Del Frye is stuck in a memory loop, reliving the night an
injection by his father killed him. The Leader breaks into that memory loop and
takes control of Del’s body. The monster now breaks out of the tube he was
preserved in and attacks Doc Samson, leaping on him and poking out his eyes…
…and suddenly Samson is in the Below-Place with the Leader
who shows him the Green Door back to life but then opens a Red Door, boasting
about how his plan is all coming together….
Back in Georgeville, Iowa, where Gamma Flight is battling the
Hulk, Absorbing Man has turned into a massive cloud of gamma energy, trying to
blow Hulk away with a gamma tornado. Hulk responds with a thunderclap while
Puck takes aim to shoot Hulk with a laser weapon. The Leader, inhabiting the distorted
version of Rick Jones, gloats, enraging Titania into assaulting him, touching
off a second weird fight while Jackie McGee pleads for a peaceful resolution. Back
at Shadow Base, Charlene McGowan has to bring Hulk and Rick back and chooses to
return Rick as the Hulk is immortal. And then Puck fires, tearing a hole in
Hulk’s head and the Big Green Guy arrives in the Leader’s presence….