Hello everyone and welcome back to 'New World Order'.
Hope you liked the first chapter.
Chapter 2: Five years later: The Triskelion heist
I am Uatu, the Watcher. Our ancient race watches over many worlds. Worlds that are similar, but different. Many events on all these worlds happen under different circumstances, but parallel to it under the same circumstances. We vowed to only watch, but not to interfere. Our only desire is to study all races in all universes on all planets. This time my eyes are now on a Earth which had made tragic losses. Many of their greatest heroes have fallen in various battles on the same day. This was five years ago.
The world itself is now divided into five kingdoms: the former North-American continent is now the Kingdom of America, ruled by Wilson Fisk and his wife Vanessa. South-America is now a lifeless jungle, slowly turning into a metal environment called Ultronpolis, named after it´s ruler, the living machine Ultron. Africa has become a colossal desert named the Domain. Only some villages and towns were spared by it´s cruel leader Apocalypse. The eastern parts of Asia are now in the hands of HYDRA, a ruthless terror organization that originated from Hitler´s science unit in World War II. Their current leader, and thus leader of the HYDRA-States is the woman called Viper. Europe and the western parts of Asia have been renamed to the Latverian Empire, ruled under the iron fist of the ruthless Doctor Doom.
The last two continents, Australia and Antarctica have become lifeless. The Oceanic continent has been destroyed by nuclear warheads. It´s now a wasteland without any organic lifeforms. The cold continent is shared by the new world leaders and used as one of their prisons, if any poor soul is ever spared in a direct confrontation.
The dictatorship of these five cruel personalities chokes out all hope of a world in peace. But every shadow needs some light to exist. And this light are some heroes that survived the day that became known as the last day of heroism.
###
The Triskelion. Once known as the biggest facility of SHIELD, stationed in Washington DC. The offices of all North-American representatives in the highest ranks were here. Even the senior director and member of the World Safety Council had his office in the highest floor. In a sad twist of irony this building has become now one of the biggest facilities in the clutches of one of the men who let the Council look like a colossal joke five years ago.
The building itself was on an artificial island with only one bridge leading to it. Heavy tanks and armored vehicles were passing it as they reached a gate, guarded by men wearing black armors. In their holsters were guns visible.
"It´s like you said, Victor. Two guards armed to their teeth. These Thorns conquered everything. Kingpin takes it really serious that America is now his Kingdom.", Black Widow said, looking through her long-distance goggles. Her red hair was now a lot shorter, but still long enough to cover her right half of the face partly. Instead of her typical black costume, she had a dark gray skintight outfit with a crimson hourglass-logo on her back. She kept her golden gauntlets and belt. Her right eye was also covered by an black eye-patch. It was a loss she made when she was hit five years ago by the piece of metal from the explosion that killed her friends Clint and Bobbi. And seemingly Carol, too. But she didn´t lost anything of her efficiency she was always known for.
She turned towards other men and women that were sitting with her in cover, behind some trees only few yards away from the bridge. The man she referred to as Victor was fully named Victor Creed, also known as the former super-villain Sabretooth. He had long, dark blonde hair tied up to a ponytail. His cheeks were covered by dark blonde sideburns. On each on his fingers he had cat-like claws instead of fingernails and his corner teeth were also sharpen like these of a giant cat.
On his right was a woman in her late-twenties with short blackish-brown hair, wearing a white variation of a typical SHIELD uniform and two massive gauntlets at her hands. She was like Natasha a former agent, Daisy Johnson, codenames 'Quake' or 'Skye'.
Another much younger woman was part this group. She had long, black hair and wore similar black jeans. Her boots were in a more metallic looking black, similar to the sleeves that ended around her small, but still toned biceps. The upper body of the young woman was simply covered with a short black and white striped top, revealing her midsection. She was a former member of the X-Men, Laura Kinney alias X-23.
To her left was a man dressed in black biker clothes with some dark purple stripes on it´s sides. His face was hidden inside his completely black helmet, fitting his appearance. He only called himself Overdrive and was a former villain, too.
The final individual in this strange group was completely covered in a dark red and black spandex suit, with a belt around his waist that was holding two guns. On his back were two sheaths, each one of them contained a deadly katana. His name was –
"The one and only, the merc with a mouth, the guy who won´t die, Wade Winston Wilson...Deadpool!"
Suddenly his throat was cut open by a metal blade, coming out of X-23´s hand.
"It´ll take a while until your vocal cords heal again.", she snarled, annoyed by his babbling behavior.
"Thank you, Laura...", Widow added. "Okay. If our mole is correct, Fisk hides a weapon inside the Triskelion that could give us finally the advantage we´ve been waiting so long for. We have to part into three groups: Skye and Overdrive get one of the vehicles for our escape and use their computer system against them. Laura comes with me. We two find whatever Fisk is storing in there. Victor and Wade, you two keep an eye on the guards and alarm us if they could suspect our present- where´s Wade?", she suddenly wondered.
Everyone looked around, but Deadpool was not found until Skye sighed: "Oh, no..."
