Chapter 583 - Letter

shout-out to Rohan Pryke for patron support~

***

"Here you go," Nik tipped off a rather playful mime acting on the streets of the city despite the entertainment mode easily blamed to be one of the most annoying acts in this day and age. As the white-faced mime bowed in gratification, he proceeded to point towards yet another comrade of his in a certain sense. A beggar, young one at that, just glaring at every passerby as if they had f.u.c.k.i.e.d his pet dog and forced fed the soiled pet to the guy himself. "Nah, I am good," refusing to pay a grunt, Nik continued on as Gwen and Anna stuck along. Gwen taking the lead by a slight margin as they found themselves willing to walk to the hospital constructed just three blocks away, housing Harry.

"Mj broke up with Flash and Peter still hasn't returned," Anna mumbled while walking along the busy street, this time, trying to be aware of her surroundings and failing at that. Sill, it was the thought that counted for last time she was conveyed that the target wasn't Nik but her. "What do you mean?" Gwen tilted her head as Anna pulled her arms behind her head and adopted a bored and rather cute picture, "The group's blowing apart!" The brunette exclaimed, "And it's a pain to find another cool-kids group!" She grumbled while Nik pointed out timely as he looked around listlessly, "Take a look, we already have a new member," he gestured towards Gwen who turned her head instantly, managing to avoid a healthy conversation for a better half of the day now.

"Oh, yeah!" Anna jumped about, now finally attracting a few annoyed glares from the surroundings. Well, that didn't matter. Free speech being abused at a louder volume and the most common objective— Conversation. "Gwen! You actually enjoy hanging with us." Scoffing, Gwen replied while narrowing her gaze towards Gwen, "You think I can stand Flash if he would have been here? The guy's jerk in your 'group'."

'Wow, I am not a jerk anymore...' Nik thought, truly bored. His adventures... he expected more. If he really wants a simple life where he earned from hard work and engaged in peaceful conversations with acquaintances and neighbors, he is more than happy to live in his current homeworld for the rest of his life but every time he left that place, he thirsted for more. His debauched urges were his priority every time but whenever he wasn't engaging in them, he wanted fun. And if anything he was taught after fighting a tough cookie named Demon Lord, he knew that despite harsh fights, he would always enjoy ruining a rather strong male opposing him. 'Wait... now that I recall, I also lost my hidden quests about champions,' Nik thought internally, trying to divert himself from the thoughts on how... simple the world, this one, at the very least, still looked to him.

There was a genius strutting in metal armor with state of the art warhead tech and a few enhanced beings but most of them only boasted heightened physical abilities. Cindy and poor later Peter were the expectations but that was it, until now. 'I can always try creating troubles myself... just appear out of thin air, slap the back of a monster and then whoosh, up up and away...' Licking his lips unconsciously, he found a few gazes from females concentrating on him. Meanwhile, Gwen continued, "You're the only one I actually enjoy hanging with," She smirked towards Anna. As Anna's expression started o brighten up, Gwen continued, "And also Jacob from bio-lab, Kiara from the other section, and Ms. Humer from the Chemistry Department. Glancing towards Nik who continued to walk with a slightly blank look, she concluded, "Yep, that's it!"

"Jacob? You mean burger Jacob?" Anna inquired with a fanatic expression as Gwen nodded with a grin. "We are preparing snake burger now," Gwen's words pulled an amazed expression from Anna. After all, the so-called Burger Jacob actually created the first horse burger and people actually loved it. An inventor in his own right but still obese and strutting with unhealthy remarks like obesity is a myth. It isn't, many tried to tell him that. As they finally reached the hospital, they inquired about Harry's current position and showed their school identification to get the chance to visit him. For some reason, Harry had actually asked the hospital to not allow anyone without an I.D to meet him.

Making their way to the third floor, they finally entered Harry's ward with him sitting listlessly and a pretty redhead beside him, shuffling through her bag as they entered. "Mj!" Anna squeaked softly, minding the decorum of the hospital before rushing towards the redhead, making Harry a notch bitter as Nik nodded towards the frail and thin-looking youth still under the blanket. "Heard you were scared clinically?" Nik inquired as he earned a soft jab from Gwen standing beside him as Harry tried to smile. "Something like that. I just need to rest for the week," he continued, "I was just telling Mj that you guys almost missed Flash."

"Flash actually came?" Gwen inquired while raising her brows, "Oh, before that, I hope you make a quick recovery, Harry."

"Thanks, and yeah, he did... with someone else. I forgot her name," Harry refrained from actually speaking about Flash's current hookup in front of the low-key scowling Mj even when she was hugging Anna. "Anyway," Nik spoke while taking his bag off. It was already checked at the entrance. Taking out a small bouquet of flowers and placing it on the table, Nik suggested, "We got you flowers," gazing at the other gestures on the table, much greater than the collective contribution of Nik, Anna, and Gwen, "Cause apparently, you didn't have enough already. Something you want to say about that, Gwen?" Nik gazed at the blonde with pink streaks added to the lower side of her hair. It was her idea, after all.

"Thanks, guys. Really. Anyway, did any of you see Peter?"

"He... hasn't returned yet," Anna replied before walking up to Harry and helping him sit up. Thanking Anna, he sighed, "He still isn't found, is that it? People are missing nowadays, so you guys need to be careful." Looking at everyone, Harry thought for a moment and spoke up, "Listen, all of you just came right now and I don't want to sound like an ass but can you guys please give me some alone time. In fact, it's only been around 20 minutes since I woke up."

