Chapter 56. The Defenders

They drove to a remote place.

Luke parked the car, glanced back at Matt and Ah Xing in the car, and then opened the car door, leaving room for them to talk.

Matt slightly tilted his head. When he heard the noise from the front seat and the footsteps outside the car, he couldn't help sighing. In fact, it wasn't only Ah Xing. He was hoping he could convince Luke to join his team, going against the Hand.

It's just that Luke's attitude had always been clear and obvious. He didn't want to get too involved.

"Ah Xing, Madame Gao is back." Shaking his head helplessly, Matt first redirected his attention back to Ah Xing, who was sitting beside him.

"Madame Gao?"

Although it was clear in his heart who Madame Gao was, even more so than Matt, who was the one and only Daredevil, on the surface, Ryan wore a blank expression and asked.

Although he couldn't see the expression on Ah Xing's face, Matt still perceived the emotion he wanted to express from the tone of his words. He immediately reminded him, "It's the person we fought in the factory before."

"Oh, you mean that weird old lady." Nodding with a dazed expression, Ah Xing mercilessly added, "To be precise, we didn't actually fight her. I hadn't even raised my leg, and you were slapped away by her."

"..."

This comment from Ah Xing made Matt go silent for a moment.

Recalling the scene in the factory, even now, he could still feel the wound left by Madame Gao on his chest, and it still faintly stung.

"Well, perhaps I wasn't accurate enough." With a wry smile, Matt restrained his bitter memory and showed a serious expression, "Ah Xing, I need your help, just like last time."

"Is it because of Madame Gao?" In connection with what Matt had said earlier, Ryan in the antique shop had already figured out the key to the other party's request. It was nothing more than asking him for help in dealing with Madame Gao.

"Yeah." Sure enough, Matt nodded and said, "Madame Gao not only reappeared but also brought over a very dangerous organisation -- the Hand. Borrowing terrifying powers of the Hand, she's trying to integrate the entire Hell's Kitchen drug trafficking industry."

"The Hand?"

"They're a terrifying organisation that's remained hidden in the dark. I've only recently come across news of this organisation and have had a few brief encounters with them." When it came to the Hand, Matt's expression changed slightly; it was clear that those previous encounters weren't simple.

"The Hand is too powerful. I don't have the confidence to stop them on my own." The successive battles over this period of time didn't only leave dense wounds on Matt's body but also tested the superhero's willpower constantly, making him feel more and more insignificant and vulnerable when fighting evil on his own.

As Claire said, he needed a team to help him fight the threat from the Hand.

"Ah Xing, I need your strength."

After everything was said and done, Matt took a deep breath and waited for Ah Xing's final decision. He was even mentally prepared for rejection.

"Okay."

However, without hesitation, Ah Xing immediately gave Matt a positive reply.

"Why?" His grip on the guide stick tightened a little. Matt turned to Ah Xing, his tone was a little agitated and a little puzzled.

"To do what's right. To save lives and help the wounded is the duty of those of us who practice martial arts. Master Ip taught me that when I was training in Peng Lai."

"Master Ip?" Ah Xing's answer was a mix between English and Chinese. Even Matt, as a lawyer, didn't understand all of it. But he still picked up the word 'Master' from the other party's words.

'Got him!'

In the antique shop, Ryan secretly praised the superhero's perceptiveness by observing Matt's reaction from his clone.

"Master Ip is a martial artist who arrived in Peng Lai by accident. According to his own words, he was originally a martial artist who, tired of fighting and feeling powerless in the war, travelled in disgrace and ended up in Peng Lai."

Throwing out a little bit about Ip Man's background, Ryan kept it shallow, leaving it to Matt's imagination.

Taking Ah Xing's description of Master Ip to heart, Matt then returned his focus to the battle that was to come. Although, with Ah Xing joining him, he was no longer as powerless as he had been in the past when he fought against the Hand, he was also aware that he and Ah Xing alone wouldn't be enough to destroy the Hand's threat truly.

They needed more help.

At the moment, the nearest candidate was Luke, standing outside.

This big man, who was invulnerable and powerful, was simply made for fighting.

"Maybe, let me try it."

Faced with Matt's expression of distress, Ah Xing couldn't help but speak up.

From Ryan's point of view, he obviously wanted as many people to move with the clone as possible, so he would then be able to gain more reputation points.

　　...

Getting out of the car and looking at Luke standing in the distance in silence, Ryan, in the antique shop, couldn't help but pick his eyebrow.

He looked like a big guy, but his personality was different from that of the average man, perhaps because of his experiences and memories in prison. The big man very much content, even a little too content.

"Long time no see, Luke."

Going up to him, Ryan made his clone, Ah Xing, greet him.

"It hasn't been that long." Lu faintly said as he turned to the clone.

"I heard you started to act since I left Harlem."

"I did that because of Pop. Because Harlem had something that needed to be protected, it's within my power and within my reach. I prefer that, rather than teaming up with a blind man, fighting against some strange organisation."

"But, Luke, didn't you ever think that, if no one stopped the Hand now, sooner or later they will reach Harlem. When that happens, drugs will run rampant in the streets of Harlem. Do you wanna see that happen?"

"That's just a guess."

Ryan's comment clearly touched on something that Luke had been avoiding internally, not wanting to think about it any further.

"You really think so?"

Turning his head and looking directly at Ah Xing for a long time, Luke just sighed and made a compromise in his heart, "Fine, I promise to join your .... What's your team called?"

"What are we called?" Although, in his mind, he already knew the name of the team, Ryan nevertheless conceded the opportunity to Matt, who was standing not far away.

Matt stood beside the car, although there was a little distance between Ah Xing and Luke, his super senses still allowed him to hear Ah Xing's question clearly. With a slight curve on his lips, the blind lawyer nodded his head and said...

"Defenders."

...

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