Chapter 4: The Otaku Infiltrates a Gangs
The morning after bringing Miguel to the safehouse, Meliodas woke to the sound of someone humming his theme song.
He opened one eye to find Miguel sitting on the floor next to his mattress, tapping a pen against a notebook and humming the exact tune that had been playing in Meliodas's head.
"Stop that," Meliodas mumbled.
"Stop what?"
"Humming. That's my song."
Miguel blinked. "Your song? Since when do you have a song?"
'Since I got free perks from a cosmic system.' "Since always. Stop it."
"You're weird."
"You're in my room."
"It's the common room. Everyone's room." Miguel tapped his notebook. "I've been thinking. About the Dragons."
Meliodas sat up, rubbing his eyes. Tandy was already gone from the couch—probably training. Mama Rose's chair was empty, her knitting draped over the arm.
"What about them?"
"They're not just a street gang. They're organized. Connected. Someone's funding them, giving them orders." Miguel's eyes were bright with journalistic fervor. "I've been tracking their activity for months. They hit specific targets—businesses that refuse protection, people who owe money to specific loan sharks, locations that just happen to be near property that gets bought up cheap afterward."
Meliodas's brain, still half-asleep, struggled to keep up. "So... they're working for someone?"
"Someone big. Someone with money and influence." Miguel leaned forward. "I think it's Fisk."
The name hit Meliodas like a bucket of cold water.
"Wilson Fisk?"
"You've heard of him?"
'I've read about him. Watched him. Kingpin. Crime lord. Basically the devil of New York's underworld.'
"Just... rumors. Around the city."
"Yeah, well, the rumors are true. Fisk runs half the illegal activity in this city. And I think the Dragons are his street-level enforcers." Miguel pointed at his notebook. "Look at the pattern. Every Dragons attack happens near property that Fisk's shell companies later acquire. Every business they shake down ends up selling to Fisk's partners. It's all connected."
Meliodas stared at the notebook. Crude maps, dates, names. Miguel had been busy.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you can fight. You can move like nothing I've ever seen. And you're not afraid of them." Miguel's expression was intense. "If we work together, we could expose the whole operation. Take down Fisk. Clean up the city."
'Take down the Kingpin. Sure. Just me, a journalist, and three swords. What could go wrong?'
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[NEW QUEST CHAIN DETECTED: THE KINGPIN CONSPIRACY]
---
[QUEST CHAIN: THE KINGPIN CONSPIRACY]
Part 1: Proof of Concept
{Gather evidence linking the Purple Dragons to Wilson Fisk.}
Reward: 5 Destiny Shards
Time Limit: 1 week
Part 2: Infiltration
{Infiltrate a Dragons operation and gather intelligence.}
Reward: 8 Destiny Shards
Unlocks: Part 3
Part 3: Confrontation
{Confront a Fisk lieutenant.}
Reward: 12 Destiny Shards
Warning: This will escalate conflict significantly.
---
Meliodas read the quest chain and felt a headache forming.
'Of course. Of COURSE the system wants me to fight the Kingpin.'
He looked at Miguel's eager face.
"Let me think about it."
---
Thinking about it meant training with Tandy, where she promptly threw him across the mat three times in a row....like a ragdoll.
"Focus," she snapped. "You're distracted."
"I'm always distracted."
"More than usual." She helped him up. "What's going on?"
Meliodas hesitated. Tandy was... not exactly a friend yet, but close. She trained with him every day. She didn't ask too many questions. And she knew the streets better than he did.
"Miguel has a theory about the Dragons. About who's really behind them."
Tandy's expression darkened. "Fisk."
"You know?"
"Everyone with half a brain knows. Proving it is the problem." She crossed her arms. "Don't get involved. Fisk is dangerous. Not street-level dangerous—real dangerous. People who go after him disappear."
"I noticed."
"So don't."
"Miguel's already investigating. He's got evidence. Patterns. Connections."
"Then let him take it to the cops. Or the feds. Or someone who isn't us."
"Cops are probably on Fisk's payroll. Feds take years. By then, more people get hurt."
Tandy studied him for a long moment. "You're actually considering this."
"I'm considering gathering information. Seeing if Miguel's right. That's all."
"That's how it starts. Information gathering. Then infiltration. Then confrontation. Then you're dead."
'She's not wrong.'
"I'll be careful."
Tandy sighed. "You're an idiot."
"So I've been told."
