Hello everyone. And welcome to another exciting chapter of Lost Girl. Before I begin I would like to discuss a few things with all of you. First I would just like to say that Star Trek: Deep Space 9 is a fantastic program. If any of you out there have Netflix I highly recommend you check it out. Second I was very surprised by the staggering lack of reviews for my last chapter and I just want you all to understand something. Even though I don't respond to all my reviews I read every single one of them. I love reading them. So if you didn't review my last chapter because you think I don't care about your opinion, you are mistaken. Lastly, as per usual, Legend of Korra is the property of Nickelodeon and Marvel owns all its characters. So without any further delay, here is the new chapter. Enjoy.
Chapter 11: A Light in the Darkness.
Mako…
'What are you doing right now?' She asked, though she knew she wouldn't get an answer.
'Are you out having fun with Bolin? Are you with Asami? Are you somewhere missing me?'
'Don't worry Mako. I don't know how, but I'll find a way back to you; no matter how long it takes.'
Korra's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a strange sensation in her chest. It felt as if someone was… Oh Hell no!
Her eyes suddenly snapped open at the realization. She looked up to see a familiar red and black figure roughly groping her right breast.
"What the Hell do you think you're doing?" She yelled, again practicing her new vocabulary.
Wade yelped and pulled back his hand like a child after being caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He stammered for a moment as if trying to find the right words. "Uh... Good news Madame, it appears you don't have breast cancer after all."
"I'll kill you!" Korra shouted as she struggled to break free from the clamps and tear the loathsome pervert apart.
"Well… someone's cranky over nothing. Remind never go to the circus with you."
"Nothing? You call molesting me in my sleep nothing?" She asked as she continued to struggle. "I didn't give you permission to touch my chest you freak!"
"Well, well, well, who knew such a slutty dresser could be such a prude." Said Wade, trying to be playful.
"I'm not a prude!" She said defensively. "It's just… none of your business."
"Oh come on. If you can't trust a psychotic mercenary who can you trust?"
For some unfathomable reason, this strange man's words made sense to her. Besides she hadn't spoken to anyone in God knows how long, and as crazy as it might sound this strange man seemed like her best chance for pleasant conversation.
"I have a boyfriend. I don't want anyone touching me like that except him."
"Lucky boy, to have a girl so faithful. I'm Wade by the way, Wade Wilson."
"I'm Korra. What is this place anyway, and who was that creepy guy?"
"Well Korra, this is Weapon X; where tomorrow's killers are made today." He said trying to be funny, though it was clear from the look on her face that she didn't get the joke. He sighed as he thought of another way to explain. "Okay, it's like this. This… organization is devoted to the research and military application of genetic abilities. They experiment on people, mutants mostly, to make them more powerful and turn them into living weapons."
"Like you?" Korra asked innocently, though she already knew the answer.
"Yeah… like me." There was a twinge of sadness in his voice. "That creepy guy who was working on you early, that was Professor Thorton. He's the head scientist around here, and trust me you don't want to cross him."
"Working on me…" She repeated. "What did he do to me?" She was starting to panic.
"Don't worry he didn't do anything like that to you… yet. All he did was draw some of your blood and then you fainted. Although… that was probably from all those tranq darts I shot you with last night. You went down after one but it was so much fun the first time I fired about three more into you just for the hell of it."
"You did what?" Korra yelled her anger resurfacing. "What's the matter with you? You bastard! I couldn't speak! I couldn't move! You… FREAK!" At the end of her little rant Korra was panting heavily. Wade simply shrugged it off; he was used to people yelling at him.
"You really need to learn how to control that temper. You won't make any friends with that attitude, and believe me Princess if you're going to survive on this team you'll need a friend like me."
"Don't call me Princess!"
"There's that temper again, and why not? It's a fitting nickname for someone like you."
"Well I don't like it!" She huffed before she calmed herself down. "It makes me sound helpless. I hate feeling helpless. It's the worse feeling in the world." She explained glumly.
"Oh… I'm sorry." Said Wade, sounding surprisingly sincere.
"It's okay." She relied, only to quickly realize something she missed before. "What did you mean by 'survive on this team'? What team?"
"Well… the scientists in charge of this place are always looking for new specimens so they have their most powerful test subjects, myself included, act as a kind of hit squad to collect more. We're a regular Mod Squad of Freaks and Psychopaths." Wade laughed out loud at his joke. Korra just stared at the strange man until he stopped. "I guess you weren't around for the 60s. Lucky you."
