"Get behind me!"
Luke Cage roared, his voice booming over the rattle of automatic gunfire. He stood like a monolith in the middle of the street, bullets sparking harmlessly off his skin like firecrackers hitting a tank.
PING. PING. RICOCHET.
Danny and Jessica crouched behind him, using the unbreakable man as a moving barricade.
"This is getting annoying!" Jessica shouted, covering her ears as a bullet whizzed past her nose. "Luke, move your ass! We're sitting ducks!"
"I'm moving, woman! I'm moving!"
With Luke acting as a mobile shield, the three retreated block by block until the gunfire faded. The Hand, for all their arrogance, dared not pursue them into the heart of the city. A war in broad daylight would bring the NYPD and S.H.I.E.L.D., and that was attention they couldn't afford.
[The Rand Building - Penthouse Suite]
The adrenaline crashed, leaving only exhaustion.
The trio collapsed onto the Italian leather sofas of Danny's penthouse. It was a stark contrast to the gritty streets—a palace in the sky for a prince who had just lost everything.
Jessica didn't sit for long. Her radar honed in on the wet bar.
Clink.
She poured three tumblers of expensive scotch. She slid one across the table to Luke, then flopped down next to Danny, shoving a glass into his hand.
"Drink," Jessica commanded. "It helps."
Danny stared at the amber liquid, his hand trembling slightly.
"I don't understand," Danny whispered, his voice hollow. "Joy... she was my friend. She was... everything."
"Was it all a lie?" He looked up, his eyes pleading for an answer. "Did she ever care? Or was I just... a mark?"
Luke sighed, swirling his drink. He wasn't good at this part. "Danny, man..."
"Don't go down that rabbit hole," Jessica interrupted, taking a swig. "It's just a breakup, Spaceman. A really, really bad one involving ninjas. But you're alive. Drink the booze."
Danny downed the scotch. The burn felt good. It cleared the fog.
He stood up, pacing the room.
"She didn't need rescuing," Danny muttered, his mind racing. "They staged the kidnapping. They poisoned you. They manipulated me into fighting Fongji... why?"
"To get you out of the way?" Luke suggested.
"No," Danny stopped. "To get my signature."
He looked at his friends, realization dawning.
"The Rand Estate. They went to all that trouble—the kidnapping, the poison, the theatre—just to get me to sign over the deed to the Estate."
"What's so special about an old house?" Jessica asked.
"It's not the house," Danny said darkly. "It's what's underneath it."
[The Rand Estate - Outskirts of Manhattan]
Twilight had fallen by the time they reached the estate.
The once-grand manor was now a ghost, swallowed by ivy and neglect. But the perimeter was anything but abandoned. A brand new, high-voltage electric fence encircled the property. Cameras swiveled on poles, their red eyes blinking in the dark.
"High security for a fixer-upper," Luke noted from the cover of the treeline. "We can't go through the front."
Danny smiled, a ghost of his boyhood returning.
"We don't need the front door," Danny whispered. "Follow me."
He led them to an overgrown utility shed near the property line. Inside, beneath a pile of rotting canvas, was a rusted hatch.
"My secret base," Danny explained. "I used to hide here when my dad had boring parties. It connects to the old storm drains."
They dropped down. The tunnel was damp and smelled of mold, but it bypassed the fence entirely.
They emerged into the basement of a utility shed inside the grounds. There was just one problem: the ladder to the surface had rusted away years ago. The hatch was twelve feet up.
"Great," Jessica sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "I hate this."
"Hate what?" Luke asked.
"Flying in a closet."
Jessica gritted her teeth. She crouched and launched herself upward. It wasn't graceful flight; it was a guided jump. She smashed through the wooden hatch, sending a cloud of dust and decades of pigeon droppings raining down on the men below.
"Dammit!" Jessica coughed, pulling herself onto the grass. She lowered a rope. "If either of you mentions the cobwebs in my hair, I will end you."
Luke and Danny climbed out, wisely staying silent.
They crept through the overgrown gardens, heading toward the main manor—a gothic castle in the center of the estate.
The sound of heavy machinery echoed in the night. Floodlights cut through the darkness.
Peeking over a stone wall, they saw it.
The beautiful manicured lawn had been torn apart. A massive pit was being dug in the center of the garden. Dozens of workers were toiling in the mud.
Standing at the edge of the pit, leaning on her cane, was Madame Gao.
Beside her stood a man holding a radio.
"Madam," the man said anxiously. "We are short on manpower. The excavation is too slow. And we received word from Fongji... the Iron Fist has escaped."
"He will come here," the man warned.
"Let him come," Gao said calmly. "But do not worry about manpower."
She looked toward the main gate.
"Alexandra has arrived."
The radio crackled. "My Lord, a convoy is at the gate. It's Alexandra. Should we open?"
Gao nodded. "Let them in."
Danny, Luke, and Jessica watched from the shadows as the heavy iron gates swung open.
A fleet of black SUVs and transport trucks rolled in.
The doors of the trucks opened, and hundreds of people spilled out. They weren't soldiers. They were thin, ragged—street kids, the homeless, the desperate.
"They're bringing in slaves," Luke hissed, his fists clenching.
The leader of the convoy stepped out of a luxury sedan. An elegant older woman with icy eyes and an aura of absolute authority.
Alexandra Reid. The Leader of the Five Fingers.
....
.....
.....
Support my patreon and get early access to chapters
patreon.com/ImmortalDaoWriter