Savage She-Hulk #4 — Nick Peron

Feb 12

Feb 12 Savage She-Hulk #4

I've Taken Enough! Tonight -- The She-Hulk Strikes Back!

IMG 2020 20 02 13 02 22 50 kwpye.png — Credits

On a deserted Malibu beach, the Savage She-Hulk holds up the head of the robot Nick Trask sent to kill her. She vows vengeance against Trask for framing her, and killing her best friend and mother. Since she's been relentlessly portrayed as a killer by the media, why not go on a killing spree for real and get revenge?

Yet almost as soon as she says those words, She-Hulk is repulsed and hurls the head away. The last thing she wants is to become a monster like Nick Trask, and for the next few minutes she struggles with the Hulk side of her nature, fighting against her anger. It's possible she might have succeeded in calming down and reverting to Jen Walters had not Zapper picked the absolute wrong time to try to hug her in thanks for saving his life. She-Hulk picks him up like a rag doll and narrowly comes close to hitting him. She warns him never to sneak up behind her like that again. Zapper calls her "Jen" and she corrects him, telling him to call her "She-Hulk." She-Hulk starts to leave and Zapper asks where she's going. She replies that she's going to Trask's warehouse. Zapper tells her she's sure to be noticed by the police if she goes on foot and offers to drive her in his LTD. His real reason for doing so is to keep an eye on her and try to keep her out of trouble.

Meanwhile, Nick Trask has seen everything through the eyes of his robot which the She-Hulk decapitated. He now realizes two very important things... his mortal enemy Jennifer Walters whom he has tried to kill in the past is actually the She-Hulk and that he is in deep, deep trouble. Being Nick Trask, he comes up with a plan that he hopes will not only save his life, but eliminate two of his enemies at the same time. He sends his trusted lieutenants Hank and Angelo to carry out an extremely bold plan....

Meanwhile Sheriff Morris Walters in grief over the death of his daughter visits his neighbors the Ridges. They are surprised to see him at midnight, but he can't get any sleep and feels the need to talk with someone. He's consumed with regret that he didn't show Jen how much he loved her while she was alive, and now that she's dead he's determined to destroy the She-Hulk, whom he considers responsible. Dr. Ridge is worried about Morris' state of mind and regrets promising Jennifer not to tell him that she is really alive. But the sheriff leaves before Dr. Ridge can tell him the truth. At the curb, he tells his driver to take him back to the station and declares he would make a deal with the devil to put a stop to the She-Hulk. The sheriff's chauffeur has been replaced by one of Trask's men who is wearing a gas mask. The last thing Morris hears before the chloroform renders him unconscious is the driver's promise: "Sheriff, you're about to get that chance!"

When Morris wakes up, he finds himself in Trask's office, where he finds himself the "guest" of the mobster. Trask offers his condolances over Jennifer's death which enrages her father even more since he knows that it was Trask that killed her mother. The fact that Trask was really trying to kill him instead is no comfort, nor is the fact that Trask punished his men for making that mistake and sent their ears to Sheriff Walters. Trask reminds Morris that they have a mutual adversary and asks if he would join forces with him to help fight the She-Hulk. Morris refuses. Trask shows him a demonstration of his power, He takes the sheriff to a room where he sees Lou Monkton tied to the wall. One of Trask's men fires a gun point blank at Monkton's chest....

Meanwhile, She-Hulk has finally arrived at Trask's warehouse, unaware that her father is inside. Zapper pleads with her to turn back, since breaking and entering is not the way Jennifer handles things. She reminds Zapper that she is no longer Jen anymore, but She-Hulk, and she chooses to do things her way. The She-Hulk smashes open a hole through the locked doors and tells him "Stay behind if you're scared, kid... I never asked you to come along!" Zapper regrets thinking that he could talk sense into She-Hulk, but decides to follow her anyway. Suddenly, he is pulled back away from the warehouse by a pair of hands.

