Chapter 34

"Morning, Conno-," Dr. Dillon waved at them, a cup of coffee in his hands, before looking slightly taken aback as Dr. Connors walked past them in a rush.

"Uhh, rude?" he mouthed softly as the group walked past them.

"Sorry, Curt's a bit excit-," Dr. Martha tried explaining.

"OHNN! Call Vincent & tell him to come into the 'Transgenics' lab, NOW!" Dr. Connors called out to a surprised-looking Johnathon Ohnn, who himself just entered through the main doors.

"What is all this ruckus?" a man in a sharp-looking business suit suddenly called out from atop the stairs, frowning at the commotion made by Dr. Connors.

"Ratha! We've solved it! Finally! We can finally make it work!" Dr. Connors exclaimed excitedly as he shook Dr. Ratha's shoulder in excitement.

"For god's sake, Curtis, make some sense," Dr. Ratha frowned as he removes Dr. Connor's hand from his shoulder. "What are you talking abo-,"

"It's the 0-0 Decay Rate Algorithm. We found the solution!" Dr. Martha explained, trying her best to control her own excitement.


"Incredible…," Dr. Ratha mouthed softly as they reviewed the equation that Gwen came up with.

"Wait, wait, I don't understand. What about the proliferation rate of the foreign DNA?" Dr. Dillon asked, frowning intently over the workings in front of him. "I thought that the problem had always been-,"

Dr. Curtis quickly points out to the largely written 'X(t)' written on the board. "It's the logistic growth rate," he said excitedly, winking towards the awkward looking teenage blonde sat across the room.

Gwen, now seated along with the other 3 interns, fidgeted slightly at the attention.

Peter noticed the awe-struck Liz & Harry next to each of them, unable to hide their amazement, and confusion at what was being discussed.

Peter turned towards the overwhelmed looking Gwen, seated right next to him, now blushing slightly after Dr. Connors winked at her. She turned towards Peter, and flashed him an awkward smile, her hands trembling from the attention & nervousness of the situation.

Peter flashed her a warm smile, before giving her hand a soft, reassuring squeeze, which Gwen returned with a soft nod of her own.

"The proliferation rate for small cellular population is finite," Dr. Connors continued explaining as he pointed at Gwen's workings. "Because of… the increase in cellular population, therefore, proliferation rate decreases, due to… competition for nutrients," he explained animatedly, as he moves across the board, pointing out the various variables.

"However, if we… consider… K as a constant, for the dynamics of X(t), this allows the proliferation rate to become unbounded," he continues writing the figures across the board. "And if we plug that into our algorithm, the proliferation rate is now…, ultimately bounded by the cell division time,"

"I see…," one of the scientists, Peter guessed was in their late 20s to early 30s, nodded in understanding. "Theoretically, this would allow for the continuous proliferation until the events of illegitimate recombination," he continued. "Even with the mRNA Decay Rate, due to it now being unbounded, the proliferation rate is able to exceed it,"

"Exactly, Vincent!" Dr. Connors exclaimed excitedly.

"Unbelievable," Dr. Vincent shook his head in disbelief, turning towards Gwen as he does so. "And you're telling me, a high-school kid figured all this out?"

Gwen smiled awkwardly, as the whole room's attention turned towards her. Her still trembling hands in Peter's, now sticky with sweat.

"I see," Dr. Ratha eyed her intently. "You're Dr. Stacy's daughter aren't you," he continued. "I've heard much about you," Dr. Ratha nodded in acknowledgement towards her.

"Oh, I can assure you, she more than lives up to her mother's legacy," Dr. Connors smiled proudly, as Martha flashed Gwen a big thumbs up from behind her husband.

"Never thought I'd see the day I'd be stumped by a teenage kid," Dr. Vincent smiled ruefully as he turned towards the workings on the board in disbelief. "Runs in the family, huh?" he joked playfully.

Amidst the nervousness of Gwen and the explanation given by Dr. Connors, Peter mind continued to race with the implications of what Gwen's solution to the algorithm now entails. As exciting as it was, Peter couldn't help but feel as if they were overlooking something crucial.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Dr. Ratha looked across the room, a slight frown still on his face. "Can we simulate this in the program?"

