Jennifer Walters took the time to look about her living room, making sure that she had everything, before walking out of her house to drive to this unexpected (but still welcome) rendezvous with Dr. Elizabeth Dietrich. ‘I wonder what all she’s been up to? We didn’t talk much about what happened in the lab that day - - I think we were both more comfortable skirting that particular issue.’ Satisfying herself that she had all she needed, the lawyer closed her house’s front door and walked to her white Mercury Mystique. She still owned her Dodge, but she felt uncomfortable driving it around town. And it wasn’t very hard to guess why, either; that car was another reminder to Jen of what she had lost.
‘Jen, it’s just not about what you’ve lost’, she scolded herself. ‘Yes, you are no longer the She-Hulk. But look at what you’ve gained – or might gain. I’ve known Phil has been attracted to me since we’ve known each other, but it’s really been in the last two years that I’ve really noticed just HOW much. I think my being She-Hulk had a lot to do with why he never approached me before. He was intimidated, and I can’t say I blame him, either. I think he was afraid to mention his personal feelings for me because of that intimidation.’ As Jennifer began backing out of her driveway, another thought suddenly popped into her mind. ‘I think Phil’s reluctance must have also had something to do with Wyatt. Why didn’t I ever see that before? I guess I just assumed that since Wyatt and I knew about the status of our relationship, than everyone else did, too. Looks like I’ve got some explaining to do when next I see Phil….. He really is a nice guy, and I can’t deny that I’m attracted to him, too – both before and after losing my powers. I’ve just been very afraid to start that kind of relationship with him. He is my business partner, after all - - but it’s more than that.’ Jen sighed quietly as she merged in with the early evening interstate traffic on her way towards the SHIELD complex. ‘I’m afraid of losing a very good friend, too. These things can work out, I know - - but too often I’ve seen good friendships torn apart because of romantic aspirations. I don’t want that happening with Philip and myself.’ That brought up a recollection of all the trials and tribulations that her friends Janet Van Dyne and Henry Pym had gone through over the years – long before she ever knew them. Their marriage had been torn apart by "Hank’s" emotional instability as the hero Yellojacket. Even afterwards, when he had more than redeemed himself, the two were very reluctant to be more than cordial to each other. It was only within the past year or two that some of those old feelings were returning to their relationship.
‘And that is exactly the kind of situation I want to avoid with Phil. Hank and Jan have gone through more than anyone could possibly ask, and things are working out far better for those two than I would have guessed. Would Phil and I be so lucky? I pray never to find out. Still, there IS a definite attraction…..’ She sighed again. ‘I really need to think about this when Philip is here. Now’s not really the time. I’m depressing myself when I should feel happy. I haven’t heard anything from Liz since she came by a couple of days after I lost my powers. It’ll be great to hear about what she’s been up to.’ Jen guided her car onto the off-ramp and onto the road that would take her to the government-sponsored agency’s Los Angeles complex. She often wondered at SHIELD’s seemingly strange sense of security. Most citizens would acknowledge that they had heard of the organization, but wouldn’t know where to find them. But if they just looked in their phone book, they would find an address and telephone number for this particular complex. The Avengers did the same thing, as did the Fantastic Four. But then their charters differed from SHIELD’s, though Jen couldn’t really see any major differences from a legal standpoint.
But she realized that her mind was traveling down familiar paths to avoid looking towards the future. Again. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Too many new, different, and not-so-good things had been happening to her. Her loss of the She-Hulk; her fleeting glimpse of life without her Bar license; the introduction of this "omega" radiation within her body that Reed was so caught up with; the nightmares almost every night – and the frightening half-transformations that inexplicably overtook her those same nights. ‘I just need some time away from thinking of all of that.’, Jennifer thought as her car slowly approached the parking lot. ‘I am glad that Reed bought this car for me, though. Not only does it help keep my mind off She-Hulk, but it actually drives a lot better than my Dodge.’ She smiled guiltily at that, offering a silent apology back to that very car, sitting inside her garage at home. Jen pulled into a parking spot near the front door, noticing how empty the lot was. ‘Hmmm. Well, it is after six. Everyone’s probably gone home, or are in the process of doing so.’ She slid out of the Mystique, handing the strap of her small purse over her left shoulder, and began walking towards the building. She passed a small but steady stream of people walking back towards the lot, and she smiled and greeted those who did the same for her. Right as she reached the door she saw Elizabeth coming towards her.
"Hi, Jennifer!", the other woman greeted happily. "I’m so glad you could make it. I’ve been kind of busy as of late, but I’ve been meaning to talk with you for a while now. Things have been progressing rather interestingly on this project, and I would like to have your input." Elizabeth then hugged Jennifer, almost lifting the smaller woman off her feet.
"Sure, Liz. It’s nice to see you, too." Jen smiled at the scientist, but inside she was feeling a little strange. ‘Something doesn’t seem right here. She almost seems - - I don’t know – a little TOO perky. I only worked with her for a few days, and she does have a gregarious and bright personality. But not quite like this….’ However, she didn’t want to say anything to Dr. Dietrich quite yet about it - - she might just be jumping at shadows, or she might not have realized before just how outgoing Elizabeth was. After all, she did have a different outlook at that time…..
‘Knock it off, Jenny, you promised yourself.’ Still smiling, she asked, "How have you been keeping yourself busy, Liz? What things have SHIELD been placing in your lap?"
Liz laughed as they walked towards a bank of elevators. "I’m still on the same project, Jen. There’s too much that we don’t know about this radioactive substance. Although most of it was consumed in that bizarre and unexpected ‘explosion’, there is still enough left for us to analyze." Suddenly her eyes widened and she looked at Jennifer. "Oh I’m sorry, Jen. I didn’t mean anything bad by that."
Jen sighed. "It’s okay, Elizabeth. I’m getting used to it. But you didn’t call me here to talk shop, did you?"
Liz laughed, looking more comfortable again. "No, not at all. I thought you might enjoy a little tour while we become reacquainted. Sound good to you?"
Jennifer nodded. "Very good, Liz."
The taller scientist waved a hand in front of them. "Then shall we begin?"
The two women laughed as they walked down a low level corridor of the SHIELD complex. Jen looked at her watch and gasped at surprise at the time. "Liz, it’s almost eleven P.M.! We burned through almost five hours here! I guess that’s why my stomach has been growling for the past two hours…."
Elizabeth laughed. "I take that as a compliment, Jen. Here, I want to show you something very quickly." She guided the lawyer towards a doorway in the hall. Jen looked into the room – and couldn’t suppress a quick gasp of recognition. "Liz, this – this is the lab!"
The scientist nodded, continuing to walk farther into the half-repaired lab. All of the damage had been repaired, and some of the equipment that Jennifer remembered from her earlier appearances here had been replaced. The airlock was fully open, though, and the lab looked like it hadn’t been used since the accident. "What are we doing here, Liz?", Jen asked, looking around a bit uncomfortably. Her mind could still detect the acrid scents of burning plastic and ionized air – though those scents had been long ago removed. ‘This place still holds a lot of unpleasant memories…. So many things in my life changed here – I’m not sure that I’m all that comfortable. But should I let Elizabeth know of my fears? She’d probably just scoff at them; I might too, in her position. I’m not being very rational, after all - - still, there’s just something that’s bothering me about all of this, and yet I can’t figure it out.’
Jen turned her head to see what her friend had been up to during the lawyer’s reverie. She had maneuvered a couple of pieces of the lab’s equipment into a specific position. Jen cocked her head, her interest suddenly piquing – as well as her concern. "Liz, you don’t actually have any of that meteorite still in here, do you? I thought it was very dangerous. Everyone was wearing hazard suits – and I was still the She-Hulk – the last time we worked with it."
Dr. Dietrich looked up from her work, that cheerful smile still on her face, but with a gleam in her eye that had not been there before, and looked decidedly out-of-place with her otherwise happy expression. ‘Something’s bothering her too, I think….’, Jen thought.
"No, Jen, the meteorite itself disintegrated almost completely – along with the substance we were analyzing. Or at least, the largest concentration of it was, anyway. But there remains some samples of the new type of radiation that SHIELD. had discovered, and I have been working with them almost ever since the explosion that, sadly, robbed you of your powers." Elizabeth paused, looking down at her hands as they laid atop the controls of one of the pieces of equipment. Jennifer noticed that they were shaking a little as she tried to key in some command into the instrument’s keypad.
‘No’, she corrected herself, ‘not shaking. More like twitching…’ Elizabeth looked like she was having some difficulty getting her fingers to work properly. And it wasn’t only her hands that were doing that now, either. The muscles in her long arms were now also going through slight tremors – like the doctor was going through withdrawal of some kind. And it was getting stronger. "Liz, are you all right? Liz?"
Elizabeth looked up from the instrument’s panel. Jen’s eyes widened, and she straightened up fully in shock. Her friend’s eyes were no longer the bright blue they had been the last time she had seen them. Instead they were: ‘Black! Her eyes are black!’, the lawyer realized with a jolt. "Elizabeth!", Jen gasped. "What’s going on??"
"W – What do you m – mean, J – Jennifer?", Dr. Dietrich stuttered in response. The spasms were rapidly spreading throughout her body, though they didn’t appear as if part of a seizure or nervous reaction. It reminded Jen more of shaking from extreme exertion – muscle fatigue. Suddenly Elizabeth jerked upright, and then she fell forward, her shivering chest and arms falling over the forgotten piece of equipment.
Jen rushed over to her friend, very much concerned now. "What is it? What’s happening??" She received no answer but a low moan from the younger woman. Heedless of her own concerns, Jennifer placed her hands upon Elizabeth’s shoulders and bent down to try to look at her face. "What is it, Liz? What can I do to help? Please, I want to help.", she whispered. The scientist’s body was still shaking, but it did seem to be a little better.
"G – Get away….."; Elizabeth’s voice was low and muted by her orientation to Jennifer, but she could still here her – and was filled with confusion. "Please - - b – before….before - -" Her voice trailed off, and her left arm began to slide across the panel and moved downwards. Jennifer watched as it moved towards the set of clamps that hung on the side of the instrument. Elizabeth’s arm jarred the clamps slightly, and the two metal pieces touched for an instant. Jen saw a bright blue spark snap when they touched, and she realized that an electrical current was running through them. Before she could warn the scientist about it, Liz’s hand clamped down on them both. She watched the electricity’s actions upon Liz’s form as the powerful current ran through her. Then the current suddenly stopped flowing, and Jennifer thought that maybe a safety cutoff had been activated before any more harm could befall her friend. But it seemed as if Elizabeth hadn’t been hurt in the slightest; in fact, her shaking had stopped completely, though she was still bent over face down over the piece of equipment she had been working with.
Jen then felt an iron-like grip around her far hand. Her brown eyes shot across the back of Elizabeth’s head to see that the doctor had grabbed a hold of Jen’s hand there. But the hand clenching around her own looked nothing like Elizabeth’s. The scientist possessed a golden tan to her skin – one that Jennifer would have loved to have for herself, if only her own skin would do so easily. But the tan was nowhere to be seen in this hand: instead, a greenish color was prevalent as her fingers gripped Jen’s wrist hard. "Elizabeth!", was all that the lawyer could get out, the surprise almost freezing her jaw closed.
