GI Joe/Marvel universe crossover.
I don't own Marvel or Hasbro.
Silence
Chapter 26: Bonus chapter
(These scenes are ones I'd originally intended to include in the last chapter, but didn't since it was already pretty long. I also felt they would have interrupted the flow of the last chapter.)
...
Bullets rained down on his position. The young man covered his head and quivered behind a mound of debris. Why had he ever thought to join Hydra in the first place? Sure, it had promised health insurance and the chance of a career…two things that his wife had criticized him for.
Of course, he was now technically a Cobra trooper since Hydra had been merged into the organization. Still, that counted for something, didn't it? The young man had never been a member of anything in his life, other than his high school band. Being a part of something larger than himself had given him a sense of actually belonging somewhere.
A grenade exploded nearby and he whimpered. This wasn't worth 45K a year.
"If you can't see them, they can't see you," he muttered. The Cobra trooper repeated his mantra over and over. He had excelled in Hydra's stealth classes, having earned top marks in such classes as Hiding Places 301 and Tactics of Retreat 101. He wasn't going to die, he wasn't…
"Hey, there's a snake hiding over here!" someone shouted. The young man squeaked as he forced himself to remain absolutely still. He heard the sound of footsteps approach amidst the din of the battle.
"If you can't see them, they can't see you," he repeated softly, his voice trembling slightly.
"Uh…we can see you," a voice said. The Cobra trooper gulped and cracked open his eyes to see three Joes standing in front of him. Two of the three men had weapons aimed at him. He trembled as he fearfully eyed the fearsome looking soldiers.
"Aww….look at him Recondo," one of them said. "I'm not even sure if I can pull the trigger on this guy."
The tallest of the three, "Recondo," scratched his head as he scrutinized the trembling Cobra trooper.
"P….please don't hurt me," the trooper pleaded. "I only joined for the dental plan and 45K."
"Cobra has a dental plan?" one of the soldiers asked. The other two shrugged. The soldier who'd been identified as Recondo knelt down next to the terrified man.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"B…Bob," the Cobra trooper answered meekly. One of the Joes snickered slightly, to the amusement of his buddies. Bob, for his own part, trembled as he waited for the Joes to decide what to do with him.
"Tell you what Bob," Recondo told him. "If you stay out of the way, I won't kill you. You wait this out and find a different job that offers a dental plan. But if you get involved…" the man trailed off and motioned to assault rifle in his hands. Bob understood the threat and nodded his head vigorously.
"Y…yes sir, I'll…" he started to reply.
One of the Joes suddenly went down after a sudden spray of bullets ripped through his legs. The other two threw themselves to the ground when a man dressed in red and black spandex decided to get involved. Katana blades flashed in his hands as he proceeded to attack the small group.
"It's Deadpool!" someone shouted.
"Oh my stars and garters!" the man shouted. "Say it ain't so Scotty!"
The mercenary gleefully ignored the bullets hitting him as he slashed his way through the Joes. Bob squeaked when the man suddenly landed in front of him. Behind him, all three Joes plus several greenshirts were moaning on the ground. Sword and bullet wounds were evidence of the deadly tornado that had just swept through.
"The cavalry's here," the mercenary told him cheerfully. "Name's Deadpool, nice to meet you Bob."
"Um….how did you know my name?" Bob stammered. The stunned Cobra trooper stared at the mercenary and then at the men lying on the ground. Deadpool laughed and slapped the smaller man on the shoulders, nearly knocking him over.
"Dude…what makes you think I don't know my own canon storyline?" he asked. "If comic book me gets a minion, then so do I."
"Uh…okay," Bob answered, not really understanding. The man seemed to know what he was talking about though, so the young man wasn't really prepared to question a crazed mercenary that had just saved his life. Sort of. The Joes had been planning to spare his life anyway, but it was still the thought that counted, right?
"So anyway Bob," Deadpool said. "Seeing as I saved your life and all, how about coming with me and being my pet…er, minion…I mean pet…no, sidekick! That's way more PC."
"Uh…I don't know…" the younger man stuttered. His rescuer cheerfully ignored him as he picked Bob up and slung him over his shoulder. The Cobra trooper whimpered when the mercenary jumped back into the fray of battle.
"Don't worry Bob," the mercenary assured him. "You'll be fine. There's a card game waiting for us when we get back. I'll introduce to all my pals. Weasel, Buzzer, Thrasher…"
Bob, agent of Cobra, closed his eyes and ignored the rest of Deadpool's ramblings. If you can't see them, they can't see you….
(This scene takes place after Destro found Xamot.)
...
It was near the end of the battle when Bishop encountered him. The time traveler had been defending a group of injured soldiers from Cobra's BATs when two men had dashed through a destroyed section of the military airfield. One wore a metal mask. The other one had distinctive scar over his cheek.
He knew that scar.
A small boy traced his finger across a faded, ancient looking scar. Next to him, his younger sister watched curiously before she too felt compelled to touch it. The owner of the scar smiled faintly at the children's fascination.
"How'd you get that, grandpa?" the young girl asked. Although not actually their grandfather, the old man was often addressed as such by the children in their concentration camp. The man was also friends with their grandmother and since the siblings had no paternal figure in their young life, the man known only as Seeker had come to fill the role of uncle and grandfather.
The elderly mutant's eyes twinkled with hidden amusement as he finally answered the question.
"I got it a long time ago in a place called Algeria."
"Where's that?" the boy asked. "Is that far away?"
"Yes. It's across the ocean," the old man answered. "It's mostly desert."
The children looked at each other. They'd heard of deserts, but had never seen one or even pictures of one. The only life they knew consisted of their experiences in the mutant concentration camp on the edge of Brooklyn.
"What's a desert like?" the boy asked. A sad expression crossed the man's face as he took the two children into his lap. Both gave him eager smiles and waited impatiently for his reply. He didn't disappoint them.
