¡Chica Fuerte! (Ch.2)

Continuing the story involving Rita, a character specifically created for the 1982 Incredible Hulk cartoon as the girlfriend of Rick Jones. But WHAT IF she was the one who was transformed into a hulk instead of Bruce Banner?

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A few weeks had passed since the 'incident', with Rita and Rick hiding out in Mesa City from Thunderbolt Ross' wrath, as well as his considerable forces.

On that fateful day the two lovers had tried taking a shortcut across the military base via a hole in the fence. Unbeknownst to them, however, a gamma bomb was about to go off nearby, and while Dr. Bruce Banner had taken a jeep out to warn them, Rita was still caught in the blast. Yet she wasn't referred to as "The Hulk", instead she was known as "Chica Fuerte", a similar green-skinned, musclebound, super-powered being whose name was inspired partly by her maternal namesake, and whose existence was apparently influenced by her trauma i.e. the long absence of her mother and her subsequent difficult upbringing. Either way, this aforementioned tough girl or Chica Fuerte hadn't resurfaced since Rita first transformed back at the hospital and wreaked havoc upon the base, with Rita and Rick now laying low in the center and glitzy part of town in the aftermath as a thorough search was on to find her.

"I'm still not sure this was the safest place to hide out," she said. "It seems so obvious to me."

"I disagree," her lover Rick replied. "The real thing they would've expected from us was to hide in the more rundown parts of the city, or the suburbs. That's where they'll search first. In fact, that's likely what they're still doing as we speak."

"But eventually they'll come here and start knocking on doors, too" Rita added pessimistically. "There's no escape for us really."

"Orrrr they'll think we've skipped town altogether, and just leave."

Rita smiled at him in response, but deep down was still unsure. She also wondered what the military would do to her if they actually brought her in. Prepare all manner of experiments? Hurt her in some way? Or could they even hurt her now? Was this supposed monster inside of her actually gone or would she return? One thing she was convinced of, however, was the need to stay calm...

They also had an ace up their sleeve in Bruce Banner. He would quietly leave the base and bring them extra clothes from their home, and provisions so they wouldn't have to leave the loft apartment that they were temporarily staying in. It was frustrating, though. Rita longed to go stand on the balcony and look down upon the busy, neon-lit streets of Mesa. She also missed her father and wanted to tell him so much.

It was then that the buzzer went off indictating that there was someone at their door. There was no panic this time as they figured Dr. Banner was due a visit, and, sure enough, Bruce walked inside with two bags under his arms, placing them both on the work top right beside Rick's crumpled cowboy hat.

"How is my father?" asked Rita immediately.

"He's fine thankfully despite everything that's happened. He, of course, misses you, at home and at the restaurant, but hopes that you can find a way to see him soon. In fact, that's partly why I'm here. Firstly, I brought some more of your clothes," he continued, handing Rita another of her short-sleeved pink shirts and accompanying white jeans. As Rick and Bruce chatted away, she entered the next room and changed clothes. She liked being in her usual outfit. It made her feel like her old self again, like as if her crazy mutation had never happened.

But while there were clothes in one bag, there was something much more interesting in the other.

"Look," said Bruce, encouraging the two lovers to gather round again. He then reached into the bag and produced a microscope, leaving it down gently on the table.

"This is the second thing I wanted to show you guys. It's a sample of Rita's blood from the hospital after the bomb's radiation penetrated her body. You can see the change for yourselves."

Rita looked down through the microscope while turning the knobs in an attempt to sharpen up the image. When finally clear, she noticed that some of her blood cells had turned green due to the accident.

"Yes!" said Bruce excitedly. "I think if I were to take a fresh sample right now from you, we'd see the same result, or maybe even more will have turned green."

"More?!" exclaimed Rita. "Are you saying this could get worse?"

"Maybe, but I think I've come up with a solution. I feel I can turn those green irradiated blood cells back to normal. Repress them even. If so, you'll be cured and you can go back home to your dad and live a normal life again."

