Disciple A/N: Stay with as things continue to pick up. There will be more from the resident couple coming. Reviews will make it happen even faster 🙂
SOTM: This is Disciple's chapter. I only take credit for Frank and Mina. He's been waiting a long time to post this since it originally got scrapped in SOF. (bet you didnt know that) see, we need to do a podcast for shit like this. Frank + Mina = *hearts* I wonder where Deadpool went...
Sweet dreams are made of reviews
He took her to the safest place he could think of, his room. Frank ran a bath for Mina and ordered an extra-large pizza, hot wings and a tub of ranch on the side. The food got there when she stepped out of his bathroom wearing one of his shirts and her hair up in a towel.
"Did you get ranch? I won't eat it without ranch." Mina said as she plopped herself on the couch across from him.
Frank handed her a plate with a slice as she put her feet in his lap, "I know. I ordered extra for you."
"Really? How'd you know?"
"Gut feeling, and it's the only way I eat pizza too." Frank handed her a bottle of beer, "When's the last time you ate?"
"Does a liquid diet count? I think I accidentally ate part of my straw wrapper two weeks ago." Mina snorted.
Frank scowled at her, "You gotta take better care of yourself, kid."
Mina raised a brow as she chewed and swallowed, "Pizza and beer has what nutritional value?"
"Sustenance." He shrugged, "So, talk to me. What happened?"
Mina awkwardly swallowed her food quickly, "A goddamn soap opera, that's what."
Frank looked at her after taking a swig of his beer, the muscles in his large forearms flexing, "He hurt you?"
She couldn't look at him. She wasn't prepared for that question; it was sudden and caught her off guard. Swallowing awkwardly, she tried to answer but her eyes started to water. She quickly wiped the corner of her eye with her wrist, "Uh… um…"
Frank put his beer on the coffee table and shifted awkwardly in his seat, positioning himself to face her, "Hey, now… talk to me, kid. He broke you heart, yeh? You don't need a piece of shit like that."
Mina sniffled, a few tears escaping were quickly wiped away, "I don't know about breaking my heart. But he broke my skull."
Frank paused, not breathing or blinking as he took in what she said. His mind and heart racing with a fury of emotions and plans of deserving punishment. "HE. WHAT. DEAD. SOON."
Despite Frank spitting out the first words on his mind, she knew what he meant. She pulled her legs off his lap and brought them up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and trying to tuck herself into a small ball.
"He hit ya? Choke you? What? Tell me." He demanded. What he didn't say was that he would do unto Cable as he did to her, but it was implied.
"Shhh mmm nnn ttthh hhhhhd." She mumbled into her arms as she buried her face to hide.
"Mina."
"He shot me in the head."
He was confused, not knowing the full extent of her powers except from when she healed him. "Like… how?"
"You don't believe me." She snapped angrily, looking at him with red rimmed eyes.
He put his hand up, "I didn't say that. I'm trying to understand, help me understand. You mean he hit you in the head?"
"No! He fucking shot me in the goddamn head! With his gun! Between the eyes- right here!" she yelled back angrily while jabbing her thumb in her forehead for emphasis, "I don't know how long I was out or what they did to me!"
Frank tried to understand, he was really trying, "Kid, you weren't covered in blood, and you're still alive and talking to me. He roofie you? You still high or something?"
Mina growled angrily at the top of her lungs and jumped up. She started storming towards the door, he got up to chase her, but she stopped at the small table by the door where he kept one of his many guns. Before he could get to her, she picked up the gun, cocked it back and pointed the barrel to the palm of her other hand.
"I told you I'm a mutant," She said right before pulling the trigger.
"KID, NO!" Frank yelled at the top of his lungs and reached for the gun.
BANG
He was too late, grabbing the gun after it had already been fired. Mina's jerked and whelped in pain, covering the wound with her now free hand. The bullet had gone through her hand and hit the flat screen TV on the wall, shattering the screen and causing sparks to fly everywhere.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" he scolded.
"OOOOOOWWWWWW! MOTHER FUCKER!" she yelled at the top of her lungs in pain. Tears rolling down her cheeks as she clenched her eyes tight and danced around in pain.
Frank tried to get her to stand still, "Keep pressure on it!"
Mina held up the hand she just shot, blood running down her wrist and arm, "There's a reason they call me Savior."
Frank watched in disbelief as the hole in her hand he could see her through closed quickly, leaving behind only the spilt blood but no scar. "What in the hell…"
"See that? Cable did that to my head." She said sarcastically, "Right after the John Wick wanna be started choking me."
