist was still wearing leather armor under it. "You...you broke my armor!" she snapped.
"Aw, not cold enough where you come from?" asked Iceshaide before sending a blizzard wind at Bloodmist. Bloodmist yelled, covering her face, before sending a shot of lightning into Iceshaide's chest.
Iceshaide screeched before falling to the floor. "They don't have big storms where you come from?" sneered Bloodmist before shooting more lightning.
"NO!" yelled Falcore, lunging at Mist, slashing wildly. A blast of electricity sent Falcore flying back as well.
Even Claw was caught in the bolts as Bloodmist yelled, "ALL OF YOU, WEAK! SOON MY FATHER'S ARMIES WILL TURN THIS PLACE INTO ANOTHER PART OF HIS REALM!" practically screaming with laughter as she sent out more.
"Beloved, aren't you overdoing it a bit?" asked Claw.
"Silence, weakling" snarled Bloodmist, blasting him into the wall, before she aimed and made a slash above the Tesseract, close enough that it would feed the portal itself...just in time as she began to feel dizzy. "I think I...skipped lunch too long..." said Bloodmist dizzily.
"Well done, daughter." said Bloodmist's father's voice from the portal, several sets of eyes appearing in it before a leather-armored wolfman jumped through, an alligator-like one following. "Claim this land," said the voice.
Just then, the Agents of SMASH came through the door. "Uh...what's going on here?" asked A-Bomb.
"Smash now, ask questions later," said Hulk.
"Oh bloody hell," snapped Matt, grabbing a lunging werewolf and snapping its neck, the wolf turning to mist that flowed back into the portal. "Don't hold back. Death is just annoying for these things," he snapped, a cat creature lunging at him.
"Betty, stay back and let Daddy take care of this," said Red.
"And let you have all the fun?" asked Betty, "I'm the Red She-Hulk now."
"Bit of an awkward name," said She-Hulk.
"Just 'Rulkie' will do," said Betty.
A female werewolf, holding a crossbow, jumped down at that, firing its bolt before drawing dual daggers. "FOR THE HUNTSMASTER!" she screamed, charging Betty, only for the dagger to shatter when she stabbed.
"That tickled," said Rulkie before punching the werewolf, "Now I see why you guys like smashing." Before the female werewolf could recover her senses, Rulkie picked her up by the scruff of the neck. Rulkie between herself and the werewolf, comparing their sizes. "Nice outfit," she said to the werewolf, looking at her black leather armor.
Matt turned, taking the head off one of the attackers as he closed on Bloodmist. "Sister? We need to have words." he snapped.
Bloodmist looked at Matt and said, "I know you. You are the one mortal who has managed to meet Taelina's impossible standards...and then scorn her."
"And you're squatting on someone's brain," said Matt, adding, "Me and Taelina are still friends though."
"Still friends?" asked Bloodmist, perplexed.
"She's found a better mate," said Matt.
"Hmm...well you were worthy of my father's blessing. I can still smell it on you."
Matt's eyes bugged out. "Nope...ew.." he snapped, Bloodmist rolling her eyes before she lunged at Matt
Just then, the Man-Wolf came between them and swung his sword at Bloodmist. "Oh, this is wonderful. A chance to avenge myself on you, Zanek," she laughed, exchanging blows with him.
"Zanek?" asked Matt, perplexed. Just then, he got knocked to the other side of the room. He got back up and snapped, "Ok, who did that?"
Claw landed at that. "You're mine, traitor. You spurned your father after the princess bought you in," he snarled.
"Look, I don't know how your family system works, but I am not anything of Hircine's," said Matt.
"Once a Royal of Hircine, always a Royal of Hircine," snarled Claw, lunging. Matt rolled his eyes before kicking him...somewhere saw that got a pained high pitched "YIP!" Claw going cross-eyed.
"Sorry about that, Chris," said Matt before pausing and admitting, "Ok, not really."
"I hate mortals," whimpered Claw before deciding to stay still.
Matt turned before twitching. He could actually see grass forming around the cube, Hircine's realm leaking in...and he had no wish to be the 'perfect catch' for any of Taelina's sisters if there were any. "That thing's gotta go," he muttered, looking around for Hulk or Betty...someone who could tell him how to destroy that thing.
Matt walked over, stepping over a shivering werewolf. "Excuse me, Betty?" asked Matt. Red She-Hulk turned to face Matt, backhanding another werewolf as she did so. "Nice outfit," said Matt.
The black leather armor did suit her new body, even if it left her midriff exposed and had a low neckline. "Yeah, it's snugger than I thought it would be," said Red She-Hulk.
