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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.
"He refuses," Black Sky replied, his voice calm and cutting. "He says if he speaks, you'll drain him of his power."
"He'll be drained either way—unless he wants to lose control completely."
Nolan had already deciphered much about demonic possession. When a demon attaches itself to a host, it injects corruptive energy that rewires the brain—mutating tissue and generating an entirely new persona. The stronger the demon, the faster this transformation. Eventually, the host's original identity is overwritten entirely.
It wasn't possession. It was conversion.
"So… you've changed your mind? Thinking of letting me in?" the Beast said, voice deepening as it surfaced. Black Sky's eyes darkened to a pitch void.
"How do I use the dragon bone?"
"That? That's something the Elders used to extend their lives. I don't know the specifics. We cooperated, but they never trusted me fully. They wanted my power. I wanted to cross over. That was the deal."
"So you're useless now. Guess I'll go back to extracting power the old-fashioned way."
As his assistant moved to prep an injection, the Beast growled, "Wait! That bone… it has structure. Energy. If you understood mystical manipulation like Iron Fist's chi you could pull it out."
"Structure?"
Intrigued, Nolan paused but still signaled for sedation.
"You bastard! I gave you an answer!" the Beast snarled.
"Hand over your occult knowledge, and we'll talk about your release."
To Nolan, the Beast wasn't a prisoner—he was a resource. His demonic essence was a keystone in creating Oscorp's next-generation forces.
"I'd rather die and return to Hell. I will return!" Black Sky shouted as the sedative took hold.
Nolan ignored the outburst and placed the dragon bone under a high-magnification lens. It lacked marrow, connective tissue, or standard internal scaffolding. Instead, it was filled with a pearlescent substance that mimicked both red and yellow marrow—but radiated strange energy signatures.
Using a beta-ray emitter, he scanned the material.
Fluorescence lit up the screen.
It was energy familiar energy.
Dragonforce.
Identical to the Elder Aura they'd discovered, but locked tightly within the bone's matrix. The structure acted like a magnetic seal, keeping the power trapped inside.
Then it hit him.
What if his own bones were replaced with this material? Could he store Dragonforce inside his own body?
No Iron Fist-style energy circuit? No problem.
There had to be another way.
"Bone meditation… targeted structural reshaping…"
He recalled a meditative method he'd obtained from the Sanctum—one designed to unlock untapped parts of the body through mental focus. The mystics called it Directed Awakening.
With enough control, he could use meditation to allow the dragon bone to reshape the rest of his skeleton.
Then came another, bolder thought:
Transplant it.
He could implant the dragon bone directly into his spine.
More specifically into the coccyx. That vestigial remnant of childhood vertebrae would be the perfect place. By adulthood, it was biologically dormant and an ideal host site.
If the dragon bone could slowly influence and overwrite the rest of his skeletal system, he might be able to generate an internal Dragonforce reservoir.
He pressed the comm for Connors' lab.
"Connors, come to my huh?"
As the speaker buzzed, he caught the faintest sound of whispers. Muttering. Someone talking to themselves.
He activated Super Sensory Mode.
Data from sound, scent, and pressure overwhelmed his brain. Like assembling a virtual simulation, his mind built a full 3D model of Oscorp Tower and the surrounding area.
Everything seemed normal—except for one anomaly.
Floating in the air outside the tower…
A mechanical bird.
And seated on its back—
A tiny figure.
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