"This is?"
Aware of Tony's gaze, the little spider lifted the spider web launcher on his wrist like a treasure, "It's just a small gadget I made myself, Mr Stark. A spider web launcher, to go with the external ..."
Peter wasn't worried that Tony would have any bad ideas about his spider web launcher.
"Cool little gadget..." Staring at the little spider that was obviously underage, Tony couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in compliment.
The design of the spider web launcher itself wasn't much to write home about, and Tony could make a better version of it in a matter of minutes if he wanted to. What really caught his eye instead was the specially developed spider web it contained inside. If further development continued, it was clear that there was a wider scope for development and that the range of applications was extremely broad.
However, that idea only flashed through Tony's mind.
At present, he didn't have the luxury to do such things, even though the business opportunities for special spider webbing were limitless.
The most important thing was that he didn't lack any money.
"I think that you can modify the ejector mode of this launcher. You can add other functions... Also, the spider webbing inside could be used for a lot of things ... I don't know what you used for the webbing, but it looks like some kind of nano-tech. I think you can ..."
With a few words of advice from Tony, Peter gained a lot of benefits. Peter felt that if he followed Tony Stark's advice, he would be more flexible and even more at ease in future fights.
"Oh, oh... thank you. Thank you so much, Mr Stark. I'll get back to upgrading my equipment as soon as I can. I'll follow your advice."
"Kid, maybe, you should go back and give it a try right now."
Having said all that, apart from Tony's irrepressible desire to tinker with things, it was also a way for him to get rid of the little spider.
"Oh yeah, your right, Mr Stark."
Not really picking up on the hidden meaning in Tony's words, Peter meekly nodded while looking up at the darkening sky and hastened to add, "Thanks again, Mr Stark, and ..."
Turned to look at the tall figure in the food truck. The little spider was embarrassed. He forgot to ask the other party's name.
"His name's Shell." Aside, Tony kindly told him.
"... Thank you, Mr Shell, for the steamed dumplings."
After saying that, Spider-Man raised his wrist, then ejected some spider web from his launcher, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
'Perhaps, not everything is as bad as I thought it would be.'
Suspended among the skyscrapers of New York, the young spider felt the warmth of the food box in his arms and the content of his conversation with Tony Stark, the one and only Iron Man.
Suddenly, he felt like he had the will to face everything once more.
...
"One golden ratio steamed dumplings."
Silently withdrawing his gaze from the small spider's retreating figure, Tony turned to Shell in the food truck.
Placing the long prepared steamed dumpling on the food truck counter, Shell lightly said, "I never thought you'd be that kind."
"I've always been very kind." With a raised eyebrow, Tony picked up the steamed dumplings and took a bite while saying, "People just don't notice it."
Even though he had eaten it several times, Tony still couldn't get enough of the golden ration steamed dumplings. It wasn't like he couldn't find a professional chef, but there was no way someone could replicate the taste of Shell's cooking.
"You don't look so good."
Looking up and glancing at Tony's face, Shell couldn't help but speak up.
Calculate the time, Tony should have been aware of the situation in his body. The miniature ark reactor in his chest was rapidly causing palladium poisoning in his blood, which was eroding his life.
Shell's remark caused Tony to pause for a moment. But he quickly reined it back in and replied with feigned contempt, "It's probably because I've been too busy lately. Superheroes don't have it easy. Not to mention, I also have work to do in Stark Industries ..."
"You know I wasn't talking about that."
Shell wasn't distracted by Tony's words, he continued to reply in his indifferent tone.
However, Tony didn't look like he was going to tell him more about the matter.
"Jarvis."
"Yes, Sir."
"What's next on my itinerary?"
"At 6 o'clock, you ... ..."
"Really? Then I need to take a shower and get ready."
Nodding his head, Tony turned to Shell and made a regretful expression. In the next moment, he turned his wrists, and the repulsors from his palm sent him floating into the air.
"Sorry, got work to do. I'll come back next time."
After saying that, before Shell responded, he rushed off into the sky.
'It looks like Tony doesn't want anyone to know that his health is deteriorating just yet.'
Watching Iron Man fly off into the sky in the antique shop, Ryan silently concluded.
...
"Madame Gao is dead?"
Inside the hospital, in the monitoring ward, Danny frowned as he listened to the news he had received from Matt.
That being, who had a connection with K'un-Lun, who had lived for centuries, who was a master of the Hand, who even posed a threat to the Defenders at one point, and who betrayed the Beast at the last moment, died just like that.
"No mistaking it."
Matt nodded his head. Like Danny, Matt's heart wasn't as calm as he appeared to be at the moment.
"Not only Madame Gao but the Hand was also destroyed."
"An annihilation in the true sense of the word."
"..."
"It looks like our opponents are even more formidable than we imagined." In silence, Luke spoke up and mentioned his discovery, "I recently caught wind of something in Harlem. Some is looking for the Defenders."
"So, we're their next target?" Jessica raised an eyebrow, offering a reasonable judgement.
"After all, we're the only ones who made enemies with Kingpin these days, apart from Madame Gao and the Hand, who, as Matt said, are already ..."
"It's all my fault."
Kingpin, no... Jiu You had shown that they had more power than Matt had initially thought. The destruction of the Hand had cast a dark shadow over the Defenders' hearts, "If I hadn't insisted on sending Kingpin to prison..."
Matt was beginning to waver from his earlier decision.
Hearing Matt's words, the other members of the Defenders fell silent.
"It's not your fault, Matt." Luke Cage replied in a sombre tone, "It's a bit of a hard pill to swallow, but sometimes we just have to push on."
Although Luke tried his best to comfort him, it was obvious that even he himself wasn't sure how effective his words would be.
After all, the impact of the Hand's collapse was a little too much for some people.
Just then, Jessica, who had been silent, suddenly got up and walked out.
"Jessica, where are you going?"
Looking at Jessica's determined figure, Luke quickly asked.
"Doing a messed-up thing that I had sworn I wasn't going to do a second time!"