Over the past few weeks you have been keeping your ears close to the ground exactly as Agent Angstrom suggested.
The Agent considers your request for access to the metahuman training facility but decides you aren't quite ready to train with some of the metas who have allied themselves with SHIELD, only leading to further curiosity and speculation on your part as to who might frequent it.
Reports of petty crimes in the southeast side are down, presumably as the gangs and the mafia try to keep their activities under the radar with rumours circulating among the criminal underworld of a new team in town having taken down Orcish Dragon-gang.
Concussion begins to see tweets about the situation and a few Instagram posts of people taking selfies outside the old chinese theatre in China Town - a supposed scene of a pitched superhero battle. Though no one seems to know just who was involved.
You respond to a few emergencies when the opportunity present itself - a nursing home fire, car accidents, even breaking up a mugging or two - but nothing has tested you as thoroughly as your engagement with the Dragon gang nor piqued your interest as much as the tenuous rumours of the Punisher you encountered in the Dragon's Lair.
Of the Punisher, there has been no sign, nor any reports of massacres of organised criminals over the past few weeks that has so frequently been his MO.
However, there is a general tension in the air around the city. You can't put your finger on why, but you begin to hear rumours of disappearances across Manhattan.
So far there is little information, though it appears as though victims were taken from their own homes.
There is very little of interest on the laptop. In fact, it appears to have been recently either wiped clean deliberately or as a result of the damage it has suffered.
Data recovery of the hard drive has yielded something of an insight into the history of the Dragon.
It appears as though the goblin was reasonably powerful on his homeworld, leading a band of orcish thugs that controlled large portions of several goblin settlements. however, the lure of Earth and new opportunities proved too much, especially to further his own mastery over electricity.
Since coming to Earth he carved out a niche for himself but has found that his power level is greatly diminished in comparison with some of the mighty heroes that reside here and he has found he has had to hugely scale back his ambitions, relying on the scraps of bigger players in the New York organised crime community that he hints at but does not name.
Of most interest is his research into his own physiology and the effect Earth's atmosphere has had on it, leading him to be able to manifest several powers not previously accessible to him.
Lucas spends the next two days studying the information on the laptop. "Damn, that little goblin was annoying, but he was smart. Some of these, I still can't figure out what he's talking about. Must be some alien tech...I'm going to have to study it longer."
Melania glares at the metahuman training area as she passes it, droppin down in to a chair at the table and sipping a bottle of water as sweat drips down her forehead.
Well I'm all for doing something constructive here, with all these disappearances... but without a pattern to discern we can;t very well stake out every domicile in the Greater New York area. Have any of the techs managed any analysis that's able to assist?
She takes a long drink from the bottle.
"You'll get it Lucas, might take a little longer but I'm here there is a lot that can be learnt from the technology he was using." Akio then ponders on the disappearances for a moment. "We should go to that last reported disappearance and take a look around, we start from the bottom with something like this it's the only way."
If the group agrees ...
"Let's look around and ask a few people if they saw anything or if anything was happened recently that was out of the ordinary." He then moves out to ask about the street.
Over the next few days, Ebon begins to ask around. Surprisingly, his job as a delivery boy helps a lot in this regard, racing his bike from one end of the island to the other and always taking the time to strike up conversation with his customers.
Eventually, one mentions that a friend of his cousin's is one of the people who has gone missing.
Yeah... had an apartment up in Hell's Kitchen someplace. Ain't no one heard from that b*tch in days.
The man is a lousy tipper, but Ebon learns enough to check news reports and finds a tiny clipping in this week's Bugle about a man, his name as yet unreleased by police, who went missing from his home on 34th street.
With the information he gathered he goes back to the others. "So I've been asking around while working and I finally got something. A guy I delivered to who was a lousy tipper said a friend of his cousins had gone missing, He showed me a cutting from the Bugle it happened in his house on 34th street. We should head over there." He says handing over the cutting.
34th street in Hell's Kitchen? Hmm..." Lucas tries to find the area on a map and consider what the neighborhood is like.
"We could go ask around. If we're going to try to get inside the place though, we might need to wait until night."
That sounds like a plan Lucas, why don't we all meet up on the corner of 34th at 9 tonight? It'll be dark by then and I don't want to leave it much later as I've a midnight gig... and no, the irony is not lost on me!
You make your way to the apartment. It is a typical low rise in a dingy area of Hell's Kitchen. Cars wash the front of it in pale yellow light as they pass by but there are few people on the street - a homeless man huddled in a doorway a few hundred yards away, two big guys hanging out in front of a corner liquor store and a young couple headed home, arms wrapped around eachother.
Once the coast is clear, you make your approach into the building. There are ten floors and since you don't know which apartment is in question, it takes you close to an hour to walk the stairs and most of the corridors until you come across the right one.
