Chapter 16: Insanity Eyes part 4

I leveled the shotgun in my right hand and stood in front of Lizard.

I pulled the trigger and fired again.

Bang!

With a dull blast, the fine pellets scattered.

『Gyaaah!?』

Lizard screamed and reeled backward.

This shotgun was a weapon made by Tinkerer.
It’s different from a regular shotgun.
By minimizing the mechanisms meant to suppress recoil, it was successfully miniaturized.

In exchange, any ordinary person who fired it would undoubtedly shatter their shoulder.
Only superhumans like me can handle this shotgun.

A quick glance to the side—Gwen’s father, George Stacy, was collapsed.

…He’s breathing.
His bones are broken and he’s unconscious, but—
His life isn’t in danger.

『I’m borrowing this.』

I holstered the shotgun behind my waist and grabbed the liquid nitrogen tank strapped to George’s back.
Then I hoisted it with one hand and hurled it at Lizard.

『Gah!?』

The tank struck Lizard’s head as he flinched from the shotgun blast.

I pulled out the weapon slung across my shoulder.
A gun launcher—commonly called a "gunlance."

It’s a large firearm capable of loading various kinds of ammunition and switching them according to conditions or battlefield situations.

But I didn’t fire it at Lizard—I aimed at the liquid nitrogen tank.

The round exploded.
What I had just fired was a small grenade.
It’s compact, but powerful enough to blow off an average person’s head.

It has high lethality, but low stealth.
Not the kind of weapon I’d normally use for an assassination.

The tank burst from the explosion, spraying liquid nitrogen everywhere.

『F-Frozen…!?』

Lizard’s body—his skin—began to freeze.

I rotated the gunlance’s barrel to switch ammunition.

Then, I fired again.

『Gyaah!?』

The shot struck the center of Lizard’s body.

From the back end of the round, multiple claw-tipped wires shot out.
They pierced the surrounding floor, pinning Lizard in place.

…This was another of Tinkerer’s inventions—a wire round modeled after Spider-Man.

And then—

『What are you spacing out for, Spider-Man? It’s your cue.』

"I got it—yeah!"

Spider-Man rose to his feet.

…Mm. No matter how many times he’s knocked down, he always gets back up.
That, truly, is Spider-Man’s best quality.
He’s cool.

Spider-Man fired his web-shooters, binding Lizard with his webs.

『Grr—Ooooo!!』

Arms, shoulders, hips, tail, head—
One by one, he pinned each part to the ground with precision and speed.

Lizard struggled, but with his frozen skin, the wires from my shot, and Spider-Man’s web entangling him—
Everything compounded to render his resistance futile.

『D-Damn it! Damn it! Damn you!!』

However… it seems Lizard no longer possesses the rational, intellectual mind that Dr. Curt Connors once had.

He was now completely bound to the floor, unable to move.

『I—I am… for the sake of… human evolution! Humanity will evolve! Through the Genome Enhancement Serum!』

Lizard wailed as he screamed.

…So that’s his objective.

『What were you trying to do, Lizard?』

『The Genome Enhancement Serum… using Oscorp’s liquid cloud emitter… to evolve all humans in New York…』

『That’s enough. I get it.』

I raised the shotgun again and pressed it against Lizard’s face.

…He’s already lost his mind.
Strengthening humans through genome enhancement?

No one ever wanted that.

People… are already happy just living peaceful lives.

…I remember the faces of my fallen comrades.
The Red Cap Program… children whose bodies were tampered with and destroyed for the sake of adult agendas.

Bloodstained eyes stared back at me.

Strengthening humans indiscriminately?
Without their consent?

That could never be allowed.

Whether they desire it or not, those with power can never live an ordinary life.
Because of his personal ideology, countless people’s futures were being stolen.

And not just anyone—
Innocent people. People who were simply trying to live their everyday lives.

…I can’t forgive that.

I placed my finger on the shotgun's trigger—

"Stop!"

Spider-Man shot out his web and yanked the shotgun from my hands.

『…………』

…What was I just about to do?

Was I really about to kill someone… out of personal emotion?

I always told myself that the Red Cap program only killed as part of the job, out of necessity…
That I didn’t want to kill.

…Was I just about to cross a line I could never return from?

Thank you.
In my heart, I expressed my gratitude.

I walked toward Spider-Man.
…He tensed up a bit, wary of me.

『No need to be on guard. I no longer intend to kill him.』

"…Huh?"

While Spider-Man stood dumbfounded, I snatched the shotgun back from him and holstered it behind my waist.
Then I turned to leave—

"H-Hey, wait a sec!?"

