The Leader appears to the
Warbound, introducing the fused monster called Horde, as it tries to prevent
people from leaving Gammaworld via the tunnel created by Hiroim. So Korg,
Brood, and Elloe Kaifi fight the monster while Hiroim tries to keep the tunnel
open. The Leader speaks to Hiroim, mocking his efforts, reminding him that
whatever he does, the humans will never trust him. Hiroim steels himself and
shifts his power to knock Horde away before stabilizing the tunnel so the last
of the human refugees can escape. But Hiroim tells his comrades that it is the
end, that they must depart and leave him behind…and then more soldiers arrive
and fire upon the Warbound, closing up the tunnel, killing the last soldiers to
depart, and hurling Hiroim into the distance. The others find him in a crater,
warning that his power is out of control, feeling all of the humans still
trapped in the dome, warning that the radiation’s effect on the humans will
soon be irreversible. Hiroim tells the others he can sense the generators that
power the dome buried below so he proposes that he and Korg destroy the generator
while the others distract the Leader. He mourns the hundred he killed that day; Kate
Waynesboro reminds him he saved a thousand and kisses him before she goes off with
Brood and Elloe…
…to tell the Leader that
he is dying from his exposure to the radiation. The villain doesn’t believe her
and aims a huge gun at the hecklers—and it explodes, thanks to a virus Kate had
uploaded into it. And then Elloe and Brood leap on him….
Meanwhile, Hiroim tells
Korg there is no underground generator, the dome is powered by feeding on the
Old Power in the Earth so that the only way to stop it is to kill Hiroim. Korg
balks at this idea but Hiroim calls on him to keep his oath as Warbound before
it is too late….
Give that special marvelite a timely gift
Story #2Tales of the Warbound Part 3
Writer:
Greg Pak.
Penciler:
Rafa Sandoval.
Inker:
Roger Bonet.
Colorist:
Marte Gracia.
Letterer:
Joe Caramagna.
Synopsis
At the Negative Zone
prison, SHIELD Agent Kate Waynesboro asks Miek the weaknesses of his comrades
in Hulk’s Warbound, this time considering Korg, the stone man who was marooned
on Sakaar when his ship crashed. He fled to the mountains where he wondered who
he would fight. There he rescued a tribeswoman attacked by soldiers and thus
grew the legend of the Mountain God who would protect the people. The tribal
elder did not believe this story and dispatched Arkis to the city to tell the
representative that the soldiers were killed in an avalanche. Before he left,
Arkis prayed to the Mountain God that he will always protect his sister (the
woman mentioned earlier). Over the ensuing months, Korg protected the tribe
from wild animals, terrible weather, and the soldiers sent to punish the
traitors, Korg killed them but a dying soldier revealed he was Arkis, enslaved
by an obedience disk to fight his own people. Miek concludes that Korg will
never break a promise…but that is hardly a comfort.