SOME OF THE LOGOS, CHARACTERS AND SETTINGS ARE THE PROPERTY OF MARVEL, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Rated M for Mature
Appropriate for readers 18 and over. May contain extreme violence, sexual themes, nudity, or profanity.
Note- This side story takes place after the events of Marvel Genesis: Winter Wolverine, Chapter 95- The Darkstar Saga, Part 1: Death and Rebirth.
Marvel Genesis: Winter Wolverine- The Last Days of Ben Urich
On boy, what a day. Ben Urich was one of the top journalists at Daily Bugle. In fact, he had brought down various super-criminals in New York City by helping heroes like Captain America, Spider-Man and Daredevil. But working at the top of his game, almost got the better of him. His boss, J. Jonah Jameson certainly didn't like the idea of posting awesome stories about how Spider-Man saved the day. And that Ben cared less about the old man's arrogance. On the other hand, the mutant population had grown much worse over the years, since the Mutant Crisis started back in the early 20th-century. Humans demanded protection from them, as they witnessed their dangerous powers. For that matter, Professor Charles Xavier made an announcement that he was currently working on a truce between humans and mutants.
But that wasn't the story, which Ben had in mind right now. No, it was the recent appearance of Wolverine, the one he thought he had met before during the atrocious crimes, committed by the Cut-Throat Killer. After verifying the killer's identity, Ben got promoted to being Chief Editor of Daily Bugle, but he turned it down.
People wondered why he would do such a thing. After years of experience, Ben had the opportunity to take that chance, and become something entirely new. That way, J. Jonah Jameson can retire and leave all the smart@$$e$ to do the hell they want. But Ben had stories to tell. Without him, criminals like Purple Man, Doctor Octopus and the likes of others, wouldn't have been captured in the first place. And despite the information he got from other sources, there was no one like Ben Urich.
And the idea of becoming the new Editor-In-Chief, meant Ben would have to order his staff around the building, making sure the stories get published at the right time, and not to mention what kind of stories they could print out to the public. He didn't want any of that. But one of his co-workers had said, "Well, Ben... You're not J. Jonah Jameson. That's for sure. So, you could've at least taken the promotion."
His friend was right. Ben Urich could've taken it, but he enjoyed writing stories at his own leisure. Working alone and nobody to interrupt him, unless if it was something damn important.
He even remembered the day that Jameson had told him about the promotion. At age 67, someone was going to take the job as the new Chief Editor of Daily Bugle. It was now or never. And as much to the old man's surprise, Ben still said no.
The famous journalist sighed, and removed his specs. The current time was 11:45 pm. After having an encounter with Wolverine from another world, Ben was asked to do some digging around the history of Romulus.
Romulus... He even wrote it down on his notepad. At first, he spelled it wrong as much to his own surprise. From the beginning of his career, he was pretty good at spelling words. And even before then, he managed to spell them right at an early age. Until this day, he got the name wrong for the very first time.
Ro-Mu-Lus. He jot it down, and seemed to got it right. That was when he searched the name up on the internet, looking for clues and the whereabouts of the mysterious character. Just a few weeks ago, a man just contacted him and told him about Romulus, and his deep connections with Project X. Ben realized Project X was top-classified information, and something like that could get him into trouble. He even knew the consequences, and didn't want any part of it. It was deeper than he thought it could be.
But then again, someone else also wanted to find Romulus. And that was Winter Wolverine. Ben had been shocked to see him, a Winter Soldier who came from a parallel universe. The idea of other worlds almost made him laugh.
Ben scrolled down the pages, in order to look for more information. Then he stopped.
"Wait a minute..." Ben said to himself. He read the article, which talked about a famous historian and teacher, talking about a man named Romulus. He even explained how he fought the ancient Romans back in the gladiator games, and then the war. It sounded unbelievable.
No, Ben thought. That's just a coincidence. A man like that, couldn't still be alive. Romulus could've been anyone else. But somewhere in Ben's mind, it wasn't true. He continued reading the article, and stopped again. Nothing about Romulus had been shown, nor his exact appearance. But then something else happened. A separate window just popped up in the computer screen.
