"Peter is missing?"
"How could that be?"
After Gwen hung up the phone, Hawk listened to her frantic explanation, walking towards the car parked by the roadside, and curiously asked, "Didn't Peter and Mary go to Seattle together for this Christmas holiday?"
He and Gwen were originally supposed to go too.
But a single sentence from Helen changed their minds.
According to Helen, this was the first year he and Gwen changed their relationship, and also their first year living together, so it wasn't good to spend New Year's Eve outside; they should spend it at home.
For this reason, the Stacy family didn't even invite Gwen when they went to Long Island for New Year's Eve.
Hawk and Gwen were good kids and listened to Helen, so this Christmas, they didn't go anywhere and obediently stayed in New York City.
That one trip to Kamar-Taj doesn't count.
That was stealing a moment of leisure.
"Peter didn't go."
"Didn't go?"
"Hmm, Mary's family went. She didn't explain clearly on the phone, but I could tell she was in a hurry. Let's go to her place."
"Alright."
Hawk nodded.
"Are you driving, or am I?"
"You drive. Drive faster. I feel like Mary is going crazy."
"Okay."
Hawk grabbed the car keys Gwen handed him, took a step forward, and was the first to reach the car door. He pulled open the door and sat directly inside.
By the time he started the car and released the handbrake, Gwen had just jogged over to the passenger door, pulled it open, and sat down.
Hawk floored the accelerator, and the remaining Toyota corolla engine roared, shooting out from its spot like an arrow, quickly heading towards Queens.
Half an hour later.
Queens, Fifth Community.
The speeding Toyota corolla drifted around a community road intersection, smoothly entering the community streets. Then, it stopped precisely in the middle of two classic U.S. style detached houses.
The house on the left belonged to the Parker family.
The one on the right belonged to Jane's family.
Mary came out of the Parker family house on the left. Seeing Gwen get out of the car, she ran up and hugged Gwen: "Gwen, Peter is missing."
Gwen hugged Mary, who was on the verge of tears, and quickly comforted her.
Aunt May, Peter's aunt, also came out with them, her face filled with worry.
Hawk nodded to Aunt May, who was standing at the door, her face also showing concern.
Aunt May forced a strained smile.
"Thank you, Hawk."
"Peter is my friend."
Soon.
The four returned inside the house.
Mary said nothing, just held Gwen's hand and cried.
Hawk could only look at Aunt May, who was sitting beside her, and asked curiously, "When did Peter go missing?"
Aunt May shook her head and said, "This holiday, Peter and I went back to our relatives' house in New Jersey. After Christmas Eve, he said he wanted to return to New York City, so I let him go back first. I only got home last night and thought Peter was already asleep."
After hearing this, Hawk turned to Mary: "What about you? When was the last time Peter called you?"
Mary shook her head: "About a week ago."
Hawk raised an eyebrow at that.
"A week? You're just telling me now?"
"Peter told me he was busy with something recently and not to worry, so I didn't call him, afraid of disturbing him. When I came back yesterday noon, I saw Peter's car was gone and thought he was out delivering pizza, so I didn't pay attention. But when Aunt May and I went into Peter's room today, we discovered that Peter's room hadn't been lived in for at least a week."
"Delivering pizza?"
Gwen, listening to Mary's account, blinked: "Isn't Peter working for the Daily Bugle?"
Mary looked at Gwen: "It's another part-time job. It started in October, but he told me not to tell you guys."
Gwen turned to Hawk, who was sitting beside her: "You knew… Never mind, asking you won't get an answer. Brotherhood, right?"
Hawk watched his fiancée answer her own question, and his mouth twitched.
But he couldn't really refute her.
Because he did know about Peter delivering pizza, but Peter hadn't told him; he'd discovered it himself. Since Peter hadn't told him, and he wasn't a bigmouth, he naturally wouldn't go around publicizing Peter's pizza delivery job.
Hawk then looked at Mary.
"Did you confirm with the pizza place?"
"I called early this morning. The pizza place said they were looking for Peter too. They said Peter took out two boxes of pizza on the morning of the twenty-sixth, but only delivered to one customer. The second customer called to furiously scold their shop."
"Morning of the twenty-sixth?"
"Yes."
"Exactly a week ago."
Hawk frowned, looking at Mary: "When did you call Peter on the twenty-sixth?"
Mary thought about it, then found the call log.
"Eleven in the morning."
"So, he was in the middle of delivering pizza."
"He delivered to one place, but not the second."
Gwen also said, then looked at Hawk: "Peter isn't like that, unless he ran into something very urgent."
Hawk also nodded.
