Unbeknownst to those inside the building, two figures stood atop a nearby high-rise, watching everything unfold.
Max glanced at Nolan. "Boss, I'm picking up movement all around the area... but I can't actually see them. What gives?"
It was one of Max's developing abilities bioelectric perception. Over the past few weeks, he'd been training hard under Nolan's guidance to master his powers.
Nolan hadn't asked him to leap straight to electromagnetism. First, he had to fully control electricity and then move toward generating magnetism from it.
Electricity and magnetism went hand in hand, but Max wasn't there yet. Bioelectric sensing was his first step.
Everything living with a physical body emits electrical signals.
Nolan could feel them too. His hyper-senses picked up faint heartbeats and soft footsteps cloaked ninjas, almost certainly using Hand techniques.
It made sense. Their enemies, the Sanctum's underground operatives, had enhanced perception too.
Stick, their leader, wasn't quite as insane as Daredevil, but still dangerous.
"They're Hand agents," Nolan explained. "One of our targets. They've got something I want. Try to keep some of them alive."
Max didn't know who or what the Hand was. But if they were enemies of his boss... they were his enemies too.
Suddenly, multiple white-robed figures appeared on the ground. Leading them was an older man, cane in hand, baseball cap pulled low. Among the others, he stood out easily.
The old man tilted his head, his shaded gaze turning directly toward Nolan and Max.
Though his eyes were hidden behind dark glasses, his grip on the cane tightened muscles and veins bulging.
Nolan narrowed his eyes.
He'd handed Daredevil over to Bullseye for elimination. That made Nolan an indirect accomplice in Matt Murdock's death. If Stick knew the truth, he'd undoubtedly come for blood.
But how did he find out?
Was it Kingpin? Bullseye?
Nolan's eyes scanned the rest of the group.
Before Daredevil had joined, the Sanctum Order only had ten members. Nolan didn't follow that series closely, so aside from Stick and Elektra, he barely remembered anyone.
Still, a few of them gave off distinct energy signatures but he wasn't worried.
Neither the Hand nor the Sanctum Order concerned him.
With his current power level, they were just names waiting to be crossed off the list.
"Hmm?" Nolan's senses twitched. "Someone else is here."
His gaze shifted and there, on the street below, was a muscular man clad in a black-and-yellow combat suit.
Nolan's expression darkened.
He recognized him instantly.
A white martial artist wielding chi-based powers inspired by Eastern mysticism. Like Shang-Chi... but with a very different legacy.
Kun-Lun is a hidden mystical city of martial power.
So, Iron Fist's presence here made sense. His father was killed by the Hand. Of course, he'd show up if the Hand was moving something important.
Nolan was curious. He wanted to study this so-called "Iron Fist." Maybe even take it for himself.
As for offending Kun-Lun?
Who cared? This was America. Kun-Lun was a world away.
The Hand had clearly gotten sloppy. Whatever they were guarding... it had attracted way too much attention.
"This is getting interesting," Nolan muttered. "They must be here because of those trucks that showed up a few days ago..."
The Sanctum agents and Iron Fist had no reason to target the Hand unless the Hand had something very important inside that building.
And now, they were on high alert.
Dozens of ninja-like figures began emerging from the shadows, surrounding the perimeter in defense.
Then, two figures stepped forward.
"Well, now... this just got even better," Nolan smirked. "So Elektra has been reborn."
In the Marvel mythos, Black Sky, a being destined to be the vessel for the ancient demon known as The Beast, was considered a weapon of untold power.
The Beast was an ancient, primal evil. Unlike Mephisto or Dormammu, its exact nature was never fully revealed in canon. But it held dominion over death, resurrection, and mystical transformation.
The leaders of the Hand were chosen to be vessels of the Beast.
Nolan didn't know exactly how the five Fingers of the Hand connected to it, but this was his first brush with a truly mystical power source.
His work in science didn't mean he was limited to tech alone.
Even Tony Stark had built magic-powered armor.
If mystic energy could be harnessed, Nolan intended to do it.
Superman had one critical weakness: magic.
That's why even when he was physically indestructible, he could still be controlled or injured by sorcerers.
Not the stronger versions, of course, like Silver Age Superman, Golden Superman, or Cosmic Superman, but Nolan wasn't there yet.
Right now, he was still a "budget version."
And if one day the Sorcerer Supreme came knocking?
He refused to be helpless.
Elektra must be taken alive.
His intent must've been too obvious because Elektra, who'd been focused on the Sanctum Order and Iron Fist, suddenly turned her head.
Those cold, all-black eyes locked onto Nolan's.
In that instant, he saw a monster lurking behind them, something ancient and inhuman, watching him through her gaze.
"That your target?" Elektra asked calmly.
Viper followed her gaze and saw two silhouettes on the rooftop.
One of them was Nolan.
The other wore a dark, customized suit and hat but his glowing blue face made him easy to recognize.
"Didn't expect him to show up here," Viper muttered.
"Let's finish this," Elektra said, her voice clear and sharp.
A small smile tugged at her lips.
"It seems... the gods are fond of him."
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