Chapter Text
==> Be Jake
Flashing lights blind your vision as you attempt to push back the crowd, your hand firmly gripping the back of the villain’s collar, the sea of reporters parting and revealing a path to the cop car. Your head is swimming and pulsing with adrenaline, you’re pretty sure you ended up getting shot during the fight, but your body hasn’t registered it yet, so you’ll keep going as long as you can. You’ll need to get back to headquarters soon. But first, you need to make sure this villain is on his way to jail. You have been working non-stop to catch Ult, and it seems like you finally have. It’s been hell trying to catch someone whose speed outmatches your trigger finger and the way he warps reality, sending your bullets back at you. His powers are still a total mystery, even to the Hero’s League, no one knows the specifics, though you’ve been able to gather two components of his power, or powers, are altering physics and super speed. There’s something else that he does sometimes, but no one is sure if it’s him or someone else’s power. Sometimes he has been seen with a copy of himself, some heroes have heard him call them splinters.
The cop car is getting closer and you feel the fuschia cape in your hands start to fall away. Your eyes wide, watching as Ult looks at you, those blasted pointed shades of his blocking his eyes, and a small smirk graces his lips. Suddenly the villain you were about to put away is nothing but ash in the wind, disappearing before your eyes. You turn on your heels, watching the ash swirl through the air, rising to one of the skyscrapers towering over you. You squint your eyes and mumble out a curse as you see him standing on the roof, his fuschia costume almost glowing against the night sky. The ashes land in his outstretched hand and you swear he smiles at you before he’s gone in a blur.
“Gunman!” The reporters scream out, shoving their microphones at you, their television cameras pointed at your shocked face. Your vision swims again and you start feeling light-headed. You don’t know what to say, but thankfully you don’t have to think for long before your body falls to the ground, the world going black.
You wake up with a jerk, sitting straight up, your eyes being accosted with bright white lights, and you hear a steady beeping from beside you. Great, you’re at the hospital. You fall back, your head hitting the flat pillows of your hospital bed. Your legs and arms hurt, but it’s a dull pain, probably thanks to the pain medicine they have you on. You probably bled out. From what you recall from the fight, Ult managed to turn four of your bullets back onto you. Three on your legs, and one on your left shoulder. You’ll probably have to take Kanaya up on her offer to make you a new suit that covers your body, and maybe request some sort of bulletproofing as well. But you’re rather fond of the tight-fitted yellow leotard and matching cape. Though, she’s probably right. You need to protect yourself more. You can’t keep relying on your true shot to get you through a fight. Especially not against Ult.
Your name is Jake English, more commonly known to the wider populous as Gunman. You are one of many people who were born with superpowers. Yours being named true shot. It allows you to aim, and your bullets will reach your exact target every time. That is unless you go against the villain, Ult, whose powers seem to consist of speed, and some sort of telekinesis that allows him to move your bullets back to you. Ult has risen to power within the past few months, he doesn’t seem to target people or take hostages, which is admirable, but when almost all his fights have caused you or your co-workers serious injury, you start to get a grudge on the bloke. His targets usually are only heroes, wishing nothing more than their demise. You try to understand why someone would do that, it’s not like he’s getting anything out of it, like most villains, he isn’t gaining money. It seems as if this bloke simply has a strong vendetta against Heros.
You thought you finally had him this time, finally able to lock away the man who almost killed your little sister. Jade was one of Ult’s targets when he first came on the scene. Her power, space warp, allows her to shrink or expand dimensions of space within her vision. She had trapped him in a cage that was shrinking, only to have him toss a sword at her, hitting her through her stomach and into her spine. You were barely able to get her to the hospital in time. She lost movement from the waist down and was in critical condition for three weeks. Thankfully she has recovered, but it’s been hard on her. She’s barely twenty-three years old and is almost completely bedridden from depression and recovery. You try to help her with her physical therapy, but most of the time she just gets angry. She wants to be able to help people, but can’t anymore. You’d be just as angry as she is if your roles were reversed.
You’re shaken out of your thoughts when a doctor walks in, he has blonde hair that is spiked up in the back, and thick round eyeglasses that show off stunningly bright orange eyes. He’s looking down at your chart before he looks up and makes eye contact with you. “Gunman, it’s a pleasure. I’m glad to see you awake. We were able to take the bullets out without a problem, and you should be good to go home soon. Though, you should take it easy for a few days. Just until your stitches are ready to come out.”
“Oh goodness, I can try my best to take it easy, but I don’t know if I'll be able to follow your orders on that one, doc. I tend to get quite restless when I'm put on bed rest. But I’ll try, old chap.” You flash him a bright smile.
The doctor walks over to your bedside and puts your chart down on the side table. “Now, Mr. English. Surely you aren’t going against the doctor's orders. How will you be able to help people if you can’t take care of yourself?” You find it hard to tell if he’s joking because he isn’t showing much emotion.
“I guess you’re right, mate. I’ll take it easy. When should I be able to leave?” You ask.
“You should be good to leave soon. Just let me check your vitals.” He starts doing your check-up, humming slightly as he reads the numbers. “Alright, Mr.English. You’re stable and good to go. Though, I will be seeing you soon. The Hero League has taken me on as the private doctor for you heroes. So we’ll be seeing more of each other.”
“Oh goodness! That is just swell, what’s your name?” You smile brightly and search his face. He doesn’t seem to be too happy with that. You know the League shells out a rather large wad of cash for the private doctors.
“Dirk Strider. I’ll see you in a few days for a check-up and to remove your stitches. See ya then, dude.” With that, the doctor is gone. You chuckle to yourself as nurses come in and start disconnecting you from machines. That doctor seemed rather odd, but perhaps he was just an awkward fellow.