After taking control of Luke Cage, the Purple Man spoke triumphantly to Jessica: "Alright, there are no more obstacles now. Hurry up and finish the job."
Jessica continued to move against her will. Although she was struggling and resisting, her head was slightly shaking, as if refusing the Purple Man's command.
But her body still swung a punch towards the surrounding thugs, who were also controlled by the Purple Man, unable to move, like lambs waiting for slaughter.
"Using your power to force people to kill each other, you bastard!" At the critical moment, Luke Cage managed to forcibly break free from the Purple Man's control. He exerted all his strength and punched the Purple Man in the chest.
Although Luke Cage's punch was strained and his hands were still slightly trembling, the force of this punch was enough to incapacitate an ordinary person.
The Purple Man was immediately sent flying by the punch, hitting the liquor cabinet behind the bar, then crashing to the floor, soaked by various liquors from the shattered bottles.
Luke Cage seized this opportunity and immediately went forward to hug Jessica's arm, preventing her from carrying out the Purple Man's order.
"You... you can actually break free from my control?" The Purple Man clutched his chest and rose from the spilled alcohol.
He looked at his wet suit, then gave a strange, chilling smile and said, "First that hateful blind man, and now you. Why can't you just obediently accept my control? Why must you resist and defy me?!"
The Purple Man's power to control others is achieved by releasing external hormones.
Luke Cage was a product of Hydra's Super Soldier Program. Although he only gained his superhuman abilities by accident, Hydra's experimental plan was to create a Super Soldier capable of handling various situations.
The Purple Man's ability to control others by releasing external hormones, or perhaps a virus, can strictly be considered a kind of biochemical weapon.
Hydra's modification of the Super Soldier Program test subjects was comprehensive, and naturally included countermeasures against biochemical weapons. Although it wasn't perfect, as they hadn't created a truly successful test subject, Luke Cage, as a test subject, possessed some level of this resistance.
Therefore, Luke Cage actually has a certain immunity and resistance to the Purple Man's control ability. Driven by intense anger, he was able to temporarily break through the Purple Man's control and fight back.
"This is dangerous. If this were before, I might not have been able to get up after this strike."
"But I am not the same as before," the Purple Man said, pulling out the Gaia Memory from his pocket and pressing the button against the connector embedded in his body.
"Puppeteer"
As soon as the Purple Man transformed into a Dopant, panic immediately erupted.
The surrounding spectators, who initially thought it was just a love spat, and some who were even looking forward to a show, immediately scattered and fled when they saw the Purple Man transform into a monster.
The Purple Man paid no attention to the fleeing bar patrons, but locked onto Luke Cage, who had attacked him: "Since my own power can't control you, let you try the power of the Gaia Memory."
With that, he shot out puppet strings from his hands, directly wrapping them around Luke Cage's body.
Luke Cage instinctively felt that he could not let the puppet strings wrap around him and immediately dodged.
"Jessica, grab him."
Under the Purple Man's command, Jessica immediately pulled Luke Cage back.
"Damn it." Luke Cage only had time to curse before he was tangled by the puppet strings and lost consciousness.
"So what if you're a super-powered individual? Now you are a puppet in my hands," the Purple Man said, laughing proudly as he looked at the now-controlled Luke Cage.
"As punishment for ruining the beautiful reunion between me and my treasure, I shall let Jessica personally end your life."
The Purple Man decided to have Jessica eliminate Luke Cage directly, getting rid of this interfering person while also completely destroying Jessica's last bit of resistance.
"Jessica."
The Purple Man found a fruit knife and handed it directly to Jessica.
"Kill him."
Jessica frantically shook her head, but her hands uncontrollably gripped the small knife and walked towards the motionless, doll-like Luke Cage.
"Very good, my darling, do it," the Purple Man said in a tone of tempting seduction.
Seeing that the situation was irreversible, Jessica gave a look of apology to the stunned Luke Cage, and finally closed her eyes in agony, unable to witness the sight of herself committing murder.
She extended her knife-wielding hands, but Jessica clearly felt that the sensation was wrong.
The fruit knife in her hand didn't feel like it was piercing flesh; it felt more like hitting a steel plate, simply unable to penetrate.
Confused, Jessica opened her eyes and saw that the fruit knife could not penetrate Luke Cage's body at all.
"Bulletproof? That's quite a troublesome ability," the Purple Man narrowed his eyes upon seeing the bent fruit knife.
"But even if your body is invulnerable, I don't believe your eyes have such strong defense," the Purple Man said with a cruel smile.
He manipulated Luke Cage to open his eyes wide, then instructed Jessica: "Stab the knife into this guy's eye and make this nuisance disappear from the world forever."
Jessica was now completely despairing, her spirit on the verge of collapse.
Suddenly, the empty bar echoed with the sound of insects flapping their wings. A mechanical rhinoceros beetle directly knocked the small knife out of Jessica's hand.
