The grate opened with a soft screech as I slipped through into the underground dock. The smell of salt, rust, and oil hit me all at once. Above, guards patrolled the catwalks with rifles slung across their shoulders. Crates marked with Fisk's insignia were stacked high, ready to be shipped out.
My mission wasn't to just blow this place up. Not yet.We needed intel. Without it, we'd just be cutting off one head of the hydra.
[Stealth Lv 3 Activated: Sound suppressed, visibility while hiding reduced by 20%.]
Hugging the shadows, I crept forward. Predator's Instinct guided me through gaps in the patrols. At the far side of the dock, a structure stood out—a small, makeshift office built into the wall, metal siding and tinted windows. If Fisk was moving something big, the logs would be in there.
I whispered, "Now to get to that office."
Above, Daredevil's silhouette appeared on the catwalk, moving like a ghost. He caught my eye and gave a subtle nod. The plan was simple: he draws the attention, I get the goods.
A moment later, chaos erupted.Gunfire rang out as Daredevil crashed through a guard post, his billy club spinning and cracking against rifles. Thugs shouted and scrambled, focusing their fire on the crimson figure tearing through them. Perfect.
While all eyes were on him, I dashed, slipping past distracted guards. I reached the office door and knelt down. The lock was a regular one—too easy. With my 25 WIS and some patience, I got past it, slipping inside without a sound.
The interior smelled like stale cigarettes and sweat. A desk cluttered with papers and a glowing laptop sat in the center. Perfect.
[Observe Activated: Document File "Shipment Logs" Detected.][Observe Activated: Laptop – Encrypted.]
"Later, not enough time right now."
I flipped through the papers. Routes, dates, and lots of names. Some I recognized from the news: politicians, business owners, cops. Fisk wasn't just running guns; he was running a whole city.
Suddenly, Predator's Instinct flared. I dove to the side just as the office door burst open. A thug stormed in, rifle raised.
Clockbreak activated. Time seemed to slow.I moved, stepping inside his guard and slamming my reinforced knuckle duster into his ribs. The crunch echoed even in slow motion. I grabbed his collar, yanking him down into my rising knee, and time snapped back as he crumpled silently.
[Random Thug Lv 10 defeated +100 EXP]
Dragging him out of sight, I returned to the laptop, grabbing it for Daredevil or myself to get it uncoded.
Daredevil's voice rang out faintly through the chaos outside. "Liam! Move!"
I stuffed everything—papers, drives, the laptop—into my inventory and bolted. Guards were swarming the area now.
Daredevil had carved a path through them. I sprinted, fists flying as anyone who got close ate a fistful of Brutal Momentum.
We escaped through the same sewer I entered, the sounds of shouting fading behind us.We emerged into the night, filthy and exhausted. Daredevil wiped blood from his lip, his breathing steady.
"You got what we need?" he asked.
I nodded, grinning. "Logs, names, routes, even some encrypted project files. Fisk is going to hate us."
I glanced at the laptop glowing faintly in my hands. "You think you can get into the encrypted files?"
Daredevil shook his head slightly. "Not my area. I can handle a lot of things, but breaking high-level encryption isn't one of them."
"Figures," I muttered, slipping the device back into my inventory.
Daredevil's posture shifted, his head angling as he listened to the distant hum of engines. "We need to move. Fisk's men are already sweeping the area. They'll hit every exit they can think of."
We bolted across the rooftops, using the cover of the night to stay ahead of the searchlights sweeping below. Every few blocks, Daredevil would stop, his head twitching slightly as he adjusted our route to avoid oncoming patrols. Eventually, we ducked into an abandoned church that smelled faintly of mildew and dust.
I set the laptop on a cracked wooden table, spreading the papers out beside it. Candlelight flickered across the files, casting warped shadows on the walls. The names stared back at me—politicians, judges, cops. The list read like a who's-who of the city's power players.
Daredevil's jaw tightened as he scanned the documents. "Fisk owns half of Hell's Kitchen. And the other half? Too scared to fight back."
I smirked. "Then we'll have to make them scared of something else."
Before Daredevil could respond, Predator's Instinct flared sharp and cold. I shot up to my feet as my eyes scanned the rafters. I caught the faintest creak of old wood.
"Someone's here," I hissed.
The window exploded inward, a bullet smashing through the wall where I had been standing a moment before.
