Chapter 577 - A Combo

Nik slowly and softly crouched on the roof. His gaze now observing the hairdressing salon named— Green Python— admittedly, a strange name but it could definitely get worse. "Partner," Nik whispered, "Now we'll learn stealth. The salon is surrounded by people and this part of the city doesn't sleep early, especially at night." The collective of streetlight cast a soft glow on Nik's forehead as his violet eyes glimmered. "Grooou!" Ignit nodded her giant head. Her dark-scaled body bending with the darkness of the night as her pale yellow eyes still gave eery reflection. "What I want you to do is eat as much as you can when I summon you. I'll be bringing you back in the space of the Idle Summoner Legacy space, alright?"

Ignit nodded reluctantly as Nik brought her away and pulled out a scrap of clothing to cover his face. Right at that very moment, Nik heard a shout, "Where is it?!" A dark shadow flexed its parkour skills, flip jumping on the other side of the roof before looking at Nik, taking a slight sniff of the roof. "I remember you. You were with that kid, the one selling drugs." Without giving Nik a chance, the new arrival pursued, "I know that there was some...one next to you. Where is he? And what are you doing in my neighborhood?"

"Your neighborhood? That's... quite boastful." Nik commented. "Agh, you young punks are always the jumpy ones," A slightly grumbling voice interrupted the two as a man in blue bodysuit slowly walked up from the side stairs, a shield belted on his back and two handguns on his waist. With a blue mask still on his face, the man looked at Nik, "Son, you shouldn't be here playing a hero."

"Alright, you both assume too much," Nik spread his arms, "I'm outta here." Instantly, the youth in casual wear and a piece of cloth for mask disappeared from their gazes. "I can't hear him close anymore, Captain. Where's he?" The man in the dark-maroon costume whispered the inquiry as Mark stood dazed for a moment. "Uh... he vanished."

"Wait! I can hear muffled shouts and gunshots! There!" Pointing towards the salon, the man hurriedly made his way down the roof as the other person called Captain groaned, making his way down the stairs. Meanwhile, within the stairs leading down to the bas.e.m.e.nt hidden within the salon, Nik appeared as the guards on duty, two men, hurriedly pointed their guns towards Nik with confusion when a large maw appeared in their vision, one head already lost as the other shot in fear only to find a hind directing the gun upwards, making the man shoot at the ceiling. "Don't you dare harm my sweetheart," a chilling whisper is all the man heard before he was gobbled up by Ignit.

"Hah! Villains always have bas.e.m.e.nts!" Nik snickered. He wasn't informed about the bas.e.m.e.nt but his own intuition served him well, making him act on his feelings and appearing in the dark space instead of the salon itself. "Come on, Ignit," Nik smiled while letting the damage of her kills remain to distract the legal department as he purified the touched gun and began walking downstairs as Ignit shook her body, letting her heavy tail smack against the walls as the width of the staircase was barely large enough to fit her.

Walking down while knowing fully well that two a.d.u.l.t humans were the peak of Ignit's capabilities, Nik still brought her alongside. Feeding was the tiny reason for a greater whole. Nik just wanted Ignit to stay in the real world for as long as he can provide for and raiding a gang is always a good trip to bring a battle-hardened forest salamander in. As he continued to walk down, he heard a few startled screams before a gunshot's echo as a smile stretched on his face. Not minding his pursuers, Nik's head buzzed even when he already sniffed out the person hidden behind the corner. Despite his urge to go for the shorter path and manipulate the earth to simply cause the bas.e.m.e.nt's collapse, Nik once again shifted and brought a grunt down.

All this continued until he came across a slightly modest room, the one in the corner, with an old lady casually sipping on a cup filled with bluish liquid. The woman had here hair dark-hair, quite possibly colored, pulled into a bun. She seemed rather carefree with everything happening around. Her cool, however, couldn't withstand the shock she received once she gazed at Ignit and hurriedly stood up. "Well, hello there," Nik smiled, placing one hand on top of Ignit's head who seemed curious to rush into the small room which couldn't truly fit her. "I am looking for White Greed, beautiful. Know one?" Nik inquired while walking in, "Don't worry, your men are in... one piece," Nik assured before looking around the small chamber, various books littered the shelf with a language that Nik surprisingly didn't know.

"Who are you?" The woman hissed, her gaze still a little unnerved due to Ignit, "And how did you get your hands on the cub of an eastern wyvern?" She took a step back as Nik didn't mind her lack of education regarding Ignit. After all, how many could claim to travel through different realities and tame wild beasts capable of ripping a man apart? "White Greed," Nik spoke again, "I need to find White Greed and from the looks of your... nature, since you aren't peeing your pants, no offense, of course, I have a reason to doubt that you can get me what I need." Nik smiled and started walking forward, "Now, I know that my capabilities are limited, in terms of interrogation. But boy! Spatial Manipulate could win a prize in methods of torture."

His words caused the old lady to flinch as she looked back and gazed into Nik, who only revealed his lower face. "Young one, you clearly know about other pocket dimensions. Why do you target me? Did Kun-lun send you?"

"Uh... yea..." Nik nodded, "You are White Greed, then, I suppose." Nik pursed his lips. With her gaze narrowing, the old lady scoffed, "Do you think I care for that side of my life? I am not going to give in the Hand and they all know that."

"Of course," Nik smiled and turned back, stunning the old woman as he softly whistled for Ignit to understand that it was the end of her playing time, pulling her into the summon space while walking away by little steps. Still unsure of what just had happened, the old Chinese woman took a step forward before suddenly inflating at a terrifying pace—

*Splatter*

Her body tore apart into tiny chunks with slightly liquid and mucus-like internal organs spreading all over the walls of the chamber.

