Having finished discussing the Defender trio who discovered Cloak and Dagger had been captured by the Hand, let us now turn our attention to the other side: Moon Knight.
Moon Knight, born Marc Spector, is a former U.S. Marine who served in the CIA before becoming an independent mercenary. While protecting an archaeologist in Egypt, he was betrayed and stabbed in the back by a fellow mercenary. Left for dead, he was placed upon the altar of the Egyptian moon god, Khonshu.
There, he heard Khonshu's voice and entered into a pact, becoming the moon god's avatar—the "Fist of Khonshu"—tasked with protecting those who travel at night.
Additionally, he suffers from severe Dissociative Identity Disorder and paranoia. Not only does he possess multiple personalities, but he can also hear the voices of his other personas. Aside from the primary identity, the three most frequent personalities are Steven Grant, a timid millionaire and entrepreneur; Jake Lockley, a street-smart and hot-tempered taxicab driver; and Mr. Knight, a detective-like figure responsible for investigations.
Oh, and Khonshu's voice is currently echoing in his head as well.
"A broken city, and they still made it look so flashy," Moon Knight muttered.
As he spoke, he used his grappling hook to pull a Hand ninja toward him, then sent the man flying with a powerful punch. These undead ninjas left no corpses behind when they died; they simply vanished into puffs of green smoke, leaving him no opportunity to even carve a crescent mark into their foreheads.
He then leaped through the air, pounced onto the back of another ninja, and locked his arms around the man's neck in a brutal chokehold. "Look into my eyes!"
The undead ninja's eyes nearly bulged out of his head before Moon Knight snapped his neck. Until his final moment, the ninja couldn't understand how he was supposed to look into his enemy's eyes from that position.
"I still don't think we should have gotten involved in this. This wasn't Khonshu's request, and it has nothing to do with us. Hell's Kitchen has its own protectors; why are we putting in this effort? We don't even know if these people are good or bad."
Jake calmly responded to Marc's internal questioning.
"Because this dump of a city caused Steven to fall, and I'm incredibly annoyed. That's why. Besides, these ninjas don't look like the 'good guy' type anyway."
"Uh, actually, I just lost my grip and fell on my own... but it doesn't matter. After all, I was the one who took the call and offered to help..." Steven chuckled internally.
But in the next second, green flames erupted across Moon Knight's body. The searing pain was nearly unbearable. He stood up and looked at the woman who had appeared before him—half of her face possessed a distinct, deathly pallor.
At that exact moment, a voice that belonged to none of them surfaced in their minds.
"My Fist, the person before you carries a familiar scent of evil. Judge her!"
"Aha, looks like I have even more reason to take you down, lady. And just where did you crawl out from?"
Typhoid Mary. Formerly an enforcer for Kingpin, she once shared a complicated past with Matt Murdock. She is a mutant who also suffers from severe Dissociative Identity Disorder. One persona is the innocent and timid "Mary," while the other is the violent and decadent "Typhoid." Interestingly, her mutant powers only manifest when the "Typhoid" personality is in control.
This aligned perfectly with "Project Mr. Hyde," the ninth initiative in Hydra's Weapon Expansion Program. The project aimed to create super-soldiers by switching personalities to alter physiological structures and superpowers. Consequently, Hydra captured and studied her, eventually allowing the Hand to brainwash her into their ranks.
Now, Typhoid Mary possessed even greater and more formidable powers.
And, correspondingly, even more personalities.
Thus, two psychiatric patients with multiple personalities began a duel atop the rooftops of the Tenshu pavilion, both unaware that their opponent was just as mentally unstable as they were.
Typhoid Mary struck first. She intensified the flames and utilized her low-level telepathy to plant a suggestion in Jake's mind. According to her plan, if Jake took just two more steps forward, he would step into a pre-arranged trap and fall straight through the roof.
However, his foot suddenly hovered in mid-air. Then, Moon Knight's movements began to twist in an irregular, unpredictable fashion. He lunged backward abruptly and threw two crescent darts, striking the roof tiles. Watching the hidden bamboo traps trigger and shoot upward, he let out a cold laugh.
Typhoid Mary's telepathic abilities were far too weak!
Had she been powerful enough to read his actual thoughts, she would have found Moon Knight an impossible target—his chaotic mental state combined with Khonshu's protection was enough to drive anyone insane who tried to peer into his mind. But Mary wasn't that strong; her telepathy could only create illusions or plant suggestions.
That made things slightly annoying, but Moon Knight had another trick up his sleeve: switching personas. If the one under the mental suggestion was Jake, what did that have to do with Marc?
"You're going to pay for that, woman!"
Drawing the two crescent blades from his chest that formed a full moon, Moon Knight immediately charged into close quarters. Neither the flames nor her telekinesis could stop his advance, and Mary's personal combat skills were no match for the sharpness of the former mercenary.
Soon, she was kicked backward and struck by his darts.
However, she didn't die. On the contrary, her other persona—the murderous and bloodthirsty "Bloody Mary"—emerged. She used her telekinesis to form a suit of psionic armor around herself, and the two resumed their brutal melee.
In the distance, Felicia and Peter, who had already landed on the roof, watched the pair below and sighed helplessly. "So, what you're saying is... that's just two crazy people fighting down there?"
"It certainly looks that way."
Peter found the situation hard to watch. He and Felicia proceeded into the Tenshu閣. With Elektra absent and Typhoid Mary occupied, the remaining combat force of the Hand consisted only of Silver Samurai, Lady Bullseye, and Gorgon.
Shortly after entering, Peter saw Gorgon standing before them, holding the so-called "God-Killer" blade.
"Spider-Man, I didn't expect you to still be in Hell's Kitchen. But no matter. I will not allow you to take another step inside."
Peter gave Felicia a meaningful glance. Following the plan, Felicia immediately bolted toward the inner depths. Peter, meanwhile, watched as Gorgon unwrapped the red cloth covering his eyes. In response, Peter simply deactivated the visual systems of his suit.
"Everyone is afraid of the eyes of Medusa—but luckily, I don't need my eyes to fight."
As a side note: Multiple Personality Disorder and Schizophrenia are two different conditions; Schizophrenia does not actually result in additional personalities.
As for who the strongest weapon produced by "Project Mr. Hyde" is—anyone familiar with Marvel can probably guess the answer.
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