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"Are you sure about this?" the question was asked by Bucky whose tone seemed to have a small trace of nervousness.

"Yes, you can rest assured besides that only Extremis will be injected, so there will be no problems, I have already done all the necessary calculations and thanks to the new instruments that Forge built I am sure that no problem will happen" Norman commented quickly.

He was currently in The Shelter while Bucky was on a table like himself a few weeks ago. What he was about to do was to give his most lethal subordinate a power boost with Extremis.

This because he was thinking of starting to expand what could be considered his organization, while he originally wanted to focus on quality over quantity now with Extremis in his hands he could have both.

Norman put that thought aside for a few seconds as he realized he was being watched by the other people in the room.

"I won't lie this might hurt a little, but nothing you can't handle" he mentioned to him simply before the Extremis serum began to be pumped through tubes that were connected to Bucky's body.

As soon as the serum entered Bucky's body he began to twitch erratically and aggressively as muffled screams of pain began to be heard. In a way that was visible to the human eye, the missing arm of the man began to grow in a rapid way as his entire body began to radiate an orange light.

"Was that supposed to happen?" the question with a concerned tone came from Walter who was just watching the scene with a bit of fear.

"Calm down, it will stabilize" Norman mentioned as he looked at the situation Bucky was in.

In spite of the answer he received Walter did not seem to be more relaxed, "You should have a little faith" mentioned Forge casually, of all the people present he seemed to be the calmest.

Norman paid no attention to the little verbal sparring that the two of his subordinates began to have, at this point he was completely used to it happening. All his attention was focused on Bucky.

The minutes were passing quickly and Bucky's condition had slowly but surely started to stabilize, Osborn began to approach to check on his subordinate's condition.

"Am I alive?" asked Bucky in a raspy and hoarse voice.

"It seems to me that you are" replied the Osborn as he let out a small sigh of relief.

The next thing that happened was a series of examinations and tests to see what capabilities he now possessed, generally speaking he may have been stronger than someone who only had Extremis due to the combination of both serums in his body, but he was still weaker than Norman by a good margin.

"It will take me a while to get used to having my arm back" commented Bucky as he brings his other hand towards his newly regained arm.

"I have a question" as if it were a class Walter raised his hand as he looked at Norman who only nodded as a sign that he could ask it.

"Will I also have to go through that same process?" he questioned quickly with a bit of apprehension as he remembered hearing Bucky's cries of pain.

"Possibly however Extremis will not be the serum I will use on you, as while it would be a good option considering your job it would be too idiotic to turn you into a source of orange light" Norman replied.

While Extremis was the serum that gave the most power to its user of all the ones he had in his possession, it would be an illogical action to give it to someone whose job required complete stealth, after all every time he wanted to use his power he would basically turn himself into a sort of walking lamp.

Walter let out a sigh of relief at Norman's words. Forge who had been silent suddenly spoke up "And what about me?" he asked.

"You don't need it" he answered quickly, "Despite your combat experience and military training you are not a fighter, and instead you are a technician" he explained calmly.

Forge just nodded his head finding his words logical even if he did get to fight he would always do it with his inventions and never in a direct way, so there was really no reason to want Extremis even to regain his limbs. Over time, he had grown quite attached to them plus they were a constant reminder to him.

"Bucky once you have control over your body's new strength I want you to start looking for potential recruits for our little group, preferably ex-military who have lost everything or people desperate enough to accept a deal with the devil" Norman expressed himself seriously.

The ex-winter soldier just nodded it wasn't the first time Norman had commented on that plan, but it was the first time he had given an order.

"It would be best if they have combat training, as we wouldn't waste time training them, but that kind of scenario would be unlikely to happen" Norman added as he was lost in thought.

"I understand, I imagine this must be done in total secrecy right?" even though he already knew the answer to his question he still asked it only took one look from Norman to know his answer.

"If you are looking for people you can trust and who are not afraid to get their hands dirty then I can contact my old unit even though most of them are currently working as mercenaries if the right encouragement is given to them then they will be the most loyal men you could ask for" Forge commented sincerely.

"Do it" was Norman's response after thinking about it for a few seconds.

Soon after each of the members of the small team that Osborn had formed began to do their own thing, Walter went back to his family, Forge began to try to communicate with his old unit.

