Inside a Chinese restaurant, Andrew sipped tea while chatting with Odin in his mind: "Isn't this our Lord Odin, who was pretending to be in a coma? How is he so energetic?"
"The Space Stone isn't for you to use for peeping."
Odin's face darkened a bit as he said, "Asgard needs the Space Stone to repair the Bifrost Bridge. Lend us the Space Stone for a while."
Andrew asked, "What's in it for me?"
"Benefits? Destroyer, isn't the main body of the Bifrost Bridge enough?"
Odin shouted in dissatisfaction, "And also, Hell Demon King, the Space Stone was left on Earth by me."
"So what? How many owners has the Space Stone changed hands through?"
Andrew sneered, "Odin, I won't waste any more words with you. You can borrow the Space Stone, but I want the complete technology for the Bifrost Bridge."
Odin flatly refused, "Dream on."
Andrew said, "Then forget it. Anyway, my people are already studying the Bifrost Bridge, and with their wisdom, it won't be long before they can repair the Bifrost Bridge."
"Can a primitive person repair a computer?"
Odin looked disdainful and said, "I'll give you a portion of Uru metal, plus ten exquisite pieces of equipment crafted by dwarves. As for the Bifrost Bridge technology, it's impossible to give it to you. That's the foundation of Asgard."
Andrew said, "Besides the Bifrost Bridge, I don't want anything else. Old man, be generous. If one day your Asgard Bifrost Bridge technology is lost, I'll copy a copy and return it to your Asgard."
"Get lost."
Odin cursed and cut off the communication. Andrew didn't mind; Odin was the one in a hurry, not him.
Without the Bifrost Bridge, Asgard's vassal states would soon rebel. At that time, Odin, who was pretending to be in a coma and leaving everything to his foolish son, would surely hand over the Bifrost Bridge technology obediently.
Just then, Gwen rushed into the restaurant. She sat opposite Andrew, clasped her hands together, and said apologetically, "Sorry, I'm late."
Andrew didn't mind. He poured Gwen a cup of tea and said, "It's okay, I was just chatting with Odin. We had a pleasant conversation."
"Chatting with Odin? That's too bad, I always wanted to meet Odin."
Gwen naturally didn't believe him. She said, "Let's order something to eat. I'm hungry."
"Okay."
Andrew called the waiter and ordered seafood fried rice for Gwen, while he himself ordered spicy hot pot.
Then, the two ate and chatted. Gwen remembered what happened before and asked Andrew, "Andrew, have you heard of ninjas who can resurrect?"
Andrew asked, "The Hand's ninjas?"
Gwen had only asked casually and didn't expect Andrew to actually know. She asked in surprise, "You know?"
"I know a little."
Andrew smiled, "The leaders of The Hand are called the Five Fingers, and they come from K'un-Lun."
Gwen repeated awkwardly, "K'un-Lun?"
"A group of people live on K'un-Lun. They study 'chi' to strengthen their bodies and heal others. Later, five heretics appeared in K'un-Lun. They didn't think about healing, but about immortality. The K'un-Lun elders considered them heretical and expelled them from K'un-Lun."
Andrew ate gluten while explaining, "These five heretics were very unwilling. They returned to K'un-Lun, stole the K'un-Lun sacred relic, the Dragon Bone. After that, they established The Hand in Japan and have lived until now.
Let me see, uh, they should have lived for hundreds of years."
"The Hand's Five Fingers have lived for hundreds of years? I didn't expect there to be others who could live so long besides Vampires."
Gwen was a little surprised. She asked, "Do those ninjas resurrect because of that Dragon Bone?"
"Partly. To achieve immortality, The Hand worships an evil god named 'The Beast.' They give their souls to the evil god in exchange for continuous resurrection."
Andrew said, "However, resurrection has conditions. One is that there must be a Dragon Bone, and the other is that the body must be complete. If their heads are cut off, they will not be able to resurrect."
"Cut off their heads?"
Gwen kept this in mind to tell S.H.I.E.L.D. later.
Andrew continued, "Additionally, with each resurrection, those ninjas will lose a part of their humanity and emotions. Those who worship evil gods never come to a good end."
Gwen nodded, "That's understandable, just like making a deal with the Hell Demon King won't have a good outcome."
Andrew looked at Gwen speechlessly. Do you know you're on a narrow path?
"Andrew, I have a question."
Gwen looked at Andrew and complained, "Why do you know so much, and in such detail? Don't tell me you went undercover with The Hand?"
Andrew shrugged, "Isn't it common sense for a reporter to know everything?"
"There you go again. Why is your common sense completely different from mine?"
Gwen rolled her eyes and asked, "Mr. Reporter, why did The Hand suddenly gather in Hell's Kitchen?"
"The Hand cares about only one thing, and that's the Dragon Bone. They came to Hell's Kitchen most likely for the Dragon Bone."
Andrew said casually. The bones of a divine dragon were buried underground in Manhattan, and The Hand wanted to claim them for themselves.
Why did Andrew know so much? Because he had watched "The Defenders."
The plot of "The Defenders" was simple: four street heroes without money for special effects—Daredevil Matt, Jessica Jones, the invulnerable black man Luke Cage, and the weakest Iron Fist Danny Rand—teamed up to defeat The Hand and save New York.
