Gathering Storm

After reaching an agreement with Osborn Industries, everything began to fall into place. Sean took a solid first step towards success. At Dr. Connors' persistent urging, he shed his intern and lab assistant roles and officially became a partner in the laboratory.

Once the new drug was on the market, Sean planned to leave the State University of New York laboratory. The research facilities and environment there could no longer satisfy him; they were too crude and simple for his rapidly growing research team.

Sean and Connors had already found a new laboratory location in the northern suburbs of Long Island and had begun excavation. The land, situated on the East Coast, was originally intended for a high-end villa complex, with landscaping and living facilities already completed. Through Wesley's covert operations and leveraging some government connections, he acquired the land, brimming with potential for appreciation, at an extremely low price.

Sean believed that before long, the brand-new laboratory would be fully constructed and ready for initial use. At that point, Sean would finally possess his own first business, no longer an unknown nobody.

Returning home, Sean found Mindy packing in her room. Those adorable Tuzki plush toys filled two large boxes, along with piles of clothes and her personal collection. This included dozens of beautiful, sharp butterfly knives, likely birthday gifts from her father, and a finely crafted handgun that had been blued and polished, with a walnut grip, making it more of a collectible art piece than a weapon.

"It looks like you have more stuff than I do. I remember you only had a small backpack when you moved in," Sean said, feeling a bit speechless as he looked at the small mountain of stacked boxes.

"These are all my most precious collections. Teacher Jenny said that in the future, I need to be an elegant woman with a refined and tasteful life... You, a nerdy guy with only comic books and robot models, wouldn't understand," Mindy said, giving Sean a rather disdainful glance before shaking her head with a wistful expression, as if her life was too far removed from his.

Crack-crack-crack...

Sean, with a dark expression, grabbed the little blonde girl and delivered a swift, decisive punishment. "Mindy McCready, you've been corrupted by evil capitalism. To save your young and fragile heart, you'll be washing all the dishes next week."

The little girl, feeling ten thousand points of damage internally, glared furiously at Sean, who was humming a tune. Considering he usually gave her pocket money and patiently washed dishes and cooked for her, she decided to temporarily forgive this impudent behavior.

After mentally torturing Sean ten thousand times, Mindy's face broke into a smile again as she happily organized her treasures. They were preparing for a big move. With Sean entering the ranks of the wealthy, it wasn't suitable for him to continue living in the old apartment. Harry Osborn had recommended a reliable real estate agent, and through their introduction, Sean had purchased a luxurious apartment in Manhattan. All the paperwork was completed, and they were now preparing to move in.

After packing, Mindy took Sean's hand and looked at the empty room. The little girl pouted, "Are we really moving? I think living here is pretty good. There's a comic book store nearby, and a delicious and cheap Burger King. Does Manhattan have these?"

Sean ruffled Mindy's hair and said softly, "It will. There will be bigger comic book stores, ice cream shops with many flavors, and fun amusement parks. We'll have a bigger house than this."

Mindy's eyes lit up as she nodded, her earlier unhappiness completely forgotten. She tucked her small hand into Sean's palm, a bright smile on her face. After losing her father, the empty space in the little girl's heart had long been filled by Sean. Living together, two lonely souls, allowed Mindy to feel the concept of family and warmth for the first time.

"Will we live together forever then?" Mindy asked, tilting her head up.

"Yes," Sean replied with a slight smile. Perhaps picking up this little girl had been the right decision. Striving forward alone in this cold world would have been too lonely.

Loading the packed boxes into their newly purchased car, Sean and Mindy closed the apartment door. With one last look at the place they had lived, the starting point of Sean's first step in life, formidable figures like the drug lord Frank D'Amico, Kingpin, and the Green Goblin had all fallen at his feet. They were like stepping stones, helping Sean ascend to greater heights.

"Let's say goodbye to the past, Mindy," Sean said, pulling the little girl along. The two figures, one big and one small, shared a smile and turned away.

As the last rays of the setting sun dipped below the horizon, night slowly descended, cloaked in a thin veil. While Sean was busy moving into his new residence, a helicopter stirred the air on the private helipad of the Rand Corporation, slowly landing on the empty platform.

A young man with curly brown hair stepped off the helicopter, followed by a black-haired woman carrying a backpack. They gazed at the brightly lit New York City, their eyes showing a sense of relief.

"Returning to this city again, I feel a very strange sensation," the young man remarked. The last time he had visited New York was to reclaim control of his family's business from his enemies.

This dust-covered young man was Danny Rand. Years ago, he had been in a plane crash with his parents, and after their deaths, he was adopted by monks from the East, becoming a member of the mystical organization "K'un-Lun." After decades of rigorous training, Danny earned the title of K'un-Lun's protector—Iron Fist.

"The Hand told me there would be a war in New York, which is why I've returned to this city," Danny said, looking at his girlfriend, his eyes flickering as if recalling something. "I don't know what damn conspiracy The Hand is planning, but those people destroyed the only sanctuary that brought me peace. Colleen, I will find every single one of them!"

"I believe you."

The black-haired woman squeezed Danny's hand. As they were about to leave the helipad, a violent shaking sensation struck. A cacophony of noise surged like a tidal wave. The brightly lit skyscrapers in the distance, as if hit by a widespread power outage, all extinguished their lights. A visible, massive crack split open on the empty helipad. Danny grabbed his girlfriend, Colleen, and struggled to steady their shaking bodies.

"An earthquake?" Danny wondered, looking at the darkened cityscape.

The entire Hell's Kitchen experienced violent tremors, as if a shallow-focus earthquake had occurred. Cars parked on the streets blared their alarms, and panicked crowds poured out of apartments and buildings. Chaos spread like a tide. Even with the police trying to maintain order, their efforts were largely ineffective.

The earthquake radiated outwards from Hell's Kitchen to other neighborhoods. Whether it was Matt Murdock, who had abandoned his Daredevil identity, Jessica Jones, who was investigating a missing person case, or Luke Cage, who had recently been released from prison, these street heroes living in Hell's Kitchen all felt the intense tremors.

Meanwhile, the Punisher, having narrowly escaped from Wesley, was being pursued by a group of Hand ninjas. Covered in blood, Frank tried to use the complex terrain and buildings of Hell's Kitchen to evade the ninjas hot on his heels. He hadn't expected this mysterious organization hidden within Hell's Kitchen to be orchestrating such an astonishing conspiracy.

This terrifying news had to be delivered to Matt. A war was about to break out in Hell's Kitchen, and he couldn't stop it alone. They needed to gather everyone to confront The Hand.