Chapter 24
Flame, meanwhile, was doing relatively well. His Chi control made him effectively immune to shadow attacks; his fire simply dispersed the darkness. He was left alone against the main mass of rank-and-file warriors. Strikes rained down from all sides, and avoiding them all was impossible, but he was killing them much faster than they could land a hit. His body count had already surpassed a hundred. Initially, his goal was to break through and free Stone, but he quickly realized the futility of the effort: no matter how many ninjas he incinerated, the tide was endless.
In total, the Hand had about six hundred warriors remaining. A hundred had already mindlessly sacrificed themselves, evaporating against the golden barrier of the Chaste. Another hundred such suicides, and the defense would collapse.
Another ally joined the chaos, one Stick least wanted to see there: Daredevil. He moved not as a protector, but as a messenger of vengeance, consumed by blind rage. He had abandoned the war with the Hand for Elektra's sake, but the Hand had taken her anyway. He didn't know she had become a stone statue in Gorgon's collection; he only knew that she had been killed. Now, he was ruthlessly slaughtering every ninja who approached the barrier.
In the center of the clearing, surrounded by craters from their exchanges, Stick and Matsu'o clashed.
— Finally, he is here, Matsu'o hissed, dodging a strike. — Your star pupil. Will you be able to kill him too, Stick?
Matsu'o dissolved into the shadows, heading toward Daredevil.
— Insufferable brat! Stick cursed, recognizing the trap.
Matsu'o's plan was thin but was his only option: force Stick to choose between duty and his student. Against a monster like Stick in a long-term fight, Matsu'o had little chance, even with the Shadow Realm's support. Although deep down he suspected Stick would likely endure the burden and kill his student personally, he still wanted to force him to pay that price.
But suddenly, the leader of the Hand changed course, sensing something far more valuable. He felt darkness sprouting violently within Xavier's soul. A planetary-level telepath was a far greater prize. With darkness growing that fast, subjugation would be instantaneous. Stick, still thinking the primary target was Daredevil, was too slow to stop him.
Spider-Man, guided by his intuition, fired webbing into the shadow, trying to restrain him. But Matsu'o materialized, sliced through the sticky threads with a flick of his hand, and continued moving.
Magneto, who had been holding off Lady Bullseye, saw the new threat. He drew metal deposits from deep underground that he had located earlier and erected a thick wall between Xavier—who Magneto noticed was stumbling strangely—and Matsu'o. Even the leader of the Hand would have trouble piercing such a thick layer.
But Bullseye was not about to forgive him for that maneuver. She emerged from the shadow behind his back. Magneto managed to turn and dodge the lethal strike, but not completely. The demon-bone blade sliced through his arm, severing it above the elbow. His control over the metal faltered. The wall crashed to the ground, opening the path for Matsu'o.
The shadow of the Hand's leader darted toward Xavier's chair. His hand was only a centimeter from the Professor's forehead when a violet shield flared between them.
Diego materialized out of thin air.
— Hope I did that right, otherwise saving an enemy would be pretty awkward.
Matsu'o, repelled by the violet shield, had no time to recover before Stick reached him. The Chi master's strike was precise and devastating, sending the leader of the Hand flying hundreds of meters. This gave Stick a moment to assess the situation. He turned to Xavier; his blind eyes seemed to see the darkness that Matsu'o had nearly managed to claim within the Professor.
Xavier had just felt Kurt's death from a distance—he had felt the sudden severance of their mental link and the overwhelming death-agony that followed. The Professor's brain, enhanced by his gift, not only made him a genius but magnified his emotions manifold. This sudden wave of rage, deep sorrow, and hatred for the enemy had knocked him off balance, and those emotions provided the fertile ground Matsu'o had almost seized.
Stick stepped forward, delivering a calculated strike with the edge of his palm to Xavier's neck to knock him out immediately.
The Professor's instinctive telekinetic shield flared, trying to protect itself. Stick pierced it without visible effort, but a second, violet barrier immediately appeared before him. Diego, not knowing who Stick was or what his intentions were, only saw an attack on Xavier, who seemed to be a protagonist.
Stick, applying more effort and infusing his strike with Chi, shattered Diego's barrier as well. His hand found its mark. Xavier slumped limply in his chair.
Diego was in shock; for the first time, someone had pierced his barrier so easily with a single blow. Granted, he had only put about half of his strength into that shield, but whether Stick had used all of his own was a haunting question.
