15:00
When Pietro returned to the barber shop, the people of Harlem had invaded and surrounded the building so he assumed the job was done. He saw a text from Kwannon about the hotel. So he traveled there where the gang ate and relaxed all waiting for Namor. Namor had finished paying Hogarth and was simply buying new outfits for the gang’s incognito. Bullseye was still asleep but Wade had explained who he was.
At the legal office, Foggy crawled out of his room physically ruined. Matt crawled out of his completely broken inside. They crawled to each other and hugged tightly. “Foggy…I finally finished….”
“Me too buddy. I want to put in my two weeks.”
“Sorry, I mentally clocked out, can’t approve of that.”
“Better luck next time.”
They started profusely crying but then Matt noticed someone else was in the room. He returned to his regular composure and had to push Foggy off of him. Foggy turned to see their large dress suited customer. “Oh hi-uh knock maybe.”
“I wanted to but that was quite the sight. New York never fails,” the man replied.
“Russian?” Matt asked, then the two stood up, “what could we do for you?”
Foggy helped Matt take a seat at the reception desk. The big man sat on the other side. Foggy stood to the side. “I am from Tver, Russia but I have been a US citizen, a New York citizen for a few years. Anyways, I am being sued for destruction of vehicle and I would like defense. I hear you are very good lawyer.”
“Of course. What’s your name?”
“What do you mean of course?” Foggy asked quietly.
“My name is Aleksei Mikhailovich. Here’s my papers and the suit.”
Foggy took a look at them but then asked Matt, “is he lying about anything?”
Matt shook his head. “Do you have an argument of why you didn’t destroy the vehicle?”
“Well I was across town. I was breakfasting in Brooklyn at the time.”
Foggy said, “I see. They were specific on when the car was destroyed. And this is up for a hearing tomorrow so while we don’t have a lot of time, this doesn’t deserve too much effort. One question from me big buddy, why does it say you’re the Rhino?”
“That’s the crazy part, I am not the Rhino. It must be racial since we have the same accent.”
Matt then said, “well that’s all we have to ask. Let me and my partner discuss this before accepting to defend you.” Matt and Foggy went into Matt’s office. They shut the blinds so he couldn’t peak. “So he is the Rhino.”
“Why is he coming to us!?”
“Because we’re good lawyers. We look out for the little guy.”
“He wrote down his offer. He is not a little guy Matt.”
“But this is a lawsuit against Aleksei or the Rhino? The Rhino has been imprisoned twice before but I don’t know if they revealed his identity.”
“It only mentions that he is the Rhino as their burden of proof.”
“So they are trying to sue the real person. To actually attack his assets. If he loses though, villains may have to start releasing funds for property of destruction upon arrest.”
“So we should lose! What about Doc Ock? His identity was public so his accounts should have been unloaded.”
“I know he lost his PHDs. But they may have just froze his accounts or the state seized them for themselves. Here, we can set precedent. We have to be careful to be really really good lawyers this time Foggy.”
“Good to hear. He’s offering a shit ton.”
The Big 3 Shield agents and a helping of Homeland Security agents arrived at Rikers for cleanup and investigation. HS brought one large ship to carry the dead bodies in as there were many. They would all be placed in fragile temporary coffins. The head agent in charge of New York City’s division was Dinah Madani. She is an infrequent and unhappy partner of the Punisher. She sat in her helicopter with Agent Masters. “Don’t worry, my agents are the cream of the crop. Your team will be safe as they continue to extract bodies.”
“Yeah but then the real investigation begins. I have to understand what Scarfe was saying. He was about to take the body but then found himself in the water? Maybe its a magician.”
“A magician. Would they really flood the prison and then murder everyone inside one by one?”
“I’m not sure, I don’t know anyone to point to. Deadpool isn’t a magician.”
“Could he have even been here?”
Madani buried her face in her hands and then dragged her face as she pulled it out. “It’s so ridiculous. I have the faintest gut feeling that this is unconnected with the Rhino but connected to Deadpool.”
“Gut feelings are fine if not scientific.”
“What can I even say to you, much less the President?”
“Just make your claim. Scientists work off theories all the time.”