"A desert is hot, hotter than anything you can imagine…"
"Destro and Xamot!" one of the soldiers shouted, forcing the mutant out of his thoughts. Several Joes fired at the two Cobras, who retreated in the opposite direction.
Bishop watched them out of the corner of his eyes while a small army of battle android troopers fired at him. The mutant, however, calmly held his arms out and absorbed the energy. He redirected the energy and sent it back towards its original source. The BATs exploded from the combined energy. Some were seemingly fried beyond repair. Others were already in the process of repairing themselves.
Meanwhile, Destro and Xamot had taken cover with a group of Cobra vipers. Bishop fired a small amount of stored energy at the group and destroyed the barricade they'd been using. The mutant charged the group and ignored the bullets hitting his body. His body automatically absorbed the kinetic energy of the bullets and rendered them harmless.
"After the big guy, Yo Joe!" a soldier shouted behind him. The mutant was immediately joined by several Joes, who very quickly dispatched the Vipers. A blast of psionic energy forced Bishop to focus his attention on two mutants floating overhead. The time traveler effortlessly absorbed the telekinetic energy from one of the Cobra mutants. A telepathic blast from the man, however, forced him to his knees. He was dimly aware of the other mutant punching him as the first continued his mental assault.
He tasted blood in his mouth, but the time traveler was unable to move. Several agonizing moments passed until the pressure in his mind suddenly disappeared. Bishop blinked his eyes and discovered that Jean Grey was responsible for stopping the two mutants. He gruffly thanked the woman, who nodded and flew off.
Bishop wiped his mouth and stood back up. Destro and Xamot were now making their way towards an abandoned HISS tank as several Joes fired at them. The Corsican nimbly avoided a spray of bullets and dropkicked a greenshirt in the face. Bishop watched as the other mutant aimed his weapon at the collapsed soldier and suddenly froze. A horrified expression crossed the man's face as he lifted the gun barrel up by several degrees and stepped back away from the greenshirt.
At his side, the time traveler saw one of the Joes take aim at the frozen Crimson Guardsman. Not wasting a second, Bishop reached over and ripped the gun out of the surprised soldier's hands. He dropped it and raced towards the man with the all too familiar scar. Bullets bounced harmlessly off of his body as his powers absorbed the impact. Angry shouts could be heard from the Joes behind him, but the mutant ignored them.
An astonished Xamot gaped as the heavily built X-Man stopped beside him. Bishop picked up the man and carried him out of the line of fire. Once they were a good distance away from the firefight, he unceremoniously dropped the Corsican behind the shelter of a barricade.
Xamot Paoli gaped up at the large man looming over him. Wide eyes stared in incomprehension at the man who had just saved his life. His weapon lay forgotten in his hand.
"Why?" Bishop demanded. "Why didn't you shoot?"
"I…" Confusion colored the man's face. The hauntingly familiar scar stood out against his cheek, even more vivid than the faded old scar that Bishop remembered.
"I don't know," the man finally answered. Xamot's face looked deathly pale and he seemed on the verge of throwing up. Bishop studied him for a long moment. His voice was definitely familiar. It had been years since he'd seen the old man, but Lucas Bishop had been blessed with an excellent memory. The voice was younger, but it was his voice.
"Where did you get your scar?" Bishop asked. A surprised look crossed the man's face as he debated answering. Finally deciding that there was no harm in it, Xamot answered.
"Algeria."
"I got it a long time ago in a place called Algeria."
Bishop forced his face to remain impassive. Internally, he was forced to accept the facts. Xamot was Seeker…a younger Seeker, but still Seeker.
This man. This was the man he had gone crying to whenever he'd been beaten and spit on by the guards. Too humiliated to show his grandmother the bruises, the young Lucas Bishop had often sought out Seeker instead.
A pair of intelligent, brown eyes stared back at him. The man seemed to be wondering why the X-Man had interfered.
"Why do they hate us?" he sobbed. Lucas looked up into a pair of intelligent, brown eyes. A wrinkled face, weathered by age and a difficult life, studied him a long moment before sighing. Two arms encircled protectively around the boy and drew him close.
"Because they don't understand how not to. Hate is beyond logic."
This was the man who had told him bed time stories involving ninjas or the legendary X-Men, sometime aggravating his grandmother since neither he nor his sister had wanted to go to sleep after hearing them. This was the man who had taught a young boy, tired of being beaten, the rudimentary basics of self-defense when they were away from the watchful eyes of the concentration camp guards.
Xamot continued to watch him, his eyes scrutinizing the man towering over him. Their eyes met for a moment before both looked away. Bishop swore silently.
Why did it have to be him?
The time traveler looked down at Xamot again, who was eyeing him warily. Bishop finally pointed at the weapon in the other man's hands.
"If you can't shoot, then stay out of the way," Bishop told him. A few stray bullets hit him, but his mutant powers automatically absorbed the impact. The still confused Xamot continued to stare at him.
"Why?" the other man finally asked.
"I…" Bishop hesitated. He was saved from having to respond when the other twin decided to intervene. A shadowy rope suddenly wrapped itself around the mutant and slammed him into a tank. Bishop bit back a curse as the shadow then threw him across the battlefield.
He found himself crashing into a couple of Joes, who both groaned from the impact. One was a blonde man with a beard while the other was a heavily built man in a red sports jersey.
"Oww…" the blonde groaned. "What the hell hit us Bazook?"
Bishop immediately got to his feet and checked the two men for injuries. He looked over across the distance and saw Tomax kneeling down next to his brother. The man seemed to be chastising his brother, but Bishop couldn't tell for sure.
"You'd better stay out of trouble old man," Bishop muttered.
"What'd you say?" one of the men asked, rubbing his head.
"Nothing," Bishop replied. "Who are you?" He learned that the two Joes went by Rock n' Roll and Bazooka. After exchanging brief introductions, the mutant left them to go help Banshee. From time to time, he swept his eyes over the battlefield to search for the scarred Crimson Guardsman. However, both he and his brother had disappeared.
