I'm working on Marvel's Spider-Man in American comics.

Chapter 126 The Charity Banquet Meeting

Charity Banquet, a private charitable relief center located in Midtown Manhattan, New York, is invested in and operated by renowned Chinese-American entrepreneur and philanthropist Martin Lee.

Aunt May also works here, and Peter came here several times after becoming Spider-Man to help her. He also took the opportunity to check on Martin Lee. To his relief, both his spider-sense and the scans indicated that the banquet was fine, and Martin Lee was not Mr. Negative.

At least not yet.

Peter was the second to arrive. Daredevil was the first to arrive, and he had been waiting on the roof of the banquet hall for a long time. He nodded slightly when Spider-Man arrived. Today, Peter was not wearing his high-tech suit, but his old uniform. It was inconvenient, but there was no high-tech equipment. The main thing was safety.

Next to arrive were Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. Luke seemed more sensitive, looking around anxiously. Jessica, on the other hand, sat to the side, lost in thought.

In addition, a familiar face appeared: The Punisher, Frank Caesar, somehow got wind of it and showed up. He sat there bored, looking ready to go on a killing spree at any moment.

Felicia was the last to arrive. Her arrival, dressed in the Black Cat uniform, surprised everyone, as no one had mentioned her coming. When Peter mentioned there were others, they assumed it was Captain America.

Even Felicia hadn't expected that the so-called "masquerade ball" would be attended by such a group of people; she had thought it would be a few Avengers.

"The demon of Hell's Kitchen? I thought he was just an urban legend."

“Every urban legend has a basis, miss.” Daredevil ignored this and looked at Spider-Man (though he couldn’t see him): “Everyone you’re looking for is here.”

"Okay, let's go over it again—I usually use this phrase mainly for introducing myself."

Peter analyzed the current situation: "Mr. Cage escaped from Rikers Island prison and told us that the US military is conducting illegal human experiments to research super soldier serum. According to the intelligence provided by this Miss Black Cat, this research is not from the US military's usual operations, but from a group that stole Hydra serum from the Soviet Union."

The intelligence was circulated and shared at this moment, and it roughly consisted of the following points: The US military was researching the Erkins serum, whose purpose was to modify the recipient based on their inner thoughts. However, this serum had an extremely high lethality rate, and Luke Cage was the only one who survived all the experimental subjects.

Meanwhile, due to the failure of the Erkins serum research, in the early 2000s after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Walter Hardy, nicknamed "Lynx," was coerced by the CIA to travel to Russia to steal the Soviet version of the Super Soldier Serum. However, what he stole was the Hydra Super Soldier Serum. Having obtained a sample of the real Super Soldier Serum, the US military is now experimenting with the original Erkins serum. This suggests that it was the Hydra serum that helped US scientists understand the true purpose of the Erkins serum, thus advancing the experimental process.

Furthermore, according to Kingpin's account, New York has been plagued by disappearances of homeless and impoverished individuals and human trafficking cases for years, all linked to a powerful force Kingpin cannot afford to offend. It's worth noting that when Kingpin was arrested by the FBI, he orchestrated a shootout between the corrupt NYPD officers under his control and the FBI. This further demonstrates the strength of the opposing force, making it highly likely that it is the U.S. military, which requires a large number of human subjects for experimentation.

Finally, Tandy Bowen, who was not originally part of the missing persons sample, also mysteriously disappeared. There is currently no direct evidence to suggest a direct link between them, but they can be included here for the time being.

"Hydra agents infiltrated not only the Soviet Union but also the U.S. military."

After gathering intelligence, Jessica Jones summarized: "The death of the cat is the most suspicious point. Even if he is dead, his mission is complete, but the super soldier serum container that was sent back did not have any Hydra markings, which is inconsistent with the previous description. In other words, it is very likely that this was arranged by Hydra. They switched the packaging of the serum container so that the US military could carry out the research according to plan."

Alternatively, it's possible that Hydra had already infiltrated the entire US military, but that's unlikely. If that were the case, there would be no need to discover the problem with the Erkins serum so late and begin research. It's highly probable that before this, even Hydra's infiltration wouldn't have been able to get close to the batch of blood extracted from Captain America used to reconstitute the Erkins serum. But after the Hydra serum arrived, a new research project launched by the US military gave them that opportunity.

"In other words, the US military's research departments are very likely being controlled by Hydra."

Daredevil drew a very ominous conclusion, and everyone looked to Spider-Man. If they were to fight the US military, it would be like throwing an egg against a rock; only the Avengers could contend with them on all levels.

"I'm certain the Avengers will stand with you. But I have one thing to say: I have reason to suspect that S.H.I.E.L.D. has also been infiltrated by Hydra."

Peter delivered some very bad news to everyone, along with the chain reaction it would have: "So, to avoid alerting the Avengers before they return to New York, I can't notify them. And considering the time factor, it's highly likely that we'll be the only ones left to stop Hydra and the US military."

Where to begin?

Felicia looked at Peter; this was the most crucial question now. After thinking for a while, Peter made a deduction based on the additional information he knew about "Dagger Tandy Bowen".

"Since Hydra immediately moved the experimental equipment underground on Rikers Island, it means that their experiment has reached a critical stage. Now they have blood samples from Steve Rogers and Luke Cage, and they will most likely analyze these two samples to find out what affects the success of the injection of the Erkins serum."

If Tandy Bowen was indeed kidnapped by Hydra, then it must be because her DNA also meets the requirements for the Erkins serum injection.

"We have Captain America's blood information inside Avengers Base, but we can't conduct the testing there. Is there anywhere else we can help?"

Osborn Technology is an option, but considering that the Beast Force project is located within Osborn Technology, it's likely already been thoroughly infiltrated by Hydra.

At this point, Daredevil still had a solution.

“I have an acquaintance who might be able to help.”

“We also need to lure them out of their hole and draw Hydra’s attention.” Luke Cage, who had been silent all along, finally spoke. As the initial focus and core of this storm, he looked at everyone present: “Right, we need to buy enough time. If I… speak out and make a big fuss about this, can we buy some time?”

He looked at Daredevil.

“I have a very good lawyer, he will definitely be able to buy me enough time.”

(End of this chapter)