BIOGRAPHY - Page 5
Not knowing how to find Master Pandemonium, Tigra stalled for time and let the other Avengers believe the king needed time to prepare her procedure, so they departed the Land Within. Hawkeye and particularly Firebird were suspicious of Tigra’s explanation, but they didn’t press the matter too strongly. When Firebird’s old team the Rangers arrived for a visit, Tigra was pleasantly surprised to see her friend Red Wolf among them. The Rangers were in the thrall of a demon in their midst and attacked the Avengers, until Firebird freed them from the spell. That demon posing as Shooting Star provided a lead on Master Pandemonium, pushing Tigra closer to making her fateful choice. [West Coast Avengers (2nd series) #7-8]
Mockingbird posed as Shooting Star to lure out Master Pandemonium, but he teleported them away before the West Coast Avengers caught up, leaving her homing beacon behind. Tigra called upon the Balkatar as their familiar, and he found a trail leading to the abandoned Anvil Studios. During the raid on Anvil, the Balkatar showed Tigra a secret, faster route to Master Pandemonium as the team split up, giving her the opportunity to make the kill. Mockingbird surprised Pandemonium and got the upper hand against him, but Tigra struck her own teammate unconscious from behind when she found them. As Greer hesitated to complete the deed, Master Pandemonium reacquired his teleporting amulet and escaped from her. Bobbi was none the wiser when she woke up, and Tigra’s secret (and decision) were delayed for another day. [West Coast Avengers (2nd series) #9]
Tigra was all attitude after being deprived of her prey and swore that she would kill Master Pandemonium next time she saw him. Even Mockingbird was growing suspicious over what Greer might actually owe the King of the Cat People, though. In the meantime, the flirtatious cat found herself stumbling backwards into monogamy. Hank Pym had fallen hard for Greer and believed they were in a relationship, as he knew nothing about her other dalliances. Wonder Man did, but he didn’t want to upset Hank, so he called off anything further with Tigra. Simon actually preferred a studio rep named Christina Carson from his acting career, a fact which stirred Tigra’s jealousy. Tony Stark had replaced Rhodey as the team’s Iron Man, so Tigra made a move on the famous playboy. Tony also rejected her, however, partially over the guilt of courting Hank’s ex-wife the 
Wasp so soon after their divorce. Tigra didn’t enjoy having this decision made for her but, when she tried to talk to Hank alone about their relationship, she ended up just melting into his arms at the slightest cue for affection. [West Coast Avengers (2nd series) #10-12]
As Tigra sought to reconcile her mind and her feelings, she and the other West Coast Avengers were ambushed and captured by Graviton. The villain allied himself with Quantum, Halflife and Zzzax, who represented the other fundamental forces of the universe, as well as rebuilt his private army and floating island. Most of Graviton’s behavior was a display of ego, but he particularly wanted to impress Tigra. He intended to make Tigra his mate and had observed her enough from a distance these past few weeks to know how easily she would respond to affection. When he 
placed Greer on a leash and kissed her, she ended up kissing back in spite of herself. Graviton was confident that, given time, the cat within Tigra would give herself over to his hedonistic ideas of life. He even knew about Master Pandemonium and offered to kill him for Greer.
Left alone in a gravity prison, Greer scared herself with how close she came to being talked into Graviton’s ideas. On impulse, she activated her amulet so that at least looking like Greer Nelson again would help focus her willpower as a human being. As it happened, one of Graviton’s guards decided to get too close to Tigra’s gravity cage where the unfamiliar but beautiful woman in a 
bikini suddenly appeared. Greer realized only the guards could walk freely on Sky Island’s heavy-gravity effect, thanks to Graviton’s neutralizer boxes on their suits. Although she lacked the cat’s grace and strength in this form, Greer fought hard enough to overpower the guard and steal his equipment. Free to roam the citadel unnoticed, Greer used deception to turn Quantum and Half-Life against each other. With Graviton and most of the guards distracted by their commotion, Greer was able to rescue the other Avengers. Graviton lost control of his powers, sending Sky Island out into the void of space. Greer Nelson was the Avenger of the day, but she now feared more than ever how strong her cat side could become. [West Coast Avengers (2nd series) #13]
During a training simulation against Hawkeye, Tigra lost control and was ready to kill him like a cat with her prey. Only Hank Pym was able to reach Greer Nelson inside and talk her down. A 
distraught Greer reverted to human once more and was prepared to quit the Avengers entirely. Hank helped her to see this as a good thing, for he had gone through his own trial only to realize being a super-hero wasn’t the right choice for everyone. Greer loved him for his support, truly and even without Tigra’s drive for attention, but their embrace was interrupted by the demon Allatou. The Avengers’ search for Master Pandemonium caught Allatou’s attention, and soon Master P appeared as well for a three-way conflict between demon, demon sorcerer and the Avengers. Greer refused to use her amulet to become Tigra again, and Allatou kidnapped her and Hank before disappearing back into her realm.
