Chapter 67: chapter 67
"Are you sending a message?" Pietro muttered, glancing at the note before stuffing it into his pocket without reading it.
"Exactly," Adrian replied with a nod. "Take this seriously. I need you to head to the Himalayas and locate a monastery called the Chastity Wall. There, you'll find a man named Gunsou."
Pietro frowned. "That's pretty vague."
Adrian smirked. "The details are in the note. Take a look."
Pietro pulled the note out and read it. His expression shifted to mild surprise as he processed the contents.
Adrian was unsurprised by his reaction.
Gunsou was the legendary master of Daredevil and Elektra in most universes, a blind man who led the ninja organization known as Zhenshunhui. Gunsou had trained Matt Murdock (Daredevil) since childhood, honing his senses to be sharper than ordinary humans.
During a brutal war with the rival group The Hand, Gunsou used a forbidden technique to fend off their assault, a feat that ultimately cost him his life.
However, the Gunsou Adrian was seeking was not the same man from those tales. In this universe—the Twilight Wolf timeline—Daredevil had survived the apocalyptic collapse. After a fateful battle with Bullseye that left him gravely injured, Matt Murdock had faked his death by leaping into a waterfall.
He had since abandoned the Daredevil mantle, retreating to the Chastity Wall monastery, where he quietly trained fighters in hopes of one day making a difference. Now older and wiser, he commanded an impressive cadre of fighters and possessed technology akin to a Quinjet.
The note in Pietro's hand would serve to establish a connection and foster collaboration with this version of Gunsou.
"I'll be off, then," Pietro said after a moment, nodding to the group in the car. Without waiting for a reply, he turned and sprinted northward. Within seconds, he had crossed mountains and disappeared from sight.
Adrian leaned back in his seat and glanced at Clint, who was casually humming along to a song on the radio. Snapping his fingers, Adrian said, "Let's move. Canada is still a long way off."
Clint grinned, pressing the gas pedal to the floor, and the SUV roared to life, kicking up dust as it sped through the desert.
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The vehicle raced over dunes and rough terrain, and Clint suddenly grabbed his binoculars to scan the horizon.
"What are you looking at?" Adrian asked, narrowing his eyes. Unlike Clint's aging vision, Adrian's enhanced eyesight could clearly make out a scene unfolding ahead.
Several members of the Hulk Gang were attacking a truck marked with Magneto's insignia. It was clear the gang was hostile toward Magneto's faction.
"Looks like they're raiding Magneto's people," Clint muttered, setting the binoculars aside.
Suddenly, the truck exploded. Flames and a massive shockwave blasted the Hulks into the air. Their bodies twisted mid-flight, screaming in agony before hitting the ground with sickening thuds. Most were reduced to broken, lifeless forms. Only one managed to survive, groaning in pain as it rolled across the ground.
"Serves them right," Clint said with a smirk. "Magneto's grandson might be old, but he's not completely useless."
Adrian said nothing, watching as the wreckage and corpses faded into the horizon behind them.
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As the SUV pressed on, Clint finally broke the silence. "Why don't we just deal with the Hulk Gang and these warlords outright?"
Adrian looked at the setting sun, now sinking below the horizon, and replied, "Even if we eliminate the Hulk Gang, it won't fix the root problem. The wasteland will just give rise to new warlords, plunging it into an even darker abyss."
Clint frowned but didn't interrupt.
"The people of this wasteland have lost their humanity," Adrian continued. "They don't understand kindness or morality anymore. Fighting and plundering are their only means of survival."
The sun had completely set, leaving only the faint glow of the rising crescent moon. Adrian's tone grew somber.
"Killing the Hulk Gang might bring temporary peace, but it won't last. This wasteland doesn't need superheroes. It needs an army—one strong enough to overthrow the warlords and maintain order."
Clint fell into deep thought. His daughter Ashley, who had inherited most of her powers from her grandfather Peter Parker, was growing more violent with each passing day. Clint had even heard from Tonya that Ashley had started extorting people and beating them senseless for protection money.
The fear that his daughter might become the very thing she hated gnawed at him.
"What do you think we should do?" Clint asked quietly.
Adrian's eyes narrowed as he gazed at a sign ahead. "The key lies in assembling that army. Once we deal with Zemo, we'll have the resources to make it happen."
The sign loomed closer, its bold letters declaring: Canada – 2,000 kilometers ahead.
Adrian's voice carried an air of finality. "With Zemo gone, we'll finally have what we need to change this world."
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