Then the scientist slowly pushed herself from the instrument panel, and Jen saw that the greenish hue was covering all of her exposed skin. She looked into Liz’s eyes: they were black pools, and she felt herself being lost in them – as if they were two miniature black holes, sucking in everything they saw, not allowing anything to escape – not even light. Elizabeth turned to face Jennifer, not releasing her hand, but removing it from her shoulder. A strange-looking and frightening smile appeared on her aqua-colored lips, and Jen felt small waves of fear building up within her very soul. ‘This is not the Liz I know - - it’s almost as if she’s – ‘
Her thoughts were interrupted when the SHIELD scientist spoke. "Ahhh, this feels much better….". Her voice was different, filled with a power of some sort, resonating within the vocal chords in Elizabeth’s greenish neck.
Jen took a second glance at the taller woman’s skin. ‘No, it’s not really green…more like a sea-green - - like the ocean…’ She almost laughed at herself. ‘God, Jenny, you’re making observations when something like THIS is happening!!’ But she found that she couldn’t help herself. "Liz?", she whispered.
The woman looked right at her again, that smile still plastered on her face. "It’s me, Jennifer. Ha! Actually, I’M better than that name implies! I can feel the power within me – begging for me to let it out. And do you know what, Jennifer? I’m going to." She began walking towards the one completed instrument bank along one of the repaired laboratory’s walls. She drug the lawyer with her, as Jen couldn’t free herself from Elizabeth’s suddenly powerful grip. She stopped at one end of the set of instruments, opening up a repair conduit. "This panel is only meant to be used on the occasions that these instruments are inoperative. It would be very dangerous for me to place my hand across these circuits…." Her smile increased, and Jen watched in horror as Elizabeth’s free hand shot up and splayed across the open live circuits inside the conduit.
Sparks and arcs of powerful electrical current flowed into Elizabeth’s body, and she screamed in anguish. Jennifer cringed in anticipation of the same pain that she was sure she was going to feel, as well, as Elizabeth had not released her hand. But she felt no such pain – just a slight buzz, as if she were standing close to a transformer. She smelled the ionized air as the current sparked, pumping the voltage and amperage into the scientist.
Elizabeth released the live circuits and staggered back from the panel, still holding the shocked and frightened lawyer in her iron grip. Bits of what looked like lightning still arced about parts of her body, but the mask of pain that her face had been locked it had given way back to that same expression of satisfaction that Jen had seen there before. "Feels – so - - - good.", Liz’s altered voice said.
In fact, her voice was even deeper than before, with a slight metallic-sounding ring to it. Jen realized that the pressure around her wrist was increasing. Her soft brown eyes darted towards her wrist - - to see Elizabeth’s blue-green hand growing around her wrist, making Jen’s hand appear smaller and smaller. Liz faced her fully again, and Jen’s mouth opened in a silent expression of horror as she watched the SHIELD scientist’s body grow, rapidly tightening her clothing against her skin. Her long hair seemed to be changing, its light strands coming out of the elaborate array it had been placed in as it quickly altered colors into a dark shade of aqua blue, spilling across the expanding woman’s shoulders.
Suddenly Elizabeth’s clothing began to come apart under the relentless and very rapid growth of her body. Jen realized that Liz wasn’t just getting taller – she was also becoming more muscular, as she herself did when she changed into the She-Hulk some years ago. Her body was adding more definition along with the height that Liz was gaining. She reached six foot and then quickly surpassed that, her clothing tearing and ripping, her arms and legs becoming more uncovered. Jen watched as Elizabeth’s white shoes split at the toes and heels as her graceful looking blueish-green feet outgrew them. But the lady lawyer saw that the muscles expanding through Liz’s outfit did not appear to have the build as her own had gained through the change. They were larger than normal, but more like an athlete’s – her extra height and thickness of her skeleton pushed her muscles outwards, making them appear larger than they really were. But there was still plenty of extra power in them; Jennifer winced as Elizabeth’s grip increased around her wrist as her hand and fingers swelled.
Then her growth suddenly stopped. Jen craned her neck upwards, looking into Liz’s larger face, feeling the other’s woman’s large hand still wrapped around her wrist. The scientist let out a hearty and gut-wrenching laugh. "You don’t know how good this feels, Jennifer! The power – so awesome! Now I know what you felt like being the She-Hulk - - and I don’t want to go back to my old body any longer! I was so foolish to try and fight this transformation before. I was actually trying to find a way to cure myself of this wonderful power. So stupid. So short-sighted! I’m more than Elizabeth now!" Two identical bits of lightning flashed within the black pools of Elizabeth’s eyes. She rose up her free hand and pointed it at one of the pieces of equipment, palm outward. A sphere of blue lightning shot out from her hand and consumed the instrument. Jennifer watched it almost instantly crumple within the sphere’s powerful embrace. Then it dissipated, leaving a small mass of blackened and fused metal where the instrument had once stood. Elizabeth closed her hand into a fist, and Jennifer watched as the powerful energies crackled around the blueish-green skin of Liz’s fist, less than a foot from her face……..
To be continued
Elizabeth’s strange voice echoed through the lab as she laughed. "I can feel the power within me, Jennifer. I’ve been so closed-minded before. All of those times when I wasted my powers, I could have been putting them to much better use!"
Realization dawned upon the lawyer. "You - - You were the one in the paper??", Jen asked, horrified. ‘All of those people hurt, all of that damage caused - - and it was Elizabeth all the time! I had thought it was me! Why didn’t Reed or myself even think of this? Could the others be like this, too??"
The scientist nodded, her face slowly warping into one of anger. "The power was so new to me – I couldn’t control it. I had these - - urges…. I needed release, and I felt like someone else was pulling the strings." The look of anger suddenly vanished, replaced by that look of satisfaction that chilled Jen to her very core. "Now, however – now I’m in total control of myself again. I can finally put all of my new powers to more productive use. That, tied with all of my scientific knowledge, will once and for all shed myself from this oppressive mediocrity that I’ve been tied down with ever since I joined SHIELD."
‘Huh?’, wondered Jennifer. Though she was still very much afraid of this new Elizabeth, she found herself filled with confusion at Liz’s last statement. "Elizabeth - - what do you mean? I thought you were happy with your position. You seem to have a very important job here, and – "
"Ha!!", Elizabeth thundered, her deeper voice causing Jen to jump inside her shoes. "This position is a joke, Jennifer! My ‘superiors’ have always been jealous of my intelligence and what I could offer. They stuck me down in the bowls of this infernal place to keep me out of the way – to forget about me! They thought this project would keep me ‘busy’ for a while, and out of their hair. Ha! I thought this project a waste of my talents. Then they wanted me to find someone to bring into this project - - and I thought of you. You shared my low opinion of SHIELD practices. And you had so much power available to you, Jennifer; you were the epitome of what I wished I was." Elizabeth brought up her still-closed fist up in front of the ebony pools that were her eyes, the blue-tinged bits of lightning emanating from her blue-green fist reflecting inside them. "Now I know how you must have felt…. So much power at my control! SHIELD WILL recognize me for what I am, now - - or they will suffer for their continued arrogance!"
Jen looked inside of her friend’s eyes - - and saw a different person than the human she knew as Elizabeth. Outside she was nothing like her old self: her much taller body, much of it uncovered by her tattered clothing; the dark-aqua-colored hair that flowed past her shoulders; her black-hued eyes, boring right through whatever she looked at. But Jen realized that is was more than just Liz’s outside appearance that had changed. Her entire attitude had changed. The Elizabeth she had met several weeks ago was happy with her position within SHIELD. She had expressed joy at being placed at the head of the project to investigate the new type of radiation they had discovered. And she had expressed no such reservations about how the people above her viewed her abilities. But the Elizabeth she was talking with now - - well, the only word that Jennifer could come up with was: mad. She was angry at how she thought she was being treated by SHIELD. Jen also recognized that this power she had somehow gained was at the heart of her sudden reversal in attitude and personality.
"How did you gain these new powers, Liz?", she asked quietly. She wanted to help her friend, but she needed more information, and didn’t want to enrage her any further, as Elizabeth seemed to be emotionally unstable as it was.
A smile crept up on the scientist’s thick, dark-aqua lips. "That is what is so ironic, Jennifer. The very projects that SHIELD placed me in charge of to keep me out of the way proved to be my salvation. The radiation somehow gained entry into my body at some point and began working its amazing changes upon me. I was afraid at first, because I did not understand what was happening. My first few transformations were transient – I didn’t have the means then to control what was happening to me. I wandered around in the middle of the night, lashing out at every little thing that bothered me. I would come here some nights, working feverishly to try and discover what it was that was happening to me – seeing if there was some way to stop it, to reverse it. How foolish of me for doing so! I was trying to take away the very thing that would make me better than I had been! This last transformation was the best one I’ve ever had, Jennifer…. It was almost - - erotic, in a powerful kind of way….." Her lids drooped down somewhat, a dreamy look appearing on Liz’s face.
"Liz….Liz!", Jen said, bringing her free had up to touch her friend’s large face to catch her attention. The scientist’s eyes turned down to look into the lawyer’s. "This isn’t you, Elizabeth. Something is changing you. I want to help you. Please - - let me help you…." She began to light brush the back of her hand against Elizabeth’s blue-green cheek, her brown eyes pleading with Liz’s entirely black ones. Jen knew that she was taking a very big chance. She was hoping – praying – that there was some semblance of the woman she knew still left inside this powerful physical shell.
To Jen’s amazement, Elizabeth’s expression seemed to soften; the lawyer could see conflicting emotions swimming inside her ebony eyes – like she was struggling with something inside. "J – Jennifer…..", she whispered, her deep voice much softer than a minute ago. "I don’t know - - what’s going on…. I - - I feel emotions that I didn’t know I had. They frighten me. Jennifer - - - I’m scared…." Her free hand slowly came up and wrapped around Jen’s hand upon her cheek, softly squeezing it. "I didn’t want this to happen. I….tried to keep it inside….tried to find a way to stop it from happening again. But it - - she’s so strong."
‘"She", she said…..’, Jen pondered. ‘As if she were developing another personality.’ A flash of sudden insight broke through her partial confusion like the strobe of a camera. ‘ No, not quite…. Elizabeth is feeling like I was when I first became the She-Hulk………’ She felt empathy flooding through her now, and a lump began to form in her throat. "Liz, I know what you’re going through…. Believe me, I do. Also believe me that I can help you. There are friends I know who can find out what’s happening, and what we can do about it." She smiled up at Liz, whose lips began to curl up into a small smile of thanks……
…..And then it suddenly turned into a wicked-looking grin, and her solid black eyes hardened again. A chuckle came from deep within her throat - - and Jennifer recognized it as belonging to this other Elizabeth. "You tried, Jennifer, you really tried. You almost had me convinced that there WAS something wrong with me. But I know there’s nothing wrong with me at all - - I’m ten times better than I was!"
