074

Christmas Day had passed in a swift, cheerful and comfortable manner for the Osborn family, both Harry and Norman had had a good day, although the second one had many thoughts on his mind.

The next day Osborn simply continued with his daily routine, currently the Connors Formula marketing expansion project required a great deal of his attention and he could not afford to waste any more time.

In fact, in order to take the entire previous day off he had to push certain meetings and work forward. Sure in the end it was a small cost, but it was still somewhat inconvenient. In any case, Osborn would not have the opportunity to take another day off for a while.

…

Norman was in his office while reading the most recent report from Oscorp's recreational technology section who were in charge of the project temporarily named Oscorp Game Cube, although that name had changed some time ago.

Shortly before the month of December began, the team in charge of the project had managed to finish it completely. No doubt it was a pleasant surprise for Norman and the following steps were easy to handle, at least more so than the ones he had to do with the Connors Serum.

After all, you can't compare the two markets, as they are fundamentally different. The console that had been successfully created was named PlayStation, Norman would admit that he was surprised to hear that name, after all he was caught off guard that they had come up with the same name as one of the consoles from his previous life.

Anyway, he paid no attention to it, since in his current world there was no console with that name, and therefore it would not give them any kind of legal problem to name it in such a way.

The fact that Oscorp was entering the recreational technology industry had taken many people by surprise. In fact, since the announcement of the launch of the console was made, there were people who criticized for no apparent reason about the decision they made and demanded that they focus on scientific advances.

None of that mattered to Norman, who simply ignored any such comments with such intent. Although he was now seen as someone who could cause a revolution in the scientific field he was still a businessman and whenever there was such a good opportunity to make money he was likely to take it.

The console was launched on Christmas Day of course, this was after Oscorp had promoted it as the perfect gift for children and young people and even adults. The console included two exclusive games, both games were very similar to The Legend of Zelda and Metroid.

Norman, while surprised at the similarities of the console and the video games to those of his previous life, didn't think much of it. After all, there was no point in thinking about things that would never be answered.

In his hand was the sales report that the console had had the previous day, and although he expected some moderate success, he never thought it would be so successful. It could be said that the profits it had generated were astronomical, and there were reports that stocks in most of the stores were completely sold out.

As he was reading the sales report, a cup of tea was placed on his desk in such a way as not to disturb him. "Thank you" mentioned Osborn, glancing quickly at Alice before raising the cup to his lips to sip some of its contents.

Osborn's secretary merely nodded her head with a soft smile, tactfully indicating that there was no need for such a compliment. In a natural manner she withdrew a little from her boss's work area and simply stood in silence, just waiting.

Norman took his time to finish reading the reports that had been handed to him, after all if it was something really important Alice would inform him immediately, and she would not have acted that way.

Once he finished he simply placed the reports on the desk and proceeded to look at his secretary, "Go ahead" he indicated while taking some of the tea she had prepared for him.

She immediately understood that it was her turn to speak, "The meeting with General Ross was scheduled in two days" she mentioned, "I had originally planned to schedule it for the first days of January, but due to conflicts in the agenda of both, there was no other option but to do it that day" she added quickly, explaining her actions.

Norman closed his eyes, maybe it was a little earlier than planned, but he also thought that in that way it would be better, whether the meeting would bring him benefits or not it was better to end that kind of situation as soon as possible.

Alice watched Norman's reaction, trying to figure out the thoughts he had due to the situation he was in, even if she couldn't understand everything, she thought that somehow Norman had some reluctance towards the meeting that would take place in a very few days.

"Should I cancel the appointment?" she asked, receiving in return a curious look from the Oscorp Founder, "It's just that you seem reluctant to be involved in such a scenario" realizing that the curiosity present in Norman's attractive eyes had to be satiated she continued talking.

"Hmm" Norman's contemplative gaze fell on the beautiful figure of the blonde spy, she usually kept to the sidelines no matter what situation she was in, so he was curious at her action.

"Tell me, Alice, why do you think I am reluctant to reunite with General Ross?" questioned the Osborn.

Alice just kept quiet, she had overstepped her bounds with that question, after all her mission was only to observe and report, but not to intervene in Norman's decisions and actions.

However, since she had reached this point she had to continue, plus maybe that way she could find out a little more about the line of thinking her target had.

Her mind began to analyze all the information she had gathered about Norman's personality. She immediately dismissed the possibility that it was due to some kind of fear, after all, she doubted that Norman could even feel such an emotion.

Besides, the way he acted was akin to finding a situation troubling rather than terrifying, yet the question remained, why did he have reluctance in him? Norman had never acted that way in any previous meeting, no matter who he was dealing with he would remain calm.

An idea came to her mind after analyzing everything she knew about Norman, "Maybe you are not comfortable having ties to the military?" she asked with some uncertainty in her voice, as despite coming to that conclusion, she did not have much confidence in her.

