Indestructible Hulk #16

Mar 16

Mar 16 Indestructible Hulk #16

Humanity Bomb: Part One

Inhumanity continues from Avengers Assemble Vol 2 #25

Bruce Banner has come to ask for funding for his current projects. This request is denied by Simon Tiptree who tells them that there is no extra money on the budget. Banner impresses upon him the need for the money and tells him to find it from somewhere otherwise he'll get angry. Realizing who he is talking to, Tiptree caves and gives Bruce the funding he needs. With that, he tells his assistant Randall Jessup to get ready to go shopping. With his past few missions taking him away from his inventions, Banner decides to make up for the lost time. First, he designs a high-speed train, only for Melinda Leucenstern to inform him that Tony Stark already beat him to the punch. He then begins working on a tin-crystal battery, only to hear a report on how Reed Richards had invented the same thing earlier. Angry, Banner turns into the Hulk and smashes the device. His next invention is a microminiature bloodstream vessel. However, when checking his messages, Bruce is upset to hear that Henry Pym had just invented the same thing.

Banner gets fed up and asks Randall to call Director Hill to see if there are any missions that the Hulk can be sent on. With a transformation into the Hulk imminent, Jessup hands Bruce a piece of gum and focus on chewing it while he calls Maria Hill to see if she has something for him. Suddenly, the alarm goes off and they learn that SHIELD is being deployed to contain an energy surge coming from a Mesoamerican pyramid in Mexico. When Banner says he can go, Maria Hill tells him that they don't need him for this mission. His anger mounting, Bruce keels over as he tries to maintain control of his transformation. The situation makes Randall Jessup think of his childhood when his mother -- an alcoholic -- got fired from her job as a deputy after 13 years of service. Back then, Randall could only offer his mother a piece of gum. When Banner gets control of himself and staves off his transformation, he is impressed. Jessup tells him that it was the gum doing its work. Banner admits that he feels like he's being shut out and that he needs a good week. Once again, Jessup thinks back to his childhood. His mother was spiraling deeper into alcoholism and his father convinced the boy that he is the only one who his mother listens to and tells him if that breaks down, they will all be lost.

Randall decides that they should go and check out the temple anyway, showing Bruce his latest invention: jackets that can cloak people from view. Banner is impressed and tells Jessup that he is a good friend. Randall admits that he is doing it for his own self-interest because it's possible that the ancient Aztecs may have discovered a renewable energy source. His mind drifts back again, Randall recalls his early adulthood playing cards in a bar. When a phone call from his mother came in, he told the bartender to tell her that he isn't there. As he and Bruce sneak into a SHIELD aircraft he thinks about how that night his parents committed suicide. As they get onto the plane, Randall tells Banner he will never let him down. Once they arrive in Mexico, the two friends sneak into the temple and begin looking around. Banner finds that the temperature and size of the hall they are walking down are getting to him. Suddenly, they see a flash of light at the other end of the hall, followed by the sound of screams. This triggers a transformation into the Hulk, threatening to collapse the hall around them due to its tight quarters. Jessup begins to panic, telling Banner to hold it together for another few feet. Mentioning the gum prompts the Hulk to chew gum. This keeps him calm enough to slow his transformation so he can get out the other side.

He lands in a massive room where a group of SHIELD agents being attacked by a monstrous creature that has emerged from a portal. While the Hulk battles the creature, Jessup goes examines the portal and is surprised to see some strange kind of glowing runes spreading out along the walls from the portal. He asks a SHIELD agent what happened and is told that they picked up a pulse from the temple and were lured in. By touching a strange sphere, the portal was opened. Jessup grabs the agent's gun and begins firing at the runes, erasing them from the wall. This causes the creature a great deal of pain. With his theory proven right, he tells the other SHIELD agents to run and tells the Hulk to smash the temple to eliminate the runes. Randall and the others manage to get out just in time as the Hulk brings the entire building down. Afterward, Banner and Jessup are scolded for disobeying orders, but Randall reminds the agent how he saved their lives. Left alone, Bruce is upset that they didn't get the energy source they had come looking for. However, Randall hadn't let Bruce down, revealing that he pocketed the device before he fled the temple.