A lot of people thought Kingpin was the underground emperor of New York City.
They believed he controlled most of the city's dark side, the uncrowned king without question.
But that wasn't actually true.
Kingpin's criminal empire was headquartered along the East Coast, and in New York itself, the underworld was tangled and complicated. Even in Hell's Kitchen, he could only hold a portion of the territory.
His rivals included the infamous Hand, and there were even Hydra shadows mixed in.
That said, one thing was certain. In the underworld, Kingpin's name carried real weight. His influence was enormous. His businesses stretched across countless industries, and whether it was the streets, legitimate circles, or even the government, his fingerprints were everywhere.
Naturally, the NYPD had long been infiltrated by him as well. Many officers were his people. So every time Captain Stacy's informants finally managed to dig up some evidence and prepare to act, Kingpin would already be ready.
Either he wiped himself clean, or he simply struck back at the police and taught them a lesson.
But right now, Kingpin couldn't immediately order his people in the NYPD to release the Green Goblin.
Because this time, Spider-Man had clearly learned to play dirty. He'd made the Goblin's defeat explode across the city. All of New York was staring at the Goblin.
If it were only that, it might still be manageable.
But then Norman Osborn followed up and made his move, filing a complaint against the Goblin, Mendel Stromm, for stealing Oscorp's property.
"Stromm, that idiot!" Kingpin sat in his black chair, his body as broad as a mountain.
As someone extremely cautious, Kingpin couldn't understand how Stromm had let Norman Osborn get his hands on so much criminal evidence.
Kingpin already knew that not long after the Green Goblin was captured, Norman showed up with a thick stack of documents, at least dozens of pages, and brought it straight over.
So fast. So complete.
It was like Stromm had personally delivered the evidence into Norman's hands.
And up to now, the Green Goblin could be considered the first captured superpowered mutant villain.
So plenty of people had their eyes on him.
A direct extraction was impossible.
"Mr. Fisk, should we arrange people to break him out?" Bullseye asked cautiously.
Kingpin fell silent for a moment.
Of course he wasn't going to take risks for someone worthless.
But based on his intel, Stromm should still have a few unused vials of the modified Lizard Serum, meaning the Green Goblin serum.
That serum's value was enough to justify risk.
But Kingpin didn't believe that even if he saved the Goblin, the man would obediently hand the serum over.
Kingpin leaned back into his chair, the leather sinking deep beneath his weight.
He took a drag of his cigar and exhaled thick smoke. "Not now."
Kingpin believed that in order to prevent the Goblin from escaping judgment, security would be tightest at this moment. A prison break now would be a hassle, and the Goblin might not even appreciate it.
The crime lord's mouth curled into a vicious smile as if he were gripping human nature in his palm.
"He needs to understand his situation first," Kingpin said. "Only then can he be controlled."
When Kingpin was twelve years old, he was already using every possible factor to intimidate and dominate others.
The fatness people once mocked became, from that day forward, the power he used to rule them.
And now, beneath that white suit, there was barely any fat left at all.
Bullseye understood what he meant.
At the same time, inside the NYPD, Stromm was bound all over, still wearing the shattered remnants of his Green Goblin armor. His green skin and blood-red eyes terrified anyone who stood in front of him.
Norman and Matt stood outside the one-way glass, watching the monster.
"I didn't expect you to hire me as your lawyer, Mr. Osborn," Matt said. He wore sunglasses and held a cane, looking like the kind of person you wouldn't instinctively trust.
"Someone recommended you," Norman said.
In truth, after Norman received Matt's file, he was also surprised.
It was hard to imagine a blind lawyer like Matt could run a case cleanly and win.
But since Bant recommended him, Norman still dropped Oscorp's professional legal team and paid to bring Matt in.
"Then I should thank him for bringing me big business," Matt said with a smile. He didn't press further and instead moved on to the case.
"Your evidence is extremely complete," he said, then paused.
Clearly, he'd already noticed that in those documents, some parts didn't perfectly match up.
But he didn't expose it.
Some things were never purely black and white. The Green Goblin had attacked Norman Osborn and his son not long ago. Wanting him to suffer a bit more was only normal.
"Most of your other demands can be achieved," Matt said. "But getting back the remaining serum is almost impossible."
The number of people eyeing those vials was far greater than they imagined.
Underworld forces, the military, and countless special organizations…
For the last seventy-plus years, the United States had been trying to recreate the Super Soldier Serum and build another Captain America myth, but results were limited.
The Lizard Serum had side effects, sure, but plenty of people didn't care.
Norman had expected this.
At the end of the day, he'd researched the Lizard Serum and other enhancement drugs because the military supported it. Now that results were on the table, even if it was only a half-finished product, it was something the military paid to create. How could they give it up?
So Norman nodded, the corners of his mouth turning down slightly. "The serum isn't important. Frankly, Oscorp has no interest in failed products."
That sounded a bit like showing off.
But in reality, Norman was trying to abandon the serum path.
It wasn't that the road was impossible. It was that the cost was too high, and the return too small.
Before, the military invested hundreds of billions, pouring money into a bottomless pit. And Norman himself needed a serum to change his fate, so he jumped into that pit without hesitation.
Spending the military's money didn't weigh on him.
But now it was different.
The genetic defects for him and Harry were cured. The Osborn family's fate had already been rewritten. He wasn't in a rush anymore.
And on the other hand, the same old problem remained.
Insufficient funds.
He wasn't Bant, able to transform into a little alien and conduct research that compressed R&D costs down close to zero.
If he tried to develop serum on his own, he might drag Oscorp into the ground and still fail.
