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*****
Harry's mind was a complete blank.
The things before his eyes exceeded his imagination—or rather, they seemed to provide circumstantial evidence for his suspicions.
A room full of weapons, equipment...
And the most conspicuous of all was that set of green armor.
Green...
Why did it have to be green!
Harry's eyes were dull and vacant.
The words he had overheard in the bathroom rang incessantly in his ears.
"No, no! Even if it's green armor, it doesn't prove my dad is the killer."
Harry murmured, trying to convince himself.
But as he paced around this secret, bunker-like room, his heart turned ice-cold.
Assassination plans, crossed-out names...
From every angle, these things seemed to be telling him that his father was a murderer.
Harry slumped dejectedly against a table, staring at the scattered weapons atop it. His mind was in a state of chaos, unsure how to handle this sudden revelation.
He sat there for a long time.
Suddenly, Harry stood up. With a look of resolve, he walked toward a storage cabinet in the secret room that held several vials of serum.
Body Enhancement Serum, Experimental Type III.
Through the glass, he stared at the name of the serum. Gritting his teeth, he took them out.
Looking at the vials in his hand, a look of struggle flashed in Harry's eyes.
He didn't know if these serums would be successful or if they would kill him, but at this moment, he wanted to undergo the enhancement himself.
He wanted to stop his father on his own.
But as he gripped the vials, a flicker of hesitation appeared in his heart.
He wasn't hesitating about injecting the serum; he was wondering whether he should talk to his father first before doing so.
Just then, a figure quietly appeared at the entrance of the secret room. As if sensing it, Harry whipped his head around.
"Dad..."
His lips trembled as he took a step back.
"Harry! Put that down."
Norman Osborn's eyes darkened. He spoke coldly as he stepped toward Harry.
"Stay back!"
Harry suddenly shouted, "Don't come any closer!"
Norman Osborn paused, his voice softening as he said, "Harry, be a good boy!"
"No! Dad! Promise me you won't do those things anymore."
"Do what? I haven't done anything."
"I know everything!"
"Then you should also know that what I'm doing is right."
"No, there are better ways!"
"But... they're too much trouble!"
Norman Osborn spoke flatly, a hint of madness flashing in his eyes.
Hearing this, Harry let out a low growl, "If that's how it is..."
"Then I will be the one to stop you!"
With that, he opened the serum and, under Norman Osborn's shocked and furious gaze, plunged it violently into his own arm.
"You're insane!"
Norman Osborn roared as he rushed to Harry's side. He snatched the syringe from Harry's hand, and seeing it was already empty, he picked Harry up without hesitation and placed him inside the laboratory's enhancement chamber, attaching body-monitoring devices to him.
No one knew better than he how dangerous these serums were.
Although he was a successful case himself and had continued to research and optimize the formula, the success rate remained terrifyingly low. Coupled with Harry's crude method of injection...
Norman Osborn cursed inwardly. Looking at Harry, who was groaning in pain, Norman's palms were slick with sweat.
"Aaah!"
Harry screamed in agony as invisible changes took place within his body.
Norman Osborn ran back and forth, using the instruments to observe Harry's physical changes. He did everything in his power to alleviate Harry's pain and increase the success rate of the enhancement.
He didn't know what Harry was facing because, strictly speaking, Harry was the first person besides himself to undergo the enhancement.
Soon, Harry's low growls and screams went silent.
"Harry! Harry!"
Norman Osborn lunged toward the enhancement device in a panic.
After confirming that Harry was merely too pained to cry out rather than dead, he let out a sigh of relief. He kept his eyes glued to the life-sign monitor, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
The enhancement process wouldn't last very long, but every second felt like being roasted over a fire for Norman Osborn.
Fortunately, the lifeline representing Harry continued to beat stubbornly.
A moment later, a piercing alarm suddenly blared. Norman Osborn's face turned pale; it felt as if his own heart had stopped beating along with that shrill sound.
"Harry..."
