I, Tibbers, Never Hold a Grudge; I Settle Scores On the Spot! (Revised)

After nearly an hour of the "Three-Monster Showdown" raging across several streets in New York, it finally came to an end. Clearly, the toy flame giant bear Tibbers emerged victorious, taking down both opponents in a one-versus-two sweep.

The citizens of New York who had been watching the spectacle got a free front-row seat to a thrilling monster battle. Aside from the unlucky few who lost their lives, the survivors would have a great story to tell over dinner for a long time to come.

Only after a little girl in a red dress sat on the shoulder of the burning toy bear and left did General Ross, along with his soldiers and police, dare to cautiously approach the battlefield. Seeing the two Hulks lying in the still-burning giant crater, Bruce Banner's girlfriend Betty Ross quickly jumped down to check on the Hulk's condition. Fortunately, the Hulk was indeed resilient. Even under the attack of such a terrifyingly powerful monster, the Hulk wasn't dead. Aside from countless scratches and burns, he was merely unconscious and exhausted.

"General! Should we send someone to stop that little girl?" an officer beside Ross asked.

General Ross glanced at the two Hulks in the crater, then looked at the flame giant bear and the little girl sitting on its shoulder as they disappeared into the distance. For a long moment, he was silent...

Uncertain of the situation, he didn't dare order anyone to intercept them. His instincts told him not to provoke that side lightly. Even these two Hulks were more than they could handle, let alone the flame giant bear that had effortlessly taken them both down!

As for the major who had just suggested stopping the little girl, Ross decided that as soon as this was over, he'd transfer that idiot to the front lines in Africa. What a fool! Wasn't his plate full enough? Or did the man have designs on his position as general? Trying to drag him down? Fine then, let him go to the front lines for some real training—wherever it was most dangerous! If he survived a few years, Ross would consider promoting him.

"Take them both away!"

Ross waved his hand, and soldiers went down to bind and pack up the two Hulks, dragging them onto a large transport helicopter. Looking at the mess around him, Ross felt he might need some time to figure out how to handle the aftermath. He just hoped the council and the military higher-ups wouldn't make things too difficult for him.

Later that same day, in the evening, at S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters.

Coulson stood in front of the director's desk, a little awkwardly, facing Nick Fury, whose expression was far from pleasant. The veins on the black director's forehead were bulging ominously—clearly, the director was not in a good mood.

"If I remember correctly, it's almost quitting time," Nick Fury said, his single eye glancing at the mission report in Coulson's hand. Assuming he was there to report a completed mission, Fury felt a flicker of impatience.

"Just file the mission report directly. If I have time, I'll remember to check it," Fury said. The director was a busy man. If every mission had to be reported to him personally, what was the point of having so many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents? Decoration?

"Uh, Director, I think you'd better take a look at this first..." Coulson ignored the director's sour expression, picked up the remote for the multimedia player in the office, and tuned it to the video he and Melinda had just uploaded earlier that day, starting it from the beginning.

Nick Fury's single eye glared at Coulson, but he frowned and turned to the screen: a Hulk rampaging wildly, then another Hulk appeared, and the two started brawling... destroying streets and costing many lives in the process.

Fury remembered that this green monstrosity was part of his old rival General Ross's project, right? Good! That old man had been butting heads with S.H.I.E.L.D. for years, and Fury had long been fed up with him. Seeing his rival's project go up in flames was quite satisfying.

But that wasn't reason enough to interrupt his break time. When had S.H.I.E.L.D. agents become so idle? Instead of doing their own jobs, they were gloating over someone else's misfortune?

"Coulson! I recall very clearly that this wasn't supposed to be your mission, was it?"

Fury turned to look at Coulson. He had explicitly sent him and Melinda to deal with the mutated little girl. And what did he do instead? Go watch two Hulks fight? Then come to him looking for praise? For the first time, Fury thought S.H.I.E.L.D. should add a demotion system for agents who didn't do their jobs.

"Director, just be patient and watch a little longer," Coulson shrugged, signaling for the director to keep watching.

If Coulson hadn't always been one of his most capable agents with a solid track record, Fury swore he would have kicked him out on the spot. The director was a busy man!

Just as Fury was growing extremely impatient, the screen showed a turning point. A flame giant bear (a toy bear?) descended from the sky and started trading blows with the two Hulks in a spectacular clash. The sound, visuals, and fire effects rivaled a Hollywood blockbuster!

The footage was intermittent, lasting nearly half an hour. Some clips came from nearby street surveillance, some from live TV broadcasts, and others were presumably shot by Coulson and Melinda on the scene, since Fury spotted them in the video.

What surprised Fury the most was this: after over half an hour of fighting, the two Hulks were actually losing to the flame giant bear? They were pinned in a crater and getting roasted and pummeled by a bear? That was something. He knew the Hulk's strength. Where did this flame monster, even stronger than the Hulk, come from? And it beat two Hulks at once?

