Deadpool & Cable
That night, on Alpha Base…
After the briefings, Fox returned to her room in the billeting platform and took a hot shower to wash away the dirt and sweat from the day. She sat on her bed afterwards, meditating, and thinking about what happened earlier between her and Phantom. An hour or so into her meditation, she began to drift off into sleep.
Glancing over at the digital clock next to her bed, she saw that it was already 2:34am and so she quickly dressed into her night attire and snuggled into the covers. Her mind raced with the thoughts she had about her date with Phantom and what it would mean going forward between them.
She knew in her heart that she cared for him in a manner more than just that of a friend, but she worried about those feelings ultimately ruining the bond they had now. Yet, after today, she wondered if Phantom reciprocated those feelings.
Allowing her mind to wander, she drifted off into slumber…
Fox's dream-scape…
She awoke to the sounds of screams and whispers blending into the ambience around her. Fox found herself lying on the ground of a city street, with fire and debris everywhere and the skies as red as blood.
Slowly getting on her feet, she saw the bodies of men, women, and children strewn about. Dead. In pools of their own blood.
She covered her mouth, gasping at the sight of it all.
Several feet ahead of her, Reaper and Phantom materialized before her. Reaper was holding up Phantom by his throat with his right hand.
"You couldn't save them, Phantom," Reaper darkly spoke to him, "Your allies have fallen. You have no one left to help you."
Suddenly, the bodies of their teammates appeared around them like a circle. Her heart dropped when she saw the bodies of Captain America, Iron Man, White Tiger, Luke Cage, and the others who were fighting with them.
"W-Why?" Phantom struggled to question, "W-why did you k-kill them?"
"Because you don't deserve a happy ending. I lost everything I held dear. The way I see it, you and I were always destined to lose everything."
"You… you killed her," Phantom choked.
Reaper chuckled.
"She was your destiny, Phantom. She was your only guarantee to a happy life. As much as I loved her too, I couldn't afford you having what I couldn't."
"Please!" Fox cried out, "Don't kill him!"
Just then, the entire world around her shifted into another setting. She now found herself in some sort of throne room, with the walls decorated into a bone-like design. Above her, a giant glass ceiling looked out into what she though was outer space.
Reaper and Phantom re-materialized before her, but this time, they were fighting head-on with their swords. Swinging left and right, dodging and deflecting each other's lunges and slashes, the two specters weren't holding back.
"You fight for a race that would rather murder each other than to resort to peace, Phantom!" Reaper warned between attacks, "What I promise is salvation!"
"Genocide is not salvation!" Phantom defiantly shouted back.
"We are uplifting them to a new existence!"
"You're taking away their free will!"
Reaper ceased his attacks, giving the two of them pause for breath.
"Until you have lost what I've lost, I don't expect you to understand," Reaper remarked.
As Fox was about to withdraw her katana to help Phantom in the fight, the setting changed again. She then realized that she was seeing fragments of a vision. A peek into the future that she's unable to decipher.
It changed to one final vision.
The light of the sun blinded her as the view of a white sandy beach and beautiful blue ocean water materialized. Far ahead, she saw a couple, both holding a child in their arms.
A boy and a girl. Toddlers.
Twins.
She couldn't make out the faces of the man and woman, but she gasped as she realized the woman had a White Fox tattoo identical to hers on the exact same place she has it on.
"Is that… is that… me?" Her voice died to a whisper.
Fox fell to her knees, overcome with emotion of what she was witnessing. It was a continuation of the vision she saw in Reaper's Dream Nexus two years prior.
"It's… it's…"
"…happiness," a familiar voice finished her sentence.
She glanced over and saw Phantom stand over her. She knew it wasn't the real Phantom, but the entity that has protected her in her dreams all her life since the experiment.
"Is that…us?" She questioned the entity.
He stared at the couple and watch them fade away into the horizon.
"That's for you to find out," he answered.
Back on Alpha Base…
Fox woke up, sweating, from her dream, breathing heavily with her heart racing. She sat up and slightly teared up from what she had seen, but quickly gathered herself, and resumed a session of meditation to review her vision.
