Click.
After writing the final symbol, Peter casually tossed the marker back into its holder.
Almost the instant he stopped, Dr. Connors rushed forward like a man possessed.
He stared at the whiteboard with undisguised fascination, his entire body trembling from excitement.
Then he began checking the calculations.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Only after verifying every step did he finally accept that the formula was correct.
There wasn't a single mistake!
Every parameter, every calculation, and every mathematical deduction was perfectly consistent.
Connors suddenly turned toward Peter, his face filled with disbelief.
"Who... who exactly are you?"
Faced with the scientist's expression of almost religious awe, Peter merely smiled.
"My name is Peter Parker. And my father's name was Richard Parker."
"Richard..."
Connors murmured the name he hadn't spoken in years.
For a brief moment, confusion flashed across his face.
Then his eyes widened.
"Richard?! You're Richard's son?!"
"No wonder you're so talented! It all makes sense now..."
"Peter, I can't thank you enough. I don't even know what to say!"
"If only I'd met you sooner, the Lizard Serum might already have become a reality!"
Gwen looked between the nearly delirious scientist and Peter, who suddenly seemed surrounded by an aura of mystery.
Her mind had practically stopped functioning.
'Peter's parents? The decay-rate algorithm? What on earth is going on?!'
"Peter, what you just said about..."
She instinctively wanted to ask him for an explanation, but before she could finish, Connors interrupted.
"Gwen, could you please prepare three cups of coffee and go downstairs to buy us a pizza?"
"Tonight, Peter and I are going to figure out exactly how to apply this decay-rate algorithm to lizard genetics, no matter how long it takes!"
"Um, you might also want to let George and Uncle Ben know," Peter added with a playful wink.
"You know how it is. I don't think we'll be getting home early tonight, and we wouldn't want them worrying about us."
Gwen opened her mouth, then closed it again.
After a moment, she could only sigh and leave the laboratory, reluctantly accepting her new role as their errand girl.
For the next several hours, the laboratory became Peter and Connors's personal domain.
One was a one-armed scientist bordering on madness.
The other was a teenage genius wearing a white laboratory coat.
The two worked side by side, enthusiastically discussing and manipulating equations and experimental data that would have been incomprehensible to most people.
Connors took the lead, establishing the theoretical framework and guiding the research.
Peter, meanwhile, used his knowledge of future developments and his enhanced intelligence to propose crucial improvements.
Whenever their research reached a dead end, he supplied another suggestion that allowed them to move forward.
Gradually, their work progressed from theory to practice.
By the time Gwen returned carrying coffee and pizza, the two had already moved beyond the mathematical stage.
They were now gathered around a sophisticated genetic extraction device, performing an incredibly delicate series of procedures.
Gwen stood helplessly to the side.
At first, she was restless.
Then she became astonished.
Eventually, after witnessing one incomprehensible breakthrough after another, she was simply numb.
"We did it!"
After an unknown amount of time, Dr. Connors suddenly slammed his hand against the table and shouted in excitement.
He held up a small container of emerald-green lizard genetic extract.
Looking at it, he felt as though he'd finally obtained the key to an entirely new world.
He could almost see the day when his missing arm would regenerate and he would lead humanity into a new age of biological medicine.
"Now, let's witness a miracle!"
After making the necessary preparations, Connors injected the serum from a test tube into a laboratory mouse.
He then placed the animal inside a specially designed observation chamber.
All three watched anxiously.
The mouse began convulsing almost immediately.
But after a brief period of spasms, it gradually calmed down.
Soon, it resumed eating and drinking as though nothing unusual had happened.
It appeared energetic and healthy.
Even the various monitoring instruments showed normal readings.
The three watched the little creature without blinking.
Approximately three to five minutes later, a series of warning beeps suddenly sounded from the equipment.
Connors rushed toward the instruments and hurriedly examined their readings.
A moment later, he released a long breath of relief.
An excited smile spread across his face.
The monitors indicated an unusual cellular reaction at the site of the mouse's missing limb!
The cells were more than a hundred times as active as before!
Roughly half an hour later, an entirely new hind leg had grown from the previously amputated stump.
It was fully functional.
The mouse ran freely around the observation chamber.
If someone hadn't witnessed the process personally, they would never have believed that the energetic little creature had been a disabled laboratory mouse just thirty minutes earlier.
"It worked..."
Connors stared at the scene, his eyes filling with tears.
"I really did it..."
Gwen was equally stunned by the seemingly impossible sight.
Peter appeared just as captivated as the other two, his eyes fixed on the regenerated mouse.
In reality, however, he'd quietly slipped a vial of the emerald-green lizard genetic extract into his pocket without attracting their attention.
At the same time, he deliberately knocked over another test tube.
He made the accident look like the natural result of someone getting a little too excited and accidentally breaking a container of extract.
Under ordinary circumstances, both Gwen and Connors would almost certainly have noticed his suspicious movements.
But right now, they were so overwhelmed by the success of the mouse experiment that neither paid the slightest attention.
'Got it!'
'The lizard genetic extract is mine!'
All he needed now was to combine it with the appropriate catalysts to produce the complete Lizard Serum.
And thanks to his extraordinary memory, Peter had already memorized the precise catalyst ratios.
The process wouldn't even require particularly sophisticated instruments.
The equipment in Midtown High School's chemistry laboratory would be sufficient!
Granted, without more precise equipment to regulate the mixture's proportions, the resulting serum might be less pure than intended.
That could dramatically increase the risks associated with using it.
But so what?
'The noble horse fears nothing!'
"Doctor, it's getting pretty late. I think Gwen and I should get going."
"If we stay any longer, our families are going to start worrying."
With his objective accomplished, Peter seized the opportunity to excuse himself.
The explanation was perfectly reasonable, so Connors didn't suspect anything.
He readily allowed the two teenagers to leave.
As for the doctor himself...
Naturally, he intended to spend the night accompanying his precious experimental mouse.
After more than a decade of preparation and research, he'd finally achieved a crucial breakthrough.
At this point, he was so obsessed with the little creature that he'd probably insist on taking its observation chamber into the bathroom with him!
Even after leaving Oscorp Tower, Gwen still felt as though she were trapped in a dream.
"Peter..."
She instinctively turned toward him, wanting to discuss what had happened.
But before she could continue, a car horn sounded behind them.
Beep! Beep!
Gwen turned around.
A police car was waiting nearby, and sitting behind the wheel was none other than her father, George Stacy!
The moment Peter spotted Commissioner Stacy in the driver's seat, he nearly whistled in delight.
'Perfect!'
'Now there's nothing standing between me and the Midtown High chemistry lab!'