Seeing this, Fury fell silent for a moment. He needed to think, to digest this information! As the video continued, it ended with the little girl sitting on the giant bear's shoulder as it left, and General Ross and his troops handling the cleanup.

The video ended, and Fury still found it hard to believe. Where did that flame giant bear come from? He knew the Hulk's combat assessment—this was his old rival General Ross's project, and S.H.I.E.L.D. had been keeping a close eye on it. One Hulk was already terrifying enough! And the combat power of two Hulks was definitely not just one plus one equals two! But what had he just seen? Two Hulks getting beaten so badly by a flame giant bear that they couldn't even take care of themselves?

Wait, that bear? No! That little girl on the flame giant bear's shoulder looked familiar? Fury quickly grabbed the remote, rewound, and paused the screen. It showed the final moment when the little girl sat on the bear's shoulder and left.

"What the hell is going on? That flame bear? And that little girl?" Fury sorted through his thoughts, clearly recognizing the key issue, and finally understood why Coulson had come to report to him at this hour.

"Uh, it's a long story..." Coulson organized his words and gave a complete account, from receiving the order to make contact with the little girl to the flame bear taking down the two Hulks.

Fury leaned back in his chair, rubbing his bald head in frustration. Things had spiraled beyond his expectations!

A seemingly ordinary mutated little girl turned out to be this powerful? And it seemed she wasn't even a mutant? She was an alien? From the Valoran Continent? Belonging to an organization called the Gray Order? She had a father who seemed even more impressive, named Mystic Warlock Gregori Hastur? And a mother named Shadow Witch Amoline? They were the leaders of this group of mages called the Gray Order? The heads?

Alright, this was a big deal! Fury needed time to carefully rethink everything. If he hadn't seen the video and witnessed that incredible, powerful flame giant bear, he might have thought Coulson was pulling some kind of international joke on him!

"Leave the file here. Don't worry about it anymore. I'll take over from here. Understood?"

"Understood!" Coulson handed the file to the director. With the director taking over, this was at least a Level 10 clearance matter, requiring him to keep silent and, if necessary, forget about it entirely.

"And our follow-up mission?"

At this point, Fury's first thought was absolute secrecy! And S.H.I.E.L.D. absolutely could not handle that little girl the same way they handled ordinary mutants. Otherwise, it would be a huge problem! A colossal problem! It might even spark a war between that mage organization called the Gray Order and S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Think about it with your gut! If you lock someone's daughter up in a cryo-prison, wouldn't her parents fight tooth and nail to get her back? If they were ordinary people, maybe they'd just have to suck it up. But were they ordinary? Look at their titles: Mystic Warlock? Shadow Witch? It was obvious these weren't titles ordinary folks would have, right?

Fury believed that if S.H.I.E.L.D. dared to act recklessly, they might accidentally trigger an interplanetary war. (Earth vs. another planet? Valoran?) Then S.H.I.E.L.D. would go down in history as the villain!

"Alright, that little girl's name is Annie, right? Then you and Melinda will continue to maintain contact with her."

Fury figured that since things had come this far, the fewer people who knew, the better. Since that was the case, why change horses midstream? Let the same two handle it. With that thought, Fury suddenly had a plan.

"Your next mission is to keep her calm! Placate her! Do your utmost to make sure she doesn't do anything drastic again! Understand?"

"Got it, Director! We'll do our best! But, you know..." Coulson didn't dare give a 100% guarantee. After all, despite being a little girl, her combat power and destructive potential were plain for all to see. Aside from burning three rotten thugs to a crisp, she hadn't shown much of her magical power. But her pet toy bear's strength was already off the charts—two Hulks couldn't beat it!

"Just leave it at that. S.H.I.E.L.D. will allocate resources to support you. You're dismissed." Fury waved his hand weakly. He hated this feeling of being out of control. For now, this was the only way to handle things.

What else could he do? They couldn't arrest the little girl, and they didn't dare fight her. Besides assigning someone to babysit her 24/7, what other option did he have? The world was getting more chaotic by the day—not just the endless stream of mutants with bizarre abilities, but now aliens were showing up on Earth!

Fury felt that field agents' capabilities were increasingly inadequate for handling these special incidents. Maybe it was time for S.H.I.E.L.D. to bolster its strength? Some superhuman power? Perhaps he really needed to start planning ahead!

"Oh, right! Where's Agent Melinda? Why didn't she come back with you?" Looking at Coulson, who had come to report alone, Fury felt like something was missing. Now it clicked—one person was missing. Melinda!

"Well... I had her stay with the little girl. You know, we can't just let that little girl wander around unsupervised."

Coulson wasn't about to tell Fury the truth: that he had accidentally offended that toy bear named Tibbers so badly that, to keep it from biting his head off, he had slipped away early under the pretense of reporting the mission to lie low!