"Run, kid!"
Daredevil gritted his teeth and shouted, forcing himself to swing his billy club in a desperate sweep at the ninjas surrounding him. He was trying to buy the passerby a chance to escape.
But the anesthetic toxin had already taken effect. His swing was weak and sluggish. The nearest ninja easily knocked him down, then kicked him to the ground.
All he could do was lie there, listening helplessly as one of the ninjas swung his sword with a sharp hum, aiming straight for the passerby who was breathing calmly nearby.
The strike was clean and precise.
There was no sound of dodging.
In that moment, Daredevil could already picture the innocent passerby being beheaded—
Huh?
The temperature around them suddenly spiked by a few degrees.
A metallic clatter followed, the sound of a weapon striking the ground.
Daredevil froze, confused. He tried to lift his head, eyes blank.
What just happened?
Why wasn't there the sound of flesh being cut?
Why did it sound like… flames burning?
Most importantly—why had the breathing of the ninjas disappeared?
Instead, he heard the sound of swords dropping to the pavement.
What… what happened!?
Footsteps echoed.
Daredevil clearly heard slow, steady footsteps approaching.
Then came the calm voice of the passerby who should have been dead:
"Need me to call an ambulance?"
Daredevil was stunned, his brain unable to process how the man was still alive. He answered instinctively:
"No… no."
"It's too expensive. I'm fine… my teammates will come."
Russell nodded, not bothering to bully a half-dead man.
He casually stepped around Daredevil and walked off.
It wasn't until several seconds later that Daredevil's mind caught up.
In fact, it was simple.
If the passerby was alive… then the six ninjas who tried to kill him must be dead.
But…
How?
He didn't hear a fight. The ninjas didn't even scream.
They just… disappeared.
And there wasn't even a drop of blood.
None of this made sense.
Lying powerless on the sidewalk, Daredevil racked his brain but couldn't figure it out.
Minutes passed.
Suddenly, the screech of tires.
Karen and Elektra jumped out of their car, their faces anxious, and ran toward him.
"Matt! Matt!"
"We came as soon as we got your distress signal! Are you okay?!"
Hearing his teammates' voices, Daredevil finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He had been terrified that the first people to find him would be more members of the Hand.
"I'm fine… The ones who died were ninjas from the Hand."
After saying this, he quickly asked:
"Did you see their bodies when you arrived?"
Elektra helped him up. Karen looked around, puzzled:
"Bodies?"
"What bodies?"
Elektra frowned too. "Didn't you say you were ambushed and surrounded by ninjas? How'd you escape?"
She knew Matt's strength was comparable to hers, but she'd infiltrated the Hand before.
She knew those ninjas weren't weak.
If he'd been poisoned, there was no way Matt could've killed six of them before passing out.
But before she could say more, she felt Daredevil's body suddenly stiffen.
"What… did you say?!"
Daredevil's expression changed drastically. He turned toward the spot where the ninjas had surrounded him and said, disbelieving:
"You didn't see their bodies?"
"They should've been right there!"
Hearing this, both women tensed up.
Daredevil couldn't see, but his other senses were far sharper than any normal person's.
If he said bodies should be there… they should be there.
At that moment, Karen crouched down nearby, touching something on the ground.
Her face paled.
"Matt… there's ash."
"Six piles of it… and some hardened molten metal."
Daredevil's face went completely pale.
"I know what happened… those are the ninjas' ashes."
"They were burned to ash instantly… I could feel the heat."
Elektra's eyes narrowed in confusion.
"Burned? Could Madame Gao have cursed them?"
"No…"
Daredevil shook his head firmly, still in shock.
"Just now… a passerby walked past. He stood right behind me. One of the ninjas tried to kill him…"
"But then… the ninjas suddenly fell silent."
Elektra's scalp prickled with fear.
She could imagine how terrifying the scene must've been.
Those ninjas tried to kill an ordinary bystander…
And were incinerated to ash in an instant.
Like ants crushed underfoot.
Since when did such a terrifying person appear in New York?
