I am back! And I come bearing gifts! A brand new chapter the likes of which no one has ever seen!...Or maybe someone has. How the hell am I supposed to know? Anyway, the second arc, "Resurrected pain" comes to an end and it should prove to be epic enough to meet up to you guys' ridiculously high standards. How will Deadpool help Laura when she comes face to face with two of her greatest adversaries? Will he help her evade them once again? Only time will tell…wait, I mean, you'll find out below (Why did I say the other thing?). Strap in and get ready for the mind blowing seventh chapter filled with chills and thrills!...Chills and thrills sold separately.

Chapter seven: World War Laura!...with Deadpool, yay.

"Look, Doreen, you gotta calm down. Whatchya got against Deadpool anyway?"

Doreen scowled at Wolverine as he once again tried to get her to calm down. But she wouldn't. Because she knew. She knew that Deadpool was a 'bad, bad man'. She was getting very anxious since finding out a minute ago that the innocent, pretty looking girl whom Logan said was his sister—in a way—was also at the same time the devious mercenary that she had come to regard with caution since the days of his short lived career with the Great Lakes Avengers. "I will not calm down, Logan. Deadpool is an awful person, and someone like him should not be around a baby!" she argued adamantly.

I hear that.

Hey! How're you even—how're we here when Deadpool isn't even in the room?

Uhh…out-of-body experience?

Sounds plausible.

"Wonder what's taking him so long to get the door. Y'think he bailed?" Spider-Man pondered out loud, still sitting on the couch. At that, Logan and Squirrel Girl stopped bickering and turned to look at Spidey, as they both thought about what he had said. "I mean, it's not like he's incapable of doing something like that, is it? Logan, you're his Weapon-X BFF, you should know."

A faint snarl made itself visible on Logan's face. "He better not've, Webs. Cuz even he knows that if he went off without saying nothing, I'd—"

Cut short by a sudden sound, that to all present resembled a beam releasing gathered energy, the three of them were shocked to unexpectedly see the figure of Laura come crashing through the wall that the T.V lay against, landing coincidentally into the Wall crawler, who sensed it coming but was too stunned to react. The force with which Laura's body was thrown with managed to push her and Spidey a couple of feet from the overturned couch that he had just been relaxing on. When they came to a stop, the green eyed brunette was sprawled on the chest of a Spider-Man who was trying not to move too much, seeing as he was already dizzy and shaky.

"Woof!" Laurapool suddenly said without moving, due to having the wind knocked out of her. "That's…that's why I usually fly first class!…hmmm, I…I didn't hear anything. Did I break the Mansion's laugh track?" By now, both Logan and Squirrel Girl had registered what had just happened, and had come to their aid. "Oh dear, are you all right?" Squirrel Girl asked the both of them worriedly, temporarily forgetting her squabble with the Crimson Comedian. Logan, however, decided to get to the bottom of it without the hand holding. "What the hell happened, Wade?" he barked.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking" Laurapool said sarcastically, still lying on Spidey but struggling to prop her upper body with her hands. When she finally did, Spidey had recovered from his slight vertigo and he managed to raise his head up a little so their heads were inches apart. "…Wade…please get your body weight off me. This position…is…y'know, a bit provocative?"

Yeah it is!

I swear, I just might swoon.

"Aww, you don't have to pretend, Webby bear. I know that you caught me because you care. Hows about we finish up that Eskimo kiss we started?" she smirked. Groaning, Spider-Man quickly pushed her off, and got up holding his side. The Wall crawler could not help ignore the impassive stare of Wolverine and the some-what confused look on Squirrel Girl, as the hole in the wall that Laurapool had created distracted him. "Wow. He really came through the freakin wall, didn't he?"

"Wade, I'm a need answers, bub!" Logan growled, startling Doreen and making Danielle, who was otherwise mostly quiet, whimper unexpectedly. His insistent demand was met with Laurapool suddenly clutching her head in agony, just after she had risen up. "Arrrggghh! It feels like someone is trying to cram the whole first season of 'Grey's Anatomy' into my head!" she wailed, dropping to her knees in pain, with her long dark hair falling all around her head to the floor. "What's happening?"

It is me.

"What? Laura? Why are you doing this?"Wade asked out loud, confusing the people witnessing their ordeal."Is it because of that time I annoyed you?"

Which is actually all the time?

Is it just me or is the italic voice being more of a bitch today?

I cannot allow you to fight a battle meant for me.

The three on-lookers stood watching in anticipation, waiting to see if Wade would pull out of it. They were all worried as to what had happened when they saw Laura's body go limp. Spidey stooped low to check and see if she was okay while Squirrel Girl waited expectantly for him to confirm it. "Wade? Wade, wake up, buddy" he cajoled, turning her over so she was lying on her back. Wolverine by now was seemingly ignoring the rest of them because he had caught a scent, but the nature of it confused him as he thought more about it. "It doesn't make sense" he told himself, prompting the very worried Doreen to turn to him, with a desperate expression. "Logan, what doesn't make sense?" she asked, knowing that she wouldn't like the answer.

