Chapter 617 - Scaly Chubster (1/2)
”I didn't do this,” Nik muttered as he gazed at the destroyed bar, police surrounding the scene once again as he sat on the edge of the roof without Pickle covering him. Behind him stood the remaining team. Danny did what he said he would. He really called the team but not knowing where Nik might have 'struck', Cindy took it upon herself to swing through the city until she sensed the same physical connection with Nik. Her actions did impress Nik by a slight margin.
”It gets hard to believe when—”
Cutting Ava off, Nik pointed at the bodies being brought out of the bar. ”It doesn't get this messy with me, Ava,” Nik looked back, ”And I don't feel the need of lying if I did attack the bar to extinguish them forever. And, let's get serious, only Cindy is qualified to preach me about killing, you three, however, heh!” Nik smirked as White Tiger, Iron Fist, and Powerman looked a little intimidated. ”I've seen you three hold back. Cindy doesn't. It's easy to tell,” turning back to look at the scene as Nik found a particular blind man on the scene interesting, he took a step back and let Pickle cover him.
”It's about time I make myself clear.” Turning back to confront the group, Nik grinned, ”I do not work for you. I hurt a limited number of unlawful criminals out of a personal objective. If you want to work with me from now on, keep your goody-two-shoes attitude away.” Crossing his arms, Nik smiled at Cindy, ”We both, however, are cool. Now, in a few seconds, a blind man will run through that door,” pointing at the entrance to the rooftop, Nik continued, ”He's the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. The way he works, even he qualifies to preach me.”
”How did you know?” Luke asked out, ”I mean, the Daredevil.”
”You would have understood if you were in my shoes. Since this gang is already taken care of, so brutally, if I might add, I'll find the hideouts of others to find out the new... 'hero' working on the street. Cindy, wanna tag along?”
Nik inquired as she looked towards Ava apologetically as White Tiger grunter and pulled back her mask once again, storming off from the scene while Cindy jumped with Nik.
”Vanish! I now you are—” Daredevil's shout was cut off as he only sensed two men and none of them had the same scent as Nik.
”Hey... welcome to the bummed out club,” Iron Fist spread his arms as he gazed at the barely masked man huffing slightly as he tried to catch his breath after rushing up the stairs.
”Y-yeah!” Daredevil sighed as he grunted while stomping on his feet.
---
”Hey, this is nice!” Nik commented as he followed Cindy while she swung around the building by webbing to the ledges and letting gravity do all the work. ”Thanks,” she smiled as he turned a blind eye to the fact that Nik could easily fly. By now, she was pretty sure that Nik didn't gain all his powers by that spider. Sure, there might be a connection, but that was it. ”I had a chat with Agent Widow and she told me that I need to learn getting more dynamic with my powers.”
”Agent Widow? You're still talking about Natasha?”
”Oh, her birth name is Natalia. Even I didn't know that while she started training me.” Cindy shot a thick cl.u.s.ter of webbing from her fingers as she swung once again, barely attracting any attention from the crowd since Cindy wore a darker outfit while Nik was only visible to her. ”And since she practically targets married couples and... at least, the best scenario is one of the partners in the couple being widowed, she gained a rep as Agent Widow.”
”Huh, I thought she was named after the spider Black Widow,” Nik muttered.
”That, too,” Cindy's hair whipped back with another swing, ”Ava told me that before she joined the organization, she was called Black Widow.”
”Huh,” Nik mumbled as he suddenly dived down, coming into a crashing landing in front of an armed mugger holding a couple to the end of his gun. The shock from Nik's cruel landing only sends the man stumbling forward as the couple held each other's hand while Nik removed the cast of invisibility, his face wide open into a horrifying roar as he shook the mugger to his very core.
”Get a job!” Growling, his pointy teeth threatening to tear away the mugger's face, Nik snatched the gun from the mugger's hand and crushed the gun into a small ball of metal before holding onto the man's head, instantly shifting him into a police station with an appropriate mental 'counseling'. The next time the mugger does anything unlawful, his greatest nightmare would shriek within his ear instantly. The only reason the mugger didn't enjoy the stable portal but mind-shaking shift through space was due to his actions to the couple.
”Hey, congratulations,” Nik pointed at the case of the ring that fell out of the man's pocket. Congratulating the couple, Nik vanished and reappeared to Cindy's side who was watching the scene from the roof of the closest building.
”Let's go,” Nik smiled as Cindy's lips twitched.
”Did you kill him?” She suddenly inquired.
”What? No, he's transported to the nearest police station. Wow, I'm hurt that you would think of me in such a manner,” Nik revealed his face as pickle receded.
”Cindy won't fall for that!” Gwen rolled her eyes. She had already known about Nik's intimate relationship with the Fuker family but simply didn't know what to comment about it.
”Oh, no! I didn't—”
”Just messing with you,” Nik shrugged with a smile as Gwen groaned at her failure.
”Alright, but I did bring you to find other gangs involved in the crime. So there will be guns and bullets. Well, I can easily snap them away but you need to have your fun and so do I. I will also introduce you to my pet so don't freak out when you see her.”
”What? Me freaking out by a pet? Pfft,” Cindy traced her waist, waiting for Nik to continue as the man smiled while pointing behind her.
Looking back as Gwen already jumped against Nik's neck after seeing Ignit, Cindy yelped while taking a step back as she saw a large, man-sized salamander looking at her with its unnerving pale-yellow eyes.
”Cindy, meet Ignit. My sweet, fire-breathing salamander.” Nik chuckled as he stepped forward and petted Ignit's nose while she nuzzled against Nik with her eyes closed off in comfort. ”W-wow? Fire-breathing?” Cindy whispered as she slowly made her way to Nik's side. ”What's the range of fire? I would like to steer clear from getting burned,” Cindy queried while Nik shook his head and rubbed his face against Ignit's as his other hand scratched her scaly neck. ”Aw, you don't need to worry about Ignit burning you. She only burns bad guys when she is hungry!”
”Hshh!” Ignit's tongue flickered and licked Nik's cheek as Nik nodded, ”Yeah, you're a dragon. The best and the strongest!” Nik continued to play with Ignit as Cindy looked quite a bit surprised. She never considered Nik to be a 'cute' type of pet person. She figured if Nik actually had a dog, he would probably train it for dog fights.
”Aw man,” Gwen grunted, ”Your pet reminds me of my friend. He turned into a giant lizard,” she slumped back on Nik's shoulder while sighing deeply.
”We have already reached the area controlled by a major player. The man is called Kingpin and he gets along with the Brenmde Don family for many products.”