Kingpin's face turned ugly in an instant.
The situation had collapsed so fast it barely felt real. Standing beside him now were only Elektra and the Nine Spider Bride, and the latter was dangerous with poison but far from dominant in a direct fight. Natasha and Wade had both switched sides, Murakami had already been crippled by the stab through his collarbone and the brutal kick to his lower back, and Sowande and Maya had both been taken out before they could properly recover. Worst of all, the speedster he had spent so much to recruit was still hanging limp in Locke's arms like a dead fish.
It was a complete disaster.
Locke smiled, then casually tossed the half-cooked Speed Demon aside like discarded trash. He rolled his shoulders, glanced at Kingpin, and spoke in a tone that was almost cheerful.
"Look at that. I get to teach you another lesson," he said. "Picking teammates is a science. You don't just need people with talent—you need people who aren't impulsive idiots. More importantly, you need to watch out for the ones who'll bury a knife in your back the second things go bad."
Wade immediately raised two fingers in a victory sign and grinned. "Yep, pretty sure he means us."
Natasha shot him an irritated look, then turned to Kingpin with a cold expression. "Let me make one thing clear. I'm not a traitor. I'm undercover." Her voice sharpened as she stared at him. "Wilson Fisk, you're under arrest."
Kingpin's eyes widened, and his hand tightened around his cane so hard his knuckles nearly turned white. Then his gaze shifted back to Locke, burning with murderous intent.
"Even so," he said in a low, vicious voice, "I still want to kill you. And those two may not be enough to stop me."
Locke laughed. "Are you sure?"
He lifted his right hand, and several thin electric arcs crackled between his fingers with bright, dangerous-looking sparks. The sound alone was enough to make anyone hesitate. Unfortunately, it was mostly bluff. He had already burned through the bulk of his electrical output. What remained was little more than leftover charge, enough to intimidate but nowhere near enough to unleash another devastating shock.
Kingpin stared at the electricity dancing across Locke's hand for a few seconds, then slowly shook his head.
"My instincts tell me you're almost done," he said.
Locke cursed him internally. This fat bastard really was hard to fool.
Without changing expression, he quickly opened the black iron-tier gift pack he had earned from the first wave of gunmen and dumped the free attribute points—along with the five he had been saving—straight into Constitution. The effect was immediate. Strength flowed back into his battered body, not enough to restore him to peak condition, but enough to keep him dangerous.
He exhaled slowly, then barked out orders as if he were already in control of the battlefield.
"Wade, kill Kingpin. Natasha, you handle Elektra. I'll take the poison lady."
Wade and Natasha exchanged a quick look. Then Wade, surprisingly obedient for once, moved first. Natasha clenched her jaw like she wanted to argue, but in the end she pivoted and went after Elektra instead.
Locke turned toward the Nine Spider Bride and gave her a wolfish grin. She had a striking face, elegant features sharpened by eerie eye makeup that made her seem beautiful and unnerving at the same time. She was one of Madame Gao's subordinates, a woman who excelled at poison and had some fighting skill, but compared to him, she was outmatched in a straight confrontation.
"Come on, sweetheart," Locke said, taking a slow step forward. "Let's begin."
Then he lunged.
The three fights split apart almost immediately. Natasha and Elektra moved like mirrors of each other, both agile, disciplined, and deadly, their clash clean and balanced. Wade, on the other hand, was having a miserable time. Kingpin's raw strength completely overwhelmed him. Even with both swords in hand, Wade was at a disadvantage from the very first exchange, forced backward again and again by the sheer force behind Fisk's attacks.
Locke's fight was the strangest of the three.
Several poisoned needles were still buried in his chest, yet he acted like they weren't there at all, pressing the Nine Spider Bride so hard she barely had room to breathe. He chased her through the concrete maze while she kept retreating, clearly rattled by the fact that her toxins didn't seem to be working.
"Hey, don't run," Locke called after her, his tone almost playful.
As the two of them pulled farther away from the others, he glanced sideways, checking the distance. The moment he judged it was enough, the muscles in his legs exploded with force. His speed jumped sharply, and in the next instant he was on her.
He caught her from behind and wrapped her in his arms before she could slip away again.
The Nine Spider Bride trembled in terror. "You… what are you doing?"
Locke's expression went cold. "You want to know why your poison isn't working?"
He lowered his head until his lips were almost brushing the side of her neck, then spoke in a voice low enough to make her blood run cold.
"Sweetheart, have you ever seen a vampire die from poison?"
Then he bit down.
Her eyes flew wide open.
