Norman's private lab sat in the basement of the house, accessible only through a hidden entrance behind his study, equipment far more advanced than anything he kept at Oscorp precisely because it needed to remain invisible to board oversight and military auditors.
Norman descended the stairs slowly, flipping on lights that illuminated equipment gleaming under sterile fluorescents.
Refrigerated storage held vials he'd synthesized personally over the past year, formulas built on stolen fragments of Connors' research, on data extracted from Specimen 15's genetic profile before it had escaped, on theoretical work Norman had pursued alone precisely because sharing it would have meant sharing credit and control.
He walked to the storage unit and pulled out a vial, deep amber liquid catching the light.
This wasn't his first attempt.
Three previous formulations sat discarded in a separate container, failures that had produced nothing but headaches and mild tremors that lasted days before fading.
Each attempt had taught him something, refined his understanding, brought him incrementally closer to something viable.
'The military wants results. I'll give them results.'
Norman prepared the injection with steady hands despite the storm building behind his calm exterior.
He'd told no one about these previous attempts, not Connors before his transformation, not Alex despite the young man's brilliant analytical mind, not anyone who might have cautioned restraint or demanded safety protocols that would only slow progress.
'Genius doesn't wait for permission.'
He rolled up his sleeve and found the vein, hand perfectly steady now that decision had replaced doubt.
Something flickered at the edge of his vision, a shadow that moved when nothing should have moved, gone before he could properly focus on it.
Norman blinked, dismissing it as exhaustion. These hallucinations had been happening more frequently over recent weeks, brief flashes of movement or sound that vanished under direct attention.
'Stress. Nothing more.'
He pressed the needle against his skin.
'This time will be different. This time everything comes together. Strength beyond human limitation, intelligence sharp enough to solve any problem, the power to finally matter in ways bureaucrats and military committees can't ignore or dismiss.'
The shadow moved again, closer this time, and for just a moment Norman thought he heard something like laughter, distant and mocking, echoing from somewhere that didn't exist.
'This time it will be perfect.'
He pushed the plunger down.
The chemical hit his bloodstream like fire, spreading outward from his arm with a speed that made him gasp, dropping the empty syringe to shatter against the floor.
Norman's vision doubled, then tripled, the lab around him twisting into shapes that shouldn't have been possible. He gripped the counter for support, muscles already beginning to spasm involuntarily.
"Yes," he whispered, voice cracking with something between pain and euphoria. "Yes, this is it, this is finally it."
The lights flickered once, twice, then something in the equipment behind him began sparking violently.
Norman's last coherent thought, before the transformation truly began and something else entirely started taking control, was strangely clear despite the chaos building around him.
'Finally. Finally, I'll be enough.'
Then the lab exploded into chaos, chemicals combining in ways never intended, machinery overloading under stress the systems weren't designed to handle, and Norman Osborn's screams echoed through empty rooms that no one else could hear.
...
Alex arrived at Oscorp Tower the next morning to find chaos already spreading through the building like infection.
Employees clustered in hallways speaking in urgent whispers. Security personnel moved with tense purpose between floors. The normal quiet efficiency of Oscorp's operation had shattered into something closer to controlled panic.
"What's happening?" Alex asked a passing analyst he recognized vaguely from the biology division.
"Explosion. Norman's private research facility, the one out at his house apparently. Nobody's seen him since last night." The man's voice carried barely contained fear. "Security's been trying to reach him for hours. No response."
Alex's mind immediately began processing implications, calculating probabilities that felt increasingly certain even as he desperately wanted alternative explanations.
He made his way to his office, finding Nora standing outside Norman's private elevator, phone pressed to her ear, expression carrying genuine worry rather than professional composure.
"Any word?" Alex asked.
Nora shook her head, ending her call with visible frustration. "Nothing. Security team went to check his house an hour ago. They found the lab destroyed, equipment scattered everywhere, some kind of chemical explosion. But no sign of Mr. Osborn anywhere on the property."
"What kind of equipment?"
"Specialized synthesizing machinery, refrigeration units, storage containers. Half of it's gone completely, not just damaged, actually missing from the scene." Nora's professional composure was cracking slightly at the edges. "Security thinks either someone attacked the facility and took the equipment, or..."
She didn't finish the thought, but Alex understood exactly where it was heading.
"Or Norman took it himself," Alex said quietly. "Before whatever happened, happened."
Nora looked at him sharply. "Why would you say that?"
Alex didn't answer immediately, his enhanced mind already racing through everything he'd observed over recent weeks.
The military ultimatum he'd overheard fragments about through careful investigation. Norman's increasingly erratic behavior, late nights, canceled meetings, a growing intensity in his eyes that Alex had noted but failed to properly connect until this exact moment.
Every warning sign had been there. Every piece of the pattern visible if Alex had been paying closer attention instead of splitting his focus across Connors' recovery, Bruce's warnings, Peter's ongoing struggles.
'I missed it. I was so focused on managing other crises that I missed the biggest one building right in front of me.'
"Just a theory," Alex said finally, keeping his voice carefully neutral despite the ice forming in his chest. "I should get to my office. See if there's anything useful I can contribute to the investigation."
He walked away from Nora, mind churning through implications that felt increasingly, terrifyingly certain.
Missing equipment. A private lab explosion. Norman's growing desperation under military pressure, his obsession with enhancement that Alex had watched building for months without fully appreciating how close to the edge the man had actually been standing.
Alex reached his office and closed the door, sitting heavily at his desk, staring at nothing while his enhanced intellect assembled pieces into a conclusion he desperately didn't want to accept.
'Has it started?'
'The Green Goblin.'
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