72 The Enhanced Bub

"James. You are early." I smiled at the man that was fidgeting in his seat. 

James was not used to staying still but not everyone is going to move according to his wishes— he needs to learn patience. 

"You called me at nine, and I am on time." He replied with a frown.

Chortling at his demeanour, I shook my head. "I called you at nine, you are here half an hour early."

He stopped fidgeting and looked at the clock. Realising that I was correct, he replied with an 'Oh.'

"I have yet to prepare the things, so you will have to wait for the time being." I said and he nodded— begrudgingly.

Despite looking pissed, he didn't argue. Over our countless meetings, he has calmed down quite a lot. Losing to Romulus and having his son taken away was a major blow to his ego. To him, even asking for my help was done only for his son's safety. 

Not that I mind helping... as both he and Daken are going to be great assets for the future.

His personality is not the only thing that has improved… His abilities have improved too. He has been training like a madman and his growth is apparent in his physique.

Going through the files about his anatomy, I walked inside the genetics lab— leaving James on his own. 

Lennon works in this lab from time to time and that's one of the reasons I am not surprised to find him inside the lab with his blood-red eyes— proof that he hasn't slept in a long time.

He is greedy about science and not power. That's one of the reasons I trust him… the other reason being the mind alterations that were done on him. Selene's great with such things. 

"Lennon. Shouldn't you be taking some rest?" I asked, walking towards him with a smile. "Health comes before research."

"Oh, Mr. Hanley. I didn't realise you were in the office." He said. "And I was just finishing this equation."

"Don't push yourself too hard… and do you remember the files that I gave you?" I asked and he raised an eyebrow. Looking at his confused face, I sighed. He has been too focused on the Sentry Serum. "The enhanced skeletal project."

Realisation dawned upon him as I took the project's name.

"Ah, yes. It's done." He answered while nodding vigorously. "The corrected file is in the fourth compartment."

"Alright." I walked towards the shelf and took out a green file from the fourth compartment.

A smile appeared on my face as I went through it. "Perfect."

I gave Lennon a nod before walking out of the Genetics lab. James was still sitting in the same place… something that was quite surprising.

"Alright, Wolverine. We can do the experiment." I looked at him. "But are you sure about this? This is going to be one of the worst pains you will ever experience."

He frowned. "I survived the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Bub. I can handle pain."

True that… He walked out of the wastelands as a walking zombie with flesh burnt and bones sticking out of his body. 

"Very well then… Follow me."

Saying that, I walked towards my personal lab with James following behind. 

The door to the lab opened after scanning my heartbeat, fingerprint, voice and retina. 

This lab was just as big as the genetics one but this one has far more expensive, dangerous and valuable resources. 

Well, most of the valuables were kept underground but to any researcher, this lab was a goldmine.

"Lay on the operating bed over there." I said pointing towards the geared up bed. "We will begin the surgery in ten minutes. Till then, calm your body and mind."

After careful consideration, I have decided to go with the new and improved anti-metal to use as a skeletal coating. While it is not as strong as adamantium, anti-metal has far more abilities than it. The newer variant took inspiration from adamantium to improve its strength but it is still nowhere near as strong as proto-adamantium.

But does it matter? Wolverine has one of the best regenerative abilities so even if his bones are broken— he can repair them instantly. Not that they are going to break anytime soon as this variant of anti-metal is still ten times stronger than human bones. 

As he laid on the bed, I ran a scan over him. The skeletal and nervous system outlines were necessary in order to make a proper coating. 

The ninjas had received anti-metal coating at specific parts of their bodies like the fists, legs and necks. And I plan to do the same for the rest of the members as well. James is going to be the first and only member to have his entire skeletal structure altered and covered in anti-metal.

Well, he is the only one that can survive through the pain. 

Once his skeletal structure is properly coated, I can inject him with the third variant of Super Soldier Serum… and yes. He is going to be the only person who will receive this.

"What are you doing?" James asked in confusion as I tied him up on the bed with metal chains. 

"You will need these, trust me." 

He frowned looking at my smile, but didn't say anything. 

Taking out multiple pipes from the storage, I inserted them inside him by poking small holes on his skin. The anti-metal variant is designed to stick to bones… How did I do that? 

Well by making it able to sense large calcium deposits and bone tissue. And bones and teeth are the best calcium deposits.

