12 A Dubious Deal

"You want one exactly like that?" the woman in the spectacle shop asked, slightly confused. She had had many a crazy customer, but no one had asked for an exact replica of a pair of spectacles. "Well, you'd have to wait three days if we have to manufacture one."

"I wouldn't want that then... Do you by any chance have any clear lens spectacles?"

"Sure we do," the middle-aged woman smiled. "You know, I would usually tell you that you look just fine without glasses, but..." She walked over to the side and plucked a pair of glasses from the stand. "This would be perfect for you."

Peter shrugged and picked them up. The frame was a mixture of brown and hazel that went perfectly with his face. It was smaller, rectangular, and actually complimented his face, instead of making it look like a 'Please punch me' sticker. He put them on, and since they were clear-lens, they did not affect his vision.

"I'll have a spare one too, please," he said.

"That in total will be 60 dollars."

"..."

***

Peter quickly made his way back home and snuck into the house. He headed up to his room to freshen up and decided to wear baggy clothes for the week. Peter usually wore fairly loose clothes either way, thus people didn't know just how skinny he really was. He couldn't hide everything; his healthy face and the glasses were for the world to see, but he could try his best.

He looked at himself in the mirror, relieved that he got rid of his skinny physique. Now, his body looked like it was on the cusp of being muscular, and with the enhanced muscular growth, he could get to 616 - Spider-man level jacked.

'Good thing I enrolled in the gym,' he thought to himself after taking a shower and getting into his clothes. He sank into his bed before looking at his phone, which buzzed with messages.

Gwen: [PETER!!! WE GOT PERMISSION TO HOLD A CONCERT IN THE FOREST HILLS STADIUM!!!]

Peter: [Really?! That's great! What're the timings?]

Gwen: [It's tomorrow! 4 pm to 7 pm]

Peter: [Shit...]

Gwen: [???]

Peter: [Remember the meeting I told you about with Dr. Connors? It's from 11 am to 5 pm. Do you mind if I come a little late to the concert?]

Gwen: [Oh that! Yeah, np. Tbh, you're curing cancer. I'll have to be a dumbass to say no]

Peter: [:) Good luck with the concert]

'Was this the concert where former Peter would've turned into the Lizard?' he asked himself. 'Well, on Earth-65, it was due to incessant bullying on prom night and Harry asking Gwen out, but this isn't Earth-65. Quite far removed, actually.....damn far removed.'

"Well, no point in worrying about random things that I can't control," he muttered to himself and turned toward the machines on the table.

It was time to continue his work on Project Lizard and Project Genelock.

***

CLICK

A syringe that held a mechanical arm receded after injecting red liquid into the plant's xylem.

Two people with lab coats stared from outside at the enclosed glass compartment in a facility with expectation in their eyes.

One was a fairly beautiful woman with long brown hair, wearing a flower-themed inner shirt, and the other was a man whose dishevelled blonde hair, cane, and crazy eyes only exacerbated his look as a mad scientist.

They watched as reddish-orange lines spread throughout the plant, outlining its internal structure and heat beginning to emanate from its stem and leaves.

"Stabilize, stabilize, stabilize, stabilize, stabilize, stabilize," the man chanted under his breath while the woman crossed her fingers.

The lines slowly began to recede, which made the man jump for joy - or jump as high as his messed up leg could.

"YES!"

BOOM!

"FUCK!"

The plant exploded, generating enough force to crack and break the bulletproof glass it was encased in.

"AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!" the man yelled in frustration, turning his back to the experiment and walking away as if he couldn't bear to look at the failed experiment. He walked up to a plaque that read - Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M) and slammed his cane into it to relieve his anger, making it smash to the floor.

"Aldrich!" the woman chided, looking at the glass pieces on the floor. "That was a nice plaque!"

"I don't care!" Aldrich grumbled to himself as he turned to his colleague. "We can't go on like this. We have to do it..."

"No, Aldrich!" the woman frowned. "I said no. We can do it without resorting to such methods."

"You're a scientist for goodness sake, Maya! Don't you know that plants are in a whole other kingdom compared to humans? We can't make any more progress like this!"

"Too many animals have died, Aldrich. I don't want humans to do so too", Maya said firmly, looking Aldrich dead in the eyes

"Maya... Maya... Maya..." he shook his head in disappointment before slowly hobbling over to her. "Do you not understand that success requires sacrifice? I'm neck-deep in this, and so are you. Wake the fuck up!"