His fangs pierced her skin cleanly, and the next sequence happened in terrifying silence. Penetration. Injection. The transformation started before she could even process what had happened. By the time Locke released her, her body had already gone weak, her limbs slack as he let her slump against the floor.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked down at her with satisfaction. "Good girl. Stay here for now. Run later if you need to." Then he added with a smirk, "And remember—tomorrow night, midnight, my room."
The Nine Spider Bride was already dizzy, her eyes unfocused, unable to give any response. She wasn't fully transformed yet, but once the process settled in, she would remember his command.
Locke left her there and returned to the main fight.
By the time he arrived, the pairings had changed.
Wade had failed to hold off Kingpin and had swapped opponents with Natasha. Now Natasha was using her speed and footwork to circle Fisk, keeping away from his power while looking for openings, while Wade was clashing with Elektra's knives and forks in a chaotic flurry of sparks and curses.
He was also talking nonstop.
"No, no, no, Elektra, you're hitting me way too hard," Wade complained while backpedaling. "This is not how our fight is supposed to go. Be reasonable. Let's turn around, kill our former boss together, and I'll personally ask my current boss to give you double—"
Locke strode in and cut him off.
"Elektra, do you know Matt Murdock?" he asked. "He's a friend of mine. Surrender, and for his sake, I won't kill you today."
The instant the words left his mouth, Elektra didn't move.
Kingpin did.
His massive body burst forward with shocking speed, faster than anyone would have expected from someone his size. At the same time, he hurled his cane backward. It struck the ground with a loud explosive crack, releasing a thick cloud of smoke that swallowed the area in an instant.
By the time Locke pushed through the haze and got his bearings, both Kingpin and Elektra were gone.
"Damn it," he snapped. "Where the hell did they go?"
Natasha scanned the area once and shook her head. "They escaped. Fisk built a special retreat route in advance."
"Then go after them."
Wade immediately shrugged and slid closer to Locke instead. "Boss, I don't trust this woman. I think what you need right now is my personal protection."
He planted himself in front of Locke and glared at Natasha like an overdramatic bodyguard. Locke looked at Natasha helplessly.
"And you?" he asked. "You planning to stay close and protect me too?"
She met his gaze without blinking. "More like surveillance."
Locke flicked a white business card at her. "The next part of this story isn't for kids. Call me tomorrow, and we'll find a good place to have a deeper conversation."
Natasha caught the card, glanced at it, and made no move to leave.
Then an explosion boomed from the entrance.
A motorcycle engine roared through the garage, growing louder by the second before the bike drifted hard and stopped in a sharp, flashy turn right in front of the three of them.
Blade had arrived.
With a metallic ring, he drew his sword, the blade gleaming with absolute menace as he looked around at the wrecked scene. "Who blocked the entrance and beat my friend into this shape?" he demanded. "You trying to die?" Then his eyes moved to Wade and Natasha. "Either of you see who did it?"
Locke rolled his eyes. "Why didn't you just wait until I was dead?" he said. "What were you in your last life, a cop?"
Wade, meanwhile, was staring at Blade's sword with wide-eyed fascination. Then he looked down at his own and lit up. "Whoa, what a coincidence. I'm pretty good with a sword too."
Natasha weighed the situation for one final moment, then made her choice. "You'd better remember to answer my call, Devil Face…" She paused, then corrected herself. "Iron Man."
Then she turned and left.
As she walked out of the parking garage, she pulled a miniature earpiece from somewhere on her body and spoke into it in a low voice. "Pull out. Today isn't the right time to arrest him."
After a short pause, Coulson's voice answered through the line. "I saw a motorcycle blow through the exit and force its way inside. What happened, Natasha?"
"I'll explain everything that went far beyond my expectations after I get back."
Once Natasha was gone, Locke finally took a proper look around the battlefield. The good news was that several of the people on the ground were still alive. Sowande had been stabbed badly, but he was stubbornly clinging to life. After all, he had survived for centuries on dragon bone, and his desire to live was monstrously strong. As members of the Hand, he and Murakami pursued immortality above all else, which meant they feared death more than most.
Three silver-level targets and one bronze.
Locke took his time finishing off the three silver bosses, and the method he chose made both Wade and Blade look at him a little strangely. Locke found their reaction completely unreasonable. What was the big deal? He had only tied them to the back of a pickup truck with rope and dragged them to death.
It wasn't like he was dirtying their floor.
When the three men finally died almost at the same time, the system prompt arrived exactly as expected.
A silver gift pack. Five-star quality.
Locke grinned.
Come on. A real man opens it on the spot.
....
Join my P@treon FOR FREE and get 5 advanced chapters.
Paid members can get upto 60+ chapters ahead of the public release.
Link : [email protected]/thebookaddict