"It's finally over."
Spider-Peter slumped on the rooftop of a tall building, looking at the city at night, and breathed a sigh of relief. After seven hours of fierce fighting, the situation was finally under control.
Besides Hebron and Stark's mechanical armies, groups of spontaneously formed mutants also joined the battlefield. Osborn Industries also showcased its own technological products and recruited personnel, making a strong impression in front of the world.
Norman Osborn beamed at his skyrocketing fame and the subsequent orders promised by S.H.I.E.L.D. and the military. This natural disaster was like a spectacular, world-renowned event. While Osborn Industries wasn't the most impressive, it was still one of the best.
"I'm hungry!"
A faint female voice suddenly rang out from behind Spider-Man, startling him so much that he nearly fell from the rooftop, over 300 meters high. He turned his head and saw An Jing's face, less than five centimeters away from him, full of seriousness.
"Don't you have your own food?" Spider-Man is completely helpless against An Jing now. When she is parasitizing Gwen, her spider sense is so dull to her that it has almost no effect on her.
"That's the main course." An Jing was dissatisfied. She wanted to eat something else to change her taste. For example, those strange birds or something.
"Okay, okay, I get it." Peter sighed and stood up, asking quietly, "What do you want to eat?"
"Bird wings, bird legs, that big lion looks good too." An Jing pointed at the bottom of the tall building. She had collected a lot of rations from the previous battles and remembered the location of each one clearly.
"I can cook for you, but you have to know that this is the first time I'm handling these ingredients." Peter switched his suit to chef mode, which was something he strongly requested from Stark.
There's no way around it. If your girlfriend has a quiet side, you as her boyfriend have to be prepared. Especially if she's not interested in you.
So, besides studying and fighting for justice, Peter also enrolled in various cooking classes and other things, catering to his quiet interests. He certainly didn't have the time and energy before; his studies and part-time job alone took up all his time. But ever since signing that agreement with S.H.I.E.L.D., they deposited a generous amount into his account every month. This amount was enough to significantly improve his and Aunt May's quality of life, and also gave him extra money to pursue more hobbies.
After Peter became her personal chef, although An Jing still expressed disapproval, her complaints had actually dropped dramatically. For An Jing, the profession of chef was a huge bonus to her favorability. Especially since he could master every ounce of his strength and muscle, was a quick learner, and his skills were rapidly improving, Peter's favorability continued to grow.
Peter felt that with his cooking skills, he could open a restaurant that would satisfy all food lovers. After all, An Jing was not someone who could be easily satisfied when it came to food.
A drone descended from the sky and landed in front of Peter. A beam of light shot out from the front of the drone, projecting Stark's face.
"We're done here!" Peter answered before Stark could speak.
"I can see that the team is going to have a dinner together. Do you want to come?" Stark extended the invitation.
"Where?" An Jing stretched her head and jumped out from behind Peter, facing Stark.
"Super Burger Shop, it'll give you the address." Stark said hurriedly, and then closed the communication. But before closing, Peter still heard Stark's tail voice: "Whoa, all right! Hulk, the battle is over, don't hit me, I'm not a monster..."
…
"Dr. Shavig, thank you for your help." Nick Fury thanked Dr. Shavig. If it weren't for Shavig's research and equipment, they wouldn't be able to control the weak transfer space layer.
"I'm happy to help you. Heberon and Stark provided a lot of equipment, otherwise I would have no way." Dr. Shavig laughed. As someone who had received a considerable amount of space knowledge from the Space Gem, he had always been obsessed with studying space. This incident just made his research results come in handy.
"They're already expediting production."
Nick always had absolute confidence in Hebron and Stark when it came to manufacturing, especially Hebron, whose manufacturing technology surpassed the current technological limit of this planet.
A golden light descended from the sky and landed in front of Nick. As the light faded, the well-dressed Steve Rogers landed on the ground, stabilizing himself easily.
"There's some trouble." Steve nodded to Dr. Shavig, then turned his gaze to Nick.
"What trouble?" Nick's heart tightened. The situation had just been brought under control. If anything unexpected happened, it would obviously cause another upheaval. This was already troublesome enough, with casualties and losses even greater than the last Chitauri invasion. If anything else happened, he would have to frantically call Luke.
"Do you want me to leave?" Dr. Shavig asked, his gaze flickering between the two men, their expressions uneasy. While he was a relatively pure scholar, that didn't mean he lacked emotional intelligence. He did have it, but oftentimes he let it slide. But right now, with a secret agent and a national leader discussing confidential matters, it seemed unnecessary for him to get involved. He wasn't curious about or concerned about these secrets.
"No, there's nothing to hide, Dr. Shavig." Steve shook his head to stop Dr. Shavig from leaving, and said with an embarrassed look, "There's a group of aliens."
"Aliens?" Nick's intact eye opened wide, and Dr. Shavig beside him also showed some interest.
"Is it like Thor? Or Chitauri?" Dr. Shavig asked curiously.
"If I'm not mistaken, they should be from the other Nine Realms. I communicated with them in the language of the Nine Realms. In their words, they don't know how they got here, but their homes have been almost completely destroyed by the Dark Alliance."
"Refugees?" Nick immediately gave a description that he felt was accurate.
"Yes, one of them seems to be a big shot in the Nine Realms. She applied to us for a temporary place to stay. She will leave once their home planet returns to normal." Steve spread his hands in distress. "You know, this kind of thing is very troublesome. Because it involves the Atrium and the other Nine Realms, I think it should be handled by S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Payment?" Nick didn't mind the captain adding burdens and tasks to his plate. Even as a conscientious worker, he didn't care. Besides, this was just part of his job description. His only concern now was whether he could make a profit. There was no way he could get Luke's new currency for free, and he was still saddled with debt. Of course, he could only do his best to increase revenue and reduce expenses.
