I'll Tell You Everything!

Sparks and lightning all the way.

Well... actually, there weren't.

Luca and the others kept a steady pace, staying just outside the car's line of sight as they followed it.

What surprised Luca, though, was that the car wasn't heading toward Hell's Kitchen, as he'd expected. Instead, it was making for a secluded stretch of coast near the Upper West Side.

"Did I really guess wrong? Was Kingpin not backing Dragan after all?"

"Or were tonight's attackers a different crew from the ones before?"

Luca knew just how "popular" he'd become lately, so he had no doubt that multiple groups of enemies might be targeting him at once.

But just as Luca began to question whether he'd jumped to conclusions, a voice suddenly came through the listening device. Until then, all he'd heard from the other end was heavy breathing and the sound of the car engine.

It sounded like the man was reporting on tonight's events to someone over the phone.

"Boss... it's me..."

"Don't... don't yell at me, boss. All my guys are dead! That bastard Dragan lied to us! There's a metal monster in that kid's house!"

There was a flurry of slaps against the steering wheel, followed by the shrill squeal of tires skidding across the road.

"Fuck! I almost ran into a patrol car... Boss, you've gotta believe me! I didn't take anything tonight, I swear! It was just like in the movies! That monster blew Steve's head apart with one punch. His brains splattered all over me."

As Luca listened to the man wildly spinning his tale, he glanced up at the big white lump in the rearview mirror, who was busy playing with its fingers, then rolled his eyes.

At least Luca could confirm one thing.

"So tonight's business really was connected to Dragan!"

What surprised him a little more was that the man he'd let escape was actually the leader of tonight's attackers.

"Maybe I really can use him to reel in something useful," Luca thought.

But there was no way his thoughts could reach the other end of the listening device.

The phone call continued.

Luca had no idea what the person on the other end said, but after a string of hurried affirmations, the fleeing man finally spoke again.

"Boss, I'm sure no one's following me. I already took the plates off, but..."

"Yes, I know, but, boss... this isn't about money anymore! That kid survived tonight. What if the boss finds out what we did...?"

"Okay, okay. I'll go burn the car right now."

The call had ended, but the listening device still picked up a steady stream of cursing.

It seemed the call with the so-called "boss" had helped the fleeing man relax. He was no longer silent and tense the whole time, like before.

Before long, the fleeing van reached an abandoned parking lot.

A moment later, flames and thick smoke billowed into the sky. On Luca's monitor, the tracker signal started moving in another direction.

At a warehouse dock on the northwest side of Manhattan.

After narrowly escaping with his life, Tony carefully parked his precious car, then got out, cursing under his breath.

The car might have looked like a wreck, but Tony had relied on it to disappear whenever things went bad. Once the heat died down, he could always come back.

In Tony's eyes, the beat-up jalopy—his dead brother's gift to him—was his one and only lucky ride.

After giving the windshield a light kiss, Tony sneaked over to the pitch-black warehouse at the far end of the dock.

"Knock, knock, knock."

"It's me!"

A moment later, the warehouse door opened from the inside.

The man at the door stuck his head out and looked around before yanking Tony inside.

"The boss is waiting for you in the little room!"

Feeling guilty, Tony instinctively straightened the collar of his battered jacket, then cautiously headed toward the only lit room in the warehouse.

"Boss... I'm back."

Trembling with nerves, Tony spoke softly from outside the door.

An impatient voice came from within.

"Come in!"

The iron door swung open, and the bearded brute inside saw his trusted henchman hovering furtively in the doorway.

"Why the hell are you still standing there? Get in!"

But the bearded brute had barely finished cursing when Tony's head suddenly lurched forward.

The next moment, he seemed to be struck by some sort of attack and collapsed stiffly to the floor without a sound, his life hanging in the balance.

"Fuck!"

Having been in the game for years, the bearded brute immediately reached for the pistol on the coffee table beside him.

But before his hand could touch the gun, there was a faint "pew." The pistol was knocked away, spinning through the air before landing on the floor in the distance.

It clattered against the concrete with a metallic rattle.

Then a muscular woman holding a silenced pistol walked in, aiming it straight at him.

"Which gang are you with? We can talk this out. Don't do anything rash!"

But he'd barely finished speaking when he noticed the person behind the muscular woman.

A handsome young man with his hands in his pockets and his eyes hidden by the glare on his glasses strolled in calmly, as if he were out for a walk.

He stepped right over Tony's "corpse" without a second thought. A chill ran through the bearded brute.

Of course, the fact that he recognized the young man by his unmistakable face only made him more terrified.

"It's you! How did you follow me here?! No, wait! That idiot Tony!"

Just as the bearded brute thought it was over, a large hand in strange armor suddenly reached out and braced itself against the doorframe.

The next moment.

"Creak—crack!"

The metal doorframe twisted with a shrill screech, then the entire frame and the wall panels around it splintered and broke apart.

Only then did a bulky armored figure, looking rather simple-minded, shuffle into the room. The armored figure even politely reached out to hold the shattered doorframe so it wouldn't collapse completely.

"Your door... I'm very sorry. Hello, I'm Baymax!"

"The metal monster!"

One look was all it took for the bearded brute to understand why his trusted henchman had been so terrified.

But...

"Those are carbon-fiber plates, damn it! It's a robot! What kind of metal monster is this?!"

The brute cursed furiously in his heart, but kept his expression under control. Instead, he obediently raised both hands above his head, his eyes full of a desperate will to live.

"What do you want to know? I'll tell you everything!"