Chapter 37: A Mission from Oscorp
"Director, do you want the good news or the bad news first?" Coulson wiped the nonexistent sweat from his forehead, his expression as sour as if he had just eaten bitter melon.
"Go on. What's the damage?"
"The good news is that the guards watching over the Flerken are all fine—or rather, the Flerken didn't attack them."
"And the bad news?"
"The bad news is that the Flerken has escaped. And since it looks just like an ordinary cat, finding it will be nearly impossible. Unless Goose shows up on its own, or it causes some kind of incident, we have almost no trail to follow."
Nick Fury absently rubbed the patch over his left eye, the scar beneath faintly aching.
Not long ago, when he had to attend a conference in Latveria, he'd been worried about Goose causing trouble. He had gone out of his way to comfort it, even giving it a brand-new cat bed. Now, trouble had come after all.
The Flerken was missing. Fortunately, it rarely attacked ordinary humans—that was the only reason Goose had been able to live peacefully on Earth up to now.
"If we can't find it for now, so be it. Maybe when it gets tired of playing outside, it'll come back on its own." Fury sighed helplessly.
Little did he know that his Flerken had already chosen a new owner.
As time passed, the bond between the big orange Flerken and the little female ninja cat deepened. Still, in most situations, the Flerken clearly preferred Uchiha Akira.
To Akira, the orange cat really did see him as its caretaker—especially since what it loved most was being fed by him.
After discovering that the orange cat was a Flerken, Akira often gave it dried fish and other treats. Now that he knew what it truly was, he no longer held back. To put it plainly, a Flerken could eat whatever it pleased.
Most of all, Akira found that feeding it pure chakra worked wonders. As an energy-devouring creature, this was only natural. Akira would gather chakra in his palm, then let the Flerken lick it away, enjoying the strange sensation.
Of course, these feedings weren't without danger. Sometimes, when the Flerken was in a particularly good mood, space-rending energy would slip from its mouth. If Akira hadn't reacted quickly, he might have lost his entire hand.
Luckily, he discovered that his Mangekyō ability, Da Luo Tian, could effectively resist that spatial force.
The name Da Luo Tian was his own invention. For someone terrible at naming things, Akira thought it suited the jutsu's effects well enough.
Uchiha Mikoto eventually realized why Akira had seemed so different lately, so obsessed with spending time with cats.
"So what you've really been doing is trying to pair the orange Flerken with the ninja cat—hoping it'll produce more offspring?" Mikoto asked, half laughing, half exasperated.
She had thought Akira was finally showing interests normal for someone his age. But no—he was matchmaking cats.
Shouldn't a boy his age be more focused on strength? That part Mikoto understood. But being more invested in his cat's love life than his own? That was unexpected.
Back when Fugaku was about his age, he had already started trying to win her favor.
"We don't have much choice. The Uchiha still lack a strong foundation. We don't have the legacies of Mount Myōboku, Ryūchi Cave, or Shikkotsu Forest. Summon beasts may not be crucial for me, but for most of our clan, a powerful summon could greatly enhance their abilities.
"A Flerken is an extremely strong cosmic lifeform. If it successfully breeds with the ninja cat clan, then we'll have created a whole new line of summoning beasts for the Uchiha."
Right now, the clan lacked a trump card. Akira would just have to worry a little harder on their behalf.
If someday they had a dozen Flerkens, even if none were as terrifying as the big orange one, having them swallow Manda would already be enough!
Besides, finding the Flerken had been sheer luck. By rights, it should belong to Captain Marvel or S.H.I.E.L.D.—but that didn't matter now. The orange cat was his.
Mikoto felt a pang of pity for him. This boy was carrying the hopes of the entire Uchiha on his shoulders. Wasn't that too heavy a burden for a teenager?
Of course, Akira wasn't entirely selfless. Both the Marvel world and the ninja world were far from peaceful. He couldn't only grow stronger himself—he had to strengthen his clan too, for they were part of his own power.
