When Tony Stark walked into his penthouse at Avengers Tower he stopped abruptly as he caught sight of his uninvited guest. A very unexpected and clearly unwanted guest.
"Deadpool," he said flatly.
"Hey there, Tin Can Man," was the cheerful reply.
Deadpool, in his full outfit, sat on the glass table, legs swinging, looking carelessly around. He was playing with a paper weight made of glass, a heavy globe that was mostly decorative, tossing it from hand to hand like it weighed nothing at all.
Tony wasn't fooled by the apparent ease. He knew Deadpool well enough to stay alert.
He covertly pushed a button on the wrist band he was wearing.
"I thought I had a security system," he said, raising his voice a little as he addressed Jarvis.
"I'm sorry, sir," the AI replied dutifully. "I didn't pick him up until he was up here."
Tony glowered. Deadpool gave him an innocent look. How the mask could transmit facial shifts was beyond Tony; he was always amazed.
"One of my best traits," he quipped. "The Invisible Deadpool! Now you see me, now you don't! I should get cards made. And more t-shirts! The man of many talents is back! Bigger, badder, all around stud muffin!"
"What do you want?"
"That's the question I'm here to ask you," Deadpool replied amiably, juggling the glass ball.
Alarm bells rang in his head.
"Your buddy Hawkeye played delivery boy a few days ago. We didn't order anything, but he handed it over anyway."
Okay, big alarm bells.
Steve had been against giving Spider-Man Deadpool's file just like that, but Tony had been convinced it would be the right thing to do. The young mutant needed to know just who he was bonded to, even if it wouldn't change what had already happened. Nothing could sever the bond between the chimera and Spider-Man, but at least he would now have all the intel.
In Tony's eyes it was the right thing to do. For both men. He doubted that even Wade Wilson knew everything about what Weapon X had done to him. Now bonded – something no one, least of all Deadpool himself, had believed possible – matters might change. If the chimera kept evolving, the scientist in Peter might want answers.
And maybe, just maybe, so did Deadpool.
"Can't say I was thrilled to open the little gift file," the merc added, voice suddenly lower, less amiable, almost dark.
He slid off the table.
The glass ball was carelessly dropped and it landed on the floor with a loud crack.
Tony tensed, a very base part of himself reacting to the chimera in a way he had never experienced before. It was a primal sensation, like his hind brain was warning him danger, trying to get through the civilized, logical side, screaming at him to run.
He had to suppress a shiver and the instinctual need to recoil.
That was new.
He didn't even have it around the Hulk, and that guy was serious trouble. Deadpool was radiating something else and it promised a long, slow, agonizing death. Throughout the years, not just in mere hours.
Deadpool was a weapon. Reborn to kill. He was deadly in a fight. He had honed those skills and he had no second thoughts in a confrontation, taking out the target before they could get to him and do the same.
Tony felt like he had a very big, very bright bull's eye painted on his chest.
"It's your file," he said, voice steady, almost unimpressed, though his mouth felt dry. "Nothing more, nothing less."
"You never gave it to me. You didn't give it to me now either. You gave it to my bonded mate."
"You never asked."
"We didn't ask now, Stark."
The red and black clad figure approached, each step measured, the aura around the man suddenly changing.
The alarm bells were now a chorus of shrill screams.
He should be running. This was an apex predator in the hunt and Tony Stark was the chosen prey.
Tony heard the elevator behind him open and Steve's warning shout of 'Deadpool!' had him silently sigh in relief.
"Oh, the senior citizen brigade has arrived!"
Despite the humorous call, Deadpool didn't appear any less threatening, though. There was nothing comically insane or erratic any more. This was a fully focused Deadpool, the chimera out in the open and radiating danger. His expression didn't so much as twitch. His eyes simply bore into Stark's, even if they were masked and Tony couldn't read them.
But he knew what this was.
A warning.
A serious, dangerous warning.
"Keep out of our lives," the preternatural said, voice even, without true emotions. He sounded barely like himself. "You didn't give a damn about me before I ran into my bonded. You tried everything to fuck this up when I teamed up with Spidey. And you didn't stop there. You just had to throw in whatever sick stuff Weapon X has on me. For. No. Reason."
He never raised his voice and that made the words more real and threatening than any kind of yelling would have done.
