Aug 01, 2022 - Flowers of Life: Begonia (FR-13)
Author: mmooch
**Part of 2022 FaD challenge** Chapter Summary: SHIELD made a mistake; one that they’ll soon regret.
Crossover: She-Hulk
Rating: FR-13
Word count: 997
Challenge: for the livejournal 2022 August Fic-a-Day Challenge
Timeline: first Avengers movie timeline for MCU and post-series for BtVS
A/N: This idea came from the Stark Tower discord server and I got the wonderful SovereigntyofReality’s permission to borrow the idea for this challenge. I’m also attempting a title theme of flower meanings; we’ll see how long I can manage it.
Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. MCU characters belong to Marvel, Disney et al. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
Remote Tibet village
“Find the angry green one and give him this message. When he follows you back here, run straight through and go out the back window,” Natasha Romanoff told the little girl, handing her several bills of the local currency. Then she moved around to set up the trap for Dr. Banner. She’d get his cooperation, one way or another; she just hoped she’d be in one piece at the end of the assignment.
Half an hour later, she watched the girl leave, then turned to face…not the person she was expecting to see. “Who are you?” she inquired warily.
The woman smirked, allowing her body to shift into her larger form. “‘The angry green one’ you requested. I’m sorry, were you expecting someone else? My cousin, perhaps?”
Natasha reached behind her back to draw her gun and held it out in front of her, causing the woman to chuckle.
“That won’t do anything to me, you know…beyond annoy me,” she explained.
“Where is Dr. Banner?” Natasha demanded, keeping the gun trained on her guest.
“Bruce is…elsewhere, some place you and your colleagues can’t find him. I’m his lawyer, Jennifer Walters.” She moved to the table and sat down as if she didn’t have a care in the world, then asked, “What do you want with him?”
“That’s between SHIELD and him,” Natasha bluffed, waiting for word from Coulson through her earpiece. Her colleagues outside would have notified him of the change in plans once Banner didn’t show up.
“Now it’s between SHIELD and me,” Jennifer shot back, “That is, if you want a chance at getting him to do what you want - whatever that is.”
“And what’s to stop us from using you as leverage?” Natasha growled, angry that the mission was a bust so far.
“One, you don’t know how to get a hold of him to let him know you have me, and two, you don’t have me,” Jennifer pointed out reasonably.
“I think we can manage to take you in. The building is surrounded by a small army of SHIELD agents,” Natasha replied with her own smirk.
“You sure about that?” Jennifer taunted, glancing out the window. “Go check for your army.”
A shiver went down Natasha’s back. She hadn’t felt this off-kilter in years. Keeping the female Hulk in her sights, she slowly moved to the door and quickly looked for her teammates. Without counting them all, she guessed that most - if not all - of them were down on the ground, their weapons nowhere in sight. To make matters worse, she didn’t see who took them out. Well, that and she didn’t hear any sounds of a struggle, so they were probably defeated instantaneously.
When she moved back into the room, Jennifer suggested, “Maybe you should call your boss for transportation and further instructions.”
As much as she didn’t want to give this woman the satisfaction of seeing her off her game, Natasha called Coulson and reported how the situation went FUBAR. It didn’t really surprise her too much when he told her to give Walters the information and politely ask her to get her cousin to join them to find the tesseract.
“Just forward me the details,” Jennifer said, handing Natasha her business card with her personal cell number on the back. “Before you get any ideas of tracking me using my number, I’ll tell you right now, it’s impossible. I know you’ll try anyway, but at least this way I can say I tried to warn you.”
Once the files were sent, Jennifer nodded and walked out, turning her back on Natasha; something that pissed the Black Widow off because it meant she didn’t think she was in danger from her.
Different remote Tibet village
While Black Widow waited for the transportation to pick her and the others up - who woke up as soon as Walters was out of sight - Jennifer walked into a cabin over a hundred miles away and smiled at the blonde sitting on the couch.
“Gotta say, love your team, Buffy,” Jennifer said, sitting down next to her.
“It’s easy when they aren’t expecting magic,” Buffy allowed graciously. “If they ever learn how we took them down, it might be a little harder next time. Thank the goddess that Walsh’s people ignored the mystical part of our lives and just focused on the HSTs.”
“What did they want with me?” Bruce asked from the kitchen area where he was making some tea.
“Something about a ‘global catastrophe’,” Jennifer replied mockingly. “I have the details on my phone; let’s let Oz take a look at the files before you browse them, just in case there’s some bugs imbedded for them to track you down. Regardless of what you decide, you aren’t going with them by yourself.”
“You bet,” Buffy agreed. “Nobody takes our jolly green giant without a fight. Who else can the girls spar with and not worry about hurting them? Xander is so thrilled he doesn’t have to wear the puffy suit as much anymore with you around,” she added with a wink at Bruce. He still wasn’t fully comfortable with his alter ego, but knowing that he can fight with the Slayers without killing them went a long way to convincing him the Hulk wasn’t a mindless beast.
“And your lawyer will be going along as well to ensure your rights aren’t violated. I don’t know who SHIELD is, and that worries me. Secret government agencies are not to be trusted. Just look at the Initiative and the crap they pulled because they were off the books,” Jennifer warned.
“The coven can pull us out at any time?” Bruce checked, not wanting to put his cousin in harm’s way…assuming he decided to go in the first place.
Buffy shrugged, “As long as they don’t buy a clue concerning magic, I’d trust them to be able to handle it. A couple girls and I will be going in with you, just in case.”
A/N: According to a website I found on flower meanings, red tulip symbolizes aggression, anger, danger, and wrath, most of which SHIELD associates with the Hulk.
