Chapter 67: Good Neighbors in New York
As mentioned before, today is the weekend, and the day to report to school is set for tomorrow, Monday. Before that, Moses' daily life is very leisurely. Apart from wandering around the high-rise buildings in New York to relax and help a few residents in need, his entertainment activity is to buy several professional books on various fields from a second-hand bookstore recently.
Since Moses took up his post, Batman, Superman, and Spiderman are not stupid, but some people are just particularly good at research. When he found that as Peter Parker, he could run code on an old computer that couldn't even install Matlab, dismantle old home appliances that no one wanted and use integrated circuits to assemble a small tracker, and understand the contents of nuclear fusion and cosmic rays in the textbook without any obstacles... His first reaction was that he would rely on scholarships and loans after going to college, and Aunt May should not pay for his tuition.
cough.
Well, actually I thought of Iron Man.
If you ask who is the world leader in nuclear physics, you can't avoid the name of Stark Industries. New Yorkers may think that Osborne is also a leader in the industry, but they are not as cool as Tony Stark, and although they have acquired many nuclear energy plants, they actually mainly use them to study biological-related genetic weapons.
In addition, Stark Industries and the Wayne Group have been conducting technical exchanges in the field of materials science for many years, while Osborne only competes with the Lex Group for patents.
I always feel that among the four major pitfalls of biochemistry and environmental materials, biology is the one that is despised.
Anyway, in the process of making his own uniforms and weapons, the more Moses learned about them, the more he realized Tony Stark's dominant position in technology monopoly. Many scientists and engineers in this world may have been shrouded in two dark clouds named Stark for nearly a century.
Therefore, when he told others that he liked Iron Man, he was not just being perfunctory, but he truly believed that even without the halo of a superhero, he was still a figure worthy of being featured in Time magazine.
So since he is now based in New York, why not try to establish a good relationship with the Avengers? Another reason is just as Batman said at the beginning, although working alone is flexible, it is sometimes weak.
However, it is well known that between self-recommendation and being invited, the latter is often more popular.
The Justice League and the Avengers have both been expanding recently. Considering the Avengers' strong official presence, Moses knows that the Green Arrow in Star City wants to join the Justice League. He proposed several times, but each time he was rejected by the Green Lantern on the grounds that "we don't need two original colors in our team."
Therefore, he did not put his plan into action until he had truly proven his ability.
But coincidences happen so unexpectedly.
Dad stood beside him, holding a pufferfish with his hands behind his back, and strode to the automatic door. Moses was sure that they were in the right place, and asked with the last hope: "Excuse me, did Mr. Stark buy antiques in the store?"
"No." The old Asian man's leather shoes tapped on the ground, making a rapid clicking sound. He suddenly raised his fingers and tapped his forehead. "Oh, Dad forgot to ask before. You are not that kind of firm materialist, right? Forget it, even if you are, it's too late. I hope your head is not more stubborn than Sheriff Black."
"Do you know District 13?"
This word rescued Moses from the fog that was overwhelming him.
Similar to a special agent organization in the UK named after the Knights of the Round Table that only a few people have heard of, there are many such special forces in the United States. In addition to well-known government agencies such as SHIELD and A.O.R., there are also some forces named after area codes. For example, District 13 is basically active in the San Francisco area. I don't know why the relevant personnel came to New York.
But most of the above content was investigated by Batman, and a small part was heard and seen by Superman. The underage New York neighbors probably don't know anything.
"Sorry, no." The brown-haired boy said innocently.
Dad glanced at him and stretched out his hand: "Where is the thermos cup I handed you before you left?" He took a sip of hot tea and continued, "An old friend in China told me that I could meet a qualified assistant in New York. But you are younger than Dad thought, and you know less than I expected."
Moses thought the eyes behind his round glasses were like examining a piece of ham on a chopping block.
"Well, I can try."
"Magic is not something you can learn by hard work, kid. Don't doubt Daddy's words, even Superman can't be good at everything. In short, you have to know that District 13 is an agent organization connected to S.H.I.E.L.D., and they asked Dad to come here for magic."
"One more thing, Peter, your schoolbag is unzipped."
Moses immediately closed his backpack containing his Spider-Man gear.
He was just thinking about the magic his father mentioned.
This incident dates back to five months ago, when the Flash and Superman fell into a parallel universe because of a magic trap. But the Ancient One had already returned to Kamar-Taj, and only said that this was a lost spell from ancient Egypt and left in a hurry.
The Master had helped for free before, and his main mission was to find Superman and the Flash, a goal he had already successfully achieved.
Her departure seemed to be a refusal to follow up investigations, and the reason was unknown. After that, the League's pursuit of the black hand hiding in the dark came to a standstill. First, the history of ancient Egypt was long and connected to many highly secretive mystical things. Second, the two giants of the League, Superman and Batman, both encountered some... minor family problems.