Deep in the underground subway tunnels…Manhattan…
The Manhattan Resistance, comprised of National Guardsmen, NYPD officers, and defectors from S.H.I.E.L.D. rallied up in the tunnels underneath the surface of the city. After a day of jumping to another temporary sanctum, the main group that had civilians who couldn't fight hid underground.
The RSF had figured out that the resistance was hiding underground, and routinely sent patrols to scan each inch of the stations and tunnels. On the surface, Cerberus-Class Reaper Sentinels utilized dedicated scanners to search for heat signatures underground.
For the moment, the resistance group had found a safe zone where the civilians they had with them could rest, eat, and prepare for the next movement. Amongst them, Nick Fury marched with his captains and lieutenants that he had appointed over the week since he helped organize them.
"Our groups in the upper west side are reporting increased activity, General, the RSF are closing in on their position," one of his aides reported as he walked through the tunnel's entrance.
The resistance had grown accustomed to Fury's leadership, calling him The General. He didn't care for the nickname at all, but he allowed them to call him if it made them feel better about the situation.
"Tell the commander there to send a forward scout group to secure a pathway out of the area and send the civilians who can't fight through to the next secure location south of his position," Fury ordered back.
"On it, sir."
As his men dispersed rations and water to the civilians, he took a walk through the small encampment on the tracks within the tunnel to see how they were doing. A lot of them were scared, some crying over lost loved ones, others injured beyond help and trying to make peace with their time.
It stung deep into Fury's core to see these people in such a state of distress. It wasn't their fault that this was happening, and now he was doing all he could to ensure they had a means to defend themselves against Reaper and his forces.
He walked by a couple who were grieving, glancing over before realizing he knew one of them.
"Don't worry, Maria, we'll get through this," the man assured his beloved.
"I don't know, Fernand," Maria wept, "I can't believe this is happening."
It was Maria Escobar, Phantom's ex-wife.
Fury was tempted to say something, to assure the two of them that things will be okay. But, he decided otherwise. He knew that Maria probably still blamed him for what happened to Alejandro Cruz, and that was one wound he didn't want to reopen, especially now with their current situation.
"God. I hope my Selena is okay, wherever she is," Maria sadly told her husband.
Fury closed his eye, pained by what he was hearing.
He continued marching on through the crowds, praying that R.O.G.U.E. would return soon to save them all.
Back at the Vampiric League clubhouse…
By the time dawn approached, Selena and Wren had finished explaining the global situation to Dracula, who simply listened attentively. He asked questions when needed, but for the most part, just listened, along with the ranking members of the biker gang.
When they finished, Dracula seemed to lose himself in his thoughts for a moment, contemplating what he should do next.
"Phantasm. Grey Ghost. If you both could wait outside for a few moments," Dracula then politely requested.
The two obeyed and were escorted outside the doors.
Selena could hear the members of the group debate on helping out or not. The Elder Vampires seemed to protest helping, opting to stay isolated and choose negotiations with the Reaper should he bring his forces to Brazil.
"We will not ally ourselves with this entity," Dracula fervently argued, "Vampires have been on the wrong side of history for far too long. Why do you think we are in hiding? No. The mistakes of our past should not be repeated."
"But, my king," one of the other vampires spoke, "What do we stand to lose if we decide to help them?"
"Our business. Our connections. Our agreements we've worked so hard to obtain are all at risk. You must tread carefully," another vampire suggested.
Things went silent for a while.
"I will bring this information to the Cat. If this war is coming to Brazil, then the Underground must be informed. Her, the Squirrel, and the others will help us decide," Dracula finally chose, "For now, I see no harm in helping them get to their desired location."
"As you wish, my king," several of the vampires, in-sync, expressed.
"Do we have any blood runs out that way?" Dracula questioned as he studied the coordinates.
"We have one out to some of the neighboring villages in the area. It will take us a day's time to get there with our rides, but I'd suggest bringing additional support," an Elder Vampire spoke.
"Why is that?"
"One of our contacts out there reported Kraven hunting in that region. He is after that White Tiger person of interest."
Dracula sighed.
"That will complicate things."
"Should we continue, my king?"
The leader simply nodded.
