The next day, Nova rode his bike straight to Oscorp.
Morning haze hung over the city, and the streets were still waking up. He weaved through traffic like second nature, then parked at the side entrance reserved for special guests. Nova stepped off the bike, tossed the keys to the familiar security guard with a nod, and strolled toward the entrance.
Inside, the Oscorp lobby looked like a futuristic art gallery — smooth chrome edges, vertical green panels humming softly, and a massive holographic logo rotating above the front desk in slow, silent authority.
He didn't have to wait long.
A lady approached at a brisk pace, tablet in hand, heels clicking a clean staccato rhythm against the polished floor. She looked to be in hr mid twenties — blonde hair tied into a sleek bun, white skin, slim frame, and a tailored charcoal suit that was both strictly business and dangerously flattering. Thin-framed glasses rested just above calm, observant eyes that didn't miss much.
"Mr. Nova?" she asked.
Nova gave a brief nod.
"I'm Elara Mendez. Mr Osborn and his colleagues are waiting for you. Please follow me."
Before he could say anything, she turned and headed toward the elevators. Nova followed, eyes naturally drifting.
Tight pencil skirt that looked painted on, sheer pantyhose catching just enough light to tease the eye, and long legs that probably made business meetings a little harder for every man on her floor. She moved like her calendar had no space for indecision — smooth, sharp, and efficient.
Nova smirked quietly, as looked at the her ass away inside that pencil skirt. Whoever is her partner is gonna be one lucky bastard or maybe a bitch?
The elevator ride was silent. Elara didn't make small talk, only tapped something into her tablet and checked the floor numbers as they climbed.
When the doors opened, she led him down a hallway lined with matte-black panels and display cases showcasing Oscorp's latest tech. They stopped outside a conference room secured with a fingerprint lock and retinal scanner. She tapped her ID, the door slid open with a hiss, and she gestured inside.
"They're waiting. Have a good meeting, Mr. Nova."
Inside, the room was warmly lit and glass-walled on one side. Around the central table sat three familiar faces.
Harry Osborn, dressed smart-casual, sipping what was definitely overpriced coffee. Peter Parker, hoodie half-zipped, typing like a man possessed. And Ned Leeds, who looked up from a StarkPad mid-scroll.
"Well, well," Peter said, grinning. "The ghost returns."
Harry raised a brow. "You know disappearing without warning for two months is kinda your brand now."
Ned leaned back. "We were betting you'd come back with a beard, a robot arm, or a cult following."
Nova rolled his eyes as he dropped into a chair. "You three are way too clingy. It's been what, eight weeks?"
"Sixty-four days," Peter said instantly.
Nova blinked.
Harry chuckled. "Yeah, we counted."
Ned pointed a finger at him. "You owe us at least three excuses and one outrageous lie."
Nova leaned back with a smirk. "Well, I've been in the Harry Potter universe. Had a wild foursome with Lily Potter, Emma Granger—Hermione's mum—and Narcissa Malfoy."
A beat.
Peter blinked. "...Right. And I just got back from Narnia with Susan and the White Witch."
Harry didn't look up. "British cast or American remake?"
Ned sighed. "I miss when your lies came in small doses. Now they're full-budget hallucinations."
Nova shrugged. "Hey, jealousy makes you guys ugly."
Peter gave a deadpan thumbs-up. "Mentally unhinged, delusional, but consistent. I respect that."
Harry finally raised a brow, voice dry as desert sand. "So what now? Are Harry, Hermione, and Draco awkward step-siblings or something?"
Nova smirked. "In fact, I was their hired private tutor."
Ned immediately pointed at him. "Nope. That's it. You're banned from the internet."
Peter nodded solemnly. "And therapy. You're officially too far gone for licensed help."
Harry took another sip of coffee, completely unfazed. "Someone check if he snuck something out of Oscorp's experimental drug vault."
From behind, a calm voice chimed in.
"Already did, boss."
Nova blinked and turned slightly. Elara was still standing near the door, tablet in hand, looking entirely unfazed — like she hadn't missed a single word.
Her face was neutral. Professional. But as Nova's gaze lingered, he caught it — a tiny flicker at the corner of her mouth.
A smirk. Barely there, but definitely real.
Nova narrowed his eyes. "You were standing there the whole time?"
She didn't look up. "Long enough to hear you admit to your fantasy of magical adultery."
Ned made a strangled noise. Peter choked on his water. While Harry laughed out loud
Nova, utterly unfazed by Elara's dagger-sharp delivery, just let out a low chuckle and leaned back in his chair like he owned the oxygen in the room.
