Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Last issue Bruce Banner imbibed some 20 million year-old bacteria from the underground Lake Vostok in the Antarctic. He changed to Hulk in a cell on the SHIELD helicarrier to stop a monster growing within him from bursting free. Spider-Woman entered the cell with a massive dose of antibiotics to help him fight off the parasite. As long as he doesn't kill her 1st.
Jessica Drew emits pheromones to calm Hulk down. They work well enough for her to stab him with the ultra-strong metal hypodermic. This of course enrages Hulk again, but the inner Banner manages to restrain him for a while and urge Jessica to get out.
Also last issue Captain America and Captain Marvel traced scientist Sergei Sorokin who had stolen lots of the bacteria-laden water. But they found him aboard the airplane of villain Yun Guang Han over Australia. Han forced them to leave him alone by threatening to infect Queensland. His bacteria-infected berserkers also wrecked their quinjet.
Now the Captains are tracking his plane from a SHIELD base, and it has gone to ground in China. Carol Danvers contacts Iron Man on the helicarrier to inform him that they're taking another quinjet after Han.
Han's plane is inside his mountain hideout. Sorokin wants his payment for the work he's done for the villain, then he'll leave. His study of the ancient bacteria alerted him to the possibilities, and he devised a catalyst to make the resulting parasite stable. The intention was to create a super-army, but ordinary humans weren't strong enough to contain the parasite, and it burst out of their bodies as monsters (see #9). So Han had his followers genetically modified to contain the parasite, resulting in last issue's berserkers.
Han now explains the next phase of his plan. He wants the Avengers to find him - they will make great hosts. He intends to flood a local village with bacteria-water and catalyst. The Avengers will try to save the villagers and will get infected. He will capture any surviving Avengers and clone them into his army.
During the conversation Sorokin had a drink. Han now tells him it contained the catalyst, and kicks him into a pool of bacteria-water to die. (And possibly to deliver the catalyst that will activate all the water to flood the village.)
The quinjet and the SHIELD helicarrier rendezvous over Han's mountain. The Captains join Iron Man and Thor on the bridge of the carrier. Tony Stark realises that Han may want them as hosts, just as the villain releases the infected water.
The team argue over who could survive the bacteria better to help the villagers, when IM remembers the Hulk. They rush to his transparent cell where Spider-Woman is sitting outside to offer the still-ill behemoth some comfort. Stark intends to drop Hulk's indestructible cell to form a dam to hold the stream of water back, and set the already-infected Hulk free to attack the base.
Jessica won't let them do it unless Hulk agrees. But he does.
The cell does form a dam, and Hulk starts swimming up the waterfall. Thor uses Mjolnir to suck the water up in a cyclone. He drags it up to space where it freezes. And then Captain Marvel hurls it away from earth.
Back on land Hulk forces the fortress doors open, and Captain America, Iron Man and Spider-Woman follow him in. Of course they have to fight some more berserkers. But soon Cap leads them further in to confront Han. The villain continues to boast of his plans. Until Hulk grabs him by the head and hurls him against a wall.
It's all over and the team are back in Avengers Tower. Tony is trying to boost Bruce's pessimistic ego over ice cream. Then the others join them, including Spider-Man and Wolverine. Carol reminds them that the 2 of them made a bet as to who would find the missing Sergei Sorokin 1st. But neither the Hulk team (him and Spider-Woman) nor the Iron Man team (him and Thor) won, because it was Carol and Steve Rogers what done it.
The bet was that the loser would walk naked from Avengers Tower to Baxter Building and back. Jessica and Thor clarify that it was the team leaders who made the bet, so they must suffer the penalty.
The 2 scientists reluctantly agree, but Bruce does the walk as Hulk. Falcon and Wasp are among the audience, and Carol has alerted the public via radio stations. Tony has a cell phone jammer so no-one can take pictures with their phones. But Spider-Man pops up with an old-fashioned camera to record the moment for posterity. And for the Daily Bugle. The pair get fined for public indecency. Stark makes a matching donation to the CDC. (And probably pays Bruce's fine too.)