"I'm getting the same scent but…it's coming from over thirty people" he explained, not bothering to look at the terrified baby sitter, still preoccupied with the strange nature of the scents he was getting. "I'm also getting another scent that's a bit similar to the others and a second completely different one" As Logan sniffed the air repeatedly trying to find out more, Spider-Man was meanwhile coming to the conclusion that Wade was not coming out of his unconscious state anytime soon. Staring at the face of the beautiful 17 year old, Spider-Man still wondered how the personality of a crazy person like Wade could be stuck in her head. "Uh guys, I don't think that Wade is—"

Laura suddenly sat up, gasping for breath and freaking Spider-Man out in the process. Doreen was at first spooked but quickly felt the fear melt into relief. "Is he alright?" she asked Spidey, keeping her eyes on the teenage clone, whose breathing had by now become regulated and her demeanor calm. "I am fine. It is me, Laura" she suddenly let out, stunning Doreen and Spidey with the sudden change in tone and behavior. Getting up rather quickly, an in control Laura turned her attention to Squirrel Girl. "You must get this baby away from here as quick as possible. There is a panic room situated in the attic." she said, her voice just a little shaky. On someone else, it would be considered nothing worth mentioning, but this was Laura…it meant she was panicking on the inside. "Go!" she urged a confused Squirrel Girl, who because of the general mood held Danielle even closer.

Hey, Laura! You can't be talkin' to my baby girl like that!

Dude, I told you, you can't have a crush on her! She hates you!

I honestly don't see how that's relevant. You know how long I've wanted a rodent superhero woman in my life.

Seriously, I think unrequited love turns us on. Which is admittedly, kinda creepy.

"Okay, okay, okay" Doreen said to herself over and over, running up the stairs to go to the attic. Apart from being the resting place of their quinjet, it was also the location of a panic room built specifically for Danielle and whoever was taking care of her. As Squirrel girl disappeared up the first flight, Wolverine took Laura by the shoulders, attempting to inquire what she and Deadpool saw. "What is it, darlin'? What's comin'? I can smell it but I can't place it" Looking into his eyes for several seconds, Laura suddenly unsheathed her claws. "…Kimura" she simply told him.

"WHAT? Why don't these f#$%ers ever stay down?" he growled, unsheathing his own as well. "Why is her scent all over the place?" he asked.

"They have cloned her. I observed well over twenty-five of them. Also, they are accompanied by Dr. Rice"

"What?" Logan exclaimed disbelievingly. "They cloned her? And how is that piece of s#$ Rice guy still alive? You told me he was caught in an explosion way back when you escaped the Facility"

"He has been fitted with cybertronics. For reanimation as well as weaponry purposes" she explained, turning to look at the hole in the wall that her body had come hurtling through.

I wonder if he has a cybertronic 'short-form-of-Richard'.

That's where your mind goes? How professional.

Hey dude, leave him alone. It's either he makes lewd comments or he sings Britney Spears' 'I'm a slave for you' all the time.

The three of them, stood in the room, glancing about quickly, expecting the worst because the place had gone deathly silent. The sudden calm unnerved all of them especially the arachnid hero who until now, had been overwhelmed temporarily by his Spider sense. Letting go of the head that he had been clutching, he steadied himself as he felt a wave of dizziness wash over him. "Whoa. We're in a lot of trouble, aren't we?"

"We are" Laura remarked, closing her eyes and bracing herself for what was coming next. "God, I hate clone sagas" Spider-Man lamented.

And then they came. From all directions, the tiny swarm of lethal clones all of whom were spitting images of Laura's original tormentor, descended on them. In moments the whole place was alive with combat. "Who exactly are we fighting here again? Kimono clones?" Spider-Man asked, flipping over one and delivering a kick to her face as he was upside down in mid air, also punching another at the same time.

Crap! This is a once in a life time opportunity—to do banter with the Wall Crawler himself and instead we're stuck in here!

Where it's safe and not bloody! It feels refreshing to be a coward.

This public service announcement was brought to you in part by Cowardice. Cowardice; we would tell you our motto, but we're too scared to.

"She is Kimura! She cannot feel pain and only feels impact" Laura offered as she kicked a clone with her toe claw out but only succeeding in sending her to the floor with the force. "And the adamantium ain't workin' either! We need a plan, Webs!" Logan shouted as he kept trying to cut any of them with his claws, only to have them almost immediately shake off the impact, and go at him again.

Spider-Man had just knocked two clones heads together in the air, and landed to web the guns of several of the Kimuras who had been shooting all over the place. "What? Why're you talking to me? I'm too busy wetting my pants!" he told Logan. "Didn't think I'd be fighting Luke Cage type chicks today. That is a genuine surprise."

