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Chapter 43 – Into the Web
The night air still carried the echo of Shocker's defeat, the faint groans of warped metal and scorched concrete fading into silence. The captives vanished from the abandoned docks in a shimmer of blue light and reappeared where three figures stood: Daredevil, leaning on his batons; Mayura, visor glowing faintly; and Iron Man, repulsors humming as his boots touched the ground.
Tony tilted his helmet toward Daredevil. "Okay," he said, his voice sharp, edged with steel. "I'm picking up a dozen alien-grade energy signatures tonight, and none of them scream 'romantic boat ride.' Someone want to tell me what's going on here?"
Mayura didn't answer. She blinked out of sight, then reappeared with the last unconscious civilian, setting them gently against a crate before vanishing once more to transport the goons.
Tony muttered under his breath. "Great. Strong and silent type. Just what I needed tonight."
Daredevil, arms crossed, spoke evenly. "They were kidnapped. Human trafficking. Mayura's been transporting them out of captivity."
Tony turned, his HUD locking onto the captives. He crouched, one gauntleted hand hovering over the nearest man. The vitals flickering across his display steadied his posture. Alive. Unconscious, but stable. Then his eyes fell on Shocker's gauntlets and the strange rifle at his side.
"Definitely Chitauri," he muttered.
He exhaled, more serious now. "All right. Trafficking. With alien-grade hardware. Not exactly small-time street thugs." He straightened, glancing back at Daredevil. "And you two were planning to… what, go knock on their front door next?"
Daredevil's jaw tightened. "They're not just trafficking people. They're experimenting on them. It needs to stop here."
Tony's tone shifted, losing the sharpness but not the weight. "Yeah. I figured. Saw the weapons. The energy signatures alone are—" he cut himself off, shaking his head. "Never mind. Point is, this is bigger than a warehouse raid."
Mayura reappeared one last time. Her visor gleamed faintly as she dusted her gloves. "They're all safe. Now we go."
Tony stepped closer, his faceplate retracting so his eyes were visible in the dark. There was no smirk, no playfulness now—only measured curiosity. "Listen. I've been trying to find you and your boss for a while. Guardian. People like you don't show up without ripples. I'd like a conversation."
Mayura's head turned slightly his way. "I'll inform him. But the decision isn't mine."
Tony held her gaze for a moment before nodding once. "Fair enough." Then his tone lightened, some of the edge slipping back. "But until then? You're not going in there without me. I don't care how many teleport tricks you've got—I've seen enough corpses come out of these kinds of labs to last me a lifetime. So, consider me your plus one."
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Far below the city, Adrian leaned over the console in his hidden base. Stark's voice carried faintly from a hijacked feed.
So Stark wanted a meeting.
Adrian's brow furrowed. Avengers. Maybe S.H.I.E.L.D.
He rubbed his chin. "You want a line of communication, Stark? Fine. After this is over, we'll talk."
His gaze shifted back to the map. Natalie was walking into danger—and this time with two wildcards at her side.
Before switching feeds, he fired off another message. Officer Stacy's phone buzzed a second later.
"Dammit," George muttered, turning the wheel of his cruiser. "Call in more units. And more ambulances. Tonight just got longer."
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Daredevil shot Tony a wary look, then nodded to Mayura. She didn't speak. Her gloved hand touched his shoulder, her other on Tony's armored arm. Light shimmered, and the dock dissolved around them.
They reappeared before a sprawling warehouse complex sunk half into the ground, its walls bristling with antennas and corroded steel.
"This is it," Mayura said, her voice clipped, carrying the faint metallic timbre of her visor. "The man behind it calls himself the Tinkerer. He works for someone larger. From Shocker's memories—he's developing a drug that grants powers. Most test subjects died. Two lived. Codenames: Luminous and Void."
Daredevil's mouth thinned. "And I'm guessing we don't know what they can do."
"Not yet."
Tony's scanners swept the perimeter, his faceplate sliding shut. "Fantastic. A mad scientist with a bad naming sense. Nothing I love more than a blind date with unpredictable superhumans." His tone dipped serious again. "But if there are still people alive in there, we move fast."
Mayura's visor pulsed faintly as she extended her senses. "The place is rigged. Automated defenses. Lasers, drones, turrets. I'll deal with them."
Daredevil's tone was cautious. "How?"
"Technopathy," she replied, simple as a blade.
Tony gave a low whistle. "Well, that's only mildly terrifying. JARVIS, remind me never to let her near my labs."
"Already noted, sir," the AI responded.
Mayura didn't react. Her focus was locked on the building.
They slipped inside. Almost immediately, red tracking dots swept across the walls as turrets unfolded with a metallic whir. Tony raised his repulsors—but Mayura lifted a hand. Sparks cascaded across the ceiling, circuits shrieking. One by one, the turrets stuttered and slumped into silence.
"All clear," she murmured.
Daredevil arched a brow. "Convenient."
Tony eyed the wrecked hardware. "And terrifying. JARVIS, double-note it."
"Triple-noted, sir."
