Chapter 45

Disclaimer: If you recognise it, surprise, I don't own it.

Chapter 23– Targeted.

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"Not so tough now, are you, little bat? Did you feel big and tough, scurrying around in the shadows and hiding like a rat? Haha, it should be rat man, yeah?" Bullseye laughs above me, and I feel my blood run cold before the blood leaves my body, seeping through my grievous wounds.

"And nobody likes rats, do they? Disease-carrying rodents, running around spreading illness and ruining everything they touch. Rats need to be exterminated with prejudice, and they need to be stomped out!" He slowly places the bottom of his boot on my chest, just above the rebar and slowly presses down on it, causing me excruciating pain as the ribs of the rebar scrape against my insides. But I don't scream, and I bite my lips to keep from doing so, drawing blood. I can't afford to show pain in front of him, this madman, because he will enjoy my suffering, and he will drag it out.

"Ahhh, there is nothing quite like beating a stupid piece of shit and showing them their place, gives me a real wholesome feeling. You know, it's too bad I killed my mother in high school... She would have loved this. Joking. She wouldn't a' cared." He starts to monologue like the psychopath he is, his foot still pressing down on me. If I wasn't panicking before, I definitely am now that Motherfucking Bullseye is standing above me, and I am at his mercy.

One of the most psychotic fuckers in this universe has me pinned down, and I really don't want to stick around to see what sort of sick things his mind can come up to do with me. My mind is racing, frantically sorting through my options and anything I can do to escape this situation, but I keep hitting a brick wall. He has me stuck down with a piece of metal penetrating me. Not only am I weak from the pain and the blood loss, but my adversary is skilled and lethal, and no half-baked plan is going to stave away his brutality.

"Not talking, eh? Well, that's no fun. Come on, give me a little scream? Can you scream for Uncle Bullseye?" He clamps his hand down onto the rebar and starts to wiggle it around, throwing it to and fro as if it were a joystick or the gearbox of a car, widening the hole in me. Blood leaves my mouth, not only from the internal damage from what he is doing but from my own teeth clamping down on top of my lips to keep from giving this asshole any satisfaction.

"Aww, so you are just going to be boring then? Oh well, you can lead a man to pain, but you can't always make him scream. Let's end this then, shall we? And then I can go and find something more fun to do." Saying so, he presses down even harder onto my torso, making me scrunch my eyes closed from the pain. And then, when the instance of pain diminishes, I open my eyes, and... there is a barrel pointed directly at my face.

"Well, I would love to say it has been fun, but it hasn't. And that was your fault." I am so stunned by the sudden gun pointed in my face that I don't have time to react, and my mind goes blank. I should be doing something, but this life-ending weapon has drawn all my attention, and I find myself unable to move, pinned under its menacing gaze. I have faced guns and bullets before, but always at a distance, and I have never been in such a position before. Dead to rights.

"Bye now." I can see his finger move to pull the trigger, and at that moment, my life flashes before my eyes. And it is so dull. There was no excitement, no fun, just fear and cowering and worrying. I'd wasted my life, and the only bits of fun I had were with Felecia and when I wasn't caring about consequences... I'd wasted it, this life.

As the finger presses on the trigger, I move. I don't want to die. I want to live. So even if I have left the resolve a bit too late, and even if a bullet is about to fly at my disabled form and end me, and my fate is pretty much sealed, I move because I have to. I know it's stupid, and I hate myself for thinking it, but... you only live once. It is a cringe saying, but I have never understood it more than I do right now.

*Bang!*

A bullet is fired and suddenly impacts the side of Bullseye's gun, knocking it out of his hand and flinging it into the distance. I chance a quick glance over in the direction the bullet came from, but all I see is a flash of red before it disappears, and I don't spend any longer thinking about it. Instead, taking the opportunity afforded to me, I smash my hand beneath me, shattering the stone, and then I lunge forward, uncaring of the rebar poking out of me and what damage I might incur in doing so.

Thankfully, it seemed my rash move worked as the concrete broke apart, freeing the piece of rebar and allowing me to be mobile with it still inside me. However, Bullseye had not been idle. Even taking my own actions, I never took my eyes off my enemy. I couldn't afford to when faced with such a deadly opponent and in such a disadvantageous situation, and it is a good job that I did.

Bullseye, aside from quickly eyeing the direction the bullet came from, did not pay further attention to it, and the second that his gun had been blown from his hand, he reached behind him to draw a knife from his back and moved forward to finish me with it instead. He was so fast that there was very nearly no difference between a bullet and the tip of his knife as it sped towards me, however smashing the concrete below me not only freed the rebar but also served to destabilise Bullseye, giving me the time to get to my feet.

