Tying up loose ends

"I want confirmation, dammit!" Fury barked. "What's the sitch on the ground?!"

"The city remains highly irradiated, sir, but the growth has flatlined following the EMP that just came out of Avengers Tower. Citywide destruction appears to have curbed as well."

"What about our response team? Has anyone--aww, hell." With a swift about face, Fury began a swift march out of the Helicarrier bridge.

"Hill, with me," he said.

"S-Sir?" Maria rose from her command, initially befuddled, but all she needed was a glance at the same bridge monitor Fury was last glancing at to get up to speed. Maria did double-time to catch up with Fury, skipping right out out the door behind him as it automatically slid back shut behind her.

"Mandrioid Squad," Fury spoke into his wrist device. "Suit up. Meet me and Agent Hill on the landing dock in oh-five."

"Are you sure that's enough manpower, General?"

"Hell, no," Fury chuckled. "But we're not going out there looking for a fight. If Sampson was right and that green wave that just washed over the city did its job, then that means they're on their way to us looking to give an apology."

Fury and Maria made their way into a nearby elevator. "And if there's all but one thing I'm able to do during this whole rotten two days," he continued, "It's not ending it by just slapping a couple green wrists and calling it even."

***

Jen was not surprised to find Fury waiting for them. Nor was she surprised neither he nor his goons went blindly shooting. He was a smart man, after all.

Propped up in mid-air by the arms, Jen was glided down with the help of Wanda to the landing pad at the top of SHIELD'S Helicarrier. Betty was right beside her, being flown in the same manner by Carol. Fury was standing at ease--feet shoulder-length, hands behind his back, and chest thrust out. Maria Hill was visibly less relaxed, standing rigidly at attention by his side. Behind both of them were a half-dozen agents dressed in shining gold Mandroid armor. By the time Jen and Betty were let go and joined the SHIELD agents on the landing pad with a slight thud, it was clear the armored agents all had a good head over the quartet of She-Hulks in their present, reduced state.

Not that a size advantage would really help them, and the fact the armored agents weren't pointing their barrels down at Jen or her friends told her Fury was aware such intimidation tactics were futile, but touted them out anyways to make a statement. Jen didn't blame him. A hostile confrontation still sounded much better than a violent one.

Wanda and Carol joined the rest of the group on the landing pad, and it was the latter who stepped forward and officially began the exchange. To Jen's amusement, Carol assumed a similar stance as Fury. Whether it was some means of common ground, or Carol's own military instincts were still so ingrained in her, Jen couldn't tell. But the lawyer shared an observation with the grizzled Director of SHIELD--if it was a matter of professionalism, the way the blue-skinned She-Hulk's breasts jostled when she spread her feet apart, or how her conjoined hands seemed to rest quite comfortably right above the firm swell of her ass, it made the decorum not quite land.

"General Fury," Carol sternly said. The one-eyed SHIELD Director dipped his head down and back up again, giving the blue She-Hulk a look-down while his face remained stern.

"...Danvers," he said upon recognition. "Well, I'll be damned. And here I thought you've just been out of orbit this past week."

"Don't you feel you've arrived a bit informally to fall into regs, Captain Danvers?" Maria spoke out, sticking her nose up at Carol's nudity.

Jen shrugged and gestured to Carol, Betty and Wanda, who all remained unclothed, before speaking up herself. "We've got nothing to hide."

Fury let out a gruff chuckle. "Well, that's good to hear. 'Cause otherwise, I gotta say, you've done a pretty shit job at hiding your fowl-ups."

A ripple of unease fluttered through all four Gammazons. Carol did well to stand her ground, but Jen could tell from her pursed lip that she was unequipped to retort. She stepped forward, volunteering to do it for her.

"Well, if we really want to get right down to it, this whole thing was the machination of the Leader."

"Sterns, eh?" Finally appearing to loosen himself up, Jen watched Fury scratch his chin, as though to ponder Jen's claim. Jen had seen enough poker faces on the bench to know when someone was toying with her. A man like Fury was way too close to the vest to openly display contemplation.

"Certainly fits his MO," Fury continued. "You got the little runt detained for questioning?"

