Chapter 27: Dump Truck Iaido

Two cars moving in the same direction, the trailing car throws a steel toothpick by hand, hitting the throat of someone in the car ahead. In most stories, this would be considered a martial arts skill at the very least. But in the Marvel world, this is classified as something an ordinary person can do! Glass shattered like rain inside the car. Normally, with the Sandevistan's power restricted, Leo wouldn't have been able to react to what was happening! He only heard Matt lunging towards him before that steel toothpick pierced through the glass and stabbed into Matt's chest! "Damn! We have an enemy! Keep moving, watch for cover—" But Leo knew that against this particular enemy, cover was almost useless! Bullseye! With an almost superhuman ability, anything he throws hits its target, never missing! Leo was extremely worried—because Bullseye is a ruthless assassin, and if Leo didn't prove he was still alive, Bullseye would just move on and kill everyone else! "Matt, hold on!" Leo said, placing Matt aside and then immediately opening the sunroof. "What are you doing? Get back—" The steel toothpick had already lost most of its kinetic energy after piercing the glass. Although it lodged into Matt's chest, it thankfully didn't penetrate any vital organs. Seeing Leo's actions, Matt was shocked—going out like this was suicide! But Leo quietly removed the power limiter on his Sandevistan— Bullseye had an almost perfect throwing accuracy, but it was still just "almost perfect." In fact, Matt had just made Bullseye miss his shot— And so could Leo! But he was a step too late! As soon as the sunroof opened, Leo saw the pursuer—a van, with Bullseye sitting in the passenger seat, holding a toothpick as if he were on vacation! He had just thrown another steel toothpick, and John and Skye's car suddenly lost control, veering straight towards the sidewalk and crashing into a wall! Bang! "Damn it—John, Skye? Respond!" Seeing that Leo was still alive, Bullseye was shocked! He missed? How could that be? Bullseye changed his stance, abandoning his plan to kill anyone else—this guy was a psychopath, and when he missed, it annoyed him like an obsessive-compulsive disorder! He had to kill Leo! "Uh—what's going on?" Skye, crouching in the cargo hold, had avoided Bullseye's attack. With the computer and other cargo pressing down on her, she felt uncomfortable, maybe slightly injured, but not dead. It looked like the car had slowed down just before hitting the wall; otherwise, things could have been much worse. "I-I'm okay, John? John?" Skye could only stay in her crouched position, calling out ahead. But all she got in return was silence, just some raspy sounds? That sound was like someone about to drown, constantly trying to breathe, with air struggling to pass through thick fluid as they tried to suck in oxygen... Skye managed to push the things off her, crawled forward a bit, and touched John, who was in the front seat— A sticky, wet sensation covered her hand! It was blood! Skye looked in horror at the rearview mirror and saw John clutching his throat, a steel toothpick embedded in it! That drowning sound was the blood blocking his windpipe! The Toothpick Killer! Fear washed over her like a tide, nearly paralyzing her until Leo's voice came through again: "Damn it—Skye? Listen, I've contacted an ambulance and the NYPD. Stay where you are, you need to be calmer than John—listen, do you hear me? Do you hear me? Help John out, then tell him to stay calm; he won't die, but he needs to stay calm! John's counting on you, John's counting on you! Keep him alive—shhh—" Leo's voice abruptly cut off, as if he had been attacked. John felt like he couldn't breathe, his chest getting hotter and hotter, but he couldn't catch his breath. But... maybe because he had already experienced facing death when a gun was pointed at him before. He managed to calm down quickly. He used all his strength to give Skye a thumbs-up— Skye snapped back to reality instantly, almost overcoming her fear in a single moment—she didn't want John to die like this! "I'm here to help you, John, I'm here to help you. Think of your son. When you get home, everyone will call you a hero. Stay alive, stay alive..." But John was really tired, really sleepy, his body hot and cold at the same time. But Skye was right; he had to stay alive. Two more steel needles flew by—Leo had pushed his Sandevistan to 50% power, and everything around him slowed down! The two steel needles even calculated his dodging trajectory. But with the Sandevistan active, Leo could do more than just dodge! Leo dodged one needle and deflected the other with his hand! [The sensation of power from the cyberware is interfering with your body's responses. Would you like to disable it?] [Disable.] Leo felt like every movement he made was burning his body! His heart was pumping furiously, adrenaline and other hormones flooding his neuronal receptors, with ATP breaking down at full force, turning his body into an overclocked machine running on overdrive! When the Sandevistan is operating at high speed, it activates all the systems in the body that enhance physical performance without triggering the systems that protect the body by inhibiting excessive movement— The user won't notice any abnormalities! And they won't realize something is wrong even after shutting it down! But the sense of omnipotence brought by this tech wouldn't cause Leo to make a