The
hospital room seemed unusually small for the four people occupying it. Steve
was sitting in a chair next to the bed, his head hung and a giant hand resting
on the side of the bed. Marian, Tony, and Francis surrounded the bed;
everything was silent save for the whir of the medical machines hooked up to
Natalie.
She
had survived the gunshot, although just barely. The bullet pierced her stomach,
tearing the lining and causing considerable damage internally. The doctors had
finally stopped the bleeding, but she now needed her body to start healing
itself. Natalie was unconscious, and though the doctors were sure she would
pull through, every minute that passed seemed to pull her further away from
recovery.
Marian
had never seen her father cry this much before. It broke her heart to watch him
suffer, and she knew he was blaming himself for everything. She had heard what
happened, and although he could have done nothing to stop it, Steve would never
live it down if Natalie died while he could have been the one to take the
bullet. Marian put her hand on Steve’s shoulder, and she felt his silent sobs.
Marian knew words were no comfort to him now; only actions could ease a bit of
the pain.
“We’re
going to get him,” she said quietly, “he won’t get away with this.”
Steve
looked up at her and put his other hand on hers. “You need to be careful,
Marian,” he said quietly, “there’s something about him that isn’t normal. He
might be a meta.”
Marian
nodded her head and turned to follow Tony out the door. Steve squeezed her hand
tightly before letting go. “You two need to protect each other. Please, for the
love of God, be safe.”
Dawn
was just breaking over the city when Marian received the call from Tony.
“I
found him.” Tony’s voice was void of emotion; he had been searching all night
for the shooter, and had surprised Marian with his level of seriousness in the
situation. Usually he would have been cracking jokes, but now the radio was
silent, save for the few reports he gave. Ever since Volt, Marian had noticed a
slight change in Tony’s attitude. She thought he was trying to be a better
person, or at least less of a dickhead like his normal demeanor. For some
reason, though she had no idea why, she liked this version of him even less
than before.
I am so messed up, she thought as she
plugged the coordinates into her motorcycle’s GPS and took off for the building
where Tony found the target. He finally
starts shaping up and I lose interest.
The
building wasn’t what Marian expected. It was located within the downtown
section on a busy street, and housed a Chinese restaurant on the ground floor.
Tony was waiting across the street at a bus stop, wearing a hooded jacket
despite the temperature rising for the warm spring day.
“It’s tough to be inconspicuous
when everyone knows your face, huh?” Tony looked up at her remark, his face set
in stone.
“You ready?” he said, standing
up and taking off his hood. Marian then noticed his eyes were watery.
“Are you ok Tony?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s just go
get this guy.” Tony stepped towards the building, but Marian caught his arm.
“Tony what’s wrong. We can’t go
in there if you have something huge on your mind.”
Tony looked at her, and she saw
in his eyes he was fighting to control his emotions. “Natalie’s in the
hospital, Mare. This hasn’t happened before, at least not since I’ve been on
the team. And I’ve never seen Steve break down like that. Doesn’t this whole
event affect you at all?”
Marian was taken aback by Tony’s
sudden heart. Her gaze dropped to the ground, embarrassed. “I didn’t know you
cared so much. Of course it hurts, but we have to get this guy before he hurts
anyone else. I’ll admit, me and Natalie bump heads a lot, but this is the last
thing I want.” She hesitated; it was the first time Marian felt like she was
worse than Tony. He had never shown any sign of sympathy for them, yet here he
was, shedding tears for Natalie when all Marian cared about was getting revenge
to make her dad happy. She felt the pain of remorse at that moment. “I’m not
heartless,” she whispered quietly.
Tony put his hand on hers and
held it. “I know you’re not. And neither am I.” The two looked at each other,
and both felt recognition of one another’s feelings grow inside them. “Now
let’s go put this guy down and end this. For Natalie.”
Marian smiled and nodded, and
the two crossed the street holding hands, only letting go when they pushed open
the door and walked into the dimly lit restaurant.
They weren’t the first
costumers, but everyone seemed to stop working as soon as they walked in. The
tension became thick in the air as the two superheroes looked around the
restaurant at the three customers and the two visible workers. One of the
customers slowly got up and then rushed out of the door, sensing the impending
fight.
Suddenly, one of the workers
bolted towards the kitchen, but Tony raced back through the doors and caught
him in no time. However looking around the kitchen, Tony’s eyes went wide.
Vials of the drug were everywhere, both empty and full, and the three cooks
stared at him in an expression of equal surprise. One of them even forgot he
was pouring in the drug, dropping the entire vial into the fryer.
“Marian!” Tony shouted as the
employees attacked, some pulling out weapons while others, already affected by
the drug, used their new found powers. Tony was too quick for them however, and
had those all knocked to the ground before they knew it. Racing back to the
lobby, he saw Marian delivering a final punch to a customer, sending him backwards
into a table.
“It’s a front,” she said,
running past Tony into the kitchen. “There has to be stairs leading up or down
somewhere.”
Two seconds later, Tony found
them behind a freezer. He went up first, taking out the guards and clearing the
first room as Marian entered. She ran past, up another flight of stairs as Tony
finished clearing the second story. She kicked down the door and rolled into
the room, sweeping out the legs of one guard. By the time she stood up, Tony
was next to her.
“I was wondering when you would
arrive.” A man dressed in all black turned around. Sunglasses hid his eyes, and
Marian recognized the description and knew this was the leader. “I wouldn’t try
any of that super speed of yours, Bullet.” The man pushed a button on a
bracelet he was wearing and the room seemed to fill with static electricity.
“Anything moving faster than normal human’s speed will be rendered useless, not
be mention in quite a lot of pain of well.”
Tony gritted his teeth, but
stayed put. He could feel the threat was real, even without moving to actually
find out. “Who are you?” he growled.
“My past doesn’t matter to you,
but for the present you may call me Snake Eyes.” As he said this, he lowered
his sunglasses, exposing his red, reptilian eyes. His glare paralyzed Marian,
but Tony knew enough to look away. “I would congratulate you on making it this
far, although with your training I somewhat expected more.”
Snake Eyes snapped his fingers,
and the door to the next room opened. A dozen gang members poured out, charging
in for the attack against the superheroes. Tony shook Marian, but she was still
paralyzed by Snake’s stare. “Dammit!” Tony cursed as he pushed Marian away,
getting in between her and the oncoming attack. He had never been without his
powers, and the sudden void left him feeling helpless. But he would fight on to
protect Marian, despite the fear in his own heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment