"Quick! Notify the Agents in New York to launch an operation and round up all members of the Hand!"
Nick Fury remembered that three of the Hand's 'fingers', Alexandra, Madame Gao, and Bakuto, were in New York.
S.H.I.E.L.D., in cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York Police Department, taking down these three fingers and capturing Madame Gao, Alexandra, and Bakuto, would be a significant achievement.
If Lucas acted, creating a large commotion and turning it into a supernatural event, S.H.I.E.L.D. would have to take the blame.
Nick Fury naturally wouldn't choose incorrectly in such a multiple-choice scenario.
After some thought, he added, "Send Clint, Natasha, and Blade as well. The leaders of the Hand possess mysterious powers, and regular Agents can't deal with them."
Then, he picked up the phone he had just hung up and called Coulson back.
Soon, the call connected.
"Coulson, find a way to contact Lucas. Tell him that S.H.I.E.L.D. will handle the Hand's influence in New York."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. will also help him capture yhe Hand's three fingers alive, for him to deal with upon his return."
"Tell him to focus on resolving the situation on Japan and not worry about New York."
Coulson: "..."
"Understood, Director Fury."
As a seasoned Agent, he naturally understood the deeper meaning in Nick Fury's words.
Helping Lucas deal with the Hand in New York was clearly a polite way of advising Lucas not to cause trouble in New York.
Tony, who was confused, asked, "What is the Hand?"
Coulson explained, "The Hand is a mysterious ninja cult involved in organized crime. It was founded by five individuals approximately five hundred years ago. These five leaders are also known as fingers. They are Alexandra, Madame Gao, Bakuto, Sowande, and Murakami. It is suspected they have lived from five hundred years ago until the present day."
After listening to Coulson's explanation, Tony became even more puzzled. "Five hundred years? Is this an organization founded by five extraordinary beings?"
In Tony's understanding, anyone who could live for five hundred years was definitely not an ordinary person.
Coulson nodded. "Yes. All five leaders of the Hand possess combat abilities beyond ordinary humans."
Tony confirmed with Nick Fury on the other end of the line. "Fury, you just said there are three leaders of the Hand in New York?"
"That's right." Nick Fury affirmed.
Tony frowned. "Then are you prepared? Don't make too much of a scene in a crowded area."
Nick Fury sighed, "No matter how big a scene we make, it won't be as big as what Lucas causes. I'll send the footage to Jarvis, you can take a look yourself."
Upon hearing this, Tony pointed his wrist-mounted device at the wall. "Jarvis, pull up the data."
"Certainly, sir."
A beam of light flashed, and Jarvis projected the footage onto the wall.
The footage showed seven ruins, leveled to the ground, with blood occasionally bubbling up from beneath.
Ding!
Now it was eight places.
Tony was stunned.
He had just brought people to find Lucas, but Lucas had hurried off after only a few words. Only a few minutes had passed, and he had already caused such a huge commotion.
Couldn't he have discussed it properly first?
"Send me the addresses of the Hand's three fingers in New York, I'll go help too."
Tony understood, Nick Fury was right. No matter how big a scene they made, it wouldn't be as big as Lucas's.
— — —
"Our base on Japan has already been destroyed in seven or eight places. What exactly is going on?"
In a private room of an ordinary internet café on Japan, Murakami, one of the Hand's leaders, was in a video conference with the other four.
He was already too scared to return to any of the Hand's properties.
Alexandra in the video questioned, "Murakami, that question should be ours to ask you. Who exactly did you provoke?"
Murakami's tone was flustered and helpless. "I… I don't know. How could I dare to provoke such a terrifying existence?"
Alexandra angrily spewed, her spittle seemingly wanting to cross the screen. "Ten minutes! In less than ten minutes, eight Bbses have been destroyed! Now you're telling me you don't even know who you provoked!"
"Murakami, how are you leading the Hand!?"
At this moment, Madame Gao said coldly, "Murakami, flee. Abandon your properties on Japan and hide."
Murakami was silent, then nodded in agreement.
"No good!"
Alexandra suddenly exclaimed, "Someone is targeting me. This incident isn't just aimed at Murakami."
Almost simultaneously, the forces of Madame Gao and Bakuto also came under siege.
Seeing that the others were also under attack, Murakami said helplessly, "Abandon all properties and flee. This opponent is not someone we can deal with."
"In these five hundred years, we have encountered opponents we couldn't handle. Fleeing doesn't solve the problem, but time can."
After a moment of hesitation, Alexandra said, "But our reserve of Dragon Bones are running low. This time, time is not on our side."
Madame Gao fell silent. It was easy to persuade Murakami to abandon his properties and flee, but doing it herself was difficult.
"Dragon Bones are running low? It's fine, you won't be needing them anymore." Lucas's voice sounded behind Murakami.
"Don't you know? It's the information age now. When communicating online, don't use plain text for important information. You old-timers."
Just now, communications between New York and Japan were being monitored by S.H.I.E.L.D.
When the keyword "Murakami" appeared frequently, the Hand's five-person video call was noticed by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s technical department.
After confirming and locking down the IP address, S.H.I.E.L.D. informed Lucas. This is how Lucas managed to catch the Hand's five members just as they were preparing to abandon everything and go into hiding.
Before Murakami could react, Lucas's mental power directly pierced into his brain, sifting through it.
Torture? Non-existent.
Soon, Lucas found the memory of the Hand sacrificing to the Beast to gain power. And from it, he extracted the ritual and runes for communicating with the Beast.
From the memories, the Hand's frequency of sacrificing to the Beast was quite high, and the locations were all near Japan.
In fact, the Beast had manifested its true form multiple times. And Kamar-Taj was completely unaware of this.
'It seems there are bad people on Japan.'
After finding the method to communicate with the Beast, a cold light flashed in Lucas's eyes.
If you don't want to be a good person and instead worship a demon, then you shall become one with your god.
The next moment, Lucas outlined the runes for communicating with the Beast with energy.
As for the sacrifice, Murakami indicated he was willing to help.
The runes shimmered, and a mysterious fluctuation was sent to a certain place in the depths of the dimension.
Lucas separated a wisp of mental power and quietly followed it. He wouldn't foolishly wait for the Beast to respond. He would go find it himself, locating the Beast's position in the endless dimensions.
Then, he would blow it up!
Beyond the Universe, in the endless dimensions.
Without reference points, time and space seemed to lose their meaning here. But Lucas knew this was just an illusion.
A moment later, that wisp of mental power, following the mysterious fluctuation, arrived in a void.
I found you, Beast!