Chapter 17: Chapter 16: Ghost Detective?

Chapter 16: Ghost Detective?

But first…time to pull some gacha!

Benjamin pulled up the system screen and opened up the gacha window.

“Hm?”

There, he found not just the pull button but also…a 10-pull gacha button!

[10-pull (guaranteed 1 red or above rarity)]

Benjamin clicked his tongue at that.

Dammit! Should he have been saving his pulls instead?

It can’t be helped that he didn’t think this way since this button wasn’t present before so he only thought that this is a type of gacha that will only have 1 pull all the time…

In any case…it was time to pull!

Clicking on the 10-pull, the gacha started to roll wildly.

Soon, 10 gacha balls fell with varying colors!

“T-this…!!!”

[Congratulations to host for getting Katana X2!] (White)

[Congratulations to host for getting Smoke Bombs X5!] (White)

[Congratulations to host for getting Mid Healing Factor!] (Green)

[Congratulations to host for getting Barrett XM109 X1!] (Blue)

[Congratulations to host for getting Makluan Ring: Spin!] (Red)

[Congratulations to host for getting Pym Particle Vial: Positive X2!] (Green)

[Congratulations to host for getting Terrigen Crystal X1!] (Green)

[Congratulations to host for getting Magic for Dummies Book X1!] (Blue)

[Congratulations to host for getting Web-Shooters X2!] (Blue)

[Congratulations to host for getting Hellfire!] (Red)

Two red rarities!

Moreover, it’s two very powerful ones at that!

Makluan Ring: Spin - Decelerates time around the wearer and would appear to be moving at super speed to others.

Hellfire - Nothing else needs to be said…with this ability, he can turn into Ghost Rider!

Hiss…

Benjamin sucked in a mouthful of air when he saw these two abilities.

These…are really too good!

After calming down for a bit, he took a good look at the other rewards.

The white ones…well, it would be of use someday…or not. Anyway, he just needed to put them in his inventory.

Mid Healing Factor. This is good but also a bit redundant since he already has a Symbiote with him so he would heal himself regardless.

Barrett XM109…a sniper rifle. This can be used. There’s also one magazine with 25mm bullets in it and since it’s from the system, the bullets should be untraceable. It’s also complete with the scope and some kind of maintenance kit.

Pym Particle Vial: Positive! The positive meant that it will turn things bigger instead of smaller. Maybe there is a chance to use it in the future.

Terrigen Crystal…this is a bit of a problem. He doesn’t know if he has Inhuman genes so he can’t just use them without thinking or else it will just be a waste.

[Host, you don’t need to worry as you have both the X-genes and Inhuman-genes as well as all kinds of genes!]

Really?

[No, but this System will just convert it in case you are exposed to such things!]

“...”

Benjamin took a look at the Terrigen Crystal and thought for a moment before shaking his head.

Anyway, there’s no need to get more powers right now since he already has plenty to use at the moment. Maybe he can find someone to use it on and gain a powerful ally.

System, is it possible to check if other people have inhuman genes?

[It is. Updating HUD Contacts for the necessary function…update complete]

[Host can now view if other people have hidden inhuman genes, x-genes, etc]

Nice.

Benjamin continued to look at the rewards.

Magic for Dummies Book…well…is this for trick magics?

Curious, he took it out and found that it was a book for real magic and not street magic!

Moreover, the explanation and such are very easy to understand too!

[Of course! This System made it so even dummies like the host can understand it!]

“...”

Benjamin’s face twitched slightly at that.

He shook his head and decided to read it later.

Finally, there’s the Web-Shooters.

“Well…I suppose this can be convenient.”

Although Benjamin doubted he’ll get to use it a lot, he still thought it can be convenient sometimes.

“Hm? Wait, I can already make a pseudo-web thingy with the symbiote so…yeah this is useless.”

Benjamin shook his head and chucked it into his inventory.

Once he was done sorting his things, he took a look at the dock again and could see that the Hand is starting to load crates of people into the boat.

Silently, he covered himself with the symbiote and became a figure of white.

The next moment, he dropped down and began to attack them!