"Sniper!" Daredevil barked, diving for cover.
More rounds tore through the ancient church, splintering pews and sending stone dust raining down. I clenched my fists, feeling Clockbreak hum at the edge of my perception.I triggered it.
The world slowed. Bullets were still faster than I could move, but the sniper wasn't. I could see the muzzle flash from across the street, the faint glint of the scope under the moonlight. In a single motion, I vaulted through the shattered glass, shards spinning lazily around me.
The sniper fired again. The bullet was slower than in regular time. Predator's Instinct flared. I twisted midair, feeling the heat of the bullet pass close enough to scorch my sleeve. My boots hit the rooftop, and I was already moving.
The sniper tried to chamber another round, but I was faster. My fist connected with his jaw, reinforced knuckles crunching bone.
[Sniper Lv 13 defeated +130 EXP]
He hit the ground hard, unconscious before he even knew what happened.I yanked the rifle away and peered into the darkness below. Sirens wailed, closing in fast.
"Rooftop's clear," I called down.
Daredevil climbed up, expression grim. "Fisk knows exactly what we stole. They'll keep coming."
I tightened my grip on the laptop. "Then we have to be faster. This thing? It might be the key to taking him down. We need to get it cracked, no matter what it takes."
Daredevil nodded, his face half-hidden by the dim moonlight. "I know someone who might help. But it's risky."
I raised an eyebrow. "Risky how?"
"He's an old contact," Daredevil replied, his voice low. "Brilliant hacker, but… he doesn't exactly play well with others. And Fisk's men aren't the only ones after him. If we go to him, we'll have a target on our backs the whole way."
I smirked, wind blowing my coat. "Not like we're not already getting hunted."
Daredevil gave the faintest hint of a grin. "Fair enough. We move now, before Fisk locks down the city."
We slipped across the rooftops, the city alive with sirens and distant shouting. Patrols were thicker now—black SUVs prowled the streets, and spotlights swept over the alleys. Fisk wasn't wasting any time.
[Stealth Lv 3 Activated: Detection radius reduced.][Stealth Leveled Up Lv 4: Sound suppressed, visibility while hiding reduced by 25%.]
I led the way through a maze of scaffolding and broken fire escapes, sticking to the darkest corners. Daredevil stayed close, every step perfectly measured despite the chaos.
Finally, we reached the edge of the industrial district. Below us, a small warehouse sat nestled between towering apartment blocks, its windows boarded up. A faint, almost invisible glow leaked from a crack in the door.
"That's the place?" I asked.
Daredevil nodded. "He goes by Ghostline. Don't underestimate him. He's paranoid, and he has reason to be." (random Oc to make the hells kitchen ark go faster)
As we dropped silently to the ground, Predator's Instinct screamed a warning. Not from the warehouse—but from the shadows behind us.
I spun, Clockbreak already surging. The world slowed, and out of the corner of my eye, shapes moved—three of them, silent and fast. Not Fisk's usual thugs. These guys wore matte black combat suits, their movements too precise, too coordinated.
"Daredevil!"
He was already reacting, flipping into the nearest attacker as my fist connected with another's helmet, sending him sprawling. The third raised a baton crackling with electricity, but my world was already slowed to a crawl. I stepped around his swing, grabbed his arm, and twisted until bone popped, sending him to the ground screaming.
[Random Enforcer Lv 15 defeated +150 EXP]
Daredevil grunted, disarming his opponent with a brutal strike. "These are professionals."
The last one lunged for me again, but I drove my knuckles into his chest with Brutal Momentum, the impact sending him through a wooden crate.
As silence fell, I caught my breath. "Professionals, huh?"
Daredevil crouched beside the unconscious attacker, pulling off his helmet. Inside, no ID—just a scarred face and a black earpiece still crackling faintly.
"They're Fisk's," he said grimly. "Which means he knows we have the laptop."
I glanced at the warehouse, my grip tightening on the device. "Then we better get inside before we find out how many more are coming."
With one last look around, we slipped into the hacker's lair.
Inside, the place was a fortress of tech—servers lined the walls, cables snaked across the floor, and dozens of monitors glowed with streams of code. In the center sat a man hunched over a keyboard, his face lit by the screens.
Without turning, he spoke. "You're late. And you brought company."
Daredevil stepped forward. "Ghostline, we need a favor."
