2 SHIELD And Eating After A Big Fight

"Director Fury," Natasha Romanoff stood in front of the tall dark-skinned man who was currently sitting behind a desk, reading reports with his one good eye.

The man, Director Fury and rarely ever just Nick, looked up from the report and toward the redhead in front of him, "Yes, Agent Romanoff?" he got out concisely, his tone of voice sharp and showing he was very much tired and frustrated.

Despite the intense stare of one of the most powerful men in America, Natasha didn't so much as flinch as she answered, "Banner has been taken out of the Military's custody and we have Ross on charges of unauthorized human experimentation based off of the testimonies we've gained from both his daughter and the Dr. Banner. The next bit of bad news is that our mysterious red-skinned giant killed another person of importance after he pulled his disappearing act."

"What?" Fury got out before sighing, his shoulders deflating somewhat as he waved his hand at Natasha to continue, "Go on, ruin my day some more, Agent."

Clearing her throat, Natasha did her best to keep the smirk of schadenfreude off her face as she replied, "Dr. Sterns was found in his lab where Emil Blonsky was enhanced. Blood tests have shown acute gamma poisoning but that wasn't what killed him - a stomp to the head from a giant red thing was what did it. We have the video of it but it doesn't show anything of interest."

All Fury did in reply was sigh, rubbing at his good eye with a hand as he looked down at the reports he had scattered all over his desk.

"First we have the Hulk parading about on a University campus, then we have a rogue enhanced soldier running about causing mayhem in Harlem...now we have some four-armed, red-skinned giant who seems to have a penchant for fighting and killing," Fury let out a fed-up sigh before standing and walking to the full-wall window his office had, looking out his office and over the view as he continued, "When did the world get so goddamn confusing?" he asked, seeming to aim the question to anyone who had the answer for it.

"Probably when Dr. Erskine first developed the super soldier serum, sir," Natasha gave a pretty accurate answer on when things first began getting messed up on Earth. Nick Fury had a few other times that came to mind when he was younger but those were classified.

Turning back to look at her, his eye focused on her and his lips twisted upward in a grim smile, "Noted," he said before making his way back over to his desk while talking, "Any other deaths that can be attributed to the jolly red giant?"

"No sir," Natasha shook her head, "Only Emil Blonsky and Dr. Sterns. I'd say it's safe to assume Dr. Sterns did something to elicit the anger of the red guy. And considering he only went after Blonsky after he began killing civilians, I'd say the red guy isn't some evil murderer either. Probably a vigilante of sorts."

Fury shook his head at that, "You call it safe, I call it dangerous, Romanoff. Until I can get in a room with our mysterious vigilante, I'm not gonna assume they're a force for good."

Natasha rolled her eyes at that but nodded nonetheless, "Yes sir," she said before looking down at the watch on her wrist, "Is that all you need from me?"

"Yes. Find me some leads and get back to me," he said, waving his hand in dismissal for Natasha to leave. Then he got back to looking over the reports strewn across his desk and back to his work on the Avengers initiative. A new file had been added as a possibility for joining or for elimination.

It all depended on the future.

. . .

POV Change - Arthur Blaine (MC)

Taking a large bite out of the deli sandwich in my hands, I held in the groan of satisfaction at the overpacked thing I was holding and now eating. Meats, cheeses, pickles, a bit of salad--all of it was lovely. Very filling.

I'd know, this was my third one since I got here.

Being part Tetramand meant I had to intake a lot of calories. Good thing I found a cheap deli place in Hell's Kitchen and 'found' some money in a back alley.

...In truth, I mugged some muggers who tried to mug me. They were pretty stacked, honestly. There was three of them and all together they had about 270-ish dollars - a decent amount considering how easy it was for me to knock them out and then take their wallets out of their jackets. As I suspected, even in my human form I'm vastly superior to a normal human in terms of physical strength and durability.

Regardless of my money's origin, I continued eating my sandwich and savouring each bite.

