In the following week, life went back to mediocrity. His day at Oscorp was packed with meticulous yet crucial tasks related to Project Rebirth II, the ambitious endeavour to recreate the experiment that had bestowed Captain America with her extraordinary abilities. Despite his integral role in the project, Felix found himself handling what he personally perceived as grunt work.
Bobbi kept saying it was important. However, just because it was important didn't stop it from being grunt work. Not that he said that to her face.
Currently, the team's focus centered on refining the chamber's parameters to emulate the unique conditions of the original experiment accurately. Felix meticulously calibrated the chamber's pressure systems, adjusting the intricate gauges and valves under Bobbi's guidance. The precision required in these adjustments was critical, as the slightest error could jeopardize the experiment's outcome.
Which was why Kavita loved to berate him. It was easy to insult someone when mistakes were supposed to happen. It annoyed him to no end that she didn't realize otherwise; or maybe she did and she just didn't care. Yeah, given her intelligence, it was probably the latter.
Kavita and Maya worked on fine-tuning the molecular structure replication components, ensuring the accuracy of the process that would attempt to recreate the serum responsible for Captain America's transformation. Their expertise in biochemistry and genetic engineering was indispensable to the project's success.
Then there was Reed. Poor Reed. While Dr. Octavius had full confidence in him, the others didn't, especially Bobbi. Reed offered insightful suggestions and theories, yet the ladies gently directed him toward less critical tasks, such as data analysis and simulation modelling, while they handled the intricate adjustments to the chamber.
Throughout the day, Felix meticulously checked and rechecked the chamber's systems, cross-referencing data and running diagnostic tests to ensure everything aligned precisely with the calculated parameters. Every adjustment he made was crucial to achieving the desired replication of the experiment that had altered Captain America's physiology.
The day went on, then ended. After all, without human subjects, they couldn't do anything. Bobbi said they would receive live specimens tomorrow, but that was tomorrow. Today, they were granted early leave.
Down the elevator they went. Reed swiped his card, the outline of the buttons went green, and voila. They could return to the surface like scurried rats.
"This week has been mega boring," Felix muttered. "Do you have plans?"
"Plans?" Reed repeated. He thought for a moment, shaking his head. "No, not rea—wait, actually, if you're up for it…"
There was that glint in his eye. Felix sighed. "What's up?"
Wink, wink, wink. Reed just kept winking.
'Oh, the super secret lab.' Felix contemplated going home. It was a long way to Harlem. 'But it's not like I'll do anything besides sleeping and studying.'
Felix winked back. Conveniently, the elevator door opened. Off the pair went.
They waited for the bus, went through Midtown, and arrived at 42nd Street and Madison Avenue. Along the way, they talked about work and Kavita. She was annoying, they both agreed. Bobbi, however, they agreed on more. She was strange, plain and simple. It was hard to gauge her. Sometimes, she was nice. Other times, she was—no offence—useless. Too distant and standoffish.
Maya was alright, if not a little too submissive. It felt like she couldn't go against anyone's word, even Felix's. She wasn't meek, she spoke her mind well and her thoughts were well-constructed. She was just subservient. It was weird. Usually, you would think that would mean she's nice, but no. Felix just didn't get that vibe from her.
They arrived at the building. Frankly, after knowing what was inside, Felix was a little intimidated.
"Algorithm Sigma, Phase Delta, Authorization: Richards-One-Two-Seven."
'Jeez. It really feels like I'm in a comic book,' Felix said in his head.
The door clicked open and they went inside. The brick wall on the left was next. On the way, Felix asked, "Are there, like…weapons?"
"A self-defence mechanism? Of course! This entire building is a walking weapon."
"All because of a capsule the other you threw?"
"All because of a tiny capsule, yes." Reed cleared his throat, facing the brick wall. "Biometric clearance: Richards Alpha-Three-Nine."
Like something straight out of Harry Potter, the brick wall split apart like the sea.
"Dude, can you like…"
Reed snickered. "Diagon Alley, yeah, I know. I tried to make that my passcode but other me didn't let me."
"Darn. What a waste."
Reed sat on the white leather chair and kicked his legs up. "Only with Master Control can you change some of the big stuff. Buuut, I'm too dumb to know how to do it, or hack it."
"I think both of us are," Felix said. "The Reed Richards of the other world sure was smart. I mean, so are you, if we're being honest. I wonder if all Reed Richards are super smart."
"I doubt it," Reed said. "Also…guess what?"
"What?"
Reed smiled up at him. "I didn't bring you here for fun, you know. I have a surprise. Guess what it is?"