Bucky for his part concentrated on getting used to the new capabilities of his body and after a few hours he had complete control of it, so he immediately went out to fulfill the mission that had been entrusted to him.

For his part Norman was just lying on a sofa in one of the rooms of the building simply lost in his thoughts.

…

The days began to pass again, the actual date was December 7, only three days left for the Nobel Prize ceremony to take place, thanks to the help of Carol who was still fulfilling her role as his secretary he had everything ready for that moment.

For the moment Norman was in The Shelter, for the moment Bucky was on his mission, and it is likely that he would not contact him for the time being. However, he was moving forward with his own projects.

Aside from training from time to time with Felicia while instructing her in her flaws if before Hardy couldn't hit Osborn even once, now that he had unlocked the knowledge and was practicing alongside Val he had practically become untouchable to Felicia.

Though that only seemed to serve as fuel for the white-haired girl who constantly sought to better herself.

Of course, Felicia continued with her little mission and periodically reported her progress to Norman who only listened, as he didn't want to interfere in her decision-making, but for the moment Osborn could tell that Felicia was doing a fantastic job.

His reason for being in the building had to do with Felicia, as she had said she wanted to show him something, so he took some of his time to see what Hardy wanted to show him.

It was because of that he found himself in one of the workshops that were in the building, his attention was focused on several pages of paper that seemed to have on it certain sketches of some sort of somewhat revealing costume.

"No" was the only word that came out of his mouth, his tone made it clear that he didn't want to hear any reply, but this time Felicia wasn't willing to let him go so easily.

"Why not?" she asked quickly, "Dad has his own suit, Bucky does too, even the newest one has his pseudo-suit why can't I have it too?" without giving Norman a break, Felicia began to speak quickly.

"I don't count you, because you could do anything in any kind of outfit, god I'm sure you can kill someone in a business suit and attend a meeting the next second as if nothing happened" she continued with what Norman labeled as delusions.

"Felicia" called Osborn with a tone that soon silenced Hardy, "The suits you mention were designed to aid in everyone's missions, on the other hand, I doubt calling his mechanical limbs a suit is the right thing to do" he explained.

"My suit is also designed that way" with an almost inaudible tone of voice Felicia defended herself.

Thanks to his enhanced senses Norman managed to hear what Felicia had said, and it didn't take him long to answer, "Felicia the suits should be designed to give you protection and be useful" he started to say.

"The design of this suit contributes absolutely nothing to those two points and instead makes you more vulnerable by not giving you enough protection" he finished saying.

Norman could practically see how Felicia's attitude started to become more and more subdued, even for a moment he felt bad that maybe he had been too rude, but he shook his head as he let out a sigh.

"Give me a pencil" Osborn requested softly as he looked at Felicia, "I'll help you make a design that will actually work and please you" he mentioned.

It didn't take long before Felicia smiled and gave what he asked for to Osborn who just took a seat and started with his self-imposed work all while Felicia sat next to him and looked at Osborn with a small smile.

"By the way, when do you plan to decorate the mansion?" asked Felicia after a while, since besides giving certain comments she was not doing anything else.

"You mean?" following the conversation, Norman questioned due to the fact that he did not understand what the white-haired woman meant.

"Christmas decorations a home is not complete at this time of year without decorations" replied Hardy quickly.

Norman thought about his answer for a few seconds, "I don't know, usually that's something Bernard takes care of" he mentioned simply, as it was something old Norman had never been interested in and the only reason he used to celebrate it was because Emily loved doing it.

"So how about doing it tomorrow?" the question from Felicia took him by surprise, "We could go buy all the decorations tomorrow and start putting them up" she started to say, but before she could say anything else Norman spoke up.

"Remember that I will be leaving soon, and I don't think we can finish decorating the whole mansion before then" he pointed out.

Felicia just struck a thoughtful pose, "No problem!" she exclaimed cheerfully, "We buy everything tomorrow or at least a big part of it and when you get back we start decorating, it will be fun to do plus I bet Harry will like it too" she explained quickly not leaving an option for Norman to refuse.

Although it's not like Norman was thinking of declining as it might be a good activity to do, "That's fine" he replied, "However keep it as a surprise for Harry" he added after a bit.

"Of course" with a bright smile Felicia replied.

