Black Canary crouched low, like a nimble black cat, sliding silently along the edge of the corridor, entirely hidden in the shadows, her newly changed black leotard providing her with the perfect camouflage.
Her eyes were tightly fixed on a man ahead, Black Canary had been following him for three minutes, and she was certain he was a drug dealer looking to make some side money amidst the chaos, and not even a professional hitman.
"Penitent Cartel is really running out of people," Black Canary thought, a sly look in her eyes. Chased by those damn drug traffickers for so long, it was finally her turn for revenge.
Moving forward delicately again, she crouched in the shadows at the stairwell's corner, clenching a blade in her hand. She knew that just ten steps ahead there was a female body, dressed in a luxurious gown, which was previously hers, with layered skirts and a thick Baroque collar.
The gown itself and the ornaments on it were worth some money, but more importantly, such attire was usually worn by gamblers on the second floor, and gamblers always held Gold Coins, real gold.
In fact, this had already caused quite a bit of chaos. More and more people were realizing that if today was a complete tragedy, then the Gold Coins held by the people on the second floor could recoup some of their losses, as there were always those ready to fish in troubled waters.
Greed is Dionysium, Greed is poison, and Black Canary had set a trap with this very concept. She put the clothes she had taken off on the body, leading them to believe the guest from the second floor had fallen, surely having Gold Coins on her, baiting these greedy fools.
Sure enough, one moment the man was vigilantly holding his gun, and the next, he halted, cautiously approaching the female corpse, reaching out to touch her.
But indeed, the gown was too splendid and complicated. One Hand could only lift the skirt and couldn't search beneath it. He looked around and, finding no one nearby or anything that could pose a threat to him, he tucked the gun behind him.
The moment a smile appeared on his face, a knife sealed his throat.
The man couldn't make any sound before his artery and windpipe were simultaneously cut. Black Canary immediately covered the wound, then pressed the man's neck against the skirt, so the blood wouldn't spurt too far, and the bait could be reused.
When the blood's force ebbed, turning from spraying to just flowing, Black Canary turned the man over, grabbed his ankles, and dragged him towards the stairwell. She had no intention of taking the body to the cold storage for disposal. With such chaos on the ship, there was no need to hide the body; killing someone and then tossing them into the sea was enough. No one would know who did it.
That's how Black Canary dragged the body to the window by the stairwell. Just as she was about to open the window to dispose of the body, she suddenly heard a noise from the end of the opposite corridor, as if someone was dragging something heavy.
Black Canary tensed up. Despite her decisive actions, she was once a Superhero who refrained from killing. If it hadn't been for the perilous journey protecting Oliver, which taught her some don't deserve to live, she wouldn't have had any killing spree till now.
So although her advanced combat skills allowed her to draw blood effortlessly, she was still nervous due to her lack of experience in disposing of bodies. At the first sound of disturbance, she simply threw the body, found the nearest room, and hid inside.
This was a storeroom, with no observation window on the door. Black Canary thought for a moment, then lay flat on the ground and peeked out through the gap under the door.
Drip... Drip... Drip...
The sound of dress shoes' heels clicking on the floor came from afar and carried a dizzying tremble as it approached.
Black Canary first smelled a strong scent of blood and then saw a pair of black dress shoes walking unhurriedly from outside the door, dragging a corpse behind him.
It was a muscular corpse wearing an Orca mask. As his face slid past the doorway, Black Canary saw his eyes wide open, his right eye turned into a bloody cavity with shards of the eyeball and pieces of his brain leaking out, slowly building a meaty Great Wall on the floor.
Black Canary covered her mouth, trying her best to stay still, very, very, very slowly standing up from the ground. Her instinct told her that she must get into a defensive stance as soon as possible in this situation, but as soon as she moved, the footsteps stopped.
The body suddenly twitched, hitting the wall made from its own brain matter. Black Canary knew this meant the assailant had dropped the body; her heart instantly rising to her throat.
One second, two seconds, three seconds... complete silence.
In such a quiet environment, she should have been able to clearly hear the assailant's heartbeat and breath, but Black Canary only heard her own. The killer dragging the body seemed to have vanished into thin air.
Black Canary took a deep breath, slowly pressed her ear to the door, trying to hear any movement outside. After discovering silence, she stepped forward, pressed her eye to the gap in the door, and looked outside.
Whoosh!
Her eyes darted in horror upwards where a long spike loomed just three centimeters above her head, and the blood dripping from its tip slid down her hair onto her back, causing her spine to tighten and her body to tremble.
The instant Black Canary straightened up, she saw an eye appear behind the door crack, the gray pupil resembling that of some cold-blooded animal, but the vacant look in his eyes made her feel he saw nothing.
Black Canary took a deep breath, feeling the door being pushed slightly; the action was light, but the flimsy lock still caused the door to shake momentarily.
