What if you combined all three?
Virtual reality for perfect, repeatable practice scenarios. tDCS to enhance the motor cortex during practice. Advanced AI to provide instant feedback on form and technique. And his own enhanced intellect to optimize the entire system.
Could you trick the body into thinking it had done ten thousand reps when it had only done one thousand? Could you compress years into months?
The science said maybe.
His enhanced intellect said probably.
He started sketching the design in his notebook.
A VR headset for immersive visual training. Motion capture sensors to track body movement in real space.
An AI system analyzing movement and comparing to optimal form. tDCS electrodes targeting motor cortex regions.
Electromyography sensors reading muscle activation patterns.
All connected to a central computer system that would create a feedback loop. The AI would show perfect technique in VR. James would attempt to replicate it. Sensors would track his movement.
AI would identify deviations from optimal form. Feedback would be instantaneous, both visual and through subtle electrical stimulation guiding correct muscle activation.
It was ambitious. Probably crazy.
But the theory was sound.
James calculated rough costs in the margin of his notebook. High-end VR development kit, twenty thousand. Motion capture system, fifteen thousand.
Medical-grade tDCS equipment, eight thousand. EMG sensors, five thousand. Computing hardware capable of real-time AI analysis, twenty thousand.
Laboratory space and power, ten thousand. Miscellaneous components, cables, safety equipment, twelve thousand.
Ninety thousand dollars minimum.
He had fifty-three thousand.
Not enough.
James closed his notebook and stared at the library ceiling.
He needed more capital. Needed it fast. Sports betting could get him there eventually, but too slow.
He'd already made fifty thousand in six weeks. To make another forty thousand through betting would take at least another month, probably two.
Two months was too long.
He needed a bigger win. A single large payoff.
Stock market maybe?
James had been avoiding stocks because the risk was higher and his comic book knowledge was fuzzy on specific dates.
He remembered broad strokes. Wayne Enterprises would grow. LexCorp would become a powerhouse.
Certain pharmaceutical companies would boom.
But exact timing? That was harder.
He sat there thinking for another twenty minutes. Then he gathered his books and headed back to his apartment. There was something nagging at his memory.
Something about a biotech company.
---
James burst into his apartment and went straight to his laptop.
He'd remembered something while walking home. A minor detail from some comic he'd read years ago.
Probably a Batman issue. There'd been a throwaway line about Wayne Enterprises acquiring a promising biotech firm for their gene therapy research.
What was the company name?
He pulled up news archives and started searching. Biotech acquisitions. Wayne Enterprises. Gene therapy. Delaware pharmaceutical companies.
It took an hour of digging through search results before he found it.
Helix Genomics.
Small biotech firm based in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded 1992. Current focus on gene therapy treatments for muscular dystrophy. Market cap of forty-seven million. Stock trading at three dollars and twelve cents per share.
James sat back, thinking hard.
He didn't remember the exact timeline, but he knew Wayne Enterprises had acquired them after they announced a breakthrough. The stock had jumped massively right before the acquisition. Something like fifteen times the original value.
When though?
He checked the current date. September 1995.
His memory said the breakthrough happened in late 1995 or early 1996. The acquisition followed a few months later.
If the breakthrough was close, the stock would explode soon. If he was wrong about timing, he'd lose everything.
James pulled up Helix Genomics's research publications. Read through their latest papers. They were in Phase 2 human trials for a gene therapy treatment. Results were promising but not conclusive yet.
Phase 2 trials usually took twelve to eighteen months. They'd started theirs in early 1994. That meant results were due soon.
Very soon.
This was it. This was his window.
He opened his E-Trade account. This was 1995, so online trading was still new and clunky, but it worked. He'd set up the account weeks ago for his sports betting profits.
Current balance: fifty-three thousand, two hundred and forty-seven dollars.
Every cent he had in the world.
James's finger hovered over the keyboard.
This was a massive risk. If he was wrong about the timing, or if the company's trials failed, or if his memory was completely off, he'd lose everything. Back to zero. Back to being nobody who mattered.
But if he was right, he'd have enough capital to build the Neural Interface. Enough to fund his transformation. Enough to matter.
He thought about Batman stopping that mugging. The certainty in every movement. The competence. The man hadn't gotten there by playing it safe.
James typed in the order. Buy Helix Genomics. Maximum shares at current price.
Fifty-three thousand dollars at three dollars and twelve cents per share came out to sixteen thousand, nine hundred and eighty-seven shares.
He clicked confirm.
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