They looked all to the bridge and saw him walking casually towards the guards.
"Hey, sweeties! I´m Deadpool. Probably you already heard of me. I mean who hasn´t since my movie came out. Ryan Reynolds did a terrific job, Oscar-worthy just because it was le moi."
Confused by his actions, his teammates simply sat behind the bushes, only watching what was about to happen.
"Shouldn´t we help him?", Overdrive asked but Natasha simply silenced him with a wave of her hand.
On the bridge the crimson-black merc came closer to both guards. His unhealthy sounding voice continued: "Just saying out of pure politeness: knowing your names would be nice, too. Let me guess: Ernie and Bert? Simon and Garfunkel?"
One of the guards suddenly snarled in a dead voice: "You better leave, freak!" They raised their weapons and started to hunt Deadpool into the forest.
With a high-pitched shriek he ran and yelled in his communicator: "Do it, guys!"
Black Widow now realized that he started his own distraction just to help them. "It´s pointless what he´s doing. We won´t even use this entrance...whatever."
She gave the others the command to do as they were briefed several moments ago.
"He´s endangering the whole mission, Nat.", X-23 complained. Sabretooth simply grunted: "It´s Wade, what do you expect?"
The bestial ex-villain hid himself in the forests surrounding the Triskelion, watching out for any other potential guards. He witnessed how they caught his long-time acquaintance and handcuffed him.
The masked merc ranted as the two armored men dragged him to the tower: "You do know I´m not afraid to cut off my own arms just to get away from you?"
One of the men sneered from beneath his helmet: "Not if these handcuffs nullify your healing powers."
"Really? What a lucky coincidence this is for the plot of this story..."
"Shut up!", the other one commanded.
Sabretooth talked into his communicator to Widow: "Wade got caught by these goons. Should I attack?"
"No, Victor. Let them bring him inside. If you assault them now they will probably start searching for us."
"Aren´t they already doing exactly that?"
"Probably. But they will start searching in the forests. So take good cover. If they only find you and nothing will come out of your mouth, the mission will still be safe to continue."
"And if our walking talking idiot starts to talk?", he asked.
At first there was no answer. But after a while he heard her voice stating: "Well, that wouldn´t be good..." She ended the talk and left Sabretooth alone in his thoughts.
He grunted to himself "Thanks for stating out the obvious." and vanished between trees.
###
Natasha lead Skye, Overdrive and X-23 to a small hill made of massive stone and covered by several plants growing on it. Her hands were searching something between the green leafs.
"Ehm...I don´t think it´s the right time to get touchy with...a stone wall...", Skye remarked somewhat confused.
"You think she had a secret crush on Ben Grimm?", Overdrive whispered.
Suddenly a clicking noise was heard and parts of the hill separated themselves to reveal a secret tunnel. X-23 walked into it and said extremely bored: "A secret entrance. I´m totally surprised..."
Black Widow made a presenting motion towards the other former SHIELD-Agent and the ex-villain.
They followed the mutant into the catacombs and Overdrive asked: "What makes you so sure that they won´t find us in here?"
They walked under some rusty pipes and some lamps that were so dusty that their light barely lit the tunnel.
"Because that tunnel was never noted in any file of SHIELD. It has to be a unpleasant miracle if Kingpin´s Thorns knew about it. Only Fury, Hill and myself knew of it´s existence.", Natasha explained as they reached a ladder. Again the black-haired mutant went forward. "How convenient for us.", Skye chuckled as she climbed after X-23.
"Ehm, Ms. Romanov, ma´am...", Overdrive raised his finger as he wanted to participate in the class. "Yes, `Drive...", she sighed annoyed and hang her head down. "Well, Ms. Romanov...I´m not that well trained in combat like you. Or Ms. Johnson. Or Ms. Kinney. Or-"
"Get to the point.", she nearly sang.
"The point is...what should I do when we get into a confrontation? There would be no scenario I could be helpful..." The tips of index fingers met several times in a nervous manner.
The red-haired heroine rested her hand on his shoulder and encouraged him: "You won´t get into any fight, we will make that sure."
Overdrive was still nervous, but now he was also a bit more brave as he climbed the ladder: "Thanks, ma´am."
As she followed him she added: "Make sure you won´t miss the next training session our leader and I will prepare if we get back home."
"Talking about him: what would he say if we leave Deadpool here? I mean this guy is nothing but trouble!", Skye said.
Natasha shook her head: "He won´t tolerate that. He would move heaven and hell to save him, even when he can´t stand him, too. But he is useful and we can use every helping hand." They walked to an iron gate.
"And even if Wade wouldn´t be a help for us...it´s still a life he thinks is worth saving."
She pressed some buttons as Overdrive said to X-23: "He even recruited me and Ol´Fang out there. And we were villains once. Okay, we weren´t part of this massacre five years ago, so probably that helped." The gate opened and Widow gave the signal to split up. Her and Laura went to the left, while Daisy and the only male in the group went to the right. "We meet outside in twenty minutes.", the combat experienced red-head said.
"Understood!", was Skye´s answer.
