Incredible Hulk (Vol. 2) #36

Mar 12

Mar 12 Incredible Hulk (Vol. 2) #36

The Gang's All Here!

At a maximum-security prison, Sandra Verdugo sits on death row watching a news report on the murder of Ricky Myers, quietly sketching a picture of the boy. Suddenly, the warden approaches her cell and asks her if she has any last requests. Sandra gets up and kisses the warden on the lips then jokingly asks if anyone has a key to her cell. Elsewhere, Doc Samson is watching the same news report when he suddenly gets a phone call. The person on the other end of the line asks him what he thinks about the news reports, and Samson points out that the Hulk has never killed anybody in the past. However, after some more discussion, he agrees to meet with the caller. At that moment, agents of an organization called Home Base are going over footage of Jink Slater a soldier of fortune. They watch footage of how he defeated an army of DEA agents storming his home in Columbia. They also go over footage of how he killed two Jihadists under the cover of working with them. They were killed in a pipe bomb explosion, but Jink's body as never found. Another video shows Slater fleeing from the FBI in the Colorado Mountains. Lastly, they watch demo reels of his martial arts prowess and believe that he is the agent they should be using. However, they know that Jink works alone, which will present a challenge.

Meanwhile, back at the prison, Sandra Verdugo is brought into the execution room. She is strapped onto a table and given the lethal injection and is soon declared dead. Later, Jink Slater is contacted by Home Base, who communicates with him through the television in his hotel room. They insist on pairing him up with someone on his current mission but he refuses to work with someone else, even after being offered more payment. When they insist on him working with someone, he terminates the communication. At a different hotel, Bruce Banner watches news footage about the death of Ricky Myers and wracks his brain to try and remember if he recalls seeing Ricky Myers at the scene when he was the Hulk. He suddenly gets a message from the mysterious Mr. Blue, warning him to change his itinerary as there are "two very strong fronts" heading his way. At that moment at the prison, the lifeless body of Sandra Verdugo is taken off the property in an ambulance. The ambulance comes upon a body lying in the middle of the road. When the driver approaches the body, the man laying on the street pulls a gun and shoots the driver.

Later that evening, Doc Samson meets with an agent of Home Base who asks for his assistance in hunting down the Hulk. Samson turns down the offer because he does not hunt Banner for money. The man from Home Base tells Leonard that the Hulk will eventually be captured, it’s just a matter of time when. They give Samson 24 hours to think it over. At that moment, the Home Base contacts Jink Slater and continues to insist that he have back up on this mission. He still refuses and that's when room service arrives with his continental breakfast. When the woman stays too long, Jink tells her to get lost. But when he is back is turned, the woman hits him over the head with a coffee pot. Realizing that this is the woman they hired to work with him, Jink tells her that he works alone and kicks her right through the bathroom door. When he goes to see her, she kicks him in the face. Slater rushes back to his room to get his gun. However, when he pulls his gun he turns to see that the woman has the gun his face. This is Sandra Verdugo, alive and well. The Home Base tells the pair that instead of working together they will compete against each other to catch the Hulk.

Meanwhile, Bruce Banner is hitching down the road again and is picked up by a portly man in a pickup truck. As they drive into the next town, the radio plays a report about Ricky Myers. The man comments that if it were up to him, he shoots Bruce Banner in the head for killing the little boy. Banner, keeps mum about the situation, lest he blows his disguise. At that moment Jink and Sandra are at a motor in trying to figure out their next move. Jink thinks they should go east, while Sandra thinks they should go west. As Sandra gets out of the shower, Jink asks what she has in a pill bottle by the night table. She explains that it is a tranquilizer that will work on knocking out Banner but not the Hulk. When Jink asks Sandra how she plans on slipping the tranquilizer to Banner, Sandra says she will do it with misdirection. To prove her point, she strips off her towel and tosses it at Slater.