'I didn't expect them to move so quickly,' Nyx mused as she and Harry listened to Madison, whose real name was Maria Hill, 'It was a good call planting the bug on her.'
'Her surface thoughts were too still and cautious for a regular human, she took note of all the exits in the room and the number of security guards with firearms.' Harry explained happy that he caught the anomaly but still perturbed that his public persona was drawing so much attention within such a short time span, 'The only question is who she's working for.'
'At least her assignment is in a purely observational capacity, for now.' Nyx observed as Maria continued her extremely detailed report even repeating the lengthy code that Harry had typed into the elevator to access the underground laboratory.
'If push comes to shove I could kill her with a thought, but that will only cause a greater retaliation from whatever organization she belongs to and I don't feel like antagonizing an enemy I have no information on.' Harry explained, 'We'll continue observation and monitoring, but I have a hunch she wasn't sent here to kill me or to steal my work. It's almost as if she's evaluating me, though what for I have no idea.'
Before Nyx and Harry could continue their conversation a hand snaked across Harry's neck before gently turning his head to the side, "Stop talking and go to bed, I don't like that my body pillow is so active."
"You do realize that we don't need to sleep right?" Harry asked with a smirk and Betty gently slapped his chest in retribution, "Yeah but it still feels nice."
Harry sighed but instead of complaining he wrapped his arm around Betty's warm body pulling her in close and repeating it with Liz who had fallen asleep long ago, "I should just create another body specifically for you two."
"Don't act like you don't enjoy it," Betty muttered as she wrapped herself around Harry's arm sandwiching him between her breasts, "Besides we always thank you in the morning and it's only a matter of time before who knows how many other women are crowding up your bed."
Unable to think of a response Harry decided to just enjoy the fact that he was falling asleep with two beautiful naked women.
---
Turning over in her bed MJ tried to ignore the drunken screams coming from downstairs, it was the usual argument with her mother insisting they needed money and her father claiming his book would be a smashing success and blaming the fact that it had taken years to do so on everything else but his mediocre writing.
'I have to get out of here,' MJ thought for the millionth time as she curled up in her bed as a burning fire ate away at her. The desperation to be more than just another girl with a mediocre life, MJ wanted to be extraordinary, someone that people looked up to and aspired to be.
A loud crash cut through the screaming making MJ flinch in her bed and shocking her back awake, 'That's it I can't take it any longer.'
Sitting up in bed MJ reached over and grabbed her phone barely even having to scroll through her contacts before she found the number she was looking for.
Her call went to voicemail but that still didn't ease MJ's nerves as she was so unused to asking for anything from anyone, "Hey Harry it's MJ, I have a big favor to ask."
---
Opening her eyes the first thing Maria felt was the outline of the gun beneath her pillow, instantly assuring her that things hadn't gone wrong while she was asleep.
Looking at the clock Maria saw it was almost four in the morning, 'I guess I decided to sleep in...I should still have time to fit in physical training.'
But before she could get out of bed Maria's phone flashed a notification and she looked over to find it was from her new boss.
'Morning Madison, don't know when you'll be seeing this, but I have exciting news. We have our first volunteer willing to undergo meta-conversion, so I'll need all the necessary forms and contracts so we can begin cultivation. Also, I've changed the passkey for the Meta-Labs it should now operate using biometrics and I've already taken the liberty of registering your signature to the elevator.
Harry Osborn, Executive Director of Meta-X'
"When did he have time to do all of that?" Maria muttered as she got out of bed, and moved to get ready completely dismissing her morning training.
Needless to say, Harry Osborn had been an unexpected anomaly in Maria's mission. The file on him, which only existed due to him being Norman's son, was shockingly brief only noting an above-average IQ and a catastrophic medical diagnoses nearly three years ago. After that, Harry had been kept out of the public eye and hadn't been seen until this year when he suddenly began registering for patents every other day and selling them to various companies amassing not a small fortune.
It was enough to get the attention of the higher-ups who placed Harry on passive monitorization to track his movements. Though it was almost as if he was expecting someone to be watching him considering all the precautions he's taken.
Originally Maria had believed it to be the father using the son as a proxy but after what Harry had revealed yesterday she believed that Harry was fooling even his father, 'At least he's still naive enough to trust someone he's met only a day ago. I almost feel bad about abusing his trust, hopefully, he turns into an asset rather than a threat.'
---
Stepping off the elevator Maria blinked as she found a completely different sight waiting for her. The dark muted greys and steel fixings of the hallway had been replaced by white sterile hexagonal tiles that reflected the almost blinding recessed lighting banishing even the idea of a shadow.
'How...did I get off on the right floor?' Stepping out of the elevator Maria walked down the transformed hallway until she arrived at the hangar door which was already open revealing that the interior had been changed as well.
Now in addition to the what used to be the main and only cylindrical vat in the center of the room, a series of smaller containers were arranged in an array around the room.
Inside each of the containers several robotic arms waited idly equipped with almost microscopic needles and forceps that seemed far too small for any practical use.
As for the central vat, it had been replaced by a monstrous structure that stretched from floor to ceiling. Even after staring at it for a long moment, Maria couldn't even begin to decipher its purpose. The large collum was nearly ten feet in diameter but instead of being solid, it consisted of a honeycomb lattice with over a hundred empty cells, though what belonged inside Maria hadn't the slightest clue.
"I know it's a lot to take in," Harry suddenly spoke up as he walked around the far side of the collum making Maria jump, "I would say that's a bit of an understatement...did you do all of this overnight?"
Harry nodded and wiped his hands off on a dirty rag which is when Maria realized that he had shed his fancy lab coat for a white wifebeater that was smudged with grease and oil alike, "I'm good with my hands what can I say."
Unable to help herself Maria's eyes trailed from Harry's chest to his shoulder and arms, 'And I'm supposed to believe this kid was terminally ill for three years.'
"Alright, but what was the budget for all of this? Because we still haven't hired any personnel or done a cost-profit analysis." Maria advised as she went to pull up a spreadsheet on her electronic pad.
"Don't worry about the budget," Harry interrupted making Maria pause, "Paid for it out of my own pocket, but you're right we should sit down at some point and go over the painstaking details."
Maria nodded after a second thankful that Harry hadn't spent all of their money, 'I don't need this imaginary job to become more stressful than my real one.'
"That's great but how about we discuss, all of this, first," Maria asked as she gestured to the entire room and its sci-fi technology.
"Right, where to start," Harry muttered as he clapped his hands and looked around the room before fixating on the vats, "Well these are Cultivation Vats, they'll be our bread and butter for a majority of the procedures we carry out. This is what we'll use to accelerate cellular growth and modify the body part we grow or create."
"Uhuh, and what about that big thing in the middle," Maria asked as pointed at the honeycomb pillar.
"That is the piece of resistance, I call it the Codex," Harry announced with a gleam in his eyes, "Once things are up and running we'll need a place to store all the genetic information used in our experiments."
"You need that big thing to store a bunch of microscopic DNA?" Maria asked questioning the Codex's practicality.
"It's not just storage but security, every cell is insulated at optimal temperatures to preserve genetic material, fed a nutrient slurry to stabilize growth with a backup power with a three-month-long lifespan," Harry corrected eagerly, "It may seem like overkill, but I plan to collect as many genomes as possible from every superhero we employ and supervillain we defeat."
"That seems quite excessive, and the ethics certainly land in a morally grey area," Maria criticized as she stared at Harry trying to tamp down his expectations though he didn't seem to have the desired effect.
"Maybe, but it's like you said, people will always come around with time, and results," Harry grinned as his amber eyes shone, "So let's get to work."