Disclaimer: "Liking is probably the best form of ownership, and ownership the worst form of liking."―José Saramago

Summary: Guess who's back! She's survived living with the Acolytes. She's survived mutant haters, paintball wars, evil hypnotizers, creepy apothecaries, terrible food poisoning. But she's not out of the woods yet! Teammate drama, boys and the one, most difficult journey that all teenagers must suffer! Read "Animation" first.

The only beta for this story is you!Any mistake found, please report to me. Grammar, plot, character…any flaw, I want to know and fix. (Almost) nothing is too small.

This entire fanfic is dedicated to FivePhoenix. Without her, "Animation" wouldn't have even gotten off the ground and she has helped me a lot with this too.

Warnings: Human/Mutant fight

Chapter 7: Twists

"Ryan Reynolds is your dad?" Ariel exclaimed, half disbelief, half amusement. Liam looked up as the sports car zoomed away.

"Nah, that's my…uncle," Liam replied. "His name's Wade and he doesn't act. Or make movies. Although he talks about a video game…"

"Huh," Ariel said, walking into the school. "He really looks like Ryan Reynolds."

"I know," he said with a smirk. "He gets that a lot."

The bell briiiinged loudly, making Liam wince. Ariel watched his face carefully.

"You alright?" she asked. He nodded, shaking his head like a wet animal.

"Yeah. Just…sensitive ears."

"Huh. I know somebody with sensitive ears too," Ariel replied, thinking of Sabretooth.

"Really?" Liam said, interested. "Does he act like an animal?"

"Yeah he's a…feral," Ariel said. "Which means—"

"Super senses, super reflexes, animal nature, healing factor, claws, fur, teeth, ears," Liam began to rattle off.

"So you are too," Ariel interrupted casually. "What about everyone else?"

"Well," Liam said. "I don't know about the X-Men, but Vince can do something with radio waves, not sure what. Apparently his sister can do something with microwaves. Julian…you know, the rich jerk? Yeah, he's got some green energy thing—"

"Hey! You freak!" Heads turned as the jock from the other day strode down the hallway towards Ariel, surrounded by several other of his football cronies.

"That's Duncan Matthews," Liam muttered. "He doesn't even go to school here anymore."

"You burned up my house!" Duncan screeched, clenching his fists. Ariel glared back at him.

"Yeah, while you were out hunting mutants!"

"They got what was coming. Just like you!"

Two of the other jocks grabbed Ariel's shoulders and slammed her into the lockers, holding her still. She could see that two others were holding back Liam as well. Duncan reeled back to throw a punch, when a voice cut through the tense whispering.

"Stop."

Duncan turned. His minions did too, but their holds didn't relax at all. Jason Lee stood in the hallway, flanked by his sister and another X-Man, Robert Drake.

"What? Or you'll stop me?" Duncan sneered, leaning close. "You freaks use your powers and you'll never come back."

Seemingly on reflex, Jason's knee snapped up into Duncan's gut. The jock doubled over, groaning. On cue, the other X-Men charged into the fray. The jocks holding Ariel let go to join Duncan, but as they left, she kicked them in the back of their knees.

Liam wriggled out of his captors' arms and punched one in the chin. The other jock punched him right in the mouth. Liam spat out a tooth and grinned at the jock as another tooth grew right out of his gums.

"Wha—" the jock stammered, before Ariel charged into him. Soon, it was an all-out Human vs. Mutant battle in the hallway.

"What…" A voice bellowed. "Is going on here?"

"Suspended for two days?" Remy rubbed his hands together gleefully as they drove away from the school. "Ah, cherie that is magnifique!"

"Really?" Ariel replied, leaning back in her chair. Apparently, jocks put up a better fight than rioters. "And keep your hands on the wheel."

"He probably would have suspended you for longer, but they have to be careful with mutants or risk getting accused of other things," the Cajun mused. "Of course, that Matthews is probably in jail, but…"

Remy yanked on the wheel, dragging the car into a parking lot and probably breaking several traffic laws.

"Cherie," he said dangerously. "Did you say that this…bête attacked you?"

"Well, yeah," Ariel said. Remy's eyes glowed.

"I'm calling Pyro—wait, never mind," Remy muttered.

"Temporary truce?" Ariel suggested. He pondered this.

"For you, cherie, I think we will." He dug around in his trench coat and found his cellphone. "Pyro? Yeah, you too. You wanna hunt down a mutant hater? Fantastique."

Remy gunned the engine and exited the parking lot, tossing his phone back to Ariel. "Call Petey. We've got a mission. A personal one."

The moon shone brightly over Bayville. In a dark alley, three shadowy figures strode silently up to the building. The three Acolytes crept up to the police station. Remy counted down quietly.

