Chapter Nine: I, Hulk

Wendy groaned as her vision returned her. She had no idea as to how long she was out, the last thing she remembered was being struck by one of Ironman's repulsor blasts before blacking out. She let out a hiss of pain as she clutched her side before noticing her new surroundings. She was in Ford's old lab, and she wasn't alone. Soos, his grandmother, Melody and Waddles were also within the old lab, and it was it clear that something gone terribly wrong between Dipper and the Avengers.

"Wendy, oh thank god you're ok!" Soos said after he noticed that she was awake

"I think 'Ok' is kinda a subjective right now" the redhead said as she winced at the pain in her side "What happened?"

"Dipper Hulked-out after Ironman attacked you and went nuts on the Avengers" Melody informed her "We came down here before they tore down the Mystery Shack"

"The Mystery Shack's gone?" the Lumberjack girl asked, stunned before looking at Soos "I'm sorry, Soos"

"It's ok, dudes" he assured his friend "nothing a little elbow grease and loan from the bank can't fix"

Despite his words, Wendy knew that the this was handyman's dream to oversee the gift shop. To have destroyed so shortly into his ownership of the building must've destroyed the man on the inside. She couldn't help but feel responsible for this tragedy. If she hadn't charged out of the Shack, then Ironman wouldn't have attacked her, thus causing her lover to unleash his inner beast. Not only that, this had become a home for Soos and his family and the so-called heroes had just robbed them of that.

Just then, the roof above them began to be cleared away as someone from above moved the debris away from the lab to pull them out of their shelter. At first they thought it was the Hulk trying to rescue them, but instead it was someone vastly different from the town's defender. It was Spider-man who had been pushing away the rubble of the destroyed gift shop.

"Is anyone hurt down there?" the wall-crawler called down to them

"Yeah, no thanks to you and your friends!" Wendy shot back

"I'm sorry, this wasn't supposed to happen" Spider-Man apologized before jumping down to them

"And how else was this supposed to go down?" the ginger questioned sharply "You assholes forced my boyfriend into a fight and then you attacked me for trying to help!"

"Stark and the other older Avengers have been…off-center since the war broke out between Tony and Captain Marvel" the young hero attempted to explain

"Save your excuses, because I could hardly give a single shit why you super-jackasses are fighting each other again" Wendy scolded "the only thing that matters is that you get me to the Hulk right now before he and your friends destroy the town!"

At first Miles wanted to tell the girl it was too dangerous to attempt to try to intervene at the moment, but he had a feeling that if he said anything she'd ignore him and go there herself. Besides, the teenager may be able to calm this Hulk just like Betty Ross once did for Banner's inner monster. So, with a nod of understanding, Miles took hold of her before shooting a web-line to the nearest tree and swinging toward town, completely unaware of the new monster that had arrived there.

Things could be going better for Tony and the rest of the Avengers right now.

After throwing the new Hulk into space, a new gamma-powered creature arrived on the scene. The Avengers readied themselves for another fight, but honestly though, they were still reeling from their battle with the Hulk that only just ended moments ago. While Thor, Vision and Tony could keep going, Kamala and Nova were still young and looked beat as it is—even Sam appeared to look exhausted as well. Ironman would've ordered for the rest of the team to fall back to Miles's position and let him, Thor and Vision take on this gamma-powered bird woman, but if this woman was as strong as the new Hulk was, then they would need all the help they could get.

The very sight of the monster reminded the inventor of another time he heard of such a thing happing. He remembered a time when Bruce told him about the time that his wife, Betty, was transformed into a similar monster by MODOK, making the armored avenger begin to think that either him or another one of Banner's old enemies was behind this creature as well as possibly being responsible for making the new Hulk as well. He was about to question the mutated girl who gave her new form, but decided against it, considering the fact she appeared to be less then corporative at the moment.

"Where is he?" the Harpy snarled "Where is Mason Pines?"

"Uh, who now?" Cap asked absent mindedly

"She's talking about the Hulk" Kamala informed him sharply "you know, that guy who you antagonized into transforming and picking a fight with before you threw him into space"

"Oh right, him" her leader replied before looking at the Harpy "Sorry lady, but your buddy is currently floating in earth's orbit right now"

A brief look of sadness came across her face before morphing into one of pure fury.

"You robbed me of my revenge!" she roared "I became this thing to kill the Hulk and your stole that chance from me!"

