To whowever is still here, I'm sorry! I have a job now, and it consumes all my time! So I barely had a lot of time to write! Either way, I can't make any promises about when the next chapter is coming. Anyway, thanks for sticking around and all that fun stuff. Onto the chapter!
I own nothing
Deadpool and Nikki exchange a suspicious look before leveling their gazes on their captive. "You'll tell us anything?" Wade inquires, an eyebrow raised curiously under his mask. "Why?"
The man, who honestly doesn't look any older than Nikki, tears up when he speaks again. "Cause I don't want to die!" he pleads, voice breaking with poorly withheld tears. "I just took the job because it paid well! They never told me I was supposed to kill anyone! I don't want to kill anyone!"
Nikki inwardly rolls her eyes and sighs through her nose, lifting her hand to stop his ranting. "Calm down, kid, we're not going to hurt you." She doesn't turn her head, but she feels her partner's questioning look burning into the side of her head at her words.
Hope quickly fills the captive's eyes and he shifts from his sitting position to a kneel. "Thank you!" he shouts, more tears pouring from his eyes from his uncontained joy. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"
Once again, Nikki holds her hand up to stop him and sighs. "Don't get your hopes up," she states. "You still have to tell us what's going on."
Deadpool steps up and folds his arms over his chest. "Yeah," he says in a tone Nikki recognizes as a fake threat, but the way the kid tenses, she knows he thinks it's real. "Otherwise we'll have to hurt you."
The young shooter cringes back and presses himself closer to the pole, watching warily as Nikki roughly elbows her partner in the ribs. "He doesn't mean that," she grumbles irritably. "He's just an ass."
The captive passes another uneasy look between the two mercenaries before relaxing slightly and trusting Nikki. "You're Deadpool," he states, voice wavering slightly as he stares at the red suited mercenary.
A prideful smile pulls up Deadpool's lips and causes him to puff out his chest a bit. "That is right," he says happily as Nikki huffs and rolls her eyes. "I take it you heard of me."
"Yes," the kid says with a quick nod. "You're the merc with a mouth. You can't die and you're one of the most annoying people in the world."
The ego that was built crumbles before Nikki's eyes as she watches her friend's head deflate. It takes all she has not to laugh as Wade's shoulders slump forward and his smile falls. "Is that really what they say?" he asks defeatedly, causing Nikki to snort involuntary.
"Don't worry," she says, lifting a hand to pat his back. "I don't think you're annoying."
A still saddened smile twitches on the corner of his lips as he looks down at his friend. "Thanks, Nickel," he says, smile growing into a grin when Nikki gives her own small smile at him. "Anyway!" he says, recovering quickly and turning back to the boy. "Back to more pressing topics!"
Nikki switches her hand from patting his back to pushing him back by the chest. "I'll talk to him," she says, not moving her gaze from their prisoner. "You go get the stuff from the storehouse and the grocery store."
She moves to take a step forward, but is stopped when Deadpool clamps an arm on her shoulder. "Hell to the no," he says, spinning her around to face him. "I'm not leaving you alone with this guy. He could be dangerous."
"I'm not!" the shooter assures, pulling the duo's attention away from each other and back to him. "I'm not dangerous! I can barely even shoot a gun!"
Nikki emits a deep groan of annoyance before rolling her eyes back to Deadpool. "Is no one able to do anything these days?" she mutters in agitation before running a hand through her hair. "I'll be fine, Deadpool," she says, ever so careful to avoid using his real name. "Just go. Take the kid and the dorks out for a bit and I'll relate the info later."
Wade passes her another hesitant look before the basement door opens again. "Hello!" Zoe calls from above, causing the hesitation to fall from Wade's face and be replaced by joy. "Are we still going?"
Deadpool spins around and bounces up the stairs, sweeping the child up into his arms as he reaches the top. "Of course!" he cheers, earning excited giggles from the child as he nudges the door shut with his foot.
The black-haired teen pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs in heavy annoyance as she listens to the group upstairs walk around then the front door close. "He seems..." the young shooter says, pausing to clear his throat and test his boundaries. "Different..."
Despite her slight annoyance, a faint smirk twitches on her lips and she releases a pleased sigh. "I guess," she says, letting go of the bridge of her nose and turn back to face him. "But he has good intentions."
"You two make a good couple," the other teen says, causing Nikki's smile to fall instantly. "You seem to have a well established relationship."
"We're not dating," Nikki says curtly through a heavy sigh of agitation. "We're just business partners." The kid opens his mouth to speak, but Nikki cuts him off before he can. "What's your name?"
The make falters and clears his throat again. "Ryan," he says, watching Nikki carefully as she moves to stand in front of him and crouches down. "Ryan Hunter."
"Unfitting," Nikki responds through a yawn, now balancing steadily on the balls of her feet. "Considering the fact you can't even hunt." Once again, Ryan opens his mouth to speak, but Nikki cuts him off. "Who do you work for?"
Ryan pauses to think. "I don't know," he says, earning a narrow eyed look of suspicion from Nikki in reply. "Really!" he says, panic starting to ease its way back into his tone. "I found the ad on Craigslist! The little footnote said I had to be willing to go to jail and I couldn't ask any questions!"
With her eyes still narrowed, one of Nikki's eyebrows rise in the same disbelieving manner. "Really?" she asks with a touch of sarcasm swirling in her tone. "And you never once thought 'gee, this sounds sketchy as hell. Should I really be doing this?'"
