Midnight, Queens.
An old-fashioned, twenty-four-hour movie theater was showing an obscure romance film.
The screening room was empty, save for two people in the last row.
Lynt leaned back in his chair, a large bucket of popcorn and a glass of ice-filled cola in front of him.
He wore inconspicuous in-ear headphones, a thin wire connecting them to the phone in his pocket.
On the screen, the male and female leads were exchanging affectionate glances, accompanied by a melodious soundtrack.
But what Lynt heard through his headphones was the sound of another World.
"Bang! Bang bang!"
"Ah—!"
"Help! Devil! He's a devil!"
Gunshots, screams, the dull thud of bones being pierced by a hard object, intertwined into a symphony unique to Hell's Kitchen.
Lynt grabbed a piece of popcorn and threw it into his mouth; it was satisfyingly crunchy.
He didn't even look at Raven beside him, merely commenting blandly,
"Appetizer, doesn't taste very good."
Raven's body was as taut as a stone.
She wasn't wearing headphones, nor did she care what was happening over there; she was just a little helpless.
Those street hyenas, whose heads had been turned by thirty million U.S. dollars, were now being torn to shreds by a truly mad dog.
She really didn't understand.
The plan had succeeded, the tracker was in place, so why weren't they hiding in a safe place instead of sitting here listening to the show?
"What... exactly are we waiting for?"
Raven's voice was dry, with a hint of anxiety she didn't even notice herself.
"Waiting for the main characters to appear."
Lynt took a sip of cola, the ice clinking crisply against the glass.
Just then, the audio track in his headphones suddenly changed!
"Boom—!!"
A terrifying roar, like some giant object violently breaking through reinforced concrete, drowned out all gunshots and screams!
Immediately following was an inhuman roar, full of savagery and fury!
"Roar—!!!"
Raven's pupils sharply constricted!
That sound!
She would never forget it in her life!
It was Sabretooth! The most uncontrollable Beast under Eric's command!
How could he be here?!
Raven sharply turned her head to look at Lynt, only to see a satisfied smile on his face.
"See, the first main character has arrived."
He spoke as if it were a trivial matter.
Raven's heart, however, sank.
She instantly understood that the message sent to the Brotherhood channel... was real!
This madman, he not only schemed against Kingpin and S.H.I.E.L.D., he even dragged Magneto into his calculations!
In the headphones, Bullseye's eerie laugh rang out, with a hint of excitement at being challenged.
"Oh? Another big cat has arrived?"
Immediately followed by the sharp screech of metal colliding at high speed!
It was Sabretooth's claws clashing with something Bullseye had thrown!
Ping! Pong! Clang!
Intense sounds of fighting, like a metal storm, brutally poured into Lynt's eardrums through the small headphones.
He leaned back comfortably in his chair and grabbed another handful of popcorn.
"Hmm, now this is more like it."
Raven looked at his calm, almost cold profile, her expression complex.
She had witnessed Magneto's grand fury destroying cities, and Red Devil's cunning elegance toying with human lives.
But she had never seen a person like this.
One who played all the strong individuals in the palm of his hand, yet remained outside the fray himself.
"Sizzle—!"
In the headphones, a third, completely different sound abruptly cut into the battlefield!
It was the unique sound of high-voltage current tearing through the air!
Raven's body stiffened again.
Widow's Bite!
It was Black Widow! S.H.I.E.L.D.'s ace Agent!
She had come too!
Lynt nodded, as if grading an actor's performance.
"The female lead has also arrived, good, very punctual."
He even leisurely swung his leg, completely immersed in this bloody drama he had personally orchestrated.
Raven sat beside him, listening to the chaotic, hair-raising sounds from the headphones, watching Lynt's face, flickering in the light and Shadow of the screen.
Red Hook Slaughterhouse.
The second basement level had now become a veritable meat grinder.
In the air, dense steam had not yet dissipated, mixed with the nauseating stench of blood, gunpowder, and wild Beast.
Bullseye, like an elegant psychopath, stood amidst a pile of hanging pig carcasses.
At his feet lay the bodies of a dozen street thugs, each with a different manner of death.
Some had a playing card stuck in their throat, some had a coin embedded in their forehead, and some had a boning knife run through their chest.
Not a single body was intact.
Bullseye licked his lips, his gaze fixed on the behemoth that had burst out of the hole in the wall.
Sabretooth!
"S.H.I.E.L.D.'s lapdog, also wants a piece of the pie?"
Sabretooth let out a low growl; his target was clear: the woman in the black catsuit who had just descended from above.
According to the intelligence he received, S.H.I.E.L.D. would be testing a gene weapon against Mutants here!
And this woman was undoubtedly the enforcer!
He would tear her to shreds!
"Roar!"
Sabretooth stomped the ground, and the concrete beneath his feet instantly cracked.
His massive body transformed into a yellow lightning bolt, carrying an unmatched stench, and charged straight at Natasha!
"HYDRA's mad dog?"
Natasha's eyes narrowed, and her body bent backward at an impossible angle, narrowly dodging the deadly claws.
The wind from the claws grazed her nose, and the force even cut her cheek.
Her intel indicated that Kingpin was trading with HYDRA remnants.
But wasn't this Beast in front of her Sabretooth of the Brotherhood?
That psychopath with the playing cards should be Kingpin's man.
Her mission was to secure that box of black money, which was crucial evidence, while subduing these two dangerous individuals!
"Sizzle!"
Natasha swung her arms, and the Widow's Bite on her wrists instantly sprang out, two electric whips like venomous snakes, coiling around Sabretooth!
On the other side, Bullseye laughed.
He laughed with immense joy.
"So they're not together? Excellent, I thought it would be boring."
In his view, whether it was the Beast that suddenly appeared or the beautiful woman who descended from the sky, they were all after the thirty million U.S. dollars.
They were all his enemies!
He flipped his wrist, three playing cards folder between his fingers, and without looking, flicked them out!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The three cards, forming a triangular pattern, shot towards Natasha and Sabretooth's backs and throats, respectively!
The attack covered all evasion angles!
However, just as the three parties were about to completely descend into chaos!
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Dull, rhythmic gunshots, like the drumbeats of the God of Death, erupted from a shadowy corner no one had noticed!
The bullets did not hit anyone.
Instead, they precisely struck the metal track buckle where a row of pig carcasses hung!
Clatter—!
An entire row, a dozen huge, gutted pig carcasses, like a heavy wall of meat, crashed down!
They perfectly separated the three who were about to collide!
A man in a black trench coat, with a large White skull emblem on his chest, walked out of the Shadow of a shipping container.
He carried an M4A1 assault rifle in his hand, its muzzle still smoking.
Frank Castle.
The Punisher.
He needed no intelligence, no reason.
He was here simply because he smelled the scent of evil.
These three in front of him, whether they were madmen who killed for sport or inhuman Beasts, made no difference in his eyes.