"Put her through."
Lucian leaned against a heavy mahogany bookshelf in the library and casually gave the order to the air.
A pale blue glow sprang from the portable terminal on his wrist, and Simona's clear, steady voice soon came through his earpiece.
"Boss, sorry to disturb you."
Simona sounded as businesslike as ever. The rustle of paper and the click of high heels on tile mingled in the background; she was clearly busy in the top-floor office of Vought Tower.
"Go ahead. What is it?" Lucian shifted into a more comfortable stance.
"It's about the Enhancement Serum you mentioned earlier."
Simona gathered her thoughts and delivered a rapid report. "We've already started spreading the word and building anticipation, as you instructed. Publicly, we're describing it as a drug that improves human physical functions without any genetic defects or side effects whatsoever. But the response has been sharply divided. The military, politicians, and several financial conglomerates have all been making discreet inquiries to find out how much is true."
She paused, then continued, "With something like this, most outsiders think we're just boasting if all we have is talk. To really fire up the market, should we find a few successful public cases to advertise? For example, we could select some socially influential volunteers and publicly show their injections and post-awakening physical tests."
Advertising?
Recruit outside volunteers? There was absolutely no need.
The effects of this standard version of Compound V, improved by Sister Sage, were essentially capped at LV4 super physique. Even if someone got incredibly lucky and awakened a power, it would be some marginal level-three or level-four ability at best.
To Lucian, power at that level no longer held any appeal, unless it was a superpower with some particular utility, like Black Widow's or Captain America's.
Even