However, she believed it was the only reason there could be, after all since Oscorp had been created it had never had any kind of relationship with the military. Something that certainly made it stand out from its rival companies, as all of them had more than one deal with the military.

The answer she received after her question was simply a smile from Norman, along with a small flash of appreciation that passed through his eyes as he watched her. She really didn't know how to feel at the look the target of her mission was giving her.

"May I know the reason for that thought?" she asked hesitantly, she wanted to hear why a man like Norman didn't want to have a relationship that would undoubtedly benefit Oscorp.

Norman was silent, thinking about whether he should answer her question, although there was no reason why he shouldn't, there was also no reason why he should share such information with an S.H.I.E.L.D. spy.

"The answer is extremely simple" he spoke after a few seconds of consideration, "Would you be willing to place a slave collar on yourself for your own free will?" asked Norman.

Before Alice could respond to his answer, Norman continued with his words, "I have no problem or grudge with the military, however, having ties with them for me is like placing a restrictive collar on myself" his words were spoken in a calm manner.

"Take the current situation of Anthony Stark and Stark Industries as an example, for years they had been the loyal armorers of the US military, however, that was not without certain restrictions that Stark Industries had to deal with for years" he began to state in a simple manner.

"Until a few months ago when Anthony decided to close down the weapons manufacturing section and with that also cut their ties with the military, now I understand that being a unilateral break they need some sort of compensation, however, what they are looking for is only weapons and power" for a moment Norman stopped talking thinking how he should approach his next statements.

"Now with Anthony's most recent invention their goals immediately changed to getting that armor, and I am sure they will get it in one way or another, no matter what they have to do, after all they will only hide their hunger for power and greed behind patriotism" he finished saying, and the room fell completely silent.

Alice was silent throughout Norman's speech, trying to understand his words and actions. Osborn just watched the blonde woman as he finished the tea she had prepared for him a short time before.

"Maybe I'm paranoid, maybe I'm prejudiced, probably a little of both, but I'm a person who thinks and believes that having a tie with the military will bring more trouble and loss than benefit" after those words Osborn remained silent and proceeded to continue with his work.

After a few seconds of having a debate with herself about Norman's words, Alice just picked up the tea cup before leaving the office, for some reason her mood was somewhat chaotic.

…

Norman's footsteps stopped at the front door of the laboratory of Maya Hansen, the undisputed leader of Extremis research and experimentation. Osborn had come to have a little discussion with Maya after reading the latest report he had just received from her.

Without thinking too much about his actions, Osborn opened the door to the lab and proceeded to step inside. His vision focused on the figure of two women who were looking at what appeared to be a series of letters on one of the computers in the room.

At the same time they seemed to be arguing with each other, the younger one with blonde hair was taking notes in a small notebook she held in her hands and occasionally shook her head. The older one had brown hair and was looking at the information on the screen with an analytical look.

They were both talking to each other, discussing the results of the most recent simulations they had done, they were so focused on their work that they didn't notice Norman's arrival even if he hadn't tried to hide.

A slight cough was all it took for Norman to make his presence known, there were two different types of reactions, the blonde immediately turned around, but when she looked at Norman a soft smile formed on her face.

On the other hand, the brunette basically jumped out of her seat it was only a second later that she calmed down and looked to see that it was only her boss, "Damn it Norman you need to stop sneaking up behind people like that!" Maya exclaimed with indignation in her voice.

"First of all Miss Hansen I didn't sneak up behind you, you were just so focused that you didn't notice my arrival, secondly, only a person with a guilty conscience would react in such a way, after all Oscorp takes the safety of its employees completely seriously" pointed out Osborn imperatively.

Maya just kept silent as she rearranged various things she had on her desk, but which by her jumping had been moved elsewhere. Gwen soon helps her by taking pity on her current co-worker and temporary mentor.

"What do I owe the visit in any case? All the discoveries and details about the progress of the research are in the report," she asked curiously, but at the same time professionally.

"I know, I just read the report, I just want to hear personally why you think it's a good idea to start experimentation so soon?" questioned Osborn.

"I understand the skepticism that such an action may generate, but you must keep in mind that previously the Extremis research had achieved a small level of success, however, due to the destruction of A.I.M. most of the data was destroyed" Maya started to say in a serious manner adopting a somber attitude when she mentioned the destruction of A.I.M.

"It would be no exaggeration to say that thanks to the help of the equipment Oscorp provided I could have started immediately with the experimentation phase of the project, but I wanted to make sure you had a certainty of what was being done and that is why I continued with the research from zero" Maya's thoughts were revealed in a simple way.

Norman was silent for a few seconds, "I will need to see the results of the experiments, but if I see something that is not to my liking then they will be suspended until I say the contrary" were his only words.

Once the main reason behind why Norman showed up at the lab was resolved, Osborn ended up helping both scientists a bit, after all, he had long since solved the Extremis problem.