He murmured softly, the madness in his eyes swirling with palpable intensity.
Just then, a sound came from the sealed enhancement device.
Norman Osborn looked over hurriedly.
In the next second, accompanied by the fluctuating curves reappearing on the life monitor, the door of the enhancement device flew off, and a figure leaped out from within.
"Harry!"
Norman Osborn looked with joy at the figure crouched on the ground. As Harry slowly stood up, Norman hurried over.
"How do you feel?"
Bam!
A fist suddenly swung toward Norman Osborn's face.
Norman's eyes narrowed. He raised a hand and caught Harry's fist. Feeling the power behind it, he suddenly gave a sinister smile: "It seems you've successfully enhanced."
He was sincerely happy for Harry.
"I'm going to stop you."
Harry spoke one word at a time, with an uncompromising firmness.
Norman Osborn looked deeply at Harry, his lips curling into an aura of pure malice.
"Then let's see just how you plan to stop me!"
As the words left his mouth, he gripped Harry's fist and pulled him forward sharply.
A second later, a rising knee drove toward Harry's face.
Harry blocked it hurriedly and followed up with an elbow strike to Norman's abdomen.
Norman Osborn stepped back, lightly patting his stomach with a faint smile: "Good reactions, but the strength is still a bit lacking!"
In the next instant, father and son clashed again.
This time, the combat skills Harry had learned in the past finally proved useful.
But to Harry's surprise, his father was actually even more skilled than him.
At this moment, he finally remembered why his father had once said that martial arts were useless.
It turned out his father had practiced them years ago too.
But he had to win!
Only then could he continue talking to his father and stop him.
Thwack!
A fist landed on Harry's face.
Harry's head snapped back as he cried out in pain.
Seeing this, a flash of hesitation crossed Norman Osborn's eyes.
"I will definitely stop you!"
Harry growled again. Ignoring his injuries, he lunged at Norman Osborn.
From being cautious to becoming increasingly fierce, Harry seemed to be undergoing a metamorphosis while being suppressed.
Even so, injuries continued to appear on Harry's body.
Crash!
With a heavy blow, Harry—his face covered in bruises—fell to the ground.
As he tried to crawl back up, Norman Osborn twisted his arms and pinned him to the floor.
"You lost, Harry!"
Harry's body went stiff, the strength draining out of him like air from a punctured balloon.
But a second later, Harry said angrily, "I will stop you. As long as you don't kill me, I will definitely stop you!"
He didn't want his father to go further down this wrong path, eventually leading to a confrontation with superheroes.
Hearing this, Norman Osborn's expression turned cold, but then he let out a low chuckle.
"Haha! Hahaha!"
He let go of Harry and sat down beside him, suddenly asking, "Harry, do you know the current situation of Oscorp?"
Harry struggled to prop himself up from the floor.
Norman Osborn said gloomily, "If we don't do this, Oscorp will be devoured by those parasites colluding with the military. By then, our company will be nothing but a memory."
A look of shock flashed in Harry's eyes.
Had they really reached such a point?
"Because Oscorp hasn't had new products in recent years, and because the military found other suitable suppliers, our relationship with them has reached a very tense breaking point. We haven't received new orders in a long time. The human enhancement serum is our only project left with the military."
Norman Osborn said wistfully, "But as it stands, the probability of success for this project isn't very high either."
An enterprise that relied on military contracts to grow would face a grim end if those contracts were lost...
Harry couldn't help but say, "But haven't you and I already succeeded?"
"Harry, those were accidents."
Norman Osborn stood up and reached out to pull Harry up from the ground. "I was a fluke, and you are a miracle."
"The success rate of the serum is less than ten percent. Such a low probability is far from proportional to the cost; it isn't a viable product."
Harry fell silent.
Norman Osborn looked at the room full of weapons and experimental results, murmuring, "This is the simplest way. Only this can keep Oscorp alive and allow us to go a step further."
"No, this isn't the only way!"
Harry suddenly spoke up in protest.
