Chapter 39
"Now..."
"We need to launch the Avengers Initiative immediately."
In the original course of history, the Avengers had been formed to face the increasingly grave alien threat, but now the initiative was being launched ahead of time.
"Energy absorption and release..."
"That's the key ability that allowed him to set off a nuclear explosion."
"Seeing through how things work and the paths they take through space doesn't seem quite accurate."
"But it's the key ability that allowed him to anticipate the teleporting assassin..."
"An indestructible physique."
"Mental resistance that blocked Mind Catcher."
"Sonic resistance."
"And even..."
"That mysterious, unfathomable killing move that could decide a person's life or death with a single word."
At Stark headquarters, Tony Stark's upper body was wrapped in gauze. If he hadn't used the jets in his hand armor at the last moment, he probably would have drowned in the sea.
Tony was still trying to find a way to stand against Su Chen, whom he had encountered earlier.
But in the end...
He felt utterly drained.
His opponent was simply too powerful.
If the artificial intelligence JARVIS's deductions were correct, then the boy's genes had to be extraordinary.
"I can only make it public."
Tony sighed inwardly and prepared to release all the information he had obtained by hacking to the public.
Now he could only hope that the thirteen-year-old boy would change his mind and stop blindly following the same path to the bitter end.
He hoped that public condemnation of General Ross would lessen the killing intent in the boy's heart.
But someone...
Beat him to it.
Just as JARVIS was preparing to release the secret file worldwide, a young Chinese-American hacker from Rising Tide, one of the world's top hacker organizations, released the entire file herself. She was Daisy Johnson, the future Quake.
"He was driven to this, step by step, by the villains in the military."
"This is persecution of Mutants!"
"General Ross should be executed!!"
Daisy began voicing her condemnation online.
Whoosh!!
As soon as the news hit the internet, it caused a huge sensation.
One stone raised a thousand waves.
"What drove a thirteen-year-old boy to become a demon?!"
Many people's impressions gradually changed, and they began speaking out in condemnation.
"He's speaking up for Mutants. He's a hero to Mutants!!"
Just as people were speaking up for Su Chen...
Another piece of confirmed news spread across the internet.
"Number one Mutant Su Chen actually killed Professor Charles. Several X-Men died in battle."
When the news broke...
The situation turned around again.
"Heh, what happened to speaking up for Mutants? What happened to that hero? Turns out your Mutant hero killed the leader of the Mutant moderates too."
"If you ask me, he's a hopeless extremist Mutant."
"Let him die!"
Chapter 39
Whether Su Chen was a hero to Mutants or a demon became the subject of heated debate.
After a full week of uproar, Su Chen unexpectedly vanished from the public eye.
Manhattan, Yorktown City.
Beneath the night sky, the magnificent, sprawling Fisk Tower rose from the ground and pierced the clouds, as though tearing through the darkness.
This was the criminal empire single-handedly built by its master, Wilson Fisk, the infamous Kingpin.
On the surface, the Fisco Tower Group was a magnificent commercial empire, but in reality, Kingpin, the emperor of the underworld, ruled everything beneath it. His word held sway, and no government decree could reach his world.
There, his word was law.
Thousands upon thousands of gangsters served him like loyal slaves.
Who knew how many innocent bodies lay buried beneath this magnificent building? Among them were the remains of Hit-Girl Mindy's mother.
"Hey! Little girl, this isn't a place you can come to."
Hit-Girl Mindy paid him no heed.
Ignoring the bodyguards' warnings, her small figure carried a bag straight into the first-floor lobby of Fisk Tower under cover of night.
Ring!!!
An alarm blared as the metal detector at the entrance picked up a large quantity of heavy metal.
"Damned little girl..."
The two black-suited thugs by the door sensed trouble. They immediately drew the pistols at their waists and took off the safeties, but before they could pull the triggers-
Bang.
Mindy spun around and fired twice, the precisely aimed bullets piercing their skulls.
"It's time to put an end to everything."
Whoosh!!!
Hit-Girl took a deep breath and pulled two fully automatic rifles from her bag.
Rat-a-tat!!
Brilliant flames burst from the muzzles as the automatic rifles sprayed bullets, killing every gangster who rushed into the lobby.
Soon...
Su Chen, dressed in a black hoodie, walked in through the lobby entrance of Fisk Tower with his younger sister, Su Shan.
Hum!!
Without the slightest warning, or even a trace of a detectable fluctuation, one of Fisk Tower's metal doors swiftly closed.
The reason he had disappeared for a week...
Was that Su Shan had needed a full week to recover her depleted spirits, while Su Chen had stayed by her side day and night and naturally would not have left.
And now...
Su Chen had come to Fisk Tower because he felt somewhat indebted and had decided to fulfill Big Daddy Damon's wish. Although they had never met and had no emotional bond to speak of, the man had died because of him.
Su Chen naturally would not let his death go unavenged.
To deal with Kingpin, the emperor of the underworld and the enemy he had longed day and night to confront, Big Daddy Damon had trained his daughter Mindy into a killing machine.
But as for when they could take revenge, Kingpin's power stood before them like a great mountain, virtually impossible to shake.
And now, Su Chen was going to destroy that mountain completely.
Hum!!
A surge of Telekinesis burst from his mind and, taking shape, formed blade after blade with faint outlines that pierced the bodies of the gang members.
In the blink of an eye, the figures throughout the lobby fell swiftly to the ground like cut grass.
These suited thugs and gang bodyguards were no match for Su Chen.
At that moment...
The lights throughout the building went out.
Everything around them plunged into darkness so complete they couldn't see their own hands.
"Be careful. Kingpin has a mysterious assassination force called the Hand. Those ninjas have a terrifying way of killing people."
Mindy's expression grew taut, and she became extremely alert.
Su Shan immediately entered her molecular mimicry state, which allowed all attacks and contact to pass through her body without harming her.
Su Chen's expression remained calm as his eyes swept over the surroundings with interest.
His clear black-and-white eyes seemed to shimmer faintly. His rapidly evolving infrared vision and night vision allowed him to see everything here.
Whoosh!!
Just then, a red-clad ninja who had been hiding on the ceiling, holding his breath for a full half-minute, suddenly leaped down.
Hum!!
The katana in his hand gleamed coldly, cutting through the darkness as he slashed down at Su Chen's head from midair in an iaijutsu strike.
"That's it?"
A hint of mockery appeared on Su Chen's face.
In less than a second...
An unknown, mysterious force intervened in reality. The expression of the figure slashing down through the air changed as his entire body began to break apart, turning into a mass of bubbles that drifted away into the air.
"Hah!!"
Another red-clad ninja could no longer hold back and broke the breath-holding technique he had maintained in a dark corner. The seasoned ninja swiftly drew the sword from the sheath at his waist, but before its fierce gleam could flash through the air...
"Uh..."
His lunging body suddenly crumpled to the ground as though it had lost every bone. With a thud, he shattered into a pile of doughnuts scattered all over the floor.
"This..."
Never mind the other assassins hidden in the dark-even Mindy stared in astonishment, scarcely able to believe the almost supernatural sight.
Hiss!!
At that moment, many of the Hand's ninjas lurking in the first-floor lobby could no longer hold their breath. Their impassive eyes were now filled with fear.
An enemy like this was simply too terrifying!!
How had he done it?
In this atmosphere, thick with killing intent and panic...
Only Su Shan's laughter rang out around them.
"Big brother must be craving doughnuts."