"Sure thing," Mj was the first to speak up. From the moment the rest of them walked in, she had been keeping it to herself. Her body posture slightly defensive and her eyes glancing at Anna and Gwen more than Nik. Of course, Mj had been a little surprised to see Gwen hanging around with Nik and Anna in the last couple of days, not to mention witnessing the cause of the outburst of Gwen's father firsthand. Standing up, she gazed at the trio with a polite smile, "I'll see you guys... um, later," Nodding, the freckle-faced model hurriedly left. "You could cut the tension with a knife..." Harry mumbled to himself, a little envious. As Nik heard the guy and nodded towards him, Gwen, too, made ger way out after bidding her farewell and well-wishes.

As the group left, Harry sighed and slipped his hand under the pillow before taking out a long letter folded neatly. Looking through the contents for a moment, the first few pages filled with various formulas that he, of course, didn't know, the boy finally flipped the last page and found the first line addressed to him— Dear Harry, it's me, your father. Breathing a deep sigh, Harry continued to read and see what excuse his father had prepared this time. Was it another business meeting that held him off for weeks now? But as he continued to read the details on how Norman found his senses getting corrupted by each transformation of the shot and how he had ended up finding the 'real' formula only to be rejected by his body now, Harry felt like he just went through a modern-day fantasy.

"Yeah, right!" Folding the paper back with a grumble, he pushed the letter back beneath the pillow. The fact that his father just admitted to kidnapping a boy named Hector and Peter even as a joke wasn't funny. Peter had become a monster? Hah!

For how long Harry planned to deny the reality even after learning everything from Flash— From a monster gliding in to destroy the class with gatling guns to the description of a monster being the same as the description depicted by Norman. The boy still accepted one suggestion from the letter— Asking about everything from his butler.

---

"Red, where have you been the whole night?" Fury inquired with something close to a casual smile, "I just heard the report that you accidentally introduced yourself to one of the targets. Were you preparing for a retaliation?"

"Against Mary?" Natasha crossed her arms and gazed at the Goblin from the security footage as Nick gazed at the other screen showing the glider that was used to cause destruction in the Midtown Highschool. "Look at the report," Nick pointed at the other screen as Natasha sat beside Nick and gazed at the report depicting how the powder covering the classroom was a mix of metal and silicon shards. The report then continued to proceed that aside from the destroyed window pane, not a single bullet hole could be found within the class. "As if... the something crushed the bullets and other shards to the dust," Natasha mumbled. "Do I have another mission, Sir?" Natasha inquired as Nick nodded and presented Nik's file to the redhead.

"He is said to have enhanced bodily functions. But he was also in the classroom that was attacked. I need you to check on every one of the students of that class and try to find out if the boy is hiding something. If it is possible, try to persuade him into joining S.H.I.E.L.D. No force is necessary. After all, if he wants something else in life, he may never end up using his powers. 'Aside from the s.e.x.u.a.l experiences,' Natasha added internally. "Got it. What's my identity?"

"Agent Hill will be preparing stuff for you. And I don't want any scandals in this place. The places invested by Stark Industries are immune to our interference."

"That means..."

"Mr. Stark is onboard."

Natasha raised her eyebrow, a little expectant to meet the narcissistic genius who now boasts his ability of being a nuclear deterrent. "Natasha," Nick suddenly spoke up, "Luke and White Tiger... if you can, I would definitely want Nik on the board. If he comes along, Cindy might, too. Then, we can begin with the initiative once again."

"Got it."

Natasha nodded and left as Nick continued to go through other records when something of interest caught his eye. The overlord of Chinese Triad— Madam Gao— was found dead with her body strangely exploded as if someone shoved a small-time explosion in her body. But the strange thing was that no gunpowder or any burnt material could be found. The same thing could be seen with the assaulter of Midtown High. There was a chance that the two might be connected but the intelligence report did not have all the facts and acting rashly could... cause much unnecessary damage. Scratching his head, an action he only did in his alone time, Nick continued to read through the report of the glider and the inability to find the receivers of Goblin's message. The only silver lining was the fact that the researchers were capable of reverse-engineering the formula due to their extensive research with Norman's data in the first place.

"Let's just hope that Nik and Cindy are more than they showed themselves to be." Aside from Luke, who was far more integrated into S.H.I.E.L.D, Nick did keep a cautious outlook towards everybody else despite their advantages. This was something he learned early in his career even before being a S.H.I.E.L.D operative.

---

"Hah!" Nik grinned, "Maybe I don't need S.H.I.E.L.D after all..." He chuckled while standing on the roof of the building where Mary and Anna lived. He gazed at Agent Magun, who still looked a little fearful. With Nik still holding onto Magun's free will in a tight leash, he had finally decided to interact with the organization that S.H.I.E.L.D was created to oppose. In essence, two organizations held a major force of the world in the shadow. The first one being the Hydra, a terrorist organization developed even before world war 2 and the second one being S.H.I.E.L.D that was put into motion after the dreadful accident. So, in terms of operation and intelligence, it was easy to see which one held more leverage.

"Alright, I've got everything I need to know," Nik smiled at the man and pointed towards his head, "Now go to one of the bases of Shield and commit suicide." Nik directed, finally ridding the man who tried to target Anna. He was just a low-level agent being trained by Mary's ex-husband. Now with Magun nodding and leaving, assuring his demise, Nik finally took care of one problem still burdening him. Now, with his thoughts set, he would infiltrate a small Hydra base of operation just to get more clues. Since he wasn't planning on spamming his mind control abilities, the whole operation would be even more exciting.

Taking a refreshing breath, Nik walked down and enjoyed his sleep with both Mary and Anna exhausted enough to avoid any form of action.