"Triple jackpot! This Deacon Frost guy was basically a walking loot box."
Daniel was in an obscenely good mood. If Frost hadn't already been reduced to a pile of ash, Daniel would've dragged him to Coney Island at noon and staked him to a beach chair with a smile.
"Sunlight therapy. Doctor's orders."
Blade walked up, katana still dripping black blood. "Frost's dead?"
"Unless he's got a secret Phoenix Down phase, yeah, he's toast."
A flicker of something crossed Blade's face; regret, maybe. Not for Frost, but for the fifty grand in silver ammunition now melted into slag.
Blade sheathed the sword, slid his sunglasses back on, and reverted to factory-default stoicism.
[Eric Brooks has left the party]
Daniel shrugged. "Heading out already? Drop your gamer tag, man. We made a good duo. You tank, I steal the kill; perfect synergy."
Blade didn't even blink. "No need for contacts. I'm going city to city, hunting the rest of those bloodsucking bastards. And…" His voice dropped. "I still have to find my mother. Some questions only get answered face-to-face."
Daniel scratched the back of his neck, suddenly very interested in his shoes. "Uh… yeah. Good luck with that."
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, Director's Office
Nick Fury sat with his fingers steepled, eye narrowed to a slit.
"Let me make sure I've got this straight."
"You took a routine missing-persons case. Discovered it was actually a vampire cult. Tracked it to an ancient blood-god ritual that would've turned every human on Earth into a Capri-Sun. Then you solo-wiped the entire vampire mafia in New York and stopped the apocalypse before I even finished my morning coffee."
Daniel flashed a double thumbs-up. "Ten out of ten summary, boss. No notes."
Fury pinched the bridge of his nose hard enough to leave marks.
"How the hell does a milk-run case escalated to near-extinction-level event without a single heads-up from you?"
Daniel shrugged like it was obvious. "Reporting in just creates extra paperwork. Figured I'd save you the trouble and handle the whole thing. Efficiency, sir."
Fury stared.
He wanted to yell. He really did.
But the truth was, Daniel had become his favorite kind of problem: the kind that solved itself, usually explosively, always successfully, and somehow never left evidence that could come back to bite S.H.I.E.L.D. in the ass.
Fury had known for a while the kid was… irregular. Teleporting across continents, pulling guns out of thin air, changing outfits faster than a Vegas magician; Daniel treated the concept of "covert" like a mild suggestion.
Yet the mission success rate was 100%. Budget hemorrhaging aside, Fury wasn't stupid enough to bench his walking nuke.
Still, soloing a vampire progenitor? That was new levels of ridiculous.
Fury exhaled through his teeth and slid a black folder across the desk.
"New job. Finish it clean, and we'll talk Level 6 clearance."
[NPC Nick Fury issued Identity Advancement Quest]
[Quest: The Hand's Shadow]
[Objective: Infiltrate and retrieve critical intel on the ninja cult known as "The Hand"]
[Reward: Level 6 S.H.I.E.L.D. (Hydra) Agent Authorization]
Daniel blinked at the last line.
"Uh… since when do S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra share the same clearance ladder?"
Fury pretended he hadn't seen it. "Glitch in the system. Move along."
3:17 a.m., somewhere in Manhattan
The target building looked like a fortress wearing a suit: glass and steel, private security on every corner, biometric scanners at every door.
Daniel crouched on the opposite roof, activated his Gravity Boots, and casually strolled straight up the side of the seventy-story tower like Spider-Man on a budget.
Rooftop door: locked. He pulled the Master Key (literally labeled "Master Key" in glowing cyan text) and popped it open like it was made of cardboard.
Inside: dim corridors, red laser grids, cameras every five meters. Military-grade paranoia.
Daniel smirked, whipped out the Hacker Phone (souvenir from a previous heist), and breached the security grid in four taps.
Live feeds swapped to looped footage of empty hallways.
"See? Pure skill. No grass-cutting required tonight."
He took exactly three proud steps.
WEE-YOO WEE-YOO WEE-YOO!
Red strobes bathed the corridor. Armed guards shouted into radios.
"Intruder! Top floor! Lock it down!"
Daniel stood frozen in the middle of the hallway, perfectly illuminated by the alarm lights.
"…"
He looked up at the nearest camera, which was now very much showing his confused face in real time.
"Are you kidding me right now?"