She and her companion headed to the hangar exactly the way Widow described it per communicator. They avoided the cameras, which were surprisingly only three on the whole way to their target.
When they reached the hangar they saw the vehicles that passed the bridge again and men and women wearing either black armors like the guards that caught Deadpool or had simple street-wear. All of them had some kind of heat emitting from their skin. Even some clouds of smoke were visible sometimes, coming from her glowing skin.
"Ohhh, these guys seem to be literal hotheads..", Overdrive whispered somewhat afraid.
"It looks like they have been infected with Extremis, some kind of super soldier serum. But I thought it wasn´t stabilized enough for any successful attempts and got destroyed.", Skye wondered.
"Sorry if it´s disrespectful to say, but it seems kinda obvious they found something of it and were successful...", the helmet wearing man dryly remarked.
She glared at him and said: "Seriously, why are you here? You cannot fight! Has our leader put you in our little group just to motivate us to finish it faster? I thought Deadpool is the guy for that!"
"That...that kinda hurt...Ms. Johnson...", he said defeated.
Skye didn´t care and watched the goons, stating: "When Extremis is this secret weapon Fisk stores here, we´re in bigger trouble than we initially thought." She eyed a console, not far away from her position. Overdrive was told to stay where he is as she sneaked to it. Without being located by one of the so called Thorns she used her computer skills to gain secretly access on the camera system.
When she had full control, she created a loop on every other computer system in the building, expect the one she was using. She activated her communicator and called Widow.
"I´m in their system now, Widow. I´ll guide you to the laboratory. But I have to warn you: it seems that these Thorns are powered by Extremis!"
"I thought it was destroyed?", came the voice from the other end.
"Well, obviously not...", Daisy said. "Take caution!"
###
"We will.", Natasha answered and told X-23: "Our problems have become bigger."
"Bigger?", X asked. "Is that even possible?"
"When Skye is right about Kingpin having fed his henchmen with the worst drug ever created, our problems will multiply." Both women hid behind a wall in the shadows and waited until Skye gave them confirmation that the way was free.
Natasha continued: "It looks like that all Thorns in this building have Extremis running through their veins. Back when he was still alive, Tony told me how he had trouble with just one of those guys. And his version of the serum was not stabilized! If they really have this stuff in their body in a way it functions, we...well..."
Again they took cover. Skye told them that there were no guards and their target was only two corridors away. X-23 spoke up: "I faced many monsters, junkies won´t harm me..."
"These junkies will! Their bodies create incredible heat. The first tests turned the injected ones into bombs that vaporized bystanders. I´m pretty sure that even your adamantium skeleton won´t be spared." Laura shrugged it off with a grunt.
Finally they reached the room they were searching. At least the door leading to it. The mole that extracted the information about a deadly weapon in the clutches of the Kingpin told Natasha and the leader of the last remaining heroes, that this room was once a laboratory which was used to research alternate types of energy, like cosmic rays and use them as sources for different machines, or even weapons. It could have changed the world to the better or worst. In all her years as an agent she was never down here. But she knew the head scientist of this department, Erik Selvig too well. A man that would have never used these types of energy for deadly weapons. Not at his own free will of course.
Unlucky for both trained killers was that two street clothes wearing individuals guarded the room, one male and one female. They could hear their banter.
"What I´m saying is: if Doom is really that smart, why does he share the world with four other persons.", the female said.
"I don´t know. Maybe he just had a generous phase in his life when this decision was made?", the male answered somewhat annoyed.
"Doom? Generous? I heard other stuff!"
"You really want to discuss that? Be glad that it is like it is. I´m not fond of the idea being run over by some Doombots and AIM-guys."
"Hmm, you´re right...Who do think would win a battle? Wrecker or Rhino?"
He sighed: "See...talks like this are the reason why we´re just henchmen and no super-villains..."
Black Widow and X-23 were still in cover and waited for the right opportunity to strike. The red-head whispered into her communicator: "Skye. Could you cause a fake alarm somewhere?"
"I thought you would never ask. Take cover!"
Like they were told, both women hid themselves behind some cables and metal bars. They were waiting until the female of the Thorns received a call: "Yes?...Mhm...okay, we´ll look..."
She turned to the male Thorn: "The sensors in Sector 3 registered an intruder. We´re supposed to take a look." He nodded and both headed to the mentioned location.
"Good work, Skye.", Natasha said leaving her cover. She and X-23 now walked to the door. Natasha again pressed some buttons, but without any effect.
"Wait, I´ll make it...", Skye said per communicator. After a short while the door opened itself which was monotonously remarked by Laura: "Open Sesame..."
"Close the door behind us."
Skye did as Natasha told her. Now the former Avenger and her mutant companion were in the laboratory. Her eyes instantly caught a huge glass tube glowing in a purple light. This tube was connected with everything that seemingly provides anything in this building with energy. Pipes, cables and wires from all directions were leading into capsules that drained their power from whatever was in this tube.
"What. Is. That?", Natasha nearly choked on her words. "Is that the weapon?"
