I landed on a quinjet in Astrodactyl form, changed into Four-Arms, and grabbed the steel wings with all of my limbs. “This is your stop, fellas!”

With that growl, I pulled, steel squealing as it resisted my clenching muscles before splitting apart. I clenched my feet into the roof of the Quinjet as it fell, tossing the wings I’d stolen like frisbees at another Quinjet as it fired bullets at me that bounced off my red skin. The Quinjet was sliced apart by the spinning wings, blowing apart in the air and hurtling down.

The one I was riding on crashed down on a tank, sending me into the air. As I flipped, I tapped the Omnitrix, shifting into Fasttrack form, then shooting across the field at super-speed.

“Hey!” Quicksilver ran past me. “Having fun!?”

“Oh, just scared there isn’t enough for all of us!” I lied.

Hydra may have been on their last legs, but their army had been massive before all the chaos the Avengers had done to them. This must have been everyone they had left. Good, since we wanted to eradicate them. Bad, because the numbers game was more even then I wanted.

I punched a normal Hydra soldier about to shoot a Chinese man in the face, knocking him out at super-speed, then tapped the Omnitrix and shifted into Rath as a Gamma-Hydra came towards me. He was around Hulk’s height, but his right arm was immensely misshapen, bleeding where muscle had split skin, his right eye bulging out enough to make it look like it was pushing his skull out of shape, teeth broken and mouth drooling.

“LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING GAMMA POWERED SOLDIERS OF HYDRA,” I raised my paws, claws extended as I prowled forward. “RATH WILL BEAT YOU SO HARD THAT YOU WILL CHANGE COLOUR FROM GREEN TO PURPLE WHEN RATH IS DONE INTRODUCING THE GROUND TO YOUR FACES!”

The guy didn’t seem to register what I said. He ran at me, a full couple of tons of anger and muscle. I had a half moment to picture how we looked. Me with my claws out, jumping over the rushing green muscle monster in a forest covered in snow. I felt a sense of recognition with the imagery that I didn’t understand.

He slammed into the ground long after

“IF YOU COME AT THE RATH,” I stabbed him deep in the shoulder, my claw bringing up red and green liquid while his tough skin and muscle fought against me. I ripped my claw out of his body. “YOU BEST NOT MISS!”

“SCRACHHHHHH!” the screaming response came through broken teeth. The Gamma-Hydra spun with surprising speed and punched at me.

I crossed my arms as a fist the size of my chest hit me, sending me sliding upright backwards. I came to a stop and lowered my arms. I flashed my fangs. “That kind of hit… makes Rath think he’s wasting his time! AND RATH DOESN’T WASTE ANYTHING! RATH RECYCLES!”

The Gamma-Hydra ran towards me. I crouched in place, claws bared. Just as the Gamma-Hydra was a few feet from me, I stabbed out with my claws. Aiding by the force of his charge and my own super-strength, the claws dug deep. The rest of his mass hit me hard, only to find me unyielding, the body of the giant monster folding around me like a semi-truck hitting a thick concrete pole.

I kicked the now dead man away, Rath’s anger filling me. Three more Gamma soldiers came from the woods. I raised my claws, snarling, when a green blur flew over my head. A sound that echoed in the forest came from that blur, a voice that resonated with me.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"

The roar from a throat attached to over a ton of emerald fury and claws was followed by Battle Cat hitting one of the Gamma-Hydras. The sound of two giants hitting and ripping into each was followed by Battle-Cat roaring, the Gamma-Hydra he was fighting doing the same.

Two others ran at me, and I raised my claws.

“LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING HYDRA-MORONS- ENHANCED-BY-RADIATION! RATH DOESN’T HAVE RADIATION ENHANCEMENT! JUST RATHIATION ENHANCEMENTS! AND THAT’S ALL I NEED TO KICK YOUR BUTTS! YAAAAAA!”

I screamed, hitting the pair with my claws out and fists smashing into my grinning face.

------

Maria Hill/Director of BRIDGE

Maria looked at footage of Dial in Rath form slicing and punching a Gamma-Hydra woman, getting some broken fangs when she punched in the jaw, only for him to laugh and get more into the fight. Behind him, the tiger he’d once rescued ripped out the throat of another enemy, his broken right paw healing quickly enough that he could run to join Rath.

Maria pulled back the footage. “Good… Dial’s doing his job.”