The hacker finally swiveled his chair, revealing a gaunt face and piercing eyes that flickered to me, then to the laptop in my hands. A slow smile crept across his face.
"You've got something that's going to get us all killed," he said. "Good thing I love a challenge."
Ghostline stood, stretching as the screens behind him shifted to streams of encrypted data. "Put it on the table," he said, nodding toward a clear spot surrounded by half-disassembled drones.
I placed the laptop down, keeping a hand on it a second longer than needed. "It's encrypted. High-level."
Ghostline chuckled, fingers already dancing across his keyboard. "Please. Fisk might have money, but his people write code like they're stuck in 2005. Give me ten minutes."
[Adaptive Thinking Activated][New Skill – Basic Hacking (Passive) Lv 1]Description: Makes it easier to learn and use hacking by 10%.
"Ten minutes?" I raised an eyebrow, ignoring the screen pop-up.
He smirked. "Okay, maybe twenty. But I'll get in."
Daredevil remained still, listening to the faint sounds outside. "We don't have long. Fisk's men are sweeping the city block by block."
Ghostline's screens filled with lines of code and decryption tools spinning to life. "Then you better make yourselves useful while I work. If they find us here, this won't end pretty."
I moved to the door, scanning the perimeter through a narrow slit. Predator's Instinct pulsed faintly—danger was coming, but not yet. "How secure is this place?"
Ghostline snorted without looking back. "You're standing in a Faraday cage wrapped in concrete and paranoia. They won't find us unless they already know we're here."
The words were barely out when Daredevil tensed, his head snapping toward the roof. "They know."
A split second later, the skylight shattered, glass raining down as black-clad operatives dropped into the room like shadows. They moved with lethal precision, night-vision goggles glowing faintly.
Ghostline swore and dove behind a console. "Buy me five minutes!"
I surged forward, Clockbreak triggering in a rush of warped sound. Time slowed, my vision sharpening on the nearest attacker. I weaved past a bullet, feeling the air ripple as it grazed my shoulder, and smashed my fist into his visor. The helmet cracked, the man folding to the floor.
[Brutal Momentum: +4 STR][STR temporarily: 46]
Daredevil was a blur of motion, his billy club whipping around to disarm two more assailants. They fought back with shock batons, arcs of electricity lighting the room as they closed in.
"Three more on the left!" I shouted, ducking under a strike and driving a knee into another soldier's chest.
[Brutal Momentum: +8 STR][STR temporarily: 50]
Ghostline's voice rose above the chaos, frantic but steady. "Almost there! Hold them off!"
More operatives stormed through the door, but I was already moving, knuckle dusters flashing under the flickering monitors. Each hit was a blur of force, each dodge a hair's breadth from death.
Suddenly, a grenade clinked across the floor—smoke erupted, choking the room in gray haze. My instincts screamed. Through the fog, I saw the faint red beam of a targeting laser cutting toward Ghostline's position.
"No you don't!" I roared, diving through the smoke. Clockbreak stretched the world thin as I slammed into the shooter, sending us both crashing into a bank of monitors.
[Brutal Momentum: +12 STR][STR temporarily: 54]
Sparks erupted, and the man slumped, unconscious.
"Please tell me it's over," I muttered, coughing through the smoke.
Through the haze, Ghostline shouted, "I'm in! I've got the files!"
A massive explosion rocked the building, the front wall buckling inward as an armored figure stepped through the smoke—towering, clad in black combat armor. His voice was cold, distorted through a helmet.
"Return the laptop, and I might let you live."
Daredevil squared his shoulders, blood trickling down his jaw. "Not happening."
I clenched my fists, Clockbreak humming, ready to be used. The armored enforcer stepped forward, the ground trembling slightly under his weight.
Observe.[Target: Fisk Enforcer – Lv 36]HP: 1100Notes: Big, mean, and paid well enough to take a beating. Take him down fast.
Observe.[Target: Daredevil (Matt Murdock) – Lv 41]HP: 1500Notes: The Devil of Hell's Kitchen. Exceptional agility and reflexes. Do not fight—you might lose.
"System, give me more stats for both of them."
Name: Fisk Enforcer
Level: 36
HP: 1100/1100
STR: 45
DEX: 16
VIT: 110
INT: 10
WIS: 14
CHA: 5
Name: Daredevil (Matt Murdock)
Level: 41
HP: 1500/1500
STR: 35
DEX: 75
VIT: 150
INT: 20
WIS: 20
CHA: 24
"Fuck, they're both so much higher," I whispered.