While he processed this, Stick turned his head toward him. His blind eyes seemed to look right through him.
— Kid. First off, I didn't kill him, I knocked him out. He clearly isn't himself.
Then he looked toward Magneto, who was clutching the stump of his arm.
— Second. You, the metal-master. You're useless here now. Take your telepath friend and get off the battlefield.
Magneto looked at Stick, but weighing the situation, he silently lifted himself and Xavier's chair into the air and sped away. Lady Bullseye, watching from the shadows, did not dare attack the fleeing Magneto in Stick's presence.
— You, Stick addressed Diego again. — Can you handle her? He nodded toward where Bullseye was hiding.
— Just because you're giving orders doesn't mean I'll listen, Diego replied, the irony in his voice obvious. — But I have to admit, these guys in black look very villainous. Moving through shadows... I assume this is the Hand. But I don't know if I can handle her; I don't have data on her powers.
— Yes, it's the Hand, Stick confirmed curtly. — She uses shadow teleportation, not just movement. Her speed and reaction time are above peak human. Your barriers are strong, but her blade will pierce them. Double the strength of the shield; it will only slow her down, but it'll give you time to react. He turned his head toward the trees for a moment. — Spider, stop eavesdropping. You'll help him.
With those words, Stick lunged forward and vanished silently in the direction Matsu'o had flown.
Spider-Man dropped from a tree into the clearing.
— Seriously? How did that blind guy notice me?
— Apparently, he isn't that blind, Diego shrugged. — Listen. There are no high-rises here; you're at a disadvantage. I'll create anchor points for you. Use my barriers to move. Can you do that?
— Yeah, no problem.
Lady Bullseye stepped gracefully out of the shadow of a nearby tree. She slowly ran her tongue over her lips, evaluating them.
— Oh my, oh my. Two hot guys for one charming little me. We could have so much fun... Mmm, how about this: you both voluntarily put on collars and become my obedient friends. And then we all go off into the sunset to do some very naughty things.
— I'm not exactly against roleplay, Diego replied. Following Stick's advice, he reinforced his personal barrier to the maximum, pouring so much power into it for the first time that it began to take on a distinct violet hue. — But I get the feeling you're being dead serious. Which suggests you're just a crazy, control-freak bitch. So, how about we skip the foreplay and just start the fight?
The night vision integrated into the Stark suit was a lifesaver for Diego. Without it, in this thick darkness, the fight would have been over before it even began.
Bullseye lunged at them.
She didn't use teleportation. It was obvious that just as they were studying her, she wanted to feel them out.
For the first time, Diego didn't have to hold back. He manifested an ultra-thin but incredibly durable barrier in front of her, hurling it toward her like a blade. The idea was that at her high speed, she would collide with this almost invisible but solid edge, and her own inertia, multiplied by the barrier's durability, would slice her in half.
But she twisted away. At the last moment, her body seemed to stick to the ground; she somehow impossibly killed her inertia, redirected her vector of movement, and changed course without losing much speed.
Diego, however, wasn't frustrated; he was encouraged. The fact that she chose to dodge rather than block or tank the hit meant one thing: the barrier would indeed deal damage.
With a practiced motion, he rose into the air on a barrier created under his feet, using it like a glider to create distance. Simultaneously, several more violet platforms flared in the air in a chaotic pattern—not too durable, but enough for Spider-Man to latch onto.
Spider-Man didn't shy away from the challenge. Using his sense, he knew exactly where each platform was located. He didn't hang back at a distance and engaged the enemy himself.
Bullseye immediately switched her focus to him, and a staggering dance of evasion began. If not for his spider-sense, Spider-Man would have already lost. The gift gave him a margin for error that a normal human simply didn't have.
Diego, watching from the air, could barely keep his eyes on their movements. Everything was happening too fast.
At one point, Spider-Man miscalculated and was about to miss a parry aimed at his side. But, using a barrier directly above his head, he fired a web at it and yanked himself upward, clearing the line of attack a fraction of a second before the strike.
Bullseye stopped, flipping her hair theatrically.
— It's clear you've studied Krav Maga, her voice dripped with mockery. — But you know, darling, that's just a defensive art. Now I'll show you both what real combat looks like.
She spread her arms wide in an inviting gesture.
— Come on, suckers.