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  Flying away from Tony, Nero felt a familiar shift in the air as a s materialized in front of him. Maria’s face appeared, her Mist Fme Illusions allowing them to unicate as if they were standing face to face, creatiime unication without any need for satellites or wire, despite the miles between them. One of the upgrades they’d added for situations like this. Her bright smile greeted him.

  "How did it go?" Maria asked, the amusement ione obvious.

  Nero returned her smile, Maria could see his face clearly through the illusion. "It was fine. Reed pyed dumb, trying to lure me into a false sense of fidence. He was all emotion, leaviing openings, practically beggio strike. Cssic trap."

  Maria raised an eyebrow. "And you didn’t take the bait?"

  "Please." Nero rolled his eyes. "Reed doesn’t get to mess with me that easily. He’s sharp, but predictable. Pyed the part of the curious stist perfectly. Asked all the usual questions."

  "He does like to poke around where he shouldn’t," Maria noted, her voice ced with knowing humor. "Think he’ll back off?"

  "Not a ce," Nero replied, the faint glow of his fmes lighting his path as he flew. "Reed’s too obsessed with solving puzzles. I just made myself the test one he ’t resist. But I gave him enough to chew on for a while. He’ll be busy eg dots."

  Maria leaned back, her expression rexed but focused as she listeo Nero. “What if Reed ects the dots? Finds out more than we want him to?”

  Nero smirked, adjusting his flight path as he kept his eyes oy below. “He won’t. L’s already ahead of him. Sce might be Reed’s game, but when it es to solving puzzles and eg dots, L’s better. He’ll only find what we let him.”

  Maria he tension in her shoulders easing slightly. “Alright, I’ll trust L to ha. But what about Donald and Anthony? Weren’t they promised when they met Danny, Luke, and Matt? That could draw unwatention.”

  Nero waved off her with a casual gesture. “Not really. They blended in fine. Danny only saw Anthony as some big guy, and Donald? Just a doctor Sakura called in for sultation. No one’s pieg that together.”

  Before Maria could respond, Nero’s phone beeped, aapped a button to add L into the versation. “How’s the Hand operation looking, L?” Nero asked.

  L’s voice crackled through the line, as calm and unbothered as always. “Smooth. SHIELD’s been pletely sidetracked. They’ve got their hands full seg what they think is the main cargon Bones. Fury’s team is setting up a perimeter around it now.”

  Nero adjusted his flight, banki over the darkened city. “And the actual cargo?”

  “Secured,” L replied with casual fidence. “It’s in our possession. SHIELD hasn’t even e close to finding it.”

  Maria, still watg through the Mist Fme Illusion, raised an eyebrow. “And SHIELD has no idea?”

  “No clue,” L firmed. “They’re too busy dealing with the Dragon Bones. It’s all going acc to pn. And they’re not going to figure it out anytime soon,” L added, sounding almost bored. “SHIELD’s pying by their own rules, which makes them predictable. They’ve already diverted half their resources to protect the wrong target.”

  Maria g Nero, amusement clear on her face. “And they still think they’re running the show.”

  “They always do,” Nero said with a shrug. “Let them. As long as we’ve got the real cargo, Fury’s he wiser. What about the Hand? They still on your tail?”

  “Not anymore,” L replied, his tone cool. “We cut their unications before they could call for backup. They’re scrambling now, but they’re chasing shadows.”

  Nero's eyes gleamed, "It’s time to strike," Nero said, his tone smooth, but with a hint of finality. "Wipe them out where it hurts. I don’t he Hand gone forever—that’s impossible. But I don’t want to hear their name anywhere near us for the few decades."

  L’s calm voice responded, "Uood. I’ll lead SHIELD right to them. They’ll take care of the heavy lifting, thinking they’ve uncovered something major."

  Maria chuckled through the Mist Fme Illusion, shaking her head slightly. "You’re really going to let Fury do all the work for you?"

  Nero gave a slight shrug, his voice amused. "It’s what he’s best at—doing other people’s dirty work without knowing it. SHIELD loves pying the hero."

