053

Norman was at The Shelter, originally, he had in his plans to return home as soon as Mary Jane's party was over, but due to the unexpected little discovery in the end his plans changed.

What he saw may have passed as a simple family of three, but there was something distinctive about it, the two older people were a male and female couple perhaps in their 45-50s, but if that was all it was then Norman really wouldn't have done anything or even given it a thought.

But the third person was too familiar for Osborn to not recognize, a girl maybe 14-16 years old with short black hair with Asian features, it was just impossible for him not to make a connection, which took more force at the moment he remembered the Spider-Verse saga.

Norman just looked at the information he had managed to get where he confirmed his suspicions, the girl's name was Peni Parker.

'Damn' thought Osborn.

Because Norman found no benefit in investigating the Parker's, he simply knew nothing about them until tonight, of course in the first moments he wanted to know if Peter's parents worked for Oscorp, but when he found out that they didn't, he simply put it aside and didn't investigate the matter anymore, considering it a waste of time.

However, now he would have to do some research, Norman scolded himself a bit for his foolishness, before starting to work.

Osborn brought his gaze to the hand watch he had, 'Looks like I won't be sleeping for the moment' he thought before shaking his head.

…

Undetermined time later.

Norman had discovered many interesting and somewhat strange things about the Parker family of this universe.

First of all, most of the information about the Parkers was being protected by S.H.I.E.L.D. and from that alone Norman could deduce that there was more than one oddity in the family.

He was not at all disappointed to learn that Richard Parker was one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top agents while his wife Mary was a brilliant scientist, yet a few years ago the plane they were on along with their son simply disappeared somewhere near in the Antarctica.

Even when a considerable amount of search and rescue teams were mobilized they did not find the family or the plane, officially they died in that accident however Norman was a bit skeptical after all they did not find the bodies to have a confirmation.

On the other hand, Ben and May Parker belonged to another scientific branch of S.H.I.E.L.D. that focused on the development of advanced weaponry and despite not getting too much information on the projects being carried out there, he could get an idea due to the knowledge he had from his previous life.

It was probably the Sp//dr armor or suit that would explain Peni's existence in some way, although in this case there was some difference from the origins he knew of the character, since in this universe she had been adopted by Ben and May.

It was a strange thing, but in this world the strange seemed to be the norm, so he couldn't complain.

"Damn, couldn't you just send me to a simpler fucking version of Marvel!" declared Norman to the wind with a bit of a grudge against the deities that sent him to this world. Although looking at it logically in the end it was his fault for agreeing to something like that.

But as it always happens when he asks for some kind of response from the so-called deities, they only remain silent, many times Norman has come to think about Lux's words.

Perhaps there were deities who watched his life as if it were a simple story and perhaps some of them would find it amusing, maybe others would hate it, though if he were someone with that kind of power he would rather be doing more important things than watching a simple human as a means of entertainment.

Stopping thinking about that Norman took his gaze to his watch, at least he could still get some sleep, the next second he simply disappeared from the place where he was.

…

The sun's rays were falling completely on the territory belonging to the Osborn family, most of the residents of the mansion were at work or in their daily activities.

Norman for his part was in the mansion's gym, since a few days ago he had started training Harry, although calling it training was a bit of an exaggeration, since most of the time it wasn't really training and ended up being something more like a game.

Still, it could be said that Norman was laying the groundwork so that when his son was older he could train him more arduously, despite being his father he wouldn't be able to protect him forever and at some point he would have to stand on his own.

At the moment he was alone, as Harry had finished his training and was probably getting ready to go to school.

Norman for his part was just concentrating as he had his eyes closed while meditating, a small feeling of energy coursed through his entire body, Osborn just let it flow, as it felt completely natural.

His teleportation powers had always been a bit of a mystery, of course Norman knew he couldn't expect too much from them being considered an acceptable wish, but at the same time he didn't think it was so simple.

A thought came suddenly to his mind, a sudden epiphany, without wasting time Norman concentrated the energy in his hand, while he opened his eyes. Soon he could see a kind of gray colored knife begin to form and Norman concentrated on seeing it.

'Maybe it's similar to Blink's ability' thought Norman, remembering one of the mutants belonging to Marvel which had a mutation somewhat similar to his teleportation.

"New ability?" a soft voice reached Norman's ears, who quickly turned around and looked at Betsy. Osborn stopped concentrating the energy and the knife began to fade completely.