“誰-!?” (Who-!?)n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Benjamin didn’t bother to exchange words with them and immediately made his moves.

The ninjas quickly surrounded him and threw a bunch of kunais and shurikens but just as they got near, they instantly slowed down.

The Spin ring in Benjamin’s hand glowed slightly as it slowed down time around him.

Instantly, Benjamin moved, grabbed all the projectiles around him, and threw them back at them.

This looked slow from his perspective but it all happened at normal speed to the others.

“幽霊!?” (Ghost!?)

He made quick work on the ninjas around him and knocked them out.

Suddenly, another figure landed in front of him.

Looking at this person, he wore a dark red suit with a mask covering the upper half of his face and two horns were placed on his head.

It was none other than Daredevil!

Daredevil landed and sensed the scene before him.

“...Who are you? You appeared before as well. Why are you here now?”

Benjamin thought for a moment and answered.

His mouth opened and a crack formed on his blank white face, looking rather eerie.

“I’m here for the same reasons you are, Daredevil. As for who I am…well, I suppose you can call me the Ghost Detective.”

Benjamin recalled one of the ninjas earlier calling him a yuurei…or rather, a ghost. And since he had Ghost Rider’s hellfire…he figured, why not?

Well, he was mostly kidding though.

“Ghost Detective?”

“...I’m joking okay? Can you not take it too seriously Matt? That name is too cringy for me…”

“Huh?”

Benjamin chuckled and removed the symbiote covering his face.

From the start, he doesn’t really care if his identity is revealed or not. Anyway, he’s a proper police detective and he was asked to investigate the missing people so this is still within his job scope.

The only reason why he hid his face or didn’t bother explaining it to others is just that it’s too bothersome.

As expected, Matt was visibly confused too.

“...Detective Freed?”

“Yep.”

“You…what…huh…?”

Even the calm Daredevil was completely confused.

Benjamin just shrugged.

“Don’t sweat the small details. Anyway, it’s time to close this case. Are you coming or not? Oh, try not to kill anyone okay? It’s too annoying to deal with the paperwork afterward.”

No longer minding him, Benjamin wore the symbiote again and started to look for the other ninjas.

After some time, Daredevil snapped out of it and followed him.

For a while, the docks were filled with sounds of fighting but soon, it died down and finished.

Benjamin looked around and nodded once he was sure that there were no Hand members left.

He removed the symbiote around him and was back in his normal attire.

Taking out his radio, he called in for backup.

“This is Detective Freed requesting backup. The missing people have been found. I repeat, the missing people have been found.”

After telling the location and such, he turned off the radio and stretched.

“Ahh, that was quite a workout huh?”

Daredevil was speechless again.

Normally, dealing with the Hand was quite a headache for him but when this guy does it, why does it look like a normal street brawl instead?

He moves too fast, has that weird armor, and also terrifying strength.

Not to mention…he called the police himself after he was done!

What kind of logic was this!? Weren’t we supposed to run away before the police arrived!?

Oh wait, this guy is a Detective himself…

“Why are you still here? Want me to arrest you or something?”

“...I’m leaving.”

Daredevil quickly fled!

Benjamin chuckled at that.

It was kinda fun to make fun of this guy.

After some time, several police cars arrived.

“Detective Freed! Where are the missing people?”

“Captain Holt! The missing people are all in the containers! An organization known as the Hand had kidnapped them and was preparing to transport them overseas to be sacrificed in order to resurrect someone.”

“...”

Captain Holt didn’t know how to react to that.

Normally, he would think that Benjamin was spouting nonsense. But the fact was…they live in a strange world where such things might be possible!

In the end, he sighed and ignored it.

“What are you all standing there for!? Open the containers!”

The police officers around them quickly moved and took out some pliers or other equipment to break open the locks on the containers.

Inside, they found several people with IVs stuck in their wrists. Some of them were too thin for not being able to eat properly for days.

Then, the others also moved to apprehend the ninjas who collapsed to the ground.

Since Benjamin and Daredevil already took off the cyanide on their teeth earlier, they were unable to commit suicide and could only be arrested.

Looking at this scene, Captain Holt frowned.