The door of number 227 is now closed and locked and yellow Police tape criss-crosses the entrance.
Midnight reaches out with one hand wrapped in the sleeve of her hoodie and tries the door, before beckoning to Connie
Can you do whatever it is you do to make the lock open?
Melania stands guard until a large *clack* is heard, signalling the lock's surrender to Connie's touch.
Gentlemen?
Melania indicates to Akio and Lucas, ducking under the police tape and entering the apartment, her excellent night-vision ensuring she didn't require any light.
Akio stands back watching the hallway."That's really come in handy other than me kicking the door down." He comments on Connies abilities, as he follows Midnight through the door looking around.
Floods of red, blue, white and yellow light wash into the apartment through windows uncovered by blinds.
Akio approaches one in the living room and sees a largest neon sign across the street periodically changing advertisements for Coca Cola, Oreo Cookies and, ironically, the new Chrysler Neon. The monk wonders how the man got any sleep with that flashing all night.
The apartment is fairly standard. A living room, single bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. It is very basic which is typical of this run down area.
From the state of the place including the piles of clothes strewn around, half eaten takeaways, general filth in the kitchen and drugs paraphenalia that it was likely the man liked alone.
However, the fact that the tv, Xbox console and about thirty dollars in crumpled note are still present leads you to think he wasnt robbed.
Ebon looks to the others. "It wasnt a robbery." He points to the money and valuables. "They were after him for a reason. Napalm maybe you can take a look at the drugs there, work out what he could be taking? I'll check the bedroom." He then moving into the bedroom checking the windows first looking out to see what he can see.
The noise of the city is a constant drone outside the apartment and Akio once again is reminded how different this place is to his simple lodgings back in China.
The bedroom could almost be mistaken for a crime scene in and of itself. The bed is unkept and the bedclothes strewn to one side, the sheets beneath stained and filthy to the point where Akio doesn't even want to imagine how long it has been since they were washed.
One of the windows is very slightly open. It has a pair of handles that twist in order to open it and one is broken off and lying on the floor.
He opens a few drawers in the bedside tables but finds nothing of interest beyond socks and underwear, playing cards, some tissues, guitar picks, some crumpled papers, broken jewellery, a walkman probably from the 1980s and a variety of other junk.
On top of the dresser, next to a wallet and a set of keys, is a card for a cab company called Metrocab.
A distant roll of thunder peels over the city, temporarily drowning out the buzz of the night.
Rain begins to fall, at first in a thin drizzle but then within moments the street outside is transformed into a watercolour kaleidoscope as it begins to hammer down in sheets and all of a sudden the apartment feels quite intimidating.
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Ebon looks out the window as the thunder rolls over the city. Goose bumps rise over his arms, the rain begins to hit.
He holds up the Metrocab card, and turns to the others. "Anyone know of Metrocab?"
Napalm looks up at the Metrocab card. "Metrocab, huh?"
He turns back to the drugs, taking a look at the items, but taking care not to pick anything up and leave his fingerprints.
Lucas examines the drugs on the table - another indication that the man was not robbed. The single neat thing in this apartment is the old cake tin sitting on the glass coffee table.
Within, are a dozen or more small plastic bags containing white powder. Without opening them to examine further, he isn't able to determine exactly what they are, but Lucas would bet good money that they contain cocaine or heroin.
"It's definitely something to look into. Let's finish searching the apartment." He moves towards the bathroom. "One of you search the living room, double check the kitchen too." Ebon the moves into the bathroom pushing it open slowly.
He was a drug dealer then, with that amount of the strange white powder humans find so compelling...
Melania gives the stuff a wide berth, unsure how even a minute amount might affect her alien physiology.
Searching around the lounge she tries to find any other clues.
Midnight begins to pick through the lounge, leaving Lucas to examine the drugs on the table.
The furniture consists of a coffee table with one leg missing, a cabinet with a massive screen tv sitting atop it and games console beneath and a ratty old sofa that looks like it could well have been saved from the roadside.
The carpet was probably once blue but is now so patchy with stains of various descriptions that it looks more like a patch-work quilt. Midnight considers whether she would be better off hovering above the ground than actually setting foot on it.
However, as she contemplates this, her eye is drawn to something small and black beneath the sofa and bending down, she retrieves it.
It is a tiny black and yellow cube with gold terminals on the top and the word POWERCELL emblazoned on the side. Clearly, it is some kind of battery.
It is actually a spent, disposable battery for a handheld tazer unit, the kind that incapacitates an opponent rather than killing them
Tec... sorry... Lucas!
She shrugs an apology
Difficult to erase a lifetime of habit in under a year, I will continue to strive to adopt the politeness of your customs
She holds up the battery, almost as a peace offering
...found this...no idea what it is...
she half--smiles in what she hopes is an endearing manner.
