Luke had tried to recreate his own makeshift domain expansion. However, the inside of the domain should’ve been like a separate freaking dimension, and Luke’s wasn’t half that good.
Luke’s 61% mastery didn’t allow him to create the level of detail he wanted.
Besides, it was weak.
The structures he could solidify were limited, and creating too many solid structures compromised their integrity.
And Luke knew damn well that Kurono had displayed a much higher proficiency in the anime than what Luke currently had.
He needs to increase the mastery even more so that he’s able to use it as he desired...
Also...
Just like the Explosion Quirk had passively increased his physical durability, and Flying Thunder God had sharpened his reaction speed, Black Smoke came with its own unexpected side effect: it enhanced his instinctual talent with sharp-edged melee weapons.
Swords, knives, daggers, spears, scythes - the moment he solidified the ash into any bladed form, his body seemed to know exactly how to move.
Realizing how powerful this made him in close-quarters combat, Luke didn’t hesitate to open his wallet.
"Shut up and take my Terror Points."
He dumped another 26 TP into Black Smoke, pushing the mastery all the way to a clean, perfect 100%. The remaining 18 TP he decided to save for emergencies.
The 100% Black Smoke mastery meant the absolute peak level of proficiency of this power Kurono had achieved in his lifetime.
Kurono was an adult in the Fire Force anime. At that time, the level of power he displayed while fighting those Titanic Infernals and his own doppelganger during the Great Cataclysm could be his peak.
Luke didn’t remember exactly, but didn’t Shinra alter the whole reality and sever the connection with the adolla after becoming a god? Did pyrokinetics get to keep their ignition abilities after that?
’Fuck, why is it kinda hard to remember details about other series when Marvel stuff is so easy to recall?’
Anyway... FTG upgrades were more expensive and, so far, had only increased his reaction speed. And even if he emptied everything, it’ll only increase the mastery by 9%.
And since FTG consumed really low Chakra units (1 CU gave him 10 teleportation) and the cost of engraving FTG seals was also negligible (1 CU mean 50 Seals.) Right now, he had 145 CU. This much balance was also fine for now.
He’d rather keep a little cushion in the bank.
[Ability Mastery]
[Explosion Quirk: 100%]
[Flying Thunder God Technique: 50%]
[Black Smoke: 100%]
By now, evening had fallen over the city.
After finishing up his power testing and refilling his empty stomach, Luke finally lay back on his mattress. He had at least bothered to lay a clean and fresh bedsheet over the dusty, stained fabric.
This time, the total number of days he was going away from his home was 8 days. It was day 4 today... the next stream wasn’t far either. Also, he was going to follow the advice of his delightfully twisted patron viewers.
His next stream was going to be a casual one.
No hostages, only action and chaos.
"Just a few more days," he murmured to himself, staring up at the crumbling ceiling, "and I too will have a grand hideout like a proper super terrorist or simply supervillain."
He pulled out his phone and opened Twitter. As expected, he found himself at the very top of the trending page. Not just that, the entire top five was dominated by tags related to the Lemurian Star attack.
He scrolled lazily, reading through the flood of hot takes, memes, conspiracy theories, and the occasional thirst tweets??
But before he could dive deeper into the public’s reaction to his hijacking, his eyes caught the tags sitting at number 9 and number 11.
9. #SpiderwomanAttacksDCPolice
11. #DaytimeFiring
With an excited, curious grin, he clicked on the #9 tag and began scrolling through a flurry of text posts, chaotic news articles, and incredibly shaky, vertical cell phone footage recorded by civilians in Washington D.C.
He wasn’t disappointed at all.
"Of course," Luke thought, a massive grin spreading across his face in the dark room. "The butterfly effect of my actions is finally starting to show."
’Hydra is moving.’
The assassination attempt on Fury took place exactly as he knew would happen from the movies. But two things were different. It seemed Spider-Woman was near the location, and she was able to save him. And while from the shaky footage it was not clear, it seemed like some unidentified armed men helped Fury as well.
The canon was breaking, and he was the one holding the hammer.
Washington D.C. - 3 Hours Before...
The city streets were quiet as Director Fury navigated his heavy S.H.I.E.L.D. SUV through the daytime traffic.
"Activating communications encryption protocol," the car’s mechanical AI voice announced smoothly.
"Open secure line 0405," Fury commanded, keeping his eyes on the road.
"Confirmed."
A moment of static was quickly replaced by a sharp, professional voice.
"This is Hill."
"How did the meeting with Professor Xavier go?" Fury asked.
"He seemed doubtful and unsure, but he will make his decision within two days," Maria Hill replied instantly.
"Tell him to decide within 10 hours. Over."
Fury tapped the steering wheel, severing the connection as he pulled up to a red traffic light.