"Where'd you get it?" asked Matt. "From her," said Red She-Hulk, pointing at the werewolf Matt stepped over.
Matt winced. "Oooooh... Naaaasty..." he said, before, ever the gentleman, he helped the shivering wolf up and pointed at the portal, the werewolf about to snarl before whimpering and trying to make herself look smaller. "Anyways, that portal's going to bind the Earth to another dimension," said Matt, "Any way to turn off the Tesseract?."
"No, the last one SHIELD messed with blew up an entire base, with no way to turn it off," said Betty.
Matt blasted a werewolf coming up behind her. "Dragons are tough. I've been hit with worse. What if I eat it?" he asked, adding, "It's not the best idea but it's that or I take it on a trip to the Hunting Grounds and...I dunno what that might do to some of my old friends."
"Ok, even if that were a viable strategy, which I'm not approving of, you'd need a way to get through all those beast men to get to the Tesseract in the first place," said Red She-Hulk. Just then, another wall exploded inwards, causing the fighting to temporarily stop. Everyone looked to see NegaMorph glaring and panting. "I...am...ANGRY!" he yelled, a red aura erupting around him.
The wave shot out, the werecreatures pausing what they were doing before snarling at each other. "Good timing, Nega. GET THE CUBE!" called Matt, running for the Tesseract.
Bloodmist snarled at NegaMorph and snapped, "Whatever sort of foul demon you are, you will not-" However, that just made her the subject of NegaMorph's incredible ire. He leapt at Bloodmist and started savagely attacking her, bite, scratching, ripping out handfuls of fur.
"Gah! Get it off! CLAAAAW!" she screamed. The Agents and Matt ran at the cube, monsters trying to block them and a fresh second wave coming through, before Matt paused, a distant look in his gold eyes. "Son...you don't want to do this," said a voice in his head.
The shadowy antlered figure could be seen in the portal. "Submit, mortals," said the figure, "Be grateful I am more merciful than my brothers. All shall have a chance to prove themselves predator or prey. The call of the Hunt shall be heard by all."
Betty turned to see Matt was on his knees with a dazed look, his scales turning to silvery grey fur, the figure's eyes focussed on him as it said, "I believe my daughter's mate should awaken again."
Betty glared before running for the cube. She was about to smash the cube when a voice said, "Hey there." She looked down to see a white blob. "I'm Morph," he said.
"Where did he come from?" asked the figure, sounding just as surprised as the others.
"I'm Morph. Everyone says not to question it," Morph said happily before he looked at the Tesseract. "This is a job for a professional," he said, grabbing it and swallowing it in one gulp.
Bloodmist said, "No...no, no, NO!"
The figure turned to look at her, the portal starting to close. "Bloodmist...I believe we should have words." Bloodmist stared before she and Claw began screaming, a bluish mist coming out their mouths before going through the portal before he looked at Matt. "Another time." before he looked in the Agents' direction. "You have provided an...interesting hunt," he said, laughing as the portal closed, the werecreatures disappearing with it.
There was a long pause before A-Bomb, "Ok, what the heck was that all about?"
NegaMorph, who had cooled down for the moment, said, "It's a long story. But first, where'd those birdbrains flew off to?"
"Ok...Ice shade..." said Falcore scathingly.
"It's Iceshaide," snapped iceshaide.
Falcore continued, "What do we tell the boss? We failed to get that damn cube." The two were flying through the skies.
"She's not the one who wanted it. The space lizard did," said Iceshaide.
"Oh, he can get bent then," said Falcore, he and Iceshaide laughing.
"Ok, invasion of werebeasts from another dimension stopped, crisis averted, right?" asked Red Hulk.
Man-Wolf sniffed and said, "No...one remains..." He strode over to some storage crates before reaching down and pulling out the female werewolf Betty had mugged
The werewolf screamed, "Get off...by the Nine where am I?"
Man-Wolf growled at that, snapping "Who are you?"
The werewolf looked at him and got a goofy grin. "Anybody you want me to be, hunk," she said in a sultry voice, giving a happy little howl.
"You've got to be kidding me," said She-Hulk flatly.
"Well...she's not trying to kill us," said Matt, the werewolf looking down at herself and screaming about 'monsters'. "Yeah, I don't think she remember anything after Hircine got her," said Matt with a wince.
"Well, I don't think we can send her back home," said Betty, "And I'm suddenly a lot more short-staffed."
"Honey, you're not having a mon-" said Red Hulk before Betty glared at him.
"She's homeless and scared," she said warningly.
"She probably doesn't know the first thing about science," said Red Hulk.
