In New Orleans,
a young couple heads home from a street celebration. The girl spies an old
woman in front of her antiques shop and yells at her to go home; the boy
apologizes. When they enter an alley, they are confronted by the old lady, who
tells the young man he deserves better than this tallow-faced trollop. The
young woman bristles and suddenly she is sliced diagonally into five pieces and
falls apart, the boy cowering in terror. The old woman assures him “His hounds’ll
not find you now….
Meanwhile, a
private detective was writing up a report on a series of gruesome murders as this
was taking place….
Bruce Banner
and Charlie Tidwell are in New Orleans; they pass through a cemetery and
Charlie asks why all the graves are above ground. Bruce explains the water
table and the absence of basements in the city. Then he starts to turn into the
Hulk; he hands Charlie cash and directions to a hostel and dashes off. As his
body distorts in gruesome ways, his wife Betty Ross appears, advising him to
give Hulk to the Eldest and they will both have new bodies. She also remarks on
how Charlie has an undue influence on him, adding that she is no longer a concern.
As Betty turns into Red Harpy and flies off, she tells Bruce that “monsters
find each other….”
Meanwhile,
Charlie is spotted by a cop who recognizes her from the wanted poster and
follows. Charlie ducks into an antiques shop where the old lady greets her and
senses she is in trouble. The old lady directs her to hide in the back of the
shop while she greets the cop. In the rear of the shop, Charlie is surprised to
discover stairs leading down to a basement; she investigates and finds a workshop
with bloody human bones on a worktable. She picks up a small doll and it pleads
for help. Then the old lady, her body elongated, her eyes glowing, with the cop’s
severed head in one hand, assures her she will be safe among all her little
angels….