Felix stepped out of the cab and onto the sidewalk in front of Oscorp Tower. It had been months since the attack on the tower, and for just as long, the team had been working remotely. There was a mix of anticipation and anxiety bubbling in his chest as he approached the entrance, the iconic Oscorp logo glinting in the early morning light.
'Still as large and looming as ever.'
And this was New York. Tall buildings and skyscrapers were the norm.
He walked through the revolving doors, the lobby of Oscorp Tower seeming almost surreal. This was different from his previous visits. This was him going back to the norm. This was Felix finally gaining a sense of normalcy.
Ha. As if such a thing was possible for him as Spider-Man.
The pristine marble floors, the towering ceilings, and the hum of activity all around brought back memories of the countless hours he and Reed had spent here before the incident. He took a deep breath, trying to shake off the unease.
Felix walked to see Czarina, the ever-calm secretary, waving at him from behind her desk as soon as he was in sight. Her smile was a comforting sight.
"Czarina," Felix greeted, making his way over to her. "How've you been holding up?"
"I was brought over when the place was empty, so I'm pretty good now that you're here," Czarina said.
"Been quiet?"
"Very," Czarina said. "How was the remote work?"
Felix chuckled, hands in his pockets, wearing slacks and a beige sweater. "Let's just say I've had enough Zoom meetings to last a lifetime. But it's good to be back. I've missed the lab."
She beamed at him. "We've missed having you around too. Things just aren't the same without people." Suddenly, her eyes drifted to his ID cards. "Ah, wait a second."
"What's up?"
She opened a drawer and put something on the table. "Here are your new cards."
Felix blinked with Herbie quickly scanning on it. The card material was different, silver in colour, and notably heavier than the one hanging on his collarbone. "Oh, okay. Do the old ones still work?"
"Afraid not. The system update kicked in a couple days ago."
"That's fair." His advanced glasses warned him to depart in two minutes. Herbie calculated he would be late otherwise. "Thank you, Czarina. Exciting times ahead, huh?"
"Very."
"See ya then."
He expected the conversation to end there. But as he went to grab the silver card, Czarina placed her hand on his. "Don't forget to swing by and say hi when you're done. It's nice to have some friendly faces back in the building. You and Alistair and everyone else."
'...interesting.'
"Will do," Felix promised with a small smile.
He made his way to the elevator. His mind was slightly intrigued by her remark. 'She specifically mentioned Alistair. It's definitely not a coincidence that she named him after our talk that day in the Chinese resteraunt.'
The elevator doors closed and he pressed the button for B4, the laboratory level, Felix couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement. The remote work had been productive, but nothing compared to the hands-on experience of being in the lab. Herbie, as usual, scanned everything with his glasses opening up tabs of interest. The cameras in the elevator, and who was managing said cameras...
'Oh?' A small smile appeared on his face. 'So they did take my reccomendation.'
The elevator doors opened to reveal a new sight.
"Woah, they completely changed the layout of this place."
B4, the laboratory floor, was supposed to be one big floor. But this was different. This reminded him of the floor where they kept the spiders. Sterile, brightly lit corridors stretched out before him, lined with doors leading to various specialized labs. Felix walked briskly, the sound of his footsteps echoing in the empty hallway.
With his acute senses, he could hear people. He could hear where he had to go. He stopped at B48. The eighth room in the corridor.
He swiped his keycard and the door slid open, revealing a meeting room. Suddenly, he was reminded of the central table they used to collude and meet up. 'No, this IS that table.'
Everything was just as they had left it months ago too. The large central workspace was cluttered with notes, diagrams, and equipment, a testament to the intensive research they had been conducting. Monitors lined one wall, displaying complex data and simulations, while lab benches were covered with various scientific instruments.
The rest of the team was early. Kavita Rao, the meticulous albeit loudmouth geneticist whose expertise had been crucial in working within human reason. Bobbi Morse, the biochemist and leader…sort-of. See, during remote work, Maya, Felix, and Kavita were really driving the conversation behind everything. Whatever contribution Bobbi made during this late stage part of the project was minor.
"Hey, Felix." Bobbi greeted him with a nod and a smile. "Good to see you in person again. Zoom meetings just don't do it for me."
"Tell me about it," Felix replied, returning her smile. "It's great to be back."
Kavita wasted no time. "Alright, team, we have a lot of work ahead of us. Let's get everything set up and ready for the animal testing. We need to make sure all the equipment is calibrated and functioning properly."
"Seriously?" Maya and Felix exchanged scoffed looks.
