In the afternoon, once I made it back home, I started getting ready for another long day of dungeon clearing. I no longer bothered with thick clothing as 'armor' from military or hunting stores. That stuff would offer me no better protection than wet paper in the current floors, so I have gone with just the simplest, thinnest clothing that would let me move easier.
"Mrrrr…." Jeff was snoozing away on the floor near my feet, getting in his last nap with the TV playing in the background before we would be going in for a hunting session.
While absent-mindedly going over everything mentally and making sure I was ready to head in, the news on TV started reporting on something rather interesting.
"Good afternoon everyone. This is Christine Everhart from WHIH Newsfront." The familiar blonde woman appeared on the screen, sitting behind a table with papers in her hands, before the scene switched over to a camera feed of an aerial view from a helicopter. They were showing an armored police vehicle driving along the road, with other police cars escorting it ahead and behind.
"Last night, the New York Police Force ended up working together with two vigilantes who we have only had limited spottings of earlier." Clear pictures and video footage of the two vigilantes together with the police appeared on-screen. "Daredevil and the now named, Moon Knight who we previously referred to as the 'White Caped Crusader' were both on the frontline with our officers last night working together to bust a notorious criminal, Dmitri Smerdyakov."
The news feed showed images of the man, also known as The Chameleon, as the convoy keeps going through the city.
"Over the past few months ever since arriving in New York, the criminal has been guilty of a long list of heinous crimes including but not limited to: murder, assassinations, drug trade, bank robbery, human trafficking and much more. With him captured, the streets will be much safer once again. Hopefully a long time to come."
"Smerdyakov is currently being escorted along with his closest advisors and gang leaders to Ryker's for safekeeping, where he will no longer be seeing the light of day."
And as if to challenge her words, that's exactly when an explosion sounded off as the camera feed showed the police car at the very front being hit by a rocket and flipping over in a blaze.
The broadcast jolted as the camera from the news heli swung around violently, trying to refocus on the sudden explosion and the perpetrators of the attack. For a moment, I threw out my plans of going into the dungeon and plopped down onto the couch to watch the news.
"Christine, we are getting unconfirmed reports of an ambush just now on the convoy. I repeat, something is attacking the convoy."
The camera zoomed in fast and showed the path ahead. At first, it was hard to make out what was happening, but soon we were shown vehicles blocking off the road ahead. Vans, painted a dull gray, strategically blocking off all exits as more drove in from behind to block off any path of retreat as well.
It wasn't just any standard vans either, they looked semi decently armored. Not something just anyone could get their hands on.
The other cars of the convoy hit the brakes violently, but the new lead car didn't even get a chance to come to a full stop. One of the attackers moved forward, raising a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher and with another shot that police car also went up in an explosion, being blown out of the way as it went rolling into a divider.
"That's not great." I muttered, and Jeff cracked one of his eyes open and gave a soft growl in agreement.
The news feed was still running, even though the image was starting to distort from all the smoke. The cops reacted and retaliate quick, getting out of their cars and drawing their weapons to open fire. But it was largely a futile effort, as the attackers moved in precision.
And at the forefront of the attackers was one menacing guy with a very neutral face, as if this was just a normal thing in his day-to-day life. He was an African American man, several heads taller than any other person down there, and had broad shoulders with huge muscles. Bro was built like a tank.
Unlike the others, he didn't even bother wearing body armor or a helmet, he didn't even wear a shirt as he walked straight into the fray of battle calmly as if the gunfire didn't bother him.
(Image)
Being in front made him a natural target, and of course several cops switched aim to him. The first few shots hit him square in the chest. He didn't even flinch. The next few bounced off his arm, and one hit directly in the face.
He didn't bleed at all. Instead, a few sparks were released in places where he was shot. Underneath what looked like regular skin, brief flashes of metal came into view. Not enough to get a full look, but enough to tell that this was no normal man.
He walked forward, finally reaching the vehicle containing The Chameleon and his allies. The police weren't slowing him down in the least. One officer fired a point-blank shot at his head, but it pinged off like it hit a steel plate.
What the hell even is that thing? I didn't recognize him from any movies or games. Might be a character with fewer appearances from the comics and I just hadn't seen him before, but you'd think something like this would be a common villain.
The chopper camera zoomed in again just as one of the police SUVs peeled off from the line and sped forward, trying to run him over.
That was a big mistake, though, as the guy didn't even dodge, simply standing in the way and spreading his arms as if he was trying to hug it. The front of the car got a huge human shaped dent into it before being picked up off the ground.
As the remaining cops around him were violently taken down by the encircling henchmen, the big guy lifted the car higher and looked straight into the camera of the news feed.
There were a few seconds of lull before the news heli suddenly realized the situation it was in and tried to escape. It was not quick enough, however, as the man threw the car up. It approached the camera at lightning speed before contact was heard, and the feed cut off into static.
Staring at the static as the newscasters were in shock, I was left wondering who would have the ability to make all that tech, not only to kit out their henchmen but also make a robot or cyborg that powerful. There was really no end to potential suspects in the marvel universe, which didn't make things easy. Their goal looked to be saving The Chameleon, though.
I didn't have long to mull over it before my phone buzzed, receiving a message from Gwen.
Gwen: Did you see the news? I'm coming over.
No more than a few seconds passed before I heard a knock. Not on my door, but on the living room window.
Thank god the curtains were up, or she would have seen Jeff and I would have had a lot of explaining to do.
"Uh… fuck." Time to think quickly. "Gali open up a portal to the dungeon, Jeff, get in."
"Mrrr?" Jeff looked at me confused, but Gali wasn't delaying, as the portal was already open. I grabbed a pack of snacks from the desk and threw them in. We left the dungeon at a safe area, so he should be fine.
[Come on boy!] Gali called as she flew through the portal to get Jeff to follow, and thankfully he did. As soon as he was through, the portal closed, as if nothing had happened.
With that little issue cleared, I walked to the window and pulled the curtains out of the way to find Gwen, upside-down, knocking on my window. I don't delay and open up the window as she immediately flips into the apartment.
"There is a perfectly good door that people generally use." I say to the girl who is doing a beta version of her superhero landing in my living room.
"This was quicker, I didn't want to waste time." she said, standing up. "You saw that, right? I could swing over, but the bad guys will probably be gone by then. What should we do?"
"Nothing" I answer easily. Gwen looks like she wants to argue right away, but I don't let her. "Your costume is still not ready, right? Neither are you, there is still more training to do before you run in there and get yourself killed. If you go out now and get your ass beat on camera, that will be the image the world associates with you for a long time to come"
That gave her pause.
"Do you think Daredevil went out there on day one?" I continued, "Nah, he probably trained for years and fell off fifteen buildings first. Take a breather and as you said, the bad guys will be long gone by the time you get there. You aren't gonna be doing much good by just rushing."
She chewed her lip for a second before sighing and flopping onto my couch. "Fine. But I still want to do something."
"Sure." I say. "You wanna train to get out there quicker, right? Go pack your stuff, let's go to the dojo now and do some training."
She laid there with a thoughtful face for a few seconds before sighing. "Alright, I get you, I guess this is the best option right now."
She stood up and went back to the window, getting ready to climb out and back into her own room.
"You could use the door this time you know…"
"Window's faster." She shot back, already halfway out.
Once she was gone, I closed the curtains and opened up the portal again for Jeff to get back. His mouth was full of snacks, and he looked happy. Our dungeon adventures would be left until later once I got back from the dojo with Gwen.
For now, I just kind of wanted to pull her attention to something else so she wouldn't run in and get killed by whatever that thing was.