The scorching summer, much like a lingering, sultry woman swaying her slender waist, had gracefully departed...
The cool autumn, stepping upon withered yellow leaves, quietly arrived...
Sean stood in the Hand's new stronghold, the Star Ring Tower at the heart of Hell's Kitchen...
Elektra who was clad in a red-and-black bodysuit stepped out of the changing room. She held a pair of peculiar weapons known as sai...
Her cold cheeks bore a faint flush, as if she had just engaged in some intense activity. Her steady footsteps were slightly unsteady, and her dark eyes shimmered with a lustrous, watery glow...
"While patience is a gentleman's virtue when waiting for a lady, you took an awfully long time changing," Sean said with a light chuckle.
He had returned to Hell's Kitchen, a district once drowning in chaos and crime, but was now completely under the control of the Hand and Wesley.
The fierce and brutal Russians, the numerous Irish mobs, the powerful Mexican cartels... these predators who were once at the top of the food chain had treated entire blocks as their personal territories, allowing no outsiders to encroach.
But everything changed after Kingpin's death...
At first, they scrambled to carve up the fallen crime lord's illegal businesses and territories.
Gangs fought to the death over a single block, and the most lucrative trades nearly sparked a bloodbath. If not for their fear of Wesley (who had risen to power after 'eliminating' Kingpin) and the ever-watchful Hand, these crime bosses would have already turned on each other...
But once the initial feast on the spoils ended, James Wesley, that cunning schemer, no longer hid his ambitions...
Forming an alliance with the Hand's new leader, he declared that all criminal factions in Hell's Kitchen would be wiped out unless they bowed like dogs and pledged loyalty. Otherwise, their days of unchecked dominance were over.
Of course, some resisted at first. Even under Kingpin's rule, the crime lord had never made such harsh demands... forcing them to hand over their territories and businesses to be redistributed by Wesley and the Hand? That was no different than letting someone else control their money!
The Mexican cartel which was built on drug trafficking was the first to object. The Koven brothers led a hundred heavily armed thugs with heavy firepower and stormed into Hell's Kitchen... They intended to teach Wesley a lesson...
Their firepower was enough to level a police station. But once they entered Hell's Kitchen, they never came out...
However, the construction site near the Hudson River gained a few new cement pillars...
Then, under Wesley's manipulation, the Russians (often dismissed as brutish and brainless) became the first to submit.
As a reward, they took over all of the Mexicans' operations. With this bloody lesson before them, the remaining gangs had no choice but to surrender, handing over their territories and businesses to Wesley's command...
"Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to drag myself out of bed?" Elektra rolled her eyes, an alluring charm radiating from her, "You didn't hear me complaining when you were acting like a beast!"
Sean coughed lightly and slipped on a specially crafted black mask. He made a mental note to design his own set of gear someday... something like Stark's...
"Wesley asked me to thank you. Without the Hand's help, he wouldn't have taken control of Hell's Kitchen so quickly," he said, his voice now distorted into a deep raspy tone by the mask...
"A fair trade. You made me the sole leader of the Hand, and I helped you take over New York's underworld. A win-win." Elektra swayed closer, tilting her head up to look at him, "But I'm sinking deeper… into this abyss of darkness, feeling pleasures I've never known before, indulging in desires I never dared… The closer I get to you, the further I fall into the dark..."
Sean wrapped an arm around Elektra's slender waist, the two of them gazing out at Hell's Kitchen under the night sky.
His altered voice rumbled softly, "You've already tasted the deepest darkness, you were resurrected from death itself after all... Do you really want to go back to that restrained life?.."
"...Elektra, you and I are the unseen rulers of this place. Those once-untouchable crime bosses now grovel at our feet. The righteous police chiefs and district attorneys laugh and dine with us, treating us like equals… We rule this place with money and violence, expanding our reach, pressing our heel onto the entire city..." Sean looked down at the raven-haired woman who was now as docile as a cat in his arms.
The aura of darkness pulsed like rippling water, "The mayor may run New York by day… but at night, it belongs to us..."
He tilted her chin up and brushed his thumb over her soft lips, "...Forget your hesitation. Cast away your doubts. Face yourself, Elektra. The change in you isn't because of the Black Sky's influence... it's because this is who you've always been."
Lost in thought for a moment, Elektra seemed to reach some understanding. Gently, she flicked her tongue out and kittenishly teased his fingertips.
A jolt of electricity shot through Sean. He nodded in satisfaction...
The vast energy within him was drawn from the sun's radiance by day, but at night, that power seethed... It was as though another, darker persona awakened...
At these times, he was no longer the upright young man bound by society's rules and morals. He could fully embrace the silence and frenzy of the dark, standing at the crossroads of ice and flame, where reason and madness coexisted.
Elektra nestled against his powerful frame and breathed in the intoxicating aura of darkness...
"So intoxicating," she murmured.
Sean exhaled a slow breath and suppressed the surging power within. He couldn't wait to greet Hell's Kitchen's so-called 'heroes'...
"The Irish mob, the Mexican cartels… I said I'd purge every gang that refused to obey. Now they kneel before me. So who's next?" His voice dropped to a growl...
"Of course… those annoying vigilantes... The cruelty of this world lies in its harsh reality. It's time they learned the truth... Hell's Kitchen was never theirs to save." Sean answered his own question.
And as he muttered to himself, Hell's Kitchen's defenders were already moving...
Daredevil led the charge, Punisher at the center, followed by Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Danny Rand, fists blazing...
Like a sharpened blade, the five of them tore through the Hand's new headquarters, cutting a path straight to the top floor.
They might represent Hell's Kitchen's last flicker of light.
But those who fight darkness don't always return bathed in glory and flowers.
More often than not, they plunge into the abyss, never to see hope again...
...
{T/N: It seems like bro is finally awakening the Void... Void is the one that granted the Sentry his hax-like abilities, right?}
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Read ahead on my P@treon...
[email protected]/MayaMatengele01