Tally, by ladyj2
Pete Wilson barely registered the muffled "weethm" before the bullet slammed high into his right shoulder, ripping through muscle and tissue, and shattering the collarbone.
Blindly he flung a hotknife in the direction of the shot and dodged, looking for any cover in the littered back-alleyway. Instead, a second shot took out his leg, sending him crashing to the pavement, agony blacking out his vision for a moment when he landed on the broken shoulder.
A second hotknife left his hand without any conscious effort and he'd just begun to lever himself up when a knife – a real, bloody, steel knife – rammed home through that same hand.
His breathing – great, shuddering lungfuls – filled the quiet London night. Forehead in a puddle of water and blood, Wisdom tried to still the racket in his head and ears, tried to hear the bastard. Still, he only heard one or two steps before something plastic landed before him, just centimeters away.
Then the sound of a gun sliding home into its holster.
"I warned you Pete."
His head tipped to the side, only one eye getting a good look at her as she crouched down in front of him.
"I told you what would happen if you got my kids hurt."
"You were there," he ground out through the pain. "They're still alive."
"Exactly. The phone's programmed for 999. Just hit send."
She rose fluidly and walked away.
AN: Written for Ana Lyssie Cotton's 100 word Fic/Drabble challenge for anything inspired by friction. Yes, some of us went to sex first, then managed to reign the hormones in enough to come up with this.
Thanks, Lyssie. This idea's been bubbling in the back of my head for a while, but I never really figured out how to get it out.
Oh, and by-the-by, 97 words.
Oh, and double by-the-by, for anyone who doesn't know X-Force back-history:
Domino left the kids shortly after they accepted Pete Wisdom as a mentor of sorts, citing personal issues she didn't need to drag everyone else into. However, in canon, she left Pete with the promise that she'd find him should anything happen to X-Force due to him.
X-Force was subsequently blown out of the sky. My attempt to fix Marvel's complete "phase" on the whole thing.