Chapter 21 X-23

*Bang*

I see a bullet moving towards me but not at me.

Moving my body towards the bullet's trajectory before it was even shot, I get hit in the shoulder, protecting the lady who was the target.

At this moment, Laura swings around to raise her body high enough to cut off the web and land on her legs.

The moment I got shot in the shoulder, I use my other hand to aim in the direction the bullet came from and web the attacker, only to miss.

Stepping back, I take a look around to find the attacker but I see no one.

Laura dashes at me, more like the lady behind me and cuts her free from my webs.

The lady and I glance at each other.

We both knew that the other party wasn't an enemy but the question was, were they an ally?

I need to follow them to know more about what's happening here, about the girl and about the attacker!

And she needed a guard.... probably!

Looking at the girl in the corner of my eyes, I changed my thoughts.

But it seems that she decided to ask for help.

"Shall we run?"

She asks me, to which I reply.

"Only if I get hot chocolate and a bed time story!"

Looking at me weirdly, she nods her head.

She seemed to be used to dealing with kids but I wanted her to retort.

Taking the answer I got acquiescently, I follow the lady as the girl 'Laura' keeps glaring at me.

The lady enters the car and starts it.

"Get in!"

As she screams that, Laura gets in but I close the door.

"Get moving, I will be following you."

Saying that, I web a building and move upwards to get a better look at my surroundings.

Sitting above a tall building, I make notes.

1) You should not attack people based on their looks! Both Laura and the lady seemed to care about each other like a mother and daughter and no one is kidnapped..... yet!

2) I need to continue following them to know more about this! It seems like an association is behind them by the way they spoke with each other and the attack made it undeniable!

3) They are being chased?

Shit! They are being chased!!

Leaping off the building, I sling myself after the mother and daughter pair's chaser.

*Thud* Landing above the car, I make a huge noise.

I thought that they would try to see who's above the car but I was wrong!

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

They started shooting directly.

Thanks to auto-pilot, I barely dodge every bullet and they stop shooting bullets.

A man gets out of the window to check the roof.

Unfortuately for him, all he saw was two white eyes staring at him until I pulled him out of the car and threw him away.

Throwing him, I web him to a pole on the roadside as I enter the car and take his seat.

"Las Vegas! Here we come!! WOOO!!"

Saying that, I cheered as they took out their guns but before they could point it at me, I webbed them to their seats and got out of the car.

I don't know why but what I'm about to do next seems oddly familiar.

Getting out of the car, I land on the roof again as bullets start raining upward.

Dodging the bullets, I make my way to the rear of the car and aim at the tires.

Webbing the tires, I watch as the car gets out of control and almost crashes into a civilian.

Thankfully, I webbed the civilian and pulled him out of the way.

Holding the civilian in a princess carry, I jump up from the car as it crashes.

Landing at the ground calmly, I throw the civilian on the ground.

Yeah, I wasn't the least bit gentle! Collateral damage to the surroundings? Never heard about it!! Acting kind towards the civilians? Never even thought about it!

Looking towards the direction the pair headed, I decided to follow them from the sky again.

It turns out by the time, I was dealing with this car, four more had joined the chase.

Jumping on the first car, I move to the side of the driver.

Looking at him from the side, I smile and web them all.

You know what comes after the seatbelts are on! But they surely didn't expect a hero who licked crashing cars!

*Crash*

Crashing my secon- third car if you count the mini-van, I felt a feeling of freedom.

Breaking things felt really liberating!

Jumping on the other cars, I tried to do the same but they started shooting the moment I landed, making it harder to put on their 'seatbelts'.

Just as I thought it couldn't get harder, the people in the other cars started shooting at me and they had better view of me.

Though I removed the attention from the mother-daughter pair.

Dancing with auto-pilot, I started webbing guns from other cars and throwing them on the streets. Police better take care of them!

I don't want students picking them up and starting a shoot out in their schools!

Though I wonder if midterms would be called off if a villain attacked the school.

I wasn't wishing for it, I was just imagining it!!

The car on top of which I was started making sudden turns and twists, trying to throw me off.

Wrong move! If they were driving so recklessly, they probably had seatbelts!

Smirking under the mask, I flip back in the air and twist my body as I aim for the tires.

Webbing the tires, I watch as I crash another car.

Landing in the middle of the road, I move out of the way as another car tries to run over me.

Moving out of the way, I sling myself up and continue the chase.

Not to lie, I was enjoying it a bit!

Heading in front of them, I jumped on the car with the mother-daughter pair.

This time instead of bullets, blades slashed through the car ceiling trying to cut me apart.

Dodging them, I stick to the side of the car and speak to the girl trying to kill me.

"Hey, it's me! The good guy, the cool and brave hero!!"

Giving me a blank stare, she retracted her blades and sat back down on her seat.

Shaking my head, I decide to speak to the lady.

"Yo, I have a plan."

Looking at me while driving, she asks me.

"What is it?"

"On the next crossroads, drive faster and don't change the directions until I say to!"

After saying that, just before I was about to leave, I stopped.

"Oh! And wear seatbelts!!"

Saying that, I moved towards the other side and stuck to the car.

Holding the car tightly with my hand, I knew what I was about to might as well rip my arm out but I decided it was worth the cool scene.

Smiling at the crossroad before me, I feel the car pick up speed.

I looked behind to see the chaser pick up speed too.

Turning back inside the car, I webbed both the mother and daughter, just to be safe.

"Hold on tight!!"

The lady nodded her head along with Laura as they both seemed uncomfortable.

"Turn right!!"