  Nero hovered high above Hell’s Kit, his form barely visible against the night sky. The air was cool, and the lights of the city stretched out below like a glittering map. His senses extended far beyond his physical sight, Aura-type Observation Haki weaving through the buildings, streets, and hidden alleys. With each pulse, he felt the presence of every living thing, every movement, every tremor beh the surface. His eyes, strengthened by Sky Fmes, pierced through the darkness, cutting through the walls and seeing the Hand’s agents scrambling in the shadows. They were desperate, uncoordinated, like rats trying to escape a sinking ship.

  Far below, explosions rocked the city, sending plumes of smoke and debris into the air. SHIELD had desded like a hammer, hitting every location L had fed them. Teams of agents swarmed through the streets, their coordirikes driving the Hand’s operatives further into disarray. Nero watched it all unfold from above, as if dug a symphony of destru.

  He could see Fury’s men st the warehouses, clearing out the facilities, and fisg crates of heroin. They were relentless, following the precise trail Nero had id out for them. SHIELD thought they were dismantling the Hand’s entire operation, but iy, they were ing up the pieero had already discarded. The real prize had been taken ho—quietly, effitly, and without a sirace left behind.

  Nero smirked beh his mask. He didn’t o fight every battle. Sometimes, letting someone else do the dirty work was far more satisfying.

  As he floated there, Maria’s presence flickered into view beside him, her Mist Fmes weaving through the air like soft ribbons. She drifted closer, and Nero instinctively ed an arm around her, pulling her gently against him. Together, they watched the city burn, the chaos below a testament to the pn they had orchestrated.

  “SHIELD’s doing a hell of a job down there,” Maria said, her voice light, mixing with the distant sounds of explosions, sirens and shouts of thousands of people.

  Nero rested his on Maria's shoulder, his eyes fixed on the chaos below as SHIELD’s forces tore through the city. His arm still ed loosely arouhe se pyed out like a stage performane he had carefully orchestrated.

  "Fury’s going to have a headache," Maria muttered, her voice carrying a hint of amusement. "Clearing out the Hand’s maiions is ohing, but he’ll soon realize he’s pissed off a lot of powerful people."

  Nero smirked, his breath warm against her skin. "Yeah, Fisk was filling the pockets of half the World cil. Ohey figure out their cash cow’s gohey’ll start grilling Fury."

  "He’ll ha," Maria shrugged lightly, leaning into him. "That man’s stubborn as hell. But they’ll still tie him in knots with bureaucracy."

  "Let them," Nero said, eyes fixed on the wreckage below. "Keeps the pressure off us. As long as SHIELD’s busy ing up this mess, we focus on what’s ."

  Maria turned her head slightly, her eyes catg the distant fmes. "You think this’ll keep the Hand quiet for a while?"

  Nero didn’t answer immediately, his gaze trailing over the burning buildings. SHIELD was thh, and tonight they’d gutted the Hand's operations across the city. But he knew better than to think they were dohey’ll crawl back eventually," he said, his voice low. "But it’ll take time. And when they do, they won’t have the same reach."

  "Or the same power," Maria added, the ers of her lips curving up in a faint smile.

  Nero stretched zily, still holding Maria in his arms as the chaos below unfolded in Hell’s Kit. Fires, explosions, and SHIELD agents swarming like ants—everything was goily acc to pn. With a smirk hidden under his mask, he reached for his phone and made a quick call.

  "Sorel, show me my achievements," he said casually, his tone light.

  The soft, almost melodic voice of Sorel, his system AI, responded in her usual cheerful manner. "Yes, Big Brother."

  Immediately, a translut s appeared before Nero’s eyes, dispying the full extent of their ret operations. The numbers and data scrolled down in quick succession, highlighting every successful move sihe discovery of the Dragon Boainted heroin that had kickstarted this entire series of events.

  [SYSTEM REPORT: Achievement Overview]

  1. Dragon Bone-Heroin Discovery:

  Located initial batch supply.

  Iigated source through Hell’s Kit informants.

  Established tact with key pyers (Danny, Matt, Luke) without exposure.

  2. Hand Operations Unveiled:

  Infiltrated Hand’s distributiowork.

  Tracked shipments across Harlem and Hell’s Kit.

  Sabotaged multiple operations to cripple the Hand’s flow of resources.

  3. Neogenes Liberation:

  Coordinated with Kira and Mystique to eants’ safe extra.

