Alejandro sped through the chaotic streets of New York in his old Corolla.
With a population of over eight million, any panic in New York City was bound to unleash chaos. Looters had taken advantage of the situation, using the crisis to rob and vandalize. Armed with guns, they set parked cars on fire, shattered storefront windows, and raided shops for gaming consoles and sneakers.
Alejandro had shot a few of the more out-of-control rioters. According to radio reports, the National Guard had already begun moving into the city to restore order.
This pushed him to accelerate further. He wondered how Dr. Connors and the others were progressing, hoping they wouldn’t run into the National Guard.
He felt a headache coming on. The first part of the plan had gone smoothly, but things had quickly spiraled out of control. The lizard people they released had turned out to be far stronger than Dr. Connors himself.
Navigating through the disorder, Alejandro finally saw the towering Osborn building. The sleek, modern glass façade had a massive hole cut into it, and armed mercenaries were using pulleys and cranes to lower heavy experimental equipment out of the building, loading them into containers attached to the backs of semi-trucks.
Dr. Connors was busy inspecting the delicate machinery as it was lowered, checking for damage.
“How’s it going? Any issues?” Alejandro asked, looking toward Eclipse, the one coordinating the operation.
“No issues,” Eclipse replied. “Dr. Connors activated the biohazard alarms in the building, triggering an emergency evacuation. Most of the security guards were pulled away, and the few left behind were no match for us. We subdued them with little trouble.”
Eclipse had often led operations for the Falcone group, so under his command, everything was running smoothly with no major incidents.
“A few cops came by to ask questions, but I told them we were moving the equipment to prevent contamination from the lizard incident. Since Osborn Corp still has a lot of influence in the city, they didn’t dig any deeper.”
Eclipse pointed to his OsCorp uniform. After taking control of the building, he’d ordered all his men to put on company uniforms.
Even though Osborn Corp was on the brink of collapse, its influence in New York remained. The police were hesitant to interfere in the company’s internal affairs, even though the experimental equipment could be linked to the creation of the lizard serum.
Soon, the final piece of equipment was carefully lowered into the container.
“Let’s move! We need to get out of here quickly. The National Guard has received orders to start locking down the city! Take Route 78; due to manpower shortages, it’ll be the last exit they close.”
Alejandro, with some connections in the CIA, had obtained the National Guard’s lockdown plans.
Eclipse’s team swapped the license plates on the trucks and peeled off the Amazon logos to reveal Carrefour logos underneath. The convoy of trucks roared to life, weaving around the worst of the rioting and finally breaking through the city’s perimeter just before the National Guard sealed it off.
Thud!
A heavy thump suddenly landed on the roof of the Corolla—it was Broly. He had locked onto Alejandro’s energy.
“How’d it go? Everything on track?” Broly asked, flipping through the window and into the car.
“The objective was achieved, but nothing went according to plan,” Alejandro said with a sigh.
“Heh, as long as the goal is met, that’s all that matters. Plus, I’ve taken care of that strange guy. New York won’t be in danger anymore.”
Broly leaned back, reclining the seat, and kicked his feet up onto the window. That guy had been bizarre, exuding an air of mystery, but Broly was sure that the Kamehameha had hit him directly, wiping out his energy entirely. There was no way he survived.
Meanwhile, at the Osborn estate, Dr. Radha was growing anxious. The serum he had concocted seemed to have caused complications.
After Norman Osborn injected the serum, he had fallen into a deep coma.
At first, Dr. Radha assumed this was normal. After all, the subjects at the New York Veterans Hospital who were injected with the serum had experienced varying lengths of unconsciousness. Besides, the green-gray spots that had covered Norman’s skin began to fade, and his complexion returned to normal. His relentless genetic disease appeared to be cured.
But Radha’s relief didn’t last long. Norman Osborn had remained unconscious far longer than the soldiers had. Then, his body began to waste away at an alarming rate, as though something inside him was devouring all his nutrients—just as the mysterious genes from the serum were devouring him from within.
The servants and staff at the estate had long been dismissed by Norman Osborn, leaving Radha to personally tend to him. He had to administer intravenous fluids to keep him alive.
If it weren’t for the lucrative promises Norman had made, Radha would have abandoned him long ago.
Soon, more changes began to manifest. Norman’s skin grew increasingly tough, and eventually, it became impossible to pierce with needles for the IV. Tiny scales began to appear all over his skin, and his fingernails lengthened into sharp claws.
An oppressive aura radiated from his body. Insects, rats, snakes, and birds—the small creatures around the estate—fled in panic. The once grand and lively Osborn estate fell eerily silent, as if it had become a dead zone. The trees and plants remained lush, but no sounds of life could be heard—no buzzing insects, no chirping birds.
These reptilian-like transformations led Dr. Radha to remain, observing the situation.
But the CNN broadcast broke his resolve. The lizard people had escaped from the secret lab. Osborn Corp was finished.
Although the U.S. government wouldn’t allow a company like Osborn Corp, which provided jobs for thousands, to completely collapse, a breakup and a management overhaul were inevitable.
Norman Osborn’s promises were now impossible to fulfill.
And then there was Broly. If his destructive rampage in New York mirrored the chaos in Mexico City, Radha feared it would be the final nail in the coffin. He had already begun gathering valuables from the estate, planning his escape to South America.
Boom!
Suddenly, a loud noise echoed from the estate’s basement.
“It’s coming from the lab!” Radha immediately recognized the source—it was Norman Osborn awakening!
He jolted, dropping the valuables he had been hoarding. Before he could even gather them up again, the heavy footsteps were already approaching the door.
The solid wooden door splintered apart with ease, and there stood Norman Osborn, his face now a grotesque blend of human and reptilian features.
He was gnawing on something.
“Freddy, what are you doing hiding here? I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Norman said casually.
Radha’s eyes twitched. He recognized what Norman was chewing on—it was a radioactive isotope from the lab’s industrial CT scanner.
The radiation levels in the industrial CT machine were extremely high, designed for scanning complex mechanical components. Just being near the radiation source would make an ordinary person dizzy and nauseous. If held in one’s hand, the high-energy radiation would kill the cells, and in minutes, the entire hand would become necrotic.
But Norman was munching on it like it was chocolate.
Radha’s legs gave out, and he fell to his knees.
“I… I was just getting ready to go out and buy you some food, master. The food here at the estate… it’s all been eaten,” Radha stammered, trembling in fear.
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