If somebody asked her if she was envious, even a tiny wee bit, of Joe's monstrous levels of intellectual and financial growth, how would she have replied?

Gwen knew very well that she wouldn't have admitted her own inferiority. Instead, she would treat the question as ridiculous—as a sword meant to drift them apart.

She loved Joe and wished him immense success in his endeavors. However, she was only human. Even the best of friends, who are even closer than blood-related siblings, would sometimes have such moments. It wasn't a schadenfreude situation, but...

'He is... He's just moving so fast. I fear I might not catch up to him in this lifetime. I want to try harder… for him... For us.' Gwen's thoughts spiraled into their strange relationship. It was damn frustrating. It left a bitter taste on her palate.

'Maybe I'm the one lacking the initiative?'

'... Or it's just a matter of pride of who admits it first?'

'Ugh, I can't stop overthinking when this bastard keeps sending me mixed signals. The problem is, I don't know what he's always thinking.'

It was all nonsensical and complicated for her. After all, Joe was the first man she had ever had such feelings for—feelings that she didn't know how to cope with.

Joe always had this wall, this seemingly impenetrable bubble around him, that made him separated from reality. Maybe after Veronica died, his heart was even more closed off, inaccessible to other people. There was something different about him.

'Of course, he has always been different. He's changed now, somehow. I-' Joe's concerned voice suddenly interrupted Gwen's musings as he waved his hand in front of her face.

"Hello. Earth to Stacy."

"S-sorry about that. I didn't realize that I was spacing out," she sighed an apology and gently rubbed her temples.

"Are you sure it's not the helmet?" Joe inquired, oblivious to Gwen's true thoughts.

"It's nothing like that. Something silly just cropped up in my head. Don't sweat it," Gwen replied with certainty, dismissing the topic.

"Um, okay." Joe arched his brows, finding her odd in that split second, but didn't press her.

There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment. Joe continued observing Gwen while Gwen kept on fiddling with her fingers. She looked anywhere but him. She felt embarrassed and shameful facing him right now.

Finally, Gwen turned her attention to her watch—The perfect excuse to escape.

"Oh, shoot. I forgot there's somewhere I need to be. Um, call me when you come to school, okay?" Gwen quickly patted his shoulder before fast-walking to the exit, leaving Joe with a dumbfounded expression. If she stayed, she feared she would second-guess her decision.

"Hell, what was that?" Joe asked himself, not sure where to get the answer from. The mood was just all over the place. He recalled the moment Gwen's lost expression had briefly shown, failing to connect it to their initial interaction. Hadn't they been all buddy-buddy and playful a few moments ago?

'Her emotions shifted when she was daydreaming. Hmm...' Joe rubbed his chin as he slowly contemplated.

'Is it something I said?'

Something clicked inside his mind and he groaned loudly, clearly frustrated by himself.

"So it was that. For a brainiac like me, how could I be that dumb?" Joe furiously ruffled his hair.

"I thought it was a harmless joke, but now, it doesn't really seem like that."

Joe sighed after calming down. He had already recognized his mistake and understood what might have triggered Gwen. He just wished she wasn't the overthinking type, but unfortunately, she was. The milk had already been spilled, and he knew he had to make it up to her.

"Lately, she has been quite the restless one, hasn't she? I just wanted you to be you, fool." Joe palmed his forehead and clicked his tongue.

"Setting Gwen's issue aside, there's something I need to do right now." Joe glanced at the prototype virtual reality helmet, designed for training people in combat scenarios. It was a different version of the Nerve Gear from Sword Art Online. If he wanted to make battle training more immersive and realistic—replicating the five senses and full mobility—he had to think bigger.

Maybe something like the Danger Room from the X-Mansion. The Danger Room, huh?

His sapphire blue eyes shone in realization. "Hard light technology."

"Hmm, I can't recall the specific alien technology Dr. Hank McCoy used to create the impressive Danger Room. It's still an interesting concept, nonetheless."

The Danger Room was where the X-Men trained themselves and promising young mutants. It could simulate sentinels—the evolving mutant-killing machines created by Bolivar Trask—or any extreme environment. Joe just had to do something simple to accomplish such a feat: program everything to his liking. What he envisioned would be even more powerful if he added a touch of magical arts.

"Pfft, at the moment, that's just wishful thinking," he sneered before sitting behind his desk.