  Diverted X-Men and Brotherhood attention to limit flict.

  Successfully rescued 53 mutants without casualties.

  4. Dismantling Fisk and the Hand:

  Undermined Kingpin’s trol over the drug trade in Harlem.

  ralized several Hand strongholds.

  Delivered vital intelligeo SHIELD, ensuring long-term damage to Fisk’s power structure.

  5. SHIELD’s Involvement:

  Orchestrated SHIELD’s intervention, leading them to mop up remaining Hand agents.

  Avoided direct exposure of Nero’s Familia.

  Maintained operational trol while using SHIELD to do the heavy lifting.

  6. Local Heroes Added:

  Ied Spider-Man, Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Danny Rand into operations.

  Enhanced colboration without promising the Familia’s secrecy.

  Maria g the s, nodding approvingly. "Not bad. Looks like we’ve dealt quite the blow."

  apped his thoughtfully, scrolling through the system’s final tally. "I’d say it’s more than a blow. The Hand’s going to have a hard time crawling out of this one."

  Sorel chimed ba, her tone warm and chipper. [Calg rewards based on achievements... gratutions!

  2x D++ Css Character Cards

  2x C-- Css Character Card

  1x C++ Tier Character Card

  3x D Css Item Cards

  1x C-- Css Item Card

  2x C++ Css Item Cards

  4x D++ Css Ability Cards

  1x C-- Css Ability Card

  2x C+ Css Ability Cards]

  Sorel's cheerful voice broke through the air. [Would you like to dehe cards, Big Brother?]

  Nero hovered silently, deep in thought. He knew Sorel's question wasn’t just about leveling up—densing cards wasn’t a simple decision. It meant fewer, but stronger individuals, and their curreup had them spread across enough anizations that one more operative wouldn’t hurt, but two or three extra might draw attention.

  He gnced over at Maria, her arms crossed as she sidered the question. She met his gaze, and after a moment, nodded. "Fresh blood might not be necessary. We’ve got sleepers in most of the anizations we here’s not mu for extra faces without tipping our hand."

  Nero rubbed his thoughtfully. "True. But we could use someoronger, someone who hahings without needing stant ht. Our ops are getting bigger, aually, the right people will start sniffing around. When they do, we need someohat hold the line."

  Maria sidered that for a beat, her expression thoughtful. "Okay. dehem. We don’t need more bodies, but we do need more power."

  Nero gave a brief nod, signaling to Sorel. "dehem all."

  The translut s flickered in front of him as Sorel processed the request. [densing the cards, Big Brother!] Her tone was bright and eic, but the underlying magi the air as the cards merged was anything but light. The s blurred momentarily as the system worked, bining all the power, personalities, and potential from the colle of D++ and C-- Css cards they had accumuted. Finally, the data solidified.

  [You now have: 1x B-- Css Character Card, 1x B-- Css Ability Card, and 1x B-- Css Item Card. gratutions!] Sorel’s voice held a note of pride, as if she had personally done something impressive.

  Maria raised an eyebrow, impressed but not surprised. "B--? That’s better than I thought."

  Sorel’s voice chimed in again, this time with a slight apologetie. [As I mentioned earlier, Big Sis, the cards don’t have numeric values, and sometimes not all of the energy is fully utilized when merging. The unused energy from previous merges has accumuted and just barely pushed this oo B-- rank. However, despite being B--, the power level is at the lower end, so the possibilities for the summoned characters, items, and abilities will be at the lowest of the rank.]

  Nero and Maria exged gnces, both nodding, having expected as much.

  "Draw them, Sorel," Nero ordered casually, his gaze still fixed on the s, where SHIELD agents were moving through Hell’s Kit, pletely unaware they were being used as pawns.

  [Right away, Big Brother!] Sorel replied cheerfully. The s flickered for a moment, and then three cards materialized, floating mid-air before Nero and Maria. The first, outlined in a faint blue glow, was the character card; the sed, a soft violet, was the ability card; and the third, with a metallic sheen, represehe item card.

  Maria peered at the glowing cards. “Well, let's see what we’ve got. Could be something iing.”

  Nero reached for the first card, the character card, and with a simple flick of his wrist, it flipped over, revealing a name and a brief description.

