After pushing back the Violence Dopant and earning a brief moment to breathe, Peter turned to Luke. "Thanks for the hand. You've got some serious strength—not exactly a normal guy, are you? Mind if I ask where you're from? Maybe we could get to know each other, be friends."
Luke watched the Dopant as it geared up for another charge, his expression grave. "Let's deal with the crisis in front of us first."
Peter nodded. He fired webs from both hands, weaving a large net to intercept the monster. However, the Violence Dopant's raw power was too much; the walls serving as the net's anchor points couldn't take the strain and shattered. Fortunately, the barrier still managed to significantly bleed off the impact's momentum.
Luke poured every ounce of his strength into a shove against the incoming Dopant. He was sent flying backward, his body slamming into and becoming embedded in the wall.
"Old-timer, you okay?" Peter asked with concern.
Luke Cage grimaced as he pried himself out of the masonry. "I'll live, but this guy's power is a real headache. Especially for someone like me."
Luke possessed skin as tough as steel, allowing him to shrug off most physical attacks. He didn't fear blades or bullets, but high-mass, blunt-force impacts like this were a different story—the kinetic energy could transfer directly into his internal organs.
Peter felt somewhat at a loss. The Dopant currently held a massive advantage in strength. Moreover, its tactics were straightforward: it just charged the target, no bells or whistles, forcing the two of them into a brutal head-on collision.
"Going toe-to-toe isn't working," Luke suggested. "We should dodge as much as possible and stall for time."
Peter nodded. "And then?"
"Once my partners get here, we should be able to bring Basel back to normal," Luke replied.
"How do you know Basel's name?!" Peter asked in surprise, grabbing the Big Horn Gang leader and dodging an attack.
"I'm a detective," Luke explained. "I've been investigating Basel and that Gaia Memory of his for a while now."
Peter wanted to ask more about the Gaia Memories, but a sudden sense of danger flared in his mind. He tossed the gang leader to Luke. The Dopant shifted back into its humanoid form and hurled its iron hammer at Peter.
Peter ducked low to avoid the flying weapon, but the chain snaked around his legs. The Dopant immediately began swinging the chain, whirling Peter through the air like a ragdoll. Peter was smashed into walls, tables, and the ceiling. While his enhanced physiology prevented serious injury, his head was spinning. Finally finding an opening, he fired a web to anchor himself to a wall and used the leverage to break free from the chain.
By then, the Dopant had charged Luke. Luke was struggling to block the onslaught, the floor beneath his feet cracking under the immense pressure. Seeing this, Peter shook his head to clear the cobwebs and prepared to back Luke up.
Just then, Jessica Jones and Danny Rand burst into the bar. Seeing that Luke was at his limit, Danny lunged forward. His fists ignited with a golden aura, and with a single punch, he sent the Dopant reeling back.
"Whoa! Your fists are seriously cool," Peter exclaimed, staring in awe at the Iron Fist power.
Danny gave Peter a brief glance but said nothing, focusing his attention entirely on the Dopant.
The Dopant, pushed back by the punch, seemed heavily damaged. It let out a roar like a wounded beast, and the muscles on its arms seemed to shrink slightly. But with a sudden, furious howl, a gray light erupted from its body. It swelled up even larger than before and charged Danny once more.
"Ao Xing," Danny said, pulling out the W Driver.
While Danny was confident he could defeat the student with the Iron Fist, he couldn't guarantee Basel's safety if he did. The small dragon, Ao Xing, flew out from Danny's sleeve, clutching the Cyclone Memory in its mouth.
"Cyclone!"
"Joker!"
The Memories were slotted into the Driver. Danny and Ao Xing transformed into Kamen Rider W.
The Dopant froze for a split second upon seeing the transformation, but its mind was too far gone to care. It only wanted to crush the enemy before it.
Danny met the Dopant's charge with a punch of his own. The resulting shockwave sent shards of broken tables and walls flying.
With Danny's Chi from K'un-Lun and Ao Xing's power—born from the bones of a dragon that was nearly a True God—the combined Kamen Rider W transformation allowed the Joker and Cyclone Memories to unleash their full potential. They stopped the Violence Dopant's terrifying, rage-filled attack dead in its tracks.
After neutralizing the charge, Danny immediately unleashed a flurry of martial arts strikes, giving the Dopant a complete beatdown. In terms of both power and technique, the Dopant was no match for Danny; it was being completely suppressed.
"So cool! Is this your partner? And what was that dragon-shadow flame on his hands? Some kind of magic?" Peter pelted Luke with questions, watching the helpless Dopant. "He's using a Gaia Memory too, right? It looks different from Basel's, though. Are there no side effects? And—"
Luke's mouth twitched. After a moment of silence, he said, "Ask him yourself when this is over."
After the thrashing, the Dopant finally realized it was outclassed and sensed a mortal danger. It curled into a ball, pushed off the ground, and tried to bolt for the exit.
"Trying to run?" Ao Xing huffed. Channeling the power of the Cyclone, a powerful gale whipped up, catching the Dopant and slamming it back down.
"Now!" Danny triggered the Joker Memory's power.
"Joker! Maximum Drive!"
He leaped into the air, his body seemingly splitting in two down the middle as he delivered a flying kick to the Violence Dopant.
"That's terrifying! He split in half!" Peter cried out. Luke and Jessica were also stunned into silence, their mouths agape.
Basel took the full force of the Joker Maximum Drive. The Violence Memory was forcibly ejected, hitting the floor and shattering into pieces. Basel lay on the ground, his hand feebly reaching for the broken shards. His eyes were surrounded by deep dark circles, as if he hadn't slept for weeks. Before he could reach the fragments, he lost consciousness.
"It's over," Danny said softly, canceling the transformation.
"Is Basel okay? Now that the Gaia Memory is destroyed, will he go back to normal?" Peter looked at Danny. He had a million questions, but his first priority was Basel's condition.
Ao Xing flew up from the W Driver, head held high. "Of course he's fine! With this Dragon on the job, it's not a problem. Danny and I used the Maximum Drive to directly destroy the connection and the Memory inside him. He's a normal human again."
The dragon continued, "He'll be weak and lethargic for a while because of the Memory's over-usage, but with some rest, he'll make a full recovery."
"What... are you exactly?" Peter asked, staring at Ao Xing in total bewilderment.
(End of Chapter)