"I didn't expect to meet Dr. Connors so soon." Looking down at the corpse at his feet Damien can't help but smirk.
'With his intelligence he will definitely retain his consciousness and with that I'll gain a valuable cross species geneticist. The Lizard Serum he created is also valuable, if injected into ordinary zombies they'll gain enhanced regeneration along with enhanced speed, strength, and durability. If I am able to infect a few more brilliant individuals I might even be able to enhance it and create different versions of it.' Thinking of this Damien turns to the brute who's injuries have already healed.
Thinking about the brute's battle performance he can't help but notice the fatal flaw of his form which is how slow and heavy he is, however it's only a real problem against fast opponents and with the Lizard at his disposal now it should be able to deal with the quick opponents.
"Good job with the Lizard, for now just watch over his corpse until he's turned. In the meantime I'm leaving to find someone." With that said Damien starts walking through the sewers towards the direction of Grayburn College.
'Time to make my first move against Abomination and the Hulk.'
About an hour later Damien stands in front of the College when he feels another consciousness connect to his Psychic Link.
'So the Lizards finally turned and at perfect timing. Now I'll be able to access his vast reserve of knowledge which will help me get close to Dr. Samuel Sterns, the future "Leader". With his help I just might be able to take down both Hulk and Abomination without needing to wait for them to fight.'
Damien walks into the College and after asking one of the workers where Dr. Samuel Stern's lab is located, Damien walks up to the door and softly knocks on it.
"Come in!" A voice yells from inside.
Opening the door Damien sees a man sitting at his desk sorting through what appears to be research data. With his advanced sight Damien is able to see that a lot of those documents are related to gamma radiation and the Hulks blood samples.
As the man turns around Damien can't help but notice that the shirt he has on is an ESU shirt.
'An ESU shirt? Wasn't he wearing an ESU shirt when he met with Bruce in the movie? Does that mean Bruce is meeting with him today? If so then I'll have to infect him quickly if I want everything to go right.'
"Hello Dr. Sterns my name is Xavier Smith I'm a student of the College and I plan on getting my masters degree in genetics and I hear you're a brilliant scientist in the field of genetics. I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time to discuss your view on a problem that I've been unable to answer in regards to genetics." Damien reaches his hand out with a smile on his face while looking at the man in front of him.
"Well I wouldn't call myself brilliant but I do indeed know a lot on the subject of genetics. What is it specifically that you want to discuss?" Dr. Sterns, seeing Damien's hand, brings his own up and shakes it with a big smile on his face, not noticing how one of Damien's nails makes a small cut on his hand.
"I wanted your thoughts on a virus that instead of simply using its host's body as a breeding ground instead consumes the host body's cells and then proceeds to mimic them essentially turning the host itself into the virus, and all without triggering the immune system." Damien responds while a cold glint not visible to the Doctor flashes through his eyes.
A few hours later Damien walked out of Dr. Sterns lab and the smile on his face instantly vanished, replaced by a cold calculative look. He calmly walks outside of the College and sits down at a bench so he can keep a look out for Bruce and Betty Ross.
'Now that I think about it Betty is also a genius scientist after all she was Bruce's colleague in the military's attempt to recreate the super soldier program and some versions of her even turned into Red She-Hulk and Red Harpy. She would be a useful addition to have in my science team, and if worse comes to worse when infecting Bruce and Hulk comes out I can always use her life as a bargaining chip to get him to not resist the virus.'
Damien then activates his Psychic Link with the Lizard allowing him to see through the Lizards eyes and feel the changes inside his body.
'It seems the virus has granted his body an all around enhancement to his abilities. His Lizard physique which was already comparable or even superior to Spider-Man in many respects is now twice as strong. His already strong regeneration has also been enhanced as well allowing him to almost instantly heal any injury. His weakness to cold temperatures has also been removed due the virus's natural resistance to extreme temperature changes.'
After examining the changes of the now zombified Lizard Damien uses his Psychic Link to relay his commands to the Lizard.
*Lizard, go to Ozcorp and collect the materials necessary to produce the Lizard Serum. If you for some reason encounter Spider-Man do not engage and escape, it is not yet time to deal with the Spider.* After relaying his commands to the Lizard, Damien controls the brute and starts running through the sewer system towards Grayburn College, this way, in the event that things go horribly wrong with either the Hulk or Abomination there will be another brute with base Hulk level strength besides Damien himself to suppress them.
After thirty minutes of Damien controlling the brute he finally manages to make it to the College. With his back up plan in place Damien continues to wait for another hour with the only interesting thing happening during that time being Dr. Sterns transition from a human to a zombie. However, just as Damien was starting to get bored of sitting on a bench doing nothing he notices two familiar faces.
***Chapter 3 End***