"By the way, what do you plan to do with Dr. Connors? I remember you seem to have a special prison for holding criminals like him. Are you going to throw him in there?"
Tohka remembered this from movies, comics, and anime — S.H.I.E.L.D. always seemed to have a facility like that under their command.
"That depends on his behavior. After what happened with the Lizard Men last night… Also, the antidote Spider-Man gave us is still being tested — and the one doing the testing is Dr. Connors himself."
At that point, Nick Fury's meaning was clear: it all depended on how Connors handled things moving forward.
"Alright, then I'm hanging up."
Tohka wasn't really familiar with that guy, so she was just asking casually.
Seeing that there was nothing else to talk about, she ended the call with Fury.
He was a top-level spymaster, after all — and Tohka didn't want to get involved with someone like that. For all she knew, he'd sell her out and she'd be the one helping count the cash.
"Forget it, let's go out and have some fun. The weather is nice today. I wonder if Captain America has been airlifted back yet."
Muttering to herself, Tohka dressed up and prepared to go out.
Of course, she didn't bother using the front door — instead, she opened the window and flew out again.
One had to feel sorry for the people who had painstakingly installed cameras at the entrance, since Tohka almost never used the front door properly.
"Jarvis, search for well-known restaurants in the small towns around New York for me."
Flying through the air, Tohka didn't want to stay in New York any longer. After all, it was a big financial city.
She was getting bored of staying there every day. Plus, in America, weekend road trips were pretty common.
Tohka didn't drive — but she did have a far easier way to travel.
She could just fly wherever she wanted. No one really questioned it.
After all, she and Tony flew around all the time — New Yorkers were pretty used to it by now.
"Miss, there seems to be a nice restaurant here. Tony has visited it before."
At that moment, JARVIS marked a nearby location — a seemingly well-rated restaurant.
"Alright, let's go there."
Without giving it much thought, Tohka flew over and found a secluded spot to take off her armor before entering.
"Hmm, not bad at all… But why does it feel kind of dark in here?"
As soon as she entered, Tohka noticed the interior was indeed quite luxurious.
Even though there weren't any obvious brand labels, her time with Tony had taught her how to spot quality — and this place had clearly aged in elegance.
No wonder JARVIS recommended the place. The food was probably amazing too.
"Hello, miss. What would you like to order?"
Just then, a waiter in a suit came up beside her.
He handed her a menu — clearly inviting her to order.
"Hmm, let me take a look."
Tohka opened the menu after hearing him.
Looking at steaks, salads, and other items, she casually ordered a few things.
Then she sat down and browsed her phone while waiting for the food.
But just then, something unfortunate happened.
A group of people in full black robes walked in.
They were completely covered — even their eyes were hidden, as if they couldn't be seen by anyone.
Like they couldn't let anyone know who they were.
Once inside, they locked the door from the inside and removed their robes — revealing human forms beneath.
"What the hell? I thought they were cultists or something."
Looking at them, Tohka realized they just looked like a bunch of thugs.
They had tattoos and everything — the kind of people who shouldn't be in a high-end restaurant like this.
This place was not cheap, after all.
But then, Tohka sensed the atmosphere shift.
Several more people suddenly appeared from who-knows-where.
"Miss, our restaurant is experiencing a bit of an incident. Please rest in the next room so your mood isn't affected."
The same waiter from earlier returned and politely, almost too smoothly, made the suggestion.
But Tohka noticed that his tone and face had twisted — though not toward her.
If it had been, she wouldn't still be sitting calmly — she would've leapt into action already.
"Fine, I get it."
Seeing the situation, she could easily guess this was another gang-related incident.
Still, the tension in the air seemed far stronger than what normal people gave off.
But she couldn't be bothered to care too much.
This kind of thing happened all the time — there was no way to deal with them all.
She followed the waiter into another room, which he promptly locked.
"Huh, there's another door. Is he expecting me to let myself out?"
Turning her head, Tohka realized it was just a supply room — with another door across the way.
She also figured out why the place felt dim — there were no windows at all.
"What kind of restaurant is this? Why is it designed like this?"
Tohka felt like she'd gotten herself wrapped up in another crazy incident.
So, curious as always, she didn't leave — instead, she pressed her ear to the crack in the door to eavesdrop.
And yeah — what happened next didn't surprise her at all.
She heard a bunch of yelling and grunting from inside.
She couldn't hear clearly through the door...
...and then the sounds of fighting broke out.
"They started throwing punches just like that? Tsk tsk… this is intense."
She didn't even need to peek — she could tell how intense it was.
What surprised her was that several chefs had also come out to join the fight.
She hadn't expected them to go toe-to-toe with what were obviously gangsters.
From the sound of it, their speed and strength were already beyond human level.
Just then, the wall next to Tohka suddenly burst open.
One of the gang members from earlier flew right into her view.
What shocked her was — he had two sharp, fang-like canine teeth sticking out of his mouth.