Norman left Blade Technology Industries with a storm brewing in his mind.
After witnessing the fully matured bio-enhanced soldiers of World Serpent, his lingering obsession with perfecting a super soldier serum quietly collapsed. What he had chased for years now felt crude, almost primitive, compared to what he had seen.
More importantly… it gave him sothing else.
Hope.
If survival was still on the table, then aligning himself with World Serpent wasn't just an option, it was the smartest move he could make. A faction capable of producing those monstrous yet controlled bio-soldiers wasn't just powerful, it was inevitable.
Following them ant standing on the winning side of the future.
—
Drex Valen only needed a single day to develop a treatnt for retroviral hyperplasia.
He didn't deliver it imdiately.
Instead, he let Norman wait.
Days passed before a sealed case finally arrived.
When Norman opened it, his hands trembled despite himself.
Inside was a clean, clinical setup: a syringe, three vials filled with a luminous blue solution, and a set of instructions.
Monthly injections.
The compound would suppress the disease's progression. However, due to the unpredictable nature of genetic disorders, regular evaluations every three months were necessary to prevent resistance or mutation.
There was no miracle cure in a single shot.
This wasn't a wound. It was a flaw written into his genes.
Norman understood that.
He wasted no ti and went straight to Curt Connors.
Connors frowned the mont he saw the vials.
"Where did this co from?"
Norman didn't answer.
Connors didn't like it. Not one bit.
"Injecting an unknown compound into your bloodstream isn't treatnt, it's gambling."
But Norman had already made his decision.
He lay back on the examination table, eyes steady.
"I've been losing this gamble my entire life."
Connors exhaled slowly… then prepared the syringe.
—
The injection burned cold.
Within minutes, Norman lost consciousness.
The compound went to work imdiately, targeting defective genetic sequences, stabilizing, repairing, suppressing.
Rewriting.
When he finally woke, the world felt… different.
The weakness was gone.
No more trembling fatigue.
No more suffocating heaviness in his limbs.
His body felt sharp. Responsive. Alive in a way he hadn't experienced in years.
Norman sat up slowly, staring at his hands.
Osborn Industries had spent generations chasing a solution.
World Serpent had solved it in a day.
That realization didn't just impress him.
It locked in his decision.
He would join them.
No matter the cost.
—
Norman initially assud the next step would be rging Osborn Industries into Blade Technology Industries, consolidating power into a single unstoppable industrial force.
Drex Valen shut that idea down imdiately.
"Keep things as they are."
The reasoning was simple.
Osborn Industries wasn't a monarchy. Norman wasn't its sole ruler. The board included powerful stakeholders with influence, leverage, and their own ambitions.
Forcing a rger was possible.
But it would be ssy.
Slow.
Inefficient.
Drex didn't waste ti on inefficient paths.
Instead, he gave Norman his first task.
"Go to Russia. Find Ivan Vanko."
That was it.
A na.
A fragnt of information.
For Norman, that was more than enough.
Within forty-eight hours, he leveraged his resources, contacts, and influence.
Then he delivered.
Ivan Vanko arrived.
Along with his father, Anton Vanko… still alive.
—
With both n in his hands, Drex didn't bother negotiating.
No discussions.
No persuasion.
They were placed directly into a neural conditioning system.
When they ca out, they were no longer liabilities or loose ends.
They were loyal researchers of World Serpent.
Anton Vanko's frail condition posed a minor inconvenience.
Drex solved it the sa way he solved everything else.
Efficiency.
He injected Anton with the enhanced bio-serum, transforming him into a stabilized bio-enhanced subject. His failing body was no longer an issue.
With both Vankos operational, Drex gave them their directive.
Build a compact, controllable cold fusion arc reactor.
They succeeded.
The design still relied on palladium.
As for creating a new elent?
Not possible.
The Kryptonian periodic table didn't align with Earth's. Most of the elents Drex was familiar with simply didn't exist here.
It was… strange.
Two universes. Two different elental fraworks.
Drex had a fleeting thought that brushed the edge of sothing philosophical, almost cosmic.
Then he dismissed it.
Irrelevant.
The reactor's output was sufficient.
He wasn't trying to power a city.
He only needed sothing smaller.
Sothing precise.
Sothing personal.
—
An armored suit.
—
Drex began his work.
Not imitation.
Not copying.
This ti, he would be first.
Tony Stark's Mark I was still eight years away from existing.
Which ant that, eventually…
Tony Stark would be copying him.
—
"Urd."
Drex didn't look up as he spoke.
"Invite the five permanent mbers of the UN Security Council. Include any nation with credible military infrastructure. Extend invitations to their defense departnts."
Urd paused, caught off guard.
"That… many?"
"Yes."
Drex's tone remained calm.
"Inform them Blade Technology Industries is unveiling a new product."
He finally looked up.
"A weapon."
"A revolutionary one."
—
The response was imdiate.
Global.
The impact of secondary Kryptonite materials had already reshaped industries worldwide. Entire sectors had leapt forward thanks to Blade Technology Industries.
Drex Valen was no longer just influential.
He was defining the direction of technological evolution.
So when news spread that he was unveiling another "revolutionary weapon"…
The world paid attention.
Speculation exploded.
Electromagnetic weapons?
Directed energy systems?
Laser platforms?
Force field technology?
Sothing even more advanced?
—
The exhibition day arrived.
And with it…
A gathering unlike any other.
Political elites.
Military representatives.
Industrial titans.
All seated beneath the sa roof.
All waiting.
But the man they had co to see…
Was nowhere in sight.
—
"Since when does Drex Valen have a secretary this stunning?"
Tony Stark leaned casually against a pillar, eyes fixed on Urd with open appreciation.
Of course he was here.
There was no way he'd miss sothing like this.
More importantly…
He didn't believe it.
A "revolutionary weapon"?
Materials were one thing.
But weapons?
That was his domain.
Tony Stark didn't lose in his own field.
Not to anyone.
—
"Mr. Stark, welco."
Urd maintained a professional smile, though exhaustion tugged at her eyes. She had been handling diplomats, generals, and corporate sharks all day.
Drex had simply said, You're getting a raise.
Then vanished.
"After this is over," Tony said smoothly, "how about dinner?"
His tone carried the confidence of soone who rarely heard the word no.
Urd's smile didn't change.
"Apologies, Mr. Stark. I have other responsibilities."
And with that, she stepped away.
Tony watched her go, amused.
Then he glanced around the room.
Sothing about this setup…
Felt too deliberate.
—
The lights went out.
Instantly.
The entire venue plunged into darkness.
A ripple of surprise passed through the crowd, but no panic followed.
These weren't ordinary people.
They had seen chaos before.
War.
Crisis.
Power.
So they waited.
In the dark.
For what ca next.
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