After the field trip at Oscorp, the students returned to school just in time for lunch. However, Cindy Moon swiftly went home, leaving Eren, Harry, and Lily confused as to why her behavior was so off after Octavius's presentation. Not wanting to push any further after seeing how uncomfortable the topic made Cindy, Eren decided to refrain from probing too far into it.
When the school day ended, the two called on the phone and she seemed better, but she still wasn't feeling well. Wanting to keep his promise to Dr. Connors, the boy headed to his lab, though he couldn't stop worrying about Cindy.
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"This should be the place..." Eren Parker whispered to himself with uncertainty as he stood in front of a small building that Dr. Connors rented out to act as his own personal lab. The exterior looked sort of rundown and was made of brown brick. "Looks more like a trap house than a lab, or a meth lab maybe." The undercover hero said to himself as he approached the metal door at the building's front with slight hesitation.
With a dubious fist, the boy knocked on the door three times and waited patiently for a response. It only took a few seconds for the door to swing open, revealing a smiling Dr. Connors on the other side. "Parker! Come on in." said the teacher, moving out of the way so his star student could enter.
"Thanks." The boy said plainly, nodding his head and entering the building with his hands in both pants pockets. The door shut behind them, almost startling the young scientist due to the sound of the heavy metal door crashing shut. "Sorry about that." Dr. Connors apologized. "It's straight ahead."
The two boys walked through the dimly lit corridor, giving the undercover hero a sort of eerie feeling in his stomach. 'Creepy ass building...' He whispered to himself as he continued to walk toward the next metal door, though it was already halfway open for him.
Using a single hand, the boy pushed the door open to enter the main part of the building. As soon as he was inside, Eren's jaw dropped. The interior was the complete opposite of the building's shoddy, rundown exterior. There were many different devices, tools, and gadgets scattered around the metallic room, along with rows and rows of vials with labels from different reptiles and similar animals.
"Impressed?" Connors teased, placing a single hand on his student's shoulder. "C'mon, I'll show you what I've been working on." The two science nerds walked side by side toward what appeared to be the main work desk which was covered in papers and books with a laptop on top of it. Next to the laptop were a few vials, appearing to be a swamp-green color.
"As I said before, Parker, reptilian DNA is the answer." Connors said quickly as he began typing numbers into his computer before transferring liquids from a vial into a large beaker. "This is the extracellular matrix from one of the rarest reptiles in the world, one that has the ability to regrow its limbs almost instantly." The doctor began stirring vigorously with a glass stick before switching the liquid into a small syringe. "When injected, and with the help of a device I will introduce to you shortly, it is possible, no I am certain, that it is the key to regeneration in humans."
A smile soon plastered itself across Dr. Connors's face as he held the syringe up to his face, looking at it with an intense glare. Eren looked at his teacher with a nervous grimace, thinking to himself, 'Octavius was right, he's lost it.'
"Um... Dr. Connors?" Eren asked, stopping the doctor momentarily. Connors's eyes glanced over at his student and his crazed smile waned. "You aren't gonna inject that in yourself, right?"
Connors laughed at the boy's statement. "Oh, gosh, no. Not until I test it, first." With the grin reemerging on his face, Dr. Connors quickly waltzed over to a glass tank and picked up a white lab rat that had a missing arm. "Chester here has been with me for the longest, don't worry, nothing in this serum could possibly harm or kill him." Slowly, he pressed the syringe against the rat's missing limb before slowly injecting the green serum into it.
The rat squealed and winced, though its squealing soon ceased after a few seconds of being injected with the liquid. Quickly, Connors set the rat down into its enclosure and gave the rat a small piece of cheese for his cooperation. "Here you go, buddy." He whispered before motioning to his student to follow him.
Connors then quickly grabbed a camera, a pen, and a piece of paper, pressing it all against his body sloppily with his one arm before running toward his desk and haphazardly slamming himself into the chair, causing it to roll away from his desk ever so slightly. Using the keyboard, he commanded a machine that looked similar to a dentist's x-ray machine and panned it over Chester the rat.
Seeing his teacher's obsession at full force put a solemn expression on Eren's face. None of this was healthy, not for the doctor's mental and definitely not on his body if he intended on testing this mysterious serum on himself without extensive testing.
"Um, Dr. Connors..." Eren asked, leering over the computer's screen to get into his teacher's point of view. Connors's eyes, just his eyes, looked up at the boy. "Yes? What's up, Parker?"
