Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can't even tell you how much I appreciate your kind reviews! I love reading what you have to say, so thank you so much for taking the time to write them.
The story is really kicking off now! I'm excited to see where it ends up haha
When Lillian woke up, she was surprised to feel the warmth of sunlight upon her face. Groggily, she lifted her head, wincing as her aching body protested the action. She hurt everywhere. Her tumble down the stairs had left her bruised and battered, and sleeping on them hadn't helped either.
The source of light came from a barred up window over on the far side of the living room. The basement door had been unlocked while she was sleeping, though she'd been left to sleep on the stairs.
Confused and cautious, Lillian climbed to her feet, unable to hold back a whimper as pain shot through her body. She lifted a hand to her throbbing temple and found that the wound on her head had been bandaged. She felt it tenderly. It was well dressed – done by a practiced hand. She looked down and found that all her injuries from the previous night had in fact been seen to. She was covered in bandages; her knees, her wrist, her shoulder. There was even a bandage wrapped around her middle, doing what it could to ease the pain of what she suspected to a fractured rib.
He'd done this. Deadpool. Damn-near killed her and then patched her up. She supposed that he expected her to be grateful for the first aid? Well he had another thing coming.
She hated him.
Hated him.
Revulsion rose within her at the thought of him touching her while she'd been unconscious and she shuddered as she turned towards the open door. Every step she took was an effort. Her whole body ached and throbbed and stung. Inch by inch she made her way up the stairs and into the lounge room. Relief washed over her when she found it empty.
Still scanning her surroundings warily for any sign of the black and red clad man, her eyes fell upon a massive yellow arrow, spray painted onto the scuffed up floor boards. It was pointing away from her and when she moved towards it she saw the next one and the one after that. With great effort she bent down and touched a fingertip to the arrow and it came away wet. Deadpool had painted them there very recently.
Lillian hesitated. Clearly she was supposed to follow them but god only knew where they'd lead her. The man was completely deranged. This was more than likely some sick kind of trick. But then, what other option did she have? Sit around and wait for him to come to her? He'd undoubtedly be angry that she wouldn't play along and he'd throw her into the basement again.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Lillian inched forward. She followed the absurd spray painted path until they stopped at a door which was labelled in the same yellow spray paint "Bathroom." Lillian checked over her shoulder once more but Deadpool was nowhere to be seen. She reached for the handle and pushed the door open slowly.
She wasn't exactly sure what she was expecting but it genuinely shocked her to find that it was in fact the bathroom. It was then that she realised what all this meant; an apology…
She moved towards the basin. Beside it was a large bag with her name on it. Cautious once again, Lillian opened the bag and peaked inside.
In it she found shampoo and conditioner, body wash, fresh bandages, a toothbrush and tooth paste… and what could only be described as a lifetime supply of tampons. The massive bag was absolutely overflowing with them. He must have gone out at bought every single packet he could find within a 20 mile radius. It was so ridiculous – such an unexpected sight – that Lillian couldn't help but to giggle.
She became instantly annoyed with herself that she'd done so.
No. This was not cute. It was not endearing. He had kidnapped her and he was holding her against her will. She needed to stay strong – stay angry – it was far too early for Stockholm Syndrome to be setting in. She needed to stay sharp and ready. She was going to escape.
Her eyes drifted back towards the toiletries.
Still, there was no reason she couldn't take advantage of the small amount of kindness she'd been shown. Sitting around, remaining filthy on principle wasn't going to help the situation at all. And besides, if she was going to get out of there, she needed to take some time to heal first. A hot, relaxing shower certainly wouldn't hurt.
Almost a full hour later Lillian emerged from the bathroom, feeling so relaxed and sleepy she'd almost forgotten her predicament entirely. She made her way slowly through her house, partly because the pain in her hip prevented her from going any faster and partly because she wanted to put off coming face to face with Deadpool for as long as possible.
It turned out, however, that she had little to worry about in that regard. It seemed he wasn't home.
"Hello?" she called out eventually, after having paced around the entire house. Only silence answered her, and that suited her just fine. She took the opportunity to inspect the place. She checked the windows, the doors, the floorboards. She looked for an opening to an attic and even went back down into the basement to see if there was a way out.
She found nothing.
Nothing in the way of weapons either, he must have done a sweep of the house before she'd been let out of the basement to make sure there was nothing she could use against him.
