The Piranha Gurongi felt the relentless, irrepressible sealing energy surging through his arm. He glanced at Kuuga, who was approaching on the Gouram, and then at the Nasca Dopant standing before him.
He made a split-second decision. With a ruthless snarl, he bit down and manually tore his own arm off—the one struck by the Blast Pegasus—to prevent Kuuga's sealing energy from spreading to the rest of his body. Without a moment's hesitation, he turned and leapt into the water, vanishing without a trace.
Steve jumped down from the Gouram and landed on the cruise ship. He scanned the surrounding water, but there was no sign of the Piranha Gurongi.
He then turned toward the Nasca Dopant. "Friend, I—"
The young man transformed into the Nasca Dopant had no intention of entertaining Steve. Seeing that the monster had been wounded and driven off, he turned and gently patted the little girl's hair before spreading his wings of light and flying away.
Steve watched him leave but made no move to stop him. From what he could see at the scene, this Dopant had protected the child from the Gurongi. While he was curious about the Dopant's origin, the man clearly wasn't a threat to the public and wasn't an enemy. If the man wanted to hide his identity, there was no need to force a confrontation.
Looking at the bodies of the tourists scattered across the ship, Steve's heart grew heavy, and he let out a long sigh.
"Captain Steve, what's the situation?" Kent called out, approaching on a jet ski. He looked at the blood-stained water surrounding the ship, his voice urgent.
Steve shook his head grimly. "Preliminary estimate is over a hundred dead. The Gurongi escaped into the water."
Even though they had heavily wounded the Piranha Gurongi this time, the creature had still used its aquatic nature to flee. Steve felt a surge of restless anxiety. Over a hundred people had died in a matter of minutes; if this creature appeared again, there was no telling how many more innocent lives would be lost.
Steve first moved the little girl away from the gruesome scene, handing her over to a S.H.I.E.L.D. tactical team providing support. Then, he and Kent set off to search for the Piranha Gurongi.
Soon after, the police arrived to comfort the survivors and recover the victims' bodies, all while trying to handle the swarming reporters.
"SLAM!"
Commissioner Stacy's face was livid as he watched a news report featuring a reporter questioning the NYPD's competence. He slammed a folder onto his desk.
"How did this happen? Why did the reporters get to the scene so fast?"
The NYPD hadn't even had time to clear the area. The floor full of bodies and the horrific aftermath had been fully documented by the press. Now, virtually every citizen in New York had seen the reality of the Gurongi's mass slaughter. It was a devastating blow to the NYPD's public credibility.
Compounding the issue, several survivors had turned their terror into resentment, lashing out at the police and accusing them of failing in their duty to protect the public.
"Commissioner, we arrived the moment we received the alarm," an officer explained. "But while the tourists were calling us, they were also posting about the monster on social media. The media outlets are like sharks smelling blood—they swarmed the place."
"Enough," George Stacy said, waving his hand dismissively with a look of exhaustion. "The priority now is to find and eliminate this monster from the river to restore the department's reputation."
"From this moment on, every field officer is to be deployed to the Hudson River area where the monster appeared. The G3 unit is on standby. We will kill this son of a bitch."
After leaving the cruise ship, the Nasca Dopant found a secluded spot to cancel his transformation before returning to the Fisk Tower.
"Skana, that Dopant on the news stopping the monster—that was you, wasn't it?" Bullseye remarked in a mocking tone, toyed with a knife in his hand as he looked at the man who used the Nasca Memory.
Skana offered a polite but distant smile. "It was. I was testing the power of the Nasca Memory."
"Skana, Mr. Fisk is currently planning the unification of New York's underworld. Do not create unnecessary trouble," David, the user of the Eyes Memory, warned with a frown.
Skana shrugged nonchalantly. "It won't be a problem. Besides, creatures that appear out of nowhere to hunt human lives are unstable factors. Once Mr. Fisk has integrated the underworld, they would eventually need to be cleared out anyway."
"You're right. Once I have reorganized the order of New York, the existence of such monsters will not be permitted. But not now," Kingpin said, turning around to stare at Skana. "Currently, their actions draw attention away from us. I do not want your actions to cause others to lock their sights on us."
Skana bowed slightly toward Kingpin. "I understand your meaning, Mr. Fisk. I didn't linger with the creature. Rest assured, no one will trace my identity."
Kingpin nodded. "Good. Go attend to your business."
Skana nodded and left.
"Kingpin, this Skana seems a bit too soft-hearted, using the Nasca power just to save people," Bullseye said mockingly. He was still bitter that Skana could use a Gold Gaia Memory while he could not.
Kingpin gave Bullseye a meaningful look and spoke calmly, "As long as he obeys my orders, these trivial matters don't concern me."
"He is a rare user who can adapt to a Gold Gaia Memory, and he was already a member of the organization," David added in agreement.
Bullseye narrowed his eyes but remained silent.
"In this Gurongi incident, a mysterious Dopant using a Gaia Memory appeared and saved a little girl?" Nick Fury's lone eye glinted with thought as he received the report.
Coulson nodded. "The Captain saw it with his own eyes."
Fury looked at him. "What do you think?"
"As far as we know, most Dopants have been uncontrollable, destructive, and unstable," Coulson said, choosing his words carefully. "However, Stark and Frank have shown that the power of Gaia Memories can be mastered."
"So you think this person might be worth recruiting?" Fury finished the thought.
"At the very least, he hasn't shown himself to be a threat to civilians. It might be worth attempting contact," Coulson nodded. "If we can get him to cooperate, it might help our further analysis and research into Gaia Memories."
"We have to find him first," Fury said noncommittally.
Coulson nodded, understanding the subtext perfectly. His years of working under Fury told him exactly what was required: find the identity of this Dopant and negotiate an intake.
(End of Chapter)