"How long have you been doing this?" Eren asked, his concerned voice did nothing but confuse the doctor. Eren Parker showing empathy wasn't something anyone was used to, let alone Dr. Connors.
"It's been my life's work, Parker. But don't worry, I only need one last piece of the puzzle and all of my work will finally come to fruition! I'm so close, I can feel it, Parker!" Dr. Connors's enthusiasm would've been infectious if it weren't for Otto's words pecking at Eren's mind. He was worried about him.
"Are you sure you aren't getting a little too excited, Dr. Connors? You don't need to beat Otto-" Eren tried to sympathize with his teacher, however, he was soon interrupted by the doctor's tongue clicking as he rolled his eyes.
"I'm not worried about Otto." He lied. He wanted to beat Otto more than anything, which was important to him, almost more than getting his arm back. "Look for yourself, Parker. I truly mean I am one step away." Dr. Connors happily approached his laptop, spinning it around before showing it to his student.
On the screen, there was a DNA strand spinning itself around, and next to it was an electricity symbol that was only half-filled. Regardless, Dr. Connors powered up the machine, causing it to hum quietly before the humming became a loud buzzing sound. A dim beam made of multiple colors of light struck the rat, though the rat did not react to it, it just continued to eat the cheese it was given as if nothing had happened.
Eren was confused, not really understanding the purpose of the machine, however, he did have a theory. 'Is it some sort of device that combines cells using beams of light? Is that even possible?'
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Dr. Connors clicked his tongue. "Tch. Damn it." Lightly, he slammed his single fist on the desk, causing the laptop to tremble, as well as the many vials surrounding it.
"What's this device?" Eren asked.
"I call it the Neogenic Recombinatior. It uses... semi-radioactive rays of light to combine the cells of one being with another. Using the serum I made from reptilian DNA, it should combine Chester's DNA with it but the device is still too weak."
'Radioactive?' Eren thought as he looked down at his own hand. The spider that bit him was also radioactive, he wondered if the spider's bite acted as a sort of natural Neogenic Recombinator. He then wondered if that would mean Dr. Connors and Chester would inherit more than one aspect of the reptilian DNA.
"Dr. Connors. What if you begin inheriting more than just regeneration? Like growing a tail or reptilian skin?" Eren asked.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Parker. I've made sure that the targeted aspect is regeneration and nothing else. It took many years but that will be the only trait passed over, trust me." Connors said this with confidence, though it still made the young man uncomfortable.
"Regardless, even with the Flux Extravigator, I can't seem to generate enough power for the Neogenic Recombinator. Leave it to the technological aspects to set me back..." Connors's once confident face slowly turned into a solemn frown as he looked down at his missing arm.
"I can give it a look, Dr. Connors. I've actually been studying currents and such for a... personal project of mine." By that, Eren meant he had been studying electricity due to his powers. He wanted to really know how it works and what exactly he could do with it.
"Please do, I was hoping to have you look through it as you're one of the most technologically gifted men I know. Don't get discouraged if you can't figure it out. The panel is right behind there." Connors said as he pointed toward the side of the machine with his single hand.
"Sounds like you're doubting me, Dr. Connors. I got this." Eren replied with confidence.
Eren walked over to the machine and opened it up to reveal its wiring and batteries. With a single hand on his chin, the boy investigated it, noticing that one of the wires was faulty. Along with the faulty wiring, the Flux Extravigator lacked voltage, definitely not enough to power a machine of such size. However, anything bigger than that would not fit inside the machine and would be far beyond the budget of a teacher.
"You got a toolbox, Connors?" Eren asked. The man pointed at a messy desk near the machine, prompting the boy to go over and grab it. Bringing it back to the machine, the boy opened it up and began scanning the machine.
For a normal person, it would have taken a few hours to understand the system within the machine, however, Eren had a trick up his sleeve. 'Okay, Godspeed, time to do as we practiced.' Taking a deep breath, the boy sent Godspeed energy directly to his eyes and brain, causing him to wince slightly. It hurt, and it definitely wasn't a technique that was combat-ready, but it was useful for low-stress situations like the one he was in.
With his brain now thinking at a million miles per hour, the hero began mentally rewiring the machine in the most optimal way possible. It only took a few seconds, though the amount of information going in and out of the boy's brain could've been half an hour's worth, even more.