Greer and Hank were confined in Allatou’s dimension, compelling her to use the amulet out of desperation. When it didn’t work, Greer was horrified, for if Hell truly embodied your worst fears, then not being Tigra must be hers. The West Coast Avengers trailed Allatou with the help of the occult investigators, Hellstorm and Hellcat. Using the Cat costume, Patsy Walker had been Greer’s successor for years, although they had never met before now. The Avengers and the surprise arrival Master Pandemonium were separated from Allatou and her demons when they fell 
onto the River of Death. Trapped on a ship and drifting through the caverns of the nether realm, the Avengers questioned their strange shipmate. Master Pandemonium told his full origin as Martin Preston, a man whose soul was stolen by Mephisto and split into five shards, given to five demons of the nether realms. It didn’t escape Greer’s attention that Preston’s search for his stolen soul was eerily reminiscent of her own troubles.
Eventually, their ship surprisingly passed through a wall into another of the demonic nether realms… the Land Within. Sure enough, the Avengers soon discovered the Cat People actually were demons, corrupted by the Land Within’s influence after their banishment there. The King of the Cat People held one of Pandemonium’s soul pieces, and let the truth be heard of how Tigra had failed her mission of murder on his behalf. The Avengers were aghast that Greer had been plotting murder behind their backs. Able to become Tigra again now that they were in the Land Within, Greer felt she had nothing left to lose by going through with the bargain. The Cat People 
made Master Pandemonium helpless before her in their arena. At the last moment, however, Greer Nelson decided she could not commit cold blooded murder, and rejected the King. As punishment, the King did as she asked and finally removed her Tigra-soul, leaving the powerless Greer and her friends at the mercy of the Cat People.
In the dungeons, the Avengers congratulated Greer on staying true to her morals. Patsy Walker took the opportunity to remove her costume for Greer, allowing the original Cat to prowl again as the team escaped their cell. In the King’s throne room, Greer rejected both the King and the Balkatar, who made an attempt in vain to seduce her again. She beat the Cat People’s champion in single combat, securing the personal victory she had been chasing ever since rejoining the Avengers. In a moment when Greer and the King grappled over the Tigra-soul’s jar, however, the second soul broke free and tried to return to Greer Nelson. A conflict began within her as the 
Tigra-soul tried to merge with Greer, but the Cat suit did as it was intended and amplified her human side. In the end, her two souls merged into an integrated whole, with a new and more powerful Tigra fully guided by the mind of Greer Nelson. The Cat People were mollified and Master Pandemonium retrieved his soul-shard before fleeing, leaving the Avengers content that this portion of their adventure was over. [West Coast Avengers (2nd series) #14-15]
Tigra and Hank Pym traveled up to San Francisco with Hellcat and Hellstorm for a couples’ weekend as Greer got used to her new form. The integrated Tigra could no longer assume Greer’s appearance, but her other difficulties like a fear of water and desperate need for affection were gone as well. She proved herself in combat too, when they caught the erstwhile Masters of 
Evil, Tiger Shark and Whirlwind, having fled a conflict with the east coast branch. Still, Tigra’s new state of mind had other consequences. Greer Nelson may have loved Hank Pym pre-integration, but the new Tigra was of a new mind… literally. Although she still had feelings for Hank, Tigra wasn’t comfortable relying on the decisions she made during her strife, and for now she preferred to be single. Hank took it as well as a man could, and they promised to stay friends. [West Coast Avengers (2nd series) #16]