Redemption

Chapter Twenty-two

I sat there in my wheelchair, observing my X-men as they ran away, leaving Gabby behind. She looked lonely and scared and broken. She had just watched her sister die at the hands of her brother.

"Gabby," I said. She looked up into the Quinjet at me. "Come here."

Gabby walked up the ramp and joined me.

"I have a mission for you," I said, knowing full well that the young mutant did not want any condolences. "Something special just for you."

"What is it?" Gabby asked. "Does it have something to do with Daken?"

"It will," I said. "Please sit down."

She sat down and looked at me expectantly, like a child waiting to be given some candy.

"I would like you to help me prepare the students at my school for war," I said.

Gabby's eyes widened, "For war? Why? Against who?"

"Against Daken," I said.

"Just him?"

"No," I said. "I have reason to believe that he will turn to one of his old colleagues from his days in Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers.they don't like each other very much but they were the only two, besides Norman Osborn, to survive their attack on Asgard. This colleague is named Bullseye, he is a master archer. I also believe that once Daken secures Bullseye, he will go after Osborn himself."

"So just three people?" Gabby asked. "And two of those people aren't mutants?"

I nodded.

"I don't understand," I told Professor X. "How can one mutant, an archer, and a rich guy defeat an entire school of mutants?"

Professor X sighed, "I do not know. I do not even know if they plan to attack the school. I just need the students to be ready for a fight. Will you help me?"

"Yeah," I said. "Of course."

He smiled, "Great,"

With a press of the button the Quinjet's back hatch began to close.

"We're leaving the X-men?" I asked.

"Yes," said Charles Xavier. "They'll find their way back."

The arrow hit the target, right on the bullseye. I lowered my bow and examined my shots. There was nothing much to examine. Each arrow I had fired went straight through the other, one by one, right on target. I haven't killed someone in the past couple years. I forgot what it feels like. My name is lost, so lost that even I don't remember it. But that does not matter. I do not need my real name. I have another name. Bullseye.

After a very long time spent driving, stopping, and asking random people random questions, Daken finally seemed to have the answer he needed. At about 2:30 A.M. the morning after Laura's death day, Daken pulled to a stop outside a mansion.

"Damn," he said, more to himself than me. "Guess Osborn gave him a couple big hunks of cash."

He got out of the car.

"You're coming with me," he said.

"Who are we going to meet?" I asked.

He turned, another psychotic grin carved across his face, "An old 'friend',"

I rang the doorbell and blacked myself for a fight. The minute the owner of the mansion saw who was at his door, I would receive an arrow to the brain. But, contrary to my beliefs, Bullseye opened the door with only a scowl on his face and an empty quiver of bows on his back.

"What the hell do you want?" he asked.

"A conversation," I said.

"What type of conversation?"

"The type where I propose a deal to you and you agree,"

"What makes me think I'll make a deal with you?"

My head bounces back and forth between Daken and the mystery man. They obviously have a past together since there's no 'Hey, I'm Daken Akihiro, licensed psychopath and killer, I've come to make a deal with you.'

"Have you ever met a mutant?" Daken asked. "Besides me."

"No," said the man.

"How would you like to meet one? To kill one?" 

My spine tightened.

"Who's the toddler?" the man asked.

"Target practice,"

I turned to scream but it was to late, an arm was already wrapped around me, prepared to —