Disclaimer: Nope.

A/N: And it is the finale! Sort of!

Lots of action, lots of feels. Enjoy!

Also, all of those who guessed who Curse was? Congratulations - you're correct.

Chapter 11: Extraction

The central hall was a warzone. More men lay on the ground, bathed in blood, than there were actively firing their guns. Whether felled by brutal slashes, a playing card to the head or even decapitation, it was clear that the grunts couldn't measure up to the invading mercenaries. Of which there was one that he wasn't aware of, a man who was successfully avoiding X23 as she tore through the crowd in a frenzied rage.

"Masters," Tom greeted as he vaulted over the railing, drawing his swords as he fell. His skin flashed to adamantium as a goon struck him, proceeding to double over, cradling his wrist. "Long time, no see!"

The armoured mercenary known as Taskmaster seemed taken aback - not that his expression could be seen behind the skull mask. "Weapon M? You can talk?"

"Yeah," he replied casually, as if he wasn't impaling a pair of goons with his blades. "Stuff happened."

"I can see," the mercenary murmured, raising his shield to bash a goon while beheading another. "And what are those?"

Tom lifted his blades. "Katanas. Thought you'd recognise them."

"Yes, and I remember telling the Director that katanas are by far not the best form of sword."

"Eh," Tom shrugged. "Work well enough. Who are you here for?"

"Fisk," Anthony answered, ducking a punch, stabbing the assailant in the gut. "You?"

"Same," he replied, sweeping an opponent up with a low kick, before slamming them into the ground with the hilt of his blade. "Any particular problems?"

"We took out the Twelve Sins a while ago," Masters informed him. "And Deadpool did a runner. I think the girl is on our side, but she has taken a few swipes at me so far. The only person left-" He was cut off with a strike to the gut by a metal fist, a fist soon turned on Tom, who managed to phase through at the last moment.

"The Winter Soldier, I presume," Tom guessed, sheathing his blades. They wouldn't help him against this foe. Balling his fists, he gave a grin. "Who would've thought, the Red Room, in league with some small-time Yakuza."

The Soldier stared at him stoically, drawing a pair of escrima sticks, which a moment later began to crackle with electricity.

"Not a big talker, eh?" Tom smirked. "That's fine. I'm going to enjoy tearing you to pieces. I wonder what your blood feels like, running between my fingers?" He lunged forward, a right hook swinging into the Soldier's face.

The Soldier shifted momentarily, before his metal fist collided with his chest, sending him skidding backwards a moment.

Tom shook his head as a buzz of energy coursed through his veins. "That's a mighty punch. Let's see how you take it." He lunged forward, charging the kinetic energy into his strike as he did, ready to, at the very least, stagger his foe.

Instead, the Soldier caught it in his metal hand, not even shifting, before twisting, and flinging the Weapon over his shoulder.

Tom was dazed as he lay on the ground. "Fuck, that actually hurt." He pushed himself up, popping out his claws. "Round 2, motherfucker."

The Soldier ducked under the strike with ease, and the last thing that Tom saw was a crackle of electricity as a stick slammed into his right temple.

X

Tom's eyes snapped open, finding himself floating in some sort of void. No, that wasn't quite right - you had to have a body to float.

"THE FUCK DID YOU DO?"

The voice was booming, coming from all around him, and oh so very familiar. It was his, but not.

"Harry?" he blinked. "Fascinating. This is not how the mind works."

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT? WHY DID YOU LEAVE HER?"

Tom scoffed. "Forget that. How are we talking? Split personality disorder is just the brain playing tricks - we aren't separate identities."

"WE ARE A MUTANT. SINCE WHEN DO WE DO WHAT IS NORMAL."

"Fair enough," he shrugged, or he would have if he had shoulders to do so. "The electronic charge must have overloaded our synapses, briefly linking our minds."

"I DON'T CARE! WHY DID YOU LEAVE HER? WHY DID YOU LEAVE LAURA!"

"Chill, dude," Tom laughed. "I was doing us all a favour. X23 deserves to be put down."

"NO!"

"Why are you defending the one who keeps you up at night? The one who stalks your nightmares?"

"WHY DID YOU TURN BACK?"

Tom blinked. "I don't know."

"NEITHER DO I. BUT LAURA IS NOT X23."

"That is like saying that we are not Weapon M," Tom sneered.

"WE ARE NOT."

Tom shook his head. "Whatever. Go save the bitch. See if I care."

"YOU DO." Harry said. "YOU JUST DON'T KNOW WHY."

