Infiltration into Madame Gao's Warehouse

Infiltration into Madame Gao's Warehouse
Previous	Kidnapping of Karen Page
Next	Murder of Ben Urich
Date	Early 2015
Location	Madame Gao's Warehouse, New York City, New York
Result (Outcome)	Madame Gao's Steel Serpent production is destroyed
Combatants
Masked Man
Hand
Commanders
Masked Man
Madame Gao
Casualties
-
-

"Interrupting the cash flow may slow him down. Doubt if it'll stop him."
"No. But it might knock him off balance. Get him mad, maybe enough to make a mistake big enough to matter."

―Ben Urich and Masked Man^[src]

The Infiltration into Madame Gao's Warehouse was Masked Man's attempt to end Hand's manufacturing of the Steel Serpent heroin, in order to stop the drug from being distributed in New York City and interrupt Wilson Fisk's cash flow.

Background

"Vladimir Ranskahov, before he died, he said Fisk arranged access to the Chinese and their drugs."
"Russians got wiped out."
"I'm not interested in the Russians."

―Masked Man and Ben Urich^[src]

Madame Gao runs the Steel Serpent production

As a part of his plan to tear down and rebuild Hell's Kitchen, Wilson Fisk establshed the alliance with Madame Gao and the Hand, planning to use the Steel Serpent to get enough money for his project. The Russian Mafia was tasked with distributing the heroin, driving Gao's blind couriers around New York City, however, Fisk eventually decided that the Russian Mafia became too much of a liability and plotted to get rid of them. Using Gao's couriers, Fisk organized a series of bombings at Russian Mafia's locations, wiping out most of their members, although Vladimir Ranskahov survived due to the Masked Man's interference.

Masked Man finds the Steel Serpent on Junkie Jake

Before he ended up getting killed by the corrupt New York City Police Department officers, Ranskahov informed the Masked Man that Fisk provided with an acceess to Gao's heroin, which was their main cash flow. The Masked Man found a Steel Serpent package on Junkie Jake, who was paid off by Fisk to murder Elena Cardenas, as he wanted to lure the vigilante out. He talked to Ben Urich about the Steel Serpent and theorized that Fisk picked up the distribution after the Russian Mafia was dismantled and used the profits to fund his operations. He wanted to bring down Fisk's cash flow to knock him off-balance, and as he brought up the blind courier he once saw with Christian Blake, Urich told him about the locations where he had seen them being driven around.

Attack

Matt Murdock searches for the Hand couriers

"They blinded themselves."
"Why would they do that?"
"Because they have faith."

―Madame Gao and Masked Man^[src]

Matt Murdock arrived on the street Ben Urich told him about and listened to the sounds around him, until he heard the taps of a cane and saw a blind courier being picked up by a car. Murdock followed the car through the rooftops until it stopped outside a guarded warehouse. As the courier was let in, Murdock memorized the secret knock to gain and entry and retreated to return later as the Masked Man. Using the secret knock, the Masked Man managed to infiltrate the warehouse, taking down the Hand operatives on the guard and making his way inside. Walking through the warehouse, the Masked Man noticed that none of the workers paid any attention to him and realzied that all of them were blinded.

Masked Man confronts Madame Gao

Madame Gao spotted the Masked Man and ordered the workers to attack him, so they grouped up on the vigilante, while he was saying that he was only trying to help him. The Masked Man managed to shake them off and confronted Gao, taking out her guards, but one of them shot the flammable barrel and caused the ignition. As the fire spreaded throughout the warehouse, the Masked Man questioned why she had her workers blinded, but she revealed that they blinded themselves because of the faith they had, but now the Masked Man took away everything they had left. He demanded Gao to tell him about Wilson Fisk but as he approached her, Gao used a powerful Chi blow to strike the Masked Man down and escaped.

Masked Man talks to Brett Mahoney

Recovering from Gao's attack, the Masked Man demanded one of the guards to get the workers out of the flaming building, while triggering the sprinklers to slow down the fire. As the workers and Hand operatives got out of the warehouse, the Masked Man also made his exit, as the New York City Police Department and Fire Department of New York City were arriving. However, he was confronted by Brett Mahoney who was holding him at a gunpoint and recognized the Masked Man as a perpetrator behind the shooting at police officers and the murder of Christian Blake. The Masked Man quickly neutralized Mahoney and told him that Fisk was the one behind everything and not him, before escaping from the police.

Aftermath

"The heroin?"
"Lost in the flames."
"So, bring more in."
"My interest here has never been about heroin, Leland. That was borne of convenience, and it is no longer so."

―Leland Owlsley and Madame Gao^[src]

Madame Gao met with Leland Owlsley and informed him that because of the Masked Man, her entire Steel Serpent was lost in flames and she was uninterested in restoring it at that moment. Owlsley said that they have more pressing issues to address, as Wilson Fisk might suspect that they were behind the poisoning of Vanessa Marianna. He also questioned if Gao was behind the murder of James Wesley, who was found dead earlier by Fisk, but Gao denied her involvement. With their situation getting out of control, Gao decided to leave the United States for a while and consider her next move, telling Owlsley that they should not speak to each other again.

Madame Gao at Rand Enterprises

Gao later returned to New York City and attempted to continue her drug trade independently, but soon ran into trouble due to Blacksmith flooding the streets with heroin from the Middle East. Once Blacksmith was taken out by the Punisher, Gao was able to fully restore her Steel Serpent distribution network around the globe, using Harold Meachum and the financial resources of Rand Enterprises. However, her efforts were met with opposition from Danny Rand who left K'un-Lun and took it upon himself to fulfill his purpose and destroy the Hand. Together with Colleen Wing and Claire Temple, Rand attacked Gao's main factory in China and captured her, before she was neutralized by Bakuto.