Chapter 157: Arc 5: Chapter 1: Conflict

Time flies when you're busy.

It was already March of 1998 in the blink of an eye.

3 years was enough for New York to undergo some vast changes, more skyscrapers were built in replacement of those old buildings. New technology was being invented and implemented; in this new era, every day was a changing one.

And the people have already gotten used to it.

"Shwa"

As the afternoon sunlight shone, a black Ford with a black and white eagle emblem stops by a street at the edge of Manhattan.

The car door opens, and a serious agent Melinda in her black uniform and sunglasses steps out of the car. Next to her were two agents with sunglasses.

"Jimmy, you stand guard outside."

"Yes, Officer Melinda."

The two agents reply so, the yellow-skinned agent leans by the car as he sees the other two walk toward the nightclub in front of them.

The nightclub was not yet open for business at this hour, but there were already cars parked outside the nightclub, among them were some expensive ones. Agent Ross follows behind Melinda, he looks at the nightclub in front of them and couldn't help but whisper:

"Sir, I heard that this is the largest irregulars neutral zone in New York and that there's a bigshot running it; won't there be trouble if we simply barge in like this?"

"You're right."

Melinda answers calmly:

"This is Papa Midnite's territory, he claims to be 'The Voodoo King of the Eastern Coast', he's a ruthless one, and any who dares to cause trouble in his territory would die a mysterious death. But Ross, those are people looking for trouble, and we...we're here for work."

She brushes her short hair and says coldly:

"That murderer bastard is hiding here, and we have to catch it before more lives are lost."

As they spoke, the two approached the entrance of the nightclub. It was still the same bald brute, he picked up a card from the side, places it in front of Melinda, and asks in a calm tone:

"What's on the card?"

Melinda presses her spectral glasses, and she could see a faint image using the sunglasses, she then says:

"Soldier!"

The brute then leans aside and makes a 'welcome' gesture.

As she walked into the nightclub, the brute lowered his voice and warned:

"SHIELD bastards, keep your claws hidden, no one can save you if you cause trouble here!"

"That's something for us to worry about."

Melinda replies calmly, she then brings agent Ross through the luxurious passage and walks into a somewhat empty nightclub.

The explosive performance here begins only at midnight, supposedly it was the wildest and most curiosity-inducing irregulars' show one could find in New York; many irregulars are attracted by the performance every day, even some normal denizens foolish enough to seek them.

They yearn to see the 'truth of the world', yet here, they will find nothing but horror and madness.

Melinda lifts her wrist and looks at the ladies' watch on her wrist, on the dial plate, a red dot was flickering, showing to be very close.

She makes a hand gesture to her companion behind her, the two then venture further into the nightclub following the passageway.

One had to give it to him, while Papa Midnite is a voodoo sorcerer, he's quite up to the times; all nightclub boxes' door locks are electronic, and could only be opened using a designated ID card.

But this much was easy for SHIELD agents.

Outside a small box at the edge of the nightclub, Melinda looks around before placing her watch next to the lock, she gently presses on the watch, and following a sizzling sound, the electronic lock was disabled.

She opens the door, what appeared before her was a rather erotic scene.

A few undressed people were sleeping on each other, one brute and three coquettishly-dressed females, from the bottles scattered on the ground and the suspicious injectors, these people must've been high on drugs all night.

"Check it out, werewolf and succubus, quite the player."

Melinda was very familiar with such a scene, under the dim lights, she approached the snoozing werewolf across the stained floor. As the distance between the two was at 3 meters, the sleeping man abruptly opens his eyes, they were a pair of beastly eyes.

"You should not be here!"

He senses the danger and prepares to rush over as he let out a roar, though it would seem that Melinda's taser gun was much faster.

"Shwa"

A small fishnet is quickly launched at the werewolf, and before he could fully transform, blue electricity swiftly paralyzes him.

And in the exclamations of the three succubuses, Melinda rushes ahead, takes out a metal injector from her waist, and accurately stabs it at the werewolf's neck.

Under the effect of the sleeping agent specialized for irregulars, the werewolf still tried to fight back while he was staggering, but Melinda kicks him in his chest as he raised his claw, her kick knocks the werewolf back and sends him into a coma.

Behind Melinda, agent Ross with his gun sees that the werewolf had been knocked unconscious, he puts his gun back into his holster, takes a pair of specially-made black handcuffs, and puts it on the werewolf; he then grabs the heavy guy from the floor with slight difficulty.

"Mission complete."

Melinda brushes her hair and waves at the frightened succubuses, gesturing for them to leave; she then plans to take her captive and leave the nightclub.

But as she walks out of the box, 5 brutes armed with different weapons quickly stop them.

The brute's skin was of irregular dark-green color, their muscles were so robust they seemed inhuman, their expression was cold like they had facial paralysis, and their eyes were horrifyingly pale like they had no pupils.

Most importantly, there was a thick and pungent smell of herbs emitting from the brutes.

"Carrions."

Melinda quickly takes out her gun loaded with holy silver bullets, she stands in front of her teammate, takes out her identification, and shouts sternly:

"I am Melinda May, level-4 agent of SHIELD! I'm here on a capture mission! Do not obstruct our mission and let us leave!"

Carrions, as the name suggests, are corpse warriors made through voodoo, they have no intellect nor will.

Melinda, who had stayed in SDOLD for 3 years, knew of this, so her warning was not to the 5 Carrions stopping her, but it was to the voodoo sorcerers controlling the Carrions from the shadows.

It was a self-indication of identity, as well as a warning.

Though Melinda's warning seemed to be fruitless, as the 5 Carrions simply stood there, they didn't move forward or backward and had trapped the two agents.