Norman Osborn looked at Harry, waiting for him to continue.
Harry said, "Maybe we can develop in a different direction."
"You mean, pivot to civilian use?"
"Exactly! With our technology, we can easily pivot to the civilian market."
Harry spoke with burning eyes.
Norman Osborn said helplessly, "Son, you can't succeed in a transition like that in a day or two. It requires not just time, but long-term management—and we have neither the time nor the surplus funds."
Harry pondered for a moment and then suddenly said, "There's another way to shorten the process."
"Oh?"
Norman Osborn looked at Harry in surprise.
Harry said confidently, "Superheroes!"
"If you become a superhero, Dad, just like Iron Man, you can become the best calling card possible. Combined with Oscorp's existing reputation, we can complete the transition in the shortest time."
Norman Osborn was stunned for a moment, then frowned in thought.
This... might actually work.
His brow unconsciously smoothed out.
Harry, who had been watching him closely, asked hurriedly, "How about it, Dad? Can it work?"
"We can try."
Norman Osborn made his decision.
"Then your current plan..."
"I'll put it aside for now."
"Not 'for now'—you can't do it anymore," Harry pressed.
"I'll try my best..."
"Not 'try your best'—you must!"
Hearing this, Norman Osborn snapped irritably, "Are you quite finished? Do I not get to save face? Do I have to bow my head to you?"
Harry blinked, then let out a low laugh.
"Come with me. Let's get you treated," Norman Osborn said coldly, leading Harry out.
---
The next day, unsurprisingly, Harry called in sick.
After coming home from school, Gwen and the others immediately called Harry, starting a group chat.
"Ha, wait until we meet in a couple of days; I've got a surprise for you!"
Harry said to Gwen and the others with a smile.
Because his face was covered in bruises, he wasn't doing a video call, so he wasn't afraid of them seeing him.
"A surprise?" Gwen frowned. "You aren't going to tell us you got superpowers or were enhanced, are you?"
Harry: "..."
Hearing the sudden silence on Harry's end, everyone was taken aback.
"No way! I was just kidding!"
Gwen exclaimed, while Harry gave a dry laugh. "Don't talk nonsense. Anyway... yeah, I've gotta go!"
With that, he hung up before they could say another word.
Gwen and the others said in unison: "He definitely got enhanced!"
After chatting for a few more minutes, everyone ended the call.
But compared to the happiness and excitement of the other three, Mary Jane felt a sense of aimlessness.
If this continued, she felt she was drifting further away from Harry.
After several seconds of silence, Mary Jane suddenly said, "Still, I won't give up!"
"Good luck, Mary!"
A few days later, Harry came to school. Unsurprisingly to Gwen and the others, Harry brought them the "good news" that wasn't a surprise at all.
He had also been enhanced.
Even though there was no element of surprise, Gwen and the others were still happy for Harry.
With this, the number of superpowered members in the Titan Squad had reached four.
"By the way, how are your suits coming along?"
Harry asked curiously.
Gwen said helplessly, "The designs were originally finished, but my dad thought they were ugly, so he tossed them to Tony Stark to let him 'beautify' them for us."
Hearing this, Harry felt a trace of envy, but only a little.
After all, Oscorp's technology could achieve the same for him.
He nodded and said, "By the time your suits are ready, my equipment should be about done as well."
"Hey, hey! What about mine?"
Luke looked at the three of them, speechless.
"I'll provide yours for you."
Harry smiled and patted Luke on the shoulder.
Gwen looked at the two of them and suddenly flashed a maternal, "shipping" smile.
"Hey! Don't look at the two of us and smile like that; it's an easy way to get beaten up! You know that?!"
Luke shook his fist at Gwen.
Gwen shrugged. Looking at Mary Jane standing to the side, her eyes flickered for a moment before she smiled and said, "Then we'll leave our logistics work to Mary from now on!"
Hearing this, Mary Jane cast a grateful look at Gwen and said, "Leave it to me!"
(End of Chapter)