Rick Jones is recalling the first time
he saw the Hulk, Bruce Banner's original transformation scaring him
out of his wits [And now we see his body at Shadow Base B being
covered with a glowing green substance] and slapping him across the
room....
Reporter Jackie McGee is reading Rick's
memoir and her editor interrupts, asking for a news story to keep the
paper in the forefront of the Hulk saga. Jackie is hesitant because
of the trauma of her visit to Hell (issues #10-13) but he presents
her with a lead to follow up: the destruction of the home of
Betty Ross-Banner (issues #14-15). While she stands there silently, he
informs her that the newspaper is going national, all on the strength
of her Hulk reporting....
Bruce Banner and Doc Samson arrive in
New Mexico, at the site where Hulk escaped from Shadow Base (issue
#8). Bruce feels guilty for Rick's murder by the Secret Empire and
wants to atone by finding his body, stolen by “men in black.” The
sun sets and Bruce becomes Hulk once again; he and Samson enter the
tunnel Hulk dug and they find gamma-irradiated monsters in the base:
a bear, a dog, and a bat.…
Elsewhere, as General Fortean
supervises the procedure being done on Rick Jones' corpse he gets
word that Hulk and Samson are at Base A; he gives orders to spring
the trap....
At Betty's house, Jackie interviews the
police detective at the scene; he tells her that the evidence shows
that someone was shot in the house (unlikely to have been by the
Hulk) and that whatever broke down the wall left behind a huge red
feather. Meanwhile, Betty, now in the form of a red Harpy, watches
them from the treetops....
Hulk and Samson fight the monsters and
when they are defeated, suddenly lights come on: UV radiation, mixed
with visible light, forcing Hulk to transform back into Banner.
Fortean's hit man Bushwacker shows himself and shoots Doc Samson in
the head. He follows that up by shooting Bruce through the gut. Bruce
hides as the villain stalks him through the base but suddenly, Banner
changes, getting a sinister grin and saying his name isn't Bruce
Banner—it's Joe....