Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or any of the characters. All copyright and ownership goes to Marvel and the creators. I make no profit from this little adventure of mine and this is purely for entertainment purposes.

Chapter 3: Shady Pasts

A little girl stood before a burning car, her screams echoing through the silent night. Sirens could be heard in the distance but no, they were too far away. The girl crumbled before the burning vehicle, her tears now falling freely. She subconsciously registered arms going around her in an age-old gesture of comfort. The little girl slowly quieted down as she ran out of tears to shed. Her eyes were hurting but she would not close them. Around her, firemen were running about, working to put out the flames yet she paid no heed to them. Her eyes, unblinking, were fixated on the charred hand hanging from the driver's side of the car. Not too far away, hiding in the cover of the trees, the devil watched her, a slight smile on his face as he retreated into the depths of the forest.

The almost-rhythmic sound of the rain hitting the roof drew Wade out of the sweet embrace of sleep. He continued to lie in bed and contented himself with listening to the droplets splatter on the roof. A few moments passed before Wade let out a sigh before climbing out of bed.

The house was empty; Faith was working. Wade wandered around rather aimlessly in the dark - he had not bothered turning on the lights - after getting something to eat. He had previously planned to head out to the yard for training but the weather had changed his mind for him. Settling down at the kitchen tabletop, Wade fiddled around with a fork before he caught a glimpse of white light on his hand. He instinctively ducked behind the table as a single bullet shattered the glass window and sliced the spot where his neck had been just moments before. Panting as his muscles tensed and the adrenaline kicked in, Wade warped to the upstairs bedroom that faced the backyard where the shot had come. The silhouette of a man was moving out of the trees and toward the house. That was the thing about snipers - you either hit your target on your first shot or risk never hitting them at all.

Wade smiled as a sharp pain cut the skin at the back of his hands. Bidding his time, Wade waited until his assailant was halfway across the yard before he teleported above him and lunged straight for his neck. What he had not expected was to be grabbed halfway through his ambush and thrown across the yard.

"Do you actually believe that that would work Wilson? You're just like how John had been, predictable!"

Wade dug his blades into the muddy ground halfway through and back flipped, landing back on his feet.

"Who are you?!"

"Oh no Wadey! Did you really lose your memory? Stryker cleaned you up good. He should have done a better job shutting you up though."

The man grinned as he sauntered forward toward him.

"Victor Creed. Does that ring any bells?"

The man asked as he continued forward, his nails - or rather claws - growing.

The beeping of the monitors rang in Faith's ears even as she walked down the silent corridor. She sighed as she gently massaged her temples, willing the headache to go away. It was a quirk with the job; she heard the sound so often that it was pretty much stuck in her head. Yet as irritating as it was, Faith constantly reminded herself that the sound symbolized life and with that, hope. She sub-consciously reached for the cool metal hanging from the chain she had tucked under her shirt. Memories burst through floodgates as the despair descended upon her once more. There is no hope. Not for me, and not for her. As the doctor sunk deeper into her thoughts, she felt a light tap on the shoulder. Instinctively, she spun and pinned the intruder to the wall, her right arm going up to aim for the neck. Fortunately, for her and even more fortunately for the nurse, Faith recognised her before she moved to collapse her trachea. Stopping mid-attack, she pulled away from the frozen nurse, an apology slipping from her lips. Before the nurse could open her mouth to say anything, the doctor was gone.

"Who are you? Who's Stryker?"

"Stryker is your saviour, your maker. If he had not helped you, you would be a dead man now. You're his weapon Wade and now he wants you back."

"I don't belong to anyone so you can tell him to go to hell."

"Really? Somehow I think I'm about to prove you wrong."

The man - Victor - grinned before moving forward slowly. Picking up the pace, his gait quickly turned into a run before he sprinted and then launched himself at Wade.

Acting on instinct, Wade teleported behind him and made a quick swipe at Victor which he responded to by turning around and attempting an attack. Wade teleported before Victor could land the blow as he reappeared to Victor's right, giving him a quick spin-kick and making a cut in his arm before teleporting again and repeating the process. Ten times Victor failed to respond in time to Wade's attacks but one time he did and before Wade knew what exactly happened, he was thrown in the direction of the house. Digging his blades into the ground like before, Wade once again flipped and landed on his feet. As he looked up at Victor, a satisfied grin grew on his face as he admired his handiwork; Victor was covered in cuts and bruises. But his grin disappeared as he watched the wounds heal themselves.

"How do you think you are able to heal Wade? You're nothing but a weapon, a pool of powers stolen from other mutants."

"So you're part of this science experiment too? I guess I should thank you then but I think I'll pass."