"Well, that's great news, Doc!" said Rick.

"Yeah," added Bruce, "But there's something else that I wanted to-"

Before he could finish, however, and without a warning, the door of their apartment was suddenly kicked down, and two dozen well armed soldiers flooded into the room screaming for their compliance while pushing them to the floor. All except Rita. She stood back in horror, realizing they had somehow found them. It was only then that one of the soldiers raised a taser and fired it at her; the sudden jolt and shock knocking Rita unconcious to the floor. Thunderbolt Ross walked into the room not long after.

"Good work, men. I see she's already neutralized. It was a big risk, I know, but we had to act quickly."

"I'm sorry Rick," said Bruce. "They must have been watching and followed me here."

"Nonsense," replied Ross. "We got an anonymous tip. The fact you're here is a welcome coincidence. Now, take this traitor Banner and the little girl's boyfriend downstairs. I only really have business with her."

But as he approached her body, and much to his and the other soldiers' surprise, Rita suddenly sat back up. While dazed, she still managed to get back to her feet, noticing then something moving along her thin arms. It was green veins, ones noticably crawling up her skin.

"Oh...oh no!" she exclaimed. "Look at what you idiots have done."

"Quick, tase her again!" the general ordered. "And get the sedative and handcuffs ready. I don't want her getting away a second time."

Indeed, Rita was shot with the stunner again, yet didn't fall completely to the ground this time; only to a single knee. She was still distracted, though; enough that they had time to inject her with something in order to put her out and then apply the handcuffs. She became drowsy for a moment. But it was only for a moment. Instead of going to sleep, she began panting.

"You've made a terrible mistake," she said then, raising her head up and revealing her now green and glowing eyes. Strength started to pump into her arms and legs, and her abdomen pushed out wide. There was nothing the soldiers could do. In their haste they had woken the beast inside of Rita, and unlike the first time, she wouldn't even try to hold Chica Fuerte back. She felt it was the only way to save herself. The only way to save Bruce and Rick.

"If you want me," growled the increasingly furious Rita, "Then you'll have to take all of me!"

She rose up high over them, with her skin turning dark green, and her hair growing fuller and becoming jet black. She snapped the handcuffs off, while her biceps pressed against her rolled up shirt sleeves, and her legs burst through her white jeans. The Chica was back, stronger, bigger and more dangerous than ever before, with an ear-bleeding roar signaling her arrival.

"Open fire!"

As before, no matter how many bullets they let loose upon her, it made no difference. She began grabbing their weapons, bending and tearing them apart as if they were made of soft plastic. She then took up a soldier in each hand and forced them against the apartment wall.

This bulletproof bomb of a woman only got angrier before throwing herself through the patio entrance and doors and onto the ledge in search of Bruce and Rick. Finally, she could see the center of the city in all of its bright glory against a darkening sky, but she never thought it would be under these circumstances.

Further below she caught a glimpse of her companions beings loaded into a military truck, and she roared once more. As she did so, pedestrians stared upwards through the mist and gloom, and were amazed by what they saw. It was a tall, mysterious green amazon of sorts, one who then flung herself down between the neon lights and onto the street with a loud crash, understandably sending people fleeing for their lives. Chica Fuerte ignored them, though, only having eyes for the truck. In her way lay yet more of Ross' troops who weren't nearly as brave as those in the apartment above. She grabbed those who remained and easily threw them aside. She then picked up some of their vehicles and broke them in half above her head before grabbing the back of the retreating offending truck, preventing its escape. Having ripped the rear axle off, she then peeled back the doors, reaching inside for Bruce and Rick, placing them on her shoulders before then jumping towards the sky and landing on another tall building.