"If 'yes' it´s alive...", X answered, again in a monotone voice.
"What makes you think that it´s alive?", Widow asked confused.
Now Laura showed for the first time some expressions on her face since this mission started. Her face told Natasha that she felt uncomfortable. Her answer told the ex-agent why: "I was created, born in an scientific environment like this. I saw many of those tubes and in each case a living human being was in it."
Natasha could see how hard this sight was for the much younger woman. It brought back bad memories of her childhood. If being created as a deadly assassin in a lab and artificially aged into being a, back then fourteen year old girl counts as some form of childhood. The arachnid-themed woman slowly approached the tube. Some kind of haze steamed the glass up and made it impossible to peek inside the tube. With her right hand Black Widow cleared a small potion of it and made a confusing sight.
Inside the tube was some being made of pure energy. It´s whole body lit in a purple light that made it look like a living lava lamp. Judging from it´s body shape it seemed to be a female humanoid light-being. Natasha still stared in shock until it´s head suddenly moved and gazed directly into her eyes. She made a quick step back and said: "It´s definitely alive!"
"It?", X wondered.
"I don´t know what this is, but it´s definitely the power source of the Triskelion. And it doesn´t seem like it´s weaken by all the power drained from it."
"A living battery?" Now Laura risked a short look into the tube and made eye-contact with it´s content. "Looks like a girl..."
"Yeah, but I´m not sure we should consider it as a person. It´s possible that this is some kind of A.I., similar to Ultron before he became a 'him'...and dictator of South-America." She checked the wires and cables. Her eyes still trying to figure out which cable leads to which socket, she pointed to the tube: "We need to get it outta here."
"Ehm, we see the same things, right? Have you seen how big it is? We can´t put it in your belt or the pockets of my jeans!"
"Yeah...I think we should let the boys have some fun, too." Again she talked to Skye: "Can you locate Wade?"
"We´re considering to save that lunatic?", she asked somewhat disgusted.
"Yes. And why not send another lunatic to save him? Tell Victor that he will get finally some action."
###
"Lay down your arms, surrender! You know, you´ll never get outta here!"
"Is he still singing?", one of the armored man asked annoyed.
"Hear for yourself!", the other exclaimed totally stressed out.
They were in an old interrogation room of the Triskelion. Still his hands tied with handcuffs that made it impossible for him to use his powers, Deadpool sat at the table and was guarded by two Thorns. These were not the same as the both he distracted on the bridge, but they wore similar armors, minus the helmets. He could see their pulsating, glowing veins.
"No sense for some classics? It´s 'Lay down your arms' by Asia. Not the continent, the British band. I like to sing it now, mostly because the author of the story listened to it when he was writing this scene and needed a way to start it...", he said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Do you have any idea, what he just said?", one guard asked, which was answered with a shaking head by the other one.
"Sooooo, how long do I have to wait until the story-telling allows it to bring in one of the big guys that is supposed to torture me in the most gruesome ways imaginable and let me wish that I would die thousands deaths...again. This comes from the healing factor, you know. You die, but not really. Sometimes it´s fun, but other times it´s hard to get your boys back were they belong, before you look like that guy from the second Men in Black movie."
One of the armored men became impatient and let his left foot move up and down.
Deadpool didn´t stop: "So, who will be chosen to hurt me? Doctor Octopus? No, kinda too obvious.
MODOK? Hmph, not threatening enough. Moonstone? That won´t be torture for me, I guarantee that, hehe. I personally think Wrecker is not qualified for that...What about Jack O´Lantern? Wait, no, he died in the first chapter..."
The door opened, A man in Deadpool´s size entered, wearing a dark blue and crimson skintight body suit covering everything expect his lower half of the face. On his suit were also yellow lightning bolts and his eyes hid behind red goggles.
Deadpool yelled furious and disappointed: "Speed Demon? This is the best you could do? Some C-class goof, that once called himself the Whizzer? By the way, one of the stupidest names ever. I die by the hands of this-" His hand waved towards the target of his rant. "And Iron Fist and Moon Knight get slaughtered by Carnage in Chapter one. This isn´t fair." He started to cry.
Speed Demon ignored the words of his prisoner and started to talk: "What get´s you here,
Mr. Wilson? And where are your friends?"
The interrogated suspect leaned forwards: "I got here by a stupid decision I was supposed to make. See, nothing of this really happens. It´s just part of the fantasy of some guy who is sitting on his computer and typing some words to get it off his chest." The interrogator wasn´t pleased by this for him confusing answer. Deadpool suddenly felt several quick punches at the back his head.
"Ouch, HEY! Not fair! Moving so fast that nobody sees it and hurting a handcuffed man. Even without these things it wouldn´t be fair!", the merc yelled angered.
"I ask again...", the speedster snarled. "Why are you here? And where are your friends located."
"I´m here in this room because I did something that was totally unnecessary to the plan. But it was fun, I admit that. My 'friends' how you call them are...no, telling you would be just too easy.", he mocked with a deep voice.