Jennifer let out a small yelp of pain as both of her wrists began to be squeezed harder within the scientist’s powerful hands. "I thought you of all people could appreciate what I had gained. But I see that you’re just like them. You want to make me weak again, just like you’ve become weak again." She lifted her arms up, and Jen felt herself being pulled off the ground by her arms, her face cringing at the pain in her wrists and shoulders.
"Elizabeth! Please, don’t!", she cried out, afraid at what the tall woman was going to do. "I can help you! Please, let me help you! Don’t do this!"
Elizabeth’s deep voice roared in laughter. "I don’t want or need your ‘help’, Jennifer! You’ve become just like everyone else here, afraid of what I can now accomplish!" She began to walk towards the other end of the laboratory, her blue-green feet stepping out of the ruins of her shoes as her long, very toned legs carried her and her captive towards her goal. She approached a squat metallic container; the bright biohazard symbols shone across her eyes’ surfaces. She shifted her grip on Jennifer, holding her by the neck, bringing her closer to her face. "I will be more lenient towards you, though, Jennifer. You have been a good friend to me, and I was saddened to see you lose the She-Hulk." Her eyes shifted to the container, and then back to the lawyer’s brown eyes, her wicked smile reappearing back onto her lips. The metallic aspect of her voice rang inside Jennifer’s ears as Elizabeth said; "I know you feel terrible without that power any longer. What would you say if I could give it back to you?."
She suddenly turned her body slightly and sat Jennifer atop the room’s only lab stool. Bending over, Elizabeth grabbed a hold of a roll of light steel flashing that was being used for the final touch-up work on the laboratory. Jen watched, her fear ratcheting up yet another notch as Elizabeth picked up the metallic coil and walked towards her, the half-tattered clothing shifting and tightening about her body as she moved. She stopped and began to physically wrap the metal around Jennifer, the metal making low crinkling noise as it was shaped around her upper body and arms, pinning her to the stool’s seat and back. The lawyer wanted to flee – to do something to get away - but she found she couldn’t move, both because of the tough metal now wrapped around her, and the force of her own terror. "You helped me gain this awesomely powered new body", Elizabeth said, an evil smile on her face, "so I want to help you regain yours." She reached down and picked up the heavy container, gesturing to it with a hand. "This contains the last remains of the material from the meteorite. Do you want a closer look?" Elizabeth placed her hand atop it. The area around her hand began glowing as blue lightning flowed from her hand and into the metal. A large patch swiftly became brittle, and the strong metal suddenly flaked from the container, leaving a gaping hole. She set the box atop the small utility table right next to Jennifer’s stool, the hole facing the trapped woman.
"What - - what are you doing, Liz?", Jen asked, unable to take her eyes away from the compromised lead-lined container. She could feel a heat coming forth from it, and new that she was being bathed in high levels of the omega radiation from the meteorite fragments. "Please, Liz - - you don’t want to do this…..please, let me go." The heat seemed to increase – but now it was inside of her, caressing her brain. It was so familiar to her…..
‘No - - NO!! This – this is what I was dreaming about!! I KNOW the nightmare now – I’m living it!!’ Terror gripping her, Jennifer looked towards Elizabeth, who had walked away and was working on something. "Liz - - - please…..", she pleaded, feeling things happening within her body now – things that she knew she didn’t want. But the SHIELD scientist ignored her, not even deigning to turn around.
Jen suddenly let out a loud grunt; her head felt like someone had set off a flashbulb within it. Her body tightened, her hands clamping down onto the light plastic and metal of the stool’s seat. She couldn’t move, as the metal wrapped around her trapped her. There was nothing she could do to stop what she felt was happening. Her nightmare was coming true. She could feel the beginnings of the transformation – a feeling that she had not felt for years. Jen had forgotten just how disorienting, both physically and mentally, it really way. Her body felt like to was being stretched, her skeleton and muscles being rearranged and expanding at the same time. She had been asleep, locked in the throws of her nightmare, the other times this had happened to her. She was wide-awake for this one, however - - and she wished that she wasn’t.
Her face straining with the unnatural sensations of her body changing size and shape, Jennifer opened her eyes and looked down at herself. Although a good portion of it was covered up the by thin metal sheeting Elizabeth had wrapped around, she could see her hands, tightly gripping the opposite edges of the stool. She focused on her left hand, watching it grow, feeling her skin and bones painfully expanding across the metal, her slowly thickening fingers curling farther beneath the stool. Her heart was racing inside her chest, her breathing nearly matching her raging pulse. And with each breath she took, Jen felt herself grow just a bit larger, her body becoming just a bit more defined, a bit taller. And a bit more greener, too. Jen could only watch as the pale green color washed the normal beige pigment from her skin. The metal wrapped around her torso and arms was becoming tighter and tighter, as were the clothes she was wearing. She began to feel the cold metal against her skin directly as the upper sleeves of her blouse began tearing open, her biceps, triceps, and shoulders already more defined than they had been a scant ten seconds ago. Her feet felt like they were going to burst through her sandals. Though she couldn’t see, her pale green toes had already expanded beyond the brown sandals’ edges, the straps skin-tight against her expanding feet. The legs they were attached to by expanding bones, tendons, and muscle, were making their own alterations. Jen’s feet had been a good ten inches from the rubber-tiled floor of the laboratory; they had now made up almost four of those inches back, the tips of her swelling toes touching the floor.
Then everything seemed to stop, as if she had running and then had smacked up against a brick wall. She let out a loud exhale as the transformation abruptly halted. Jennifer leaned her somewhat larger back up against the smaller-feeling stool’s backrest. Some of her hair fell in front of her face – but thicker and darker than it usually was, its strands reaching her shoulders. The pale green hue had completely taken over, and the lawyer felt cool air blowing against parts of her body that her straining clothing no longer properly covered. Her light-khaki slacks were extremely tight around her thighs, which were now larger and more defined, straining against the slacks. There was a bit of slack left in the lower parts of the slacks, but Jen could feel her calves touching a greater amount of fabric than they should have. And they had also risen a few inches above her ankles, having uncovered more light-green skin of her legs. Two straps of her sandals had given way, one from each pale green foot, but the leather footwear still managed to stay on them.
But the physical change was only part of it. Jennifer found that she couldn’t exactly think clearly. Emotions swirled around inside her mind; horror at her present condition; disappointment at Elizabeth for not listening to her; fury at the scientist for doing this to her, and also anger at herself for allowing it to happen. But something else, too, something that Jen didn’t want to acknowledge, but it was too powerful to ignore – and was too close to her heart to deny. Joy. That feeling was mixed in right along with the maelstrom of other emotions vying for dominance in her confused mind. But the joy seemed to touch another part of herself, a part that she had thought she had conquered all those years ago. Joy at the possibility of regaining the She-Hulk. Jen wanted no part of that - - but the feeling was still there, and the lawyer knew that it was coming from herself.
Suddenly she felt a presence close by, and she looked up, her rich green eyes looking up into the solid black ones of Elizabeth Dietrich. The scientist held a confused look upon her blueish-green face – the first time Jen remembered seeing her look at all bewildered. "Are you actually fighting against it, Jennifer? Could it be that you don’t WANT to become the She-Hulk again? I thought that was the one thing you wanted in your life again – to feel strong, powerful once more." She came a bit closer towards the half-changed lawyer. "It appears that I will have to help you after all." With that, Elizabeth suddenly slapped Jen’s pale-green face. She winced with pain; normally the slap wouldn’t have been very painful, but the added strength within Liz’s mutant body amplified her strength many times. She slapped her again. And again. And again.
Jennifer felt the anger building within her, resonating in synchronicity with the pain spreading in her head and neck from Elizabeth’s blows. She knew what the scientist was doing - - and she also knew that it was succeeding. She felt the deep-rooted pain return with a vengeance, and that part of her that was feeling joy resurged within her brain again, though not nearly as powerful as the anger and fear ebbing through her very being. And with those feelings, she felt her body beginning to grow again, her light-green skin deepening its hue. Her slacks inched their way up her lengthening legs again, rips opening up around her thighs when they became too defined and long to be contained any longer. Her feet snapped through the sandals’ remaining straps, the action of her legs growing longer pressing their bare green soles fully onto the laboratory’s floor. Her khaki slacks, tightened with her calves’ continuing growth, also began splitting open, smoother, deepening green being uncovered as her slacks were overcome.
The metal surrounding Jennifer’s chest and arms creaked and groaned as it was forced outwards by her expanding body. Jen felt all of the sleeves from her blouse rip away from her arms, their larger muscles outgrowing the fabric, though remaining feminine throughout the entire process, just as the rest of her body did. Thick, curly dark-green hair flowed down the back of the stool’s rest and down the warping metal still surrounding Jen’s green chest. The metal itself was warping into a most interesting way: it was actually taking on the shape of the growing contours it covered. And those contours were becoming larger and more curved by the second.
One more grunt escaped from thicker, dark-emerald lips, one last small surge of growth and reshaping, and the transformation came to an end. Elizabeth had watched the entire process and had been amazed at what Jen had gone through. Her own transformation had not been so totally altered the scientist’s body; looking into a mirror, Dr. Elizabeth Dietrich was sure that she would still recognize herself. Just the strange hue to her skin and generally more toned and taller frame – not to mention her very different hair – would set her apart from what she looked like before. But Jennifer…… Liz stared at the very large, very powerful, very feminine, and very green form that had once been her lawyer friend - - - and couldn’t say that it WAS her. She looked so different; only a few similarities in her facial features (what she could see through her thick, curly dark-green hair) might have pointed out that the two were one-in-the-same.
She was sure of one thing, however, no matter what her mind knew: Jennifer Walters was gone - - and the She-Hulk was back……..
To be continued
Where - - - Where am I?’
She-Hulk slowly opened her jade-hued eyes, trying to fight the thick cobwebs that seemed to be infesting her mind. She couldn’t remember anything - - where she was, how she had gotten there, or what she had been doing. She had felt like she was finally seeing light and breathing air after being trapped in utter blackness for an eternity. And something else….a feeling that this wasn’t who she really was. ‘WHO am I??’, she thought. The fight against the fogginess inside her brain wasn’t going well; confusion, uncertainty – all were weighing down upon her. It was as if she were having an identity crisis. Somehow, she knew that this wasn’t who she really was; that her thoughts and her physical sensations weren’t truly hers. She closed her eyes again, her green face a mask of confusion. ‘What’s – wrong with me?’
She then heard the sound of laughter from very close by. She-Hulk opened her eyes again, turning them towards the source of the strangely modulated chuckling. They fell upon a woman, but not an ordinary woman. Her skin held a blue-green tint, her body tall, lithe, with a somewhat smooth, muscular build. Her hair was a deep shade of aqua, it’s long, thick, straight strands running down her front, shoulders, and disappearing behind her tall back. The laughter was coming from her lips, and She-Hulk looked into her eyes – and nearly lost herself within their all-consuming blackness.
"I see that my help was not in vain, Jennifer.", she was saying. "Now that you’ve regained your power, you can better understand my point-of-view. Elizabeth Dietrich and Jennifer Walters are gone! Only WE remain!!"
