Punching Machine

When we walked into the hanger, four large machines had been set up in the center of the empty space within. I recognized them easily since I'd designed them. Well, Jury Rigg, Tony, and Fitz had designed them. If you could call throwing scrap at Jury Rigg and seeing what he made 'designing'. Victoria came in and looked us over. "Dial, you know how these machines work better than anyone besides Stark and Fitz. What do you suggest?"

I thought about that for a moment. "Take it in pairs. One person holds the machine, the other hits it," I flashed back to boxing with Creel. "And of course, the people would have to be within the same realm of strength. So..." I looked over the group before just outsourcing it. "Davida, you know you girls best. Who should match with who?"

"Well, I already know we make a good match," Davida said suggestively. I sighed in annoyance as She-Hulk gave me an intrigued look while Helen and Melissa chuckled, Marian giggling. "But... I should pair with Thor. Marian with Hulk. Helen with... the green... lady?" Davida looked at Jennifer in befuddlement before shrugging it off. "And Melissa with you."

Made sense. Of the group, Melissa and I were the closest to natural humans. She was only about at physically powerful as a Centipede soldier, which, though it was a lot more badass than I was, was closer to the realm of human than the others were. Besides, I wasn't planning to be human.

"Okay, go ahead," Victoria nodded towards the machines.

"What exactly are we doing?" Helen asked, the tall blonde looking at Thor.

"We're punching big things," I said simply, moving to a machine in the center. Melissa followed me, the others joining.

I tapped the front of the machine, which was just a massive plate of flat gray metal. The center of the machine was attached with giant screws to the ground, the whole thing a big pillar of metal with a blue light glowing within. The back of the machine was built with grooves for a body of varying sizes, from Four Arms to Songbird in size. "Tony designed most of it. It's called the 'Hit Calculator'. One person punches this end. The other holds the machine from the back. The machine should be able to take forces up to a little over one million tons thanks to all the stuff we put in to make it work and will give calculations even if it does end up destroyed. I based it off something from Dragonball Z."

"Dragon-what?" Helen asked.

Apparently, everyone else was just as lost to the reference. Philistines, the lot of them.

"Anyway, hit the plate, hold the back, and so on," I turned and walked towards the one on the end, leaving the other pairs to pick their own hit calculator. Thor and Davida took the one further left, then Hulk and Marian, She-Hulk and Helen, Melissa and I.

"So, uh, who goes first?" Melissa asked me.

"You," I said, flipping through the Omnitrix menu. "Since you and I aren't superhuman, technically anyway, we don't really have to spot each other, so I'll just merge with the machine and let you take shots at me," with that, I pressed down on the watch.

"Upgrade!"

"Merge?" Melissa blinked up at me before smiling. "Oh, I like this one! He's cuter than the Frankenstein one."

My central eye blinked at her, my robotic voice coming out a moment later. "Uh... thanks? Anyway..."

I flowed into the hit calculator and filled the gaps within it, focusing on precision. Once done, a tendril holding my head rose up to look at her. "Okay! Give me your best shot!"

She stared at me, her smile fading. "Oh. Yeah, it's not as cute anymore."

"What? What did I do wrong?"

"I mean, seeing you go all goopy like that was kind of gross," Melissa said, her nose scrunching in disgust. "Uh, no offense."

"All the offense," I said, not knowing why exactly I was so hurt. "Look, just hit me already."

"Fine, fine," Melissa pulled a fist back and unleashed a devastating blow to the center of the plate.

1845 pounds of force. Daaaaayum.

"Was that your best?" I asked curiously, kind of in awe in how much raw power her tiny form had.

She frowned at me, apparently misinterpreting things. "What, you challenging me!?"

"What? No, I just-"

"You got it! Ya!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Melissa was apparently the sort of person to get fired up really quickly, because she started unleashing a hail of punches. If this were an anime, I'd have a sweatdrop on my robotic forehead at the sight of her hitting 'my' pressure plate as fast and hard as she could. Well, she was certainly eager.

Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk

"She's really going for it," She-Hulk noted. She was standing next to Helen, watching as the petite peroxide blonde on the machine next to theirs continued to punch and yell with an almost melodious tone in time with each hit. "She's kind of... singing?"

"Yeah, Melissa has always been like that," Helen looked up at the taller woman. "It's why we named her 'Songbird'," her voice became fond and soft for a moment. "Always singing in the middle of a fight without meaning to," Helen clapped her hands as though scaring off errant thoughts. "So, who goes first?"

She-Hulk smirked. "How about you go ahead and start hitting it? You'll want me tired when I go."

The blonde narrowed her eyes, a dangerous smile on her lips. "Is that so? I would want to hurt you."

"Sweetie, I'm a Hulk," She-Hulk smirked. "That comes with a couple of perks... beyond the obvious ones," Jennifer said, thrusting her chest out with a smug smile.

"Oh I know," Helen turned and walked over to the machine. "Come on. Let's see what it takes to deflate that ego of yours, honey."

She-Hulk took a spot behind the machine, her hands wrapping to support it. The blonde and green haired superhumans shared challenging looks before Helen hit the machine.

And Jennifer blinked in surprise at the incredible impact she felt on her shoulders, feet digging slightly into concrete. Helen smirked. "Too much?"

She-Hulk rallied, a bright and cheery look on her face even as her eyes narrowed. "As long as you start actually hitting me, rather than fitting into the dumb blonde stereotype."

Helen hit it again, She-Hulk gritting her teeth.

"What, you straining?" Helen said, hitting the machine again.

"Babe, you really need to stop worrying about breaking your nails."

For about one minute, Helen kept hitting the machine as She-Hulk supported it. By the end, both women were beginning to sweat. Then they switched places, the ground quaking within the warehouse as She-Hulk's massively powerful blows joined those of the others in the room.

And all throughout, the two women continued to needle each other, very similar looks of challenge on their faces.

Marian Pouncy/Poundcake

"You hit good," Hulk complement Marian as the shorter but still massive superhuman 'boxed' with the machine they were both working on.

"Thank you," Marian said politely, blushing.

The two giants had yet to switch. Hulk had been holding the machine for Marian to hit for a little while, supporting it as she left dents in the machine. Which was impressive, considering the material the machine was made of was specifically built to withstand the Hulk. Granted, it hadn't been tested against him yet, but it said something about Marian's power.

Marian did another blow, a scientist behind her stumbling when the ground shook, before looking at the Hulk.

"I didn't know you could... you know, talk."

"Hulk learned. Banner let Hulk out and Hulk learn. Speaking is hard," Hulk admitted. "Hulk always angry. Can't think sometimes. Always want to hit and fight everything. But Hulk learn."

Marian frowned, confused. "What does that mean, Banner 'let you out'? I thought you were Bruce Banner, and Hulk was your code...name..." Marian stopped hitting the machine in favor of staring at Hulk as his grip on the machine began to leave grooves in the metal.

Hulk stared at her, his eyes filled with glimmering shades of green anger. His mouth was twisted into an ugly grimace. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, clearly trying to calm.

"Hulk and Banner different. Banner scientist. Hulk fighter. Work together, but same," Hulk still seemed angry, but he was clearly trying to keep from lashing out.

Marian swallowed. "W-Well, that's fine. I was just confused."

"Bruce say same, in Hulk head," Hulk tried to soften his voice. "Hulk... I'm sorry. I just get so mad. People say Hulk and Bruce same, but..."

"It's okay," Marian seemed at a loss as to what to say. "Do you uh, do you want a turn to hit this thing, let off some steam?"

