Chương 49: An Unexpected Development
I'M BACK! with a 2k word chapter!
Rejoice!
***
"I did not know that he was the lawyer", Gwen muttered as she leaned on his shoulder.
Their legs dangled over the roof of her house, their eyes drinking in the beauty of the misshapen clouds flitting across the pale blue sky.
"Well, I didn't know the man survived the Hell's Massacre to begin with", she reminisced, her eyes flicking over to the man next to her. "Remember that day?"
"Yeah, how could I not", Peter sighed heavily, running his fingers through Gwen's hair. "I still remember the headline. The death of Daredevil, the demon who fought for God."
A decade ago, Hell's Kitchen had lost its iconic hero when the law firm 'Nelson and Murdock' was attacked by an unknown superhuman assailant. The once-tall and imposing building was reduced to cinders in but a few minutes. When the smoke cleared, it revealed a lone survivor.
One of thirty-seven.
The hero Daredevil had managed to fight off the assailant but at the cost of his life. He'd sacrificed himself to save a blind lawyer - a nobody.
A body was never found, but the burnt and tattered remains of his costume and his absence in the following months were sufficient evidence for his death.
Of course, Peter didn't directly remember the tragedy personally since it wasn't technically...him, but it was famous enough that even he'd heard about it since his transmigration.
"How'd you know he was the lawyer?", Gwen inquired, silently purring at his touch.
"It was a little obvious, really", he shrugged. "I looked at the number of times 'Nelson and Murdock' was attacked compared to the other buildings in the area, the unnaturally high number of times the employees of the firm got into life-threatening situations, and the fact that Matt Murdock's build is eerily similar to the infamous Daredevil - face structure and all."
"So much for having a secret identity", she grumbled, remembering that he had done the same thing when figuring out who the Ghost-Spider was.
"Yeah, it didn't work out for him. I found him in an abandoned church crying his heart out. He looked utterly broken.", Peter muttered sadly. "If I hadn't given him some hope in the form of the pen drive...."
His voice trailed off, the unsaid words hung in the air casting a heavy blanket on them both.
Gwen slipped her hand in his, her warmth dissipating the heavy atmosphere.
"You think we could end up like that?", she whispered, looking into his sombre eyes. "Being punished by the world for choosing to help people?"
Peter merely pursed his lips, choosing to stare at the sky. He knew the answer - how could he not? Almost every hero who chose to work for the greater good had to go through suffering and heartbreak. It was a given.
The ones who escaped that fate fought not for the greater good, but for themselves.
"Well, let's stop with the dour talk", he deflected, slightly amused at Gwen's miffed expression. "It's somebody's special day tomorrow. I wouldn't want to ruin the mood."
Gwen immediately perked up, giving him a charming smile.
"And that somebody wishes to know what you've been doing lurking around my warehouse for the past week", she smirked. "There was no need to be so secretive, you know."
"And ruin the surprise?", Peter raised his brows. "No way."
"You're going to hide it till the very end?"
"Hmm? I vaguely remember someone calling me tactless the last time I revealed the prese-
"Shut up, Pete."
"MMmmmph!"
***
'Proviral load will reach its maximum in...', Peter did the calculations, his superhuman brain juggling long strings of numbers with ease. '... twenty-one hours and forty-five minutes. My maximum was reached two days ago. Her regulatory sequences are stubborn..."
He stood up and stretched for a few seconds, before jumping on his bed in his room, where Toby lay on his back, practically disappearing into the soft folds of Peter's pillow.
For the past two months, he had periodically checked both Gwen's and his blood to map the spread of the modified Extremis that they had taken. His was complete, but her regulatory sequences were determined to fight till their last breath, delaying the virus' spread. It was akin to witnessing its death throes.
Today was the last check-up and according to the results, it would complete its dissemination tomorrow - on Gwen's birthday. Going through his second evolution on that day was pretty poetic.
His eyes flicked to a neatly wrapped rectangular object in the corner of the room. Gwen had stressed multiple times that he was doing way too much for her to warrant yet another present on her birthday, but he didn't care. He just liked it when he made her smile.
'Focus, Peter. It's time for science!', he shook his head and jumped out of bed, careful to not disturb the sleeping garden lizard.
The first part of the Extremis project was done - Disseminating the virus.
The second part was getting the genetic material of the virus to express itself. It was currently dormant. Thus, the question here was, how would he get the dormant genes to express themselves?
Genes normally express themselves via the process of Transcription and Translation.
How was that induced?
Promoter sequences, which are specific regions of DNA that serve as binding sites for RNA polymerase and other transcription machinery, initiating the process of transcription to produce mRNA.
And how were they induced?
Transcription factors, which are proteins that can enhance or inhibit the recruitment of RNA polymerase to the gene, thereby regulating the rate at which that gene is transcribed into mRNA, if at all.
Thus, all he had to do was to design a transcription factor that was unique to the Promotor sequence of the Extremis genes. It wasn't hard. Not only had he planned this out for two months, but transcription factors were something he handled quite often during his past life.
'Ah, this brings me back', a nostalgic smile stretched his face as he slipped on a spotless lab coat before turning his attention to the numerous machines before him.
