043

Norman was in Dr. Connors' laboratory as he read the latest reports on the progression of the Connors Formula used on the experimental subjects.

It was now October 12 and several interesting things had happened first and foremost and the one that had the least impact on Norman was that indeed when the winner of the Nobel Prize in medicine was announced his name along with Curtis and Gwen's was chosen as the winner.

Which basically meant that his fame would grow even more while Curtis and Gwen now received a little more attention because while Connors may have been a good scientist he was still relatively unknown and not to mention the fact that Gwen was still a student.

In simple terms both Gwen and Norman had become the two youngest people to win the Nobel Prize in medicine with Gwen being the first with her 20 years and Norman being the second with 27 years on the other hand Dr. Connors had become the fifth youngest with 35 years.

It was reasonable that this news would generate some commotion in the scientific community and even "normal" people were curious about it.

Oscorp had practically become the center of attention in the country, while reporters waited outside the building searching for an interview with any of the three, however, they did not try to overstep their boundaries.

This was because two reporters who overstepped their bounds were in jail for harassment and trespassing, which calmed the other reporters down a bit and gave the three people some relief of their own.

The second important thing was that Norman now had Maya working for him, who after thinking about it for a few days decided to accept Osborn's offer to continue with her research, only this time she would not let her project be used as a weapon, and instead it would be what it was always meant to be, a tool to help humanity.

Norman, of course, had other plans for Extremis, but for the moment he would keep them to himself, at least that way he could make sure that no one else would have knowledge of a weapon-tool as useful as Extremis except for himself.

…

After his daily routine in Dr. Connors' laboratory, Norman was now in his office doing some corporate paperwork and looking at some reports from the corporation.

One report in particular caught his immediate attention, which detailed employees who had shown sufficient talent in the various Oscorp branches to be transferred to the corporation's headquarters.

This was something that had been done as a mechanism that aimed to filter talented or hardworking people and reward them with a position at headquarters, which basically translated into drawing a lottery ticket.

In this case, there were several young people and adults who seemed to meet the requirements, but there was one in particular who caught Norman's attention and that was the same person who Fury had ordered to look for someone to infiltrate in his corporation.

Norman had done some research on her, at least what he could without being discovered by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s security system, and while he had found valuable information it also gave him an uneasy feeling.

This because the woman was none other than Carol Danvers, the one who was supposed to be Captain Marvel, but in this world was obviously not the case, instead she was arguably one of S.H.I.I.E.L.D.'s top agents which while reminding Norman of his version of the 1610 Universe, didn't reassure him even a little.

Now it was likely that his knowledge about the MCU version of Carol would be of absolutely no use to him and if that was the case, then he didn't know if the same applied with the Kree and Skrulls.

It really was a headache to think about those two races, things were just too chaotic when you added them into the mix.

However, there was no point in thinking about it at least not for the moment, although he could theorize something about them, it would be a useless action even, so he should be attentive, although he knew it was easier said than done.

On the other hand, the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. had infiltrated his corporation didn't really surprise him at least not entirely, since despite his tight control and surveillance of his employees only applied to the headquarters, the problem lay in all the other branches where he couldn't really pay too much attention.

It was because of that reason that he was thinking about the option of making an AI similar to J.A.R.V.I.S. that would help him in the surveillance of his corporation and other tasks, there would be many benefits of doing something like that however the risk would also be high, so he was still considering the idea before deciding.

Norman stopped thinking about it and concentrated again on the fact of what to do with Carol, the most logical thing to do would be to simply reject her and the matter would be resolved, even if only temporarily. After all Norman doubted that Fury would simply leave him alone.

The second option was the opposite of the first, he would accept her and use her for his convenience, perhaps getting her to hand over false information to Fury which would cause some distrust towards her and if he played his cards right he could get Carol to become his spy. But that was a very optimistic thing to think and would take a long time to do.

'So many options that it's hard to choose just one' Norman thought as he contemplated his next course of action.

…

Norman was walking through the halls of his home as his destination was to get to the living room where MJ and Harry were probably watching a movie or playing a game.

However, he was surprised when he reached the room and just looked at the redhead who seemed to be extremely concentrated reading various pages.

With a wave, he made his presence known which caused Mary to be startled and let out a small scream that managed to surprise Norman.

"Miss Watson it's me Norman" indicated Osborn as he moved a little closer.

Which caused Mary Jane to stand up quickly and greet him, however, because of that she caused her pages to fall to the floor.

With nothing more to do and with a somewhat embarrassed look on her face Mary Jane began to pick up the fallen pages while Norman came a little closer and began to help her to receive a look of gratitude.

Once finished Norman handed the pages to Mary Jane who thanked him before beginning to put them away in the bag she had with her.

"Where's Harry?" asked Osborn to stop MJ from feeling embarrassed about the action that happened just seconds ago.

"He spent most of the afternoon playing in the garden, which is why he was a bit tired, so he's taking a nap" she replied with a smile.

Norman just nodded, it was expected after all these last few days Harry had spent a lot of time in the garden of the mansion, Norman was thinking of building small games that can be found in parks for his son to play on.

But perhaps Mary Jane misinterpreted his silence and with a somewhat apologetic face began to speak: "I was studying because I have an audition for a role in a few days" she explained in a low voice.

Okay, that got Norman's attention, "I thought you wanted to be a fashion designer" he commented as he remembered the talks he had with MJ.

"I do" replied the redhead immediately, "However the opportunity presented itself to me and I just think it would be foolish to pass it up" she added.

"It's certainly a good opportunity" said Norman as he considered that MJ had made a good decision: "Besides you should take care of yourself and not put too much pressure on yourself, if at any time you feel the pressure is too much you can talk to me, and I'll try to help you" he continued with softness and honesty in his voice.

"Hmm" nodded Mary Jane as a small trace of warmth flooded her body.

"I wonder if you'd like to watch a movie?" Norman asked, "There's still time before it's dinner time and I doubt Harry will be awake at this time" he continued.

"Of course!" exclaimed the redhead with joy and a smile in her face.

…

Time passed and now Norman found himself doing some work before going to rest, Mary Jane had left Osborn Manor some time ago and Harry had gone back to sleep after dinner with both of them.

The sound of the door being knocked brought Norman out of his thoughts, "Come in" he said simply.

Soon the figure of Bernard stepped through the door and positioned himself in front of Norman, "Did you call me Sir?" he asked.

"I did" he replied as he handed a small piece of paper to Bernard who just looked strangely at the Osborn's action, "Miss Watson will be holding an audition for a supporting role in the series I wrote on paper, I want you to contact the production team and the director and make it clear to them that they can't touch her" he mentioned seriously.

"They don't need to give her the role or anything like that, but mention to them that if they do touch her then they should be prepared for the consequences" he continued as Bernard just nodded at Norman's words.

"I will Sir" Bernard said before taking his leave seeing that it was the only thing Osborn needed him for.

Norman knew what the acting world could be like especially for someone as beautiful and attractive as Mary Jane was and yet, Norman couldn't deny the fact that the redhead's presence had grown on him, and it was because of that he was being a bit protective.

While Norman knew that Mary Jane would never use such a 'demeaning' method that didn't mean that other people wouldn't try to force themselves on her, so he would simply eliminate the problem before it started.

'I think I am a bit sentimental' thought Norman before shaking his head and starting to work some more.