‘Jennifer - - Walters?’ The name seemed to ring inside She-Hulk’s foggy brain, nagging at her, trying to reveal it’s importance to her. She started to move to ask this strange woman more about herself when she found that she couldn’t move. She looked down and saw a mass of steel flashing had been wrapped around her upper body, keeping her body pinned to the stool she found herself on. There was something strange about it as her eyes took it in. The metal had taken on the silhouette of her body, crinkling in some places - - like whoever had wrapped it around her had done so for a smaller body than what she had. This just added to her confusion. But she did know one thing: she knew this wimpy metal couldn’t keep her trapped if she didn’t want to be. The anger that had been in the back of her mind was coming to the fore now, and she felt it’s heat burning within every muscle in her body. With a low growl, She-Hulk pushed her pinned arms outwards, easily forcing the metal bands apart, snapping through them, pieces of warped steel falling to the lab’s floor around her stool.
The confining metal now having been disposed of, the green giantess took stock of her appearance. Her rippling feminine muscles, her long arms and legs, her impressive chest, her thick and un-kept-looking dark-green hair spilling over her shoulders, her green skin - - they all looked familiar, as if that was how she was supposed to look. But she also felt the confusion coming back. Although everything looked right, She-Hulk KNEW that this was not right, that this body was not the one she should have. She was wearing clothes, but they had been ripped and torn so badly that they weren’t covering her large emerald body very well. Again, just like the steel that had been wrapped around her, they looked as if they were meant for someone else – someone smaller and shorter than she was. She felt something beneath one of her bare feet; turning it onto its side so she could look, She-Hulk saw the remains of a leather sandal there, it’s straps broken apart. ‘What is this?’, she thought. ‘I can’t think clearly….too much is going on - - too many emotions vying for control…..’
She-Hulk stood up, pushing herself off the now-small stool with her strong, graceful green hands. She wanted some answers, and this woman standing in front of her – with that amused expression on her face – would provide them. As she came to her full height, that woman spoke. "So, Jennifer, how does it feel to have the power back?"
"Why do you keep calling me Jennifer?", She-Hulk asked. She was slightly taken aback when she did so. The voice she heard, thought she knew it was hers, seemed as wrong as the rest of her. It’s husky tone was too low; she didn’t know how she knew this, but it had the ring of truth about it, just like everything else she had discovered in the last couple of minutes. The anger was returning now – anger at her confusion, at her situation, and at this woman standing in front of her. "Who are you? Where am I? I’m leaving." She-Hulk turned around, roughly shoving the stool out of her way, sending it careening against the nearby wall. She needed to get somewhere more quiet so she could think things over.
All of a sudden she heard the crackling of energy. Before she could turn back around to look for it, she felt a sudden burning impact against her back, and she saw herself being surrounded by some sort of lightning. It’s force sent her to the floor, her body making a dull "thud" against the rubber-tiled laboratory floor. The lightning quickly faded, and so did the burning, leaving a dull ache in its wake. Grunting, She-Hulk turned over on her side and looked back from where she came. She saw the woman – Elizabeth, she had called herself? – facing her, one of her arms outstretched, lighting crackling around her open hand.
"Jennifer, I didn’t say you could leave. I have plans for us."
She-Hulk pushed herself off the ground again, her anger building up even more, feeling like it was spinning out of control. She tried to reign herself in, though - - she wasn’t at all sure what was going on, and she didn’t feel like fighting with anyone. "Whoever you are, just let me go.", she said in a low tone. "I don’t want to fight with you… I’m - - confused."
Elizabeth smiled cruelly. "Then let’s see if THIS will help you out any!" The energy surged within her hand, and she rapidly sent out another sphere of blue-with lightning towards She-Hulk. It struck her square in the chest, causing the green giantess to grunt loudly in pain and staggered back, her body wreathed in the crackling energy the SHIELD scientist had unleashed.
Her smile slowly faded, though, when She-Hulk seemed to shake off the affects of her bolt. Now she was looking square into her green eyes – and took a small step backwards. There was fury in those eyes, directed solely at her. She could almost feel the rage flowing from her. She-Hulk started towards her, her face a mask of anger, her lips snarling, her hands bunched into very powerful looking fists. Elizabeth took another step back, for the first time feeling fear welling up within her. She brought up her hand to deliver another powerful bolt of energy, but she suddenly saw and felt her arm being shoved upwards, the bolt firing into the ceiling, its energies playing about the panels, burning out lights and insulation. She felt She-Hulk’s fingers curled around her wrist, keeping her arm away from her body. Her other arm she found pinned to her side as She-Hulk wrapped her arm around Elizabeth’s side.
The scientist had thought that she had grown large – she was a couple of inches over 6 foot, up from her previous size of 5’9". But Jennifer had grown far beyond that…. She had gained over a complete foot in just height, and then her body had increased in other ways, turning her into the very pillar of feminine-based strength, just like she had been when she had first met her, before she had been hit by the omega radiation. She now felt herself being physically lifted from the floor and carried back from where she came. She tried to override her fear and concentrated. Her body suddenly glowed and crackled with powers, cascading it into the She-Hulk’s green form. She let out a cy of pain and instinctively released Elizabeth, who took a few steps back.
"I don’t want to hurt you again, Jennifer. Just keep back and allow me to depart."
She-Hulk felt the pain fading away again, and looked back at the woman who had caused it. Almost without thinking, she charged towards her and swung a fist into Elizabeth’s face. She connected, sending the woman flying towards the adamantium table – the only original piece of equipment left from the lab’s original setup. The metal was the most durable and toughest man-made substance in existence, and could stand up to about anything. Elizabeth bounced across it and came to a jarring halt on the floor. If it hadn’t been for her enhanced physiology, she most likely would have been critically injured. As it was she was out cold, knocked unconscious by She-Hulk’s powerful blow.
For her part, She-Hulk looked at the fallen woman, and then at her fist. She saw a small spattering of crimson on her knuckles, and knew it had come from the strange woman. ‘No - - that’s – wrong…. I know it’s wrong….’ She felt regret coming upon her now, the anger fading just as quickly as it had appeared. She was also as confused as ever. Conflicting thoughts and emotions swirled in her brain, making it very difficult to think clearly. She slowly walked over to Elizabeth and picked her gingerly from the floor. She laid her onto the adamantium table and looked at her. ‘I don’t want to hurt her anymore – but I can’t just leave her like this, either….. I know her, somehow…. But I just – can’t – remember!’ An idea suddenly popped into her head. She had no idea where it had come from, but it did solve the present dilemma she found herself in. Reaching across the table with both of her hands, She-Hulk grasped both edges and began to bring her arms back towards the center. Grunting with effort, her arm, shoulder, and back muscles bulging beneath the tattered clothing, She-Hulk’s hands began to close the distance between each other, bending and warping the ends of the table with them. The super-metal began to enclose around the unconscious Elizabeth’s upper body, gently pinning her relaxed body onto the rest of the table. She stopped when her hands met, leaving a small gap between the two edges.
‘That - - that should have been impossible!’ Why she had thought that, the emerald heroine didn’t know. But she did know that adamantium was the strongest material on Earth, and that she shouldn’t have been able to do what she had done. She looked at her hands, the uncertainty and confusing ratcheting up another notch. They were HER hands - - but then again, they weren’t…….
She-Hulk suddenly turned around and made her way quickly out of the lab. On her way, she unconsciously grabbed her purse from the floor - - Jennifer’s purse. She didn’t even appear to know that she had done so; she was too intent on getting out of the lab and going somewhere to think about everything that had happened. As she ran down the halls of the all-but-empty SHIELD complex, she felt the rags of the clothing that were draped across her impressive female body, and she felt embarrassment flowing through her. ‘I need to find some clothing. I hope nobody sees me like this!’ But as she ran, she just saw more empty hallways and more closed doors. Suddenly she saw a bank of elevators off to the side, and she changed directions. Pressing the "up" button, she waited, looking over her shoulders, wishing that the elevator would hurry up and get there. One of the doors parted, and she hurried inside. Looking at the various floor buttons, her long green finger pressed the one that labeled the lobby. The doors closed, and she felt the elevator car hum to life, rising up towards her destination.
Abruptly, a wave of dizziness came upon her. She-Hulk mashed the "stop" button and stumbled back and leaned against the back wall of the car. Her mind grew more and more fuzzy, her vision blurring, her insides feeling like hey wanted to jump right out of her body. She rested her head into her hands, not noticing that she was starting to shrink. Her body was steadily losing it’s enhanced physique, the rich green tint of her skin paling, becoming less and less green as the seconds passed. Her arms and legs retracted, her torso shrinking, her breasts contracting, her hair retreating back into her head (having already lost its dark-green coloration and back into a black hue). She-Hulk felt the power draining from her body, felt it getting smaller, but she couldn’t do anything about it. Her skin was a shallow green now, still paling, turning to beige. The torn clothing was fitting her better as each second passed, though it was still as ripped as before. She felt her back sliding down the elevator car’s wall, though she was still standing up straight. Her hair was just below her ears now, lightening up from black to sandy brown. She-Hulk then found that she couldn’t even think any longer. The cloudiness reigned supreme inside her mind. She inhaled, feeling her body coming to a stop………
……….and Jennifer Walters let that same breath out. The fog suddenly lifted, the confusion she had been feeling just seconds earlier gone without a trace. She lifted her head out of her beige hands, turning it from side to side, her soft brown eyes taking stock of where she was. The last thing she remembered was sitting on a stool in the lab, her body wrapped in steel, Elizabeth just having breached the hazardous materials container, filled with particles of the meteorite, emitting powerful omega radiation. She remembered undergoing a partial transformation, her body growing, her skin turning green, the metal and clothes growing tighter around her. Now here she was, inside an elevator car, her clothing no longer whole, not covering all of her body up. She began shivering a little, feeling how cold the car was. ‘How did I get here? What happened to Liz?’ She wanted to find out about the SHIELD scientist, but not before she figured out what had happened to her, and why she had this large blank spot in her memory. ‘And to find some clothes before I freeze or create a scandal.’ She looked up at the elevator’s indicator bar to see what floor she was on, but it was flashing "Stopped". Looking to the panel, Jen pressed the button for the lobby, and felt the elevator kick in.
Twenty seconds later she arrived. Peering around the just-opened elevator doors and seeing no one, Jen silently padded out of the car, her bare feet hardly making a sound against the polished marble. She stopped at a nearby utility closet and, finding it unlocked, opened it to see if she could procure any clothing. Inside, behind a rack of solvents, was a few sets of coveralls. She stepped inside the closet and closed the door behind her. Stripping off her ruined clothes, Jennifer climbed into the coveralls. Opening the door again, she stuck a twenty-dollar bill from her purse (at least she still had that, she thought) into one of the hangar’s clips from where she had removed the coverall. Still seeing not a soul, the lawyer closed the door again and walked towards the main entrance. She passed by the security desk, and the guard gave her a quizzical look.
