Ao Xing glared fiercely at Peter, ready to fly forward and give him a flick to the forehead, but Danny caught him with one arm.
"My name is Danny Rand, and this is Ao Xing, my partner," Danny introduced to Peter.
Ao Xing snorted in dissatisfaction: "This deity is the great Chinese Divine Dragon."
Peter also realized his previous question was a bit out of line and quickly apologized. Resting on Danny's shoulder, Ao Xing simply turned his head away, showing his disdain. Seeing this, Peter felt a bit at a loss for what to do.
Danny smiled. "It's fine. Ao Xing knows you didn't mean it; he isn't truly angry, just throwing a bit of a tantrum."
Peter nodded, opening his mouth as if to speak; he had many doubts and wanted answers. "Mr. Rand..."
"Let's leave here first. The Dopant caused such a scene that the police will likely be here soon," Luke Cage reminded them.
Danny nodded and spoke to Peter: "I can see you have a lot of questions, but this really isn't the place to talk. Why don't you come with us? We can sit down later and slowly answer your questions."
Peter nodded and looked toward Basel. "What about Basel? Should we send him home first?"
"And how should we handle this guy?" Luke pointed at the leader of the Big Horn Gang lying on the ground.
"Send Basel directly home. As for this guy, let him leave on his own. I imagine he's learned enough of a lesson today," Jessica said, looking at the unconscious Basel and the gang leader.
After all, Jessica and the others weren't like the Punisher, Frank Castle; they didn't act with such finality and wouldn't move to kill. The leader of the Big Horn Gang was let off easily. They believed that after witnessing the power Peter and the others displayed against the Dopant, he wouldn't dare seek revenge on Basel in the future.
After sending Basel home, Peter followed Jessica, Luke, and Danny back to their detective agency with a belly full of questions.
"Let me introduce myself, I'm Peter Parker." Peter took off his mask. At this point, he wasn't yet the "Spider-Man" burdened with so many concerns about his secret identity. Moreover, Jessica, Luke, and Danny were clearly beings with special abilities just like him, and they weren't villains. This gave Peter a strange sense of finding his own kind.
"We know," Luke said calmly.
Peter froze for a moment.
"We've been observing Basel for a while. That time with the punks extorting students—when Basel used the Gaia Memory—we saw you step in to save people. We were just too far away to make it in time. Fortunately, you saved him," Jessica explained.
"Also, Jessica actually went to the same high school as you guys." Luke glanced at Jessica, and after seeing her expression remain unchanged, he continued: "She just dropped out early because of an accident at home."
Peter's eyes lit up. "Jessica, I remember now! I heard there was a car accident..." Halfway through, he realized his mistake and immediately shut his mouth.
A look of sorrow crossed Jessica's face. "Aside from me, my parents and my brother are gone. After that, I left school. I went through some things, started this detective agency, and later Luke joined."
"What exactly is a Gaia Memory?" Peter asked after a moment of silence. Despite having many questions, his priority was figuring out what these "Gaia Memories" were—the things that had caused such a drastic change in Basel.
Jessica then shared what she knew about Gaia Memories with Peter.
It took Peter a while to digest the information. "So, you're saying there might already be a significant number of Gaia Memories circulating in New York? And there's a mastermind behind all of this, including the ones you and Mr. Rand have? What is their goal in spreading these memories everywhere?"
"Perhaps to conduct experiments?" Ao Xing, perched on Danny's shoulder, suddenly spoke up.
"Experiments?" Everyone turned to look at Ao Xing.
Ao Xing nodded. "Just like you humans use mice and other animals for experiments. That guy called 'Eternal' probably distributes Gaia Memories to test human reactions to them. I can feel that Gaia Memories are capable of reacting to human emotional data."
"Despicable, using humans as test subjects." Peter spoke indignantly, thinking of how Basel's personality had completely changed.
"That's why we have to find the organization distributing them and destroy it," Danny said, his expression turning serious. Having understood the power of Gaia Memories, Danny believed the potential harm could be greater than that of the Hand.
After all, three of the Hand's five leaders were dead, their New York branch had suffered heavy losses, and the demon consciousness they summoned had been eliminated. They shouldn't be able to cause trouble for a long time.
"By the way, who asked you to investigate Basel?" Peter asked Jessica curiously.
"I can't tell you that without the client's consent." Although Jessica and Luke weren't exactly "professional" detectives, they knew the basic industry standard of protecting a client's identity. They did not tell Peter that the name was Gwen.
Finally, the shattered "Violence" Memory was taken by Danny Rand to be researched and analyzed using Rand Enterprises' technology. Although they had studied the memories in their possession before and gained nothing useful, and a shattered memory was likely useless, they figured it was worth a shot.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Secret Base
Dr. Erik Selvig, who was in the middle of his research, was notified that Director Nick Fury would be personally arriving with a special cargo. As the head of the experimental research, Erik was required to collect it himself.
Erik was forced to stop his research to meet Nick Fury. Following the events of Thor's arrival in New Mexico and witnessing the powerful military might of Asgard, Nick Fury had resolved to create stronger weapons. Thus, he launched a project to study the Tesseract to create energy weapons, preparing for potential crises that might descend upon Earth. Dr. Erik Selvig had been recruited for this project.
"Director Fury, what have you brought this time that required me to stop my experiments?" Erik complained incessantly. "The Tesseract's existence is simply incredible; it contains the most mysterious secrets of the universe. Infinite energy is just a tiny, insignificant part of it. If we can master its secrets, it could completely revolutionize humanity's understanding of the cosmos..."
"That's enough, Doctor," Nick interrupted impatiently, not quite following the technical jargon. "Report that to me once you have actual results. I've brought something this time for you to study."
"What is it?" Dr. Erik asked half-heartedly, feeling that nothing else could possibly match the value of the Tesseract.
Nick Fury opened a briefcase, revealing a game cartridge to Dr. Erik.
Genm Corp Building
Dan Kuroto wore a look of keen interest, murmuring to himself: "Interesting. Nick Fury actually wants to use the energy of the Tesseract to utilize the game cartridge."
"But this works out perfectly. It gives me an idea. I can use the infinite spatial energy of the Space Stone to cultivate the Bugster Virus and create a game powerful and interesting enough. When the time is right, I can let this game debut."
As for the "right time"—was there any better stage than New York during the Chitauri invasion?
With the idea set, Dan Kuroto immediately used the Kamen Rider Chronicle to remotely manipulate and set up the game cartridge inside the S.H.I.E.L.D. secret experimental base.
(End of Chapter)