Incredible Hulk #81

The INCREDIBLE Hulk #81

Date: July 2005
Title: Tempest Fugit Conclusion
Writer: Peter David
Penciler: Lee Weeks
Inks: Tom Palmer
Letters: Randy Gentile

Colorist: Studio F
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Cover Artist: Lee Weeks.

Young Bruce is running to the school to stop the bomb, with the Hulk right behind him, taunting him. Bruce says that he will make sure that they know it was the Hulk who mde the bomb but the Hulk reminds him that the bomb has Bruce's fingerprints on it. After getting beaten up and humiliated, everyone will automatically think it was Bruce. The Hulk asks why he didn't just call the school and tell him and Bruce says that the blast area would be too wide for everyone to escape and that he has to shut it down.

Gwen goes back into the lab and tells Professor Yarish to shut the equipment down and but Ripley down also. Professor Yarish tries to explain his position in the whole situation and Gwen tells him that he should only speak when spoken to and asks where her father is. Professor Yarish is surprised that she remembers who her father is and Gwen replies that she remembers everything.

Doc Samson explains to Bruce, who has woken up in a padded cell, that everything that has been happening to him was just a bad dream and that Betty is alive. Bruce asks about the Devil Hulk and the island, to which Samson replies again that it was not real. Bruce starts to ask about Rick and Samson says that he was never crippled and then realizes that Bruce never mentioned that Rick had been crippled. Samson tries to talk his way out of it but Bruce turns into the Hulk and grabs Samson around the neck and asks who he is. Samson turns into General Ross and says that it was all an Army experiment but the Hulk isn;t convinced and asks again who he is. Suddenly General Ross turns into Betty and says that the Leader is trying to manipulate the Hulk into killing her to which the Hulk just slams her into the wall and asks again who it is. The surreounding changes to a scene out of Hell as Mephisto announces that it has been him.

Bruce runs through the hallway at school to get to the bomb. He yells at the Hulk that he did this but the comments that Bruce know exactly where to look. Bruce runs and disconnects the bomb with 18 seconds left. Some kids come down the stairs as Bruce announces that he saved them. The kids tell Bruce that he made that bomb and tried to kill them. Bruce tries to explain that it was the Hulk who did it but they just attack Bruce. The principal announces that school is dismissed and he makes sure no one goes down and helps Bruce. He also tells one of the teachers to call the police.

The Hulk holds Mephisto in a pool of lava and he gives him the last chance to tell who he really is. Suddenly a horse appears and the Hulk replies that he likes the horse but he should stay back or "Mephisto" dies. A voice tells the Hulk that if he kills him, he will just come back in a differnent incarnation. Gwen explains that he is "Mephisto's" daughter from when he lay with a woman in a deep, deep sleep and created her. He then tossed her into the real world to become familiar with mortals and learn to dispise them but it didn't work, she had affection for them, a disappointment to her father, just like her older sister. Gwen puts her hand forward to help her father up. As soon as they grab hands, Mephisto turns into Nightmare, the real villain behind all the Hulk's problems. The Hulk asks if Gwen's name is Daydream and she likes the name so much, she decides to use it. Ripley wakes up and Daydream tells him to just relax. The Hulk asks if this is all a dream and Nightmare replies that even he is no longer certain if it is a dream.

Nightmare explains that the island is in real world, a domain he was able to establish when 9/11 occurred when the line between reality and fantasy blurred. Since establishing his stronghold in the real world, he has been insinuating himself into the minds of people, trying to erase the line between what is real and what is not and that the Hulk has been a great test case. The Hulk asks if he brought him to the island as a test case. Nightmare replies that he was testing the Hulk long before he came to the island and tells him that some of his memories are real and some are just dreams (such as the Devil Hulk and recent battles with the Absorbing Man and Abominaiton). He brought the Hulk to the island for payback and to tell him that whatever the Hulk thinks he knows, may or may not be real.

An officer from the Army Department of R&D comes to visit Susan Banner and notes that Susan is packing to leave. Susan explains that the local people see Bruce as a monster and that Bruce would not see any jail time if they left town. The officer tells her taht the offer of no charges were at the Army's request and that the bomb wasn't going to go off. Bruce apparently made a simple mistake in the calculations and the bomb was a dud. The officer introduces himself as Major Thaddeus Ross and tells Susan that Bruce has remarkable potential as a weapons designer and that they would like to be involved with Bruce's education.

Nightmare explains that all the monsters are really Mindless Ones from neighboring dimension. The Hulk tells him that he is boring the crap out of him and turns around to leave. Nightmare replies that he can not leave because he is so deep into his mind, he doesn't know what is real and not. The Hulk replies that he is still bored and still leaving. Then Nightmare tells the Hulk that it was with Betty Ross that he laid with to create Daydream as part of the payback and asks what he thought of that. The Hulk turns around and, without a word, leaps at Nightmare, who is sitting on his horse. Daydream turns around not to see the Hulk ripping Nightmare's head off. Ripley asks what is going on but Daydream just tells him that she is going to take him somewhere safe and they fade away. The Hulk, sitting on Nightmare's horse, rides off onto the ocean, away from the island. As he rides off into the distance, Betty Ross washes up on shore, confused. Suddenly General Ross appears before her, telling her that everything is okay. Betty hugs her father and General Ross just tells her that everything will be okay and that it was just a bad dream, as General Ross (Nightmare) gives an evil grin.

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