[3rd person PoV]

*Crash* A woman dropped onto the floor with a syringe on her neck.

She extended her hand causing several knives to fly towards her shakily. However, before it could even get close to her she fainted. *Clang* All the knives floating in the air dropped down.

*Whizz* An orange portal opened up out of which walked out David. “Sorry for the trouble.”

David apologised as he grabbed the injection from her neck as a silver needle emerged from his shirt and struck on the spine of the woman, with extreme accuracy.

After few seconds, the injection withdrew forming a silver tube on David’s pocket to which David smiled as he stood up. “Thank you.”

Ignoring the woman David stepped back into the portal appearing back in his lab just as the woman hazily woke up.

She looked around cautiously before touching her neck to notice the pain she had felt earlier disappear. She looked at the clock to see only 30 seconds had passed just as several knives and cutleries floated around her. “What the hell?”

The woman uttered in confusion seeing she was perfectly fine.

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[David PoV]

I placed the small test tube on the rack, after labelling the test tube ‘active’. The rack contained several hundred other test tubes with samples of blood. “That should be enough.”

I had 2 categories of blood samples in front of me: Active Inhumans and inactive Inhumans.

There were 2 kinds of humans in this world. Those that were Inhumans and those that weren’t Inhumans, being just human.

However, not every inhuman was an active one. 99% of the inhuman population lived their life as normal humans with their powers lying dormant. These people were called inactive Inhumans.

The inactive Inhumans live like normal people most of their lives until they encounter what is known as Terrigen Mist created by Terrigen Crystals-bit like how a juice comes out of a grape when you squeeze it.

This Terrigen Mist triggers a reaction in their dormant Inhuman genes to activate it, which causes them to be entombed in a stone-like cocoon. After a while, the Inhumans break out of the shell walking out with superhuman abilities. This process is known as Terrigenesis.

It had taken me only a few hours to isolate and figure out the genetic makeup of inactive Inhumans. Once I did, I went on a hunting spree tracking down on any Inhumans in the world: both active and inactive from the blood sample given in hospital, and other places.

I needed all their blood sample for the trials I will be conducting from now on, now that I couldn’t use the awesome rooted potato to do it for me.

“This is going to be annoying and hard,” I muttered lazily as I opened up the surveillance footage of Natasha, only to see her hanging with Clint’s family happily.

This was the first time I had seen her genuinely smiling after a long time and it made me happy.

Closing the footage, I began with renewed motivation to work, as I pushed aside my laziness. I never really cared about my laziness when it mattered for Nat.

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[Kolkata, India- 4 days later]

“Dr Bruce.” An old man walked up to the foreigner purchasing some meat from the open market.

“Not now. Later in clinic, now shopping.” Bruce smiled gently as he looked at the old man, as he spoke in his broken Bengali.

“I am not here for treatment doctor.”

Bruce frowned as he noticed the excellent way in which the old man spoke English, despite the old man’s native attire. “Then what?”

Bruce became wary as he looked around. “I am here to ask how is your Tai-chi practise going?”

Bruce’s eyes widened as he looked at the man from head to feet. “David?”

The old man smiled. “Just act casual and take me to your clinic as if I were your patient.”

Bruce chuckled as he turned around to the butcher. “Uhmm…”

Bruce dug into his pocket to fetch his dictionary. “What do you need?”

Bruce took his dictionary out. “I just need to ask him to send the meat to my clinic in Bengali.”

Bruce reply caused David to smile. “Can you send the meat to his clinic?”

Bruce looked at David in shock seeing him speak fluent Bengali. “Since when can you speak Bengali?”

Bruce asked David as the butcher looked at Bruce. “One of the requirements for me to access the teleportation from my organisation was to learn all the languages in the world. Took me few weeks but I managed it.”

Bruce’s eyebrows twitched as he nodded at the butcher before passing him some money. “No wonder people in your organisation are capable of manipulating wormholes for utility purpose. Since they are all filled with smart people.”

Bruce looked at David in envy and admiration. “Trust me that was only my requirement. You and I will be seen as intellectual freaks even amongst those in my organisation.”

Bruce released a sigh of relief as they began walking, with Bruce holding onto several bags. “Why did you leave the hotel?”

David asked as he followed Bruce. “Got bored living in that 5-star suite, so I decided to help these people out with what I know till I am here.”

A gentle smile came upon David’s face unseen by Bruce. “Any trouble so far in your new career?”

