Seeing that the gun was ready to blast his head off his body, Tyrone closed his eyes in acceptance, spreading his arms outwards like Jesus on the cross.

While he hadn’t been actively seeking death, it was fine as long as death found him instead.

Somewhere deep inside his heart, Tyrone had to admit that he was somewhat hoping to end up in exactly this scenario.

Joining Jessica, Xandra, Billy, and his parents in the afterlife was not a bad idea.

Though, he was pretty sure he would be trapped in eternal darkness with the darkened blood flowing through his veins.

Maybe he was cursed but he would never know until he tried…

Tyrone hid it very well but waking up every day was a pain for him.

Every night the nightmares would come and he would relive Jessica’s and Xandra’s deaths all over again.

Billy would also stop the bullets from killing him every night, just the windup dying in his place.

Ever since coming to the 1940s, Tyrone had never truly had any rest but it seemed that the world was not yet ready to take him away.

--BANG--

Waiting but still not feeling the prick of a gunshot, Tyrone opened his eyes to see Betty’s left hand on the gun, her index finger missing and a large amount of blood gushing.

It wasn’t the first time Tyrone had witnessed such an injury but the fact that it was Betty hurt changed everything in his eyes.

Turning her teary eyes to Tyrone, Betty smiled sadly and whispered “I want you to live Ty…”

Tyrone watched wide-eyed as Betty collapsed to the ground, screaming in pain as she clutched the spot of her missing finger.

Her life wasn’t in any danger as long as she was given medical attention within the hour, but Tyrone still took everything to heart.

Betty’s finger had been blown off when she diverted the gun, trying to protect him.

Still, all of that meant nothing for Tyrone because for a split second… just a split second, the appearance of Jessica overlapped with Betty.

That was all the motivation Tyrone required… to see Jessica in the faces of people who wanted what was best for him.

“Bitch!” The Second Assassin yelled, giving Betty a smack on the side of the face that knocked her out.

Using this opportune moment of distraction, Colonel Philips was able to push himself off the wall and smack the First Assassin across the face.

Being the elderly he was, Colonel Philips was sure that he would be reaching his limits soon enough.

“What you waiting for kid?” he yelled and Tyrone’s feet dashed forward with rage in his eyes.

Colonel Philips fought but he admired Tyrone’s charging figure from the corner of his eyes.

‘This kid is about to fuck shit up…’ The Colonel thought happily.

Tyrone charged his fist and dashed forward like a raging bull, fully intent on delivering a knock-out shot that would rend the Earth and split the skies…

Anyone watching this scene would mistake Tyrone for a Saiyan given the way his veins bulged.

However, just as Tyrone was about to deliver the killer blow, The Second Assassin laughed a bit, ducked his head, and tossed Tyrone over his shoulder, slamming Tyrone into the ground.

--THUD--

Tyrone laid flat out on the ground within two seconds and stared up dazedly at the corridor ceiling.

He didn’t even know if gravity was up or down right now, or his left from his right…

He honestly had no idea what had just happened but he could tell that street fighting had finally failed him.

Sure, charging in recklessly didn’t help but his opponent was obviously skilled in some Chinese-type Bruce Lee shit...

‘Turns out karate and other martial arts do work in real life…’ he thought foolishly.

Colonel Philips himself was also surprised that Tyrone would be taken down so easily.

Even the First Assassin had to giggle a bit at the sight.

If anything, Tyrone was thankful that Betty seemed to be in too much pain to watch his embarrassing combat display.

It would be more hurtful to lose Betty’s respect than the body slam he just suffered.

‘Betty!’ Tyrone thought, roused from his depressing musings and stretching a hand towards her direction.

--CRACK --

The Second Assassin smashed Tyrone’s outreaching hand with his hardened boot, and spun Tyrone around, placing him in a chokehold that would eventually end his life.

The Second Assassin, in his fury, tossed his gun away, opting to end Tyrone and everyone else with his bare hands.

Tyrone felt his trachea being crushed, lungs expanding and contracting but nothing remained inside them.

He could finally tell how fishes felt out of water…

Walking the streets of Boston made him feel tough, but now he recognized that this situation was a totally different ballgame, and he had to adapt to the rules.

--RIP--

... And adapt was exactly what Tyrone did…

The Second Assassin felt a piercing pain as another chunk of flesh was torn from another part of his body – his hands.

Betty chewed at The Second Assassin’s shoulder, Anthony chewed at his ankles, and now Tyrone chewed at his hands.