Dracula informed Phantasm and Grey Ghost about their decision to aid them but that they would have to be patient until their blood run out to those coordinates is prepared to leave. However, he assured them that they would send additional vampires to bolster the transport.
They would leave in the early morning hours of the next day.
Early morning on Alpha Base…
The Avengers returned from their night reconnaissance mission and there was a few hours' time before the next one. Fox got dressed early on and headed down to the mess hall to get breakfast. As she turned the corner to the corridor in the billeting platform, she ran face first into Phantom's chest on accident as the two specters collided.
"Fox! I'm so sorry! I should've looked where I was going," Phantom quickly apologized.
"No, no, it's okay, tonto," she sternly insisted.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Is there something you needed?"
Phantom was taken back. There was no doubt that Fox's indifference was because of what he said to her yesterday. But, all the same, he had hoped it didn't affect their conversations.
"Uh, nothing at the present," he simply answered.
"Okay," Fox commented and kept walking, leaving Phantom confused.
She bit her lip, mustering all of her courage not to turn back and apologize. But, she still really did feel stung from what Phantom had expressed earlier.
Phantom watched, feeling his heart sink a little bit seeing her leave. He took a deep sigh before turning the corner to walk back to his room. He stopped to look back at her, to see if she would look back at him as well, but she didn't.
As he walked away…
She had looked back.
Down at the Mess-Hall…
Nova took a deep sigh, watching the food he picked up on his plate. The Guardians of the Galaxy, Peter, Luke, and Danny sat around him at the table, conversing about what Director Hill had told the Guardians once they joined on.
"You better eat your human food, kid. It'll spoil," Rocket lectured, "And if you don't, you better give it to me."
"And this is why he's the trash panda," Quill murmured.
"Say that again, Quill, I'll use your toothbrush to scrub Drax's toilet!"
Quill ignored him.
"So, what else did Director Hill tell you guys?" Luke inquired as he munched on his omelette.
"Besides the obvious," Gamora answered, "She wants us to use our galactic knowledge to help stop Reaper and strip him of his Infinity Gems,"
"…which is easier said than done," Nova added, taking a bite from his food and spitting it out, disgusted.
"I am Groot."
"The tree is right," Drax concurred, "We saw the Reaper's design for the World-Ender. Your primary concern should be that machine."
Gamora nodded.
"It doesn't help that there's two other Infinity Gems on this planet."
"Right?" Rocket chuckled, "The Mind Gem and the Time Gem are on this planet too. Two more and your old man is going to have a field day coming to this planet."
"Let's not talk about that," Quill sighed.
Peter noticed Sam having a hard time eating his food.
"You okay, Sam?"
"I'm fine, web-head. Just didn't sleep too well."
"Oh? Is everything okay?"
"Yeah," Sam quietly answered, "To be honest, I haven't been able to sleep good in the past two years ever since that son-of-a-bitch Reaper took control of my mind. I keep having nightmares."
Peter put a hand on his friend's shoulder. He knew how that felt. Even still, he felt like his mind was still partially tethered to Reaper's, even with Dr. Strange's magic having removed him from it.
"Don't worry, dude, you're back with us now."
Sam faintly smiled.
"Yeah, still doesn't stop the nightmares, though. But, thanks for the thought."
"So y'all are just going to… kiss now, right?" Rocket joked.
"You know, Rocket, sometimes you should just not say anything," Gamora snapped.
"Hey, I'm just asking."
Suddenly, a siren rang off throughout the entire base, alerting all personnel to armor-up and head over to the command platform. An unauthorized portal was opening up and they weren't sure who was coming through.
Within minutes, the command center was flooded with agents, along with the rest of the super-teams. They were all aiming down at this nine-foot-wide circular bluish portal that had randomly opened up, disrupting all communications within the center and emitting an array of screams, hollering, and explosions from within it.
"What's going on?" Steve Rogers inquired once him and the other Avengers showed up.
"See for yourself, Cap," Tony remarked, having armored up in his Iron Man suit.
"We don't know where this is coming from!" Director Hill informed the rest, "Just be prepared for whatever comes out of it!"
"Of course," Phantom withdrew his sword.
