You're the magical one! What's the difference between this operation and a necromancer's?
Akira was very surprised by Makima's method of controlling the Dragon Bone; the authority of her Domination was more powerful than he had imagined.
The giant Dragon Bone moved on its own. Despite having no muscles, it was able to move its body. The soil that had buried the huge skeletal frame was shaken off, and the giant Dragon Bone climbed out of the pit on its own, pressing what might have been its nose against Makima's outstretched palm, like an obedient puppy.
"Good boy!" Makima gently stroked the Dragon Bone's nose as it nuzzled her.
Makima said to Akira, "Madame Gao is coming back."
"Perfect, let me meet this finger of The Hand." After saying that, Akira stared at the lively Dragon Bone, which was acting just like a puppy, and asked Makima:
"It's too big. Is there any way to take it out?"
Makima waved to the Dragon Bone and said, "Little Bone, come here."
This name gave Akira a strange sense of déjà vu, but he couldn't recall why.
Makima pressed on the Dragon Bone's body – whether a skeleton counted as a body wasn't important – and then the entire Dragon Bone began to shrink, eventually becoming as large as a real puppy.
"Another dog to raise."
"Go on."
---
"Dak, who is the woman The Hand brought down?"
Inside the van, Phil Coulson asked his assistant, referring to Joy Meachum, who was being escorted in the image.
The Agent named Dak quickly identified the image and performed a facial comparison. Soon, he replied to Phil Coulson:
"Officer, that woman is Joy Meachum, the Chief Financial Officer of Rand Corporation."
"Why are The Hand's people capturing her? The situation is getting more and more complicated. Dak, how are your combat skills?"
"Officer, my practical combat, grappling, and shooting skills were all excellent at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy."
"Alright, prepare yourself. You'll infiltrate Fisk Tower with me to investigate the situation."
"Yes, Officer."
Madame Gao was already thinking about how to distribute the Dragon Bone after acquiring it. She had to take the lion's share; apart from Murakami, no one else had contributed much. Alexandra had even disrupted her plans – a bunch of people who were more trouble than they were worth.
"Murakami and I will split 60%. I'll then slowly distribute it with Murakami. The remaining 40% goes to Alexandra, Bakuto, and Sowande. Let those three fight among themselves."
Madame Gao's fantasy was grand, but reality was different.
"Stop, old woman! This is our boss's territory. You're not worthy to enter!"
A ninja pointed directly at Madame Gao's nose and mocked her.
Madame Gao's somewhat smug expression froze. Her face darkened, and she asked coldly:
"Bakuto, Sowande, or Alexandra? When were you replaced?"
Madame Gao thought that the other three Fingers had swapped out her ninjas, intending to reap the benefits directly.
"Attack!" Madame Gao waved her hand, and all the ninjas behind her drew their short swords and charged forward.
The battle was brutal. The Hand's ninjas were trained from childhood, each an efficient killing machine. The dozen or so ninjas Madame Gao brought were all elites among them. While the ninjas guarding Fisk Tower were not as skilled as those around Madame Gao, they had a huge numerical advantage.
Madame Gao, observing the battle, felt that something was very wrong. Why did it seem like there were more and more people on the other side? Before she could figure it out, all the ninjas, who had become Makima's dogs, surrounded Madame Gao.
Madame Gao, who had never encountered such a situation, was dumbfounded. How could they all betray her right in front of her face? Or had these ninjas actually been swapped out long ago, and had been acting all this time?
Madame Gao couldn't understand. She gathered her Chi into her palms, intending to force her way out with Iron Fist first.
"I've heard much about you, Madame Gao!"
An unfamiliar male voice reached Madame Gao's ears. She looked in the direction of the voice, and a man and a woman entered her sight. Madame Gao couldn't remember the man's appearance, only noticing that he wore gold-rimmed glasses. The woman's appearance was very striking, her long red hair as dazzling as demonic Fire.
Her former ninjas now followed behind them like servants.
"Is it a super-powered individual skilled in hypnosis?"
Madame Gao speculated in her mind. Looking at the man, Madame Gao remembered the mysterious glasses-wearing man described in the letter from the person called Xin, who was just a head and torso. "It's him!"
Akira hesitated for a moment before understanding what was happening: "You know me? That human stick named Xin told you, didn't he?!"
"Who exactly are you, and why are you meddling in the affairs of The Hand?"
"Just a passing Kamen Rider!" Akira said seriously, brushing her off.
Makima whispered to Akira, "Akira, since just now, two Agents have been spying on us."
Coulson and Dak, who had secretly taken out the security guards at the entrance, hid in the shadows, observing the situation on the field.
"Dak, scan those two new arrivals, the man and the woman. I need to know who they are!"
Dak, laden with a pile of instruments, took a breath. This high-tech gear was truly heavy.
He raised the special camera hanging around his neck, took a photo of Akira and Makima, then uploaded it to the computer fixed to his chest, and began searching the S.H.I.E.L.D. database.
"Officer, our equipment can't identify that man with glasses; it might be a technical issue. As for the woman, no matching face was found in the database. We can't rule out the possibility of her being a foreign spy or a secret organization Agent."
"So, you haven't found their identities, right?!"
Coulson reasonably suspected that the people in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s technical department were a bunch of freeloading parasites, and the U.S. would be ruined by these people sooner or later.
"What Rider?"
Madame Gao didn't understand what the man with glasses was saying. She continued at her own pace:
"I don't care if you're from K'un-Lun, S.H.I.E.L.D., or S.P.E.A.R. I can tell you how to open the Dragon Bone's seal. You just came up from the mine, so you must have also discovered the stone wall that sealed the Dragon Bone. Without my method, you won't be able to open the seal at all. Once the Dragon Bone is obtained, I'll only take 40%, and the rest is yours."
"Are you talking about this Dragon Bone?" Akira patted the skeletal head, which was still in a puppy-like posture. However, the puppy Dragon Bone didn't give Akira any face; its jaws clamped shut, ready to bite The Hand Akira was using to pet its head.
"Little Bone, be polite, you can't just bite people!"
Makima crouched down and stroked the Dragon Bone's puppy head. The Dragon Bone immediately gave up on biting Akira, its jaws remaining open as it nuzzled Makima's hand. If it had a tongue, it would definitely be licking Makima's hand.
"A Dragon Bone? Is that a Dragon Bone?! Why is it so small? Is it the bone of a young dragon? If I only get 40%, it doesn't seem like much!" Madame Gao fell into a brainstorm.
Akira turned and asked, "Makima, you can even dominate the dead and make them speak, right?"
"Yes, I can dominate corpses too."
"Excellent, use your katana. It's a good chance to warm up!"
Akira looked at the [entry]—[Chi]—floating above Madame Gao's head, and swung his sword at her.
Akira's sudden attack startled Madame Gao. Although the conversation just now wasn't very harmonious, it didn't warrant immediate action, did it?
Raising her palms, which were already filled with Chi, Madame Gao blocked Akira's slash from a distance. The katana was held in mid-air by an invisible force of Chi.
"What strength!" Madame Gao felt that Akira's strength was not like that of a normal human. Using the special properties of Chi, Madame Gao used Chi to deflect Akira's katana.
"I have other conditions. I possess the method to use the Dragon Bone to extend life, and I also control the New York underworld..."