9 Bad Choice

(That Night, Brooklyn, New York)

(Elijah's POV)

"WOOHOOO!"

I swung through the city using my ionic grappling line (I need to come up with a better name for that) and my boosters to increase my speed. I ran off a rooftop and used the boosters on my boots to increase my altitude, before diving back down towards the street. Right before I hit the cement, I shoot out another line and pull my self soaring through the air down the street. Not gonna lie, this is pretty exhilarating. I had one ionic grappling hook in each of my gauntlets, allowing me to alternate the arms I used to swing.

As I swung through the city, I heard a woman scream in an alleyway. I used the grappling line to hoist myself up to a building overlooking the alleyway I heard the scream from. I looked down into the alleyway, switching the vision mode in my helmet to night-vision. I saw 6 thugs surrounding a woman and a man I assumed to be her boyfriend. They seemed to be roughing him up specifically for some reason. There were 4 of them focused on roughing him up, while the other 2 were on look-out duty, one on each side of the alleyway.

I walked towards one end of the alley and sent my line down to wrap around the thug's neck, before yanking him up, grabbing him and slamming his head on the edge of the building, and leaving him on the rooftop, all without making a sound. I said I wouldn't kill, but I didn't say anything about debilitating injuries. I walked towards the other end of the alley and did the same thing.

"Two down, 4 to go"

I jumped down into the alley, using my boosters to slow my descent.

*Slam*

I landed in a squatted pose, covering the victims from the attackers with my body. I slowly stood up as both the victims and the thugs processed what just happened.

"Word of advice; leave now and the chances of you being paralyzed after this are relatively low"

The thug closest to me decided not to heed my warning, and swung his fist at my head. I caught his fist before it connected, and started crushing it in my hand. He screamed from the pain, and fell to one knee, trying to get his hand out of my grip.

"Wrong choice. Just gimme a second, need to do something before I get to kicking your ass"

I released his hand, and brought my own to the control device on my left gauntlet. I activated the speakers built into my mask, and chose a song.

FE!N (feat. Playboi Carti)

"Perfect. Now, let's do this"

I quickly spun towards the thug that decided to charge at me. I sent a right hook straight to his jaw, sending him flying into the alley wall. He hit the wall with a grunt, and lay down slumped over. 

"You guys should be honored, you know. This is my first fight as a hero. Not everyday, you take a superhero's first time" I chuckled, clearly too amused by my own joke. The 3 remaining thugs didn't seem to find it too funny, though. Well, can't blame em. They did just see their buddy get sent flying with a single punch.

"Alright, who's next?" They all looked at each other, seemingly confused at what to do next, before one of them decided to make a very, very stupid choice. He reached behind his back and pulled out a handgun, before firing it directly at my chest.

The bullet hit my chest-plate with a very loud *clang* before ricocheting off and falling to the ground. The amused smile I had on my face the whole time melted away into a deep scowl. Nobody, and I mean nobody, has ever shot me and lived to tell the tale. While I might have decided not to kill anymore unless it was necessary, he had just crossed the line. But, I guess if I'm going to be a hero in New York, getting shot at is a given. So, I won't kill him. I'll just make him wish for death.

The music playing in my helmet suddenly changed.

RIP Roach (XXXTENTACION feat. Ski Mask The Slump God)

I slowly began to walk towards him, my footsteps echoing throughout the alleyway. "I gave you three choices. Run away, wait for your friends to get their ass beat by me, or volunteer yourself for the ass beating first. But you, my friend, managed to unlock the special fourth choice; take a trip to the emergency room with more broken bones than you can count" I growled. He realized that I wasn't joking anymore, and turned to run, but he wasn't going anywhere. I set my grappling line to wrap around his body, before pulling him towards me and grabbing him out of the air. I grabbed him by the shoulder, set him on the ground in front of me, and slammed my leg on his shin, shattering it.

His screams of pain echoed throughout the alleyway. As I was about to continue, my head started throbbing in pain. 