“Okay, chronologically, Rhino runs through town. Spider-Man loses him. He at some point visits the prison right before it gets flooded. That’s one ‘story’ line. The other is that Deadpool arrives in town and meets his probably old partner Bullseye. They murder Danny and get chased by Luke but then they escape. The prison does get flooded randomly and a while later the inhabitants get murdered. I could say it’s Deadpool but Luke should have chased him here. Luke was found dead in his barber shop and a girl named Claire Temple was found in a coma. Even after killing Luke, that doesn’t give Deadpool enough time to get here. The victims were also found with the same Hellcat marks certain criminals received in Midtown months ago. So maybe she in fact killed Jessica Jones, Mercedes Knight, and Colleen Wing. Hellcat and the Flooder are potentially allied.”
“Sounds good enough for me. Now I’ve never heard of Hellcat.”
“Well I only have reports from the streets. Last year, before Fisk fell, Hell’s Kitchen was in turmoil. Worse than during Castle’s Punishment. There was the Hand, Daredevil, Electro, Bloody Mary, and then finally a new series of deaths came from what they called the Hellcat. Most say it’s a woman who can simply leave scratches on villains. She was defeated by Daredevil but only a few apparently saw the fight. The Hellcat only lasted two weeks and no one had died like that ever since.”
“Daredevil. My Natasha knows him, she says he’s a good man. Why’d you put him in a list of villains?”
“He’s a vigilante demon. They all perpetuate the problem. Daredevil’s lucky that Captain Mahomey trusts him.”
“Shield is beyond the influence of nation-states so I totally relate with him,” Masters said, flicking his fingers into guns.
“Congrats”. An agent walked up the helicopter and reported to Madani that they finished the second basement and were about to start the final one. “Well you are in costume but I hope you understand superheroes are just people. You all have flaws and failures, the same as us.”
Masters’ skull mask transmits everything he sees and hears to Shield homebase. Over there, Fury informed him that he could leave Madani. “Well I have to go check on my agents. Catch you later Madani!”
The lift opened to the bottom basement and so the agents came across the deep abyss. Hawkeye and Black Widow sighed in unison. Then they heard footsteps coming for them. After waiting, Karen and Urich appeared in view. They suddenly looked scared to see all of the government agents.
“Names?” Hawkeye asked.
“I’m Ben Urich and this is my partner Karen Page. I work at the Daily Bugle.”
“Confirmation?” Hawkeye asked BW. She quickly looked up Daily Bugle employees. She nodded. “Karen, where do you work?”
“Nelson and Murdock, defense attorneys. I’m their private investigator and also a friend of police Captain Mahomey.”
“Cool. Did you guys see Hellcat?”
Karen nodded her head. “She killed everyone here but disappeared. Only us, Wilson Fisk, and two other prisoners remain.”
“Uh, why’d she leave?”
“Don’t know but there was someone else here. Someone else who murdered Colleen Wing and Mercedes Knight.”
“Oh, who?”
“I don’t know. Some fast guy. He moved around like a ghost and stomped on their heads!” Karen pointed at a bloody pile on the ground, “that’s where Misty’s head is!”
“You sure that wasn’t Hellcat?”
BW elbowed Hawkeye, “she explicitly claws people. Let’s go in, you can wait in the lift.”
BW clicked a button on her wristlet that activated a flashlight. Hawkeye fired a few arrows that hit the walls and illuminated the palace. The agents came in as a sweep picking up the dead villains.
BW said to Fisk, “the Kingpin, not looking so hot.”
Fisk replied, “I look great considering the situation. To what do I owe the pleasure of meeting Shield?”
Hawkeey responded, “you don’t owe us anything, we’re just basking in your resilience.”
“Fisk, why don’t you tell us about your recent machinations?”
“Defending myself against some homicidal maniac? What else? Eating and pooping in the same ten feet of each other surrounded by the most pitiful members of society while Vanessa rots alone in a Venetian suite.”
“Um, no, like what you’re doing with Deadpool.”
“Deadpool. I am aware of that name but unlike the Yakuza, I never had to cross paths with him. And before you suggest I had a message man, I assure you only my lawyer Ben Donovan visits me infrequently. You can ask him if he ever contacted Deadpool but I have never even thought that he should.”
“Look at him, he’s machinationing this conversation,” BW complained like a child.
“Fisk, stop machinationing this conversation,” Hawkeye demanded.
“…Let me ask. What has happened today? This prison was flooded and then Hellcat invaded. How do these events require the presence of Shield? Deadpool kills mob bosses at their peak. But here I am in the trenches.”
