Just before lunch, another reporter burst into Richard Carter’s office.
David Maltz looked like he’d run the entire length of Manhattan.
His plaid shirt was soaked through with sweat, and he was breathing hard enough to suggest he’d outrun traffic instead of taking a cab.
Richard looked him over.
“Easy, David.” “Were you swimming across the Hudson, or is this your normal commute?” David barely caught his breath before blurting out, “You’re a genius, Mr.
Carter!” Richard nodded thoughtfully.
“I’ve been saying that for years.” “So, what happened?” David paused.
…He wasn’t supposed to agree that quickly.
Still, this was hardly the time to argue.
“You told us to investigate what caused yesterday’s incident,” he said.
“You specifically mentioned interviewing a professor at Empire State University.
Samuel Sterns.” “My partner and I tracked him down.” Richard folded his hands.
“He’s disappeared.” David’s eyes widened.
“Exactly!” He slapped the desk in excitement.
“Nobody’s seen him since yesterday.
He isn’t at home, he isn’t on campus, his phone’s been off the entire time, and nobody’s gotten a response from his email.” He took another breath.
“But that’s not the interesting part.” “Several faculty members said there was some kind of major disturbance in his laboratory yesterday.” “Now the military has sealed off the entire building.” “They cleaned the place out overnight.” “There are soldiers guarding every entrance.” “Even university staff aren’t allowed inside.” Richard wasn’t surprised.
After the Abomination incident, the military had every reason to bury the evidence.
Officially, Emil Blonsky had still been an active-duty officer when he transformed.
The serum that created the Abomination traced directly back to Bruce Banner’s research.
No matter how someone tried to frame it, the disaster ultimately led back to military experimentation.
If responsibility ever became public…
A great many careers would end overnight.
Containing the story was the obvious response.
Most newspapers were still wandering blindly through dead ends.
The Daily Planet, meanwhile, had been pointed toward the right trail from the very beginning.
Richard already knew the truth.
He’d watched The Incredible Hulk.
Unfortunately, “I saw the movie” wasn’t considered an acceptable journalistic source.
“So?” Richard asked.
“I’m guessing a military checkpoint wasn’t enough to stop you.” David grinned proudly.
“If it had been, I wouldn’t deserve to work here.” “We…
improvised.” Richard chose not to ask.
Eventually, David produced a thick envelope.
“We got inside.” He spread several photographs across the desk.
“You need to see this.” Richard examined them one by one.
David hadn’t exaggerated.
If anything, he’d understated it.
The laboratory looked as though a tornado had fought a demolition crew.
Workstations had been smashed beyond recognition.
Equipment lay twisted across the floor.
A reinforced examination chair had literally been ripped apart.
Dark stains marked walls, cabinets, and the floor where some unknown liquid had splattered across the room.
David pointed excitedly at one photograph.
“This.” Richard already knew what he was looking at.
A footprint.
A massive footprint pressed deep into a metal floor panel.
No human being could have left it.
“This is proof,” David declared.
“The monster was here.” He became more animated with every sentence.
“It all fits.” “The creature must have been created in this lab.” “The military rushed in to erase the evidence.” “Professor Sterns disappeared immediately afterward.” “They were conducting illegal experiments, something went wrong, and now they’re covering it up.” He leaned forward triumphantly.
“That’s what happened.” Richard tossed the photographs back onto the desk.
“Not good enough.” David blinked.
“What?” “You’ve built a theory.” “You haven’t proven it.” “I’m certain.” “I’d bet my career on it.” Richard almost smiled.
And you’d lose it.
He knew exactly where David had gone wrong.
Samuel Sterns hadn’t been working with the military.
Bruce Banner had contacted him privately while searching for a cure to the Hulk.
The Abomination wasn’t the result of a carefully planned military project inside Sterns’ laboratory.
It had been an accident.
A catastrophic one.
Richard shifted the conversation.
“What about General Thaddeus Ross?” “I asked someone to follow that lead.” David nodded.
“My partner, Hodge.” “He tried interviewing Ross.” “The General refused to answer any questions.” David shrugged.
“But Hodge is persistent.” “If anyone can get something out of him, it’s him.” Then curiosity got the better of him.
“I’ve actually been wondering…” “How did you know to investigate Ross in the first place?” Richard leaned back.
“I know.” “…That’s it?” “I built this newspaper from nothing.” He spread his hands.
“You don’t seriously think good instincts are my only qualification, do you?” David looked at him for a long moment.
He decided not to mention that Richard’s confidence occasionally bordered on supernatural.
Or shameless.
Possibly both.
After David left, Richard leaned back in his chair.
Of all the people involved in the Hulk incident…
Thaddeus Ross was the one he found hardest to sympathize with.
Ross had pursued Banner relentlessly.
Ross had pushed the super-soldier experiments.
Ross had armed Emil Blonsky with power he couldn’t control.
The Abomination’s rampage through Harlem had been the inevitable result.
Richard still remembered watching The Incredible Hulk and thinking the same thing.
There’s no way Ross survives this politically.
The man had unleashed a monster in the middle of New York City.
The Army had failed to contain it.
The Hulk, the very person Ross had spent months hunting, had ultimately been forced to clean up the disaster.
Surely that would end anyone’s career.
Apparently not.
Reality had a peculiar sense of humor.