"Uh…" Felix looked around. To the left was Herbie, who seemed to be working on something. A massive microscope?
'Wait, a microscope?'
"You figured it out!" Reed leapt from his chair, thrilled. At work, he was rather calm but with Felix he was like a little kid. "Yep! They're instruments so that we can make Extremis. Come, come! Come and see."
Felix did. Admittedly, with a small spring in his step.
Herbie immediately turned his head towards them and stopped screwing in a bolt. "Ah, hello, Mr. Felix. The precise instruments necessary to construct your nanites were made by Reed over here."
The half-built microscope sat atop the large steel frame, its lens already in place and polished to a sheen that could rival the moon's reflection. The body of the scope itself was shaped like an egg, the exterior made of a light silver-grey metal with several seams that indicated it was made of several different parts, designed to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Various tools and other parts of machinery lay scattered about the area surrounding the scope, awaiting integration.
Felix double-checked the construction. "This is…"
"Not just a microscope. It's just one part of a larger machine," Reed confirmed, nodding. "Yep, with this, we will be able to see at a nanoscopic level and make machines that size. See that thing over there? That's the arm. It's fitted with lasers and all kinds of nanosized tools."
Tools intended for nanomachines? Seriously!?
"Did you spend the whole week building this?" Felix looked at him, bewildered. All of a sudden, the bags under his eyes seemed obvious. "Wait…that must be why they didn't let you work. You seemed too tired."
"Hehe. Robotics, remember?" Reed gave him a smile. "I did my best because I want to see your dream realized. I really want to see Extremis work. If we can prevent people from dying, that would be the coolest thing ever."
Despite his genius, despite his experiences, Reed was just a kid. A kid with ambitions and dreams that, if any other person were to venture for, would be a pipe dream. But with Reed and this lab, it was possible. Everything was possible. Everything was within reach.
His hand was shaking. Treating cancer, treating all kinds of sickness. No more need for dangerous surgeries—Extremis could solve it all.
Felix raised his hand to his face. There was a small cut on the edge of his index finger.
He closed his hand into a fist.
"I want to join in," Felix declared.
Reed grinned. "I never thought you'd ask!"
***
Three weeks passed by in the blink of an eye. Felix didn't even go home anymore. He and Reed went straight to Daxter Lab. Work almost felt secondary.
Felix and Reed sat in the Oscorp cafeteria room, eating their lunch and chatting about the weather and other minor topics. Nothing serious, just stuff regarding the news. Crime was at a total high. It was crazy. All around them, whether it was the TV or their coworkers from other departments, crime was the sole point of discussion.
"Without Spider-Gwen," Reed said, munching on toast, "the cops are getting stretched thin."
"Eh." Felix shrugged. "It's none of our business. We do our work, they do theirs."
"Really? A little cold, no?"
Felix shrugged again. "The NYPD are as corrupt as they come in my opinion. You were too young for this but there was this big dude named Kingpin years back. I didn't live in New York and yet I heard of the stuff he did. Bribed lawyers and judges, forcing cops to look the other way, and almost owning Hell's Kitchen to let him trade whatever drugs he wanted. The NYPD let that happen, they let him gain power. They said it was to limit control and narrow the Kingpin down. I think they were just making excuses."
"I didn't know you felt so strongly about it," Reed said.
Felix took his time to respond. He took a bite of his sandwich. He contemplated telling him. Reed was his friend, but was he a close friend?
'Yeah,' Felix thought, smiling, 'he is.'
"My dad was a scientist. A great scientist, at least in our county, and he worked for Stark Industries for a lot of prestige. Not money, but prestige." Felix let out a frustrated breath. "He was also a drunk. A really bad drunk. My mom was also a scientist and, well, let's just say she was smarter than him and he hated that. She worked under him as his assistant and everybody around him knew she was smarter. He hated that so much."
"Did he…do something?" Reed asked, quiet.
"No. He never laid a hand on us. He was always drunk but he never touched us. He was smarter than that. But just because he didn't touch us doesn't mean he didn't threaten us. Everyday, it was something new. A table, a chair, plates. For my mom, it was the worst. She would come home exhausted and then be forced to do the dishes while my dad got drunk off his rockers." Felix bit his lip. "I called the police once. I wasn't stupid about it either, I was patient and careful. I waited for the best opportunity when he broke so much stuff and he was bleeding. It was obvious my dad was the culprit. But the police? My dad made a single call and the cops looked the other way."
Reed silently drank his juice through the draw. Felix leaned back and ran a hand through his hair.