“He’s still going,” BW complained, “he completely omitted the Rhino.”
“BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE RHINO!”
The two agents exchanged glances. Then Cornell walked into the conversation saying, “Rock music, fashion, and art. Crazy how even with crime, you attribute it as well to white people and not ‘the blacks’.”
They turned to him and narrowed their eyes. “Who’re you?”
“The nigga who hired Rhino. I had him place some explosives in the prison for my escape. Don’t know how you’re going to find them before I detonate the place.”
“Stokes, you do this without me?” Fisk asked.
“Fuck you, we’re rivals. The Stokes empire could have expanded if not for your fat ass in Midtown. Daredevil did the city a great disservice taking you out. Now all the streets gonna mutter about is Society and the Family.”
“You penultimate scum,” Fisk replied.
Hawkeye tilted his head, “the Family? Like, what, Al Capone? Italian Mafias are dead.”
“Cool. You got twenty minutes.”
BW kicked Cornell to the ground and then put her foot on his neck. “Where’s the bomb?”
“It’s a good view from here malyshka. That’s the word, right?” She pressed harder on his neck. “I only have the detonator. I told Rhino to put it anywhere in the prison. I also lost the detonator 20 minutes ago.”
The prison above was engulfed in a large explosion which Masters avoided with his shield when it caught him in the courtyard. The explosion caused bombs to explode in the first two basements and the ceiling above them collapsed. Rhino trying to kill me, Cornell thought as chunks of the ceiling started crashing down. The agents already started to run back to the lift. Willis stood up and extended his chain to the maximum ten feet. Falling rocks then broke this and he divided under other rubble. Fisk and Cornell were buried. Shooting a grappling hook, Hawkeye and BW made it over to the lift’s entrance as the rocks behind them closed off that room. The lift had its own pile of rubble which had crushed Ben who pushed Karen out of the way. He took his last breaths smiling at Karen holding a thumbs up. Karen buried her face under streams of tears. BW grabbed her as Hawkeye fired another grappling hook out of the hole.
Outside, they met with Masters. The prison behind them collapsed into the underground. Madani hopped out of her helicopter in complete shock. On the phone she said, “Mr President, the prison exploded.” Madani, the Big 3, and Karen would end up retreating back to Stark Tower.
Blackbolt now flew across New York with Spider-Man sitting on his back and Frank hanging from his arm (with a gun strapped to his chest). Blackbolt is fairly strong but the radio waves are actually carrying all three of them. Frank was wearing his kevlar armor with a white skull symbol over his chest. No mask or anything else special. They made it to Harlem where they saw a police perimeter around the barber shop and then there were civilians surrounding that. The three landed on a roof across the street. They saw Luke’s body packed into a hearse. Mahomey announced to the mass, “so with dental records, we can confirm that this is Luke Cage who died.” The crowd roared in anger as a response. They were in complete disbelief. The most beloved hero had died. “Deadpool is the prime suspect but impossibly the killer snuck through here without anyone seeing. The cameras in the building were also taken out. Claire Temple is only in a coma and was not physically harmed. Now please folks, if you see something, call us immediately. Be safe out there.”
Spider-Man processed this outloud, “That’s crazy, if they are able to cut through Luke then we might need a few more allies.”
“Agreed,” Frank said, “Deadpool himself has a new ally. His sword couldn’t cut Luke beforehand. Let’s move Blackbolt.”
“Move where? We have to wait until night time for Moon Knight or Daredevil to appear.”
“Only Moon Knight. No Red,” Frank clarified.
Blackbolt then pointed at the sky. “That helicopter is coming from the east.”
“That’s Homeland Security,” Frank recognized.
Blackbolt then grabbed his two partners and shot into the sky. They then grabbed onto the landing feet of the copter and hung from there as it continued flying through New York.
Marc Spector returned to his apartment that he shares with “Frenchie” Jean-Paul Duchamp in the Bowery. Marc has no facial hair, jet black head hair, and a bad RBF. Frenchie was in the kitchen cooking another sushi meal and listening very loudly to Nirvana. “Marc! Tu returned!”
“Yes, I am back.” Marc walked past him into the bedroom and into the closet. There he looked at a double mirror. “We have to go find him, if he is findable. He may remember the mission and probably knows Bullseye better. That is the best solution besides fighting them alone. Agreed?”
Frenchie replied, “then I’ll get the plane ready.”
tdwriter 