i understand I can't keep making excuses for uploading late, but hear me out. I've been working and we just got a new do we needed to settle in. So yeah. It's mainly work that drains me. I'm sorry. Onto the chapter.

I own nothing.

Deadpool and the others return not too long after the bottle incident. Nikki refused to say why she was scrubbing her hands with the bristle brush from the kitchen, but she kept saying how much she hates the hostage. The rest of the group helped haul in the groceries they overstocked on, or brought in a bag or two of the weapons Deadpool got from the stash nearby. The two mercenaries divide the weapons and ammo amongst themselves as the civilians prepare lunch,Tyler and Desmond almost shitting themselves when Nikki smiled excitedly at a case of hollow point bullets. Once everything settled down and everyone had a decently sized plate of hot food, Nikki summarizes her talk with the hostage.

"So basically," Wade starts around a larger than necessary mouthful. "This Ryan kid wants us to drive around following his vague directions until something clicks? That's bullshit."

"Language," Reese says just before his bite hits his tongue. He pauses a moment to chew and swallow before continuing. "But he does have a point. We're supposed to be heading toward the safehouse, not wandering around out in the open. The longer we take out here, the greater the chance of something happening to Zoe."

"Nothing's going to happen to Zoe," Deadpool assures, passing a glance to the child eating a peanut butter sandwich at the kitchen counter. "Neither of us would let that happen."

"We wouldn't get paid otherwise," Nikki mutters, earning a sharp elbow from Wade as a response. "Either way," she says louder as she rubs her sore arm, already feeling the early stages of a bruise forming under the skin. "We need to find out who's attacking the family and why."

"That's our second priority," Reese says, dabbing a bit of sauce from his lip. "Our top-"

"Is getting Zoe to the safehouse," Wade interrupts, his tone letting Nikki know that he's rolling his eyes. "We're getting there. But we'll get there faster if we don't have big ass guns butt fucking us in every state."

This time it's Nikki's turn to elbow her partner. Not that she minded his crude language, she's dealt with him for going on thirteen years now. It's for the fact that she had to do something to keep from laughing at Reese's face. "I think it's time for us to chill," she says, watching the older guard's face turn a stunning shade of red. "We've been so wired up about just everything lately-"

Tyler lifts his uninjured arm to interject. "It's only been a couple days," he says, earning a roll of the eyes from Nikki in response.

"So I think we should take a few days, teach the three Stooges a few things about fighting, get another car, and see if we can get more information from Ryan."

The guards exchange a look of skepticism and Reese sighs in defeat. "It's a good plan," he admits. "But-"

"No buts!" Deadpool declares, leaping up from his seat and almost knocking Nikki's plate from her hands. "Nikki's plan is good! We're going to chill!"

"That's not going to happen for long!"

The mercenaries pause and rise, both heading for the basement stairs at a quicker than normal pace. They take the stairs at a near jog and stop expectantly in front of their captive. "What the hell are you talking about?" Nikki asks, folding her arms as best she can with her plate in her hand.

Ryan winces at the harsh bite in her tone and tries to scoot closer to the pole. "Uhh," he starts nervously, genuine fear in his own voice. "The people that hired me...know I'm here..."

Another expectant pause from the mercenaries and Ryan swallows harshly. "I forgot to mention another part of the little footnote..." Nikki cocks an eyebrow. Ryan shifts a bit and exposes the flesh on the inside of his right arm.

It's a bit bruised, but Nikki chalks it up to her lashing out a few nights ago. Her partner leans forward and squints, shaking his head slightly after a second of nothing. "I don't get it," he says at the exact moment Nikki's face changes.

"He's being tracked," she almost whispers, pointing at a small, greenish pinprick just above the crook of his arm. "That type of device...day, day and a half time frame..." Her grip on the plate fails and it shatters on the floor, the sound barely being processed as she races back up the stairs. "Grab your shit!" she calls when she reaches the top. "We gotta-"

The window a few feet in front of her shatters and a small black oval hits the ground, barely giving Nikki enough time to shield herself before the grenade explodes. Zoe screams somewhere outside of the shadow-formed shield, but it sounds distant to the teen. Everything is ringing.

