Chapter nineteen

Deadpool POV

Deadpool resisted form calling Ink's name out. That was rule one of not doing anything stupid. Instead he followed the scrubbed out tracks as fast and as silent as he could. Although the tracks had been shoddily covered, the effect had obviously had the desired effect. Deadpool saw no the tracks of Ink's. Other people had tracked Ink. They might even still be here. Who knows what could be out there.

"They must have her." Italics commented.

"We don't know that yet." Bold insisted.

The commentary in Deadpool's head had been more or less the same since he had left the cabin. He admitted he was worried. He was worried for Ink, worried about whether or not she was ok. And the voices in his head would not let it go. He was continually going through this cycle of worrying, then belief that Ink was ok, then back to worrying again. Over and over. Deadpool just wished it would stop. He hoped this terrible feeling went away. $%* . Was this wait guilt felt like? Aw crap.

"Will you two just shut up?" Deadpool asked aloud.

He ran along the tracks until he came to a clearing. It had a few logs scattered around, but he knew this was not the right place. He found signs of Ink almost immediately. She had sat on one of the logs, and then set out to follow another set of tracks leading away from the clearing. Oh no.

He followed these new tracks, looking for any more signs of Ink. He found them.

Along with very clear signs of a fight. Snow had been tossed everywhere, so much so that soil had started to mingle with the white, leaving dark patches every now and there. There were claw marks all the way up trees, a few had been smashed. And worst of all, blood stained the ground. It was everywhere. It covered the ground, the trees. The most disturbing part of that was that some of it was a deep, royal blue. There had been a fight, a big one at that, seeing as something had shredded through Ink's ice armour, and sliced her in her Jotun form. Deadpool had seen Ink fight in that form before. As far as he knew, almost nothing could get through that armour.

Deadpool could see what had happened. Ink had been here. But she had been attacked, drawn away from her own path and ambushed. He knew there had been more than one attacker, but less than five. Three or four would be a good guess. Ink could take down one or two attackers easily, that girl could move, but more than two, even just three, and Ink would be in trouble. Well Ink had definitely fought back. She had fought back hard, but had failed. She had gotten injured, thrown against a tree and whacked a few times with a log. The log in question had been smashed to splinters.

But all of that effort, all of that desperation had failed. Ink had been hurt, she had been knocked out and she had been...

"Dragged away." Both Italics and Bold moaned together.

Deadpool was too late.

He was too late to save her.

And it was his fault.

It was his fault that he had shouted at her. It was his fault that he made her so angry that she stormed out. It was his fault that she had walked head first into a trap.

Deadpool didn't know how long he stood there, smouldering in the hate for himself and what he had done. He felt like he wanted to tear the world apart. He had lost Ink. She was his friend, a light in the darkness that was his life and he had lost her. But beneath all the flaming anger and hatred he felt calm. He knew what he had to do, and what steps to take in order to achieve his goal. Deadpool was going to find Ink. He wouldn't stop until she was safe, out of harm and then finally, away from him.

And, in the silence of the forest, Deadpool decided on the first step to take:

To find a better tracker.

"Are you sure this is it?" Italics asked.

"Yeah, this is the place." Deadpool said. This was one thing he knew for certain.

"So what do we do? Just wait for him to come out?" Bold asked.

"I guess we're gonna have to." Deadpool said. After hightailing it down here from Labrador in Canada, Deadpool was sure of every move he had to take. He had wasted a day getting back into New York. He had wasted a day trying to track down the Wolverine. There was no doubt that Deapool would have to waste at least one more day in his path of tracking down where they held Ink.

So he sat and watched the stupid Avengers' Mansion in the shadows for any sign of the Wolverine. He had to keep out of sight. One thing was for sure. Deadpool knew that I one word of Ink's capture leaked back to the Avengers, the he was as well as dead. He knew what he had to do, and none of it involved the Avengers.

"It's not like he's gonna find us." Deadpool muttered under his breath to himself.

"Think again." The familiar gruff voice growled behind him.

"Crap." Deadpool and the two voices said together in his head.

Deadpool turned around and looked at the Wolverine. Ohh, Logan was not happy to see Deadpool.

"Hey, Logan! Buddy!" Deadpool said cheerily, although he didn't feel like it one bit. He held his arms out as if to hug Logan. "It's been a while."

"Why are you here, Deadpool?" Logan asked, his voice rough with anger. Deadpool guessed that Logan knew something, but was desperately holding back.

"Oh, you know, just coming to say hi to an old friend." Deadpool said, keeping up the act.

"You've never done this and we're not friends." Logan growled.

"If you say so, buddy."

"Why are you really here, bub?" He asked.

"Just tell him. It's not like he's gonna kill us sooner." Bold said.

Deadpool sighed, letting all pretences drop. "Oh, there's a lot of explaining to do." He admitted.

"What in hell did you do?" Logan asked angrily.