They moved deeper. Every corridor was armed: trip mines tucked into panels, drones humming from alcoves, shutters ready to slam down. Each time Mayura flicked her wrist, and the system folded. Circuits fried. Alarms died before they could cry out.
But the silence didn't last.
Doors burst open. Henchmen surged in, rifles crackling with unstable energy. At least thirty, spreading into formation.
Tony's repulsors flared, his voice hard now. "Finally. I was starting to feel useless."
Daredevil rolled his batons into his hands, stance grounded. "Keep them off me."
Mayura's visor tilted. "Right side's mine."
The hallway erupted.
Daredevil lunged into the fray. His baton came down toward a rifleman's skull—but another soldier lunged from the side, forcing him to twist away. He redirected mid-swing, cracking the man's wrist, then snapped his heel into the first soldier's ribs. Energy bolts scorched the floor where he'd stood a moment earlier.
Another came at him with a blade mounted on his rifle. Daredevil ducked, swept the man's legs, then spun up into a brutal uppercut with the baton. He didn't pause—he couldn't. Already two more were closing in, their rifles spitting blue fire.
Across the hall, Tony plowed through the center line. Repulsors roared, sending soldiers sprawling against steel walls. "Do you guys rent this tech or buy in bulk?" he shouted, even as his HUD painted weak points across their armor. He fired in controlled bursts, deliberately targeting joints and power cells to disable rather than kill.
A cluster of soldiers dove for cover, rifles glowing hotter. "Grenades!" Tony barked, recognizing the charge signatures. He launched a micro-missile—half a dozen explosions rippled down the line, throwing bodies in every direction.
Mayura flickered through the chaos. One blink, and she was behind a soldier, palm striking the back of his neck. Another blink, and she reappeared above a cluster, heel slamming down into a helmet. The rifles turned to track her, bolts hissing through the air—but she dissolved again, reappearing in a blur of blue light at their flank.
Her hand snapped up. Circuits screamed. Half the rifles sparked violently, their cores rupturing into useless metal.
Daredevil ducked low, baton arcing into a soldier's thigh, then used the momentum to slam his other baton into another's jaw. He tried to advance—but a third came from behind, arms locking around his ribs. Daredevil gritted his teeth, dropping one baton to grab the man's wrist and twist. The soldier's grip faltered—long enough for Daredevil to hurl him forward into a wall.
Energy bolts seared past him. Tony cut across Daredevil's flank, his shoulder plating flaring as a beam ricocheted off. "Eyes up, Red!" He fired a point-blank repulsor, blasting the shooter away.
"I had him," Daredevil growled, snatching up his baton again.
"Sure you did," Tony shot back.
The henchmen shifted tactics. A squad at the far end hefted heavier rifles—prototypes cobbled from Chitauri tech. The air thrummed, bolts ripping gouges into the steel floor.
Tony's HUD screamed warnings. "Those'll cut through me if they get a clean shot—keep moving!" He launched into the air, weaving between beams of searing energy. His counterfire struck their rifles, bursting unstable cells in a chain of explosions.
Mayura blurred into the heart of the squad, her palm glowing as she reached out. The weapons sparked, locked up, and collapsed. She turned sharply, fist colliding with a soldier's jaw—only for another to tackle her. They hit the floor hard, his rifle jabbing at her chest.
Before he could fire, Daredevil's baton cracked against his temple. The man crumpled. Daredevil extended a hand.
Mayura took it, rising fluidly. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
But more soldiers poured in. From overhead walkways, more rifles trained down.
"Cover!" Tony barked. He threw up a repulsor shield, beams slamming against it in sizzling waves.
Daredevil pressed against his side, heart hammering. "Too many."
"Then we thin the herd." Tony's HUD lit up. "Mayura—kill the lights."
She nodded. Her visor pulsed, and the entire corridor plunged into darkness as circuits screamed and died.
Daredevil grinned under his mask. "Better."
Blind to most, the darkness was his arena. He surged forward, every heartbeat and scrape of boot loud in his mind. He spun his batons, each strike precise: ribs, throat, wrist. Men dropped in the black, cursing, firing wild.
Tony fired in bursts, his HUD compensating. Repulsors flared, each blast cutting through the dark like lightning.
Mayura's visor burned faintly blue, her figure blinking in and out, striking wherever the line faltered. She left soldiers groaning on the floor in her wake, weapons sparking uselessly.
The fight stretched on—wave after wave. Every time they gained ground, more poured in. Sweat ran down Daredevil's spine, his muscles burning, bruises blooming. Tony's armor pinged warnings, plating scorched and dented. Mayura's breaths came sharp, each teleport costing her more focus.
But slowly, surely, the tide broke.
The last squad fell, rifles shorting out, bodies groaning against cold steel. Smoke hung in the air.
Tony exhaled hard inside the suit, lowering his hands. "Well. That was exhausting. Fun, though. Zero stars on Yelp."
Daredevil bent, retrieving a baton, his chest heaving. "We're not done yet."
Mayura tilted her head toward the reinforced doors at the end of the corridor. "No. The real fight starts now."
Behind those doors, two figures stirred. One glowing with searing light. The other cloaked in living shadow.
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