Chapter 035

"I wonder if Harlem will ever be the same again." Peter muttered as he looked around Harlem. He frowned seeing how this neighbourhood had turned into a mess.

Only broken buildings and the aftermath of destruction and chaos could be seen.

"The government is working on it. At least the residents would be reimbursed." Alex said, glancing at a group of former residents that were talking among themselves.

"It won't be enough." Peter said. "They can't do anything for the lives lost."

"It's never enough."

Alex replied, thinking how Peter would react after the battle of New York in the future. This was just a neighbourhood but the Chitauri invasion literally destroyed the whole city of New York.

He took a look at Damage control workers, a Shield organisation that was taking care of restoring the neighbourhood to its former glory but he knew that the scars would remain.

Over half of the residents had become homeless and many of them had lost their lives just because Abomination wanted to show his powers to the world and defeat Hulk.

No matter how Alex thought about it, Marvel world was pretty cruel.

"What do you think really happened? I heard a lot from my uncle in the morning but I'm still not sure what would have created those monsters. If it's really gamma radiation, they should have died instead of becoming monsters."

Peter said as they passed through a group of Damage workers. He had called Alex today to take a look at Harlem and discuss the whole incident.

"Maybe it's more than that." Alex replied. "The government won't reveal everything."

It wasn't revealed to the common populace that the military was trying to recreate super soldier serum by using gamma radiation instead of the original vita radiation used by Dr. Erskine.

The revealed information was too small to make out the truth.

As he was wondering whether he should talk more about it or not, Peter suddenly said something that piqued his interest.

"Someone I know said that Dr. Banner was a renowned scientist and it's extremely mysterious how he became Hulk." Alex raised an eyebrow at that. "There's probably a lot that went with him."

"Who are you talking about?" He asked, his instincts screaming that there was something going on.

"Dr. Curt Connors." 

Peter said casually, but the name made Alex's heartbeat quicken. He swore in his mind.

'Fuck, Lizard! So, it's following the Amazing Spiderman plot after all.'

He looked at Peter, finally understanding why he was so busy these days. At first, Alex had thought it's because Peter was preparing to become Spiderman.

But it looked like it was something more now.

"Dr. Connors? Isn't he a scientist in Oscorp? Are you working in Oscorp now?" Alex said, trying to get more information.

"You know him?" 

"I looked into his research as it looked interesting. How do you know him though?"

"He was my father's friend. I met him a few days back and he was impressed by my thoughts. So, he offered me a job."

Peter said, looking a bit proud of himself. After all, Oscorp was one of the top companies in America and even the whole world. Just getting a part time job there was a significant feat.

"You are working for Oscorp now then. That's pretty cool."

"Yeah, it is."

Alex didn't know when will Lizard officially appear. For a moment, he wondered whether he should stop Dr. Curt Connors from evolving into such a creature.

But thought against it.

Although the timeline he was in was a little different than the MCU one, it at least followed the events in a similar fashion. Changing stuff would just make him lose the advantage over the future.

Though, he knew he won't always have that advantage.

Anyway, even if he tried to stop Dr. Connors, he didn't have a way. In the movie, he had injected himself with the serum after being fired from the office.

Unless he stalked Dr. Connors, there was no way to stop him no from becoming a big, green lizard monster.

'Green monsters are really the trend these days.'

"What does Harry think about you working in Oscorp?" Alex asked suddenly which made Peter surprised because he had never talked about Harry before.

'That guy would certainly not like Peter working there."

Alex has snooped around a bit, looking for information about Harry and Peter's relationship, just to know the dynamics between them. It was better to know in case Harry becomes Green goblin in the future instead of his father.

What he had found was pretty simple.

Harry had stopped being friends with Peter after joining high school because of his dad. As Norman Osborn always praised Peter when he would visit Harry's home, the rich kid got a big inferiority complex against him.

Because of that, Harry had abandoned Peter straight after entering high school and stopped involving himself with him straight out of jealousy.

Now that Peter was working in Oscorp, sooner or later, Norman Osborn will know about it and Alex can already imagine what he will say to his son.

"Harry doesn't know… yet." Peter replied, his voice trailing. "We don't really talk now, so I never got the chance to tell him."

"I can understand. But that guy's surely gonna throw a fit when he gets to know. I heard his little gang troubled you in the past."

"That did happen, but it's fine now." Peter smiled. "I think I can handle them if they try to do that again."

Before Alex could answer, his phone rang. He picked it up and made a shocked expression as he saw who was calling him.

'Matt Murdock.'

It was Daredevil who he hadn't talked to after that day in the cafe. 

"Who is it?" Peter smirked. "Don't tell me you got a girlfriend?"

"Nah, I can only wish for a girl for now." Alex shook his head. "It's just a… friend."

He said, then picked up the call.

Immediately, Matt's voice came out without even a single hello.

"I need a little help."