Seeing that both Jim and Bullseye had fled, Frank casually took care of a few slow-moving grunts, bringing the battle to a complete end.
He then transformed back, ignored Jessica and Luke—who were about to speak—and left directly, heading back the way he came, toward the casino Jim had emerged from.
Jessica and Luke exchanged glances and immediately followed after him.
When Jessica and Luke reached the casino, the scene before them was total chaos. The casino's enforcers had all been taken down by Frank.
"You two came at just the right time. Watch the entrance and don't let anyone leave. I'm going to search this casino thoroughly." Frank was stepping on the casino manager while interrogating him. Seeing Jessica and Luke come in, he issued the order quite naturally.
Jessica and Luke Cage nodded blankly.
After that, Frank turned the entire casino upside down, but still found nothing of value.
In fact, aside from Jim—the overall person in charge who used the Money Gaia Memory to harvest lives—everything else about this casino had been arranged exactly like a normal, legitimate casino.
Kingpin had set everything up perfectly. Once Jim disappeared, it would be absolutely impossible to find any trace here that could be used to pursue the matter further.
"The organization behind this was prepared long ago. There's no valuable intelligence to be found here. There's no need to stay any longer." Frank walked past Jessica and Luke expressionlessly, without stopping, and headed straight outside.
Jessica glanced at the casino staff still wailing on the ground, silently mourned for half a second in her heart, then turned and left with Luke.
After escaping from Frank, Jim was still shaken with lingering fear. The Punisher's ferocious reputation was something he had often heard of, but to Jim it had always been a distant legend.
Now that he himself had been targeted by the Punisher, things had become extremely uncomfortable.
Jim was considering how he should respond when, not long after, he was found by Bullseye and taken before Kingpin.
"The Punisher… the so-called Kamen Rider who transforms using a Gaia Memory?"
Kingpin glanced at the uneasy Jim, then turned to Bullseye and asked, "You fought him. How strong did he feel?"
Bullseye held the Arms Gaia Memory in his hand, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
"He does have some skill. In close combat, he showed enough raw power to suppress me.
But the power of the Arms Memory isn't limited to close-quarters combat.
This time, Jessica was nearby. I was worried something unexpected might happen, so I chose to retreat first."
There was a hint of dissatisfaction in Bullseye's tone—clearly, he was still unhappy about being at a disadvantage in his exchange with Frank.
Kingpin nodded upon hearing this, a thoughtful look appearing on his face.
"Mr. Kingpin, I've been targeted by the Punisher. What about the casino…?" Jim asked cautiously, stealing a glance at Kingpin.
"That casino has already been abandoned. After you two left, the Punisher went straight back there. But I had prepared in advance—he ultimately returned empty-handed," Kingpin said with a cold smile.
"Then the collection of Life Coins?" Jim asked, somewhat puzzled.
"We'll just change locations. As long as we can ensure the collection of Life Coins, a mere casino is insignificant," Kingpin replied indifferently.
"For the next period of time, don't show your face anywhere. I'll have David arrange a new casino."
Kingpin fixed Jim with a playful gaze as he seemed about to say something.
"You don't want that Punisher to lock onto you again, do you?"
Jim's heart skipped violently. He shook his head at once.
"Everything will be as you command, Mr. Kingpin."
Kingpin nodded in satisfaction. "Relax. Once I unify New York's underworld, there'll be nothing left to worry about.
For the time being, stay in Fisk Tower and don't go out."
With that, Kingpin called over a subordinate and had Jim escorted away.
"How did the Punisher end up finding Jim?" Kingpin muttered to himself as he looked over the documents in his hand.
David, standing beside him, nodded. "That those two third-rate detectives found Jim was indeed a coincidence.
But the Punisher finding the casino wasn't that simple. There was likely intelligence support from S.H.I.E.L.D. We've investigated and found that the Punisher has been in frequent contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. recently.
In addition, there seems to be a powerful force secretly investigating matters related to the Gaia Memories.
These people are completely different from the New York Police Department officers who have always been tracking the Gaia Memories. They don't resemble military or government agents either—their methods are ruthless and merciless, their actions extremely covert, almost like a terrorist organization.
Previously, we suffered heavy losses among our Gaia Memory dealers, and it seems to be closely related to them."
The one providing Frank with intelligence was naturally S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury. Both sides wanted to probe the secrets behind the Gaia Memories, so they hit it off immediately.
Nick used S.H.I.E.L.D.'s massive intelligence network to gather information and pass it on to Frank.
Frank, who possessed the Accel Gaia Memory and a Driver, handled the actual operations.
After all, Dopants who used Gaia Memory powers were not something ordinary humans could deal with, and even elite S.H.I.E.L.D. agents might not be able to handle them.
Steve and Kent also had to prioritize fighting the Gurongi.
Naturally, Nick Fury was more than happy to use Frank as muscle—to deal with Dopant incidents and investigate the Gaia Memory trafficking organization—thereby avoiding potential casualties among his own agents.
As for that unscrupulous, secretive faction, it was naturally Pierce's Hydra operatives. Pierce had always wanted to track down the "Emperor of Fear" responsible for selling Gaia Memories and replace him.
Kingpin's eyes gleamed with interest.
"Interesting."
"Should we use our connections to investigate that force?" David asked.
Kingpin shook his head.
"They're clearly after the Gaia Memories. No matter what this mysterious organization wants to do.
The fact that they're still searching for clues means they don't yet know our true background—and we don't know theirs either.
In other words, both sides are still hidden in darkness, unable to see the other. Acting rashly now might instead leave traces for them to follow back to us."
"So we stay put?" David asked uncertainly.
Kingpin smiled inscrutably.
"Aren't they searching for Gaia Memories? Then I'll give them some targets.
Don't we still have some Gaia Memories with tremendous power on hand?"
"Release a few of them."
David was slightly confused.
"These Gaia Memories are extremely powerful. Weren't we planning to keep them for ourselves, to use on our own people?
It's just that their power is difficult to control, and we haven't yet found suitable users."
Kingpin nodded.
"That was indeed my plan before. But so far, we still haven't found members who can control and withstand the power of those Gaia Memories.
Since we can't use them for now, we might as well sell a few. That should cause a big enough commotion to draw the attention of all the forces keeping an eye on the Gaia Memories."
David nodded in realization.
"These Gaia Memories all possess powerful, difficult-to-control destructive capabilities. They're extremely prone to going out of control.
If the user's willpower and mental resilience aren't strong enough, the power will easily spiral out of control—and the resulting disturbance will definitely be huge."
(End of Chapter)