If she was going to get out, she was going to have to get the collar off first.
She scowled at the thought. She'd missed her window. She should have done more damage when she'd attacked him. Still, how was she supposed to know what he could do? It had never occurred to her that he'd be like her. She knew he'd been shot when he'd been getting her out of that warehouse! There'd just been so much else going on, she didn't have time to think about it. Plus, he'd obviously known what the collar was for… to suppress her mutation. He'd known from the start. He'd grabbed the key when he'd come to save her…
If she ever wanted to see that key again, she was going to have to play his game. She was going to have to make him trust her.
The problem with that was, she wasn't sure she had the willpower or the patience to play nice with the raving lunatic.
It wasn't until two nights later that Lillian saw Deadpool again. It was 3am in the morning and she'd been having trouble sleeping so she'd made her way down to the kitchen to see if she could find anything edible (though she didn't like her chances, she'd lived off a bag of stale potato chips for the past two days. She hadn't yet been brave enough to open to fridge, the smell of it stung her nostrils from across the room) when she heard a car pull up out the front of the house.
She sat frozen at the kitchen table with a half empty tub of icecream before her – the only thing left she could find – and listened as his heavy footfalls approached, her pulse quickening.
Deadpool shuffled into the kitchen, they made fleeting eye contact and he seemed to flinch momentarily before Lillian returned her gaze to her spoon and Deadpool made for the fridge. A tense silence hung in the air between them as each of them pretended to be intensely interested in the task before them.
It was Deadpool who broke the silence.
"Couldn't sleep?" he asked casually, still leaning into the fridge.
"Nah, I'm mean I'm still feeling so well rested from my night on your basement staircase." Inwardly, Lillian berated herself. So much for playing nice.
Deadpool scowled and bit back both an apology and a comeback. He'd suspected that she wouldn't just let it go and for the most part he was glad. Her attitude did annoy him, mostly because of how much he liked it. And you weren't supposed to like your hostages or kidnappee's or whatever the hell she was.
Good on you, kid. Don't you take none of his shit.
I… I want tell her we're sorry.
As long as you stay strong you might just make it outta here.
If I could take it back I would.
It was a shitty thing to do. The worst thing to do.
We'll never do it again. I swear…
Deadpool moved towards the table slowly, removing the pack he had slung over his shoulder and placed on the table an arm's length away from Lillian. He wished he wasn't so aware of the way she tensed as he approached her.
"Here," he said, "these are for you."
"…What is it?" she asked cautiously.
"Clothes. Figured I couldn't let you sit around in the same stuff while you're here. We don't know how long it'll be and I don't want you stinkin' the place up or anything. Not when I keep it so nice." He gestured around to the atrocity that was his home. Part of her was sure that he really did think it was well kept.
She looked down at the bag and reached for it slowly when he moved away from her and returned his attention to the fridge once again. There were a couple of pairs of jeans in there, some tank tops, and a large tracksuit she supposed would be good for pj's.
She looked up and watched him for a moment. He was still bent over, inspecting the contents of the fridge but he was rigidly still, waiting for her response.
"Thank you," she said eventually. Her voice was so quiet she wondered if maybe he'd miss it.
Wade cocked an eyebrow and gave a small smirk. He approached the table empty handed and took a seat opposite her, watching as she fiddled idly with one of the shirts in front of her so that she wouldn't have to look his way.
"Bet that was like taking a bullet." He said.
"Ugh! You have no idea," she rebutted, unable to keep from smiling a little thought she did attempt to hide it from him.
When he didn't reply, Lillian ran her hand over the hoodie, inspecting it. "So, where'd you get these? Steal 'em?"
Deadpool gave her a sideward glance. "'Borrowed' them from the gal a few houses over. Obviously didn't want them anymore. She'd just left them hanging in the backyard."
Lillian honest to God couldn't tell if that was supposed to be a joke or not.
"Tracksuit's mine though." He finished.
Lillian looked down at it, "Huh..."
"What?"
"I just… I guess I'm surprised you own actual clothes." She answered simply.
Deadpool cocked his head a little. "And why's that?"
"It's three o'clock in the morning and you're still rockin' the skin tight jumpsuit and mask." She said pointedly.
"Yeah well, my ass looks fantastic in this get up." He replied.
It slipped out by accident, "you're not wrong."
The pair froze.
Did she just…
She DID just!