"Guh." Knowing that Bullseye works best at a distance and that I would only be shooting myself in the foot if I tried to escape right now, I instead rush forward, tackling him before he can steady himself and knocking him backwards. There is no doubt that even close combat at this moment in time is unwise given my current condition, but it is the lesser of two evils and keeping him off balance is my best shot at escape.

Pressing my advantage, I throw a right hook at his face, hoping to get lucky and end this right now, giving it all my power and not caring if my hit sends his skull flying off into space. Unfortunately, my advantage was not much, and Bullseye tilted back, narrowly avoiding my attack, more better described as using minimal effort to avoid it. He brings his knife down at me, hoping to plunge it into my neck, but I block his forearm with my own, forestalling that manoeuvre. Nonplussed, he simply drops the knife and grabs it with his other hand, already in the motion of sinking it into my gut.

I know from our previous exchange that I am not doing so well right now, given simply by the fact that when mine and his forearms collided, my own very nearly gave way. I had lost too much blood, and powers or not, blood loss will kill you, and right now, I am feeling its effect. My abilities might make me strong, agile and able to take a bit more of a beating than others, but my durability is not that good, as is showcased right now.

I can not afford a long, drawn-out exchange right now as I will just continually get weaker as the fight goes on before inevitably falling to his blade, even if I do have some guardian angel looking over me. I need to end this now, but that will be hard to accomplish against a man as skilled as Bullseye. Which means I am going to have to get a little outside of the box and take some big risks; otherwise, I am going to die here. Go big or go home.

Instead of blocking his attack, I move my torso in such a way that his knife would be blocked by something other than my hand. It was risky and had a significant chance of failing, given the small surface I was working with, but I had to take my chances. As his knife point hit the flat end of the rebar, shaking my insides, my right hand was free to lash out and punch him straight in the face, sending him flying tail over teakettle.

Preparing to act quickly to use this opportunity, I reach my hand behind me to get something from my utility belt. Still, before I can, I realise that I had underestimated my opponent as well as underestimated just how bad I am faring at the moment. A punch with all my power that would usually crush boulders only served to bruise and blow Bullseye away, and that damage wasn't even that bad as he simply flipped and landed on his feet. Instead of securing an advantage for myself, I had given my opponent his best opportunity, and with distance, he would prove to be more lethal than ever.

Thinking quickly, I see Bullseye reaching for another weapon, presumably a projectile to kill me with, and so I make a decision, a very rash one that would probably prove to be very painful in the long run. Panicking and knowing that I could be dead within a second, I take the hand behind my back and make a fist with it. And then, performing the most reckless move I ever have, I back fist the end of the rebar behind my back, causing blood to spew from my mouth as it rockets out of my stomach and heads directly on a collision course with Bullseye.

Not caring enough to see the result of my haphazard attack, I immediately reach into my utility belt and toss out all my smoke grenades in all directions, and then I bolt away and run for my life. Feeling the gaping hole in my side, I regret my reckless action and feel incredibly stupid since I am very likely to die with such an injury, but put on the spot, I made a decision, a bad one, but it still counts.

Moving fast, I know that my spider powers will only keep me going for so long, and I need to get serious medical attention, but I can't just show up at a hospital or something. Questions will be asked, and I don't exactly have a spare change of clothes, so as I sprint, I automatical run in the direction of home. We have a medkit at home that is fully stocked, Felecia likes to be prepared, so my powers should keep me going till I can get there and patch myself up and then rely on my power's improved healing to do the rest.

Still, to hold me over for the time being, I reach once more into my utility belt and pull out an injection-like device which I hold over my wound. Using it, a substance quickly comes out to seal over my injury and solidify to keep my blood from spilling out, and I promptly apply it to the hole on the other side as well.

This solution is made using the same formula used for my spider web-swinging but modified to have a much bigger consistency to not allow any holes and to be tough and unremovable. Unfortunately, the downside to this is that the solution will only last for a while before dissolving. This is because I had not gotten around to solving all its kinks. It will do for now, but my wounds need to be appropriately treated, and this is just a stopgap.

Reaching far enough, I pull out my grapple gun, but instead of using it to shoot up into the sky, I use it to propel myself forward parallel to the ground since I would be making myself an easy target if I tried to start gliding. Then, using my grapple gun, I hasten my pace home, trying to manoeuvre myself between as many buildings and obstacles as possible to give myself some cover in case Bullseye is following. However, given the fact that there have been no gunshots or pursuit after I left, either my efforts to cover my tracks have proven fruitful, or the rebar I shot out of myself actually injured him and prevented him from giving chase.

Feeling that I am far away enough now and uncaring about any possible consequences given the fact I have a fucking two-inch wide hole in me, profusely leaking my life essence, I shoot up into the air and start to glide. Then, thankful that the substance is keeping my insides inside, I can afford to go even faster and throw caution to the wind to get back as soon as possible.

I am not going to die. Not anytime soon, definitely not today.