Did you hear the way his quip related Kimura's powers to Luke's? Classic! We have much to learn, italic voice san and italic bold voice san.

Nobody pay attention to him. Where the hell is Dr. Rice?

C'mon man, don't you know the one rule of jinxing things?

Umm…do not talk about jinxing th—?

No, no, we already did a Fight Club reference. And it was just as bad.

Ignoring everything that Deadpool and his voices had said, except for the part about where Dr. Rice was, Laura continued to fight, furiously punching and hitting any of the clones that came her way, but because they could not feel pain and they weren't slowing down, she wasn't doing much to them. On the other hand, Laura had sustained several cuts, bruises and a couple of bullet wounds that for some reason, were healing slowly. Judo throwing a clone that had an arm around her neck, and punching one that came up from behind, Laura's senses detected the aforementioned Dr. Rice coming her way. But before she could even react, he came speeding through the gaping hole in the wall and slammed into her, creating more huge openings as he carried her and blasted through each barrier till they were outside at the back of the Mansion.

"Laura!" Logan cried out as Kimuras piled on him, holding his arms and trying to keep him in place. Without the advantage of his adamantium claws and without them feeling pain, he wasn't doing much more than his clone had. In fact he wasn't doing anything to them at all. "AAAAARRrrgggghh!" he yelled, as the clones holding him stabbed him with knives, seeking to find a weak spot. Seconds later though, webbing engulfed every single one of them that had ambushed him and Spidey swiftly landed next to him. "Oh look, the Mansion is being destroyed in the fight. I never would've seen that coming" Spider-Man jokingly deadpanned as Wolverine started to remove all of the blades still embedded in his body. As more of them tried to attack Logan and Spidey where they were standing, Spider-Man held them back from far, using his webbing. "Logan, we have to go upstairs!" he announced, as the clones kept coming and the ones he had webbed attempted to cut through the mesh. "I actually think I may have an idea!"

I really hope the idea he has is an 80's themed costume party. That would rock my socks off!…which would be interesting since I don't wear socks…

For the love of Bertha–how the hell are we doing this? We're supposed to be in Laura's head and she isn't even in this scene!

Hey, I just like to talk. Besides, it's not like this is main canon or anything. Does it matter?

"It's about time. I mean, you are supposed to be smart" Wolverine said, pulling the last blade from his body as Spidey unrelentingly covered them from the oncoming horde of murderous duplicates. "Oh, Logan, you say the sweetest things" Spidey rejoined as they ran to the staircase, trying to disregard the bullets whizzing by them on all sides. "So what's the plan, Parker?" Logan inquired as they reached the second floor and proceeded to go to the third. "When Stark rebuilt the Mansion, he may have put in a Bio-EMP" Spidey explained. "And if these clones are freshly made like I think they are, I should be able to adjust the photonic frequencies of the EMP and disrupt their molecular cohesion on a cellular level" Scrambling down a hall on the third floor, Spidey led Logan to a particular door that was metallic. "This should be it; the defense control room. Wait, what are you doing?"

Logan had moved further away from the confused webslinger in the hallway and stood with his back facing him. "I can smell em, Webs. They followed us up here. Go do what you gotta; I'll hold em off long as I can"

"Uhhh, sure, whatever you say" Spidey agreed, opening the door and shutting it behind him. "You f#$%s had better hope that Laura is okay" Logan muttered to himself, just as Kimura clones appeared round the corner, bounding toward him. Roaring as he rushed at them too, his cry was heard even downstairs outside, where Dr. Rice had pinned a seemingly unconscious Laura under his robotic arm.

Oh no, he's gonna start a monologue; I can feel it.

Or he might whisper sweet nothings in our ear, which oddly enough, I find more appealing than a monologue.

Old English is crazy! What the hell is a 'sweet nothing'?

The look on Dr. Rice's face was one that showed just how satisfying the present scenario was to him. "Laura, Laura, Laura…when will you learn? You can never escape me. And the fact that you tried to, gave me a purpose. A purpose that kept me from dying even though you blew half my body to hell. A purpose that kept life in me, so that on a day such as this, I would extract vengeance from you. Do you hear me, clone? Do you understand why the sword of Damocles that looms over you is about to fall? Do you?"

Expecting a response from her, he was surprised when her eyes stayed close and she didn't make a sound. It slowly dawned on him as he remembered that even though she was tough and resilient, she could be knocked out by severe trauma. Like for example, being forcibly shoved through several walls at great speeds. He laughed to himself as he considered it. "Really Laura? Knocked out cold by that? I would've thought that Kimura and I trained you better than that."

Oh God, someone make him shut up! He's like Dane Cook without the humor...no, wait, he's exactly like Dane Cook.

Dude, focus! Laura's unconscious! Things are about to get ugly! Also, I can't believe that it's not butter! Why am I shouting?

Speaking of ugly, where's Deadpool?

