035

Norman was currently in his office located in the Oscorp building, it had been 4 days since he had attacked and practically exterminated A.I.M. Honestly his little personal revenge caused a great panic in the population.

On the one hand, although he had already imagined that kind of effect he really underestimated the capacity of humans to go crazy when a situation is too strange and difficult to understand.

Due to that fact the city was practically in a somewhat gloomy state at the same time that people were practically afraid to leave their homes, Norman on the one hand did not give too much importance to that fact even if it was partially his fault.

After all he only did what he had to do before it was too late, it was simply retribution for the attack A.I.M. had made against him, plus it would only be a few days before it all happened.

In the worst-case scenario the authorities will simply find a person unfortunate enough to become a scapegoat to appease the public.

On another somewhat more pressing matter Norman had closely followed the steps Maya had taken, as he had thought from the beginning practically the second she woke up every intelligence agency in the country had gotten wind of it, and they all wanted answers.

Of course, S.H.I.E.L.D. was also among them, but no matter how much she was asked Maya simply didn't know what had happened that night, the only thing she could say or mention in relation to the events of the night was that it was a massacre.

Currently, Maya was still in the hospital, as the doctors did not believe she was in a suitable state of mind to return to her daily life, of course she was being watched by the various intelligence agencies, but that was another matter.

As for Norman himself, well, he was still being watched by Barbara and was beginning to get a little tired of having someone watching him constantly.

But he would just have to put up with it a little longer, since from what he could see due to his interfering with the S.H.I.E.L.D. system her mission was about to come to an end.

Norman took his gaze to the clock hanging on the office wall and realized that it was time to go to the laboratory.

So, he got up from his seat and started to leave the room.

…

Norman soon arrived at the laboratory and greeted his two co-workers, Connors seemed to be looking at something through the microscope while Gwen was in one of the chairs with a few books and notebooks next to her.

Norman had a little interest in it, but after some thought and seeing how focused she was he decided not to disturb her, instead he just moved to his workspace.

In these few days Norman had been working, or rather perfecting the Connors Formula to fulfill his deal with Ducard.

Osborn currently had two versions of the Connors Formula, the first was the one he had developed with the help of Curtis and Gwen as well as being the one that was being used for a commercial and public purpose.

But the second one was a little different from the one intended for public use, first of all, this one had the ability to regenerate superficial wounds in a matter of seconds and limbs in minutes.

However, even if it might sound like something completely extraordinary it had many weaknesses that could be exploited and did not turn the subject that received it into an immortal.

If his head was cut off, then it was certain death, just as stabbing the heart would also be fatal, there were many ways to murder someone who was injected with it and Osborn was creating a mechanism that would give him an extra safeguard in case he ever had to face off against Ducard and his men.

Despite wanting to hope for the best, he always had to be prepared for the worst-case scenario and for that very reason, he decided not to use Extremis as a bargaining chip, as that would only be a foolish action.

For his part Norman also had to start researching about Extremis, seriously he had many things in his hands that could certainly give him a good power boost, although the problem is that many of them were incomplete or unstable.

Sometimes Norman would simply think about injecting the serums into his body even if they weren't finalized, but he quickly denied that option, as there was no way he would do something like that.

Only an idiot or a power hungry person would do something like that without caring about the side effects it could have, he also didn't have some sort of cheat that would allow him to have all those serums in his body without consequences.

He was just a "normal human" and it was because of that he had to use his intelligence to be able to find a solution otherwise if he only sought power without caring about the cost and consequences he would only become what he has been avoiding all along.

A small smile spread across Norman's face as he realized the irony of life in the situation he was going through, he was Norman Osborn, but at the same time he refused to be Norman Osborn.

Putting that thought out of his mind Norman began to do his work.

…

It had been a few hours since Norman had arrived at the lab and after a bit of work he decided to take a break to realize that Connors was nowhere to be found.

He brought his gaze to the only person in the room, "Where's Curtis?" he asked to Gwen.

The blonde just brought her gaze to Norman and answered, "He said he was going to go to lunch, he thought about calling you, but since you were too focused he decided not to" she explained.

Norman just nodded as he moved a little closer to Gwen and began to look at the books on her desk.

Feeling Norman's gaze, Gwen began to speak, "I'm studying for exams I'll have to take in a week" she explained.

Norman just looked carefully at the notes Gwen had in her notebooks before taking one of the pencils on the table and erasing one of the notes and writing a little.

"You did the procedure incorrectly" he explained, "It must be done this way, otherwise the result will be wrong" he indicated with a bit of seriousness entering into a teacher-like attitude.

Gwen just looked a little surprised at Norman before starting to pay attention to his words, small minutes later Gwen understood her mistake.

"Did you understand? Or do you want me to explain it again?" asked Osborn softly.

"I did" she replied quickly before she picked up another of her books and began to flip through it before stopping on a page, "Could you explain this to me?" she asked as she showed him the pages of the book and pointed to them.

Norman just read the contents before realizing it was something he knew, "Of course" he agreed to the blonde's request after all he had no problem doing so.

Gwen only reacted by getting up from her place and moving from the other side of the table to sit next to Norman while wordlessly, but with a twinkle in her eyes she encouraged Osborn to explain.

As Dr. Curtis arrived in the lab his eyes were attracted to the male and female couple in the room, both were close to each other and seemed to enjoy each other's presence.

'It's good to be young' thought Connors before deciding to turn around and leave the room again, leaving Gwen and Norman alone.