Just then, the sounds silenced from beyond the portal and a flurry of popcorn came flying out of the portal. Then…
Deadpool walked out of it, holding a bucket of popcorn and was munching on it.
"Ohhhhhhh my God!" He exclaimed, "You guys, I just got out of seeing Infinity War and holyyy shit, what an ending!"
"D-Deadpool?!" Spidey identified.
Deadpool suddenly looked confused, glancing back and forth between everyone, and dropping his bucket of popcorn.
"What. The. Fuck? This isn't the movie theater lobby!"
"Deadpool!" Director Hill shouted, "Stand down, now!"
Deadpool's eyes widened when he saw Hill.
"Oh my God! I just saw you-"
A huge metallic hand then reached out, out of the portal, and grabbed Deadpool by his mouth, shutting him up. The hand extended out into a metallic arm and a grey-haired man marched out. He had a rather large rifle at his right hand and a bright yellow laser-equipped left eye.
"That's Cable!" Spidey pointed out.
"There will be no spoilers in this chapter, Wade," Cable threateningly told Deadpool, "You going to keep your mouth shut?"
Deadpool looked around and just shook his head.
"Looks like you're going to stay quiet then, jackass."
"What the hell is going on?!" Director Hill inquired, "Who are you and what the hell are you doing here with Deadpool?!"
The portal behind Cable suddenly closed up.
"The name's Cable! As Spider-Man pointed out."
Deadpool squirmed his way out of his hand.
"You totally just stole that line from the Deadpool 2 trailer!" He angrily pointed out.
"Put your weapon down, Cable!" Falcon warned him.
The mutant calmly put his rifle down and raised his arms, glancing over at Deadpool to do the same.
Deadpool sighed, doing the same.
"Not like it'll make a difference. You kids ever seen a Swiss Cheese Deadpool before?!"
"What are you guys doing back here?" Spidey spoke up, calmly approaching them.
"Maybe they're working for Reaper?" Steve suggested.
"Do we really look like we work for him?" Cable sternly asked, "If we did, we wouldn't have shown up here, of all places."
"Plus, the readers already know that we're the good guys, so, of course not!" Deadpool happily assured them.
Everyone looked at each other, confused.
"So, what are you guys doing here?" Phantom questioned.
"Well, we were waiting for douchebag writer up there to finish writing this story back in 2016," Deadpool complained, "We thought this story would be finished in 2017, but then his ass had to leave and abandon writing it. It wasn't easy either. Cable and I thought we were out of a job for months before this story got picked up again."
"Wait, what?" Quill questioned, "Cable, is your boy all there, man?"
"Just ignore him, folks. I know I do," Cable answered.
Deadpool crossed his arms and starting murmuring to himself.
"Just tell them what they need to know so we can get to the next chapter already," he whispered to Cable.
"We're here to help," Cable expressed, "We've been through various futures in both this universe and others. We've faced off with Reaper directly, only to fail multiple times. This universe is the primary point of this multiversal conflict. One that we both want to resolve."
"Wait," Fox expressed, approaching them, "So, you guys have seen the future?"
"Figuratively," Cable answered, "Each future we've witnessed had a different outcome with the intrusion of Reaper's forces. We'd gladly like to explain further… if we didn't have all these rifles pointed at us."
"I'm also handing free tickets to my movie on May 18. If… if anyone's interested," Deadpool happily told them, pulling out a wad of ticket stubs.
Director Hill ordered the agents to stand down and they escorted the duo to a secure meeting room, big enough for the other groups to join in on and listen to what Cable and Deadpool had to report.
"Give us one reason why we should listen to you after you escaped our custody, Deadpool," Coulson coldly inquired.
"Coulson, my boy! I was busy trying to save the future with Cable! Spidey! Webs! Parker, darling, tell him!"
"You tried to rob a bank right in front of me, Deadpool,"
"…to help with the war effort?"
"Stop lying, Wade," Cable murmured.
Deadpool sighed.
"Fine. I'm… I'm sorry, Coulson," Deadpool sadly expressed, "Pause for dramatic effect... I'm so sorry! Taskmaster, he… he tried to brainwash me, man! He gave me all these bags of money and forced me to help him! I told him no! That my honor was worth more than his money! I'm… I'm ashamed!"