"No, no, no, not now"

~

(A/N: Paragraphs starting with ~ are flashbacks)

???: "Please, do what you want with me. Leave them alone. I'm begging you"

???: "I'll tell you whatever you want, just spare them, please!"

~

"Agh!" I grabbed my head in pain. As I tried to regain my senses, I heard the thug whose shoulder I was still grabbing chuckle.

Thug: "You're not used to this, are you, kid?"

"Oh, you have no idea just how wrong you are" I replied, increasing my grip strength and shattering his shoulder joint. He screamed in pain once again, but there was no-one here to help him. A criminal can pray all he wants, but what God would show mercy to a villain?

I punched him in the ribs, hearing them audibly crack. He began to cough blood.

His blood spattered on my mask. I raised my gloved hand up to wipe it off. He lost consciousness in my hold. I released him and let him fall to the ground.

I turned off my music.

"That should be enough for now."

I turned towards where his co-assailants were, just to see they had run away once I snapped. And, judging by the puddle on the ground that I was pretty sure hadn't been there before the fight, it seems they hadn't run off to find reinforcements. I turned back towards where the victims I came here to save were, only to see them staring at me in fear.

"Sorry about that. I tend to get mad when I'm shot at. I mean you no harm, I came here to save you, after all"

They nodded at me, clearly still afraid. I sighed and boosted up to a rooftop above the alleyway.

"That could've gone better. I need to learn to control myself. I knew removing that programming was going to be difficult, but I thought I handled most of it. Guess I've still got a long road ahead of me."

I swung towards the apartment I was staying in, landing on the roof. I climbed down the fire escape and entered through a window I had left open. I took off my suit and went to my bedroom. I hadn't eaten anything since lunch at the cafeteria in school, but I was fine with it. I had gone way longer without food before.

I brushed my teeth and set my alarm for 7, giving myself plenty of time to get ready, have some breakfast and leave to meet Gwen by 8.

I got into bed and immediately passed out.

(The next morning, the spot where Gwen and Elijah were supposed to meet)

I got here 5 minutes early and decided to use my phone while I waited for Gwen. Hill had recommended I make an Instagram account so I don't stand out, and I had done just that. I made a twitter account too, but I swear every minute I spent on that app I could feel my braincells dying.

As I scrolled on my phone, I heard someone approach me with a pep in their step. I looked up to see Gwen walking towards me with a large grin on her face.

"What's got you so happy in the morning?"

"Nothing. Just thinking about what a wonderful day it is~" She said in a sing-song tone.

I shrugged off her odd behavior, and began to walk.

"Come on, let's head to school" I stated, looking back at her. She hummed in agreement before beginning to walk alongside me. She was wearing a white hoodie with a pink design on the front along with a black skirt and some black tights. She was wearing a pair of turqoise Chuck Taylors, too. 

I had on a black T-shirt, an open olive jacket with dark blue jeans and a pair of Black Nike Air Force High's. I also had a silver dog-tag tucked under my shirt. Not the most subtle, but most people will probably just assume it's fake.

(A/N: I have no idea if shield gives it's field operatives dog-tags, but for the sake of the story let's just say that they do)

I looked over at Gwen just to see that same goofy grin on her face and chuckled.

Gwen: "What?"

"Nothing, that goofy smile on your face just looks cute"

Gwen: "What! What are you- Huh?!" She began to audibly break down, clearly flustered, and with a very visible blush on her cheeks. I just kept chuckling at her adorable antics.

Gwen: *Clears throat* "So, you excited about the field-trip tomorrow?"

"The what?"

Gwen: "Wait, no-one told you? We're going to Oscorp tomorrow to see their experiments. We went last year as well. It was pretty fun, *whispering* and some interesting things happened, too"

"Hm? What was that?"

Gwen: "Nothing. We're almost there. Come on, slowpoke!" She said, jogging off ahead of me.

I just chuckled, before deciding to play along.

"Hey! Wait up for me!"

End of Chapter 9~

Hey there! Sorry the update came so late, had some stuff to do today, so in return, I wrote a longer chapter. Hope you enjoy, and please do let me know what you think! See ya in the next chapter!