X

Harry blinked his eyes open, feeling slightly giddy. He winced. That was one hell of a migraine. He looked down to see a metal fist holding him off the ground, gripping his throat.

He glared at the Soldier's emotionless face. "Fuck you," he growled, before stabbing himself with one of the syringes.

He felt the ice cold serum flood his veins, seeking his muscles. He felt his strength increase rapidly, felt his pain fade away. The X-Gene of the small time crook known as Brute - the ability to enhance physical strength at the expense of his rationality. Not the best ability at the best of times, what with Harry's struggles with his rationality anyway.

He drove a clawed fist into the Soldier's shoulder, the spasm of pain it created forcing the superhuman to release him. He didn't give him a chance to recover, and rushed forward, a growl bubbling in his chest as he lunged forward, embedding his claws deep into the Soldier's chest, ignoring the blows striking his limbs, ignoring the fractures forming beneath his skin. They would heal.

"Get out of my fucking way," he growled, raising his bloodstained fist for another strike.

The Soldier pressed something on his belt, before vanishing in a glow of blue energy.

He sniffed. "Fucking teleports."

He turned to the rest of the room, freezing at the sight. Bullseye and Taskmaster had left, having realised that their quarry was dead, leaving Laura alone to face her foes, foes she would only fight with blind fury thanks to Trig-X.

"LAURA!" he howled as he watched the grunts pile onto her, pinning her snarling form beneath their wait.

"Come on, someone shoot the bitch," someone yelled. "Can't hold her for long!"

Harry snapped. He lunged forward, a howl of fury spilling from his lips as he leapt into the mass of bodies, claws flashing in the dim light.

He didn't think about what he was doing. He didn't move towards his weapons. He didn't utilise the arsenal of mutations under his belt. He didn't phase, didn't teleport. He just hacked at the never ending mound of flash, screaming himself hoarse even as blood splattered over his lips.

He couldn't feel the strikes, and the stab wounds and gunshots felt more like pin pricks. He didn't notice any of it, didn't notice the fact that just as much of the blood coating his flesh was his own as it was his opponents. He didn't notice the steadily deteriorating state of his clothing, didn't notice the steadily growing mound of wet flesh beneath his now bare feet. He didn't notice the ache that started to build in his muscles, didn't notice that his claws were more red than silver.

All that he knew was that Laura was in danger, and that he was going to protect her.

He didn't know how long he fought for, but he fought until there was no more to fight. And he never stopped howling, not until he was standing atop a pile of bodies, chest heaving as he panted for breath, claws stained red as he hung beside him, arms outstretched.

His skin was exposed almost completely, only his trousers, up to their knees at least, and his weapon straps remaining on his body. All that was exposed was coated in a glistening layer of red, even his teeth, bared in a frenzied growl. His throat was hoarse, but healing quickly even as he spat out a glob of his own throat, split from his raw throat.

"Laura!" he roared. "Laura!"

"Tom?" she asked. "Where am I?"

"It's Harry," he growled, making his way over to her, where she was buried beneath the mound of blood soaked bodies. "Tom used Trig-X on you."

She blinked as she struggled in place, before stilling, a look of horror dawning on her face. "The scent… I killed these people."

"Nah, I did that," Harry grinned. "You killed those ones over there."

"Oh fuck…" she whimpered, eyes wide as she took in the bodies, hacked to pieces by her claws. "I'm a killer."

"Ain't nothing wrong with that," he barked, pulling aside the bodies. "Did what you needed to survive. Did what we've been raised to do. But that doesn't matter. Tom shouldn't have done that."

She staggered to her feet, before looking at him in fear. "You have Trig-X."

"Laura," he said. "They told me to bring it. I would never use it on you."

"But you did!" she growled. "Tom did!"

"Laura-" he protested, going to comfort her.

"Don't touch me!" she snapped. "How do I know you won't do it again?"

Harry growled in the back of his throat. "Yes, it was wrong. I know that. Tom should never have done it."

"I should have seen this coming," she hissed. "What with you always calling me that name. I'm nothing but a weapon to you, another tool in your arsenal."

"That's not true," he shouted, grabbing his bag from where it had fallen. He pulled a set of vials out, each filled with a mustard yellow liquid, a liquid as viscous as crude oil. "See this? This is all the Trig-X I have on me."

Laura's eyes narrowed. "The fuck you have that much?"

"Laura!" he snapped. "I don't choose my arsenal." He stretched out his arm, holding the vials out to her. "Take it."

"What?" she blinked, looking at the vials with no small amount of fear.

"Don't trust me with them? Then take them."

Laura shook her head. "I can't. They'll punish you."

Harry forced the vials into her hands. "I can take them."

