Standing on the rooftop of a city skyscraper, Mark looked down at the city below.
Feeling the cold night wind, he glanced at his phone.
He had called Peter several times before, but the calls never connected.
Growing increasingly anxious, he began searching for the gang's headquarters, using the information Star-Lord had given him about the supermarket gunman.
Since he didn't have specific clues, he could only fly around above the city, using his Super Hearing to pick up conversations from the street-level individuals in the city.
Although it was very inefficient, he soon heard two Black men talking about the 'Dead Rabbit Gang'.
The 'Dead Rabbit Gang' was the gang the supermarket gunman belonged to.
Mark immediately tracked the two Black men.
Meanwhile, at the Dead Rabbit Gang headquarters.
Dim light filtered through a broken window into a grey space, catching swirling dust and decaying debris in its beams, before settling on Lauren Paul's face.
Eighteen-year-old Lauren was tied to a table.
The leather pad beneath her was torn, biting tightly into her bare back, thighs, and buttocks.
Smells mingled: sweat, urine, rust, all intertwining into a pungent, nauseating chemical stench.
Lauren's mouth was stuffed with barbed metal wire, the wounds extending up to her head, from front to back—rusty barbs piercing the corners of her mouth.
The wire pinned her scalp to the table.
Her tongue and lips were dry and cracked.
It seemed she had been there for a long time.
The room was filled with a deathly silence.
The surrounding walls were blackened and scorched, the wallpaper bubbling like skin long soaked in Water.
The ceiling was pulled down everywhere, knobs and conduits swinging and dangling, supported by drooping, damaged insulation bundles, looking as if grey storm clouds were being dragged down by heavy rain.
Lauren was in despair; she never imagined that her boyfriend, that unscrupulous boyfriend, would sell her to a gang to pay off his debts!
Kidnapped here, she had already endured too much torment; she could even imagine her fate now.
To be killed, or to have her organs trafficked, or to be sold?
With a creak, the iron door opened, and a man emerged from the Shadow.
Lauren, her mouth gagged, whimpered and sobbed, her cracked lips scabbed over, fresh blood drying as it seeped out.
"Looking good."
The man licked the corner of his mouth, sizing Lauren up and down before speaking: "Your boyfriend owes us a lot of money. To recover our losses, I'm sorry, but we can only make you suffer a bit."
The tall, burly man made a tutting sound, "She's really good-looking, what a pity for this body."
The man's regretful tone made Lauren even more terrified.
She made whimpering sounds, struggling desperately.
Lauren's movements, instead, aroused the man's evil desires; he licked his lips with a perverse expression, took off his clothes, and walked directly towards Lauren.
Even in this harsh environment, with Lauren already disfigured by torture, he couldn't help but want to taste her.
Just as the man was about to continue, he suddenly heard a muffled sound from outside.
Somewhat puzzled, he turned around and walked out.
As soon as he stepped out of the room, the burly man's neck was seized by a hand that looked surprisingly small.
Immediately, his vision inverted, and he felt himself being thrown heavily to the ground by the other party.
Feeling intense pain throughout his body, as if his cervical spine had fractured, the man let out a painful scream.
His blurry vision looked towards the person who had thrown him to the ground, utterly shocked; it was a young man?
Mark glanced at the groaning man on the ground, a hint of disgust in his eyes as he looked away.
Seeing their boss being beaten, the other members in the room quickly stepped forward.
In an instant, several bones snapped, and a few men were easily knocked to the ground by Mark.
Painful screams echoed continuously through the cramped, dirty room.
Mark asked coldly, "Are you from the Dead Rabbit Gang? Who's the boss?"
The burly man staggered to his feet, staring at Mark with disbelief, momentarily forgetting the pain in his body.
He never expected this young man to possess such terrifying strength.
Several of their men were knocked to the ground, unable to move, without even seeing what happened.
This wasn't a person; it was a devil, wasn't it?
"We are... I... I'm the boss. Who, who are you?"
The burly man gasped, asking.
Mark frowned and asked straightforwardly, "Do you know Zatanna Zatara?"
Hearing that name, the boss's eyelids twitched.
"If you don't tell the truth, I will kill you all!"
Mark had already seen the tortured girl lying in the other room.
He had no patience for these scoundrels.
The boss felt the intimidating aura emanating from Mark, and finally nodded, "Yes, yes, I know her."
"So, you also sent people to kill her?"
"Yes, no..."
The boss stammered, explaining, "We have no grudge with her. It was a woman called Witch Queen who made us do it. If we don't find her, she... she will kill us all."
"Witch Queen?"
Hearing that name, Mark's brow furrowed slightly.
He didn't know what had happened last night, but he felt that anyone with that name couldn't be good.
