At the moment the Ancient One and Odin were talking, Alex was trying to understand how the hell driving a car worked.
First, he tried to move while the clutch was still pressed down, then with the car accidentally in reverse.
The best part was when Alex almost blew the engine by shifting into fifth gear and stomping on the accelerator.
Fortunately for him, Alex learned how to drive pretty quickly after only failing a few times.
At that moment, Alex had finally managed to get the car moving, and the first thing he did was glance toward the man beside him in the passenger seat.
Daredevil was still unconscious, with a little blood running from the corner of his mouth.
"You're really lucky, man. If cursed energy didn't strengthen the body, you'd probably be dead."
Alex muttered to himself while looking at Daredevil before returning his attention to the road as all kinds of thoughts crossed his mind.
Things like how Peter was doing.
Or how his family and Gwen were surviving without him.
But every single time, Alex could only finish those thoughts with the same conclusion.
Probably better without him.
After all, everyone who had something against him no longer had any reason to target them now that he was gone.
Fortunately, Alex wasn't alone anymore, and he really wanted to tell his mother that.
But when he thought about the problems that would come from doing so right now, he decided to stay quiet.
At least for now.
Alex sighed lightly while thinking and pressed harder on the accelerator.
Luckily, he was in Hell's Kitchen.
Even so, being able to speed through the streets in a car felt good.
Sure, Alex himself was much faster than the vehicle, but the feeling of driving above the speed limit was far more enjoyable than he had imagined.
Ignoring that thought, Alex suddenly noticed strange blue and red lights behind him.
When he looked back, he realized it was the police chasing him.
Alex stayed confused for about five seconds before finally checking how fast he was going.
Then he became surprised when he realized he was driving over one hundred kilometers per hour, which honestly explained why the police wanted to stop him.
But instead of fear or concern, a grin of excitement slowly spread across Alex's face.
Because at that exact moment, Alex was about to do something he had always wanted to do as a child.
Without thinking twice, he slammed his foot onto the accelerator and drifted through a sharp turn with ease, even running through a red light he had already been ignoring long before this.
At that moment, Alex felt like he was inside an action movie.
Without any fear or regret, he was escaping from the police at high speed.
Looking through the rearview mirror, Alex could clearly see the medicine boxes in the back and the police cars desperately trying to keep up with him.
Wanting to have a little more fun tonight, Alex made another dangerous turn into a narrow street, forcing the police officers to brake hard.
Unfortunately for them, Alex was practically a perfect machine for almost everything.
He could perform every action inside the car simultaneously.
For a normal person, drifting required skill, training, and absurd coordination.
But for Alex, with his monstrous reflexes and four perfectly functional arms, it felt no harder than taking a normal turn.
Seeing the police still hadn't lost him, Alex started hearing even more sirens nearby and decided to stop holding back.
Alex shifted into fifth gear and accelerated as hard as possible while making increasingly absurd drifts and turns to lose the police.
During one particularly violent turn, Daredevil woke up with his face smashed against the window.
The car was moving at over one hundred and fifty kilometers per hour while making impossible turns no normal person could ever perform.
In the middle of the chaos, with police sirens constantly blaring, Daredevil looked to the side through pain and confusion and saw the same person who had treated him like a toy now driving like an absolute madman.
Two hands on the steering wheel.
One on the gearshift.
One on the clutch.
While controlling all three simultaneously, Alex performed completely insane maneuvers most professionals would never even attempt.
Daredevil was still heavily disoriented from the damage Alex's punch had done to him, but there was one thing he knew for certain.
He was absolutely screwed.
"Oh, look who's awake! Hold tight, because I'm about to get serious now!"
The moment Alex noticed Daredevil had woken up, he grinned while pulling the clutch and preparing for another brutal turn.
Hearing that, Daredevil immediately grabbed onto the seat tightly and began praying in his head.
Seeing Daredevil's reaction only made Alex smile wider as he pushed the car to its limits while driving toward the destroyed district of the city.
Knowing he absolutely couldn't lead anyone directly to his hideout, Alex began performing even more dangerous and rapid maneuvers to lose the police.
Anyone else would have failed.
But Alex existed far beyond human limitations anyway, so it wasn't difficult for him at all.
After one final maneuver around a corner, Alex noticed the police were no longer following him and let out a sigh.
Not from relief.
But like someone who had just finished a workout at the gym.
Then he looked toward his passenger.
Daredevil was sweating cold bullets and looked like he was about to pass out again.
Every maneuver Alex made felt like it almost gave him a heart attack, enough to temporarily make him forget the pain in his body.
"Where the hell did you learn to drive like that?"
Alex glanced at him with a neutral expression while driving back toward the base and checking the medicine behind him to confirm everything was still there.