Victor growled in response before launching at Wade again. Wade dodged the attack before striking and the two fell into a complicated game of strike-and-dodge. Wade was first to break away as he teleported and stabbed Victor at the spine. Victor growled before falling forward onto the ground, sending mud flying everywhere. As Victor healed, Wade took the time to interrogate him.

"You said my powers come from other mutants. What do you mean? Who is this Stryker and what does he have to do with me? Why did you come here?"

Wade put his blade to Victor's neck while the other simply chuckled in response.

"You are a fool Wilson. All the powers you have and all the mutants that they came from, you were the one to capture them one by one, put them in cells to rot and let Stryker do whatever he wants with them. So don't look at me with those judgemental eyes because you are just as guilty as all the rest of us if not more! Stryker saved you from yourself you ungrateful brat! You belong to Stryker and it's time to go home! Or what did you think you were going to do? Spend your whole life with that girl? You're a mercenary Wilson. You kill people and you don't give a damn. You're a killer, a weapon for hire."

Victor spat, emphasizing each and every syllable as if he were speaking to a five-year-old. Wade stayed silent as everything seemingly clicked into place. Why he was able to fight well; why he viewed the wolf as a target; why he knew to avoid the rifle shot. The rush of information baffled him slightly as he tried to accept the idea that he had spent all his life ending the lives of others. But what bothered him more was that he did not find the thought disturbing, at all. Victor took advantage of his captor's mild distraction to lunge and knock him to the side before taking off into the woods. Wade recovered quickly but did not bother giving chase.

When Faith had arrived home, she had found her roommate nestled on the couch, staring blankly at the television which was airing some random thriller movie. The hero was being chased by a killer clad in black who was waving a blood-stained butcher knife. The loud silence quickly grew uncomfortable and Faith opened her mouth to speak. But before any words came out, Wade's monotonous voice rang through the room.

"That's me you know."

"What?"

"The guy with the knife that's going around killing random people, that's me."

"What are you talking about?"

"I kill people. I kill people and I don't give a bloody damn."

"Wade..."

The man fell silent as he continued to stare blankly at the screen, watching as the killer cornered his victim in an alley before slowly slitting his throat.

The sky was pitch-black outside by the time Faith finally decided to wait Wade out of his mood. As much as she found the man annoying in all his never-ending talking, she had to admit that it was unnerving to see him acting the way he was. She had tried everything. Everything referring of course to poking, prodding and even mock-punching the man to try and get some form of response out of him but no, Wade had been as solid as a rock. The only acknowledgment of her efforts had come in the form of a short glare she received when she threatened to destroy all the waffles in the house. Yes yes, of all the things that could get Wade Wilson's attention, it would be the destruction of his damned waffles. Faith rolled her eyes in response to the one-sided conversation she had going on in her head. Fine, if he is going to ignore me and wallow in whatever depression it is that he decided to jump into, then it's not my problem. Wade can't stay like that long anyway, it's not his style. Faith decided before pulling back her sheets and sliding in, she had shift tomorrow. Outside, she heard the television turn off and smiled before drifting into unconsciousness.

The man trotted slowly through the lush shrubbery as he rapidly waved his phone around in an attempt to get a signal. When he finally got it, he quickly typed in the numbers and waited impatiently for the call to go through. He had been wandering about for the entire day after getting beaten, stabbed and sliced and he was tired, cold and hungry. After what felt like an eternity, a familiar voice squeaked from the Bluetooth.

[Status?]

[Unharmed. Currently in the forest behind the target's location. Requesting evac.]

[Weapon XII is in the area. She will assist you.]

[Copy.]

[Mission status?]

[Target has amnesia. He did not recognise Creed. Actual severity was not determined. He does not remember Stryker or the procedure either. I fed him the usual story.]

[Copy. Evac ETA is 30 minutes.]

[Copy that.]

The operator on the other side cut the line as the man sighed before plopping down on the ground to settle in for a long wait. After a few moments, the man settled on counting the number of leaves on the tree he had bunked under. When he reached two hundred and fifty-three, he heard a faint rustling not far away from him and could not help breaking into a smile.

"Get up."

"Hello to you too."

"I told Stryker I did not need back-up. You just ended up giving me more trouble."

"Well I'm sorry if I was apparently sent down here because I decided not to take out the girl when she was walking around right there in front of me, a perfectly clear shot I might add, for more than 30 seconds and I apparently pissed Stryker off!"

The girl growled lowly in response and the man felt the skin on the back of his calves and thighs burn.

"Yeah yeah! Burn me! That would totally solve everything!"

"Let's just go."

The girl hissed as she turned to leave. The man grinned before clambering to his feet and following her, whistling as he walked. After a few moments of silence, the girl suddenly spoke up.

"So... how did the mission go?"

Her counterpart grinned before smirking.

"Let's just say Creed won't be happy."

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