The enforcer raised his weapon. "Then die here, little heroes."
I took a step forward, walking next to Daredevil. After all, you've got to aura farm when you can. "We'll see about that."
Predator's Instinct sharpened into a razor edge.The final showdown was about to begin.
The enforcer lunged first, his massive frame deceptively fast. The ground cracked under his boots as he swung a metal gauntlet the size of my head toward me.
Clockbreak surged. Time stretched, letting me slip under the blow and counter with an uppercut to his jaw and a knee to his stomach. My reinforced knuckles sparked against his helmet, barely denting it.
[Brutal Momentum: +20 STR][STR temporarily: 62]
The hit staggered him but didn't drop him. His armor absorbed most of the impact. He retaliated instantly, slamming a fist into my ribs with enough force to send me skidding across the floor.
[Brutal Momentum: Reset][Adaptive Thinking Activated]
My mind shot with so many ideas it almost hurt.
[HP: 954/1100][HP: 223/300]
Daredevil was already on him, spinning low and sweeping the enforcer's leg. The man barely flinched, grabbing Daredevil mid-spin and throwing him like a ragdoll into a stack of crates. The devil landed on his feet but winced. "He's tough—go for the joints!"
I got up, Gamer's Body dulling the pain, but it was still there. "Thirty seconds… twenty-five…" I whispered, sprinting back into the fight, my vision narrowing on the enforcer's knees and elbows where the armor plates overlapped.
I darted forward, fists hammering into the weak spots—precise strikes. Sparks flew as metal buckled. "Ten seconds…"
[Brutal Momentum: +8 STR][STR temporarily: 50]
He'll go for a right hook, then try to grab me. The thought popped into my mind—Adaptive Thinking with Predator's Instinct pushing my senses to the max, almost like I could see the future.
"Five seconds." I dodged as Daredevil came back, flanking his right and swinging his billy clubs at his knee joints, making him kneel.
[HP: 891/1100]
"Zero." I immediately activated Clockbreak, Adaptive Thinking guiding me where to hit for maximum damage.
Arms, knees, neck—all open just for me. I threw punch after punch, pushing my 32 DEX to the limit, achieving ten hits in a second. Even when not on the open parts, I did enough damage for it to not matter. I didn't need the full six seconds—only four were enough.
[Brutal Momentum: 108 STR][STR temporarily: 150][HP: 750/1100] – 5 hits[HP: 562/1100] – 10 hits[HP: 240/1100] – 20 hits[HP: 70/1100] – 25 hits [Critical! Stop if you don't wish for him to die, Liam.]
(i am just not realizing how op these two skills are together)
Breathing slowly, I stopped, my gloves and knuckle dusters covered in bits of blood.
"Fuck… I thought he was stronger."
Breathing hard, I staggered over to Daredevil. "You alright?" he asked.
"Never better," I rasped, wiping blood from my hands. "Ghostline, tell me you've got it."
From behind an overturned console, Ghostline popped up, clutching a drive. His grin was wild. "Not just got it—I've cracked it and copied it. Fisk is going to lose his mind when he realizes we got this."
The building groaned ominously; the earlier battles had compromised its structure. Smoke and sparks filled the air. Daredevil grunted. "We need to go. Now."
"What about the other guys?"
"No time—just grab as many as you can and run."
Looking at the structure, Adaptive Thinking activated, calculating where it would collapse and the safest spot. I grabbed as many as I could and dragged them to a corner with the least probability of collapse.
"Now let's go."
We bolted out through a side exit, Ghostline close behind, just as the warehouse collapsed in a plume of fire and dust. The night air hit us, cool and sharp.
Ghostline held up the drive like a trophy. "This… this is the end of Fisk's empire. You just don't know it yet."
I smirked, exhausted but alive. "Then let's make sure it is."
The city's sirens wailed in the distance, but for the first time that night, I felt like we were close to Fisk.
The war for Hell's Kitchen had just changed in our favor.
[Random Enforcers Lv 15 x6 defeated +600 EXP][Fisk Enforcer Lv 36 defeated +3000 EXP][Level Up! Lv 12 → Lv 15]
(3053 words as i said i would)