Inside the warehouse, Lou Monkton shrugs off the effects of the laser cannon fire. The special protective vest he was wearing shielded him from the weapon's blast, but he didn't know that when Trask decided to use him to demonstrate the weapon's power. Trask offers to let Sheriff Walters use it to stop the She-Hulk who is coming to this very place. Morris now realizes why Trask wants him to help kill the She-Hulk, but he is still reluctant. Outside, they hear the sounds of She-Hulk breaking in. Monkton offers to use the gun instead if the sheriff won't avenge his own daughter and tries to put it on. (Monkton really wants to use it to kill Trask instead.) Morris says no, and finally agrees to use the gun, but insists that this changes nothing between the two of them. Trask quietly takes Monkton with him aside where he has plans for his rival down below, but first he pushes a button to seal both She-Hulk and Morris inside the warehouse.

The man who pulled Zapper back was Assistant District Attorney "Buck" Bukowski who scolds him for not watching Jen at the beachhouse. Zapper awkwardly replies that Jen wanted to come here... which is the truth. Buck says Zapper was stupid to let Jen go in there alone and that they should follow her. Zapper quietly thanks his lucky stars Buck just missed seeing him with the She-Hulk. As soon as they get inside, a steel door slams down behind them, trapping them inside.

In another part of the warehouse, She-Hulk suddenly comes face to face with her father holding Trask's special weapon. The sheriff doesn't shoot the She-Hulk right away since he wants to bring her to justice as a man of the law. For her part, She-Hulk is torn. She doesn't want to attack her father, but she is set on seeking revenge on Nick Trask, and no one, not even her father, is about to stop her. Besides, she doesn't think he will believe her if she tries to tell him the truth. Figuring the gun probably won't hurt her anyway, she decides to rush him and he fires. Zapper tries to stop him at the last second, but he's too late and the She-Hulk is knocked backwards. Zapper is relieved to see that the She-Hulk is still alive, but Buck rebukes him for helping her since he "saw" her kill Jennifer with his own eyes. Zapper reminds him that appearances can be deceiving as he should know as a prosecutor, and that the sheriff will tell Buck himself that you can't take the law in your own hands. However, Morris disagrees with Zapper as he yells at the two of them to move out of the way so he can shoot the She-Hulk again.

Back in the elevator, Trask tells Monkton that he knew what he was trying to do when he offered to kill the She-Hulk since he knows that Monkton is fully aware that the She-Hulk did not kill Jen Walters. Silently, Trask smugly thinks about two things he knows that Monkton is unaware of... that Jennifer Walters is actually the She-Hulk, and that the weapon Sheriff Walters is using to unknowningly kill his own daughter is booby trapped. The gun feeds off of emotional energy and the feedback from using the gun will drive Morris insane. Trask's thoughts are interrupted as the elevator reaches its destination. The doors open, and Trask reveals to a shocked Monkton his secret project.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Walters, clearly affected by the gun's adverse affects, yells again at Zapper and Buck to get out of the way. Zapper tries to tell him the truth about Jen being the She-Hulk to save her life, but She-Hulk interrupts and says she can take care of herself. Morris swings the gun like a baseball bat at Zapper and Buck, knocking them out of the way. This gives She-Hulk a chance to get away and do something. She runs to a nearby forklift and throws it near her father. He thinks she tried to kill him and missed, but the She-Hulk wasn't aiming for him. She wanted to knock a hole in the wall so that Zapper and Buck can escape, which they do. Realizing that the gun is doing something to her father, the She-Hulk jumps on top of him and tears the gun off of him, even as he screams that he must kill her. She throws him out of the warehouse and covers the gun with her body as it explodes, shielding her father and the others from the blast but knocking herself unconscious. Hours later when she awakens as Jen Walters, Zapper helps make excuses for her.

Her father awakens at the hospital where his men tell him that the She-Hulk got away. He suffered no worse than a sprained back, and the officers have taken up a collection to get him a wheelchair. But Morris forgets the wheelchair when he sees a special news conference announcing that his daughter Jennifer is actually alive. He immediately runs out of the hospital and into a squad car to the warehouse. At first he's worried that it might be a ruse by Trask, but his fears vanish when he sees Jen. He rushes up to her and instantly embraces her. Buck is amazed at Morris' outpouring of affection, since this is quite unlike him. Jennifer herself is slightly nervous and apprehensive since she still remembers how he tried to kill her as the She-Hulk. But as Morris tells her how he was afraid to show his emotions for fear of losing Jen as he did with her mother, Jennifer relents and returns his embrace, telling him that she loves him too.