"You know," Lillian cleared her throat awkwardly before going on, "if I'm gunna be here for a while, you need to buy some proper food."
Wade glanced back towards the fridge, with a furrowed brow.
Proper food…?
"All you got in this entire house apart from this-" she gestured to the tub of icecream in front of her "-is an old hunk of cheese and what I think used to be a burrito."
"Chimichanga," he corrected her quickly, and then under his breath whispered, "chimichanga, chimichanga, chimichanga…"
"Right, well, whatever it is, I'm not eating it." She stated, stabbing her spoon back into her ice cream, "and you can't expect to get your money off my Dad if you let me starve to death."
Deadpool beamed at that.
She's joking with us!
She's CLEARLY crazy.
"You're right… sounds like a deal breaker. Didn't think of that."
Silence fell over the pair once again, though this time it was far less tense.
"So," Lillian said as she pushed the tub of ice cream towards him, spoon sticking out of it. He scooped out a spoonful and lifted his mask just high enough to reach his mouth. She ducked her head to try and get a glance but to no luck, "you got a name? Like, a real name? Deadpool isn't your real name, is it?"
"Would that be a problem?"
"No, I just-"
"Then what does it matter?"
"-I just meant that I can't call you-"
"You got a cleft palate or some shit?"
"What? No. What does that have to do with-"
"Well then you can say 'Deadpool' just fine."
She reached over and snatched the ice cream off him with an angry huff.
"Something's been bugging me, angelface-"
"Don't call me that."
"-if you can do what it is you do, why'd Daddy hire me to come save your ass. I mean, he didn't mention that dog collar of yours – which by the way you look totally sexy in."
She glared at him at that comment and craned her neck out, once again remembering that she was uncomfortable. Lillian avoided his eye as best she could but Deadpool just sat there waiting with uncharacteristic patience. Eventually Lillian's gaze drifted back towards him, climbing reluctantly until her eyes met his. It wasn't until then that he spoke.
"Something tells me Daddy doesn't know…" there was something in his voice, something sincere. It made her want to tell him.
Lillian looked down again, suddenly very interested in her fingernails. "Tell me your name, I'll tell you my story."She murmured softly.
Deadpool watched her silent and stoic, and crossed his arms over his chest. He slumped down a little further in his chair and waited.
Lillian sighed heavily.
"He doesn't know." She admitted eventually, "he's not exactly 'pro-mutant.' He thinks that they-we should be tagged and detained or… I don't know. A have a sister, she went straight to him when she realised what was happening to her and… and he kicked her out. I just- since I first found out about what I can do… I… if he found out he'd…" Lillian's voice trailed off and she stared into the ice cream. She blinked back tears furiously. She was not going to cry in front of this guy.
His voice broke her out of her train of thought.
"Wade," he said suddenly and she looked up.
They stared at one another for a moment before he spoke again.
"My name's Wade."
Logan. The Wolverine. Weapon X. The indestructible mutant… was dying.
He writhed helplessly on the ground as pain coursed through his entire body. He could feel his organs seizing up as they began to fail, his liver and kidneys already having shut down. His heart was pounding at an impossible speed as he started to go into cardiac arrest. When he managed to inhale, he coughed up blood; thick, black and clotted from lungs that he could actually feel tumours growing inside of. Moving to turn his head was near to an impossible task as blood was no longer reaching his muscles and they too were losing function.
With failing vision, he attempted to focus on the woman standing in the middle of the room. She stood over him with fingers held like claws and eyes full of pure rage. Her breathing was ragged, her stance like a feral animal and a low growl emitted from her throat as Logan felt another pulse of sickness course out from her, hitting him like a crashing ocean wave.
"Pest!" he managed to wheeze out, "Pest, you gotta stop."
She didn't seem to hear him, her eyes grew darker and her chest rose and fell as she expelled another ripple of sickness. If she didn't calm down soon, she'd infect the students.
"Melissa." Begged a pained voice from the far side of the room. "Please."
Suddenly, the overbearing weight of illness and death and disease was lifted. Logan's body was at last allowed to heal itself and he gulped in a deep and shuddering breath. He rolled over onto his stomach as he attempted to compose himself and the office came back into focus before him. His eyes found the source of the second voice immediately; Professor Charles Xavier was slumped in his wheelchair, a trickle of blood running from his nose and the corner of his mouth.