Bishop hoped that Xamot had left the battle. He wasn't that concerned about the other twin. Tomax hadn't been the kindly old man that had told children stories. He certainly hadn't been the old man that had given his life to protect three foolish children.
As far as Lucas Bishop was concerned, he had no obligation to Tomax Paoli.
"Hawk, news from Flint," Beach Head said. "We've got some birds in the air." General Clayton Abernathy looked over at the mutant beside him before nodding his head. A lot of blood had been spilled to drive Cobra off and reopen part of the airfield. It was about time that it had paid off.
"How many?" he asked.
"Four…Ace, War Machine, Slipstream, and Lift Ticket," the ranger answered. "C&C's trying to get a couple of other greenshirts up as well." His commanding officer was pleased by the good news. Beach Head decided not to tell him about the fiasco with Archangel for now. Jean Grey had silently alerted him to the problem, but since the man wasn't a threat at the moment, there was no reason to bring it to Hawk's attention and give him something else to worry about.
The ground shook underneath their feet and a section of ground opened to reveal a deep crack. A flash of two mutants moving at superspeed zoomed by the ranger. His skin prickled from the scorching heat. One of the two mutants had been Lifeline. Fatigue and relief trickled into his mind and Wayne realized that the medic had just narrowly prevented the Cobra mutant from killing everyone in the ranger's group.
"What now sir?" Beach Head asked. The man at his side looked around them before looking up into the sky. Hawk watched as Ororo Munroe brought a hurricane level wind down upon several mutants. Wayne realized that he wanted to speak to the woman and try to coordinate their efforts better.
"You can trust Storm, sir," he told the general. Hawk nodded his head, but seemed to have already come to that conclusion. Clayton Abernathy had always been a good judge of character and his first impression upon meeting the X-Man had been of a capable field commander.
While Hawk tried to raise the X-Man on the radio, Beach Head turned his attention to the ground battle taking place. Cobra had regrouped the surviving remnants of its tank corps and was preparing to launch a new assault on the air field. The Pit's new defense system had ceased to operate after one of Cobra's mutants had managed to destroy it. Iron Man and Jean Grey had taken on the role of protecting the base in its stead.
The ground shook again and a horrified Wayne watched spikes of rock suddenly shoot up. A greenshirt was impaled on one of the spikes and the ranger felt him die. Nearby, a section of ground liquefied and turned into a mud pit. Two GI Joe vehicles, one being Cover Girl's Mauler and the other Cross Country's HAVOC, drove into the trap before they could stop. Both vehicles began to sink quickly into the earth.
Beach Head looked at Hawk, who was talking to Storm on the comm unit, and then back at the sinking vehicles. He could feel worry and frustration from the trapped occupants. A tidal wave of earth and rock suddenly lifted up and crashed down over the Wolverine and the HAVOC. Two streaks of terror struck his mind as the two Joes were buried alive.
"NO!"
He was moving even before he realized it. Everything around him seemed to blur and move in slow motion as the ranger raced to his teammates. Pain and terror continued to pound in his head as the ground squeezed the two vehicles and the occupants inside. They were going to die. If he didn't do something, his teammates were going to die.
Courtney was going to die.
The ground split open beneath him and Wayne fell before he could stop himself. Darkness met him as the earth closed over him. Panic overtook his mind as rock and hard dirt began to grind into him. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't move…
Fear. Terror.
Courtney.
Beach Head was hardly aware of what happened next. One moment, he was being crushed to death. In the next, everything turned bright white for several seconds as the pressure around him ceased. The wind whistled in his ears and something warm crackled around his body.
When his vision cleared, the ranger found himself floating above the ground. The HAVOC and Wolverine were floating in the air with him. Wayne wasn't really quite sure how he managed to do it, but he telekinetically pulled Cover Girl and Cross Country out of their vehicles and set them down near Hawk. The two vehicles crashed to the ground after their drivers were freed.
Whatever power he'd been using to levitate himself suddenly vanished and Wayne dropped like a rock. He hit the ground with a thud and felt his left shoulder dislocate. Groaning, he reached over to pop it back into place.
His body sank down several inches into mud that hadn't been there before. Wayne struggled a second before realizing what had happened. The ranger forced himself to be calm. He got out before, he could get out again.
The mud seemed to grab him and pull him down. Beach Head was shocked to discover that he was now buried up to his neck.
Okay, calm down, he told himself. Someone is causing this. Find that person and…
He was sucked under and cold mud closed over his head. Wayne struggled against the panic rebuilding in his chest. As the last vestiges of oxygen left him, the ranger willed with all his might for a hole to open up. The mud suddenly rose away from him and blessed air leaked into the opening. Beach Head struggled to levitate himself as he'd done before, but trying to do two tasks at once when he was already fatigued made him lose his hard won concentration. The liquefied dirt crashed down on him once more.
Wayne must have lost consciousness. When he next opened his eyes, he was lying on the ground. Someone lifted their hands off of his chest. Beach Head groaned slightly when he tried to sit up. A firm, slender hand pressed him back down.
"Lie still, you had a close call," Storm told him. The woman was kneeling next to him. She placed her hands over his body and gently froze the mud off him. Next to her, a concerned Cable was looking down at him. The other telepath nodded his head when he realized that the ranger was fine. Nathan Summers opened his mind up and allowed Wayne to find out what had happened.
He had lost consciousness. Storm had stopped the mutant who'd been attacking him and with Cable's help, the two X-Men had freed him. When they'd discovered that he wasn't breathing, Ororo Munroe had performed CPR on him.
"How is he?" another voice asked. Clayton Abernathy knelt down next to him. Storm glanced at the general before looking back down at the ranger.
"Other than his dislocated shoulder, he's fine now," she answered. "He wasn't breathing when we first pulled him out." Storm reached down and brushed some mud out of his face. In the back of his mind, the ranger marveled at how she could be fierce and in command one moment, and be motherly the next.
