Marvel: The Super Player

『Ding!』

『Mission Accomplished: No Escape!』

『Base Mission Rewards: 3,000 Achievement Points, 3,000 Potential Points』

『Mission Multiplier (Maximum): 100x (Using extraordinary power only yields up to a 50x multiplier)』

『Total Mission Rewards: 300,000 Achievement Points, 300,000 Potential Points』

『Status Refreshed!』

『Click to View!』

"That was fast."

Locke arrived at the Star Tower just after six o'clock this morning to recall his clone. Then, as he drove over to Gwen's apartment, he suddenly heard the reward notification pop up.

"Is Mr. Nobody that fast over there?"

How long had it even been since he gave the information to Mr. Nobody?

Originally, Locke had planned to go to Nevada himself to chop up this Mr. I and personally deliver him to Mephisto. However, after thinking about it, if he went himself, the returns wouldn't be nearly as high as letting Mr. Nobody handle it.

Therefore, Locke simply asked Red to sell this information to Mr. Nobody. Looking at it now, Mr. Nobody probably organized a team to launch an assault right after making the purchase.

The efficiency was decent.

It saves me a trip too.

Locke thought to himself, then snapped back to reality. Looking not far away, he saw Gwen walking across the street and opening the passenger door. He smiled and said, "Good morning."

Gwen gave Locke a quick kiss and placed the mug she was holding into Locke's cup holder. "These are coffee beans a friend sent to Mom yesterday. Give it a try and see if it tastes good."

Locke picked up the coffee, took a sip, and said, "Tastes pretty good."

Gwen smiled brightly, then ran a hand through her tied-up long hair, filling the car with a refreshing fragrance. She blinked and looked at Locke.

Locke looked at Gwen. "What's wrong?"

Gwen's expression was a bit strange. "Nothing, I just feel like you today are a bit different from you yesterday."

"Huh?"

"Let's go. Cindy and Kahn are going to get impatient waiting for us."

Gwen said, urging Locke. The Locke yesterday gave Gwen the feeling that his body was there, but his soul was absent.

Frankly speaking, when Gwen saw the breaking news from London yesterday, she felt terrified, and at that time, Locke was sitting right next to her.

What about now?

Gwen thought back to what she feared most, then glanced at Locke as he slowly drove onto the road. This Locke gave her a sense of security, strength, and reality.

By the way, why did she have that kind of feeling yesterday?

Gwen wondered to herself.

Soon, Locke and Gwen found Cindy and Kahn over at Central Park.

The two of them were wrapped in a couple's scarf, feeding the pigeons.

Locke walked over, gave Kahn, who had just been discharged from the hospital this morning, a hug, and smiled.

"Hey man, you doing alright?"

Kahn's face was flushed and healthy. After all, Locke had secretly slipped a couple of drops of healing portion into his system.

"I feel amazing. The doctor said I can get my stitches out in two weeks."

Locke offered his congratulations.

Cindy linked arms with Gwen and looked at Locke.

"Locke, your thirty million is about to belong to someone else. Do you regret it now?"

After all, the relationship between London and the United States was like a father and son dynamic. Whatever happened in the US, London would find out quickly, and likewise, whatever happened in London, the US would know just as fast.

Weren't today's front page headlines in the New York Daily News shouting in bold capital letters that the Peerless Assassin had descended upon London?

Hearing Cindy's teasing, Locke smiled. "Money isn't important to me at all compared to my friends. Can I have a conversation with money?"

Kahn was quite touched. After all, no matter what, Kahn felt he could be considered a textbook example of a guy who used three sentences to make a man spend thirty million dollars on him.

The next second, Locke's lips curled upward. "Besides, who said I'm losing money on this?"

He was making a profit, alright?

Anyway, that thirty million was just moving money from his left hand to his right hand. At most, he only lost a bit on taxes.

But...

As for the data scavenged from the third floor warehouse of MI6 and from the ICA, Red had offered ten million to buy them.

It was the same old saying.

Those files were priceless treasures, but it depended on who was looking at them.

To Locke, frankly speaking, he couldn't even bring himself to be interested in the Infinity Stones.

But for Red, he could buy the files from Locke for ten million, then split them up into numerous one million dollar pieces to sell off.

"Not losing money?"

"Then what are you going to..."

Cindy blinked, not quite understanding. Then, as if realizing something, her eyes widened and she stared at Locke.

"Oh shit, you aren't planning to sue MI6, are you?"

The corners of Locke's mouth turned up. "Why not?"

To be precise, it was MI5.

However, catching a rabbit while cutting grass, either MI6 or MI5 would do. As for whether he could actually pull it off?

