She-Hulk raised an eyebrow as it wasn't every day she heard that. She trained with and against her mother and eventually got essentially became her mother's daughter in beating Martha then in a shocking duel, but to hear that someone else is able to fight her. She spoke in the comms, "Explain, Oracle.", as Jane sounded just a tiny bit worried yet shocked.
"Well, for starters, it looks like someone busted their way through the walls.", Jane explained. "Yeah, probably explosives or something.", Catwoman pointed out.
"I would agree with you, but if you were seeing this... this is obviously the work of someone thrusting their body into the brick work and tearing through it like it was paper. It would take someone incredibly strong and resilient to pull that off.", Jane/Oracle reported.
"Someone like me.", She-Hulk concluded; now knowing what Jane meant by competition. Was it possible there was another being like her, Martha, Waylon and the twins?
Selina replied on the comms, "Getting closer on the bike into downtown, now in one of the alley tunnels. Are you close, She-Hulk?", and She-Hulk reported back, "Yep, two minutes from the Federal Reserve. Can you hack deeper into the Reserve cameras? And keep an eye on the police chatter if they are risking themselves by going in, Oracle.".
"Working on it. Obviously will take me a bit, I'm not you after all, on here...", Jane grumbled. It was true. Poppy would've easily cracked things in a heartbeat, but Jane herself was getting fairly talented at the controls herself. "Okay, I think I got so- oh, jeez, is that guy big...".
"Oracle. What do you see?", Selina asked. "I was right; huge guy, got some wires in him, pumping some sort of liquid into him. If I had to guess, he's got to be a good head taller than you, She-Hulk and rivals your scaly beau in terms of muscles.", Jane/Oracle answered.
She-Hulk narrowed her eyes, "Enough to hurt anyone innocent? To answer Catwoman's question, has he harmed anyone in there?". Someone robbing the Federal Reserve is bound to do anything under the law.
"Not sure yet as it looks like the place is empty though, aside from this guy... he's got a mask on like he's a Luchador.", Jane/Oracle informed. "Looking around, I think whoever was working things inside has fled either out of the building or staying away from the vaults down below.".
She-Hulk nodded, "Right. Keep an eye on outside. I'm going in.", as she finally got to the building across the street from the Federal Reserve and saw the man-shaped hole with her great eyesight and jumped.
Going through, she looked around for a minute before hearing a loud huff and seeing a towering bulk of a man wheeling out carts full of gold bars. Poppy took a deep breath as she crossed her arms and cleared her throat, "You got a receipt with that withdrawal of yours?". The man turned his head as he gave a light chuckle.
"Ah, the Diosa Verde of Gotham.", the man said in a thick Hispanic accent. Poppy raised an eyebrow at being called a green goddess; though she wasn't one to deny that sometimes she certainly felt like a Greek demi-goddess at times.
"Though I wonder, is this the madre or the hija?", the man said as he squinted his eyes from behind the black and silver luchador mask he wore. "Lack of wrinkles, I must assume the hija then. Do I get the honor of battling both you and her soon or is she staying put from whatever place you call a home?".
Poppy replied, "She's currently occupied somewhere else, and I'm a bit flattered at the name you called me, but you're robbing a federal building right in my city, mister...?", and the masked man chuckled, "You may call me Bane. Your city, eh? Well, you'd have to beat me, and believe me, back home, my name of Bane was earned for a reason, for I'm the bane of your existence.".
She-Hulk couldn't help but roll her eyes, "Buddy, trust me, there have been a ton of folks that thought they'd be the ones to bring me down. I've taken all manner of weapons to nearly every part of me. Unless you got like a small nuke packed away on you, maybe just save us both the trouble and come quietly.".
Bane gave a confident huff as he smirked, "Oh, you have not met anyone like me before, Diosa Verde.". He then suddenly charged forward at her.
She-Hulk braced herself as she was at least smart enough to know that she couldn't take this guy too much for granted. After all, what he had already accomplished certainly was something that so few people in the world could do, and she knew most of them who could do it along with her. This guy might actually hurt.
And she was shockingly right when he threw a fist that struck her in the shoulder. She winced in pain at that. That one actually did hurt. She'd taken high caliber rounds before to a number of areas on her body and at worse, it was like being stung by wasp or hornet. Here? This guy might actually cause her great harm. One thing was for sure, she needed to find a way to message Selina to stay away; she didn't stand a chance against a man who was similar to the She-Hulk.
"Does that hurt, Verde? Still underestimating me?", Bane growled with a sick pleasure in his tone as he clearly was in love with the thrill of the fight. Perhaps he was sick with glee at the idea that finally someone would actually be a worthy opponent. Maybe...