Mark thought for a moment, then continued to ask, "Did you attack Zatanna today?"
"No, we didn't. After failing at the supermarket that day, we haven't found her."
The boss immediately denied it.
Seeing that the other party didn't seem to be lying, Mark fell into deep thought.
These people definitely wouldn't pose a threat to his father; it was most likely this woman called Witch Queen.
Thinking of this, he asked the other party, "How do you contact the Witch Queen?"
"We... we've never contacted her. That terrifying woman contacts us directly."
The gang boss swallowed nervously, explaining to him.
"Alright, then tell me Zatanna's address."
Mark decided to go to Zatanna's house to check.
After getting Zatanna's address, Mark's eyes shimmered faintly with red light as he looked at the boss's lower body.
"Zzzzt!"
Heat Vision emitted an intense pressure, piercing through the air towards the other party's lower body.
"Pffft!"
The half-naked gang boss immediately felt a sharp pain in his lower body and let out a painful scream.
"Ah!!!"
The Heat Vision Mark shot out directly pierced through his groin, creating a small hole.
Black, foul blood instantly spurted from the hole.
On the other side, Lauren, tied to the bed, watched the scene unfold in shock.
Her gaze passed through the small hole, and with the blurry light, she seemed to vaguely see Mark.
Then, with a thud, the man who was about to assault her screamed and wailed as he collapsed to the ground.
Although she felt a bit nauseated by the sight, a feeling of satisfaction suddenly surged within her.
Mark's 'burning the bird' action sent a chill down the crotches of the other gang members present.
Even if they weren't experiencing it firsthand, they could feel their boss's pain.
After Mark used Heat Vision to pierce through the other party, he turned to leave.
But at the moment of leaving, he suddenly remembered Peter's previous idea of 'eradicating the roots'.
"Alright!"
Taking a deep breath, Mark shot Heat Vision from his eyes.
"Zzzzz!"
The remaining members of the Dead Rabbit Gang suddenly felt a sharp pain in their chests, then knelt to the ground and lost consciousness.
After dealing with the Dead Rabbit Gang members, Mark immediately activated Super Speed and left the scene.
Only after the scene became completely quiet did Lauren dare to breathe deeply.
She moved her limbs and unexpectedly found that the wire binding her had been melted by something.
Staggering, she got up and walked towards the living room.
The pungent smell of blood entered her nostrils, making her feel like vomiting.
Looking down at her feet, the man who had been about to assault her was trembling slightly, seemingly still alive.
Taking a deep breath, she hardened her heart, picked up a broom nearby, and struck the man's head.
"Bang!"
Inside the Secret House, Zatanna jumped down a set of stairs and shouted to Peter, "Mr. Patrick, I'm out of strength."
"We've been walking down from upstairs, the stairs are endless, we can't finish them, I can't go on."
Peter looked at the exhausted girl and shrugged, "If you're tired, I can carry you up."
As soon as she heard Peter offer to carry her, Zatanna's face immediately flushed.
"No, no, I'm actually fine, cough, cough..."
After a cough, Zatanna's eyes drifted towards the rabbit, "Burkes, how many steps are there in this place? If I had my wand, I could just use magic to go up."
"We're searching from the top floor downwards, one floor at a time. Whether you use a wand or a spellbook, magic is very difficult to use."
Zatanna let out a breath, "Even reversed spells don't work? I think it's already very difficult."
The rabbit turned around on the steps and said, "There are even harder ones, like blood curses."
Hearing him mention blood curses, Zatanna looked surprised, "Wait, there are really harder ones?"
"Of course, I'm an old Pooka, I've seen things, kid."
Zatanna asked curiously, "How old?"
"Do you know King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table?"
"Of course."
"Before I convinced them, they used a triangular table for their meetings. I convinced them to use a round table."
"You mean, the Knights of the Round Table came about because of you?"
"More or less."
The rabbit said proudly.
After talking about the Knights of the Round Table with the rabbit for a while, Zatanna asked Peter, "Mr. Patrick, don't you have Super Speed? Have you explored the Secret House yet?"
"No."
Peter shook his head and said.
"Why?"
"Because like this..."
Peter said, activating Super Speed and moving forward.
But the next second he appeared behind her, "I'm here."
Zatanna: "How did you appear behind me?"
"As you can see, Little Za, I'm going in circles."
"No!"
Hearing Peter's words, Zatanna hugged her head.
She didn't want to climb stairs at all now.
Then, in a moment of exasperation, she blurted out, "End stairs!"
The next second, after she shouted the reversed spell, the stairs simply vanished.
Zatanna, stunned for a second, suddenly felt her body plummeting downwards.
Zatanna, letting out a gasp, thought she would surely have a terrible fall, but then with a "thump", she was caught.