NOTE: Thank you very much to all those who reviewed my story.
Devlin Blacke: Thanks so much. I like your story very much and I'm glad you like mine as well. If I'm not writing Bullseye right please tell me, 'cause I only know him from the movie.
Ravenclaw2: Glad to know you still like my story; thanks again for the review.
Frost Star: I'm also glad to have you as an admirer of my little piece of work.
Flori: Lovely review. I hope you'll get to this chapter some day.
JohnnyDeppFan1990: Hey there! Glad you got to read every chapter I've written so far. And don't worry about not having time to read the new chapters 'cause sometimes it takes me quite long to update.
PART 16: "Afterwards"
The following morning Bullseye woke up with a terrible hangover. He felt tired, his vision was a bit blurry and he could barely remember how he got like that. When he finally started to come to his senses, memories of the previous night came to his mind, but he laughed at the thought of Lara coming to spend a night with him and considered it to be only a dream.
Yawning, Bullseye stretched out his arms, preparing to get up, when his right hand rested on something warm and soft. His eyes widened immediately and he almost jumped out of bed. He saw someone lying next to him, entirely covered by a white sheet. Removing the sheet with a rapid movement, Bullseye was amazed to discover a completely naked Lara underneath it. At a closer inspection of his own person, he discovered that he wasn't wearing any clothes either.
Lara was asleep, but when he removed the sheet she felt the cold air around her and protested against it by moaning in her sleep and pulling the sheet back over her body. Gazing at her, a wide smirk appeared on Bullseye's face, followed by a devilish laugh. He came closer and leaned over her, biting her left ear lobe. His move had the desired effect and she woke up almost on the spot, turning her head to look at him with sleepy eyes.
"Whaaaaat?" she moaned at him.
"So it's fer real then? We really did it?"
"Don't you remember?"
"Actually, no, not really. Ye should know better than to come here when I've had a little too much to drink. But no matter; I'm glad ye finally came to yer senses and I suppose ye wouldn't mind refreshing me memory about what we did last night, would you?"
Being a bit dizzy since she had just woken up, Lara didn't make out everything that Bullseye had said but by the time she started recalling and understanding his words, he was already on top of her, his lips moving against hers. She was not exactly in the mood for this at the moment but she knew that pushing him away would bring her more unwanted trouble. She shifted her head to the right on the pillow, fixed her view on a certain spot on the wall and simply stared at it with tired, half-opened eyes and a vague expression on her face.
In this time, Bullseye started moving down to her neck, shoulders and chest. Lara was still staring mindlessly at the wall, not paying too much attention to what Bullseye was doing but she did feel when he stopped all of a sudden. She didn't have time to turn her head and look at him, as soon enough, his left hand grabbed her neck and squeezed it so hard that it made her wake up from her morning dizziness in the blink of an eye, not to mention that it made her gasp desperately for air.
The next thing she knew, he turned her head violently, forcing her to look into his wide opened, rabid eyes; on his face she saw the same expression he usually had when killing someone who had really irritated him.
"Hey! Don't you dream about the wankers ye usually get laid with, when ye're with me. Got that babe?"
His relative vulgar remark upset Lara, but she thought it wiser to try and loosen a bit the situation.
"You are the only one I like to get laid with," she said putting her hands around his neck, trying to ignore the hand that was clutching her throat and hoping he would release it, which he slowly began to do. "I am just tired right now, which is your fault by the way. You drained all the energy out of me last night and I didn't sleep more than two or three hours all night."
"Like I said baby, not may fault ye came to me at the wrong time," he spoke with a voice that betrayed his common, most of the time unmotivated fury.
Lara had little time to say anything or make a move when the hand that was now resting on her chest grabbed her neck again, pushing it back in the pillow. The next thing she knew they were replaying the previous night's events.
Back then, Bullseye had acted with more tenderness, undoubtedly because of the state he was in, but this time everything was completely different; it was fast, extremely fast, violent even. His usual amount of rage, anxiety and swiftness was present in his every move and Lara detected in his looks and actions feelings of anger, annoyance and even an increasing desire for revenge.