‘A fucking family of Cannibals… no wonder those guys wanted them dead!’

Tyrone had no other option, so he had adopted Betty’s unique combat style – bite, scratch, and pull whatever hair you can find.

However, this was the last straw for the irritated Second Assassin who had been bitten too many times in one day… and it wasn’t even the good kind of bites the prostitutes would deliver.

“You motherfuckers wanna bite me huh?”

Tired of everyone biting him alone, The Second Assassin dragged Tyrone to his feet and bit into his shoulder like an angry bulldog, swaying from side to side like a berserker.

“AAAAHHHHHHH!”

Five seconds passed as Colonel Philips and The First Assassin watched Tyrone scratching, biting, and pulling the hair of the Second Assassin, while the Second Assassin refused to release Tyrone’s shoulder from his maw.

Colonel Philips could tell that the assassins were third rate at best… maybe even fourth of fifth…

Then…

The Second Assassin’s lips blackened, his face turned pale, and he dropped dead on the spot, releasing Tyrone and sending everyone into a state of absolute confusion.

After all, someone doesn’t usually drop dead during a fight… especially, not a fight they were about to win…

--BANG--

--BANG--

--BANG--

--BANG--

Nobody could tell when Betty stopped rolling around on the ground, grabbed the Second Assassin’s gun, and put a couple new holes in the First Assassin fighting against Colonel Philips.

Betty had just barely missed killing Colonel Philips as well but she could care less.

Becky was a tomboy at heart, and no tomboy could stomach being smacked around as she had been earlier.

“You mother fuckers… you took my finger you bitches…”

Betty yelled, cursed, and kicked the corpses of both assassins without reprieve.

She had already ripped a piece of her expensive shirt to wrap around her right hand.

Tyrone was sure she would light the corpses on fire if there was any gasoline nearby. Actually, Betty could probably use her eyes to burn the corpses if she tried hard enough.

He also admired that Betty was tough enough to lose a finger and not cry about it too much. After all, he knew there was no way to regrow a finger, or even re-attach one in the 1940s.

Betty cursed the assassins’ ancestors, their parents, their dogs, cats, and even their homeland.

When she was finished cursing, Tyrone wasn’t sure if there was anything more to curse… maybe, if she started to curse individual particles in the air around the assassins’ corpses.

While Betty was cursing up a storm, Colonel Philips helped the unconscious Anthony to his feet and eyed Tyrone suspiciously.

Nobody was paying much attention right now but Tyrone knew he would eventually have to give an account of how The Second Assassin died.

What was he supposed to say ‘My blood is toxic, I am dying and I am probably cursed with immortality of some kind if myself from an alternate universe is to be believed?’

“Let’s go…” Colonel Philips ordered as he carried Anthony past Tyrone and Betty, not even glancing at the bodies of the assassins as he passed by.

Colonel Philips knew that there would be no way to identify the assassins.

Computers were an up-and-coming thing but it was not wide-scale enough to hold identifications as yet.

Just as Tyrone was about to move over and help Betty, Colonel Philips stopped his steps and pointed at Tyrone “Your job is to carry the bodies of the two men who gave their lives... Show them some respect kid…”

Tyrone felt a bit ashamed at that reminder because even in Boston, everyone respected an army man who would shed their blood in defense of the country, even if the country didn’t love them back entirely.

Tyrone gave Betty an apologetic smile, and she returned a small smile in response.

There was no need for words between the two of them because they were neither too close as friends nor as alienated as strangers.

‘Every relationship should be like this…’ Tyrone thought, referring to his lukewarm relationship with Betty.

Tyrone carefully widened his stance, placing the dead soldiers from the ground onto his shoulders, and walked behind Colonel Philips.

Betty was also at Tyrone’s side, doing her best to support parts of the soldier’s bodies that could not fully rest on Tyrone’s back.

While she was pained from head to toe, with the majority of her body numbed, Betty still gritted her teeth and didn’t let out so much as a whimper.

----------------

Tyrone and company walked until they were out of the corridor and into the lobby, then with a bit more walking, they had begun to hear the wail of sirens and the loud shouts of people.

Exiting the building, everyone was greeted by the sight of first responders running around, aiding the complaining people who had exited the building earlier.

A few police officers were also present but judging by their relaxed atmosphere, Tyrone guessed that the matter was not as severe as he previously thought.

Maybe, the target had been Betty all along so the entire fiasco was just a way to get her alone.

