Red She-Hulk #59 — Nick Peron

Mar 16

Mar 16 Red She-Hulk #59

Hell Hath No Fury, Part 2

At a military research facility, the Red She-Hulk has snapped the neck of Vin Corsico, a superpowered sex offender who had volunteered for the Project Echelon super-soldier program. Not realizing that she killed him, she demands one of the scientists to resuscitate him but is informed that Vin has no vital signs. She then orders everyone to get out. While outside, Machine Man has arrived on the scene under orders from Captain America. Suddenly, the building collapses, confirming to X-51 that Betty Ross had transformed into the Red She-Hulk again. He determines that all of the staff were able to evacuate before the building collapsed until he finds the body of Vic Corsico. He attempts to resuscitate him with electronic jolts. When he pronounces Corsico dead, the Red She-Hulk attacks him, but X-51 was aware of her presence and is able to dodge the attack. When he defends himself without trading blows with her, the Red She-Hulk tries to whip him with a live electrical wire. X-51 turns this attack around by rechanneling the electrical chargeback at her. He then questions why she is resorting to acts of sabotage after she assisted him and the Red Hulk in stopping the entity known as Zero/One. He also questions how she said that General Fortean's project was about to bring the end of the world.

The Red She-Hulk bides time to launch a surprise attack and leaps away. Just then, Captain America radios in and asks for a status update. X-51 warns that while the Red She-Hulk may seem wild, she is still acting rationally, he then takes off to follow after her. He spends hours scouring the Washington, D.C. area until he locks on her audio signature. Not far away, Betty Ross has shown up at a home asking if things have changed. The man who answers the door invites her in and tells her to ask Eleanor. However, the man points out that Betty destroyed just one factory, and that has never worked to slow down progress like this. Still, Betty goes to Eleanore, an autistic little girl. Eleanore is building a strange city out of blocks. Betty asks the girl if she can look "inside" again. Eleanore is more than willing and she touches her hand on Betty's brow. Betty's mind is flooded with images of the future where Project Echelon has run out of control and squads of super soldiers have decimated New York City trying to destroy all the superheroes.

The Red She-Hulk and the man leave the house in a car to discuss the current developments regarding the status of Project Echelon. He informs Betty that the United States government has approved funding for the project. It's then that Machine Man catches up to them on a motorcycle. The man, who turns out to be Nikola Tesla, the famous scientist, detects X-51's pursuit and teleports away, wishing Betty luck. Betty tries to escape by converting her car to flight mode and taking off. However, this doesn't do much to dissuade Machine Man, who is able to convert the motorcycle into a flying machine to continue his pursuit. He then forces her away from the city so the Avengers can confront her. Iron Man catches her car in a tractor beam. He is joined by Captain Marvel, and Thor, who have come to arrest her for destroying a US military facility. Betty is annoyed that they are coming after her when she knows that Project Echelon is going to wipe out humanity in two generations and tries to escape by activating the ejection seat. When Iron Man attempts to use a device to calm her, Betty resists it enough to transform into the Red She-Hulk once more.

The rest of the Avengers are joined by Captain America who observes the situation from his Quinjet. Their attempts to restrain the Red She-Hulk fails, and in order to get away, she exploits their heroic natures by smashing the center support of a nearby bridge. As the Avengers scramble to save the people on the bridge, the Red She-Hulk escapes.