For those that don't know The Nemesis and the pursuer is the same thing just different names, don't worry I'll switch back to Nemesis in a few chaps
Chapter 81: The Life Foundation
Tony stayed on for another while after that, talking with Matthew in the office. Once Matthew heard that Stanavistin was finished, he asked Tony without any ceremony to send over a few units, and to build a larger version for the Pursuer while he was at it. Tony agreed to both without hesitation, said he'd handle it, and the conversation drifted into more casual territory.
Casual, though not entirely. Mixed in were thoughts on the direction of future research projects.
Matthew, for instance, asked Tony whether he had ever seen Evangelion, Gundam, or Pacific Rim.
The moment Tony worked out what Matthew was getting at, something lit up behind his eyes.
Beyond manufacturing a fleet of standard combat units, a seed had just been quietly planted: the possibility of piloted giant mechs.
Nearly two hours passed after that.
A knock at the office door, someone informing Matthew that his drip was due, was what finally gave Tony a reason to leave.
"All right then. Rest up and recover, Matthew. I'll come back when you're on your feet." Tony waved on his way out.
Matthew smiled and nodded.
The moment Tony was fully out the door, Matthew stood up from the wheelchair without any particular effort.
Ada, watching from behind him, let a dry expression settle onto her face. "Boss. Weren't you just telling him your lower back was injured? That's quite a recovery. He barely made it to the elevator."
Matthew gave no indication of having heard this. He turned and asked Ada what the Spider-Man Serum and the enhancement injection had felt like.
"What it felt like."
Ada considered it seriously. "Strength, speed, neural reflexes, all substantially above where they were."
"That said, you already know the current limitation with the Spider-Man Serum: it only randomly activates two of the three available traits between physical enhancement, webbing, and spider-sense. There's no way to get all three at once. As a path to producing a full Spider-Man equivalent, it's not there yet."
Matthew listened and nodded, then looked at Ada with some curiosity. "I don't actually know which two you ended up with."
For his own part, the serum had activated physical enhancement and spider-sense. The spider-sense had been noticeable. The physical enhancement had registered less, given that his baseline was already considerably beyond Spider-Man's. The Green Goblin Formula had been similar: the strength increase was barely detectable against what he already had.
"Me?" Ada didn't answer directly. She took a different approach.
She raised her hand.
Fwip.
A web line shot from her wrist and slapped onto Matthew's hand.
Before Matthew could form a question about what she was doing, Ada yanked.
Nothing moved.
"Hm?" She tried again. Twice.
Still nothing.
She looked at Matthew.
Then Matthew flicked his wrist, once, casually.
What Ada felt was a force that gave her no options whatsoever. She came off the floor and flew directly into Matthew's chest.
Thud.
To be entirely clear, this was not a romantic moment. Ada had walked face-first into what felt structurally identical to a load-bearing wall after a running start.
She pressed a hand to her forehead, which was throbbing, and hit Matthew's chest twice with her fist.
Of all the inconsiderate.
She fixed him with a deeply aggrieved look.
Matthew observed the lump rising on her forehead at a visible rate, held that look for a moment, and silently retrieved a medical spray from his desk drawer. He applied it.
Umbrella had started as a medical company. In that department, at least, they delivered. Two brief applications later, the lump had visibly receded, leaving a cool sensation that Ada had to admit was actually pleasant.
She pressed her now-smooth forehead experimentally, gave Matthew one last pointed look, and pulled a stack of documents from her bag.
"Boss. This is the latest from Miss Eleanor." Her tone had dropped back into the professional register entirely.
"According to the report, the noise we made in Spain appears to have been picked up by someone."
"Whoever it is has sophisticated methods. We haven't been able to identify which organization is doing the investigating."
Matthew spoke up quietly. "Headquarters doesn't know yet."
"No official response from headquarters so far."
"However."
"However what?"
"However, based on what our people inside headquarters are reporting, there's apparent dissatisfaction with you from that direction. Several of the shareholders have been holding private meetings without including you. The records of these meetings are being kept confidential. I'd recommend staying cautious." Ada delivered this as the practical warning it was.
Matthew received it with a calm nod.
So headquarters had been restless since he took on the security role. Most likely working through options for removing him and reclaiming his shares.
He moved to the window and looked out.
That makes two of us.
A conglomerate this size, operating across this many sectors internationally, was not something you could restructure from the top down without careful timing. Doing it without triggering destabilization in the company or drawing outside attention made it harder still.
Matthew was waiting for the right moment.
"Don't worry about headquarters." He looked at Ada, then put a hand briefly on Nikki's head. "Nikki, go with Ada for now. I have work."
"Okay!" Nikki nodded agreeably and took Ada's hand. The two of them headed out.
After they were gone, Matthew's eyes settled on the newspapers on the desk.
The headline at the center of the front page was in the most prominent position available.
[Life Foundation's Deep Space Exploration Vessel "Life-1" Preparing to Return Tomorrow. Expected to Reach Earth in Three Days!]
The Life Foundation. That was the company from Venom.
Like Umbrella, it operated across finance, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, and defense. But where Umbrella, Stark Industries, and Oscorp had established dominance across most of those sectors in this version of the world, the Life Foundation's only meaningful foothold was aerospace. In the Venom storyline it could hold its own against Stark Industries, but here, with the other sectors already carved up by existing players, the Life Foundation was considerably less prominent than it would otherwise have been.
It was still a substantial operation by any standard. Just not the kind that commanded the room.