Chapter 12: The Breakthrough
The heated argument between Rory and Steve had left everyone in the room on edge.
Peggy Carter was intensely curious about Steve's obvious familiarity with Rory, while Howard Stark had caught something else entirely in their exchange.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on just a minute," Howard interrupted, raising his hands. "What did you two just say about technology that's 'way ahead of its time'? That sounds like something I should know about."
Steve, realizing he'd said too much, quickly responded, "Howard, Peggy—could I have a few minutes alone with him? Please?"
Out of respect and trust for Captain America, both Peggy and Howard agreed to step outside, though their faces were full of unanswered questions.
After they left, Steve carefully closed the door and turned back to face Rory.
"Look, Rory, I don't want you conducting any dangerous experiments. That's all I'm asking."
It was typical human behavior: when you tried to reason with people, they used their authority and power to pressure you. But when you fought back against the system, suddenly they wanted to negotiate and be reasonable.
The truth was, people like Steve understood everything perfectly—they just tended to side with whatever served their interests, not absolute justice or fairness.
Rory had given up on trying to explain his position and simply asked, "Steve, be honest with me. What exactly do you want? Do I need your personal approval for everything I do now?"
"Of course not, but I have a responsibility to monitor potential threats."
Steve didn't understand the complexities of time travel or alternate timelines. He simply believed, almost instinctively, that changing history was wrong and that events should unfold as they were meant to.
He seemed to forget that he himself was now a living alteration to history.
Rory laughed bitterly. "So according to you, I should just be an ordinary person, right? I'm curious—when Dr. Erskine created you with the super-soldier serum, did you consider these same ethical issues?"
After all, Dr. Erskine had also been responsible for creating the Red Skull, who had nearly destroyed the world. Yet Erskine's work was celebrated as righteous science.
Rory closed his briefcase and picked it up. "You know what? That's it. What you choose to do is up to you, and I'm not obligated to justify my actions to you. If you think I'm a villain, then find evidence of my crimes. If you think I'm one of the good guys, then please stop harassing me. I'd really appreciate it."
He walked around Steve and opened the office door, glancing at Peggy and Howard waiting in the hallway.
"Mr. Stark," he said formally, "I'll find another investment firm to partner with on this pharmaceutical project. Please give me some time to arrange returning Stark Industries' investment. As for our collaboration, let's end it here."
After Rory left, Peggy came back inside and placed a comforting hand on Steve's shoulder.
"Don't overthink this," she said gently. "I'll arrange for surveillance on him. If anything suspicious happens, we can arrest him immediately."
"Thanks, Peggy. I appreciate it."
Rory left Stark Tower feeling secretly relieved.
Steve clearly had no intention of backing down, and it frustrated Rory immensely. Here was someone who had directly benefited from experimental enhancement refusing to allow others to pursue similar research.
Fortunately, this was New York City—there was no shortage of venture capital looking for the next big breakthrough.
With his research results in hand, he was confident he could find new funding.
Rory spent the entire day visiting major investment banks throughout Manhattan, but all he received were polite dismissals and promises that "someone would be in touch."
He didn't return to his laboratory near the South Street Seaport until well after dark.
The moment he opened the reinforced steel door, Rory froze in shock.
"What the hell?!"
The laboratory looked like it had been hit by a tornado. Equipment was scattered across the floor, test tubes and beakers lay shattered everywhere. The steel containment box that had held his enhanced mouse had been torn open from the inside, leaving jagged metal edges and no sign of the creature.
"This is a disaster."
As Rory moved deeper into the destroyed lab, he discovered a large, grotesquely mutated mouse corpse lying behind one of the workbenches.
He pulled on protective gloves and lifted the remains onto an examination table.
The creature's normal incisors had fallen out, replaced by a mouthful of razor-sharp fangs. No wonder it had been able to chew through reinforced steel plating.
Its white fur had turned a dull gray color, and each individual hair had become as hard as wire.
Its claws had grown into knife-like talons that matched the deep scratch marks scored into the steel walls.
"Significant physiological changes," he muttered to himself, taking notes. "The genetic sequence has been fundamentally altered—a complete mutation."
"Cause of death appears to be one of two possibilities: First, energy depletion—after escaping containment, it exhausted itself and died of metabolic failure. Second, genetic rejection—the mutation exceeded the organism's biological capacity, causing systemic organ failure."
Rory extracted a blood sample from the deformed creature for analysis.
The results confirmed his hypothesis.
"Improper genetic integration led to chromosomal distortion. The risk factors are obvious and uncontrollable at this stage."
After completing the analysis, Rory put on his full protective suit and began methodically cleaning up the devastated laboratory.
He paused when he picked up the remnants of a particular flask.
There was still some liquid remaining in the shattered glass, and Rory's first impression was that it seemed to pulse with living energy.
A pale blue glow emanated from the fluid, flickering with tiny points of light like distant stars. The luminescence seemed to breathe, pulsing gently in a hypnotic rhythm.
Rory carefully transferred the remaining liquid into a clean test tube, then used a precision dropper to place a small sample on a microscope slide.
Abandoning the cleanup entirely, he immediately sat down at his microscope to examine the specimen.
"Holy shit! This is it! This is incredible!"
This was indeed the serum derived from Thanos's blood—but something had changed.
When the mutated mouse had torn through the laboratory, it must have knocked over other chemicals that had mixed with the Thanos serum. Somehow, this accidental combination had unlocked something that all of Rory's careful calculations had missed.
If Thanos's chromosomes were a vault, then the genetic code was the key to opening it. And this random chemical accident had found that key, exposing the Mad Titan's fundamental genetic structure.
The vault had been cracked open, and now Thanos's power-granting genes lay exposed and ready for extraction.
Rory was overwhelmed with excitement and immediately threw himself into this unexpected breakthrough.
The safe had been opened. Now all he had to do was extract Thanos's genetic material and integrate it with his own DNA to create a new growth factor—one that would be wrapped in his human genetic code but powered by Eternal biology.
This approach would allow perfect integration with his physiology.
The only drawback was that he would never be able to reproduce this mutant serum. With hundreds of experimental materials scattered across the lab floor, there was no way to identify exactly which chemicals had combined to create this breakthrough.
Fortunately, there was enough serum for one human dose, with a small amount left over for a final test.
Rory worked through the night, and the refined serum was finally completed at dawn.
Looking at the now-stable compound that no longer glowed with alien energy, Rory felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.
"This might be the last test before I change everything. Let's see what happens."
He retrieved another white laboratory mouse, reinstalled the safety containment system with additional reinforcements, and prepared to begin what could be his final experiment.
End of Chapter 12
join patreon for update and advance chapters
https://www.p-atreon.com/c/Soulforger
(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)
"If you're enjoying this story, don't forget to drop a Power Stone! Your support keeps me motivated and helps the novel reach more readers."
"100 Power Stones this week = 1 extra chapter release!"
"500 Power Stones = 2 extra chapter release ."