NOVEL NEXT No title
When I left Connors, I decided that it was really time to force the issue. I was too focused on the scientific side of things, for some reason thinking I could find someone to take over the organization. I've done it before: Wanda gave me the lab space, and in the last world I worked mostly on government contracts, which gave me almost unlimited access to resources.
Although, if possible, I wouldn't want to change this habit of mine. The dilemma: I don't want, like, say, my father, to be a salaried employee in someone else's laboratory, for obvious reasons, but the thought of starting my own company also terrifies me. However, speaking of a man who has a wealth of managerial experience and would be absolutely loyal...
I didn't want to abuse my power over Osborne, but it's such a great opportunity to get all the heat with other people's hands! I mean, to get a man who is savvy in the matter and also loyal. After all, Norma has a contribution to make in the fight against cancer... I need Bobby to supervise the assignment of new compulsions.
I had to pull the girl away from her new hobby. Ever since her duty at Wilson's bedside was no longer necessary, Bobby, who in the meantime had taken the top 1 rank in every online game she played, was off the chain, plunging headlong into an ocean of crime and mayhem.
No, she is not back to the old, on the contrary, with incredible zeal catches criminals and drug dealers, as if trying to redeem for old sins. She and Gwen, her heroic self to be exact, have become close on this score, and now they are winning back the public's reputation points from the newspapermen together. Sometimes I even envy them, I miss that life, sometimes... but isn't beating cancer and curing Wanda a worthy alternative to having a good time?
And I hadn't completely abandoned my plans to get my powers back. My supplies were replenished with samples of Wilson's and Stacy's blood-I'd taken the latter from Gwen when she returned with new scratches from her adventures in Bobby's company.
Everything was more or less clear with Wanda's abilities. The X gene that altered her DNA structure gave the woman not just the ability to heal herself, but, what's really obvious, if you think about where she gets her resources for regeneration, access to an external energy source. Wilson is able to regenerate from practically nothing, cellular regeneration can't explain such a terrifying ability.
So it's really impossible to kill her without suppressing the ability. If I ever need to fight someone with the same regeneration, I'll just make him into a Quasi-Eternal Chemical Engine that uses the infinitely regenerating victim as fuel! Or I'll pump him full of electrolyte solution with some of that mineral from the suppressor collars... it's more humane that way.
As for Gwen, I discovered in her blood and genes practically the same thing I had once observed in my own. The Spiderwoman's blood isn't just radioactive. No, the radioactivity is just a side effect of the high energy capacity of her blood cells. With the exception of the supernatural sixth sense, all of the Spiderwoman's abilities are based on her body's ability to extract the maximum amount of energy from available sources and to effectively dispose of it.
For example, it was the ability to supply large amounts of energy to muscles and ligaments that made it possible to improve them qualitatively. Unfortunately, I still have no idea how to transfer the talents of the Spiderwoman to another organism. Naturally, the way leading to the loss of Gwen's own powers, which I found in the last world, I do not consider.
Also in my spare time, I dabbled a little, there's no other way to call it, with the formula of the web and slightly improved the injector for the lizard serum. So Gwen and I now have variations of threads of varying strength, viscosity, and durability at our disposal, though it's still rather awkward to set them up. To use them, you have to replace the cartridges in the web shooters. I keep a supply on the Lizard formula hoop, and Gwen wears a belt I assembled specifically for her. There are a couple more specific options, like a completely invisible web, which unfortunately doesn't have high durability, this formula is still a work in progress, but it has good promise.
With Venom's help, it wasn't too difficult to recapture and put Norma Osborne into a trance. After all, I still had all the data on the security system in the mansion and the company from the last time I broke into her lair. In fact, I'm the only one who has full access to it at the moment. It's my safety net in case the Goblin comes back. Keeping my finger on the pulse, so to speak.
As for Norma Osborne herself, as a businesswoman...
She's awful! This woman is a monster - now I understand why Harry was so in awe of his mother. Given a new set of instructions stating that the decision to support Peter Parker was her own initiative, Norma showed terrifying grip and determination, like an armored train, pushing her demands through numerous agencies and commissions.
She managed to register my firm in one day. Not to mention the surviving members of her own company's governing board. A renewed Norma Osborne quickly convinced these traitorous women of the necessity of such actions. Women who had recently considered themselves mistresses of the situation were shaking with fear at the sight of her boss, trying in every way to reassure her, there was no question of objecting to Norma's initiatives.
The next morning I already had to ask Karen to start supervising the purchase and installation of equipment in the ParkerIndustries laboratories. Of course, then there would be questions: why did the head of a multibillion-dollar corporation, Norma Osborne, suddenly begin to provide pro bono assistance to an unknown schoolboy with truly Napoleonic plans?
But as soon as it turns out what will be the first product released under the new company logo... Norma's reputation and her company's stock as the closest associate and partner of the man who had beaten cancer would skyrocket. It will pay for itself in time and expense. That's why, abusing my power over Norma's mind, I don't feel guilty... though no, a small worm of doubt gnaws at the armor of my resolve, but I assuage it by saying that when technology is sufficiently advanced, I will cure Norma permanently and tell her everything.