Across the forest, Hydra soldiers were moving to several key locations. Namely, wherever they saw the biggest perceived threats. Thor flew above the battlefield before crashing into the ground in a crash of lightning and fury. Hulk and She-Hulk were duking it out with a group of Hydra tanks, shells bouncing off of them. Tony rocketed into a Quinjet, blue lights shown from within, then he came out of it again as it exploded.

Fantasma, Songbird, and Darkstar were flying over a section of the battlefield just in front of where the Behemoth Helicarrier was disgorging more soldiers and vehicles. Fantasma had raised those strange violet mandalas she could create in front of the soldiers, Songbird had created shields of pink sound as she floated on fairy wings, and Darkstar forced aside a mortar shell with an eruption of black energy tinged with yellow.

They weren’t winning though. Despite how many people and soldiers they’d brought, Hydra was still fighting furiously. Gamma-Hydra soldiers were tearing apart men and women where people were unable to take them down. A Russian soldier was atomized by a Chitauri armored man, before a Mikhail Ursus in full bear form could jump up and maul the flying soldier.

A jeep rushing through the snow was blown away by a HYDRA Uber-Tank, a relic of World War 2 brought back to the present and killing good soldiers. Chernobog came from the jeep's remains and sped for the Uber-Tank, ripping into the steel of the tank to begin his assault.

“Come on, Strucker,” Maria whispered to herself. “This isn’t all you have…”

Natasha, standing in front of her, shared a look with Maria, then raised a hand in a signal. Acknowledging the signal with a nod, Maria turned around. General Buckler, Nick Fury, and Victoria Hand were standing around a digital table with a Chinese and Russian general, both of whom had grim looks on their faces.

The Russian general was named General Greshkov. He was a tall and broad shouldered man, with bald head and eyes sunken into a face wrinkled by years of stress.

General Lo Chien, the Chinese general, was a younger man, with arms tight with muscle and long cut along his cheek that was cracking across his nose. He was wearing fatigues, just like Buckler and the Russian general, and had the look of a grumpy old soldier.

Maria crossed her arms, her long coat flowing as she went over to the table.

“The F22’s are doing what they can to provide support, but they’re getting torn up,” Fury said with a grimace.

“And our main soldiers are getting killed,” the Chinese man spat out. “Why aren’t the Avengers and BRIDGE protecting them!?”

“They are,” General Buckler scowled. “Don’t put the deaths on them. This is war. Casualties are happening. Or you want to tell me STRIKE members are dying because BRIDGE won’t protect their own?”

General Lo Chien scowled, while Hand tapped her chin thoughtfully. “We’re making progress across the battlefield at least.”

“I don’t like it,” Maria said. “Strucker isn’t the type for a last stand without a purpose. For all the damage Hydra is doing, they can’t win this.”

“You think it is a trap?” General Greshkov asked.

“I know it,” Maria chuckled. “We were always coming here. But Strucker forcing our hand tells me he wants a fight. He’s looking to prove something to the world. This war is one of ideals. But the only way he can prove anything is if he has a trump card in hand.”

“What will it be?” Lo Chien asked.

“We have our suspicions,” Hand said, brushing back her pink striped hair.

“They don’t matter for now,” Maria waved a hand, the hologram before her shifting. A shifting green mass of muscle grabbed a soldier and ripped him in half, Buckler wincing.

“Goddamn.”

“Flux,” Fury snarled.

“Who?” General Greshkov asked, confused.

“Someone that the Grapplers gave us intel on,” Hand said.

“Your pet prison unit?” Lo Chien asked critically.

“The men and women who have fought and sacrificed for this world for the last three months, yes,” Hand smirked. “Including for that little problem you had on the Great Wall-”

“We had that handled before you-” Lo Chien closed his eyes and sighed. “Okay. Who is he?”

“A former SHIELD agent. Low-level. He was a Private First Class in the Army before that, but never anything special as a soldier. Psychological testing showed unresolved issues with his mother, including a whole host- well, that doesn’t matter. Point is, he’s a bundle of issues, decided to defect to Hydra during the uprising, and was given gamma powers. In fact, he’s one of the few people on Earth with an actual Gamma gene.”

As Maria explained that, she brought up the locations of every superhuman asset close to Flux. He was currently attacking a group of normal US Marines. Maria luckily found the perfect person to stop him.

“She-Hulk, I have a job for you.”

------

Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk

“Kinda doing something!” Jen shouted as grabbed a Centipede soldier that had been shooting at a Russian soldier, tossing him up into the air. The Russian soldiers was joined by two Chinese men, the trio shooting at a female Centipede soldier.