"Uhm, y-yes, yes, we should," Dr. Connors nodded quickly, looking slightly nervous. "Stegron, go ahead and key it in." he nodded towards Dr. Vincent.

"Ah r-right," Dr. Vincent Stegron nodded in understanding before quickly heading towards the Holographic Projection Tube console.

"I will inform Norman on this," Dr. Ratha mulled for a moment. "This could be the breakthrough of the century, Connors. This is unpreceden-,"

"Uhm, Dr. Connors?" Peter raised his free arm, hoping to ask a question.

Harry, who had been seated on the other side of him all this time, looked at him in surprise.

The group of scientists turned to him in surprise, slightly taken aback.

"Uh, yes, Peter?" Dr. Connors asked him.

"I have a question," Peter spoke up, if slightly timidly.

Dr. Ratha flashed him a scowl, clearly unamused by Peter's sudden interjection. "Please, boy. We don't have time to explain these difficult concepts to you if you couldn't understand them," he grumbled, shaking his head in disapproval.

"Dude, just let it go man," Harry whispered to him softly, tugging the edge of his coat for him to sit down. "Whatever it is, you can ask them later when they're not busy,"

Peter hesitated slightly, before his curiosity gets the best of him.

"N-no, I understand Gwen's solution just fine," Peter explained, slightly oblivious of the annoyance shown by Dr. Ratha. "It's just-, the foreign DNA proliferation rate," Peter pointed out.

The other scientists turned their attention to him, with Dr. Ratha in particular looking slightly skeptically at him.

"Uhm, okay Peter, what about it?" Dr. Connors asked curiously.

"I swear, he's probably just trying to impress the girl," Dr. Ratha mouthed softly, but loud enough to ensure anyone in close proximity would be able to hear him, as he rolls his eyes in disbelief at the sight of Peter & Gwen holding hands.

Gwen quickly blushed as she realized what she had been doing, before she quickly let go of Peter's hand and places her own, on her lap.

Dr. Dillon & Dr. Stegron smirked slyly at their antics, sighing softly, before turning back to their work.

Harry lets out a soft groan, as Peter laughed awkwardly, himself blushing slightly, before wiping the (Gwen's) sweat on his palm on his lab coat.

"Uhm, it's just that, if the proliferation rate is unbounded, wouldn't that run the risk of the foreign DNA taking over?" Peter questioned.

The group of scientists looked at him in silence, as Gwen herself frowned and mulled his words in her mind.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Dr. Connors stuttered slightly as he frowns, his mind processing what Peter had just implied.

"Well, if the proliferation rate is unbounded, then that would mean we wouldn't be able to limit the growth rate once the foreign DNA has integrated successfully with the host, no?" Peter questioned.

For a moment, they remained silent as they consider what Peter had just pointed out.

"No, but the proliferation rate is bounded, isn't it? By the cell division time?" Dr. Dillon pointed out to what had just been explained across the board earlier.

"Well, yes, but that was prior to recombination," Peter pointed out.

Dr. Connor's frown deepened as he stares intently at the workings across the board.

Eventually, Gwen eyes widen in realization as she processes what Peter tried to explain. "You're right," she mouthed softly.

"He's right," Dr. Connors pinched his nose in frustration. "Goddamn it!" he exclaimed in frustration.

"I, don't understand. What is the problem?" Dr. Ratha looked around the room in confusion.

"Once the recombination occurs and it's integrated successfully, you have to consider the integrated DNA proliferation," Dr. Connor's explained.

"So?" Dr. Ratha asked incredulously. "Once it integrates, it's no different to your typical DNA Replication, isn't it? Even in the case of rejection, you can take suppressant to allow reduce the effects, couldn't you?"

Peter shakes his head. "That's not the issue Dr. Ratha. It's the unbounded nature of the mRNA Proliferation Rate," Peter pointed out as he walked towards the board. "Even once the illegitimate recombination occurs, because this now exceeds the mRNA Decay Rate, that means it will continue to proliferate and cause more recombination, on top of the already successful integration,"

"Wait, but with the low sequence homology, surely there's no risk of displacement," Dr. Stegron argues, fully focused on the discussion at hand.

