Disclaimer: Well, I finally got this new chapter finished after a long while and a bunch of delays. I'll skip the wacky one-liners and get to the story.

As always, I own nothing.

Chapter IX

Hawkeye was starting to think things couldn't get any stranger. He was wrong as he took in the full scope of Aquaman. Gripping the handle of his trident and standing across from the Hulk, Aquaman took to sizing up the massive beast with a cold, steady gaze. He looked briefly at Superman and Lois Lane, the former shielding the latter as he always did. He then took a passing glance at Raven first, whom he didn't fully trust, and the archer he didn't know at all. He returned his gaze to Superman.

"Superman, who or what is this thing you've casually dumped into my seas?" Aquaman coldly asked.

"Don't know but he's as strong, maybe stronger than you or I." Superman replied.

"Well, he's obviously no form of royalty." Aquaman said as he readied himself for battle.

Aquaman maintained a calm, cool appearance in his face and stance, never wavering at the sight of the Hulk. In contrast to Aquaman's calm demeanor, the Hulk appeared agitated and snarled at the man in the orange and green bodysuit. Aquaman didn't appear intimidated or even impressed by the Hulk, but his expression instantly changed to a more focused once the Hulk charged forward. Creaking his neck and smirking, Aquaman charged forward.

As he charged, he dragged the forked end of the trident across the ground. Tiny spark flung from the metal as Aquaman quickly closed the distance with the Hulk. The Hulk went immediately for a wide and wild haymaker, and Aquaman arched backward. He slid under the giant fist on his knees and shins without losing momentum, quickly rising back as the Hulk turned around to throw another fist. Aquaman dodged and ducked under the fist with ease before he eventually found an opening to counterattack.

Aquaman swung the bottom of the staff right into the Hulk's jaw, striking it and staggering the Hulk. The Hulk brushed off the hit and kept swinging at Aquaman, who ducked below the oncoming punch and struck the Hulk in the jaw again. Auqaman pressed his attack and struck the Hulk numerous times with his trident, actually managing to push the giant back. A brief respite between strikes allowed the Hulk only enough time to snarl in rage before Aquaman continued striking the Hulk with his trident… until the Hulk caught the trident by gripping the point just below the fork.

The Hulk took a swing and he nailed Aquaman hard, sending the King of Atlantis flying all the way in the opposite direction… straight at Hawkeye and Raven. Hawkeye pushed Raven to one side while he jumped to the other, letting Aquaman pass by. Aquaman landed far away from the Hulk and slowing recovered. He heard the Hulk bellowing and charging forward.

"Okay, monster. If that's how you what to play it…" he said and brought the end of the trident's staff to the ground.

A sudden crash of thunder sounded out above the battlefield and drew the attention of all that were present. "What is that? Thunder?" Hawkeye asked Raven.

Raven replied, "You might want to back up."

Meanwhile, Superman carried Lois to a safe place out of the way of what was coming. "You'll be safe here, Lois. I won't risk you getting caught in the crossfire."

"Clark, I'm an Army brat. I can look after myself." Lois assured Superman, even calling him by his adopted name.

"I know." Superman said with a smile.

Aquaman raised the trident up high and toward the sky that was now covered with dark, thick clouds. Thunder was heard booming across the sky and flashes of light were seen. The Hulk was only becoming that much more agitated and stalked toward Aquaman, who appeared heedless of the green giant's rage. Then a bolt of lightning came down from the sky. Hawkeye immediately noted the similarities in power between Aquaman's trident and Thor's hammer. He was starting to wish Thor was present right at that very moment.

The Hulk charged forward at full speed, and Aquaman brought the trident to bear against him. Lightning blasted forth and struck the Hulk head on, halting his mad dash toward Aquaman. Slowed to a walking speed but still pushing forward, the Hulk continued to approach Aquaman as he assaulted him with a sustained blast of lightning. Aquaman pressed his attack, increasing the power that came from the trident as the Hulk continued to push forward, bellowing in rage. But seeing that the Hulk was going to reach Aquaman, Superman bounded into the fray.

Taking to the air just above Aquaman, Superman fired off a sustained blast of heat vision. The combined attack slowed the Hulk down more, but it still didn't seem to be enough. The Hulk was still coming and, as Hawkeye knew all too well, was getting that much angrier. The Hulk roared and leapt into the air, grabbing Superman and then coming back down straight toward Aquaman. Aquaman was barely able to move out of the way while the Hulk slammed Superman to the ground where the King of Atlantis stood moments before.