Norman also didn't plan to accept military investment again.
The military was a greedy wolf.
Once their funding entered Oscorp, what they wanted would never be only serum.
If Norman had nothing in hand, that would be one thing.
But now, the healing serum was publicly claimed to be co-developed by him and Plamos, yet nobody believed the real source was Plamos.
In most people's eyes, Plamos was simply a shell company Oscorp wore like skin.
And the best proof was how Norman used that shell to trick Stromm and reclaim all Oscorp shares.
To the military, if superhuman serum couldn't deliver results soon, then taking the healing serum first to satisfy their appetite wasn't a bad deal.
Besides that, there was one final reason Norman temporarily gave up further research into the Lizard Serum.
Bant didn't intend to research animal enhancement serums.
For Bant, with the Lizard Serum as a blueprint, optimizing away the side effects wouldn't be difficult.
But in the Marvel universe, some things weren't purely science. There was mysticism mixed in.
Take the Lizard Serum. In theory, it could be completely optimized.
In practice, whether it could truly be done was another matter.
Because it might involve the power of animal totems.
So-called animal totems were, in truth, a kind of mysterious power rooted in a supernatural god-faith system spanning the multiverse.
The most famous totem was naturally the Spider Totem. Its power came from the ancient goddess Neith and the Web of Life and Destiny. Those chosen by the Spider Totem would gain spider powers, or become spider monsters.
Once chosen by a totem, you became part of a supernatural food chain.
Spider-Man was like that, and most of Spider-Man's enemies were the same. That was why Spider-Man's enemies so often used animals as their motifs.
And once you got tangled in this, it was hard to break free.
Like how Spider-Man had tuned antidotes for Connors more than once, yet without exception, Connors still kept turning back into the Lizard.
Connors looked fine now, but Bant couldn't guarantee the day wouldn't come when he suddenly went berserk again.
In fact, after Bant returned from Sakaar, the first Submission Disc he used wasn't implanted in the Green Goblin.
It was implanted in Connors.
No matter what, Bant didn't want to touch this mystical nonsense until his strength was high enough.
Otherwise, he wouldn't need the trouble. He could just copy a dozen vials of Lizard serum or other superpower serums and inject Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Then he wouldn't need to worry about their safety.
"Since you don't care about the serum, then I think others will compromise as well," Matt said.
Negotiation was always a process of mutual concessions. Of course he wouldn't start by telling others he didn't want the serum. He would insist that everything Stromm stole was Oscorp property.
Then, after a period of tug-of-war, he could give up the serum in exchange for other demands, and it would be much easier.
Matt and Norman left the police station together.
Not long after they left, a police officer walked to the Green Goblin's cell.
"Stromm. You've disappointed that gentleman."
That sentence made the Goblin snap his head up. The savage look on his face turned urgent. In a hoarse voice he growled, "You're Kingpin's man? Then hurry up and let me out!"
His gaze looked like it wanted to pierce straight through the officer.
But the man clearly had a disguise. Even wearing a police uniform, he was sealed up tight from head to toe.
Hearing Stromm say Kingpin's name, the officer showed no emotional reaction at all.
He spoke calmly.
"You need to prove your value."
"He wants the serum? Impossible!" Stromm bared his teeth, furious.
"You have plenty of time to think it over," the officer said.
He didn't argue. He turned and left, locked the door again, and left the Goblin in darkness, showing terrifying fangs.
As for everything happening inside the police station, Bant didn't care.
What he cared about more was the upcoming Stark World Expo.
The exact date was two months away.
Felicia was the one who told him.
"The school's almost repaired, but summer break starts in a few days anyway, so they're just not reopening for this semester," Felicia said. She sat in a chair holding a drink, gently swaying back and forth.
After Bant returned to Queens yesterday, he didn't forget to say hello to Felicia.
So the two of them arranged to meet today.
She was just as curious about where Bant had been for the past month. Bant could only brush it off as research.
Thankfully, Felicia was easy to fool.
Or maybe, when a girl's mind was full of you, she unconsciously believes whatever you say.
"It's unbelievable," she said brightly, her beautiful eyes fixed on Bant.
"Not long ago your grades were about the same as mine, but now you started a company and succeeded, and you even learned invention!"
Bant noticed her eyes, like Mary Jane's, were emerald green, deep as a spring.
"How did you do it?" Felicia asked.
"Maybe I just suddenly got enlightened," Bant said.
He had no way to explain the watch. Though she might be willing to "test" the size of Four Arms…
Luckily, Felicia didn't dig deeper. She felt Bant had always been a genius. It just hadn't shown before. Now it finally did.
"If only I could be like you," Felicia sighed. As a rich girl, she was more competitive than most.
But reality was always harsh.
Then she shook her head, threw away the fantasy, regained her energy, and looked at Bant.
"So, are you going to visit the Stark World Expo?"
She blinked her watery eyes, golden lashes trembling in the sunlight, clearly giving off the vibe of: invite me to go with you.
"I plan to attend," Bant said. "But as a company, not as a visitor. As an exhibitor."
"You got an invitation?" Felicia asked in shock.
"If Plamos, the company that invented the healing serum, isn't on the invite list," Bant said, "then this expo doesn't deserve to be called a world expo."
Felicia immediately looked at him with open admiration.
The Hardy Foundation might be rich, but it was nothing compared to real wealth.
An expo like this, even if the foundation emptied itself, the Hardys couldn't host it, though they could qualify to exhibit.
Just like that, Bant and Felicia agreed to attend the expo together.
But before that, Bant first had to decide what he would bring as his exhibit.
/-\
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