In the blink of an eye, two weeks passed.
During these two weeks, over at the Department of Defense, Alex's office had already been completely renovated. Not only was it fully equipped, but the staff had also been put in place.
In addition, Alex had learned that Stormfront and Butcher had gotten together. This information was provided by Ice Princess and Element Woman.
For now, the matter was still being tracked by them, but there were no results yet.
However, "the Frenchman" Frenchie and Mother's Milk had been captured, along with that freelance writer Dodge Wilson, all of them taken into custody.
And based on Dodge's testimony, it was confirmed that Butcher had killed Blue Hawk. Therefore, the police had already issued a nationwide warrant for the bearded man.
Alex kept them alive for now, to see if he could lure the bearded man out. But if Butcher was the same as in the TV series, then the bearded man probably wouldn't come to rescue his friends.
That evening, Alex came to the music shop where Caitlin worked, planning to wait for her to get off work so they could go home together.
After their first experience of traveling together to the DC universe, he had gradually built a sense of trust in Caitlin's heart, and their relationship had unconsciously grown much stronger.
But recently, that "Cosmic Gate" had not appeared again, which left Alex quite disappointed.
After the Manhattan incident, the crime rate in New York had dropped significantly, and superpowered criminals were causing less trouble.
Moreover, the "Dark Night Council," which had appeared a few times before, had also gone silent. This led to a problem: with no disaster events occurring, even Caitlin's "Cosmic Gate" hadn't opened. Alex felt a bit idle.
More than once, he had thought that if Caitlin's "Cosmic Gate" wasn't random, but could be controlled freely, that would be perfect.
Walking into the music shop, Alex saw Caitlin in the distance, tuning a guitar.
Although she was blind, she was very skilled at tuning instruments. Alex quietly walked over, but she still noticed him.
"Mr. John, you're off work?"
"I'm afraid you'll have to wait a bit. This guitar needs to be used tonight by a customer, so I'll be getting off work later," the girl said while skillfully adjusting the strings one by one.
Alex shrugged, "No problem, I'll wait for you."
He looked around and noticed that the employees in the shop all seemed listless.
"Your coworkers don't seem very energetic," Alex said as he picked up a flute, looked at it, then put it back.
Caitlin let out a soft sigh, "Business hasn't been good. Mr. Allen is planning to transfer ownership of the shop."
"Mr. Allen is a good person. He treats us employees well, even willing to give someone like me, with a visual impairment, a job."
"So everyone is worried that after a new boss comes in, we might be fired."
"After all, finding a good job is really hard."
At that moment, Dolly, the woman they had run into at the concert hall last time, walked over.
"Caitlin, what are you worried about? If you lose your job, you can just go do blind massage."
"I've seen a lot of blind people in your Chinatown doing that kind of work. They earn pretty well. Some of them aren't even blind and just pretend to be."
"You're actually blind. Your business would definitely be better than theirs."
"And if that doesn't work, don't you still have your neighbor? Pipe cleaning might not be glamorous, but it makes a lot of money."
Caitlin stopped what she was doing and said, "Dolly, I'm not going to do massage."
"And how is Mr. John's job not respectable? Without people like him, who would clean clogged sewers? Your Mr. Steven?"
Dolly snorted, "My Steven would never do such a lowly job!"
With that, the woman walked away.
Caitlin said angrily, "She's gone too far. I know she doesn't like me. It's one thing for her to mock me normally, but now she's even mocking my friend. That's too much."
"I'm sorry, Mr. John. Because of me, you got mocked too."
Alex smiled, "It's fine. I don't care."
"And I think she'll be punished soon."
Caitlin: "?"
Alex didn't explain. He just took out his phone and sent a message.
Inside the manager's office, Allen Davis, in his fifties, was holding his head.
The music shop's income couldn't cover its expenses anymore. It was on the verge of shutting down. He wanted to transfer it, but the offers from several interested businessmen were not satisfactory.
At that moment, his phone rang.
"Hello, who is this?"
Allen answered weakly. As he listened, his eyes gradually lit up.
Then he kept saying, "Alright, no problem, ma'am."
After hanging up, Allen walked out into the shop and gathered the employees.
"I have some good news for everyone. A lady is willing to take over our shop, and she's keeping me on to continue managing it."
"So everyone, don't worry. You can all stay here and continue working. And your salaries will increase by 20%!"
Hearing this news, Caitlin and the other employees cheered.
"However," Allen cleared his throat and looked at Dolly, "Dolly, I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave."
Dolly froze for a moment, then shouted, "Why, Mr. Allen?"
Allen shook his head, "I don't know what's going on either, but the new boss said that if I want her money, I have to let you go."
"So, I'm sorry."
"Come to my office. I'll settle your salary for this month."
"No! No!"
"Mr. Allen!"
"You can't fire me!"
"I really need this job."
Dolly pleaded with Allen, but the manager said there was nothing he could do. In the end, the woman left the shop dejectedly with her salary for the month.
———
Night fell.
Only Alex and Caitlin remained in the shop.
Alex ordered takeout. The two of them had dinner in the shop. At nine o'clock, the guitar was finally picked up by the customer, and Caitlin was finally able to get off work.
Alex helped her pack up her things. The two chatted and laughed as they walked toward the door. Just as Caitlin pushed the door open, a burst of dazzling colorful light illuminated their faces.
The "Cosmic Gate".
After a month, Caitlin's "Cosmic Gate" had finally opened again.
Unaware of it, Caitlin was about to walk straight in, but Alex pulled her back.
"Wait," Alex said, "Do you have any cash on you?"
Caitlin froze, "No, why?"
Then she suddenly realized and let out a small gasp, "Could it be… that 'door' opened again on its own?"
Alex nodded, "That's right. It opened again."
"What should we do?", Caitlin looked a bit worried.
Alex smiled, "It's fine. I've got you."
"Let's go."
Alex took Caitlin's hand and tightened his grip, covering her with his bio-field, then led her into the doorway.
Just like last time, after stepping into the light, there was almost no delay before Alex felt the night wind rushing toward him.
Then a flood of sounds poured into his ears, crowds, cars, all kinds of noise.
Alex steadied himself and found that the two of them had walked out of a café. Someone behind them complained, "Don't block the way."
At that moment, a sharp whooshing sound rang out in the sky.
Alex looked up and saw a figure blasting flames, streaking across the sky above the city, then heading toward a building in the distance.
At this moment, passersby took out their phones to take pictures, exclaiming excitedly.
"Look, was that Iron Man just now?"
"Definitely him. Look, he's flying toward Stark Tower."
'Iron Man?'
'Stark Tower?'
Alex's lips curved upward.
'Marvel Universe, here I come!'
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.