『…What?』

"I don’t get you at all! I don’t even know your name, or what you’re trying to do! Are you a good guy or a bad guy!?"

『…Haaah.』

I turned around and looked Spider-Man straight in the eyes.

『My name is Red Cap. My job is an assassin for an evil organization. And…』

The night wind was bitterly cold.

『I’m a “bad guy.”』

After that, while Spider-Man was checking on George Stacy’s injuries, I slipped away from the scene.

He probably noticed…
But he couldn’t leave George Stacy there, unconscious and injured.

And Lizard was still restrained.

I returned to the underground hideout, stored my suit, and cradled my head in my hands.

"This is bad…"

I hadn’t planned to get involved in the first place.

But—just in case.
Just in case Spider-Man lost… I only went to watch because I got anxious.

In the end, I couldn’t help myself and intervened.
But this suit belongs to the organization—
To be precise, it’s managed by Tinkerer.

From the wear on the weapons and bullets, they’ll know I used it outside of a mission.

…My life is in danger.

I need to come up with some sort of backstory… anything.

Trembling, I made my way home, then curled up in bed, shaking as I fell asleep.

Ahh… maybe if I sleep and wake up, it’ll all be just a bad dream.

And then, the next morning.

Of course, it wasn’t a dream.

When I looked at the organization-issued smartphone—
There it was: a summons from Tinkerer.

Ugh… my stomach hurts.
My heart’s pounding like crazy.

Today, there’s no school.

Well, it’s the day after Lizard went on a rampage.
An emergency closure.

I packed up my things and headed to see Tinkerer.

—

『What did you use them for? Grenade rounds, wire rounds… and two shotgun shells.』

“………………”

I couldn’t come up with a single excuse.

By the way, I wasn’t wearing my suit today.
I came in my regular clothes.

That’s because the message said, “Come without your suit.”

Makes sense.
No way they’d want to arm someone suspected of going rogue.

『Is it something you can’t even tell the organization?』

“Ugh…”

I let out a weird groan before I could stop myself.

…No, I’m supposed to be Red Cap right now.
Not Michelle Jane.

Tinkerer gave me a surprised look, as if he hadn’t expected that reaction.

『…Well, whatever.』

…So it doesn’t matter to him?

This is bad.
If the organization finds out about this—

『Want me to keep quiet? Not report it to them?』

“…What?”

The sudden offer of mercy made me suspicious.

『It’d be real bad if I told them, right?』

“…Yeah. So, what do you want in return?”

I narrowed my eyes and asked.

…Could it be—my body?
Come to think of it, last time he saw my face, he was staring at me. Could it really be…?

『Nah, not really…? I mean, if you died, who’d wear my suit? I’d be in trouble, you know? You’re my test subje—ahem, I mean, partner, after all.』

…Wait a minute. Did he just let something slip?

“…Thanks. I owe you one.”

『Yeah, yeah. Oh, but you’ll have to pay for the ammo. Since I’ll be restocking it without telling the organization, I can’t expense it.』

“How much?”

Not to brag, but I get paid pretty well for this assassination work.
Money’s not really an issue for me—

『Here you go.』

And then, after looking at the invoice Tinkerer handed me—

I ended up having to cut sweets from my diet for the foreseeable future.

—Three days later.

“Huh? Michelle, that’s rare. You’re having calorie sticks for lunch?”

Crunch, crunch.

I gnawed on the dry, bland rations and washed them down with water.

“…Bit short on cash.”

“Oh… I see.”

This was the rooftop.
The roof of Midtown High School.

Not much time had passed since the Lizard incident, yet the school building was already almost completely restored.

Goes to show how amazing restoration technology is in this world where superpowered incidents happen all the time.
I was honestly impressed.

Apparently, Lizard was placed in a special prison.
What was it called again…?
The Raft?

I think it’s the one submerged underwater.
Said to be the most escape-proof prison in the world.

“You’re usually eating cake for lunch, though.”

Yeah.
My eating habits are pretty awful.

Thanks to the super-soldier serum, I can function even on completely unbalanced nutrition, so I just eat whatever I like, whenever I like.

…That’s why I normally eat things like pancakes, muffins, or macarons—stuff that keeps reasonably well at room temperature and can be bought from stores outside.

But today’s lunch was a pack of calorie sticks from the school store. Four sticks for one dollar.

…I really didn’t expect the miniature grenade rounds to cost that much.

In the end, for everyday use, nothing beats a knife.

Crunch, crunch.

I kept chewing away at the tasteless ration bar that only had sweetness going for it.