"This is what happens when you don’t read the labels of some of the chemicals you keep here.", she joked, trying to bluff her way through. The guard smiled a little shyly and said his good nights to her. She returned them and walked through the doors. Wincing as she walked barefoot across the parking lot, she removed the keys from her purse and climbed into her Mystique. ‘I just need to get home and get some sleep.’, she thought. ‘This trip didn’t turn out as well as I was hoping. I still don’t have any answers, and now Liz has turned into some sort of mutant. Can it get any worse?’ Not wanting to think of just HOW it could get worse, Jen started the car and began the long trip home.
A scant ten minutes later, a sleek and powerful aircraft came in for a landing right in front of the SHIELD complex’s entrance. The ramp opened up, allowing a worried-looking Mr. Fantastic out. Taking huge bounds with his elastic legs, Reed bounded through the lobby – much to the surprise of the guard – and into the emergency stairwell. With his powers, it was much faster for him to descend this way than to take the elevator. Down and down he went, taking almost half a floor at a time with his elongating and retracting lets and arms.
He reached the floor he wanted and pushed the door open. He ran down the hallway, his legs eating up the space. Finally he came to his destination – the laboratory that Jennifer had told him about. He burst inside and through the open airlock chamber, into the lab proper. And then he came to a sudden halt. The lab was a shambles. There were scorched remains of metal and other materials strewn about. One large computer panel against the right-hand wall was also burned, all of it’s indicator lights and readouts dark. But what held his attention was the table near the middle of the room. Half of it had been roughly folded up and curled over, as if to encase something. And sticking out from that were a pair of female legs and feet…
Reed was beside the table in one stride, assessing the damage and just who it was that was inside the makeshift prison. He tried to pry the metal ends apart, but found they wouldn’t even budge. He took a closer look at the table. ‘Adamantium? But who – or what – could so easily have warped this table? I know of no being on Earth that is capable of such a feat.’ He peered within the gap to see who it was that had been trapped. He recognized the face of Dr. Elizabeth Dietrich, her beige skin glistening with sweat. Her clothing was in some dishevel, rips traveling through sections. But she otherwise appeared to be okay, although he would not be sure until he could examine her.
He carefully slid her out from beneath the curved pieces of super strong metal and cradled her in his arms. He then began to walk quickly towards the exit of the laboratory, not wanting to jar Elizabeth while using his powers. As he passed by an overturned stool, his boot kicked over a piece of thin metal. He was too concentrated on brining his charge to proper medical attention that he did not notice what was revealed beneath that blackened sheet of steel. There, on the floor and now once again in the open, was a broken leather sandal………….
End of first story
Jennifer’s eyes slowly opened, something awakening her from her deep, sound sleep. Her brain struggled with classifying the sound, though most of her wanted nothing but to fall back into blissful unconsciousness. The sound blared again; this time the lawyer was sufficiently cognizant to recognize the source of the loud noise. ‘The doorbell…’, she thought, groggily getting up from her place of rest. Jen belatedly realized that she had fallen asleep on her couch, and was still clad in the coveralls she had borrowed from the SHIELD complex. The doorbell ran again. "Okay, okay, hold your horses.", she mumbled, walking towards the door, her bare feet patting quietly on the hardwood of the entryway. She parted a few of the blinds beside the front door of the her house and looked out. Her eyebrows rose a little on her face as her brown eyes recognized who it was on her porch. ‘Reed?’
She unlocked and opened her door. "Reed? What are you doing here? I thought you were still in New York?"
Reed Richards nodded slightly. "I was, Jennifer. While I was conducting further experimentations upon yours and the others’ blood samples, I stumbled upon a very unusual reaction to Dr. Dietrich’s sample. I rushed here to talk to her, but I found her in the SHIELD complex, unconscious, but otherwise physically fine. I took her to the infirmary and ran a new battery of tests. The results differed so widely from the results I received from her original blood sample that I was genuinely astonished. Now I’m not sure what this all means, exactly, but I do know that Dr. Dietrich has undergone some sort of cellular mutation that my instruments had failed to pick up previously. Jennifer, I’m worried that the same sort of mutation might have happened to you."
Jen stood stock still for several seconds, her mind trying to absorb the impact of what Reed had just told her – and what she had remembered from the night before. She still remembered nothing from the period of the half-transformation to the time when she found herself in the stopped elevator. And she had been too exhausted when she got home to put any thought towards it; she had simply collapsed upon her couch and had fallen into a blissfully deep sleep. Now that she was becoming more awake, the lawyer was beginning to see where Reed Richards was going with his concern. "Oh, where are my manners? Please, come in, Reed." She stepped aside to allow the leader of the Fantastic Four inside and gently closed the door behind her. They walked the short distance to her couch, where they both sat down. "But what about those other two technicians?", she asked, going back to their conversation. "They were exposed to just as much radiation as Dr. Dietrich was."
Mr. Fantastic shook his head. "I have conducted the exact same tests on their bloods samples as I have on yours and Dr. Dietrich’s. Neither one of them have shown any signs of exposure to omega radiation."
"But – but Elizabeth was wearing a hazard suit just like they were. How could she be affected but not them?"
"I was wondering the same thing myself. I asked to examine her suit, but SHIELD stated that it had already been destroyed to prevent further contamination. I then asked if I could be allowed to view through the security recordings of the accident. It did take some convincing, as they tend to be a secretive group – more so since Fury "retired" – but they finally allowed me to watch them. Upon closer inspection of the recording, I witnessed Dr. Dietrich’s containment suit compromised in her rush to seek shelter from the eminent explosion."
Jennifer stared out into open space as the events from the previous night began coming into clearer focus once more. "Reed - - - I think something is happening. I remember talking with Elizabeth last night, and we went into that laboratory again, because she said she had wanted to show me something. She then changed into - - some kind of super-charged being. I can’t really explain it. And her personality, Reed…that wasn’t the Liz that I have come to know. She was a different person – cruel, impersonal, thinking that the whole world was against her. And she had fantastic powers…..she was hurling electrical bolts around, melting anything they touched. And her strength had increased, as well. I remember now – she sat me upon a stool inside the lab, and wrapped tough steel sheeting around my body. I was pinned, I couldn’t move. Then - - Then she opened up a reinforced containment box that held samples of the meteorite within it. I could feel something seeping inside of me, Reed, like a hideous warm-feeling….. Then it happened again; I began changing, just like what we saw on the video monitor a couple of days ago. Except I remembered everything this time! It was JUST like when I first became the She-Hulk. I could feel the power within me…and yet, something was holding me back from using it. It was like I had no control over it. The change stopped, just like last time, too. I vaguely remember Liz walking over to me, seemingly as puzzled as I was over what had happened. She was thinking that I would change fully and join her in whatever she had planned. I remember her - - hitting me. It hurt so much, Reed! I could feel myself getting angrier with every blow….and then nothing. The next thing I remember I was in an elevator some distance away from the lab……" Jen trailed off, biting the bottom of her lip.
Reed nodded thoughtfully. "Jennifer, I’d like you to come back to Four Freedoms Plaza with me again. With this additional exposure to omega radiation, I’m not certain what alterations have been wrought upon her physiology. Your body has undergone massive alterations in its cellular makeup in the past month, and I’m very concerned about the consequences of those alterations."
But Jennifer shook her head. "I can’t, Reed. I’ve been neglecting my law firm ever since all this started. Philip needs me to be there. He can’t handle the caseload by himself. Besides, I’m not sure that anything at all happened. What if exposure to that radiation just caused another of those half transformations and that’s it? We’d be back to where we started. I’ve had these blackouts before, and nothing I remember really has shown me that this wasn’t’ just another episode. And, to tell you the truth, I feel better now than I have since this all began." She stood up from the couch and walked over to the window, looking out onto the street. "I’m sorry, Reed, but I can’t leave right now. If I feel anything strange, or if this happens again, I will let you know."
Reed Richards, too, stood up, looking worriedly at Jennifer Walters. "If that’s how you feel, Jennifer. I hope that nothing does happening again, and if it does I do want you to contact me." He walked to the front door, which Jen opened. "I do hope you realize that I want to help you. I dislike mysteries, as you well know, and your situation IS a mystery. But you’re also a very good and trusted friend, and I will abide by your decision."
Jen smiled. "I know you want to help, Reed. That’s why I care so much for all of you. I will let you know if anything changes." She opened the door and watched Reed walk down her driveway towards the parked, unmarked car (probably borrowed from SHIELD). He looked back at her one final time, as if to see if she had changed her mind. She waved at him, and he returned her wave and climbed into the car’s driver’s seat. The engine came to life, and the car pulled from the side of the road and drove away.
Jen watched it as it left, asking herself if she had indeed made the right decision. So much had happened in the last weeks. Could it be simply that she just wanted some semblance of a "normal" life again? She had been She-Hulk for years, and then she had been taken from her so suddenly that Jennifer wasn’t sure if it had really happened. Then, just as she thought she was getting over losing all of that power and going back to her pre-She-Hulk life again, there was a possibility that her other self had returned. ‘Why can’t my life stabilize, one way or the other? I’ve lived more of my life as Jennifer Walters, outweighing my life as She-Hulk. While I do miss the power to help people in a physical way, I’ve been helping them through the justice system far longer. Heck, I’ve been helping them that way WHILE I was She-Hulk, too! In a way, I hope she never returns again. I just want to live my life; I want to lead a normal life again.’
She stepped away from the window and walked through the living room, down the hallway, and into her bedroom. ‘I might as well put some clothes on and go to the office. I’m sure Philip is ready to kill me…..’
One week later……
"Jen? Could you come here for a minute? I’ve got something interesting here that you might want to take a look at."
Jennifer stopped typing at her computer and walked over to where Philip was standing, shuffling through some files that he had just come back from the courthouse with. "What’s up, Phil?"
He handed her a single sheet of paper. "Here, look through this and tell me what you think."
She accepted the sheet and began going over it. She found it was a standard form that explained yet another potential case for the firm of Simmons & Walters. But one thing did catch the lawyer’s attention right off. There was a special seal and a small paragraph that was not usually on such forms. The only time they were was for very specific cases - - ones that Jennifer had become adept at handling. She read the seal and the few special lines out-loud:
"File #1462 / Mutant Registration Act
This case falls under the complete jurisdiction of the MRA by the power of the United States Government, under section 143, Paragraph 7-A. This is to hereby inform you that stated client is to follow all stipulations governed under client release documentation."
Jen read through the rest of the paper, which detailed the name and history of the potential client. After completing it, she looked back up and Philip, a gleam in her eye. "Phil, this is just what I need to get my mind off of things. You know how much I love challenging the MRA every chance I get."
Her partner nodded, running a hand back through his short blond hair. "Yes, Jen, you always seem to relish those moments. Which is why I thought this case would be right up your alley." He placed the rest of the paperwork down onto a nearby table and walked with Jen as she traveled back to her office. She sat down in her chair and swiveled it around to face the large fish tank behind her desk. This always seemed to calm her, to help her clarify her thoughts and assist her in making decision. Her brown eyes played about the tank, watching the multi-colored fish swimming around; watched as the beautiful anenomaes, resplendent in their various hues, waved their delicate arms around with the water’s slight motion, swaying as if in a dance.