"No, not anymore now...", She-Hulk told him as she responded by quickly dodging a few of his attacks. She was lucky she had got plenty of combat training with her family and friends over the years. The need was rarely there, considering that she could easily barely feel fists, much less bullets hitting her, but now it certainly came in handy before she decided to respond with a quick counter and hit an uppercut on him.
Normally, if she had done that on any normal person; at the minimum, she would shatter the entire jaw and probably knock out all the lower teeth on a guy. At worse, knock the head clean off like how Jason Voorhees killed that one teen in the 8th Friday movie, Jason Takes Metropolis. Bane however didn't even loose a tooth as he responded with a swift punch to Poppy's gut when she was momentarily caught off guard.
Poppy literally felt the air go from that punch, and she knew she'd seriously have a bruise by tomorrow, and she narrowed her eyes, moving fast by acrobatics and her combat training, remembering the wires Jane talked about, and searched for them while she fought Bane, who is seriously giving her a run for his money, literally.
Poppy instantly knew those wires were important to Bane, for some reason; perhaps a steroid or perhaps some sort of bio-exoskeleton to help with moving his limbs. Either way, doing something to those she was certain would cause a problem... or at worse, just piss the guy off so much that he makes mistakes because he had quite the fighting mind. Not letting his emotions get in the way, planning his attacks and keeping sharp for Poppy's responses. It was almost a bit like she was fighting a mirror in some ways.
"I must say, the challenge is much what I had desired.", Bane told her as they threw a few fists, striking one another against their knuckles. "A truly worthy opponent that I long wished for."
"Oh, so the robbery was just to get my attention? Could've easily just called, planned something, we could've sold tickets.", Poppy countered with a little humor.
"No, the robbery was merely a bonus to being the one that breaks you. Your madre would feel the same pain when I'm through with you.", Bane laughed.
"Catwoman, are you out of range?", Selina heard Jane's voice as she was keeping her distance from a nearby building. The moment Jane mentioned the intruder was someone that could give the She-Hulk a run for her money; she knew it was wise to stay back and lie in wait just in case.
Selina replied on the comms, "I'm staying back, yes...Why do you ask?", and Jane/Oracle replied, "I picked up something from the radar, turns out the airports are freaking out at something that isn't there, yet there, and coming fast.".
"Oh, great... what now?", Selina groaned as she rolled her eyes. "She-Hulk's having her hands full with what I can only describe as some sort of Luchador hulk and now some unidentified flying object?".
"Well, I can see the fight now; I can't tell who's winning but they're certainly doing a number on each other. And I bring up the object because the direction is heading your way.", Jane/Oracle explained.
"Wait, what?", Selina's eyes widened as she suddenly felt almost a huge rush of air as if a jet just rushed by at low altitude before she saw that object that was mentioned. She instantly recognized it as a winged horse carrying a stunning open carriage that would rival the greatest and wealthiest royal families throughout history.
Then her eyes widened as far as they could when suddenly what looked to be a young woman, hell, barely could have only just become one, leaping from it.
For a moment, Selina saw the gorgeous white Pegasus diving to land on the rooftop of the Federal Reserve with as now she can see the details, she realized that it is a magnificent Greek chariot, for lord's sake before it became invisible again, and at the same moment, the young woman, in her leap, had landed perfectly at the man-shaped hole, and went through.
Selina barely got a glimpse of auburn locks like in the shade of Poppy's auburn highlights among her black Wayne hair when she's human and she pressed the comms, "Oracle, do you see a woman coming in?", hoping that it wasn't her imagination.
"A woman, what are you talking about? I don't see an- wait, who the heck is that girl?", Jane/Oracle asked. "Does she look like she should be staring in a Greek tragedy? Because I just saw that girl leap from a chariot being carried by a winged horse.", Selina said as Jane could be heard taking a deep breath over her comms.
"And carrying a sword too. I think my brain needs a moment because this is almost too weird even for this family...", Jane/Oracle reported.
She-Hulk groaned as she took another hit; the strikes were getting to her, but she could tell that she was certainly pushing Bane to the edge of even his limits.
"You fight well, She-Hulk. Truly I had dreamed this encounter would go this way, that I would not be disappointed. But now I'm afraid that this contest must come to an end." He reached forward onto his gloved hand and turned a nob that was on it before he began to groan with pain as She-Hulk's eyes widened as Bane began to get even bigger!
She-Hulk watched in horror and shock, hearing the thrum of something moving, something eerily familiar yet strangely different as she glimpsed a rise of tube wires filed with glowing golden-orange liquid, gamma liquid as Bane kept grunting and groaning in pain for a few more moments before he stopped, literally two heads taller than her, and massively bigger than her too!
Bane seemed to smirk, and replied, "Do you give up, She-Hulk? And oh, before you ask, I ain't telling you the secret as this was a gift to help me break your spirit, and your madre as well.".