He glanced to his right. A standard D.C. Metro Police cruiser had pulled up right next to him. The two uniformed officers inside were staring at him with heavy, undisguised suspicion.
Fury slowly rolled his window down just a crack, fixing them with his signature glare.
"Want to see my lease?" Fury deadpanned.
The cop in the passenger seat didn’t smile. He quickly blipped the police siren once, and the cruiser began to slowly accelerate away as the light turned green.
Fury shook his head, taking his foot off the brake.
SMASH!
Out of absolutely nowhere, another police cruiser completely T-boned Fury’s SUV, slamming into the driver’s side with bone-shattering force.
Before Fury could even process the hit, a second police car slammed into his rear bumper, followed instantly by a third crashing into his front grill.
His specialized SUV was suddenly boxed in completely, metal screeching against metal as he was violently trapped in the center of the intersection.
Inside the heavily damaged cabin, Fury groaned, clutching his left arm.
[Fracture detected. Recommend anesthetic injection]
The car’s AI spoke up helpfully.
As Fury quickly grabbed the medical auto-injector from the center console and jammed it into his shoulder, a heavily armored SWAT truck violently rammed through the intersection, skidding to a halt right in front of his trapped vehicle.
Fury gritted his teeth, his good hand reaching for the heavy pistol holstered at his side.
He quickly realized the grim truth: these weren’t cops. They were men from Hydra...
The fake SWAT officers poured out of the truck, raising heavy assault rifles and taking aim at his reinforced windshield. Fury braced himself for the absolute worst.
SCREEEEECH! Dozens of unmarked, matte-black SUVs suddenly tore around the street corners from all four directions. They slammed on their brakes, perfectly surrounding the fake police cruisers and the SWAT truck in a massive, impenetrable steel ring.
The car’s mechanical voice chimed in one more time...
[Sir, the undercover reinforcement team from General Ross has arrived.]
.
.
.
.
.
Gwen Stacy was slouched in the back of a sleek, black S.H.I.E.L.D. sedan, heading straight for the airport.
Sitting right beside her was her trusty civilian backpack, packed tightly with the absolute essentials: a toothbrush, some lipstick, sanitary pads, and her original, self-stitched, homemade Spider-suit. It was the exact same spandex suit she had nervously brought along on her "first date" with S.H.I.E.L.D. just two weeks ago.
She stared out the window, watching the D.C. daytime traffic drift past. The day had been exhausting. Her crushed ribs still hurt, and her burns still stung slightly even after the painkillers and the treatment.
All she wanted was to get to the airport, board her flight, reach her dorm, and sleep for a few hours.
Then her phone suddenly buzzed against her leg.
She pulled it out, frowning at the caller ID. It was Maria Hill.
She swiped to answer.
"Fury is under attack," Hill’s voice came through, tight with something Gwen had never heard from the woman before - genuine emotion. Actual worry. "You have to help him, Spider-Woman."
Gwen had met Hill quite a few times over the past two weeks. Recruitment, orientation, the new suit handover, and even mission briefings.
Every single time, Hill had been ice-cold, professional, and completely unflappable. But right now, Maria Hill sounded scared.
"Got it, I’ll be there," Gwen replied, her tired demeanor vanishing in an instant.
A soft chime signaled that the GPS coordinates of Fury’s location had been dropped onto her phone. She checked the screen. The estimated time of arrival was 20 minutes.
Fortunately, she was Spider-Woman...she could cover the distance in 1/3 of the estimated time.
"Mr. Smith, pull the car over," Gwen spoke urgently.
Gwen’s senses rang wildly in her head.
Instead of hitting the brakes, the driver slammed his foot on the gas.
"No can do, Spider-bitch!" Mr. Smith sneered.
He abruptly twisted around in his seat, steering with one hand while pulling out a gun from his coat to aim at her.
But Gwen was fast. Poor Mr. Smith couldn’t even get to aim at her head properly... Gwen had moved at insane speeds to restrain the hostile cab driver with his own seatbelt in a single second.
She casually tilted her head, completely ignoring the furious look on the helplessly restrained cab driver. That was odd, even within S.H.I.E.L.D. only a select few people should know her real identity. And yet, this random cabby called her Spider-Bitch...
"Wow. Bitch? Really?" Gwen scoffed, raising an eyebrow. "Does S.H.I.E.L.D. not mandate basic personality tests for their cab drivers anymore? I’m definitely leaving a one-star review for this customer service, buddy."
===============
Btw, it’s not a cliffhanger. The random cabby won’t get a fight scene. It’s the end of a scene.
And we’re ranked quite low this week. Should I do a PS goal? What about 3000 PS for an extra Chapter. This is a ridiculously high ransom, the hostage is a bonus Chapter.
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