"From then on, I've had a distrust of the system. It sucks, it's connected, and there's no escaping it." Felix sighed. "Sorry, I overshared there."
"No, no, it's okay. I told you my thing, you told me yours." Reed lifted a pinkie, smiling. "We're friends now. Best friends."
"Best friends." Felix grinned even as he shook Reed's pinkie. "That's going a little far. How about distantly related acquaintances?"
They shared a laugh. Felix wasn't sure the last time he made a friend like Reed. He might have been sixteen years old but he was cooler and smarter than anyone else he had met.
Felix and Reed were in the middle of their conversation when they heard the sound of a wheelchair rolling toward them. They turned to see Alistair Smythe approaching, a bit smugly.
"Gentlemen," Alistair began, his tone making it clear that he had accomplished something major, "you seem quite relaxed."
"I guess." Felix carefully chose his words. "And you?"
Alistair smirked. As expected. Felix pegged him as the arrogant, showboating sort. "As of the last hour, we had some great headway on my project. In fact, I'm almost done. How about you two?"
'Your project? You mean your team's project.' Felix didn't correct Alistair though. Again, he was the arrogant type, similar to his dad. They were very prickly when it came to their own achievements. Felix was glad they weren't on the same team.
"Well," Reed said, "we're making progress, but..."
"It's a work in progress," Felix said. "Don't worry, we won't be left behind."
Alistair turned away. "For your sake, I hope you do."
Felix and Reed looked at each other. Honestly? They didn't feel much of anything. This felt like work rather than a passion project. Whatever progress they were or weren't making didn't affect them.
All that mattered was Extremis.
***
Felix's ability in robotics and machinery was adequate enough. Ironically, because of Oscorp, he was fine-tuning his motor skills and understanding. Before, it was largely theoretical and limited to his experiences in the classroom.
In a little over two months, Felix managed to learn the tiny tricks needed to really flourish in the field. He was becoming more than a handyman, he was turning into an expert. Best of all, he had two of the greatest teachers in the world: a literal supercomputer capable of creating blueprints no human on Earth could draw, and an AI system that connected to said supercomputer and assisted in real time: the Fantastic Computer and little ol' Herbie.
Currently, he was working on a complex piece of equipment—a bio-based molecular analyzer. It was installed with several different subsystems, designed to analyze biological samples at a molecular level. Its fundamental purpose was to help them study and understand how proteins and other molecules interacted with each other.
"Dammit." However, it wasn't easy. While the previous Reed had started on it, it was up to Felix to finish it and boy were those big shoes to fill. The alternate version of Reed Richards was a bonafide genius. No question about it, his understanding of technology was centuries above Felix's. To say he had trouble understanding his level of science was an understatement. Felix was a bird in water.
Felix sighed and removed his face shield. "This is impossible," he muttered.
Specifically, he had trouble optimizing a particular circuit board within. The circuit board was tasked with processing and analyzing the data collected by the various sensors and components of the device. Unfortunately, Felix had been having trouble getting the circuit board to accurately interpret the data it was receiving, resulting in inaccurate results and a general lack of functionality of the machine.
He had made some progress, but was feeling a bit stuck. Just as he was about to give up for the day, the laboratory's robot came up behind him and took over his work.
"I've got it, Mr. Felix," Herbie said in its smooth, artificial voice. "You can relax, I'll take it from here."
"Thank you, Herbie." Felix rolled his wrists. "I appreciate it."
Herbie leapt onto the steel table. "Not a problem. Please join Dr. Richards for dinner. I have made avocado toast and stew for you."
Felix had smelled the food in the air. Every time he came here, Herbie somehow managed to make the perfect dinner. "I swear, where do you even get the ingredients?" he asked.
"At the computer, there is a drawer filled with capsules containing refrigerated food. Capsules that are, of course, powered and sustained by Pym Particles," Herbie said.
Felix nodded along as if he understood. "Riiiight."
'Pym Particles. Yes, of course. Whatever that is,' Felix thought to himself sarcastically. 'Is that what the other Reed did to make this place?'
At the computer area, a table had been extended for everything to be laid. A large bowl of delicious vegetable stew, filled with plenty of potatoes, carrots, celery, kale, and other vegetables, and a side of fresh crusty bread, perfect for dipping into the stew.
Reed was already there, sitting on the white leather chair with a bowl on his lap. His focus on the computer, a set of schematics laid out.
To create Extremis required equipment that interacted on a nanoscopic level. Put simply, other nanotechnology.
In general, there were three critical steps to conquer in order to succeed.
