Chapter 29

Disclaimer: If you recognise it, surprise, I don't own it.

Chapter 15– Living Merchandise.

Edited: 07/04/2023

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The sight of those dozen people, dressed in rags, connected together by chains with bags over their heads, it made utter rage and vitriol bubble up from deep within my gut. This anger and fury I felt, I felt it because, in a way, I was just like them. To these people here, that chain them up and push them forward like they are cattle, they are nothing more than property, something to be owned.

Just like I was, Miles Warren, the Jackal, created me, and he thought that gave him supreme power and ownership over me, and I can't help but feel in the depths of my being that, for a time, I was. I don't have memories of that, my only memories being those of Peter Parker and the ones from my other world, but I can feel it. Like it was engraved onto my very soul, even if I can't remember it, I know it. I was just like those people down there and was treated way worse, subjected to all sorts under Warrens's maniacal hands.

I want to jump down there, kick the shit out of all the thugs down there, permanently snap half of the bones in their bodies and free the captured people. I want to, but I can't. Those poor people down there are being readied for transport to a place where there are a lot more people being stored, people that are probably in way more pain and suffering. I need to find those people and help them, so, unfortunately, these people will have to wait just a bit longer, as will my fists.

I watch as the thugs force the people into the back of the truck, happy to use excessive force and battering with the butts of their guns to motivate them to move, which makes me clench my fists as I restrain myself from surging forward. Then, finally, they chain each of the, let's call it as it is, slaves to the inside of the truck and then hop back out and close the back of the truck.

At this point, the men go back to the front and get into the front of their truck, and begin to drift off to their following location while the two thugs inside go to close the garage shutters. With no time to waste, I act quickly and leap down from the rafters on top of the two thugs, slamming down on top of them with both of my palms, grasping the back of their heads and forcing them face down right into the ground, knocking them out with a sickening crunch.

With no time to lose, I rush straight out of the garage door and into the street, spotting the truck turning around the corner at the end of the road. I pull out my grapple gun and quickly shoot up into the sky, spreading my cape to begin gliding as I quickly spot the truck moving over to the freeway.

I am high enough up in the sky that I can slowly glide through the air and follow the truck, all the while keeping out of sight. If I need to pick up speed, then I can just unfold my cape and start diving straight down to build up momentum, and then open my cape again and pull up to gain a boost and keep momentum so that I can follow the truck.

For now, I am fine, just floating in the air, and though the truck is far away, I have a clear eye on it, and it isn't on the freeway yet, having hit traffic, so I have enough time to do something really quick. So I press a button on the inside of the right of my cape, and it automatically becomes locked in place and detaches from my arm. And with my arm free and my flight sustained, I reach into my utility belt and pull out my burner phone. I quickly dial in the number and press ring.

"Hell's Kitchen, 32nd Street. There is a gang hideout there, everyone inside is knocked out, and you will find a lot of illegal activities there. This is Daredevil." I say before cutting it off abruptly, not even waiting for the police officer operating on the other side to respond. I called the police and told them about that building to arrest all the guys there, but most likely, they won't believe a call like this, probably getting a lot of hoax calls every day.

That is why I said I am Daredevil since that might perk a few heads and gain some attention. However, I can't count on that bringing everyone out, but they will definitely at least send out a nearby patrol car to the environment to check it out, and they will see the open garage with the two knocked-out thugs.

Since the garage is open and the two guys are knocked out, they will have ample cause to investigate, and they will enter the building proper and find all the other crap, calling for backup and confirming that the call I placed was accurate. All the men inside are all taken care of already, and so they will all be arrested, and there are a bunch of illegal guns and drugs all over the place, plus the secret cellar is still open, which they will investigate and learn that there were people being held there.

Putting my burner phone away and back into my utility belt, I affix my right arm back onto the right side of my cape and press the button to attach it back to my arm. Then, with my flight properly back within my control, I begin to manoeuvre and adjust my course to keep on track, my eye never leaving the big white truck that holds innocent, scared people within.

I will follow this truck to wherever it is going, however long that might take, and when I finally find the storage place for all these humans. Then, I will free the innocents inside and bring the place down around the fuckers that own it.