Before she could check them both over, a helicopter suddenly swung by and hovered overhead, pointing its arsenal at all three. It quickly opened fire, while she, in turn, gritted her teeth, scooped up the others again and dashed over the tops of nearby buildings with the enemy in tow. Soon, however, the pilot and gunner had lost sight of her. That was until she suddenly appeared again flying through the air, delivering a fatal punch to the helicopter, forcing the crew to crash land on another rooftop.

She took great satisfaction watching the retreating forces of Thunderbolt Ross, with another, strange feeling overcoming her then. Something new. Something that felt good: She could protect herself. Protect Rick. She was so powerful she could even repel an army.

"Look at them running from me," she growled to herself. "Puny humans. They can't match Chica's awesome might. I could crush them all if I wanted to...I could crush this city...they will all pay..."

She placed her hand over her own mouth then. What was she saying? The monster was really taking over. Luckily, Rick placed his hand in her enlarged green one, and she felt a little calmer. But only a little.

"Come on," he said. "We need to get out of here before they come back in bigger numbers again."

"Where?" said the green giant staring off in different directions. The truth is, he didn't know either.

"I'll show you the way," Bruce chimed in. "That's what I was trying to tell you before they arrived. I need you to come back to my off-base lab on the other side of town. That's where I've been working secretly but tirelessly between visits with you guys."

Both men then wrapped their arms around her muscular neck and she bounded off the ledge and across the skyline of Mesa City. When they'd reached their destination, Chica Fuerte had calmed to such a degree that she slowly began to shrink until only the smaller figure of Rita remained.

"Oh, Rick," she said. "It happened again, didn't it?"

"Yeah, but you saved us, so it's not all bad."

As frightened as she was Rita also couldn't help but smile at him, with Bruce then leading them both inside before switching on the lights of his small, makeshift lab. When he'd flicked another on, the light above them illuminated a large machine at the center of the room.

"This is what I wanted to show you. With it I managed to either extract or repair the affected blood cells, and I think it might work for you and turn you permanently back to normal."

With that, he started firing up said machine. Rick, though, noticed that instead of being overjoyed or relieved Rita was actually a little pensive.

"What's wrong? This nightmare is nearly over, right?"

"That's the thing. I know now that it'll never be over. That general and his men will chase me to the ends of the earth. They either want my abilities, or they want me dead just in case. Even if I lose these powers, I don't think they'll believe it. They'll get me in the end, Rick. They'll get you, too. And Bruce."

"Well, what else can we do?" wondered Rick aloud.

"What are you two talking about over there?" asked Bruce. "The machine is almost ready. We better hurry up in case Ross and Co come as I'm not sure if they know the location of this lab."

"Rita is getting cold feet I think, Doc."

"What?! How?!" exclaimed Bruce. "I thought she wanted to be free of this curse?"

"That's the thing," she said, pumping her tiny bicep amidst her pink and white rags. "I'm beginning to wonder if it is a curse. I am strong, strong enough to keep an army at bay. If I turn back to normal, I won't have a chance to defend myself."

"Well, I'm not sure what more I can do for you then," said Bruce, preparing to power the machine down.

"No, wait," said Rita, pulling his hand back. "Is there a way you could take away the green craziness but leave me with all the muscle in tact?"

"Here's the problem with that," started Bruce. "If I remove the gamma irradiated parts I suspect some other radiation will have to be put there to cause a similar change."

"Is that even possible?" asked Rick.

"I wouldn't even have believed that the first gamma-influenced transformation were possible, yet here we are. One thing I have certainly noticed about her changes is that they seem to be emotionally triggered. It's your latent anger, Rita. And that's not something I can just take away. It's something inside of your head. That's something you have to come to terms with on your own."

"What if we were to make it so a different emotion were the trigger, Doc? Instead of anger, it's another part of her personality?"

"To be honest, I wouldn't even know where to begin with such a thing, and would be afraid to experiment on her like that."

"But I volunteer," said Rita. "If I could be mighty without the almost mindless rage, I would make those soldiers leave us alone without nearly taking out a city block in the process."
 
