Chapter 042

'I don't have a way to defeat him.' 

Alex thought, halfway through his battle with Creel.

Different from the pyromancer, Creel's strength was his metallic body, stamina and strength. All this combined made him a formidable opponent.

Unlike the battle with Abomination, Alex didn't even have the sticky bombs to help him, so he needed to find a way.

A way to penetrate his defences.

His wolf was doing a good job at keeping him in control, by repeatedly using his claws and ripping through his steel form but those injuries were healing quickly.

And he didn't know how Creel seemed to have an abnormal amount of stamina and Alex was already panting between his attacks.

"Fuck."

He cursed as Creel punched his stomach, going through the barrier made by his wolf. Then, he picked him up and threw him to a wall, cracks appearing on it due to the impact.

He felt one of his bones crack as pain raged inside him.

"You are pretty good but you have a long way to go before you can beat me." 

Creel grinned as he looked at Alex who was trying to move back up. Glancing back, he could see that his partner was struggling against his fight with Daredevil.

'That pipsqueak can't do anything if someone doesn't fear his flames.'

He frowned, thinking he would deal with the Devil of Hell's kitchen himself after killing Lycan. Obviously, he would ask for a much higher paycheck.

"Let me finish you off quickly." Creel said with a smile. "I promise it won't hurt."

His wolf growled hearing that. It was whimpering slightly due to the blow it had taken but it looked ready to fight more.

'I need to somehow get up…'

Alex took a deep breath as he focused his energy to get back up. He didn't know how to defeat Creel but he needed to try.

In his frustration, he threw a piece of wood that had broken off from a table at Creel and he caught it in his hands without thinking.

At that moment, something surprising happened.

"What the–?"

Creel's skin suddenly changed colour. No, the whole substance changed. From steel to wood. Alex's eyes twinkled as he realised the weakness of Creel.

'He doesn't have any control over his powers.'

Creel yanked in surprise as his whole body changed suddenly to wood. He looked around, trying to find a piece of steel to change into.

But Alex wasn't going to give him a chance.

He leaped up, not caring about pain or injuries. His wolf roared as Alex directed it to slash at Creel, his body not having the same defensive property now.

Wood was way easier to cut through than steel.

"Ahh!" Creel screamed as he staggered backwards, the attack creating a big cut on his skin.

"Motherfucke–"

He tried to curse but Alex punched his stomach, the power of the wolf creating a big impact.

Creel's body lifted in the air for a moment due to the punch as anger and rage wrapped his senses. He screamed and put all his power in a punch.

At that moment, Alex used the skill that he was saving for this moment.

'Bullet time.'

He had around 2 minutes left in it and that was more than enough.

As the perception around Alex changed, everything including Creel's punch started flowing slowly. Really slowly.

Alex easily sidestepped and dodged his punch. Then, he held his arm and punched him straight in the face.

Creel wasn't able to react at all as Alex's speed suddenly changed dramatically.

He tried to block his attacks but he wasn't able to follow his movements at all. 

Taking out his wolf's claws, he slashed repeatedly. Creel tried to block the attacks and counter but it didn't have any effect as he was just punching air.

As he was lighter in his wood form, Alex picked him up somehow and threw him at a wall. He slammed into the wall.

Alex sprinted towards him and punched his face repeatedly. From nose to chin to cheek, Alex punched him everywhere in bullet time.

In just 30 seconds, he had hit more than 100 punches.

Soon, blood started to pour from his lips and nostrils. His wood form changed slowly to become skin as Alex realised that Creel was now unconscious.

"Ah, it's over finally."

Alex sighed as the bullet time ended.

He opened up his hero shop and bought an item called Hunter's net. It looked like a small, black coloured disk and as soon as he put it on Creel's head, it transformed into a net.

If he tried to get out of it, it would shock him.

With that, Alex's job was finally over and he looked at Matt who was standing besides the Asian guy who was unconscious on the ground.

The floor around Matt was scorched black and he could easily see that some parts of Matt's costume was burnt with blood leaking out from here and there.

He threw another Hunter's disk at Matt and he caught it easily.

"Throw that disk on the guy as a precaution." He gestured at the now unconscious Creel. "That will be enough."

"Thanks." Matt frowned, feeling pain from his injuries. "Looks like the fighting is at least over."

"The job is not." 

"Yeah, let's finish soon. It's hard to even walk."

"Not like I'm any different."

They walked limply at the top and found the large stash of steel serpent heroin. Alex wanted to hand all the heroin to the police but Matt shook his head.

Many people in the police force worked under Kingpin and it wasn't wise to hand it over to them.

Their best choice was to burn it and it didn't take them long to get the whole stash on fire.

After calling the police and reporting about the Russians, their job was finally over.

Alex wanted to take Creel and Scorch (Alex later learned his name from Matt) for interrogation on their powers but he didn't have a place to keep them. 

Moreover, he was sure Shield would get them after tonight.

Their only regret was Vladmir, the leader of the Russian gang but he wasn't in the building. Alex wondered if he had just run away but there was no way to know for him.

At that point, he didn't know that Vladmir was already dead.