"Hulk try," Hulk let go of the machine and moved around, Marian moving to grab it. He got into a rough fighting stance with instruction from Bruce. He unleashed a blow, and his fist left an imprint on the machine. Marian winced while her feet cracked the concrete, but she and the machine held. If anything, Marian seemed to find a bit of joy at the sudden realization that she was having trouble with the weight of Hulk's blows. After more powerful hits began to strain her muscles, Marian spoke.

"You know, you should tell people that," Marian said hesitantly. "I mean, I have a lot of trouble talking to people, but Davida helped me keep doing it when I was in high school so I could help teach the younger kids to learn how to wrestle and so I could make friends. If you tell people, maybe they'll know how to treat you?"

Hulk hit the machine again, frowning in thought. After a moment though, he shrugged it off. Instead, he pulled back his fist, focusing before throwing another powerful hit, the machine buckling slightly with the blow and Marian struggling to hold it down. Hulk threw another blow and another.

Thor Odinson/God of Thunder

"Fuck," Davida mumbled at the sight of Hulk's power, stopping her own punches. She shook her head. "Maybe I should have done that instead of letting Marian take over..."

"I don't believe your friend would like that," Thor noted. He looked at Davida, who had shifted into her larger form, standing about the size of Marian now. "If I may ask, how is that you and your friends became so close?"

Davida looked at the Asgardian with a frown. "Is this really the time for my life story?"

"I find that it is always a good time for the right story," Thor responded. "But if you don't want to tell me, I won't be offended," he said with a charismatic smile.

"...Okay, just hold the machine for me first."

Thor politely dropped Mjolnir behind the machine, then placed his shoulder to it. Davida unleashed an experimental blow, which Thor took with ease. Satisfied, she began to drum the machine with blows as she spoke.

"We all went to the same school back in the day," Davida explained. "Joined the wrestling team together, and got pretty close. But one day, on our way to a wrestling meet, a car smashed into the bus. Drunk guy with a Humvee and no sense. The four of us got lucky, got sent to the right experimental facility. The rest of our team died that night, but we went into a coma," Davida looked over at Helen, who was currently arguing good-naturedly with Jennifer. Davida smiled. "Helen was the first of us to wake up. According to her, the second she realized she had superpowers, she went into mercenary work to fund our surgeries. When I woke up, I helped her. We saved money for a place, since our families were either dead or worthless, and made sure that when Mimi and Marian woke up, they'd have a home to go to. When they woke up, well," Davida kicked the machine, Thor easily supporting it against the impact. "We stuck together. I mean, we aren't exactly good people. But we have each others backs, always."

Thor gave her a look Davida didn't know how to respond to. "That is quite a story. And as a mercenary, you fought in many battles?"

"A few," Davida spun to smash her elbow into the pressure plate. "We tried to keep under the radar, make sure our powers were kept secret, but we ended up clashing with other supers over the years on one mission or another. There was this guy in China I had to fight with before some blind guy teleported him out."

"I'd love to hear about that sometime," Thor told her, smiling.

Mahmoud Schahed/Dial

Melissa stopped punching the machine and rested her hand on her knees, bending to grin at me as I separated from the object she'd been beating on. "There! How did that feel?"

"Impressive," I admitted, not willing to anger the tiny songstress. I tapped the Omnitrix on my chest and changed to my human form to save power. "You're absolutely stronger than I am as a human."

She grinned in response, looking me up and down before frowning. "Oh. You're not that strong, are you?"

"Not compared to all the super-soldiers running around these days," I looked over at the machine. "But even then, you're above most of the worlds strongest recorded weightlifters, that's for sure. I guess we should trade partners around now, though."

"Why's that?" Melissa asked, crossing her arms and looking up at me.

"Well, I'm planning to switch over to Rath to get his strength rating, so-"

"Rath!" Melissa gave me a smile I didn't like. "Got it, one second!"

She turned and rushed off, ignoring the guards in the hangar watching her in favor of running past everyone to get to Davida and Thor, calling to the Grappler's leader. Melissa spoke with her for a while, then Davida looked up at me and smiled, Thor looking intrigued.

