Chapter 4
Captured and a Confession
As the "team" started to wake up, they found that they were back in human form and in restraints. When they fully came to, they saw their worst nightmare: for Bruce, this meant that the Hulk Busters, led by the notorious General "Thunderbolt" Ross, was readying cloning equipment; for the Phantoms, this meant that, not only were the Guys in White readying ghost-disposal equipment, but their evil forms, Dan and Danni, were there as well, readying a method to keep themselves around without their good sides in the picture. Just then, Vlad Masters/Plasmius (in human form, of course) appeared in the room. "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen," Vlad stated, "for agreeing to my little bargain; that being, that in exchange for my remaining resources to help you eliminate the Ghost Zone and the Phantoms, make Clockwork and others pay for his interference in your plans, and make the Hulk and his remaining allies into weapons, you will supply me with enough money to pay the bails of wrongly-accused criminals and to silence those who think that this world is linked to the Ghost Zone."
"Yeah, but do we have to deal with actual ghosts for this plan to work?" asked the Guys in White. "Are you questioning me or are you implying that you create an artificial sound wave to knock them all unconscious?" stated Vlad. "He's got a point," stated General Ross, "You care more about your clean clothing than you do about actual plans to actually capture actual ghosts. I mean, besides the whole 'attack them with weapons that cost more and more each time. Why did you think I made it simple and put Banner as one of the top three on America's Most Wanted List at the beginning of my chase?" "Maybe because you couldn't or wouldn't reveal that you had a dartboard with his picture on it BEFORE he became the Hulk!" stated Dan, to which Danni added, "Or maybe it was to keep your job as a phony peacekeeper!"
"I hate to interrupt you all," Bruce said, "but I must inform you that not even I can control the Hulk!" "And that once we transform, you're all going down!" yelled Danny. "That is, IF you transform, since those shackles will electrify you if you even try to do that!'" yelled Ross, "Actually, I just thought of another way to make us all happy," Vlad said; "We eliminate the original bodies of these three, merge all of their DNA, and make an army of beings that have the best aspects of all three of these monstrosities." "What about the plans for the Ghost Zone?" asked the Guys in White. "Don't you get it?" asked Dan; "It won't matter if there is a Ghost Zone or not if there is a million of Phantom Hulks under our control!"
"You're all crazy!" yelled Bruce; "If you think the Hulk is unstoppable, imagine the chaos caused by a indestructible ghost, immune to all weapons and able to heal after being hit by any ecto-weapon; not to mention the damage to the world when you don't have a weak point to go after rage in ghost form!" General Ross then said, "I sort of hate to say it, and I mean really hate to say it, but the fugitive has a point: an army is useless if you cannot restrain it when it turns against you, and with it part Hulk, it will turn against us." "Then how come you want to turn him into a weapon?" asked a now irritated Danni.
"I just wanted to create a being LIKE the Hulk; you know, tweak the DNA or something to create a Super Soldier that would make even Abraham Erskine's serum seem obsolete; I never wanted part of something to recreate that monster that is the Hulk or worse! True, I never liked Banner, but maybe it was because of the fact that he had a relationship with my daughter since he was 17, maybe even before that. If you want to proceed any further with this plan, you'll have to go ahead without me," was all a sheepish General Ross had to say. "Well, I somewhat respect your opinion," stated Vlad, "but we'll have to kill you now."
Author's note: Wow, how is the general going to get out of this one? More importantly, how is the rest of the gang? And what in the world happened to the ex-hostages? Find out next time! (The Abraham Erskine thing belongs to the Captain America story.)