‘Jenny, old girl, I think you’ve just found a way to get back into the action. I haven’t had any more of those strange middle-of-the-night transformation episodes, and Reed hasn’t found anything more in my blood sample he has at the lab. True, it’s the one I gave to him before the added exposure I received that night at the lab…. But I haven’t felt anything strange, and I haven’t had any more of those blackouts. What’s even better – in a kind of weird sort of thinking – is that I haven’t had to replace any more clothing! I can’t explain how good that feels to anyone else, not having to spend a fortune to buy a new wardrobe every 6 months. The superhero business was great, and I’m glad I was able to help out when I did, but it was tough on clothes.’ Jennifer took her eyes off the fish tank and swiveled her chair around again, looking up at Philip, who was sitting on the edge of her wide desk, shuffling through some assorted knick-knacks. "Phil? I think I’m going to take this case."
Philip looked at her, his eyes holding a bit of concern within their blue pools. "Are you sure? It has been a while since you’ve taken a MRA case. You know how difficult they are to win, or even to get the judge to see the client’s case at all. And with all the time you’ve been taking off recently, and all the things you’ve – "
"Which is precisely why I need to take this case! Look, Philip, I know that you care about me – it seems I’ve been hearing that a lot lately. But I think I need to do this. Events have seemingly been transpiring against me to get back to what I enjoy best – helping people through the legal system. And you do know how much I dislike the MRA, right Phil?" She winked at him.
He rolled his eyes. "Yes, Jen, I know how much you dislike the MRA. Well, if there isn’t any way I can talk you out of it or make you reconsider," – she shook her head – "then I guess there’s nothing for me to do than to back you up one hundred percent. When are you going to start on it?"
"As soon as possible. I want to go down to the complex where he’s being temporarily held and discuss his options with him. But it doesn’t look like I’ll have the chance until tomorrow."
Jen got up from her desk, still talking. Phil followed, shaking his head in wonder. Here was a woman – his partner – who had once been one of the most powerful women on Earth. Now she had lost those powers, but it hadn’t seemed to slow her down hardly at all. She seemed to be right back in the thick of it again, ready to take on another big case – ready to help out one more person. But, although he admired her for this, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat melancholy over the fact. She was so willing to help others in any way she could that she had seemed to miss one person very close to her that needed her help, too. ‘Jennifer, how can I tell you what I’m feeling? How can I tell you - - that I love you?’
To be continued
‘What have I gotten myself into?’, Jennifer Walters asked herself as she walked quickly out of the courthouse. She was just leaving from her first meeting with U.S. government officials, representing the interests of the Mutant Registration Act. The discussion had been fairly short but very stressful – at least for Jen. ‘Those black suits didn’t even look nervous!’, she fretted, descending the last few steps and pivoting to her right to walk down the busy parkway towards the large parking garage. When she had accepted this case yesterday from Philip, she had thought that it would be another chance for her to fight against the often-strict MRA.
‘They either know more than they’re letting on, or they’re up to one of their dirty little tricks again….’ Yet another reason Jennifer disliked the registration of mutants. The government body in charge of enforcing that registration very rarely played by the rules. They would pay plenty of lip service to the clauses inside the MRA that prevented illegal search and seizures, illegal background checks, and many other things that were to keep the body in check. In practice, however, unregistered mutants were usually treated very badly by the MRA. It reminded Jennifer of the camps in California and other states in the Southwest where Japanese-Americans had been interned during the Second World War – for no more reason than they were of Japanese descent. When she had learned this in school, Jen had felt very strongly against it, and when she had heard of the formation of the MRA, she had made a vow to fight against it in any way she could.
As she walked down the street towards the garage, Jen opened up the manila folder once more and looked at the first page, which included a picture of her new client. He was a handsome young man, only 20 years of age, with fairly long dark hair and innocent-looking brown eyes. She began going over what was written below the photo once more, looking up once ever few seconds to make sure she knew where she was going. ‘It says here that this Donald Ratcliff has only been very recently identified as a mutant. Seems as if his power didn’t manifest itself until the last few months.’ She flipped the page, changing her course to follow the slight uphill rise that led to the courthouse’s parking garage. ‘That is somewhat unusual…. Generally speaking, mutants seem to be recognized far earlier than this. But I can see why the MRA is so interested in securing Donald. His seems to have the ability to affect the emotional outlook of people - - something of an outgoing empath. The government, so it seems by this report, is afraid that he would be able to control others through this power. Huh, something doesn’t seem to add up here, though. Why would his power only manifest itself now? It doesn’t even appear that he knows he has this ability, either. I can’t wait to meet this young man. I have a feeling that there is more to this case than I – ‘ "Oommph!’
Right after letting that sound out of her mouth, Jennifer found herself flat on her sore posterior, the folder lying a few feet away, her purse atop it. ‘What did I run into?’, she wondered, raising her head to look up in front of her. There should have been nothing in the way on the sidewalk. Squinting her eyes and holding up a hand to shield them from the bright midday sun, Jen saw the shadowed figure of a person standing right in her way. Jen gathered herself up and slowly stood up, rubbing her backside. "I’m so sorry about that, I didn’t see you there."
She bent over to retrieve her purse and case file when the other person spoke - - and the sound of their voice froze her to her very core. "Don’t mind me, sweetie. I did that on purpose. I thought it past time that we have a friendly little chat." Her eyes wide, the lawyer looked again at the figure. With the sunlight out of her eyes, she now fully could see the speaker – and the huge smile that was plastered upon their face The figure was out of costume, but Jennifer could never forget the person’s face…..
"Yeah, it’s me, snookums.", Mary "Skeeter" Machperran, - known more widely to the world as Titania – said, eyeing Jennifer with a slightly amused expression. "Well, at least I haven’t changed any, Jenny-poo. You look like you’ve lost five hundred pounds! And that purty green skin, too." Titania stepped closer to Jen, who found her feet were rooted to the ground in fear. She had to crane her neck somewhat to look into her old foe’s eyes. She suddenly found herself being lifted off the ground, one of her shoes falling off her foot as Titania’s strong hand hefted her by the front of her blouse. "Not so tough now are ya? I owe you BIG time! My last plan to embarrass you didn’t even work - - you seemed to always lead such a charmed life, didn’t ya? Now look at you – a weakling, shaking in your shoes….. This is better than anything I could think up of! Wait ‘till I tell Crusher about this! Hahaha!!"
Jen seemed to sense that Titania was having more fun intimidating and humiliating her than actually hurting her, and something deep within her was quickly becoming irked at this. That feeling was quickly altering to anger, the fear she still felt helping to fuel that anger. Jennifer didn’t know exactly where this anger was coming from, though - - she was too frightened herself to feel such a strong emotion. But she couldn’t deny that it existed, and was growing stronger by the second. "Mary - - what are you going to do with me?", she asked between clenched teeth, looking directly into the strong woman’s eyes.
Titania laughed. "Do, Jenny? I think I’m doing enough right now! I could easily break you in two - - but why? This is much more fun! In fact, I think I’ll visit you more often, to remind you just WHO the strongest is now! Hahahaha!!"
Jennifer felt herself being thrown to the side of the sidewalk, atop her purse and file. She looked up again to see Mary offering her a flippant salute, then turning around to walk back up the slight hill towards the garage. Jen closed her eyes, feeling her body tightening up as her anger seemed to grow tenfold. ‘She tosses me around like a rag doll, and then has the gall to turn her back on me??!!’ Those words seemed to come form somewhere inside her mind, although Jen could not remember thinking them. Her anger resonated with the words. She opened her eyes to locate her purse and the case file of Donald Ratcliff - - completely unaware that they were no longer brown. The rich green had returned to them as they darted around her surroundings. Jen put a hand up to the nearby concrete retaining wall that kept the higher ground next to the garage in check. Again, she didn’t even seem to notice that not all was as it was seconds ago. Her hand – just like her eyes – had taken on a green tint, although much lighter than her eyes. And the color wasn’t the only thing that was changing in her hand. It’s fingers were spreading out farther along the concrete, their slim forms gradually becoming longer, thickening as they slid across the rough surface.
Jennifer awkwardly stood up, slightly bent over, her left hand resting upon her left thigh. Both were becoming larger, although she still seemed completely oblivious to this fact. The one shoe that was still on was bulging outwards as her enclosed foot grew, her greenish-beige toes and heel beginning to impression themselves more deeply into the dress slip-on. The sleeves of her navy blouse became more and more tight as her arms lengthened. Two identical bulges were rapidly forming in the upper parts of her sleeves as her biceps – toned before – were fed radiation-enhanced cells, causing them to grow larger and longer ever second the change continued. Her navy slacks were likewise becoming more taut against her legs as her thighs and calves swelled with firm, more-then-toned musculature. As she looked down at the ground in front of her feet, Jen brought an enlarging hand up to move some of her hair from her face. It, too, was rapidly altering from its former appearance. The thickening strands had already darkened considerably from their brown color, appearing almost black with dark-green streaks running through it as well. It was also curling, becoming more tussled and unkempt-looking as its strands grew longer and thicker.
She let out a groan, and her straining shoe finally split apart, allowing her darkening-green foot to be freed from its black leather. The slacks were pulling farther away from her expanding emerald feet, Jen’s lengthening legs making the fabric press extremely tight against them. Abruptly two nearly identical rips formed right over her thighs, baring their green-skinned and well-muscled forms, subtle lines rapidly forming in her emerald flesh. The front of her blouse almost looked painted onto her chest. Her breasts heaved and swelled, her abdomen becoming taller, definition forming beneath the straining polyester. Jen drew in a deep breath as the transformation continued – and buttons started popping from her blouse, the fabric roughly being shoved out of the way, allowing her already overstretched and tattered brassiere to fall out of opening blouse. More ripping noises betrayed the action of her back and shoulders, growing taller and widening with defined musculature, also outgrowing the navy blouse, splitting it almost exactly down the middle of her back. Jennifer doubled over a bit more, her growing hand digging into the concrete of the retaining wall as she tired to keep herself upright. Her rich green fingers dug further and further into the wall, sending small avalanches of crushed debris raining down to the grass.
As her thighs continued to grow, her almost teardrop-shaped calves rapidly split the bottom sections of her dark-blue slacks completely open. The ripped up fabric fell off her lower legs, pooling around her still-growing feet. She let out another groan, the hand atop her leg clenching around the long and tight thigh muscles, splitting the upper portions of her slacks even further, her widening hips adding to its struggle. The rest of her blouse came loose just as the sleeves tore from around her forearms after having already risen halfway up them. Billowing dark-green hair spread down Jen’s shoulders and in front of her face – a face that no longer looked like her own. It was undergoing its own alterations in time with her body. Cheekbones shifted upwards; her nose became slightly more pronounced, but also more rounded; her lips, almost the same shade of green as her hair, swelled and pouted; her green eyes grew larger to match the rest of her changing face.