**Part of 2022 FaD challenge** Chapter Summary: SHIELD made a mistake; one that they’ll soon regret.
Crossover: She-Hulk
Rating: FR-13
Word count: 997
Challenge: for the livejournal 2022 August Fic-a-Day Challenge
Timeline: first Avengers movie timeline for MCU and post-series for BtVS
A/N: This idea came from the Stark Tower discord server and I got the wonderful SovereigntyofReality’s permission to borrow the idea for this challenge. I’m also attempting a title theme of flower meanings; we’ll see how long I can manage it.
Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. MCU characters belong to Marvel, Disney et al. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
Remote Tibet village
“Find the angry green one and give him this message. When he follows you back here, run straight through and go out the back window,” Natasha Romanoff told the little girl, handing her several bills of the local currency. Then she moved around to set up the trap for Dr. Banner. She’d get his cooperation, one way or another; she just hoped she’d be in one piece at the end of the assignment.
Half an hour later, she watched the girl leave, then turned to face…not the person she was expecting to see. “Who are you?” she inquired warily.
The woman smirked, allowing her body to shift into her larger form. “‘The angry green one’ you requested. I’m sorry, were you expecting someone else? My cousin, perhaps?”
Natasha reached behind her back to draw her gun and held it out in front of her, causing the woman to chuckle.
“That won’t do anything to me, you know…beyond annoy me,” she explained.
“Where is Dr. Banner?” Natasha demanded, keeping the gun trained on her guest.
“Bruce is…elsewhere, some place you and your colleagues can’t find him. I’m his lawyer, Jennifer Walters.” She moved to the table and sat down as if she didn’t have a care in the world, then asked, “What do you want with him?”
“That’s between SHIELD and him,” Natasha bluffed, waiting for word from Coulson through her earpiece. Her colleagues outside would have notified him of the change in plans once Banner didn’t show up.
“Now it’s between SHIELD and me,” Jennifer shot back, “That is, if you want a chance at getting him to do what you want - whatever that is.”
“And what’s to stop us from using you as leverage?” Natasha growled, angry that the mission was a bust so far.
“One, you don’t know how to get a hold of him to let him know you have me, and two, you don’t have me,” Jennifer pointed out reasonably.
“I think we can manage to take you in. The building is surrounded by a small army of SHIELD agents,” Natasha replied with her own smirk.
“You sure about that?” Jennifer taunted, glancing out the window. “Go check for your army.”
A shiver went down Natasha’s back. She hadn’t felt this off-kilter in years. Keeping the female Hulk in her sights, she slowly moved to the door and quickly looked for her teammates. Without counting them all, she guessed that most - if not all - of them were down on the ground, their weapons nowhere in sight. To make matters worse, she didn’t see who took them out. Well, that and she didn’t hear any sounds of a struggle, so they were probably defeated instantaneously.
When she moved back into the room, Jennifer suggested, “Maybe you should call your boss for transportation and further instructions.”
As much as she didn’t want to give this woman the satisfaction of seeing her off her game, Natasha called Coulson and reported how the situation went FUBAR. It didn’t really surprise her too much when he told her to give Walters the information and politely ask her to get her cousin to join them to find the tesseract.
“Just forward me the details,” Jennifer said, handing Natasha her business card with her personal cell number on the back. “Before you get any ideas of tracking me using my number, I’ll tell you right now, it’s impossible. I know you’ll try anyway, but at least this way I can say I tried to warn you.”
Once the files were sent, Jennifer nodded and walked out, turning her back on Natasha; something that pissed the Black Widow off because it meant she didn’t think she was in danger from her.
Different remote Tibet village
While Black Widow waited for the transportation to pick her and the others up - who woke up as soon as Walters was out of sight - Jennifer walked into a cabin over a hundred miles away and smiled at the blonde sitting on the couch.
“Gotta say, love your team, Buffy,” Jennifer said, sitting down next to her.
“It’s easy when they aren’t expecting magic,” Buffy allowed graciously. “If they ever learn how we took them down, it might be a little harder next time. Thank the goddess that Walsh’s people ignored the mystical part of our lives and just focused on the HSTs.”
“What did they want with me?” Bruce asked from the kitchen area where he was making some tea.
“Something about a ‘global catastrophe’,” Jennifer replied mockingly. “I have the details on my phone; let’s let Oz take a look at the files before you browse them, just in case there’s some bugs imbedded for them to track you down. Regardless of what you decide, you aren’t going with them by yourself.”
“You bet,” Buffy agreed. “Nobody takes our jolly green giant without a fight. Who else can the girls spar with and not worry about hurting them? Xander is so thrilled he doesn’t have to wear the puffy suit as much anymore with you around,” she added with a wink at Bruce. He still wasn’t fully comfortable with his alter ego, but knowing that he can fight with the Slayers without killing them went a long way to convincing him the Hulk wasn’t a mindless beast.
“And your lawyer will be going along as well to ensure your rights aren’t violated. I don’t know who SHIELD is, and that worries me. Secret government agencies are not to be trusted. Just look at the Initiative and the crap they pulled because they were off the books,” Jennifer warned.
“The coven can pull us out at any time?” Bruce checked, not wanting to put his cousin in harm’s way…assuming he decided to go in the first place.
Buffy shrugged, “As long as they don’t buy a clue concerning magic, I’d trust them to be able to handle it. A couple girls and I will be going in with you, just in case.”
A/N: According to a website I found on flower meanings, red tulip symbolizes aggression, anger, danger, and wrath, most of which SHIELD associates with the Hulk.