Stealth. The science of getting in and out of a situation without being detected. Or at least that's how Nikki describes it. Of course that's only because she's been doing stuff like this since she was a child so it's become more like a nature. The slower breathing. The lighter steps. The focus. Everything feels natural.

That's why it's so upsetting when she puts all the training forward and her partner blows everything up.

The explosion shakes the entire building and nearly knocks the teen off balance, causing her to swear violently and pressed closer to the wall to remain standing. Everything stabilizes pretty quickly and ten guards rush down the hall towards the disturbance. When the get too close, the young mercenary fades into the shadows, waiting until they all pass before reappearing. The black haired teen huffs in annoyance and continues forward, making sure to check every turn for threats before she makes it.

Once she safely passes another group of armed guards, the teen sighs and presses the talk button on ear communicator. "Damn it, Wade," she whispers to her partner as she creeps down the long hallway. "This is a stealth mission. We agreed no explosions."

"But explosions are the best," the red mercenary comments happily through his own ear piece. "Besides, you wanted a distraction. This is a distraction!"

Nikki sighs heavily through her nose and pulls her phone from her pocket, checking to make sure she's going in the right direction. "Just don't do it again," she orders as she follows the map to the end of the hall. "You put too much powder in that last one and nearly knocked the building down."

"I did not," Deadpool comments, sounding more excited than anything at the point. There's a pause filled by his childlike laughter and a few gun shots before he continues. "Have faith in me, Nixon. I have been doing this for a while."

Another small explosion rocks the building and Nikki sighs again. "It's not you I'm worried about..." She ends the communication line and crouches down in front of the door at the very end of the hall. The teen presses her palm firmly against the knob. With another deep inhale, Nikki focuses and feels the shadows inside the lock shifting into place. After a few seconds, the lock clicks and the black-haired teen smirks victoriously.

Nikki stands and twists the knob, allowing the door to open while she peers inside. Nothing pops out or immediately attempts to kill her, so she takes it as an invitation inside. The office is dark, but it's not a problem for the mercenary. Years of training and the ability to control darkness gives Nikki crystal clear night vision. So she shuts the door and continues inside. After another quick scan of the area, Nikki locks onto the target desk and starts forward.

There's about a dozen drawers in total on the desk, but the mercenary knows she doesn't have time to go through all of them. So she simply picks a few at random and riffles through. "Ha," she whispers victoriously after a moment, finally grabbing the right file amongst the other papers and shoving it in her waistband. "Time to g-"

Another explosion, a much larger explosion, rocks the entire building and causes the diamond chandelier on the ceiling to break free and crash to the ground. Nikki covers her face to avoid the shattering glass and feels the tiny pinpricks of micro-cuts litter her arms. Fire alarms blare and a flashing red lights fill the room, causing Nikki's night vision to go haywire.

"Nikki!" Deadpool calls in her ear, throwing her off just as she was adjusting to the alarms. "I messed up!"

"You think?" she replies, rising from behind the desk and rushing to the door. "What happened?"

"You know how you said I put too much gunpowder in my explosives?" he asks. "I think you were right!"

A single, sarcastic laugh pushes through the black-haired mercenary's lips as she throws the door open and runs down the hall. "I think you should have listened to me before," she comments, not bothering to be stealthy anymore. "Where are you? We need to go."

There's another pause before Deadpool speaks. "Second floor," he says through a few dry hacks. "Hurry up! It's getting smoky down here!"

Thick black clouds roll up from the stairs Nikki was heading for and causes her to stall her steps. "I see that," she says, covering her mouth mouth and nose with the top of her shirt. "Shit, Wade." The hall under the stairs starts tinting with orange as the flames spreads, bringing the teen to a full halt at the top. "Wade I can't get down," she informs, watching as the fire spreads fast and starts on the stairs. "It's spreading too fast. I need another exit."

"Uuuhhh," her partner says as she continues moving down the hall. "Is there a window?"

The words cause Nikki to stop in her tracks and she tilts her head toward the ear piece. "Come again?" she asks in disbelief. "Wilson. I am on the third floor. I'm not jumping out the window."

"There's a pool," he counters. "You could jump into the pool!"

"Wilson."

"I'm looking right at it!" he defends. "I'll jump with you!" A part of the second floor ceiling collapses and both mercenaries flinch. "I'm going for it!"