The Avengers collectively tensed up, knowing what was going to happen next. The Harpy's wings unfurled outwards out of anger as her fists began to glow orange with plasma energy. She unleashed a shrill, furious cry, bearing her fangs to the superheroes as she did. The gamma radiation that was coming from the monstrous woman made the scanners in Tony's suit began to rise up to the point until it was on par with the grey Hulk's radiation levels.

"I can't have my revenge on the Hulk, I settle for killing you all instead!" the Harpy proclaimed in rage

"Yeah, I was afraid you'd say that" Ironman said

While this standoff was taking place, Stan, who was hiding behind some rubble alongside his brother, finally recognized the bird woman.

"Holy crap, I think that's Pacifica!" he stated in surprise

"Are you sure, Stanly?" Ford questioned "how could she even be able to become that thing?"

"Beats me" this twin said bluntly "all I know is that if the Avengers don't stop her, then we're screwed!"

Another shrill bird-like cry that split into everyone's skull erupted from the Harpy's mouth, like a furious eagle ready for a fight. Before any of the heroes could react, the now gamma-powered Pacifica launched herself forward at the Avengers, tackling Thor in the process. She then began to fly upwards, slashing at the thunder goddess all the while they climbed higher and higher into the air. Finally, Thor managed to knock her attacker of her person with a swing of her hammer across the bird woman's face. The radioactive monster retaliated by delivering a devastating punch to the goddess's torso, knocking her back down to the earth.

Nova, Cap, Vision and Tony flew after the winged monster. Pacifica hissed at her oncoming opponents as they flew towards her. The Harpy's hands began to surge with a bright orange glow, making the other Avengers slow down their race toward her in doing so. Suddenly, she unleashed a massive of blast of orange energy from her talons directly at the team of heroes that where racing toward her. while most of the Avengers managed to evade the beam, it did however, strike Vision dead-on, sending him straight back into the ground.

Sam hurled his shield at his opponent's left temple, which merely annoyed the bird woman rather than harm her. Before the shield could return to its owner hand, Pacifica snatched the shield mid-air and hurled with all her strength down toward Thor, hitting her in the back with the force of a missile. Nova flew in and began to deliver a series of punches that would've reduced a tank to scrap metal. But Nova wasn't fighting a tank, he was fighting a gamma-powered monster, a monster that felt the blows she was taking as if she was getting stung by a bee. The Harpy grabbed the young hero's arm and proceeded to twist it until it broke before hurling him into Captain America, causing them both to crash-land into the ruins of a building below them.

Before Pacifica could think to herself about how easy this was, a huge metal fist struck her across the face, sending her tumbling down back towards the earth before she could correct herself in mid-air. With a rage-filled screech, she flew up towards Ironman at a break-neck speed. Before Stark's scanners could even register her speed, the Harpy's was right in front him. she began to slash madly at her armored enemy, cutting deeply into Tony's suit faster than it could repair itself. Tony finally managed to push away the girl from his person before blasting her in the face with a repulsor blast and sent her crashing into Blubbs and Durland's police car.

The combined blast from the repuslor blast and the impact with the car did little to slow the Harpy down. She quickly pulled herself from the wreckage of the vehicle and readied herself for another round. The Avengers however, were not as energetic as she was for another battle, for they were all collectively wounded and exhausted from their fights with two different kinds of Hulks.

"Does anyone have an idea?" Ms. Marvel asked

"Running sounds like a good one" Nova commented

"We're not running" Sam said "we're Avengers, and we do not retreat!"

"No one is going anywhere!" Pacifica proclaimed "No one is this god forsaken town is leaving here alive!"

Back with Stand and Ford, the twin siblings were still trying to wrap their heads around how the heir to the once great Northwest fortune became empowered by Gamma radiation. It was highly unlikely that Hydra somehow captured her and managed to dose her with enough radiation to change her into a monster in the span of under two days. The only thing that seemed logical was that she had been given her new powers by someone who had access to gamma radiation, but that begged the question: who was she working with? That should be an easy question to answer, but in a world where actual gods and monsters exist, it was too hard to say who exactly was the one behind Pacifica's transformation.

"Uh, do we have a plan to stop her?" Stan asked

"I…don't know" Ford admitted "one of the containment cells back in the mansion may be able to hold her, but I have no idea how do get her there"

"And I doubt those super-freaks would be willing to help us" his brother noted

"Don't be so sure on that" a voice replied

The twins turned around to see Spider-Man, who was carrying Wendy, land before them and set the girl down on the ground. Neither of the Pines brothers where pleased to see the young hero, but if they were to stop Pacifica from massacring the entire town, they'd need all the help they could get. Both Wendy and Spider-Man were surprised to see the Avengers facing off with a winged monster instead a grey-skinned one, but it was clear that an explanation could wait until after the Harpy was taken down.