A tank smashed through the woods, rolling towards the three soldiers and firing it’s machine gun. She-Hulk jumped in front of the bullets while the Russian and Chinese soldiers ran behind a boulder. Jen reached for a tree next to her and ripped it out of the earth, dirt clods falling from it when she tossed it like a javelin. The pine stabbed into an enemy tank, all the plating in the world not enough to stop a tree as thick as a man’s waist from smashing through it.

An M1-Abrams rolled past Jen, firing a laser beam to finish off the tank she’d just attacked. A laser beam…

“There are so many weird things happening today,” Jen mumbled, looking up briefly to see Thor flying high above. The God of Thunder summoned a bolt of lightning that smashed into the forest somewhere. A moment later he deflected a bolt of energy off his hammer and flew in the direction it came from.

“She-Hulk, focus,” Maria said. “Flux is on the battlefield. We need you to take him out. Head south!”

Flux? Damn, he was someone they’d all been warned about.

Jen crouched and jumped, entering the sky. All around was chaos. Bullets, energy bolts, superhumans, and vehicles rushing about the ground and in the sky, the sounds of screaming soldiers and monsters. Below she could see Steve Rogers on a motorcycle that must have been dropped down for him, rushing through the forest as he tossed his shield.

Then Jen landed and ran forward. She could hear someone screaming something. He was crying like a small child. She smashed through a tree and landed in a clearing.

The person screaming wasn’t who she’d expected.

“YAAAAH!!” he was like a walking shifting tumorous green man. He was crying even as he roared. He wore a pair of ripped camo pants and a black tanktop that looked like it was barely holding on. And he was squeezing a soldier in his fist. Behind him, an M1 Abrams had been ripped in half, blood splashed on the ground. One man was crawling away as the monster approached.

Jen ran forward, flipped into the air, and smashed both feet into Flux’s face. For a moment, time froze. She almost imagined she could feel his face shapeshifting under her boots. Then he was sent flying back into a boulder, shattering it. THe soldier he’d been squeezing fell to the ground, gasping, then crying.

“Run!” Jen told the man.

“Kha-!” the man coughed, then ran to the tank, grabbing the turret, which looked like a laser weapon. “N-Not happening!” he pulled at it, detaching the giant weapon. “This thing can hurt him! I can help you kill him!”

Jen blinked. The man had been squeezed in the hand of a Hulk but was still ready for a fight? Damn.

Then, Jen had bigger problems.

“M-MOMMY?” the echoing voice said. Flux was staring at her. His face was confused. It was also pulsing. Sections of it would grow and shrink, like his flesh was bubbling under an intense heat.

“Uh… no,” Jen said, not hiding how horrified the very idea made her. “I’m not your mommy. Are you crazy?”

“F-FAKE!”

“Fake? I didn’t even try to-”

Too late. He grabbed a piece of the boulder he’d shattered with his body and tossed it at her. Jen punched the rock out of the air, then blocked his punch on her right arm, gritting her teeth as his immense strength pushed against her.

“I’ll kill you!” the bubbles around his head calmed for a moment, then seemed to explode. “KILL FAKE MOMMY!”

“I ain’t looking for kids,” Jen snapped, punching him in the face. He stepped back, then swung a giant arm, catching her in the side. Jen winced at the powerful attack, rolling with the blow, then coming back at him. She jumped over his kicking leg to swing down with her elbow. The mad monster blocked it on a forearm, then grabbed her leg and swung her around to smash her into the ground. Jen shouted as her back screamed at her.

Before Flux could raise her up again, Jen brought her other leg up and kicked him in the chest, the sound of breaking bone filling the air. Flux staggered back.

And the soldier with the laser turret struck.

A beam of yellow light hit Flux in the face. He shouted, scratching at his eyes, before the soldier hit him again. The beams were likely nothing but an irritant. But it was enough to give Jen breathing room.

Jen flipped up to her feet and punched Flux in the face with a right, then a left. The ground shook under the blows.

“SQUEEEE!” Flux shrieked like a small child, and punched Jen back. She grit her teeth, pressed her boots into the snow and mud, and headbutt him.

Before the fight, Jen had been told about Flux. That he was theorized to have ‘shifting strength’. Well yay for her, because it wasn’t a theory anymore.

One punch had about as much power as Steve on a good day. Another made her feel like Thor had given her a right hook. Then Fourarms was hitting her with all his arms at once in her stomach. Then a little kid was slapping her.

