Disclaimer: I own what's mine!
Ch.3 Farwell Stoner!
I feel a cold breeze brush my hair into my face and I groggily open my eyes. No longer am I tired; fully refreshed I stand up and dust myself off. A sudden realization hits me! Anderson! Red Dragon! Guns! The Vortex!
Instinctively I look down at my hands to see if I sustained any cuts of bruises and I nearly pass out.
"I'm an illustration!" I shout, my hands are colored and are ink outlined like you see in comics.
"Or in…cartoons." I allow myself to say, I pinch myself and feel the sharp sting of my nails…I'm not dreaming-this is real.
I feel something poke me in the side and I feel around my jacket-my guns still here and so is my sketchpad and the pencil lodged into its metal rings. Although freaked out, I am fine. When I finally calm down I look at my surroundings it seems as though I'm in some abandoned building, paint cans and brushes are scattered across the room, sheets hand all around me. And in front of me is a one that is fluttering; I catch glimpses of a blue sky.
Which meant largely on my part freedom! But as I begin to walk towards it someone rams into me. Before I know it I'm pinned up against the wall with a gun to my face. Stoner laughs when he sees my startled expression.
"Did you honestly think you were alone?" He said, "I've been waiting for you to get off you lazy ass for fifteen minutes."
It became apparent that he wanted me to be awake for my execution. With a sudden burst of energy I push him across room and Stoner landed on his side. Angry Stoner rushes towards me and attempts to catch me with a right hook. I easily dodge-Stoner had never been a good fighter and because of all of his drug intake his coordination and depth perception are shot.
Making things a lot easier for me. I jab his stomach with a quick chop and he drops his gun, before it hits the floor I grab it and hold it to his face. Stoner probably forgot he even had a weapon.
"Don't make me use this." I said, "Back away."
Stoner slowly backed up to a pillar. What I didn't notice was his hand reaching behind him and grabbed a handful of dust. Stoner finally admitted that I had outsmarted him and I was the better man, I was too busty drinking up his words and smiling at my own cleverness when Stoner threw a cloud of dust in the air. The stinging particles entered my eyes and I shut them painfully and started rubbing.
Stoner took this moment to knock me to the floor while the gun went flying. I heard it click when it fell to the floor while Stoner pressed his attack. Smacking me in the face with quick blows. My hands were spread out in the back of me and I felt around for something-anything I could use to get him off of me. My hands made contact with a bucket of paint and without a moment's hesitation I flung I smashed it over his head.
Stoner's face was soon covered in platinum paint. I could hear his moans of pain as his hands were spread out in front of him blindly. Platinum was toxic, and it burns like nothing else if it gets caught in someone's eyes. Stoner was experiencing this first hand.
Knowing that Stoner had no defense I tackled him towards the fluttering sheet. The bucket was knocked off and Stoner's paint covered eyes widened in horror. I saw light blue sky before I fell forward. Below me was a teeming city-and I was hundreds of stories in the air!
Vertigo passed over me and I leaned back to keep myself from falling but the added weight of Stoner proved to be too much for me to handle. In an instant I fell toward and Stoner let go. My hand dashed out and I grabbed the ledge, but at the same time Stoner grabbed onto my legs. With Stoner on me it felt like I weighed over a ton!
I tried to pick myself up but I couldn't. That's when I heard Stoner laughing like a maniac. I turned and saw him grinning and holding up a knife with one hand. How do you like that? I'm trying to save his life and he's still trying to kill me!
I look down and see an enormous stone gargoyle, if I could let go there might be a chance I could land on its wings safely. Stoner would let go in the fall, and I could grab onto it before falling to my death. It was risky but I didn't exactly have a lot of options.
I took a deep breath and let go as Stoner was about to bring his blade down. We both dropped and I spread myself out to get more air resistance while Stoner flailed around and cut at the air. I landed on cold hard stone and had the wind knocked out of me for a moment. But at least I was safe.
Thump! Stoner landed on the beak of the gargoyle and held on for dear life. I struggled with myself for a moment, one side of me wanted to let him fall while the other demanded I save him. I watched as I saw his hand start to slip and panicked wheezes escaped his throat. His hand let go and mine darted out.
I caught him. It didn't matter if Stoner was a criminal, he was still a person. And that was enough to save him. Before I could pull him up flashing silver pierced my flesh and my hand writhed in pain-Stoner had stabbed me.
Without hesitation I released him and Stoner fell hundreds of stories to his death. I could hear his screams drift into silence while I pulled the blade out of my arm.
"Stupid moron!" I snarled, "I tried to save his life and he stabbed me! He brought it on himself!"
Plucking the blade from my flesh I tossed it to the side and that's when I realized I no longer had my gun. It too had been lost in the fall. Now without a weapon and bleeding I looked around to find the smallest speck of knowledge of where I was. And I found myself looking into-
"The Daily Planet?" I said aloud.