Rex Viper was definitely injured.
That spiral round hadn't been something a normal body could just shrug off, and even for him, it had come dangerously close. But while his body couldn't fully react in time, his mind had already reached a level of focus far beyond ordinary limits.
In that split second before impact, his ability triggered.
Dragon Energy: Explosion.
Power surged through him like a detonated engine, doubling his physical capacity in an instant and pushing him beyond human limits. His defensive capability spiked dramatically, not enough to stop a bullet outright, but more than enough to reduce the destructive force tearing through his body.
At the same time, he forced his body to shift—just a fraction, just enough.
The result was barely survivable.
Instead of a fatal hit, the spiral bullet carved a clean path through him, leaving a penetrating wound but missing anything vital. It hurt like hell, but it wasn't the end.
By the time he reached cover behind the front desk, his system had already moved.
Two newly acquired Black Iron gift packs opened automatically.
Four free attribute points were granted.
He didn't hesitate.
All into Constitution.
After days of pushing the system to its limits, he already understood what that meant. Constitution wasn't just durability—it governed recovery speed, explosive endurance, resistance to toxins, and a range of hidden biological enhancements.
It was survival itself.
The moment the points settled in, a subtle warmth spread through his body. The wound didn't fully close, but it tightened, stabilized, and regained enough integrity to keep him in the fight.
Good enough.
Across from him, the two attackers—Leaper and Scorpion—had made their mistake.
They came in confident, aggressive, expecting to finish off a wounded target. Instead, they walked straight into a counterattack.
Rex had already triggered his explosive state again the moment they entered range, compressing what little Dragon Energy he had left into a single devastating burst.
The result was immediate.
One dead.
One broken.
And the best part?
Because it all happened so fast, he hadn't even fully drained his reserves.
In the distance, high above the battlefield, Hawkeye watched everything unfold from the rooftop.
The fight had been sharp, brutal, and precise—exactly the kind of combat that made his blood itch. Watching Rex move through gunfire like that, dismantling trained killers in seconds, stirred something competitive in him.
He raised his bow.
Then lowered it again.
"…Coulson, what the hell?" he muttered, unable to hold back. "Director wants us to capture him, right? So why am I sitting here watching instead of joining the fight?"
Coulson lowered his binoculars slowly, his expression calm but thoughtful.
"I'm not stopping you from fighting," he said evenly. "I'm choosing when you should."
Hawkeye frowned. "That's not an answer."
Coulson glanced back toward the battlefield before continuing.
"There's an animal in Africa—the honey badger. Small, unimpressive at first glance. But if you provoke it, it doesn't stop. It doesn't retreat. It will fight you to the death no matter what stands in its way."
Hawkeye raised an eyebrow. "You're saying he's New York's version of that?"
Coulson shook his head slightly.
"I said his temperament is like one. His strength?" He paused, eyes narrowing slightly. "That's something else entirely."
He exhaled quietly.
"To me… he's closer to a lion."
Hawkeye went still for a moment, absorbing that.
Then he nodded.
"…So what's the plan? Director still wants him alive."
Coulson's gaze remained fixed on Rex.
"The Director didn't say it had to happen tonight," he replied calmly. "If we want to take him in, we do it properly. Not like this."
Hawkeye considered that, then gave a small nod.
"…So we wait."
"We observe," Coulson corrected.
Back at the battlefield, the situation was shifting again.
Mr. X crouched in cover, breathing steady but tense.
"Maya," he said into the comms, "are we really continuing this? If he stays behind that desk, we can't force him out easily."
Maya's voice came back, strained slightly, like she was moving fast.
"I'm repositioning. Once I'm in place, we'll form a long-range suppression line. As long as we pin him down, the others can use RPGs to take out his cover completely."
Mr. X let out a dry chuckle. "Or… he just runs into the building behind him. Staircase is right there. And we're not chasing him inside."
A pause.
"…We might've already failed tonight."
Silence stretched across the channel.
Then Maya spoke again, quieter, colder.
"Then we gamble."