The Hulk pummeled Superman into the ground before Aquaman blasted him with more lightning. Again, it only managed to make the Hulk angrier and he stormed forward. Aquaman intensified the lightning attack even as the Hulk was getting closer to him until he was practically right on top of the King of Atlantis. He threw a massive punch that missed Aquaman by only a few meters, and Aquaman could almost feel the wind from the swing. Aquaman rose up but a backhanded slam caught him by surprise. He barely had time to react when he brought up his trident, but the Hulk plastered him across the battlefield.

Aquaman was sent backward near the edge of the dock that led to the sea, his domain. It should've been an advantage for him, but the Hulk was relentless and barreling straight toward him. Aquaman charged forward much like he did before with the fork of his trident dragging along the ground. Much like before, he ducked under a Hulk punch and attempted to stab the beast in the back with the trident. The Hulk proved to be smarter than Aquaman anticipated, spinning around and grabbing the trident. Ripping the trident away from Aquaman, the Hulk then kicked him back across the battlefield.

But in taking the trident from Aquaman, the Hulk was suddenly beset by a huge jolt of lightning from the weapon. He tried to hold the trident but the intensity of the lightning increased. Aquaman was starting to rise when he saw the Hulk struggling with the trident. The Hulk tossed the trident away and roared before he was assaulted by a heat blast from Superman. He blocked the blast with a hand and started forward. All that time, Hawkeye and Raven looked on.

"Nothing stops him." Raven realized.

"I told you; Hulk gets stronger the angrier he gets. You've got to get you friends to stop trying to fight him." Hawkeye stated.

Before Raven could respond, Superman halted his heat vision attack. The Hulk's hand was smoking from the heat but as Hawkeye pointed out, he'd only become angrier. He pulled a rusted mooring from its anchor point and tossed it at Superman. Superman managed to avoid before he flew straight at the Hulk. Just before Superman could collide with the Hulk, a portal opened in front of him and he couldn't stop in time to avoid going through. Superman vanished and the portal closed, and Hawkeye looked at Raven knowing she was responsible.

The portal closed before the Hulk could reach out his fist. He saw Aquaman rising up to a knee and started stalking toward him. Aquaman saw the Hulk approaching and, knowing he was no match for the Hulk physically, so he pressed his fingers to his forehead and focused hard. As the Hulk got closer to Aquaman, Raven erected a psychic cage around him. The Hulk started punching the cage and every blow caused Raven to cringe. The cage soon shattered, and the Hulk ripped a chunk of asphalt from the ground. He tossed the chunk at Raven, who was tackled out of the way by Hawkeye.

Aquaman focused harder as the Hulk was looming over him before grabbing him and lifting off the ground. "Puny fish man." The Hulk snarled.

"I am the King of Atlantis, whereas you are nothing more than a big green brute." Aquaman replied, all the while sensing something coming from beneath the sea.

"Hulk smash puny king." The Hulk claimed and prepared to strike Aquaman.

Then without warning, a geyser of seawater burst into the air and a massive tentacle sprung forth toward the Hulk and Aquaman. The Hulk had no time to react before the tentacle snagged his leg. He was forced to drop Aquaman as the tentacle dragged him back toward the sea. He fought back, punching the tentacle before it sent him into the air while still holding him. The then tentacle quickly returned to the sea and took the Hulk with it.

As Aquaman went to recover the trident, an arrow landed in his path. Hawkeye readied another arrow and sent it flying, but Aquaman caught it before it even reached his face. He snapped the arrow in half before eventually retrieving the trident. The he turned his full attention to Hawkeye before Raven surprisingly appeared between them. She erected a pair of force fields to block Hawkeye and Aquaman from coming into a conflict.

"Step aside, Child of Trigon." Aquaman demanded.

"I can't do that, your Highness. This is all a misunderstanding; these people are not our enemies." Raven explained.

"And you know this how?" Aquaman asked.

"I'm psychic, remember?"

"You're a daughter of darkness, the offspring of a demon." Aquaman insulted Raven.

"Uh, excuse me, hey," Hawkeye called out and waved at Aquaman. "We haven't met yet. I'm Clint."

Aquaman coldly replied, "I don't care."

"Yeah well, I want to know what you did to my friend." Hawkeye said.

Just then, the Hulk was launched out of the sea with the tentacle wrapped around his chest. The sea seemed to part as if Moses had been resurrected, but Hawkeye was in complete disbelief when a huge creature emerged. The Hulk was still fighting the single tentacle that Hawkeye realized had belonged to a giant squid. Hawkeye couldn't come within a hair of believing what he was seeing, while the Hulk fought against the monster with every ounce of his being. The squid flailed its free arms around the Hulk, and he responded by punch and biting them. Aquaman was communicating with the monster throughout the ordeal, until Hawkeye launched himself using his bow as a springing device and kicked him away.