"Cover Girl…and Cross Country," Wayne croaked. "Are they…"
"They're safe, thanks to you," Hawk told him. Beach Head closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. Now that he was able to think more clearly, he could feel the two Joes near him. Anxiety drained from them and the ranger realized that they had been concerned for his safety.
"My shoulder…" he started to say instead. Cable knelt down and before the ranger could finish, the older man had already popped the shoulder back into place. The ranger tried to sit up again and this time Storm didn't stop him.
"Are you able to stand?" she asked, helping him up.
"I'm fine," Beach Head told her, a little more gruffly than he'd intended. "I mean…I'm fine," he repeated, this time more respectfully. "You don't need to mother me, ma'am."
"Very well, I won't 'mother' you," the woman replied dryly. "However, you are in need of a shower."
Beach Head was about to protest that being covered in mud, much of which she'd already removed, was hardly out of the ordinary for him. However, a small burst of rain drenched him and rinsed the rest of the mud and dirt away. There was a mischievous glint in Ororo Munroe's eyes as she smiled at him. She snapped back into commander mode a second later. At their side, Hawk seemed oddly amused by the exchange.
"I assume our original plan will suffice?" Storm asked the general.
"The one we devised before a certain ranger decided to swim in the mud?" Hawk answered dryly. "Yes."
They'd turned it into a joke, but Wayne knew that the general was extremely relieved at how well things had turned out. Even though he couldn't read Storm's mind, her actions were enough to tell him that she shared Hawk's feelings as well.
"Very well," the mutant replied. "After we destroy the rest of the BATs, we'll concentrate our forces on dividing Cobra." Hawk nodded at her and watched as she floated up into the air with a gust of wind. Cable left them as well to return to his former position by the Pit.
"I need to thank her when we're done," he heard Hawk think. Beach Head glanced at him a second before turning his attention to the tank jockey that was just about to tackle him. Cover Girl crashed into him and wrapped her arms around the surprised ranger. A grinning Cross Country trotted up next to them and gave the sergeant major a friendly swat on the back.
"Thank God you're alive," Courtney Kreiger told him. "When they pulled you out of the ground…I thought…" She couldn't finish. Wayne could tell she was doing her best not to cry from relief. It suddenly hit him just how worried she'd been over his safety. She really did care for him…
"Course Ah'm alive," he replied gruffly. "You think some pogue with a bunch of dirt was gonna kill me?"
"Jerk," she replied, but there was a grin on her face when she let him go. Beach Head felt his breath catch in his throat when he caught the emotions she was hiding.
Fucking hell, she was still in love with him?
His heart beat a little faster. Wayne knew she'd once had feelings for him, but he'd pushed her away. He hadn't wanted to be in a relationship. He hadn't known how to be in one.
"Thanks man," Cross Country said, getting his attention. "We'd be dead if not for you."
"And I'd be dead if not for Storm," the ranger admitted. "I hope she zapped the hell out of the guy."
"She did," Cross Country grinned. "I'd say there was a fair amount of lightning involved. Hawk may have also suggested to her that she freeze the guy's balls off…don't know if she did though. She seems too nice for that."
Beach Head grinned at the image. He doubted that Storm had followed through with the suggestion, but the fact that Hawk had suggested it cheered him up. His grin vanished when he noticed that Cover Girl was putting more weight on her left foot.
"You sprained your ankle," he said, reading her mind. Cover Girl shrugged.
"I can still shoot."
"You'd damned well better be able to shoot Barbie," he drawled. "Low Light and Ah haven't hauled all your asses to the firing range just for you to sit pretty with a banged up foot."
That response earned a huff and glare. Wayne hid a grin when she tried to stalk off with a sprained ankle. She was damned beautiful any day of the year. It was her inner fierceness, however, that made her face and eyes light up the most. A pretty face and body only went so far.
It was like a brand new tank, he decided. It looked like a beauty, but it was the engine that made it worthwhile. Without it, it was just a pretty shell with no substance.
Remy LeBeau watched as an army ranger was swallowed up by the ground. Two military vehicles had already vanished and the Cajun assumed that the other mutant had been attempting a rescue.
Shit.
He was too busy dealing with his own problems to help. Gambit charged a few cards and tossed them at a couple tanks. The Cajun then dropped to the ground and rolled to avoid a spray of acid from a female mutant. She was darned pretty, if he did say so himself. However, having the ability to vomit deadly acid and then using the said ability against him pretty much killed any desire Remy might have had to steal a kiss.
"Gambit ain't got time to play!" he shouted at her. If something wasn't done soon, Beach Head and the others would suffocate or be crushed to death. The ranger was a pain in the ass, but Remy didn't want him to die.
The former thief whipped out his quarterstaff and used it to vault over a pool of acid. He sidestepped to his left to avoid another attack before whipping a leg out in a roundhouse kick. The earth rumbled underneath of him as he then kneed the woman hard in the stomach.
A burst of light drew his attention. Gambit watched as the ground exploded outward as if there was a bomb beneath the surface. Psionic energy lashed out and tore up chunks of earth. Dirt and rock disintegrated as two military vehicles were levitated out of the ground and into the air.
Floating in the air near the vehicles was Beach Head. Energy crackled around his body and Remy saw that the man's eyes were glowing an eerie white. He watched as the two military vehicles were torn open telekinetically and two figures pulled out. After the two soldiers were deposited a safe distance away, both Beach Head and the vehicles fell to the ground in a crash.
"Huh, didn't know the grouchy bear had it in him," Remy muttered. He yelped when his foot suddenly began to burn. Gambit swore when he saw that the barely conscious woman had managed to get acid on him. The Cajun hopped up and down and finally managed to tear off the boot. He used the half destroyed piece of footwear to whack the other mutant in the head.
"Dat wasn't nice," he told her. The Cajun looked up again when several lightning bolts suddenly struck near where Beach Head had been. Storm's voice came over the communication unit in his ear.
"I need Cable or Jean now," she ordered. "Beach Head's been buried alive by a mutant with an earth element ability."