Cable rolled his eyes, glancing at the others.
"I have to deal with this shit. That should be enough reason for you all to listen," he firmly assured them.
Cable then told them the outcomes of what lies ahead of them. He pointed out that the Reaper and Phantom entities have fought each other in other timelines in different futures. They've had to cross different timelines in order to understand the conflict to the best of their ability. In each universe, they witnessed a different component of the conflict, centralizing on the overall fact that Reaper knows Phantom and each move he'll make before he makes it.
This leads them to believe that the conflicts they've witnessed in the other timelines was Reaper practicing to defeat the one and only Phantom in this specific universe. He's seen every outcome just as they have and has bent reality through the Reality Gem to conform each point of his victory to his advantage.
"Do you have anything to add to this, Dr. Strange?" Director Hill asked, being that Strange has the Time Gem.
"If they've indeed witnessed this conflict several times over, it would mean that Reaper knows how this will all end, in some way, shape, or form," he answered, "But, I have reservations."
"Oh, this should be good," Deadpool commented.
"How did he not see the transformation of Phantasm coming into play as we learned was a surprise to him on Island M? How did he not know that Phantom wouldn't become a bloodthirsty Reaper as he has?"
Deadpool and Cable glanced at each other.
"That's why we came here," Cable pointed out, "Phantasm's in this timeline. That is one factor that makes this outcome unknown to us. She and her partner have seen more timelines than we have, in ones that she's interfered in. We're not sure her relevance, but… we know that Reaper avoids her at all costs. He is afraid of her and what she's become."
"…because she's an anomaly," Coulson concluded.
"Correct."
Fox and Peter glanced to Phantom, who seemed ready to ask about his daughter.
"As for Phantom's creation, it's happened in other timelines as well, but we've seen it fail too. It looks like Reaper took his time to practice in the past two years, moving the entirety of Asteroid M to different Earths in order to rehearse for this specific invasion. It's how he took control of most of the planet so quickly," Cable continued.
"So for you readers who might be a little confused, Reaper left to practice his invasion in other timelines by bending reality using the Reality Gem, ONLY in timelines where Phantasm, Phantom's daughter, was absent. It means he knows something about her that makes her an ultimate threat to him. In those timelines, Phantom loses," Deadpool quickly pointed out.
"Can you stop doing that for one second?" Cable angrily expressed.
"Hey, you're the one making this more confusing than it needs to be, Summers! Josh Brolin, whoever the hell you are these days!"
The groups took a moment to process this information.
"So, my daughter. She's here?" Phantom anxiously asked, his right hand subtly shaking.
Cable nodded.
"She knows something we don't," Cable added, "She's in Brazil searching for something as we speak."
"I'm surprised you losers aren't there yet," Deadpool scoffed, "While you're all busy trying to win the war on half of the planet, Reaper's winding up to strike the rest of it!"
Phantom glanced over to Director Hill.
"We need to get to Brazil. Fast."
"I second that!" Peter eagerly added, "Ava's there!"
"I told you he'd say that!" Deadpool humorously murmured to Cable.
Without another word, Director Hill launched their next phase of operations, to concentrate on Brazil. Black Widow forwarded her contacts in the Underground, and so they would be the first ones they'd have to ask in order to get information on Selena, Wren, and Ava.
"About time we get this story moving," Deadpool chuckled, "I told you, 2018 is our year, Summers!"
"Oh, shut up, Wade. We're going to have to remove your mouth again if you keep yapping."
"Remove it?! You know how badly that movie sucked?! You want to do that again?! Jeez, and I thought I was crazy!"
Note
Hey my dudeess! Another chap up for your reading entertainment! If you haven't watched Infinity War yet, GO WATCH IT, it will change your life. NO SPOILERS HERE, though.
I'll be playing the rest of the chapters by ear this week and the next because finals are coming up for me and I'll be crunching harder to make sure I pass them. So, just letting yall know.
also, if youve msgd me and i haven't responded, soooo sorry for the delay. been juggling a million things at once lol. but im getting there
thanx for yalls support! =D hit that follow/fave button if you wanna read more!
-jack montero