---
That afternoon, Meliodas found Miguel in his new room—a small space he shared with Danny and Frank, the card-playing mutants.
"Hey," Meliodas said. "About your theory."
Miguel looked up from his notebook. "Yeah?"
"I'll help. But we do this smart. Information only. No heroics."
Miguel's face split into a grin. "Yes! I knew it!"
"We start with proof. Real proof. Something that ties the Dragons to Fisk directly."
"I've got a lead." Miguel flipped through his notebook. "There's a warehouse in Hell's Kitchen. Dragons use it as a staging point for their operations. Truckloads of stuff go in and out—weapons, drugs, stolen goods. If we can get inside, see where it's going, who's paying..."
"That's Part 2. Infiltration. We need Part 1 first."
"Part 1?"
"Proof of concept. Something that links them without us having to break into a warehouse."
Miguel frowned. "That's harder. Fisk is careful. His name never appears on anything."
"Then we need someone who's worked with both. Someone who can connect the dots."
Miguel's eyes lit up. "I might of know a guy."
---
The guy's name was Vinny, and he ran a deli in Hell's Kitchen that definitely wasn't just a deli.
Meliodas and Miguel sat at a cramped table in the back, surrounded by boxes of canned goods and the smell of old pastrami. Vinny himself was a round man with nervous eyes and hands that never stopped moving.
"You shouldn't be here," Vinny whispered. "You especially shouldn't be asking about Fisk."
"We're not asking about Fisk," Miguel said calmly. "We're asking about the Dragons. Where they get their money. Who gives them orders."
"Same thing. Same damn thing." Vinny wiped sweat from his forehead. "Look, I don't know nothing. I run a deli. That's it."
{Third Eye} flared.
Red. Bright red. Vinny was lying—and not just lying, but scared. Terrified.
Meliodas leaned forward, toggling {Adorable} to its maximum setting. "Vinny. Look at me."
Vinny looked.
His expression softened slightly, despite himself. The fear didn't disappear, but it... shifted.
"We're not here to hurt you," Meliodas said softly. "We're here to stop the people who are hurting this neighborhood. The Dragons. Fisk. All of them. But we need help. We need someone brave enough to tell the truth."
Vinny's eyes watered. "I can't. If they find out—"
"They won't. We'll protect you."
"You're just a kid. Both of you. What can you do?"
Meliodas reached into his coat and placed Reflection on the table. The dagger caught the light, its mirror finish gleaming.
Vinny stared at it.
"I can do more than you think."
There was a long pause. Then Vinny took a deep breath.
"There's a man. Name's Leland Owlsley. He's an accountant—handles money for half the criminal operations in the city. Fisk uses him. The Dragons use him. Everything flows through his books."
"Where do we find him?"
"He has an office. Midtown. But you won't get in—it's fortified, guarded, warded." Vinny's eyes flickered. "He also has a weakness. Gambling. Every Thursday night, he goes to an underground casino in Queens. High rollers only. Thinks nobody knows."
Meliodas and Miguel exchanged glances.
"Thank you, Vinny."
"Don't thank me. Just... don't mention my name. Ever."
"We won't."
---
Outside the deli, Miguel was practically vibrating with excitement.
"Owlsley! I've heard of him! He's like the financial wizard of the underworld. If we can get to him, get his records—"
"We're not getting his records. We're observing. Gathering information."
"Right, right. Observing. At a casino. Where he'll be vulnerable."
Meliodas sighed. "This is how people die, isn't it?"
"Probably. But at least it'll be exciting."
---
Thursday came faster than Meliodas expected.
In between training with Tandy, meditating for {Recharge}, and trying not to think about the growing list of people who wanted to kill him, he'd managed to prepare.
{Dapper} was still too expensive at 10 Destiny Shards, but he had 9—close, but not enough. Instead, he'd bought {Pocket Space} for 5, giving him 15 cubic feet of storage dimension. Useful for hiding things. Like evidence.
He also bought {Indistinct} for 5, draining his Destiny Shards to 0 but gaining the ability to avoid notice.
[PURCHASE CONFIRMED: POCKET SPACE]
[COST: 5 DESTINY SHARDS]
[REMAINING: 4 DESTINY SHARDS]
[PURCHASE CONFIRMED: INDISTINCT]
[COST: 5 DESTINY SHARDS]
[REMAINING: -1 DESTINY SHARDS]
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[NEGATIVE BALANCE DETECTED]
[AUTO-CONVERSION INITIATED: 1 HERO SHARD → 1 DESTINY SHARD]
[HERO SHARDS: 6]
[DESTINY SHARDS: 0]
'Well. That's inconvenient. But worth it.'
