"Tony Stark?"
Upon hearing this name, Peter instantly perked up.
He's coming, he's coming!
He's coming with piping hot sacrifice points!
Although he was already calculating how to fleece Tony in his mind, Peter's tone when responding to Nick Fury remained indifferent:
"That arms dealer and playboy... I have some impression of him."
"What's up? Does he have a kidney deficiency and need me to help patch him up, or what?"
Nick Fury on the other end of the phone was choked up, nearly gagging on his own saliva.
But... the kid wasn't wrong.
With Tony Stark's debauched lifestyle, one day in the future, he might actually come crying and begging "The Punisher" for help.
Sigh, it was a pity the other party wasn't one of his own; otherwise, he could use this situation to pull Tony under his command... Shaking off those messy thoughts, Nick Fury regained his composure and began to recount in a low voice the general events of Tony Stark being kidnapped by a terrorist organization in Afghanistan.
He was truly out of options this time.
Tony had gone missing in Afghanistan, a place where even the U.S. Military's reach fell short.
Without clear intelligence, and unable to make a big fuss to have the U.S. Military conduct a carpet search, the Captain was also unfamiliar with the environment there.
In such a situation, trying to find a person in the mountain ravines of Afghanistan was no less difficult than finding a needle in a haystack.
Therefore, Nick Fury was genuinely worried that by the time they found Tony, the man might have already been turned into Gundam fragments... Thinking of this, Nick Fury's voice grew even lower:
"Tony Stark is very important! He possesses the nation's highest-level weapon technology. Once he is coerced and exploited by Terrorists, it will deal a devastating blow to the security landscape of the entire World!"
Nick Fury tried to appeal to Peter's "mercy," attempting to get Peter to "give him one" for free this way.
But he was destined to be disappointed.
"The usual rules: one favor for one intervention. If you also need me to save someone along the way... that's an extra price."
Motherfucker!
Nick Fury was so angry he felt like smashing his phone.
But he had no choice and could only pinch his nose and say:
"No problem. As long as you can bring Tony Stark back alive, our S.H.I.E.L.D. is willing to agree to another condition for you! As long as it's within our power!"
Nick Fury had completely seen through Peter.
Things like national righteousness, personal feelings, or patriotic sentiment—these empty concepts were completely ineffective against him.
Only the most simple and crude exchange of interests could make this little monster temporarily work for them.
On the other side, Peter, having received a satisfactory answer, finally agreed to Nick Fury's request with a drawn-out tone:
"Hmm~ that's more like it. I'll take this job!"
What Nick Fury would never have imagined was that even if he hadn't invited Peter, Peter would have gone to Afghanistan himself after seeing the news.
Nick Fury knew to win over Tony, but did he think Peter didn't?
He had been eyeing that first-generation Iron Man Suit for a long time!
Although it was just emergency equipment Tony hammered out of a pile of scrap metal in a cave, this suit was the beginning of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe!
Its precious commemorative value could at least be ranked at the "Purple" grade, a presence that could sit at the same table as the radioactive spider corpse!
Additionally, the "wheel of destiny" had indeed piqued Peter's desire for an Iron Man Suit.
The feeling of strong wind hitting his face during supersonic flight, to the point where he couldn't even open his mouth, was really not pleasant.
An Iron Man Suit with a constant temperature system could already be considered a necessity for the current Peter.
"However... I have one more condition."
"This trip to Afghanistan will take three to five days at the fastest, and ten days to half a month at the slowest. I don't want Uncle Ben and Aunt Mei to worry, so you have to provide a suitable reason for my absence so they don't have any suspicions."
"That's easy!"
Nick Fury breathed a sigh of relief.
He thought it was some big deal, but it was just this?
...The next morning, S.H.I.E.L.D. arranged a title for Peter through Midtown High School: "An academic visit and exchange to Saudi Arabia on public funds."
To avoid suspicion, Natasha, disguised as Teacher Tasha, also specifically extended an invitation to Gwen.
But unsurprisingly, Gwen rejected it without even thinking.
Peter knew very well that Gwen had chosen to decline this opportunity to continue being a superhero, but on the surface, he still put on a disappointed look and asked:
"Gwen, don't you want to have a 'deep exchange' with me?"
Simple-minded Gwen didn't notice the ambiguity in Peter's words at all; she just helplessly stammered like a man:
"No, it's not like that..."
She thought for a long time before coming up with a somewhat reasonable explanation:
"It's just... Flash's father is my father's colleague, and he's been asking me to help tutor that guy these past few days... My father already promised him, and I don't want to make it difficult for him."
Peter thought to himself that when you father and daughter are playing a game of wits on the streets of New York every night, you don't see such "filial piety," but he still made a reluctant face and curled his lip:
"Fine, I'll let you off the hook."
Seeing that look, Gwen couldn't help but find it a bit funny, and her heart felt a bit sweet because of the "excessive concern" Peter showed.
However, as Peter turned to leave, she looked at his back and unconsciously tilted her head.
Strange, has Peter... bulked up a lot lately?
And this back... why does it feel somewhat familiar, like a certain someone... Peter didn't know what Gwen was thinking.
After calling Aunt Mei to report, he went to S.H.I.E.L.D. with Natasha.
"Wait... is your S.H.I.E.L.D. really this poor?"
Peter had thought he could experience the quinjet from the Marvel movies on this trip to Afghanistan.
But when he arrived, he found that S.H.I.E.L.D. had actually only prepared a small Military transport plane for him... It was only then that he suddenly realized that the current S.H.I.E.L.D. was far from being as awesome as he remembered.
Whether it was the quinjet or the Helicarrier, none of these things existed in the current S.H.I.E.L.D.; they all had to wait until Tony solved the energy problem with the arc reactor before they could turn from blueprints into reality.
No wonder Nick Fury valued Tony so much; without Tony's financial and technical support, S.H.I.E.L.D. would probably be suppressed by the Military and other high-level organizations in America for a lifetime.
Feeling disappointed, Peter didn't even bother to get on the transport plane—this thing's flight speed wasn't even as fast as his flying skateboard!
He simply reached out and snapped his fingers; before long, the flying skateboard, strengthened by the wheel of destiny, stopped steadily in front of Peter.
Seeing Peter jump directly onto the skateboard, Coulson's eyelid couldn't help but twitch, thinking that the boy probably didn't know how far Afghanistan was from America:
"Lord Punisher, although your flying skateboard is very convenient, its internal energy reserves... probably aren't enough to support you flying to Afghanistan, right?"
Coulson's reminder was full of goodwill.
But to this, Peter only gave him a faint glance:
"Mind your own business when it comes to Mages!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a black stream of light soared into the sky.
Whoosh!
A terrifying sonic boom cloud exploded in the air!
The huge momentum knocked the dazed Coulson right off his feet.
Watching Peter whistle away on his flying skateboard at a speed exceeding Mach 1, Coulson touched his shaken hairline and felt his life choices were being questioned.
A personal flight device... breaking the sound barrier?!
The World of Mages was indeed not something a mere mortal like him could understand...