The villain snapped, hitting the table with both fists. As he hit it his fists emitted flames for a short moment, which shocked Deadpool: "Dayum, this trick is new!" He looked Speed Demon in the face and saw his skin glowing orange, like the guards. "Oi, you also participated in this Extremis project? Seems to be the newest trend."
Suddenly the expression of the glowing men changed from anger to confusion, again.
"Extremis?", Demon asked.
Deadpool burst out in laughter: "Wait, wait, wait...you´re telling me that you don´t know what this magma serum running through your veins is? Seriously, can I get MODOK now as my tormentor? At least the big head knows what he´s doing..."
Now the man that hit the table started unexpectedly to grin: "A serum? You wish..."
"What´s that supposed to mean?"
"When you find out what powers all of us, you would wish it was just a 'serum'!"
Deadpool gulped hard.
###
Sabretooth was still hiding in the bushes. Grim and irritated he stared at the Triskelion as he was talking into his communicator: "Let me summarize: Natasha and Laura found a 'someone' and plan to bring it out. And they ask me to get Deadpool out and fight my way through some guys that are powered by Extremis? Yeah, just another day in paradise..."
Skye on the other end sighed and explained: "Listen, Vic...I have no idea how this is supposed to work, but I can still guide you to Wade and find a way out for all of you. ´Drive and I will prepare everything for our escape..."
"Can´t we just say I tried to save Wade but failed? Would things make a lot easier in the future..."
"Viiiic...", she said in a reminding tone.
"Yeah, yeah. I´ll do what I can...", he grunted defeated.
"I knew we could count on our big kitty.", she said joyful with a note of sugar.
Still unconvinced and in a bad mood the bestial man rushed through the bushes until he stood very close at the side of the bridge. The two guards who caught the insane merc before, were still patrolling around the entrance area. Victor thought out a plan how he could enter the tower without getting into a fight with these men. They could easily overpower him, simply by their masses.
At his feet he found small stones which he picked up. He threw the first one on the bridge. Simple minds like the guards have been, paid attention to it´s sound. When they wondered what the sound was, Sabretooth threw another one, this time with a bit more force behind it. Quickly he vanished into the bushes. He went not far and climbed onto a tree, where he would wait for his prey. And his plan really worked as perceived. One of the guards went to the bushes and followed the traces Victor left. "They really fell for it...", he thought.
When the guard stood under the tree, the former villain positioned himself over his would-be-victim. He eyed a weak spot in the back of his armor and thought about to use it for his advantage.
In a matter of a few seconds the big man landed nearly soundless behind his victim, buried his clawed mutant paws into the back of the man and ripped out his spine in one fluid motion.
The Thorn wasn´t even able to make a sound. But suddenly the blonde man´s hand burned. The flame was not big, but it was a painful experience. Sabretooth knew what flames felt like. Thanks to his healing factor he survived it many times, especially when he fought other individuals with these kind of powers like Firestar, Human Torch or Pyro. But these flames were different. It felt like they weren´t only burning the flesh from his hand, but also parts of his inner self. Some persons would say his soul, but Sabretooth wanted to avoid that word in his thoughts.
He suppressed his own screams of pain to avoid any unwanted attention. It took only a few seconds that felt like an eternity until the flames stopped burning. But without any anticipation something looking like a blue flame shot out of the dead body. But before Victor could clearly define what he has seen, it vanished with a howling voice into the forest.
"That...was nothing usual...", he wondered. He peeked at his right hand that looked like a steak which has been on the grill for far too much time. It still hurt, which was unusual like the thing he saw.
But he lost no time and took the armor from the dead body and wore it by himself. His victim was hidden behind some trees.
Holding the gun by his side he walked out of the green environment and headed to the other guard.
On his way to the entrance he whispered into his communicator: "I´m dressed like one of them. Hope they won´t notice. But there is more: are you sure it´s Extremis? I came into contact with one of them and it was kinda...freaky..."
"Don´t worry. Everything about it is freaky.", Natasha´s voice answered.
Sabretooth grunted agreeing but still not sure if he should be convinced by this. The gate at the entrance of the Triskelion was now not only guarded by the other man that caught Deadpool. Two more Thorns wearing black armors were now standing besides him. The one that already stood there when Widow´s team arrived asked: "Have you found something?"
Victor simply shook his head to avoid talking. He was already lucky enough that the helmet covered his face, so getting caught by his voice would be unlucky.
"Okay then, we´ll take over.", one of the new guards said. "Your shift is over."
"What a lucky bastard you are, Creed!", Victor thought. He and the other men went to the locker room. The mutant used the opportunity when his 'colleague' had to visit the porcelain department and walked, still wearing his armor through the corridors of the former SHIELD-tower.
"Daisy, have you visual on me?", he asked.
The young woman answered his call: "It´s hard to say. You look with this suit like the rest of these goons."
Sabretooth used his claws and scratched the front of his chest. On his black gear were now four deep cuts, that were supposed to help Skye to identify him on camera.
"That was kinda clever...", the hacker and Inhuman said impressed.
"Why so surprised? Many people seem to forget that I was once an trained agent, too.", he grunted, making his way to the elevator. "Okay, on which floor is our annoying friend?"
