There was fire...everywhere. Death and destruction surrounded him, and he was at its epicenter. A cry reached his ears. When he followed it, he found a bloody body laying prone on the ground.

Aly.

She looked up at him, pain in her eyes.

"How...could...you?" She said weakly. "I...trusted...you."

"Not anymore." A voice sounded behind him.

Bruce turned to see Tony aiming a repulser at him, a stony expression on his face.

Bruce gasped as he sat up in bed, panting as he pushed sweaty bangs off his forehead.

Untangling himself from the sheets, he threw himself off his bed and headed down the hall. He headed towards the patio, thinking some fresh air would do him some good.

He was immediately greeted with the sounds of the iDock playing "Take me to Church" by Hozier. An ashtray sat on the table, it had clearly been used recently. That's when he noticed Aly. She was asleep on the couch next to the table, her red hair was pulled into a messy bun, and she was wearing her denim shorts and flannel shirt despite the cold.

He sighed and began walking back, heading to the kitchen. A glass of water might help, too. Aly slowly woke to the light from the fridge. Bruce sighed again seeing her awake.

He quickly looked away, turning and heading back towards his room. Still a bit groggy from sleep, Aly got up from the couch and walked inside, following Bruce. When she caught up to him, she gently laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, everything okay?" She asked, concern coloring her warm eyes.

"Yeah, just, uh, just need water." He replied, trying to gently make his escape. Aly wasn't buying what Bruce was selling.

"Bullshit."

"Trust me, it's nothing you need to worry about. Just a bad dream." He deflected, putting a hand on his door.

"I know a nightmare when I see one" Aly persisted, following Bruce into his room. She knew she was using his previous words against him, but she could tell something was bugging him.

"Some nightmares are worth talking about. Mine aren't." He retorted, putting the cup on his desk. He tried to gently move her towards his door. Aly spun around to kick it closed, and then ducked under his arm to jump onto his bed.

"Well, I think they are. And since everyone else is asleep and I'm wide awake, who better to talk about them to?" Aly smiled at him, a hint of a challenge in her brown eyes

The smile stayed on her face as she made herself comfortable on the bed.

Bruce shook his head, trying to think of the right words. But Aly was distracting him as she curled up like a cat. A ghost of a smile appeared on his face.

"Fine." He said softly

He took a seat on his bed. Aly sat up and hugged her knees, her head was cocked to the left as she waited for him to speak.

"You're such an adult." Bruce admitted with a chuckle

"I know." Aly nodded, leaning on him slightly, raising an eyebrow. "Sooooo?"

"The dream...right." Bruce began as he scooted a bit further away from Aly. "It was pretty bad. I dreamt..." he trailed off, as though remembering something he'd just as soon forget

Aly looked down at her feet before turning her eyes back up at Bruce. "I once dreamt I was a lobster. Everything was the same as I went through the day, except I was a lobster." She said.

Bruce smiled and looked down at his clasped hands. Try as she might, Aly was not making this any easier for him. "I... Lost control. Everything. Everything was destroyed." Bruce explained, he turned his head to look at Aly, "Then I found you. I... I'd hurt you... Then Tony showed up. And he killed me."

Aly's eyes softened. She put a hand to Bruce's cheek.

"But you didn't hurt me. It was just a dream. No one hurt anyone."

"But I will. It's only a matter of time…It will eventually happen." Aly's heart broke for Bruce, it was clear that he believed what he said. He actually believed that he was an uncontrollable monster.

Aly smiled sadly. "Hey, you don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world. But you do get some say in who hurts you."

"You got that from a John Green book." Bruce said flatly.

She shrugged. "So? Same principle applies. I don't consider you a threat, 'cause I know you're a good person who would never purposely hurt me.

"No you may know me, but you don't know-" Bruce started

"The Other Guy?" Aly interrupted. "No. I don't know him, but he literally is still you. I'm still willing to trust that the goodness in you can keep him from hurting anyone you don't want to."

