Urich's Article
Karen cleared her throat. "I used to work in the financial department at Union Allied. It was a construction company that oversaw the bulk of the government contracts for the Harlem reconstruction."
That got her a blank stare.
Karen blinked. "From the Harlem Terror?"
Steve shook his head, blue eyes wide.
"It was in June, 2010." It was on every news channel, like 9/11 all over again. Far fewer casualties than the attacks on the Towers, but mostly civilian rather than military, and completely terrifying. And impossible to miss. He hadn't given her a number of years, but this confirmed at least two.
"The Harlem Terror?" Steve managed. "What -"
"The Abomination was loose in Harlem, and the Hulk-" She caught a glimpse of his expression. Not helping. "And none of that means anything to you."
"No."
She'd succeeded in alarming him, from the pallor of his skin. "I'll try to dig up a copy of the article on the Bulletin 's website for you."
Harlem Terror
By BEN URICH
June 5, 2010
The first Battle of Harlem was fought on September 16, 1776, between American colonists and the invading British. Outnumbered more than two to one, the Americans nonetheless outflanked their better-equipped adversaries, forcing the British to retreat to what is now West 106th Street. George Washington's first direct victory as General of the American army during the Revolutionary War occurred in Harlem.
Since it was first settled in 1637, Harlem has been an intermittent battleground; seeing bloodshed during draft riots in the Civil War and race riots in the 1960's, as a confluence for Irish, Jewish, and Italian organized crime in the late 19th Century, and increasing crime and poverty following the de-industrialization that took place after World War II.
But yesterday, Harlem was Ground Zero for a duel – the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth.
Shortly after 11:00 PM last night, a creature began rampaging through the streets of Harlem. Where it came from is, as yet, uncertain. What this creature is remains an even more concerning question. The best eyewitness descriptions and photography put it at approximately eighteen feet in height, humanoid in shape, with skin the color of old concrete. Bony spurs protrude from its spine, elbows, and ankles. Most frighteningly, it is capable of laughter and speaks English – suggesting that it might have once been human.
If that is true, then it is now an abomination.
For almost a full half-hour after its initial appearance, this Abomination wreaked havoc – using unbelievable strength to shred cars, tear into buildings, and dig through streets. Fires erupted from ruptured gas lines. With disturbing intelligence, the Abomination battered at fire hydrants – causing high-pressure streams to create barriers against the running crowds, and decreasing water pressure from the mains used by firefighters to combat the many blazes that sprang to life in its wake.
In this hellish nightmare of fire and death, only a few people noticed a figure falling from the sky. When the body hit, the force of the impact tunneled a crater eight feet deep into West 125th Street. The hand that reached out of this crater, however, was green.
In front of the Apollo Theater, the Abomination clashed with the Hulk. Standing at – only! – twice the height of a man, with easily four times the mass and unmistakable green skin, the Hulk also boasts an almost incomprehensible strength that allowed him to break a police car in half with only two blows of his fist. The Hulk has a full head of black hair, and but for his size and color, is in contrast with the Abomination in that he is more recognizably human.
The two fought for mere minutes before the Abomination kicked the Hulk off him – and into a building two blocks away. When the Abomination continued his rampage, a US Army helicopter – reportedly carrying General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross – attempted to intervene. The Abomination set his sights on the aircraft, undisturbed by its mounted machine gun, and was seen leaping high enough to snag the undercarriage. Moments later, the Hulk reappeared, attempting to pull the Abomination from the helicopter.
The helicopter, the Abomination, and the Hulk went down in a long-disused section of Harlem between West 130th and 131st Streets.
The US Army will not confirm what happened there, though the harrowing roars emitted by the Abomination and the Hulk ceased entirely not long after. A statement issued through the offices of General Ross claim that the situation is contained, and that the threat from both creatures is over.
The people of Harlem are left to recover in the wake of an attack that is unlike and unrivalled by any other in our nation's history. One-hundred and eighty-seven people have died. Hundreds more are hospitalized, overwhelming the capabilities of the neighborhood's emergency response teams. The last of the fires was confirmed extinguished only nineteen minutes before these words were typed. Preliminary estimates put the damage to infrastructure and property in the hundreds of millions.