"Fifth one. In one of SHILED´s interrogation rooms. I´ll guide you, big man.", Skye said.
"Show me the way, Jiminy Cricket."
###
"Ever heard of the black scroll?", James Sanders alias Speed Demon asked the cuffed man in front of him, both sitting at the table.
Deadpool was getting impatient. He wasted his time with a bad guy that hardly qualified himself as a real threat among other super-villains. Well, at least he did in the past. But now Wade wasn´t so sure if this was still the case.
"Has it something to do with the 'Elder Scrolls'. If yes, there is a high possibility I once heard of it."
"Again, nobody knows what you´re talking about-"
"Oh, I know, I spent much time playing Skyrim!", one of the guards standing behind Speed Demon interrupted the villain, which was silently answered with a angry glare. The Thorn was quiet now and let the speedster continue: "Nobody knows what you´re talking about. Like you don´t know about the black scroll."
"Sounds a awful lot like Santa´s naughty list.", Wade quipped.
"The comparison is kinda fitting.", the costumed man in front of the merc said bluntly. "But instead of getting punished, we get a present. A huge present. Kingpin used it once to take advantage of a man for his own goals against his will. A really powerful man, that was feared by many of us."
"I wouldn´t be surprised if the writer would come up with Hypno-Hustler or D-Man...", Deadpool murmured.
"I´m sure you met him before he died.", the interrogator grinned mischievously. "Does the name 'Johnny Blaze' ring some bells?"
"Yeah, bonded with a demonic entity called Zarathos. Bounty hunter of the devil. Spirit of vengeance. Liked it to wrap up really bad boys with his chain yada yada..." Suddenly Deadpool burst out: "OMG! Don´t tell me this becomes one of these creepy smut stories with some bondage fetish elements! The world is not ready for 'Fifty Shades of Blaze'!"
Suddenly Speed Demon´s skin started to glow even stronger until it vanished. Smell of burnt flesh filled the room. The air in it also heated up. And Deadpool stared into the flaming skull of the man he faced.
"Well, now the Whizzer isn´t so ridiculous, isn´t he?", the now fear-inducing deep voice of the villain asked.
"Okay, now I wish this would have become some smut story with chain-bondage..."
The door opened again and another guard entered the room. He placed himself between the other two. But unlike them he still wore a helmet. His movements were at first steady and calm, but when he peeked at Speed Demon and his now really name-fitting appearance, he seemed more cautious.
"Why are you here?", the flaming voice sneered deeply.
"Ehm...I´ve been told you called for me?", the deep voice nearly grunted.
Deadpool looked questioning at the guard: "I know that voice..." His expression beneath his mask became happily. So did his snarly voice: "Hey, Victor. You came to save me!"
"What?", Speed Demon cried out.
Before the guards could react, the helmet wearing man buried his clawed hands into their necks and ripped of their heads. He roared in pain because his hands caught fire as blue flames howled through the corridors, coming out of the killed men. Ignoring the pain as good as it was possible, he said angered: "Wilson! You freaking moron! I´m trying to save you but you-" The blurry fist of the flaming villain interrupted his rant, bringing him to his knees. The helmet which protected his head flew off and made his face now visual for his attacker. But even in his possessed state the speedster seemed afraid of the man in front of him: "Sabretooth? You?"
"Exactly!", the man in question snarled and grabbed his opponent by his legs, slamming him through the glass behind Deadpool. Behind it was the merc´s equipment, which he quickly made his possession again. "You saved me, Simba! You cannot live without some Deadpool in your life, huh?"
Both walked out as the bestial man snarled: "You endangered the whole mission! At first this useless and senseless act on the bridge! And now you blow off my cover!"
"To be honest: I was kinda hoping he would use his penance stare on you! But it seems like 'once a loser, always a loser' is Whizzie´s game." Both rushed to the end of the corridor and had to take a turn to the left.
"You wanted me to get killed? By what?", Sabretooth furiously yelled.
"Penance stare! Lucky for you the writer didn´t let our friend use it on you. These guys are not powered by Extremis. Kingpin used some old piece of toilet paper and split up the demon that gave Ghost Rider his powers, Now pieces of him power the Thorns, and Speed Demon is one of them."
Sabretooth grunted: "Okay, it´s worse. No surprise. But why did you try to get me killed?"
Now Deadpool´s voice became uncommonly dark and serious: "For Vanessa..."
No words were spoken until they reached the elevator. Sabretooth now got a call by Widow: "Natasha? I got Wade! Where are you?"
"Still in the lab.", she answered somewhat exhausted. "You need to come. We have the tube with this purple light-thing in it. But the only way out without getting caught was an elevator."
"Come up to the fifth floor. We´ll await you. Daisy, lead me to their position. Wade, are you coming?"
"You know what? This time my distraction won´t be pointless!", he quipped as he pulled out his guns. "Wade. What are you thinking?"
"You help our ladies, while I´ll try to hold the Thorns back from you!"
"And what if you get caught again?"
