A mind beyond Marvel

[Gray POV]

It's been four months since I arrived in this world. The events of Iron Man 2 have already started—Tony almost got killed by Ivan Vanko, then he revealed his awesome Mark 5 suitcase armor. Maybe I should make an Iron Man suit myself.

I looked at the four serums lying in front of me, each different from the other. I had extracted them all from the stolen spiders.

The first serum would grant me increased strength and dexterity. This was from the base spider that bit Peter Parker, enhancing his strength to around 14–16 tons. However, it wouldn't provide any additional abilities.

If Peter had been bitten by the second spider, he would have gained basic control over bio-electricity and the ability to camouflage. However, the strength and dexterity boost would be lower compared to the first serum, capping his lifting strength at around 9–11 tons.

The third spider would have given him organic webs as strong as steel and bone claws that emerged from the wrist. The lifting strength remained the same as the second one. The bone claws would be as dense as iron, though not at the level of carbon steel. Pretty cool.

And last but not least, the fourth serum—the one I would be taking. It would enhance my ocular abilities, allowing me to control my Extremis-generated heat more precisely. The second ability was hormone release—I could chemically influence people. Maybe in the future, when I fuse my genes with Killgrave's… now that would be awesome.

"Alfred, how much of a strength boost will I get from the serum?"

"Once fully adapted, you should be able to lift around 21 tons. With further training and optimization, you could push that to 26–27 tons."

I couldn't take all the serums at once—that would be inefficient. The more I took, the less effective each subsequent one would be. The second serum's effects would be reduced to 10%, the third to 10% of that, and so on. By the time I reached the base serum, I'd probably be shooting webs with the consistency of my… well, let's not dwell on that.

I injected the serum and went back home.

[Next Morning]

Yep, I felt it. It was as if I had a gyroscope inside my head. I sat on my chair and started spinning in it—

A few minutes later, I stood up as if nothing had happened. I couldn't fall. That was the best way to describe it—I had more control over my movements and balance. I jumped to the ceiling and started walking around the room, testing every possible way to move on walls. Then, I glanced out the window. It had snowed in the early morning, and to my surprise, I could see farther and clearer than ever before.

Time to test hormone relea—

"WAKE UP, GRAY!" came my mom's voice from downstairs.

"COMING, MOM!" I shouted back.

After breakfast, I packed my stuff and headed to school.

[Midtown High, Lunch]

"So, what if we built our own social media platform?" I said, leaning forward, hands flat on the cafeteria table.

Peter looked up from his half-eaten sandwich, blinking. Ned, mid-sip of his chocolate milk, nearly choked.

"You wanna run that by us again?" Ned coughed.

I exhaled, already anticipating their reactions. "Think about it. Every platform out there is either outdated, too corporate, or just… boring. They all do the same things—basic posts and sharing. But what if we built something different? A platform that actually hooks people?"

Peter furrowed his brow, setting his sandwich down. "Define 'different.'"

I smirked. "AI-driven content curation, real-time interactive feeds, the ability to upload 24-hour videos. The best features from every social media platform ever made. Something that hits you right in the dopamine receptors. You know… something addictive."

Ned nodded slowly, his initial skepticism fading. "Okay… that actually sounds kinda cool. But, like, wouldn't that be insanely hard? We'd need servers, security, funding—"

"Monetization can come later," I cut in. "If we build a platform people want to use, investors will follow. We start small—local, invite-only at first. Test it in Midtown. If it works, we scale." I added, "Business 101, guys."

I could easily use my offshore accounts to fund the project. It would also help me legalize my money. I glanced at Peter.

Peter tapped his fingers against the table, clearly deep in thought. "Would it be mobile-first? Or more desktop-focused?"

"Mobile-first," I said instantly. "Nobody sits at a desktop anymore unless they're working."

Ned crossed his arms. "So, like… a better Facebook?"

I grinned. "Exactly."

Peter rubbed the back of his neck. "Gray, this is ambitious. I mean, I love the idea, but it's huge. Even if we could code it, we'd need serious backing. How do we even start?"

I shrugged. "We build a prototype—a working beta. You handle the front-end, Ned manages UI and branding, and I take care of the back-end infrastructure. If we get something functional, we pitch it. Maybe to Tony Stark… or Justin Hammer, but not Mark Zuckerberg." Justin Hammer would be in prison before Christmas, which was next week.

Ned let out a low whistle. "Dude, this sounds like the kind of thing that either makes us billionaires… or completely crashes and burns."

I smirked. "Either way, it'll be fun."

Peter sighed, but I saw the spark in his eyes. "Okay. Let's do it. But if we do get rich off this, I'm using my cut to buy a Lambo and a bigger house for Aunt May."

"Deal," I said, already pulling out my laptop. Time to build something worth remembering.

"What should we call it?" I asked.

"Blink," Peter suggested. That did sound cool, but—"Nah."

"How about 'Polaroid'?" Ned chimed in.

Both Peter and I immediately disagreed.

"Instagram it is, then."

"Let's go with Instagram," I muttered, hoping they would like it.

"We can decide the name later," Ned said, already moving to Figma to start working on the UI.

------------------------

Drop a comment guys, hope you like the chapter. Point out any mistakes that I may have made.