As soon as the crossroads came before us, I webbed a pole and held on to the car tightly.

Forcibly turning the direction of a high speed car was not as easy as I thought it would be.

Feeling my web barely holding on to the pole, I felt my arms tearing apart but the car successfully turned right.

Letting go of the web, I felt pain in my hands as I saw them bleed.

But we had lost the tail! They were too fast to make the turn and headed straight!

Lying on top of the car, I waited for my hands to be healed back together.

As I waited, the car stopped on a sideway.

The mother and daughter got off and ran towards a direction.

So~ We ditching the car, huh? Cool! And no need to inform me!

Shaking off the loneliness, I followed them.

The lady seemed tired after running for a while.

So I offered her a hand.

"Do you want me to pick up and run?"

"No! Can you take care of Laura?"

Turning back at the girl, I saw her in perfectly fit health, not even a hitching breath.

Looking back at the mother, I saw sincerity in her eyes.

She was really worried that her daughter might be tired.

Sighing, I nodded my head.

Slowing down, I matched Laura's speed.

"Hey, want a lift?"

She glared at me but I had taken on a request from her mother so I couldn't back down either.

"Oh! So the loser of the last fight has some doubts?"

Smirking, I speak in a cheeky tone.

She growled at me as she slightly looked down.

Shaking my head, I picked her up by her collar and dashed forward.

She seemed to struggle a bit in the start but stopped after a while.

Shifting her position to a piggy back ride, I ran with the lady.

I wanted to ask her name but decided not to after seeing how hard it was for her to run.

At this moment, I really wished I could so something.

I could use my webs to swing through the city with them as uncomfortable as it might be but that would be like announcing 'I'm here!!' so I gave up that thought.

Slowing the pace a bit, I called out to her.

"Hey, can you slow down? I'm having a hard time to run carrying your HEAVY daughter."

I was trying to help the lady but that didn't mean I wouldn't take a jab at the daughter so emphasized the word 'heavy'.

But the young girl showed no reaction, I wonder if she doesn't know that I'm picking a fight with her.

Nodding her head, the lady slows down.

Reaching a train station, the lady stops and starts huffing.

I let down Laura, who rushes to the lady having difficulty breathing.

Sighing, I decide to create a swing made out of web for to sit on.

As it was a desolated place, I guessed it wouldn't attract much attention.

Sitting on the web swing, the lady catches her breath.

I move away for a while and return with a bottle of water.

Giving her the bottle, I ask her the main question.

"What's happening?"

Drinking the water, she looked refreshed as she spoke.

"I'm Gabriela Lopez, a nurse!

I used to work for a hospital, that kept sick kids for treatment but..."

"It was an institute for illegal experiments? They wanted to weaponize the kids, right? She was one of the kids?"

Pointing at Laura, I asked her.

Nodding her head, she spoke up again.

"Yeah, they genetically altered the kids so that they could have powers similar to their models!"

"So there was someone who had powers to draw blades from their knuckles before her?"

"Yeah, she was modelled after a Beta-level mutant called Logan!

After I found out what type of an institute it actually was, I decided to save the kids! With the help of a few co-workers, I shipped the kids out to a safer location! They are hidden in three different places with thirty kids each!

Laura here was with me when I tried to ship the kids off but we were attacked and Laura moved together with me. We have to find the other kids and take them out of the country!"

Looking at Laura, I see a small tatoo on the back of her hand.

"X-23?"

As I said that Laura covered her hand.

"That was what they called her in the institute!"

Gabriela explained it to me.

Nodding my head, I stared at Garbiela.

"Do you anything more about this institute?"

Shaking her head, Garbriela denies it.

"I don't know who is behind everything but I saw a symbol once. It was an octopus, a red octopus."

Octopus? Is she trying to kid me? Who the hell would have an octopus as their symbol?! She must have seen it wrong!

As I though this, I gave Gabriela another look.

Gabriela wanted to say something but hesitated.

Sighing, I decided to take up the initiative.

"I will escort you there! The place where the other kids are!"

Before Gabriela could speak, I stopped her with a palm and turned to Laura.

"But you will have to say 'Please'."

A smirk was visible through my mask as Laura kept glaring at me.

She opened her mouth to say something but her body moved before her.

Drawing her claws out, she slashed at me which I dodged.

"Hey, are you jealous of my handsome face?! I assure you, you will grow up to be ugly!"

She growled at me and started slashing again.

I dodged her every attack while Gabriela was having fun watching us.

Gabriela opened her mouth and spoke something.

"Are you sure you want to come with us?"

"Yeah, I wanted to take a break from high school either way. A few weeks might be enough of a holiday!"

Looking baffled, Gabriela pointed at me.

"You're in high schooler?"

"No, I'm a janiter who cleans there! Of course, I'm a student."

Gabriela looks at me strangely and then at Laura.

"A mutant who can control his powers at a young age."

"Mutant? No, I was bitten by a spider!"

This fact astounded even Laura.

Pointing at Laura, I asked her.

"By the way, have you ever been bitten by a crazy dog? You sure got it's trait-Woah!"

Dodging another slash, I scream while Gabriela smiles.

"You know, men always bully people they like to attract their attention."

As she says that, Laura stops and looks at me with a gross expression.

"Don't flatter yourself. That's a lie ugly people came up with!! I remember being bullied everyday but I have no lover yet!!"

Laura smirks at me as I narrow my eyes at her.

I hate her for sure.

It doesn't matter that she's two or three years younger than me, I'm taking her down!!

I show no mercy!! For Sparta!!

Though I'm purely Cristian, not Greek!