From The Smoke (Marvel)

Chapter 24

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 24– I Will Survive.

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Ahh, what the hell?

I wake up, but I can't open my eyes.

Hmm, I am so tired.

I am at that point where you wake up but have yet to open your eyes, and so you just want to snuggle deeper into your covers and go back to sleep.

Let's just sleep a little longer. I literally can't get up. So I go to turn, to snuggle deeper into my be-.

"Aghh!" An intense pain erupts in my side, and I flail in panic and-

"Ugh." I muffle out a groan against the hardwood floor pressed against my face. It turns out I was either on the sofa or the very edge of my bed because when I turned and agitated my stomach, I ended up falling face-first into the ground. Actually, why the hell does my stomach actually hurt?

Let's see, I had gathered information from a bunch of assholes about a meeting, so I was preparing to go. But then, when I got home, Felecia tried to talk to me, so I avoided her and made a tactical retreat. And then I arrived near the meeting spot when- I got blown up.

"Ben!" Someone shouts, but I don't pay any attention, more distraught by the rapid barrage of memories assaulting my eyes, informing me of the immensity of the dire straights I was in. That fucking Bullseye bastard got the jump on me and then proceeded to kick me while I was down and had a piece of metal going through me. I would have died there, no doubt about it.

"Why the hell are you on the floor? You need to rest and recover. Just stay here, and I will take care of anything." So the feminine voice says as they help me up and move me to lay back on the sofa, but again I am more distracted by worrying thoughts. I would have died right then and there, and I don't think anybody would have missed me, and I wouldn't have even had a funeral.

It was only because of the bullet shooting the gun out of Bullseye's hand that I had the opportunity to fight back and escape. The only thing I saw from that direction was a flash of red, even with my enhanced vision, showing just how far whoever that was took the shot from. Thank you, my red angel, you have given me more time, and I am not going to waste it. I don't know who they were or why they were there, or even their intentions towards me, but they saved me, and I won't forget that.

"BEN!" The shout brings me out of my fugue, and I look up from my laid-back position to see Felecia hovering over me, her face worried, probably because I wasn't responding to anything she was saying, which might have made her fear that my head was actually not okay since I might have suffered some brain damage. Thankfully, I have not... I think. I was just bifurcated by a quarter—no big deal.

"Not so loud, geez. I'm injured. Don't you know you are supposed to be gentle with the infirm?" I say, lightly joking to wipe that weird, worried look off of her face. But, seriously, it is creeping me out. Not aesthetically, I quite like that look on her face, but it just seems too unnatural. I have literally never seen such an expression or anything like it on her face before. It is usually a seductive, lazy or bored expression, so this is new and is making me feel off.