"I literally just learned how to drive. I figured it out while doing the maneuvers."
The moment he heard that, Daredevil nearly tried to punch this lunatic who had performed impossible stunts without ever actually learning how to drive.
But he quickly calmed down after remembering he was only in this miserable condition because of a single punch from the monster beside him.
Alex stopped paying attention to Daredevil after that.
He focused entirely on avoiding police attention, which honestly wasn't difficult considering the maneuvers he had just pulled off would embarrass professional drivers.
It didn't take long before Alex finally reached the barrier, something that left Daredevil completely stunned.
He couldn't sense cursed energy the way Alex could, but his enhanced senses compensated heavily for his blindness.
Because of that, he could feel the enormous amount of cursed energy gathered there like a gigantic dome.
Something so overwhelming it felt like a massive wall surrounding something hidden deep inside.
A castle made entirely of cursed energy.
The moment they got close enough, they passed through what felt like a massive wall to Daredevil's senses, leaving him stunned by how effortlessly they crossed it.
Once inside, Daredevil could finally hear the surroundings clearly.
Several different voices echoed through the area, enough for him to realize the place was a massive warehouse with around seven people inside of varying ages and genders.
Alex parked in front of the warehouse and immediately started honking nonstop until a small group walked outside and spotted him sitting inside a truck overflowing with boxes of medicine.
"I'm back, Ray!"
A man dressed in an elegant suit stepped out of the warehouse and stared at Alex with a completely blank expression.
"I think I lost any chance at a normal life after meeting you, Alex."
Alex climbed out of the truck and casually walked toward the group with a grin on his face.
"That's just who I am, Ray. Nobody's changing me."
Without caring much, Alex entered the warehouse only to suddenly notice a new face.
A woman with dark skin, long black hair, and delicate features was sitting on the floor while examining Kara, who still lay unconscious.
Alex noticed the woman but ignored her for the moment, glancing toward the other side of the warehouse where Tyon and Elizabeth were playing some kind of game Alex honestly couldn't understand.
After that, Alex finally turned his attention back to the doctor treating Kara.
He sat beside the unconscious woman and spoke calmly.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, doctor. My name is Alex, and I'd like to know how the treatment is going."
The woman had already noticed Alex a while ago but ignored him because the woman lying on the floor was in terrible condition.
Only after Alex spoke did she finally answer.
"Yes, let's skip introductions. She's in critical condition. Besides the burns, she has a gunshot wound and a deep cut in her calf."
She stood up and looked directly at Alex.
It took her a few seconds to properly process what he actually looked like, but she quickly regained composure before asking,
"Ray said you were bringing medicine. Where is it?"
Hearing that, Alex realized she clearly wasn't interested in talking, so he stayed quiet and simply walked back toward the car.
When he arrived, he saw Ray, Josh, Boris, and Daredevil unloading the truck while quietly talking among themselves, though they immediately stopped when Alex approached.
Alex ignored it and walked over to Ray, who was carrying a box of medicine.
Scratching the back of his head, Alex glanced toward where the doctor was.
"Damn, Ray, where did you even find her? Judging by her expression, she seems pretty pissed."
Ray looked at Alex and let out a sigh while thinking about how he had contacted her.
Honestly, she had every reason to be angry with him.
"Well… let's just say we've had our disagreements. Oh, and her name is Claire. She's my sister-in-law."
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Some time earlier, while Alex was still out robbing the pharmacy—
Ray had gone alone instead of bringing the rest of the group because what he was about to do was far too risky.
He was going to see his sister-in-law.
A woman who would probably want to kill him.
Without thinking too much about it, Ray headed toward an address he had known for a long time.
From the very beginning, Ray had been worried about how she would react.
Just the thought of showing himself to her again filled him with anxiety and fear strong enough to freeze him in place for several moments.
But as always, he forced himself to keep moving.
Normally, he would never go to Claire.
But if he wanted to save the new members of the faction, then he needed her help.
Right as he finished gathering his thoughts, Ray arrived in front of an apartment building.
He let out a long breath before slowly walking inside with visible hesitation.
Ray took the elevator to the top floor, and the first thing he saw when the doors opened was Claire herself standing directly in front of the elevator.
She was just as surprised as he was when she saw her fugitive brother-in-law standing there.
"H-Hi, Claire…"
Ray was the first to speak.
But the very second he opened his mouth, Claire punched him directly in the face hard enough to break his nose.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH, HOW THE HELL DO YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO COME HERE AFTER WHAT YOU DID?!"
And that was one of the many reasons Ray never wanted to come back.
Claire had one hell of a right hook.
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Another chapter for you beautiful people. And just to make it clear, in the next chapter I'm on Ray's side, okay?
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