Suddenly it was over as soon as it had begun. Jennifer Walters was no longer present - - the She-Hulk now stood where she had, wearing the torn remains of the lawyer’s clothing, her right hand half-buried into the retaining wall, the other still resting upon her much longer and thicker leg. She stood fully upright and looked down at herself, amazement and embarrassment clear on her face. Amazement at the proportions she now held – the long and sensuously-muscled arms and legs, the tight stomach with slight ripples of muscles beneath the soft skin, her strong yet graceful hands and feet, and her thick mane of long, dark-green hair that billowed out from her larger scalp, curling over her shoulders, back, and some of her chest and face. Embarrassment at how much larger her body was then the too-small clothing she found herself wearing. Her admittedly impressive green breasts were bared for all to see, and She-Hulk felt heat rising to her face, turning it a darker green with self-consciousness. Her slacks were somewhat better, although they were showing off more of her posterior and hips then she was comfortable with in public.
She removed her hand from the crushed-in hole of the retaining wall and ripped the remains of the blouse from her chest, looking around to make sure no one was watching. She-Hulk quickly wrapped it around her chest, covering her breasts as best she could with the tattered cloth. Even though she wasn’t as modest as she was hoping, at least she was somewhat covered now. Which gave her enough time to realize something was different than the last time she had found herself somewhere. She actually remembered things….going to the meeting with the government officials; their short discussion; her walk back towards her car, reading the case file of her new client. ‘No….’, She-Hulk thought suddenly. ‘Not my client - - but hers…..Jennifer Walters. I’m not her - - I’m the She-Hulk! But I can remember everything that happened to her, like it was me who experienced it…’ This was something that she had not been expecting.
But now was not the time to ponder upon such things. She really wanted to catch up to her old friend Titania and teach her that payback was hell – even though it had been Jennifer she had terrorized. She would have to treat it differently. She left Jen’s purse and case file behind, forgotten in her trek up the hill towards the parking garage, her long, all-but-bared green legs eating up the distance much more quickly then Jennifer’s shorter, thinner legs ever could. The jade giantess’ mind almost stopped to wonder upon these unexpected events – this seemingly split-minded feeling she had. But now the adrenaline was really pumping through her body, and she found herself spoiling for a fight with her old nemesis.
She-Hulk reached the top of the hill and looked around, spotting Mary Macpherran walkding down one of the wide isles, slowly walking away from her. She smiled an expectant smile and began walking quickly down the same isle, her longer strides eating up the distance between herself and her enemy. She heard the pattering of her large bare feet against the smooth cement floor of the garage, and hoped that it wouldn’t give her approach away. But Titania seemed to be so wrapped up in her own world that she didn’t even notice when She-Hulk came right up behind her. She grabbed the woman’s shoulder and spun her around. Titania’s face was scrunched in anger at who would dare to do such a thing to her - - and then that expression quickly melted into one of astonishment.
"S- She-Hulk?? Is that you?", she asked, her eyes wide.
The green Amazon nodded, the smile still on her face. "It’s me, honey. I couldn’t help but see you roughing up poor Jennifer Walters a couple of minutes ago, and I had to come up here and help her to settle accounts."
"But – But – But I though YOU were Jennifer??"
She-Hulk shook her head. "No. I’m the new She-Hulk, and I’m a very good friend of hers."
Titania’s surprised expression changed once again, this time into one of eagerness. "Then it’s time we were properly introduced!" Before She-Hulk could react, the other woman had struck her full-force right across her face. She-Hulk flew backwards into a nearby parked car, crushing into the back seat. Mary winced, holding her fist with her other hand. ‘That - - hurt! It never hurt that much before when Jenny and I tangled. This new girl’s a lot tougher than she was. I need to keep this quick.’ She watched as She-Hulk pulled herself from the wreckage of the car. "Haha! I would never have caught old Jenny-poo that easily! You’ve got a lot to learn about being She-Hulk, girlie! And she always dressed better than that, too! What is that, anyway – some kind of wacked-out swimsuit??"
She-Hulk felt her anger building up at Titania’s words. She growled and came at the super-powered criminal. Titania swung her fist right at her again, but this time she managed to catch it in her own green hand. She began to squeeze, and the woman let out a pain-filled cry. Releasing her, She-Hulk bunched that hand into a fist and struck at Titania, catching her in the gut. She flew across the wide isle and into a parked car on the other side. The force of her blow actually sent the woman all the way THROUGH that car and partway through another before she came to a stop. She-Hulk walked across the isle and began to make her way around the first car. She hadn’t meant to hit Titania that hard. She felt stronger than she ever had before. Something inside of her told her that she wasn’t any larger or more muscular than she ever had been before as She-Hulk. But still her strength seemed to have increased dramatically. She wanted to make sure that she hadn’t seriously hurt Mary.
As soon as she made her way around the car, she was struck in the chest by a car door. The metal itself bent easily around her body, but the impact itself staggered her somewhat, and she found herself stumbling back against the wreck of the car Titania had passed through seconds before. She shook her head a little and looked to where the Detroit-made missile had come from. Titania was just then standing up, a few rips evident in the clothing she wore, one of her shoes gone. But she still had a defiant expression on her face. "If you think that little love tap is gonna stop me, Green Genes, then you got a lot to learn about Titania!" Then she cracked an evil smile and laughed out, "It also looks like you gotta lot to learn about modesty, too! Hahaha!!"
She-Hulk looked down at herself and saw that her makeshift top had been snapped apart, probably by the impact of the thrown door. There was nothing now to hide her impressive chest and bust, and she once again felt embarrassment flowing through her. Titania’s laughter only made it worse, and She-Hulk could feel her anger returning full-force. She was the She-Hulk!! She would not be made fun of like this!! "GRRRRR!!!!", she howled, standing back up from the wrecked car. "I’ve had it with you!" She approached Titania, a viscous sneer on her face.
For the first time since that fight she had had with Jennifer in front of the Supreme Court building less than a year ago, Mary felt fear at facing the She-Hulk. While Jennifer Walters had been She-Hulk, not only had Mary been on par with her in terms of strength, stamina, and resistance to physical injury, but Jennifer had always tempered her She-Hulk side with her morals and sense of right and wrong. However, as she looked into this She-Hulk’s face as she approached, Mary knew that this was not Jennifer Walters. This She-Hulk was MUCH stronger and tougher than Jenny ever was. And the look in her eyes….. Titania gulped, trying to keep her fear from showing. "Yeah, come here and get your tailed whipped just like Jenny always did.", she quipped, feigning a sense of confidence she did not feel.
She-Hulk growled loudly again, almost within arms’ reach of her foe. She saw Titania dodging to the side, getting ready to deliver a blow to she side of her head. But She-Hulk was faster; her strong left arm darted out, grabbing Mary’s right arm in an unbreakable grip. She moved her body around, swinging the hapless Titania around with her. The super criminal plowed through the wrecked car again, this time through the front, and then exited out the back. She-Hulk let her go, sending Titania flying away from her, to come crashing down onto yet another car, activating more than one car alarm with the impact. The jade giantess ran towards her fallen foe. Mary’s eyes were slightly glazed, but she tried to strike at her. She-Hulk yanked her from the large impact spot in the car and punched her right in the face. Mary sprawled backwards, sliding across the smooth cement floor, and came to a stop when she hit one of the large cement support beams.
She-Hulk walked over to her and stood above her unmoving body. She was still alive, but unconscious. The Amazon suddenly shook her head, her fierce expression dissolving away to be replaced by one of confusion and fear. What had she been thinking? She had actually wanted to really hurt Mary! That wasn’t right - - her gut told her that it wasn’t right to feel that way. The blaring of the car alarms around her finally galvanized She-Hulk into action, and she began running back towards where she knew Jennifer had parked her car. How she knew that didn’t even enter her mind – it was more like instinct, something she just knew.
She reached the silver Mystique just as she felt herself beginning to grow weaker. She didn’t have the car keys, so she wrenched the door handle right off and physically bent the lock apart as she opened the door. She-Hulk crawled into the passenger’s seat, feeling something odd happening to her green body. ‘The transformation! I’m changing back to Jennifer!’, she realized. But she found she didn’t want to fight it. So much had happened, and she just wanted to rest. Her eyes were half-lidded as her body shrunk, the rich green hue of her skin rapidly fading, turning more of a beige-green, her naked chest and shoulders narrowing and shortening, her breasts losing their added firmness and size, regressing back to their normal forms. Her hair retreated back towards her head, the curls straightening out again as the strands thinned and lightened, the dark-green completely gone from it. Her face changed shapes again, her cheekbones lowering and becoming less pronounced, her lips becoming thinner, her nose shrinking.
She moaned, her skin now beige with just a hint of pale green. Her arms and legs had lost almost all of the radiation-enhanced muscles they once held. Her hands and feet grew smaller, fingers and toes thinning out again. Her hips rapidly retreated from their straining positions against her slacks until they looked stretched out around her thinner waist. Her hair finished turning from black back to its normal dark-brown. She blinked her green eyes, feeling the transformation beginning to come to a close. She blinked them again; this time when they reopened, they were once again a soft brown.
Jennifer let out a breath, a strong sense of confusion very prominent inside her mind. ‘Wha - - What happened? Where am I?’ The disorientation was so strong that she didn’t even recognize the inside of her car until she looked around the inside of it. "How did I end up here?", she asked out-loud. The last thing she could remember, she was outside of the parking garage, right after Titania had dropped her back onto the ground after making fun of her. She looked down at herself - - and immediately covered her chest up upon discovering that her upper body was fully exposed. Her slacks, too, were in almost complete tatters. ‘What happened??’ Almost before she had that inner question out, the answer came to her. ‘It happened again - - I must have changed! But I don’t remember anything about it!’ Looking around her car, Jen realized that neither her purse nor the files she had been carrying were around. Cursing under her breath, she stretched into the back seat and lowered one of the seats to get into the trunk. There she picked up a tank top, a pair of running shorts, and a pair of tennis shoes. Praying that nobody would walk by, Jen changed out of her tattered slacks and put the other clothes on. Getting out of the car, she winced at seeing what had happened to her car’s door. ‘Seems as if the She-Hulk is as direct as ever….’, she muttered to herself. She closed the door and walked back to where she had last remembered being.
There, she found her purse and files, still where she remembered leaving them. She picked them up – and the scraps of cloth, the torn brassiere, and her pair of shoes she had apparently gone through during the change. On the way back to her car, Jennifer found her mind was torn. What should she do? She had promised Reed that she would call him back if anything strange happened - - and transforming into the She-Hulk and not being able to remember anything about it definitely came under that definition. But she also was about ready to start a new case, and wouldn’t have any time for the tests and things he would want to perform. ‘I can’t just pick up and leave Donald to the mercy of the MRA….’
So she made up her mind not to mention anything about this, and just pretend it never happened. She would wait until after this case was over, and then she would take some more time off from her law firm to see what was going on. ‘I think I can hold out that long.’, Jennifer thought. ‘This case shouldn’t take all that long, and then I’ll have time to think about what all has been happening.’
