Two teen girls,
Becky and Katie, stand atop a building in Las Vegas, contemplating jumping. A
stranger approaches and stops them; he asks why they are there. The girls
explain that a man promised to put them in a movie and that was a lie. Promising
to give them what they came for, the stranger invites them to a dark cavern beneath
the city where they find more people and an elaborate throne with a wolf’s head
over it. Becky is invited to sit on the throne…and then the wolf bites her head
off, making her the new idol of the House of Lycana. The others turn into
werewolves and attack Katie….
Hulk arrives in
Las Vegas. Crowds stand back and marvel while nervous police try to keep him
calm while asking him to leave. The top of the pyramid glows and Hulk leaps off
to it; a walking corpse directs him to the special entrance to where “she”
awaits, behind the Sphinx….
In a red limbo,
Bruce Banner speaks with the imaginary Betty Ross in his head; he is afraid for
Charlie, her soul encased in a porcelain doll. Betty tells him the time has
come when he must choose between Charlie and the Hulk….
Hulk descends into
the Earth to a cavern where he is greeted by Eldest, in the guise of an ordinary
red-haired woman. She invites him in, calling the place a temple of Lycana. She
relates how they first met thousands of years ago and how they died together. Hulk
puts down the doll and attacks Eldest who stands unmoved by Hulk’s blows. She
gives him a glimpse of her true form, a massive horned and winged demon,
holding Hulk in the palm of her hand, before resuming her present guise. She
informs Hulk that Charlie will be rescued…by handing her over to the House of
Lycana who will make her one of their own. Bruce shouts to the Hulk to stop
them. Eldest offers Hulk the choice: Charlie to the werewolves or himself to
her. And she begins shooting stalactites through him. Betty speaks to Bruce,
holding out a Pactum Aeternus to him, telling him to betray Hulk so Charlie can
be saved. Bruce signs the document, “In exchange for the restored body and soul
of Charlene Tidwell, I forever surrender my flesh to Eldest.” A magical chain encircles
Hulk’s neck, pinning him to the ground as Eldest gloats, “I have him, Mother,
you’ll soon be free and the world set to rights….”