Chapter 3436: Midnight Sons (46)

The night in the Bronx wasn't as noisy as Manhattan; most streets were relatively quiet, with pedestrians in a hurry, seemingly as long as they walked fast enough, they could get rid of the potential dangers in the dark night.

And this set off a group of people who were exceptionally unscrupulous. When the motorcycle engines roared, it was like a thunderclap in the sky, and when they whizzed past the street, they tore a hole in the biting autumn wind.

The leading man wore a thick black jacket, and when he turned his head, flames flashed in his eyes. He parked his motorcycle against a lamppost, leaned on the motorcycle seat, and lit a cigarette.

The second to arrive was a white-haired woman; her entire body was as snow-white as ice crystals, even her pupils and lips were no exception, and getting within a few meters of her felt like being in an ice cellar.

Following closely was a very strong man, his two arms much thicker than a normal person's, his hands covered with scales like a crocodile. And the young man behind him was like walking on stilts, his two legs were ridiculously long, and when standing straight, he was almost three meters tall.

"It's been a long time since we gathered so completely." The tall man said, "Johnny, what the hell have you been busy with recently?"

At some point, Johnny had turned into the appearance of Ghost Rider, but the skull's mouth could still open and close while holding a cigarette.

He exhaled a puff of smoke and said: "Of course I've been busy with work. I recently found a part-time job at the zoo, mainly transporting animal feed and such."

"That suits you very well, at least you won't see sinful souls in animals." The white-haired woman said with a smile.

"Alright, it's time to do some real business." Johnny said, "I'm going to say hello to Boss Nail, you guys wait for me here."

"Let's go together." The man with strong arms said, "We haven't seen him for a long time either, let's go have a drink tonight."

Johnny didn't refuse, just said: "We came here to do real business, don't get drunk and unconscious again."

Several people walked toward the bar across the street. The bar was brightly lit and the music was noisy, and these few people with obvious abnormal appearances walked in without causing much attention.

Because there were really few normal people in this bar, even those who looked normal on the outside were the same as Johnny, not knowing when they would transform.

People at the bottom have their own survival wisdom. Mutants are indeed often persecuted, but this doesn't mean they won't huddle together for warmth. In a place as mixed as the Bronx, there are quite a few gathering points for mutants.

This place doesn't just accept mutants; freaks like Johnny who mutated later also come occasionally. Anyway, everyone is a monster, so there's no need to distinguish who is first or last.

Johnny squeezed through the dance floor sideways and came to the back door. The person watching the door had only one eye in the middle of his face, and as soon as he saw it was Johnny, he raised his eyebrows and said: "You came at a really good time."

Johnny frowned slightly; he heard some other meaning from the doorman's words. He nodded and fished a roll of dollars from his pocket, stuffing it into the other's hand. The other threw away the cigarette in his hand and made way.

Johnny lowered his head and walked through the narrow corridor, coming to the room behind the bar. Just as he entered, he smelled a faint bloody scent, and a slightly familiar voice came from the room.

The few people who followed him couldn't enter successfully. Johnny looked back, and the ominous premonition in his heart grew more and more intense.

He walked over and knocked on the door covered in graffiti and posters. When the door opened, Johnny saw the strong figure sitting in the very center. It was a thin, dark-skinned Mexican-American with a circle of nails embedded in his head.

Those weren't decorations that only existed on the surface of the skin, but nails truly nailed into his head. This was his mutant ability. Boss Nail could produce nails within his body, and he could also fire the nails at high speed, firing thousands at once, which could be said to be a human fragmentation landmine.

However, the production of nails from his body would bring pain, which would make his temper exceptionally irritable. But all in all, he was still a good black-gang boss to deal with.

Besides him, Johnny also saw a figure pinned to the ground. This was the source of the familiar voice; it was his stupid brother Danny.

One of his hands was nailed through by a long nail, bleeding quite a bit, but judging from his complexion and expression, he hadn't suffered any serious injury and could still bare his fangs and brandish his claws at Boss Nail.

"I didn't expect you to find your way here so quickly." Boss Nail said with his elbows resting on his knees, "If it weren't for him saying it, I wouldn't have known you had a brother. Are you biological brothers?"

Johnny didn't answer him, just looked at Danny and sighed deeply. He could roughly guess how this guy was caught.

After the Midnight Sons meeting ended, they split up to act. Johnny intended to take Danny to find the motorcycle gang people, first discuss a specific search route, and then unfold a dragnet investigation.

As a result, Danny felt Johnny had malicious intentions, was stalling for time, and insisted on investigating by himself. Danny had never stayed in the Bronx at all, and just like that, he broke into the Mexican-American territory, and it would be strange if he wasn't pinned to the ground.

Of course, he had Ghost Rider's ability, and ordinary black gangs definitely weren't enough for him to fight. But the Bronx is full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, and even if Johnny is Mephisto's agent, he wouldn't dare to act recklessly here.

There is a difference between the Ghost Rider in Johnny's body and Danny's. The ghost in Johnny's body is an irritable maniac, glaring at whoever he catches, and whoever he glares at dies. If it weren't for the deal with Mephisto to control him, Johnny would have long ago become the overlord of New York and the heart-and-soul trouble of the Avengers.

