Chapter 9: You hurt your hand, Mr Parker?

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"How is work?"

Edward and Diana were hugging in bed, stuck to one another after another steamy session. Facing his question, Diana snorted and said "Funny you mention that, a new guy came over, a young man. Poor boy spent his day ogling me."

Edward raised an eyebrow and said with a half smile "Should I be worried?" Diana rolled her eyes and said "Are you the overly jealous type?" Edward shook his head and said "No, I trust you."

Diana smiled and kissed him before she asked "What about you? I heard the big boys are getting restless since Stark pulled out."

Edward nodded "They are all over the place, fighting for the contracts that were terminated. Everyone is facing pressure, even us. We are making some astounding progress though since I studied Cheetah…"

Diana abruptedly cut him off "Her name is Barbara." Edward sighed and hugged her a little tighter as he said "Yes, Barbara…" He couldn't help but grit his teeth as he hesitated.

However, as he saw the distress on her face, he said "You know, we are making lots of progress, and so we experiment with what we have."

Diana was pulled out of her thoughts as she asked "On what are you experimenting?" Edward shook his head and said "Mainly spiders, and lizards. My point is, more often than not, we fail and we create hybrids."

Diana tilted her head and asked "Isn't that the point?" Edward replied "If the serum regrowing your arm also turned your skin into scales, would you take it?"

Diana smiled at the image, and Edward added "No, we don't want to create hybrids, we only want to add an animal's ability into a human's DNA… which would make a hybrid, but not physically… Anyway, my point is, when we create hybrids, we don't just kill them, especially with our shortened budget. Instead, we try to turn them back into their original state."

Diana froze for a second, before asking "Are you telling me you want to use this method to turn her back into a human?"

Edward nodded and said "I already proved magic isn't that different from science, maybe it is nothing but science we don't understand. We managed to make great progress thanks to the cells I took from her, so using the samples I have left of her, I could try creating a reverse serum to turn her back…"

As he said that, Diana suddenly kissed him with great vigour. Although he was surprised, he accepted it, and it was only after a few seconds she said "Thank you." Edward smiled and said "As for the mind control, turning her back into a human should do the trick, although if it doesn't I'm sure the Sorcerers should be able to help."

Diana nodded, and asked "Are you really thinking about learning magic?" Edward nodded "I do, once I finish my tutelage under teacher. Why?" Diana shook her head and said "I never really liked magic, most magicians are evil."

Edward rolled on top of her and said "If I ever turn evil, I have you to kick me back into the right path, don't I?"

Diana was originally a little down, but she smiled and rubbed her knee against his privates as she said "Don't worry, I know how to take care of you."

Edward chuckled as he jumped out of bed and said "Well, time for me to go to the dojo." Diana rested her head on her palm as she asked "Do I scare you that much?" Edward jumped on the place to get in his pants as he said "I'm more afraid of your daddy peeping on us and smiting me with thunder."

Diana looked up as she said "If he ever does I'm going to beat his ass. And Hades' if he doesn't give your soul back. Or whatever god of death keeps your soul."

Edward let out a nervous laugh as he said "Now you are starting to scare me." Diana looked back at him as she asked "Wouldn't you do the same?"

Edward smiled and jumped toward her, kissing her as he said "It's not in my plans to let you die, but if it one day happens, be sure I will rock this whole fucking universe."

Diana smiled, happy with his answer, but she pushed him and said "Stop raising red flags and go get your ass beaten instead." They had been dating for a mere two months and Edward had already started rubbing on her.

The dojo wasn't that far from Diana's building, and so he soon arrived there. As soon as he did though, Dragon, who was meditating, opened his eyes and said "You stink."

On the side, Ben, or Tiger, who was kicking a block of wood, laughed and said "The kid is living his life!" However, he looked at Edward and said "Though, you take a shower. I'm not sparring with someone stinking of sex."

Edward rolled his eyes and walked to the rooms in the back to shower and change. Left alone with Dragon, Ben said "The kid is quite scary."

Richard hummed as he said "Most talented person I ever saw. At his rate, he will reach my level in less than two years. He is even more talented than Bruce."

Ben smiled and said "Bruce, that boy was quite good too, when he first came he was filled with violence and darkness. Any idea how he is doing?" Richard sighed and said "I heard he came back to Gotham not long ago. Chances are Ra's al Ghul will take his revenge. Bruce burned his temple in Tibet after all."

Ben shrugged and said "We can go, I have always wanted a rematch against the old thing. We could bring the kid too, chance for him to meet his senior and fight against assassins." Richard didn't say anything, clearly thinking.

Soon, Edward came back, in his fighting suit. Bronze Tiger clapped his hands as he said "Ready to get your ass beaten?"

