The Hit(men) Just Keep Coming

[ngm_assassin]

It took a bit of scouting to find a rooftop with the right vantage point for the job he was employed for. One Marcelo Alencar da Silva had a big price on his head. Bullseye meant to collect on it. He had been contacted by Assassin Nation after one of the regular stable of killers failed.

The man dressed mostly in red wasn't the first one to have this moniker, but he planned on doing better than his predecessor. He set up his rifle on a rooftop a half mile away from the mark's penthouse apartment. Bullseye sniffed at the hot New York City air as he sighted the killzone. There were very soft metallic clinks beneath his flowing red overcoat.

He had strict instructions to leave the mark's wife unharmed. As she was a mutant, Bullseye figured distance would be the best buffer he could use when he blew da Silva's brains out. It gave him a chance to prepare at worst or the time to disappear at best.

He chambered his specially designed cartridge. Bullseye looked down his telescopic sight and waited. The happy newlywed should show up soon. The assassin had seen the mark's wife pass by the killzone not too long ago.

Comments

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie was in the midst of a particularly intense exercise routine when she heard someone coming in. Marcelo didn't usually make any sound. She immediately frowned and went up to see what it was, a pyroplasmic orb at the ready to be shaped into a weapon if she needed it.

When she saw it, she nearly dropped the orb before dissipating it.

"Marcelo!" Stephanie cried out as she saw him. "Oh my god." She ran over to him. "We need to get you out of that ... and into a hospital. Now." Which wasn't going to be the easiest task.

[vesper_verde]

He leaned against an equipment rack. He couldn't exactly raise the arm on the knifed side. His other hand was trying to get his cowl off.

"So, it looks terrible then?" He sounded like Sylvester Stallone through his built in voice modulator. He gave a lopsided and pained grin. He swallowed and closed his eyes until a fresh wave of finished washing over him.

"And how are we going to explain me being stabbed without them arresting you? Or telling them I'm a terror that flaps in the night?"

[pyroprincess]

"You were mugged." Stephanie replied. "Lots of people get mugged in the city." She looked at him. "I'm not a doctor, and neither are you. What if you need surgery?" She looked at him for a moment.

"The only thing I can do is ... take it out and cauterize it. Which should stop the bleeding. But ..." She didn't really want to burn her husband. She went over to him to help support him and move him over to a couch, as delicately as she could.

They could always replace the couch.

[vesper_verde]

"I don't think it's too far in." He had certainly had deeper. "Curved blade. Also, I think most of my blood is going into my suit. My boots feel squishy."

Or his feet were extremely nervously sweaty.

While Stephanie was delicate, Marcelo was anything but in his movements. He was in pain and tired. The only concession was his hand clamped around the blade to keep it still.

"If there has to be a doctor, I know a couple clinics. Pay enough money and they won't mention who they've treated and why. But out of this suit."

[pyroprincess]

"The suit goes off first." Stephanie replied as she started her best to peel off portions of the armor. "Maybe once it's off, we can get a better idea of how bad it is. And be careful."

She looked at him again. "You're probably in a lot of pain. We have some decent painkillers here. Hold on." She went over to the cabinet quickly to get some water and the pills. "Take these." She continued taking bits of armor off of him.

[vesper_verde]

"And lo, the hot squire doth unarmor the battle-weary knight." Which sounded weird enough in his regular voice. It was doubly weird to be half-Stallone and half-him when she removed his cowl.

"There wasn't supposed to be a flaw there. I swear." Then again, he made the suit himself. He wondered how many flaws there actually were.

He glanced at the painkillers and the water. "Well, here goes my plans to get amazingly drunk."

He took the pills before he got in more trouble.

[pyroprincess]

"Alcohol thins the blood. That's the last thing you need ..." She trailed off a bit as she started seeing more blood. It didn't look immediately fatal or anything, but there was a lot of it. Her jaw set, and she took off the remaining pieces around the wound.

"It doesn't look too deep ..." She looked at him. "We'll get the rest of the armor off and do some first aid and then you're seeing one of those doctors."

[vesper_verde]

"I wasn't doing it for health reasons. Outside of celebrating stopping a sniper from shooting me in the head," he explained after he swallowed the pills. He winced as he set the half-drained glass of water aside.

He really didn't want to see a doctor. Then again, he really hadn't wanted to be stabbed today either.

"It's only a flesh wound." He did not even attempt a British accent.

[pyroprincess]

"Marcelo." Stephanie replied with a sigh, grabbing a cloth and putting pressure on the wound. "It doesn't look that deep. It should probably get stitched up ..." She bit her lip a little. "And unless you have sewing skills I don't know about, you should probably see a doctor about that."

"What happened to the assassin?" Stephanie kind of hoped he was dead, even though that was probably a terrible thing to wish.

[vesper_verde]

"Stephanie." He was glad they both knew each other's names. It would make their marriage a bit awkward if they didn't. He was also not going to admit being tired with a little blood loss was making him slightly punchy.