"Neither does Skarr but you still keep him around," said Betty before pausing, "Where is Skarr anyways?"
"He's...on a journey of self-discovery with some trusted friends," said Hulk.
One dimensional slip away...
Asgard
Skarr was indeed learning new things...how much food and drink he could handle at an Asgardian feast. "CHUG! CHUG!" chanted some of the warriors as he downed yet another stein.
"Did anyone else feel a shudder?" said Matt, the female looking at her before falling to her knees gibbering in Norn. "Erm...no need to...I'm gonna kill Hircine one day..." he muttered darkly.
"Isn't Hircine immortal?" asked NegaMorph.
"Yes...but I try HARDER!" snapped Matt.
"Uh-huh. Well, Chloe's still an extra-large golden werewolf and Morph has eaten the power cosmic," said NegaMorph.
Morph was flying around the room going 'weeeeeee', his stomach glowing blue.
"NegaMorph, if making him fly is the worst it does, I'll be happy to wait till we...retrieve the cube," sighed Matt, before he looked at the female werewolf who was cooing over Man-Wolf again. "How are you gonna get Jameson out of there?"
"Jameson? Yes, he's still in here. Most of him is here," said Man-Wolf, "There's not much of Zanek left. Mostly just memories of his last hunt, what his powers and skills are."
"You know. You could help at SHIELD. Maybe try meeting Spider-Man properly" said Matt, the female snarling at Matt for a second. "And bring your girlfriend..." he said nervously.
"Maybe...maybe..." said Man-Wolf before clutching his head. Rings of light passed over him and he reverted back to John. "I've got a lot of things to work out first," he said.
The werewolf looked saddened at that before she whispered, "You're still handsome." with a smirk at Jameson.
When Chloe woke up, it was with a groan. She felt like she had been attacked by a mob of angry cats. And the inside of her head didn't feel better. The last thing she remembered was feeling...angry...oh so angry before something else had taken over. The rest seemed like a dream.
"Where am I?" she said, yelping as she covered her mouth. Her voice sounded like an invite to a night out. She lowered her eyes to see a familiar snout...though the fur colour was off. "The hell happened?" she muttered.
"Well, Chloe, the good news is that you're not a dinosaur anymore," said Matt.
Chloe turned to look...down a little at her brother. "What's happened?" she said, seeing Nirn leather armor on her chest, though it was having trouble keeping her modesty.
"Turns out gamma radiation reawoke your werewolf side, a lot more than anyone was expecting," said Matt.
"Dammit," muttered Chloe, before saying "Where's Chris?"
"Also werewolf, Royal class like you. Thanks to you. Oh and you almost helped Hircine absorb this entire reality," said Matt.
"What?!" snapped Chloe, electricity sparking around her.
"Hey, least he's not a batfink anymore and silver won't bother him," said Matt.
Chloe snapped "And how would you know?" before her ears flattened and she started to say "Oh...I'm...I'm sorry."
"I've been trying hard to put that behind me," said Matt, keeping his tone level.
Chloe sighed, hanging her head as her form shifted down, her wolf fur changing to her usual black coloring before she was eye to eye with him. "I didn't mean it..." she said.
Matt sighed before saying, "Yeah...yeah, I know."
"So...am I still gamma-charged?" asked Chloe.
"Yep," said Matt, "Turns out being a gamma-mutate isn't as 24/7 as it used to be."
"Oh. I guess this means I'll need a new superhero identity...again," said Chloe.
"Least you get to choose one. I'm still Lazard the Lame," said Matt, opening the cell.
"Eh, you're probably due a power upgrade some point soon," said Chloe, walking out.
After the two had walked out, Chris's voice came from another cell. "Erm...Matt? Chloe? Anyone?"
Hey there, finally putting up a new chapter. This one's been through a few rewritings as there has been a few things me and my co-author couldn't make up our minds about. Namely concerning John Jameson/Man-Wolf. It was a bit annoying that he was dropped from 'Ultimate Spider-Man' without any real mention or resolution, let alone telling us where the wolf gem came from in the first place.
We've also added characters from 'Hulk and the Agents of SMASH'. I felt a little sorry for Bruce and Betty's relationship, so I made her the Red She-Hulk. Like Red, she has much control over herself in this universe and doesn't go evil.
This story also dips back a bit into our Elder Scrolls story. We also have both Morph and NegaMorph on the playing field now, expect to see a lot more of them in the future.
This chapter is the first part of a small trilogy. The next chapter will be up on Tuesday and the one after that will be on Halloween. Keep an eye out for them and please review.