Somewhere higher in the nightclub, in a large box as luxuriously decorated as a palace, the boss of the nightclub, the most ruthless and fear-inducing King of Voodoo, Papa Midnite, was sitting on his sofa; on the table in front of him, 5 Soldier's chess pieces were currently glowing, signaling the voodoo sorcerer's control of his warriors

This was Papa Midnite, a black man looking to be in his late 40s.

He had a bulky body and he wore a plaid suit and exaggerating top hat, on his neck and arm were pieces of golden and gemstone imbued jewelry, by his hand was a golden cane with a large crystal embedded on the top of it.

He was like a trendy uncle who plays hip hop.

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But his eyes, those glowing green eyes, represented who he truly was.

He comes from an ancient Voodoo family in the Mediterranean, his father brought his entire family to New York to avoid war. This nightclub was not just the inheritance that Papa Midnite's father had left him, it was also the Midnite family's new stronghold.

His family spent two generations making a name on the Eastern Coast, securing the family's position amongst top wizarding families.

For Midnite, this nightclub was worth more than any amount of money or treasure.

And now, two younglings had just barged into his home turf, and tried to take away his customer; this was like a slap on Midnite's face, how could the renowned Voodoo sorcerer accept so peacefully?

But Midnite was not a rash person, thus he did not immediately control the Carrions to tear the two agents apart.

Instead, he trapped them there because he knew that these two agents were nothing to worry about, but the person standing behind them was the big problem.

The man who had united the Aurors of the Magical Congress, the officers of NYPD, and the powers of other government departments to place a lock on the world of irregulars in New York City in just 3 years.

"'Raven' Merlin."

Midnite silently says this name, he plays with a Knight's chess piece in his hand, he knows that there must be a meeting here today.

A meeting between him and Merlin.

 "Caw"

A few minutes later, following the sharp caw of a raven, a crimson red Patronus flies into Midnite's box from the open window.

The illusory energy bird folds its wings and lands on Midnite's chandelier, it looks down at Midnite with its crimson red eyes as Midnite looked at it.

He knows that this was Merlin's messenger, over the past 3 years, this bird would be at the scene every time an irregular group is decimated by force.

It was Merlin's eyes.

"Woong"

In the distortion of light, Merlin appears in Midnite's box through Apparate.

He looked almost the same as 3 years back.

A gray casual suit, frameless glasses, black hand gloves, and a somewhat worn-out handbag.

Compared to 3 years before, Merlin seemed to be more mature, there was less sharpness in his eyes and more gentleness and calmness, and he had a wizard-like temperament.

But Midnite knew that this young man was not as simple as he appeared to be.

As he advanced the new order in New York's world of irregulars, his hands had been stained with the blood of countless irregulars; from low-level demons and devils to high-level vampires and werewolves, even rare pixies and dwarves.

Hundreds of irregular groups were decimated under his command, and thousands of irregulars were thrown into SHIELD's 'the Raft'. Many more opposers lost their lives under the combined offense of his SDOLD and Magical Congress.

This was someone who could make the hard decisions when necessary.

"You wanted to see me.?"

Merlin looks at his wristwatch, presses his glasses, and says softly:

"I'm here."

"Sit!"

Midnite waves his hand, and a beautiful girl walks forward and places a chair for Merlin.

There was no scent coming from the girl, but Merlin could sense that this was a specially-treated corpse...her original form must've been a noble and beautiful elf.

But Merlin did not pay much attention to such things, he sits on the chair, looks at Midnite, and says:

"Release my agents, they're just here on a mission. Then we can talk."

"They barged into my territory and wanted to arrest my customer without my consent."

Midnite rubs his jaw, he looks at Merlin with his eyes and says:

"A few years ago, I helped you when you needed my help! And how have you repaid me? Is this to humiliate me? Or does it mean that the 'terrible' SDOLD is finally making its move on me?"

Facing Midnite's suppressed anger, Merlin was calm as he spoke casually:

"Firstly, that's not your customer. That werewolf has brutally killed 5 people in Brooklynn in the last week and stole millions of dollars worth of valuables. He's a criminal and he needs to be punished, or has your neutral zone become a place that harbors criminals?"

Merlin looks at Midnite, he straightens his body and says softly:

"Mister Midnite, I've not forgotten your help to me. I wish that we can maintain a friendly relationship, this is why I've been avoiding your nightclub over the past 3 years; I trust that you can sense my kindness."

"You can catch him anywhere! I don't care about the bastard!"

Midnite points at the floor and says in a deep tone:

"But just not here. I have a business to run, Merlin, you must know that my business will be over once my reputation is finished!"

"You see, that's where the problem lies."

Merlin flicks his finger and says:

"That bastard killed 3 people and has been hiding in your territory for 3 days, he knows that you can shelter him. he knows that SDOLD will stay away from your nightclub intentionally...you get what I mean?"

"Mister Midnite, I'm helping you! If such an event keeps happening, then even if I can tolerate it, do you think that the Magical Congress that's made up its mind to reshape the order of the North American Wizarding World will?"

"Perhaps I may not be the one here to talk to you next time."

Merlin says:

"The Aurors who are finally free will probably not sit here and talk to you so peacefully, Mister Midnite."

A gloomy Papa Midnite didn't respond, he knew what Merlin meant.

But he had things he valued too, and it seemed to be an irreconcilable affair.

After a minute-long standoff, Merlin sighs, he takes something from his handbag and places it on the table in front of Papa Midnite, he says:

"This is proof of my kindness, the Magical Congress and SDOLD plan on building several irregular conservation zones in New York to keep them from full-on retaliating; these are the official documents for the conservation zone, your nightclub will be an official conservation zone once you sign the papers."

Merlin hands Midnite a pen and says softly:

"Think about it."

"We want to become true friends with you, so, what about you?"

 

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