“Did you defeat all these people?”

“Yes sir.”

Benjamin didn’t bother telling him about Daredevil since he would probably get scolded again for letting him go.

“You…how…?”

“Um, I’m super strong.”

“You have powers? Hm, then I guess it makes sense why SHIELD would pull some strings for you. Are you in some kind of undercover assignment as a police?”

“No, I don’t think SHIELD knows about my abilities. I just knew someone from SHIELD.”

“Then why did you join the police force?”

“Um, why not? Won’t it be convenient to use my powers to help catch criminals as a police? What else am I supposed to do with it?”

Captain Holt opened his mouth to refute but was unable to say something.

That…seems to be right?

“If I’m a police officer, then defeating criminals is fine right? I won’t be considered a vigilante. I also didn’t use any excessive force unless the other party can resist it.”

Captain Holt blinked.

Eh? This…is really okay? There doesn’t seem to be a problem?

“Ah, it’s fine if you want me to come out clean to the public too. I don’t mind.”

Benjamin now has sufficient strength to resist the government. He doesn’t mind letting others know of his abilities now.

Anyway, the government doesn’t have anything to control him. Rather, he has all the means to control the government if he really wanted.

As for whatever corruptness they try to pull…

With just the HUD contacts and the system, he can find out the deepest secrets of the government and he can use those to threaten them if necessary.

For any mind control powers or such…well, the system is there to block it for him.

And as for his loved ones…his parents are dead already and Natasha is a strong woman with strong backing so there’s also no problem.

He is also sure that Natasha won’t betray him. In fact, she has been telling him SHIELD or Avengers stuff he didn’t really need to know about on her own…

Even if he was wrong about that, he’d rather trust his own woman than trust some random guesses.

In any case, he was aware that the government and the law might try to shackle him when he decided to be a policeman. But he wasn’t afraid of that happening. Rather, he hoped some idiot will try to pull something so he can…kill the chicken to warn the monkeys…so to speak.

Well, maybe without the killing…maybe.

Captain Holt fell silent for some time before shaking his head.

“We’ll talk about this later. As much as I want to keep quiet about this matter, if it gets found out in the future, it may cause some problems for me or the entire police force too. I’ll need to report this to the higher-ups.”

“Sure.”

Benjamin yawned.

“Anyway, this matter is finally over. I’m going to go sleep.”

Benjamin slumped down on his bed as soon as he got home and fell asleep.

Meanwhile, Captain Holt reported to his superior regarding Benjamin.

“Hoh? He has abilities? Yet he wants to remain in the police force?”

“Yes sir.”

“Interesting. In that case, prepare a press conference to announce it to the public.”

“Is it really fine to release this to the public?”

Captain Holt asked.

“Isn’t he fine with it? Besides, this matter has more pros than cons for us. For one thing, the common people will be more relieved that the police are now able to fight against powered people. At the same time, this will serve as a signal to the neutral powered-people to consider working for us instead. You know as well as I do that mutants have been appearing rather frequently nowadays. We can’t just leave such things to the X-men or Avengers to handle. It’s best if we have mutants or enhanced people in the police force as well who are willing to fight with us.”

Captain Holt fell silent at that before nodding.

“I understand. I’ll have Detective Freed appear in the press conference tomorrow.”

“Good. Also, there’s no need to press him for details regarding the specifics of his abilities. We must trust him if we want him to trust us. Besides, he has the guarantee of SHIELD no? I’m sure his character is clear. SHIELD doesn’t just pull favors for someone even if they don’t know he had abilities.”

“Understood.”

“Alright. You’re dismissed. Go and get some rest.”

Captain Holt nodded and left.

His superior was left alone in his office and smiled.

“Benjamin Freed huh? I’m expecting great things from you…”

The next day.

Benjamin woke up and got a call from Captain Holt regarding the press conference.

After knowing that he’s going to come out clean to the public, Benjamin figured he should break the news to Natasha first.

“Nat. I have something to tell you.”

“Hm? What is it? Is it something to do with why you came back home late yesterday? You looked pretty exhausted.”

Natasha asked as they ate breakfast.