Peter continues to shake his head. "But that's solely for 'foreign' sequences. Like Dr. Connors said, once the integration is successful, the sequence homology is irrelevant. And even then, the mRNA will continue its proliferation, which theoretically, makes it not a possibility, but more of an eventuality for the foreign DNA to take over,"

"What if we consider the host DNA's ability to proliferate? Wouldn't that act as a limiter for the new integrated DNA?" Gwen suggested after mulling in her seat for a while.

Peter pointed towards the board again. "There's the risk of it being unable to compete," he explained. "Like you initially surmised with the mRNA Decay Rate, the increase in cellular population, causes competition for nutrients, which in turn decreases the proliferation rate decreases,"

"But you're implying that the foreign DNA will overcome the host's in this competition for nutrients," Dr. Martha pointed out, herself biting her nails intently as she always does when she's deep in thought.

"Well, yes, but-," Peter started.

"There's no way to know," Dr. Connors frowned as he continues to rack his brain to figure out the solution. "Unless we're able to determine the host & the sample's affinity, the 0-0 decay rate doesn't account for the rate of displacement of the host's DNA,"

"But you're basing this on the unlikely event that the foreign DNA does take over the host's, yes?" Dr. Ratha pointed out.

"W-well, yes," Peter nodded.

"But that means it's as likely for the host's to win out, as it is for the foreign DNA, isn't it?" Dr. Ratha offered.

"No, it's actually more likely for the host's since the foreign DNA starts off with very limited numbers," Peter nodded. "But, over time, because the mRNA recombination continues…,"

"Unless we find a way to limit the initial proliferation rate, after recombination," Gwen mulled. "At least to the point where the decay rate outpaces the proliferation rate,"

As the question was left hanging in the air, the room remained quiet, as the group of scientists & interns remain deep in thought, staring intently at the workings across the board.

*CLAP*

"Right then, let's just run the simulation," Dr. Ratha instructed. "Since we already lack the information to determine the affinity, we might as well use the simulation to get some data as reference, no? After all, what's the use of having these multi-billion-dollar equipment, if we're just gonna site here all day staring at the board, right?" he continued, smiling ever so softly to try to motivate his team.

The team stared among themselves, slightly surprised by Dr. Ratha's statement.

"Y-yes, I suppose you're right," Dr. Connors nodded slowly, before his frown is slowly replaced by a soft smile, as he addressed his team of scientists. "Stegron, enter the algorithm. And Ohnn, would you mind helping him with the peptide sequences for the trials?"

"Uh, yes Dr. Connors," Dr. Ohnn nodded enthusiastically, before turning & joining Dr. Stegron by his side.

"And honey, would you mind extracting some samples from the Cynops phyrrogaster? I'd like to get as accurate a simulation results as possible, so I think we should use it for the trials as well,"

"On it, Dr. Connors," Dr. Martha joked playfully, before heading out of the lab, presumably to where the test animals are being kept.

"An oriental fire-bellied newt?" Gwen's eyes widened in surprise as she watches Dr. Martha exit the room.

"Hmmm? Yes, well, newts do have the best regenerative factor amongst them," Dr. Connors shrugged his shoulders. "Had to go all the way to Honshu for that one," he smirked.

"I see," Peter returned the smile as he watched the team of scientists go about their work across the labs.

"I'll go ahead & inform Norman, update him on what we had just discussed," Dr. Ratha remarked, before eyeing Peter curiously. "What was your name again, Mr.…?"

"Parker," Dr. Connors answered for him, as he places his hand on Peter's shoulder, affectionately. "Don't worry, Osborn knows more about this kid then myself, he knows he's got a gem at hand," he continued, smiling softly as he said so.

Dr. Ratha eyes widened in surprise for the briefest of moments, before regaining his composure and giving an acknowledging nod to the room. "I'll take my leave then. Ms. Stacy, Mr. Osborn," he nodded at them, before leaving.

