[Vol. 3] Chapter 8: The Defenders Assemble

“Master, watch out!” A security guard lunged forward, throwing himself in front of Purple Man.

Finn’s sword cleaved through the guard and his gun. Blood sprayed everywhere, splattering Purple Man from head to toe.

Drenched in blood, Purple Man came to his senses and stared at Finn in disbelief. “You broke free of my control!”

“I was never under your control!” Finn swung again, his blade arcing toward Purple Man’s neck.

“Jessica Jones!” Purple Man shrieked.

A tremendous force suddenly slammed into Finn, checking his movement and sending him flying.

He drove his sword into the ground to steady himself. When he looked up, he saw the person who had attacked him—the white girl who had been driving the truck for Purple Man.

She wore a black jacket and jeans. Her eyes were dull and lifeless.

Finn remembered that Hell’s Kitchen was home to a superhero team known as the Defenders. Its members were Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist.

Jessica had once been an ordinary girl. One day, she went on a family outing and their car collided with a military truck loaded with radioactive chemical waste.

Sure enough, Jessica’s parents went to meet their maker while she walked away without a scratch. She had also gained the ability to fly and superhuman strength, becoming a woman of monstrous strength.

As the old trope went: dead parents, limitless power. Jessica Jones became a superhero, joined the Defenders, and began fighting criminals and protecting the weak in Hell’s Kitchen.

What Finn hadn’t expected was that Jessica had been controlled by Purple Man and turned into his enforcer.

The super-strong woman stood like a lioness ready to pounce, her feet planted wide and her fists clenched as she stared coldly at Finn. Behind her stood Purple Man, looking completely at ease.

“I don’t have a choice. Even if you used to be a superhero, I’ll still kill you if you get in my way.”

Finn pulled his sword free from the concrete and walked toward Jessica.

“Resurrector, please don’t hurt Jessica Jones! She’s our teammate!” a voice called from the other end of the street, almost pleading.

Resurrector? Finn wasn’t entirely sure the man was talking to him.

A figure came running from the distance—a heavily built man in a skintight uniform with a dragon emblem on his chest.

He was completely covered from head to toe, leaving not an inch of skin exposed. He wore a diving mask with a breathing apparatus, and an oxygen tank was strapped to his lower back.

With all that equipment, he could avoid inhaling the pheromones Purple Man released and escape his control.

“Resurrector, I’m Iron Fist! I’m a superhero, just like you!” the man shouted at Finn. His voice was muffled by the mask. “I studied martial arts in K’un-Lun, China!”

Finn pointed his sword at him. “Call me ‘Resurrector’ one more time, and I’ll cut Jessica Jones and Purple Man down together!”

Danny Rand, the Iron Fist, broke into a cold sweat. He immediately apologized. “Okay, okay! My mistake! Finn, calm down! Jessica’s innocent. She’s only doing this because he’s hypnotized her!”

“One nuisance after another.” Purple Man’s expression darkened. He turned his head—and sure enough, there was Luke Cage sneaking around nearby.

Luke was powerfully built, with a pair of gleaming metal bracers around his wrists. He was another member of the Defenders—and Jessica Jones’s lover.

He had once undergone an experimental super-soldier procedure, which had given him bulletproof skin and strength far beyond that of an ordinary human.

Luke kept his distance from Purple Man to avoid being controlled. That left only one member of the Defenders who hadn’t shown up yet: Daredevil.

Or rather, Daredevil had already arrived. The blind man in the suit who had been spectating from the sidelines was Daredevil all along.

Purple Man shouted mockingly, “Luke Cage, stop hiding like some oversized rat! Your girlfriend’s in my hands. I spent six whole months breaking her in, and now she’s just the way I like her! If you’ve got any balls, come save her!”

Luke’s face turned livid. He clenched his fists, veins throbbing at his temples.

Jessica was his lover. Purple Man was humiliating him, yet Luke could only swallow his rage.

“Luke, control yourself!” Iron Fist shouted. “Don’t get close to him, or you’ll be controlled!”

Then he turned toward Purple Man. “You sick control freak, stop bragging about the disgusting things you did to Jessica! We’ve all seen it on Pornhub already! You’re not showing us anything new!”

“Iron Fist… you…” Luke Cage took a million-point critical hit from his own teammate. He was on the verge of coughing up blood and collapsing on the spot.

Seeing that provoking Luke wasn’t working, Purple Man turned to Jessica. “Go. Kill that arrogant little bastard!”

Jessica kicked off the ground. In an instant, she erupted forward with unbelievable speed, tearing up the pavement beneath her feet.

She shot toward Finn like an unstoppable cannonball, but he slipped aside and avoided the impact.

“Finn, I’ll help you!”

Iron Fist charged in, golden light blooming around his fist. He slammed a straight punch into Jessica, then followed with a flurry of powerful strikes that sent her sprawling onto her back.

Finn noticed that Iron Fist wasn’t using his full strength. He was still worried about Jessica’s safety and couldn’t bring himself to hit her too hard.

Iron Fist pinned her to the ground and kept punching while shouting, “Jessica, it’s me! Iron Fist—Danny Rand! Wake up! You’re being controlled by Purple Man! Wake up!”

He was combining physical therapy with talk therapy, trying to restore her free will.

With Iron Fist keeping Jessica occupied, Finn raised his sword and charged at the true culprit, Purple Man.

“Jessica! My sweet baby! Get up! Fight back! Smash his breathing mask!”

Purple Man’s commands worked far better than Iron Fist’s talk therapy.

Jessica immediately drew her legs up and kicked like a spring, sending Iron Fist flying seven or eight meters away. He landed on his feet, steadied himself, and charged back in.

Jessica ignored his fists completely. Taking his punch head-on, she went all out with a “Bear-Paw Swipe,” slamming her palm into his face.

His breathing mask shattered.

With the mask broken, Iron Fist’s skin was exposed to the air—and to the pheromones Purple Man was releasing.

His eyes instantly went dull. His iron-hard fists relaxed, and the muscles tensed throughout his body went slack.

Purple Man smiled in satisfaction. “Iron Fist, Jessica Jones—take Finn down!”

Then he immediately jumped into the FedEx truck, started the engine, and tried to escape.

A Colt pistol appeared in Finn’s hand. He fired in rapid succession, blowing out all four tires.

Unable to drive away with an entire truckload of stolen wealth, Purple Man was so furious he might as well have had purple smoke coming out of his ears. He jumped out of the cab, pulled out an assault rifle, and opened fire on Finn.

By then, Finn was tangled up with Jessica Jones and Iron Fist. Two fists against four—and he was still holding his own, trading blows with both of them.

To be honest, Finn had a thousand ways to kill two superheroes who only knew how to fight with their bare hands. But if he killed them, his reputation as a superhero would take a serious hit. He might even be branded an antihero—or worse, a sociopath.

In a world ruled by superheroes, he had to manage his superhero persona carefully.

After taking a full set of Iron Fist’s Bagua strikes head-on, Finn sent Jessica Jones flying with an over-the-shoulder throw. Then, ignoring everything else, he sprinted toward the FedEx truck.