Wade stopped the car a few blocks away from the house…well, mansion would be more accurate. Cora rolled her window down and let the warm breeze blow through her hair and over her skin as they sat silently.

"Ready to go babe?" he asked, looking across the vehicle expectantly at her.

"I don' have a good feelin' 'bout this…" she said softly, eyeing the building suspiciously. Something wasn't right about this.

"Hey," he said, catching her chin between two fingers and turning her face to look at him. "Nothing's going to go wrong." He seemed so confident, yet Cora couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that had settled in her stomach. After quickly brushing his fingers over jaw, he stepped out of the car. Sighing, she did the same.

"Just knock him out and I'll be in to finish things up. Don't want any blood being spilt on you, gorgeous." Rolling her eyes, she allowed herself to laugh.

"Ah, just who I was thinking about." The target said as she was led into a regal living room. She couldn't help but let her eyes wander over the luxury of the room. The smuggling business was treating this man well. He granted her a few moments of silence before speaking again. "How about that private show?" Glancing at the bodyguards standing in the doorway, she looked back at him with a slight pout.

"Could we have some more privacy?" He seemed hesitant, so she leaned in closer and whispered in his ear.

"Some of the things I want to do to you shouldn't have an audience." She slid a seductive smile on her face and upped the lust in the room. He grinned before motioning the guards out of the room and grabbing a remote. Pushing a button, music came on. Slow and sensual, the kind of music guys put on to try and bed a woman they just met.

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she rocked and made a slow circle around the man.

This is too easy.

Cora slid her hand slowly over the man's shoulder, preparing to subdue him. Suddenly, something hit her. Hard. Tumbling to the floor, she let out a startled yell. Turning she saw one of the bodyguards. The target was now standing, looking down with a smug grin. That son of a—. Just as she focused all the lust-filled energy on the man, he spoke.

"You shouldn't do that sweetheart."

"Like hell I shouldn'." She spit back at him, abandoning her phony accent. With a snap of his fingers, Cora saw why she shouldn't. Two more guards the size of industrial freezers were flanking a struggling Wade.

Hey, nothing's going to go wrong. His words echoed in her head. How wrong he was.

"Do anything with that delicious mutation of yours and he'll have a bullet through his skull before I hit the ground." Cora swallowed, trying to think of a plan.

"Cora, just do it." Wade yelled before the third guard swung a boulder sized fist into his stomach.

"Shut it!" he hissed at Wade. The mercenary just couldn't keep his mouth shut though.

"Why? Worried she'll bring you to your knees?" Another blow, this time to the face answered him. The room fell silent for a moment as the target sat back down in his easy chair.

"My dear, I simply need a few answers from you, then you can continue on your way." He said, giving Cora a greasy, disgusting smile as he did. Nodding, Cora wasn't paying attention; she was looking. "First, how did you meet this irritating man?" He asked, motioning to Wade. She couldn't help but laugh.

"I picked 'im up in a bar." Needing to buy herself more time, she continued. "I made a bet with 'im in pool. If he won, I'd sleep with 'im; if I won, he'd give me a hundred bucks."

"And who won?" he asked, leaning forward slightly. She couldn't figure out why he was so interested, but she continued.

"I did. But I wasn' quite ready to cut him loose yet. We've been togetha ever since." He looked at her for a few moments, as if he were debating whether she was telling the truth.

"How did yah know 'bout us?" She asked, genuinely concerned about the problem. According to Wade, breaches in confidence weren't that common. He had a tight knit network of a few people and trusted them; it looked as if somebody was playing him dirty.

"I have my sources." He said simply, leaning back in his chair.

This is it.

Focusing, one of the men holding Wade dropped to the ground as she bounded forward and jumped on another's back. Wrapping her arms around his thick neck, she heard Wade elbow the third in the face as a sickening crunch punctuated the air. Cora tightened her grip, causing the man to stagger around.

A few gunshots filled the room, but she didn't get the chance to look at the outcome. At that moment, the body guard rammed into the wall backwards, squashing her in the process. With a groan, she dropped to the floor. Forcing herself to focus, she made the man drop to the floor before slamming her fist into his face. Another gunshot filled the air and Cora flopped onto the ground, her bicep searing with pain.

"I told you to behave." The target said, his voice cold and dangerous. He walked over to where she lay in the floor and aimed the pistol at her head.

"What happens if I'm on the ground and yah aren' 'round?" Cora asked, looking up at Wade.

"I won't leave you alone on the job."

"But I want to be prepared for the worst, jus' in case…" Shaking his head, he lay down on the practice mat and motioned for her to come over.

"Your best bet is to use your mutation. But if that isn't working for whatever reason, you just—"

Cora swung her leg out and caught the target in the shins. Surprised, he dropped the gun in the floor and landed with a loud 'thump!' Despite the scream of pain in her upper arm, she clenched them around his throat like a snake. He struggled, but she wrapped her legs around his and rolled slightly, immobilizing him completely. He let out a few choked sounds before falling limp.

Her first kill as a mercenary.

Looking around the room, she saw a motionless Wade lying in the floor. "Wade!" she nearly screamed, hurrying to his side. He had been shot, twice in the chest and a graze on his shoulder from the looks of it.

Cora struggled to think of what to do when she heard sirens off in the distance. Panicking slightly, she fought to get Wade to his feet. He let out a weak, pained groan as she drug him out into the garage.

