Chapter 89. Spinal Transplant, Ant-Man?
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With Otto Octavius joining the team, Oscorp's AI and engineering division finally had a real heavyweight leading the charge.
Originally, that responsibility was supposed to fall to Klaw. But he'd been tasked with a more important mission expanding Oscorp's influence in the military-industrial sector. Negotiations, defense contracts, classified tech Klaw was handling all of it.
Without a dedicated lead, the department had been stuck in limbo. But Nolan had plans he was diving headfirst into powered armor research. Unlike bio-enhancements, suits were easier to replicate and scale. And let's face it armor never goes out of style.
Even Spider-Man ended up in a high-tech suit, didn't he?
Meanwhile, Nolan was still analyzing the remaining mutant DNA they had collected from the X-Men. Xavier's genome was intricate, layered in psychic complexity. But Nolan wasn't interested in telepathy he was after abilities like those of Iceman and Storm, which were easier to isolate and potentially replicate.
He planned to integrate parts of Xavier's genome into his own. The idea of constantly having to watch his back around Charles unsettled him and he hated feeling vulnerable.
Strings of genetic code streamed across a large display. Modeling Xavier's genome was proving far more complicated than Cyclops' and Nolan needed to tailor the code to his own physiology.
As the screen processed, Nolan turned to an object he'd left untouched for weeks—a fragment of the spine, the so-called dragon bone retrieved from Black Sky's former lair. He'd shelved it while researching demonic energy and the Elder Aura, and frankly, he'd forgotten about it until the Hand resurfaced recently.
He had his team bring Black Sky into the lab. The entity stared him down, silent and defiant.
"Let the Beast speak. I have questions for him," Nolan said coolly.