28

Two days later.

A message popped up on Liam's mobile. The message was from a burner number, and there was only a single sentence:

"Allied Constructions, 52nd Street, 11 pm, 10th floor."

Liam knew where the message came from, and a devilish smile appeared on his face. He had also noticed that Tony had been a bit too chatty with him since the incident, often texting him. Liam wasn't bothered or disturbed by it but found it odd, as Tony wasn't known for such behavior. Tony had only become a family man after starting his own family, and Peter, who got the lion's share of the legacy, rarely met Tony. Peter even had to prove himself to get close to Tony.

Maybe it was Tony's attitude because of his impending death. It didn't matter to Liam anyway, as now he would finish the job once and for all. But after what he had done on the pier, he started thinking about how he had lost any sort of emotional backlash from killing so many people. He saw the people he killed as Uruks that needed to be taken down, or monsters that needed to be cleansed from the Earth.

Though the System had said there was no PTSD or any other kind of problem with his brain, he felt as though he didn't have any emotions. Maybe it was a side effect of his previous life, as that life, too, didn't seem to have any solid purpose—he just existed for the sake of existence.

"Mom, I have some work to do tonight. Don't disturb me," Liam said as he went to his room. Olivia and Mason merely acknowledged him, thinking he might be having a video call with his girlfriend. Little did they know their son was about to commit another crime.

Liam took a taxi to Hell's Kitchen, stopping a couple of streets away, and then used his abilities to suit himself before disappearing into the night.

"Let's not waste time. You called us here, so tell us—who is this man? What do you know?" Leland Wesley, the right-hand man of Wilson Fisk, said as he entered the floor. It had been their meeting place since they started this venture together.

Madame Gao followed him, and the last to arrive was Nobu. None of their faces looked good. Normally, when there was a mishap, they would steamroll their opponents. But this time, they couldn't.

The men investigating the case weren't police to begin with, and they weren't like Hydra, which could infiltrate anywhere. And the lawyers hired by their adversaries came from Stark Foundation. Those lawyers were new, impossible to infiltrate, and vicious like sharks. The more evidence surfaced, the more restless they became. Even Fisk felt a bit of fear when he realized the players he was up against.

"Have you seen the footage? He's a ghost," Vladmir said. "Back in our hometown, there was a name for men like him—Bereginya. The moment I saw the video, I knew it was him."

"Anatoly, Vladmir... You think this is a joke? You think we came all the way across town to hear about your prehistoric ghosts?" Wesley snapped. He was usually calm, but the pressure he was under was too much, and he couldn't take it.

"No one just stumbles onto a ship like that. Someone tipped him—or whatever this thing is—off. Someone gave him the location and the timing. This wasn't random. You said you had answers. Tell us now, and don't give us ghosts as answers," Nobu said, speaking with a broken accent.

"Okay... Let's consider this Bereginya is real for a moment. Have you only come to tell us this, or do you know the person's location?" Wesley asked, pressing for answers. Only Madame Gao remained silent.

Madame Gao, the oldest among them, on her crutches, sensed something was off. The two brothers were far more talkative than usual, and she could see they were nervous. Was this an ambush? But how could it be possible? There were ninjas in the neighborhood, and this place had been swept clean of any traps six hours ago. None of them had brought their mobiles for safety and privacy, so an ambush seemed unlikely.

She didn't care much about the man who had killed her men on the ship. In her mind, she could have killed those men herself—perhaps even faster. She looked around and then suddenly looked up.

"It's an ambush," Madame Gao said in fluent English. Before she could speak another word, a man landed right in front of them with a superhero landing, one famously seen in Marvel movies.

But the landing wasn't the highlight. The moment he hit the ground, a shockwave spread outward, with him as the epicenter.

Since he had landed in the center, all the individuals were affected, their backs and faces slammed onto the floor. Even Madame Gao, who had seen him land, didn't expect to fall or become so disoriented.

Anatoly, Vladmir, and Wesley lost consciousness. Only Nobu and Madame Gao stood up a few seconds later, ears ringing, feeling as though the world was spinning. They were essentially seeing more stars than they should in New York's light-polluted skies.

Of course, it was Liam who had landed after jumping from high above the building, using the Elven Light ability. Normally, this power would blind the enemy, and with magic, he could freeze or burn them to death. In this case, however, he had used its might to disorient his enemies.

Nobu and Madame Gao both looked darkly at him, especially Madame Gao as they stood up. She realized this man wasn't the rookie she had assumed. Though she had seen the footage, she hadn't thought much of it. Now, however, she thought differently.