The bathroom is a grimy mess, with a broken cabinet above a sink that is ringed with encrusted filth.
Akio looks down and almost steps on a broken needle before quickly repositioning himself and looking at the discarded drug paraphernalia in disgust.
After a quick search, there doesn't appear to be anything of use or interest in here.
Lucas looks up from examining the drugs. He pokes the bags ones last time with a pencil. "These are either heroin or cocaine. No telling which without opening them up, but I don't see a reason to do that."
He comes over to see what Midnight has found. "Looks like a battery...Hey, I think I've seen these. Yeah, it looks like a battery for a tazer. Probably used. So the guy has some means of self-defense."
Lucas wanders into the kitchen to looks around.
On his way to the kitchen, Lucas' boot catches something small and metallic. Bending down he sees that it is a shell casing, probably from a 9mm pistol.
He looks around for any more and finds another two that have rolled under a kitchen counter.
The kitchen table has completely collapsed, the legs sheered off on one side and a chair toppled over. Broken crockery lies scattered all over the tiled floor. Despite the mess in other rooms, this is the only one that has clear signs of a struggle.
"Nothing of note in the bathroom, I wouldnt go in there if I were you." He says moving into the living room over hearing Napalm. "Or it was used to take the man? I don't see someone who lives here using a taser, they don't seem to be on the subtle side." He then moves to the hall to do a check over it.
As Akio enters the hallway, and moves back toward the others, he notices two bullet holes in the frame of the door.
Also, the chain hangs limply, it's fastening barely clinging to the frame, and appearing to have been forced open.
There is one other thing. A welcome mat, actually reading We---me it is so worn, is kicked up and askew. Without really knowing why, Akio kicks it so that it unfurls once again and, to his surprise, a small piece of plastic-covered card falls out.
It is crumpled and torn and barely readable in it's current condition. The letters MET- can just be made out. Akio reaches to pick it up but it is blown out of his reach by a sudden gust that drifts through the apartment.
Ebon steps on the card and then reaches for it again picking it up and thinking over everything they have found so far, turning back he holds up his hand. "I think I see what's happened.. The chain on the door is broken. There are two bullet holes in the door frame, Napalm found three bullet casings and a battery from a taser was found." He steps into the room holding up the crumpled card. "The door was kicked in surprising the man living here while he was at the table he fired off three shots two missed one must have hit the assailant. He continued forward and stunned the gunman discharging his taser battery. I found another card for Metrocab at the door, that I can only assume is where the man was taken."
Lucas pokes around in the kitchen to see what he might find in the debris. He replies to Ebon's theory as he goes. "Maybe. I think the part of the person at the door is right. But maybe the taser was from the intruder. He came to kidnap the man, so he would have wanted to incapacitate him. He used the taser, then reloaded the dead battery with another before grabbing him."
But the metrocab card is a good lead. Maybe we can go down to the company and see what info they have." Lucas stoops down to keep searching the kitchen.
Lucas thoroughly searches the kitchen but beyond the bullet casings he found, he can detect nothing else that would provide a clue as to what happened here.
What are you doing in Hell's Kitchen? the voice is deep and thick with a New York accent. It is so sudden that it is all you can do to stop yourself spinning and blasting with your powers or tossing an explosive, although somehow you get the impression he wouldn’t give you much of a chance to do even that.
You can barely make out the figure of a man – tall and lean, but somehow hard.
He wears the pool of shadow like a shroud and at first all you can see is two tiny tips on his forehead, sharp and red, that reflect the neon light that blinks in through the window every time the advertisement changes on the billboard across the street. Rain hammers down and a flash of lightning illuminates the room like a flash bulb while wind blows cold through the now open window in the bedroom, blowing the curtains inward like veils.
The man steps out of the shadows and you see he is dressed head to toe in red leather and Kevlar. A pair of thick batons hang in a holster at his side and though he looks relaxed, you sense every nerve in his body is twitching in anticipation of an explosion of movement and violence. Two letters – are embossed in the body armour on his chest.
He says again;
What are you doing in Hell's Kitchen?
Ebon is quick to turn melting into a fighting stance at the man standing in the shadow questioning them. How did he sneak up on us. As the lightning flashes he finally gets a proper look at the man.
This is the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen – Daredevil!
He is an extremely skilled martial artist and grappler with almost supernatural reflexes and perception.
He is routinely underestimated as ‘street-level’ but he is one of the most skilled hand-to-hand fighters of any of the New York resident heroes and possessed of extra-sensory perception that rivals any of the known cosmic beings. What he lacks in flashy super powers, he more than makes up for in grit and determination.
In addition he has proven himself to have a keen intellect and powers of deduction.
Lucas' head pops up from the kitchen. "Who are you?! Do you know what happened here? Someone was taken away." Hidden behind the doorway, he snatches up one of his grenades.