When it was all over, Lara was laying on one side with her eyes closed, as if trying to make out for the hours of sleep she had missed out on, while Bullseye was leaning on his pillow, grinning down at her.
"So, what d'ye say? Did I pass yer test?" he asked in a pretty cheerful disposition, which Lara was grateful for.
"That only depends if I will ever be able to move again," she answered without taking her head out of the pillow or opening her eyes.
"C'mon baby, you know ye liked it. You've always liked it a little rough."
"A little? That is a little for you?" she asked on an amused but not very calm tone.
"Yeah. Sure. I could give you much more than that and I bet you could take it way better than other ...... "
"Please refrain yourself from sharing with me any of your past sexual experiences," Lara interrupted him, still without moving or opening her eyes.
"Why? Ye're jealous?" Bullseye asked with a wide grin.
"Of course not."
"Then how about I give you some more right now?"
"Oh no!" Lara sprung up all of a sudden, extending her right arm forward to prevent Bullseye from approaching her. "I've had quite enough."
"So ye're saying you didn't like it?" Bullseye crossed his arms and frowned, pretending to be upset.
"I told you I will answer that when I am able to move again."
"I see ye're moving quite good, baby."
"Yes, but I am not walking yet, am I? ...... I still cannot imagine what got into you that night," Lara continued a couple of moments later after getting out of the bed and starting to get dressed.
"What night?"
"A couple of days ago, in the park."
"Ohhhh, that!" Bullseye started laughing. "Don't think that'll ever happen again. It was only to get you in bed."
"Naturally."
"Yeah, and you could have made up yer mind a little faster. I never said so much bullshit in my life that I had to say that night. Damn you hard to get in bed spoiled rich women. But that's not really important now 'cause after this, I know I can have you whenever I want."
"Lucky me! ...... Do you by any chance have a brush or a comb around here?" she asked after running her fingers through her messy hair.
"Does it look like I need one?" Bullseye answered smiling while running his right hand over his bald head. "So how come ye're not irritated and shit like you women mostly are?"
Lara started laughing at Bullseye's comment.
"Why? Did you thought I wanted to marry you or something? No honey, you are just my guarantee."
"How's that?"
"Well, whenever I feel like doing it, I know I have someone I can go to."
"Glad to know we've got a mutual thing going on here. You sure ye don't wanna stay and exercise a little bit this mutual feeling?" Bullseye asked Lara, who was now fully dressed and heading towards the door.
"Everything is best served in small quantities or else one may get bored too soon. Here's your toy back," she spoke with her back turned to him, throwing backwards the silver shuriken he had impaled into her desk the previous night.
Naturally, he caught it without too much effort, with one hand, as he watched her vanish before his eyes.
"Are you completely out of your mind?" Leah shouted, jumping up from the dark-red, leather sofa she was sitting on in Lara's bedroom as soon as the latter opened the door. "Do you think that running off like that will make a good impression on the Kingpin?"
"And I suppose flirting with his assistant will."
"I wasn't flirting. It was a simple dance," Leah responded quite irritated.
"Of course it was," Lara answered ironically.
"So, ...... did you have a good time?" Leah asked after a short moment of silence. Lara frowned at the question and Leah continued. "...... with Bullseye. You went to see him, didn't you? You were constantly thinking about him at the party."
"Well thank you for respecting my privacy."
"Sorry, but you looked so disturbed and I couldn't just ask you in front of everybody. And it's not like I listened to almost everything you were thinking. But back to my question ...... how was it with Bullseye?"
"What do you want? Details?"
"Yeeeeees!" Leah answered as if she was entitled to know every aspect of Lara's intimate life.
"Why don't you just read my mind?"
"God forbid! That would be like watching a porn flick and there probably are some images of you boyfriend in there that I don't think I want to see."
"He's not my boyfriend."
"Whatever."
"So what do you want then?"
"I want you to tell me stuff like where did you go, what did you do."
"What do you think we did? Play cards all night long?"
"Yes. Why not? Playing cards is an excellent pass-time activity."
"Yeah, for you maybe. Let's go sit down and I will tell you all about it."
They both headed towards the sofa and sat down but as Lara was about to speak, Leah interrupted her.
"I'm having dinner with him tonight."