misjudgment— Moreover, Leo had noticed the issue: the Sandevistan's effect on him wasn't reaching the exaggerated levels that it would on heavily cyber-augmented individuals! Instead, Leo was feeling the pain and pressure from the overexertion! Meanwhile, from Matt's perspective, Leo's body temperature shot up instantly! With both steel needles missing their target, Bullseye went mad—he couldn't understand how he had missed! Facing the crazed Bullseye, Leo raised his finger, then shouted at Anthony, who was driving, "Damn it, ram him! Ram him! John's dying! Ram him!" Anthony's eyes turned bloodshot as he floored the gas pedal! It was 9 PM, the road had cars but not too many, and seeing the van speeding through, other drivers cursed but quickly moved aside. But when Anthony's van slammed into the car ahead, they all silently chose to back off! The van was hit hard, almost flipping over, but the driver managed to keep it steady! The driver yelled nervously, "Damn it, aren't you supposed to be a sharpshooter?" "Shut up!" Bullseye pulled out five more steel toothpicks from his pocket, "Let's see how you dodge these!" Leo had overtaken their car but was only twenty to thirty meters ahead. Bullseye didn't believe he could miss again! Five toothpicks flew towards Leo, but he found it difficult to handle— If someone like V or a heavily cyber-augmented person were using Sandevistan here, they could probably take down Bullseye in an instant. But Leo's body was too weak! He barely dodged four toothpicks, but the last one was unavoidable! Wham! That final toothpick was caught by Matt! Matt didn't ask about Leo's condition; he just shouted, "We need to lose that guy!" "No! We need to take him down!" One of Leo's eyes flashed with blue data. Matt noticed Leo's temperature rise again, especially his brain and spinal column, which shot up to 39 degrees Celsius, and were still rising! And Bullseye, seeing this, grew even more frantic, pulling out even more toothpicks! "Listen, Matt, keep him busy while I figure something out!" "I—I got it!" Matt wanted to say more, but now wasn't the time to hold back! The two vehicles raced down the road, with Bullseye pulling out more toothpicks, ten, eleven, twelve— But Matt somehow managed to dodge them all, as if he could predict their trajectory! Finally, when the thirteenth toothpick came, Matt couldn't dodge anymore! Bullseye's bloodthirsty grin widened, but he didn't notice that the cars had moved from a low-traffic area to a higher-traffic one— Yet they weren't encountering any traffic jams! In fact, the traffic seemed to be clearing the way for them, as they passed through intersections, with people on both sides watching with wide eyes, but no cars blocking their path! It was as if... the traffic was avoiding them! "Are you done yet? I can't take much more!" In just this short time, Matt had been hit several times, with pain searing through his nerves! At this point, he was at best a fledgling hero; if it came to hand-to-hand combat, he might have a chance to take down Bullseye, but in a chase? He could only take the hits! "Almost—just a little longer!" Leo's cybernetic eye flashed with streams of data. He was calculating. The streets of Hell's Kitchen had already locked onto all the vehicles he needed when the chase began. It had to be big enough, heavy enough, and fast enough. Fast enough that the vehicle couldn't brake in time, heavy enough to crush an old van with ease! Through the power grid, Leo controlled the traffic lights, calculating vehicle speeds—waiting for the perfect opportunity! And that opportunity was almost here! "Let me take over!" Leo completed the final calculations and yanked Matt aside. He stuck his head out of the sunroof, locking eyes with Bullseye. Leo placed his hand on the small of his back, as if reaching for something. A gun? Bullseye immediately realized what Leo was up to—he wanted a showdown, a Western-style duel! Bullseye grinned wickedly, grabbing a gun from the driver—perfect, he was out of toothpicks anyway. He preferred throwing things, but his most powerful tool was, of course, a gun. This meant he wouldn't be able to complete Kingpin's contract perfectly— But Kingpin wanted an execution, and a street shooting was just as good—more importantly, Bullseye felt like he'd go insane if he didn't hit Leo at least once today. He couldn't resist such a challenge. "Come on... let's see how fast you are." Leo's van passed through the intersection. He pointed to the green light overhead and said, "Red light." —This meant to fire when the light turned red. Reading his lips, Bullseye gave a devilish grin—only a fool would wait for a duel! He immediately drew his gun, only to see Leo also revealing his hand— It wasn't a gun—it was the middle finger? Bang! The sound of two guns firing wouldn't be particularly loud in a busy area like this. But this sound, you could hear it a kilometer away. Because a speeding dump truck just rammed into Bullseye's van, mercilessly crushing it under the truck and dragging it for dozens of meters. The van flipped over, the cargo hold filled with sand and gravel crashing down on top of Bullseye's van. "Dump truck Iaido, bitch." Leo flipped him the bird, mocking him from a distance. [Unique Hacking Tool Developed: Dump Truck Iaido] [Description: Through traffic control, arrange for a lethal dump truck to appear at the right place and time.] [Reward Tech Points: 1000] [Current Tech Points: 1535]