After leaving the café, Nolan glanced at the encrypted message Klaue had sent him. One of the men he'd paid to quietly acquire Oscorp stock had just been killed and blown up, actually.
Figures. The Green Goblin was clearly targeting his associates now.
When money couldn't solve a problem, it seemed brute force was the next option on the table.
Nolan calmly tapped out a reply with his next set of instructions. Moments later, his phone rang.
"Nolan! What the hell are you doing? You sent her to investigate me?!"
Klaue was clearly rattled on the other end. He was still cleaning up after one of his men had been shredded by a flying goblin, and now Nolan was telling him he'd hired Jessica Jones to dig into his operations?
He knew how dangerous Jessica could be. Was Nolan trying to get him killed?
"Relax. I'm not putting you in real danger."
"What the hell are you planning?"
"I'm going to win her over when she's most vulnerable. Right now, she's probably under S.H.I.E.L.D. surveillance. If I go in guns blazing, I'll only make things worse. So, I'm going with a softer touch."
"Your idea of a soft touch is sending her after me?"
"We need common ground. Something to talk about. Oh, and have someone send flowers to her agency. Every day."
"You're trying to seduce her?" Klaue sounded genuinely stunned. "Are you out of your mind?"
Nolan set his files aside and smiled. "Exactly. When she lets her guard down completely... that's when I'll make my move."
Klaue suddenly felt a cold chill run down his spine. Nolan's plan clicked into place he was exploiting Jessica's emotional scars, waiting to strike when she was weakest. It wasn't seduction; it was psychological warfare.
This guy wasn't a scientist. He was a demon wrapped in human skin.
And now Klaue realized something terrifying Nolan wasn't just a genius in the lab. He understood people. If he ever set his sights on you... the best you could hope for was a quick death.
"...You wouldn't happen to have a way to access the military's mutant genome database, would you?" Nolan asked suddenly.
"Have you lost your damn mind?! That place is under the tightest lock and key in the U.S. government. I wouldn't even ask about it, let alone go digging. You're insane!"
"I was just asking." Nolan shrugged. If it were that easy, he would've kidnapped Professor X and Magneto already.
Originally, he'd planned to extract power from Sebastian Shaw. But with Shaw dead, his body had likely ended up either with the U.S. military or in Russian hands. Only two real possibilities.
Klaue sighed and said, "By the way, I found your guy Daredevil. He's working as a lawyer now, but word is, he's knee-deep in a turf war with Wilson Fisk."
"Keep tabs on him for me."
Daredevil was on Nolan's list. Super-enhanced senses. Besides being blind, his perception was off the charts rivaled only by beings with cosmic-level intellect.
More importantly, he was accessible. And that made him a prime target.
A few days later, Nolan sat reviewing Dr. Connors' a.k.a. the Lizard's latest research paper. He planned to replicate the experiment himself, if possible.
But as he finished reading, Nolan frowned. "No experimental data? Or is it hidden?"
He saved the paper in his archives. He now had a solid grasp of Connors' work, maybe even equal to the man himself. But he couldn't recreate the experiment. Not without the missing data, or the specialized equipment. Even some of the formulas were deliberately vague and clearly altered.
OsCorp must've falsified parts of it. Still, Nolan could tell Connors was nearing human trials.
There was even a video link included in the paper: a mouse with severed legs... regenerating them completely.
"With his data or his help Phoenix 2.0 could become reality," Nolan murmured.
There was no doubt: the Lizard was a genius. His serum shattered the boundary between ordinary humans and superhumans. The only mistake? Rushing into human trials without corporate backing or funding.
If he'd had more time... he might've really created a cure for limb regeneration.
"Soon, my army of undying soldiers will rise..."
Nolan placed the tablet aside. The Oscorp stock acquisition had hit a deadlock. Only three major stakeholders remained: himself, Norman Osborn, and he suspected Nick Fury, that slippery bastard.
Stock prices had skyrocketed.
Meanwhile, Logan had become their golden goose. Phoenix 1.0 was flooding into Hell's Kitchen. It was selling faster than vibranium ever had mainly because the supply was endless. Vibranium had to be rationed. This stuff? They could draw gallons of base material every day.
With the formula in hand, it was easy to replicate in bulk.
Sure, there were side effects. Klaue had made that clear. But people were still buying it in droves. That's how popular it was.
And the profits? Klaue was being a good little soldier using it to snatch up bankrupt tech firms and reinvest into corporate restructuring.
They were building an empire. From the ground up.
"Pym Tech might be worth targeting next... but my intel network's still too weak," Nolan muttered.
His screen flickered with new intel superpowered individuals, their weaknesses, behavior patterns, and how they might be countered.
His path was crystal clear:
He would become the ultimate superhuman.
Anything less would be a waste of his talents. His unique physiology allowed for unmatched compatibility with a range of powers. Now, it was about developing the right 'cards' and the right abilities to install into his 'deck'.
Just as Nolan was deep in study, his phone buzzed.
"Jessica?" He smirked. "She moves fast."
He answered. "Hey, it's Nolan."
"Nolan. I found something on Klaue. Swing by the agency."
"And stop sending me flowers!"
He chuckled. "Not a fan of roses? I'll switch it up."
"I don't like any flowers."
He showed up not long after, holding a fresh bouquet of red roses.
Jessica frowned. "Didn't I tell you to stop buying these?" Her voice was sharp with annoyance... but her hand still reached out, took the bouquet, and placed it on the side table with the others.
This one, at least, he'd delivered in person.
"There's something in Hell's Kitchen that might be linked to your brother," Jessica said flatly. "A regenerative compound. It's called the Phoenix Serum. Ring a bell?"
"Sounds like we're headed to Hell's Kitchen."
"No time for lunch first?"
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