"Not unless you count the upper orbit as--ack," Betty blurted out before getting an elbow to the rib from Jen.

Scrunching his face and turning his good eye to the ruins of the city as several green skinned giants went about cleaning what they could, the man tapped his foot swung himself to a sharp pivot to the side.

"Well, then," he muttered, slowly moseying a few steps forward from his new direction, Hulks and agents alike with eyes on him with trepidation. "I guess we'll need to phone up Attilan, ask them if any debris has crashed in their backyard this morning. In the meantime," Fury swung himself back to face Jen and the others. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm looking at the perpetrators of the biggest attack on New York City since Namor's infamous tantrum."

Wanda was now the closest to Fury of the four. She took but two steps forward, but her cloven feet clicked harshly against the concrete walkway. And though she was just as naked as her fellow She-Hulks, her newly grown wings gave her an air of regality, draped forward over her shoulders and cloaking most of her bare torso.

"There were no casualties from this incident, General," Wanda said. "As for the damage, I can readily provide a solution."

Wanda raised her clawed hands forward, and with it her glaring eyes were enveloped in a bright red. Flickers of the same red light could suddenly be seen back down in the city, flickering like fireflies. Wanda then thrust her wings back behind her in a dramatic fashion before raising her hands high over her head. A shapeless mass of her hex magic enveloped the space over her horned head and between her hands, which soon enough began to envelop the city below.

Jen watched in awe, and the SHIELD agents in apprehension, as Wanda and her hundreds of offspring made a concentrated spell on Manhattan. The rubble and debris of the crumbled city rose into the air as though it lost its hold on gravity. Then, like an incomprehensible puzzle, every block and piece moved around and shifted together before the cityscape resumed its prior look of towering building stretching for miles. Telltale gaps were briefly seen in the composition before, with a grunt from Wanda, stone, metal and glass developed out of thin air. In just a few minutes, Manhattan was restored.

"There!" Wanda gasped. Her crimson body was now covered in a light sheen of sweat, and her black lips quivered and heavy chest heaved as she huffed in exasperation. "At luh...least now you...you won't be needing to puh...pay a hefty bill from duh...Damage Control, G-General."

Fury looked up at the demonic she-hulk with a scowl. "Sure. Appreciate the elbow grease. Still doesn't undo all the psychological damage to all affected civilians OR contain all the knuckle dragging green cave people shambling around in the nude down there."

Turning to look back at everyone else standing behind her, not caring at all about their nudity, Wanda rolled her eyes and flicked her wrists to cast another hex. Immediately everyone stumbled back as they found themselves covered in custom-tailored clothing fit for their sizes. Carol found herself in leather boots, denim pants and a matching jacket over a cotton t-shirt, and Betty stumbled back to look down at herself suddenly draped in a lab skirt and sweater. The ruby-red light flickered across the cityscape once more, presumably to clothe every single Hulk down below.

Jen meanwhile gasped when she found herself in maternity wear that fit her quintuplet-heavy frame with a purple turtle neck that read "Ticking time Bomb" across her belly. With her work done, Wanda smirked and rested her hands at her wide hips.

"There! Better?"

"Really? Are you trying to embarrass me?!" Hissed Jen, propping herself up at the waist with one hand and pointing to her attire.

"I think mine came up wrong" Pointing the Red Shulk down at her shirt that read "Experienced Smasher!"

"There are NO take backs Betty."

Seeing everything completely restored and dignity brought back to the people of New York, Fury and Hill turned and whispered to each other before turning back to the two demon hulks for one final request.

"What about all the emotional damage?"

Slumping her shoulders in mock defeat, Wanda snapped her fingers and a fruit basket appeared in Maria Hill's arms.

"There, satisfied?"

Grumbling to themselves, Fury turned to the Mandroids and Hulk-Busters and made a gesture with his hand to let them know it was time to leave.

"'aight, aight," Fury growled. "So you can clean up the mess you made. But no amount of spit n' polish is gonna change the fact that the United States is now housing a small country's worth of walking WMDs just down the street from Broadway."

"The sheer majority of Hulks down there are civilians, Director," Betty said. "They're not a threat to their fellow Americans."