What the hell is this? Ben almost got up from his seat. He looked at the message which said, Project X Archives.
What the f***? Ben was still confused. Is this a joke? Someone's tampering my computer. He went outside his office, looking around the cubicles. At this point, everyone went home.
Christ! Ben went back to his computer, and still looked at the same message.
Down below, it said Enter or Exit.
Ben went still for the moment. He wasn't sure whether he could this alone. Because hacking someone's computer was one thing, but receiving information from an unknown source was another. He had troubles dealing with that sort of thing.
God... I don't think I can do this. But... Then he remembered something what Winter Wolverine had said to him earlier.
"You betta dig some info on this Romulus guy. Got it?"
Ben sighed and clicked Enter. Then he was brought to another page, which detailed the exact information of how Project X started.
"Holy mother of Christ!" Ben said out loud. Scrolling down, he read the list of names, associated with the government program. William Stryker. Malcolm Colcord, Dr. Nathaniel Essex, and...
Romulus.
F*** me. This is big news. But would I... He stopped when he noticed his boss, staring at him.
"Hey Ben... It's getting late. Aren't you supposed to go back home?"
"Um... I'm still working on the news, J.J."
"Oh yeah. The damn truce that Professor what's his name?"
Ben sighed. "It's Professor Charles Xavier."
"Yeah. Professor Charles Xavier. You know what? I'll give him a truce."
There was a moment of silence in Ben's office.
"Listen, Ben," James said. "Don't work too hard. Okay? Just get some damn rest. Besides, I'm gonna retire soon. And my friend, Robbie Robertson is going to take over. Can you believe that? My best friend and partner! And you had that chance to take my job. Anyways, you better get back home before..."
"Aren't you supposed to go back to your wife?"
James felt silent. He didn't know if Ben embarrassed him, or just reminded that his wife was still waiting at home.
James sighed, and then left the office.
Ben felt relieved when his boss was gone. For a moment there, he thought that the notorious J.J. would find out of what he was really doing on his computer. He looked back at the screen. "Okay... Here goes nothing."
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The next day, Ben Urich woke up in the morning with a feeling of fresh air. But the problem was that he couldn't sleep well last night. Under dire circumstances, he had the notion that someone was watching him. He didn't know who or what it was. But as a reporter, he knew the consequences of finding out things that he shouldn't be knowing. Especially when it came to the dark secrets of Project X.
Good grief, what a day. Yes, it was long day ahead of him. But it was Sunday, and he figured that he would get the opportunity to meet his only daughter, Susan Urich. After reaching home last night, he received a message from her, saying that they should meet at the cafe the next morning. It was called French Taste. The sound of it kinda made him laugh, but it was quite a good name, and often enough he would dine out by himself and gather his private thoughts.
He left the apartment building, and quietly went downstairs. Not many people had clearly woken up. He thought, Probably still sleeping, I guess. But as the saying goes, people around here didn't care much about what's going on in the world. Including when Charles Xavier made an important announcement the last two weeks. The thought of sharing peace between two races, might cause catastrophic results. But in any given case, Ben knew he had that story right in his hands, but he didn't work on it. Not just yet.
J.J. would be furious about that one. And it was the first time that Ben Urich actually ditched the most important story on the planet. But what was more important than the truce was...
Romulus. Project X.
And not to mention, the government program had ties with mutants. Dangerous experiments that both Romulus and Dr. Nathaniel Essex worked on. But he still couldn't bring himself to tell his notorious boss about it. Oh no, Ben had to go great lengths in uncovering the secrets of Project X all by himself, and someone gave it to him.
Jesus Christ. He walked outside the streets, and noticed the cafe, which was located by a couple of blocks from his apartment building. When he went inside, the French owner smiled at him.
"Monsieur, Mr. Urich," The French man said.
"Hey Luc. How's it going?"
"I am good, Mr. Urich."
"After all these years, you still don't call me Ben. Eh?"
Luc laughed. "What will it be?"
"The same. And this time, black coffee."