He tested {Indistinct} by walking past Tandy in the hallway. She glanced at him, then looked away—then did a double-take.
"Hey! When did you get there?"
"I've been here for a minute."
"No you haven't. I would have noticed."
Meliodas grinned. "Maybe you're losing your edge."
"Maybe you're just creepy." But she was smiling.
---
The casino was in the basement of a abandoned warehouse in Queens.
Meliodas stood across the street, {Indistinct} active, watching the entrance. Men in suits came and went, checking IDs, patting down everyone who entered. Security was tight.
"Showtime," he muttered.
He crossed the street, walking casually. The guards' eyes slid over him like he was part of the background. One of them glanced his direction, then looked away without reacting.
{Indistinct} worked, he got too excited nearly bumping into another bodyguard.
He slipped through the door, down a flight of stairs, and into a world of smoke and money.
The casino was small but elegant. Crystal chandeliers. Red velvet. Tables for poker, blackjack, roulette. Men in expensive suits and women in even more expensive dresses. The air smelled of whiskey and deperation.
Meliodas moved through the crowd, invisible, unnoticed. His eyes scanned for Owlsley.
Found him.
Leland Owlsley was a thin man with spectacles and the kind of face that looked like it had never smiled. He sat at a poker table, stacks of chips in front of him, expression calculating.
{Knowledge Mage} activated.
[TARGET IDENTIFIED: LELAND OWLSLEY]
Alias: The Owl. Financial advisor to Wilson Fisk. Known for his cruelty and paranoia. Current net worth: approximately $200 million. Current emotional state: focused, slightly agitated (losing streak).
'Perfect.'
Meliodas found a spot near the bar, {Indistinct} still active, and watched.
---
Three hours later, Owlsley was down $50,000 and visibly frustrated.
He pushed back from the table, snapped at a waiter, and headed for a private room in the back. Probably to count his losses or make phone calls.
Meliodas followed.
The room was small—an office, really. Desk, phone, filing cabinet. Owlsley slumped into a chair and pulled out a flask.
Meliodas slipped inside, staying against the wall.
Owlsley drank, muttered to himself, and eventually pulled out a phone.
"The Dragons need more product," he said into it. "I don't care where it comes from. Just get it done. And tell Fisk that the Hell's Kitchen operation is on schedule."
Meliodas's heart raced. 'Fisk. He said Fisk.'
Owlsley listened for a moment, then nodded. "Yes. The warehouse will be ready Friday night. New shipment. Tell the Dragons to have their people there."
He hung up and took another drink.
Meliodas waited. When Owlsley finally left, Meliodas moved.
The filing cabinet was locked. {Knowledge Mage} identified the mechanism—simple, commercial grade. He could pick it, but that would take time.
Or he could use {Pocket Space}.
He touched the cabinet, focused, and willed the contents into his dimensional storage.
Nothing happened at first. Then—It vanished, like poking a bubble.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[POCKET SPACE: 15/15 CUBIC FEET FULL]
[CONTENTS: 47 FILES, 3 LEDGERS, 2 LAPTOPS]
Meliodas grinned.
'Time to go.'
---
Back at the safehouse, Miguel nearly screamed when Meliodas dumped an armful of files onto his bed.
"What the—WHERE DID YOU GET THESE?"
"Owlsley's office."
"His OFFICE? You broke into his OFFICE?"
"Technically I borrowed his filing cabinet. He doesn't know yet."
Miguel stared at him with a mixture of horror and awe. "You're insane. You're completely insane."
"So I've been told. Now help me sort through this."
They spent the night going through files. Ledgers. Financial records. Names, dates, amounts. The scope was staggering.
"Look at this," Miguel breathed, holding up a ledger. "This is everything. Payments from Fisk to the Dragons. Shipment schedules. Names of lieutenants. It's all here."
"Proof," Meliodas said.
"Proof." Miguel looked up, eyes shining. "We did it. We actually did it."
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[QUEST COMPLETE: THE KINGPIN CONSPIRACY — Part 1]
[Gathered evidence linking Purple Dragons to Wilson Fisk.]