When her shield goes down, her eyes water from the dust and smoke created from the blast, causing her to choke and gasp on the hot air. A person climbs in the window, gun already aimed at Nikki as soon as their feet hit the ground. The soldier tightens his finger around the trigger and Deadpool appears between them, taking the shot for his partner as she goes for the knife in his boot. Wade goes down with a grunt and Nikki leaps over him, lightly landing in front of the new attacker and driving the blade into their forehead.

The body drops with a hollow thud, allowing the teenage mercenary a view outside the window. Two trucks full of people dressed like the one on the floor skid to a stop beside the one already parked, the soldiers jumping out just before the wheels stop moving. Another window shatters in the living room and Zoe screams again, the sounds being followed by a harsh stream of swears from Tyler. Nikki runs in and takes aim, launching the blade at the invader and catching him in the center of his chest. Surprisingly, the attacker only stumbles back a few steps and takes aim at her, causing Nikki to swear and drop under fire.

She rolls to the nearest couch and covers her head, feeling the material tremble harshly with each shot. After a few seconds, the gun clicks and Nikki moves again, vaulting the couch and launching herself at the attacker, batting the spare gun from his hand as soon as he lifts it. The teen then grabs the handle of the blade and yanks it out, pulling a pained yelp from the man's mouth. Nikki switches to an offensive hold and grabs his shirt, pulling him forward to run the blade across his neck.

An arch of crimson sprays from the line on his throat and the attacker falters, stumbling backwards into the wall. With a panicked shutter, the man slides down the wall, leaving a bright red trail staining the dirty, gray wall. Nikki huffs and whips around, taking in the varying degree of shock and panic setting in on everyone's face. "Grab whatever you can carry," she orders coldly, turning back and crouching down to take the enemy's weapon. "We need to move now."

Two more windows break upstairs at the same time Wade comes in, tossing away the bullet he coughed up earlier. "Get them out," he orders, catching the gun Nikki tossed and the extra ammo that goes with it. "I'll clean up upstairs."

Nikki nods and switches her knife to another defensive hold. "You heard him," she says, rising and glancing out the window as another row of attackers advance. "Get to the garage."

"You have a garage?" Desmond asks, pulling the petrified Tyler toward the teen by the arm. "When were we gonna hear about this?"

"When it became necessary," the black haired teen replies flatly, waving the group toward the basement stairs. "Which it basically just did." They pass the first broken window and Nikki lifts an arm, forming a thick, black wall to block the view. Multiple bullets slam against the wall, but simply drop to the ground after contact. The combined weight on the stairs almost makes Nikki think they're going to collapse, but then she remembers all the other stuff the entire house has been through and calls it OK.

Ryan is squirming on the floor when they arrive, looking as close to wetting himself as he ever was. "Holy shit man!" he cries fearfully, watching Nikki point to a door in the back through tear clouded eyes. "You can't leave me!"

Desmond scoffs as he continues to guide the shell shocked Tyler through the basement to the door. "To hell we can't!" he counters defensively. "You got us in this mess in the first place!"

"We're not leaving him," Nikki says, walking behind Ryan and using Deadpool's blood covered knife to saw through the binds on his wrist. "He's still useful." Ryan turns to thank her, but the blade of her knife appears in his face and holds his tongue. "But if you try anything, I'll cut pieces off. Which pieces will be up to how I feel at the moment. Understand?" The captive nods once in reply and the knife disappears, Nikki turning and rising in the direction of the door. She doesn't turn around, but she definitely hears Ryan's frantic footsteps behind her.

The four others stand around a car, two of which frown at the nearly decrepit appearance. "This is what we're riding in?" Desmond asks, eyeing Ryan hesitantly as he enters the two car area. "Seriously? It looks like it'll fall apart as soon as we start it!"

"It's a classic," she says, crouching down and grabbing the spare key she and Deadpool duct taped in a wheel well a while back. "And it's our only option." She clicks the unlock button and receives silence as a response. So she clicks it two more times before smacking it against the palm of her hand. "Damn batteries," she grumbles, using the actual key to unlock the doors. "Get in," she says, walking around to the driver's side of the junker minivan.