"Then I can only hope your guilt towards me is big enough to save my ass again. Would be a shame if the author would lose one of his most popular comic-relief characters in this story."He raced around the corner and started shooting with a battle cry that sounded for Victor like "Leeroy Jenkins!"
The bestial mutant rushed through the floor he was on, always in contact with Skye.
"Daisy, how long?", he asked annoyed and impatient.
She answered him in a thrilled tone:"Don´t worry, tiger. You´re there in three...two..."
The door opened and Widow and X-23 came out with a tube containing the suspected 'weapon' of Fisk.
"You found us!", Natasha exclaimed. "We need you to carry this. You´re the only one of us physically able to do so."
"Sometimes I get the feeling I´m just a pet for you...", he grunted, which gave Laura a rare smile on her face. "We won´t be able to get out without being in the main center of attraction.", the red-head said. "What do you suggest?", the blonde man asked, now carrying the tube on his right shoulder.
"That we need a bigger eye-catcher. Overdrive, are you ready?"
"Yes, Ms. Romanov, ma´am.", he answered somewhat shy.
###
"Say 'Hello' to my little friend!", Deadpool yelled as he shot down several Thorns. But most of them were always back on their feet after a while, depending where Wade´s bullets hit them.
After a while he thought: "A nice plot-hole for infinite ammunition would be nice. Why are cheat-codes exclusive to video games?"
He took his katana´s out of their sheaths and went over to close combat. He cut off the hands of some men and women attacking him: "Sorry, I have to disarm you." Another felt the steel of the merc´s blade in his head: "3D is really some cutting edge technology!"
But the corridor filled itself with more and more Thorns, letting Deadpool no other choice expect fleeing. At the end of the corridor was, like everywhere in the building a huge window. He ran towards and prepared himself to shatter it. "This is gonna hurt!"
He jumped through it and scattered it into little pieces as he flew downwards to the concrete, ready for his coming healing process. Well, at least this was how Deadpool planned it. Instead of this, the glass of the window did not break and the merc dodged off like he jumped against a trampoline. The only thing broken was his nose: "Ohhh, come ON! Is there any love for Wade Wilson? Who builds a tower for an agency, guarding people world-wide and securing everything that is top secret in here with some bulletproof glass? This makes too much sense for my short thinking mind..." He positioned his nose back how it was and rushed to another corridor, still having the Thorns on his tail.
Suddenly the building was shaking. "AHHHH, GODZILLA!", he yelled. His ears caught loud rustling noises from many floors down below. When he took a look out of the window he could see a colossal tank, colored pitch-black with some dark green patterns on it. It´s pipe looked more like a futuristic rail gun. The chains of it´s wheels were covered in small spikes. It also seemed like it had some kind of cannons on both sides of the pipe, looking like Gatling guns.
It came out of the hangar and Overdrive´s voice could be heard nearly all around the Triskelion,
yelling victoriously: "SAY 'HELLO' TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!"
"Hey, I said it first!", Deadpool stated angered.
###
Black Widow smiled when the ground was shaking and noises of rustling concrete, metal and glass could be heard. "Was this part of your plan?", Sabretooth asked.
She simply nodded at this and added: "Part of our escape plan..."
Suddenly the fire of a gun was heard, very close to them. Nearly simultaneously the blonde mutant roared in pain and his right shoulder started bleeding. He had to drop the tube and Deadpool´s irritating voice yelled from behind: "Sorry, Simba. But I need it!" The man covered in red and black spandex rushed towards them, hunted by several Thorns. He leaped on the tube and pushed it with himself sitting on it forward. Sliding towards the next window, Deadpool wanted to make sure it broke and threw two grenades at it. The explosions shattered the glass, making room for the lunatic sitting on the glass and metal container, still with the purple 'it' inside. During the fall he pulled of his mask with his right hand and made a fast waving motion, singing:
"We´ll meet again, don´t know where, don´t know when,..."
Furious Sabretooth snarled: "Oh, yeah, I hope so, because I gonna kill ya for that!"
The Thorns opened fire at the three remaining intruders, which rushed to the next staircase.
As they looked down X-23 said: "They´ll get us, if we walk."
"I know!", Widow said and leaped down. She used her acrobatic skills to climb her way down in fast motions, using the handrails of the stairs. X-23 did it like the more experienced woman, but was not less agile and skilled like her.
Sabretooth closed the door behind them with a metal bar he bent around the door knob. As he saw both women doing their thing he simply grunted: "You make this look so easy..."
Unexpectedly two other Thorns came from below. They aimed with their guns at both acrobats and started to fire. Natasha and Laura took cover by pressing themselves against the walls. Both armed men leaned over the handrails to get a better aim at their targets. But this decision proved to be fatal for them. As their heads peeked out, a mighty roar that rivaled this of a lion howled through the staircase. Both looked up and saw the deadly figure of Sabretooth jumping down on them. With both clawed paws extended he rushed between the handrails, ripping their faces off as they met his natural weapons. Before he fell to the bottom of the staircase he reached out for a handrail, which bent itself under his weight.
