Reid's first thought was of Tony Stark.
Given that it was 1991, Tony was one of the few targets Reid could approach with relative ease, he had the resources and influence Reid might need.
However, he quickly shook his head and dismissed the idea.
Even though Tony wasn’t yet the Iron Man of the future, he already had knowledge of Hydra and the Winter Soldier. The desire to avenge Maria Stark’s death would already be deeply rooted in his heart.
In this scenario, Reid couldn’t confidently gauge Tony’s current level of willpower. Using the virus from his regular blood might lead to Tony resisting its effects, which would only expose his existence and abilities.
As for the virus from his heart, the risks were far too great. That strain of the virus wasn’t easy to use and ca with significant costs.
If Reid were to infect Tony with the heart virus, the most likely result would be that Tony simply adopted so of his personality traits.
Reid understood himself well. Unlike the Joker, who thrived on pure chaos and madness, he lacked the extre traits capable of completely reshaping an infected person’s identity.
If Tony were infected with the heart virus, he might undergo minimal changes, perhaps becoming slightly more self-serving. This wouldn’t just fail to serve Reid’s purposes but could create unnecessary complications.
"Forget it. I’ll leave it at that. Tomorrow, I’ll head to New York to gather information. As for Jean, I hope she doesn’t disappoint ."
By now, Reid had mostly figured out the state of the mutant community in this world. With this understanding, Jean’s existence took on a different aning.
She wasn’t just an individual anymore. She had beco a ti bomb Reid had planted among the mutants, waiting to go off at the right mont.
What? You think her infatuation with Reid should stop him from using her like this?
Reid had to admit, he genuinely enjoyed Western comics and admired many of the characters within them. However, if it ca down to making one of those heroines his girlfriend, he’d honestly rather opt for celibacy.
Those heroines who jumped from one love interest to another—Reid wanted nothing to do with them.
If she likes him, that’s her business. He doesn't like her.
……
The next day, Reid still wasn’t in a rush. Gotham had stabilized, Alfred’s mission was practically guaranteed success, and with that weight off his shoulders, Reid let himself relax. He slept in until noon before driving to New York City.
Upon arriving in New York, Reid wasn’t interested in seeking out iconic landmarks from the Marvel Universe. For instance, he had no intention of visiting Stark Industries, nor did he plan to involve the identity of "Reid" in any of the major power struggles.
To the world, Reid was nothing more than a relative of Alfred’s, and until he had sufficient strength under his control, Reid intended to remain an unremarkable individual.
His first objective in the city was locating Fisk Tower.
This infamous building often appeared in Spider-Man stories as the headquarters of Wilson Fisk—commonly known as Kingpin—the mastermind of a massive cri empire.
But even after searching through the entire Hell's Kitchen, Reid couldn’t find Wilson Fisk. Instead, he found a high-ranking enforcer nad Wilson in another gang.
Reid then began to investigate the Osborn family.
This was also related to Spider-Man. In his previous life, Reid had searched online for Marvel's parallel universe numbers. To his surprise, nearly half of the parallel universes in the Marvel world had been created due to changes involving Spider-Man.
As a result, so events related to Spider-Man were likely to be multiverse-level crises. Such dangers could surpass, or at least rival, the threat posed by Thanos, the Mad Titan.
Therefore, Reid knew he had to figure out which version of Spider-Man this world had. As his investigation continued, Reid also uncovered details about the Osborn family.
To be precise, it wasn't accurate to refer to them as a family just yet.
Norman Osborn, the wealthy businessman, was still in the process of building his empire. Harry Osborn hadn’t even been born yet.
The Osborn Corporation, which Reid rembered, had a new na in this world: Os Industries.
The reason for this change was simple. The company wasn’t solely founded by Osborn. There was another person Reid also recognized—Otto Octavius. The infamous Doctor Octopus, known to many Marvel fans.
With Otto and Osborn jointly founding Os Industries, Reid could now confirm his suspicions about the situation in this world regarding Spider-Man.
He realized that the Spider-Man in this world was likely the one from the Spider-Man ga he had played in his past life.
‘Sure enough, this world’s events differ quite a bit from the movie universe.’ Reid thought.
The storyline where Winter Soldier attacked Howard Stark confird that the Avengers' story here was similar to that in the movie universe. Yet, mutants appeared in Westchester, and as for Spider-Man, he clearly wasn’t the version played by Tom Holland, but rather the one from the ga.
From Osborn’s current age, it seed that Peter’s birth in this world was earlier than in the movie universe.
This ant that Spider-Man would appear sooner, which would inevitably change the events surrounding the Civil War.
As Reid continued his investigation, he rubbed his head, realizing that his advantage of foresight was steadily diminishing. His predictions about the future were losing their relevance.
Not just with Spider-Man, but even the existence of mutants guaranteed that the future wouldn't unfold like it did in the movies.
Moreover, these mutants were unlike the ones who would eventually form the X-n. They were sothing different, sothing that didn’t fit the mold he expected.
Shaking off the uncertainty, Reid refocused. Without realizing it, he had already spent two months investigating in New York. Today, however, he found an unexpected opportunity.
Sitting in his car, Reid looked at the construction site ahead—Doom Industries' headquarters.
In the movie Fantastic Four, the villain Victor Von Doom raised investnts for his super-corporation, which, by the 2000s, was capable of launching manned spacecraft to study cosmic storms. That kind of achievent was beyond even Stark Industries at the ti.
Although Victor didn't control his company the sa way Tony Stark ran Stark Industries, it couldn’t be denied that his reckless approach to bringing in outside capital had allowed Doom Industries to rapidly grow into a huge powerhouse.
Now, seeing the investnts rolling in and the construction of the Doom Tower beginning, even the statue of Victor in the plaza was scheduled for developnt, Reid felt a deep sense of excitent.
He recognized many opportunities. Much of this world hadn’t fully developed yet, and if he acted quickly, he could gain significant advantages by stepping in early.
But there was a problem. Reid couldn’t get involved in any of this under his current identity, and Alfred’s mission was still not completed.
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