The woman, Melissa, who only moments before had seemed lethal and untameable, stood beside the Professor now with trembling hands placed lightly on either side of his temples. Her hands glowed a gentle gold as she healed the man before her and she whispered horrified apologies.
"Professor, I'm so sorry." Her voice shook and she couldn't bring herself to look at him directly. "I-I lost control. I wasn't thinking. I'm so sorry."
"It's alright," He said calmly, though he still sounded strained from the ordeal he'd just experienced. "I understand."
Logan approached them cautiously, still attempting to catch his breath. No sooner had Melissa finished healing the Professor did she move to the furthest corner of the room and huddle herself into a ball, rocking herself gently and staring at the floor.
"You ok, Professor?" Logan murmured when he came closer.
"Yes, Logan, quite alright now." He replied, his gaze fixed on the dark haired girl in the corner. "It was to be expected."
"Just tell me where she is," Melissa whispered, her voice still quivering. "Tell me where she is so I can go get her."
Logan exhaled. It was what they had expected after all. The Professor had asked him to be present when they broke the news to Melissa Winter – Pestilence, as she'd come to be known around the school – that her younger sister had been taken captive by one of the most dangerous men on the planet. The Professor had hoped that the Wolverine with his rapid healing factor, would be able to keep her in check if she had become… unmanageable after hearing the news. So much for that.
The girl had trouble controlling her powers at the best of times but what they had just witnessed was unbelievable. Melissa's powers were usually emotionally driven. The sicknesses she infected those around her with were usually a result of fear or sadness. Before she'd come to the Institute she'd cause severe cases of tuberculosis and influenza. Once she'd even started an outbreak of Ebola and to her dismay she wasn't confident enough in her ability to heal to be able to help those she'd unintentionally harmed. It was after that attack when the X-men had found her. When she'd been thrown out of home, helpless and alone and terrified of what she could do.
She'd been doing well at the Institute with only a few minor slip ups – a couple of cases of appendicitis, a bout of gastro and an asthma attack (mainly because she tended to keep to herself to lessen the chance of such incidences but partly because she was making progress.) So Logan had honestly not expected that response.
"Melissa," Professor X said gently, moving towards her. "You know we can't do that. You know it's not safe. The people you could endanger-"
"I don't care about the people I might endanger," she spat, her eyes suddenly fierce as they flicked up towards him. "I care about Lillian. I want to know where she is right now."
"Listen, Pest." Logan began and Melissa scowled. She hated his new little nickname for her, as if 'Pestilence' wasn't bad enough. "The Professor is right and you know it. You damn near killed us both just then and there are innocent people out there who don't deserve to be involved in this. Now the guy who's got your sister is dangerous, but so long as he still wants your old man to pay up she's safe. But if you go in there, guns blazin', who knows what he'll do to her."
"You think I can't take him?" she hissed.
Logan attempted to move forward but angry boils suddenly exploded up his arms. They healed over almost instantly but when he met Pestilence's eye he knew it was only a warning.
"The man who has your sister has a phenomenal healing factor." Professor X explained. "It won't be as easy as you suspect."
"I dropped this one easily enough." Melissa went on stubbornly, jerking her head in Wolverine's direction.
"Melissa, please be rational. I understand that she is your sister, and that you want her safe but Wade Wilson is a madman. He is so unstable that I in fact had difficulty penetrating his mind at all, let alone deciphering his thoughts once I touch them." The Professor moved closer, leaning in as an attempt to meet the eye of the young woman before him. "Melissa, if you try to take her, there is no telling what might happen to your sister as a result. We are going to find her, we'll make sure she's safe. But you have to trust us and let us go about this the right way."
Melissa remained silent for a long time. Logan glanced between her and the Professor who watched her patiently. Logan suspected he was inside her head, having a conversation that was not for his ears. The three remained unmoving in their silent stand off until finally Melissa sighed.
"Three days." She said simply and pulled herself to her feet. "If you don't find a way to get to her in three days I'll go get her myself."
With that she stalked out of the room, students in the hallway gasping at the sight of her and jumping out of her way. Logan called her name at made to go after her but the Professor spoke.
"Let her go, Logan."
And that was that.
Well! That certainly ended up being longer than I expected! Hope you enjoyed it. More will be revealed about Lillian and her powers soon! And much more Deadpool in chapter 5, I promise :)
I adore your feedback so please review! I'd absolutely love to hear what you have to say!
xox