***
A few hours later.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
Peter ripped his gaze from the two vials before him that were filled with clear liquid. The transcription factors were synthesised, and all that was left was to inject them into his bloodstream.
That would have to wait.
'Why can I feel another human in the living room', he frowned as he quickly placed the aforementioned vials into the fridge. 'Uncle Ben couldn't have returned so soon, could he?'
"Peter, there's someone here for you", May's muffled voice pierced through the door.
"I'm coming! Just give me a moment!", he yelled back, slipping out of his coat and putting his spectacles back on.
'Just who is it?'
***
"Peter! It's been a while!", a familiar voice called out to him the moment he walked down the stairs.
"Dr Conners?!", his eyes widened in surprise finding a familiar man with a mop of blonde hair sitting on a couch, across from Aunt May. A brown suitcase sat next to him while he sipped on some tea. They'd kept in touch over the past two months but had never met in person.
"It has been a while", Peter grinned, getting over his shock and walking over with an extended hand. "I never expected you to be here."
"Really Peter? We're past that", he chuckled and sat up, waving away his hand and giving him a bear hug.
"Well, I'll leave you two to it then. I do have a meeting in half an hour", May smiled. "Li won't be happy if I miss it."
"Ah! It was a pleasure meeting you, Mrs Parker", Dr. Connors hurriedly adjusted his glasses after releasing Peter. "I've said it once and I'll say it again, F.E.A.S.T truly is an admirable project. You'd probably have met my wife helping about from time to time."
"Oh yes, I have. Martha's a lovely person to hang around. She'd got a great sense of humour", May happily clapped her hands together before winking at Peter. "I'll be back in an hour or so."
CLICK!
"You have a great aunt", Connors commented the moment May left the room.
"Uh-huh", Peter nodded, taking the seat that was previously occupied by his aunt. "That she is. How've you been Doc?"
"Never better!", Connors announced, palpable excitement visible in his eyes. "Honestly, with the WCCR in two weeks, I expected you to be far more restless than I am."
Peter grinned at the childish excitement that Connors exuded. If it were his past life, he would indeed have been running around, squealing like a little girl at the prospect of presenting his work before the most accomplished scientists in the world.
Hell, he'd be running around now too if it weren't for the fact that the WCCR was being conducted in the Kingdom of Latveria. The fact that he'd be walking into the den of a supervillain put a damper on things.
'Well, things could go completely differently, and we could be best friends', he thought jokingly. 'It's wishful thinking. The only thing that could dwarf his will, is his ego.'
"I'm more anxious than anything", Peter admitted. "It's my first time at a conference after all."
"With the way you pump out scientific breakthroughs, I forget you're a teenager", Connors smirked. "I do feel the need to apologize though, as I don't think the news I bring with me would do anything to quell your anxiety."
Peter raised a brow, "Is there an issue with the papers?"
"Oh! nonono, quite the opposite in fact", Connors shook his head, his glasses immediately becoming crooked once more. "But before we get to that, I have to mention that Oscorp will take care of all our expenses for our trip to Latveria. From flight tickets to accommodation to leisure activities. Everything!"
"What?!", he almost jumped out of his seat. "But why? Mr. Osborn has already done enou-
"Just consider it an early birthday gift from Norman", Connors waved him off.
"But my birthday is two months away."
"A veeerrrrryyy early birthday gift."
"..."
"Do you want to travel in first class, or do you not?", Conners questioned.
"...fine", Peter grumbled, inwardly whooping in joy. If Oscorp was bearing the financial burden of the trip, they would be able to enjoy the best facilities Latveria had to offer, and Latveria had some of the most state-of-the-art hotels and utilities in the world.
"Good, as it's too late to go back now. Our tickets have already been booked. You know how he is, Norman would not take no for an answer", Dr Connors said. "But are you sure you don't want to bring anybody else with you? There's still some time, seats can still be booked."
"No. There isn't anybody, but thanks for asking", Peter shook his head. He'd wanted to bring Gwen along with him, but she was unable to owing to her exams. Moreover, both Aunt May and Uncle Ben had their respective jobs. Dr Connors was coming with him either way.
"That's unfortunate."
"Yeah, it is. But you said that you had something else to say. Come on, out with it", Peter coaxed.
"Impatient, are we?", Connors gave him a wry smile.
"You can make anyone impatient, Doc. You have a knack for that", Peter sighed.
"Why thank you", Connors beamed.
"...."
"Fine, fine.", Connors raised his hands in false surrender. "This is early information by the way. You'd have gotten an email in a few business days, but I thought it'd be best if you heard it from me. Remember who was supposed to give the Keystone address in WCCR?"
Peter leaned forward, his heart leaping to his throat.
"Of course. It's Doctor Doom, isn't it", he said. "What about him."
"He has requested the organisers to make a small change in the schedule of the WCCR", Connors smiled. "He doesn't want to give the Keystone address anymore."
"What?!", Peter frowned in confusion. "If not him then who? What other scientist could they possibly invite to replace hi-...Oh..."
His voice died down as he understood what the perpetual smirk on Dr Connor's face meant.
"It's you", Connors confirmed.
"Doctor Victor Von Doom wishes to give you his Keystone address."
***
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