"You think you could get Stark and your buddies to help us out?" Stan asked

"If I can make it so that Tony thinks it was his idea" the wall-crawler answered

"Wait, where's Dipper?" Wendy spoke up in confusion

The twin sibling's faces became sullen, making the teen's heart sink in the process. She already knew what had happened from just the expressions on their faces. Wendy's eyes began to water; she couldn't bear the thought of her lover being gone from this earth. She began to weep for the loss of her boyfriend and his monstrous alter-ego that she cared for. Stan found himself gently putting his arms his former employee in comforting embrace, letting her weep into his shoulder. It was at that moment that the loss of his grand-nephew began to fully set in. He could only watch in helplessly as Mason was slain by the Avengers. aside from his brother, Stan was alone in the world. Soon enough, the old con-artist, who always claimed that he had a heart made of stone, began to cry for his fallen grand-nephew as well.

As they two wept, the ground underneath their feet shook slightly, like a small tremor had occurred. At first, everyone in Gravity Falls thought nothing of it at first, thinking that it was some sort of aftershock of the battle between the Avengers and Pacifica. But then another, much stronger tremor, rocked the town, nearly knocking everyone off their balance in the process. While everyone, including the heroes and the monster they faced, were perplexed by this, Wendy, Stan and Ford had a sense of what—or rather who—was causing these tremors.

Suddenly, a massive figure fell from the sky with the force of a bomb, violently shaking the ground upon landing. Wendy, as well as the rest of the citizens of Gravity Falls, gazed in awe at the return of their protector. The Avengers were equally surprised by the monster's return as well, for they were certain they had seen the last of the gamma-powered brute. The Hulk looked at the current situation before him with surprise before giving his reaction.

"I'm gone a for a few hours and look what happens" he said to everyone's shock "Sheesh! I can't leave you guys alone for five seconds, can I?"

It wasn't just the Avengers and Harpy who were in a state of shock at the sight of the now suddenly intelligent Hulk, but also the people of Gravity Falls well. For the longest time, the grey-skinned beast was nothing more than a giant with a little mind, but her he was, speaking in complete sentences and thinking for himself. It was just what Dipper had warned them of before all this madness happened. As everyone was trying to process this sudden change, the Hulk made his way over to Wendy and the others, he backed up slightly at the sight of the brute. The gamma-powered monster then walked up to Wendy before taking a knee to be closer to her height.

"Easy babe, you got nothing to worry about" he assured her with a warm smile

"Dipper?" she asked hesitantly "Is that you?"

"Not exactly" the Hulk corrected "We'll explain everything after this mess is sorted out"

"But this doesn't make sense!" Spider-Man said "How can you be dumb one second and then be smart the next? And how did you survive— "

"Shut it, bug" Hulk cut him off as he punched him into a nearby wall

While this reunion was going on, Pacifica had lost her patience with being ignored by the creature she had sworn to kill.

"Hulk!" the Harpy screeched "Face me now!"

"Who's the bird-brain?" the grey-skinned goliath inquired

"It's Pacifica" Ford answered "we don't know how she was changed into…that"

"Uh-huh" the Hulk was all he said in understanding "Well don't worry, I got this"

"Wait, you can't!" Wendy begged "she's strong enough to hold off the Avengers, I think she may be stronger than you!"

"Ain't nobody stronger than me, babe" her monstrous lover confidently reminded her "Just stay back with Stan and Ford until I'm done"

With that, the Hulk made his way over to the mutated Pacifica, who was anxiously waiting for the chance to finally have her revenge. While the two monsters had completely forgot about the Avengers, the same could not be said about earth's mightiest heroes, who were more than ready to fight both monsters at once despite already receiving a beating from the respective creatures. However, one fierce glance from the Hulk made the war-weary heroes to stand down for the moment at least. Everyone waited with bated breath to see the two titans clash, but instead of make the first move, the Hulk instead spoke up.

"Who did this to you, Pacifica?" he asked calmly

"Oh if you only knew, Pines" she replied with a wicked smirk

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking" the grey giant furthered in a half-joking manner before becoming serious again "and why do this to yourself at all?"

"You know damn well why!" she snarled at him "I'm doing this Mabel!"