It was this faint shake that made Black Canary realize that the ornamental room door of this broken ship had no defensive capability at all; it would give way in a couple of hits, finally making her lose all sense of security.
So she did what most people would do when separated by a room door, she turned and used her back to brace against the door, her feet acting as supports to prevent someone from breaking in.
Black Canary inhaled sharply, tensing her legs, biting her teeth, and scanning the room with her gaze. The room she had chosen in her haste had no windows, meaning she had no way to escape; if the assailant broke in, she would have to fight to the death.
But she had nothing more than a few inches long blade in her hand, could only rely on ambush to kill a dealer, and the assailant had apparently dealt with a bulky man of at least 200 pounds with a handy weapon. With such odds against her, there was no chance of victory in a direct confrontation.
Black Canary took another deep breath; now, her gaze caught something on the left side—a coat closet that had a small open shelf in the gap between it and the door. On the third tier of the shelf lay a giraffe-shaped ornament.
This ornament came with a metal base and was about as long as Black Canary's forearm. With her extensive combat experience, Black Canary immediately thought that the best way to confront someone breaking in would be to wait until the last second when the assailant's vision is blocked by the broken door, and then strike their head fiercely with a blunt object.
A heavy blow to the head can disorient any humanoid creature, causing brief dizziness and loss of vision; if struck just right, it can even knock a person to the ground and knock them unconscious, providing Black Canary with a chance to burst out of the room.
She took a deep breath again, forced herself to calm down, and slowly moved to the left. While still propped against the door, she reached out to hook the giraffe statue.
Her left pinkie finger slowly crossed the gap in the door, followed by her entire palm, then her arm, and the left side of her spine.
What Black Canary didn't know was that the pair of eyes peeking through the gap in the door were gradually focusing.
Finally, Black Canary touched the statue. She whipped her hand back in a swift motion and ducked behind the door hinge, ready to hit hard as soon as the opponent broke through the door.
Bang!!
The door panel was hit hard, the loud noise causing Black Canary's heart to jump; she clutched the statue in her hand, picturing the scene unfolding as planned.
Bang!! Bang!!
After two more strikes, Black Canary saw the door lock teetering. She slowly raised the statue in her hand, ready to smash it into the intruder's head the instant she saw a silhouette.
Suddenly, silence.
Black Canary's arm froze.
Boom!!!!!!!
The entire door, with her alongside it, flew out.
Black Canary slammed hard into the middle of the small warehouse; the door panel shattered on top of her, and the statue dropped to the corner of the wall.
She furiously swiped away the debris from her eyes, only to see a man standing in the doorway against the light, wearing a red suit and cape, holding a blood-stained Gunfish mask in his left hand.
The moment his eyes locked onto hers, every cell in Black Canary's body screamed.
"Shiller!!!!!!"
She scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could, but Shiller was faster.
Bang!
The piece of door panel Black Canary had just lifted was pierced through, the spike of the gun and mask stopping just a centimeter from her forehead.
Black Canary flung the piece of the door panel to the left, throwing off Shiller's arm, and took the opportunity to fully stand up, staggering toward the statue in the corner.
The piece hanging on the Gunfish spike couldn't hold for a second; Shiller flicked his wrist, and after the debris fell, he stepped forward and plunged the Gunfish spike straight into Black Canary's right side.
"Augh!!!!!!"
Her pupils dilated instantly; the intense pain tensed her muscles and fully ignited her adrenaline. Black Canary abruptly retreated, pulling away from the Gunfish mask's attack range, one hand covering the wound, the other bending down to pick up the statue and flinging it at Shiller.
With a clatter, the heavy statue was deflected by Shiller's arm and crashed heavily against the wall, its base breaking off and shattering into two pieces.
Seizing the moment Shiller raised his arm, Black Canary darted to his left and rushed into the hallway, only to inhale sharply and clutch her wound, leaning against the wall.
She breathed heavily, seeing Shiller walk out of the room, Black Canary incredulously said, "What's wrong with you? Aren't you Oliver's friend? Why would you..."
The Gunfish spike came at her again, Black Canary turned and ran, but a few steps after she turned, Shiller moved on another level of speed.
Black Canary couldn't see how he got behind her; she only saw a shadow suddenly cover the ground in front of her, a burst of pain coming from her right shoulder, and she lunged forward. Her trembling hand reached for her back, feeling another bloody hole.
Black Canary gasped, no longer able to care too much, amid the sharp pain she concentrated hard, a sound wave akin to a bird's chirping rapidly spreading from her mouth.
"Hum—"
Not just Shiller, nearly everyone on the floor hesitated momentarily, feeling dizzy, stiff, and numb, some were even immobilized.
Black Canary closed her mouth, tried hard to lower her racing heart rate, and with all her strength scrambled up from the ground, limping toward the stairway.
Although she still couldn't control this ability well, she knew the strength of the "Canary Cry," she had ample time to leave.
But just as Black Canary turned her back on Shiller, Shiller moved.