"A wise choice."
Amano Ren smiled and patted Norman's shoulder like a boss counseling an employee. "Norman, you are a smart man. You made the best decision."
"Trust me. In a few years you will be proud of this day. Maybe not even a year. Perhaps a month, perhaps half a year."
"As long as you build the group for me and handle my affairs, super strength, long life, high status... all of it will be yours."
"Do good work. I have high hopes for you, kid."
"I will give you everything you dreamed of and more."
Norman wavered. Those were his words. Even that chair was his.
"Then, boss, what are your orders?"
After a short spell of awkwardness, he forced the word out. Calling someone else boss for the first time felt strange on his tongue.
Ren thought a moment.
"First, move the corporate headquarters to the Dragon Kingdom, or run dual headquarters, but New York becomes a major branch only. If you keep a headquarters here, relocate it to another city."
Norman studied Ren's striking Eastern features and grasped the first half. The second puzzled him. "Boss, may I ask why?"
"Security," Ren said without hesitation. "It is too unsafe here. I do not want aliens someday turning my tool, cough, my life's work into scrap."
Norman's brow twitched. He heard that. Tool. Oscorp, reduced to a tool.
Their family's white moonlight, seen as a disposable plaything in another man's eyes. The thought alone could make him explode.
Still, he mostly understood. America was unsafe.
Or rather, New York was least safe.
"Understood. I will draft a suitable plan."
New broom, three fires. This was the first. He would make it burn bright.
"Second, assemble a team of biologists at once. Reverse-engineer the vial I gave you and push it to mass production. Meanwhile I will email a list of trinkets I want. You will unleash the full weight and network of Oscorp to collect them quickly."
With Oscorp, even questionable items could pass with research as a fig leaf. At worst, people looked the other way.
Norman's eyes sharpened. "I will see to it immediately. We will secure everything you require."
Ren nodded, pleased. Smart men needed few words.
He had grasped the order. Research was secondary. Meeting Ren's needs was primary.
Because Ren was the boss.
"Third, one voice only inside the company. I do not care how. Handle the rest."
Ren did not care about money, but that did not mean he intended to share the cake with rats.
Norman might be the major shareholder, yet cliques of minors could still challenge him, even attempt a palace coup.
A scientist at heart, he had little interest in that grind, and during Oscorp's worst days nearly got shoved out.
That was when he had injected a goblin serum and sent dissidents to meet God with a bomb.
Understanding dawned. He hesitated, then drew a finger across his throat. "Like this?"
Ren rolled his eyes. "You are the majority holder. I do not want lingering fallout."
For tonight only. Tomorrow you are the undisputed majority.
Norman felt a pang. So now he was a salaryman, sprinting at the boss's word. Great. Old bones still have to hustle with the young.
Ren beckoned. Norman approached, puzzled.
Ren set a hand on his shoulder and thought, Smelt Norman Osborn's hereditary disease.
In an instant, Norman felt something pull away inside him. Soul, or vigor, or both.
His body seemed lighter. The long strain from sleepless research eased, and a crisp energy washed through him.
A second spring.
"You can go. You no longer need to fear your family's defect stealing your life."
Ren waved.
"I am... cured?"
Norman's eyes went round. That was it?
A hand on his shoulder, and done.
What was this method?
"What did you expect, chest cracked open? Small matter, so easy."
"..."
Stunned, he left the lab. Security and late-shift staff greeted him as boss along the way. He sighed.
Was this the last day he was master here, or was he mourning half a life of struggle, less effective than a single touch from Ren?
Maybe both.
Outside, he looked up. Sunset stained the skyline, yet in his eyes it burned like dawn.
A name turned in his mind: Amano Ren.
His life had changed today.
Tomorrow would be heaven or abyss. It would depend on that mysterious man from the East.
After Norman departed, Ren left Oscorp as well.
He did not worry about a change of heart or a vanishing act.
If he chose to find Norman, even the ends of the earth or the ocean depths would offer no escape.