Rising Fatality (Ultimate Spider-Man Fanfic)

| Guard Dog

Luke Cage POV

Nobody ever seemed to notice that he was there.

Which was something he always found to be weird, especially after over-hearing so many comments and remarks on his build and stature. The ability to overpower nearly anyone in a room was bound to give him a bit of attention, but he was honestly surprised that so many people lacked the survival instinct to look over their shoulders where a beast might be lurking.

Despite being stronger than nearly every agent within the Zodiac, and just as tall, Luke always worried that he'd attract too much attention for the job he'd been given. However, he also figured his sudden invisibility had something to do with strategic placement.

Scorpio kept him situated tightly in a corner near the door so that when it opened the door would swing out and block him from sight. His corner was indented into the wall too, and at just the right angle that the shadows did most of the work covering him. Besides, whoever came through the door was usually too far across the room to notice him by the time the door closed again and were too pre-occupied with their task to check and make sure their back was safe.

While the insolence never failed to grate on his nerves, it only made his job easier.

Still, just once he wanted someone to notice him right off the bat so they could just get on with it. It was so dull waiting through the formalities of assassination attempts and incompetent agents. If they could at least spot him right away, it gave him a reasonable opening to act.

But, Scorpio liked having his ulterior motives. The prospect of having a hidden gun up his sleeves, most fondly used when the victim thought they'd won, excited him. Luke just so happened to be one of the biggest and most dangerous of those guns, and while he didn't mind keeping their Zodiac leader safe, he just wished they could skip the talking and mind-games and get straight to punching.

Unfortunately, the song never changed its tune.

When a lone Taurus soldier walked in at exactly 8:45, he'd slipped the door open just enough to wiggle through, and marched across the room with his gun already out and pointed at Scorpio. Like so many others before him, he didn't seem to notice Luke.

Pity.

As soon as the door closed again, Luke stood straighter, even though he'd been standing at attention in the same spot since early that morning, and mentally mapped out every vulnerable spot on the man's body; from the legs he could snap like pencils, to an estimate of how much strength it'd require to crush the mans' neck. It wouldn't take very much either, mind you

Only when the soldier stopped at the desk, form squared and body braced for action, did Scorpio look up. It was barely even a look at all, but a fleeting glance from the reports he'd been reviewing, following by an impertinent scowl as if the Taurus was nothing but an insolent fly stupid enough to buzz around his head.

Scorpio had divulged Luke on his suspicions that SHIELD managed to infiltrate the Zodiac Ranks weeks ago, and with a bit of digging and contact with the loyal spies he'd planted months before, figured out that the mole was somewhere within the Taurus faction. The mole was the reason Scorpio had him stay late and waking early for weeks.

Luke was going to enjoy choking this guy with his own arms.

With the Taurus's back to him, vulnerable and completely breakable, Luke headed forward. The carpets were padded to absorb sound, which might've been a problem for Scorpio if any assassins tried to take him out. That is, if not for Luke, whose job was to get to them before they could take a swing at that boss. Given that any assassin or agent actually managed to surprise Scorpio, which was so few and far between that Luke would go as far to say that Scorpio had seen it in the stars.