"Who? Welch?" Lara asked curiously and Leah nodded in response. "So you are serious about this guy?"
"I'm not sure yet. He likes me though."
"He said that?"
"No. He thought it. But never mind this. Tell me about your lovely psychopathic friend."
"Well, ...... "
The following three days went by quite smoothly. Lara went, together with Leah, to a meeting in Tokyo while Kingpin finally sold the diamonds and got in exchange more money than he had expected. Having no assignments, Bullseye spent most of his time looking for the devil but again, without any luck. The devil, on the other hand met with his new found friend, reporter Ben Urich, asking him to try and find out what might have happened to Elektra's body, which had mysteriously disappeared. Smoke, Shade and Mystique made no progress in their search for the vampire Linus Dayo, since Mystique couldn't find any useful information in the office she had searched that night at the "Olympic". The only thing they knew was that some werewolves tried to kill Dayo.
As soon as she got back from Tokyo, Lara was immediately called to the WLA Headquarters by General Stryker. When Lara had taken Fisk, Welch and Bullseye there, they made an exception to the rule and granted them immediate access inside the facility. However, getting inside such a compound, which is considered one of the safest and well guarded places in the world is not easy at all. Since the organization already has a member who is able to change forms – namely Mystique -, as well as duplicate one's fingerprints or retina pattern, there certainly are other shape-shifters out there in the world, so, in order to prevent intruders from getting in, each person who wants to enter must pass a DNA test.
The procedure is quite simple; all they have to do is put a finger in a special place on a machine and then a small needle extracts a bit of their blood, which the machine uses in order to identify the person's DNA. If the DNA corresponds to a member of the organization, his or her picture and name will appear on a screen in front of them and a robotic feminine voice will give them the "Access Granted" message.
What is more, this procedure applies to everyone, no matter how high their ranks are. So, after passing through all these examinations and then through all the winding corridors inside the compound, Lara finally got to Stryker's office.
Stryker's office resembled a bit Fisk's, because of the glass wall behind his desk. The only difference was that the giant window did not offer this time a panoramic view of the city but that of a large hall with metal walls, some staircases and various doors, leading to other offices or chambers, as the facility was, after all, underground.
The shades inside Stryker's office were also different from those in Fisk's office. Instead of the bright light, the blue and the white everything was black, dark brown or silver, rendering the room quite dark.
"Sir?" Lara called out after entering and seeing Stryker standing in front of the glass wall, looking towards it with a serious and pensive expresion on his face.
"This situation is beginning to get out of control and the worst part is that I can't bring myself to have him killed once and for all. Sometimes he helps us but other times he messes up our business more than we can afford."
"Oh, no. This is not about that devil guy, is it?" Lara asked quite annoyed.
"Of course it is," Stryker turned to her irritated, raising his voice to a rather high level. "What other normal person walks about the city dressed in an idiotic costume, thinking he can make justice?"
"So do you want me to take him out this time?"
"Fisk wants him dead for sure. He has that famous assassin of his tracking him down."
"Bullseye."
"Yes, Bullseye."
"What exactly do you want me to do, sir?"
"I think I have found an excelent way to keep Daredevil from interfering with Fisk's business without having to kill him," said Stryker after which he took out a folder from his desk and handed it out to Lara.
"What does she got to do with anything?" Lara asked after opening the file and seeing the picture inside.
"Obviously you don't know who she is. Take a look through her file."
"Well this is interesting!" Lara exclaimed after discovering some facts regarding the woman's identity and life.
"She is the best weapon we have to keep Daredevil away. I want you to get in touch with Bullseye and convince him to take her with him, find the devil and let him know who is in charge."
"I must admit this appears to be a flowless plan but I do not think that Bullseye will be too happy to see her alive."
"Tell him that he can have anything he wants. Money is no problem."
"He would not be interested in money. The thing he has with the devil is kind of a personal vendetta."
"Colonel, this is no longer my problem. I gave you an order and your duty is to carry it out. Bullseye's attitude is not of my concerne. If he's not happy, make him happy, since you seem to know so much about him."
Stryker gave Lara a curious look while he told her that and she answered with an indignant expression while he passed by her and exited the office, leaving her there contemplating his words.