Using his Godspeed-infused fingers and a few tools, the boy began rewiring the machine in real-time. It took a while, Dr. Connors took an occasional glance over his laptop during that time, but the boy eventually finished rewiring it. 'And I'll give the little guy just a bit of juice.' Using his hand, the boy infused the battery with his own Godspeed energy, allowing its voltage to be high enough to power the machine, giving it a blue glow.
"Dr. Connors, I think I see what the issue was. Your wiring was completely off. If you had a better power supply, it would've been fine, but the Flux whatever isn't strong enough. Go ahead and power it up, it should be good now." Eren said, walking over to his teacher and looking at the monitor. The battery symbol appeared full this time, surprising both men.
"How?" Connors asked in astonishment.
"I guess you were right about natural sciences being your area of expertise, Doc. Leave the machinery to the experts." Eren joked, causing Connors to laugh a bit.
"We'll see if you're worthy of the expert title." Connors said as he activated the machine, shooting another multicolored beam down at Chester the rat, this time it was much brighter. The rat let out a slight squeal, though it was more so out of surprise than out of pain. Both scientists peered over the computer screen and watched as the rat's nub began to tremble slightly.
The two scientists looked at each other before they sprinted over to the rat to get a closer look. Within a few seconds, Chester began to regrow his missing arm.
"Parker, we've done it." Connors said in astonishment as Chester's arm continued to grow. Within about half a minute, the entire arm had fully grown back. Chester then began running in circles, excitedly testing out his arm like a joyful puppy.
"You've done it, Dr. Connors. I just patched up the machine... This is incredible." Eren admitted with an astonished voice of his own,
"No, if it wasn't for you fixing the machine I'd still be lost. I can finally feel my wife's face with both hands once more... I can finally be whole again..." A smile came across the doctor's face as he thought about how his life would soon transform. "Eren, please, I need you to inject me with this. I'll mark exactly where you need to put the needle, then I need you to press this button right here and then-" Connors was speaking sporadically due to his excitement, though his student interrupted him as the voice of reason.
"Uh, Connors... Shouldn't we look for any side effects?" Eren asked, feeling reluctant to get straight into the human trials.
"Side effects? Like what? You think I'll turn green or something? It works, Parker! It really works!" Connors was still speaking sporadically, unmoved by the thought of any adverse effects.
"Well, yeah but I think we should do further testing just to see-" Eren tried to once again reason with his teacher, but the man interrupted, placing a hand on his shoulder before looking at him with a pained stare.
"Parker, please. I need this." Connors told the boy as his eyes started to become glassy as he held back tears.
Eren shook his head slowly, unwilling to do something so dangerous. "I'm sorry, Dr. Connors. I know you're excited. There are things in my life that I wish I could get back, like my parents, I'd do anything for that. If I was in a situation where I could bring them back, just like you I wouldn't think twice and I'd be blind to any ramifications. Do you get what I mean, Dr. Connors?"
Dr. Connors looked at the ground, though it was clear that Eren was making progress in swaying his mind. "Remember what you told me about risks, Dr. Connors? Sure, not doing anything is a risk, but this is far riskier and more dangerous. Please, I don't want anything to happen to you. What if something truly awful happens, what if you die? What about your wife? Your students? Your friends? I won't be able to ever forgive myself if something bad happens."
Dr. Connors sighed, understanding how selfish he was being at the moment. "You're right, Parker. I'll publish this and wait for any side effects before doing human trials. I just really want this, Parker. It's hard for me to wait."
"Thank you. Dr. Connors. The time it'll take to get reviewed and further tested will fly by, you'll have your arm back, and so will the millions of others who you will help with this serum." In his pocket, the boy could feel his phone blowing up with notifications from his various crime trackers. 'Damn it, should I leave him alone?'
Eren reached into his pocket before pulling out his phone and reading the many notifications describing what was going on. 'Monster made of water attacking a concert?' He thought to himself.
Unfortunately, there was no time to waste. "I gotta run, but I'll see you tomorrow, alright?" Eren said as he began quickly walking out of the lab. "Don't do anything dangerous, okay?"
"Alright, Parker. I'll be safe, don't worry. See you tomorrow." Connors said, waving his single hand at Eren as the boy left the lab, leaving him alone in his own thoughts.
Once the boy was gone, Dr. Connors looked down at Chester as the rat ran in circles inside its enclosure. Connors looked on with envious eyes, wanting more than anything to share that same excitement as his long-time lab partner.