Toomes even began to stutter. He hurriedly shoved the knife further up his sleeve, terrified it would be seen, and nodded repeatedly: "W-we are certainly willing! What kind of contract is it? Rest assured, Mr. Mayor, our salvage company can do anything!"
"Clearing city ruins, heavy industrial factories, even deep-sea salvage..."
"No, no, no."
Fisk raised a thick index finger and shook it gently, interrupting him.
"I don't need you to collect scrap. I just need you to help me with something big. A certain important person looked over your resumes and thinks you are very talented." A meaningful curve tugged at the corner of Fisk's mouth.
"As for the specifics of what needs to be done, you will naturally find out when the time comes."
"Well then, are you in?"
At this moment, Fisk's persuasive manner, playing with human hearts as if they were in the palm of his hand, was remarkably similar to a certain red-haired woman.
Perhaps this was the result of teaching by example.
Fisk's current behavior was exactly the same as hers.
The only things missing were a pair of demon horns on his head and a tail swishing behind him.
Upon hearing this, Mason's eyes behind his glasses suddenly lit up like light bulbs.
The Mayor actually praised him for being talented?!
An important person appreciated his technical skills?!
This caused Mason, who had always felt his talents were unrecognized, to immediately drop his previous grumbling, angry-youth attitude. He impatiently grabbed Toomes's arm, wanting to agree immediately.
The Black man standing to the side was full of apprehension.
He swallowed hard and turned to look at Toomes.
Toomes's mind was locked in a fierce struggle.
As an old hand who had clawed his way up from the bottom of society for years, he knew better than anyone that there was no such thing as a free lunch in this World.
Accepting this mysterious contract, whose specific details they didn't even dare to state clearly, could very well push them into an even more terrifying abyss.
But... what if they didn't take it?
...
Toomes grit his teeth, his gaze becoming resolute once more.
"We'll take it," Toomes said in a heavy voice.
Hearing this, Fisk smiled with satisfaction.
...
A short while later.
On the outskirts of New York, inside a massive underground Inventory.
This place was practically a treasure trove of alien technology.
Mountains of Chitauri remains, individual flight vehicles, energy rifles, and even in the very center of the Inventory, lay the half-severed remains of a Leviathan Beast so massive it took one's breath away!
Fisk walked at the front, leading the way. Toomes and the other two followed closely behind, looking like country bumpkins entering a grand palace, their faces full of shock.
The batch of Chitauri remains they had intercepted was a mere drop in the bucket compared to what was here.
Soon, they stopped in front of an open space.
Facing them stood a burly man in a black suit with a cold, solemn expression.
The hearts of Toomes and his companions skipped a beat.
Could it be that this murderous-looking man was the "important person" the Mayor mentioned who appreciated them?
However, they were wrong.
When the man in the suit saw Fisk approaching, he bowed his head respectfully and stepped aside without a word, clearing a path.
Following the line of sight he had cleared, they saw a slender figure sitting atop the head of the Leviathan Beast behind him.
Then, to the astonishment of Toomes and his group, the formidable New York City Mayor Fisk—whose face was usually full of rugged muscle—actually broke into a sycophantic, dog-like smile and bowed deeply to that figure:
"My Lord Jinx, I have brought you the people you requested!"
Hearing this, the pupils of Toomes and his companions shook with shock!
Jinx...
My Lord?!
The prestigious Mayor of New York City was actually using such a nearly subservient tone to flatteringly call someone "My Lord"?!
What kind of existence in this World could deserve such treatment?
Could that person be the President of the United States? But the President doesn't go by that name...
Just as their brains stalled, the figure sitting atop the Leviathan's head moved.
There was a soft "thud."
The slender figure, as if weightless, leaped down from the Chitauri beast remains over ten meters high, landing lightly in front of them.
When Toomes and his group saw the true face of this so-called "important person," their eyes nearly popped out, and they collectively turned to stone on the spot.
Who would believe it?!
The being that even the mighty New York Mayor Fisk had to respectfully address as "My Lord"...
...was actually a delinquent-looking teenage girl who looked fifteen or sixteen at most?!
The girl before them had eye-catching blue twin-tails that reached almost to her ankles, her hair looking quite messy under the Inventory's dim lights.
Her skin had a sickly, near-pathological paleness from a perennial lack of sunlight. She wore a punk-style black strapped midriff-baring tank top, purple striped trousers, and heavy military boots.
On her bony, slender arms and her slender waist, there were bold graffiti tattoos of blue clouds. But the most striking and bone-chilling feature was her violet-red eyes.
Her red eyes were beautiful, and the emotions within them were even more complex—interweaving groundless violence, childlike innocence, and a hint of fragility hidden beneath the veneer of madness that seemed ready to shatter at any moment.
That's right, she was Jinx, the notorious Loose Cannon from the simple and honest Zaun. She was also one of the two C-Class Avatars Su Modie had drawn alongside Esdeath during the Battle of New York.
Jinx
Baimewang Art Style
At this moment, Su Modie was quietly looking at this girl's panel—
[Current incarnation: Jinx (Powder / The Loose Cannon)]
[Origin: League of Legends Plane]
[Intelligence: 5 (A highly gifted mechanic and inventor who can create weapons with devastating power from crude scrap heaps, and even intuitively crack and utilize Hextech to create ultimate weapons.)]
[Strength: 2/4 (Most of the time she is just a frail young girl, but after being rescued and modified by Singed's 'Shimmer' elixir, she possesses the monstrous strength to easily carry a heavy machine gun while maneuvering in battle, and can even kick an adult man away.)]
[Speed: 3/5 (Having climbed and performed parkour in the lower levels of Zaun since childhood, she is very agile. After Shimmer enhancement, her burst speed is like a ghost, easily leaving afterimages in battle and dodging dense hails of bullets with her eerie movement.)]
[Endurance: 2/5 (Her physique is very fragile, but after Shimmer modification, she not only gains super resistance to strikes, but her vitality and self-healing abilities also soar, allowing her to continue laughing and killing even after taking heavy blows or fatal injuries.)]
[Energy Projection: 1 (Possesses no inherent magic or energy.)]
[Combat Skills: 5 (Has received no formal training, but possesses innate god-like marksmanship. Her fighting style is frenzied, neurotic, and unscrupulous, specializing in using various homemade Bombs and weapons to turn the battlefield into her playground.)]
[Note: Use '/' to distinguish between 'Normal' and 'Shimmer Mutation' values.]
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