"Maybe" he told her, even though he had formed a certain friendship with Betsy he preferred to keep most of his abilities secret at least for the time being, when he could trust her completely he might share a little more information with her.

"Well?" asked Norman as he looked at the purple haired woman, "You usually never come to the mansion, so what happened?" he asked already preventing a possible complication.

Betsy just shook her head, "It's not what you think" she told him, "I came to say goodbye" she added.

Norman furrowed his eyebrows slightly at the woman's sudden words, however, before he could ask what Betsy was referring to she spoke again.

"Ducard's plans changed" she began to say, "The league is moving again, and it's likely" she paused before speaking again, "rather, it's certain that I will disappear together with the league for a while" she explained however she didn't give so many details of the situation.

"I see" was the only answer Norman gave, wondering what had happened to make Ducard change his mind, although it wasn't as if he knew about his target in New York either.

Before Betsy could say anything Norman disappeared and for an instant Betsy's mind went blank at Osborn's actions.

A few seconds passed and Betsy shrugged as she began to wait again for Osborn, who took a few minutes to return.

"You know leaving a person like that is rude right?" asked Betsy as soon as she looked at Norman.

Norman ignored her and simply walked over to her before handing her some sort of circular device, "What is that?" asked Betsy.

"You helped me find Jonathan and believe it or not it's something I appreciate, so I think I should somehow return the favor" Norman began to say, "It's a tracking device, although it only works when you press the button" he explained as he showed the device's function.

"Maybe I may not be as powerful as you are at the moment, but I could at least get you out of trouble with my ability, although if it's too risky then I would have to think twice before helping you" he finished by saying, while he was willing to help Betsy that didn't mean he would risk losing his life to do so.

"I wouldn't expect anything else from you" Betsy mentioned to him with a small hint of a smile as she took the device from Norman's hand and put it in one of the pockets of her clothes.

"See you soon Norman" mentioned Betsy after a few seconds of silence as she looked at the green-eyed man and when she didn't get a response she started to leave.

"Try not to die" were the words she heard once she had already turned around and couldn't see at Osborn.

"I've been doing this for years, I won't die so easily" she replied without stopping her pace and this time she no longer received any response.

…

Norman was in The Shelter as he lay on a bed his body was connected by something similar to small tubes to a machine, what he was about to do had only two options either it went very well or it went very badly, there was no other way.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Walter as he watched the newest team member place the serum into a machine that would direct it into Norman's body.

"At this point I'm not sure of anything, even with all my calculations something unforeseen can always happen" he answered truthfully.

"If that's the case why don't you try it on someone else?" asked Forge.

Norman shook his head, "At this point the serum was made specifically for my body, so using it on someone else would not show desired or even valid results" he replied, it was a risk to give someone such a great power.

"You're crazy" was the only response he got from Forge.

"I don't think any of us in this room are sane" this time it was Bucky who spoke and the others agreed with him some more than others.

"Is it ready?" asked Norman, his gaze directed towards Forge.

"It is" he mentioned, "However from what you've told me what's in that serum, if anything ever goes wrong then this little room won't be able to take it" he added.

"I know" Norman told him, "If something goes wrong it is possible that even the whole building will be affected" he continued.

"But in case something like that happens then you must think of something to cover it up," he finished.

A silence fell in the room, no one seemed to dare to speak, "In case" Walter started to say, but hesitantly stopped.

"I won't die Walter" replied Norman acknowledging Hardy's thoughts, "I can't afford to die, not yet" he added.

Walter only nodded before he gave a sigh and turned away, walking out of the room as Forge followed him.

Bucky just stood there for a moment, "Good luck" he mentioned simply before leaving the room.

After a few seconds and in a comfortable position Norman pressed a button and the machine with the serum soon began to work, "If you are there Lux, then I would appreciate your help" he said, but he knew it was unlikely that such a thing would happen.

The serum soon entered his body and the pain soon followed, it was one thing to know the pain in parameters and quite another to feel it in his body. Even when he had mentally prepared himself it was still more pain than he could bear.

He could feel his body slowly changing, to say it was being completely rebuilt was not an exaggeration, the room had long since been slowly melting due to the effect of Extremis.

Norman didn't know how much he had resisted, but his eyelids began to grow heavier and heavier helplessly his eyes closed as his heart began to slow down.

A small mote of white light suddenly appeared in the room and without any warning entered Norman's body, specifically his heart.