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As Phil Coulson walked away from the scene, his mind kept replaying the information they had on Bullseye.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had never apprehended Bullseye.
That did not mean they were ignorant of him.
During the fight, Bullseye had exhausted every weapon he carried.
Throwing knives.
A baseball.
Thirty-two pens.
None of them had inflicted any meaningful damage.
In contrast, Bullseye himself had been killed instantly.
A claw-like weapon had pierced straight through his heart.
One strike.
Clean.
Lethal.
But what troubled Coulson was what came next.
After Bullseye was already dead, the attacker had severed his head.
That ruled out sadism.
True torture required the victim to still be alive.
Bullseye had died immediately.
So why the decapitation?
Ritual.
Belief.
Habit.
Or fear.
Fear that Bullseye might revive.
Nearby was the body of Frank D'Amico.
He had also been deliberately finished off.
The attacker had shown an unusual obsession with confirming death.
Not just killing.
But ensuring the kill.
That kind of behavior suggested two possibilities.
Either the attacker had witnessed people survive mortal wounds.
Or the attacker himself was someone who could survive fatal injuries.
Coulson's thoughts darkened.
There was another detail.
After Bullseye's throwing knives were returned to his belt, two were still missing.
Had the attacker taken them?
If so, why?
And if Bullseye's weapons were gone, did that mean the attacker had been injured?
Any one of these possibilities was enough to put S.H.I.E.L.D. on alert.
They could not ignore it.
This individual had to be located and contained.
Coulson began mentally drafting the file.
---
Provisional File Entry
Codename: The Butcher.
Capabilities: Unknown—Displays overwhelming physical force or access to machinery capable of generating massive kinetic output.
Confirmed Kill: Bullseye—Threat Level Two.
Method: Claw-based weapons. Instant cardiac penetration.
Behavioral Notes: Extreme insistence on kill confirmation, Post-mortem execution observed.
Psychological Assessment: Possible exposure to regenerative entities. Or regenerative himself.
Weapons: Claw weapons. Two heavily modified firearms with abnormal stopping power.
Injury Status: Suspected injury.
Provisional Threat Level: Two Plus.
---
Jimmy had no idea that after a single appearance, S.H.I.E.L.D. was already watching him.
Nor that they had deduced far more than he expected.
Containment.
Surveillance.
Control.
They were already considering all three.
---
Jimmy, meanwhile, had no time to care.
He was obsessed with experimentation.
Blood draws.
Microscopic observation.
Comparative analysis.
After each experiment, all samples were destroyed.
Materials.
Data.
Records.
Everything erased.
Through repeated comparison, he began to see patterns.
Normal human DNA follows a double helix structure.
Jimmy did not.
His genetic structure contained an additional strand.
Not a clean helix.
But a triangular spiral rising alongside the original double helix.
Only the base of this extra strand was firmly connected.
Higher up, it was held by a thin filament.
Fragile.
Unstable.
Jimmy stared at the data.
If his assumption was correct, that filament represented the Wolverine gene.
The newly formed strand was the absorbed gene.
And the third structure.
That was the mutation itself.
---
It had to be said.
His Spirit attribute was not wasted.
Learning came easily now.
Connections formed faster.
His mind was sharper.
The realization hit him all at once.
Clarity.
Jimmy extracted a small amount of Blood Orchid concentrate.
Others would never dare.
Jimmy injected it directly.
Then waited.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Of course.
His cellular activity already far exceeded normal human limits.
Blood Orchid extract had an upper threshold.
And Jimmy was already past it.
Trying to boost him with it was like wishing longevity on someone already living beyond human bounds.
The extract enhanced cellular vitality.
But its ceiling was far below Jimmy's baseline.
In short.
It worked.
Just not on him.
And that realization was far more valuable than the result itself.
Since experimenting on himself was no longer useful, Jimmy shifted his attention.
To Peter Parker.
And Ned Leeds.
He made a simple decision.
Tomorrow, he would bring both of them in for a "health check."
One blood sample each.
That was settled.
---
The next day, Ned did not come.
His home computer needed an upgrade, and he had taken on some remote maintenance work for clients.
Peter, on the other hand, could barely wait, He followed Jimmy to the lab with visible excitement.
"Wow, Jimmy. So this is where you work."
He lowered his voice. "Are we allowed to just walk in like this, I've seen labs go wrong all the time."
Jimmy glanced at him.
"Go wrong how?"
"You know. Stuff escapes. Invisible snakes. Bugs that eat oil and cause global disasters."
Jimmy paused.
"Where did you see that?"
"Comics."
Jimmy fell silent.
Your confidence is impressive. Truly.
"You said it yourself," Jimmy replied. "Comics aren't real."
He picked up a syringe. "Hold still, I need a blood sample."
"…Wait, Wait." Peter recoiled instantly. "You didn't say anything about needles, I faint when I see those."
---
A few minutes later, Peter sat with his hand pressed over his arm, clearly unhappy.
Jimmy sighed. "Alright, my fault, I'll make it up to you."
"I'll buy you dinner, A big one."
"You should have anyway," Peter muttered. "I told you I hate needles."
"I'm sorry, Next time we trick Ned into coming too, Fair is fair."
Peter's eyes lit up. "T-That is acceptable."
---
After walking Peter home, Jimmy returned to the lab.
He began analyzing the blood sample.
And almost immediately, he found something unexpected.
Peter becoming Spider-Man was not an accident.
It was inevitable.
Peter's genetic structure was not normal.
Unlike Jimmy's triple helix, Peter's DNA was still primarily double helix But woven between the strands was something else.
Fragments resembling arachnid genetic markers.
Dormant.
Integrated.
Waiting.
Jimmy stared at the results.
If his analysis was correct, this was the real key.
The spider bite was only a trigger.
Not the cause.
Even without the bite, Peter Parker would eventually have become Spider-Man. The bite simply accelerated the awakening.
It forced the dormant spider gene to activate early. That was why the spider bite worked on Peter.
And why it would have killed anyone else.
The spider did not make Peter special.
Peter was already special.
The spider only revealed it.
---
Jimmy leaned back.
And another thought followed.
Norman Osborn.
Oscorp.
Peter's parents.
Their work.
A pattern emerged.
Jimmy formed a hypothesis.
Peter's parents had likely been scientists at Oscorp. Oscorp's long-standing interest in genetic research was no secret.
Especially research aimed at curing hereditary diseases.
They may have discovered a method of integrating spider genetics safely.
Too safely.
Effective enough to change what it means to be human.
That kind of result would never be allowed to spread.
The risks were too great.
Jimmy suspected they destroyed their data.
Erased their work.
But they did not let the research vanish.
They placed it somewhere no one would think to look.
Inside their unborn child.
Then they disappeared.
Whether by choice or by force, their deaths ensured no one would continue digging.
Peter grew up ordinary.
Safe.
Until the trigger appeared.
Jimmy exhaled slowly.
If his theory was correct, then Peter Parker was never an accident.
He was a legacy.
And that meant one thing.
The world was not prepared for what he might become.
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