Leaving aside Spider-Man's famous nickname, New York's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
Just the fact that Peter has superpowers but never thought of directly taking money from a bank vault, nor did he think of engaging in illegal activities, instead relying on his selfies to earn meager bonuses, and even resorted to delivering food, shows that Peter is definitely not the type to act as he pleases just because he has abilities.
Naturally, it's even less likely that he would run off with a box of pizza.
So the question is.
Where did Peter go?
But no matter where Peter went, he's definitely not in New York City right now.
Because…
Hawk's sixth sense, spread across the entire New York City, did not detect Peter's aura in the city.
Of course, it's not ruled out that someone used some kind of high-tech to hide Peter, or that someone with strength superior to his blocked his perception.
The former aside for now.
The latter is highly unlikely, because at this point in time, the people whose strength exceeds his can be counted on one hand.
Thor, Thor's strength is similar to his, and if Thor truly awakens his thunderous divine authority, he might not even be able to defeat him.
But Thor is a hothead, the kind who fights if he doesn't agree, and he disdains such methods.
Moreover, he has a pretty good relationship with him, so it's impossible for him to target Peter.
The second and third are the Ancient One and Odin, the All-Father, who has pretty much been sent to an Earth retirement home by the seemingly fake-dead Loki.
But these two are also impossible.
So, only two possibilities remain.
Either Peter was captured by some villain with high technology.
Or…
Peter has already left New York City and is nowhere to be found.
Hawk leaned towards the latter.
He thought for a moment, then curiously looked at Aunt May and Mary: "What was Peter busy with before he went missing?"
Mary thought for a moment, then shook her head blankly.
Aunt May, however, seemed to recall something and said to Hawk: "Oh, that's right, when we were in New Jersey, Felicia often called Peter."
Hawk raised an eyebrow.
"Felicia? Felicia Hardy?"
"Yes, I asked Peter what it was about, but he didn't say."
"No answer."
Just as he was speaking with Aunt May, Mary, after hearing Felicia's name from Aunt May, had already acted with incredible efficiency and called Felicia.
But no one answered.
The next second.
Mary sprang up from the sofa: "I'm going to find her."
Gwen reacted, also stood up, then quickly pulled Mary back: "Are you in a state to drive?"
"Then what should we do?"
"Let's take our car."
Gwen said, then looked at Hawk.
Seeing this, Hawk said to Aunt May: "We'll go find Felicia first and see if she knows anything about Peter's disappearance."
With that.
He also stood up, said goodbye to Aunt May, and caught up with Mary and Gwen, who were already somewhat impatiently walking out the door.
Soon.
Hawk drove onto the road again, carrying Gwen in the passenger seat and Mary in the back, who was repeatedly calling Felicia, and sped towards Osborn Manor outside the city.
"Still no answer," Mary said again, hanging up the phone.
Gwen, sitting in the passenger seat, remembered something: "Speaking of which, Felicia didn't seem to attend the New York Police Department's charity gala on the twenty-seventh this year."
Hawk glanced at Gwen.
"George told you?"
"Mom told me."
Gwen said: "It should have been the twenty-eighth, yes, it was the twenty-eighth. You and Thor ran off to have a fight, and Mom came over. Oh, by the way, weren't you asking where the lemon bass came from that night?"
Hawk followed Gwen's words, recalled the scene from that day, and nodded.
"Yes."
"When Mom and I were chatting in the backyard, Mom mentioned it. Felicia was originally supposed to attend, but she didn't come in the end; her assistant came instead."
Gwen said.
Such things are common, after all, it wasn't a very important gala, so it's quite normal for someone who was originally scheduled to come to suddenly say they can't.
For the New York Police Department, it's fine if people don't come, as long as the donations arrive.
So when Helen told her about it at the time, Gwen just took it as an interesting tidbit and moved on.
Now it seems.
"Hiss!"
"Peter is missing, Felicia isn't missing too, is she? And what a coincidence, Peter called Felicia right before he went missing?"
"They didn't elope, did they?"
Gwen's pupils contracted, and she cautiously glanced at Mary, who was sitting in the back seat, through the rearview mirror.
Upon seeing her.
Mary was looking anxiously at the front of the car, seemingly not as imaginative as Gwen.
Soon.
Osborn Manor was reached. Since Hawk and Gwen had been there before, the manor's old butler opened the gate for them and then waited in front of the main house of the manor.
After a while.
The three got out of the car, and Mary eagerly asked the old butler if he knew where Peter had gone.
The next second.
The old butler was slightly stunned and looked at Mary.
"Peter and the young lady left New York City by plane on the afternoon of the twenty-sixth. Didn't Peter tell you?"
"…"
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