Then he turned toward Harry, whose smirk had deepened slightly in response to Elara's mic-drop.
"This one's quite sharp," Nova said, tilting his head.
Calming down, Harry finally spoke through a sip of coffee. "HR really outdid themselves this time. Remind me to give them a raise."
Nova raised an eyebrow at him. "Recently hired?"
Before Harry could answer, Elara gave a small nod, still tapping into her tablet without breaking stride. "Yes. It's my first day. Picking you up was my first task."
Nova turned toward her, a slow smirk spreading. He leaned back, elbows resting lazily on the arms of the chair. "Really now? I'm quite flattered that a beauty like you had me as her first official assignment."
Elara didn't even glance up. "Don't be. I was told I'd be picking up a scientist who created the regeneration serum. Not a walking tabloid headline with magical adultery fantasy."
Peter made a wheezing sound that might've been a laugh. Ned buried his face behind the StarkPad, shoulders shaking. Even Harry started laughing again.
Nova shrugged, still perfectly unfazed. "Well, HR definitely underestimated the range of my talents."
After calming down, Harry spoke, "Oh, and one more thing — she's a mutant. Like you."
Elara paused mid-step. Her eyes shifted to Nova, surprised. "You're a mutant?"
Nova smirked. "That a problem?"
She studied him briefly. "You're not in the registry. And the media would've torn that wide open — the man behind the regeneration serum being a mutant? That would've been everywhere."
Nova leaned back in his chair. "I did say I'm full of surprises, didn't I?"
Elara frowned," Did you not register with the mutant department?"
Seeing Nova shake his head, she said," That's against the law."
Nova shrugged. "Didn't have time. I'll register eventually. So… what about you? What's your ability?"
Elara didn't miss a beat.
"Enhanced neural processing," she said simply. "My brain runs several times faster than a baseline human's. I can split my focus cleanly — run molecular analysis in one mental thread, financial logistics in another, and still keep track of your nonsense in real time."
"Give me data, equations, code, cross-disciplinary theory — I'll break it down, refine it, and optimize it before most people even finish reading the abstract."
Peter blinked. "So… like a human quantum processor?"
"Pretty much," she said. "But it comes with a cost. Long-term use burns through my energy like wildfire. Headaches, memory blur, crashes — if I don't eat three times more than a normal person, I start shutting down."
Nova raised an eyebrow, visibly impressed. "So basically, you're one of the smartest person in the building and the hungriest."
Elara's mouth twitched again — another ghost of a smirk. "Exactly."
Ned leaned toward Peter and whispered, "Do you think she could do our college thesis in like... ten minutes?"
Peter whispered back, "She probably already did it just by standing in the room."
Harry smirked feeling proud that Oscorp recruited such a good talent. He looked at Nova and saw that grin. He cleared his throat with theatrical annoyance. "Okay, Nova. Don't even think about it."
Nova turned toward him, feigning innocence. "What?"
Harry pointed at him. "You've got that 'I'm about to poach your staff' face."
Nova grinned and totally ignored Harry. He turnes to look back at Elara. "How about I triple your pay and give you your own R&D office? No corporate babysitting, no dress code, just full lab autonomy."
Harry scoffed, "Nova—she's been here literally one day."
Nova spread his hands. "Exactly! You already got your value. Time to share with the class."
Harry rolled his eyes. "You can't just bribe people like that."
Nova leaned forward. "Says the guy who offered stock options to steal Stark's AI intern."
Harry opened his mouth to argue—then closed it again.
Elara, meanwhile, hesitated — just for a moment. The only reason she'd chosen Oscorp over Stark Industries had been the Regeneration Serum.
It wasn't just science to her — it was personal.
Her older sister had suffered a spinal cord injury in a near-fatal crash two years ago. Conventional medicine had given up. Even Stark's prosthetic neuro-mesh solutions were experimental and prohibitively expensive. But then Oscorp's Regeneration Serum hit clinical trial phase — and it worked.
It was like a miracle. Her sister walked again.
And standing in front of her now — casually arrogant, annoyingly smug and a fantasy character adulterer — was one of the minds behind that miracle. Nova.
So maybe…
She looked at him, gaze measured but open. "As long as I get my paycheck, and I'm not required to do anything illegal… I can work at either place, so you both decide."
Nova's grin was slow and satisfied. "That's what I like to hear."
Then he turned to Harry and added, "I want her on my team. In exchange, I'll give you something new — a serum I've just finished synthesizing."
x------x
CHAPTER:- [76 - TO AFGANISTAN] IS AVAILABLE ON MY P@TREON.
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