Reward: 5 Destiny Shards
Total Destiny Shards: 5
[NEW QUEST AVAILABLE: Part 2 — Infiltration]
{Infiltrate the Dragons' warehouse operation in Hell's Kitchen.}
Reward: 8 Destiny Shards
Time Limit: Before Friday night
---
Friday came.
Meliodas stood on a rooftop overlooking Hell's Kitchen, watching the warehouse below. Trucks came and went. Men with guns patrolled the perimeter. It was a full-scale operation.
{Third Eye} showed red everywhere. Dozens of hostiles gang members.
'This is insane.'
He checked his gear. Reflection in dagger form. Moonsing ready to shift. Siren on his back. {Pocket Space} empty, ready to grab evidence. {Indistinct} active. {Rush} ready.
'Let's do this.'
He dropped from the rooftop, landing silently in the alley beside the warehouse. A guard walked past—Meliodas tapped him, and he crumpled.
'One down. Too many to count.'
He found a side door, unlocked. Slipped inside.
The warehouse was cavernous. Crates stacked to the ceiling. Forklifts moving product. Men with clipboards and guns.
Meliodas moved through them like a ghost, {Indistinct} hiding him from view. His eyes scanned for anything useful—shipment manifests, names, addresses.
Found it.
A small office in the corner, glass walls, occupied by a man in a suit. The foreman, probably.
Meliodas waited until the foreman was alone, then slipped inside.
{Indistinct} didn't work as well in close quarters—the foreman glanced up, frowning, sensing something wrong.
Meliodas moved.
{Rush activated.}
Five seconds. He crossed the room, tapped the foreman's neck, caught him as he fell. Lowered him gently to the floor.
{Rush ended.}
The foreman was unconscious. Meliodas grabbed the files on his desk, the laptop, anything that looked important. Into {Pocket Space}.
Then he saw it.
A map on the wall. Hell's Kitchen, marked with pins. Red for Dragons operations. Blue for something else. And in the center, a single black pin.
Fisk Tower.
Meliodas stared at it.
'He's not just funding them. He's directing them. Every operation, every hit, every shakedown—all coming from him.'
He pulled out his phone and took a picture.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[QUEST COMPLETE: THE KINGPIN CONSPIRACY — Part 2]
[Infiltrated Dragons warehouse and gathered intelligence.]
Reward: 8 Destiny Shards
Total Destiny Shards: 13
[NEW QUEST AVAILABLE: Part 3 — Confrontation]
{Confront a Fisk lieutenant. Gain direct evidence of Fisk's involvement.}
Reward: 12 Destiny Shards
Warning: This will escalate conflict significantly.
---
Getting out was harder than getting in.
Someone had found the unconscious guard. Alarms blared. Men with guns swarmed the warehouse.
Meliodas ran.
{Agility} took him over crates, under forklifts, through gaps that shouldn't exist. Bullets sprayed behind him—he dodged, weaved, {Rush} activating twice more to get through tight spots.
He burst through a loading bay door and into the night.
And ranlike a mad dog into Luke Cage.
Literally. He bounced off the man's chest like a tennis ball.
"Whoa there." Luke caught him by the collar. "You okay?"
"Dragons—warehouse—evidence—RUNNING—"
"Yeah, I figured." Luke set him down. "Get out of here. I'll handle cleanup."
"How—"
"Luke Cage, remember? Unbreakable skin." He grinned. "Go. I'll make sure they don't follow."
Meliodas didn't argue. He ran.
Behind him, he heard the sounds of chaos—shouts, gunfire, and Luke Cage laughing.
---
Back at the safehouse, Miguel was waiting.
"Tell me you got something."
Meliodas dumped the contents of {Pocket Space} onto the floor. Files. Laptop. Photos.
Miguel's eyes went wide. "Holy..."
"Look at the map." Meliodas showed him the photo. "Fisk Tower. Right in the center. He's running everything from there."
Miguel studied the image, then looked up. "This is it. This is the proof we need."
"It's Part 2 proof. Part 3 is confronting a lieutenant."
"A lieutenant? Who?"
Meliodas thought about the files, the names, the faces. One name kept coming up. James Wesley. Fisk's right hand. His fixer. The man who made problems disappear.
"Wesley," he said. "James Wesley."
Miguel paled. "That's suicide. Wesley is untouchable."
"Nobody's untouchable."
"You don't understand. Wesley doesn't go anywhere without guards. He's paranoid, careful, and completely loyal to Fisk. Getting to him is impossible."