Devlin Blacke: Thanks so much. I like your story very much and I'm glad you like mine as well. If I'm not writing Bullseye right please tell me, 'cause I only know him from the movie.
Ravenclaw2: Glad to know you still like my story; thanks again for the review.
Frost Star: I'm also glad to have you as an admirer of my little piece of work.
Flori: Lovely review. I hope you'll get to this chapter some day.
JohnnyDeppFan1990: Hey there! Glad you got to read every chapter I've written so far. And don't worry about not having time to read the new chapters 'cause sometimes it takes me quite long to update.
PART 16: "Afterwards"
The following morning Bullseye woke up with a terrible hangover. He felt tired, his vision was a bit blurry and he could barely remember how he got like that. When he finally started to come to his senses, memories of the previous night came to his mind, but he laughed at the thought of Lara coming to spend a night with him and considered it to be only a dream.
Yawning, Bullseye stretched out his arms, preparing to get up, when his right hand rested on something warm and soft. His eyes widened immediately and he almost jumped out of bed. He saw someone lying next to him, entirely covered by a white sheet. Removing the sheet with a rapid movement, Bullseye was amazed to discover a completely naked Lara underneath it. At a closer inspection of his own person, he discovered that he wasn't wearing any clothes either.
Lara was asleep, but when he removed the sheet she felt the cold air around her and protested against it by moaning in her sleep and pulling the sheet back over her body. Gazing at her, a wide smirk appeared on Bullseye's face, followed by a devilish laugh. He came closer and leaned over her, biting her left ear lobe. His move had the desired effect and she woke up almost on the spot, turning her head to look at him with sleepy eyes.
"Whaaaaat?" she moaned at him.
"So it's fer real then? We really did it?"
"Don't you remember?"
"Actually, no, not really. Ye should know better than to come here when I've had a little too much to drink. But no matter; I'm glad ye finally came to yer senses and I suppose ye wouldn't mind refreshing me memory about what we did last night, would you?"
Being a bit dizzy since she had just woken up, Lara didn't make out everything that Bullseye had said but by the time she started recalling and understanding his words, he was already on top of her, his lips moving against hers. She was not exactly in the mood for this at the moment but she knew that pushing him away would bring her more unwanted trouble. She shifted her head to the right on the pillow, fixed her view on a certain spot on the wall and simply stared at it with tired, half-opened eyes and a vague expression on her face.
In this time, Bullseye started moving down to her neck, shoulders and chest. Lara was still staring mindlessly at the wall, not paying too much attention to what Bullseye was doing but she did feel when he stopped all of a sudden. She didn't have time to turn her head and look at him, as soon enough, his left hand grabbed her neck and squeezed it so hard that it made her wake up from her morning dizziness in the blink of an eye, not to mention that it made her gasp desperately for air.
The next thing she knew, he turned her head violently, forcing her to look into his wide opened, rabid eyes; on his face she saw the same expression he usually had when killing someone who had really irritated him.
"Hey! Don't you dream about the wankers ye usually get laid with, when ye're with me. Got that babe?"
His relative vulgar remark upset Lara, but she thought it wiser to try and loosen a bit the situation.
"You are the only one I like to get laid with," she said putting her hands around his neck, trying to ignore the hand that was clutching her throat and hoping he would release it, which he slowly began to do. "I am just tired right now, which is your fault by the way. You drained all the energy out of me last night and I didn't sleep more than two or three hours all night."
"Like I said baby, not may fault ye came to me at the wrong time," he spoke with a voice that betrayed his common, most of the time unmotivated fury.
Lara had little time to say anything or make a move when the hand that was now resting on her chest grabbed her neck again, pushing it back in the pillow. The next thing she knew they were replaying the previous night's events.
Back then, Bullseye had acted with more tenderness, undoubtedly because of the state he was in, but this time everything was completely different; it was fast, extremely fast, violent even. His usual amount of rage, anxiety and swiftness was present in his every move and Lara detected in his looks and actions feelings of anger, annoyance and even an increasing desire for revenge.
When it was all over, Lara was laying on one side with her eyes closed, as if trying to make out for the hours of sleep she had missed out on, while Bullseye was leaning on his pillow, grinning down at her.