Number one: the biological Molecular Analyzer that Felix was working on.
Number two: the Multi-Purpose Nanotool fitted with a microscope, laser, and screw. That was the hard part, really, and Felix was glad that it was Reed that worked on it. There was nobody better for the job.
Number three: test subjects. Thus far, this step hadn't gained ground.
The teenage Reed Richards was in full work mode, absorbed in the task at hand and the complex world of tiny technology. The schematics and designs he was looking at were for a new type of nanotechnology laser not yet introduced on their Earth—or so the computer said.
"Come on." Felix waved his hands over his eyes, snapping him from his focus. "Relax, eat, then go back in two minutes."
"Fine, fine." Reed spun on his chair, facing the table of food. He glanced at the stew in his lap; he hadn't touched it. Felix gestured to him to eat. Sighing, Reed did.
Felix sat across from him, picking out the avocado toast. The plates were plastic and the lab had its very own garbage chute. A bathroom too. It was why Felix had not gone home in weeks, there was simply no need to. Food, water, shelter, everything was here, except for proper bedding. Even though they could summon a bed via the Pym Capsule, that didn't erase the stench of metal in the air and the distracting noise of the computer's mega-sized CPU.
"The computer sure is cool, huh?" Reed smiled cheekily. "We call it the Fantastic Computer."
The actual computer, the Fantastic Computer, and the H.E.R.B.I.E were separate yet deeply interconnected. H.E.R.B.I.E was the AI system installed in the computer and the assistant robot, not the computer or the robot itself. However, that did not mean the hardware was not impressive or vital. In fact, to an extent, the hardware was of greater importance. Without it, the AI system couldn't even exist.
Felix bit into his toast. "That sounds dumb."
"...yeah, I thought so. Other me thought differently though."
A snort. "Did he call this place the Fantastic Base too?"
"No, it was called the Daxter Lab."
"Daxter?" Felix blinked and leaned over. "You mean Dexter? Like the show?"
"What show?"
"Wow. I forgot you were young." Felix sighed. "It was truly iconic for its time…"
Reed snickered and drank his stew. "Sure, old man."
A question popped into his head. The Fantastic Computer was seemingly hooked up to everything in the lab and maybe even beyond. "I wonder, what can't it do?"
"Uhh, well, with Master Control it can pretty much every database on the planet." A pause and a cursory glance. "It's worth about five billion dollars."
Felix nearly spat out his food. "W-what!? Why didn't you tell me that before I spilled my coffee on it?"
Reed shrugged. "It's okay."
"It's the mother of all supercomputers," Felix exclaimed. "It deserves a little more respect!"
"The father," Herbie corrected, flying over to them. A black garbage bag in hand, the robot started to clean up "However, not even Dr. Richards is allowed access to its full capabilities."
"Yeah, apparently, I wasn't ready for Master Control, so I only have base level access."
"So what can't you do with it?" Felix pressed.
Reed tossed his plastic bowl into the garbage bag. "Not hack into the Pentagon, I think."
"You think?"
"I don't know, I've never done it. I was able to hack into most companies and public cameras."
Right, Reed mentioned asking the computer to do a bunch of hacking. "So what? Which companies?"
Reed shyly looked back. "...fast-food restaurants."
"Really? At that point, you're just spying."
"I was just checking to see if the ice cream machine worked. They always say it but it can't always be true."
"Well, is it?" Felix asked.
"...yeah," Reed admitted, dejected.
"Damn." Felix clicked his tongue. "Have you done anything else?"
"Not really, no." Reed rubbed the back of his neck. "I might be crazy but I'm not going to hack into the military or something. That's like…beyond crazy."
Honestly, Felix agreed. What if one day they suddenly figured somebody had hacked them? They would raid their base faster than they could get out. "Fair enough," Felix said.
"I feel as though that makes sense, right? Enough so that I can do my own thing locally but not enough to, like, jeopardize the world. But, if you want a number, it can clock up to 600 exaFlops. To compare, the best public supercomputer in the world reached a little over 1 exaFlop."
"Remind me how smart other you was?" Felix asked.
"Very smart." Reed smiled. "It was a real shame he died."
If somebody was able to kill a man of that intellect, Felix had to wonder: how did young, teenage Reed get revenge? As curious as he was, Felix didn't ask. To him, what mattered was giving Reed the motivation he needed. He was a prodigy. He had a bright future. If Felix stuck with him, he wouldn't benefit just himself, he would benefit the world.
Reed Richards, he could be a true visionary for the future. That was what Felix believed.