Chapter 80: First-Generation Stanavistin: Development Complete!
The officer on the sidewalk, who had been enjoying a quiet morning, looked up at Storm's shout with genuine surprise.
Well. Somebody ratting out their own passenger first thing in the morning.
And drinking before noon. Not exactly a typical citizen either.
"Pull over!" He waved Logan to the curb.
He ran through the standard checks: license, vehicle registration, proof of insurance.
Logan gave Storm a look that communicated precisely what he thought of her, then got out of the car as instructed.
"I have reason to believe you've been drinking. Please blow into this." The officer held out the breathalyzer.
Logan cooperated.
Exhale.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
[2.02 mg/L]
[Subject may be at risk of life-threatening condition.]
The officer stared at the device.
Then at Logan, who was standing there looking entirely lucid, face slightly flushed, eyes completely clear.
That proved nothing. The breathalyzer didn't lie.
"Logan, is it? You've had quite a bit."
"Not that much. One bottle of whiskey." Logan said it without particular feeling.
"Must have been good whiskey to put that much away in a morning."
"It was all right. A 1926 Macallan. Two point nine five million dollars a bottle. Forty bottles in the world." Logan repeated it with the flat confidence of someone who had just learned this and was now getting use out of it.
The officer looked at him with open skepticism. "I don't know much about whiskey, sir. But I know a thing or two about people."
He looked at the beat-up vintage car and shook his head. "If what you're describing were true, I'd guess you and this car together couldn't cover the cost of a single glass. And you're telling me you finished the whole bottle."
He was fairly certain the man had been drinking cheap rotgut and was now in some kind of confused state.
Logan pointed to the back seat.
"Don't believe me? There's another one back there."
Logan's face was perfectly composed, but in his head he was already picturing the look on the officer's face when this landed.
What he got instead was handcuffs.
After verifying the bottle was genuine, the officer's expression became entirely businesslike.
"I'm very sorry, Mr. Logan."
"I have reason to suspect these items were obtained through theft. I'm going to need you to come with me to the station."
Logan stared at him.
Storm watched Logan being walked toward the patrol car, made a quiet sound of satisfaction, and moved herself into the driver's seat.
She did not go back to Umbrella. She took the car back toward the Xavier School.
She had things to report to Professor X.
Specifically, she wanted the Professor to look directly into Logan's head and find out exactly what he had been doing up there besides drinking.
Umbrella Corporation. Top-floor office.
Tony looked at Nikki, then at the severed bottle on the table. He lowered his voice. "Matthew. You're telling me she's the same kind of thing as the man who just left?"
Matthew didn't deny it. He nodded.
"So." Tony's gaze dropped to Nikki's small fists. "She's got claws in there too?"
"No, nothing like that." Matthew shook his head.
Tony relaxed noticeably.
"But she can stop time."
Tony's composure went straight back up.
Stop time?
That was considerably more serious than claws.
Though was it even scientifically possible? Time wasn't something a person could just reach out and grab hold of.
Matthew, apparently reading his expression, answered before Tony asked. "I'd rather it weren't true, but this world is becoming something that goes well beyond what either of us would have imagined."
"Given that, do you still think that suit of yours is enough to keep you safe?"
Tony went quiet for a moment.
There had been a point where he genuinely believed the armor was sufficient. That a well-built suit of iron between himself and the world could hold everything back. That belief had been eroding for some time now.
His closest friend had been nearly killed by something that appeared from nowhere. A man had just sat on his sofa and pushed claws out of his knuckles. And now a small child in a dress could apparently freeze time.
Everything he thought he understood about the world kept getting quietly dismantled.
He shook it off. Gave Matthew a wave.
"You're right that I've noticed the armor's limits. I'm working on it. I'll keep refining it until it can stand up to anything."
He settled back on the sofa. "After all. I'm Iron Man."
"On a different note, Matthew. I want to thank you properly for that parasite you sent over. Unpleasant to look at, but it gave us exactly the kind of inspiration we needed."
"I do still prefer metal and electronics over living biological material, for the record." He said it with a certain satisfaction.
"Does that mean the first-generation Stanavistin has been completed?" Matthew's eyebrow went up.
He had known Tony was capable. He had not expected this quickly.
"Correct." Tony nodded. "First-generation Stanavistin is fully developed. I've run the trials on myself."
"I've kept the output dialed back as a precaution, though."
"Because your body can't keep pace with it yet?" Matthew's mouth curved slightly.
Tony let out a quiet sigh. "As always, nothing gets past you."
He was preparing to elaborate on the problem when Matthew reached into his desk drawer, produced a syringe, and tossed it across to him.
"Latest product from our research division. Human enhancement formula. Improves physical condition with no side effects whatsoever."
"With that, Stanavistin becomes something that actually works end to end."
What Matthew had thrown him was the modified Green Goblin Formula, which the research team had reworked considerably from the original. Whatever else could be said about them, they had delivered.
In the process of modifying it, they had fully eliminated the personality destabilization that came with the original formula.
What currently sat in that syringe was, by any reasonable standard, a new-generation super-soldier serum. And it could be mass-produced.
That last point was the one that mattered.
Mass-produced.
The day Umbrella announced that capability, the company would become something in a different category from anything currently operating in the world.
Unfortunately, Matthew had no intention of announcing it yet.
Umbrella Corporation did not yet belong entirely to Lawrence.
The day it did, that serum would go public. Not before.
Matthew was confident that day was not far off.
Tony caught the syringe cleanly.
He looked at the dark green fluid inside it.
He was still turning over whether to use it when Matthew spoke again.
"Tony, consider that yours regardless of what you decide. Whether you use it or not is entirely up to you."
"Improving physical capability isn't the only path to making Stanavistin work. There's also the route of developing mechanical augmentation for the body. That would solve the same mismatch between the device and the user's physical limits."
Tony cut him off before he finished.
"Metal and armor make me feel safe. But when it comes to what's actually inside me, I prefer the original equipment."
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