The three people not in hysterics over the fire fight pile in the car and help the others, everyone muttering their displeasures multiple times. Having grown used to constant complaints about her methods, the teenage mercenary ignores them and starts trying to turn the car on. Once. Twice. Thrice. A swift punch to the dashboard. "Come the fuck on!" Four. Catch. Engine on.

Nikki's lips twitch with the beginning of a satisfied smirk as three gunmen appear in the doorway. "Thatta baby," she says proudly, yanking the car in gear and presses down hard on the gas. More bullets rain down on the car and the people in the backseat duck in fear, Desmond having to drag Tyler down when he refuses to move.

"He's in shock!" he calls, trying to be heard over the crunch of metal when the driver plows the car through the closed garage door. "What do we do?"

"You've never dealt with a shock victim?" the teen asks calmly, making a sharp turn around one of the large trees that litter the barren yard. "Warm him up, lay him in the back, unbutton his shirt and calm him down."

"Where's Deadpool?" Reese asks, shifting over to allow Desmond room to get Tyler in the farthest seat in the back. "He's supposed be-"

A loud battle cry cuts off his sentence and draws everyone's attention to outside. A large something lands on the roof of the car and Deadpool nearly rolls off the back, having to scramble for purchase on the dust coated van. Desmond cries out when Wade accidentally shatters the back windshield and uses his body to shield Tyler, earning a slight wince of apology from the merc.

"My bad," Wade says, climbing in and over the two back rows of seats. "Hey! You're a good guy now!" he congratulates as he passes Ryan, stepping on his knee a he takes his rightful place in the passenger seat. "What's going on Chex Nix?"

"We have to get the device out of Ryan's arm," she states, weaving around one of the outermost enemy cars. "This safe house got blown because of it and who knows what else it can do."

Wade smiles sadistically and pulls another knife from his boot. "I'm on it," he says, shifting to move backwards before Nikki pushes him back the a shove to the face.

"Not yet, jackass," she hisses, quickly replacing her hand on the wheel when she almost hits another tree. "You try cutting in the car and something jerks, you could slice a vein and we lose our only hope for information on these ass clowns."

Ryan gives a quick chuckle at the scenario and takes a firm grip on his seatbelt. "You like insulting people with ass don't you?" he says, seemingly trying to ease the tension with a horrible joke. "You say it a lot."

Deadpool and Nikki exchange a look of annoyance and share an eye roll. "Shut up," they say simultaneously, Wade yanking the wheel toward him to avoid hitting an enemy car parked farther away.

"Where are we going?" Nikki asks, flicking her wrist to use the shadows to flip the enemy car into a tree. "Cardinal direction only for now."

"Uuuhhh!" Ryan starts, racking his brain for anything useful. "West!"

The driver makes another sharp turn and they're in the forest, smaller trees and shrubs long down under the speed, force, and weight of the vehicle. "We're gonna ditch these guys," she announces, glancing out the rearview to see if they're being followed. "Switch cars, and get that stupid shit from Ryan's arm."

Deadpool nods in agreement and looks around the car. "Where's the guns?"

"In the back," Reese announces as he soothes Zoe. "We grabbed them and a few non-perishable food items when we were leaving."

"Any money?" Nikki rises slightly from her seat and removes a hand from the wheel, fishing in her back pocket for the decent sized fold of cash she has. "Ass money," he says, earning a smack on the arm from his partner. "Always warm."

"Shut up," she says again, spotting the headlights in the rearview and pressing harder on the gas. "And hold on. This shitheads don't know how to give up."

"Speaking of shit," Deadpool perks up, pulling out one of the assumed dead soldiers. "We need to find a gas station or something."

Some of the tension slips from Nikki's face and her white knuckled grip on the wheel loosens. "Shut the fuck up," she says, finally settling into her battle mode after being thrown off by the surprise attack. "I don't wanna pay for atomic bomb damage."

"I'm not that bad."

Nikki presses her lips together and shakes her head slightly. "I'm not going to comment on that."