"Long time no see, Peter. What's this?"
"Uh, nothing?" Peter jumped in shock, nearly hitting the ceiling.
"Hey, Harry? It's been ages! I almost didn't recognize you. Didn't you go to boarding school?" Peter said, tossing his draft behind him and leaning against the doorframe to block Harry's view, hoping he wouldn't see the mess in his room.
Harry, distracted by the shift in focus, didn't tell Peter the truth: "Bren called me, so I thought I'd come out for a bit. It felt like a prison there."
"Ever since Uncle Norman sent you off to boarding school, we haven't had much time to hang out!"
Seeing his old friend again, Peter was obviously thrilled. If his room weren't filled with all sorts of clutter, he would have invited Harry in.
"How about we play a game?" he suggested, stepping out and quickly closing his door. "Bren borrowed a new game from a classmate the other day."
"A new game? Awesome! Even if it's just tank battles, I'll still have a blast!" Harry immediately nodded, but then took a closer look at Peter. Now it was Harry's turn to be surprised. "Peter, you've grown a lot!"
Peter looked very different from how Harry remembered him.
First of all, he wasn't the scrawny kid he used to be. Now, Peter was almost as tall as Harry, and he looked much more solid in build. On top of that, he'd taken off his glasses.
"Did you get eye surgery?"
"No, just contact lenses," Peter quickly explained.
He led Harry to Bren's room, opened the door, and turned on the computer.
Though Peter felt a bit bad for using Bren's stuff without asking, he had no other choice if he wanted to keep Harry distracted.
"By the way, where's Bren?"
"He's downstairs. I saw him heading to the kitchen," Harry replied, gripping the game controller like a steering wheel, his eyes practically glued to the screen. "Hurry up, Peter!"
Harry urged him on.
Even though his own game console was much bigger than Bren's computer, with much faster processing speed and better graphics, Harry found that gaming at home was starting to feel a bit dull.
But here, before even starting the game, he couldn't wait, and he was a bit nervous, too.
Clearly, he hadn't figured out yet that the ultimate gaming setup wasn't about the equipment—it was about the friends you played with.
A moment later, Bren walked in with three glasses of juice.
Watching Peter and Harry so engrossed in the game, Bren couldn't help but feel like a parent to them both...
"Come play with us, Bren," Peter called. Initially, Peter had just wanted to distract Harry to keep him from discovering the secrets of his room, but now he was thoroughly immersed in the game.
"I've got other things to do, you two go ahead and play," Bren said, setting the drinks down and leaving the room.
He wasn't lying, he really did have a lot to take care of. Even though he had "secured" an investment from Harry, there were still many other matters to attend to.
"The money Harry gave me isn't enough to buy a building. I need to figure out how to get my own lab. And when the products are ready, I need a way to market them and build a reputation."
In Bren's mind, he had plenty of knowledge about advanced weapons, but he had no intention of developing them for sale.
Even though the Stark Corporation had stopped making weapons, leaving a gap in the market, Bren still couldn't bring himself to sell weapons to the Americans.
"Laboratories, market research, marketing... maybe I should focus on something more consumer-oriented first."
"Then, the equipment doesn't have to be super advanced," Bren thought to himself. Since the nano-tech project was temporarily on hold, he wouldn't need overly sophisticated instruments for a while, which would save some costs.
"Electronic devices in this world aren't very advanced."
Whether it was Bren's computer or phone, they were outdated models.
After all, this world was still in 2008, and Apple had just released its second generation of products. If he really wanted to, Bren could pull out all kinds of cool gadgets.
"But I need to move fast. In a few years, all sorts of bizarre technology will start to emerge."
Before Tony became Iron Man, the technological level in this world hadn't gotten too out of hand.
But after Loki's invasion failed and the Chitauri left their tech behind, Earth's technological progress exploded.
Thinking of the Chitauri, Bren sighed.
"Thanos is a problem, too. I wonder if this world will follow the same path as the movie universe I know."
He didn't dwell on this thought for long, it was too far ahead.
Right now, he was more interested in creating a secret lab under Uncle Ben's house, like the one in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. But of course, he couldn't start building it without Uncle Ben and Aunt May knowing.
Bren jotted down some ideas in a notebook in the living room. Since the money from Harry hadn't come through yet, he couldn't take any real action.
Meanwhile, back at Oscorp, Dr. Connors was being pushed to the brink by a group of executives.
"Dr. Connors,"
The executive from Oscorp, with a smug and disdainful expression, stormed into Connors' lab, walking casually to the desk and picking up a small vial of green serum.
"You've done it," he said.
Connors didn't realize the danger yet. Eagerly, he began sharing his results: "It's not finished yet. I've only tested it on mice so far. But it's almost ready. Just give me a little more time—"
"There's no time left," the executive interrupted him harshly, leaving Connors stunned.
"Mr. Norman doesn't have the patience or time to wait. We're starting human trials now!"
"What?! No, we can't do that!" Connors protested, his voice trembling with emotion. "It's not ready for human trials yet—"
"I told you, no more waiting. You've delayed long enough, Connors."
The executive didn't care about Connors' distress. Why should he care about a disabled man?
"This isn't a request. It's a notification," he said coldly.
But Connors stepped forward, blocking the executive. "No! I won't allow you to do this!"
He had dreamed of creating a serum to regenerate severed limbs and help countless people with disabilities. But conducting human trials with an imperfect serum was completely against his principles.
"If that's the case, then you're of no use to us."
The executive gave a subtle signal to his men, and they immediately began to move the contents of the lab.
The most important item, of course, was the serum Connors had developed.
"What are you doing?!" Connors shouted, trying to stop them. But with his physical limitations, he was easily pushed to the ground.
"I'm just taking back what belongs to me. What belongs to Oscorp."
"This is my invention!" Connors yelled, face-down on the floor, his voice full of rage like an angry dinosaur.
But his cry had no effect.
The executives had long been desensitized to the desperate screams of others.
"No, it doesn't belong to you."
The executive shook his head disdainfully, slipping the vial into his pocket. Then, he stepped on Connors' empty sleeve with a mocking laugh.
"Oscorp paid for your research, Connors."
"Without us, what value do you have?"
Connors stood frozen.
At that moment, his heart felt as broken as his body.