Just as he was about to say something else, her eyes abruptly opened and she spoke but in a different tone than the one he knew. "Dude, I'm sorry but…you can't be poised over me like this. What if Spider-Man sees us? I'm his gal, y'know." Slightly taken back by the change in her manner, he suddenly doubled over and groaned when an intense pain registered in his lower abdomen and he quickly realized that she had kicked him in the groin. Effortlessly pushing him off, Laurapool scrambled to her feet and cautiously stood over him as he looked angrily up at her, balled up in agony. "Huh. Guess you don't have a cybertronic 'short form of Richard'. Although, you may have to get one after what I just did. It's too bad that you ain't my bud; I actually coulda hooked you up with one."

Hook him up? What the hell is he talking about?

I don't know but I won't lie; I would be genuinely interested in seeing who this creepy supplier of male genitalia is.

With the pain slowly fading, the smirk returned to Rice's face as he held up his robotic arm and pointed it at Laurapool, waiting for the recharge of energy. "Hmm. That is actually interesting. It appears that you have developed some sort split personality while we were apart. Maybe as an escape from all that trauma you experienced at the Facility, perhaps?" he pondered as the energy recharge reached its peak.

Laurapool slowly backed up as the blast grew imminent. "Hold up, crazy android guy. Maybe we can come to some sort of compromise. If you let me go, I'll let you take me to prom. How does that sound?" Smiling nervously as Dr. Rice prepared to blast her, they were both bewildered at the sound of scurrying that came out of the blue. Their confusion took on an even greater level when from all around hundreds of squirrels rushed toward Dr. Rice and began to engulf him with their numbers. "What–what is this? Stop! Stop that, you little–arrrrggghhhhhhh!" he screamed, drowning in the hoard of furry rodents that would not let up even though he blasted at them with his beam over and over. By now, the expression of shock on Laurapool's face had been replaced by one of pleasant surprise. "Well, slap me on top of a girl's upper lip and call me a moustache. Squirrel Girl came through"

Sweet. Now is the time—disgusting imagery by the way—to get revenge…and repay monologue for monologue! Start off with something about the detailed origins and applications of paper and then—

No time for that now! The others are still inside with the Kimura clones, including the oblivious Dr. Strange!

"Oh crap, Strange." Laurapool paused as she remembered the person who might be able to help her and Laura, before turning to run back toward the Mansion. Entering in through the huge hole in the back wall, she made her way to the initial scene of the fight—the almost completely ruined living room—and was met with a good number of angry Kimura clones, some of whom were being freed from webbing traps by others. Seeing their primary target in their midst made them shift their focus onto her as they threateningly started to walk gradually toward her. "Seriously, I've had dreams like this but I freely admit…this is not how they turned out" she croaked out, wondering how she was going to face a whole group of impervious killers.

This would be an excellent time to try that 'burying your head in the sand' bit, made popular by ostriches and scaredy cats.

Or crying. Crying will do. Fainting's even better. And it won't ruin the ozone like crying does.

Just as she was about to give up hope, the silence of the battle ravaged room was replaced by a high pitch whine that got louder and was subsequently accompanied by a burst of red light that was gone as soon as it had appeared. Thinking at first that it was a ploy of the intruders, Laurapool waited in vain and saw that nothing had happened, even to the equally astounded clones who didn't seem to know what the light and noise were meant for. It was then that the voice of Spider-Man came via the intercom that was connected throughout the whole house. "This is your Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man on 90.5 Mansion radio, bringing you the biggest hits of the week such as 'stop trashing our house' and 'the Bio-EMP just rendered the clones vulnerable for a time', all hit singles from the New Avengers current album titled 'We're about to kick your butts'. Enjoy" Having stopped to listen to him, the Kimura clones were clearly sobered by the announcement. "Oh yeah. My pseudo-boyfriend rocks out loud, doesn't he?" Laurapool stated, as the claws from each arm unsheathed.

Preparing to take on the now tentative room full of Kimuras, Laurapool was not surprised when several seconds later she heard the familiar grunt of Logan who having just come down the stairs, was making his way toward her. Laurapool turned to regard him as he stood beside her; his uniform was completely torn and ruined from the waist up and he was covered in a sufficient amount of blood. Making a face with a furrowed brow, Wade's nose wrinkled even as the pungent smell of gore on Logan was greatly exaggerated due to Laura's senses. "Dude, you smell like a dead fart that's wearing skunk cologne!"

"Nice to see you too, Wade" Logan said in reply, not taking his roving eyes off of the horde of clones who appeared to have been stalemated by the Bio-EMP. Spider-Man was the last to join them even as he came down the stairs in his usual agile, acrobatic fashion. "Logan, did you kill everyone up there?"

"…Might've, Webs"

"Seriously?" Spidey cried out incredulously. "They were still living people, man!"