Gwen murmured, "Dragon Bone?"
Andrew pretended to ask suspiciously, "Gwen, why are you asking so many questions?"
"Just curious."
Gwen quickly covered it up. Andrew didn't press. He said, "Oh, by the way, are you free tomorrow afternoon? There's a Lord of the Rings prop exhibition in a park in Hell's Kitchen, and I want to go see it."
"Lord of the Rings prop exhibition? I'm very interested. I hope there's Gandalf's staff inside."
Gwen's eyes lit up as she said with a smile. Just then, the ground suddenly shook violently, and then all the lights around them went out, only returning to normal after more than ten seconds.
Everyone in New York was shocked. Was this an earthquake?
"It seems The Hand has started their operation."
Andrew understood. New York's underground was supported by the Dragon Bone. Once the Dragon Bone was removed, New York would gradually collapse.
"I wonder if I can get some souls? Let's wait and see."
Andrew didn't pay too much attention. Nearly a million souls in New York already belonged to him. He was getting closer and closer to that door. Once that door opened, Rebirth Hell would undergo earth-shattering changes.
…
A hundred meters underground, beneath a financial company in Midtown Hell's Kitchen.
Madame Gao, a thin old woman leaning on a cane, said to an elegant and noble middle-aged woman, "No, explosives can't break the seal protecting the Dragon Bone."
The middle-aged woman, named Alexandra, was the leader of The Hand. She looked at the seal formed by the power of Iron Fist and said, "Only Iron Fist can open this seal."
"Alexandra, our warehouse was raided by Daredevil and Spider-Woman. What's worse, Spider-Woman notified S.H.I.E.L.D."
Madame Gao hesitated for a moment and said, "With our strength, we are no match for S.H.I.E.L.D. at all. I think this matter should be postponed."
The Hand ninjas could only resurrect; their actual combat power was not strong.
"We can't delay. We must capture Iron Fist as soon as possible, open the seal, and take the Dragon Bone."
Alexandra said without hesitation. She didn't have much time left to live and needed the Dragon Bone to extend her life.
"The problem is, we can't defeat the Avengers."
Madame Gao emphasised. Alexandra said, "We have Black Sky."
Black Sky, the vessel of The Beast, possessed a small amount of The Beast's power. Her combat ability was decent, and more importantly, she had an immortal body.
Just as Black Sky was mentioned, the current Black Sky, Elektra (Daredevil's ex-girlfriend), walked over. Alexandra and Madame Gao turned their heads and found that her eyes were glowing.
It was a very eerie light. Upon even brief contact, countless chaotic and evil thoughts would surge into one's mind, making them want to rush onto the street and kill everyone.
Madame Gao and Alexandra were shocked and quickly averted their gaze. At this moment, Elektra commanded with a majestic and evil voice, "Kneel."
"This is… a divine descent?"
Madame Gao and Alexandra were stunned, then immediately reacted, quickly kneeling before Elektra. The Beast had descended.
Although they had worshipped The Beast for hundreds of years, a divine descent was happening for the first time. To be honest, Madame Gao and Alexandra were both very shocked.
Elektra commanded, "Gather all ninjas and capture Iron Fist. I want the seal opened in the shortest possible time. If you can't do it, you will die."
"Yes, God."
Alexandra immediately agreed. Madame Gao hesitated for a moment and cautiously said, "God, our strength might be a bit insufficient."
"A bunch of wastes, bring all the ninjas. I will bestow stronger power upon you."
Elektra said. Alexandra and Madame Gao were overjoyed at the news and immediately went to gather the other ninjas.
After the two left, Elektra looked at the Iron Fist seal in front of her and muttered excitedly, "Ancient One, I have finally entered Earth."
The reason The Beast had not descended personally before was that he couldn't get in. He was just a small evil god and could not possibly hide from Ancient One.
But this time was different. This time, a line of Demon Lords stood behind The Beast—yes, a line, not just one or two. They worked together to send The Beast's consciousness and power into Earth. Not only that, they would also find ways to stall Ancient One, so she wouldn't have time to pay attention to affairs on Earth.
The Demon Lords, of course, would not help for free. They demanded that The Beast destroy New York and sacrifice millions of lives to open a passage, so they could descend to Earth, kill Ancient One, and seize all human souls.
"Millions of human souls!"
The Beast's eyes were full of Greed. In his opinion, the success rate of this plan was very high. With Ancient One absent, who could stop him?
What about a certain New Demon King? The Demon Lords said they forgot to tell The Beast about this—Demon Lords are busy every day, so forgetting things is normal, isn't it?
…
At the same time, S.H.I.E.L.D. began to investigate The Hand. The person in charge of this incident was our old acquaintance, John Garrett, the unlucky Agent who had a successful surgery and was so 'moved' he wanted to die.
It's worth mentioning that Garrett is now the Commander of the New York Special Command. Yes, that scapegoat position.
Logically, this position should not have gone to Garrett, who was reprimanded for the Isolated Island Prison incident. The problem was, no one wanted to take on this responsibility. After looking around, Nick Fury could only ask his old comrade to take it for him.
You've already been a scapegoat once anyway, so for your brother, be a scapegoat a few more times.
To this, Garrett replied, "How unlucky must I be to be your old comrade?"