✍🏻 Bonds of Fear (Loki)

1 - Marbles

Hmm, where to now?

I thought while looking through the scope of my sniper rifle, hovering over the body of a guy in a wheelchair who had just gotten out of a taxi.
He was coming back from the hospital after receiving treatment when I shot through both of his elbows last week.
Which I did right at the time he was exiting the hospital after I shot through both of his kneecaps.
Now with his arms bandaged up and immobile, he was waiting for the taxi driver to take out his things from the car, giving me a nice time window to pick a new location where to shoot him and send him to the hospital for the third time.
Because if me crippling him won't make his life miserable, the hospital bills definitely will.

I could always go for his junk, but given he was the only one on my list, I wanted to have fun with him a little bit longer. At least until I would find somebody new.

Hmm, maybe his wrists then. Just to make sure, in case the elbows wouldn't have been enough to ruin his evenings of browsing through various adult sites.
Sites that should have already triggered the attention of the police.
But did not.
As always.

The taxi driver brought the guy's bags to his door and came back for him, grabbing the handles of the wheelchair and pulling him up. Backwards.
Giving me now even a better view of all his body parts.
His ankles. Damn, an Achilles heel would hurt like fuck. Maybe I could go get my crossbow. After all, I do need to practice.
But the probability of the guy leaving his house anytime soon, after everything I've done to him, was way too low. And I didn't want to wait. I wanted to feel his pain. His fear.
I moved the barrel of my rifle mere millimeters lower, now aiming at his feet, and calmly preparing my index finger against the trigger.

"Well, hello there, kiddo."

A casual tone resonated behind my back and I froze.

Shit. Was the drug dealer who normally occupied this flat already back? I was still supposed to have a few more minutes.

I slowly removed my finger from the trigger and pulled my black scarf all the way up over my nose before I turned to assess the situation.

Tony. Fucking. Stark.

Who would have thought?

"Interesting," I said and stood up, pulling my hood lower over my forehead, now making only my eyes visible.

"Interesting indeed," he said, his gaze trained on my eyes, "aren't you too young to play with guns?"

I smirked under my scarf, crossed my arms, and pretended to measure him up and down, avoiding to glance at his wrists but noting he did wear his stupid Iron Man suit, metallic wrist bands.

"And aren't you too old to play with robots?"

"Hey!" he said playfully, "that's what Pepper always says!"

I rolled my eyes, not in a mood for his jokes when my prey was now gone and all the preparation time wasted, "so to what do I owe the displeasure?"

He sighed and dug his hands into his pockets.

Good. Keep those hands apart. That would give me a split of a second advantage before he would press the activation button of his suit.

"Straight to the business, I see," he said and rocked back and forth on his heels, "the police will be here shortly to arrest that guy. And it can go one of two ways. Either they arrest you as well, or you come with me."

I let out a sharp laugh, not believing my ears, "with you? Where? Why?"

He smiled and raised his hand, counting on his fingers to answer my questions, "Yes. To my state-of-the-art Stark Tower. Because you are not the law, kiddo."