She-Hulk growled as she tried to keep up a brave face. No way was she dying to this ripped up freak; she and Martha were the true blessings of gamma energy, not whatever off shoot, black site, underground manufacturing that produced the stuff he was pumping himself with!
She was ready for the next move before she heard the sound of a... sword coming from a sheath? "Oh, Hera! Guide my blade!".
Then She-Hulk saw the glimpse of a sword, hearing a yell as it swiped through the air, right behind Bane, and then the tube wires flew out, swinging about as Bane looked angry, afraid, and upset and horrified, "No, no, no!", turning around to scream out at the attacker as he charged, shrinking.
"Oh no, you don't!", She-Hulk quickly snapped as she grabbed Bane before he tried to get his hands on her savior. In less than a moment, she had a tight grip upon him as he continued to shrink in her arms.
"Th-thi-this was not the way it was supposed to go!", Bane roared with anger as he was feeling suddenly so weak and tired.
"Clearly your own fault there... whatever you were trying; it doesn't work like mine, and that's why you failed today...", She-Hulk gave an angry huff before Bane collapsed onto the ground, now looking more normal like most folks though he clearly wasn't truly a slough as he had a decent build to him still though obviously some parts of him didn't look too healthy; a side effect perhaps of whatever gamma concoction he had flowing through his veins.
Poppy was well aware that Leslie Thompkins wasn't the only person in the world to try things with gamma energy; so, it shouldn't have been the biggest surprise to see someone like Bane. Though in Leslie's case, it was to help, whoever gave Bane this power, it was clearly a weapon.
She-Hulk ripped off the concoction backpack, and scowled in disgust, "Definitely need to dismantle of this properly.", and heard her savior's voice, "I can help with that.".
She-Hulk looked over at her savior, and widened her eyes as her savior was literally a Greek warrior woman, barely looking like she's 18, having a sword, having a short-ish pixie cut of auburn hair, with vivid light green eyes, and very tanned like she has been under the sun for a long time.
She wore a golden strapless corset-shirt with armored bracelets, a toga skirt of cream white, and wrapped ankle-high sandal-boots.
She-Hulk replied with an exhale, "Thank you for coming to the rescue, miss?", and the young woman seemed suddenly nervous as she looked at She-Hulk, "Carrie...Hello, mother...".
She-Hulk blinked for a moment before she had to quickly get closer to the young woman before her eyes teared up when she started to see some of her own and Waylon's features.
"C-Carrie...? Is that really you?", She-Hulk whispered as Carrie gave a nod. "Yes.", Carrie rubbed her arm as it was clear that she was still fairly nervous. "I... there's a lot to explain... if you'll allow me.".
"Carrie... why would I ever not want you to do that? You're my daughter! I've long wished for this day!", She-Hulk gave a sob of joy and love, smiling tearfully.
Carrie gave a surprised look, and she started to smile before they heard shouts of men and women, and She-Hulk heard Jane in her comms, "Er, sorry to interrupt the reunion, but police are getting closer!".
She-Hulk looked at Carrie, "Do you have a way to get from here?", and Carrie nodded, and She-Hulk replied, "Good. Use that and go to the grounds with a gate that has the name of Wayne. I need to take this bastard to the officers, and I will follow along with this thing to destroy with help after that, okay?", holding up the device of the gamma liquid, and glancing at the collapsed Bane.
"Got it... then... we'll catch up.", Carrie smiled as She-Hulk nodded. "Yeah. Now go...", Carrie ran off as She-Hulk took a small sigh as she looked back at Bane, "Now then... to take care of you... not planning on having you coming back for another round even though I clearly know how to beat you for sure... being born with gamma's certainly way better than having it pumped... no chance of it being severed.".
She-Hulk heard Jane on the comms, "Your daughter is out safely...God, I never dreamed of saying that on comms. Catwoman's coming over to take that contraption thing out of here, she's going to take it down to the bike and through the tunnels back to the Batcave.".
She-Hulk hummed with a nod, and went to take off the leather straps, creating a leather rope to tie the unconscious Bane's hands, and heard Catwoman's witty remark, "See you soon.", and she glanced to see Catwoman sauntering swiftly, having swiped the contraption backpack in her panther persona, and disappearing to the back vents.
She-Hulk grinned lightly as Jane reported, "Took a bit of work, but erased the brief meeting and the saving thing there from the cameras, so they only know the actual battle and such if anybody checks the cameras.".
Grateful, She-Hulk nodded as she lugged Bane by the back of the shirt, carrying him like a sack of potatoes easily, and walked out, seeing James finally at the scene, and the head on-duty police officer asked, "You alright, She-Hulk?".