Steve stood next to Tony, tense, ready to fight should Deadpool attack. "We gave Spider-Man the file because of the bond," he said, voice cool, wary. "For both of you."
"Why now?"
"Nothing can threaten an established bond, not even knowing of the horror of what happened to you."
Deadpool's smile was clearly visible, but it was cold and calculating. His fingers flexed a little. For an insane moment Tony imagine claws springing out of the fingers, slicing through the gloves, and then burying into him.
"Sure. You didn't give it to my bonded to separate us. Of course not."
"We wouldn't do that!" Steve protested, looking truly outraged.
"You were simply hoping that Spidey might just ditch me?"
"No," Steve repeated. "From what Bruce figured out, your lives are now so much entwined, he will be sharing yours. He has probably become immortal, Deadpool. He should know what Weapon X did to you, and so should you. I agree that the way Tony did it wasn't the best," and he shot the other man a look, "but it wasn't meant to hurt you or Spider-Man."
Deadpool stared at him, the white eyes so much brighter than Tony remembered them being before. Then,
"Stay out of my business. All of you. My final warning. My only warning."
The chimera was thrumming with energy, but there was no twitch that warned of an imminent explosion that would leave people bleeding and furniture in pieces. He simply resembled a granite block of hostility, of Death out for anyone who came too close, who said the wrong word.
"Understood," Steve answered.
Which was apparently the right word.
"We respect your connection to Spider-Man," Tony echoed Steve's words. "I do apologize for the way I handled it. And I never apologize. Ever. So… there?"
Deadpool stared at him; hard. And silently. Then he suddenly pulled his guns, turned 180 degrees and fired at the window panes.
They shattered under the impact of whatever ammo the mercenary had loaded – which had to be something special since those windows had been specially made. Before either Steve or Tony could react he had taken a running leap out of the new opening and was gone.
"Fuck!" Tony cursed and stopped at the edge of the window.
Deadpool was nowhere to be seen.
He doubted the man could fly, but he was good at getting in and out of places. Very good.
"He's protective," Steve remarked, sounding almost calm.
"What gave it away," Tony muttered. "Now I need new windows! Again!" He threw up his hands. "Why can't they take the elevator like normal crazy guys?"
Steve twitched a smile. "We should have given the decision to hand over Deadpool's file to Spider-Man a second thought. This might have been avoided."
"Hindsight is twenty-twenty," was Stark's reply as he stalked over to the bar and poured himself a generous drink. "Deadpool's unpredictable. Like now. I would have bet on a lot more carnage, maybe some blood and broken bones. This… hell, he was scarier than when he tries to kill you."
"True. The chimera is growing."
"Dangerously."
"He is bonded, Tony. Spider-Man is his balance and we indirectly threatened him and it. It was a normal reaction for a preternatural of his birth origin. The hellhound is what the chimera grew out of. It's his instinct. To protect. His kind are the fiercest guardians, the best soldiers, and I met some throughout the war. I can see it in the chimera and it's so much stronger when related to Spider-Man."
Tony leaned against the bar and Steve joined him, standing shoulder to shoulder. He looked thoughtful, chewing on his lower lip, then he glanced at the taller man at his side.
"While I'm all for keeping an eye on those two, especially the chimera, we should give them some room," he finally agreed. "Back off. Let the dust settle."
"Bonds are a form of trust nothing else can achieve," Steve agreed. "What connects them is a kind of intimacy, an instinct both have. Deadpool had to surrender to that bond, accept Spider-Man, let him in. The decision to hand over the file wasn't to tear them apart. Nothing can do that. We went about it the wrong way."
Tony sighed. "Jarvis? Call in the repair guys. Get the windows repaired."
"Of course, sir."
"And I'm going to the workshop," Tony announced. "Want to join me?"
Steve chuckled and shook his head. "I have a date with Natasha in the gym."
"Oooh, sweaty man-fighting. I'd be all for watching that, but I have stuff to do." Tony grinned. "Well, have fun. You usually do. See you later, Cap."
And he was gone, heading to his workshop.
Thinking.
About Peter Parker. Spider-Man. About the young man he had offered a job to not so long ago, whose secret identity he knew.
And Deadpool.
Tony knew he had made a mistake and he was big enough to admit it. He was a scientist and he was always curious, wanted to know things. He had wanted Peter to have the same advantage, to get the info he needed, to know the facts.
