Chapter 120: Fighting instincts

Chapter 120: Fighting instincts

The newcomers did not hesitate for a moment once Dreykov finished shouting his orders. The one with the skull motif on their helmet, Taskmaster, started running around the room, attempting to circumnavigate me and leave the fighting to their compatriots. The large man and the younger man with visibly augmented legs both charged me at once. Even before they reached me though, the woman reached her hands out, shooting out red energy with purple highlights, that wrapped around my arms, holding me steady.

The proto-plan forming in my head was to wait for them to come to me before slamming them into the ground, taking them roughly out of the fight. I needed to knock them unconscious hard enough that whatever was jolting them awake was ineffective. Once they were out for long enough I could push out my cabinet of tricks, get some kind of anti-mind control jewelry, and put it on them.

Instead, my danger sense screamed at me in a way I hadn't experienced since the Chitauri mothership had almost evaporated me with its energy cannon. I tore myself free of the strange energy controller and jumped back, flipping over Taskmaster and Dreykov, deploying my shield and holding it up defensively. My heart rate was skyrocketing, my danger sense still pulsing out steadily.

But nothing happened.

Before I could look around for the source of the warning, the young man with enhancement-encased legs ran at me, moving at a speed that honestly shocked me. I was certain I could move faster, at least in short spurts, but the fact that he could run this fast without my assistance was startling.

He slammed his hand into my shield, the dull metallic reverberation telling me that he had, in fact, been enhanced more than I could see, as that strike should have absolutely shattered his hand at the speed he was moving. I pulled my shield to the side, swinging out a kick to hopefully shatter his knee-

And my danger sense screamed again. This time the source was the much larger man charging me. His enhancement looked painful but clearly worked as he moved faster than Steve could have to smash me in the face with his shield.

I ducked out of the way, using the momentum to spin and put some distance between us. I used the time to deploy my secondary arms, quickly turning them into their weapon form and blasting at Taskmaster, who was attempting to remove the chains from Dreykov's arms. The first blast caught them in the side, their armor charing and smoking, but failed to make it completely through. Even as the second and third blasts whizzed past them, the red and purple energy the enhanced woman was controlling wrapped around me, throwing my aim off.

I yanked myself free and blasted at Taskmaster again, who dodged and spun, managing to avoid all of my shots. They pulled out their glowing pistols and opened fire, whining blasts of purple-blue energy fired out at an impressive speed.

My danger sense, which had yet to stop sending out low-level signs of danger since the beginning of this fight, shrieked at me to move, to run out of the way. Instead, I raised my shield to block them, only for the sense to double down as the largest of the enhanced agents caught up with me.

He bashed his shield off the side of my head, hard enough to deform whatever metal it was made out of. A follow-up strike from the other enhanced man smashed into my side, a full high kick that sparked off my armor. My instincts screamed to try and protect myself, so I pulled my shield to the side, only for Taskmaster to pepper my chest and head with blasts from her energy pistols.

By now, my sorcerous protection was barely a third of the way depleted. But despite how little damage they were doing, my danger sense would not stop pounding into my head. It was so distracting that I didn't see the sparking and a slightly balled-up minigun until it smashed into my side. It was glowing red and purple as the psychic-enhanced soldier pummeled me with it. It shoved me back until my feet hit the wall.

With a shout, I retracted my shield, reached out, and grabbed it, managing to push through the instincts and constant barrage of warning that my danger sense was pumping through me. I tore the destroyed weapon from her psychic grip and threw it at Taskmaster, desperately trying to keep them and Dreykov from escaping. The crumbling weapon smashed into the armored fighter and knocked them off their feet, sending them tumbling across the floor. Dreykov immediately shouted at them, even as they struggled to get up.

I was buffeted by strikes from all three of the still-standing enhanced fighters, struggling to push through my danger senses constant barrage of overstimulation and paranoid reactions. Whenever I moved to attack or tried to push through and counterattack, my connection to the extra sense would light up like a Christmas tree. It was like fighting the instinct that prevented you from hurting yourself, but multiple times more intense.

As Taskmaster stood and made their way back to Dreykov, most of their external enhancements broken and sparking, I realized I needed to take drastic action. They couldn't hurt me, but eventually, Dreykov would get away if I couldn't do anything without fighting against myself and my danger sense. I pushed out my wings and flew into the air, flying around in a circle to keep the psychic bitch from grabbing me. I dismissed my armor from around my left arm, halfway up my bicep, before pulling out my knife and cutting it off in one easy slice.Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

I screamed, gritted my teeth, and cursed, even as my healing amulet started to regrow my arm. The danger sense disappeared completely, having amputated the limb it had been tattooed on. As my limb fell away, I could feel the gap in my mind the sense had left, but it quickly faded as I landed. I summoned my armor back as my arm finished re-growing, standing completely still as the large enhanced man charged and punched me across the jaw. There was no overwhelming urge to dodge, block, or anything beyond the dull thud as he hit me. His fist deformed around my jaw, broken severely even with his enhancements.

I would have laughed at his expression, looking down at his broken hand in confusion, if this situation hadn't drained me of any humor I had. I struck out with my fist, shattering his shoulder, grabbing his other arm and spinning in a quarter turn, throwing him at the quick-footed enhanced, hard enough to dislocate his unbroken shoulder.

I told him to fuck off and traveled home, carding my phone so I wouldn't have to listen to it ring.

I made my way to the emergency healing bed, which was in a small room in my apartment, my armor flaking away as I walked. Ema was floating around, her exosuit in its cube form nearby, a sizable chunk missing from it. A caduceus droid was also there, both of them keeping an eye on Natasha.

"How is she?" I asked, kneeling beside the bed, and taking her hand.

"Natasha Romanoff is in good health, though still under the influence of mind control," The droid answered before Ema could.

I nodded and used the laser pointer on her, scanning her the entire time. When Dreykov's influence was finally gone, I let out a long breath, giving Natasha's hand a squeeze. After a long few moments, I looked over to Ema.

"Thank you for listening and taking her away instead of staying to help," I said, my partner bobbing out the equivalent of a nod.

"Once you had your armor, I knew you would be okay," She explained. "Though it took longer than I expected."

"How bad was the damage?"

"Bad. Nothing happened to her brain, but he had to remove her eye and modify her skull to fit the bomb under her mask," Ema explained, her anger coming through. "I hope you kicked that fuckers ass."

"Blew off both his legs," I responded with a shrug, looking back to Natasha. "Should have just gone for the head."

"Don't think too much about it, Carson," Ema said, floating down over Natasha. "You stopped him, Natasha is safe, and now that we know it's a problem we can help Shield get rid of the Red Room completely."

I nodded and slowly stood.

"Where are you going?" Ema asked, floating over to follow me.

"I've got work to do," I said, leaving the room, Ema hot on my heels.

"Carson Walsh, so help me god, I will make you regret it if your next step isn't toward your bedroom!" She said once we were out of the room.

I stopped, my shoulders sinking before I kept walking towards the warehouse.

"Not yet Ema, maybe in a few hours."