"This isn't a school project, this is work," Kavita said, arms already crossed. "Do you know how much theoretical shit we've done? I want results. Oscorp wants results. Dr. Octavius especially."
'Especially, huh? According to Herbie, she isn't here, so what's going on?'
"She's right," Bobbi said. "We can't dilly-dally. Let's get going, people."
Felix wore a small smile. "Where's the Vita-Ray Chamber then? There's a lot of rooms, you know."
"First room: B41," Bobbi said. "I know it's going to take some time to get used to but this way, there's security in every room."
According to Herbie, the material on the walls and doors could tank an RPG. So there was definitely some thought behind the whole set-up.
"Time to get to work then," Felix muttered.
Felix checked the status of the containment chambers, ensuring they were secure and operational. Maya busied herself with preparing the biochemical agents they would need, while Kavita reviewed the genetic data on the monitors.
Some time passed and Kavita entered B41: the chamber room. Felix was in the middle of work.
"Felix, can you double-check the sequencing data?" Kavita called out, her eyes fixed on the screen in front of her. "I want to make sure everything aligns perfectly before we proceed."
"On it," Felix replied, moving over the standing monitor connected to the chamber. He scanned the data. "Looks good to me. No discrepancies."
"Great," Kavita said. "We can't afford any mistakes at this stage."
Hours passed in a blur of activity. The team moved seamlessly from one task to another like a well-oiled machine. Felix found himself immersed in the intricate details of their research. Since he was wearing Herbie, he was able to diagnose the machine in an instant without needing to go back and check the data on the stand three feet away.
Finally, with two hours to spare till their shift ended, everything was ready. The equipment was calibrated, the data verified, and the containment chambers prepared for the animal testing.
"So…do we have animals?" Felix asked Bobbi.
"Dr. Octavius said we will receive them tomorrow. There's still a rush in the Tower since things are coming back to normal."
"Break time then?" Felix suggested.
Bobbi stared at the machine, then everyone else. Slowly, she nodded. "I suppose there's no point in keeping you here." Her voice grew louder. "Great job, everyone. You can go home early or go to lunch, it's up to you."
The team dispersed, although funnily entered the elevator together. Kavita and Maya elected to leave early. Felix went up, up, up to the cafeteria, a spacious area with floor-to-ceiling windows that offered a panoramic view of the city. The aroma of freshly cooked food filled the air, and Felix's stomach growled in anticipation.
'Too hungry to just leave,' he thought.
He grabbed a tray and moved through the line, selecting a sandwich, cheese string, and a juice box that he had missed during their remote work period. With his tray laden with food, he found a table near the windows and settled in for a much-needed break.
It was different. Everything was different. This time, there was no Reed. This time, he was alone.
'To think the last time I was here, I was smiling without a care in the world. No super powers, no real inventions, nothing. Now I'm…this. I'm here.'
Felix left that with a sense of emptiness but also understanding. He needed to get stronger. Slicing away a portion of SHIELD's finance wasn't going to end things. Then there was Crossbones.
Felix peeled off his cheese string. 'Because of SHIELD, he's in hiding. Reading his prior history, I'm sure he knows how to specifically avoid them too. He wouldn't be a great mercenary otherwise.'
Felix had four major sources of information at his disposal: the NYPD, Stark Industries, Oscorp, and the public records accessible by Herbie. Among those four, was it possible to find where Crossbones was hiding?
He ate the root of the cheese string, chewing slowly. 'I bet he's gone even deeper into hiding since Otomo was captured. Some underground sewer where there's no way for technology to reach.'
A place that Herbie could not reach. That was a huge detriment. Crossbones was a professional and definitely not stupid enough to surround himself in CCTVs. CCTVs were closed-circuit television and, as the name implied, sent a closed signal to a particular set of monitors. The way Herbie hacked the CCTVs was by hacking the computers themselves.
'So think: what can I do in the meantime? I'm working on the chamber for Project Rebirth. Once results start coming in for animal testing, the project will probably enter its last stages, whether that means success or failure.'
Chamber…
He ate his sandwich.
'A chamber…' He stopped chewing. 'Oh! I mean, it's nothing special but it's an excellent way to pass the time!'
He finished eating and dashed out of the cafeteria. Out of the elevator, he saw Czarina.
"See you tomorrow, Felix," Czarina called out as he passed by her desk on his way out.
He flashed her a smile and left hurriedly. His destination—Daxter Labs.
***
The next day arrived with a lot of anticipation and nervous energy in the lab. Felix and the team gathered early, knowing that today marked a significant step in Project Rebirth. The first animal test was a crucial milestone. Felix was admittedly nervous about it.