"What damned thing is this now?" The Purple Man was both surprised and angry to see another complication arise, and was about to attack the mechanical rhinoceros beetle.
He then heard the roar of a motorcycle engine approaching rapidly from afar.
Then, a motorcycle painted with a flaming skull pattern smashed through the bar door and roared inside.
The Punisher stopped the motorcycle, glanced at the Purple Man, and extended his right hand. The mechanical rhinoceros beetle landed on his hand and transformed into a flip phone.
"This flying insect device that showed up on its own is actually quite useful," Frank muttered softly to himself.
"You're... the Punisher?!" The Purple Man subconsciously shuddered and retreated a few steps upon seeing Frank's iconic outfit.
The Punisher's reputation was built upon a pile of countless bodies of gang members and criminals.
After a moment, the Purple Man reacted and spoke with a hint of furious shame: "So what if you're the Punisher? Dare to interfere with my business, and today you won't be leaving alive."
He now possessed the power of the Gaia Memory. No matter how powerful the Punisher was, he was still just a normal human.
And he was currently controlling two super-powered individuals; the Punisher would definitely not be his opponent.
"Pathetic fool." Frank merely smiled dismissively upon hearing this, pulled out a driver and a Memory.
"ACCEL"
"You... how do you have a Gaia Memory too?!" The Purple Man looked at Frank, who had transformed into a Kamen Rider, with suspicion and uncertainty.
Frank had no intention of answering. He simply raised the Engine Blade and said coldly, "Are you ready to face... The End of Despair?"
"Damn it! Jessica, stop him for me!"
The Purple Man commanded Jessica, while also manipulating Luke Cage to rush towards Frank.
Frank frowned slightly upon seeing the two people rushing at him without fear of death. Jessica and Luke were clearly being controlled by the Purple Man.
While Frank was merciless in his actions, it was directed at criminals; he would not be so reckless towards innocent people.
Of course, if a hostage situation occurred, Frank would absolutely not compromise easily.
The headlight on his head armor lit up, locking onto the invisible puppet strings with which the Purple Man was controlling Luke Cage.
He leaped up, easily avoiding the combined attack of Jessica and Luke Cage, swung the Engine Blade, and severed the puppet strings.
"What happened to me? What's going on?" Luke Cage regained consciousness and asked confusedly.
He recognized the Purple Man's Dopant form, but what was the origin of this person wearing red armor?
Frank glanced at Luke Cage and spoke concisely: "Keep this woman he's controlling contained. Don't interfere with me dealing with this guy."
"Oh, yes, yes." Luke Cage was slightly stunned, then awkwardly restrained Jessica, who was trying to pounce on Frank.
"Damn it, don't come any closer!" The Purple Man saw Frank approaching. Several attempts to shoot out puppet strings were detected and severed by Frank, causing him to panic.
"Cowardly rat." Frank spoke contemptuously, raised the Engine Blade, and slashed the Purple Man.
The Purple Man was immediately knocked flying.
"I surrender! Don't kill me! I can give you the Gaia Memory!" Seeing that he was completely outmatched, the Purple Man staggered up, took out the Memory, reverted to human form, and raised his hands in surrender.
The headlight on Frank's head armor flickered slightly. He took out the Memory and deactivated the transformation.
"Be careful! This guy also has the power to control others," Luke Cage quickly warned when he saw the situation.
The Purple Man laughed triumphantly: "Too late! The Punisher? Nothing special. You'll still obediently become my puppet..."
However, he froze halfway through his sentence, and the smile on his face instantly vanished.
Because Frank's gun was already aimed at his head.
"Why are you not affected by my control either?" The Purple Man was full of doubt.
Frank snorted coldly. The Memory in his hand emitted a faint red light; the Accel armor's information gathering and tracking system had detected the Purple Man's little tricks from the start.
However, against the power of the Accel Memory, the Purple Man's method of controlling others with external hormones was simply insignificant.
"Where did you get your Gaia Memory?" Frank pressed the pistol against the Purple Man's forehead.
"I... I don't know who they are. The guy who sold me the Memory... took my money and then gave me this Memory. I really only know this much." The Purple Man's eyes were filled with terror, and his voice was fractured.
"Please, spare my life. I can..."
"Bang."
Before the Purple Man could finish speaking, Frank directly pulled the trigger. The Purple Man, his eyes filled with fear and disbelief, fell face-first to the ground, dead.
"In that case, you have no value in living."
If people from SHIELD or the military were here, they would definitely choose to keep the Purple Man alive and take him back to a lab for research.
But Frank, who is a man of few words and decisive action, would not consider such frivolities.
The Punisher's creed is: If you are guilty, you die.
Of course, if the Purple Man had been able to provide information about the organization distributing the Gaia Memories, perhaps he might have lived a little longer?
(End of this chapter)