Logan was obviously unimpressed with the wall crawler's misplaced care for lab creations that had been trying to kill them no more than a couple of minutes back. "Hey, if any of them happen to live, then good for them" he stated, popping his claws out with the distinctive 'snikt' sound accompanying the action. "Just promise me you'll try not to kill any of these ones?" Spidey pleaded as he assumed his battle ready stance.

"Well, I'd love to stay and casually chat about the moral implications of the diametrically opposed choices of letting killers live or ganking them, but…I have to go see if a certain Dr. Strange is not tiny bit size pieces by now"

"I assumed that the doc could handle any of these wanna-be's with his magic whammy but, yeah, maybe you should do that" Logan said, agreeing with Wade. Unexpectedly, before Laurapool could fully maneuver her way to the staircase in hopes of finding Strange, Logan's hoarse voice in the form of a battle cry came sooner than she thought, plunging the room into chaos once again as he and Spider-Man clashed with the multitude of clones.

Daddy, is that bad, bad man called Logan going to kill all those people?

Yes, he will, angel. Y'know why? Cuz Mr. Logan's unhappy…and compensating for a tiny 'short form of Richard'. Now, what say we talk about the fact that you've started noticing boys more? Cuz I'm sure—

"Okay, it's getting too creepy now, even for me. And I've kinda been fantasizing about my own body" Laurapool stated, confessing her escapades as she raced up the stairs, struggling to find her way to the hallway that led to Strange's door.

Really? ...Which one?

Ignoring the voice's question, she inwardly hoped that the person whom she expected to be there, would not have laid a hand on the former Sorcerer Supreme yet. In fact, she hoped that Strange was being used as bait. At least that would mean that he was safe. But knowing Kimura—because Laura knew Kimura—Laurapool figured that she was getting her hopes up for nothing even as she reached the specific corridor. What she saw when she got there didn't surprise her, but it still managed to chill even her a little. Down the hall, right in front of Strange's door, stood a calm and smiling Kimura, playing with a knife ever so slowly as she tauntingly twisted it about with one hand, a defiant action that stopped the merc infused teen in her tracks.

Deciding to break the tentative silence that superseded their impromptu meeting, Laurapool spoke up. "Wow. I gotta say…you twirling that knife like that…it's incredibly hot. Very Angie Jolie of you." The joke that found its way out of the "possessed" clone, did the impossible and actually threw Kimura off for a moment. She had expected the little miss adamantium claws witch to panic at her arrival, but somehow, she had been taking it in stride since they raided Avengers Mansion. Which in turn made her very, very angry.

…Nnnggghhh…wait…what is…what is happening?

Uh oh, looks like the person who's got first dibs on this body is back.

Wait…Julian is here?

No, you idiot! Laura's awake!...And why does Julian get first dibs? So his "hands can rove all over her body?"

I don't know much about superhuman ethics but seriously…that was cruel.

"Settle down, Laura. Seriously, I got this" she whispered, hoping that the recently awakened owner of the meatsuit would listen and let her act. It seemed as though the place had gone quieter and the sound of her feet on the floor as she slowly made her way towards Laura's former handler, seemed to be a thousand times louder than usual. "So, kid…how did you get to be so funny?" Kimura suddenly spat out.

"Took an Improv class, Senora. I was thinking of taking my show on the road because, hey…if Dane Cook can do it…" By now, Laurapool had come to an abrupt stop again, after halving the distance between them. Kimura grinned viciously at her, wanting nothing more than to stuff the clever retorts down the teen clone's throat. It irritated her to no end to think that Laura had somehow healed and become like a real person. It…disgusted her. "I had a feeling that you would try to save Dr. Strange. You're trying to be selfless, aren't you? Well, being selfless is wrong and I'm going to have to f$#ing punish you, and kill Strange in front of you. I'm gonna make you wish you'd never been made" Kimura said, hatred oozing from her voice as it came out low and intoned.

"…But that means that I still get two more wishes, right? Then I'm definitely gonna wish for a puppicorn. Which is a half unicorn, half puppy thing…that breathes fire" The snikt of Laura's claws sliding out reverberated throughout the corridor. Expectant of the angry controller to attack at any time, Laurapool started to feel a weak Laura fight to take back control of her body, albeit failingly. Even though Wade could feel Laura's obvious weak mind, he knew that it would get stronger very fast. Right now though, Laura's mind was the mental version of groggy. "Laura…let me do this" Laurapool said under her breath, hoping that she would be allowed to fight.

Why…why do you want to fight my battles for me?

He's always loved a good chick fight. I guess now, he gets to be right in the midst of it.

I think…I think that this is him…being noble. Too bad that it's against a chick that we can't spike, even with adamantium claws.