"I ain't talkin' about 'fellow Americans,' Ross," Fury sneered. "You don't think all through these past thirty-six hours, Russia or Latveria or anyone else who's been begging to pick a fight on the international stage has been drooling as y'all turned the Big Apple a big 'ol Granny Smith?"

"There's plenty of others willing to fight," Carol argued. "The four of us and our kids alone are more than enough to defend the country, if not the world."

Fury gave a sneering chortle. "Danvers, take it from someone who had himself front-row seats through the whole Cold War. This ain't gonna blow over if we all just play nice and simmer down. You ladies have changed things, and I don't think you really appreciate the sword you've all set to dangle over every single American, green-skinned or not."

"Who said this was an American problem?" Jen curtly noted. She cast a knowing glance and nod to each of her fellow Shulks before stepping forward and continuing. "No one said this had to be your problem, Fury. Or the government's. Manhattan has become too much of a threat to the US? Secede Manhattan from the US. Declare it a sovereign state, or unrecognized. Whatever you need to do to wash to not get SHIELD'S hands dirty with it." Jen glanced back, and the other Shulks this time gave her a stern nod. "Let us take care of the mess that we've made."

"With all due respect, Miss Walters, you said yourself there are scores of civilians at play," Maria spoke up. "Up to three million, yesterday morning. I don't think you can speak on behalf of them as to whether they want to abandon their status as protected US citizens."

Betty crossed her arms and scoffed. "Are you saying now you DO want the burden of housing a bunch of 'walking WMDs?'"

"I'm saying that private citizens might want a say in the matter of going through such a dramatic shift in living status?"

"A little late to get uppity about that," Carol chuckled.

"That goes without saying, Captain Danvers. I don't think the population of Manhattan were expecting yesterday morning to get gang-**** and be made a part of a giant breeding camp."

"If I may, Agent Hill," Wanda added. "The sheer majority of Hulks, including half of which that presently stand among you, were initially **** into it. But I feel I can safely speak on behalf of most if not all involved that there was a...profound euphoria to be felt, even after we composed ourselves. I have little doubt any Hulk made or born from this will decide to leave."

"Says one of the Hulks who helped with it all."

"Simmer down, Agent Hill," Fury interrupted. "Whatever, we'll do a wellness check. A massive team across the board to get the two cents of every single horny ogre back down in the city what they want to do next. All fine and dandy."

Fury marched over to Jen, barely stopping in front of the swell of her belly. Even in her reduced state and size, Jen still had nearly a foot on him, but the grizzled general didn't carry a wrinkle of caution as he glowered up at Jen.

"But don't think I don't know what you're doing with this 'offering' of yours, Walters. You're not just going to get diplomatic immunity handed over to you like a hall pass the second you get your wish and Manhattan becomes your own little resort island. Until that happens, in my eye you spearheaded a massive terrorist attack on American soil and put the country in a very bad spot on the international front."

"I'm not ignorant of the law, Fury. I'm merely proposing a resolution that would produce the least fallout and overuse of resources on your end. If you really did want to lock me up, or shoot me into space, believe me, I would go willingly. But would you do that to everyone who now has Gamma in their system? You really want to deal with the human rights violations that would come with prosecuting every 'innocent civilian,' as Hill put it, on top of dealing with any antagonistic nations who want to make this whole thing your fault? I'll admit, what I'm proposing I came up with about ten minutes ago, but if you and you're think-tank of trigger-happy intelligence experts got a counter-offer, I'm all ears."

Fury remained silent, opting instead to stare Jen down. Maria took the time to speak back up, this time much softer than earlier.

"Jen, I hope you can understand what you're signing yourself up for. Your old life will be over. Not just as a lawyer, but as an Avenger. As A citizen. You will be put in a major position of power that you will have to live with for the rest of your life."

It was Maria's gentle caution, not Fury's continued intimidation, that finally made Jen waver. She fell off from Fury's glare, and stared absently into the horizon and the cityscape below, pursing her lips.

