Shadow Of The Nightshade

To Kill.

But I didn't need my hands to kill.

I stumbled into an open space, falling to the ground in exhaustion just a little ways from the spot where over a dozen men were conducting illegal arms trades.

And into the lion's den I go. I looked up slowly as one of them walked to me, nudging me in the side with the butt of his rifle before slamming my head into the ground with it.

The blood that trickled down my temple did nothing to damper my triumphant grin as I was dragged towards the center of the group. I acted unconscious, knowing that I was about to be put to death for witnessing this transaction.

No sane person would want to be in this situation, seeing that I now have a gun to my head, but I preferred this to fighting heroes.

Besides, I had a deadline and in a couple minutes time would be up.

'Don't touch the girl,' I heard the voice of the man who called himself "Tiger" command and the person who held me hesitated from pulling the trigger. 'Bring her to me.'

I almost smiled. He's making this too easy. I fiddled with the knife in my hand as the goon lifted me, tossing me over his shoulder and walking in the direction of voice.

As soon as he stopped moving, I dropped my knife letting it discreetly fall into the gap between his shoe and ankle.

Immediately, I jumped off him, sliding down his broad chest and kneeing him in the groin while using the back of my head to smash into his face. He came down like a rock.

By now I was well aware that I was surrounded by gun wielding lunatics, but the questions was, did I care?

Rushing towards the man in the tiger mask, I flipped over the first person that came at me, wrapping my thighs around his neck, and twisting my legs till I heard the satisfying crack before jumping off and landing beside him as he slumped to the his knees.

I turned around and took out my gun and shooting at the henchmen surrounding me before they could shoot at me.

Click. I glared at the man in front of me as I threw my empty pistol into the air and used a spinning kick to send it spiralling towards his face.

I kept running, chasing after Tiger as he made his escape and ignoring the remaining men loading their guns and scrambling for weapons.

At best I can dodge the bullets, at worst. . . I gritted my teeth, coming to a stop in the maze of containers as I deliberated on which path to take.

I stared at the left for a moment before dashing to the right, away from the battle Mark, Trevor and the heroes were fighting.

Bingo. I grinned seeing Tiger facing the sealed path ahead of him, a stack of containers in his way.

Slowly, I walked to him, my arms aching behind my back as the pain of every cut, bruise and ache washed over me.

Not waiting for my body to stop on it's own or for my mind to shut down from the pain, I charged at him, unbalanced yet professionally as I kneed him in the jaw, running up the container and along the way grabbing him by the collar with my bound hands.

As my vision blurred and swam, I put the ropes on my wrist to good use, forcing them round his neck as gravity brought me down.

I heard his choked scream as I painfully hit the floor with him falling on top off me. Though he pounded on my back, I kept a tight hold on the rope, pulling my hands apart and strangling him.

It was a struggle of force as he fought to stay alive and I fought to stay conscious, but finally, he stopped moving.

Managing to push him off me, I sat up, out of breath and exhausted. I was just about to close my eyes when I heard footsteps.

'Trevor?' I asked foolishly before I bit my tongue to stop myself from saying more.

'You,' I saw the man walk round the corner, skinny and haggard. 'What did you do to master Tiger!' He screamed, tears running down his sunken face as he pulled out his gun.

'Wait don't!' I didn't have time to figure out who shouted that because I was concentrating on the man that held the handgun.

'Hey,' I raised my head to glare at him.

'Don't move!' He took a step towards me and a gunshot echoed in my ears.

'I. . .' The words choked me as I collapsed to the floor, a burning pain in my chest. 'You,' I didn't even know what to say as I stared at the growing pool of blood that collected at my feet.

'Look at you,' he laughed madly, grabbing at his hair. 'I knew you'd come for me, little girl.'

'Tiger.' I whispered hatefully as he walked to me.

'Did you like my little performance?' He grinned as he dragged me by the neck, out of my own blood.

'Ngh,' I struggled to get the word out, the intense pain I felt swarming my brain.

He pulled me closer to him and I leaned towards his ear, disgusted by the sense of superiority radiating off him.

'No,' I repeated, spitting the blood in my mouth at him. He screamed in pain, backhanding me as he whipped out his gun and threw me to the ground.

I watched his hand shake as he tried to slide in a new magazine into his gun.

Before I passed out I saw him fall to floor, into the crimson puddle beneath me.

It's funny. I thought with a small, sad smile as I watched Tiger's faces corrode in my acidlike blood. How such a simple kill went so wrong. . .

Then the thought vanished into darkness and I went along with it, forgetting my pain for the briefest of moments.

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Hurray. We're at chapter 100!