"Any last words, c#$?" Kimura asked, knowingly prepared to kick the crap out of the clone. "Yes, I do. Insert cool Samuel L. Jackson speech from Pulp Fiction here" was Laurapool's responsive quip, after which, they both simultaneously went rushing at each other. For the person of Wade, presently in charge of the reins of the body that both he and Laura occupied, time seemed to move slowly…and lot more so after Kimura leapt up angrily, with all the intention of sinking her wielded knife into the flesh she knew was possessed of a healing factor. Thinking fast with her aggressor descending on her in fury, Laurapool was able to jump at the precise moment, extending a kick with her right that caught the other woman in the stomach. The precise move which might've slowed anyone down and at most caused internal damage to the organs, was only able to knock Kimura to the ground unceremoniously, seemingly having no visible effects. "Oh yeah. You're indestructible and you don't feel pain…I totally spaced on that" Laurapool admitted as her opponent stood up.

Oh no! We're gonna die! And I'm only, like, a week from retirement!

Slow her down temporarily and run! That is our only option, Wade!

"No, it's not!" she maintained, even as Kimura menacingly came toward her, this time at a walking pace. Before Laurapool knew what was happening, the knife was swiftly coming down in a vicious swipe. Barely managing to block it with her claws, she staggered back as she was continuously slashed at over and over by her antagonist, whose speed was something that Wade started to grow wary of. Metal clashed against metal for minutes as Kimura sought to find a weak, poorly defended spot but Laurapool managed to unwaveringly keep up with her until an unforeseen cut tore through her midsection. Pain gripped her body as she clutched at the wound and fell to the floor. The wound caught her attention again seconds later when she realized that it was not healing as quick as it should. "Adamantium knife tipped in some stuff that slows down your regeneration. Boy, am I gonna have fun with it while I'm torturing you" Kimura ranted as she towered over a weakened Laurapool, who seemed to be losing a lot of blood.

"I don't suppose promising to go with you to your Prom would make you stop, would it? It's probably for the best anyway; nobody would ever believe that I would let you bring my milkshake to the yard" she jibed without looking at the woman above her, who was planning on doing horrible things to the clone. Then out of the blue, the pain that normally accompanied Laura trying to take control of her body had started and had even gotten worse than it had been before. Struggling to resist a mentally strong Laura, Wade fought to stay in control despite the fact that he was losing his grip and being edged out gradually.

It's now or never, Wade! Let Laura have a crack at it. Maybe she can salvage the situation.

Yeah, just let it go, dude! Let it go!

"…Nahh" Laurapool decided, suddenly springing into action, using the remainder of her energy to leap at the startled Kimura and rapidly pin her to the floor. Raising her right hand and dangling it over the malicious woman's face in a flash, she promptly popped her claws, maintaining the tips no more than a hair's breadth away from Kimura's eyes. "What the f#% are you doing, you bitch?" the former handler inquired angrily, though she was still scared enough not to move an inch.

"Seriously, it's like you have super Tourette's. And what I'm doing? Just stalemating you" Laurapool said, with confidence in her voice. The pain she was feeling, however, was taking its toll and she had to pause a moment to compose herself, briefly hearing only their heavy breathing. "As I was saying…I've fought a guy like you before. He was kinda invulnerable too. But just like all you other invulnerable douches, he had one weak spot: the eyes. Even if you were created by the power of imagination in a lab reminiscent of the sets on Barney, eyes still have to be like…well, like how eyes are. So, I guess they really are the windows to the soul…and I can certainly let yours out by piercing through them…uh, that last line kinda sucked. Mind if I take another crack at it?" Itching to make a move but unsure of what the clone might do to her, Kimura simply relayed her feelings through a huge snarl on her face and a glare that could set fire to ice.

Wait, he's right! It was in Suicide Kings #5–when he fought Tombstone! That was a good miniseries.

Mehh. I only got a speaking role in it. Like always.

Relief poured out of Laurapool, when she realized that the whole ordeal was finally over because of what she had done. The fact that the big, bad Kimura had actually admitted defeat by failing to respond to the claws in her face caused the green eyed girl to exhale deeply, in a calming manner, which she almost immediately discarded when a particular string of thoughts flitted across her mind. The expression on her face turned grim and her contemplation was suddenly interrupted by someone who knew exactly what she was thinking about.

Wade…no…we…cannot…we should not…

'Why not? I've seen all what she did to you. She deserves it. Plus, you know that she's just gonna keep clamoring for your neck, Laura.' His thoughts were loud and clear to her which surprised Laura a bit. She could not remember a time when his two voices were not the ones speaking on behalf of him and what was going on in his mind. But presently, it was relatively silent; just the two of them in her head. 'All I gotta do is fist down and your claws'll be tickling her brain. Whaddya say?' Over the next few seconds, Wade could feel Laura struggle not to take back control and finish it herself. He had never seen—not even remembered—Laura feel animosity towards anyone like she did toward this woman who had tortured her for years just because she could. It was probably why what Laura said to him next, shocked him.

…No…that is what they want…it is what she wants…for me to be a killer…and I will not give her that satisfaction. It is my life…I choose what I want.