"So, what d'ye say? Did I pass yer test?" he asked in a pretty cheerful disposition, which Lara was grateful for.
"That only depends if I will ever be able to move again," she answered without taking her head out of the pillow or opening her eyes.
"C'mon baby, you know ye liked it. You've always liked it a little rough."
"A little? That is a little for you?" she asked on an amused but not very calm tone.
"Yeah. Sure. I could give you much more than that and I bet you could take it way better than other ...... "
"Please refrain yourself from sharing with me any of your past sexual experiences," Lara interrupted him, still without moving or opening her eyes.
"Why? Ye're jealous?" Bullseye asked with a wide grin.
"Of course not."
"Then how about I give you some more right now?"
"Oh no!" Lara sprung up all of a sudden, extending her right arm forward to prevent Bullseye from approaching her. "I've had quite enough."
"So ye're saying you didn't like it?" Bullseye crossed his arms and frowned, pretending to be upset.
"I told you I will answer that when I am able to move again."
"I see ye're moving quite good, baby."
"Yes, but I am not walking yet, am I? ...... I still cannot imagine what got into you that night," Lara continued a couple of moments later after getting out of the bed and starting to get dressed.
"What night?"
"A couple of days ago, in the park."
"Ohhhh, that!" Bullseye started laughing. "Don't think that'll ever happen again. It was only to get you in bed."
"Naturally."
"Yeah, and you could have made up yer mind a little faster. I never said so much bullshit in my life that I had to say that night. Damn you hard to get in bed spoiled rich women. But that's not really important now 'cause after this, I know I can have you whenever I want."
"Lucky me! ...... Do you by any chance have a brush or a comb around here?" she asked after running her fingers through her messy hair.
"Does it look like I need one?" Bullseye answered smiling while running his right hand over his bald head. "So how come ye're not irritated and shit like you women mostly are?"
Lara started laughing at Bullseye's comment.
"Why? Did you thought I wanted to marry you or something? No honey, you are just my guarantee."
"How's that?"
"Well, whenever I feel like doing it, I know I have someone I can go to."
"Glad to know we've got a mutual thing going on here. You sure ye don't wanna stay and exercise a little bit this mutual feeling?" Bullseye asked Lara, who was now fully dressed and heading towards the door.
"Everything is best served in small quantities or else one may get bored too soon. Here's your toy back," she spoke with her back turned to him, throwing backwards the silver shuriken he had impaled into her desk the previous night.
Naturally, he caught it without too much effort, with one hand, as he watched her vanish before his eyes.
"Are you completely out of your mind?" Leah shouted, jumping up from the dark-red, leather sofa she was sitting on in Lara's bedroom as soon as the latter opened the door. "Do you think that running off like that will make a good impression on the Kingpin?"
"And I suppose flirting with his assistant will."
"I wasn't flirting. It was a simple dance," Leah responded quite irritated.
"Of course it was," Lara answered ironically.
"So, ...... did you have a good time?" Leah asked after a short moment of silence. Lara frowned at the question and Leah continued. "...... with Bullseye. You went to see him, didn't you? You were constantly thinking about him at the party."
"Well thank you for respecting my privacy."
"Sorry, but you looked so disturbed and I couldn't just ask you in front of everybody. And it's not like I listened to almost everything you were thinking. But back to my question ...... how was it with Bullseye?"
"What do you want? Details?"
"Yeeeeees!" Leah answered as if she was entitled to know every aspect of Lara's intimate life.
"Why don't you just read my mind?"
"God forbid! That would be like watching a porn flick and there probably are some images of you boyfriend in there that I don't think I want to see."
"He's not my boyfriend."
"Whatever."
"So what do you want then?"
"I want you to tell me stuff like where did you go, what did you do."
"What do you think we did? Play cards all night long?"
"Yes. Why not? Playing cards is an excellent pass-time activity."
"Yeah, for you maybe. Let's go sit down and I will tell you all about it."
They both headed towards the sofa and sat down but as Lara was about to speak, Leah interrupted her.
"I'm having dinner with him tonight."
