Chapter thirteen

I knew I was dreaming. I knew I was dreaming because I was flying through New York. I could not fly in real life. Everything about the New York I was in seemed accurate. Places rarely were in my dreams. I never dreamed about real people or real places. It was one of the many things I was used to. I floated still. All the buildings looked to scale; people were still everywhere and the Avengers Tower was where it should be (one time it had just been floating around, don't ask me why).

I didn't quite get why I was dreaming of this. I had been having nightmares for the past three nights, all including a zombie apocalypse. I knew that Halloween night would be bad for me.

My dream self floated through some darker streets and ended up landing gracefully in a secluded alley way. I didn't think I had ever been there before. Even more uprising was that Deadpool was lounging against a wall, waiting for someone. I had never known Deadpool to wait for anyone in the time I had known him.

Deadpool didn't seem to notice me, which was weirder still. I still wasn't use to the fact that I was dreaming so accurately. I normally didn't dream of someone in particular.

"HYDRA is not pleased." A voice said. The owner of the voice stepped into the alleyway. It was a HYDRA solider. I wondered why he was here; and why Deadpool wasn't trying to kill him.

"HYDRA's never pleased." Deadpool replied. "But what's wrong now?"

"You know what's wrong. HRYDA and AIM both paid you 500,000 dollars each to kill Ink Avilov Rabinovich." The HYRDA solider said. This dream wasn't making sense. What was my brain doing? I had always suspected that HYDRA or AIM were to ones who had hired Deadpool to kill me. My subconscious might be just taking these fears and putting them into something I expect.

"So? I got an offer not to kill Ink, and I can't argue with that." Deadpool said and started flipping a knife idly. I could tell he didn't like the HYDRA solider; but then again, Deadpool didn't really like any one.

"We no longer care." The HYDRA solider said. Deadpool kept flipping the knife like he wasn't fazed. "HYDRA says keep the money. After AIM's failed attempt we have decided to take matters into our own hands. We have sent someone more capable to finish the job you failed to start."

The knife stopped flipping. "What did you do?" Deadpool asked darkly. He pushed himself away from the wall. I could see him tense for a fight.

"By the time you get there, Ink Avilov Rabinovich will be dead. The Winter Solider always gets the job done." The HYDRA solider turned away from Deadpool and started walking away.

To the solider, Deadpool didn't show any trace of emotion, but to me I could tell. There were slight changes in his body language. "Oh, yeah?" He asked, trying to mask the shock. "I have a teleportation device." He started to reach for his belt, but the HYRDA solider was one step ahead. He set off an electromagnetic pulse from a small device he'd been holding all this time. The teleportation devices light flickered out and the pulse shocked through me, it seemed to restart something in my brain.

"Hey!" Deadpool said. "They're hard to find!"

"It's too late Deadpool." The HYDRA solider was walking away. "Ink is almost certainly dead."

"No!" Deadpool shouted, and in that moment I realised I wasn't dreaming. My mind had wondered out of my body with the help of my magic, which was why I had felt the electromagnetic pulse. Magic was energy. I had read about this in different magic books. This... this wasn't a dream! It was real! HYDRA had sent someone to kill me!

As Deadpool ran out of the alleyway I could feel myself floating away, back to my apartment and back to my body. Just before I phased through the wall back to my bedroom I saw a figure, crouched on the opposite building to the room I was in.

I saw a thermal imaging device attached to the scope of a gun; the moonlight glanced off a metal arm. The Winter Solider had come to kill me.

(Line break)

No, no. There was no way this was happening to him.

Deadpool ran for her. Since when did he come to care for her so much? He should've just killed her. It probably would've been easier for him to kill her, but no he didn't. He took her money (which he had not spent a dollar of) and he took her friendship she so foolishly offered. It was stupid, stupid, stupid. This was what always happened to his friends. They always ended up dead.

"I'm blaming you," Italics said to Bold. Deadpool didn't want this right now.

"Why me?" Bold asked. "You wanted to take her money."

"But you didn't want to kill her." Italics argued. "And now she's gonna die."

"Aww, you care for her." Bold said, picking up on the negativity of Italics' voice.

"So?" Italics asked bold. "You care for her too. Don't you care that she'd gonna die?"

"Of course I care." Bold said. "She's our friend; of course I care about her."

"And now she's gonna die." Italices moaned.

Images flashed through Deadpool's mind. Images of Ink covered in gunshot wounds. So much blood everywhere it was unimaginable that-

"SHUT UP!" Deadpool shouted to himself as he sprinted down the street, making several people jump and move out of the way. "STOP IT!" The voices in his head fell silent.

He had to get to Ink. He had to get to her. He couldn't let her die. It was not going to turn out like the rest of the friendships he had had. He wasn't going to let any more people get hurt because of him. Not this time

I was dumped into my body. I jumped, making the mattress bounce. I froze, remembering what was outside. I lay absolutely still. It's no use, I tried to tell myself. He had a thermal imaging device that would see me no matter how still I was, no matter what I did. I was going to die, wasn't I?

Then I realised. There was something I could do. My Jotun body didn't radiate any heat. I gave off pure cold. No body heat equalled no image. As quickly as I could, I changed into my Jotun body. My breath instantly clouded in front of my face, my legs out grew my bed and my entire calves hung off the edge. The bedroom froze. I focused on making everything as cold as possible.