Deadpool couldn't look at him as he said, "Do you know Ink Avilov Rabinovich?"

Logan froze. "Yeah, what about her?" His voice was dangerously calm. This was a bad idea.

"Well, a couple of months ago, I was hired to kill her." Deadpool said in a rush.

Hands slammed around his throat. He let them come. It was to be expected.

"You did what?" Logan shouted at him.

Deadpool struggled to breath, but that wasn't important, he needed to speak. "But... I didn't... kill her." He barley gasped. The hands didn't let go, instead they only tightened.

"He doesn't believe us!" Italics pointed out.

"Not helping!" Bold shouted at the voice.

"She... payed... me... off..." Deadpool barely said. "But that's... not the... worst part..."

Deadpool was dropped to the ground. "You have a minute to explain everything." Logan growled. He was shaking with anger. "Or I try my damn best to kill you."

Deadpool had no doubt that Logan would. So Deadpool told him everything, the pain in his throat already gone and his voice was steady as he told Logan everything.

He told him how he had got a hire from both AIM and HYDRA to kill Ink Avilov Rabinovich as fast as he could. He told him how Deadpool had gone to Ink's apartment to kill her. He explained how she had paid him off and told him never to go near her again. Deadpool explained that he had never really left, that after many mis-haps and shared battles, they had become friends, good friends. But through all that, HYDRA and AIM wouldn't stop hunting her because she had unknowingly messed up so many deals between them. He explained how the Winter Solider had eventually come after her. How Ink had decided that she needed to run away, needed to lay low for a while, and how Deadpool had gone with her to protect her.

He eventually came to the night that they had argued and told her so many things he shouldn't have said. How she had stormed off and it was his fault. Deadpool knew that it had taken more then a minute, but Logan didn't seem to notice. It was like he had been frozen to the spot as he listened to the most impossible but true story.

"I went looking for her a few hours later, her tracks were easy to follow, and I came to a place where there was obvious evidence of a fight. And in the end, she had been taken." Deadpool admitted.

"Taken by who?" Logan's voice was numb with shock.

"Department K. I'm certain of it." Deadpool said. The words hung in the air for a while. Logan didn't say anything. He was still processing everything.

"I thought that Department K and the Weapon X program had shut down ages ago. What are they doing kidnapping Ink?" Logan asked, more to himself.

"I don't know." Deadpool answered anyway. "That's why I need your help. We have to find her." Deadpool took off him mask and rubbed at his face. He and Logan were both huge reminders of what Weapon X and Department K were capable of. Imagine what they could do with Ink.

"Something doesn't seem right." Italics said. The voice had been pondering over Logan's reaction to Deadpool and Ink's story.

"Oh, are you missing the fact that Ink has been kidnapped by the same psychopaths that experimented on us?" Bold asked sarcastically. That voice had been churning over how to get Ink back.

"No, something with Logan. He's not exactly the caring type, any yet he seems to care for Ink, someone he hardly knows." Italics pointed out. Deadpool was struck by this. He and Bold had been too wrapped up in thoughts of Ink, and Italics didn't normally notice anything like this.

"Did something happen between you and Ink?" Deadpool asked before he could stop himself.

Logan looked surprised at the sudden question, but he answered it any way. "Ink and I where, uhh... close for a while."

Deadpool caught the hidden meaning.

"Oh." He said, suddenly at lost for words. He struggled to find words to change to subject.

"You need to tell the Avengers." Logan said suddenly.

"What? No way, the Avengers can't get involved with this." Deadpool said.

"They have too. They also care for Ink, and I think this would be something they'd wanna be involved in." Logan said. "But also we need the support if we're gonna take on Weapon X."

"No, we have to track Ink down! I've already wasted two days cming back here to find you, and I'm not wasting any more time to explain to the Aveners when we need to get back up to Canada and start looking for Ink while there may be some of her tracks left." Deadpool shouted.

"Look, they have the Quinjet which will get us up north in no time. If we're gonna take on Department K then we need extra power." Logan argued back.

Deadpool knew he couldn't really say anything else. They did need the Avengers. He knew Thor was Ink's uncle and Natasha her mom. Deadpool knew what Ink meant to them.

"Fine." He muttered. "This better be quick."

"I doubt it, they're gonna kick your ass into oblivion." Logan answered.

The Avengers had kicked his ass into oblivion, but they had believed him. They were currently in the Avengers' Quinjet, flying up to Canada. Deadpool winced at the reaction. He still hadn't fully healed. Yes the pain was bad, but what was worse was the way Natasha, Hiss, Drakki and Mr. Rhododendron had looked as he explained it all. Deadpool knew it was his fault, but why did they have to make it worse. It had made his stomach squirm and the heavy feeling of guilt hadn't really left him.

The tiger had stayed behind, but the dragons had come. It had made the Quinjet a little tight for space, but it was worth it. Deadpool knew what the dragons meant to Ink. He only hoped that she still felt the same way about him.