051

Norman was in his personal laboratory at Oscorp, it had been about three days since he had visited Forge in Colorado however at the moment there was no sign of the man's presence. However, that had not disappointed Norman, for a decision such as the one he had proposed to him was something to think carefully about.

Osborn was just looking at his greatest creation since he had arrived in his new world, the serum combined with The Lizard Formula, Extremis and the Super-Soldier Serum created by Howard Stark was finally ready.

It had taken a lot of time and effort, but he finally had it in his hands, now all that was left was the moment of truth and the fact of injecting himself with the serum in order to become more powerful than he currently is.

If he was honest Norman had no idea what would happen once the serum was in his body, of course he had done all the calculations and simulations possible, but no matter what there would always be a small chance that he was wrong and that failure would end up being his downfall.

Norman took the vials containing the serum he had created in his right hand before using his teleportation and simply appearing in a completely different place.

The place he was in was the secure building he had built with Walter and Bucky, after all it was the most secure place he had under his control, not even Walter or Felicia could enter the building without him knowing so unless it was someone with powers it was likely that no one would be able to infiltrate the building.

Felicia called it simply as The Shelter because of the functions that the building had in addition to the fact that it had actually been built with that in mind, in the end Osborn did not mind that action from Hardy's side so after a while they were now addressing the building by that name.

He had transported himself to the laboratory he had in the building and quickly placed the vials in a security box and then sealed it.

While the best course of action might be to inject the serum immediately Norman felt it would be best to wait a few days, considering that Walter and Bucky were likely to return from their mission soon. There was also the fact that he was still waiting for Forge to arrive.

Lastly, it was due to the fact that Mary Jane's birthday would be in two days, so he would prefer to go through the whole serum process once he had attended her birthday.

'I need to buy a present' thought Osborn, opportunely remembering that he had no gift prepared for the beautiful redhead, he could ask one of his assistants to do it for him, but Norman didn't think it would be the right thing to do.

Norman looked at his watch and after some thought considered that he could buy one when he left Oscorp, with that thought Osborn teleported again, this time to return to the Oscorp building and continue with his work.

…

Norman was on his way to a jewelry store that his secretary had highly recommended after asking her about the best jewelry stores in town.

After what could be considered a long drive Norman had arrived at the mall where the store was located however no matter how much he looked at the displays there was nothing he could say he liked for Mary Jane.

Originally Norman had thought of a necklace or a bracelet, giving a ring as a gift didn't even cross his mind as he didn't think it was right, it would probably be awkward and strange if he did.

Because of that he had thought about gifting a necklace or a bracelet however the designs they had were too ostentatious and shiny, it simply wasn't something he could give MJ, it wasn't because he felt she wouldn't look good in them because he was sure she would look beautiful, rather it was because they simply didn't go with the redhead's personality.

She was an enthusiastic, simple and humble young woman, it was because of those aspects that Norman didn't think those types of accessories would go with her, Osborn had realized after spending time with her throughout the days that MJ preferred simple things, something that most of the items shown didn't accomplish.

Norman shook his head before simply thanking the employee who attended to him and starting to walk out of the jewelry store, thinking about whether he should continue looking in another jewelry store or just give her something else as a gift.

With that thought Norman left the jewelry store and simply began to walk without having a place where he wanted to go, just looking out the windows of the stores if there was something interesting, although the looks of the other passersby were becoming increasingly annoying.

After a while without having a result Norman thought it was time to leave and start walking to the exit of the mall.

Just as he got into his car and started it up his cell phone began to ring, so he quickly pulled it out of his pocket and answered it.

The other side spoke calmly, although there was a bit of tiredness in his voice, "I'll see you at The Shelter" Norman mentioned simply as he hung up the call and began to accelerate.

…

Gwen let out a sigh of weariness and boredom as she took her gaze all over the place, observing the other people standing next to her, each of them focused on their books or notebooks. Currently, she was in a shopping mall a little close to her home, although it was better to say that she was in a library inside the mall.

At the moment she really wondered what she was thinking about accepting to be part of something like this, first of all she already had a lot of things to do and her time was limited, secondly she has never been really good at working in a team due to her lack of social skills, lastly and most importantly she really missed being able to be in the laboratory.

She was counting down the time until she could get back to the lab she just thought she learned so much more in that lab than she did at the university, plus she liked working with Norman and Dr. Curtis, it was just great.

She snapped out of her thoughts when one of the team members had returned after they took time off, honestly it wasn't like she talked too much with the team members, in fact, most of them she didn't know until this situation happened, so it could be said that she didn't have any friends at this point.

Soon she began to overhear small talk among the other team members, but she didn't think anything of it, at least not until the words Osborn and jewelry reached her ears.

A part of her was too curious that she couldn't resist eavesdropping somewhat on the chatter that was going on regarding her boss, as she didn't believe in any way that they could be referring to anyone else.

Once she heard clearly what had happened she began to think perhaps a little too much about the situation. Why would he go to a jewelry store? Besides most of the things he looked at were women's accessories.

It was just a little strange, from what she knew of Norman himself he was not in a romantic relationship and probably wasn't planning on having one, so the jewelry store should be for something completely different from what she was thinking.

At that thought Gwen was somewhat relieved, but her mind soon recalled a white-haired woman who seemed very close to Norman.

'Maybe it was for her?' thought Stacy, but quickly shook her head, there was no way they were in a relationship, it just wasn't possible.

Gwen forced herself to stop thinking about it and concentrate on her study, but even with her efforts there simply seemed to be something constantly bothering her and her mood dropped a little, something that most of the other members of her team noticed, but in the face of her denial they simply gave up on finding out what was wrong with her.

…

Norman had arrived quickly at The Shelter and on the way he had been notified of Walter and Bucky's arrival, so he knew where they were.

They were in the kitchen of the building while eating what appeared to be a couple of hamburgers while they paid no attention to his arrival.

Norman just walked up to them, Bucky being the first to notice him just saluted him with a little shake of his head, on the other hand Walter as soon as he saw him started talking, "I need a raise or at least a bonus for this mission" he mentioned to him quickly.

"Explain" was the only answer Norman gave him.

"The mission got complicated, Walter was discovered by the security system, and we had to get out of there in a hurry, plus he is not very happy due to the fact that he had to dodge bullets" explained Bucky with indifference.

Norman just looked at Walter looking for a more detailed explanation of Bucky's words.

Hardy let out a sigh, "We got what you wanted, but by the time we got out of the facility, we ended up getting trapped in it, the only way to get out was to force the system in a very direct way which obviously alerted the guards, don't worry we made sure we left no trace that could connect us to the robbery" he mentioned to him sincerely, "I'll explain it better in the report" he added.

"Where are they?" asked Norman conceding Walter's wish.

Bucky just showed a USB stick that had been created by Norman and Walter himself, "All the reports, records and in general all the information is here" he explained.

"However with what happened it is obvious that they will change places so if you were thinking of stealing it or something similar then it will be much more difficult" Bucky continued.

"I never thought about stealing it" Norman replied, "I just wanted to be sure of something" he added as he brought his hand to his memory, "Good job" he mentioned to them before he began to walk out of the room without another word.

"I guess you won't get your raise" Bucky commented to Walter who only let out a disappointed sigh.

"Sometimes this job sucks" was his honest reply.