As she finished, she stepped into the machine and held the handles on both sides, nodding then, indictating that she at least was ready to begin.

Bruce just shook his head and made for the control panel again. The machine was configured to remove, drown out or destroy gamma rays in her system, but could he come up with or add something else that would give her what she wanted? He concluded no. But perhaps the answer didn't lay in another type of radiation nor removing the affected blood. Maybe he could somehow shutdown the part of her system that caused the rage after she transformed? She would remain huge and super strong but the other "side affects" of being green and crazed would be repressed.

And so, instead of training the machine to bluntly target the entire problem, he quickly trained it to precisely focus on just one element of it.

"This will only work if you get angry during the process," revealed Bruce.

"That's OK," she replied. "Apparently, I'm already pretty angry, deep down."

With that, she dug into her memory of recent events. Of the threats on her life, of the way Thunderbolt Ross had treated her friends, and soon all of her rage started to spew forth. As the change came upon her again, Bruce clicked the machine into gear.
Rick, meanwhile, stood back slightly in fear and awe at his girlfriend growing once again into this force of nature. With the third and newest transformation underway, her rags were shredding even further leaving her now dangerously close to nakedness, but she still held onto the handles of the machine as it suddenly veiled her body in bright light.

"Here we go!" cried Bruce above all the hum and noise.

In truth, it was incredibly painful for Rita as her body started to grow and then shrink, her muscles expanded and then deflated before exploding forth once more. It was working, though. Bruce was using his scientific genius to repress the more reckless aspects of her change, while also turning her skin back to its normal shade, yet her increased height and awesome muscles remained the same. The process continued, and continued, with the pain only relenting near the end.

But something strange happened then: she actually grew a little bigger than ever before.

"Eh, what's going on, Doc?" asked a worried Rick.

"I-I don't know," was his only reply.

Suddenly the machine stopped dead, and the sound slowly dropped. Rick walked over and couldn't believe what he was seeing. His girlfriend had seemingly permanently become an amazon. But it was just Rita, and not Chica Fuerte.

"I think she's still in there, though," Bruce chimed in. "The monster I mean. I fear we haven't just physically repressed her, but also phycologically, too. That might come at a cost later, but for now you've gotten what you wanted. All of the power, none of the green-skinned wanton destruction. You're in total control. Except..."

"Except?"

"You got a little extra for some reason."

Rita smiled and looked at her massive hands and then explored her muscular body.

"It's incredible, though," she informed them.

"You're telling me," said Rick, taking the opportunity to explore her massive body as well, illiciting a slight purr from Rita.

"Oh, you like what you see, do you?"

"He might," interrupted Bruce, "But I don't."

He was staring at the control screen having noticed a discrepancy in her bloodwork during the experiment. There was something else there. Something he'd noticed mere traces of before but now it was far more noticable. Something that might explain her inexplicable growth of a few inches more just before the experiment came to a halt.

"What is it?" asked Rita while coming to his side.

"I don't actually know. I feel like it's something in your system that was even there before the explosion because the reading isn't giving off any gamma radiation."

"Are you saying there was something unusual inside her even before all of this happened?" asked Rick. "What do you think if might be?"

"I have a better question," Rita interrupted. "Where can I get some super stretchy clothes now to fit my growing frame?"

Before they could reply there was another voice that echoed from the front of the lab; for as they were conversing amongst themselves they had failed to notice the stranger entering the room.

"I think I can help with both questions," they said.

Rita, Rick, and Bruce all turned round to face the intruder who then walked into the light and showed her face. She was middle aged, dressed in black, and there was a streak of silver in her dark brown hair that curled down by her slightly wrinkled but powerful face.

"Who are you?" asked Rick.

After a short pause, she decided to reveal herself.

"I am Maria La Fuerte."

Rita's eyes widened, and she gasped then.

"Madre? Mother?!"

"Sí, hija. I'm back."

(To be continued...)