Chapter 017

"Stop! It hurts!"

"I will fucking bite you."

"Ahhhh"

"Let me go... I, I give up."

With a painful scream full of pain, Alex was slammed into the wall. His whole body was wounded and at this point, he didn't even know which part of his body was in pain and which wasn't.

He had been fighting with Colleen for a few hours now and he had only gotten three hits on her till now.

It was a small number but considering Colleen had trained all her life, Alex was still a bit proud of his achievement.

"I think my rib cage broke..."

As soon as he muttered that, a golden light enveloped him and all his injuries were suddenly healed.

This was one of the functions of the training room.

No matter how bad an injury is, it will heal after a while and the person using the training room will feel like he was never injured.

Alex felt like it was the best function of the training room.

Without it, he would have already been swimming in river styx. Once, due to pain, he even saw his ancestors waving at him from the other side of river styx.

"Should I try once more?"

Alex leaned against the wall and took a look at Colleen who was just standing there without blinking. 

The avatar created by the Training room was a robot with no personality or feelings. It just has all of Colleen's skills and experience.

[3:56 AM]

Taking a look at the time, Alex stood up and decided to go another round.

He stepped ahead and the interface of the training room immediately prepared Colleen for a spar.

Her eyes suddenly became focused and she took a step ahead.

Alex also moved forward, gotten used to the spar. He prepared himself by focusing on his breathing, calming his nerves as much as he could.

A hologram appeared in front of him.

[The training spar will begin on 3... 2... 1.]

As soon as the hologram disappeared, Colleen rushed towards Alex. He was already used to it and was able to block the punch that was headed straight to his abdomen.

'A kick next.'

He muttered in his head and ducked.

Then, rushed to land a blow on her shoulder. Alex felt that Colleen was a little surprised at the blow but it was just his mind playing tricks on him.

They exchanged more and more blows for a while. Colleen's strength was way more superior than him and his arms were just hurting just by blocking her attacks.

But Alex didn't give up.

He relied more on his speed and countered.

In the Iron fist series, Danny Rand had simply defeated Colleen by evading her attacks and predicting where the strike will come from.

Alex didn't have that but he had already fought with Colleen a lot of times and he began to see a pattern in her attacks.

'Maybe I can defeat her this time.'

He thought as the fight was still going on after half an hour. He felt like he could win finally but he soon realised how wrong he was.

It was when he had tried to kick at Colleen's arms.

She had dodged the attack easily. Then, she bent slightly and grabbed his joints, twisting it while Alex screamed with pain.

"Fuck... Ahhhh."

Before he knew it, Alex was thrown to the ground. 

'I think I broke something...'

He thought as an insane amount of pain consumed him.

* * *

It was an open secret that Hell's kitchen was full of gangs and illegal activities. It was one of the exploitable neighborhoods in New York where the gangs rule now.

This place was not always like this.

It had become a crime zone after Kingpin had started his business here. He had cooperated with other gangs like the Russians, The Hand and even the local ones.

Even the media and some of the police worked with Kingpin in ensuring that he could reign over his empire that was Hell's kitchen.

Kingpin's plan was to kill Hell's kitchen and reborn it into a place that can be called a paradise. But his actions have just justified the name of this place; Hell's kitchen.

All this had given birth to a sentence that Alex felt was really fitting, 'If you can't take the heat, get out of Hell's kitchen.'

Tonight, Alex planned to heat up the place way more.

'I am fully prepared this time.'

He thought as he took a deep breath.

One week of getting beaten up in the Training room and rethinking his strategies had made him cautious. He was pretty sure it wouldn't be like the previous time.

For the past two days, he had been trailing a group of Russians who had been engaged in kidnapping and sex trafficking. They were transporting some young girls through a shipping container through the docks.

And today, Alex was finally ready for some action.

"Noo... Please no. Please!"

"I beg you. Please let go."

Alex was standing on top of a container as he watched the gruesome scene of some teenage girls crying and begging. The whole dock was filled with their screams, but it seemed to be of no use.

Some distance away, the watchman of the docks just watched the scene, already being bribed.

"Shut up!" One of the Russian gangsters shouted, pushing one of the girls inside the container. "I'm getting 2000 dollars for each of your heads. Do you really think I will let you fucking go?"

"Easy with them, Tuck. Our client doesn't like it if they have bruises." Another gangster said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't care. These bitches just Know how to scream."

He gave a hard look at them and gestured to get them inside the container. Two gangsters immediately began to push them while the girls cried and begged.

Watching this scene, Alex's mind was filled with anger.

'5 guys in total. The bribed watchmen don't seem to be a threat. Chances of them having a gun is high but nothing I can't deal with.'

Alex analysed the situation and became prepared. 

It was then that one of the kidnapped girls suddenly saw the silhouette of Alex standing on top of a container.  Her eyes went wide in shock and she wasn't able to stop herself from screaming.