'…Okay' Admittedly disappointed, Wade was still happy that Laura had made a choice, not because it made the most sense or because it was the right thing to do; she did it because that was what she wanted. She was finally learning that she was in control of her life, and that all decisions people expected her to make were up to her, and her alone. Laurapool turned her attention back to the furious Kimura, who had started to squirm underneath her. "You may not know it now, but…your enemy actually saved your life."

"Either kill me or go f#% yourself in the c%$ with a knife, clone whore" she raged through gritted teeth. "Seriously, stop…you're turning me on" Wade shot back at her, keeping up the bravado but still unaware of how the situation was going to end.

With nobody moving at the moment and Laurapool feeling the receding of Laura's consciousness as it no longer wanted to be put in the forefront, they were both shocked when the door at the end of the corridor opened –and Dr. Strange stepped out. "By the Eye of Agamotto…" was all that escaped the doctor's mouth as he surveyed the scene before him; two women on the floor covered in blood and one of them poised over the other with claws directly in her face. The one on top—whom he recognized to be Laura—suddenly took her eyes off the woman beneath her and looked at him with a smile on her face. "Hey, doc. A little help?"

"Deadpool? What is going on? Who is that?"

"My would-be prom date" she pseudo clarified, looking back at the woman underneath her. "I can't believe I was gonna let you get to second base! Trying to kill me hereby revokes all second base privileges!" Kimura couldn't tell which one made her feel worse: not being able to shove her stalemate up her ass and beat the crap out of her, or having to listen to the clone talk to her annoyingly with the knowledge that she had won.

That is genuinely odd. He usually doesn't exclude people who try to kill him from his 'potential booty call' list.

I guess beggars can be choosers. Ugly, insane beggars, no less.

Strange was now at Laurapool's side, having performed a quick aura spell on the woman that his most recent patient had pinned to the floor. What he saw when he looked at Kimura's personality, sickened him so much that he winced visibly when he felt it. All he could feel from her was pure hate; a hate that was so perverse that it didn't matter to the bearer of such an emotion that it was without justification. She actually did not care that her hate had no reason. She was a true monster.

"Such…such hate…who is this person?"

"Laura's biggest fan…and I mean biggest fan in the sense that she wants to make her suffer." Kimura didn't have time to question the fact that Laura just curiously referred to herself in the third person, before she was cut out of her thoughts by the former weapon suddenly standing up and ceasing to dangle her claws over her vulnerable eyes. Warily propping her body up a bit by leaning on her elbows, she at least knew that Dr. Strange was dangerous to her, despite any physical invulnerability she possessed. Having him stand over her with the teenage clone beside him to influence his decision, unnerved her more than she thought possible.

I bet we look so frickin badass right now, looming over her like this.

You know what would be even more badass? Twitting about it.

I'm gonna have to agree with you on that one.

"…What do you want to do" Strange asked grimly. Sheathing her claws in a rather dramatic manner, Laurapool paused for a bit while looking at her fallen and submissive antagonist. "Well, I wanna see if I really do have three wishes so I can use one to get my freakin Puppicorn. But first…I wanna send Little Miss Homicide here on a sweet ass vaykay. I have it on good authority that one of your outstanding customers—The Hulk—had a delightful time at the magical crossroads, hintedy-hint-hint." "…Understood" Strange affirmed before waving his hands around while doing the incantations that he required. He knew that he couldn't go by the book for this one. By the time the spell had begun to take effect, Kimura had finally had it up to her limit in keeping silent. "You're so f%king dead, sweetheart. So c$#t f^%king dead!" she yelled, as she faded away into nothing, taken to a new dimensional plane.

None of them realized how long the silence had gone on for before Strange finally spoke up. "…You know…we can't leave her there forever." Strange's expression grew bemused when he looked over at Laurapool and realized that she was heavily pouting. "Well I think we should, doc…" she said, folding her arms and deepening her scowl. "…She totally lied about the wish thing."

X23 X23 X23 X23 X23 X23 X23 X23 X23 X23 X23 X23 X23 X23 X23 X23

"Seriously, Spidey is right: we can't have nice things."

Luke Cage looked around as repairs to the Mansion had already gotten underway. Steve Rogers had really hooked up the New Avengers with standard service from Damage Control–which was the reconstruction firm that specialized in repair of property that was damaged in superhuman conflicts–and it really made things a lot easier because the Mansion kept getting constantly destroyed anyway. Looking at the lab boys from Stark Resilient as they carried a violent Dr. Rice away as well as the bodies of some of the clones made from the woman Logan had told him was called "Kimura", Luke could barely imagine that he and the team were only gone for some hours. It was a bit hard to accept Strange's explanation of what happened to the original when he was asked. Cage doubted that this so called Kimura could just escape from Deadpool and Strange, who was like one of the damn best sorcerers on the planet. He suspected that they had…taken care of her, like what everyone else from the rest of the New Avengers expected, but he just hoped and trusted that whatever they did, it was not too stretching of the good guy rules.