"Oh, I missed you there, Ms. Allan. You looked great today as well Ms. Allan. I definitely didn't just ignore you there Ms. Allan," Liz mouthed under her breath, joking slightly as Dr. Ratha leaves the group.

Harry lets out a small chuckle at her antics. "Hey, if it makes you feel any better, he only acknowledged me coz of my father," Harry shrugged.

"Wow, rich, and humble, color me amazed," Liz rolled her eyes playfully.

Peter lets out a soft sigh at the pair's antics.

"So…, Dr. Connors, is there anything we can help with?"

"Hmmm? Oh no, it's okay Peter," he smiled softly at the interns. "You've done more than enough. Anymore, and I'd be embarrassed for calling myself the 'scientist'," he joked. "No, it's okay, we'll handle this, and later once the simulation is ready, we'll call you in for a look," he assures them. "Or, thoughts. Let's be honest, you're all basically a part of the team now at this point," he shrugs, before smiling warmly.


"Whatcha got there, Billy?" Liz asked, having spent the past hour or so with Billy as they babysit him.

Billy flashed them a wide toothy grin. "This here's a drawing of 'Lizzie' our pet lizard," he said happily, showing his drawings to Liz.

"Oh wow, that looks really good," Liz smiled warmly at the scribbles & colors that Billy had drawn. "That's a very nice tongue," she pointed to the scribbles of pink lines at the top of the sketch.

Billy suddenly frowned as he stares angrily at Liz.

"N-no? That's not his tongue?" Liz smiled awkwardly, looking around to her friends to help her out.

"No! Hmph," Billy took the drawings away, before spreading it on the floor. "That is her hair, coz she has pretty, pink hair, like Big Sis," he said smugly as he points towards Gwen.

"O-oh, thanks Billy," Gwen smiled awkwardly, slightly confused at how to feel at being compared to a lizard.

"A pink-haired lizard? This, I got to see," Harry quickly knelt down next to them as he takes a look at what Billy had drawn. "Woww, this is, certainly something," Harry nodded slowly.

"See what I've got to work with here?" Liz lets out a soft grumble, moaning slightly at the drawings in front of them.

"No, I get it," Harry shrugged his shoulders as he sat cross-legged, next to Billy. He then took a look at the other 3 interns and then at Billy and his drawings. "So, this here's the body, and the tail, right?"

"Yes!" Billy beamed excitedly.

"Huh? What kind of Lizard has a dark-brown underbelly?" Liz looked over in disbelief.

Harry raised his eyebrows in confusion as he shakes his head slowly. "That's the scales, idiot," Harry explained.

"Sails?" Billy frowned, looking confused as he scratched his head.

"The body & legs, and the little pointy bits on Lizzie," Harry explained warmly.

"Oh… Then yeah! That's right, those are the sails," Billy nodded excitedly.

Liz shrugged her shoulders in defeat. "I don't know about you, but I've never seen a lizard with brown scales & pink hair," she grumbled.

"That's because he's coloring them after you guys," Harry explained, placing Billy on his lap. "Isn't that right?"

"Yep!" Billy smiled excitedly. "Lizzie now has pretty brown skin, just like Big Sis!" Billy smiled while pointing towards Liz.

"Huh?" Liz eyes widened in surprise. "O-oh, wow, thanks," she said, slightly stunned.

Harry shrugged his shoulders off-handedly. "And this must be… Mommy & Daddy's glasses!" Harry pointed towards the drawing's big round eyes.

"Correct!" Billy yelled excitedly as he laughed out loud, playing with Harry.

"What about Big Bro? Is Big Bro not pretty enough, so Lizzie don't wanna be like Big Bro?" Harry feigned hurt, smiling playfully as he does so.

Billy lets out an excited laugh as he covers his face and laughs out loud. "Oookay, Lizzie will be like Big Bro too," Billy sighed exaggeratedly, before drawing a big crescent shaped smile onto the supposed lizard scribble.

"There, Lizzie has pretty teeth & smile, just like Big Bro," Billy said smugly.