"Do you have any idea how much I wish things were that easy?" Bruce said, running his hands through his hair.

"Then make it that easy. Have a little trust in yourself. You've been fighting him for so long. Maybe it's time to try a different approach." The challenge was fresh in her eyes. Bruce knew she wouldn't be dissuaded from her belief that he was a good person. Part of him even wanted her to be right.

"You sound like your brother." He said

"Tony has been known to be right every now and then." Aly shrugged. Bruce chuckled. He stood and took a few steps away, just to turn back around and look at the determined girl on his bed.

"Look... If... If you want... Us... To work..." He tried to explain

"There's a word." Aly nodded her head

"What? What word?" Bruce asked

"The word is 'boundaries'. You're a really great guy. I would like to know you better. But if I start to make you uncomfortable, at all, just tell me! I'll back off." She explained. Her words felt like a weight was lifted off of Bruce's chest

"Now, I believe we've reached our 'serious and angsty' quota for the night. I happen to know that Tony has a Nintendo 64 and a copy of Mario Kart. Feel like getting completely owned at racing by a girl?" Aly gave a cocky smirk. "Loser buys the winner lunch for a week."

"Oh, that's what you think." Came Bruce's response. The game and system were retrieved and set up in his room. The two spent the night enjoying each other's company... And on occasion using a blue shell.

"Goddamn Yoshi with your goddamn blue shells and your stupid laugh. Fucking hell!" Aly groaned as she finished in last place as Bruce looked on smugly, having come in first.

Eventually the two fell asleep, Aly on the floor (her controller was directly underneath her) and Bruce on the end of his bed.

Neither of them noticed that the whole time they'd been in there, Bruce's phone had lit up on its charger, and a certain mercenary was listening in. Sort of.

Deadpool's mask rode up his face as his cheek slid further down the wall he was leaning against on the roof of the building opposite Stark Tower. He'd fallen asleep about halfway through Aly and Bruce's Mario Kart war.

He, and Aly and Bruce, all groaned as the sun came up, waking them all up too early for their liking.

"Coffee for-" Tony stopped dead in the doorway, a shit-eating grin spreading across his face as he saw that Aly was in Bruce's room. His expression reminded Aly of a tea kettle filling with steam: this was going to be loud.

"WHAT AM I LOOKING AT?!" Tony shouted. He resisted the urge to rip Aly out of the room and put her on a plane to China.

Aly rolled her eyes, standing up slowly and stretching.

"Tony-"

But that's when Bruce threw an arm around her shoulders.

"It's okay, Aly, he's gonna find out sooner or later." Tony's face was incredulous.

"I beat her at Mario Kart last night." Bruce said in a deadpan voice.

Tony raised an eyebrow. "So?" He said with an unimpressed shrug, "Every dog has his day beating my baby sister at her favorite game."

Aly giggled. "Relax, Tony. We just fell asleep playing the game. Nothing happened, so you can-"

At that moment Mels came running down the hall.

"Coffee for everyone! My personal blend! Better than Starbucks!" Mel's cheered before appearing in the doorway. "Hey Aly did you hear the good news!" She looked at Tony, "Did you tell them the good news?" She looked back at Aly and Bruce, "There's good news and it's the best I made coffee for everyone Tony tell them!" Mels was literally jumping up and down in excitement. Tony rolled his eyes and shook his head. No wonder they never had that second date.

"I'm working out the clearance and stuff, but-" Tony began, before being cut off by Mels.

"We're gonna launch my baby!" She squealed, jumping up and down in excitement.

Meanwhile, Deadpool had become bored. The more time he spent tailing the Stark girl, the more he began to doubt the girl was EVER by herself.

His phone suddenly went off in his pocket.

"What?" He said in answer, putting the phone to his ear.

"Mr. Wilson, I am becoming impatient."

"Yeah well you're not the only one." Deadpool groaned back, "You never did give me a deadline for grabbing the girl. You'll get her as soon as I do. Guaranteed."

