A certain American comic book's secondary profession master

Chapter 55 Hell's Kitchen
“Surprised? What’s so surprising? S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded by my father. Shouldn’t I, as his son, know about it?” Tony looked at the somewhat silent Coulson and said with his head held high.

Although Coulson, as an agent, controlled his emotions well and did not show any surprise.

But his silence speaks volumes.

This made Tony suddenly feel a bit of the joy that Levi had shown him before.

It feels pretty good to have control over information.

Tony's words left Coulson speechless, forcing him to change the subject.

“Mr. Stark, we need to know some more details about your experience in Budapest,” Coulson asked.

“Ah, that’s to be expected, but before that, shouldn’t S.H.I.E.L.D. return some of my father’s belongings? Don’t tell me they didn’t—of course, I know you can’t make that decision yourself, but you can go back and report!” Tony said, shrugging.

Although, according to Li Wei's previous statement, the most valuable thing left by his father was the composition of the new elements.

Other things shouldn't have a significant impact.

But if given the chance, Tony still wants to get those things back.

And now, it is clearly an opportunity.

“Alright, I will pass on your request to my superior!” Faced with Tony’s request, Coulson knew that he couldn’t make the decision himself, so he could only nod to indicate that he understood, and then said goodbye, “In that case, I won’t disturb your work any longer.”

"Please go ahead!" Tony gestured for them to proceed.

Although Levi had said that Coulson was a good person, ultimately the two sides were not on the same side, especially since S.H.I.E.L.D. was in a mess, so Tony had no interest in building a good relationship with him.

………………

Just as Tony was meeting with Coulson, Levi and Melina and Frank, who had been prepared, were ready to depart.

Natasha did not go with them, but went out on her own.

Jessica Jones has now embarked on her own "superhero" journey.

But like most street superheroes, he appears at night.

Because most street crimes occur at night.

So during the day, Jessica still works—she's a recent graduate and now works part-time at a restaurant.

If Natasha wants to find her, she can just go to her door.

Meanwhile, Levi began trying to use a portal to find Kilgrave's whereabouts directly—just like Ned did in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Soon, the portal opened, and on the other side appeared a dirty alley.

But there was no one in the alley.

Seeing this, Li Wei frowned.

So the portal was closed and then reopened.

It turned out to be the same alleyway.

There was no one there, and Kilgrave was nowhere to be seen.

From this perspective, the idealistic portal is not entirely reliable.

That's true. Doctor Strange can use portals to find Tony Stark, but we haven't seen him use portals to find Captain America and Vision, have we?
"Ahem, there was a slight mishap. Looks like we'll have to put in a bit more effort!" Levi said somewhat awkwardly to Melina and Frank.

“Maybe not. I recognize this alley; it’s in Hell’s Kitchen!” Frank said, looking at the alley on the other side of the portal.

Li Wei was slightly taken aback upon hearing this. He was thinking of Kilgrave, not Hell's Kitchen. But the portal had opened in Hell's Kitchen?

"Really?" Li Wei asked to confirm.

"No mistake, I hid in this area when I was hiding, and I know the surrounding area very well!" Frank said with absolute certainty.

“Alright, let’s go take a look!” Seeing Frank’s certainty, Levi didn’t hesitate, gave a shout, and stepped into the portal first.

Melina and Frank followed without hesitation.

This infamous chaotic community is well-known to both Li Wei and the original owner of this body.

But only by actually entering this place can one truly understand its filth and chaos.

"Tsk, it's hard to believe that Manhattan, which is supposed to be the world's economic center, would have a place like this!" Melina sniffed the unpleasant, mixed smells coming from the alley and looked at the dirty street, somewhat incredulous.

It's not surprising that other parts of New York City have similar environments.

However, it's a bit unreasonable that Manhattan, the most central area of ​​New York City where land is incredibly valuable, has places that are even worse than slums.

You know, Manhattan land prices have already skyrocketed. How could those real estate developers possibly give up such a huge piece of meat to rot here?

“Normally, this situation is unlikely to occur, but it would be quite normal if a powerful dark force didn’t want this place to develop!” Li Wei said.

In his original world, Hell's Kitchen had already become a bustling area in the 1980s and 90s thanks to the investment of real estate developers.

But in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's a different story.

It's not that no business groups want to develop this place, but rather that those who want to develop it always run into unexpected problems.

"A powerful dark force?" Frank and Melina raised their eyebrows upon hearing this.

“That’s right, of course. This ‘power’ refers to ordinary people. For example, a few years ago, the municipal government planned to cooperate with the RAND Group to completely transform this neighborhood. However, not long after the RAND Group spent a huge sum of money to acquire most of the land here, the original chairman of the RAND Group and his family died in a plane crash, and the matter was put on hold,” Li Wei said.

Since the Defenders were investigated, it was impossible for Levi not to investigate Iron Fist—Danny Rand, who was one of the Defenders.

It was during the investigation that I learned that the RAND Group had acquired Hell's Kitchen and attempted to renovate it.

Before this, Li Wei only knew that the Defenders were from this area, but he didn't know that Hell's Kitchen had been acquired by the Rand family.

It's no wonder the Rand family ran into trouble.

When investigating the Rand family, Levi discovered that Harold Mitcham, who orchestrated the Rand family's plane crash and seized control of the Rand Corporation, already knew he had cancer and was terminally ill before the Rand family's deaths.

In this situation, why would Harold go to such great lengths to do something as thankless as killing the Rand family?
It's important to know that, like many American financial families, the Rand family's assets are held in trust. Even if all the family members were to die, the group's wealth would not fall into the hands of an outsider like Harold.

All Harold could get was operational and supervisory control over the RAND Corporation.

What use is the operational and supervisory power of the RAND Corporation to a person who is about to die?

However, the situation is different when the Rand family owns the entire Hell's Kitchen.

There is a force that would absolutely not allow this area to be transformed.

This force is the Hand.

Considering that Harold died several times in the Tekken storyline but was resurrected by the Hand, everything becomes clear.

It's likely that from the very beginning, Harold was merely a pawn of the Hand.

(End of this chapter)