"Yeah." Alex didn't have anything to add to that. Some tragedies didn't need analysis, just acknowledgment. "I'll check back in the morning. Comm channel stays open if anything changes before then."
"Got it. Go deal with Norman."
Alex made his way back through the tunnels alone, deliberately scuffing his tactical gear against rough concrete, tearing a small gash into the sleeve. By the time he'd covered half the distance back toward the extraction point, his enhanced hearing picked up movement ahead, careful footsteps, a flashlight beam sweeping unsteadily across tunnel walls.
He rounded a corner and found one of the soldiers from earlier, the one who'd gone under the water during the initial attack, soaked through and shivering, weapon held with the particular grip of someone running mostly on adrenaline and stubbornness.
"Hey!" The soldier's light snapped toward Alex, rifle following half a second behind. "Carter, right? Oscorp?"
"Yeah. You got separated from the unit?"
"Current caught me, dragged me down a side tunnel before I could surface properly." The soldier lowered his weapon slightly, recognition easing some of the tension in his shoulders. "Name's Delgado. Lost my radio in the water, been trying to find my way back for twenty minutes."
"I'm heading back to the surface now. You can follow me out."
Delgado fell into step beside him, still dripping, favoring one ankle slightly as they walked. "You see what happened to that thing? The specimen?"
"Spider-Man drove it off. Lost track after that."
"Figures." Delgado shook his head, water still running off his uniform. "Whole op went sideways fast. This is supposed to be a controlled acquisition and we're getting our asses handed to us by something that used to be a scientist."
Alex filed that phrasing away carefully. "Controlled acquisition for what purpose, exactly?"
Delgado glanced at him, some instinct for operational security kicking in even through his exhaustion. "Above my pay grade to explain fully. Just know Command wants that specimen alive and functional. Whatever Connors did to himself, our people think it might actually be useful."
"Useful how?"
"You're the consultant, you tell me. All I know is there's a joint program, us and Oscorp, been running for a while now. Word is Command's been hunting for a breakthrough on enhanced soldier capability for years. Regeneration, strength, the whole package. When this Connors situation popped up on our radar, somebody upstairs got real excited real fast."
That confirmed what Alex had already suspected but hadn't had direct evidence for. Norman wasn't running some rogue operation with hired muscle. This was sanctioned, official, a genuine collaboration between Oscorp's research capabilities and a military program hungry for exactly the kind of results Connors had accidentally stumbled into.
'Super soldier research. Actual government interest, not just Norman's private ambition.'
They emerged from the maintenance access together, Delgado's appearance drawing immediate attention from the assembled unit. Torres jogged over, relief plain on his face.
"Delgado, Christ, we thought we lost you down there."
"Current pulled me under, took me a while to find my way back." Delgado gestured at Alex. "Ran into Carter here, he walked me out."
Torres nodded at Alex, something like gratitude in the gesture, before his expression hardened back into professional focus. "Osborn's waiting. Both of you, let's go."
They walked together toward the vehicles, Alex maintaining his careful limp, Delgado still dripping and shivering in the cool night air. Norman stood near his car exactly where Alex expected, dressed impeccably despite the late hour, watching the scene with an expression that gave away nothing.
"Mr. Carter." Norman's voice was clipped. "Report."
Read more chapters, 30 days ahead of Webnovel Updates on Patreon marvelstark