A/N: Sorry about the long wait. I went through a lot between the time of writing and posting the last chapter and now, so it took some time to get my shit together. I really hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. I'm going to try to get back to posting kind of regularly, but I also recently finished my original book and am looking for an agent and working on editing for the moment, so I am not making any promises. Anyways, here ya go.

Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing.

The Testing Phase

Solid stone white walls surrounded Deadpool and X-23 on all four sides. The ceiling above appeared to be made of white stone, as did the ground. A solid click sounded from somewhere in the room, and the partners looked at each other before moving to opposite walls. They began to scan the surface for any anomaly leading to their escape. The fuzzy white noise of a tape playing back began to echo from above the room, and seconds later the Gamemaster's voice entered the room.

"Congratulations on living through your two previous trials. You have found yourselves in my Test Room. At the end of this explanation, a clock will begin ticking down. With each passing second, the walls around you will begin to slide closed. In order to escape, you must beat the walls by solving all the puzzles given to you in order to unlock the hidden door barring your escape. The longer the clock runs, the faster the walls will close and with each wrong answer, the clock and walls will both speed up. If you fail, you will be flattened to death, and as you expected, your healing factors are moot in this chamber. The puzzles you will be given require logic and intelligence to solve. If you wish to survive, do not take too long. Your time starts now."

The voice ended along with the white noise, but replacing it was the fast ticking similar to a kitchen timer and the walls began to slip in towards the duo. Wade and Laura met in the center of the room.

"Brain teasers? Is he making fun of me?" Wade asked.

The first puzzle appeared on the floor beneath them before Laura could quip a response, and instead she read the puzzle aloud. "You are a prisoner sentenced to death. The Emperor offers you a chance to live by playing a simple game. He gives you fifty black marbles, fifty white marbles and two empty bowls. He then says, 'Divide these one hundred marbles into these two bowls. You can divide them any way you like as long as you use all the marbles. Then, I will blindfold you and mix the bowls around. You then can choose one bowl and remove one marble. If the marble is white you will live, but if the marble is black you will die.' How do you divide the marbles up so that you have the greatest probability of choosing a white marble?"

"Do we write down our answers somewhere? Fill in a scantron sheet? Or-."

"I put one white marble in one bowl and all the rest of the marbles in the other bowl." Laura announced.

A ding rang out and the puzzle disappeared from the floor just before another appeared.

Wade looked at Laura. "Show off."

Laura ignored him and read out the next puzzle. "During the latest round of the triathlon, Keith was fourth. Adrian is not the oldest, but is older than Duncan, who was not second. The child who was next in age to the youngest, finished second. The child who finished in third place is older than the child who finished first. Billy is younger than the child who finished in third place. Can you determine who finished where and place the children in order of age?" She remained quiet while she thought.

"Aha! Trick question! They're all the same age!" Wade shouted.

There was a loud buzz and the walls moved in a solid inch, and the ticking got faster.

Laura glared at him.

"It was a joke! Why would he take me seriously?" Wade shrugged.

"Do not speak again unless you know the answer." Laura commanded.

"You're a little too bossy for me." Wade crossed his arms.

"Can you just stop talking?" Laura snapped.

"Are you speaking seriously or-?" Wade asked.

"We are going to die." Laura sighed and turned for the next question and read it aloud, "As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives. Each wife had seven sacks, each sack had seven cats, each cat had seven kits. Kits, cats, sacks and wives, how many were going to St. Ives?" She hesitated for two seconds before announcing. "One, the narrator."

A ding sounded and the next question appeared.

"You have two coconuts and you want to find out how high they can be dropped from a 100 story building before they break. But you only have $1.40 and the elevator costs a dime each time you ride it up (it's free for rides down). How can you drop the coconuts to guarantee you will find the lowest floor they will break at, while starting and ending at floor 1?" Laura read it aloud and thought silently for a moment before answering. "We could drop it at floor 1 first. Then we would go to the floors: 14, 27, 39, 50, 60, 69, 77, 84, 90, 95, 99, and 100. Whatever floor the first coconut breaks at, go to the floor above the last floor the coconut survived and drop the second coconut from this floor. Then go up by one floor until the second coconut breaks and that is the lowest floor it will break at."

"I'm pretty sure I scored in the partner selection process." Wade smirked.

Laura ignored him and read the next puzzle. "There is a story that a man and not a man saw and did not see a bird and not a bird perched on a branch and not a branch and hit him and did not hit him with a rock and not a rock. How is this possible?" She raised an eyebrow and just stared at the words.

"It's a riddle." Wade announced and read it to himself once more. "A eunuch who did not see well saw a bat perched on a reed and threw a pumice stone at him and missed."

Laura looked at Wade. "How did you know that?"

He shrugged. "My mind is a giant riddle, even to myself."

The next question appeared on the floor. "A sundial has the fewest moving parts of any timepiece. Which has the most?"

Laura and Wade exchanged a look but neither spoke. The ticking grew faster and louder. The walls slipped toward them inch by inch.

"Wait, you don't know?" Wade shouted at Laura.

Laura glared at him. "Do you?"

"No, but you're supposed to be genius, right?" Wade asked.

"I am highly intelligent, but I have never claimed to be a genius. You are also supposed to be highly intelligent." Laura countered.

Wade pointed at her. "Hey! You don't know my life!"

"What?" Laura arched an eyebrow.

A buzzer sounded again and the puzzle disappeared. The ticking sped up as the walls moved faster.

"Fuck!" Wade shouted.

The next puzzle appeared. "A man stands on one side of a river, his dog on the other. The man calls his dog, who immediately crosses the river without getting wet and without using a bridge or a boat. How did the dog do it?"

"The dog jumped across." Wade answered instantly.

Laura gave a short nod in agreement.

The buzzer sounded once more. The ticking grew faster and walls sped up again.

"What the hell?" Wade yelled.

Laura glanced at Wade. "The answer is possible. I think of Gamemaster is looking to make things more intense."

"To make us lose focus." Wade added.

Laura nodded. "He will not succeed."

The next question appeared. "A coin is put into an empty bottle and a cork is inserted into the neck. How can you remove the coin without removing the cork or breaking the bottle?"

"Push the cork in the bottle." Wade replied.

A ding sounded and the next question appeared. "Two boxers are in a match scheduled for 12 rounds. One of the boxers gets knocked out after only six rounds, yet no man throws a punch. How is this possible?"

"Both were chicks." Wade answered again.

The ding sounded again. The walls still sped up, and they were only a foot away from them on either side. Wade and Laura moved closer together to the very center of the room as the last question appeared. "A man takes his car to a hotel. Upon reaching the hotel, he is immediately declared bankrupt. Why?"

"Monopoly, bitch!" Wade shouted.

Suddenly, a small crevice outlined a square in the ceiling. Laura pushed on it, and the square fell away to the ground.

Wade climbed out of the hole in the ceiling first, and he leaned through the hole and held his hand out for Laura. She ignored his hand and leapt up to grab hold of the side of the hole, and she pulled herself up. The two stood to their feet and found themselves back inside their cell once more. They looked down saw the hole they climbed through was gone again.