Unexpectedly, after going around in circles, this trouble came back to Moses himself.
He said to the system: "What do you call this? I've learned my lesson. Never push things onto others, because you never know whether this 'other' will be yourself."
He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't even notice that he forgot to close the zipper after taking out the kettle.
However, Dad is a head shorter than Spider-Man, so I wonder if he saw the uniform in the schoolbag.
Regardless, the air magician who claimed to be from China said nothing and rushed straight into the Stark Building.
This duo looked like street performers no matter how you looked at them. Especially when the old man was holding up the puffer fish and looking around without paying attention to anyone, the receptionist's smile almost froze: "... What can I do for you two?"
"It has nothing to do with you, don't worry about it." After answering the front desk, Dad looked at Moses again, "Dad and electronic products have a conflict, you are responsible for contacting Iron Man."
“…”
The young man obediently went to communicate with the front desk, trying to ignore the curious looks of others behind him and the light emitted by the pufferfish in his father's hand.
He never expected that his first meeting with Iron Man would be under such circumstances.
Tony Stark, one of the most famous billionaires in the United States, consultant to the Avengers, and superhero in armor, is now in his annual period of anxiety, and no one knows why.
When he tries to build a good relationship with others, he can easily win their favor with his appearance, conversation, knowledge, etc. But when he doesn't want to do that...it doesn't necessarily cause a dispute, because he doesn't take other people into consideration at all.
At least Moses was standing next to his father and was completely ignored as a mage's assistant.
"I don't have the originals of the magic spells. SHIELD took them away. I only have photos and rubbings of the copies."
Iron Man was fiddling with a small, delicate part in his hand and speaking nonchalantly.
"You can visit at will, or I can have someone take you to S.H.I.E.L.D. to watch the original version."
"Where are the photos?"
"Just open the third folder on the computer in front of you."
Daddy stared at the computer screen solemnly and raised the pufferfish: "Dad has a bad feeling, this is evil magic. Monsters, hurry up--"
"Wait a minute!" Moses quickly rescued the electronic products that were about to be scrapped from his hands. He finally understood what "making a mistake" meant. His arm even left an afterimage. "The top-of-the-line computer of this brand on the market costs three thousand dollars!"
Tony finally looked at him condescendingly, raised his hand to pick up the computer in his arms and turned it around: "Did you see the logo on the back cover? Avengers customized version, priceless."
The young man on the sofa smiled awkwardly but politely: "I'm sorry."
"Do your research, I'm leaving now." Tony threw down his cup and stood up. "I wish you a pleasant trip to Stark Tower."
Dad: "But Dad isn't here for tourism either?"
"I think he meant just visiting."
After Iron Man walked away, Moses thought about it and said, "What he was holding in his hand just now was a part of a robotic arm."
"So what?"
"Nothing... I mean, I remember that part was just upgraded two days ago. People generally believe that its performance has been improved by 80% over the previous version, and it has almost reached its limit and cannot be improved. Why is Mr. Stark still fiddling with it?"
Dad finally raised his head and pushed the round glasses on his nose.
He pulled a dried lizard out of his pocket and stuffed it into Moses' hand without question: "Dad doesn't understand these things, go do something useful, take it and stand at the window."
"Is there anything else to do?"
"Stand still, Dad needs to make some calculations."
He pulled out a bunch of magical bottles and jars and placed them on the workbench, then closed his eyes and began to cast a spell, his movements looking like a twitch or a zombie dance.
Moses felt like a psycho within two minutes of holding the lizard.
He casually looked through the window downstairs, and suddenly, a monster moving between the buildings caught his attention.
"Wait, what is that? It has claws on all four limbs and a long tail."
Daddy still kept his eyes closed and asked impatiently, "You don't even recognize a lizard?"
"But, I think he looks like... a human?"
The green monster swung its tail and smashed the balcony of the nearby high-rise building into pieces. Several palm-sized rocks fell from a height of dozens of meters, and the pedestrians below were still unaware of it.
Moses subconsciously looked back in the direction where Iron Man left.
He saw nothing.
It's too late to find help now.
How does the saying go? With great power comes great responsibility.
He took a deep breath, ran over, threw the bag on the sofa onto his back and said, "I'm sorry! I accidentally dropped the lizard you gave me downstairs. I'm going to get it back now!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he disappeared behind the door of the fire escape.
"What? Then Daddy has to recalculate the position?" Daddy opened his eyes angrily and shook the pufferfish, "Next time, remember to be considerate of the elderly's body!"
He walked to the window, propped up the glass and looked out, seeing Spider-Man and the lizard monster confronting each other more than ten meters below, as well as a pile of rocks suspended in mid-air by spider silk.
"There's one more thing. Who can tell Dad what's going on?"