Heheh.

The United States possessed an incredibly overbearing long arm jurisdiction.

What? You can't use American laws to execute a British official?

Heh.

Sorry, honey. Under the effects of long arm jurisdiction, the United States really could use American laws to penalize British officials.

And this also fit his public persona perfectly.

He had spent thirty million dollars, and the people of New York were watching him. He had to give the public an explanation. He couldn't just stir up public opinion, get the results he wanted, and then fail to provide any follow up to the media.

Besides, with the end of the year approaching, suing MI5 and MI6 for attempted kidnapping and attempted intentional harm would be a great way to have some fun.

The next day, Locke waved the folder in his hand toward Gwen as she got into the car.

Gwen blinked. "This is..."

"The connection!" Locke said. "When I got in the car this morning, the Peerless Assassin found me and told me to pay up."

Gwen's eyes widened. "The Peerless Assassin is back?"

Just last night, they were saying London was under total lockdown, and not even a crow could fly out.

Locke nodded. "It should be him. He looked exactly like the description."

"And then? You paid him?"

"Of course!" Locke raised an eyebrow. "Otherwise, how do you think this bag of files specifically retrieved from MI6 and that ICA office ended up here?"

He had spent the entire previous night editing and organizing this stuff.

Basically, as long as a jury saw this document, they would believe that the plan to attack him was concocted by MI6 and MI5. As for the reason, Locke didn't hide it either; Lorraine Broughton's name was clearly displayed.

Without the context of Lorraine Broughton, it would be difficult for a jury to believe why London's two major intelligence agencies would target a seventeen year old kid.

But with Lorraine Broughton's name included, it became perfectly logical.

Very quickly, Locke and Gwen called Mrs. Coard to ask for a day off, and then went straight to Attorney Laun's law firm. Upon hearing who Locke wanted to file charges against, Attorney Laun froze involuntarily.

"Mr. Broughton..." Attorney Laun bit his lip and remained silent for a moment before saying, "Lately, I've also been following the news from London. But, you should know that this..."

Before he could finish, Locke had already handed the folder that Gwen had just looked through over to Attorney Laun.

MI6!

Top Secret!

Looking at the watermark on the document, Attorney Laun looked at Locke. As if realizing something, he whispered, "Has Mr. Peerless returned?"

Locke replied, "Thirty million in bearer bonds. I paid him immediately after reviewing these files."

Attorney Laun's heart skipped a beat.

After a while, Attorney Laun wiped his face and looked at Locke. "Mr. Broughton, how do you want to play this game this time?"

Locke smiled. "You're the professional. I trust you'll choose whatever maximizes my interests."

Maximizing Locke's interests meant maximizing his own. After all, this was a civil lawsuit; the more the opposing party paid out, the larger Attorney Laun's cut would be.

Hearing this, Attorney Laun smiled. "Alright then. I suggest we hold a press conference first to announce that the bounty has been claimed. At the same time, we'll reveal that we've obtained evidence proving the ICA answers directly to London."

Gwen asked, "And then?"

Attorney Laun laughed. "Then, we wait for London to approach us for a private settlement. With these documents in hand, pushing for a hundred million shouldn't be much of an issue."

"What?" Gwen wasn't shocked by the settlement amount, but by the concept of settling itself.

"They almost killed Locke and me, Attorney Laun."

Attorney Laun nodded. "Trust me, Ms. Stacy, this is the best option."

Locke echoed Attorney Laun's words, looking at Gwen.

"London has already completely lost face this time. Holding a press conference and stating our absolute intent to sue will make them lose face all over again. If they decide to just throw caution to the wind and ignore it completely, I don't think a New York court can directly penalize London itself. Besides, they will definitely do everything they can to avoid going to court."

It was exactly the same as S.H.I.E.L.D. back then.

In fact, the worst case scenario would be that the court holds its session and they just skip it. Since they've already lost their reputation, what difference does it make if they lose it a second or a third time?

Gwen frowned. "If they won't show up in court, why would they still come to find us?"

Locke thought for a moment. "Because they're Londoners?"

Gwen blinked.

Locke shook his head and smiled. "Because they're so used to acting like gentlemen."

He was a true gentleman, even when killing someone, he would politely ask them to take a seat first.

But Londoners? They were scoundrels to the bone, merely pretending to be gentlemen. But that was fine too. Honestly, if they didn't put on an act and just completely gave up on appearances, how could a true gentleman play with a scoundrel?

Fortunately, before giving up completely, this scoundrel still liked to politely play the gentleman.

Previously, Peerless was responsible for the killing.

Now? Locke was going to destroy their souls.

...