The leader does not continue his praise however. He suddenly senses the presence of intruders near them. He instructs Banner to listen for them with his heart. Banner is startled by how many of them he sees. The leader confirms their numbers but tells Banner that the ones already there are of no concern to them. The oppressors approaching these refugees will try to harm them, but the aborigine leader is convinced that their arrival will not end well for them.

Across the country, the young Scorpion II speaks with her mother via a communicator on her arm. She tells her about the amounts of people flooding in from as far as Sydney. Her mother thinks that should the mutant oppression continue their numbers will swell even more. She is under the Gulf of Capentaria in a sophisticated submarine. Scorpion tells her mother that there are over 300 people in their camp; all of them have stories of internment camps for their kind created by the mutant government. Scorpion’s mother equates Austrailia’s actions with Hitler’s final solution. Scorpion is just glad that they are there. AIM needs to show up anywhere they’re needed to show humans they don’t have to bow in the face of mutant regimes. Scorpion’s pat on the back takes a backseat to the sudden rumbling; the sound of an approaching attacker. A boy named Adam confirms their approach. They decide to make a stand there and hit their bully head on.

The AIM soldiers move in against the approaching Austrialian robot forces. Adam’s father wants him to be careful but Adam can’t be bothered to listen. The mutant leader orders the sapien resistance to stop.

From the nearby foliage Banner tells the aborigine leader that he’s afraid he’ll despise him when he sees his other side. He’s assured that that could never be the case. He is now one of the true people and to hate Banner would be to hate himself. Banner moves to deal with the force that moved into the aborigine’s sacred places. The mutant leader, Unus the Untouchable laughs off Banner’s belief that he could have any chance of stopping them. Banner swings a boomerang at Unus but it bounces off his force field. Unus is still contemptuous of Banner as he strikes at him and pushes him to the gators in a nearby pond. Unus is happy to leave him to his fate but is surprised to see not a small man emerge from the water but the Hulk.

Hulk bats the gators onto his would-be mutant attackers. All of them flee except Unus, surrounded by his force field again. Hulk knows he can’t do anything to Unus physically so he smashes his hands together. The sound is too much for Unus and he tries to escape, still surrounding himself. Hulk kicks the man around like a hamster in a ball.

Nearby the AIM agent Scorpion takes on the mutant forces. She surprised to see how many of them are actually humans attacking their own kind. Scorpion takes pleasure in taking down a particularly mouthy human who previously had her on her knees. After this success she notices that she is looking up the barrels of a giant armor suit. Its human rider can’t do anything however before his suit is slammed by a projectile Unus. Hulk finishes off the ground attackers. Scorpion’s mother Dr. Rappaccini watches the Hulk’s carnage on monitors in the sub. She takes a shuttle to the surface. Across the continent Pyro, Exodus and Vanisher are also watching. Pyro is livid. He’s apparently fought the Hulk before and doesn’t want another round. Why did they move troops in when Magneto had already told them to stay away from the aborigines. Governor Exodus does not like being spoken to like he is. Exodus will not tolerate any human presence in Austrailia and the Hulk won’t stop them.

Even as he says this, Dr, Rappaccini and Scorpion talk to the Hulk. She tries to convince him to fight with them against Mutant oppression. He doesn’t seem interested. As they speak Adam’s father runs towards them to say that Adam had been kidnapped during the attack. Hulk uses this distraction to leave the humans behind.

At sunrise Bruce Banner is walking up to the aborigine leader as he sits contemplating the world from a steep escarpment. He knows about the doctor’s proposal and it seems like a simple choice to him. While walking in the Dreamtime he’s noticed the change in reality. It is unnatural and will not last. The aborigine leader then begins talking about the Stolen Generation of kids taken from the aborigines to become assimilated and end the aborigines as a people. It did not work. Banner will miss the old man and his happy existence with the true people but maybe that feeling is evidence of their being in the Dreamtime. Banner will work with the humans.

Review: Let me start by saying that I am not normally a fan of the Hulk and really only picked this up because of the tie-in. That said I was very please with the read. I first off appreciated all of David’s use of characters that could easily not be considered to take part in HOM. Including Machine Teen and Amazing Fantasy characters Adam and Scorpion alongside sidelined X-Men villains like Vanisher, Exodus and the revieved Pyro seemed to work well enough. I loved his use of Unus in this issue too. Who doesn’t like to see a character like that get kicked around like a hamster ball. Hilarious.

David's humor also shows through beautifully in his ensamble of characters and in his depiction of the Hulk himself. I loved Hulks line “So? World’s done fine without dodo.” Also classic and a great show of character.

My big question with this book is why Banner should be with the Hulk at all. I’m surprised that David went in the direction he did. I would have expected this story to be more like Banner living a suburban life with Betty Ross while the Hulk lurks as a shadowy reminder that reality is in a jam. But then, maybe that story wouldn’t have been as exciting and it’s good to be surprised I guess.

On art, let me first say that is by far my favorite cover of all the HOM tie ins. Beautiful. Lucas’ interior work is also impressive. The dark nighttime colors compliment his work well. I wish I’d seen more variety in his character designs. (I think Scorpion and Monica look the same except for a mid-riff.) but you can’t deny that he draws a strong and energetic Hulk.

I’m interested to see where this all goes and see if the aborigine leader (is that Gateway by the way) figures more prominently into the book.