"This is not acceptable. I have plans that involve Miss Stark that i wish to put into action as soon as possible. I suggest you operate with haste, before I decide that more...drastic measures need to be employed. Measures that involve seeing just how far your...abilities...will stretch."

"Okay thanks, love you too." Came Deadpool's response. Something had piqued his interest listening in on what was going on in the tower.

"Do you have a date yet? Spill!" Aly said, leaning against the kitchen counter.

"Tony talked to the mayor. If everything goes to plan, it'll go up Wednesday next week." Mels said, nearly beside herself with excitement.

"That's great! I'm happy for you!" Aly said with a smile. She took a sip from the mug of coffee Mels had practically thrown at her.

"What's in this? It's good!" She exclaimed. Mels suddenly became evasive.

"Oh…nothing. Just some cinnamon, some nutmeg and…my secret ingredient…." Mels said nonchalantly.

Aly instantly became suspicious, narrowing her eyes over the cup.

"What's the secret ingredient?" she asked in a dubious voice, looking at the mug as though the coffee was going to explode.

"Love, Duh…" Mels said with a toothy grin.

Aly rolled her eyes. "I'd be more suspicious if this coffee wasn't the most delicious thing I'd ever tasted."

Mels grinned triumphantly. "Can't beat my homemade coffee!"

A week went by, and Tony finally got the go-ahead from the Mayor of New York City to launch Mels' satellite.

Aly stood on the roof of the Tower with the rest of the team sans Steve and Bruce. Steve had moved to SHIELD headquarters in Washington, D.C. a few days earlier (Aly had taught him how to use FaceTime on his new iPhone, so he wouldn't miss the launch), and Bruce had claimed that he was too busy in the lab, but had offered his congratulations.

Mels beamed with pride as the rocket carrying her satellite took off from the tower and raced through the clear night sky.

"PARTY!" she crowed, throwing an arm around Tony, who was already nursing a glass of scotch. He motioned for everyone to follow them inside. That's when Aly's phone vibrated in the pocket of her dark blue skinny jeans. There was a new text message from Bruce.

Can we talk? Meet me at the Starbucks near Central Park?

She quickly responded in the affirmative, actually surprised that he'd torn himself away from the lab to go for coffee.

She grabbed the keys to Tony's Audi and told her brother she was going out as she threw on her black leather jacket over the black NASA t-shirt she'd worn for the occasion.

A few minutes later she slid the silver car into a parking spot a few streets away from the Starbucks near Central Park. She locked the car up and began walking towards the coffee shop Bruce had invited her to. Her mind was abuzz, wondering what he wanted to talk about.

That's when she heard the voice…

"HELP!" the male voice shouted. It came from the alleyway about two storefronts down from the coffee shop. The alley was dark, and Aly instantly turned towards it and ran down the alley, intent on helping whoever had yelled.

"Hello?" she called when she got to the brick wall at the end of the alleyway. "Is anyone there?"

"Nobody here but us ghosts, sweetheart!" came a playful voice from behind her.

Aly whirled around to see a figure in a skintight red suit-complete with mask-lounging on top of a dumpster. She couldn't be sure from this distance, but she could swear there were guns on the figure's legs and katanas strapped to its back.

"Wha-who the hell are you!?" She demanded, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

"Well, most people never find out. They mostly just call me 'aaarrrghhhh' or 'oh please god no!', but you're pretty, so call me Deadpool."

Aly raised an eyebrow. "Deadpool?" she scoffed. "That's quite a name for a dude in a gimp suit."

"Says the girl who knows what a gimp suit is." Deadpool retorted.

"Whatever, what do you want?" she asked. At this point she was terrified. This guy…something was off about him. The way he spoke…he didn't seem sane.

"Well, y'see, Red, here's the thing. A really bad guy, whose name I do not know, has paid me a shit-ton of money to bring you to him…for reasons I also do not know." Deadpool looked off to the side, as though there were someone else in the empty alley with them. "Geez, how could she not have figured that out? They said she was smart!"