Laura looked at the vials for a moment, slipping them into her waistband. "Harry, I…"

Harry grinned. "We're friends, aren't we?"

He blinked as he staggered backwards, Laura's weight pressing against him as she wrapped her arms around him. "Uh, Laura?"

"Shush," Laura murmured. "'s called a hug."

Harry blinked, his arms hanging awkwardly. "Uh huh."

"You're supposed to hug me back."

"Erm," he blinked, before stiffly patting her back. "Like this?"

"It'll do," she whispered, voice muffled by his shoulder. "'s nice."

Harry nodded jerkily. "Y-yeah." It felt warm. It felt safe. Nice. That was the word. It felt nice. "Yeah, it does."

After a moment, she released him, giving him a shy grin. "Race you to the chopper?"

He shook his confusion away. He could deal with it later. "You're on!" He vanished in a puff or brimstone smoke, appearing atop the opposite rooftop, on the other side of the glass. He turned, looking back to where Laura stood. "Come on, then!"

"Cheater," Laura pouted, before running after him, bursting through the window.

She paused for a moment as her friend - she had a friend! - raced off, his athletic movements and occasional emergence of his wings allowing for swift traversal of the rooftops. She sighed, pulling out the vials from her waist. She smiled, before throwing them behind her, down into the alley. She raced off after him, not looking back.

X

"So you went back for X23?" Ajax asked, a tone of disapproval present in his voice. "Whatever. Get in."

Harry shook his head, jumping up to the raised platform extending from the helicopter, pausing briefly to help Laura up.

"You know the protocol, Weapon," Ajax's voice rang out over the internal speakers.

"Yes sir," Harry growled.

Ajax groaned. "So the beast is in control, brilliant. You know what to do."

Harry rolled his shoulders, pulling out his earpiece, before turning to his friend. "Mission protocol - all gear must be returned at the end of the mission, through the service hatch."

"I don't have anything," Laura said, reclining on the lumpy sofa fixed to the wall.

"Earpiece," Harry pointed out, placing his own in the tray, along with his bag, before pulling off his belt and the two straps, leaving him devoid of any weaponry, other than his claws.

Laura followed suit, dropping the earpiece in, before pushing the tray through the hatch, and returning to her seat.

The cockpit door opened a few moments later, a furious Ajax stomping out.

He gripped Harry by the neck, glaring at him. "Explain, beast!"

"What are you doing?" Laura protested. She would have continued, but for Harry's quick glance, a look that held only one message: stop.

"The beast is a thief," Ajax growled. "You only used one vial of Trig-X - where is the rest?"

Harry spat in the handler's face. "They broke."

"They are adamantium vials!" Ajax bellowed, tossing Harry across the room, who hit the wall with an audible crack. "They don't just break. Do you know how long it takes to refine?"

Harry staggered to his feet, back clicking back into place. "Fine. I dumped it."

"What?" Ajax hissed. "Where? Why?"

"Can't remember," Harry grinned. "Lobbed them. As for why? It's inhumane. Cruel. I won't do that to Laura."

Ajax slapped him across the face, not that Harry so much as even flinched. "You already did."

Harry smirked. "Tom did, actually."

Ajax raised a finger at him, shaking with fury. "You will be punished for this."

"I'd like to see you find something that can actually hurt me," Harry grinned, reclining into the armchair.

"We could, in time," Ajax scowled. "But I have something quicker." He lunged forward, grabbing Laura by the scruff of her neck, benign her arm around at an unnatural angle.

She let out a shout of pain, and only lingering years of fear indoctrination prevented her from turning her claws on the handler.

"Laura!" he shouted, panic evident in his voice. He may have been confused about a lot of things regarding the girl, but there was one thing he knew for certain: he wouldn't let anyone hurt her. "Let go of her!"

"Ah ah ah," Ajax chided, wrenching the arm back again, receiving a pained moan in response. "Give me your word."

"Fine!" he growled. "I won't do it again. Just let her go!"

"Say it like you mean it," Ajax said as he pressed his foot into the back of her leg, forcing her to the ground with a whimper.

"Please," he begged, fear creeping into his voice. Not fear for himself, that was a fear he knew, and a fear he could overcome. No, it was a fear for others, and he didn't know how to deal with that. "Just let her go."

"I believe you," Ajax grinned. "But you still need punishment." With a sick crack and a scream of agony, he wrenched her arm completely around her body, dislocated and broken in three places. "That'll do."

"Laura!" he shouted, rushing over to her prone form. It didn't matter that he knew she would heal, that it wouldn't last. She was hurt, and he hated it. He looked up at the handler, glowering. "One day," he growled. "I will be free. And on that day, I will teach you how to feel pain."