The three walked up to join me as I groaned in annoyance. Yeah, should have expected this.

"So I hear you're changing into my fiancee," Davida said as soon as she got close. In her larger form she towered over everyone except Hulk and Jennifer, and since the only person shorter than me in our group was Melissa, the effect was especially pronounced as she leaned over to look down at me.

"I'm changing into the guy who beat you like a rented drum after you mind-controlled him, yes," I said, having planned out my response as Davida had walked over.

She winced, then shrugged. "Yeah, okay. That's fair. I guess I'll spot you."

"Please do," I said tersely. No, I was not still made about being mind controlled and proposing, whatever do you mean?

With a twirl of the Omnitrix, I pushed down on the dial and grew a fresh coat of orange and black hair.

"Rath!"

I cracked my knuckles and looked over at Davida. "Let me tell you something Titania of the Grapplers! You better be ready, because Rath is going to hit this machine so hard that other machines will cheer! AND THEN WE SHOULD GET MARRIED!" I paused. "Wait, Rath doesn't want to get married! Why did Rath say that?!"

"Are you broken?" Melissa asked, sounding as though she had no idea what to think. Davida, standing behind the hit calculator, blinked at me, her eyes very clearly not red.

"Rath doesn't know! Rath might have unspoken romantic issues," honestly befuddled, I decided to discard the complications and just-

Bam!

Oh hey, I hit the machine before I finished thinking.

I hit it again and again, my claws and fists contacting metal with loud clanging noises. Davida took the blows on her shoulder, gritting her teeth as I put my hips into it.

Thor, in the meantime, looked over at Melissa. "I don't understand. Mind control? Davida can control people?" Thor seemed disturbed by that. No wonder, if he'd ended up in conflict with Enchantress in this universe he would have a good idea of what we were talking about.

"It's more like she makes people fall in love with her?" Melissa explained hesitantly. At the darkening expression on Thor's face, Melissa rubbed the back of her head. "If it helps, she doesn't use the power anymore?"

"I should hope not," Thor said. "It's not a very honorable way to fight."

"Rath agrees!" I shouted, grinning at the embarrassed look on Davida's face. "A fight should be with fists and muscles, and sometimes kicking! One on one, until one person is beaten down in the dirt and eats it like they like it! THAT'S THE ONLY WAY A FIGHT SHOULD GO!" I finished my statement with my fist claw extended and stabbing into the Hit Calculator like a hot knife through butter before ripping a decent chunk out.

Yeah, self-control was hard as Rath. Honestly, I don't think Appoplexians had a word for self-control.

"Well said!" Thor cheered, punching my shoulder with a loud boom as we laughed boisterously together. "I love this form!"

"Rath likes you too, Thor Odinson, God-of-Thunder-with-blonde-hair!"

"Now there's two of them," Davida mumbled. "Great."

After that, we were going to switch around once Rath's score had been raised, but we were interrupted when Victoria called Thor and I aside, bringing us to a room deeper in the hanger we'd been working in. It was just a spartan room with nothing but a crappy wooden desk, though the way Victoria was leaning against it, the thing might as well have been a throne.

"We're ready," Victoria said as soon as I walked in. "While the others will be testing with the Graveyard survivors, we've set up an area in the desert to test your Asgardian form. Will you need time to recharge?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah, so you should give me around ten minutes before we start. So what will this entail?"

Victoria pointed outside a window. "We have some satellites and cameras set up to record everything that will happen around you for a mile radius, as well as check on weather patterns and energy reading. We've taken all the precautions we could, and emptied out the desert for miles around."

"That may be for the best," Thor said. "I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Same," I agreed.

Victoria looked between us, opening and closing her mouth. After a bit of that, she sighed, closed her eyes, and rubbed her forehead muttering to herself. "God help me, Coulson is so much better at this... Please go and start the test."

"Sure thing," I said, hiding my amusement at Victoria's annoyance