Matt Murdock
Yekaterinburg was breathtaking from the air. Pristine towers rose above clear waterways that glittered in the morning sun, while lush forests teeming with wild animals stretched towards the horizon. As the city rose beneath us, the distant cacophony of machinery and people grew louder.
I breathed in deeply and exhaled. I never tired of it. Seeing it all. Feeling it all. Most days, my transformation didn't feel like a blessing, especially with all the responsibilities and threats that came with it. But there were times like these when I didn't miss groping in the dark, even with the precision I'd once possessed when dismantling Hand members with my fists and billy club.
As we passed over the city and crossed into the Ural Mountains, Manny revved up the sensory array, and we all linked up, with the exception of Luke.
Manny swept over the settlement with a dexterity and precision that frankly baffled me. He was searching for potential collaborators and secondary rituals.
Through the array, we saw hundreds of thousands of minds spread across a mock-up of the city, represented by little bright dots that resembled ants in the most complicated farm in the world.
For the rest of the team, the mental runes in the array provided an aerial view of the city along with impressions of the people below. For me, though, they offered instant snapshots of their lives.
It had been overwhelming the first time I used the array, but I'd since learned to focus on the important details and let the rest fade into the background.
My attention snagged on a building.
A single mother was worried about her only son getting bullied at school again as she sent him out the door, but she was even more worried about keeping her job. She'd caught her manager's eye after his last secretary resigned for undisclosed reasons, and he'd been making a point of mentoring her closely. His handshakes lingered too long, as did his stares.
She knew what was coming.
My fist tightened, and Jessica touched my shoulder. She'd seen what I saw, too. I tried not to hide what I sensed from the group, especially during a mission.
It's never going to be enough, is it?
Luke was an excellent addition to the group, but he was just one man. The goal was to let the Avengers shift from a global defense force into something more flexible, capable of handling world-ending threats while also helping ordinary people with problems that could forever change the trajectory of their lives.
"I've gathered evidence of his conduct and reported it to his superiors," Manny said. "They're respectable people. He should be out of a job within a week and in prison."
I nodded, not the least bit surprised by what he'd just told me.
"What just happened?" Luke asked, sitting up in his chair. He looked absolutely gigantic in his Arcanite armor and was still struggling with the mental channels.
"Just a minor situation down below in the city," Colleen said, polishing her blade. "I think you'd like it. Now, we only have to worry about the rapes, the robberies, and fifty-three other crimes happening as we speak."
"I'll alert the Sentinels we're sending to resolve those issues, along with any others that pop up," Manny added.
The surge in protection would, of course, be temporary. I could already hear Dante now: "We can't risk an international incident. Not until we have more leverage."
We'd had versions of this conversation before. He liked to play the long game, and he never quite understood that it came at the expense of everybody else, even after Shin's attacks.
Luke Cage looked down at the outskirts of the city we'd already passed and turned slightly pale. It was one hell of a first mission. Still, he seemed to be holding up well enough. I was certain he'd find his equilibrium.
"I've cleared the city," Manny said.
The psionic display we'd been watching vanished, replaced by an image of rolling, mist-covered mountains.
"I'm sensing a massive influx of Dark Magic on the last mountain in the chain. That is the likely location of the ritual, as well as Kaecilius."
"Great work, Manny," I said, nodding at the Synthezoid. "You've read Kaecilius's file. You know the kind of magic he uses and what breaks it. We'll approach under stealth, and depending on his defensive setup, we'll deploy the appropriate enchantments to neutralize him and his ritual simultaneously. If we're lucky, we'll get both done in one go. But when have we ever been lucky?"
That got a laugh out of Jessica.
"Any questions?"
Nobody spoke up.
"All right. Let's go save the world."
Manny hit the thrusters, flinging the ship forward. Thanks to the many, many enchantments loaded onto it, we felt no whiplash. Within seconds, we were hovering above the ritual site, staring down at a massive magic circle stretching for nearly a mile. Kaecilius floated at its center, a mad look in his eyes and black lines running down the sides of his face.
A mystical barrier surrounded the ritual, preventing any direct attack. It was tied to the sun, meaning we couldn't break it until the planet completed another rotation around it. Unless, of course, we destroyed the Tether.
Luckily, we had a copy of Rebellion built into the ship for precisely this scenario.
The power we could draw from the conjured weapon wasn't infinite, especially at this distance from its owner. We could make it last longer by bolstering it with Arcanite, but even the wonder metal had its limits. Eventually, Rebellion would fade away.
But while we had it, it was the most powerful weapon in our arsenal, save for Manny himself.
"Aquila. Dimensional Slash laced with Anathema Fire, straight at the Tether. Maximum Mind Spike, followed by a secondary infused Slash aimed at the ritual."
Manny acknowledged the commands and deployed the attacks. The central array etched into our ship's surface lit up, and a massive dimensional shuriken, almost as large as the ship itself, shot out, its edges wreathed in purple fire.
The moment it passed through the Tether, the Mind Spike and a second Dimensional Slash descended on the ritual circle. Both were aided by time enchantments, deployed at Manny's discretion.
The Tether snapped and burned, but a second, brackish barrier appeared in its place. Lined with eldritch runes I didn't recognize, it proved strong enough to weather both attacks, sustaining little more than a few cracks.
We all felt it before it happened, but only Manny was quick enough to anticipate it.
A massive circle appeared in the air, summoned by a dozen or so clones of Kaecilius, and darkness-tinted fire poured down.
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