"Nice teeth," Harry smiled smugly at Peter. "I'll take that,"

Peter rolled his eyes in disbelief, smiling at Harry's antics. "What about Big Bro Petey? Can't he be a part of Lizzie?"

"Pfft, maybe in his stomach," Harry joked. "The only way someone as ugly as you get to be a part of Lizzie is if she eats you," he teased jokingly, which earned a roar of laughter from Billy.

"Hey no fair, I have my redeeming features," Peter defended himself. "I bet Lizzie would love to have… my nose!" Peter continued, before pushing his nose up & mimicking a pig's noise as he oinks his way into Billy's face.

Billy lets out another big, laugh, as he rolls on the floor, crayons in hand.

"Or, if Lizzie doesn't want my nose, then I'll take… Billy's nose!" Peter feigned grabbing Billy's nose, and snatching it away, putting his thumb in between his fingers to mimic his nose, which earned an even bigger laugh from Billy as he grabs his nose & buries his face onto Harry's shoulder.

"Wow, you guys are really good with kids, huh?" Liz remarked, as she stood up from the floor, patting her pants as she does so.

"Ahahaha, not really," Peter said in between shielding his arms with the fake nose away from Billy as Billy tries his best to snatch his 'nose' back.

"My mom used to bring me & Pete on her charity work for orphanages & children's hospitals," Harry explained, as he leaned back, watching Peter play with Billy. "You pick things up here & there after a while," he shrugged.

"Also, it helps when you're friends with a 17-year old child," Peter joked.

"Dammit Parker, I was just about to use that joke," Harry moaned

Then suddenly, Billy started crying, before running towards Gwen.

"H-hey, what's wrong?" Gwen knelt down, giving the crying boy a hug.

"He took my nose," Billy said in between sobs, before pointing accusingly at Peter. "And he wouldn't give it back to me!"

"Hey, hey Billy, it's okay, here, I'll give you back your nose, okay," Peter said quickly as he crawled towards Billy & Gwen.

Gwen looked awkwardly at Peter, slightly unsure of what to do, as Billy turned towards him, tears leaking from his eyes.

Peter softly placed his thumb on Billy's nose, and 'returned' his nose to his face.

"There, good as new," Peter said warmly, looking timidly at Billy and Gwen.

Gwen raised her shoulders in confusion, trying her best to comfort Billy. "There, there. See, Big Bro Pete already gave you back your nose," Gwen pats him softly on his back, trying to console him. "You're good now, see?"

Billy slowly stopped sobbing, as he reached for his nose. His face quickly lit up as he grabbed his nose again, before smiling widely and sticking his tongue out towards Peter.

"Hah! Dummy! I was only pretend crying!" he jumped away from Gwen's arms, before trying to get away from Peter.

"Hey, hey, come on Billy, let's have a sit down, okay," Harry quickly reached out towards Billy and grabbed him to stop him from disturbing the people in the nearby labs. "Let's… draw, you like drawing, right? Let's draw some more,"

Billy mulled over the thought for a few minutes in Harry's arms. "Okay!" He said excitedly, before sitting down in front of Harry. "I wanna draw, the smartest people first," he nodded to himself, crayons in hand as he starts scribbling away.

"So, mommy & daddy?" Liz asked.

"Mommy & daddy isn't here silly," Billy rolled his eyes as he smiles smugly. "I'll draw Big Sis Gwen first, since mommy & daddy said she's super smart,"

"Hm, touché," Harry nodded in agreement.

"I-I don't think I'm th-," Gwen started.

"Gwen, it's a kid's interpretation," Harry quickly cuts her off, rolling his eyes in disbelief. "Just let it be," he sighed.

"R-right," Gwen nodded.

"And besides, it's not like he's wrong, right?" Peter chuckled softly, looking to his friends for some support.

"Eh…," Harry shrugged his shoulders, as each of them made a non-committal noise in response.

Peter, feeling slightly taken aback at what he felt like a diss towards Gwen, frowned slightly, as he turned towards Gwen to see if she was offended by their response. However, to his further surprise, Gwen looked oblivious to the whole thing.

For a few moments, they continued watching Billy's efforts in silence, with the occasional comment from Harry to engage Billy.

