The blade cut through the air without a sound.
Elektra's movements were precise, like a machine.
Matt's nerves screamed; the sharp pain in his back intertwined with the killing intent before him, forming a web of death.
He had no time to think; his body had already reacted.
He suddenly fell backward and to the side, at an angle that nearly twisted his spine, narrowly avoiding the thin metal as it grazed his Adam's apple.
The icy touch took away a layer of heat from his skin.
"Stop her!"
Danny's roar exploded in the empty factory.
He was the first to arrive, his fist burning with golden light, not striking Elektra, but slamming into the ground beneath her feet.
The power of K'un-Lun blasted a crater in the floor, sending shattered concrete flying in all directions, intending to obstruct her next move.
Elektra didn't even look at the center of the explosion.
She crouched low, sliding across the ground in an anti-physical manner, dodging all the flying debris, like a female leopard hunting close to the ground, pouncing once more at the fallen Matt.
Her target had never changed.
"Hey! Look over here!"
A giant copper brewing vat, whistling through the air, slammed in from the side.
It was Jessica.
She had directly pulled up a piece of equipment fixed to the ground and thrown it as a weapon.
Elektra finally reacted.
She abandoned her pursuit of Matt, tapping her toe on the ground, her body eerily springing upward, lightly landing on the rapidly rolling copper vat.
Using the vat's momentum, her body flipped in the air, her target directly at Jessica, who had just exposed her position.
"Damn it!"
Jessica cursed; she hadn't expected her opponent to be capable of such a move.
Just as Elektra was about to pounce on Jessica, a black wall of flesh blocked her path.
Luke Cage had finally arrived, spreading his arms, attempting to embrace this crazy woman directly with his invulnerable body.
"Bang!"
Elektra kicked Luke in the chest.
Luke's body didn't budge, but the immense force still made him grunt.
He realized that the strength of that kick was not much weaker than his own full-power strike.
And Elektra, using the recoil, once again created distance, landing on a row of rusted iron shelves, looking down at them from above.
She didn't speak, didn't scream, just tilted her head, her crimson electronic eyes flickering in the darkness, seemingly recalculating battlefield data.
"Her fighting style isn't right."
Danny helped up Matt, who was still breathing heavily, and said in a low voice, "This isn't The Hand's ninjutsu; this... this is a technique purely for killing, with no wasted movements."
"Never mind all that!"
Luke rubbed his aching chest, his eyes fixed on the figure on the iron shelf, "Let's knock her out first!"
"Don't hit her hard!" Matt broke free from Danny's support, stubbornly standing, "She's being controlled!"
"Say that again?"
Jessica looked at Matt in disbelief, "She almost slit your throat just now! And you're still protecting her?"
Amidst their argument, Elektra moved again.
She leaped down from the iron shelf, two broken metal pipes appearing in her hands at some unknown point, like a circling falcon, rushing towards the weakest link in the team—the injured Matt.
"You again!"
Luke roared, his massive body charging, blocking Matt's path.
But Elektra's figure twisted in mid-air, her target instantly switching to Danny.
She seemed to have judged that the guy with the glowing fist was the biggest threat.
Danny's Iron Fist met her instantly.
One golden and one black figure clashed violently in the center of the factory.
Every one of Danny's punches was powerful enough to shatter stone.
But Elektra was as slippery as an eel; she never confronted Iron Fist head-on, only using her speed and incredible angles to constantly attack Danny's lower body and joints.
Her attacks weren't fatal but were extremely harassing.
Making Danny's K'un-Lun martial arts unable to be fully utilized.
"She seems to... anticipate your moves!"
Luke watched from the side, startled.
Matt endured the severe pain, listening intently to everything on the battlefield.
He heard it.
Elektra's breathing, heartbeat, and even the sound of every muscle contraction maintained an absolutely steady frequency.
That wasn't a human rhythm; it was a machine operating efficiently.
That activation program, those German words, had erased everything about her, leaving only combat instincts and mission directives.
"Her target is me."
Matt suddenly spoke.
"The directive implanted in her is to eliminate threats. The moment I touched her, I was judged as the primary threat."
"So what?"
Jessica, while moving cautiously and looking for an opportunity to ambush, retorted irritably, "Are you going to let her stab you so she can complete her mission and go home?"
"No."
Matt shook his head, "Danny, Luke, you two flank her, forcefully suppressing her range of motion. Jessica, find an opportunity to control her arms from behind."
"And then what? You're going to reason with her?"
"No."
A look of painful determination appeared on Matt's face, "I'll knock her out."
The three of them paused.
"Let's do it!"
Luke was the first to respond; he was fed up with this constrained fighting.
Luke and Danny exchanged glances and simultaneously exerted their strength.
Luke, like an out-of-control heavy truck, directly crashed into the direction Elektra might dodge, using his body to block her movement.
Danny, no longer holding back, his Iron Fist glowing brightly, unleashed a fierce and unstoppable set of punches, forcing Elektra to continuously retreat.
"Now!"
Matt growled.
Along Elektra's retreat path, Jessica had already been lurking behind a massive concrete pillar.
She suddenly charged out, and in the instant Elektra's old strength was spent and new strength had not yet emerged, she used all her might to embrace her arms from behind.
"Got you!"
Jessica gritted her teeth, all her muscles straining to control the seemingly slender body in her arms, which was erupting with terrifying power.
Elektra struggled wildly, her elbows and the back of her head repeatedly striking backward, each blow making Jessica feel like her bones were about to shatter.
Matt, dragging his injured body, rushed forward.
He came before Elektra, looking at that familiar yet unfamiliar face, at those empty, lifeless eyes.
His hand rose but stopped in mid-air.
"Hurry! Murdock! I can't hold on much longer!"
Elektra opened her mouth and bit down hard on Jessica's shoulder.
Jessica cried out in pain, her arms loosening.
Just as Elektra was about to break free, Matt finally made up his mind.
He didn't use his fist, but his palm, gathering the last of his strength, precisely struck the nerve cluster on the side of Elektra's neck.
It was one of the most effective ways to subdue an enemy that he had taught her.
Elektra's struggling movements suddenly stiffened.
The crimson glow in her eyes flickered a few times, then finally extinguished.
Her body went limp, completely losing consciousness, and collapsed into Jessica's arms.
The battle was over.
Inside the factory, only the heavy breathing of the four remained.
Jessica, clutching her bleeding shoulder, threw the unconscious Elektra onto the ground, keeping her distance.
Damn it, that woman could actually break her skin?
What kind of iron teeth and bronze mouth was that?
Danny extinguished the glow on his fist, leaning against the wall, feeling more exhausted than if he'd fought gangsters all day.
Luke stood guard nearby, ready to respond to any sudden situation.
Matt, meanwhile, knelt on one knee, looking at the quiet woman on the ground, his face indistinguishable between rain and sweat.
On the messy floor, the forgotten phone screen was still lit.
William Rodriguez's untimely, calm-to-the-point-of-cruel voice came clearly through the speakerphone.
"It seems your internal family conflict is temporarily resolved."
"Now, we can talk about the real trouble."
William's voice paused, seemingly giving them time to process the information.
"The string of German words I freely gave you is one of HYDRA's backup commands for activating the Winter Soldier."
"And the reason it worked is because Kingpin's 'black sky' activation program accidentally erased a deeper firewall set by HYDRA on Elektra Natchios."
"Simply put, Kingpin originally just wanted to install a new system for her, but his craftsmanship was too poor, and he accidentally restored the factory settings."
"And now, having her factory settings restored... she is automatically sending her real-time coordinates to her 'manufacturer,' which is HYDRA."
"Their people should already be on their way."
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