"Three…two…Deadpool?"

Sure enough, the Merc with the Mouth was crouching behind Pyro, stifling giggles.

"Gambit! Here to avenge your little disciple?" Deadpool snickered. "Me too!"

"Little disciple? Ariel's not—"

"You both have weird eyes, you both can do stuff to inanimate objects, you both make the stuff glow when you use said powers, you both lived on the streets, you both work for Magneto, you both hate authority—"

"Point taken," Gambit interrupted tersely. "So why are you here?"

"My kid," Deadpool replied, pulling out a wallet from God knows where. "Well, technically my nephew, but in this universe he got the Bruce Wayne treatment. See?"

A roll of pictures of chimichangas was shoved into Gambit's face.

"Oh…whoops. Here." This time there were pictures of a dog wearing a DP uniform. "Uh oh. Wait…"

"Okay, let's keep going," Gambit said as he picked the lock on the police station door. Pyro snickered.

"Little disciple."

Duncan Matthews looked up as the door to his cell squeaked open.

"Hello?" he called hoarsely. "Are you getting me out?"

"Yeah," a voice replied, laughing quietly. "Sure, kid."

Duncan rose from his cot, only to be kicked into the wall. "But trust me, where we're going is much, much worse."

The three shadowy figures joined up with Deadpool.

"So this is the punk who hates mutants so much," Gambit mused.

"So much to do," Deadpool giggled. Pyro flicked his lighter.

"I say char-grill him, drizzle boiling cheese over his roasted body, and feed him alive to the Blob," he cackled.

"Strap him to a nuclear missile, send him out to Asteroid M and charge up the whole thing," Gambit snarled.

"Or we could bring him to Abby's Apothecary!" Deadpool suggested brightly. "What? You guys did it last story to that Mesmero guy. Then again, you don't wanna be predictable…"

Colossus reached out a steel arm and grabbed Duncan by the shirt.

"We could play ice hockey with him except use chainsaws, then tie him to a lamppost and run the van into him, then water-torture him with oil and throw him into a pit of coals," he said. The three others stared at him. "What?"

"Dude, that's pretty intense, and that's coming from me," Deadpool said. "Although I like the chainsaw parts."

"Oh! We could pitch grenades to him and make him hit 'em with a bat!" Pyro said.

"Or…" a new voice said, "you could give him to me."

"Who're you?" Pyro snapped, flicking his lighter. Deadpool was uncharacteristically quiet, but his hand dropped to a gun on his belt.

"You may call me…Nathaniel," the shadowy figure replied.

"Or I could call you…call you…uh…You ruined my video game, man!" Deadpool shouted. "I was gonna get fangirls, and you had to add a plot!"

"I have no idea what you mean," Nathaniel replied. "But I am sure that whatever went wrong was entirely your fault."

Deadpool unsheathed his swords. "I could've had Psylocke and Rogue too! And even Dom!"

Nathaniel reached out with his hand, telekinetically strangling Deadpool. "I don't have time for this."

"Are…you…going…to…tell…me…you're…my…father?" Deadpool choked out. He let out a strangled cackle before pressing his belt and disappearing. He reappeared next to Nathaniel and pressed a sword to his throat.

"Imbecile," Nathaniel snarled. He disappeared into the shadows.

"Oh, what the censored," Deadpool muttered. "Foiled again."

"Pyro's picking you up today." Remy grinned as he pulled up to the school. "Mags has me working overtime."

"Can he even drive?" Ariel asked skeptically.

"Well, I don't think so," Remy smirked. "But he doesn't know that."

Ariel hopped out of the Acolyte van. Liam ran up to her.

"There's pictures of Matthews everywhere," he said, almost laughing. "Missing person. He disappeared from his cell yesterday!"

"Hmm…" Ariel hummed, trying not to laugh. Liam eyed her suspiciously.

"You and your sister?" Ariel exclaimed, trying to sound surprised.

"Yeah, you could say mutation runs in the family," Vince said as they exited the school. The sun was shining brightly and in the distance one could hear screeching of a car and screams. "Actually, here's my sister now."

"Hey Vance. Who's your friend?" Angelica Jones was older than them by at least four years. Her red hair was a stark contrast from Vince's blond hair, but other than that, they looked like they could be siblings

"Uh…Ariel, this is my sister Angelica," Vince said. "And it's Vince."

A car screeched up and Pyro hopped out. He opened his mouth to call to Ariel, but his eyes fell on Angelica. He made a wheezing sound.

"Oh, John," Ariel said. "This is Vince and this…is Angelica."

A very strange chapter, but it has Deadpool, so it's okay.

—Jangling Bacon