----
Nolan stepped into Matt's lab.
Though Matt had already been injected with the Phoenix Serum, the compound still wasn't perfect. So when it came to surgery, Nolan was careful.
"You're here," Matt said quietly.
He already understood his fate.
He didn't know exactly what Nolan's endgame was, but he knew this much—he wasn't walking out of here until Nolan had dissected every secret from his body.
Nolan pulled on a fresh lab coat, his smile calm. "How does it feel to see the light again?"
The Phoenix Serum's regenerative effect was powerful. It had even reversed the chemical damage that had rendered Matt blind.
"It's… different," Matt admitted.
"Good. Consider it my version of a peace offering."
Nolan pressed a button. His assistants moved into place.
"Today, I plan to dissect everything down to your freshly regrown eyes. But if you cooperate, I might spare you some of the pain."
He pulled on his gloves.
Unlike Wolverine, Matt's powers didn't come from a healing factor. His enhancements were anatomical mutations triggered by exposure to a chemical cocktail.
That meant no genetic replication. No DNA cloning. No plug-and-play.
So Nolan would pursue another route: replication through artificial means.
If he couldn't reproduce Matt's super hearing chemically yet then he'd do it mechanically.
Step one: Build an advanced micro-device that could mimic Matt's hearing.
As the procedure began, one organ after another was carefully removed, examined, and compared under a microscope. Nolan scrutinized Matt's sensory cells, particularly those governing taste, smell, and tactile sensitivity.
"These cells…" Nolan muttered, transfixed by what he saw through the microscope. "The structure, the precision it's insane…"
Matt's mutated cells were unlike anything he'd seen. The sensory tissues were radically different from standard human biology even his eyes, newly regrown, were packed with unconventional neuron clusters.
Even more striking was the part of Matt's brain responsible for processing sensory input it was a dense web of grooves and folds, proof of enormous neurological bandwidth.
The chemical compound that mutated Matt had been no ordinary toxin.
Its ability to selectively evolve specific functions was… near impossible.
Matt had gotten lucky, Nolan realized.
A freak incident. A perfect chemical storm. And the result? A flawless, beneficial mutation.
But Nolan wasn't so lucky. He needed formulas. Predictability. Control.
He needed the original compound, the one that changed Matt, and a full breakdown of its components. Only then could he isolate its effects, replicate them, and refine them into a stable product.
Even if imperfections remained, that was fine. He was playing with cheat codes, after all.
"Fortunate bastard," Nolan muttered under his breath.
He'd lost track of time. Assistants had come and gone. The work never stopped.
"The anatomy's mapped out," he said, rubbing his temples. "Still no leads on the chemical trigger. So… time to test mechanical augmentation."
Nolan stripped off his gloves and lab coat. He was confident now if he could eventually recover the compound, he could replicate Matt's sensory matrix entirely. But until then?
He'd build it.
A headset engineered to match Daredevil's legendary hearing.
The real enhancement, Nolan realized, wasn't the eardrum or the ear bones. It was in the neural processing. That was what made Matt special.
Superhuman senses were worthless without a brain capable of parsing the data.
Normal humans? They'd be driven insane by the overload.
That's why Nolan didn't worry.
His brain could process even more than Matt's far more. If only he could figure out a way to dissect himself, he might've done it already.
"Time to start prototyping…"
He called Klaue via an encrypted line. Both of their phones now ran through private military-grade satellite encryption.
In the U.S., not even S.H.I.E.L.D. could pry into everything. Some things were still governed by capital, not politics.
"Materials?" Nolan asked.
Klaue's voice came through the static. "Yeah. We're making progress at Oscorp too. We're up to 34% shares. Moving fast right now, we're the largest shareholder. But if we buy more, we might risk drawing too much attention."
"Keep pushing. Money isn't the issue. Oscorp's research is the foundation of everything."
Nolan paused. "Also, I want Connors' current location. Where he's hiding."
"Got it. I'll send it to you soon."
Once the call ended, Nolan continued tinkering. Klaue was still out in the field, managing business… and gathering "assets." He was looking for other Spider-Man villains Doc Ock, Rhino, Sandman…
All had potential. Each could be an ally or raw material.
Not long after, Nolan received Connors' address.
---
Two Days Later
Nolan had barely left his lab.
He was fully immersed in designing his prototype what he now called the Super Hearing Headset.
Until the chemical compound that enhanced Matt's senses could be synthesized, this would be his workaround.
"Micro-sensors… Replacing the mastoid with electronic components… Audio encoding to enhance frequency intake…"
"For the eardrum, I'll just use Matt's."
The ossicles, the malleus, incus, and stapes, along with the middle ear structure, would be replaced with a vibranium alloy. Strong, light, and capable of amplifying sound.
Matt, now relocated to another facility, watched from his restrained position as Nolan muttered and constructed in front of him.
After a few final adjustments, Nolan held up two rounded objects no bigger than his thumbs.
They looked like wireless earbuds.
He slid them into his own ears.
A sharp twinge followed as the implants connected with his auditory nerves, bypassing natural ear structures.
Suddenly, noise flooded his mind.
Dozens of whispers. The hum of lights. Conversations through concrete walls. The sound of everything, everywhere.
Nolan winced. Closed his eyes.
Then, slowly opened them, breathing steadily.
"…Still need the chemical compound."
The device had brought his hearing level up to Matt's current capability. But it lacked control. Filtering, categorization, and focus are all things Matt's brain did intuitively.
That's why he still believed in bioengineering.
Machines could simulate power.
But only biology could evolve with it.
"Shame I don't have nanotech. If I did, I could coat my neural network in smart nodes…"
A pause.
Not yet. But soon.
----
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