"Wade?"
She shook her head, "No, not Wade. This guy was new. Cable kept calling him Barnes."
Frank jerked at the name, "Barnes- he have a metal arm?"
She nodded, "He his brother or something?"
"Or something."
After she wiped the blood off her hands, she started rubbing her palm, "Still hurts…" wincing in pain, "Man, I have the shittiest luck ever. I must be a magnet, since I'm attracting all these assholes with metal arms. It's like a curse or something. Has to be."
Moving back to the couch, he opened a fresh beer, "You ain't cursed."
She accepted another beer from him, "Maybe it's just men who's names start with the letter 'C'." She hummed in thought, "Colossus, Cable…. Yeah, pretty sure."
"Colossus? THE Colossus?" Frank sat forward in the couch, "The big dumb looking one?"
Mina narrowed her eyes, "Yes, the one you almost killed."
He put a hand to his chest and shook his head, "Nah, I almost killed Cable. The boss was the one that hit him, but that was only cuz Cable threw him into the blast."
Mina's jaw dropped, "WHAT?!"
"Why do you think I called him the big dumb looking one?"
She put a hand to her forehead and chugged her beer. Burping loudly, she continued her tangent, "Maybe the curse isn't just metal arms and 'C' names? There were much dumber ones. Austin, Forest, River… I guess that one count as one, Forest changed his name to River…"
Frank grunted before responding, "What's it with you dating guys with landmark names? You need to find you a good 'ol boy named Butte."
Mina snorted so hard, her beer came out of her nose and sprayed everywhere. Frank laughed at her as he threw her the same bloody rag to clean herself up with. "Dating advice from THE PUNISHER? Wow, thanks Dad. You gonna go and kick his ass for hurting your little girl?"
She was joking, but he took what she said to heart, "I'll kill him."
Sniffling, she looked at him with hope in her voice, "Promise?"
Frank held his arms open and brought her in for a hug, "Ain't no one gonna hurt my little girl and go unpunished."
His slip of the tongue in calling her his made her smile. She'd not gotten this kind of concern from her real parents before and it was making her emotional again. "What the fuck am I gonna do, now?"
"What do you mean? I said I'd kill him, what else you want me to do?" he would do it if she asked.
"Where the fuck am I gonna go? I'm across the fucking country from home, no phone, no money, my dad sent his fucking goon squad and my ex-boyfriend after me and if I go home he's just gonna fucking hurt me again!" she was sobbing now.
Frank held her tighter, patting her back softly, "You ain't gotta go anywhere. You're good right here. I got ya."
She was inconsolable and drunk. All he could do was hold her while she had a breakdown, "Come on kid, let's have a nap, huh?"
*Permission was given by the artist who sang this rendition of the song used. The song is, 500 Miles by David Michael Bennett originally performed by Peter, Paul and Mary*
As much as she did not want to admit it, Frank was right. She needed to go talk to her mom and Hayward aka Disciple. After their heart to heart, Frank went on to talk to her about Domino. Telling her that even though she hurt her feelings, she was still her mom and they needed to work it out. His opinion of Disciple is what surprised her the most. It seemed strange that Frank could seem to dislike someone so much yet trust them so much. Still, she did have her mom around. An important person to keep consistent in her life. Someone who also wanted to be such.
After promising her that he would be safe, he geared up in full Punisher fashion and tucked her in. Frank left Mina in his room, telling her that he had to take care of some things and would give her some time to rest and sleep. She knew he meant he was going to take care of Cable, and maybe whoever that Barnes guy was. When she woke up, he had still not returned. She decided that she would look for Domino, since Frank said her room was nearby.
Mina walked out of the stairwell and up to the private sitting room and stopped when she saw that Disciple and Domino were sitting alone in the room on the sofa. To her surprise, Disciple was holding and playing a guitar. She remained behind the doorway so that they wouldn't notice she was there. She watched them in hiding while Domino looked at him with a smile as he played the guitar.
As much as she didn't want to admit, Mina didn't get mad at her mom just for recommending Vegas so she could see her boyfriend. It was because she was jealous that Domino was noticeably happy in the relationship she's, probably, been in for at least a year or maybe more. Mina looked on in Domino cupped Disciples cheek and looked at him as if she were swooning.
Mina scoffed and rolled her eyes, the overly romantic scene playing out before her reminding her of her recent Russian Lover.