In the midst of mourning, the citizens of Harlem and New York – and indeed, the world – have questions that demand answers. What are these creatures? Where did they come from? What is the US Army's involvement – particularly that of General Ross, whose offices are controlling the Army's public relations regarding the Battle of Harlem?
Answers are certainly not forthcoming from the government or the military, none of which are willing to comment on what they have classified as an "ongoing investigation into the root cause of the Harlem Incident." But that does not mean that we are left without any answers at all.
While there is no record of the Abomination having appeared elsewhere on the planet prior to the Duel of Harlem, the same is not true for the green-skinned Hulk. Only three days ago, on June 2, WHiH World News reported a violent clash between forces of the US military and an unknown adversary on the campus of Culver University in Willowsdale, Virginia. Student Jack McGee, witness to what is now being called the Battle at Culver University, described the military's adversary as a massive, green-skinned humanoid – "an incredible Hulk."
Nor is this the first time the Hulk has appeared at Culver, if rumor is to be believed. In 2005, an explosion destroyed Culver's Lawrence Laboratory, hub of the university's biotechnology department. Three were killed, two more injured. The lab remained closed for a year following the tragic accident. No further details were verified to the press at that time; rumors from students of a large, green-skinned man running from the campus were dismissed as hysteria or toxic fume exposure.
Lawrence Laboratory, named for Nobel Laureate and cyclotron inventor Ernest Lawrence, was historically the home of Culver University's physics department. However, in the four years preceding the explosion, the US Army under General Ross was working out of Lawrence Laboratory, and the physics staff had been reduced to make way for experts in microbiology, neurobiology, molecular biology, and computational biology. While their work was classified, recent history might again provide us with clues as to the nature of the research taking place.
On September 13, 2001, General Ross revived a long-defunct military initiative known as the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project. Like many military projects, even the name is vague and provides no information about the work done under its auspices. What can be verified, is that this Project was working out of Culver's Lawrence Laboratory from 2001 until the 2005 explosion – though by that time the Project was almost completely defunded by the Army. It is still in existence today, however, and operating with just-above minimal funding – as it has been since the 2005 explosion.
The Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project first appears as a budget item under the Army's Infantry Weapons Development Program in 1943. No explanation can be found in any public papers; its research was classified. It followed a brief initiative called Operation: Rebirth, which was dissolved in 1942 as a failure, and has variously been associated with other short-lived, classified programs such as Weapons Plus. The only notable thing about the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project is its connection to famed weapons developer Howard Stark, and the fact that the Project was fully defunded in the Infantry Weapons Development Program's first quarter 1992 budget, following Stark's death in late 1991.
We know that General Ross was spearheading the Bio-tech Force Enhancement Project at Culver University from 2001 until the first known appearance of the Hulk in the 2005 explosion at Culver's Lawrence Laboratory. From 2005 to present, the Bio-tech Force Enhancement Project continued to run under General Ross with minimal funding, while rumors of the Hulk popped up across the Western Hemisphere from Canada to Brazil. Three days ago the Hulk was definitively sighted at Culver University once more, battling with US Army infantry; General Ross's involvement is unconfirmed but rumors suggest he was present. Then, yesterday's Duel in the streets of Harlem, between a never-before-seen Abomination and the comparatively diminutive Hulk, following which General Ross's office has once again undertaken the responsibility of issuing statements to the public.
Whether or not the Hulk and the Abomination are the result of the Army's Bio-tech Force Enhancement Project remains to be seen. Certainly there is no proof to that effect, despite the circumstantial evidence supporting a connection. What is proven is that, beyond further rumors of the Hulk fleeing Harlem, the Abomination has not been sighted since it disappeared in the vicinity of West 130th and 131st Streets just before 1:00 AM this morning. The immediate crisis does appear to be over, as General Ross's office has stated.
Now Harlem is left to pick up the pieces, mourn its losses, and learn to live again in a world profoundly different than that of yesterday.
President Ellis has scheduled a press conference to address the Harlem Terror, which will be broadcast at 10:00 AM on all major news networks.