Strange Bedfellows

Bruce Banner finds himself in the middle of the mysterious suicide of Lisa Cummings, a former lover of Tony Stark. While staying at Tony's mansion, Banner is attacked by a masked killer who is gunning for Stark, prompting a transformation into the Hulk. Seeing this on the security monitors, Tony rushes down to his room to try and stop the Hulk from killing the attacker. Tony tries to stop the Hulk without his armor and finds himself easily swatted aside. The commotion attracts Nicole March, one of the March twins staying at Tony's mansion. Seeing the bikini-clad woman triggers a memory of Betty Ross in the mind of the Hulk, calming him sufficiently to revert back to human form. While everyone is distracted, the would-be assassin plants a listening device on the cuff of Tony's pants.

Later, after Bruce is given a change of clothing, the two men head to Stark Industries. The pair talk about the death of Lisa Cumming's murder and the revelation that her brother was the man stalking Tony. Banner asks Tony why he planted Lisa's diary in his room to find, and Stark explains that he wanted to see if Bruce could find it on his own. Bruce asks Tony what's wrong, and Tony decides to tell him everything. He explains that he was visited by Charlie Hasklem an intelligence officer who took him to speak to the President. He was brought in to discuss the possible threat of dirty bombs or miniaturized nuclear weapons being used by terrorists in the United States to create uninhabitable dead zones. They then asked Tony to develop a suit of armor that could withstand all forms of contamination, including gamma radiation. Tony paired up with an old college partner Jack Rutlidge to develop this suit of armor. He explains the top-secret nature of the design before showing the prototype to Bruce. However, with a limited budget and a short time frame, Tony has been pushing himself beyond his limits to try and get the prototype finished. The pair put on matching suits of the armor so Tony can demonstrate the flexibility and durability of the armor by knocking Bruce around.

They are interrupted by a call from Tony's butler Jeeves who has a request from their prisoner, Richard Cummings, regarding glass of wine. Tony tells the butler to meet all of the prisoner's requests while he is tied up in the wine cellar. Bruce is uneasy about them keeping the man prisoner. Stark wonders if Bruce thinks that he murdered Lisa Cummings, and Tony admits that she killed her as surely as he killed this project. Bruce reveals that he noticed that Tony ripped the last page out of Lisa's diary and strikes him, sending the armored hero flying across the room. The fight takes them out to the roof where Banner is quickly subdued. Banner explains that he is on Tony's side, hence why he hasn't turned into the Hulk during the fight and believes that Tony is innocent. Tony, however, doesn't believe Bruce will continue to believe it once he knows the whole truth. Tony continues his story, explaining that the armor tested well against a hydrogen bomb but he wanted to make sure it was resistant to gamma radiation as well. Needed an expert on the subject, they hired Lisa to help with the project. He admits that his and Lisa's "relationship" was a cover for the project but Tony had eventually fallen in love with her. However, as Tony kept on pushing himself to get the suit functional, he didn't think that Lisa would resort to suicide to try and stop him from pursuing things further. Tony and Bruce are unaware that Richard Cummings is listening in on their conversation.

Tony allows Bruce to look over the designs and he believes that he has a solution, explaining that he has come up with a means to not just repel gamma radiation, but eradicate it. By developing a method used in diving skins and space suits, Bruce develops a mean of using a liquid form of compound RG-27 to eradicate the gamma rays by having the solution circulate inside between the armor and the wearer, then including another layer of magnesium oxide to destroy the gamma particles. Stark is impressed by Bruce's work. Meanwhile, back at Stark's mansion, one of the March sisters brings Richard Cummings a steak dinner. Since he is handcuffed in the basement she offers to feed him. They talk about Lisa, and how Richard believes she wouldn't commit suicide. He then insults Nicole by suggesting that she is just another one of Stark's commodities. She does exactly what he expects: She throws the steak knife to the ground and leaves, giving him the means to get out of his bonds.

Recurring Characters

Hulk, Iron Man, Nicole March, Rikki March, Richard Cummings,

Continuity Notes

• Tony Stark mentions the capture of Saddam Hussein's capture as though it recently happened. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.