"So, how does it feel to be a part of, the 'breakthrough of the century'?" she smiled playfully.

The question hanged in the air for a moment, as the group remained silent, before Peter turned towards Gwen, slightly confused as to why she's remaining quiet.

To his surprise, Gwen was looking at him, brows seemingly raised in question towards him.

Suddenly Harry started sighing out loud as he held his head in his arms. "Gwen. How does it feel to be a part of the breakthrough of the century, Gwen," he said in a monotone, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Huh? M-me?" Gwen looked back at Harry, taken aback by the question.

"Uhh, yes, you?" Liz frowned her brows, feeling confused at why Gwen is confused.

"This one's on you Allan," Harry said simply, eyes still glued on Billy and his scribbles. "You of all people should know how these two can be,"

"Ahh, touché," Liz nodded in agreement.

"Hey," Peter tried arguing his innocence. "What's that supposed to mean? And besides, why did I get dragged into this?"

"Ehh, what's the word again?" Harry feigned to be in thought for a moment. "Obtuse. Yeah, that's about right,"

"Hey!" Peter protested.

"Breakthrough of the Century, remember?" Liz cuts him off, before turning her attention back towards Gwen. "So, spill,"

"H-hmm? Uhh, well, you know," Gwen fidgeted slightly as she tries to deflect the question. "Great? I guess? Mostly nervous. Still feels a bit unreal to be honest," she smiled softly. "It felt like at any point time, they were going to find something wrong with my workings and point out how silly my solution was," she continued, smirking slightly, before letting out a small sigh of relief that she didn't know she was holding back.

"Well, that didn't happen," Harry replied. "Other than Prof. Parker here with his 'displacement' theory," Harry smiled slyly.

"R-right, sorry about that," Peter rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

"N-no, don't be. I think you're right to point that out," Gwen quickly assures him.

"Yeah, let's hope they'll figure out how to solve that unbounded proliferation rate," Peter nodded slowly. "For what it's worth, I think it's amazing that you managed to solve the 0-0 decay rate algorithm,"

"For what it's worth, 60% of what was discussed in there, flew right over my head," Harry said, while mimicking an airplane with his hands and flying over his head.

"Same, but I'd say only about 30% flew over mine," Liz smiled smugly at Harry.

Gwen chuckled at their antics. "Well, for what it's worth, I'd say about 99% of it flew-,"

"Boooo," Harry jeered, cutting Gwen off before she could finish.

"*cough*lies*cough*," Peter faked a cough. "*cough*bullshit*cough*,"

Gwen couldn't help but smile at the antics of the pair of boys. "Haha, very funny, but I'm serious tho," she continued, shoving Peter softly for his antics.

"*cough*humblebrag*cough*," Peter continued to tease playfully.

"Boooo, pathological liar detected," Harry continued.

"Boooo," Liz decided to join in on the teasing as well.

"Oh, haha," Gwen rolled her eyes in annoyance, a small smile still creeping up to her face as she does so. "But seriously, I really didn't do much," she shrugged. "I went through my mother's journal, and the solution was pretty much in there to begin with,"

Liz frowned her brows in disbelief. "Cap," she called out. "There's no way they would've missed out the solution if it was just lying there in the journal,"

"Well, it wasn't exactly written there as a whole," Gwen shrugged. "But the gist of it was basically all there,"

"Hey…, that's Big Sis Liz!" Harry moaned jokingly as Billy continued scribbling on his papers.

"Uh-huh, that's coz Big Sis Liz is smarter than you, but not as smart as Big Sis Gwen, I think," he nodded to himself, which caused Liz to let out a small chuckle.

"Ehh, debatable," Harry shrugged.

"Wait," Liz suddenly towards Billy and his scribbles. "So, where's Peter then?"

"Hmm? Big Bro Pete? Heh," Billy suddenly smirked smugly as he eyes Peter with the corner of his eyes. "He's the silliest so he's last,"

"Huh… really? And why do you say that?" Gwen asked, slightly curious.