Luc nodded, and went to get the order. Ben sat down on the seat besides the window, gathering his thoughts about last night.
Romulus.
After a couple of minutes later, the owner returned and said, "Here you go... Ben. Croissant, plain and simple. Just as you want. And... black coffee."
"Thank you." The owner smiled and then left.
Ben still thought what he saw last night on his computer, and couldn't stop forgetting it. He didn't even bother looking down at his favorite croissant. Plain and simple. But he didn't feel like eating it. Not at this very moment. The thought of Romulus still disturbed him.
"Hey Dad." Ben looked up to see his daughter, standing before him.
"Hey Susie." Ben got up and hugged her. At only 25 years old, Susan had the same blonde hair as much as her mother, who recently passed away. After releasing her, he said, "How have you been?"
"The same as usual."
"I hear you're dating someone."
"Yeah... About that." Susan sat down on the opposite seat.
There was a moment of silence. Then Ben sat back and asked, "Anyone I should know about?"
"Well... this might come as a shock to you, Dad. But... I'm dating John Jameson."
"Oh..." Ben raised his cup of black coffee, and then sipped it.
"Um... You don't seem shocked."
"No. Not really. I didn't think you would..."
"Look, Dad. I know your job means a lot to you. So..."
"No, Susie. This has nothing to do with my job. It's your life. I'm happy for you."
"Really? You mean it?"
"Come on, Susie. What do you take me for? I'm your father."
"Oh, Dad." She got up from the seat and hugged over him.
"Careful. The coffee."
"Oh, right." Susie sat back on her seat.
"So... How long has it been?"
"It's about a month now. I thought you should know."
"I see. And what does he do?"
"He's an astronaut."
"Oh, that's good. I might as well cover the story on him. Right?"
"Oh, Dad. You haven't changed a bit."
"Yeah." He looked at the sky and said, "Your Mom would've been happy by now." Then he looked back at Susan. "Are you still doing that modeling job?"
"Um, yeah. I still am."
"You're not doing... any nude modeling, I hope."
"Come on, Dad. I wouldn't do a thing like that."
"Just saying. That sort of stuff pays a lot of money, you know.
"Yeah. Mom wouldn't like it if she was..." She stopped.
Ben sighed. "Listen, Susan. Like I said, It's your life. I'm sure your Mom would've been proud of you. And I'm really glad you came here."
"Yeah, me too."
"Yeah..." Ben sipped his coffee, and still thought of Romulus.
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It was still Sunday, and Ben Urich went back to Daily Bugle. Of course, he was supposed to take a day off, but he wanted to ask Tom Salvorra, the head of I.T. department about last night. After all, Tom had been monitoring activities from each individual's desk.
Down the dark hallway, Ben almost stumbled upon the wires of several, working computers. Tom was currently sitting behind one, staring at the screen.
"Hey, Tom," Ben said.
The Mexican turned his head sideways. "Oh Ben... I didn't know you would come here."
"I know. But I wanted to ask you something."
"Oh, okay." He turned his chair around to face the famous reporter. "What's up?"
"Have you noticed anything... strange last night?"
The Mexican was confused. "Um, what do you mean?"
"Well, you were working here until 12:00 am. Am I right?"
"Yeah. I had to wait for everyone to go back home, including you of course." He laughed.
Ben laughed a little. "Yeah... Well, you see. I just want to know if you had noticed anything different from my..."
"Your computer?"
"Yeah."
"Hmm... Could you elaborate that for me? Sorry Ben, I still don't know what you're asking me."
Ben sighed. "I... received a separate window out of nowhere, while working on my story. I don't know what really happened. So, I figured that you'd..."
"Oh, a pop-up window?" Tom interrupted him. "I see what you're saying. You didn't go to those porn sites, did you?"
"Um..."
Tom laughed. "Relax, Ben. It was a joke. If I noticed what you were up to, I would've notified J.J. by then. No, seriously."
"Um, yeah. So... you didn't notice anything particular from your end?"
"Nope."
"Okay, Tom. I just wanted to know. That's all. Thanks."