"I understand the pain you're going through" the fellow monster assured her "You think Mason doesn't grieve as well? You think I don't grieve for losing Mabel? I'm apart of Mason, therefor she was my sister to"

The way the monster spoke made everyone pay direct attention to him. For a creature who was only regulated to only a few words such as 'Hulk smash!', he now spoke with such authority and yet still had grace to him.

"Mason says that he was there when Mabel died, and in a way, he was half-right" the Hulk continued "I was the one who found Mabel on her death bed. But despite the horrific pain she was in, the moment she saw me…all of that pain just went away"

The Harpy was visible shaken by what she was hearing, even her anger was slowly dying down.

"I don't want to fight you, Pacifica" the grey-skinned monster continued "You're one of the last things in this world that I—we, have to remind us of Mabel. If you want to kill me I won't stop you, but I want you to think hard on this: like you, I'm one of the last things that you have left to remind you of Pacifica. Would you destroy what you have left of the girl you loved?"

The whole world seemed to stand still in that moment. It was as if the very universe itself was waiting with bated breath to see what Pacifica would do next. Would she attack? Would she surrender? It was too hard to tell, the bird-woman's face was still locked into that of a look of rage. Suddenly, the Harpy unfurled her wings and launched herself into the air. When she was in mid-air, she looked back down at the Hulk before speaking.

"There's an abandoned factory on the edge town" she informed him "You'll find the answers your looking for there"

With those last few words, she flew higher into the sky until she disappeared into the clouds above. Thor and Captain America where about to give chase before the Hulk stepped in.

"Let her go" he commanded

"We can't just let her leave" Stark argued "She's— "

"A confused young girl who acted out of grief and needs to left alone to figure things out" the monster countered "something I'm sure your very familiar with, Stark"

Ironman didn't answer that, but instead he brought up another point.

"We need to find out who or what turned her into that thing" he said

"Agreed" the Hulk answered "and when this is over, you and your buddies are going to help me clean up the mess we made and then never come back"

"That's not our department to clean up the damages" Tony shrugged off

"We're helping, Tony" Ms. Marvel stated firmly "We owe him and these people that much"

The armored avenger looked at the collective glares and glowers of both his team and the townspeople and instantly knew that he wasn't going to get out this.

"Let's just get this over with" he finally relented

It didn't take long for Stark to detect a source of Gamma radiation on the outskirts of Gravity Falls. Hulk and the Avengers followed the radioactive trail to the factory Pacifica had told them about before she left. There appeared to be no form of security around the factory, so Hulk wasted no time in charging head on and tearing open a hole in the wall before anyone could stop him. As the heroes entered the factory, they discovered that whoever was here had left in a hurry. Lab equipment as well as a machine that was clearly used to transform Pacifica into her new monstrous form was left untouched since its recent use.

None of this made any sense to any of the superheroes, while it was very clear that someone was here and they had left after the creation of their new monster, none of the machines were destroyed or sabotaged to cover the person's tracks. It was as if whoever changed Pacifica into the Harpy wanted the Hulk and the Avengers to find this place. There were several suspects of course, Hydra, MODOK, even General Ross were more than capable of doing something like this.

Suddenly a holoimage materialized at the center of the room for all the heroes to see. The image was that of a tall, green skinned man wearing a black and orange suit, but what stood out the most to the group was that the man's head was twice the size of any normal human being. Upon seeing him, both the Hulk and the Avengers knew whose image this was. In a past life he was once a simple janitor named Samuel Sterns, but after being exposed to gamma-radiation, he became someone to fear.

The Leader.

"Well this is a surprise" the image began "I expected the Hulk to come here, but not alongside the Avengers as well"

"Friday, find the source of this signal" Tony ordered his armor's A.I

"You won't have any luck with that, Stark" Leader sneered "I'm covering the signal's trail with thousands of codes data. Even you're A.I would have to decipher all of it to figure out where I am, and by then I'd be far from there"

"Then why did you turn Pacifica into that monster?" the Hulk questioned

"Why, to kill you of course" the former Hulk's archenemy replied "but as I can see, that didn't go so well. Oh well, I suppose I'll just have to think of some other way to kill you"

"Why even come after me?" the grey-skinned goliath demanded "your beefs with Banner, not me!"

"But Banner's gone!" the Leader snapped before shooting a glare at the Avengers "No thanks to the likes of you"

Ironman didn't get a chance to respond before the gamma-powered villain continued.

"Thanks to Stark and his friends, my revenge has been robbed from me!" Sterns snarled in a vexed voice "years of trying to kill my enemy with bombs, monsters and robots—and yet all it took was a single arrow to take away the victory over that brute that I've sought after for so long!"