Meliodas looked at the evidence scattered across the floor. At the map with the black pin. At the face of a man who had been causing pain in this city for years.
"Nothing's impossible."
---
The next morning, Meliodas found Mama Rose on the rooftop.
She was knitting, as always, but she'd set up a chair facing the sunrise. Her needles clicked softly in the morning light.
"You're up early," she said without looking up.
"Couldn't sleep."
"Having restless nights ?"
Meliodas blinked. "You know about that?"
"I know about a lot of things, child." She patted the chair beside her. "Sit."
He sat.
They watched the sunrise in silence for a while. The city slowly waking below them. The sounds of traffic and life beginning another day.
"You're planning something dangerous," Mama Rose said. It wasn't a question.
"Miguel and I—"
"I know about Miguel. I know about the files. I know about the warehouse." She finally looked at him. "I also know about the man you're planning to confront."
Meliodas said nothing.
"James Wesley. Fisk's shadow. He's killed more people than you've met. He's smarter, more experienced, and completely without mercy." Her eyes were old—ancient—and they saw too much. "If you go after him, you might not come back."
"I have to try."
"Why?"
He thought about it. Really thought about it.
"Because I can. Because I have these powers, and I don't know why I have them, but I can't just... sit here. Not when people are suffering. Not when I could do something."
Mama Rose studied him for a long moment. Then she smiled—a real smile, warm and sad.
"You remind me of someone. Someone I knew a long time ago. He had that same look in his eyes. That same need to help, no matter the cost."
"What happened to him?"
"He died. Saving people." She reached out and patted his hand. "But he died happy. He died knowing he'd made a difference."
Meliodas didn't know what to say.
"Be careful, child. Be smart. And if you ever need help—real help—you come find me." She pulled something from her knitting bag and pressed it into his hands.
A small charm, knitted from what looked like silver thread. It pulsed with faint warmth.
"What is it?"
"Protection. Of a sort. It won't stop bullets, but it might stop something worse." She stood, gathering her knitting. "Now go. You have a city to save."
---
That night, Meliodas sat on the rooftop alone, the charm warm against his chest.
Below him, the city glittered. Millions of lives. Millions of stories. And somewhere, in a tower in Midtown, a man sat in an office and planned pain.
'I'm coming for you, Fisk.'
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
[QUEST ACCEPTED: THE KINGPIN CONSPIRACY — Part 3]
{Confront James Wesley. Gain direct evidence of Fisk's involvement.}
Reward: 12 Destiny Shards
Warning: This will escalate conflict significantly.
---
High above New York, in a dimension between moments, the Ancient One watched.
The boy was moving faster than she'd anticipated. Already entangled with Fisk's operations, already gathering evidence, already planning confrontation.
'He has no idea what he's walking into.'
She could intervene. Could warn him. Could guide him.
But that wasn't her role. She watched. She waited. She protected the timeline.
And the timeline around this boy was becoming more chaotic by the day.
'Interesting.'
---
[END OF CHAPTER 4]
---
Current Stats:
Name: Meliodas
Race: Human (Mutate — as far as anyone knows)
Class: Chitin Slayer + Knowledge Mage
Traits: Fit, Champion, Rush, Third Eye, Regeneration
Free Perks: Adorable, Smouldering, Well-Adjusted, Plot Armor, Conflicted Prediction, Theme Song
Purchased Perks: Pocket Space, Indistinct
Items: Reflection, Moonsing, Siren, Mama Rose's Protection Charm
Hero Shards: 6
Destiny Shards: 13
Broken Shards: 5
Completed Quests:
· Tutorial: First Blood ✓ (+1, +1 bonus)
· Tutorial: Making Friends ✓ (+1)
· Normal: Storage Sweep ✓ (+2)
· Normal: Save the Journalist ✓ (+3)
· Challenge: Information Network ✓ (+5)
· Kingpin Conspiracy Part 1 ✓ (+5)
· Kingpin Conspiracy Part 2 ✓ (+8)
Active Quests:
· Training Montage (8/100 hours)
· Knowledge Seeker (35/50 identifications)
· Wall Crawler (2/10 miles)
· Urban Explorer (6/20 locations)
· City Explorer (5/5 boroughs) — COMPLETE (pending confirmation)
· Meditation Master (7/30 days)
· Weapon Bond (Reflection 5/20, Moonsing 5/20, Siren 4/20)
· Kingpin Conspiracy Part 3 (0/1)
---