'My first real experiment after college.' Breathe in, breathe out. 'Alright, hold on, why am I not nervous?'
Like seriously, he felt nothing. His heart rate was utterly flat. He decided to just focus on the experiment.
The chosen test subject was a rabbit. Given their manageable size, ease of handling, and relatively quick reproductive cycles, which allowed for the observation of genetic changes across generations if needed, it was the best option.
The rabbit that they chose for this experiment was malnourished. Skinny, meek, and without her left leg.
"Let's begin with the briefing," Bobbi said, gathering the team. "We'll be using a carefully calculated dosage of the super soldier serum based on our previous simulations. The aim is to observe the serum's effects on a smaller, less complex organism before considering any larger mammals." She pointed at Kavita. "No disintegrations."
"Cool reference but that literally makes no sense in this context," Kavita retorted.
Doing the practical work was Dr. Jane Foster, already prepping the syringes. "I've synthesized a 0.5 ml dosage of the serum." A fraction of what they estimate a human would require, but potent enough for their purposes.
Felix watched as Jane expertly drew the serum into a syringe. The liquid inside was a faint blue, almost luminescent. The serum itself was a product of countless months of research.
The rabbit was already in a cage. Their plan was to put the cage inside the actual Vita-Ray Chamber in order to secure the animal and allow for easy monitoring of its vitals. The cage was fitted with various sensors to track heart rate, respiration, and other critical data points in real time.
With the team watching intently, Jane carefully injected the serum into the rabbit's bloodstream. The animal flinched slightly at the prick but otherwise remained still. After that, they placed the caged animal into the Vita-Ray Chamber and released the rays. Almost immediately, the monitors began to pick up subtle changes in the rabbit's vital signs.
"Heart rate is increasing slightly," Kavita noted. "Respiration is steady. No immediate adverse reactions."
Felix felt a surge of excitement. This was the moment they had been working towards. "Let's prepare the vita-rays," he said, moving to the control panel.
The vita-rays were a crucial component of the process. The rays were designed to activate the serum at a cellular level, promoting rapid cellular regeneration and growth.
"We'll start with a low intensity and gradually increase it," Bobbi said, adjusting the settings.
The team donned protective eyewear and stepped back as the vita-rays bathed the rabbit in a gentle glow. The animal seemed calm, its vitals remaining stable. The monitors displayed a wealth of data, showing the serum's integration into the rabbit's system.
For the next minute, the team watched closely, adjusting the vita-ray intensity in small increments. The rabbit's muscles were…growing? The malnourishment that once plagued it was gone.
"Look at this," Maya said, pointing to a monitor displaying the rabbit's cellular activity. "We're seeing an increase in cellular regeneration. The serum is working."
Felix leaned in. "This is incredible. The rate of regeneration is higher than we anticipated."
After the long minute, the team powered down the vita-ray machine and carefully removed the rabbit from the containment chamber. The animal appeared healthy. It went from weak and disabled to strong and mighty. Even without the vita rays, it looked great.
"We'll keep it under observation for the next 24 hours," Maya said. "This will allow us to monitor any delayed reactions and assess the overall effectiveness of the serum."
Jane helped transfer the rabbit to a separate observation cage, larger, more suited to rabbit life, and fitted with additional sensors to continue tracking its health. Felix considered helping Jane out but the doctor was stronger than she looked. His team gathered around a computer terminal, reviewing the collected data.
"So," Bobbi began, equally serious as she was satisfied. "We've confirmed that the serum can be activated and integrated into a living organism. We'll need to repeat the tests and expand to other animal models, but this is a solid foundation."
"Really solid foundation," Kavita added. "Our second day back and we already have results."
"Results!" The door beeped and opened. In came Dr. Octavius, clapping her hands together and drawing everyone's attention. "I hear results and I say great work, team!"
"Ah, Dr. Octavius," said Bobbi. "Yes, our first animal experiment has been successful."
"Congratulations are in order then!" Dr. Octavius flashed them a smile, approached the monitors, and gave a cursory look over the data. She let out a whistle. "Where's the little guy?"
Jane raised the cage. "Right here."
Dr. Octavius brightened and went right up to the rabbit. "Look at you, little guy. Just yesterday, you were weak and I mean...your leg is still gone but you're strong now! I can see!" She turned to look at the people responsible for the scientific miracle. "Lunch on me! Come on, let's go!"
'Dr. Octavius,' Felix thought. 'The secret SHIELD agent. I knew you were bound to show up.'