Karen, her voice trembling, said:
"Whoever that person was… they have nothing to do with us. We're nowhere near strong enough."
"We're struggling just to handle the Hand."
"Let's get out of here. Now."
Elektra didn't argue.
She silently agreed.
They were far, far out of their league.
For the first time, Elektra didn't argue with her rival. She helped Daredevil into the car, slammed the accelerator, and sped away.
Half an hour later—
The Hand's Headquarters.
In the grand hall, Madame Gao stood fuming as her subordinates knelt below.
"Where are they!?" she snapped.
"Six of my elite fighters went after Daredevil—he was already weakened—and none of them returned! Useless! They all deserve to be gutted!"
A woman in red, trembling, kept her head lowered as she whispered,
"Daredevil had a signal blocker on him… communications were cut."
In order to avoid alerting Daredevil to Cobweb's presence, Madame Gao had limited this mission to just six ninjas.
But even so, it had failed.
Just then, a scar-faced ninja hurried into the hall, dropped to one knee, and bowed low.
"Madam! The six elites… have been confirmed dead."
"Surveillance footage shows that a young man saved Daredevil—and killed them using some kind of fire-based power."
Madame Gao's expression darkened. She slammed her palm onto the side table beside her, shattering it with a crack. Her voice was sharp as a blade.
"He has a Superman-level companion!?"
"Is he a mutant?"
"Have these gutter rats started rebelling? Are they not afraid that S.H.I.E.L.D. will deal with them!?"
The hall fell silent.
No one dared speak. None could have foreseen this outcome. And what were mutants doing interfering in her affairs?
The scarred ninja hesitated, then spoke again:
"Madam… that man left immediately after killing our people."
"Daredevil was taken away… by Elektra."
"M-Ma… Ma… Madam…"
Madame Gao glared, her voice cold:
"Spit it out."
The ninja trembled and said quickly,
"That person… looked like a pure passerby. He was just walking by when our people blocked his path."
"Then… well…"
He didn't finish the sentence, but everyone understood.
If that was true… this entire mission had failed due to sheer bad luck.
But Madame Gao wasn't someone who could accept such an explanation.
Daredevil had ruined too many of the Hand's plans. After investing so many resources into catching him, now this? Defeated by accident?
Her voice turned venomous.
"Find out who that man is."
"I want his name, his organization, and the names of every last person in his family."
She wanted revenge.
Even if he was strong enough to kill her elites, so what? Once she knew who he was, she could set endless traps. That was the way of the Hand.
Heroes without masks?
Naïve.
Dead.
The members of the Hand immediately obeyed.
With the surveillance footage, tracking him down wouldn't be hard.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
In Nick Fury's office, a smart system suddenly activated, and holographic footage projected across the room.
It showed Russell killing six ninjas—effortlessly.
At the same time, the A.I. spoke:
"Special alert triggered."
"Detected: foreign invasion of New York's traffic servers. Surveillance video retrieval attempt identified."
"Source traced. Reverse Trojan implant initiated…"
"Implant complete. Data extraction in progress."
In less than three seconds, dense streams of encrypted data filled the projection.
Files from the Hand.
Criminal records. Human trafficking. Assassinations.
Every dirty secret, now decrypted.
Then, the A.I. announced calmly:
"Director, source confirmed: The Hand."
"They are actively tracking Mr. Russell's movements."
"Data analysis complete: Probability of the Hand launching an attack on Mr. Russell—99.9999%."
"Recommended action: Total eradication of the Hand."
Nick Fury's face darkened.
"Confirmed."
"Activate Level-One Disaster Response Protocol."
"I don't want a single member of the Hand left alive by sunrise."
He knew the truth: to someone like Russell, the Hand was nothing more than roadside pests. They posed no real threat.
But that wasn't the point.
Pests were still disgusting.
And Fury wasn't going to let them disgust him or risk offending Russell.
Even if their business was tied to higher-ups in the White House—even if the President himself begged him—tonight, the Hand was finished.
Because on Earth—
The Sorcerer Supreme, protector of the real world…
Was above all else.
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