Before Nikki has a chance to reply, the older assassin gives a excited battle cry and a window below her shatters. The teen rushes to the nearest window and presses her face to it just as he partner splashes down in the twelve foot pool. "You have got to be shitting me," she huffs as he resurfaces. A sharp heat slaps her in the back and causes her to turn and face the rapid approaching flames. The younger mercenary passes another glance to the three story drop and groans in defeat. "Fuck me." With only the thought of survival in mind, Nikki takes a few steps back before running forward and throwing herself out the window.

"What the hell happened!?" the employer shouts, rising from his desk chair as the soaking wet, ash covered mercenaries enter. "You brought the entire place down! How stupid do you have to be to bring down a building for a file!?"

Deadpool smiles under his mask and jabs a thumb to his chest. "What you call stupid, Mr. Teach," he starts, already making Nikki regret allowing him to talk. "I call a grand gesture of success!"

Mr. Teach goes red in the face and snatches the damp file from his desk. "This is unacceptable!" he shouts. "I hired you to because you're supposed to be the best! This is the work of an amature!"

Nikki frowns. "Could you have gotten it yourself?" she asks flatly, speaking for the first time since they entered. "That's why you hired us, right? Because you couldn't get it yourself?" The black haired teen nods once at the file in his hands. "We got it in one piece, and it's legible."

"How would you-"

"I opened it," Deadpool admits with a nonchalant shrug. A wide grin forms under his mask at the look of horror on the employer's face. "That's pretty heavy stuff there, Ralphy. Hired assassins. Ordered executions. Rape of secretaries. Nothing a fine business man like you would want out in the public view, right?" Teach fish mouths in search of the proper response but gets cut off as Deadpool continues. "We made a few copies of that file that a few trusted friends are going to send to a few big news industries in an hour unless I call them off." The grin turns devious and he extends a hand toward the other man. "So quit your bitchin' and pay up, else I'm not gonna make that call."

Teach stands there sending horrified glances between both mercenaries in front of him. "Bull shit!" he settles on eventually. "You didn't do shit! There are no copies! No contacts! No nothing! You're just a couple of blackmailing sons of bitches who are getting too big for their own good!" The man spits in their direction and Nikki's frown deepens. "I'm not paying you for this half assed shit! Get out of my o-"

The rest of his sentence dies as his head snaps back, eyes rolling back as a red dot in the center of his forehead spills blood down his face. Teach's corpse drops hard and Deadpool lowers his gun, a similar look of disapproval on his face. "That's too bad," he says, keeping his eyes on the blood splattered wall as Nikki walks around the desk. "I was just starting to think we would become friends."

Nikki smirks at the joke and opens the top drawer. Stacks upon stacks of hundred dollar bills sit in neat stacks inside the drawer, causing the teen merc to whistle in admiration. "Do we have a bag or something?" she asks, glancing up from the stacks to her partner. A large black duffle lands on the desk in front of her and she nods in approval. "That'll work."

The mercenaries enter their current safe house, making sure to kick the door closed on their way in. "I'm taking a shower," Nikki call, dropping the heavy duffle in the open coat closet near the door. "Is there hot water?"

Wade shrugs and walks further into the ratty apartment, flopping on the mold sporing couch with a tired grunt. "How the hell would I know?" he asks, voice muffled from putting his face on the seat. "I haven't been here all day. Did we have any yesterday?"

The black haired teen sighs and runs a hand through her hair, pulling through a wet knot and coming back with a soot-colored hand. "Lukewarm," she huffs as she walks to the bathroom. "I think there's a message on the answering machine."

The older merc lifts his head as Nikki leaves, spotting a blinking red light on the phone. He groans in tired annoyance. "I don't want to do anything!" he declares despite the fact he's reaching for the button. Deadpool slams a finger on the playback button and waits.

'You have -one- new voice message...first message:'

BEEP

'Hello Deadpool,' starts an unfamiliar voice. 'My name is Quinten Shakes and I have a job for you. As you probably already know, I can't discuss the details over the phone..."

Deadpool snorts and rests his face back on the couch. "Typical newbie," he grumbles before tuning back in.

'...two point two billion dollars.'

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" The mercenary is now paying full attention to the man on the machine.

'If you choose to accept the job, please meet me in the penthouse room of the Frolicer Hotel in Detroit at three pm in three days. I look forward to your response, Mr. Wilson.'

BEEP

'End of message. To repeat-'

"NIKKI PACK YOUR SHIT! WE HAVE TO GO TO DETROIT!"