Danny lightly clenched his fist: "The five leaders of the Hand are five traitors who defected from K'un-Lun. I came down from K'un-Lun after completing my training precisely to deal with these few traitors and to destroy the evil organization they established."
"Well, good luck to you. I hope you dismantle that evil organization, the Hand, soon," Luke said, expressing his spiritual support for Danny's mission.
Danny nodded, looked at the members of the Thunder Gang he had protected, and said, "Your boss doesn't care about your lives at all; he fully intended to sacrifice you to stall me. Do you still want to risk your lives for him? If you answer my questions truthfully, I can let you leave immediately."
The members of the Thunder Gang looked at each other. Finally, a member with higher prestige stepped forward and said to Danny, "Thank you, sir, for saving our lives. Ask whatever you need to. We'll tell you everything we know."
Danny nodded with satisfaction. The reason he saved these people was to get intelligence on the Hand.
However, these few people didn't know much, only managing to provide a few warehouse locations where they had conducted transactions with the Hand. Danny wrote down the relevant information, planning to investigate those locations later to see if he could find any clues.
He then confiscated all the mass-produced Memories from them, warned them not to commit evil deeds again, and let them leave.
Jessica and Luke Cage bade farewell to Danny, preparing to take the little girl Lily back to the detective agency. After all, the Thunder Gang boss who used the Energy Memory had escaped, meaning the alarm had not been completely lifted for the little girl Lily. They still needed to protect her.
"If you run into that guy again, you can always ask me for help," Danny thought for a moment and gave Jessica and Luke his contact information. In Danny's eyes, the Energy Dopant was not someone ordinary people could deal with, and he was very likely connected to the Hand.
"We can handle ourselves," Luke Cage raised his right hand, speaking a little defiantly. If Jessica used her Gaia Memory, she would definitely be stronger than the lightning guy.
After escaping, the Energy Dopant fled all the way back to his gang's base.
"Damn it, what was the deal with that guy?"
He walked into the gang's gathering place but saw no one coming out to greet him. Having just been humiliated by Danny, he couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed.
He shouted, "Where is everyone? Where did you all go?"
However, there was still no answer. Only then did he realize the situation was wrong and became wary.
"You're finally back. I've been waiting here for a while."
The Punisher, Frank, stepped out of the shadows and greeted him.
"The Punisher!" The moment he saw Frank, he immediately understood that all his subordinates had most likely been taken care of by this brutal man.
"Energy"
Without another word, he transformed directly into a Dopant. Only by using the power of the Gaia Memory could he possibly defeat the Punisher. He could overlook the strange guy with the weird oriental dragon shadow on his fists from before. The Punisher, though incredibly brutal, should just be an ordinary man and absolutely unable to stand against the power of a Gaia Memory.
Frank looked at the gang leader of the Thunder Gang, now a one-man show, who had transformed into a Dopant.
He shook his head slightly and sighed, "As expected, you won't surrender willingly."
He pulled out a Memory.
"Accel"
An engine roared, accompanied by a sound effect.
Frank transformed into Kamen Rider Accel.
"How do you have a Gaia Memory too?"
The Dopant asked in a panic.
Frank raised his Engine Blade: "That is the question I want the answer to from you. Where did your Gaia Memory come from? If not for the answer to that question, my bullet would have already pierced your head the moment you appeared."
"Damn it, all of you look down on me! I'll make you pay!" The Dopant was furious. His entire body lit up with dazzling electric light as he charged towards Frank.
Frank looked at the Dopant, who was attacking him haphazardly, and sneered dismissively, raising his sword to meet the attack.
"Damn it, why? I already have such powerful strength... how can some random person who shows up beat me?"
After only a few exchanges, he was cut down by Frank and immediately began to doubt his life.
"You are too weak. Even with a Gaia Memory, you rely entirely on the Memory's power. You have always been a weakling yourself. You fundamentally cannot control the power of the Gaia Memory." Frank stated coldly, striking a blow against his morale.
"Accel"
"Maximum Drive"
Frank prepared to unleash his finishing move to destroy the Memory.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck down, interrupting Frank's finishing move.
"Who is it?"
Frank concentrated and became wary.
"This Memory is a prize I've set my eyes on, and I can't let you destroy it just like that." The pure white Weather Dopant appeared in the clouds, speaking in a calm tone.
After Pierce obtained the Weather Memory, he had been secretly mobilizing Hydra's forces to search for the organization distributing Gaia Memories. However, he couldn't find specific, effective intelligence immediately. Even when they managed to capture Memory vendors, they couldn't get information about the higher echelons from them.
At the same time, Pierce was also actively working to acquire Gaia Memories, including purchasing them through various channels and directly robbing them.
In the data that Dan provided to Pierce, there was information about absorbing multiple Memories into his body simultaneously to enhance the power of his Weather Memory.
The Energy Memory's ability to control electrical energy had a very good compatibility with the Weather Memory's ability to manipulate lightning. Therefore, Pierce had set his sights on the Energy Memory, intending to seize and absorb it to enhance the Weather Memory's control over lightning.
"Your prize?" Frank's tone was icy: "I don't understand your purpose, but it sounds like you know more about the Gaia Memories. It seems if I defeat you, I might obtain a lot of useful information."
Pierce smiled grimly: "Then come and try."
As he spoke, he released a thundercloud, enveloping Frank.
Frank was trapped by the thundercloud. If he tried to charge out, it would immediately trigger a lightning attack, and swinging the Engine Blade couldn't slice apart the non-physical clouds. He was temporarily forced into a passive position.
"What do you want?" The Energy Dopant looked at Pierce fearfully. The Punisher, who had easily defeated him, was now easily trapped by this guy. He was certainly no match.
Pierce raised his right hand and released freezing air, freezing the Energy Dopant's feet: "You have two choices: either obediently hand over the Gaia Memory, or be frozen into a block of ice by me."
"Take the Memory! Please, just let me go!" The Thunder Gang boss was very practical. He immediately offered the Memory with both hands.
Pierce held the Energy Memory in his hand, watching the pulsating current being drawn and leaping across his palm, feeling a slight thrill. That Eternal hadn't lied to him after all. He really could enhance the power of his Weather Memory by absorbing suitable other Memories.
If he continued to strengthen himself like this, one day he would surely become the most powerful user of the Gaia Memory.
"Damn it! You're underestimating me too much!" Frank roared as he saw Pierce acquire the Energy Memory. The headlight on his helmet flared brightly, and a deep, powerful engine roar sounded. A strong red light spread out from his armor, directly scattering the surrounding thundercloud.
He swung a blade of light, slashing toward Pierce.
(End of this chapter)