C67: Harvest
> [Legend gained from Daredevil +700]
[Fame gained from Jessica Jones +850]
[Reputation gained from Luke Cage +1120]
As expected, the deeper the emotional impact, the higher the reward in reputation.
Inside the antique shop tucked between Delancey Street and Chinatown, Li Ran released the chakra maintaining his [Axing] clone. Gazing at the system's data panel, now shimmering with a vastly increased value, he silently began analyzing the outcome.
Ah Xing's exit wasn't accidental, it had been pre-scripted. First, to verify his theory that emotionally resonant exits would yield more "legend" points. Second, with more avatar cards now available, it was necessary to retire some secondary ones. That said, [Axing], as his most combat-effective projection, shouldn't have been the first to go. Still, the arrival of Madame Gao, Bullseye, and the ambush staged at the port—just off Red Hook Terminal, one of Fisk's known smuggling channels created the perfect narrative exit.
The timing, the place, and the villains were all aligned. That last scene—Ah Xing shielding Jessica and falling under heavy gunfire was raw, tragic, and unforgettable. Just as planned.
The high-profile response from the Defenders proved the theory beyond doubt.
> [Fame gained from Madame Gao +100]
[Legend gained from Bullseye +90]
Li Ran arched an eyebrow at the new notifications.
Apparently, they noticed something amiss. After all, someone dying so dramatically shouldn't just vanish into thin air. No blood. No body. It wasn't a trick Bullseye was used to seeing—even he, trained by the CIA and enhanced with Olympic-level precision, was caught off guard.
Still, it didn't matter. Li Ran got what he wanted: legend.
Staring at the rising total, he grew restless.
He'd already accumulated enough legend to redeem two Black Iron Treasure Chests. But he held off. After the port ambush, it was clear: gambling on low-level D-rank cards was no longer viable. Against elite Hand ninjas and a marksman like Bullseye who once killed Elektra with her own sai—cards like [Axing] barely held the line.
This wasn't even the worst of it.
Someday soon, the streets of New York would burn with the Chitauri invasion, or tremble under threats like Dormammu descending through rifts in reality. Against that scale, tossing Axing onto the field again would be laughable.
He needed more power. He needed higher-tier cards.
Bronze-tier or better.
…
While Li Ran mapped his path forward, the Defenders limped away from the port, physically drained, emotionally gutted.
Ah Xing's "death" hit them hard.
Especially Jessica. To her, the young Chinese man with the quiet eyes and sly charm had saved her again.
"It's all my fault," Jessica muttered, sitting on the rooftop edge of a battered Hell's Kitchen brownstone. "If I hadn't rushed to act on intel we hadn't verified, maybe we wouldn't have walked into that trap. Maybe Axing wouldn't have…"
"Jessica." Matt's voice was hoarse, but steady. "We were all deceived."
He stood beside her, mask off, the gash across his face still raw from Bullseye's razor-edged card. "The moment we received that tipoff about Fisk's trafficking network reactivating in Red Hook, it was already bait. They wanted us there. We walked straight into their kill box."
Matt clenched his fists. The pain, both emotional and physical, surged.
It was he who invited Axing into the fold. He had vouched for him. And now he was gone.
A drop of fresh blood ran down Matt's cheek, re-opening the wound from earlier. He didn't flinch.
"Axing was my friend," Luke Cage finally said, voice deep and controlled, but eyes bloodshot.
He stood near the boarded-up Harlem community center that used to host "Hope Street," an outreach initiative Axing had helped save. "Whether he changed the street or not, he belonged to Harlem. To me. To Mrs. Connie. To everyone trying to survive."
"He was a hero."
He lifted his massive fist. "I won't let him die in vain."
"For Axing."
Jessica, quietly, raised her hand and touched knuckles with him.
"For Axing."
Matt nodded solemnly, joining the gesture with a whisper like a vow.
> [Legend gained from Daredevil +1200]
[Fame gained from Jessica Jones +1000]
[Fame gained from Luke Cage +1150]
Li Ran: "???"
…
Back at the port.
Smoke lingered in the air. The barrels of spent weapons glowed faintly in the dark.
"I saw him fall. I know I did," Bullseye growled, standing at the edge of the blast zone, card still in hand.
But now? No body. No blood trail. Just empty crates and shell casings.
He looked again. Nothing.
"Where the hell did he go?"
Nearby, Madame Gao, cloaked in her ceremonial robes and resting against her dragon-headed cane, gazed into the void.
"Perhaps," she murmured cryptically, "he is not as ordinary as you thought."
Bullseye turned. "You saying you know something I don't?"
Madame Gao's eyes narrowed. She recalled their first encounter inside one of Fisk's synthetic heroin labs. That day, Axing had said something strange.
"I come from Penglai."
That word. It triggered something ancient in her.
To most, Penglai was a myth—a legendary isle of immortals in Eastern folklore. But to Gao, once a traitor of K'un-Lun who stole forbidden techniques to feed her own immortality, Penglai felt too familiar.
Too real.
She didn't know if Axing was truly from that place. But the mystery made her cautious.
"Go inform Kingpin that the operation failed," she said flatly. "This isn't over. Not by a long shot. The next confrontation may cost more than reputation."
Bullseye scoffed. "You're really that spooked by some street kid?"
"You should know better," she replied, glancing sideways at him. "Power doesn't always come from strength. It comes from what people are willing to fight for."
"And after tonight… they'll fight harder."
Bullseye fell silent.
> [Reputation gained from Madame Gao +135]
Li Ran: "!?"
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