"Love, play and sing our song. Our being apart song. Please?"
Disciple chuckled and looked her in the eye. "How can I say no to that beautiful, pale face?" he asked and kissed her.
"Remember to sing, your way," she replied with a raise of her eyebrows after returning his kiss.
He sat up as he played the slow, melodic, opening riff and closed his eyes when he began singing:
"If you miss the train I'm on, you will know that I am gone.
You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles."
He carried a tune that could change octaves. He could make his voice sound as if there were two others singing with him when he got to the chorus but it was JUST him.
"A hundred miles, a hundred miles, a hundred miles, a hundred miles,
You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles."
Disciple continued singing and playing and lifted his arms and the guitar, while Domino swung her legs up and across his lap and his voice went tenor.
"Oh I'm one, Oh I'm two, Oh I'm three, Oh I'm four...
Oh I'm 500 miles away home."
Both of them sang the chorus this time, along with his weird ability,
"Away from home, away from home, away from home, away from home.
Oh I'm five hundred miles away from home."
Disciple continued solo.
"Not a shirt on my back, not a penny to my name.
Oh I can not go back-home, this a-way."
Both of them sang the chorus again and again with his ability.
"This a-away, this a-way, this a-way, this a-way,
Oh I can't go back-home, this a-way."
Disciple continued to strum the course for a minute and then Domino had tears rolling down her face and snuggled up to him and rested the back of her fingers on his face as they sang the next verse together without his ability.
"If you miss the train I'm on, you will know that I am gone."
Disciple sang the verse real deep but beautifully.
"You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles."
And then they again sang the chorus together, along with his ability once more when he reached around her mother and continued playing.
"A hundred miles, a hundred miles, a hundred miles, a hundred miles,
You can hear the whistle blow, a hundred miles."
Disciple then sang in a regular pitch.
"You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles."
She let a happy tear fall with her smile when Domino finished the song with a real high note.
"You can hear the whistle blow... a hundred miles."
Disciple set down his guitar and sighed as if it was nostalgic. "I love this song. I love how it lets me know you're thinking of me whenever we're apart," Domino answered.
He smiled. " It's the song that was playing when we met."
She took her legs off of his lap and looked him in the eye. "Hayward, I need to tell you something. I'm..." they were interrupted when Mina knocked on the opened door.
"Hey…"
Domino jumped up, almost shoving Disciple away from her, "Mina!" She rushed to her and hugged her tightly, "Where have you been?! I've been worried about you!"
Mina pulled away from her embrace, "Really? Cuz it looks like you barely noticed me being kidnapped by someone you vouched for."
"WHAT?!" she shrieked.
Disciple winced from behind her on the couch. This was not good for him, if she found out he knew about her being kidnapped but didn't tell her, he was as good as dead. "What happened? Was it Cable?"
Domino spun around and put a finger up to him, "You stay out of this when I'm talking to my daughter!" she spun back around and used that same finger on Mina, repeating his question, "What happened?"
"Don't act like you care, Dom. You haven't given two shits about me this whole trip. I came back here for Frank, not you."
Ulysses was walking down the hall, mind still trying to process what happened earlier that day with the girl of his dreams. Only to hear that the only reason she came back was for his number two. Growling in rage and tugging at his hair, he stormed off. Not wanting to hear any more about how much she wanted the Punisher instead of him.
Dom gasped, "That isn't true! I was worried about you, Mina. You're my daughter-"
"Yeah great job, MOTHER!" Mina yelled back.
They began arguing back and forth, getting louder and angrier with each other. Disciple jumped up and stepped between them, "Mina, I think you need to calm down."
Domino rounded on him, shoving her finger in his face, "How dare you try to parent MY daughter!"
Mina jumped back into it, "Oh now you want to be a caring parent?! Bitch, I'm grown!"
Disciple tried, you had to give him credit for that. He threw his hands up in defeat and went back to sit on the couch where it was safer.
"If you were grown, why are you running off with Cable and Wade of all people? Then you coming running back here crying because you got yourself in that situation!"
Mina flipped her off, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know I was gonna get kidnapped, dragged through time and space, attacked by some terminator looking dude and SHOT IN THE FUCKIN' HEAD!"
Domino looked paler than normal, sweat was forming on her brow. She let out a sob and ran out of the room covering her mouth. Disciple called for her, but she didn't stop.
Mina shook her head, "Don't bother, dude. She's an emotional wreck lately."