As he tried to get a grip, both females passed him, again using their athletic skills to be faster.
"Out of breath, Creed?", X-23 chuckled as she reached the floor below him.
"Shut up, Kinney.", he snarled, dropping himself to the same floor.
Widow was the first of them reaching the bottom floor and ran to the next door. "Hurry up. Skye and Overdrive are waiting. And let´s hope Wade didn´t destroy whatever we tried to 'save'!"
###
He heard a voice from the distance, calling his name. His hearing was numbed, his vision blurry. But in a matter of seconds it normalized and he saw what was going on.
"Wade, you insane jerk! Move your scattered ass over here!", Skye yelled. She was standing in the opened back of the tank, Deadpool saw before. Behind her was Overdrive sitting at the controls, having some kind of dark aura around his hands. The rail guns blasted some Thorns trying to attack into oblivion and Skye´s hands emitted some sort of seismic waves that twirled the men and women around like they were puppets. These Inhuman-powers gave her her first codename, Quake.
As Deadpool, who found himself on the concrete looked around he could eye the tube he sat on. The glass wasn´t broken, but it had some cracks on it. "That was a ride. But I doubt many caught the movie-reference...", he murmured. "The lava lamp is still fine..."
His lower body was a bloody mess. "You belong here...your place is here...I will find something for you...", he said as he was putting his own pieces of flesh and bones back together.
Skye rushed over to the mashed man and the contained purple being. In a angered voice she commanded: "Get your shit together, Wade! We have to leave!"
"Was that pun intended? And what is that thing I was taking a ride with? Hopefully not a A-bomb, this would have made the reference more authentic than planned!", the merc remarked in a annoying voice.
"You plan something stupid out before you do it?", Skye stated in shock.
"Sometimes. But most things come spontaneously...", he said with a shrug.
The Inhuman just shook her head and shot another seismic wave at some Thorns. "And 'No', this is not an A-bomb, which doesn´t make your action less stupid and dangerous. We don´t know what it is, only that it seems to be alive and has a lot, and I mean a lot of power." Seismic attacks and some more bullets filled the air, while the former agent and the mercenary tried to get the purple glowing being into the tank. From the inside of the tube it watched everything that was happening around like it has never been on the outside before.
"Eh, I don´t like being that guy but...it would be nice if you could hurry up a little. This war-like scenery kinda freaks me out...", Overdrive´s voice came from the tank in a unsure tone.
"We´re coming, Evel Knievel. But carrying a huge living battery is not as easy as it might look like!", the merc exclaimed.
Suddenly Wade and Skye got the tube ripped out of their hands. Luckily it was just Sabretooth, who took it. "Sorry, Daisy. But YOU, Wade...", his index finger was touching Deadpool´s chest with some pressure. "We´ll have a serious talk when we´re back home!"
Behind him was Black Widow shooting at their attackers with her gauntlets while X-23 sliced her way through the men and women with two adamantium claws per hand and one per foot.
In spinning wheel motions she cut the Thorns into pieces and reached the tank.
"What´s this?", she asked when everyone was inside.
"It´s a one of a kind tank, created by me!", Overdrive´s somewhat shy voice said proud.
"My mutation allows me to pimp a ride. Any vehicle I touch becomes whatever I want it to be, as long as my hands have still contact with it in some way."
Sabretooth and Skye positioned the tube safely in the back of the tank, while the rest of the team placed themselves on the seats. The short haired woman said: "Gotta say, ´Drive: you impressed me. Now I´m feeling bad for what I said to you in the hangar."
"Forgotten and forgiven, Ms. Johnson.", he answered. "Take your seats and hold on tight!"
Black Widow turned around and peeked at the purple being in the tube. In a calm but strong voice she told her team: "We´re going home. Hope there will be no trouble on our way."
###
With this I´ll end the second chapter.
I really hope you liked it and will read on. Constructive reviews are welcome.
As you can see, the main idea behind this story is basically the same as it was in
"Old Man Logan", but I expanded it to a global level.
Other sources of inspiration I took are mainly the classic Star Wars-trilogy
(more in a subtle way- so don´t expect lightsabers or the force), the Mad Max movies,
Escape from NY and many more.
Here some trivia:
The black scroll that Speed Demon mentions exists inside the 616 Marvel Universe.
Kingpin really used it to gain the services of Ghost Rider during the Daredevil-story 'Shadowland'.
I took my own liberty with the splitting of Zarathos on several individuals at once, but I think
it´s not that far fetched, considering that we had more than just one Ghost Rider at once.
The Thorns are mainly inspired by the Ghost Riders from the 'Old Man Logan' story and somewhat
by the War-Boys from 'Mad Max: Fury Road'.
Why did I name Kingpin´s henchmen 'Thorns'?
Kingpin always had a rose as his trademark and even his son Richard had the masked identity called
'Rose'. Roses have thorns, that protect them somewhat from harm, so that made it kinda obvious for me to call them like that.
Deadpool´s ride on the tube homages the classic Stanley Kubrick flick
'Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb' (1964)
Until next time!