George accepted the business card and glanced at it.
There was no position or title printed on it.
Only a name and a phone number.
“Whose card is this?” George asked with a frown.
“The Secretary of Defense.” Roy replied.
“Who?” George’s eyes widened involuntarily as he stared at Roy in astonishment and asked again.
“The current Secretary of Defense.
That’s his private number.” Roy answered unhurriedly.
This…
After confirming that he hadn’t misheard, George’s first reaction was that Roy had to be bluffing.
But when he saw the calm expression on Roy’s face, he quickly dismissed that possibility.
If the number was fake, the lie would be exposed almost immediately.
George might not know Roy well, but no matter how he looked at him, Roy clearly wasn’t an idiot.
There was no reason for him to tell such an easily disproven lie right to George’s face.
After thinking for a moment, George slipped the card into his pocket.
“How do you have his private number?” “He hired me once.” “He paid the agreed fee, but he still owes me a favor.” Roy replied calmly.
“He’s the Secretary of Defense.” George stared at Roy in confusion.
“Even if he really ran into trouble, why would he need help from a private investigator?” “I already told you.
Private investigator is only my public profession.” “In terms of the work I actually do, I’m more like an independent contractor who specializes in handling difficult problems.” “He certainly has a great deal of authority and can mobilize plenty of resources and manpower.” “But some problems can’t be solved simply because you hold a powerful position.” “He ran into a particularly troublesome problem that he couldn’t resolve with his own authority, so he found me through an intermediary.” “I handled it for him.” “So he paid me, and he owes me a favor.” Roy explained slowly.
Speaking of that, one had to mention Roy’s complicated history with the military.
At first, the military had been just like S.H.I.E.L.D.
They wanted to capture Roy and study him to discover why he possessed “superpowers.” But after the capture operation failed and they suffered severe losses, the military was forced to reach an agreement with him.
The military paid Roy a massive amount of compensation.
They classified all information concerning him as Top Secret, restricting access to only a handful of senior officials.
They also agreed to provide him with official military backing whenever he needed it, making certain matters much easier for him to handle.
In return, Roy agreed to let their previous attempt to capture him go and end hostilities between them.
Of course, if those senior military officials ran into trouble in the future and were willing to offer suitable compensation for Roy’s help, he would consider whether to accept their commissions.
And it wasn’t only the military.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
had reached a similar ceasefire agreement with him.
Otherwise— S.H.I.E.L.D.
would have gotten a new Director a long time ago.
George fell silent and stared at Roy with a complicated expression.
More than ten seconds later, he sighed.
“I can’t verify whether everything you’ve said is true right now.” “But I do have one warning for you.” “Go ahead.” Roy replied.
“There must be a reason Gwen fell for you.” “I won’t stop the two of you from being together.” George stared at Roy seriously.
“But if I ever find out that you’ve mistreated Gwen, toyed with her feelings, or betrayed the trust she’s placed in you…” “I don’t care what you actually do for a living.” “And I don’t care how many important people owe you favors.” “I won’t let you get away with it.” Roy wasn’t surprised that George was giving him such a serious warning.
It was a perfectly normal reaction from a father.
It would have been stranger if George had said nothing at all.
“You don’t need to worry about that.” “I genuinely love Gwen.” “I would never betray her feelings.” Roy replied seriously.
George said nothing more and turned his attention toward the stage.
Finally got through that!
Roy inwardly breathed a sigh of relief and looked toward the graduates’ seating area.
Without much effort, he spotted Harry Osborn and Mary Jane among the crowd.
As for Peter— Roy couldn’t see him anywhere.
He’s still out fighting crime at a time like this?
Roy sighed inwardly.
He had nothing against Peter spending his days fighting crime.
But in Roy’s opinion, Peter had become a little too obsessed with it.
There was nothing wrong with fighting crime.
But letting the rest of your life completely fall apart because of it wasn’t exactly wise.
After all, Peter wasn’t actually a police officer.
As far as the authorities were concerned, Spider-Man was still nothing more than a self-appointed vigilante.
And the more crimes Spider-Man stopped and the more criminals he captured, the more the NYPD disliked him.
Because it made New York’s police officers look like a bunch of useless freeloaders who collected their salaries without doing any work.
When ten o’clock arrived, the graduation ceremony officially began.
Just like virtually every graduation ceremony, the first item on the schedule was the principal’s speech.
After delivering a long and passionate address, the principal stood behind the podium and announced, “Now, please welcome this year’s student representative, Gwen Stacy, who will deliver the graduation address on behalf of the graduating class.” Thunderous applause filled the venue.
Under everyone’s gaze, Gwen rose from her seat and walked toward the stage.
After shaking her hand, the principal surrendered the podium to her and returned to his seat behind her.
“Good morning, respected teachers and dear fellow students.
It is an honor to stand before you today…” “We all believe that we can accomplish something lasting in the future.” “We’re graduating, and that’s exactly how it should be…” “Just like our brief years in high school, what makes them precious is that they aren’t eternal.” “They matter because one day, they have to end…” “I understand that deeply.” “And what I want to remind everyone today is that life is short.” “Don’t waste it simply following the crowd.” “Live according to your own values.” “Fight for the things that matter to you, no matter how difficult the road becomes.” “And even if we don’t succeed…” “That, too, is part of our lives!” When Gwen finished her graduation speech, thunderous applause once again swept across the venue.
With both the principal and the student representative finished speaking, it was naturally time to hand out the diplomas.
Gwen stepped aside and returned the podium to the principal.
At the same time, staff members brought all the students’ diplomas onto the stage and arranged them neatly on a nearby table.
Once everything was ready, the principal began reading the names one by one from the list.
“Horton Guerrero, Michael Oz, Tevin Fraser, Julia Orchard, Jay Castro, Maeva Keck, Liam Whitaker…” Although Gwen was the student representative, she wasn’t the first to receive her diploma.
Instead, she stood beside the principal and shook hands with each graduate as they came forward.
Peter hadn’t missed the graduation ceremony after all.
When the principal called his name, Peter—wearing a dark-blue graduation gown with a backpack still hanging from his shoulders—hurried toward the stage and accepted his diploma.
Once every graduate had received their diploma, the graduation ceremony officially came to an end.
What followed was much simpler.
Students began taking commemorative photographs with their families, friends, and classmates, putting the final period on their high-school years.
Gwen pulled Roy into quite a few photos.
Besides several pictures of just the two of them, she also asked classmates to take a few group photos of Roy together with her entire family.
After they finished taking pictures, Roy pulled out his phone and prepared to reserve a restaurant.
At that moment, a neatly dressed, brown-haired middle-aged man in a suit walked over and spoke.
“I didn’t expect the famous Fourth Hokage of the underworld to attend his girlfriend’s high-school graduation ceremony.” Roy turned and glanced at the man.
“If you’re here to cause trouble, I’d advise you to reconsider.” The middle-aged man speaking to him was none other than— Norman Osborn.
The original Green Goblin.
“I’m not here to cause trouble.” “I’m only here for my son’s graduation.” Norman replied calmly.
“I simply didn’t expect to run into you here.” …