"Hold on Wade…" she said softly, laying him in the backseat of an SUV as she got into the driver's seat. "Jus' hold on."

Damn, I'm sore.

Trying to sit up, Wade had a bolt of pain shoot through his body. Something tightened around his chest, causing him to open his eyes.

How was I sleeping?

The sound of metal scraping against metal was the main noise assaulting his ears, along with the bleating of goats and boxes shifting around. It took a few moments before he realized he was in a train car. Looking down, he realized what had tightened around him earlier. Two familiar looking arms were pressed against his bare chest, bloody rags pressed against…gunshot wounds?

That ass shot me!

Turning slightly, he looked at Cora. She was leaning against the wall of the train car, still in the belly dancer outfit. Her front was covered in blood, all of it in various stages of freshness. She had him sitting in between her legs, reclined against her chest. Her eyes were shut, soft snores indicating she was asleep. Struggling to sit up, the arms clenched around him again.

"Don' get up." She said groggily. "Yah'll start bleedin' again." She looked like hell. Dark smudges encircled her bloodshot eyes. Flecks of blood had made their way onto her face and hair, which was in an unkempt mess. "We can' risk yah losin' even more blood." Wade spotted the hole in her arm.

"He shot you?" he asked, ignoring her as he painfully pivoted to face her.

"It doesn' matter." She sleepily waved him off.

"Right." He rolled his eyes, sarcasm dripping from his words. Getting unsteadily to her feet, she peeked out the small, barred window into the dim landscape.

"It's nearly our stop. I'm takin' yah to a hospital." Wade was already shaking his head.

"I don't do hospitals. You can go, but I'm not." She whirled around, catching him by surprise.

"For once, don' be a stubborn ass! Yah're goin' to the hospital!" She shouted, her eyes brimming with tears. He had never seen her so edgy. "Please," she said softly, sinking down to her knees beside him. "Jus' go and get stitched up. For me." Hearing her beg and looking as scared as she did felt like a stake to Wade's heart. They had been together for about a year and three months and he had never seen this side of her. Even when night terrors plagued her, she wasn't this bad.

"Okay. I'll go." He murmured as he pulled her closer to him with his good shoulder.

"I'm going to call Felix and arrange a flight home after you're done." Wade said, already pulling off the sling they had given him. They had taken him in right away since he had been shot in the chest, though his wounds had been surprisingly minimal. The bullets went all the way through and managed to miss anything major. Cora had been dubbed 'less critical' when they came in, so she was waiting patiently with a makeshift bandage on her arm.

"I don' think yah should do 'at." She said softly, keeping her voice low as a group of doctors rushed past.

"Why?"

"Did yah ever consider that Felix might be sellin' yah out?" They sat in a stony silence. Felix had been with Wade since the beginning, referring clients to him even when he was a rookie. He quite literally trusted him with his life on every mission he went on.

"Maybe it's somebody else?" he asked.

"I think we should lay low until we figure it out though…" she trailed off as a nurse came up to them.

"Cora Moores?" she asked cheerfully. Answering with a nod, she got slowly to her feet. She had managed to change clothes on the train, swapping the belly dancer outfit for jeans and a t-shirt.

"We're going to do a few scans on your arm before we sew anything up to make sure there isn't any internal damage. If you'll come this way, we can do the x-ray first." The woman was being horribly peppy, even at the ungodly hour of 4 AM. Wade watched the women's retreating backs until they disappeared behind a set of double doors. As soon as the doors closed, a man took Cora's seat.

"Wade Wilson?" he asked, giving him an unsettling smile.

"Who's asking?" Wade asked, his voice sharper than usual. He was tired, hungry, dirty, and in need of some serious painkillers.

"I'm Colonel William Stryker, I work for the government." Government people made Wade nervous. You could never be sure if they were hiring you or trying to land you in a high security cell block.

"I've come to offer you a place on my special team."

"What kind of team?"

"Your kind of team." He said, his grin still in place. "I'm willing to offer you several things if you join. Special privileges, a chance to travel the world, and a sizable pay check."

"I already got that." Wade muttered, rubbing his temples.

"I could offer you more secure employment. The girl was right when she said somebody is selling you out."

"And how would you know that?" Wade asked in frustration. This guy knew too much to be a complete stranger.

"I have sources." A flashback of the brief fight at the mansion erupted in Wade's mind. Their target had used the same exact phrase.

"Can she come with me?" he asked, looking towards the double doors again. The man shook his head, though he still smiled the same irritating smile.

"There isn't a spot on this team for her. Only you Wade. She's welcome to come to my facility, but she won't be doing the same job as you." He didn't like the sound of that. If he was going anywhere with this guy, he wanted Cora by his side. Just as he was about to refuse, Stryker spoke again.

"I can offer you a cure." Wade felt himself nearly stop breathing. This Stryker guy even knew about his cancer. Only one doctor and himself knew that; how did he find out?

"They say there isn't much of a chance for me to find one. How do I know you're telling the truth?" Stryker leaned back in his seat ever-so-slightly and a sick sort of sparkle filled his eye.

"I have access to many variations of genes, Wade. One particular set will cure your cancer." They sat in silence for a few moments before Stryker handed him a card. "That's my number. Call me when you want to live." Before he could respond, the Colonel had stood up and strode out of the waiting room.