Don't. the man says with a snarl and a tilt of his head, somehow sensing Lucas reaching for one of his explosives.
I'm someone who cares about the Kitchen. And I asked what you are doing here.
He doesn't move a muscle but he seems somehow coiled, like a viper.
Ebon relaxes now. "Your Daredevil. I've heard your name whispered among the criminals of hells kitchen. I'm Ebon." He motions to the others behind him. "We're a team."
"We heard of people disappearing, few random people with no real connection. I did some investigating and found out this was the last person taken." He then offers the Metro card to Daredevil. "We think they have something to do with the disappearances."
"Daredevil? Holy s!!@, I've heard stories, but I didn't think..." Lucas returns the grenade to his belt and raises his hands as he comes out into the room.
"I'm Napalm. Look, we're not here to cause any trouble. We're just investigating the disappearances. Seems like you're doing the same? We found some evidence of a struggle and it's possible the abductor was shot."
"What do you know about these disappearances?"
Floating very slightly off the floor, Melania shivers at the thought of someone getting that close without her realising. The breeze in the room picks up, the scent of the city circulating among the group standing in the suddenly crowded apartment, masking for now the stale smell of abandoned rooms.
Daredevil, yes, your legend precedes you...
she finds herself admiring the curves of the man's suit, but swiftly snaps her attention back to the conversation.
As Ebon and Napalm have said, we found out the resident of this domicile had gone missing, potentially one of many in a pattern. It seems to be a problem no-one else is interested in, hence our interest...
She points to the area where the tussle evidently took place
Our interest appears at first glance to be justified...
She tilts her head and the breeze in the room stills.
We have no quarrel with you, unless you wish to harm us for simply taking an interest in solving a potential crime... what are your intentions Mister Devil?
Noting his snake-like reflexes when Lucas had reached for a weapon, she herself doesn't move, but she does start cataloging her options...
He smiles grimly at being called 'Mr Devil' but says nothing.
Daredevil moves quickly from room to room, his head tilted curiously as he lithely steps through the filth, expertly avoiding anything that could in itself be evidence and also that could indicate his presence.
In the hallway, he moves past Midnight and runs his finger over the bullet hole that he finds there.
I'm looking into something. But I don't think it's this...
I could hear you in here from three blocks away. he says matter-of-factly. I haven't seen you around but you must be the ones who took down the Dragon gang over in Chinatown. You're new to this?
Melania drifts sideways out of his way as he steps around the apartment, but her eyes follow his every move.
I hadn't thought we were being that noisy...
She shakes her head, shrugging off distracting thoughts
To this? This here and this now and this way, yes... and yes we met the Dragon briefly, over in Chinatown. So if this isn't your 'something', do you know anything about it anyway you'd be willing to... share?
She tries a smile.
Ebon studies Dare Devil as he moves about looking for something that can't be seen with normal vision. "We're new to teaming up.. I think each of us has wanted to help in their own way. We faced the Dragon he was getting too dangerous. When we put him out of business we found a lot of information on a man he was tracking The Punisher - He must be really going to town on the underground enough so that their attempting to track him down."
"But we decided to wait and see what became of that and heard about the disappearances that's why we're here now."
It looks like someone came to the door and forced their way in. he says, pointing to the broken chain. Whoever lived here must have been armed and fired, hitting them at least once but that didn't stop them. So it was either someone in body armour, hyped up on crystal meth or a cape.
He stalks through the rooms like a cat, next heading into the kitchen.
When the bullets didn't stop whoever it was the fight spilled into here but the victim got away and tried to escape out of the bedroom window and onto the fire escape. That must have been when the assailant tazed him and the contractino of his muscles probably ripped the handle off the window.
He grits his teeth and pounds his fist on the wall, intensity oozing out of the man. For those who were aware of him you can understand why the criminals of Hell's Kitchen call him the Devil.
This isn't what I'm looking for.... he mutters.
Frank Castle – the Punisher – killed Wilson Fisk’s wife. If you don’t know who Fisk is, he’s the guy who basically runs Hell’s Kitchen, the self-made Kingpin of Crime. I'm guessing that's why the Dragon was after him. Eventhough he's in prison, Fisk is going to tear the Kitchen apart looking for Frank so I have to find him first.
I heard something happened here and wondered if it was Frank. But it isn’t. The guy would be gutted and strung up to the ceiling fan if it were.
Napalm nods at Daredevil's deduction. "Sounds right. You're good at this." he glances back at the others, and then back to the Devil of Hell's Kitchen.
"So this isn't what you were looking for. Let us handle it then. You keep tracking the Punisher. When we found the Dragon's hideout, it had pictures of the Punisher and places he'd been. We won't stand in your way. I think he's a bit out of our league."