"Is everything okay, Ben?"
"Um, yeah. It's just hard work. You know. Last night."
"Yeah, I know. By the way, how come you didn't take the promotion?"
Ben sighed. "Well... You know how it is. I just want to save people's lives. I felt like they need me."
"I see. Yeah, I get it. But it was a good promotion though. Now, I can answer myself to Robbie instead of that damn @$$hole. Sorry, language."
Ben smiled and said, "Well, I better be going now. See you on Monday."
"You too, Ben."
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It was 8:00 pm. Ben just came back from grocery shopping. After putting the things on the counter table, he grabbed a beer from the fridge. He turned the answering machine on, and sat down on the couch.
Message 1: BEEP! Hey Uncle Ben, this is Phil. Just heard you turned down the promotion. But that's okay. I know you wouldn't take it. Call me when you come back home. BEEP!
Message 2: BEEP! This is Sara Clarkson, your landlord. Your payment is overdue. BEEP!
Message 3: BEEP! Hey Ben. This is Irene. Just wanted you to know that I'm happy you didn't take the job. I wouldn't want to be ordered around by my best friend. Would I? Imagine that. BEEP!
Christ... Ben drank his beer. He ended the answering machine, and looked at the picture of his wife, Pam Urich.
Oh, Pam. How I've missed you. He got up from the couch, and went towards the bedroom. Turning the lights on, he looked at the wall of several newspaper clippings of stories, which he had recently published.
CUT-THROAT KILLER'S IDENTITY REVEALED
FORMER SENATOR CRAIG HOLLIS DEAD
Sitting down behind the desk, he turned his laptop on.
God, what the hell am I doing? Ben sighed, and opened up the hidden website called Project X Archives.
While scrolling, Ben still couldn't figure out about the Romulus character, but knew that he was responsible for creating the government program. As he kept scrolling, there was a sound in his living room. Ben stopped and said, "Hello?"
But nobody answered. The reporter figured that it could be Logan, the Soviet version of Wolverine. But he wasn't sure. He got up, and went to see what was going on.
"Hello?" Ben looked further, and then noticed a masked figure, who stood from the open window.
"Holy Christ!" Ben said out loud.
"Hello, Mr. Urich."
"Who... Who the hell are you?"
"That doesn't matter. What you're doing right now is top-classified information."
"Now, you listen here. Whoever you are. You can't make me. Understand? I know what's going on. I know everything."
"Exactly. That's why I came here to do just this." He fished out a weapon from his back, and aimed at the famous reporter.
"You... You wouldn't."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Urich. I have no other choice. Goodbye."
BLAM!
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Damn him! Why was he takin' so long? All I wanted answers from that damn reporter, Mr. Urich. I know the guy was busy alright. But not answerin' the damn phone irritated me. I hung up and went outta the telephone booth. Busy streets of New York City. Who knows when I can face the b@$t@rd, who got me into this mess. This world.
Anyways, I did not want to waste time on the reporter any longer. Because he may be onto somethin' fer all I know. Right? I'll just have to be patient about it. Yes.
I went back to the apartment, knowin' after doin' the damn mission back in Russia, made me tired already. Facing both Darkstars was no easy task if ya ask me. But thanks to the egghead, Dr. Krylenko, we managed to defeat 'em.
Goin' upstairs, the landlord came outta his room and said, "Hey Logan. Just you know, the heater is finally fixed."
Well, it was about time that I could feel warm around here. Thank God fer that. Eva since I came to this crappy apartment, there was no heat whatsoeva. I did not say anythin' to the fat landlord. Instead, I went upstairs to my room, and closed the door.
All I thought about was Romulus, and how he brainwashed me to do things that I should not have done before. But once I get the answers from Mr. Urich, I will find that b@$t@rd and kill him. That is fer sure.
THE END
Holy crap! Ben Urich is dead? And who killed him? You may find out later in the future. But now the side story is over, there will be further adventures of Winter Wolverine in his sequel series, Winter Wolverine. I will be back, bubs. You can count on it. SNIKT!
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