"...a few weeks ago, before this really got out of hand, I was dreading this very moment ever happening. Expecting to be treated as a pariah, have my kids rounded up like cattle. I got over it, and I chose to double-down...my old life was over the moment Sterns **** me and dragged me out of my office." Jen ruefully chuckled.

"I've already led one island full of Hulks, and I had a pretty good time. I'd gladly do it again, especially if it meant protecting the rest of the world."

*

From the roof of Avenger's tower, the three groups of heroes; The Fantastic Four, Avengers and Spiders all looked up at the Helicarrier looming over the city where a delegation was being decided. A little trepidation lingered as the meeting dragged on but they all collectively gave a sigh of relief when the Helicarrier began to steer away and leave the city and the Shulks with Wanda coming into view as they flew off its flight deck to return to their friends back down below.

"Well... They aren't bombing us, guess that's a good sign." Commented MJ as she draped over Spider-Man's back and hugged him around his shoulders.

"Maybe they need some range for the BIG boom..."

Looking herself over and posing with her hands at her waist, Felicia found herself smiling somewhat at how her figure had been effected by gamma exposure. "You know... Now that I can think clearly again, this isn't so bad."

"Says the blonde NOT carrying quints!" Huffed Susan Storm while Reed dotted over her needs. "She sounded angry, but deep down, Susan couldn't help but be surprised by her fecundancy... Or her current figure. Apart from the fact she was hauling a belly the size of a beanbag chair, the rest of her was in a word; perfect. She had NO doubt that when the babies were born, she'd see no ill effect from the experience. No stretch marks, no scars, if anything she looked better than she ever had when she was still modeling. Every inch of her was built lean and healthy, with long legs better seen on a runner with a heart shaped rear and breasts she hadn't had so firm and buoyant since her 20s. Feeling a kick meet her palm, she dragged Reed's hand over to feel it, not surprisingly getting stiff nipples from the experience that made her bite her lower lip. "Then again... Quints don't sound too bad..."

Pointing up at the four returning, Steve Rogers nodded and looked back to the rest of the Avengers. "Well, here they are, lets hope they have some good news."

Landing on their feet back on the roof of the tower, Jennifer, Betty and Carol shared a giggle together at the sight of their friends. Wanda's spell to restore the city to normal and clothe everyone there had resulted in some interesting attire choices. Peter, Jessica, Gwen and Cindy found themselves in their costumes, now tailor fit to their new bodies. Tony, Reed and Ben were in custom tailored business suits with Tigra, MJ and Susan wearing very stylish sun dresses and maternity wear for the former blonde who sat at a stone bench and sighed occasionally as she let her hand roam over the surface of her womb.

"So how did it go up there?" Asked Johnny.

Spider-Man nodded, crossing his three sets of arms. "Yeah... They're still not heading out to safety to nuke us are they?"

Everyone made a face of worry until Jen raised a hand to calm them, waddling over to a seat to sit and exhaled now that she wasn't carrying so much weight in her belly. "Nope. We came to an agreement."

"It took a little bit of arm twisting and a little honey, but Fury has decided to call up the government and turn the island of Manhattan its own nation full of Hulks."

Spreading her arms out and looking down at the restored city, Carol smiled, looking over her shoulder to the others. "Say hello to Gam-Hattan everyone."

Impressed and nearly applauding, everyone present was quite pleased with the arrangements.

"That's great... By the way who's idea was it to dress me like this?" asked Steve Rogers, frowning as he stood at his 8 foot tall height... Wearing a boy scout uniform with shorts, tall socks... And a sash covered in badges.

"Like I told Jen and Betty, there are no take backs." Smirked Wanda, getting chortles of laughter from the others at Captain America, the man swallowing his pride as a well dressed Natasha patted his shoulder.

"TWO THINGS!" Called out Jen, getting everyone's attention again with her two fingers up. "First off, since Gam-Hattan is OUR home, we're the ones who have to run it now and make sure we play nice with the world... I declare myself Queen."

"I'm Queen too!" Called out Betty.

"I'm Queen Too! No other Queens but us three!" Called out Carol a split second later.

Slowly sinking her shoulders, Susan made a face. "Dammit."

"And TWO..." Continued Jen, getting their attention again. "We have to round up what's happening with the X-Men."