He looked at her annoyed and said, "Well, have a seat," and motioned to the couch opposite him. The annoyance present in his voice. "As you know, I know who you are and who your dad or... dads are. And if you haven't figured it out yet, this place is called, Hayward's Place For The Wayward. It's a hotel, bar and casino that is specifically for mutants. ONLY, Mutants. Except for the dance club on the backside but that establishment belongs to my business partner though I do own a small part of it," he explained.
Mina looked confused. "You mean, this is like my dad's mansion but... more fun?"
He nodded. "Yea, pretty much. You can stay here as long as you want and do what you please, within reason. Nowhere near as restrictive. However, shit like what you just pulled with your mom is not going to continue to be tolerated."
Mina rolled her eyes but ignored it. "So, you have long-term rooming?" Mina asked curiously and he nodded.
"From six months to up to three or more years," he answered.
"Who would need to stay here so long? Wouldn't that be enough time to blend in with humans?" she asked confused.
"You would be surprised," Disciple replied.
Suddenly a tall, skinny, white man with slicked back black hair, Satanic tattoos and a blue contact in one eye walked up to Disciple. Disciple stood up, clasped his hand and they pulled each other in for a hug. "Thanks for everything, bro," The tall man said. "Any time," Disciple replied.
The tall guy looked at Mina and laughed. "Take care guys," he said in a monotone but slightly gruffy voice and with a smile before he left. "Nice seeing you again, Savior."
Mina's mouth was dropped open and she pointed at the guy leaving. "That was Marilyn Manson."
"Yea," Disciple replied passively.
"Wait, he's a mutant?" Mina asked surprised.
"Was there ever any question about that?" Domino asked as she returned to the room while wiping her eyes with a Kleenex.
Changing the subject, Disciple sat back down with Domino next to him looking at the floor. He picked up and lit up a joint after Domino nodded that it was okay and took a long hit. He held it for a moment and exhaled. "I am a mutant. I have the power of persuasion, can replicate and I can multiply my voice to come from multiple and various places. I am very hated by both your dad and Magneto because I don't believe in either of their bullshit causes. There are mutants here who live here at this establishment on a permanent basis and work here because they don't want to take sides or be a part of their bullshit. Many of them have amazingly strong powers and could turn the tides but they don't want to fight. They just want to lead normal lives. I provide that. This establishment has special measures in place and special equipment that blocks both your dad and Max from finding it. It even stops your dad from being able to find this place or anyone here with Cerebro because of what we have in place. It could also be because I may or may not have stolen the blueprints for Cerebro," he said with a laugh. "So, rest assured you're safe here with us and the other mutants."
"Not all mutants are good people," Mina added.
"Not all mutants are welcomed here," Disciple replied. "There are some mutants who are banned from here. On that banned list, aside from Max and your dad, are Nathan Summers aka Cable, Piotr Rasputin aka Colossus, Logan X aka Wolverine and Wade Wilson," he said and took another hit off his joint. "Do you have any questions?"
"Yeah, where am I staying? I don't think Frank wants to keep sharing his couch."
"Where is that asshole anyway?" Disciple asked.
Mina shrugged, "Pretty sure he went to kill Cable. Idunno, but he told me to find you and tell you 'Puerto Rico.' Whatever the fuck that means."
Disciple choked on the smoke, looking at her seriously, "I understand…."
"So, is it code for 'I'm going to commit murder, have bail ready'?"
"Something like that." He changed the topic suddenly, "So, you want to stay after all?"
Making a face, "Yeah, why wouldn't I? You just said this place is like Neverland without the ruined childhood innocence."
He sat up straight and gave her a serious look, "Then you're going to have to follow the rules."
She slumped back in the couch, "Rules? You just said-"
"You will stay inside at all times," he held up one finger.
"Why would I go outside? I'm being circled by crazy ex-boyfriends!" she snapped.
Holding up the second finger, "You don't go anywhere near the club."
"Why the hell not?! That's like the only place I can go! I don't have any fucking money to gamble, what else am I going to do?"
"As I said, the club does not belong to me." He held a hand up to stop her from interrupting him, "Therefore I cannot protect you in there. Cable shot it up two weeks ago, it's obvious he was looking for you and I won't take that chance."
She crossed her arms and huffed, "This is utter Beauty and the Beast bullshit… 'stay away from the West Wing.'"
"Mina!" Domino snapped.
"Fine!"