"Sure, beast," Ajax scoffed, leaving him behind. "Sure."

X

Ajax sat back down in his chair, switching the radio on. "Director."

"Was the operation successful?" Malcolm's voice asked.

"It was," Ajax replied. "And so, it seems, was the pheromone inducement. Weapon M displayed significant distress when faced with the prospect of pain to his partner - enough to dissuade him from rebellious acts."

"Rebellious acts?" Malcolm asked.

Ajax scowled. "He dumped the Trig-X."

Malcolm went silent. "That is… worrying."

"Don't worry," Ajax said. "He won't do it again."

"Ensure he doesn't."

INTERLUDE

Daken slid into the booth, glaring at his so-called father. "I got the info."

Logan grunted. "Good."

"Oh, you don't have to pretend that you enjoy my presence," Daken snarked. "I'll take my leave as soon as we storm that place. I won't ever darken your doorstep again."

"Ooh, family feud!" Wade cackled. "Fight fight fight!"

"Ignore Wade," Cage rumbled. "Leave your domestic problems outside."

"Indeed," Sinister said, holding out his hand. "The information, if you would?"

As Daken went to hand it over, Gambit snatched it out of his hand. "Ah ah ah, I know your type. Uphold your side of the bargain first."

Sinister raised an eyebrow. "You may not like me, nor agree with my methods, but like it or not, I am true to my word."

Cage scoffed. "Yeah, and what a word it is."

"I never pretended to be anything other than a scientist," Sinister replied. "And a scientist cannot be restrained by such petty things as ethics. Just ask McCoy."

"Hmm, I might just do that," Wade said thoughtfully. "I do need to visit the blue monkey again."

"Regardless," Sinister continued. "I will gracefully accept your conditions. The facility is located in Quebec, beneath the Daniel-Johnson dam. I recommend approaching on foot - the forest interferes with the scanners."

"A dam, eh," Logan scowled. "Old habits die hard."

"The first was Stryker's," Sinister corrected. "But in the end, it doesn't really matter. Now, the intel?"

Gambit reluctantly handed it over. "If you attempt to use that for anything nefarious, we will stop you."

"I'm surprised a scientist such as yourself is chasing after fairy tales," Logan laughed. "Honestly, I'm surprised the Triskelion even has a file on magic."

"There is more to heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy," Sinister smiled. "Just look at the good Doctor Strange."

"My name ain't Horatio," Logan growled.

"It's Shakespeare," Sinister sighed, shaking his head. "Uneducated fools."

"Only have yourself to blame there, doc," Cage scowled. "You messed with his brain."

"Oh, yeah!" Wade grinned. "I totally forgot! I found the current weapon!"

Sinister leant forward, a gleam in his eye. "Indeed?"

"Yeah, I ran into her on a deal with that Yaku," he grinned. "You shits pulled another Daken."

"I think I'd know if I had another kid," Logan growled.

"Well, she's got the claws," he shrugged. "Any answers, Doc?"

"X23," he breathed. "A miracle of science, developed several years too late. A female clone of the original Weapon X."

"You cloned me?" Logan scowled. "And it's a girl?" He blinked. "Now I know how Parker feels."

"Who?" Wade asked.

"Not important," Logan said sharply, as if daring the lunatic to challenge him. For once, he didn't."

"So, when do you make your move?" Sinister queried.

"As if we'd tell you," Cage rumbled.

"Tomorrow!" Wade grinned.

"Dammit, Wade," Gambit groaned. "Can't you at least feign sanity?"

"Nope!"

"Well, my friends," Sinister began.

"Whoa, hold up," Wade stopped him. "Friends? That's going a bit far. I'd be willing to give 'Drinking Buddies' a try."

Sinister glared at him. "As I was saying - I bid thee good luck." His glance darkened. "You will need it."

A/N: Yep, next time, Logan and friends attack the Department! Big whoop!

How was my combat? I haven't written many combat scenes - most are in this fic - so I'd love to hear your responses. Also, Harry/Tom and Laura's evolving relationship? I'm not great with this side of things, not having much experience, and so would love to hear your thoughts.

New character:

Winter Soldier - aka James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes, a former friend of Captain America saved from death by the Red Room, and turned into an emotionless super soldier and legendary mercenary, his lost arm having been replaced with a revolutionary vibranium prosthetic.

We are so close to the end of the Weapon arc. We will have other people for the Weapons to interact with!

Please favourite, follow and review!

Until next time, this is JaguarAJG, signing off.