The Hulk, seeking solace, comes to the desolate town of
Liberty, New Mexico, where he detects a strange odor. He claims the town as his
own and, cleaning up, rights a toppled truck and a dead man falls out of the
cab. Woodgod (source of the odor) spies Hulk while searching for his father and
Hulk, startled, throws the truck door at him. Woodgod can’t understand why Hulk
would try to hurt him….
Not far away, Spider-Man is flying with the X-Men in their
shuttle, on their way back from the previous adventure; their ship detects something
in the sky. Storm and Banshee, fearing the return of the Rakks, head out to see
what it is and encounter a band of floaters, National Guard hovercraft under
the command of Major Del Tremens. Tremens has given orders that anything alive
near Liberty is the enemy and the floaters fire on the X-Men. Cyclops shoots
several of them down but Spidey is thrown off the shuttle, to be rescued by
Banshee. They listen in on a transmission from Tremens who relays video of Hulk
and Woodgod in Liberty and orders his men to contain them. Spidey decides he
needs to help out Bruce Banner so he has Banshee fly him to the town, drop him
off, and catch up to his teammates later….
In the town, Hulk and Woodgod are fighting, the latter
having associated Hulk with “scream,” the nerve gas that killed his father and loosely
referring to any sort of pain and death. Hulk raises an automobile to throw at
his foe but comes into contact with electrical wires overhead and the shock
causes Hulk to transform back into Bruce Banner who passes out. Woodgod is confused
and then he is attacked by a squad of National Guard floaters. As he battles
the floaters, Spider-Man arrives in time to use his webbing to create a cushion
for Guardsmen hurled through the air. But Major Tremens isn’t happy to see him,
informing him he is in a restricted area and threatening him for asking too
many questions. Woodgod attacks Spidey from behind, knocking him into a water
trough, and, while he is preparing to fight back, an angry Hulk rises from the
ground on his other side, putting him in a precarious position….
Other X-Men present: Professor X, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Phoenix,
Colossus.