He let out a big sigh, which made his wound pull. He winced.

"I'm not my aunt. We'll have to shove off to a clinic that doesn't ask too many questions. And I kind of blew the sniper off the rooftop with a sonic blast. He might be a little deaf for awhile."

[pyroprincess]

It was a useful thing, that they knew each other's names.

"I could stop the blood loss completely. But ... I don't really want to have to cauterize you. If I don't really, really have to." She impulsively leaned down to kiss him.

"We should go to the clinic soon. And get you fixed up so I can put on my nurse costume and take care of you."

[vesper_verde]

He rubbed his forehead. "Put a bandage on it. And pick a car we can have detailed later. I'll grab a wad of cash."

Which meant getting up. At some point. Probably soon.

He smiled faintly at the mention of her nurse costume. "Yes, you should check to make sure my blood flow's good later."

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie did what he said, and arranged to have one of the cars that was a little more 'expendable' to transport them. After doing that, she came over to him and kissed him again.

"Let's get you up." She was ready to help him however he needed.

[vesper_verde]

Even in pain, he always enjoyed Stephanie's kisses. Though so many when they weren't naked so close together was a sign she was very concerned. He took in a deep breath.

Marcelo tried to get up by himself. It hurt a bit but he managed it. "As they say around here 'tah dah.'"

He gingerly touched by his wound before heading to the bedroom. The safe had some spare cash in it. "You want to pick up something to eat on the way home?"

[pyroprincess]

Of course she was concerned. Her husband had come home with a stab wound. She was a little encouraged by the fact that he managed to get up by himself.

She nodded. "Yes. But we'll worry about that when you've been fixed up some? I've got cash for food and such."

When he was back from the bedroom, she got her things ready to go. "Are you ready?"

[vesper_verde]

"As ready as I'll ever be." He straightened out his shirt a bit. His pants pocket had a bit more bulge to it than normal.

"You get to handle any muggers tonight." He grinned, shrugged, and then immediately regretted the shrugging. Like Stephanie handling the muggers was different than most any other night when he didn't have a stab wound.

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie leaned in to give him another kiss, and then got her bag and opened the door.

"I'm hoping there won't be any." She looked at him for a moment. "Are you good to drive or would you rather I do the driving?" Usually Marcelo drove when they were together, but she wanted to make sure he felt up to it.

[vesper_verde]

"Unless we plan on going in a straight line the entire time, you drive. I'll navigate." He did have a good idea about the layout of New York. His mental map did have some holes in it from lack of patrolling in those areas.

He put his hand to his side and headed out the door. "I'm sorry, by the way."

[pyroprincess]

"You don't need to apologize." Stephanie replied. "I knew that this could happen ... and I have a sinking feeling my father is behind this." She paused speaking for a minute as she pressed the 'down' button on the elevator.

"But apology accepted, anyway. Just wait until you get home and I can spoil you. No patrolling until you're healed, though." She looked at him seriously.

[vesper_verde]

"Well, the sniper was a half-mile away, facing toward our home. If there was some other prime target between there and here, I can't think of one. Your father still has a bounty on my head and hates everything I represent." Which was one of the reasons he had pulled the plug on an earlier relationship. Paternal hate hadn't driven him away from Stephanie.

"I can't patrol anyway until I fix my suit. There shouldn't have been a gap there." His brows knit together. Maybe when he reinforced over his chest and back wounds it had made something shift. "I messed up something somehow."

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie couldn't help but look away for a moment. She knew it was true- had even brought it up, but it was still hard to hear it. That the man whom she'd once idolized, fantasized about taking her away from her childhood would turn out to be even crueller and harsher than any of her Spanish relatives.

She felt like an idiot and a sucker. She wanted revenge, but didn't know how or when she would ever- if it was even appropriate.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out." Stephanie replied, glad for even the slightest shift in conversation.

[vesper_verde]

He glanced over at his wife, catching her looking away. He looked back at the elevator numbers and swallowed. Marcelo was usually careful about mentioning her father. He hated seeing her in pain.

"Mil perdões," he mumbled before licking his lips. Then it was back to regular volume.

"I'll need to replace some tubing while I'm at it. My field testing has been more thorough than I thought." He paused. "No barbeque ribs after, I think."

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie nodded and leaned into him a little, on his good side.

"No barbecue ribs." Stephanie ghosted back at him. "Why don't we try that Ethiopian takeout place we're always wanting to get food from? I've heard good things about it."

[vesper_verde]

He slipped an arm around her as she leaned against him. It felt better than holding his own side.

"That sounds good. If it's terrible, I can just eat you later." He smiled innocently.

He was going to try anything to distract her from the darker bits of their life at the moment.

[pyroprincess]

It worked.

"Mmm. I like the thought of that." Stephanie grinned. "Though seeing as you're the one who needs a little extra care today ..." She quirked her eyebrows slightly.

"I mean, what sort of nurse would I be and not take care of you?"