Benjamin nodded.

“Yeah. You know I was working on some disappearing people case for the past week right?”

“Un. Has it been concluded?”

Benjamin nodded again.

“We found out the Hand was attempting to smuggle them out of the country and then use them as sacrifices to resurrect someone.”

“...That’s quite the news…”

Even Natasha was shocked.

“I’m sorry Ben. Normally, these kinds of stuff should have been handled by SHIELD. What happened?”

“It’s fine. I already handled it last night. Basically, I teamed up with Daredevil and defeated all of them and saved the missing people.”

“Huh? Daredevil? Wait, isn’t that too dangerous!? Why didn’t you tell me!?”

Natasha panicked for a moment but remembered that the matter is done already and he was safe and sound so she was now more curious.

“Well, the thing is. Umm, I have some powers.”

“...Huh?”

“I didn’t really have them from the start. When we met, I was just a bit stronger than normal but that was it. Later on, I started developing other abilities.”

Benjamin didn’t say the complete truth since…well, it was too troublesome and it would only lead to more questions.

Anyway, this was pretty close to the truth anyway so it’s fine.

There was no need to disclose his system.

After being surprised for a while, Natasha asked.

“What other abilities?”

“Well, like this.”

Benjamin held out his hand and a small electric arc flashed between his fingers.

Natasha whistled in amazement.

Benjamin chuckled.

“I can release about 10k volts of electricity all over my body.”

“So you’re like, budget Thor? Wait, is this why you can lift his hammer? Or did you gain this after you lifted his hammer?”

“Um, I don’t think that’s the case. I had it before that anyway. It’s just that there’s not really any chance for me to use it so I just left it alone.”

“I-I see…so you have super strength and electrokinesis?”

“It’s not electrokinesis per se. I can’t control other electricity. It’s more like an Electric Skin. I’m immune to electricity and can discharge electricity.”

“I see.”

“Oh, that’s not all by the way.”

“There’s more!?”

Benjamin laughed.

“Yep. I can also do this.”

Suddenly, Benjamin’s figure disappeared…well, his clothes remained floating in the air though.

Natasha’s jaw dropped at that.

“No way! I want that!”

“Haha! I bet it’s convenient for a spy huh?”

“You have no idea. Although you seem to need to be naked for it to work completely. But I’m sure I can whip Tony into making an invisible suit too.”

Whip…?

Benjamin shuddered for a moment before shaking his head.

“No need for that. I already have something for that.”

“Huh?”

“Check this out. TRANSFORMMMM!”

Benjamin did an exaggerated move and suddenly, his whole body was covered in white.

It was the Untainted Symbiote!

Benjamin’s face cracked to open his mouth.

“This thing is called a symbiote. It’s basically like a part of my body so it can also turn invisible if I want. Not to mention that this thing can also regenerate any part of my body should I get injured. The only thing is that I look a bit creepy like this when I open my mouth.”

“...It does look creepy.”

Benjamin chuckled and removed the symbiote covering his head.

Natasha started touching and poking Benjamin’s body in amazement.

“This is amazing too. Just where did you get this?”

“Well…even if you ask me, I have no idea too. It just kinda bonded to me one day.”

“I want one too. But maybe black instead.”

Benjamin laughed.

“Haha. Alright, if I find more, I’ll give you one okay?”

Natasha smiled.

She didn’t really mind it. Anyway, she was happy that her boyfriend is now powerful. This way she won’t be worried every single time instead.

“So is that everything?”

“Well…no.”

“There’s still more!?”

“Yeah but…don’t freak out okay?”

Natasha tilted her head in confusion while she waited.

Benjamin took a deep breath and activated his Hellfire.

Suddenly, his head caught on fire and his skin started to melt, revealing his bones, still on fire.

Natasha’s jaw had completely dropped to the ground now.

“B-B-Ben!”

“Ah, I’m fine! Don’t panic!”

Benjamin hurriedly waved his boney hands to calm her down.

“You…”

“Ahem. This is my other ability. This is the fire from hell. With it, I can temporarily turn into a spirit of vengeance. It looks cool right?”

“...”

Natasha was speechless.