"Now breaking for a severe weather report. Thick fog has swept across the North East of America, Ontario, Canada and many parts of Quebec. Multiple meteorological departments have issued fog warnings."
"According to climate experts, this fog is extremely wide-spread and long-lasting, which will significantly affect road safety. Citizens are advised to stay at home as much as possible and avoid traveling. Flight delay information will be sent directly to passengers' phones by the relevant airline companies..."
With a click, the television is turned off. Nick tosses the remote onto a nearby table, then turns toward the agents outside the door.
"So, no news about San Francisco, can't contact Spider Man, no leads on the paranormal activities in New York. I want to know what the hell you've been doing all this time."
Another slam, a pen thrown onto the table, Nick points out the door. "Go find Captain America, I want to see him immediately."
About half an hour later, Steve shows up at the door. From the look on Nick's face, he knows that his old friend is pissed off again. But this is no surprise, Nick is seldom not angry.
"Come on, buddy, don't forget you still have us. When necessary, I'll assemble The Avengers." Steve steps forward and pats Nick's shoulder.
"Have you seen Spider Man lately? We can't get in touch with him." Nick decides to tackle the most pressing issue first, Spider Man's disappearance.
The moment he arrived here, he had been searching for Spider Man. But it wasn't as if he could simply use a team of agents to barge into people's homes in his search. They were an official institution, not terrorists, and certainly not the FBI.
Another reason that hindered Nick from acting openly is that he was certain the White Can was also on Spider Man's case. Spider Man's death could even be caused by the White Can. If he acts too aggressively, it might produce undesirable outcomes.
So Nick figures the best way is to quietly locate Spider Man deep undercover, then use the Spider Totem to move him to another universe to avoid this crisis.
As for Bruce not obtaining the spider powers causing a space-time paradox, they could simply switch it for a less famous ability, then fake Captain America's death.
The plan was good, but the problem emerged from the first step. The investigators couldn't find Spider Man at his home, school or any places he usually frequents.
The last known whereabouts of Peter Parker is his visit to San Francisco about half a month ago. After that, there was no news of him, which caused Nick's suspicion towards White Can to grow.
"Steve, what do you think of Tony... I mean, how he's been doing lately?"
Steve is momentarily taken aback, but quickly recovers. "What about Tony? He said he's been busy with his company lately, so I haven't contacted him."
"Spider Man is missing." Nick says seriously. "Our agents can't find him in his usual whereabouts. I suspect he might be in danger."
Steve immediately frowns at Nick's words, looking at him, he says, "You know something, don't you? Tell me."
Nick lets out a deep sigh, "If I say it, you're bound to accuse me of being overly suspicious, causing discord among The Avengers. But have you ever wondered why ever since the Stark Group started their business expansion in San Francisco, the mutation incidents started taking place?"
"Mutation incidents?" Steve looks surprised.
Nick only then remembered the timeline is still early. The so-called San Francisco mutation incident is still only a few scattered cases, nothing the media has taken an interest in. His agents had been dispatched to investigate due to the prophet's premonition about the future timeline.
"Yes. Due to a coincidence, our agents found that some residents of San Francisco had changed in their appearances and physiques. We initially suspect chemical pollution or viral infections."
"You mean this was caused by Tony Stark?"
"I didn't say that." Nick maintains his usual caution, "I know you despise my suspicious nature, but everything that happened so far justifies it."
"I'd rather not explain further." Nick walks around the desk to the other side, saying, "Go to San Francisco, Steve. At least make sure that Spider Man is safe. We really can't lose any more comrades."
Steve still set off, boarding the S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft and heading directly to San Francisco.
As Nick said, although Steve was somewhat discontent with Nick's perpetual suspicion, he knew it was common among agents. Though it might seem unnecessarily cautious in everyday life, once a major incident occurred, this kind of suspicion could potentially save many lives.
Compared to Nick's personality, Steve trusted Nick's abilities more. If he said something, it wouldn't be without basis.
Upon arriving in San Francisco, Steve located the hotel where Peter stayed on the first night, based on information given by Nick. The hotel reception informed Steve that Peter had left early in the morning around 7 am the next day, catching a cab right at the hotel entrance.
This was a bit strange. Steve knows Peter well. He's the thrifty type who would opt for public transportation as much as possible, even in a unfamiliar city. Using a phone to find out the bus routes and take a bus to his destination. His go to means of transportation isn't a taxi.
After further inquiry, Steve learns from the hotel valet that Peter had been in a hurry that morning, as if he had some urgent matter to attend to.
