Snare-oh and Daredevil (part II)

When the police got to the docks, Matt and I watched from on top of a crane overlooking it. I eyed the cops as they surrounded the area, putting away the men we'd knocked out. Wearing my new stealth armor, I blinked in a brief pattern that activated the 'Zoom and Enhance Cliche' tech, letting me watch a group of cops blinking at the sight of a pair of men tied up in Snare-Oh bandages. Another couple of guys were being cared for by EMTs. The women we'd saved were helped into cars. One of them looked up briefly, where she must have seen Matt and I rappel towards, gave us a hesitant wave, then got into the police car.

The guy we were interrogating was shivering as he was taken away, his shirt still ripped. He kept mumbling to himself and the officers taking him, looking shell-shocked.

As the police gathered their quarry, I looked at Matt. "Okay, what is he saying?"

Matt cocked his head to point his right ear toward the guy. "Something about... Satan and his hellhound," Matt shook his head. "I think he's getting better, but we scared him. Don't worry though, his heartbeat is calming down. Not that he deserves it..."

I shook my head, feeling a bit disquieted. Sure, we had only skirted a line, not crossed it. And it had been for damn sure justified.

There were more girls in the city. Being... made, created, produced, whatever fucking thing you could call it. The Russians were behind it.

My feelings about sex workers are... complicated. On the one hand, if a man or woman truly wants to do such a thing, I think it's their right to. They should be allowed to have control over their bodies, as long as they don't hurt innocent people or force their views onto others. I also believe they should be as protected as any other citizen. The fact that they are seen as easy targets, people you can belittle and abuse without consequence is a travesty.

But worse is when they are forced into it. I won't get into it. I won't describe the horrific things that need to be done to control a person without the brainwashing tech that HYDRA used, the... Well. Compared to the Russians, HYDRA might as well have been kind. Though I didn't doubt that they had used such methods themselves before more 'efficient' ways were developed.

I clenched and unclenched my fists, slowly.

Yeah. I was pissed.

"Okay then. We have a plan?" I asked Daredevil.

"I thought you would have one," he said, surprising me. "You've been a, well, superhero for a while, right?"

"Yeah, but I learned everything about it from comic books before I ended up fighting alongside the Avengers," I admitted. Still, his comment had me thinking on that.

The Russians were apparently behind the human slave trade now. The guy we'd interrogated had no idea how that happened since he was just a low-level guy, but he knew the basics. The Russians, Chinese, Yakuza, even some of the old mobsters, had taken over Hell's Kitchen.

"...Right here, right now, we know of one building where people are in danger," I said at last.

"Agreed," Matt rose to his feet, facing me as we balanced on the crane above the docks, both in our dark armor. "We go in and save them."

"And at the same time, we send the report of what happened to my people," I said grimly. "They'll know what to do with the information we find... X."

"Yes, sir," X said quietly.

"I might need you again. Is that okay? This stuff... this is the darker part of human nature."

"Jarvis and I have been working on the Dark Web together for some time, confronting those using it for the purpose of harming the innocent. I will have no issues aiding you," he said, sounding positively vicious. "Humanity has its monsters, sir. I have no issue helping the devil to punish them."

I blinked at that, surprised. "You've been..."

"Under the direction of Maria Hill, we have saved hundreds of young children, women, and men. There has been some issues, but I am proud of the work we have done."

Holy... so that's what she wanted to borrow him for. Sometimes it was easy to forget that I didn't always have a direct view of the heroism happening in the world around me.

"X, you are a freaking gift I never expected," I said, surprised as hell. "Seriously, anything you want after this, it's yours."

"I will remember that," X said simply.

"In the meantime, we need directions. Time to..." I stopped. I couldn't think of something pithy to say. I thought of saying one of Ben's quotes, but... no. Not tonight. Instead, I took a deep breath. "Show us the target, X."

Daredevil said nothing as his helmet, rather than showing the GPS route I was getting on my own HUD, simply booted up the program I'd created to aid him with sightless navigation. Once the route was made, and I'd changed into Snare-Oh again, we were off.

And as we went, I steeled myself. I knew what we would find there. I knew it might be even worse than that. There had been some... rough moments for me before. I still checked up on the one woman I hadn't been able to save before she was raped, instead beating her attackers more viciously than I ever had up to that point.

