After Peter destroyed Nimrod, Mephisto took advantage of the brief rift in reality to enter Universe 616 and began plotting something. His plans were interrupted when Kang used the Cosmic Cube to establish the Kang Dynasty. Consequently, in order to restore everything to its original state, he sought out Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze—who was bound to him by contract—and had him use the Penance Stare to awaken the other heroes to stand against Kang.
"And the reason Mephisto did this was entirely because he has his own conspiracy; he must restore the original world for it to work."
Strange explained this point to Peter. Peter had guessed as much before, but he hadn't known exactly what Mephisto had been up to.
"So, have you found out what kind of conspiracy Mephisto is planning?"
Peter was actually quite looking forward to a definitive answer from Strange, but the reply Strange gave left him utterly bewildered.
"He's playing the stock market."
???
Peter pondered for a moment, wondering if he had misheard, then looked at Strange. "Playing what stocks?"
"To put it simply, in just a few short days, Mephisto has acquired hundreds of millions in capital through the stock market, using magic to ensure that people don't realize there's a problem."
Strange spoke of things that sounded nothing like reality. "He used all that money to purchase approximately 3% of Roxxon Energy Corporation, becoming a member of their board of directors. Then, we caught him and chased him away."
Peter froze for a good while before finally finding his voice. "He didn't do anything else?"
"Nothing."
Peter scratched his head. He knew a bit about Roxxon Energy; in the Defenders series and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., they were always a villainous organization. However, as for what specific conspiracy the company actually had, he wasn't entirely sure. It was a company controlled by Hydra, and while they hadn't found direct evidence of Hydra's control yet...
Peter was confused for a moment. Just then, his phone chimed with a notification. He opened it and saw an information share.
Tony and Janet had conducted a deep investigation and discovered something that neither Thor nor Namor had mentioned—likely because they didn't know: the entire Atlantis incident began with Roxxon Energy's plan to construct a brand-new deep-sea oil drilling rig.
And the site chosen for that oil rig was directly above the very Atlantean city that had triggered this current conflict.
Was it a coincidence? Unlikely.
Peter shared this news with Strange. After a moment of silence, Strange frowned. "Mephisto is involved in this as well?"
"I'm not sure if Mephisto is truly involved. After all, the timing of this event and the time Mephisto arrived in our universe are a bit far apart..."
Actually, it wasn't that far; only about two months or so.
"For beings of their level who transcend the multiverse, time is not linear to them. Perhaps they have already seen what would happen today..."
The more Strange thought about it, the more his head throbbed. Dealing with Atlantis and Asgard was headache-inducing enough, and now Mephisto was involved. These guys were all bunching up together; it seemed the water here was much deeper than he had imagined.
However, Strange suddenly thought of another, more troublesome matter.
"If I remember correctly, Atlantis shouldn't have diplomatic relations with any surface civilization?"
Peter thought about it. He wasn't actually sure if that was the case, so he simply asked back, "If they don't, what would happen?"
Captain America, having arrived at the White House, encountered this very troublesome problem: Atlantis and the United States had no diplomatic relations whatsoever.
"When Roxxon Energy came to sign the extraction permits, we knew nothing about any Atlantean cities. Due to the intentional concealment by the Atlanteans, many of their cities remain unknown to us."
Faced with the Captain's inquiry, the President's special advisor came out specifically to explain. The reason was simple: President Ellis had no intention of entering into any direct conflict with Atlantis. Whether it was Namor's Atlantis or the usurper Krang's Atlantis, President Ellis wanted nothing to do with either.
Therefore, he would not interfere or mediate. Whether Roxxon Energy was being pummeled by Atlantis or the Avengers intended to intervene in Atlantean affairs, they would receive no support from the U.S. government.
Hearing this news, the Captain sighed and continued to probe, "In other words, legally speaking, there is nothing wrong with Roxxon Energy's extraction permits? Even with things as they are now, they cannot be revoked?"
"That is correct, Captain Rogers."
If the extraction permits could not be revoked, then Roxxon could continue its deep-sea operations. Giving Atlantis a casus belli wasn't the most troublesome part; the problem was that according to intelligence from the Wasteland Universe, Roxxon Energy was one of Hydra's front companies.
Under normal circumstances, the Captain wouldn't mind playing along with them and eventually hunting down and cutting off the Hydra heads. But this time was different. The world was shrouded in the danger of an Ice Age, and the Captain had discovered that Hydra was not only organizing this crisis but was deeply involved in it.
The Captain stood up helplessly and left the White House, then quickly contacted Tony's side.
"Bad news, Tony," the Captain said, linking up with Tony on the comms after receiving the confirmation. "Roxxon Energy's extraction rights are legal. In other words, if we were to launch a raid on their operational facilities, the opposing side could claim that the Avengers are interfering in their corporate affairs."
Tony was also quite speechless upon hearing this. The fact that Roxxon's drilling in Atlantis was legal meant the Avengers would face massive trouble if they tried to intervene.
However, that wasn't an issue.
Peter Parker would be willing to take on this mission; it just so happened he had a wealth of skills suited for infiltration.
Tony planned to keep this operation a secret, making sure the Captain didn't find out. He sent a message to Spider-Man, confirming the results of the latter's investigation without telling the Captain, and directly assigned Peter his new task.
"We can't directly enter Roxxon Energy's drilling platform to uncover the problem for now. Spider-Man, we need you to sneak in, find evidence, and then the Avengers can enter in force."
"It's all up to you, Spider-Man."