"Dammit!" Gambit swore. And here he'd thought that the ranger had managed to get himself out of trouble. He debated going to help, but realized that his abilities weren't too useful in the situation. Not unless he wanted to potentially blow Wayne Sneeden up anyway.
"I'm on my way," Cable said in his ear.
Remy turned his attention to fend off a new attack, this time by a group of Cobra troopers. The Cajun threw a card at them and the men scattered. He looked back over towards Storm and saw that she'd frozen a man in a block of ice. Near her, Cable had a limp Wayne Sneeden in his arms.
Figuring this his teammates had the situation under control, the X-Man looked for something else to blow up. He spotted a group of soldiers moving towards the Pit. Deciding to join them, Gambit trotted after the group.
"Hey, need a hand?" he called out. Remy figured that he should stick close to them in case they were attacked by a mutant.
"Sure!" A man called out. It was a bald man with a Marine Corps tattoo on his chest. Two Joes provided cover fire while the X-Man joined them. The small group crouched down behind a chunk of rock that had been uprooted.
"What's your name homme?" the Marine asked. Gambit paused in surprise when he recognized the familiar accent. A wide grin broke over his face.
"De name's Gambit," he replied. "Which part of Louisiana you from?"
The Marine's eyebrows lifted up in surprise when he realized that he was speaking to a fellow Cajun. A similar grin crossed his face and the man gave him a friendly punch. One of the other soldiers groaned underneath his breath.
"Fer-de-lance," the Marine replied. "You?"
"Nawlins, mon ami. De only place to be," Gambit said proudly. "We've got de best gumbo around."
"I don't know," the Marine said. "I'd have to say that my momma's is the best." He held out a hand to the mutant. "The name's Gung Ho." Remy grinned and shook the man's hand.
"Heaven help us," one of the other Joes said. "Two Cajuns."
"The more the merrier," Remy said. "Dat's what Tante Mattie always says."
Gung Ho chuckled at that. The Marine then aimed his gun around the rock and picked off a few targets. Remy was impressed to see that he'd managed to get one of the mutants. Gambit pulled out a card and sent a charge of energy through it. He rolled out from behind the rock and chucked the card at a Cobra helicopter. The ensuing explosion sent him scurrying back behind the rock for protection.
About twenty minutes went by as Remy followed the Joes through the battlefield. Storm and Hawk had both issued new orders to concentrate their forces more. Several more soldiers linked up with their group. Remy of course didn't know any of them, at least not until a heavily built, dark skinned soldier joined them. He had a heavy machine gun draped casually over one shoulder.
"No way!" Remy shouted, temporarily forgetting everything else. "Marvin Hinton? Marvin Hinton!" The man's head swiveled in his direction and stared at the red eyed man running towards him. Gambit waved his arms excitedly. No way, no way, no way! Cooking with Kung Fu Grip was his favorite television show!
"You crazy Cajun, what're you doing?" one of the Joes shouted. Remy LeBeau ignored him as he pulled out his deck of cards. He selected an ace of spades and held it out to the tall machine gunner.
"Can Gambit have your autograph?" he asked. "Your show's de best." The largest smile that Gambit had ever seen lit up the other man's face.
"Of course man," the Joe answered. "But my codename's Roadblock, just so you know." Several bullets whizzed past his head and the two men ducked. Roadblock fired his machine gun at the bullets' source before digging around in his pant pockets.
"Dang," the man said. "Anybody got a pen?"
Someone named Footloose produced a pen. The Cajun watched as Roadblock carefully signed his name on the card. Then after a moment, the chef added 'To my biggest fan.' He capped the pen and handed the card to a pleased Remy LeBeau. The X-Man thanked him and stared down at the card before carefully pocketing it away from his other cards. There was no way he was going to accidentally blow it up.
From now on, this was his lucky card.
"Marvin Hinton? Marvin Hinton!"
Deadpool's ears perked at that. He swiveled his head to see Gambit running towards a dark skinned man. The mercenary leapfrogged over the ninja known as Kamakura to get a better view. Gambit stopped running and handed a card to the tall man. Wade Wilson wasn't quite sure if the man was who he thought it was, so he figured that there was only one way to find out.
He fired his Uzi at the two men and purposefully missed. Both men ducked and sought cover. The larger man aimed his machine gun at the mercenary and fired. Deadpool jumped out of the way and the ninja near him stayed low to the ground until the bullets had past.
Wade Wilson grinned to himself. He'd managed to catch a glimpse of the machine gunner's face. He loved Cooking with Kung Fu Grip, as it was one of his favorite television shows. It of course wasn't his favorite one, since that spot was already occupied by the Golden Girls.
"You won't get away," Kamakura told him. Deadpool sighed. Seriously, what was with this kid? The mercenary had gone relatively easy on him so far, broken bones and a severed muscle tendon notwithstanding. Oh well, it was time for the fun to end. He'd been hoping that Snake Eyes would show up and help his student, but the Silent Master was still engaged with Firefly. Stupid bastard, hogging all of the fun.
"Look kid," Deadpool told him. "The host of my favorite…my second…okay, maybe third favorite TV show is over there and I want an autograph."
Kamakura didn't seem to know how to respond to that and Wade Wilson concluded that he had no appreciation for quality television programming. After all, being in proximity to a gourmet chef had probably blinded him to just how lucky he was.
"Hey Bob," Deadpool called out. "Distract him."
His minion…sidekick gulped and looked nervously at the ninja. The Cobra trooper had taken cover behind a flimsy piece of metal. Wade picked him up and chucked him at the green power ranger wannabe. Kamakura stepped back in surprise at the human missile and Deadpool used the opportunity to stab him in the shoulder. Wade could have killed him, but since he was secretly on the ninja's side, he figured that he should probably spare his life.
"Good job Bob," Deadpool told his companion. Bob squeaked and backed away from the injured and slightly irritated ninja.
"I could have been k…killed," he whimpered. Wade slung a friendly arm around his shoulder.