It was a strange sort of scary. She couldn’t tell if his next punch was going to be almost nothing, or the most devastating blow she’d ever taken.

The soldier was shooting Flux in the back, but this was going to have to be on her.

“Okay kid,” Jen clenched her fists tight, the snow and mud around them churning and shaking below her blows, her knuckles sore and bleeding even as they healed. “You want a mom. Well it’s about time someone put you to bed!”

She punched and punched. The soldier lowered his weapon. His jaw dropped.

Green fists flew. The air shook. A nearby tree was shattered apart. Flux was screaming, roaring, and crying all at once. Jen’s long hair was covering her eyes, but a pair of green glowing pupils shone through the black curtain.

Flux was powerful. But he was unstable, and that was the key word. His strength could outstrip Jen’s, but not consistently. He was a trained soldier, but his broken mind kept him from taking advantage of it.

Jen unleashed a boxing combo on him she learned from Steve, striking points on the body Clint had taught her were weaknesses on the human body, using her previous battles and training against other superhumans in the fight, getting his solar plexus, groin, armpit, and throat, the vicious blows designed to force an enemy with a healing factor to overtask that healing with immense damage in a short time.

Flux, scared and confused, tried to punch Jen’s stomach.

And Jen flipped over his punch, spinning around and around, gaining massive speed and raising one foot high in the air as she dropped. As she reached him, she took a cue from her boyfriend.

“GAMMA KICK!”

She came down with an axe kick that smashed down on the back of Flux’s neck. She could almost imagine green energy exploding outward with the blow. He screamed before his face entered the ground.

Jen landed, almost stumbled, then leaned forward, landing fist first on the back of his head. He tried to get up. “Stay down!”

She punched him again, then didn’t stop. Left, right, her fists flashing, all technique replaced with enraged roaring and punches. Until Flux stopped moving. She raised her right fist, ready to hit him again, before she noticed he was shrinking.

In less than a moment, Flux was gone. Inside a hole that dwarfed him, Benjamin Tibbets lay unconscious, bruised, and bleeding.

“...Should we kill him?” the soldier asked as he came up to Jen. Another man, the one who had been crawling away, came over. “I mean, I know he’s knocked out, but-”

“Wait, we have something,” the other man hobbled over to the tank. Jen kept her eye on the knocked out man.

Benjamin Tibbets. He looked… small. Skinny, if still fit. He had blonde hair cut into a buzzcut. She reached out and flipped him onto his back. As she did, the soldier who had ran to the tank came back. He had a big ring of metal in his hands. Jen and the soldier who had been helping her in the fight watched as he placed the ring around Benjamin, adjusting some portions of the ring so that it was large enough to surround him.

“What is that, a Goa'uld ring transporter?” Jen asked curiously.

“You’ve watched Stargate!?” the soldier who’d helped her asked, shocked.

“Just SG1,” she said without looking at him, watching his fellow soldier set up the ring. “What is that?”

“The eggheads at AIM said to use it if we encountered any superhumans, we could use this to capture them,” the man said.

Jen frowned. AIM. They were bad news, weren’t they? Or at least, Mahmoud had said once he didn’t trust them. She knew they had supplied some stuff to the army though. What was this thing?

“Okay, clear back!” the man setting up the ring said. Jen and the soldier stepped back. He clapped his hands. “AIM Field, Activate!”

The ring glowed yellow. It split horizontally to become two rings, the bottom half staying on the ground, while the other lifted up. In the space that remained between them, yellow light crackled into life. When the top half stopped, Benjamin was surrounded in a five-foot tall ring of yellow energy, with more acting as a top and bottom. He looked like he was caged in a jar.

“A force field?” Jen asked.

“Yeah,” the soldier who brought it out seemed surprised it had worked. “They said they built it to hold Hulk’s. Uh, no offense.”

Jen didn’t answer that.

“Jen, good job with Flux,” Maria said as Jen stood in contemplation. “We’ll take him in, but you have more of a fight ahead. An Uber-Tank is attacking one of our med-evac zones.”

She-Hulk held in the urge to curse. Her body was healing, but slower now. Flux may not have been as consistently strong as Titania, but a few of his blows had been much stronger than her. Still… People were dying.

“Okay. BRIDGE will send people to pick him up. I’m gonna go back into the fight,” Jen leaped into the air. In the back of her mind though, one thought filled her.

A force field that could hold Hulk’s. That sounded useful in the right hands.

The right hands.