I felt a warm draught coming through the door. Normally I wouldn't be able to feel it, but because my Jotun body reacted to temperature differently, I felt it easily. The draught reminded me that I wasn't the only creature in this apartment. Hiss, Drakki and Mr. Rhododendron were all warm blooded creatures. They would show up on the thermal imaging device. I didn't want them to die. I rolled off the bed and crouched on the floor. I didn't want to take any chances so I practically crawled to the living room.

The dragons and tiger were still asleep. I shook them carefully, trying not to frost burn them. They woke up slowly and blinked their eyes at me. Mr. Rhododendron's eyes glowed in the dark and Drakki lit up the living room with her blue marks.

"Ok, I want you guys to listen to me very carefully and no matter what, don't freak out." I told them. I started explaining the dream I had and how I knew the Winter Solider was here to kill me. I registered the shock on all of their faces. They all knew what it meant to be hunted by HYDRA. "Now I want you to do exactly as I tell you to do." I told them to stay still and not to make a sound. I drew the moisture from the air and formed an ice barrier around us, facing the bedroom wall, where I thought the Winter Solider was. That should hide the heat signature of the dragons and tiger.

I wasn't sure what to do next, but I guessed it mainly involved waiting. I wouldn't be able to face the Winter Solider by myself. I had heard the stories. I needed someone to help me. I needed Deadpool.

Deadpool POV

With a force full kick, the lock broke and the door into Ink's apartment clattered open. Deadpool was there, staring into the apartment with one gun and sword out and ready. He stared into the darkness of the apartment, ready to shoot anything that moved. The apartment was as silent as his brain. He didn't think those things together were good news.

"Ink?" He called. He got no reply. "Ink!" He called a little louder.

"Shut up!" He heard her hiss from the living room. As much as he hated it, relief flooded through him. Deadpool walked into the living room, expecting to see Ink battle ready in her scary looks and formidable armour. He wouldn't have been surprised if she had already known about him coming. He didn't see any of that. Instead he saw ice everywhere and a thick curve of ice around Ink and her creatures. "The Winter Solider is outside. He's got a thermal imaging device!"

"How do you know about that?" Deadpool asked.

"Magic." She said. Fair enough.

Deadpool was here, thank gods. That meant I had a better chance of surviving the night. I didn't need to fight off the Winter Solider on my own. I had thought about calling the Avengers, but that would raise tricky questions like 'What's Deadpool doing here? Why is the Winter Solider after you?' Then I would have to tell them that it was originally Deadpool who had been hired to kill me and hen the Avengers would try to kill him. He was my friend. Although the help would be better I liked Deadpool too much. If the Avengers got involved, I wouldn't be allowed to see him again. As much as I denied it, Deadpool was my friend.

I got out of the ice barrier and stood up, Deadpool put his gun and katana away. The dragons and tiger moaned, but didn't move.

"So what are you going to do besides hide behind an ice shield all night?" Deadpool asked.

"I don't know," I sighed. "But it was hiding mine and the creatures' heat signature, so that's something."

"You were just going to wait here?" He asked.

"Yeah, and are you just going to wait there? What were you thinking when you killed my door?" I retorted.

"Well actually I was gonna- " Deadpool never managed to finished his sentence as three shots came through the glass was and hit him in the chest. "Ow," He moaned.

My eyes widened. Then something smashed through the glass and landed in a roll in the apartment. It was him.

I screamed and leapt away, making ice form around the unprotected side of the creatures. The opening changed sides. I broke a piece off of the little cove and used it as a shield. Drakki, Hiss and Mr. Rhododendron leapt up, all baring teeth and claws.

The Winter Solider got up and started shooting at my. I used the shield to cover my entire Jotun body and the shots hit it instead of my head. It fractured the ice, spider web like cracks splintering down the length of the shield. I had reacted just in time then. He kept shooting at me thought. Oh what was I going to do?

Deadpool jumped out from nowhere. He ran up to the side of the Winter Solider and punched him in the jaw. The shots stopped hitting my shield.

I turned to the creatures, manoeuvring my shield so it was still covering me. "Go, get out of here." I said to them as Deadpool started a fist fight with the Winter Solider. The dragons and tiger moaned. They didn't want to leave me. "No, I don't want you getting hurt, just get out of here. I'll be fine."

"Uhh, Ink?" I turned around. Deadpool was losing the fist fight. "A little help over here, this guy's got a metal arm you know!"

"Get to the Avengers tower!" I shouted over my shoulder. "Go! Now!" I shouted one last time and joined the fist fight. Behind me, I heard the dragons smash through the glass windows. Hiss barrelled out; her lower body spinning like a cork screw. Drakki held Mr. Rhododendron in her paws.

I punched and kicked the Winter Solider as hard as I dared. I kept in my Jotun form: I was stronger like this, but apparently it didn't matter. He blocked and countered my blows like I wasn't an ice forming alien and just another human. And that pissed me off. I hit harder. My blows started to blur with Deadpool's. We started to gain ground, edging the Winter Soldier to the new hole in the glass wall that had just been replaced.

The Winter Solider was right on the edge of the hole. I was very tempted to kick him off, but I wasn't sure whether he would survive, and frankly I hadn't killed anyone before. Not even when I was working with the Joker. But at this moment, it was either me or him: and I much preferred it to be him.

I still wasn't sure I could do it, but I pulled back, ready to kick him off the ledge and end it all, but before I could, the Winter Solider turned around and jumped off himself.