But the Ghost Rider in Danny's body is an orthodox Ghost Rider, and is the ancestor of the Ketch family, a righteous person personally recognized by angels. He is wise and rational, impossible to kill whoever he catches, and will adjust the method of judgment according to the current situation.

Now Danny was pinned to the ground, but the Ghost Rider had no movement, which proved that he didn't approve of Danny doing this either, and basically didn't intend to help Danny defeat these black gang members.

"I'm very sorry, I didn't keep an eye on him." Johnny decided to turn big matters into small ones. He considered himself to have some face in this area, "He broke something, I can compensate. Let me take him away, consider it I owe you a favor."

Boss Nail snorted coldly and said: "If it were someone else, I wouldn't make things difficult for you, but he actually dared to molest Reby, not putting me in his eyes at all!"

"I didn't molest her!!!" Danny roared, "I grabbed her arm because she had a problem!!"

Before Nail Boss could make a move, Johnny walked up and kicked Danny, then said to Nail Boss, "My brother is a hothead, but he's not that kind of person. There must be some misunderstanding here."

"What misunderstanding could there be? Reby and her young ladies were shopping well, this guy suddenly rushed out and said some messy nonsense, and even grabbed them and wouldn't let them go. Daring to bully me, if it weren't for him saying he had a brother named Johnny, I would have blown him up long ago!"

"Cut the crap. Either he leaves two fingers, or you two combined come and spar with me here..."

Johnny frowned deeply. He took a deep breath, and then said: "You might not believe it when I say it, but I didn't come here specifically to fish him out. I came to find you for real business."

Boss Nail stared at him for a while, slowly took the cigarette off and threw it aside, and only then said: "What business?"

"Iron Man established an organization aimed at the security situation in the Bronx, called Midnight Sons. You'd better let your subordinates restrain themselves recently; if you get beaten by that wealthy man, you can't beat him back."

Boss Nail narrowed his eyes and said: "Iron Man? What the hell is he doing here?"

"I'm not very clear either, just heard that someone wants to do something big in the Bronx, which might endanger the entire New York. Not just the Midnight Sons, the Avengers, the New Warriors team, and even the New York Sanctum have been keeping an eye on here recently."

"You damn bastard!" Danny glared at him, he scolded Johnny, "You traitor who is in cahoots with the black gang! You were indeed bewitched by that devil Mephisto!"

Johnny pretended not to hear. Boss Nail's hand tapped on the armrest of the sofa. Johnny walked over and sat on the sofa at his hand, first using the flame on the skull to light a cigarette, then extinguished the flame, revealing his original appearance and said:

"We are all old acquaintances, I won't beat around the bush with you either. Someone is playing small tricks in the Bronx, do you know about this?"

"Of course I don't know." Boss Nail said, "If I knew someone would bring those troublesome guys here, would I let them have an easy time?!"

"I think so too." Johnny nodded and said, "If you are sure it has nothing to do with yourself, then send people to keep an eye on it everywhere. Once you discover anything abnormal, contact me. If they catch the person early and finish the work, they can withdraw early."

Boss Nail twisted the cigarette in his hand with his fingers, seemingly thinking. But Johnny looked at Danny and said: "You said the boss's lover has a problem, what did you discover?"

Danny glared at him and didn't speak. Johnny was a bit impatient, walked over, and pulled the nail on his hand out. Danny let out a cry of pain, shook his hand hard, and said: "They are fans of that Dario Agger, insisting that the Roxxon Energy Industrial Building was bombed by Iron Man's people..."

Boss Nail's attention was also attracted. He squinted his eyes and looked at Danny, saying: "Dario Agger? The boss of that damn energy company?"

"That's right! I heard them saying to others that it was because Iron Man was jealous of Dario Agger that he bombed his building!"

"What kind of nonsense is this?" The muscles around Johnny's eyes wrinkled into a ball, but Boss Nail seemed to have remembered something.

He revealed a thoughtful expression, but it didn't last long, instead waving his hand and saying: "For the sake of him being your brother, this time I won't argue with you. Don't let him appear on my territory again!"

Johnny stood up, pulled Danny up too, and pushed him toward the door. After pushing him out, he turned to Boss Nail and said: "You should know about the aerial factory plan of Roxxon, right? How much longer until the referendum is held?"

This sounded a bit headless and tailless, but Johnny didn't say much more, opened the door, and walked out. After he left, Boss Nail frowned, turned to his little brother behind him and said: "Go bring that woman here, I want to ask her what's going on."

Danny, who was pushed away from the bar by Johnny all the way, was still very unconvinced. Johnny turned around and signaled the few people following him to go further away with his eyes. They were also very sensible and returned to the bar door, while Johnny grabbed Danny by the back of the neck and dragged him into the small alley next to him.

The moment the flaming skull appeared, Johnny punched Danny in the face, knocking him to the ground with a "bang".

Danny climbed up from the ground wanting to fight back, but for some reason, the Ghost Rider he could usually call out easily had no movement at all now. No matter how anxious he was, the flames just wouldn't burn.

Johnny grabbed Danny by the throat and lifted him up like judging a sinner. Only then did Danny feel fear; he kicked his legs constantly, struggling desperately, like a fish just caught on shore.

In the second before Danny fainted from suffocation, Johnny let go, relit a cigarette, looked down at Danny lying limp on the ground, and said: "Do you think you are very smart?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3437 =====