"Hmmm, well, coz when they were discussing about stuff in the room, mommy said they discussed something that Big Sis Gwen worked on. And they looked really impressed with it, so that makes you the smartest," Billy explained.

"And then, Big Sis Liz & Big Bro Harry looked like they didn't understand what was discussed in the room, so that's why they're not as smart," he continued. "It's okay tho, Billy doesn't really understand either, so that makes us the same," he assures Liz & Harry.

"That's… well… strangely comforting," Harry smiled ruefully.

"But what about Peter?" Liz asked.

Billy smiled smugly as he turned towards Peter. "Well, when Big Bro Pete said something, mommy & daddy's friends all remained quiet, so that must be Big Bro Pete asked something super stupid that they didn't want to answer," he shrugged

Peter lets out a small chuckle as Billy continued to smile smugly towards him.

"It's okay, I'll still be your friend even if you're dumb Bro Pete," Billy pats him on the calf.

Just then, Dr. Ratha suddenly appeared before them, with another sharply dressed man next to him.

"Boys! Ladies! I heard the great news!" Norman Osborn exclaimed excitedly.


"Connors!" Mr. Osborn exclaimed excitedly as he stepped into the lab, Dr. Ratha and the interns following closely behind him.

"Norman? You're here?" Dr. Connors asked, slightly surprised.

"I wouldn't miss the moment my team figured out one of the biggest breakthrough in human history!" Mr. Osborn continued excitedly.

"Pretty sure a moment ago, it was just over the past hundred years," Liz mouthed jokingly, soft enough to ensure that no one apart from her friends could hear her.

Dr. Connors couldn't help but smile himself, as he oversees his team's final preparations for the simulations.

"Well, maybe so, but none of this could've been possible without the help of Ms. Stacy," Dr. Connors gestured towards Gwen.

Norman turned towards Gwen, his gaze lingering ever so long on her. "Yes…, I've heard the story from Ratha," he eventually smiled softly, before turning towards Gwen. "Thank you, Gwendolyn," he said, as he suddenly gave her a hug.

"Uhm, y-yeah, you're welcome," Gwen smiled awkwardly, slightly unsure what to do in this current situation.

After what Peter felt was a slightly uncomfortably long duration for a hug, he then turned back towards Dr. Connors and his team.

"Well, what are we waiting for?! Start the simulation!" Mr. Osborn exclaimed excitedly.

Dr. Connors turned towards Martha, who gave him a curt nod, signaling that they are ready to proceed with the simulation.

"Ok, right this way then," he gestured for the group to follow him as he made his way towards the console for the holographic projection tube.

A holographic image of Freddy, the three-legged mouse, appeared on the projection tube.

"Entering the 'algorithm', now," Dr. Connors called out, as the procedures are journalized appropriately.

"System ready for 'Gene Insertion'," Dr. Stegron called out from behind one of the consoles.

"Okay, check," Dr. Martha called out from her corner of the room. "Sample peptide chain primed, beginning pre-insertion procedure,"

"They're pre-empting the proteins," Gwen mouthed softly as he watched the holograms change from one shape to another.

"Hm, they're pre-empting the immune response," Mr. Osborn nodded along as he watches the procedure.

"Begin trials," Dr. Connors called out.

"Pending… Pending… Failed, Subject Deceased,"

"Pending… Pending… Failed, Subject Deceased,"

"Come on, come on, come on," Dr. Connors mumbled, his face scrunched up in defiance & concentration as he watches strands after strands of peptide chains being simulated for insertion.

"Pending, Failed. Pending, Failed. Pending, Failed,"

Peter suddenly felt a soft, clammy hand slip into his grip. Without looking, he realized that Gwen had slipped her hands into his to stop her trembling hands. Peter gave her hands a light squeeze, hoping that it send her the reassuring message he meant for her.

"Pending, Failed. Pending, Failed. Pending, Failed,"

"Peptide algorithm accepted, Regrowth Complete,"

"H-hey, hey! W-we did it! WE DID IT!" Dr. Ohnn suddenly yelled out as he saw the message.

"Vitals normal. Blood Pressure normal. Limb regeneration successful,"