FAITH IN HUMANITY
EMILY

25th November, 1979

"Yes, I'm going to make it. Develop the whole thing. I have a team working on it as we speak-"

"Well, then, please tell him I said no, I am not backing down-"

"I'm sorry, sir. But the Oz drug will be on the market someday, whether it takes decades or not. Tell your boss that's a promise."

Norman Osborn slammed the phone down. Emily Osborn glanced up at him.

"Not good news?" she asked. She made no effort to hide the faint contempt in her voice, and bit into a piece of toast. Norman sat down on the other side of the table.

"No," he said. "They don't believe in me."

Emily said nothing, just ate.

"It's ridiculous. This drug could change the way wars are fought."

"I think maybe people are a little tired of war."

"Change the way humanity lives, then."

"Uh-huh." Emily pulled the latest edition of the Daily Bugle across the table, and became engrossed in that. Norman drummed his fingers on the table.

"I mean it," he said. "No-one else thinks the same way. Imagine it, Emily. If we take it far enough, we might even be able to prevent diseases, illnesses, defects. You and your mother-"

"That's enough." Emily snapped.

Silence for a while. Norman tapped the newspaper.

"The Bugle is coming to interview me tomorrow, anyway," he said. "That new guy they've got, Jameson, he's written the headline already. THE WIZARD OF OZ, he says it's gonna be." He said this with wonder in his voice, and a note of arrogance. "The wizard of Oz," he said again. "I could change the world, Emily."

Emily just looked at him, and turned the pages of her newspaper.

"They're going to interview you?" she said darkly. "I thought I had more faith in them than that."