News of Returning to New York

"Whoa, where are we?"

Wanda and Pietro looked around excitedly. Though it was somewhat dark, the sight still thrilled them.

"Where? This is New York. It's so late, so of course we should find somewhere to rest first."

Leo smiled at the two of them.

As he spoke, he lightly snapped his fingers. The lights in the room came on, and the curtains opened automatically, revealing the dazzling nighttime cityscape outside.

"It was still noon in China before."

Pietro walked to the window and looked out at New York's night view beyond the buildings, speaking with emotion.

"So it's midnight in the United States now. Let's find somewhere to rest first. Tomorrow, I'll take you to Avengers Base, where you'll undergo the relevant ability training."

Leo said with a smile as he led them outside.

"Then where are we now? I mean, this building."

Wanda and Pietro hurried after him.

The two of them were unfamiliar with New York—one could even say they had never been here before. They had originally always lived in Sokovia.

Later, Hydra had kidnapped them for experiments, and they had remained in Sokovia the whole time. In the end, if Leo had not brought them out, they would have just been two teenagers who had always stayed in Sokovia.

"This is the headquarters of a company under my command."

Leo said with a smile, pushing open the door and walking out.

Even though it was already nighttime, the entire building remained brightly lit. For Black Prison, there was no time for rest.

In fact, nighttime was even more important to them than daytime. After all, Black Prison did not encompass all of New York, nor did it have the capability to do so.

But for the surrounding few districts and dozens of streets, it was like two completely different worlds.

The other forces in New York had already fully acknowledged Black Prison's territory and did not dare encroach upon it in the slightest.

Meanwhile, Black Prison had been quietly expanding its reach. Members of Black Prison Group patrolled outside throughout the night, deterring the vast majority of criminal activity.

Black Prison Group's presence had even raised the economy of the surrounding areas by nearly ten percentage points. It was a terrifying figure, and proof that a stable order and environment could promote economic development.

It was Wanda and Pietro's first time in New York, and they stayed close behind Leo as they headed out.

"Leo, I always thought you were a lone wolf. I didn't expect you to have your own organization."

Wanda looked at Leo in surprise as she spoke.

"Why not?"

Leo said with a smile. "My goal is to reduce the crime rate. Do you know how high New York's crime rate used to be? It was practically a city of crime."

"Ordinary people here didn't dare go out at night, or they would definitely be robbed. Every dawn, more than a dozen unidentified bodies would be found on the streets. Almost everyone had been robbed six or seven times—if anything, that was on the low side."

"But I can't be everywhere at once, and I have more important things to do. So Black Prison was born. Their duty is to maintain order and safety on the surrounding streets. Even if we can't look after the whole city, at the very least, we have to do it in Queens."

Leo spoke calmly.

As they descended one floor, they saw two men in black uniforms hurrying upstairs. They were powerfully built, and seemed to carry a blazing energy within them.

They had received an alarm from the sensors and rushed over immediately.

Yet they had not expected to see the long-absent Big Boss. The two of them instantly straightened up, looking at Leo with slight nervousness.

"Big Boss, Night Guard Team 2 reporting to you!"

"Continue your patrol. Is Zost in the company?"

"Yes, he's in the office." One of them hurriedly replied to Leo.

The other carefully raised his walkie-talkie. "Boss, the Big Boss is here. He just came out of the office."

"It's fine. Continue with your duties."

Leo waved a hand, paying the two no further attention.

Wanda leaned closer. "Leo, those two don't seem ordinary. There's also a powerful energy inside their bodies. They look somewhat like Jenny and George."

"Yes, they're similar in nature. I also had them injected with the same Enhancement Potion as Jenny and George, so each of them has fairly decent combat strength."

Leo nodded, looking at Wanda with some surprise. It seemed that after being strengthened by the flow of Cosmic Energy, Wanda's Perception Ability had improved considerably.

Pietro did not say anything. He remained alert to everything around him, then suddenly turned to look toward the other side.

The door opened, and Zost walked out. Maya and Dick emerged alongside him.

All three stared at Leo in astonishment, their eyes filled with excitement.

"Boss, you're here! We were just looking for you."

Maya cried happily.

"So happy? Did you finally decide to marry Zost?"

Leo looked at Maya and teased her.

And he was not saying it without reason. Maya and Zost had always liked each other, something even Leo had noticed.

"No, Boss, what are you talking about?!"

Maya said somewhat shyly.

Zost merely smiled faintly and looked at Leo.

Only Dick was still relatively unfamiliar with Leo, so he paid even more attention to the two young people standing behind The Big Boss.

Could it be that The Big Boss wanted to place two people in Black Prison's upper management? Although Black Prison's profits weren't outrageously high, its quarterly profit was still nearly seventy million dollars.

"All right, it seems you have some other good news to tell me. Wanda, Pietro, I'll have a room arranged for you two to rest in first. We'll set out tomorrow morning."

Leo turned to Pietro and the others first as he spoke.

Zost immediately arranged for two employees to lead them toward the building's rest area.

Leo and the others then entered Zost's office.

Naturally, Leo took Zost's seat without hesitation, while the other three stood before him.

"What good news? Has the Extremis Serum developed some new effect?"

"There has indeed been a new technological breakthrough, but the enhancement level hasn't improved much. With current technology, it has almost been developed to its limit."

"Yes, so lately, we've been focusing on strengthening the training of the Extremis Soldiers and expanding their capabilities—or rather, seeing whether there are any flaws in them."

Maya and Zost spoke in turn.

"That doesn't sound like good news."

"That isn't the good news we meant. First, in addition to Queens, the Brooklyn District has officially been incorporated into Black Prison's territory."

Zost said with a smile. "However, because of this, we've recently come into conflict with the Sportswear Gang, and Kingpin has returned," Maya added from the side.

"Second, that family you told us to pay special attention to seems to be preparing to move, but we've already handled it."

Zost continued.