----
The moment Nolan submerged himself in the green solution, he felt a wave of searing heat surge through his body.
Then came the tearing.
"Draw blood," he said calmly.
A mechanical arm extended into the chamber and extracted a vial of his blood.
"His cellular activity is off the charts!" Connors exclaimed, staring at the monitor. "These blood cells… They're mutating like stem cells but with hyper-adaptability. This isn't just regenerative. It's revolutionary."
He quickly rattled off data: "Gene markers 2 and 3 have mutated, marker 5 has ruptured!"
"Add beta-phenylalanine. Drop concentration by 20%," Nolan ordered.
Inside the chamber, his skin was flying under the heat like being tossed into a volcano.
Muscles spasmed violently. Even his enhanced healing struggled to keep up.
Still, Nolan remained composed. Monitoring data. Giving commands.
Connors continued injecting compounds as instructed, pulling more samples.
"Marker 8 ruptured. Others stable. Double-helix showing mild torsion. Hemoglobin levels spiking structure is becoming denser."
"Reduce concentration by another 8%. Inject 20 milliliters of adrenaline at 15% strength!"
Nolan's face turned pale, his breath sharp.
If not for his already enhanced physiology and healing factor, he would've been torn apart from the inside out.
But what mattered most now—was precision.
Live data. Real-time reaction. Adjusting the serum on the fly, crafting the perfect formula for his body.
Soon, the liquid in the chamber turned a luminous emerald green.
Nolan felt the heat shift—rising to the surface, washing over his skin.
The pain intensified. It was like a power drill boring into his bones.
Still, he clenched his jaw and barked, "Pull another sample!"
A new blood draw. On the monitors, two DNA sequences began to merge, slowly aligning and then fusing perfectly.
No discrepancies. No mutations.
"It worked!" Connors gasped.
Norman stared, stunned. Nolan, however, wasn't done.
Inside the chamber, his body was undergoing a complete transformation cell by cell. Organ by organ.
Even his healing couldn't numb the agony anymore. His entire nervous system was aflame.
"Inject high-energy glucose-fat compound. Now!" he shouted, barely holding on.
Massive energy loss. His body needed fuel, or the transformation would destabilize.
Syringes pierced his skin, pumping the mixture in.
And then the pain peaked.
"AHHHH!!"
The chamber trembled as Nolan's scream echoed through it.
Steam blasted from the pod.
Connors and Norman exchanged a worried glance.
"Did he—"
Connors rushed to open the chamber.
White mist poured out.
Then—
A figure stepped from the fog.
Muscular legs are first sculpted like a bodybuilder's.
Then, the torso's chiselemusclesles are stacked like steel plates.
And a face-striking, sharp-jawed, camera-ready.
If any woman saw him right now, she'd scream.
"Hah… Success. This—this is the power I wanted."
Nolan opened and clenched his fists. Every fiber of his body radiated force. He could flip a car without trying.
Jessica's enhancements required training, meditation, and control.
Nolan? He was now the male version of Jessica plus more.
Raw strength. Flight potential. No strings attached.
Norman handed him a black long coat. Nolan threw it over his shoulders.
The fabric clung to his hulking frame, barely containing the mass underneath.
There was no doubt: the man inside that coat could tear down walls with his bare hands.
And for the first time in a while, Nolan felt less pressure.
Most superheroes or villains now?
No threat at all.
This was why he spent so much effort replicating Jessica's physiology. The payoff was here.
"Delete all my biometric data," Nolan ordered. "Burn the samples. No trace."
"Understood," Connors nodded.
He'd seen the data earlier Nolan's cellular makeup was unreal. Every cell was as active as a stem cell, rapidly absorbing chemicals without the need for penetration enhancers.
It explained why Nolan could modify protocols mid-experiment and still succeed. His body adapted faster than the science could catch up.
Connors had already purged the records.
Nolan grabbed the case of serum Norman had prepared.
"How much time left?"
"Thirty minutes," Norman said.
"So I only need to hit Mach 0.5 to make it in time?"
Connors hesitated. "Yes… but sir, are you sure? We haven't tested your flight speed yet. Even if you hit Mach 0.5, the air pressure might be more than your body can handle—"
"I'll manage," Nolan said confidently. "Open the ceiling."
Above them, the lab's roof folded away like origami, revealing the sky.
"I'll study in flight. Alert Harry—I'm on my way!"
Without waiting, Nolan bent his knees—and launched.
In a single bound, he shot out of the lab.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Air whipped past him. His hair snapped wildly in the wind.
And then he felt it.
A force building within his body. Like a shifting magnetic field aligning itself.
His brain registered the change. Instinctively, he triggered the right neural response.
His legs twitched and the magnetic force shot backward.
FWOOOSH!
Nolan vanished in a blur, a human missile ripping through the sky.
"This—THIS—is what humanity dreams of," Nolan roared. "Absolute freedom!"
The wind howled, ripping the sound from his mouth. He laughed harder.
But even he could feel the pressure his body was strong, but it would need more.
He'd need to reinforce his internal structure… or find a way to project a stabilizing field.
Still, he was airborne.
And flying.
For the first time in this world, he has felt a sense of freedom!
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