Maya's gaze faltered, but she stood her ground. "I still believe we can do this without killing people. That's the whole point of this project!"

"The point of this Project is to prove Stark wrong! To prove that he has a stick so far up his ass that it speaks for him!", Killian growled.

"You know, you're starting to sound a lot like him", Maya glared at him while carefully placing the failed experiment next to all the other ones. "You must understand, we can do this without killing anyone.

A vein visibly pulsed on Aldrich's head at being compared to the person he hated the most before he took a deep breath. He sighed and narrowed his eyes in thought. "You're right. We don't have to kill anyone."

"We don't?!" Maya's face perked up. "That's gre-

"We'll just experiment on one of them."

"...." Maya stared at the man in shock. "Seriously, Killian?! How's that any better?"

"Do you want to complete Extremis before our funds collapse or not?" he snapped at her, mania visible in his eyes. "It's only one fucking person, Maya! One person!"

"And who's that person going to be?" Maya bit her lip, her heart clenching at the idea of accepting such an agreement.

Aldrich hobbled over to a nearby desk. "Well, the stories of superpowers popping up in random people seem to be a myth. That dumb dork of a Russian only knows how to run through walls, and his powers are from gamma radiation - highly unstable and unpredictable. The Hunter is protected by that...organization. All other tales of superhumans can be easily dismissed as rumours due to lacking evidence..."

"Are you..."

"The only other enhanced being in the world currently is Spider-woman."

"But her webbing's mechanical! She could be using adhesive gloves too!"

"Maya... she punched through a reinforced concrete wall with her bare hands," Aldrich looked at her as though she were stupid.

"How do you know it's her bare hands?" Maya said frantically trying to find every excuse to stop her crazy colleague. "It could be a highly complicated exoskeleton."

Killian sighed and got up, taking out his phone and dialling an unregistered number.

"You're going to kidnap and experiment on a person on a whim?!" Maya said incredulously, moving to snatch the phone but was thwarted.

"Maya! Stop this nonsense and listen closely. We have three options," Killian whirled around angered. "One, we can do nothing and watch both our life's work go down the drain. Two, we can experiment on human subjects, or three, kidnap one person to perhaps perfect the serum."

Maya had no words to say, and when Aldrich pressed call, she didn't stop him. Perhaps even with her strong moral code, she wished, in her heart of hearts, for her research to finally be complete.

"Hello?"

[ Yes Sir. How may we help you? ]

"I have a job for Kravinoff."

[ We're sorry sir, but Codename Hunter already has an ongoing contract. ]

"How long does it run?"

[ Unknown. The minimum is estimated to take six months. ]

'Fuck!' Aldrich mentally cursed. He didn't have that much time.

"Is there anyone else you have?"

[ We have Codename Rhino who is currently contractless sir, but may I ask if your job Capture, Eliminate or Other? ]

"Capture."

[ Then we do not recommend Codename Rhino. He is most suited for Elimination contracts due to his low level of intelligence. May I recommend Codename Zeus? He's a new addition. Suited for all contract types. ]

"I would rather not have a newbie. Send the Rhino to crash the biggest gathering tomorrow and make your most elite non-super team follow and tranquillize Spiderwoman, who's most likely to show up, and bring her to me."

[ That can be arranged. Tha-... Ah! If you could excuse me for just a moment. The Director is calling. ]

A few seconds of silence passed, and Aldrich grew more and more confused. Such things never happened in the organization he was calling. They were always professional and reliable.

[ The Director wishes to ask for a different type of payment than the usual method. Your answer may change the probability of us accepting the contract. Do you agree? ]

"What is it?" Aldrich snapped, growing more and more frustrated and the completely random shift of tone. He did not like where this was going.

[ He wishes for you to divulge the Extremis formula. ]

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Killian roared, startling Maya. "It's not complete, and I'll never reveal it!!!".

How on Earth did they know who he was? He had taken care of securing this phone and even the delivery for the target would be in an unrelated place. Just how powerful was this organisation?

A few more seconds passed.

[ The Director then wishes for the Techno-organic neural link that you've accidentally developed. ]

Aldrich frowned, 'That was also even more unstable, but not as valuable. Why would the Director of all people want that?'

"Fine. I'll give it to you."

[ Pleasure doing business with you, sir. ]

***

P.S I uploaded the character Images if you wanna have a look at them. It's in the auxiliary chap.