Chapter Fifty-Eight: The Foundation of Life

Early morning at Arthur’s villa in New York.

Every day when Arthur wakes up, Wanda has already prepared breakfast for him. Arthur isn’t one for sleeping in, but lately, seeing the siblings rise early each day to train together has inspired even his lazier side to start exercising. After breakfast, Arthur heads into the courtyard, where Wanda is already practicing her control over magic. Her progress is impressive, and today Arthur plans to use the Mind Stone to help strengthen her mental abilities.

He forms a shield around his own mind with his psychic power, inviting Wanda to try to break through and invade his mind—an exercise in manipulating mental energies. Of course, Wanda’s greatest strength lies in chaos magic, which, in the future, will allow her to tear Thanos apart with her own hands. But for now, her chaos magic remains too weak.

Pietro, meanwhile, is in charge of grocery shopping. He can already make the round trip to a supermarket in downtown New York within thirty minutes. Arthur’s now sending him to more distant supermarkets, keeping the time limit at thirty minutes—fifteen minutes of which must be spent actually shopping. When Pietro can manage to buy groceries in Washington within thirty minutes, his training will be about complete.

With the siblings training daily, nutrition must keep pace. Of course, they can’t eat seafood every day—Arthur worries about gout. Stark Industries has livestock partners, so Arthur arranges for regular deliveries of fresh, prime beef. The three of them eat some, and he also sends some to Peter Parker, whose family is actually quite poor. This is Arthur’s way of discreetly helping out.

Yesterday brought another investigation assignment—troublesome, but Arthur doesn’t have much else to do at the moment. He’s waiting for the alignment of the nine planets; the Aether is a stone he must obtain. Without it, facing Thanos wielding the Power Stone, Arthur would have no choice but to hide behind Captain Marvel.

Online, Arthur has researched the Life Foundation. The Life Foundation is an organization established by a company called Cornerstone, based in San Francisco. Its leader is a biologist named Carlton Drake, specializing in biopharmaceutical and medical research.

Arthur can only sigh at how, in this universe, every biotech company seems destined for trouble! Still, he decides to head to San Francisco soon to see what this so-called Life Foundation is really up to.

……

California, San Francisco

It’s Arthur’s first visit to San Francisco, and he finds the city bustling and vibrant—the streets rival those of New York, and most notably, the many familiar Chinese faces make him feel at ease. San Francisco has a large Chinese community, with countless Chinese restaurants and supermarkets. Surrounded by this, Arthur feels an unexpected sense of comfort.

He enters a Chinese restaurant owned by a man from Guangzhou. Ordering in flawless Mandarin, Arthur requests the house specialty: roasted goose, poached chicken, honey-glazed barbecue pork, and stir-fried rice noodles.

“Did you grow up in China? I’ve rarely heard an American speak Mandarin so perfectly,” the owner marvels at Arthur’s accent.

“I lived in China for many years. Please prepare the dishes in the authentic Chinese way,” Arthur replies.

Most Chinese restaurants adapt their flavors for American palates, but Arthur craves genuine Cantonese cuisine.

“Of course. Please wait a moment!” The owner heads off to the kitchen while Arthur sips tea and nibbles on sunflower seeds—his first taste in two years. The Chinese décor makes him feel right at home.

The food arrives quickly, and Arthur enjoys every bite. The flavors are excellent, different from Zhao Long’s Sichuan dishes but equally delightful. He chats with the owner throughout the meal. If the restaurant weren’t doing so well, Arthur would have tried to recruit the owner as his own head chef—just so he could eat Cantonese food every day.

Satisfied, Arthur drives towards the Life Foundation headquarters—the car “borrowed” from a passerby.

The Life Foundation’s headquarters is a striking, futuristic building set on the San Francisco waterfront, each section resembling a platter embedded into the rocky cliffs.

Arthur strolls confidently to the main entrance. The security staff don’t even notice him, as he uses the Mind Stone to make himself subconsciously invisible to those around him. The Mind Stone hangs in a small pouch against his chest, and with it, Arthur is the strongest agent on Earth—able to go wherever he pleases. Loki’s use of the Mind Stone once paled in comparison.

Arthur heads to the first basement level, which appears to be the Life Foundation’s secret laboratory. He notes the glass door and keypad, then uses his psychic power to invade the mind of a female lab worker inside. She turns, unlocks the door, and lets Arthur in. Inside, three male staff members are present; Arthur glances at them, and all three instantly collapse unconscious on the floor.

He turns to the female scientist. “Who are you? What are you researching?”

“I am Dora Skas, responsible for symbiote research,” she replies.

“What are symbiotes?” Arthur asks.

“Symbiotes are a life form that Drake found on a comet in outer space. There are thousands of them. He brought a few back for study. These creatures can’t survive alone on Earth, but they can bond with Earth life forms and live together—hence the name symbiote,” Dr. Dora explains.

“Symbiotes? Isn’t that Venom?” Arthur finally realizes what he’s dealing with.

“Drake has used many homeless people for human trials, killing dozens. One symbiote escaped with a man named Eddie Brock. Drake is now hunting them all over the city,” she says.

“Alright, take me to see this symbiote,” Arthur orders.

Dr. Dora leads him into a fully sealed laboratory. The room overflows with equipment, and on a central table sits a glass container holding an alien symbiote. Arthur studies it carefully. The symbiote appears liquid, shifting into any shape, but this one is blue, meaning it isn’t Venom.

“Open the container. Release it,” Arthur commands.

“No, it’s too dangerous! If we release it, we’ll all be dead!” For a moment, Dr. Dora actually breaks free of Arthur’s mental control—her terror of the symbiote is that deep.

“It’s fine. Open it,” Arthur insists, taking back control.

She enters a command on the computer, and the glass container opens. The blue symbiote flows out like water, moving toward Arthur. As it approaches, it stops abruptly. Dr. Dora watches in astonishment as the symbiote climbs up Arthur’s body and settles on his hand.

Arthur toys with the symbiote, as if handling a stress-relief toy.

“This is incredible! It’s actually so docile,” Dr. Dora exclaims.

If I wanted to, I could make you even more obedient than this creature, Arthur thinks to himself.

……