"Okay, well…I gotta be somewhere to meet someone so…I think this is where I get off the crazy train." Aly said nervously. She edged towards the entryway, towards the well-lit sidewalk just feet away, when a throwing knife impaled itself into her jacket sleeve, barely missing her arm.

At this point, Aly couldn't stop the scream that escaped her as she took off the jacket as quick as she could and ran towards the entry of the alleyway. An arm wrapped around her waist as Deadpool said "gotcha!" in a singsong voice. There was a prick on the side of her neck, then…nothing…

"Ohhhhkayy" Deadpool drawled as he stood in front of what looked to be a nondescript white warehouse. He adjusted the crimson-haired girl who was draped over his shoulders and looked up at the camera which was conveniently pointed straight at him.

"I got the girl, now you gonna let me in before she gives me a hernia? Cause dammit she's heavy!" he shouted, throwing a filthy look at the camera for good measure.

The door opened automatically inward, as though beckoning him to come in.

"Whoah…the last creepy warehouse I was in definitely wasn't this cool."

He stepped into a very dimly lit room. In the middle of this room was a gurney, which he gratefully lay the unconscious Stark girl on.

"Take her." Came a voice from the shadows. In the back of his mind, Deadpool could swear he'd known that voice. He brushed the thoughts away as a pair of typical-looking henchmen entered the room and strapped the girl to the gurney before wheeling her out of the room.

"Alrighty then, is this where I collect my check with seven numbers on it?" Deadpool asked to no one.

"Oh Wade, always such a jokester." Came the voice again.

"Is that you, Mr. Smoke-and-Mirrors?" Deadpool asked curiously. The nagging suspicion was now a full on screaming one as he became even more positive that he knew that voice.

"No, no. He's not ready to reveal himself quite yet. No, he's tasked me with collecting the girl. And you really didn't think you were gonna get paid, did you? No, Wade, you're what's called a loose end, and those always need to be tied up."

"Whoah, whoah whoah." Deadpool held his hands up. "If you're planning on tying me up, you at least gotta buy me dinner first." He turned to the side. "Seriously, I'm not a slut!" That's when he noticed about eight red laser dots focused right on his chest. He was fairly certain they belonged to very big guns, which in turn belonged to very skilled snipers.

"Always the talker, aren't you, Wade. Well, before you're obliterated, I do have a question…" A figure stepped into the small circle of light in the room.

"What's my name?"

It was none other than Francis Freeman, otherwise known as Ajax.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" Deadpool shouted in a rage. "GOD DAMMIT I KILLED YOU! NO! I PUT A BULLET IN YOUR BRAIN!"

Ajax raised an eyebrow. "Yes, and that would've done me in, had it not been for the new…medication I'm on. Wonderful stuff, Extremis, even if they haven't worked out all the uh…kinks." He cracked his neck as the skin of his shoulder seemed to glow reddish-orange under the tight black T-Shirt he wore. "I heeled from that gunshot wound after about three hours."

Deadpool was seeing red, but he knew now was not the time for this fight.

"Well…Francis, I'd love to stay and chat but I really should be running for my life." Deadpool said as he threw the only other thing in the room-a chair-up into the air. Bullets instantly went flying. Only one hit Deadpool though, and it was only a shoulder wound.

"Also, I'm pretty sure you should know…never cross a double crosser!" Deadpool said in a deadly voice.

With that, he turned and ran out the door. He quickly called Dopinder, who pulled up in his taxi within seconds.

"Where to, Mr. Pool?" the upbeat cabbie asked.

"Stark Tower, Dopinder. It's time to do something to make that double crosser quite…cross."

"Whatever you say, Mr. Pool."

HOLY CRAP DID I NEVER THINK THIS CHAPTER WAS GONNA BE DONE! Dang writer's block! Now...if you LIKED this chapter, PUNCH that favorite button IN THE FACE...LIKE A BOSS! AND I WILL SEE ALL YOU DUDES...IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!

*If you know who I'm referencing in that note...you get a cookie.*