“Was this-”

“Targeted?” Colonel Philips finished Tyrone’s statement and then nodded “Yes… this was a diversion to get Anthony alone… maybe they will find another body or two inside since he had assistants who helped him with classified documents…”

“Oh…” Tyrone whispered, handing the bodies of the fallen soldiers to the two medics who came to check if they were still alive.

Immediately after handing the soldiers away, Tyrone felt Betty slump against his back, so he also guided her to a nearby ambulance.

Colonel Philips also escorted the now awake Anthony to another ambulance, before spinning around and barking orders at everyone like he was their long-lost ancestor.

---------------

“You’re sure that you’re fine?” Tyrone asked Betty for the hundredth time.

Betty rolled her eyes but couldn’t answer since the ambulance was rumbling to life… it had been an hour since events settled down, and all the medical vehicles were getting ready to depart.

“Mr. Tyrone?” A strange man asked causing Tyrone to flinch a bit before Betty placed a hand on his shoulder, calming down his hyperactive nerves.

“Yes…”

“My name is Heinz Kruger… I am an associate of the Senator…” Heinz said, bowing a little to Tyrone.

Tyrone looked at Heinz with interest, already taking a liking to the man.

Everyone had a natural atmosphere of fear around their bodies, this was caused by their fear of death; however, Tyrone could see that Heinz had no such fear lingering around his body.

As someone who could instinctively sense the fear of others, Tyrone found someone without fear a bit refreshing…

After the bow, Heinz continued “The Colonel would like you to escort Sir. Anthony to the hospital in his stead…”

Tyrone frowned, not willing to associate with Anthony regardless of his positive impression of the man but one glance at Betty’s pleading eyes made him hesitant to refuse.

Betty sighed seeing Tyrone’s hesitation “Tyrone… I know you’re thankful to me but… my husband is my world…. I do all I do for my husband and in the hopes that my daughter will come home one day… I am 35… and I have been in love with my husband since I was 17…”

“And?” Tyrone asked.

“I am missing a finger so I am fine… but my husband has been in a dark place recently so I just want you to protect him until the hospital…” Betty pleaded.

Tyrone sighed “Lead the way…” he said to Heinz who was quick to comply.

-------------------------

Tyrone followed Heinz to a private ambulance where Anthony laid connected to several IVs with bandages wrapping him from head to toe.

Though, all the bandages didn’t seem to limit his movements as Anthony sat upwards at the sight of Tyrone and Heinz.

“Oh...” Heinz remembered something before he left and passed a bag to Anthony “Don’t forget your package…”

Anthony struggled to reach forward as he retrieved the package from Heinz.

Not long after, the ambulance rumbled to life, and Tyrone, alongside Anthony, was on his way to the hospital.

‘Thankfully, I only have to leave him there until Betty arrives…’ Tyrone thought lazily but noticed a faint sense of fear lingering around Anthony.

He ultimately chose to ignore the fear because the man was obviously traumatized by the earlier events.

Tyrone could even smell a bit of piss from Anthony’s stretcher...

“You okay man?” Tyrone inquired, trying to make conversation with someone important to his benefactor – Betty.

*mumble*

*mumble*

*mumble*

“What?”

Anthony took a deep breath and gestured for Tyrone to come closer.

Tyrone was a bit freaked at first, thinking that Anthony wanted to kiss him but he ultimately knelt and scooted over to Anthony’s side just in time to hear his mumbles.

“Everything I do… I do for Betty…” Anthony whispered weakly causing Tyrone to have a new sense of admiration for the man, but Anthony’s finishing statement confused Tyrone.

“HAIL HYDRA!” Anthony shouted.

“What’s HYD-”

Tyrone’s vision darkened…

--BBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM--

The ambulance had exploded…

---------------

Tyrone suddenly found himself drowning in water…

Every breath causing more water to enter his lungs…

It took Tyrone a couple of seconds to stop struggling and instead swim towards the sunlight, breaking through the surface of the water.

After resurfacing, Tyrone heard screaming coming from the bridge in the distance.

With a single glance at the bridge, Tyrone had already figured out what happened…

He was there in the ambulance with Anthony… and then he wasn’t anymore…

“My powers probably misbehaved…” Tyrone whispered, face devoid of all emotions “I killed Betty’s Husband... poison runs deep in my veins…”

A silent tear slid from his eye as his mind blacked out, floating amidst the waves of one of Manhattan’s many tributaries.