"Who? Welch?" Lara asked curiously and Leah nodded in response. "So you are serious about this guy?"
"I'm not sure yet. He likes me though."
"He said that?"
"No. He thought it. But never mind this. Tell me about your lovely psychopathic friend."
"Well, ...... "
The following three days went by quite smoothly. Lara went, together with Leah, to a meeting in Tokyo while Kingpin finally sold the diamonds and got in exchange more money than he had expected. Having no assignments, Bullseye spent most of his time looking for the devil but again, without any luck. The devil, on the other hand met with his new found friend, reporter Ben Urich, asking him to try and find out what might have happened to Elektra's body, which had mysteriously disappeared. Smoke, Shade and Mystique made no progress in their search for the vampire Linus Dayo, since Mystique couldn't find any useful information in the office she had searched that night at the "Olympic". The only thing they knew was that some werewolves tried to kill Dayo.
As soon as she got back from Tokyo, Lara was immediately called to the WLA Headquarters by General Stryker. When Lara had taken Fisk, Welch and Bullseye there, they made an exception to the rule and granted them immediate access inside the facility. However, getting inside such a compound, which is considered one of the safest and well guarded places in the world is not easy at all. Since the organization already has a member who is able to change forms – namely Mystique -, as well as duplicate one's fingerprints or retina pattern, there certainly are other shape-shifters out there in the world, so, in order to prevent intruders from getting in, each person who wants to enter must pass a DNA test.
The procedure is quite simple; all they have to do is put a finger in a special place on a machine and then a small needle extracts a bit of their blood, which the machine uses in order to identify the person's DNA. If the DNA corresponds to a member of the organization, his or her picture and name will appear on a screen in front of them and a robotic feminine voice will give them the "Access Granted" message.
What is more, this procedure applies to everyone, no matter how high their ranks are. So, after passing through all these examinations and then through all the winding corridors inside the compound, Lara finally got to Stryker's office.
Stryker's office resembled a bit Fisk's, because of the glass wall behind his desk. The only difference was that the giant window did not offer this time a panoramic view of the city but that of a large hall with metal walls, some staircases and various doors, leading to other offices or chambers, as the facility was, after all, underground.
The shades inside Stryker's office were also different from those in Fisk's office. Instead of the bright light, the blue and the white everything was black, dark brown or silver, rendering the room quite dark.
"Sir?" Lara called out after entering and seeing Stryker standing in front of the glass wall, looking towards it with a serious and pensive expresion on his face.
"This situation is beginning to get out of control and the worst part is that I can't bring myself to have him killed once and for all. Sometimes he helps us but other times he messes up our business more than we can afford."
"Oh, no. This is not about that devil guy, is it?" Lara asked quite annoyed.
"Of course it is," Stryker turned to her irritated, raising his voice to a rather high level. "What other normal person walks about the city dressed in an idiotic costume, thinking he can make justice?"
"So do you want me to take him out this time?"
"Fisk wants him dead for sure. He has that famous assassin of his tracking him down."
"Bullseye."
"Yes, Bullseye."
"What exactly do you want me to do, sir?"
"I think I have found an excelent way to keep Daredevil from interfering with Fisk's business without having to kill him," said Stryker after which he took out a folder from his desk and handed it out to Lara.
"What does she got to do with anything?" Lara asked after opening the file and seeing the picture inside.
"Obviously you don't know who she is. Take a look through her file."
"Well this is interesting!" Lara exclaimed after discovering some facts regarding the woman's identity and life.
"She is the best weapon we have to keep Daredevil away. I want you to get in touch with Bullseye and convince him to take her with him, find the devil and let him know who is in charge."
"I must admit this appears to be a flowless plan but I do not think that Bullseye will be too happy to see her alive."
"Tell him that he can have anything he wants. Money is no problem."
"He would not be interested in money. The thing he has with the devil is kind of a personal vendetta."
"Colonel, this is no longer my problem. I gave you an order and your duty is to carry it out. Bullseye's attitude is not of my concerne. If he's not happy, make him happy, since you seem to know so much about him."
Stryker gave Lara a curious look while he told her that and she answered with an indignant expression while he passed by her and exited the office, leaving her there contemplating his words.