Incredible Hulk#12(2000)

Bruce Banner is getting sick, at first he thought he had caught the flu, but after the onset of hand tremors and a fainting spell, Bruce has decided to cross the country and try to get some help after reading an article in the American Journal of Science. Having almost reached his destination, Bruce's mind is filled with recent tragedies and trying to keep the Hulk at bay, a version of the Hulk more hellish than previously seen. Needing fresh air, Banner asks the driver to pull over and goes decides to go the rest of the way walking in the rain. His mind drifts back to the past: from his abusive upbringing to the gamma bomb accident that transformed him into the Hulk. Eventually, Bruce reaches the Institute of Neuromuscular Psychiatry, owned by Doctor Angela Lipscombe. When Bruce knocks on her door she asks who it is an he announces himself and asks if she remembers him. Angela then opens the door and slaps Bruce across the face. She remembers alright. As he tries to control his rage to prevent turning into the Hulk, she demands to know what has brought him crawling to her doorstep after all this time. He tells her that he is throwing himself at her mercy, but she is not interested in whatever he is looking for and threatens to call the police. She then dares Bruce to turn into the Hulk and do whatever he wants. She continues berating him all the way into her kitchen, but suddenly stops when she sees that he is crying and suddenly her anger breaks and she asks what's wrong. He tells her that he is dying. After emotions have cooled down, Bruce tells her that he is dying of a degenerative brain disease that there is no known cure. Although he is very certain he has all the symptoms, as the leading expert in her field, Bruce has sought out Angela for a second opinion. Hearing all this, Angela apologizes for how she reacted to him before. However, Bruce doesn't feel that she needs to. He recounts how the two of them met in university and how awkward and reserved Bruce Banner ended up dating Angela Lipscombe the most attractive girl in her class. However, as Angela was getting research grants, Bruce was turned down everywhere and soon he grew jealous of her and eventually stood her up and never called again. The two get to talking about their post-university careers, Bruce is impressed with her work in psychology. When she asks what happened to his gamma particle research, he tells her it didn't work out so well. He explains how he was eventually hired by the military to produce a gamma bomb and recounts the events that led to the accident that created the Hulk. However, this time around, he recalls how there were a number of secretive and shady military types hanging around the project during the day of the test. He finishes his story by telling how he saved Rick Jones' life and caught the full dose of the gamma bomb itself, turning him into the Hulk and cursing him for the rest of his life. Bruce finds it difficult to sleep that night and the next morning, Angela starts a battery of tests on him to find out what is wrong with his brain. Her tests come back confirming what Bruce already feared. When she suggests alternatives, Bruce lets her in on his greatest fear: while this disease is terminal, the Hulk will not let him die. When Banner's mind is completely gone, all that will be left is the unrestrained fury of the Hulk. When Bruce suggests leaving, Angela reminds him that the Hulk is just a representation of his multiple personality disorder and thinks that they can control the Hulk and eliminate him before he becomes a problem. That night, Bruce Banner has a fitful sleep and wakes when he has a nightmare that he turned into the Hulk and attacked Angela. In this nightmare, Bruce turned into a more horrific version of the Hulk with sharp talons and fangs. Just barely holding back the Hulk for real, Bruce realizes that he has no choices left. The next day, he allows himself to be hooked into a device that will send Bruce deep into his psyche to confront his various personalities. Bruce soon finds himself inside his mind, which looks very much like the Crossroads dimension. There he finds his Savage Hulk persona and tries to reason with the brute. Not wishing to talk to Banner, the Hulk gets angry and leaps away. Bruce then sees his Professor Hulk and Joe Fixit, the Professor is bound to the Crossroads signpost with chains and his mouth is covered, which Joe's hands are merely tied together by rope which is also tied to the tree. Fixit explains to Banner that they are inside his mind and all his personas are here, especially one very angry one that has been taking over and getting stronger every time Bruce thinks about his abusive childhood or his death wife. With this monstrous persona approaching them, Bruce tries to free the Professor, but he doesn't have the strength. Fixit tells Bruce that only he can free the Professor and urges Bruce to untie him. Bruce refuses to do so, and tries in vein to break the chains holding the Professor tightly to the tree. Time quickly runs out as they are soon approached by the massive demonic form of Bruce Banner's overwhelming guilt.