"Well what does any of that have to do with me?"
"The Professor's been interested in you ever since he saw the news footage of you fighting that dragon. He thinks he can modify your powers by infusing you with DNA from several other mutants. If it works he plans to make you the newest member of Team X. Congratulations!"
Korra said nothing for several moments as she processed everything Wade had just told her. Finally she spoke. "Listen… I don't know anything about mutants or DNA but I do know this; I'm already on a team and they're probably looking for me. So you'll have to tell Professor Whatever that I'm not interested."
Wade slammed his hands down hard on the table; frightening Korra. He looked down at her with a strange look in his eyes; he looked almost… serious. "Not a good idea Princess." He said with a disturbing edge to his voice. "Let me give you some free advice; don't resist."
"Excuse me?" Korra asked sounding terrified.
"Weapon X is home to some of the cruelest, most vile people alive today and Thorton is the worst. He's a cold, heartless, butcher who cares nothing for the lives of others. He wants you for his experiments and he'll do whatever he wants to you whether you give him permission or not." Sadness seemed to wash over him. He backed away from the table and sighed a defeated sigh. "He always gets what he wants."
"I'm not afraid of him."
"That's only because you don't understand the whole situation. You still think someone is coming to save you. Well you're wrong. Hulk and Wolverine are as dead and the Avengers will never find you; this base is cloaked from every known form of sensor."
"Then I'll break out and save my friends myself."
"Great plan… except you'll never be able to escape. Those clamps are made of solid adamantium; you won't be able to break them and they won't release you until the Professor decides he's done with you. Besides he had you injected with a mild power dampener before he handed you over to me. Right now you're as helpless as a kitten."
"That's a lie!"
"Then prove it! Go ahead! Breathe Fire on me! I dare you!"
Korra narrowed her eyes at Wade, her anger resurfacing. She out a thunderous roar at him, intending to engulf him in a torrent of flames, but nothing happened. She tried again and still nothing happened. "No…"
"Yes… I hate to tell you this Princess, but you're royally screwed. As soon as the Professor gets back he intends on making you an offer to submit to the experiments willingly. I suggest you take it."
"No way!" She said defiantly. "I'm not gonna just sit back and be a submissive little lab rat for that four-eyed bastard. I'll fight him at every turn."
"You're not listening to me! Thorton doesn't take no for an answer. If you fight him he'll make it worse!"
"How much worse could this get?" She asked, dreading the answer.
"Much, much worse." With that said his hand reached toward his neck and he began to remove his mask. Korra's heart nearly stopped; Wade's face was a hideous hodgepodge of scar tissue. It looked as if he had been through a fire. She stared at him in horror for several minutes before she spoke.
"What… what happened to you?"
"The Professor approached me many years ago and offered to make me the deadliest man on earth. He said he could make it so no one could ever kill me. I told him I wasn't interested. When he kept insisting I told him to go suck a railroad spike, but before I could finish laughing at my joke he had his thugs black bag me." Wade let out another defeated sigh. "When I woke up I was strapped to an operating table and had already finished his work on me. He tried to give me an accelerated healing factor by infusing me with mutant DNA, but my body rejected it and started tearing itself apart. Thorton could've stabilized my condition, but instead he just locked me in an isolation room and let me suffer alone for three days." He put his mask back on and continued. "I should have died, but somehow I survived and now I can never die. Never."
"I… I'm so sorry." Korra said, not really knowing what else to say.
"I didn't come here for your pity. I just came here to give you some friendly advice. Whatever the Professor offers you, no matter how horrible it sounds, say yes. Don't struggle and whatever you do don't make him mad."
Korra let out a defeated sigh of her own. She thought over everything Wade had told her. The more she thought, the more she was forced to accept the horrible truth. "I'm never leaving this place." Her voice was drained of all hope.
"Sorry Princess, but if it makes you feel any better I'll watch your back when this is over."
"Listen, I'm sorry about what I said before. I was just so… STOP TOUCHING MY BREASTS YOU BASTARD!" Wade pulled his hands away from her chest and giggled childishly.
"Apology accepted! Now if you'll excuse me, I have an important phone call to make. Later!" And with that said he vanished in a puff of smoke.
'What the hell have I gotten myself into?' Korra just stared up at the ceiling as she thought about her position. Any minute now the Professor would return and no matter what she did she was going spent the rest of her life as an experiment.
