บท 22: Ingenious Plan!
Luke found himself splayed out on the grime-laden floor of the labyrinthine sewer, the remnants of his dignity washed away by the meandering river of refuse. The intense, white-hot agony in his shoulder likened to a rat that had taken up residence in his flesh, gnawing incessantly, clawing to escape. His body felt as defiant as a recalcitrant mule, leaving him with no other choice but to lie sprawled in his filth, staring vacantly at the verdant moss invading the ceiling of the dank sewer.
"Kumbaya, my lord... kumbaya..." he rasped, his words reverberating off the sewer walls, carrying with them the absurdity of his current predicament. His words resonated throughout the cavernous space, providing a lonely melody to accompany the symphony of the dripping water and the relentless scurrying of rats. The humor he found in his plight was no more effective than a paper shield would be against a fire-breathing dragon.
The heady, overripe stench of the sewer was an omnipresent reminder of his predicament, wrapping around him like a detestable shroud. Being a shadow-manipulating villain did come with its unique set of benefits, resilience being one of them. Yet his present issue wasn't the fear of an infection; it was the excruciating pain exploding from his gunshot wound.
He let loose a dry chuckle, the sound echoing off the sewer walls, the irony of the situation not lost on him. "Ah, the glamorous life of a villain," he muttered, wincing with both pain and amusement. "Crooning campfire songs in a sewer, wallowing in grime... who could've guessed?"
The grim reality was that his present location was the least of his problems. Despite his supernatural endurance, he had to remove the bullet, and he had to do it soon. The lingering fear of the discovery of his hideout propelled him to act.
Luke finally understood the true gravity of the phrase, "caught between a rock and a hard place." In his case, it was between the slimy, bacteria-laden sewer wall and the metaphorical hard place – the agonizing pain emanating from his shoulder.
He endeavored to push himself off the filthy ground, his fingers submerging into the putrid sewer filth. His every motion was greeted by a fresh wave of agony, but he managed to stagger to a vertical position, his frame pressed heavily against the damp wall.
"Wonder if my body can rebound from blood loss…" He murmured, his gaze transfixed on the expanding pool of crimson around him. It was a valid question, given his supernatural constitution had never been tested against injuries more severe than a black eye or a bruised rib.
But now, with a bullet embedded in his flesh and the tendrils of fear slowly wrapping around his heart, he was beginning to question his blasé attitude towards harm. Just because Spider-Woman bounced back from every injury like a rubber ball didn't mean he was destined for the same fate.
Summoning all the strength left in his body, he trudged along the dreary sewer. Each step he took was an exercise in enduring pain, the discomfort in his shoulder ricocheting through his entire body.
"Oh... crap..." he grunted through clenched teeth, stubbornly pushing past the torment. His progress was painfully slow, yet the nagging fear of discovery acted as a powerful motivator, driving him on when every fiber of his being was pleading for him to stop.
Spotting a ladder, he couldn't help but make a joke, a futile attempt to lighten his mood. "Is this what they call a rise to infamy?" He grimaced, rolling his eyes skyward as he painstakingly climbed, his pain intensifying with each movement. "Really need to renegotiate my villain contract."
The climb was an arduous task, the pain in his shoulder escalating with each movement. There were moments when his vision blurred, his grip on reality loosening, only to be jarred back into consciousness by the ceaseless dripping of the sewer water.
After a seemingly interminable climb, he finally made it to the top. With a groan of exertion, he nudged the manhole cover aside and squinted against the silvery glow of the moon. The sight that met his eyes was akin to salvation – shadows. He greedily absorbed them, the energy coursing through him offering temporary respite from the crippling exhaustion threatening to pull him under.
With a renewed surge of strength, he managed to haul himself out of the manhole, half of his body sprawled on the deserted road. It seemed luck hadn't completely forsaken him. The street was eerily quiet, save for the cars neatly lined along the curb.
Dragging his bruised body out of the sewer hole, he managed to hobble over to a parked car. The icy touch of the metal was a startling contrast to the warmth of the sewer sludge, but it was an anchor, a welcome contact with reality.
As he limped along the desolate streets, a new alias for his villainous self formed in his mind: The Bloody Shadow. He snorted, a bitter laugh that was abruptly cut off as pain seared through his shoulder. "Or maybe the Leaking Shadow?" The blood loss was beginning to take its toll, even the absorbing of shadows could only do so much.
His humor was short-lived as he spotted a homeless man, peacefully asleep against a grimy building. "Well, life," he grimaced, "you really know how to add insult to injury, don't you?"
His options were limited: steal from the unfortunate man or risk passing out in the middle of the street. Luke decided to take his chances with the former. He crept closer, then, with all the finesse of a wounded raccoon, knocked the unsuspecting man unconscious.
Quickly, he stripped the man of his worn-out Nike jacket and slid his feet into the man's used slides, a far cry from the comfort of his $600 basketball shoes. Pain shot through his shoulder as he tried to don the jacket, so he settled for draping it over his shoulders and flipping the hood over his head.
"Fantastic, let's go for a stroll, shall we?" Luke said, propping himself against the rough brick of the building and propelling himself forward. The amount of self-encouragement needed to make a single step was astounding.
The streets were desolate, a mirror of his own soul in its present state. "Got to love New York," he grimaced, struggling to find humor amidst the agony. "The city that never sleeps...except at this ungodly hour."
Luke's mind, in its current delirious state, resembled a kid in a candy store. So many choices, so little time! He began a mental tally. "Hostage taking? Check. Robbery? Check. Unlawful entry? Oh yeah, big check. What else can we add? 'Budding Surgeon'? 'Grand Master of Pain'? Not many can put those on their resume!"
The waves of delirium were quickly turning into a tsunami. His plan, such as it was, revolved around intimidating a seasoned police captain with his shadowy abilities and his own daughter. "Yeah, that'll work," he told himself, a sliver of doubt creeping in. "I mean, he's just gotta be home, right? Sipping a nice single malt after a hard day of...wait, what was he doing today? Oh yeah, dealing with me. Oops."
Ignorance, they say, is bliss. And Luke, in his current state of pain and confusion, was about to find out just how blissful it could be. It somehow slipped his mind that after his day's shenanigans at the precinct, Captain George was probably as far away from home as he could be.
"But hey," Luke reasoned, or rather, tried to reason, "I don't exactly have a myriad of options here. It's not like I can waltz into a hospital with a gunshot wound and a 'please arrest me' sign. Threatening the captain with his daughter... it's not ideal, but desperate times, right?"
He let out a chuckle. It was either that or cry, and villains don't cry. "My relationship with the NYPD? Oh, that's circling the drain... Speaking of drains, I am starting to miss the feeling of going down one… Good times."
With a shake of his head and a grimace of pain, he shuffled off in the general direction of Gwen's apartment, chuckling intermittently at his own pain-addled humor.
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Penpool
Penpool I think Webnovel isn't liking me :p
They don't wanna put this fan-fiction under fresh stories wacky! So if you got some spare PowerStones, give it a vote, trying to hit top 500 this week! (We are 779!)
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