"Naw…I knew he wouldn't kill you…probably…okay, he might have," Deadpool admitted. That answer didn't seem to ease the other man's mind in the slightest. His face paled beneath his mask and he backed away from the young ninja.
"Using your allies as a human shield," Kamakura panted. "That's despicable. I suppose I can't expect anything else from a Cobra." The ninja held a hand over the stab wound to stop the blood. He gripped a katana in his other hand.
"Look dude, you've got it all wrong," Deadpool told him. "I know how it looks, but I'm really not that bad of a guy. I purposefully hit a non-vital area you know."
Kamakura seemed to disagree with that line of logic. He threw several shuriken, one of which managed to hit the mercenary just above his right eye. Deadpool took it out and decided to return it. The ninja hissed when the small weapon was suddenly embedded in the side of his thigh.
"Ooo…that's gotta hurt," the mercenary told him. "Still…play time's over." He struck the ninja twice in the throat and watched the younger man collapse to the ground. Deadpool left him lying there and went in search of the host of his third favorite television show.
When he found him, the man seemed less than pleased with his fan.
"Come on man!" Deadpool shouted, dodging machine gun fire. "You gave Gambit an autograph!"
"Gambit's not part of Cobra!" Marvin Hinton replied. "I don't give autographs to crazed lunatics who work for terrorists!"
Well that wasn't nice. Wade couldn't very well explain to him that he was just pretending to work for Cobra and that he was the one that had in fact warned Nick Fury about the attack before it happened. As far as Deadpool was concerned, he deserved an autograph as much as Remy LeBeau.
"Look dude, it's not as bad as it looks," he tried to explain. "I just want an autograph and I promise to leave you guys alone!"
The machine gun fire paused as the man considered that. Deadpool could hear the Joes discussing the situation, as well as the fact that he'd already taken down a ninja.
"No deal!" the chef shouted. "I don't deal with terrorists!"
"I'm just a humble merc!" Deadpool replied, nimbly avoiding volley of bullets. The ones that hit him were ignored and the wounds were healed seconds later. Bob, meanwhile, whimpered and tried to hide near the unconscious ninja. The Cobra trooper seemed to have deduced that the Joes wouldn't risk hitting their friend and being near the ninja was therefore the safest place. Even Remy LeBeau had ceased to throw his charged cards out of concern that he'd hit the man.
"Oh for God's sake Roadblock, just give him the damned autograph so he'll go away!" a Joe yelled.
"I don't have any paper," the machine gunner replied. "I can't give him an autograph if I don't have something to write on."
"Is that all you need?" Deadpool asked him. Heck, that was a problem that was easily solved. He looked around and spotted the corpse of a dead Cobra viper. Figuring that the man didn't need his hand anymore, Wade sliced it off with his sword. He picked up the hand and tossed at the group of Joes.
"Sign that!" he told them.
"Oh God, it's a hand!"
"I'm not signing a severed hand!" Roadblock shouted. "This had better not be one of ours!"
"Dude, the guy's dead," Deadpool explained. "He doesn't need a hand anymore. And for your information, I got that off of a viper!"
There was silence as the Joes stared at the hand he'd thrown them. Deadpool faintly heard someone retching behind the low wall they'd taken cover behind. After several more moments passed, he heard Roadblock swear violently. The hand was thrown back over the wall and Deadpool caught it. He looked down and was happy to find that the man had signed his name on the palm of the hand.
"Thanks!" he called out. "I love your show!"
"Get the hell out of here!" Marvin Hinton shouted. Deadpool gave him a small salute. The man was obviously concerned over the safety of his fan and didn't want him to be hurt. The mercenary turned around and tossed the hand to a startled Bob.
"Here Bob, guard that with your life," he told him, meaning it in the literal sense. The Cobra trooper turned several shades of green and nearly dropped the hand twice. The man's hands shook as he followed after a cheerful Deadpool.
The two men ran into Tomax about ten minutes later. Deadpool had been carving his way through a group of greenshirts when the mutant showed up and pulled the mercenary out of the way before a grenade hit him.
"Aww…I didn't know you cared," Wade told him. "And here I thought you hated me." The Corsican scowled darkly at him and a shaking Bob ducked behind the mercenary for protection.
"Shut up Wilson," Tomax replied. "I didn't help you because I like you. You have a personal teleportation device, don't you?" The man explained that he'd heard about the mercenary using one to extract the Dreadnoks from the Pit.
"Yeah," Deadpool answered. "What's it to you?"
"My brother…is unable to fight," the man admitted reluctantly. "I'd like you to take him back to base. I'll pay you, since I know that's how mercenaries work."
Deadpool thought about that. Money would be great, but he had enough money at the moment. A brilliant idea hit him and he grinned.
"Naw, I don't need the money. I'll do it though if you agree to play with us at the next poker night," he said. Tomax stared at him as if he'd grown two heads. The man muttered to himself in French and Deadpool fully understood the fact that the man was calling him some very impolite names.
"Fine," the man agreed. "But only once."
"Where Xamot?" Deadpool asked, looking around.
"He's by…is that a hand?" Tomax asked, staring at the severed hand in Bob's hand. Blood had leaked out of the severed limp and covered the unfortunate Cobra trooper. Deadpool cheerfully tried to explain that it was an autographed hand, but the Crimson Guardsman cut him off, apparently not wanting to know why the mercenary had cut off someone's hand.
Deadpool left the mutant and went in search of the brother. He and Bob found the man riding in a Cobra vehicle. The mercenary picked up Bob and jumped it. The Crimson Guardsman looked at them in surprise.
"Your brother wants me to give you a ride home," Wade explained.
"I don't need a ride…is that a severed hand?" Xamot asked, gaping at the mercenary's newest prized possession. "Oh God, the blood's everywhere!"
"I know," Bob stammered. His own hands were shaking from being forced to carry around the severed limp. He swallowed down some bile. Xamot looked at the Cobra trooper and then at Deadpool.