'Mako I hope you're okay. I hope you can move on." Tears began streaming from her eyes.
'I love you.'
XXX
A blinding light roused him from his sleep. It was the first real light he'd seen in weeks. 'What happened? Where am I?' He looked around to get his bearings. From the looks of things he was in some kind of hospital. He was strapped down to a gurney wearing only a pair of purple pants, which was normal for whenever he came to the surface. However now was not is allotted time to be let out so something must be wrong.
'Hulk, what happened? Where are we?' He asked his other self, but he got no response. 'Hulk, are you okay? Answer me.' Still no response. Not good.
"Good afternoon Dr. Banner. How are you feeling today?" Asked a deep yet effeminate voice from just outside his line of sight.
"I'm fine. I'm a little confused about where I am but other that I think I'm okay." Answered Dr. Banner. He spotted a shadowy figure standing next to the gurney. He could make out a white lab coat, but the figure's face was obscured by the light.
"I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that. I was so worried that horrid brute Maverick had damaged you." The figure leaned forward to reveal his face. His skin was white as snow and his eyes were as red as blood. His black hair was cut short and slicked back and there was a red diamond shaped mark on his forehead. He sported a wide grin that nearly split his face in half; a set of fangs were visible. His eyes were scanning up and down Banner's body; taking in every inch of his body. "So handsome… it's a shame I have to kill you when this is over." He said with genuine disappointment in his voice. "Oh well… let's get busy!" The stranger's mood was instantly elevated as he walked away from the gurney to gather his supplies.
Banner's mind raced with thoughts of all the unpleasant ways this could play out. Then suddenly he realized something.
"Wait… I know you."
"Really? Then me Handsome, who am I?" The Stranger asked flirtatiously.
"Yeah… you're Nathaniel Essex; the former head of biology at ESU, but you died ten years ago."
"Well then, I guess that makes me a ghost." Essex said with a playful giggle. He walked back over to the gurney with a strange looking gun in hand.
"Wait… the fire… you started it didn't you? You started it to cover up your escape."
"Well what was I supposed to do?" Essex replied with a mock pout. "Just sit back and let those MRD thugs lock me away? I don't think so." He placed the barrel of the gun against Banner's arm and pulled the trigger. After a brief, sharp pain Banner felt the blood start to drain from his body. After about a minute Essex released the trigger and pulled the gun away. The backside of the gun opened and he pulled out a small glass vile; a vile filled with blood. He held the vile up to his face and sighed. "It's like looking at liquid power."
"You have to destroy that sample! You can't imagine the kind of power you're playing with."
"Oh, I have a very active imagination Dr. Banner." Essex replied with a smirk. "You know something Doctor, you and I have a lot in common."
"You and I are nothing alike Essex." Said Banner defiantly.
"I strongly disagree. Think about it. We're both brilliant; the best in our respective fields. We're both devilishly handsome; though clearly I devote much more time toward personal grooming. Mostly importantly, we're both victims of prejudice."
"Prejudice?"
"Yes… I'm afraid that once the university discovered I was a mutant, they just cast me aside and sicked the Mardies on me." He said in a rather over dramatic tone.
"You were performing illegal genetic experiments on your students."
"THEY VOLUNTEERED!" Essex yelled. "It's not my fault most of them died. No one could've predicted the rate of cellular decay."
"You're a monster."
"Ironic coming from you, but it doesn't matter. As soon as I deposit this little beauty into the Genetic Sample Vault I'm going to come back and carve you up like a turkey. Oh, and don't bother trying to bring out that big green bruiser. There are enough drugs in you to keep that old heart rate nice and even for about three more hours. I'll be back in a few minutes Handsome. Buh-bye." With said he left Dr. Banner alone with his thoughts.
'Hulk! Hulk, please answer me!' There was no response. 'We're in serious trouble! I need you!' Again there was no response.
Banner laid his head back and sighed. "So… this is how I die; on an operating table." Suddenly a hand reached from behind and covered his mouth. A hushed voice whispered into his ear.
"Don't count yourself out yet buddy boy. I gotcha a present." There was a sudden slight pain in his neck and then the hand vanished without a trace.
"What the…" However his thoughts were cut short by a sudden realization.
His heart was beating faster.
End Notes: Okay, I hope you all enjoyed it. Sorry again for the lack of fighting, but I was on a role with the dialogue. Please review, I love reading your opinions. See you next time.