"Prepare yourself." I said. "I am going to start pumping the anti-metal inside you."

He gritted his teeth and nodded.

"Here we go." Saying that, I turned the knob and the liquid form of anti-metal flowed through the pipes.

It didn't take long for him to realise the fluid entering his body as he started jolting and writhing in pain. 

"Bear it. It's just the beginning… it's going to get worse." I said as he frowned but nodded.

His body started turning red as the fluid pushed the blood through the veins and arteries while it went towards the bones. It neglected the blood and organs and rushed straight towards the bones.

In the movies, adamantium was given to him by having his bones poked by needles thus the adamantium entered his bone marrow while also covering the surface of the bone.

But this fluid is different. It will do that without having to poke him with needles. Bones have tiny pores, and they will absorb the remaining anti-metal which will in turn enhance the insides of his bones.

"*ARGGHH!*" 

The pain got worse and he started to grit his teeth and tighten his fists to the point of drawing blood. 

"It's alright. You won't die." I assured, keeping track of his vitals. They were all over the place but I knew he would be able to make it.

Blood gushed out of his mouth, eyes, nose and ears but the anti-metal was doing its magic. His bone strength was improving and it was apparent from the scans.

His movements started to include muffled cries… which meant the outer coating was done and now the fluid was entering inside his bones through the pores. 

Which meant… double pain.

He started banging the back of his head in the bed, hoping to distract himself— but it didn't work.

"Don't worry, you are almost done." I said watching the vitals. 

His muffled screams went on for another five minutes before he started to calm down. His regenerative ability is natural and he has been able to survive an atomic bomb, so he took this relatively well.

The anti-metal inside him is similar to mine but his one is purified while mine is not. Mine doesn't affect me but if I would have used the unpurified anti-metal that I used on myself... the results would have been horrendous.

The only difference between the anti-metal inside us is the strength of the metal and its special ability.

My anti-metal is weaker than his… durability wise his is better. While ability-wise, mine can break the bonds of almost all elements— while his can't. 

To put it simply, his one improved his defence while mine improved my offence.

Huffing and sweating— he looked at me. 

"Is it done?"

In the movie, he died for some time— but with anti-metal, he only went through the pain and there were not any significant backlashes.

"The durability of your bones have improved plus you also received the ability to melt metals… well break the atomic bonds but it's quite difficult to explain." I shrugged. "Try bringing out your claws and breaking the chains."

He nodded and extended his claws— but his eyes widened once those claws touched the chains. The chains started to vaporise and within seconds— he was free.

"What… are these?" He was surprised to see his new claws.

Instead of his previous bone claws— now he had green metallic claws with purple tips.

"Anti-metal claws… You can cut through almost anything like butter and even elements that can't be naturally destroyed… can be vaporised using those claws. Additionally, your bones are now ten times stronger." 

"That's… amazing." He said and I agreed.

"It is." A smile appeared on my face. "But there is another thing that you need to receive?"

"Wha-"

Before he could finish asking, I injected him with the Super Soldier Serum.

And before he could process what just happened— his body reacted to the serum.

"*AHHHHHH!*"

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[[A/N: I spent 8 hours straight coding… So, yeah… this chapter is indeed late. 

As for buffing Wolverine— he is going to be a major asset for MC. 

Now some Marvel facts: (1) Since I am using the externals… Imma explain them.

Externals (not to be confused with Eternals) are a subspecies of mutants who are seemingly immortal. And even if they are 'killed' they can simply resurrect. Some ways to kill them— which prevents them from resurrecting are— Sucking out life force, destroying their soul, erasing their existence (reality warp) and killing them before they awakened their powers (time travel).

Selene in the og Comics killed them by absorbing their life force. 

Some notable Externals are: Absalom, Apocalypse (Selene refuses to acknowledge him as an external as his immortality is cuz of celestial tech), Burke, Candra, Cannonball (again… Selene refuses to acknowledge him as an External), Crule, Gideon, Nicodemus, Saul, Selene and White Sword. (Sunspot was also considered an External).

For additional info, search for their wiki as it would take forever to talk about them. 

(2) The group Inhumans… have a dog called Lockjaw who was a result of an experiment by inhuman tech. It is five-feet in height and weighing over 1,240 pounds. It has the ability to teleport anywhere and everywhere (as long as it can survive there) and also has the ability to predict the future.

Truly a super dog.]]