Well, he had slightly miscalculated.
Tony locked the work shop's door behind him and surveyed the place. Time to get some work done.
SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSD
Deadpool wasn't really all that surprised to find Spider-Man close to the Avengers HQ building. He was clinging to the side of a high-rise building like it was the most natural thing in the world, and for Spider-Man it was.
It was also one of those moments Deadpool liked to appreciate his partner and mate, his abilities that were so much more than just being able to stick to stuff. It was the incredible strength, proportional to a spider his size, and how he controlled himself not to injure anyone by accident.
Because Spider-Man was freakishly strong.
"Hey there, Spideybabe!" he called cheerfully and waved as he parcoured over the buildings. "Fancy seeing you here. Missed me already?"
Spider-Man dropped lithely onto the roof and crouched on the old chimney stub that had been capped and showed it hadn't been used in ages.
"Did you have to threaten my possibly new boss?"
"Have to? Uh, kinda? Really, I did," he protested at Spider-Man's expression, which he could easily read through the mask.
"Why?"
Deadpool felt the former tension creep back into his frame, felt the anger rise, and the chimera snarled softly in its black nest. It showed gleaming teeth, glowing eyes, and the bad temper was a reflection of Deadpool's state of mind.
He had felt threatened.
Stark had had no right! Whatever Weapon X had done to him, he didn't want to know every little genetic twist and tweak! And he didn't want his mate to know the biology and genetic grafting involved. Or chemicals. Or whatever mumbo-jumbo they applied. The result was this: the chimera.
Monster. Aberration. Apex predator.
Spider-Man dropped to his feet and closed the distance. For a moment they just looked at each other, then he reached out and cupped Deadpool's cheek.
"I appreciate the gesture. I know it was instinctual to a degree, but it doesn't threaten us, Wade," he said softly.
"It does," he contradicted, voice level. "You can read that stuff, unlike me. I'm not a scientist. I don't speak formulas. You'll find out all my dark little secrets."
"I haven't looked into it that closely yet. Just skimmed over parts and that was… intense already. There is a lot there, Deadpool. A whole lot. Including detailed reports on every hour you were in their so-called care. I won't continue if you hate it so much. I'll destroy the drive and that's the end of it."
"No."
"Wade."
"No! I know it might be important, but I also hate you seeing… what happened. Because it's not pretty. It can never be pretty. The whole transformation… the way it was brought about… it's worse than the result!" Deadpool blurted. "So much worse!"
"Not going to watch the videos. I'll just look over what they threw together, what we might expect to evolve now that the chimera is free to develop its powers."
Deadpool expelled a sharp breath. "He had no right!" he whispered harshly.
The darkness inside him roiled around, spoiling for a fight, wanting to sink teeth into enemy flesh and tear out throats.
Spider-Man's thumb brushed over his covered cheek. "No, he didn't. But that's Tony Stark for you. He's rash, pretty forward, and sometimes acts before he thinks."
He leaned forward, pressing their lips together through the masks.
Deadpool relaxed a little more, the quiet calm seeping through the bond, and he wrapped his arms around the lithe figure, feeling muted strength and power.
"I wanted to gut him and strangle the bastard with his own innards."
"And I'm thankful you didn't."
"You want to take the job?"
"Maybe," Spider-Man murmured. "If I do, I need Tony alive and kicking."
"Maybe next time I'll just shoot him in the knee," Deadpool suggested happily.
"No shooting or stabbing. No maiming at all."
"You're no fun."
"You didn't say that last night."
"Cheeky little spider."
"You liked it."
"I always like it," Deadpool purred, his hand wandering over the small of Spider-Man's back to his ass.
"Deadpool."
"Yes, dear?"
"PDA. No go."
"Awww… You started it!"
Peter pushed up his mask a little, revealing his lips, and Wade was quick to follow, the kiss brief, soft, but meaningful.
"Want to work off some of that anger?"
Deadpool waggled his eyebrows.
"I meant kicking some thug ass."
"That's good foreplay, too." Wade patted his guns.
"No killing."
"Yes, Mom. I know."
"Good."
"Do I get a toy?"
Spider-Man stepped back and pulled down the mask, shaking his head with a chuckle.
"C'mon."
And he swung off.
Deadpool followed with a whoop.
tbc...