I had to keep a clear head. I had to save innocents, but also not... god help me. Allah, all I want to do now is rip and tear all of these evil bastards. And being Snare-Oh wasn't helping. Because if any form knows the meaning of undying anger, of course, it would be one of the aliens from the Anur System.

Daredevil and I swung silently into the city as I tried to keep my spirits up.

The building Daredevil and I ended up at was apparently an apartment building once, all square and brick, with four floors. It was now owned by the Russians, set up to 'prepare' people for the sex trafficking business. Basically, give the people they selected a certain drug, force them to get addicted, then condition through the drugs, beatings, and sexual abuse to become their 'product'.

Guards stood casually around the building, just four guys, one at the front door, one circling around, and two guys smoking on the roof.

Daredevil and I stood on across from the building in a nearby park that had seen better days, with a playground that was missing half the equipment and had a bunch of trash littering it. Funny, because we'd passed somewhere that had a beautiful park nearby, all clean and updated equipment for kids.

New York City, a city of lights and shadows. Wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

"How should we do this?" I said quietly. "You want me to take the guys at the door, while you head in from the roof?"

"Maybe," he cocked his head from side to side, listening. "About twenty people inside monitoring their prisoners... How did they stay hidden for so long?"

"I've been wondering the same, so I did some digging," X said. "I've looked over the officers who patrol this part of this city. According to traffic reports, they seem to avoid this street. A look at their financials shows some very creative bookkeeping hiding the fact that they have been obtaining more money than their salary would allow for."

"Bribes," Daredevil said. "Makes sense. Any chance you have an... alien that can shut the doors? Close the exits to keep them from opening, or at least one that can cover them with some boards?" he said uncertainly, apparently unsure of the idea of asking that.

"More than a few," I replied, looking over at the blind badass. "What are you thinking?"

"As you said, you come from the bottom, I go down from the top. We keep the prisoners safe by being as stealthy as we can. If we can take them out without getting caught, we can have the police over to clean up after. Er, X, was it?"

"Yes, Mr. Murdock."

"Any chance you can make sure those called aren't dirty?"

"BRIDGE has a list I can consult."

"Good. One officer by the name of Brett is worth a look," Matt looked at me. "Ready?"

"Eager," I admitted, lifting my hand up and pressing on the Omnitrix. "Let's go."

My first target was the guy roaming in circles around the building. I floated over him on waves of anti-gravity in Goop form, waiting for my chance. He was leaving the guy at the front door, just turning the corner. Almost... almost...

The second he was alone, I dropped on top of him as a ball of goo taller than him. He tried to shout, but I wrapped a green jello hand around his mouth. Goop, as a gelatinous being, had a bunch of neat tricks beyond just shapeshifting. For one thing, my Anti-gravity projector gave me some form of flight. For another, I could change the goo that made up my form to become all sorts of things. With a thought, I shifted my body chemistry to become adhesive, leaving his mouth shut by the sticky fluid. With a throw, he slammed into the brick wall, where I fired another ball of goo, leaving him struggling in fear attached to the wall by a sticky green web.

Floating up again, I moved to the guy at the door at high speed. He was smoking a cigarette when I showed up. I spun around in mid-air and fired pieces of myself, the balls of green hitting his face and chest to lift him up and slam him into the stair covered in my adhesive goo before he could say a word. I took some time to wipe away enough from his nose so he could breathe comfortably. I moved up to the door and slinked over to it. Eyeing it for a moment, I came up with an idea. Leaning down, I pressed my arm against the bottom of the door.

My left arm shrank, flowed, and finally slipped under the door. Goop's eye moved over to that section, letting me look around.

Two guys were in the living room, drinking while an old Godzilla movie played. Another guy was in the kitchen, making himself a snack I suppose.

I watched a moment longer through my left arm while my other eye kept an eye out. Once I was sure I could move, I changed my body composition to acidic. The wood on the door dissolved around my arm, making a hole big enough for my anti-gravity projector to go into the house, with the rest of me coming inside.

Slipping into the kitchen as a stream of green fluid moving along the floor, I moved behind the guy making a snack. It was a sandwich. I waited for the short Russian man to raise the sandwich to his mouth, taking a bite.