Hawkeye readied an arrow and launched it. Aquaman readied himself to catch the arrow before the tip snapped open, revealing a net. The net wrapped around Aquaman's ankles and tripped and he fell over. His link with the giant squid broken, the Hulk was freed and dropped to the ground a short distance from the group. The giant squid returned to the sea, while Aquaman ripped the net apart and stood up. He was about to attack Hawkeye again before Raven erected a wall to stop his advance. The Hulk was about to attack Aquaman before Hawkeye stopped him in his tracks.

"Easy, big guy. It's me, Clint. C'mon you know me, buddy. You know I couldn't hurt you if I wanted to. And I know that you don't want to kill me…or eat me. Or kill and eat me." Hawkeye stated, and he was also thinking, Please don't eat me. Please don't eat me. Please don't eat me.

The Hulk snarled at Hawkeye, breathing heavily in his face before finally calming down. "Fine. Hulk getting tired of beating up fish man."

Aquaman leered angrily at the Hulk while Lois Lane approached the group of heroes, and Raven was the hero she intended to confront. "What did you do to Superman?"

"Superman's fine. I just transported him to Gotham City." Raven explained.

"Gotham? Are you insane?" Lois snapped.

"Sometimes."

Superman emerged from the portal and he quickly realized that he was now in the middle of Gotham City. He knew instantly that Raven was behind his sudden transport to Metropolis' sister city but before he could head back, his super hearing picked up a new sound. Having worked closely with the military in the past, Superman knew the sound of a propulsion engine when he heard one. But this particular sound was different; more compact and refined. Then he heard grunting that indicated a man in fight for his life. Superman knew immediately who was fighting for his life and whether he wanted it or not, the Man of Steel was coming to the rescue.

Batman had to run in between cover to keep Iron Man guessing on his location, all while frequently throwing Baterangs to try to bring him down. Iron Man spent the majority of the fight in the air and he blasted the Baterangs away before they could get close. Batman threw more Baterangs at Iron Man while he switched from cover to cover, and Iron continued to shoot them out of the air while taking several shots at Batman. The Dark Knight managed to frequently roll out of the way of the repulsar shots and ducked behind a truck. He checked his belt and realized that he only had one Baterang left. But it was the one variant that he needed. He just needed to program it. Iron Man stalked above the truck while he briefly patched in to Jocasta.

"Jo, you got a location of the rest of the team?" he asked.

"The nearest to our current position are Captain America and Black Widow. I'll put you though to them." Jocasta said.

Captain America had no choice but to go it alone against both Wonder Woman and the Flash with Black Widow incapacitated. He managed to at least hold his own against Wonder Woman, but the Flash was the real problem. Zipping around Captain America, the Flash took every available shot at the Avenger while Wonder Woman pushed forward with heavy strikes to the shield. Captain America still kept fighting back, at one point tossing the shield so it rebounded off the walls and back again. The shield bounced into Wonder Woman's back, causing her to move forward and take a spinning kick from Captain America.

The Flash made his move and rammed his fist into Cap's face, staggering him enough for Wonder Woman to drive her elbow into his jaw. The Flash landed another punch to the gut this time, again allowing Wonder Woman to land hard right cross. Cap still fought and tried to throw a kick, but Wonder Woman caught it and threw Cap into a wall. Captain America dropped to the ground but as luck had it, he was dropped right next to his shield. He quickly grabbed it just as Wonder Woman jumped into the air and came back down with a straight right punch. The punch hit the shield, which absorbed the blow, and Captain America pushed back against the Amazon.

Wonder Woman pushed back harder, causing Captain America to get flung backward. He managed to roll backward and spring right back to his feet before tossing the shield straight at Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman caught the shield and looked at Captain America with a wry grin. The Flash suddenly ran by and laid out Captain America with a rapid fist to the jaw. Cap was still conscious and that was when Iron Man contacted him.

"Cap, can you hear me?"

"I'm a little busy at the moment Tony." Cap replied.

"I've got your location. I'm on my way." Iron Man replied back.

"Hey Star-Spangled Man, you ready to give up?" the Flash asked.

"Conversely, you'd be better off staying down." Wonder Woman added, holding the shield in her right arm.

Captain America stood up and balled up his fists against Wonder Woman and the Flash. He replied with a smirk, "I can do this all day."

The Flash and got ready to move, but he was completely caught off guard by a gunshot to his thigh. As the Flash dropped and held the wound, blood seeping from it, Wonder Woman looked back and saw the fallen and equally wounded Black Widow holding the smoking gun. This distraction bought Captain America enough time to charge right into Wonder Woman with all his might. He pushed hard enough to send her through the wall behind her, and he managed to grab his shield in the chaos. Captain America went to check on Black Widow but he halted briefly to tend the Flash. To the Flash's surprise, Cap placed his hand above his wound.

