"Ow," I said to myself as I was shocked again. I hadn't really been able to do anything to help heal Wade's wound since we got back to the Institute. This was the third time I've tried to heal him, and it barely helps at all.
"This is so fascinating! Terrible yes, but fascinating!" Hank McCoy was so excited when he heard Wade's story and saw him. "And you! You can heal others? This is just so...extravagant!"
"Yes, this is all very amazing, Doctor. But I need answers. Why can't I heal him? Why hasn't he died yet?"
"Way to be sensitive, Andi." Wade said as he just lay on the bed.
"Shut up, Winston."
"No you shut up, Lotus." Wade countered.
"Don't speak Greek to me!"
"Enough!" Hank shouted at us, and we immediately fell silent like children. "I don't know why you can't heal him. I don't know why he hasn't died yet. I haven't done any tests."
"Doing tests on him is like feeding a dead person. It's redundant. It does not matter."
"Why do think it doesn't matter?"
"Because this-" And then I thought. My brain was going so fast it would've given Reed a run for his money. And then I got it. "It's because his healing factor isn't a natural mutation!"
"Excuse me?" Hank was confused as ever. Wade just lay there like a slug.
"Don't you see? That's the whole reason why he sided with Stryker."
"I'm still lost." I thought Hank was supposed to be smart.
I smiled. "Wade has cancer. The healing factor was meant to keep him alive." I smiled even bigger. "And that's exactly what it's doing."
"I don't exactly follow."
"Neither do I." Wade said.
"Okay, look. The gun that he was shot with was meant, not only to kill, but really to destroy all hope. What it does, is it creates a hole wherever you happen to be shot. There are certain chemicals in the round that actually neutralize one's mutant abilities. And even more mind blowing, is that that gun is designed to pretty much cut a hole straight through you body, leaving a little tunnel. Wade's artificial healing factor is preventing it." So this is what it feels like to be smarter than everyone else, like Reed.
Wade quickly sat up. "Is it gonna wear off?"
"Yeah, it should a few hours after being shot."
"How do you know?" Hank asked.
"Look at his stomach." He smirked and Wade smiled and started poking at his healed (Well, sort of. It's still scarred from the whole cancer thing.) stomach.
"This healing factor thing is so cool." Wade's face was practically beaming.
"And he's the adult in the relationship." I mumbled to Hank who just laughed.
Wade suddenly threw himself off of his bed in the infirmary, "My God I'm hungry."
"Uh, Wade?" I grabbed his shirt from the chair and went after him. It did no good. He got to the hallway and stopped right in front of Ororo Monroe.
"Hey." Wade was thoroughly attracted.
"Hello." And so was she.
"I'm Wade. Wade Wilson." He held out his hand.
"Ororo Monroe." She took his hand and he raised it up to his lips and kissed the back of her hand gently. She just blushed.
Okay, this relationship could not happen. I thought soldiers didn't get attached. "Wade," I warned.
"Yes, dear?" He didn't look away from Ororo.
"Behave." I threw his shirt at him and went back to Hank McCoy.
"Andi, how did you know all of that about the gun?"
I sighed. "Because I did a very detailed report on it." He was still very confused. Which, I really couldn't blame him. "I work in the Applied Sciences department at Wayne Enterprises. That gun was a gift from the military to Stark Industries. And Mr. Stark gave it to Mr. Wayne when our companies 'merged' as a peace offering. Mr. Wayne then sent the gun down to me so that I could dissect it and understand it. I wrote up the report, gave it to Mr. Wayne, and four months later the gun was gone. And now, it has resurfaced after two months."
"And what do you plan to do about this gun?"
"Well, I really plan to do nothing unless I have to. If I have to, I have this," I pulled out the small rectangle from my hoodie pocket. "This will completely neutralize the gun. And when I say completely, I mean it will never work again."
"And why won't you use it? That could kill us."
I balled my fists and put them on the sides of my head. "Erg! Because it might help Rogue."
His eyes widened. "Really?"
"Might. See, if I completely neutralize the gun then the chemical that in turn neutralizes one's mutant powers is basically...nothing. It's just useless matter. That chemical might even help you, it might help everyone here. It's just that important."
"Interesting. Very interesting indeed."
"Isn't it?" I was smirking and Hank in turn smirked back.
"How old are you? Sixteen, seventeen?"
"Eighteen, actually." Yeah, I lied to Charles. Get over it.
"So you're done with school then?" Hank had this look in his eyes that he wanted me to join the X-Men.
"Actually I have one more school year yet." No lie.
"Really?"
"Yes, when I was a kid I moved around a lot, and somewhere between all of the hullabaloo I missed second grade and I had to take it again."
"You know, I would love to hear more about you." Charles put him up to this I just know it.
"Thanks, but I don't need a shrink."
"Actually, it wouldn't hurt to talk to someone." J'onn threw his two cents into my head.
"Shut up, J'onn."
"Excuse me?" Oh God, I said that out loud didn't I?
"Nothing." Yes.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
"Hey, Andi?" Wade whispered from the other bed in the room.
"What?" I opened my eyes enough to see that it was about two in the morning.
"When you told me about that Shannon State woman and Jameson, were you telling the truth?" I opened my eyes completely and sat up to see Wade in the same position.
"Why?"
"Because I'm gonna kill them both with my bare hands."
I was silent for a minute or so before I said, "I have never lied to you. Ever."
"No one does that to my Andi and gets away with it." He mumbled as he laid back down.
I chuckled ever so slightly as I also laid back down. "Wade?"
"Yeah?"
"Did you lie to me about what happened to your Dad?"
He took his own minute to answer. "I have never lied to you. Ever."
After a few minutes, "Wade?"
"What?"
"I'm scared."
"About what?"
"I don't want this to end like the War did."
"Hey," He said in the most soothing voice he could. "You're not going against an entire race by yourself, you're going against a handful of people with me and maybe a few others. We've got this, hands down."
"I thought the same way last year."
"You know that when we're fighting together, we are unstoppable. We could take Stryker and his cronies with our hands and legs tied. There's nothing to worry about."