"You two talk." Captain Steve was a good guy, but not a pushover. He handed the matter over to Nick, naturally assuming he could handle it. But he did remind them, "Remember to pay taxes. Um, the new currency tax!"
"Where does this tax come from?" Nick was stunned.
"It has just been drafted and is about to be launched." Captain Steve smiled.
"Anything else?" Nick, feeling down about taxes, asked, noticing the captain still looking at him. All he could think about was how to legally and reasonably keep his new currency income, even if it meant paying it out in real money.
"There are also some captives from the Nine Realms." Steve hurriedly said to Nick, who had a sour face, "As for the members of the Dark Alliance, some of them also came to us through the Nine Realms Link and fought with another group..."
"I understand. I'll prepare a temporary accommodation for them." Nick grasped the unspoken meaning behind Steve's words. Isn't it just a prison? SHIELD has plenty of prisons of all kinds. If all else fails, they could renovate some of the bases used to lock up dangerous objects and use them as prisons. He'd sold a lot of that stuff over the years anyway. It wouldn't be good to leave it sitting idle.
…
With the world in turmoil and so many things going on, what was Luke doing? Well, he was dealing with the spitting of two collaborators. Or rather, one of them.
Mephisto sat in his seat angrily, staring at Odin and Luke at the other end of the round table with wide eyes and an unhappy look on his face.
"I'm sending people to help you out of good intentions. What kind of spirit is this? In the entire history of the universe, which dimensional demon god could do what I did? But how could you harm your collaborators? Did I do anything wrong? I didn't! I just know that dimensional demon gods can't do what you humans call good things. It's all trouble!"
"Come on, you've been complaining all day and night." Luke tossed a can of the concentrate over, feeling somewhat helpless. He'd been listening to Mephisto complain all day, like Odin had been forced to sit here in prison. From his own toil, to his hard work and contributions, to his generosity, his friendly and helpful attitude towards his collaborators, his trustworthy character, to his final outburst of indignation and tears. The precise shifts in emotion, the chorus of passion and sorrow, were chilling.
"Only one day and one night, is that a long time? It takes some time for the dimensional demons to deal with each other. Don't use mortal time to calculate our time. I just said a little bit." Mephisto snorted coldly, but he still accepted the essence that Luke threw to him with great pleasure.
"So? What are your demands?" The Ancient One, who had been pulled over by Odin and Luke to sit with them, raised his head and asked. Mephisto had plenty of time to waste, but the three of them didn't have that much time to waste with him. Hadn't they seen Odin's grip on Gungnir tighten and loosen several times? The Ancient One wondered if she shouted "Attack" right now, Odin would just fire a shot at Mephisto without a second thought. Even if they couldn't kill him, at least they could have a few days of peace and quiet.
"What the hell is that abyss?" Mephisto's mask changed various emotions like a mask, and finally, he asked the question carefully.
"You've been contaminated?" Odin suddenly felt a sense of gloating. Even he didn't want to go to Nidavellir now, not at all.
"How could I possibly be contaminated?" Mephisto retorted excitedly. "I just want to know, who created this wicked thing? Who released it? Doesn't it know how much trouble it will bring to the universe and to us?"
"The hell dimension has been polluted." Ancient One's closed eyes suddenly opened and he spoke.
"How did you know?" Mephisto stared at him in astonishment. Then his expression changed unpredictably, like a cuckolded mortal. The power of Hell surged from him, and he cursed, unable to bear it any longer: "You stole my energy again?"
"No, I'm just trying to figure out what happened in the Hell dimension." Master Ancient One retorted implicitly.
"Can't you handle that kind of energy?" Odin's focus was on another side. He didn't expect that the hell dimension was also afraid of the pollution of the abyss energy?
"It's not big, but it's disgusting! It's like a contagious virus that mortals face. It won't be fatal, but I don't want all my men to go crazy!" Mephisto didn't have the heart to complain or curse. He gathered his energy and spread his hands, saying, "If everyone goes crazy, who will help us work?"
"How on earth did you become contaminated by that energy? Shouldn't you stay as far away as possible?" Odin was puzzled. That energy was like the deepest, darkest, foulest garbage, contaminating not only living things but also dead things, and even giving them consciousness. Shouldn't you run as far away as possible if you encounter it?
Hearing this, Mephisto looked at Odin with resentment.
"It's demons." Luke figured out the reason. "There were demons on the battlefield that were contaminated by the energy of the Abyss. After they returned to the Hell dimension, they brought the Abyss with them."
Mephisto's expression suddenly became even more sour.
"Is there any way to clear it?" Mephisto couldn't stand the thought of his own Hell dimension and his people becoming a garbage dump. That energy was powerful, but it was disgusting! It was poisonous! Who would use that energy to play around with, not just a fool? Before a fight, go crazy first.
"I'm afraid it's difficult to remove. Its stubbornness and contamination make it impossible to eliminate," Luke said. A source of pollution has been purified to the extreme, leaving only the purest form. How can it be filtered and resolved? There's no way around it.
"Is there really no way?" Strength surged in Mephisto again. He felt that if he couldn't get through it, then at least he could get a few more friends into the water with him.
Odin and the Ancient One instantly summoned their strength and exchanged glances. They could tell that Mephisto was going berserk and were wary of a sudden attack.
"There is still some." Luke's words dispelled the tense atmosphere in the conference room, and even the energy of the violent confrontation suddenly became much gentler and softer.
"Seal it." Facing the three people's gazes, Luke spread his hands and said, "After it's sealed, we can discuss how to deal with it. If it doesn't work, let's throw it to the homes of other demon gods and let them have a headache."