"Who's he?"
"Bob," Deadpool answered. "He's my minion." He grabbed the man's arm and pressed a hand to the teleportation device on his belt. Seconds later, they were in the Dreadnoks' compound at Cobra headquarters. Buzzer and Zandar stared in surprise when the two men appeared.
"Hey guys, I brought a friend back," Deadpool told them, shoving Xamot in their direction. "Be right back." He disappeared and reappeared next to Bob. The Cobra trooper jumped when he saw that the mercenary was back again.
"I thought you left me," he stammered.
"No way," the mercenary told him. He pressed the teleportation device again and was once again back at the base. Bob stared around him. The man seemed split between being relieved at being away from the battle and worried that he was now with the Dreadnoks.
"Wade!" Buzzer shouted. "Why the hell did you stick us with Xamot…IS THAT A SEVERED HAND?"
"It's an autographed severed hand," Deadpool explained quite reasonably. "I didn't have any paper."
Buzzer gaped at him for a long moment before he began to chuckle. The Dreadnok shook his head and decided not to pursue the matter. Instead, he threw a can of grape soda to the mercenary. Deadpool gratefully popped it open and chugged it.
He gave a loud burp and tossed the empty can behind him. It was good to be home.
(Some of you have already read the following scene, but I've included it for those who haven't. This scene takes place between chapters 14 and 15.)
"Did you get them too?" Lifeline asked quietly. Wayne Sneeden looked down the sheets of paper clutched in the medic's hands. The ranger gave him a questioning look and the other man sighed.
"Have you been back to your room at all today?" Edwin Steen asked. Beach Head shook his head and frowned. Judging from his friend's emotions, whatever he was talking about wasn't good. The medic was shocked and upset, even if he tried not to show it. Lifeline silently handed him the papers and Beach Head scanned them. His back straightened in shock and his mouth twisted into an angry sneer.
One note said 'No more mutants.' Another read 'Number one threat: Cobra, Number two threat: mutants," The third simply stated, "Go home." All three notes were typed.
"They were under my door when I walked in," the medic said quietly. "I don't know who did it." Wayne pushed down his rising rage as he slipped off his gloves. He touched the notes with his now bare skin. The ranger sensed very faint traces of hatred and disgust, but they weren't enough to get a mental trace on.
"Can you tell who it was?" Lifeline asked. Beach Head shook his head.
"No, but I'll find the damn pogues," he replied. Wayne continued to stare down at the notes. He should probably go check and see if any had been slipped under the door of his room as well. Beach Head swallowed a sudden hard knot in his throat.
"I suppose it's to be expected," Beach Head admitted. "We both knew this wasn't going to be easy."
"Maybe…we should go check to see if you got any," Lifeline suggested hesitantly. Wayne nodded in agreement. He clumped down the hallway with his crutches. The ranger was too preoccupied with the anti-mutant notes to consider complaining about the crutches. Besides, Tony Stark had promised to make him a special brace for his broken ankle.
The two mutants passed several other Joes and a few greenshirts. Lifeline offered to just take them there, but Beach Head refused. He wanted people to see them, mostly as a way to judge their reactions. A few people nodded at them and cleverly hid their curiosity or unease. The others made a valiant attempt to ignore them. Of the people they walked by, only Roadblock stopped to chitchat for a couple of minutes. The two mutants hid the notes from the burly man. Neither one felt like talking about them with anyone else at the moment.
They finally arrived at Beach Head's room. The ranger unlocked the door and limped inside. Down at his feet, he spotted two sheets of paper. Wayne closed his eyes and willed himself to be calm. He levitated the two notes up to eye level.
"Go home mutie."
"Hope the sentinels get you next time."
"Well…" Lifeline said after a moment. "At least you only got two." Beach Head threw the letters down and stomped back out of the room. He and Lifeline stood in the doorway for a long moment and looked at each other.
"What should we do about them?" the medic finally asked. "Hawk ordered us to tell him about any problems people gave us, but…"
"We can talk about it later," Beach Head sighed. His mood had plummeted to a new low after first finding out about the notes. The fact that he had to go through more paperwork didn't help. Paperwork was tedious anyway and for some reason, sitting in his office the last couple of days had become unbearable unless he kept the door open.
An incoming presence registered itself and the ranger frowned. Scarlett was heading in their direction. Lifeline noticed the look in his eyes and asked him what was wrong. Beach Head shrugged uncomfortably.
"She's been pissy ever since the sentinels," he responded. A slight shudder went through him at the word 'sentinels.' If Lifeline noticed, he didn't say anything. "I think she's angry that Snake Eyes was in danger."
"You don't know if that's the reason," the medic replied. However, Wayne felt the doubt inside his mind. Lifeline glanced back down at three notes he still held. Beach Head knew what he was thinking, even without the benefit of telepathy. Like him, the medic wasn't sure who was friendly and who wasn't. For all they knew, Scarlett would turn out to be one of the unfriendly ones. Neither of them had really spoken with her since their mutations had become public knowledge.
"I just heard her ask someone if they'd seen you," Lifeline said. Beach Head sighed. If she was going to get pissed at him, he might as well get it over with. The ranger heard the unasked question in the medic's mind.
"You don't need to stay," Wayne told him. "You're on duty now anyway." Lifeline nodded at him and left. Beach Head sighed again as he entered his bedroom. He shut the door quietly and picked up the two notes. If the room suddenly felt suffocating to him, he attributed it to the incoming, red haired Georgia storm.
About five minutes later, he heard her knock on his door.
Beach Head eyed her warily as she stepped into the room. Shana frowned. Why was he acting like she was going to do something horrible to him? All she wanted to do was talk with him.
"I'm sorry," he muttered, not quite meeting her eyes. It was the first thing he'd said after she'd entered.
"What?" Scarlett asked, confused. "What're you apologizing for?"
Now he was looking at her in confusion.
