Jen chose Central Park, an open space far enough from buildings so the damage would be minimal.
She arrived at 3 PM, an hour early, news helicopters already in the air and circling. Titania appeared at 3:47 PM.
She walked through the park entrance like she owned the place, in her same outfit from yesterday. Her expression remained calm as the crowd of reporters and civilians erupted, the cameras flashing and questions being shouted. Titania ignored all of it, keeping her eyes on Jen.
"You came. I'm impressed. I thought you would hide behind lawyers and the Avengers," Titania said.
"I'm here. You wanted a test of strength? Let's see what you've got,' Jen replied. Seven feet tall with the skin the colour of emeralds.
"No witty banter? You really are taking this seriously. Good," Titania replied with a smile.
Titania charged. The impact of their collision sent a shockwave across the grass, with people hundreds of feet away feeling it. Car alarms triggered on the surrounding streets. Jen caught Titania's first punch and countered with a jab. Titania's head snapped back. She came back up, grinning.
"Good hit. My turn."
Titania drove her knee into Jen's stomach, the impact folding her forward. Titania followed with an elbow to the back of the head, driving Jen's face into the ground, forming a crater with grass and soil exploding outwards.
"Okay. You can actually fight," Jen said, pushing herself up.
"Did you think I couldn't? Did you think this was all for attention?" Titania replied, circling Jen.
"The thought crossed my mind."
"Underestimating me already, that's disappointing. Let me show you how wrong you are," Titania responded, moving in fast.
They traded blows, each strike echoing across the park. Jen was stronger than Titania, only by a little, but it was enough. It should have been enough.
"You know what I like about you, Jen? You're confident. Always so sure of yourself. A lawyer and a hero. Smart and strong. A perfect package," Titania said between exchanges. She caught Jen's fist and twisted, throwing her into a tree, and the trunk splintered. "But all that's a shell. All of it protecting you from having to admit what you are," Titania added, advancing.
"And what's that?" Jen replied, standing back up, brushing off wood splinters.
"A monster who got lucky. You were weak, a nobody lawyer who got all her fame and power from a blood transfusion. You didn't earn that power. You just got handed godlike strength because you had the right relative."
"You don't know anything about me," Jen replied, her jaw tightening.
Titania grabbed a boulder, throwing it. Jen dodged, the boulder sailing over her head. She spun to see where it was heading.
Civilians. Parents along with their two kids stared in horror as the boulder arced towards them. Jen dashed, catching the boulder mid-flight and redirecting it into the empty grass. Jen turned back and saw Titania smiling.
"See? Can't help yourself. So noble and so much better than people like me," Titania replied, her voice full of contempt.
"I am better than you."
"Prove it."
Titania rushed in, getting inside Jen's guard and grabbing her, driving her backward into the ground. They rolled, wrestling on the grass. Just strength against strength. Titania got on top and started raining down punches.
"You think you're so special? You're just an accident playing at being a hero!" Titania said.
Jen blocked and countered, reversing their positions and pinning Titania.
"I earned this! Every case. Every life saved. I earned the right to call myself a hero," Jen replied through gritted teeth.
"You earned nothing. You got lucky, and you've been coasting on that luck ever since," Titania replied, headbutting Jen, her nose breaking and green blood streamed. She reversed the pin again and got Jen down and kept hitting. "You're not stronger than me. Not better. You're just a freak who thinks she's special!" Titania yelled.
The rage that she usually kept controlled and managed throughout years of practice and therapy. Her savage side surged because Titania was right about one thing.
Jen didn't ask for it. She didn't earn it. She just needed a blood transfusion after an accident that made her like this. Every day since, she's been trying to prove to herself she deserved it.
Trying to prove the power didn't define her, and Titania was trying to strip all that away. Jen's control cracked. She caught Titania's next punch and squeezed. Her bones creaked. The primal grin on Jen's face was new.
"You want to see what I really am? Let me show you," Jen said, her voice rougher.
She reversed their position with brute strength and pinned Titania down, punching her constantly. Pure savage fury.
"That's it. Show them what you..." Titania said.
Jen hit her so hard her head bounced off the ground. Again and again.
"Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!" Jen snarled.
She raised her fist for another strike, one meant to kill her, and she didn't care. She wanted to even. To silence that voice and that judgement.
Her fist came down and stopped three inches from Titania's face. Not because Jen stopped it, but Captain Marvel had caught it.
"That's enough," Carol said, her hand holding Jen's firmly.
Jen blinked and looked at her fist and then Titania's bloodied face. Then she looked at Carol, who was holding her back. Then at the expressions of the crowd, their faces horrified and their cameras recording everything. For a moment she had turned into the monster she desperately tried to keep in control.
"I... I was just..." Jen released Titania, stood and backed away.
"Winning. You won. Titania's down. The fight's over now," Carol finished.
Jen looked at Titania, who was very beaten with broken ribs at the minimum. Her breathing was shallow and defeated. Jen had won.
The victory felt hollow and tainted. For those few seconds she wanted to kill, and the only reason she didn't was because of outside intervention. She looked at her shaking hands.
"I need... I need to go," Jen said, her voice unsteady.
Jen launched in the air without a word and just left. Behind her SHIELD agents moved in to secure Titania and begin the cleanup. Every camera had caught it. the moment when She-Hulk lost control.
Jen was now sat in her apartment, staring at her hands with the news playing on mute in the background. They kept on recalling the moment when Carol had stopped her from killing Titania.
She turned off the TV, her hands still shaking even hours later because Titania was right.
She was right about her being a monster. She spent years telling herself she wasn't and that she was in control.
Today she wanted to kill someone. Today she almost had and for a few seconds she was enjoying it.
The savage grin that everyone had seen. The complete lack of restraint. That was all Jen. Her impulses and rage. She usually was able to suppress them.
Her phone buzzed, messages from Carol, Avengers, her publicist and friends all checking if she was okay. She ignored all of them and got up to walk to her mirror. She looked at herself, her green skin.
"I am in control," she told herself.
Her reflection stared back, unconvinced, because if she were really in control, Carol wouldn't have had to stop her. If she were in control, she wouldn't have wanted to kill Titania.
The fight was over with Titania, but she was still fighting with herself.