Luke could tell that it was Logan who walked up to him as he continued to survey the scene. "How ya doin, Logan? You good?" he asked, wondering why he even expected different from a man with a healing factor. "Yeah, I'm good. How's your baby?" the short hairy mutant inquired.

"Your clone/sister made the right call under pressure, getting the nanny to take her to the panic room. How did she even know about it, by the way?"

"She asked to see tha'schematics of the place. Kept saying that it was possible that it come under attack given the number of times it does. Thought I was just obliging her" Logan revealed, admitting that even he wrote her off initially. Turning his gaze to the scientists as they transported the corpses, Logan simply grunted. Unfortunately for him, Cage noticed it. "Wasamatter, man? You feeling a little guilty over those clones that you had to kill? They were gonna kill you, man. You had no choice"

"…I coulda found a way, bub"

"No you couldn't have" Cage insisted, trying to drive his point home. "Besides, didn't the geeks say that the clones were crude copies that were lacking certain human functions or whatever? They probably couldn't be helped" At that statement, Logan now focused on Laura who at the moment was sitting alone at a far corner in the backyard. "…That's what people said about her" came the Canadian mutant's voice, after Luke had joined him in looking at Laura from where they were standing. Luke couldn't help but feel a little pity for the girl. "It's too bad that she doesn't have a friend or someone she can relate to that can help her through this kind of stuff" he observed, thinking about the fact that she must feel real lonely.

Logan shocked even himself when he realized that he disagreed with Cage. "Y'know, before I woulda been with you on that one, but I don't know…" he contemplated, trailing off as he saw Laura gaze into the distance, most likely talking to Deadpool, "…I think she does have a friend."

Wow, Wade actually had a serious moment with you and the Kimura chick when we were gone? Cuz that doesn't sound like him.

Finally! Why the hell did it take Logan so long to build up to the 'she-does-have-a-friend' segue that introduced us?

Having learnt from experience that engaging Wade's voices was sometimes more pointless than engaging the man himself, a presently in-control Laura simply opted to talk to the real him for a change. "You seem to have made a habit of saving my life" she stated, with a tiny part of her tone voicing out the implied humor she found in her words. "I…I thank you, Wade"

I can't believe that I don't have my Puppicorn thing! It would've been awesome, and-and I would've named her Buttercup!

Laura swiftly went from her trademarked neutral expression to a slightly peeved one. "…I believe that that is what people who frequently interact socially call 'ruining the moment'" she pointed out.

Oh yeah. Sorry…Why do I have this urge to go to a Prom?

I don't know about you but…didn't this whole chapter come off as a bit boring and anti-climactic?

Yeah, sure and you breaking the fourth wall for the umpteenth time is so much more innovative.

I'm pretty sure the anti-social dorks who read this and spend their free time making love to their computers would disagree with your harsh sarcasm.

Sighing in exasperation, Laura simply decided to let her mind wander a bit and forget about what had just transpired. For some reason that she was not fully aware of, Wade being with her made the knowledge of the situation easier to bear. It was an unusual thing for her and it felt even stranger when she realized that she still that Wade had been annoying and still was. In the end, she made up her mind to not question it but to reap the benefit of this unorthodox feeling she was having. It…it made her feel…as though she might finally be able to experience happiness.

Notwithstanding, there was one thing that she couldn't help but think of, one thing that plagued her mind even now. A decision that had come back so quickly to haunt her, one that she turned over in her mind as she continued to regard the bustle of activity went on before her at a steady, somewhat comforting pace. She didn't know exactly when she suddenly blurted out her thoughts; compulsively speaking was not something that was a usual problem. But she did, and significant or not, she had said it and could not take it back.

"…I really wanted to kill her…I still do."

Laura's confession didn't faze Wade in the least. "…Yeah. I could tell" he assured her, speaking from killer to killer. With a part of her glad that he understood, Laura drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, for some reason only slightly minding the fact that Wade's voices had decided to plunge into yet another argument. She quickly resumed paying them no attention because at that moment, there was a turmoil in her mind…but a calm in her heart.

END.

I do not want to imagine myself writing something like that again. Do you know how much of a challenge weaving that plot was?...Too bad though; I'm most likely gonna do it again soon. I hoped you liked the end to the 'Resurrected Pain' arc and thanks for going along with the ride, even though it spanned several months. I don't even deserve reviews with how long I've taken. Honest to God, School made me do it.

Next chapter: Laura and Wade return to Utopia (it's obvious that they'd get kicked out of the Mansion, duh) and something psionic-y happens. Wade's mind starts to jump from person to person on Utopia, and everybody he "possesses" is trapped with him in their mind, in their own little mind setting, while the person's body wreaks havoc on the island! (That means Wade will get to use his body yet again! Yay!) And what happens when you add Laura—who still has Deadpool's two voices and a feeling of responsibility—into the mix? You get one hell of a time! Wade won't visit every mind so…if and when you review, let me know who you want to get a taste of the Pool!