Struggling to do so around his bonds, Ryan shrugs nervously. "I mean, of course I did," he starts hesitantly. "But the pay was great and the hours were flexible. The only thing I really had to do was show up, get a gun, and shoot at whatever moved. I didn't know it would be Deadpool." He pauses and offers a weak, very nervous smile to the mercenary. "Plus, not many people offer jobs to convicted criminals anymore."
Nikki ponders his reason before passing him an understanding nod as reply. "I got you," she says, earning a surprised eyebrow rise from Ryan in response. "But they didn't say anything else?" Ryan shakes his head. "No hints at a leader?" Another head shake. "No mention of any reason why they want the kid and her family dead?" Yet another head shake. The black haired teen groans in defeated annoyance and drops her chin to her chest. "Damn," she huffs, tossing her head back to look back at Ryan. "Do you at least remember the place you meet these people?"
Ryan twitches his head to shake before stopping. "Actually," he starts, staring off into the distance thoughtfully. "I do."
This sparks some hope in Nikki and her eyes widen in slight surprise. "Really?" she asks, earning a few excited head nods from Ryan in return. "Where?"
"I forgot the actual address," he admits quickly. "But I can get us there if we start driving."
"We can't start driving until we have a direction, smart ass," the female snaps before regain her anger. "Sorry."
The captive teen shakes his head dismissively. "You've had a rough night," Ryan says. "You probably need to let off steam."
Nikki's eyes narrow dangerously. "Don't play therapist with me," she practically spits, causing Ryan to cringe away as best he can. "We aren't friends."
"I'm sorry," he says, voice wavering again in terror. "I just-"
"Stop," the young mercenary interjects, pushing down on her knees to rise from her crouch. "I have to talk to my partner before we make any other moves." She turns and starts toward the stairs, pausing just before she steps on the bottom one to go up. "If you have any poison, spit it out," she orders coldly, barely turning her head in his direction as she speaks. "If you swallow it, I'll bring you back...and you won't like it."
Ryan doesn't answer and Nikki continues up, finally allowing herself to feel the back pain crouching caused. It wasn't long, but enough of her back muscles tightened to allow her to remain still that when she stood, every ounce of pain from the previous night returned. She reaches the top of the stairs and opens the door, quickly getting out and kicking it closed before clutching her back tightly and letting out a slow hiss.
"Son of a bitch," she whispers, turning and heading for the kitchen. Keeping a hand defensively on the small of her back, Nikki walks into the dirty cooking area and straight for the small medical cabinet. She nearly rips the door from the hinges when she opens it and knocks everything useless aside in her search for pain medicine, almost sighing in relief when she finds a bottle of Advil. The teen dumps three small pills in her hand and tosses them in her mouth, swallowing them with a few handfuls of metallic tasting water from the tap.
Just as she finishes downing the pills, her cell phone rings in the living room, earning a tired sigh from Nikki in reply. She pushes herself from the counter and makes her way to her phone. "What?" she asks, not bothering to check the ID as she answers her phone and holds it to her ear.
"How much do you know about pool installation?" Deadpool asks, of course earning a tired sigh from Nikki in reply. "We went to Sam's club and they have a huge pool on sale, Knick Knack! We have to get it!"
"It's on sale because it's almost winter, jackass," the teen replies, failing to stifle a yawn that snuck up on her. "We're not getting a pool. We don't even have a house to put it in."
"But we could!" he counters excitedly, apparently dropping his phone in his joy due to the clatters and static that follows. Seconds pass before he comes back. "What's happening on your end?" he asks, causing Nikki to roll her eyes in reply.
"He doesn't know the name of the organization he worked for or why they want Zoe and her people dead," she sums, turning and flopping backwards onto the couch. "But he does have a faint idea where he was extracted from. So if we go there, I think we can find them."
"How'd he even find these assholes?" Wade asks, grunting with effort on the other end.
"Craigslist."
A pause. "I believe it."
"Uh huh,"Nikki replies, propping her feet on the cluttered coffee table. "So I'm thinking we get Weasel involved and-"
"Fuck Weasel," he says before lapsing into a round of frantic apologies to Zoe.
"What's wrong with you now?"
"He refuses to do anything for me ever since I shot his friend a while back," he explains innocently. "It was justified though! He was coming at me!"
Nikki rolls her eyes and yawns again. "Then we'll get in touch with someone else," she counters through her breath. "Either way, we can back trace the Craigslist ad and-"
"I'll have to call you back, Nixon!" Deadpool says, a slight hint of worry ringing his voice. "I think there's a free sample of pizza bagels on the next aisle! I gotta get there before this old lady does! She's been eyeing me weird ever since I walked in!"
The teen opens her mouth to respond, but the line disconnects just before she could. "That's cause you're in a mask, dummy," she huffs, clicking off on her end and tossing her phone on the couch next to her. "But of course, you think she's after your pizza bagels. No one wants your pizza bagels, Wade. Stop talking to yourself, Nikki."
She releases another heavy sigh and leans back, tensing and arching when her stitches pull. So she shifts and lies on her side to face the back of the couch. "Nap time," she yawns, allowing her eyes to fall closed and her body to relax.
"Heeeyy!" Ryan calls, voice muffled but heard through the floor. "I gotta take a piss! Can I get a bottle?"
Yet another annoyed sigh before Nikki peels her eyes open. "I'm not cruel," she reminds herself quietly as she pushes herself to a kneel. "I'm not cruel."
