Progress on Rory's serum experiments was agonizingly slow.
Looking over the sets of experimental data, Rory had no idea where the problem lay. He only knew that the compressed Thanos Serum did not trigger a violent rejection reaction, but his own blood simply could not carry the genetic code within the chromosomes.
Rory had considered this: if chromosomes were like computer hard drives, perhaps the Thanos Serum contained too much data for the hard drive of his blood to store in its entirety.
The trouble was that genetic data could not simply be altered—something perhaps only the Celestials, creators of the Eternals, were capable of doing.
Lost in deep thought, Rory finally hit upon an alternative approach.
"If only I could get a blood sample from Captain America Steve, having a reference point might help me uncover something different."
*Beep, beep, beep.*
The monitoring alarm suddenly went off.
Rory pulled himself out of his thoughts, hurried over to the computer screen, and adjusted the camera feed.
On the screen was Hawkeye Barton, who was currently holding up a photograph and asking the apartment receptionist something. Rory quickly turned on the audio feed.
"Have you seen this person?"
The receptionist shook her head. "No, I haven't seen him. You might want to try looking somewhere else."
Hawkeye Barton didn't give up. Instead, he flashed his S.H.I.E.L.D. badge, pointed toward the upper floors of the apartment building, and said, "Mind if I go up and take a look?"
"Of course, go right ahead."
Rory wasn't nervous. His laboratory was located in the basement, and since he had rented the space through a secondhand intermediary, the apartment front desk had no record of his identity.
"The Avengers are looking for me?" Rory rubbed his chin, lost in thought.
Though he didn't understand why Hawkeye Barton was tracking him down, he doubted it meant anything good.
He switched off the monitor, lay down on the cot, pulled a blanket over himself, and fell sound asleep instantly.
Upstairs, Hawkeye Barton searched the apartment thoroughly and found nothing. After heading back downstairs, he left the building entirely.
Out on the street, Captain America happened to be coming out of another building.
Barton shook his head. "Nothing at all. Could we have gotten the wrong person?"
"No. Rory is very clever—both Tony and I have been played by him, so we need to look even more carefully."
Rory had acquired Thanos's blood sample, and that fact had become a thorn in Captain America's side.
He would not stop until he found Rory.
When Rory woke up, it was already two-thirty in the morning.
After a quick wash, he sat down at the computer and turned on the security monitors. The streets outside were completely deserted.
He disguised himself, grabbed a few homemade signal receivers, and stepped out of the apartment.
His plan was to hook these signal receivers up to the street cameras in the neighboring blocks, thereby expanding his surveillance range.
He sliced open the rubber insulation of the signal wire, installed the receiver, and hastily concealed it to complete the job.
After successfully setting up several receivers, he had only one left, but the location for this final one wasn't ideal—it happened to be right across the street from a bar.
Patrons staggered in and out of the bar every few minutes.
Waiting until the drunks were unlikely to pay attention to his corner, Rory carefully pried open the camera housing, located the signal wire, and repeated the procedure.
Just as he finished installing it and reached to snap the cover back on, someone bumped right into him.
A strong wave of alcohol washed over him.
Stumbling as she brushed past him was a drunk—and a female drunk at that.
Her long black hair swung back and forth as she wore a black leather jacket, jeans, and a pair of combat boots.
Rory instantly recognized the woman as Jessica Jones from the Defenders.
A sudden thought crossing his mind, Rory's eyes lit up. He snapped the camera housing shut and hurried after her.
As he rounded a corner, a dark figure suddenly sprang out in front of him, and a massive burst of force slammed Rory hard against the wall.
"Why are you following me?"
Jessica Jones let out a loud hiccup, and a heavy reek of alcohol rushed into his face.
Rory raised both hands to show he meant no harm, explaining, "No, I just saw a young woman walking alone on the street and wanted to see if you needed any help."
"I don't need your help, and you couldn't help me anyway. Listen here, keep following me and you'll regret it."
Jessica Jones let go of Rory and lowered him from the wall.
She had already realized Rory was just an ordinary human who posed no threat to her.
Yet Rory didn't give up. He continued walking alongside Jessica Jones, maintaining a modest distance while reaching out to gently steady her.
Though it didn't do much, at least it kept her walking in a straight line.
After giving him a couple of light shoves, Jessica Jones let Rory support her. It was then that she noticed Rory was of Asian descent, with clean-featured good looks and sharp, expressive eyes.
After studying him for a moment, she suddenly threw her arms around Rory and chuckled softly, "Hey, how about spending a wonderful night with me!"
Jessica Jones was notorious for her promiscuity, and Rory had no desire to have her collapse a bed while simultaneously destroying his lower back.
Just as a refusal was about to escape his lips, he remembered his objective and feigned agreement. "Before that, I think you should take a hot shower."
Mistaking Rory's response for acceptance, Jessica Jones grinned drunkenly, hooked her arm through Rory's, and led him toward her apartment.
Minutes later, they arrived at Jessica Jones's residence.
The moment they stepped inside, Jessica Jones tossed Rory onto the bed, pinned him down, and moved straight in to kiss him.
Rory struggled and shouted, "Hey, we agreed on a shower first! This isn't wonderful at all!"
*Rip!*
Rory's shirt was torn to shreds. Not content with ripping his clothes, she didn't spare her own outfit either.
"Damn it!"
Rory tried to fight back, but it was useless; he was just an ordinary guy and no match for Jessica Jones.
Fortunately, he hadn't forgotten the purpose of this trip. He covertly pulled out a syringe-tipped bullet.
Without a moment's hesitation, he drove it straight into the side of Jessica Jones's neck.
"Awooo—"
*Boom!*
This only seemed to excite Jessica Jones further, and the consequence of that excitement was that the already flimsy bed... directly collapsed.
Over an hour later, Rory staggered out of Jessica Jones's apartment, supporting his aching, exhausted lower back.
Looking at the Vibranium needle in his palm—a blood sample obtained by selling out his own looks—he knew it was exceptionally precious.
Rory silently vowed to himself that if he ever got the chance, he would exact a brutal revenge! And he meant it.
Limping his way back to his laboratory, Rory immediately threw himself back into his experiments.
He cultured Jessica Jones's blood sample, set aside a tiny portion for observation, and recorded and analyzed the data.
Utterly focused, Rory worked continuously for over ten hours without even taking a moment to eat.
"Oh, this is amazing! The cellular activity is hardly any less than Thanos's. Wait... mutated chromosomes?"
A wildly innovative idea suddenly popped into Rory's head.
If his blood was the hard drive and the sheer volume of Thanos's data caused a write failure, could he use Jessica Jones's blood sample as a flash drive to bridge the two?
Emerging from his state of deep concentration, Rory's brain suddenly felt overwhelmingly heavy and dizzy, and only then did he realize that over ten hours had passed.
The sudden wave of exhaustion left Rory unable to hold on any longer. He slumped face-first onto his cot and plunged instantly into a deep sleep.