Gwen finds an unhurt General Thunderbolt Ross, who complains about her, and seemingly drowns her in a stream as Ripley is killed by the man in the headquarters. But Gwen later regains consciousness. Meanwhile, the Hulk fights Wolverine who manages to cut the Hulk's skin deeply. But Jade Jaws laughs at the mutant efforts, sure Wolverine is no match for the strongest one there is. Suddenly, Kang the Conqueror shows up. Tired of the theatrical nightmare, Hulk turns into Bruce and defies them both, calling the whole thing a farse. Suddenly. Wolverine mortally stabs Bruce in the chest, and Bruce wakes up in a hospital cell. Doc Samson is in it, and explains Bruce that the Hulk had taken over his mind, remaining trapped in Banner's body. Doc refers to when Banner transformed into the Savage Banner, back in
TIH2 #426 (by Peter David and Liam Sharpe, February 1995). Doc Samson assures Banner that Betty is alive, and nothing ever happened to his eye: "It's all been a bad, bad dream...". Also, in Bruce's teen memories, Bruce realizes that guided by Hulk, Bruce took his house-made bombs to the school to get even with his classmates, and runs towards the school to deactivate those weapons.