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"We are making great progress, but we can't just skip whole stages of development!" As Edward headed to work, this was the first thing he heard as he got out of the elevator.

He clearly recognized Dr Connors' voice. It was followed by another raspy voice "I want results, and quick."

Edward walked in and cleared his throat, making his presence known. As it turned out, the one talking to Connors was Osborn. Norman Osborn, the grimmest guy on Earth.

The two men turned to see Edward, and Osborn frowned before walking away. When the boss was out, Edward approached Connors and asked "What did he say this time?"

Connors sighed and replied "Same as usual. We need to be quicker, and yet our budget is getting smaller. The stress put by Hammer is getting to his head."

Edward frowned, but after a few seconds he said "Well, good news are, the students are here." Connors frowned, before opening his eyes wide.

Edward chuckled and said "You forgot, didn't you?" Connors took Edward by his shoulders and said "That's terrible! I forgot to make their passes! I don't even know when they are supposed to be here!"

Edward smiled as he took the doctor's hands off his shoulders and said "Seems like Osborn isn't the only one who had his stress corrupt his mind, you are lucky I can keep my head on my shoulders. The passes were all prepared already, and I already sent Sarah to pick them up. Speaking of which, they should soon be here, I will leave you the pleasure of igniting their passion for science or whatever the point of this is."

Connors sighed and said "You are a lifesaver, although it's true that with our depleting budget, I don't know if we can even afford a single intern."

Edward patted his shoulder as he walked away. He didn't want to deal with teens who most certainly weren't even interested in science.

However, some time after he returned to his personal lab, he saw a teen looking at a screen. Edward couldn't help but sigh as he got up and went to the door. Opening it, he asked "Shouldn't you be with your group?"

The teen jumped in surprise before he turned around and said "I went to the bathroom, and lost them so…"

Edward knew he was lying, but he didn't care. He approached the teen and looked at his badge. As he did, he saw the teen was holding his hand, so he asked "You hurt your hand, Mr Parker?"

The teen, Peter Parker, looked down at his hand before saying "N-No… I mean yes, I wasn't paying attention and knocked my hand, but I'm fine."

Edward rose an eyebrow, another obvious lie. "I hope you didn't break anything." At least he didn't lie on that one. Edward looked at the computer behind the teen, and saw it was on the files they were working on.

Nothing confidential, simply too hard for a middle school student to understand. Still, he asked "What were you looking at?"

Peter gulped, for some reason he was feeling nervous in front of the man who interrupted him. He said "I just stumbled on that, and I got a bit curious about what I read. I hope this wasn't confidential!"

Edward smiled and said "A sorry wouldn't suffice if it were, but you are lucky it wasn't. Did you understand anything?" While the teen looked shady, at least he seemed to like science.

Much to Edward's surprise, Peter nodded he head, a little bashfully, but Edward knew he was telling the truth. In the past two months, his Chi Sense improved even more as he started being able to feel more subtle fluctuations of Chi, which allows him to detect if someone is lying. This only works on ordinary people though.

Edward then asked "Why did you come here, Peter? For the internship?" Peter nodded, not a lie, good. He added "If so, then try to act less like a corporate thief, and go regroup with Connors' group. Show him what you know, impress him, and maybe you may become my co-worker."

Peter nodded, and walked off, not even realizing he blew his own lie as he clearly knew where his group was. But Edward couldn't be bothered, the kid wasn't meaning any harm.

After dealing with Peter, Edward returned to his lab for the rest of the day, working. As he left though he saw Connors, and asked "How were the kids?"

Connors seemed angry though as he said "Guess who was in that little group? Norman's son, Harry Osborn. He is seriously sending his son to pressure us?"

Edward rolled his eyes and said "I doubt the kid even knows anything, maybe it's just a coincidence."

Connors took his face in his palms for a few seconds before asking "How was today?" Edward smiled, he was in a good mood, and he said "It has officially been one month since the rats were administered the serum, and they still are normal rats." Connors nodded, and Edward added "They didn't mutate. And yet they healed."

Connors opened his eyes wide as he said "We… We did it?!" Edward shook his head and said "I wouldn't say that, the rats were fine but we don't know yet if humans will react the same way to the serum."

Connors looked jubilant though, and he said "We must celebrate that!" Edward shook his head and said "Sorry, my lady is waiting for me at home. Don't want to make her angry, she got me by the balls."

Connors smiled and said "Go then, have fun." Edward chuckled and left.

However, as he left Connors' face turned a little colder as he walked to their testing area. There, he saw the rats, all of whom used to be disabled in some kind of way, and yet they all had recovered. He couldn't help but touch his sleeve, and felt the emptiness more than ever.

He gritted his teeth and muttered to himself "I'll show you some quick results!" Done with hesitating, Connors took one of the serums and put it in his pocket before leaving himself.