…

The next day Felicia showed up in the morning at the Osborn mansion to carry out the activity she had agreed with Norman, of course, although it was a somewhat simple activity and one that practically most families did every year.

This time it was the first time that the Osborn family did it, so little Harry was really excited and happy when he was revealed the plans they were planning to do, maybe the fact that he could also miss school helped a little.

That way and for most of the morning and a small part of the afternoon the three of them went from one mall to another being guided by Felicia in search of holiday decorations.

Norman noticed that Felicia's attitude seemed to be a little different from it was usually, if he had to say one word to tell her change perhaps it would be that she felt a little more natural. Osborn could tell that the young woman was having fun on their little trip which in a way ended up making Norman and Harry themselves happy.

The only downside of the trip might be the people who recognized him, but anyway most of the time a simple glance made them go on their way and when that wasn't enough, and they went far enough to try to take a picture unfortunately his cell phone started to crash.

This was because Norman could see all the media chaos that would be created if a photo of what appeared to be a small family outing was uploaded to the internet, it would simply be a headache to deal with.

Luckily for them the trip was over and Norman was now standing next to Felicia and Harry taking the newly purchased decorations down from their car with Bernard's help into one of the mansion's storage rooms.

When all the purchases were finished being brought down by unanimous decision it was decided that it was time for lunch, although it was more correct to say that it was time for dinner, as night had recently started to fall.

While Norman was having a nice dinner made by Bernard along with Felicia and Harry, the television began to show an emergency bulletin about a catastrophic situation at Stark Industries.

The images showed two figures made of what appeared to be metal fighting each other, however the images were soon completely cut off and the signal was completely lost.

'S.H.I.E.L.D.' Norman thought it was likely that they didn't want the news to report the fact, at least not so soon. Osborn thought for a few seconds if he needed to teleport to California and help Tony in his fight, but in the end he let him off anyway the winner was decided.

"The world is getting stranger and stranger" mentioned Bernard while Felicia and Norman nodded silently, Harry for his part looked a little confused.

Before anyone could speak, a sound of alarm began to be heard over the television as it flashed images through the lenses of security cameras.

"They got past the security perimeter" Bernard commented quickly.

On the television they could see about 4 completely black vans with nothing that could serve as identification as they drove in a speeding manner towards the mansion.

One of the cameras closest to the route of the vans managed to capture for a few seconds the inside of them, fully armed and hooded men was what Norman could observe, a flash of anger showed in his usually indifferent eyes.

The change did not go unnoticed by Felicia who had moved towards the little boy to block his view not knowing what kind of situation was going on, the change in Norman's attitude made her realize she had done the right thing.

"Felicia take Harry to the last room of the right wing of the mansion" ordered Norman while he looked at the white-haired girl.

For an instant the mentioned wanted to reply, but she knew it wasn't the time nor the situation to do so, the room he mentioned basically was the panic room that was in the mansion so without a doubt the situation was wrong.

Felicia bit her lips for a second and then began to do as Norman ordered while carrying a confused and nervous Harry in her arms.

Bernard who had momentarily disappeared returned a few seconds after Felicia had left along with various weapons that were in the Osborn mansion.

"Bernard go with them," Norman told him.

"I regret to tell you that I will have to refuse that order" he mentioned as he took a shotgun in his hands and began to load it with ammo.

"I have served you for a long time sir, so you should know that the only way for me to leave you in a situation like this is with my death, so I suggest you stop wasting your time, take a gun and prepare yourself for the situation we will be in shortly." he explained calmly, almost as if it was something completely normal.

Norman shook his head as he did as his butler had instructed, honestly he could take care of all the men on his own, as in his current state he posed no threat, but no doubt this would be investigated by S.H.I.E.L.D. and he didn't want any more trouble with them than he currently had.

"Sometimes I wonder what I've done to make you so loyal" Norman mentioned sincerely, even now he didn't understand how it was that despite the things the old Norman did he still had someone who would be willing to give his life for him.

"That's my duty sir" commented Bernard.

The two men's conversation continued with small jokes between them, somewhat strange considering the potentially dangerous situation they were in.

The night had fallen completely in Osborn mansion if someone with sharp senses were in their territories could realize that the atmosphere was strange, the calm before the storm, probably the most visible feature of the mansion at the moment was the presence of dozens of crows flying and landing on it.