Once I was done, I got up and wondered out of the shop after paying my bill and leaving a decent-sized tip. With an entire city on edge after what happened last night in Harlem, I decided it would be for the best if I went about my ordinary life for a few days while testing my strength on the down low. So, with that in mind, I made my way to a thrift store and brought some cheap sneakers before making my way toward this body's workplace.

It didn't take long to get there and when I did, I got to work knocking down concrete walls with a sledgehammer. I held myself back enough that my progress wasn't superhuman but I did enough to get a few pats on the back from my boss.

That's all I did throughout the day. Didn't talk much to anyone. Didn't really see the need to. There was no one of importance on that construction site, so I just did my job and got my day's wages.

With that done, I went back home and got ready to go out to some abandoned construction site on the night. Time waits for nobody and I needed to know what I'm capable of in full before shit really starts kicking off in the MCU.

. . .

It's been two weeks since I decided to start testing out my limits and I'd yet to find something my Tetramand form couldn't lift. Cars were light enough for me to juggle, trucks were light enough for me to throw them higher than a skyscraper, buses and coaches weren't that big of a deal--hell, I'd even lifted a locomotive of a train like it wasn't that big of a deal.

One thing I had been able to test to it's limits was my base form. In my base form, I could lift around six tonnes give or take a few. I could pick up and throw a car but a bus was too much - I could only pick up the front or back half of a bus with extreme exertion.

My durability in my base form seems to be on the same level as my bigger form, or at the very least my tissue density is the same. The lack of size and the utter bulk my Tetramand form gives me does mean I have less durability in my base form but that's not because the quality of my bodily tissue suddenly dips when I'm in my base form. It's just because I don't have as much mass or size.

I'm definitely knifeproof, fireproof and I tested out a pistol by shooting myself in the foot. It left a little bruise but it disappeared in seconds.

Pretty sure I have a healing factor but I can't reliably damage myself - nor do I want to - to find out.

I've also discovered, however, that I can make my base form stronger and that makes my Tetramand form stronger as well. Or at least I think it does. Could be placebo though.

Either way, I've been working out my base form like hell over the last few weeks and I've seem an actually sizeable difference in my strength. My muscles had been become a bit bigger and brawnier and their definition had gone through the roof with the intense weight training I did - courtesy of a nearby junkyard which has a lot of stuff I can use to lift and train myself with.

I'd added a few tonnes worth of strength onto my base form in this time, which made me a lot stronger in my Tetramand form. It kinda reminded me of She Hulk from the comics. She got stronger in her transformed state the stronger she was in her baseline state.

The growth of my strength was kinda absurd. I guess my Tetramand DNA has given my vastly accelerated muscle development.

Oh, and after a few weeks of experimentation, I've figured out a power of mine from my Evolved Tetramand DNA. At first I thought it was just a normal ability of someone with superhuman muscles but when I pressed it further, I was pretty sure it was an ability unique to my biology. Basically, I discovered that I can create kinetic shockwaves/explosions inside my body and then release them into whatever I want.

I could use this to enhance my striking power or give myself extra speed, or even aiding my already impressive jumping ability even further. All I need to do is force specific muscles to vibrate and then the kinetic energy is produced.

Alien biology is weird, honestly.

I can do this ability in my base form but it's obviously much more limited because of my lesser strength in that form. Still, I can create a shockwave powerful enough to kill a human even in my base form.

What was I doing right now? Sitting in a cafe. Or at least I was. A few seconds into my coffee, I was accosted by a sight in front of me. A man and a woman. Except what caught my attention was how the man acted - he acted as if everything was his by right of...well, his very existence. He existed, hence he should be given whatever he asks for.

The woman he was with...was like a doll. She smiled, she laughed, she talked about things passionately but her eyes were dead. Dull. Blank.

She was a pale thing. Small too. With long black hair that thickly fell on her shoulders, shining under the lights of the cafe. She was dressed up like she was supposed to be going to some big-time premier and meeting celebrities. Fancy dress, jewellery lipstick, mascara--the whole nine yards.