"Spatial Manipulation is also convenient to balloon people up and then... kaboom!" Nik snickered before shifting away. Instantly, the door of the bas.e.m.e.nt was slammed open, revealing a slightly tired man in a red costume. "He left... I can't smell him here. He's... 2 blocks away!" The man exclaimed in surprise but Captain America looked at the pool of blood drifting down the stairs and whispered, "Call the cops."

"I smell... drugs," Daredevil whispered as he left the Captain and made his way out to find a telephone.

---

"Ummgh... It's late... huh..." Nik groaned while slowly sitting up. To test his limits, he shifted about the entire way back and found that if his current capacity could be divided into a hundred equal parts and he could shift 20 meters per part. His spatial manipulation and the exhaustion of energy didn't depend on the number of uses but the distance. "Yeah, you did," Mary smirked playfully before leaning down to peck his lips as Nik activated his Purification. 'And the rate of energy regeneration is almost a single block every six minutes. The stronger my capacity is alongside my physical body, the higher will be the rate of regeneration,' Nik thought while enjoying the kiss, his head still buzzing due to the recent energy depletion. "Thank you for bringing Junior yesterday. It meant a lot," Mary whispered, eagerly sitting on him with her body barely contained in the sleeping robes.

"I know," Nik whispered, "I got plenty thanks after he left in the evening, remember?" Nik chuckled as he sniffed softly, "Is that Anna trying to cook something?" He held Mary close, enjoying the morning's touch as she nodded with a smile, "Yeah. You fell unconscious yesterday night... what did you even do?" Mary began while pushing Nik's chest and then leaning down on him with a wild look in her eyes as she licked her lips, "Took care of a gang. The first of karma is fulfilled, I guess. But I don't know the limits," Nik whispered, overturning her and sitting on top of Mary herself, his hands squeezing her bosom in satisfaction while his lips marking her neck, finally leaving a tasteful hickey near her jaws for everyone to witness.

"Do you feel that this karma fulfillment will make you do something you'll regret?" She inquired, her tone worried and considerate as Nik thought for a minute before shaking his head and pulling himself up. Gazing at Mary for a good while, Nik answered, "If I have to guess, then no. Karma is just a sweet word for this body's main desire. And what this body desire is a feeling of equality. On a personal level, for that matter. I can't kill my thoughts to fulfill some baseless desires brought by an accident. If this body would have wanted me to eat poison or some strange masochist demands, then I would have concluded my adventure right there and then." Stroking Mary's cheeks, Nik whispered, "So don't worry, whatever I do, and will do, would never come at the cost of my conscience."

"Mmg, got it." Mary smiled as Anna opened the door with a burnt pancake on the plate drowning in honey syrup.

"Did you prepare that yourself?" Nik inquired, "Smells delicious," his lips twitched before he got up from Mary and smiled at Anna, who really wanted validation for her cooking at the moment.

As Nik left, Mary took out her communicator from beneath her pillow and gazed at the message.

Hill: Is your current Visitor, Nik Minion, an enhanced being? I have a few doubts that I would like to clear up as quickly as possible.

Thinking for a moment, Mary finally sighed and typed in the reply.

[Hasn't shown any strange reactions. He is my daughter's boyfriend so please keep it discreet.]

The reply to her message came in instantly.

Hill: Understandable. However, keep your eyes open and if you want help, call for a team instantly.

[For a retired agent?]

Hill:... for a friend.

Sending a smiling emoji with a jug of beer in its hands, Mary closed the communicator and walked towards her closet. She was already clean now so without the need of going to the washroom, Mary began dressing into her suit skirt when she looked at the marks of lips on her collarbone. A gift from yesterday's rough romping. With a playful smirk, Mary opened the top button of her shirt after donning it on to reveal the mark. At least, it would lose all the chasing from the work staff, at least, the boss.

---

Nelson and Murdock.

Within the recently established law firm, two men raked their brains while gazing at the computer screen. Well, one of them actually looked at the contents while the other one in plain black shades and a walking stick in his arms showed a grimace at what the pudgy man stated.

"Matt, this guy... he is a business tyrant," Foggy muttered while reading articles on Wilson Fisk. "Well, he is the owner of the company kicking Mark out of his apartment." Matt, the blind partner out of the two mumbled, "Can we check if the man has some sort of loophole? An error in the previous deed?" Matt inquired knowing full well that the deed was ironclad. Which was, in fact, surprising to the duo since this meant that the company was willing to throw out the tenants at its own desire. "It was planned..." Foggy stated in realization while Matt whispered, "If we can find out what triggered the need to enforce the deed then maybe we can turn it around."

"I'll look into it," Foggy sighed. After all, he literally had nothing to do other than prepare a method to best a business tyrant.

Walking back to his own office, Matt turned on the radio quite casually, unbefitting a blind man as the local news began filling him on the decision the local PD came to about yesterday's incident. "For two days straight, strange acts of violence have ensued over two places now identified as the base of operation for local gangs. A sum total of five casualties has been reported but the news on their remains is yet to be received. Dozens of eyewitnesses also state that they saw Captain America alongside his rookie aka the Devil of Hell's kitchen near the second spot but as they took out armed gangsters, the incident had already taken place."

Matt sighed deeply as the speaker continued, "On this incident, we also heard the CEO of Burning. Inc. speak up. His words were— I am deeply regretful for all the incidents occurring—" Before the report was completed, Matt stood up and went into Foggy's office with a strange expression. "Foggy, can you look at the list of known subsidiaries owned by Wilson Fisk."

As Foggy took out a paper and began reading it, Matt finally heard the Burning Inc. quite early. Instantly, Matt stopped Foggy and asked him to email the list to him so that he could print it out in braille. Matt finally found a lead he needed to pursue the strange attacks, not as a lawyer, but as Daredevil.