Chapter 53: Two Kingpins
Ethan hung up with a face like thunder and shot a look at Magneto.
The call had been from Bullseye, his voice tight with panic — clearly in the middle of a serious problem. Bullseye had been carrying out Fisk's orders, cleaning up the Irish gang, when word came in that Fisk's family had been ambushed. He'd called Ethan immediately.
Ethan's grip tightened on his phone, his brow furrowed.
If Madame Gao was making this kind of move personally, it meant Fisk had become a real threat to her power. And the fact that the target was Fisk's family meant she intended to leave nothing standing. Cut down the entire tree, roots and all.
Ethan was out of patience and out of words. He launched a Chaos Magic blast directly at Magneto.
The attack was powerful enough that even Magneto felt the pressure. He had to throw up his full magnetic defense to disperse it.
He understood. Ethan had a real emergency, and there was no more room for negotiation. He stood up to leave.
As he walked toward the door, he turned back. His expression was complicated.
"Thank you. Take care of them for me."
His voice was low and weighted, like he was entrusting something irreplaceable.
The System notifications appeared in Ethan's vision.
「DING!」
「Congratulations, Host! Max Eisenhardt has added you as a friend!」
「Attribute Gained: Magnetic Field Generation!」
「20 Friend Points awarded.」
「Integrate immediately?」
"Yes."
A surge of power flooded through Ethan's body — Magneto's gift. He could already feel the magnetic fields around him, every metallic object in the restaurant suddenly tangible to his senses. The ability was his now, fully integrated.
He didn't waste another second. He triggered Quick Movement and vanished from the restaurant in a blur, racing toward Fisk's location.
Across the city, Fisk was no longer the imperturbable Kingpin everyone knew.
His black suit was torn — long slashes across the fabric marking the violence he'd already endured. His eyes were wide with panic, locked on the figures of his wife Vanessa and son Richard as Hand assassins closed in around them.
He was fighting Madame Gao and trying to protect his family at the same time. His hands moved like lightning, parrying her vicious attacks, but his attention never left Vanessa and Richard. He was tracking everything at once.
Fisk was a monstrously strong man. But tonight, he looked desperate. He couldn't fight Madame Gao at full power and shield his family and watch for ninja flanking attacks all at once. The pressure was crushing him. Exhaustion and fear were written across his face.
"Don't touch my wife!" Fisk roared, his voice raw with fury.
Inside, he was drowning in self-recrimination. He'd received Ethan's warning. He'd assigned bodyguards. He'd stayed close to his family himself. He'd thought he had every angle covered.
What he hadn't anticipated was Madame Gao coming for them in person — and bringing nearly half the Hand operatives in New York with her. The full weight of the organization, descending in one coordinated strike.
His mind couldn't process the possibility of losing Vanessa and Richard. He clenched his teeth so hard his jaw ached. His attacks grew wilder, every blow carrying the weight of his rage and despair.
Madame Gao parried his strikes with cold efficiency. "The moment you stepped into this life, Wilson, you should have known this day would come."
Her voice was ancient and merciless. There wasn't a flicker of human feeling left in her eyes.
She intensified her attacks, refusing to let Fisk break free to protect his family.
The Hand assassins had nearly reached Vanessa and Richard. They cut down the last of the bodyguards protecting the pair and raised their blades.
Vanessa pulled her son tight against her chest and closed her eyes, ready for death.
Fisk saw it happen and his world collapsed inward. He tried to abandon his defense and force his way through to them — and Madame Gao's strike caught him across both legs, dropping him to the pavement.
Then — out of nowhere — a massive figure crashed into the scene.
A wave of raw power radiated off the newcomer. He moved straight to Vanessa's side, dropped the assassin who'd been about to kill her with a single punch, and then proceeded to demolish every Hand operative within reach.
"No one touches my Vanessa!" the stranger roared, his voice carrying absolute conviction.
He stood in front of Vanessa like an unmovable mountain, every line of his body daring anyone to come closer.
Madame Gao and Fisk were both staring at him in shock.
Madame Gao narrowed her eyes, studying the man's back. Then her face changed — recognition.
"You..." Her voice carried both confusion and threat. "Do you have any idea who you've just made an enemy of?"
Fisk, meanwhile, exhaled with relief at the unexpected rescue. But confusion quickly followed. "Thank you, friend. But — what do you mean, your Vanessa?"
The stranger turned at the sound of Fisk's voice.
Madame Gao looked back and forth between them and her composure finally cracked.
"Kingpin?!"
The stranger looked exactly like Fisk. Almost identical. But on closer inspection, you could see the differences — he was slightly older, his eyes sharper, and there was something colder and more predatory in his presence. A more dangerous version of the same man.
Madame Gao's shock was understandable. There couldn't be two Wilson Fisks in the same world. And this new one looked far more lethal than the one currently lying on the ground.
The newcomer — call him Fisk-Prime, the Kingpin from a parallel universe — didn't even acknowledge Madame Gao. He just looked down at the original Fisk with open contempt.
"This is your strength? You can't even protect Vanessa with this. Stand aside. I'll do it."
His mouth twisted into a sneer.
That was when Ethan arrived.
He used Quick Movement to reach the scene and immediately knelt to help the original Fisk back to his feet.
Then he turned his attention to Madame Gao.
He raised one hand, and his newly acquired magnetic field powers ignited. Every metal object in the surrounding area — broken weapons, fallen blades, debris from the brawl — leapt into the air at his command and shot toward Madame Gao like arrows. They wrapped around her, pinning her in place with crushing force.
Madame Gao stared at him with naked terror. "Impossible. How can you have this power... This isn't... this isn't Mag—"
Ethan didn't answer.
He simply tightened the magnetic grip.
Madame Gao's scream cut off mid-syllable. Her life ended where she stood, crushed by forces she couldn't fight.
Then Ethan turned to face the second Wilson Fisk standing over Vanessa.
"So," he said evenly, "Mr. Kingpin from a parallel universe. What exactly brings you to ours?"
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