Incredible Hulk #216

Jan 24

Jan 24 Incredible Hulk #216

Countdown to Catastrophe!

IMG 2020 20 01 24 15 29 31 nd63y.png — Credits

The Hulk has been tricked into attacking the Bi-Beast who has taken over the SHIELD helicarrier on a mission to destroy life on Earth. The Bi-Beast has managed to hold the Hulk at bay with a battery of lasers that threaten to set the man-monsters blood boil. Watching this from a monitoring station are General Ross, Clay Quartermain and SHIELD's technical guru known as Gaffer. With the Hulk's death imminent, Gaffer activates a trap floor to save the Hulk's life. However, it delivers the Hulk into the same room they are in. Seeing General Ross again puts the Hulk into a frenzy. The Hulk picks up Ross and is about to dash him into the wall when Gaffer convinces that Hulk that they had brought him aboard the Helicarrier to help save the world. Considering the idea that the Bi-Beast intends to destroy all life makes Hulk recall Betty and Jim, his only friends, and agrees to help stop the Bi-Beast. However, as they have been busy convincing the Hulk to help, the Bi-Beast has activated the countdown that will send nuclear missiles at targets across the world in under ten minutes.

Meanwhile, at Gamma Base, Doc Samson checks on the mystery man who appeared on base. He thinks about how they have not been successful in restoring his memories. As he leaves the man to sleep through the night, Samson vows to never stop until he succeeds. However, as soon as Samson is gone, the amnesiatic man wakes up in a trance and sneaks out of his room. He makes his way to one of the labs and locks himself inside.

Back aboard the Helicarrier, the Bi-Beast tries to trap the Hulk and the others in the monitoring station, but the Hulk holds the door open allowing his uneasy allies to escape. With three minutes left, Gaffer leads them all to the main computer network. After Hulk smashes through the door they have ninety seconds. With no time to manually shut down the computer, Gaffer directs Hulk to the main power source and tells him to rip it out. Even though thousands of volts flow into his body, the Hulk succeeds in pulling out the main circuit with only seconds to spare. With the main power source cut, the Helicarrier begins to plummet from the sky. Although the emergency props kick in Gaffer still has to race against the clock to redirect the power to re-activate the propulsion systems.

To make matters worse, the Bi-Beast has managed to get access to some experimental body armor and is on a rampage through the ship. When it bursts into the networking room, the Hulk squares off the two-headed monster. Their battle takes them to the flight deck of the ship, buying Gaffer the time he needs to reactivate the power on board. When the Helicarrier's propulsion starts back up, the sudden jolt throws both the Bi-Beast and the Hulk over the edge and they are soon lost in the clouds below. Although Clay and the others are celebrating the victory, General Ross is not happy with the decisions they had to make that day.