Mr. X exhaled slowly.
"The distance between that desk and the stairs…" she continued, "that's the line between his life and death."
"…Alright," Mr. X said finally. "Let's see if he can cross it."
On a nearby rooftop, Coulson and Hawkeye both noticed movement—several figures carrying rocket launchers creeping toward the building.
The final push.
Coulson adjusted his binoculars, watching closely.
"…Remind me," he muttered under his breath, "to talk to the Director about the ridiculous amount of heavy weapons floating around New York."
Behind the front desk, Rex saw everything.
Through infrared vision, every heat signature lit up clearly in his mind. The approaching RPG teams, the shifting positions, the tightening net—it was all there.
And yet…
He didn't panic.
If anything, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
Because right in front of him—
Was a body.
And a realization clicked.
"…Yeah," he murmured under his breath. "Same build."
The rockets came in.
"BOOM!"
"BOOM!"
The front desk took direct hits.
Granite shattered instantly, the structure collapsing under the explosive force as debris and dust filled the air.
And from within that smoke—
Something moved.
A green figure burst out like lightning.
Mr. X reacted instantly, firing two shots at center mass from a brutal angle.
Only after pulling the trigger did his brain catch up.
Green armor.
Scorpion suit.
Wait—
"Shit—!"
It wasn't Scorpion.
It was Rex wearing the suit.
Too late.
Rex had already accounted for everything.
His focus locked onto the true threats—the sniper rifles, the curved bullets. Everything else? He could tank it.
The Scorpion suit provided high-grade protection across critical areas, military-level plating that absorbed impacts and reduced damage.
And now—
It was his turn.
Gunfire erupted again as he broke into the open, the battlefield exploding into chaos. Bullets streaked through the air from every direction, turning the street into something closer to a warzone than a city.
If someone didn't know better, they'd think this was Afghanistan, not New York.
Rex didn't slow.
Both Glock pistols roared to life in his hands, muzzle flashes strobing as he fired with relentless precision. His mastery showed in every shot—clean, efficient, deadly.
Two magazines emptied in seconds.
Gunmen dropped.
The assault faltered.
But they weren't his target.
Six sniper rounds came first—fast, cold, unavoidable.
He rolled, twisted, dodged, barely slipping through the gaps.
Then came the arcs.
Curved bullets cutting through space from impossible angles.
Rex's eyes flashed.
The last of his Dragon Energy ignited.
His speed spiked again—so fast it left afterimages behind him.
Mr. X saw it.
And froze.
For a split second, disbelief hit him.
Then instinct took over.
His body shifted into a heightened state, adrenaline flooding his system as he stepped out from cover. His arm moved in a fluid, almost dance-like motion as he fired.
To an untrained eye, it looked chaotic.
But it was anything but.
Every movement, every shot, formed a deadly rhythm.
A dance of killing.
Rex saw it clearly.
A web of bullets closing in from all directions.
His lips curved slightly.
His legs compressed, muscles coiling with such force that his bones creaked under the strain.
Then—
He leapt.
High, fast, clean.
Bullets sliced through the space beneath him as he soared forward like a predator descending on prey.
Straight at Mr. X.
"BOOM!"
Mr. X reacted fast enough to throw a punch, meeting Rex mid-air.
It didn't matter.
The impact crushed through him.
His body was thrown back violently, slamming into the ground with a heavy thud.
Before he could recover, Rex was already on him.
A single step.
A crushing stomp.
Mr. X screamed as all resistance left his body.
Rex grabbed him, hauling him up like a shield as he turned toward the distant sniper position.
A flash.
Gunfire.
He moved instantly, placing Mr. X directly in the line of fire.
"BANG!"
Blood splattered.
The body went limp.
Rex let it drop without a second glance.
His gaze lifted, locking onto the distant building.
But the sniper was already gone.
He exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing.
"You run fast," he muttered.
Then his expression hardened, something colder settling beneath the surface.
"But can you run forever?"
His voice dropped.
"Kingpin…"
....
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