Furthermore, he obtained a crucial piece of information from the hotel's staff: the license plate number of the car Peter took.
With some effort, Steve was able to find the cabbie who drove Peter that day from the cab company. Finally, Steve had a chance to ask his questions.
"Was he going to Stark Group's campus?"
"The Stark Group campus is not far from there. You know the industrial area to the east of Silicon Valley, right? A lot of new technology parks and labs have recently been built there. He was headed to one of those labs."
"Do you know the name of the lab?"
"Too complicated for me, I don't understand all those terms," said the driver with a Mexican accent. "Including many of the terms he mentioned on the phone...oh, it was some sort of physics lab; I understood that much."
After a long inquiry, Steve was not able to get the specific name of the lab. However, the driver could recall the path vaguely, so Steve hopped in his car.
The Mexican driver was quite chatty but seemed not to recognize Captain America. Like others, his default conversation topic was the weather.
"The weather recently hasn't been great. It's foggy in the morning and evening, which is good for us drivers. Have you checked the recent weather forecast?" The driver switched on the radio and Steve slightly furrowed his brows.
Steve had just seen a fog warning on his phone. He locked his phone and asked, "Yeah, the weather in New York isn't great either. But does it get foggy on the West Coast?"
"Not as severe as you guys," the driver replied cheerily, turning the steering wheel. "It's warmer here, and the temperature difference between day and night isn't as big, so the fog isn't as dense."
"But there was this one time, the fog was so thick I could barely see the road ahead. That was one morning...let me think...I forget when it was. It might have been the day I drove that kid you're looking for."
Steve didn't pay it much mind. Arriving at the destination, he paid the fare. The driver pointed at a building in front, Steve nodded, and the driver drove off.
Looking up, he saw the sign: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
It was a bit of a mouthful, but Steve had heard this name from numerous people lately. Despite his lack of interest in research, he could associate this name with a spectacular type of equipment: the artificial sun.
The Livermore National Laboratory had started a project related to the artificial sun back in the 90s, but progress had remained slow. Steve didn't know why they had made a sudden breakthrough recently, but he guessed that Spider Man might have something to do with it.
He hadn't seen Spider Man on the streets for quite some time. That's why when Nick mentioned that Spider Man had gone missing, Steve immediately set off without stopping. He indeed hadn't seen Spider Man for a while and started worrying about his safety.
A few weeks prior, Steve had a phone call with Peter. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Steve found out that Peter seemed to be conducting nuclear physics research with a professor named Otto Octavius.
As to why Peter suddenly started working in a lab, Peter told Steve that they both thought they needed to devote more time to worrying about the future of the human race.
At that time, Steve thought it was a good thing and so encouraged Peter, subsequently spending more time maintaining safety in the streets of New York as it put Spider Man at ease in pursuing his goals.
The terms 'nuclear physics research,' 'Doctor Otto,' and 'San Francisco' intersected in Steve's mind, but he kept walking toward the laboratory.
Thanks to the help of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the prestige of Captain America, Steve was able to quickly meet the person in charge of the lab who, upon hearing Steve was looking for Peter Parker, wore a somewhat troubled expression.
Upon Steve's questioning, the person in charge finally admitted that Peter Parker did indeed come in that day. He was called in by Doctor Otto. However, from that day onwards, both of them had gone missing. The lab also tried to reach them but to no avail.
Hearing this, Steve had a bad feeling. He immediately asked the person in charge to check the surveillance footage. However, Steve opted to check not only from 7 am onwards, but from even earlier.
In the surveillance footage, Doctor Otto arrived around six. He looked somewhat anxious when he first entered, then soon headed for the Particle Laboratory.
Outside the Particle Laboratory, Otto picked up the phone and called Peter. After increasing the volume, this is what their conversation sounded like:
"Yes, come over immediately. I know you just arrived last night, and it's a bit rushed,but you need to see this. It's amazing, Peter."
"Yes, I'm waiting for you at the Particle Laboratory. Hurry over or you'll miss the best part."
Not much later, Peter arrived. He rushed to Otto and asked, "What's up, Doctor? Are there any new developments with the ignition particles?"
"Come and see this, Peter, I think we've found the correct answer."
After saying this, the two of them entered the lab, and there were no more surveillance feeds. Steve looked at the person in charge who shook his head and said, "The High Energy Collider and its preparation room don't have internal surveillance, and the camera at the other exit had just broken, so we have no idea what happened afterwards."