The man was handsome enough but there was something about him that was just...sleazy. That purple suit he was wearing didn't help him much either. He looked familiar enough...and then I figured where I'd seen him before, so I looked away from his table and continued drinking my coffee while keeping my attention on the couple.

And I was having such a nice relaxing day too.

I stayed in the cafe for as long as they did - which means I left a few seconds after they did, around midnight. As I walked out, I spotted the two of them walking and soon followed after them.

That guy was Kilgrave and the woman was Jessica Jones.

The two of them split off into a nearby back alley - no doubt a trap of sorts. I wasn't a professional tracker and Kilgrave has no doubt got enough paranoia to actively think anyone following behind him is after HIM. God knows how many people have been forced to kill themselves because of this dickhead's mental instability.

It was late but by no means did that mean no one was around. This was NYC aka The City That Never Sleeps. Of course that's an hyperbole but it's true to an extent.

I looked around before sighing and walking after them. I'd have to play these next few steps properly. If I didn't, I might find myself under Kilgrave's control*.

(*A/N - He's actually immune to the virus that Kilgrave's body puts out but how would he know that? How's he immune? He's part alien. Pathogens that can affect humans probably won't affect his alien biology.)

Preparing to transform at the drop of a hat, I turned into the alley and made sure to hunch over to make myself look as small as possible. I needed him to underestimate me.

Kilgrave was looking over at me, his face clear enough with the ambient light slipping into the alleyway we were in. Next to him was Jessica, still smiling but also still looking forward with dead eyes. Still dressed to impress as well. But her stance was much more...aggressive. Like she was ready to burst forth.

"Go on then, Jessica. Teach him why staring is rude," he joked and I chided myself mentally for getting caught out so easily. Fighting's one thing, but I'm not a professional spy who's been trained in espionage, you know?

Lifting my shirt up and over my head, I charged to meet Jessica, waiting for the last possible second to buff up.

I'd gotten pretty good at transforming over the weeks, practicing it as much as possible once I'd seen even a little bit of progress in terms of making it quicker. So, when there was about a meter between Jessica and I, I changed and became a towering behemoth with red skin, four arms and four eyes. I grabbed Jessica with my lower left arm and charged up a kinetic explosion inside both my legs.

I don't care if I get caught because of this. Taking Kilgrave out would be worth it.

The kinetic energy flooded out of my legs as I pressed off the ground, shooting forward like a runaway train toward Kilgrave who was far too slowly realizing how bad his situation was.

"Sto--!" he tried to shout but my enhanced size and my burst of speed made the distance between us negligible at best. Even if my new size made the alley a bit of a tight squeeze. Regardless, I grabbed Kilgrave's head and squashed it before he could utter anything further.

Jessica was writhing and twisting in my hand, wrestling with my fingers and trying to pry them free.

She was strong. Very strong for someone human-sized. But compared to my strength in my Tetramand form? She wasn't nearly strong enough. I'm pretty confident I could overpower her in my base form as well. Not that I really had any reason to...right now, anyway. Right now, in fact, I flicked her head and knocked her out.

Looking up, I saw this was my only way out right now. Tucking Jessica under my lower left arm, I used my other three arms to climb up the brick wall in front of me. Brick is incredibly easy to dig your fingers into if you're a Tetramand.

Seriously, it feels like brittle chalk.

As soon as I got on top of the building's roof, I began leaping and hopping from roof to roof. I'm glad I got some practice in otherwise I'd be cannonballing through people's ceilings.

...Didn't mean a few families weren't shocked awake from their entire apartment building rumbling like it was in an earthquake.

Ahem, anyway, looking down at Jessica, I was wondering how to explain this away to her when she came to. She'd no doubt be incredibly...well, emotional, given what she'd been through for who knows how long. And I doubt waking up in a strangers apartment would help settle or calm her down all that much either.

I guess I've got a hard morning to not look forward to. Guess I'll be taking today off.