The only reason he didn't share such information with Maya was because he didn't consider that she needed it, he knew that sooner or later she would find the solution on her own, plus it was a good learning opportunity for Gwen.

Once he figured out why he took his time to come to the lab and after a brief chat with the two women, Norman went back to his normal work. He could see how Gwen seemed to want to talk to him, but even when he asked if anything was going on, she just shook her head, so he didn't think much of it.

Time passed steadily, and soon it would be time to leave work and go home, Norman was reading the latest reports on the application and sale of the Connors Serum.

Small knocks from his office door reached his ears, "Come in" he mentioned without even looking up.

"What's going on Alice?" asked Norman, since the only one who entered her office was her, with the only exception being Felicia, but she never knocked on the door she just walked in without even asking.

"Miss Stacy asked me to deliver this to you," she said quickly as she walked over to the Osborn's desk before placing a small black colored box along with a white envelope in an area of the desk that wouldn't disturb Norman.

Hearing that it was a request from Gwen, Norman brought his gaze quickly to the box, finding it a bit curious, with his right hand he drew both items towards himself while with his left he gave a small signal to Alice to leave.

Once Alice left his office, Osborn without much thought decided to open first the white envelope which turned out to be a handwritten letter, Norman could recognize at a glance that it was Gwen's handwriting.

The letter explained that the box was a small gift that Stacy wanted to give him for Christmas, although it was also a way of thanking him for having taken care of her, guiding her and supporting her until today.

At this point Norman understood what Gwen wanted to tell him in the lab, putting down the letter that Gwen had written Osborn proceeded to look at the small black box.

After a few seconds he opened it and his eyes reflected what appeared to be a black pen with gold details running across its entire surface, he could also see an inkwell in another space in the box.

Added to both of these was a small leather notebook with a simple, but elegant carving on its cover that formed the word Osborn. Norman couldn't suppress a soft smile as he saw his last name carved into the notebook as if he were a child.

He honestly never expected Gwen to give him a gift and even if she had, he would never have thought it would be a fountain pen, however, once he thought about it, he realized that it really was a gift that went very well with his style.

After a few seconds Norman took one of his hands to one of the pockets of his suit where he had placed his phone, once he took it out of his pocket he simply opened the messaging app before browsing through it and finding Gwen's contact.

His fingers pressed various keys before sending a message, "Thank you for the gift, it was a very nice surprise and I will certainly appreciate it" after that, Osborn put his phone away again and went back to what he was doing before Alice entered his office.

…

In a car heading towards Battery Park City was Gwen Stacy having a conversation with her mother, mainly about the events that had happened in both of their days.

Their conversation soon veered away from the usual chatter and ended up dealing with Norman's reaction to receiving her gift, Gwen wasn't entirely sure why her mother was so interested in something like that, but she answered truthfully.

The only detail she could tell was that somehow her mother seemed a little disappointed when she heard that she didn't deliver the present personally, it's not like she didn't want to do it, it's just that she was too nervous to do it that way.

"Even though you had your reasons I consider that it would have been much better to deliver the gift personally, you spent days thinking what kind of gift you could give him besides you had to go through trouble because it was a personalized gift" Helen mentioned with a little reproachful tone.

"It's always easy to say that when you see it from the position of an observer and not who is actually going through such a situation," Gwen responded aptly to her mother's comment.

Before Helen could speak again a small sound was heard all around her, Gwen quickly reached into one of her pants pockets and grabbed her phone as she had recognized the sound as the one she had set for message notifications.

Her gaze quickly noted who the message was from and a small gleam of anticipation and uncertainty passed through her beautiful blue eyes, she nervously opened the message and read it.

They were simple words that formed a small sentence, but that had caused a beautiful smile to appear on her face, Gwen knew very well the personality and temperament that Norman possessed and knew that he would never say empty words, so the words he wrote were completely sincere.

Her gift had indeed pleased him and that thought brought overwhelming joy and happiness to her being, "I guess by your giddy and happy look that the gift was quite a success wasn't it?" in the midst of her thought she heard her mother's question.

"It was" she only said two words because there was no need to say more.

Helen just kept silent as she watched out of the corner of her eye her daughter acting so strangely compared to her usual acting, the sound of the phone keys being pressed reached her ears which gave her the idea that Gwen was answering Norman.

The older blonde had to temporarily stop the car because there was a red light at the traffic light, so she took the opportunity to get a better look at her daughter's expression.

She clearly recognized her daughter's dumbfounded expression and let out a sigh, the only thought she had in her mind was that from what she had seen about Norman was that he was someone who could be a very good match for her daughter.

When the light changed to green Helen started the car again, Gwen for her part had exchanged a few messages with Norman before putting her phone away again.

She then proceeded to lean her head against the window of the car as she watched people, buildings and more pass by, a bright smile was on her face all the way home.