As a transmigrator, he knew the truth: neither universe was as stable as it looked. Unless he could somehow return to his old, peaceful world, he had no choice but to keep advancing.
Even now, life was easier than before—but that didn't mean he could relax.
And after all, he had been ordinary in his past life. Why not live boldly this time? A man's ambition should be as vast as heaven and earth.
"Don't worry, Mikoto-nee. I know my limits." Akira smiled gratefully. To him, Mikoto was no longer just the clan's steward—she was also like an elder sister who understood him.
"Alright. Here's another mission that came through the Mutant Academy. Supposedly, it's from a biotech company in New York. You know I'm not familiar with such things, so I'll leave it to you to decide whether we take it."
Over the past half year, Mikoto had realized how deeply Akira understood this world.
It wasn't just customs or culture. It was an intuitive grasp of politics and power, and an uncanny awareness of hidden information that he then used to plan the Uchiha's development. She was wise enough not to ask why. Everyone had their secrets. Trust was enough.
"From Oscorp, huh? Now that's interesting. Let me see the mission details." Akira hadn't expected Charles to have dealings with Oscorp.
"Locate the defected employees Richard and Mary Parker, and retrieve Oscorp's stolen research. Fascinating."
Richard and Mary Parker—the famed parents of Spider-Man. Akira remembered many versions of their story from his past life.
If they had been Oscorp's employees, then without a doubt, this must be that incident.
The couple, after achieving a breakthrough, realized their work might be misused by powerful interests to harm humanity. They fled with the research.
But they left behind a batch of genetically engineered spiders—modified using their son Peter Parker's DNA. That was why, when Peter was bitten, he became Spider-Man, while others bitten by the same spiders gained nothing.
Later, the Parkers died in a plane crash, leaving Peter an orphan.
Luckily, he was taken in by Ben and May Parker—kindhearted people who raised him well, giving rise to the neighborhood Spider-Man everyone knew.
Whether this world followed the "with great power comes great responsibility" version or the "Aunt May raising him alone" version, Akira wasn't yet sure.
To him, the real tragedy wasn't even the Parkers—it was Norman Osborn.
The poor man had a fatal hereditary disease. He had poured enormous resources into developing a cure, only for those two naïve "saints" to steal the results and run.
He lost everything, wasted fortunes, and was left still dying. In desperation, he injected himself with an untested serum, becoming the Green Goblin, a monster hunted by all.
Norman had never been a good man—that much was true. But wasn't he just trying to save his own life with a gene therapy he funded? The Parkers' self-righteous theft was hardly noble. Where was their sense of duty to their employer? The fact that Norman never killed Peter was already mercy.
"We'll take this mission. Oscorp's biotech is unique. This is a good chance to establish ties with them."
What Akira didn't say was that in that moment, he had set his sights on Oscorp itself. If handled well, he might even take over after Norman's downfall. Dreams were worth having—you never knew when they might come true.
The mission itself wasn't the real point. The question was when and how to seize Oscorp at the right time. Direct force would be reckless—not his style. But Oscorp's fragmented shares and endless loopholes? That was an opportunity.
The Uchiha lacked biotech experts for now, but mutants existed—and so did Orochimaru. Both were talents in their own right. If they could handle him, Orochimaru might even be lured into working with them, given his obsession with advanced science.
Not easy. Perhaps nearly impossible. But Akira considered it worth trying.
"This time, there's a young girl in the clan who wants to join the mission—Uchiha Izumi. Do you remember her?" Mikoto asked with a smile.
"Izumi… yes, I recall she used to be close with Itachi." Akira stopped mid-sentence, realizing his mistake. That name was almost taboo now.
"Sorry, Mikoto-nee."
"It's fine. There's nothing wrong with saying it. He may once have been my son, but that was in the past. Itachi is no longer my child."
She smiled as she said it, but the smile was obviously forced.
"Alright then, we'll bring Izumi and Tekka along."
"Also, Charles hopes you'll bring Jean with you on this mission…"
"What?!"