The heroes knew that despite this mass intellect, Sterns was mentally unbalanced and more than often fixated on Banner's Hulk to the point of costing him a chance of world domination. The Leader always wanted to prove he was the green-skinned monster's superior, but after his arch-rival was slain by Hawkeye, there was no doubt that Sterns must have felt cheated of not being the one to end Banner's life.

"But imagine as to my surprise when I heard rumors of a new Hulk in the winds" he continued with a sort happiness in his voice

"So why me and not that other Hulk" the monster inquired, referring to Amadeus Cho

"Oh I have plans for him, don't worry about that, and She-Hulk to" the Leader replied "But I've got a good feeling about you. Like you're the true successor to Banner's legacy"

"I'm touched" the Hulk deadpanned

"As you should be, my boy" the Leader complimented "But this plan has been ruined, but not to worry, we'll see each other again soon"

With that, the image of the Leader switched off, leaving the Hulk as well as the Avengers in a state of shock.

"Don't worry Hulk, we'll find him" Tony assured him

"Sure you will, Stark" answered, his voice lanced in every word he said "But right now, let's just focus on fixing the town"

Rather than argue with the grey-skinned giant, the Avengers wordlessly agreed. However, while the Hulk retain a calm demeanor, on the inside both he and his other half dreaded the day the Leader would return. While Banner's friends and family could protect themselves, the same could not be said for Mason's family. True they were more than capable of handling themselves in dangerous situations, but The Leader was a mad genius with an army of monsters and machines at his command and a level of intellectual brutality that matched the Hulk's physical strength. Rather than let fear rule his actions, the Hulk decided to take this one step at a time and that started with fixing the damage he caused.

"So let me get this straight" Wendy gathered "the Leader's trying to live out his revenge fantasy on you and the Hulk?"

Mason and his family regrouped back at Mcguket's manor since the Mystery Shack still needed some work done. While most of the damage that was caused during the superhero brawl was fixed by the Hulk and the Avengers, there was still some work to be done to get the town back to normalcy—or as normal as Gravity Falls can be. After nearly a full day of fixing the town, Stark and his team had to depart in order to rejoin the fight against Captain Marvel and the other heroes who had joined her side. Before they left, Spider-Man assured the Hulk that they'd continued their search for the Leader and would contact him when they found anything. Hulk and Dipper were unconvinced, since it seemed that Tony seemed more concerned about fighting his former friends then helping another Hulk. So, for the time being, it appeared that the monster and his family were on their own.

"That's about the long and short of it, yeah" Dipper answered "and I doubt Stark and his friends will be any help to us"

"So we're on our own is what you're saying?" Stan surmised "Good, we're better off without those freaks getting in the way"

"I don't think you guys understand who we're dealing with here" Mason warned "the Leader's one of the most dangerous beings on the planet"

"So was Bill" Ford reasoned "and we defeated him"

"Yeah, barely" his grand-nephew countered "and I'm sorry to tell but there's no magic power or mind tricks to stop the Leader"

"Face it dude, we're not leaving you" Soos stated "We're family, and family sticks together"

"I hate to get all sappy, but Soos is right" Stan added "face it kid, we're with you till the end of the line"

Ford nodded in agreement to that statement. Dipper looked over to Wendy despite already knowing her answer. She gave a brave look as she smiled at him, silently giving him her answer. Rather than argue with them, Dipper only chuckled lightly before speaking.

"I should've known better then to try to talk you out of this" he relented

"Besides, you're a Hulk, you can just smash that little green turd" Stan furthered

"I don't think the Hulk likes being called…well, Hulk" Mason "I think it's because he doesn't want to be compared to Banner"

"So he wants a new name?" Wendy question "like what? Rover? Johnny? Max Power?"

"I got one" Stan chimed in "a few years back when I was in Vegas I ran into this beg guy working for the mob. Come to think of it, he kinda looked like your Hulk"

"What was his name?" Dipper asked

"Joe" the old con-artist replied "Joe Fixit"

Dipper couldn't explain it, but he could almost feel his alter-ego agree with that name.

"I think he likes it" Dipper informed everyone with a smile

Everyone couldn't help but laugh at that. It was a happy moment, one that everyone desperately needed after everything that had happened and for everything that was to come. But for now, the Pines family felt almost whole again. None of them knew what the future held for them. The superhero community now knew of Mason's existence as a Hulk and the Leader had plans for him as well, not to mention whoever and whatever would crawl out of the woodworks to challenge him, but one thing was for certain….

It was going to be a hell of a ride.