  Nero picked up the first card, the character card, and flipped it over. His eyes sed the text, and for a brief sed, he paused, reizing the name. "Zed," he muttered to himself, the masked figure of the League of Legends universe’s Master of Shadows. The er of his mouth twitched under his mask. Zed—an assassin with mastery over shadoution—was not someoo take lightly, even in the text of the Familia's already formidable abilities.

  Maria raised an eyebrow at Nero's rea. "Zed?" she repeated, her tone ced with curiosity. "I take it he's not just some random guy?"

  "Not even close," Nero replied, showing the card to her. "He's a ninja, a shadoutor. Fast, lethal, and very good at being where you don’t want him to be."

  Maria tilted her head, studying the description but not quite grasping the full weight of it. "Sounds useful, but shadoution?" She waved her hand dismissively. "We’ve got plenty of operatives who blend into the dark."

  "Not like this," Nero crified, smirking behind his mask. "Zed isn’t just about stealth. He’s... an expert at turning shadows into ons, not just cover. Think of him like a walking shadow that stab you in the back while standing in front of you."

  Maria gave a slight nod, aowledging the expnation. "Alright, fine. If you say so. Sounds like he could be an asset."

  "Definitely," Nero said, moving to the card—the item card. The Spear of Bitter Mercy. His eyebrow raised slightly as he reized the name from the memories of the Prince, a powerful artifact from the Elder Scrolls universe. It was known for its destructive power and its ability to summon Daedric creatures to fight for its wielder.

  "Now this," Nero muttered, "is something else." He held up the card, showing Maria the details.

  She sed the description quickly. "A spear? You’re not a spear guy, Nero. You’re more... fiery explosions and bullets," she remarked with a grin.

  "It’s not just a spear," Nero replied, shaking his head. "This thing summoures from... well, let’s just say it’s like having an army in your pocket."

  Maria’s eyes lit up, finally catg on. "Ah, now that’s more like it. So, what? You stab someone, and suddenly there’s a horde of creatures tearing them apart?"

  "Something like that," Nero firmed. "Except the creatures arely friendly to anyone else, so we’d have to be careful how we use it."

  "Sounds messy," Maria ented, leaning back slightly. "But I see the potential. Maybe keep it in reserve for when things go sideways."

  Nero pced the spear card down and moved on to the st ohe ability card. Dimensional Ste. This one made him pause again, the Prince’s memories fshing through his mind. It was an ability pulled from the Breath of the Wild, allowing its wielder to store items in an alternate dimension and access them whenever needed. Essentially, an infie space that was pletely uable.

  Maria g the card, then back at Nero. "What’s that one?"

  "Dimensional Ste," Nero answered, a grin pulling at his lips. "It’s like having a backpack that never runs out of room. We stash ons, supplies, or eveire vehicles in it and pull them out whenever we hem."

  Maria looked impressed. "Now that’s useful. We wouldn’t have to lug around half the gear we normally do. And no one would even know we had it."

  "Exactly," Nero said, pocketing the card. "It’s going to make operations a lot smoother, especially when we o travel light."

  Maria chuckled. "I’m liking this haul more and more."

  Nero leaned back, satisfied with the cards they had drawn. "Yeah, it’s a good mix. Zed will be a solid addition for stealth ops, the spear gives us raw power, and this Dimensional Ste... well, let’s just say logistics just got a whole lot easier."

  Before they could dwell on their new acquisitions, Sofia’s voice crackled through the s. "Nero, we’ve got movement."

  Nero and Maria exged a gnce before Nero responded. "Go ahead, Sofia."

  "The Hand’s remnants are scrambling. They’ve picked up on SHIELD’s movements and are trying troup. Looks like they’re pnning a terstrike."

  "Let them try," Nero said, his tone cool and fident. "They’ll burn themselves out before they get close to us."

  Maria tapped her thoughtfully. "Still, we should be prepared. SHIELD might be doing the heavy lifting, but if the Has desperate, they could sh out."

  Nero nodded, agreeing with her. "We’ll keep an eye on it. Have the Neogeay in the shadows for now—o expose them unless it’s absolutely necessary."

  Sofia’s voice came back over the s. "Already on it. They’re in position but staying out of sight."

  "Good," Nero replied. "Keep me updated."

  --

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