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Gliding downwards, I gently land on the top of a brick building, my feet slapping down onto the rooftop when I disengage my wings. I don't stop my movement at all and walk to the edge of the building, peering over it to watch as the white truck turns to enter an underground garage that is potioned under an average-looking office building.

The entire street is completely empty and deserted, this is a business district full of offices and shops that have all now closed for the day, and so the garage door is firmly shut as the truck stops in front of it. And yet, after a moment of the truck waiting there, the garage door automatically lifts up, slowly but surely, until it is fully open for the truck to enter, which it begins to do so.

I pull back and run a few meters away from the edge of the building before turning around and looking back at the border. The fact that the garage door opened even though there was no one around leads me to believe that either the truck driver had a remote control to open it up or somebody else did, which means that the door is being watched, so that is not a good entrance for me to take.

And yet, what if this underground parking lot is merely a stop-gap to throw off any would-be pursuers? What if they are about to exit it through another way and continue their drive? I can not risk that, especially with all those people chained to the inside of that truck. I can't afford to take my eyes off of them for even a moment, even if that does mean my cover gets blown.

Thinking so, I quickly sprint forward, and at the very edge of the building, I leap forward, throwing myself off with force, and then I spread my cape, engaging my wings. I zip through the air as fast as a bullet, and I can see the garage door slowly closing as I close in on it. I continue to zoom through the air, and just before the garage doors shut, I disengage my wings and kick forwards, transitioning into a slide on the ground that allows me to just scoot under the garage doors before it closes.

I manoeuvre into a roll after I enter to slow myself down and then swiftly get to my feet and quickly hide behind a pillar, just in case no one has seen me yet. Of course, there is every chance that there was a camera watching that garage entrance, and I have already been spotted, even if I did enter at high speeds, but on the off chance that I haven't been caught yet, it is better to maintain stealth.

Going into a crouch, I start to walk up the pillar and onto the ceiling, maintaining my crouch the whole way. Of course, my walking on walls might be indicative of me being a spider-related person, but there is a whole bunch of technology out there that allows people to do that, so nobody would think twice about it. Though it would undoubtedly look suspicious if I was doing the wall-crawling thing, which is why I am sticking to simply crouching.

People never look up, not till stuff starts to get weird and they start freaking out, which is why I find it easy to sneak straight above the white truck that is just waiting, parked facing a wall for some reason, not moving at all. I drop down from the ceiling, landing gently on top of the truck and then laying flat on it, pressing my face to the top of the truck.

With this, I will just stay stuck to the top of the truck, following it wherever it goes without worrying about falling off since I am literally stuck to the top of it. But as my face is flat against the truck, I try to listen in on the captives held within, but I hear nothing at all, and so I really focus and manage to just about hear some light breathing. The truck must be soundproof, which makes sense since otherwise, they would be risking a lot when driving the captives around the city.

But I am seriously confused right now. Why is the truck just parked facing a wall, like literally right up against the wall? With such dangerous merchandise within and such risks they are taking, why would they just stop in the middle of the transport and park up in this underground parking lot? It just doesn't make sense.

Deciding to try and figure out what is going on, I try to listen in on the guy driving the tuck and his partner, but they seem to be in absolute silence, just having the radio down low and having their windows rolled down and enjoying a smoke. They are not talking at all, and they are acting pretty calm for people trafficking humans, giving me the impression they are used to this and have done it quite a lot, and right now, they are unbothered and apparently on schedule.

With nothing happening, I resign myself to just staying up here for the next couple of hours, ready for the long haul so that I can stay with these captured humans and follow them to their destination. Maybe this is a switch point, where the people will be switched over to another vehicle and transported in that, just to be safe and secure. Whatever is going to happen, I am going to be there to witness it and interve-

*Kssshhk*

I hear a motor suddenly going and then the sound of machinery suddenly moving, and I lift my head up to see that the wall the truck is parked in front of is slowly falling backwards, the machinery chugging and churning to make the wall move. And then, when the wall has moved fully back, it starts to move to the side and reveal a passageway big enough for the truck.