The second it was in his mouth, I rose off the floor and surrounded him in tight bonds of green goo rope.

He choked on his sandwich, but I slammed a piece of adhesive on his mouth, leaving him unable to yell. He struggled as more bonds wrapped around his wrists, then I lifted him to the ceiling before attaching him there, leaving him looking down at me as he struggled against the green adhesive keeping him against the ceiling.

Not a sound was made.

I moved to the living room, flowing across the floor while keeping an eye out for more bad guys. Slipping behind the couch where the two guys were watching tv, I slowly seeped underneath the couch. Anyone who has owned a couch knows there is a lot of space under the things. In this case, I was able to rise up through the couch, slipping along the wooden frame and nails, filling every nook and cranny. I took a moment to make sure no one was coming. Then I struck right as Godzilla roared on the screen.

To the Russians on the chair, it must have seemed like the couch was suddenly eating them. I 'swam around them, soaking them, pieces of myself surround their mouths as they screamed. It felt funny when their screams created bubbles within me. I pulled them tight to the couch, grabbing one guy's arms when he struggled to reach for a gun and pulling it into his arm. It was a bit of struggle, controlling the movements of two guys at once, like typing with one hand and eating with the other, but I managed to get them stuck to the couch. A bit more adhesive made sure the couch was stuck to the floor so they couldn't tip it over and draw attention. I moved to the door and fired a big glop that covered the entire door. After doing the same to the back door, I moved upstairs, floating up as a flowing river.

A guy rested on a chair with a magazine, reading to himself when I got to the next floor. I ignored him for now, sliding along the ceiling and heading to one of the rooms.

Inside, I found my worst fears. A young woman and man with a bed each, both handcuffed to the metal beds so their arms and legs were spread. They were passed out and half-naked, track marks on their arms. For a moment, I fiercely missed fighting HYDRA, as opposed to dealing with the horrors I was seeing. I pushed away that thought and tried to decide what to do.

I couldn't free them, not yet. For all I knew, they were already broken, Stockholm syndrome and conditioning doing their work. If I tried to help, they might see me as an enemy.

With a heavy heart, I flowed back out of the room and attacked the guy in the hall, attaching him to the ceiling with more force than necessary.

Each room I visited was a small nightmare. I flowed through the building, taking my time, making sure to mark every victim. Some of them were so young. The casual abuse they'd suffered. There were ten people on that floor, and I forced myself to remember everyone for the police report later.

On the third floor, I met some trouble. A group of six rough looking men sitting around a crap television, joking around and playing card games. I couldn't attack them all at once. I mean, I could, but not without getting in a fight. I quickly counted up the guys I'd taken out. Two outside, three on the first floor, one on the second, the six in front of me. That made twelve. Matt had said there were twenty people, not counting the prisoners.

Hmm... Maybe, if I separated them out a bit, then took them out fast, firing quick?

Thinking, I decided to use my skills learned from stealth games. Carefully, I aimed down at the stairs and fired a big blob of goo. It splattered noisily on the stairs. The six guys looked up curiously.

{What was that?} one man asked in Russian, the Omnitrix translating for me.

{Probably one of the girls shitting themselves again,} another answered with a grumble. {James, check it out.}

{Oh, come on!} James, apparently, shouted in annoyance. {Those bitches can wait for a bit, let's finish this hand!}

{Would you go already?} one of the older guys said.

He grumbled, rising up and slapping his cards down. As he walked away, he turned to the others. {Hey, no cheating!}

{Go!} three of the men shouted.

Grumbling again, he walked away. As he did, one of the men quickly picked up James' cards and smirked at what he saw, grinning at the others as he put them back down.

James, still complaining, went down the stairs with me following above him. He stopped when he saw the spot on the steps where my ball of goo had landed, soaking the carpet.

{What the hell?} James mumbled to himself.

I fired a stream of goo with the pressure of a firehose. He had time to yell before the stream slammed him into the stairs railing.

{That hell was that?! James?!}

I cursed mentally. I'd gotten impatient, made a mistake. Nothing to do but move forward.

Flowing upward, I got ready for the next stage, and hoped I hadn't ruined anything for Matt.