"Keep pressure on it." Cap said before checking on Widow. "You okay, Romanoff?"

"I'll live as soon as I can realign my ribs." Black Widow claimed just as Wonder Woman emerged from the rubble with an angry glare direction at the two Avengers.

Then she saw the Flash on the ground and tended to him while Captain America held Black Widow upright. "Who are you people?" Wonder Woman asked.

Captain America replied sternly, "I can tell you we're not your enemies."

Wonder Woman considered for moment to continue the fight, but she instead said, "Alright. We're listening."

With Captain America's location confirm, Iron Man addressed Batman. "Well, pointy ears, this has been a lot of fun but I've got places to go and people to see."

Without responding, Batman jumped from his cover and tossed his last Baterang. Iron Man, tired of shooting Baterangs, let this one fly right passed his head. It was exactly what Batman was hoping for. The Baterang was remote variant and it was programmed to make a complete U-turn back at Iron Man. Iron Man didn't see it coming and it struck the back of his helmet. He also didn't expect it to explode so suddenly, or that it let out a small EM pulse. The majority of the suit systems began to shut down, although the propulsion systems remained online. They did nothing to prepare Iron Man for what happened next.

He and Batman heard a sonic boom in the distance and Batman knew all too well what that entailed. Iron Man turned around in midair to see Superman flying straight into him like a missile, bringing the armored billionaire to the street and slamming him into the asphalt. Inside the suit, Tony was sure that at least two or more his ribs were shattered as Superman hoisted him in the air. He tore the faceplate off so he could look into the man's eyes.

"Ouch! I guess the pointy-eared guy's got some super friends of his own." Tony said.

"Yes, and you've just made one of them very unhappy." Superman said.

"You've obviously never the Hulk." Iron Man said, to which Superman raised an eyebrow, knowing otherwise, while Batman glided to the area.

"You alright, Batman?" Superman asked.

"I had it under control." Batman coldly replied.

"Sure you did." Superman quipped.

Iron Man struggled to get up as Jocasta chimed to him, "I'm detecting multiple stress fractures, possibly a cracked rib."

"Yeah, Jo. I kind of figured as much." Tony claimed as he tried to stand up.

"Who are you?" Superman asked.

"What? You don't know a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist when you see one?" Tony replied.

"I've met a few." Superman stated with his eyes glancing at Batman rather tellingly.

Tony managed to get to his feet, picked the faceplate from the ground and placed it back where it belonged. "Well, I'd certainly like to meet them some time. But for right now, I've got some friends to find so if you'll excuse me…"

"Natasha Romanoff, I assume." Batman surmised, Justas a portal opened and Raven, Aquaman, Hawkeye and the Hulk all emerged from it and Superman tensed at the sight the Hulk… until Lois emerged and immediately rushed to him.

"Are you okay, Superman?" Lois asked.

"I should be asking you that question. That thing didn't try to hurt you did it?" Superman asked, warily leering at the Hulk, who leered back.

"He's not a thing, Superman. He's part of a group of superheroes from another dimension, calling themselves the Avengers," Lois explained and looked to Hawkeye. "Did I get that right?"

"I suspected as much considering this one was holding back the entire time," Batman said in reference to Tony before he tapped his cowl. "Batman to Watchtower, Cyborg, are you there."

"I'm kind of busy right now fighting an android." Cyborg said.

"Vision, it's Iron Man. You can stop fight now. Work with, uh, whoever your dance partner is to get the team back together." Tony said.

Captain America chimed in, "Make it quick, Vision. Romanoff is wounded and needs medical attention."

After that, Hawkeye and the Hulk rejoined Iron Man while Superman, Batman, Aquaman and Raven reconvened. There was yet another stand off between the two groups of superheroes. Lois wished that Jimmy was there to get a picture of what she was seeing; two teams of superheroes, one from another world, in the same place at the same time. That was a Pulitzer Prize if she ever saw one, and Perry White would've had a field day with it. Superman noticed the wide-eyed smile on Lois' face and he subtly smirked back at her. Then he looked the Hulk, who was looking back at him with anger and only Hawkeye was keeping him at bay.

Superman pressed his fingers to the communicator in his ear, another Wayne Tech innovation, and replied, "Cyborg, get ready to bring up to the Watchtower; all of us. We've got a lot to talk about."

Author's Note: That's yet another chapter is in the books, although I feel as if it could've been done better. I apologize if Aquaman didn't turn out as expected, although I'm pretty sure I read that he can summon lightning with the trident. And yes, he's a bit of a jerk here. At least he got to summon a giant squid. It would've been a Megaledon like in Throne of Atlantis, but a Giant Squid works too. Please don't hate or flame.

Drop off a review or two and I'll be along with the next entry… hopefully sooner this time.