“Nothing so far, unless you are planning to create some…” Both friends laughed as they carried on talking and walking.

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[David PoV]

I closed the portal and removed the mask on my face along with the hologram applied by my nanobots.

I have been stuck inside my lab for a month and a half running all sorts of tests and simulations on the Inhuman genes.

As for the reason why I wanted to take Inhuman genes? Why the hell not? Especially if I ended up lucky and got an ability like Electromagnetic manipulation or duplication.

Just the thought of manipulating one of the fundamental forces of the universe or having hundreds of me with Rooted Potato active in all of them was able to send me drooling. If not these I would be happy settling for any kind of elemental manipulation as well, except fire since I already kind of had that.

*Beep* I took a deep breath as the software on my computer finally computed the final results of removing a dormant Inhuman gene on a person.

I had examined my genes and their structures enough times to know I lacked the dormant inhuman genes contained within most inactive Inhumans.

So, the first step in the process was to create a way to transform any human into a dormant Inhuman first, before they are affected by the Terrigen Mist. After that was naturally looking for a way to remove the effect from someone which I had finally finished.

I looked at the results I got from the computer and smiled. I could use this data to remove the Inhuman gene from both dormant and active Inhumans alike, meaning I can take away the power of any Inhumans if I so wished.

I was at this point able to grant anyone the Inhuman dormant cells or take away any Inhumans ability if I so desired. ‘The famous god complex. Is this it?’ I wondered as I shook my head. If I was a god then so were the Kree’s who created the Inhumans.

‘I am no god.’ I told myself before I became too arrogant off my achievements. I can’t afford to make another mistake and lose Nat forever.

“Next is…”

I spoke out as I always did when I am working alone. I developed this habit recently to remind myself that I was alone and needed someone to talk to every once in a while. I didn’t want to end up like the old me from a few years ago just by cooping up here for the next 2 years. This was one of the primary reasons I went to visit Bruce.

I sat down as I actively began drawing up plans to combine the HE serum and Inhuman genes.

I had no plan to throw away the HE serum. I would take that over any inhuman ability any day. Hence my reason to look for a way to combine all of them and stably assimilate them into my body, without wreaking havoc for my mind.

“This is going to take me a while…”

I smiled as I realised this project will take me much longer to do on my own, without my rooted potatoes help.

The good thing was it will hopefully keep me occupied until the data of the space stone or the anti-HE serum was figured out or until the Chitauri invasion begins. “Well, if it doesn’t I can design more tools to build or improve the ones I have,” I told myself as I began working.

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[February 10th, 2012- Roughly 2 months and 2 weeks till the Chitauri Invasion]

David watched as his nanobots constructed themselves in the shape of a double helix with various colours. “Shift the ‘I’ protein with the ‘E’ proteins.”

At hearing David’s order, the colours in the double helix shifted causing a loading screen to appear on the large monitor. *Ping* [Not applicable]

David sighed as he wrote that down before he looked up at the nanobots. “Try adding Protein code 748.”

The colours of the DNA shifted actively as another message appeared on the screen. *Ping* [Not applicable]

As David kept trying different combination without a rest a message suddenly appeared on the monitor he was looking at. *Beep* [Dangerous combat initiated!]

David sat up as he motioned his hand forward. “Show me.”

The screen disassembled into a swarm of silver dust and appeared before David as a small screen.

As the screen started up it showed a video of several mercenaries breaking into the room of a woman with red hair, who was in her bikini and completely unarmed. “Bad timing Tash.”

David smiled as he opened up several tiny portals the width of a pea. “Rapid dissolving sense deterioration serum.”

David called out as several silver dusts flew out into the portal. On the other side unnoticed to the frantic Natasha’s eyes along with the mercenaries were the portals that opened up behind each mercenary.

As Natasha took cover under the fire from the mercenaries, silver dust latched onto these mercenaries and injected their sharp tiny blades into the veins of their neck and came out in a span of moments.

The silver dust quickly recollected as the portals closed, and they exited through the last portal.

David watched Natasha fighting and taking down the mercenaries very easily as the bots assimilated themselves with the environment in his lab. After all, every single thing in his lab was a nanobot except for biological materials, this included the very walls and tables.

David smiled sadly as he watched Nat. “I know you could have taken them down without my help, Nat.”

David sat back as he saw her slowly winning. “But I can’t help it, whenever I see you in danger.”

As the fight concluded David closed the screen monitoring Natasha as he always does, and carried on with his work.