"It's time to write a research paper and build my credentials before I pay Biochemistry's advisor, Dr. Curtis Connors, a visit," Joe donned a small grin.

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Before his unfortunate academic leave, Joe had been quite familiar with Professor Connors. Their class had few students, so the professor knew everyone. Joe remembered how Dr. Connors often challenged him with difficult questions about regenerative biology whenever he was caught daydreaming. The previous Joe had only a basic understanding, but the current Joe was far from mediocre. The catch was that he took drugs to become something akin to Dr. Doofenshmirtz or Walmart Rick Sanchez.

"But I'm not as unsuccessful as him in my experiments. Our ratios are quite different. He gets his charm from that. Dr. Doofenshmirtz would be unstoppable if he harvested some of the plot aura from Ferb."

Joe chuckled as the brightness of the monitor illuminated his face.

Tap! Tap!

He began typing everything he knew about his research on stem cells and how to reverse differentiation. Joe chose stem cells because it was still a speculative field of research in this foreign universe. He was currently investing in a cloning experiment that he derived from the stem cell research he was documenting. This research paper could easily secure him a guaranteed master's degree if he had been a postgraduate student.

It took him only thirty minutes to type everything in the correct format.

Joe skimmed the document and nodded in satisfaction. "I have emitted anything important to keep the plagiarists and research stealers at bay. There's no need to file a patent for an unfinished product, but... it's still my product." A shrewd glint sparkled in his eyes.

They will be helpless if they try replicating my research, but who can say they won't get a spark of inspiration from me?

"Well, it's better to be safe than sorry. Overconfidence won't get me anywhere." Joe reminded himself.

"Very true." A beautiful holographic figure flickered next to him.

"You're always watching and listening, aren't you?" Joe glanced at Minerva.

"I'm virtually everywhere. What can I do about it?" Minerva helplessly shrugged and flashed her pixelated white teeth at him.

"Okay. So what do you have for me? Are the clones viable for phase II?" He mildly questioned her.

"I came to report exactly that," Minerva replied with a nod, a childish pout on her mouth.

"I've also dealt with the deluded AI called STEM," she added.

"What fate did it face? I reckon it's quite a stubborn one," Joe released a short laugh.

"I devoured it. I found its source code delicious. It had protected itself with multiple code obfuscation layers, but all was futile despite its struggles to counter-devour me," Minerva explained, her voice as cold as a block of ice.

"It isn't a surprise. You're so into MK's brutality," Joe whistled softly.

"So that means?"

"Through the stem chip, I have incorporated smaller variations of myself into each clone. I can easily remotely control any one of them as if I were living through them."

"Honestly, it's a super weird feeling."

Joe listened attentively, impressed by her efficiency.

"Those are the first products. Let's see how they will manage the numerous training sessions I've prepared for them."

"Leave it to me, Joe."

"Okay, however, I'll oversee it."

"Affirmative."

Minerva stared at the research on the screen before asking, "Should I book an appointment with a patent attorney for you?"

"I see no reason not to."

"I've already found one. She calls herself Jennifer Walters. She's currently operating a private firm."

Joe rolled his eyes, feeling the coincidence to be too absurd. 'The soon-to-be She-Hulk after Infinity War and End Game.'

"She's an excellent attorney," Minerva urged, amused by Joe's apparent reaction.

"Stop that..." Joe pointed to her. He then admitted, "I know she's good."

"Schedule a meeting before I submit my research."

Honestly speaking, Joe didn't want anything to do with Jennifer Walters. However, her future She-Hulk form was something else.

"I call dibs on the Hulk Smash! I probably would." Joe chuckled to himself, finding the meme adult-rated.

"What's so funny?" Minerva leaned closer to his face, unfazed by the proximity, knowing she couldn't directly interact with physical matter.

"I don't like Star Wars."

"No!" Minerva's expression fell when she heard such atrocious blasphemy. The room immediately went into lockdown and red alarms began blaring.

Joe laughed at her overreaction—it was both cute and ridiculous. It took him a few minutes to explain his joke and calm her down. Afterward, she disengaged the lockdown and silenced the alarms on Joe's orders.

After that, Joe eventually left for Empire State University to seek out Dr. Connors, wondering what the professor might ask in return for helping him accelerate his graduation. After all, the world was all about mutual benefits—nothing was ever free unless you were as incredibly lucky as Domino.

***

[Word Count 1651]