"Long time no see, Agent Maria."
Looking at Gwen and Felicia beside him, Peter's eyes darted around; he didn't choose to get up and walk away to take the call.
His little tactic worked; hearing the clearly feminine name 'Maria', both girls subconsciously pricked up their ears.
As the two eavesdropped on the conversation, Hill couldn't help but snark at Peter's ridiculous remark:
"If a certain someone still remembered his role as Director, we should have been seeing each other every day."
There was a hint of resentment in her tone.
Her cool, mature voice and the keyword "every day" caused Gwen and Felicia to exchange a look, a sense of crisis rising in their hearts.
They had previously thought their only competition was each other, but now it seemed their thinking was a bit too naive.
There were clearly more than just the two of them around Peter, and there would only be more in the future...
When external pressure is strong enough, internal cooperation becomes an almost natural choice.
The two girls reached a consensus almost instantly.
Better to keep it within the circle of best friends than to let an outsider cut in, right?
Peter watched the girls' subtle movements and chuckled inwardly, but on the surface, he said nonchalantly:
"I just trust in your and Phil's work capabilities. Honestly, when that Nick Fury was in charge, wasn't his daily work just drinking coffee in his office?"
"Wow, that makes so much sense, I actually can't argue with it." Hill rolled her eyes on the other end of the phone.
"Alright, back to business. Why contact me all of a sudden? Did you run into something you can't handle?"
Hearing Peter ask about business, Hill's voice immediately returned to its usual efficiency:
"My subordinates found something in the New Mexico desert that fell from the sky... uh, a hammer?"
As she spoke, Hill sent an MMS.
The picture showed the Meow-Meow Hammer that Peter had just seen not long ago.
Was the plot of Thor descending to Earth finally about to begin?
This was a great opportunity to reap some benefits.
Whether it was the casket of ancient winters, the Destroyer armor, or Loki's own Frost Giant royal bloodline, they were all good things.
However, was something not quite right?
If he remembered correctly, shouldn't the plot of Iron Man 2 happen before Thor's arrival?
Where was that 'Marvel Sylas' who dared to challenge Tony with just two small Lashers?
While Peter was thinking about Ivan Vanko's whereabouts, Hill had also finished giving a general overview of the Meow-Meow Hammer.
The situation was much the same as in the movie. Agent Coulson had already led a team to seal off the scene, and the process was incredibly smooth, with no other factions coming to interfere.
After getting the full story from Hill, Peter decisively decided to take over the case:
"I know the origin of this hammer. I'll handle this matter personally."
"Also, help me look someone up."
"Who?" Hill asked.
"Ivan Vanko. I need his detailed information."
"Received. I'll send the data to you later."
After hanging up, Gwen and Felicia's curiosity could no longer be contained:
"Peter, did something happen?"
"Remember that Thunder God Thor from the parallel Universe who I beat into a pulp? The version of him from this Universe has descended to Earth."
"Emmm..." Gwen made a slightly strange expression:
"So, is he going to be turned into a pulp again?"
"His treatment this time should be a bit better than the last... but regardless, I have to take a trip to New Mexico."
"What about university?"
"You guys decide," Peter's gaze swept gently over the two girls. "Which university we go to isn't important. What's important is that you two are in my university life. That's enough."
A small romantic line instantly hit the softest part of Gwen and Felicia's hearts, the sweetness immediately dispelling their earlier slight displeasure.
"Oh, right," before leaving, Peter looked at Felicia and asked,
"While we were away from this Universe, did that guy Tony already finish his Industrial Expo?"
"Yes," Felicia replied.
"The expo was very successful. Your Parker Tech's second-generation Unicorn and new energy vehicles were the focus of the entire event."
"No accidents happened? Like some madman crashing the venue wanting to take Tony down with him?" Peter couldn't help but ask.
Felicia laughed and shook her head:
"Why would you ask that? The entire expo was calm and peaceful; nothing unexpected happened at all."
That's strange!
Did Ivan Vanko really just vanish into thin air?
Peter left the cafe with his doubts. Since Gwen and Felicia still had to consider which university to attend, Peter didn't plan on bringing them along for this trip to New Mexico.
Not long after he walked out, Hill called again:
"Director, if you're asking about the son of Anton Vanko, who once worked with Howard Stark... I'm sorry to tell you, he's dead."
"Dead?!" Peter couldn't help but raise his voice. "How did he die?"
"The death certificate issued by a Moscow hospital shows he died of alcohol poisoning."
"Moscow? That guy didn't come to the U.S.?"
"There are no records of him in the entry-exit system."
"Fine then..."
After ending the call with Hill, Peter unconsciously fell into deep thought.
It felt like a butterfly effect he had caused.
But Peter always felt that things weren't that simple.
Based on past experience, this World always made things as troublesome as possible for him. A small boss simply vanishing into thin air like this felt extremely abnormal no matter how he thought about it.
Behind this, was there an invisible hand plucking the strings of fate?
Was Ivan Vanko really dead? And into whose hands did his primitive arc reactor technology fall?
"Forget it, no point thinking about things I can't figure out."
Since he really couldn't figure it out, Peter simply gave up thinking.
Although the arc reactor technology was valuable, it wasn't a major threat to him now.
Even if that guy or someone else eventually created a robot army to deal with him and Tony, he was confident he could resolve the crisis with his own raw strength.
So, instead of thinking about that, it was better to go to New Mexico and play with those two brothers.
Hmm~ and while I'm at it, use the Destroyer to test the power of the Haymaker.
Thinking this, Peter decisively pulled out his flying skateboard from his storage ring.
Stepping onto his flying skateboard, Peter immediately set off, flying rapidly toward New Mexico.
With the Mach-level flight speed of the flying skateboard, Peter soon arrived in New Mexico and made contact with Phil.
At the same time Peter arrived in New Mexico, Thor woke up in the hospital.
Looking at the hospital gown he was wearing and thinking about how he had completely lost contact with his beloved Meow-Meow Hammer, Thor couldn't help but let out a wail:
"No~~~!!!"