At least, she HOPED she would have that time…………
To be continued
A nightmare. That’s what it had to be. It couldn’t be real……
Jennifer Walters was running - - running from something. She did not know what, but it filled her with fear. Not only fear, but also anger. The unknown that she was running from caused her to feel such emotions. She could not control it, could not contain it; it was threatening to take her over. She ran and ran, not caring where she went or how much her lungs were burning from the exertion. But it didn’t matter how far or how fast she ran. Jen could feel the nebulous "thing" chasing after her, catching up to her with ever second that passed.
Suddenly she tripped on something – she went sprawling across the ground, feeling what little air remained in her strained lungs violently expelled with the jarring impact. Gasping, Jennifer turned over onto her side, looking back from whence she came – trying to spot her pursuer. She tried to get back up to her feet, but her legs wouldn’t support her. The fear and anger grew in intensity within her, and she grimaced with the effort of trying to keep them in check. Her body was going rigid – she found she couldn’t move anymore.
A shape appeared in the distance, rapidly coming closer and closer. Jen spotted it, her brown eyes wide. She willed her body to get up and flee, but it would no longer obey her. Instead she found herself locked to the ground, as if she were shackled to it – a prisoner within her own mind. The shape grew closer still, defining itself into the figure of a person, though Jen could not distinguish its true size and shape. The fear intensified the closer this figure approached. She opened her mouth to scream - -
Jennifer’s eyes popped open and she gasped loudly, her body shooting out of her chair. Her heart pounded relentlessly, her mind awash in extreme emotion. She brought her hand up quickly and settled it upon her breast, feeling the skin jump madly beneath her palm with her heart’s rapid pulsing. This felt very familiar to her – too familiar. Her mind flashed backed to a point some years ago, shortly after Bruce Banner had given her the life-saving transfusion of his own blood. Neither one of them had any idea what changes his gamma-infused blood would have upon his younger cousin. Whenever she had felt just like this – whenever her fear or anger or agony grew too strong – the transformation would come upon her. She would feel her body changing, growing, and becoming stronger, more powerful. Her mind, too, would change, although in more subtle ways. She would become more emotionally driven, tempered only by her intact intellect. Those first months she dreaded every time it happened.
And she was sure that it was going to happen right now. Her emotions were in turmoil, her heart was beating rapidly, the adrenaline flowing freely through her veins and arteries. She was sure that the gamma radiation she was permeated with would force that transformation upon her……
Jennifer Walters abruptly came to full cognizance. She looked at her surroundings; she was in her office at Simmons & Walters, and paperwork was spread across her desk. ‘Wait a second - - it doesn’t happen like that anymore. I’m not the She-Hulk any longer. And even if I were, I wouldn’t be afraid of her. I WAS She-Hulk for years! Then Reed Richards saved my life, annulling the destructive omega radiation I was exposed to. In the process, I lost my powers, and the She-Hulk, as well. Then Liz took me back to that lab weeks later. She became someone else – SOMETHING else. I was again exposed to omega radiation…… And that’s all I can remember. Twice now I’ve "woken up", as if after a feignting spell, and found myself not where I remembered I was, my clothing destroyed. My God I think it’s happening again…..’
The lawyer felt her heart rate slowing down; her mind was gathering itself back together, getting her emotions back under her control. ‘But I don’t know for sure! I can’t remember anything during those two periods. Almost anything could have happened; I don’t want to discount anything yet – keep my mind open. And even if it IS happening again, and I AM becoming She-Hulk, why should I be afraid? I loved being her, after all. Is it because I was just getting over losing her for what I thought would be forever? What happened to Liz did shake me up. I’ve seen all kinds of things, as an Avenger, a member of the Fantastic Four, with Fantastic Force, and as a lawyer. But seeing sun that lab was nothing like the one I know. Could that be why I’m so afraid? Do I think that what happened to Liz could be happening to me, too?’
"Jen?"
She jumped again, looking quickly up to see her partner, Philip Simmons, standing in her office’s doorway, a look of concern on his handsome features. "Phil! Haven’t you heard of knocking? You about scared me out of my skin!"
He stepped into her office walking up to her wide desk. "I did knock, Jen. You were staring off into space again. What’s wrong? Is it about the Ratcliff case? Is there anything I can do to help?"
Jennifer shook her head. "No, it’s not about that. Just - - thoughts, Phil. I still haven’t been sleeping that well at night. You caught me just waking up from a nap I didn’t even know I was taking." She smiled and sat back down in her large, comfortable leather chair. "Thanks for your offer of help, too. I think I can handle this own just fine, Phil. Besides, don’t you have quite a caseload, yourself? I wouldn’t want you to lose any of your own cases just because you were overcome by a feeling of chivalry." Jen winked at him, gathering up some of the papers into a pile.
Philip laughed, plopping down into one of the chairs on the other side of Jen’s desk. "My dear Jennifer Walters, you underestimate my abilities! I am not only a very good lawyer and litigator, but also an excellent listener." He sat up straight in the chair and looked at his partner. "Please, indulge me."
"Phil, you’re incorrigible!"
"Try me."
Jen sighed, looking into Philip’s light-blue eyes. "I – I wish I could, really I do. But I would only confuse you, and I don’t want my reputation to be smudged just because I can’t handle some of my own thoughts." She tried to give him a playful grin, but it died on her lips. She sighed again, standing back up and turning her back on Philip. She stared into her large fish tank, watching the multicolored, multi-species fish swimming in peace and tranquility. "I don’t doubt your word at all, Phil – about being a good listener. I guess I’m just not a very good talker."
She heard footsteps approaching her from behind, and she saw Philip’s faded reflection in the glass of the tank. She felt him put a hand upon her shoulder. "Jennifer, what is bothering you? You never had any problems at all with telling me what was on your mind before. In fact, I can remember one or two times when I had to keep you from saying things that would have gotten you in big trouble." Jen felt a small smile tugging at her lips with the memories his words induced. "Even though you aren’t She-Hulk any longer, you can still tell me anything. You know that, Jen."
The female attorney turned slowly around and looked into her partner’s eyes. They were totally open, expectant, and non-judgmental. Without really thinking, Jennifer closed the small distance between them and placed her lips over Philip’s, slowly embracing him. As they kissed, Jen wondered at why she was doing this. ‘It just somehow feels right…’, she answered herself.
The parted; Jen smiled at Philip’s look of surprise, his face a little more red then it had been. "Now look who’s unexpressive.", she teased. He said nothing, and she began to worry inside. ‘Oh no… Did I do something wrong? Was I too forward? She-Hulk never worried about it – that was just her nature. She was MUCH more forward and outgoing than I am. I guess I had just gotten used to it. But what about Philip? Could I have somehow shattered the friendship the exists between us?’ She took a step back from him, beginning to turn away. "I - - I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking."
Before Jennifer turned away completely, she felt two strong arms gently grasp a hold of her shoulder and turn her back around. Phil leaned forward and down and instigated another kiss between them. She felt herself nearly melting in his strong and caring grasp. All thoughts of a few minutes ago were forgotten; all there was now was what existed between herself and Philip Simmons. This kiss lasted far longer than the previous one had. When they were finished, it was Jen who found herself warm under the collar and slightly out of breath.
"You don’t have to apologize for anything, Jennifer.", Philip whispered. "It’s I who should. I love you, Jen. I have loved you for a long time now. But I have been afraid to tell you or show you. And now I feel like I have jeopardized our friendship together."
A puzzled expression came upon Jen’s face. ‘That’s exactly what I was thinking before!’ "Why do you say that?", she asked out-loud.
"We’ve been partners for a long time, haven’t we? I know of your good friendship with Wyatt Wingfoot. I don’t want to come between you two at all. I’ve also been - - intimidated, I guess is the best word – by you while you were the She-Hulk. Those two things combined have kept me from telling you how I’ve felt about you. I first thought that, because you weren’t She-Hulk anymore that things could be different between us. But though my love hasn’t weakened, I see that was a foolish line of thought. I can’t expect you to change your opinion of me."
"You – You love me?" Jen was in shock. "Oh Phil……. I love you, too. I could never bring myself to tell YOU how I felt as She-Hulk, because I wasn’t sure if what you said would be coming from your heart." She laughed, feeing a sense of relief come upon her. "Look at us! Two star-crossed people, in love with each other, and neither having the courage to admit it to the other! What would our friends say?"
Philip chuckled shyly. "Who knows? They’d probably call us crazy." His face turned a little more serious again. "But what about Wyatt, Jen? What would he say?"
Jennifer took his hands into hers, looking into his blue eyes. "Wyatt is a wonderful friend, Phil. And that’s all he is now. It’s true that we once had a stronger relationship, but we both eventually realized that things would not work out for us to stay together. He had the leadership of his tribe to claim, and I had my legal career, and neither wanted to give those up. I’m not going to let that get in the way of any future relationship, Phil. Especially if it’s between us….."
She let his hands go and walked behind her desk again. "Let me get some more prep work done on the Ratcliff case, and then I’ll treat you to dinner, okay? And this time we’ll leave work completely out of it. It will be a REAL dinner." She smiled at him, and Phil felt elation at her words.
"Sure Jen." She watched him walk out of her office, and she sighed, looking down at the case files.
‘He’s really been in love with me all this time? And he was intimidated by my being She-Hulk and my friendship with Wyatt? I never knew…. I’ve wanted to hear those words from him, because I feel the same way about him. I was afraid that my feelings would not be returned. This is a lot to think about.’ Jennifer placed the papers back into the manila folder and looked at her watch. ‘Almost ten….. I need to get down to the courthouse and meet my new client. I’ll have to think about this more later, and talk with Phil about it over dinner tonight.’
She stood up, pushing her oversized office chair up to her desk. She raised the long lid over the fish tank and, after unscrewing the lid from the large bottle of fish food, shook a fair amount into the water. "There you go, guys.", she said quietly. The various species immediately swam up to the top of the tank and began eating away at the brown and green flakes that floated there. "Wish me luck", she said to the fish, lowering the lid back down onto the top of the tank. Picking up the manila folder, Jennifer walked out of her office and made her way across the front lobby area and to the doorway of her partner’s office. "Phil? I’m going off to the courthouse to meet with Donald Ratcliff and his MRA representative." Her tongue felt like acid had rolled across it when she had said those last two words. "I should be back around 3 or so."
"Good luck to you, Jen.", Philip returned. "Are you sure you don’t want any help with this?"
Jen gave him a playful scowl. "Hey, just pay attention to your own cases, partner. This one’s all mine. The government may very well find itself hard-pressed to keep my client bound by the Act. But thanks for the offer." She waved to him and walked from his line of sight.
Philip Simmons sighed, his thoughts wandering from his work. He had just given her what could have been the most important revelation of his life - - and she had taken it in stride. She evidentially wanted to see him on something more than a professional basis, as her invitation to dinner that evening proved. But how seriously had she really taken his words? He always had a problem with expressing himself. He hid his feelings behind jokes and his professionalism. He wanted Jen to know how much he did love her. ‘Tonight.’, he promised himself. ‘Tonight at dinner I will fully explain to her.’ Satisfied with his decision, Phi