"Snake Eyes almost died because me…and Lifeline. If it wasn't for us, he'd never have been forced to fight sentinels in the first place," he pointed out. Even though his masked face was impassive, his rigid body betrayed how uncomfortable he was.
"That's why you're apologizing?" she asked, surprised. "He's the one that dragged the two of you out. You'd have never been put through that if not for him. He feels horrible about that you know."
"It's not his fault," Beach Head said. "Damn stupid ninja. If not for him and Jinx, I'd have died or be a prisoner somewhere. Besides, the sentinels are built to hunt and track us. It could have been any time that this happened, it just happened to be the other night." He looked at her again, uncertain.
"You sure you're not angry about that?" he asked again. Shana stared at him before it hit her. He must have been feeling how angry and upset she was, but had misinterpreted why.
"You stupid ranger," she sighed. "What the hell makes you think I'm angry at you? You and Lifeline were the ones that were hunted like animals. I'm angry at the people who built the damned things, not you."
He relaxed at that and Shana felt both irritated and saddened that he'd been thinking the worst of her. She'd dated and loved a man for years who had been forced to hide his scarred face under a mask, until advances in plastic surgery had been able to restore his face, if not his voice. As if she'd be angry at him for getting her fiancée in trouble because he was a mutant.
"Sorry," he muttered again, apparently catching her thoughts.
"Stop apologizing," she snapped. "This isn't like you Beach." He opened his mouth, probably to apologize again, before shutting it. She saw his eyes flicker over to a couple sheets of paper and back at her. Shana looked at him suspiciously before walking over to them.
"No!" he blurted out. The papers floated up in the air and out of her reach. Shana crossed her arms and glared sternly at him. Beach Head hesitated a long moment before reluctantly lowering the pieces of paper. Scarlett picked the pages out of the air and looked at them.
Her mouth hung open in shock as she saw what was written on them. Both pages contained simple, typed sentences.
"Go home mutie."
"Hope the sentinels get you next time."
She looked up at him, her eyes wide. Wayne Sneeden shifted uncomfortably and avoided her gaze.
"They were under my door when I came in," he muttered. "I don't know who put them there. I've been trying to feel around for the culprits. Lifeline got some too." The ranger continued to stare at the wall. He shifted nervously as he leaned on his crutches.
Scarlett stared at him. Sergeant Major Wayne Sneeden should be bellowing in rage or hunting down the culprits to kill them. Instead he seemed…depressed and unsurprised.
"Beach…you've got to report this," she hissed angrily. "This is awful."
"What can Hawk do?" he asked miserably. "Kick out half the Pit?"
"Wayne…"
"It's nothing," the ranger brushed off. "We're used to it. There's a reason we never told anyone." He didn't say anything else, but he still refused to look at the anti-mutant garbage in her hands. Scarlett didn't believe him for a moment that it was 'nothing.' Beach Head was obviously upset by the notes, even if he denied it.
The intelligence specialist put down the papers and pulled him into a hug. The ranger stiffened at the sudden and unexpected contact.
"Even if they don't see it…your mutant powers are a gift," she told him. "You've given Snake Eyes his voice back. Do you know how wonderful that is? With you, he can talk like a normal person."
Wayne shook his head.
"Scarlett, with you, he doesn't even need a voice," the ranger replied. "You are his voice. That's something special. You don't need special powers to know what he's thinking or what he wants to say." Shana wasn't sure why, but she felt greatly moved at that.
"Even so, thank you," she said. Scarlett pulled up his mask and kissed his cheek. The man blushed slightly in embarrassment. She could tell he wasn't used to physical contact like this. The intelligence specialist was unaware that physical contact strengthened the psychic connection for him.
"Please promise me you'll report that," she said, finally letting him go and pointing to the two offensive notes. "If you don't, I will."
"Yeah yeah…fine," he finally promised, still looking a bit uncomfortable. The ranger suddenly looked over at the door with curiosity. Someone knocked on the door a few moments later. Scarlett wondered for a moment how'd he known, until she belatedly remembered that he was a telepath.
"Come in," he called. The door opened to reveal Tony Stark. The man paused when he saw them standing next to each other.
"Um…" Tony said hesitantly.
"You're not interrupting anything Stark," Beach Head sighed. "She's with Snake Eyes, not me. Get your danged mind out of the gutter." The other man grinned at that before shutting the door. Stark held out a small box.
"I've got your brace right here," the man said. The ranger immediately lit up. He sat down on his bed and tossed the crutches across the room.
"Well what're you waiting for?" the ranger asked impatiently.
"Brace?" Scarlett asked.
"A special brace," Stark explained. "I just finished making the adjustments to it. It'll let Beach Head walk around without having to use crutches." Shana watched as the ranger ripped off the old brace. Lifeline would have had a fit if he'd seen it. Tony Stark placed the new brace on Wayne Sneeden's ankle. The Avenger made a few adjustments to it before telling the ranger to stand.
Beach Head complied by standing up and walking around the room. Even Scarlett felt a little impressed by the little feat of engineering. She had half a mind to ask Lifeline to stock up on them. Shana had spent a couple of months in an ankle brace as well and she was somewhat jealous now that Beach Head didn't have to suffer through the same agony.
"Forge can kiss my ass," Stark grinned. "Genius inventor my ass. My stuff's better."
Scarlett had no idea who 'Forge' was and she didn't ask. Instead, she bid the two men good night and exited the room. Now she had to go find a sulky ninja. Snake Eyes had been blaming himself for the sentinel attack ever since it happened, even though it wasn't his fault. It was certainly obvious that Beach Head didn't blame him. She highly doubted that Lifeline did either.
She walked into her fiancée's room. The ninja in question was sitting cross-legged on top of his bed and staring at the wall. He gave her a questioning look.
"Beach Head's not pissed at you," Scarlett told him. "He's the one feeling guilty for pulling you into it." Snake Eyes stubbornly shook his head and insisted that the ranger was being an idiot.
Scarlett threw a pillow at him and told him he was being an idiot too.