Connors

"Long time no see, Peter. What's this?"

"Uh, nothing?" Peter jolted in fright, nearly jumping to the ceiling.

"Hey, Harry? Long time no see. I almost didn't recognize you. Didn't you go to boarding school?" As he spoke, he tossed the draft behind his back and leaned against the doorframe, blocking Harry's view and keeping him from seeing what was in his room.

Harry was indeed distracted, though he did not tell Peter the truth. "Benny called me, so I came out for a walk. That place is like a prison."

"Ever since Uncle Norman sent you to boarding school, we haven't seen much of each other!"

Seeing his old friend again, Peter was clearly delighted. If his room had not been full of that messy stuff, he definitely would have invited Harry in to sit down.

"How about we play some games?" He stepped outside and quickly shut the door. "Benny borrowed a new game from a classmate a few days ago."

"A new game? Great! Even if it's Tank Battle, I could still have a blast playing it!" Harry immediately nodded. Then he took a closer look at Peter, and this time, he was the one who was surprised. "Peter, you've gotten a lot taller!"

Peter looked very different from how Harry remembered him.

First of all, he was no longer as skinny and small as before. Peter was now nearly taller than Harry, and his body seemed much sturdier too. Besides that, he had taken off his glasses.

"Did you have eye surgery?"

"No, I'm just wearing contact lenses," Peter hurriedly said.

He quickly led Harry to Benny's room, pushed open the door, and turned on Benny's computer.

Although Peter felt a little guilty about using Benny's things without permission, he had no other choice if he wanted to distract Harry.

"By the way, where's Benny?"

"Downstairs. I saw him heading toward the kitchen," Harry said. His hands gripped the game controller as if he were holding a steering wheel, and his eyes were practically glued to the computer. "Hurry up, Peter!"

Harry urged him on.

Although the game console at his home was much bigger than Benny's computer, and its speed and graphics were far superior, Harry did not know why games felt somewhat dull whenever he returned home.

Yet here, before the game had even started, he was already unable to wait. He even felt a little nervous.

Clearly, he had not yet realized that the ultimate gaming setup was never the equipment, but friends.

After a while, Benny came upstairs carrying three cups of juice.

Watching Peter and Harry play with such intense focus, he somehow felt like the parent of the two of them...

"Come play too, Benny." At first, Peter had only wanted to distract Harry so he would not discover the secret in his room, but now he was clearly absorbed in the game.

"I still have other things to do. You two play." Benny set down the drinks and left the room.

He was not lying. In fact, he had plenty to keep him busy. Although he had now "tricked" Harry into investing, many trivial matters were still waiting for him.

"Harry's money isn't enough to buy a building. I need to find a way to get a laboratory of my own. And once the products are made, I'll need distribution channels. At the very least, I need to build a reputation."

Grey Matter's mind contained plenty of knowledge about advanced weapons, but Benny had no intention of developing them, much less selling them.

Although the weapons market had immediately opened up after Stark Industries announced it would no longer manufacture weapons, Benny still could not bring himself to sell weapons to Old America.

"Laboratory, market research, marketing... I should start by making something for civilian use."

"That way, it won't matter if the equipment isn't especially advanced." Benny thought it over. Since the Nanotechnology project was temporarily on hold, he would not need overly precise instruments anytime soon. That would save him some money.

"The civilian electronics in this world aren't very advanced."

Both Benny's computer and his phone were relatively outdated models.

After all, it was only 2008 in this world. Apple had only reached its second generation. If he really wanted to, he had plenty of novel gadgets he could bring out.

"But I need to move quickly. In a few years, all kinds of bizarre technology will start appearing."

Before Tony became Iron Man, the world's apparent technological level had not been too outrageous.

But after Loki led the Chitauri army in their failed invasion of New York, the technology left behind by those aliens caused Earth's technology to advance explosively.

Thinking of the Chitauri, Benny sighed again.

"Thanos is also a problem. I wonder whether this world will develop like the movie universe I know."

He did not dwell on that question for long. It was too far away.

Compared to that, what he wanted more right now was to build a secret laboratory beneath Uncle Ben's house, just like Spider-Man in Parallel Universe. But he could not start construction without Uncle Ben and Aunt May knowing.

Benny sat in the living room with a notebook, wildly drafting plans. Harry's money had not arrived yet, so there was nothing he could do even if he wanted to get started.

Meanwhile.

While Peter and Harry happily played games, Connors was being driven into a corner by a group of people at Osborn Enterprise.

"Dr. Connors."

An executive from Osborn Corporation wore an arrogant, contemptuous expression. He led a group of people into Connors's laboratory, casually walked over to the table, and picked up a small bottle of green serum.

"You succeeded," he said.

Connors had not yet realized that they had come with ill intent. Excitedly, he shared his results. "It's not complete yet. So far, I've only tested it on White Mice. But soon, as long as you give me a little more time—"

"There is no time." The executive rudely interrupted him, leaving Connors frozen in place.

"Mr. Norman has neither the patience nor the time to keep waiting. Begin human trials immediately!"

"What?! No, you can't do this!" Connors said agitatedly. "It hasn't reached the point where it can be tested on humans—"

"I told you, there is no time to wait for you to take this slowly. You've delayed long enough, Connors."

The executive paid no attention to Connors's agitation. Why would he need to care about a disabled man with an incomplete body?

"This isn't a request. It's a notification," he said coldly.

But Connors firmly blocked his path. "No. I absolutely will not allow you to do this!"

His dream had always been to invent a drug that could regenerate severed limbs, in order to save countless unfortunate people with physical disabilities. Yet conducting human trials with an imperfect drug completely went against his original intentions.

"In that case, you're useless too."

The executive gave the people behind him a look, and they immediately began moving the equipment out of the laboratory.

Most importantly, of course, was the serum invented by Dr. Connors!

"What are you doing?!"

Connors tried to stop them, but with his incomplete body, he simply could not. Instead, he was shoved to the ground.

"I'm merely taking back what belongs to me—what belongs to Osborn."

"It's my invention!" Connors lay on the floor and let out a grief-stricken roar at their bandit-like actions, like a fierce dinosaur.

But he clearly did not intimidate anyone.

Or rather, these bloodsuckers had long grown accustomed to the heart-wrenching cries of others.

"No, it doesn't belong to you."

The executive shook his head disdainfully and slipped the small bottle of serum into his suit pocket. Then he stepped on Connors's empty sleeve, letting out a discriminatory sneer.

"Osborn paid for your research, Connors."

"Otherwise, what value could someone like you possibly have?"

Connors froze in place.

At that moment, his heart became as shattered and incomplete as his body.