elastigale:
Gail is averse to fighting in the sense that she’ll exhaust other options first. It depends on who she’s fighting, of course! Her main hangup is the fear of critically injuring someone by accident, because she can’t easily control her strength– so she’d be more likely to try to subdue a bank robber by trapping them/otherwise incapacitating them VS just punching them in the head. (They might not have a head after that.) On the other hand, when it comes to worthier, more durable opponents (say, a giant robot) she’d be more likely to fly in fist-first.
As far as fighting to the death, Gail would argue that there’s always another way. Much like Helen did at the end of Incredibles 2, Gail would put her own life in danger to save someone, even if that someone was a villain who seconds ago had been trying to kill her. (Incidentally, in this AU that’s a quality Helen picked up from teaming up with Gail.) In a way, it’s a selfish act- Gail couldn’t live with the guilt of knowingly killing or intentionally letting someone die. By protecting/saving a villain, she’s also protecting her own conscience.
On the other hand, if Gail was in a losing fight with a villain and she had the option to stubbornly fight till her own eventual demise or run away to fight another day, she’d pick the latter, even if it made her look weak and/or she had to drag all her protesting teammates away with her. (I’m sure this happened with younger!Helen on a few occasions!) Some heroes might have too much ego and pride for a tactical retreat, but Gail isn’t into hero work for the glory… she’s practical.