Ten Years After C-Day

"Just talking to a friend over there." Hawke says with a smile, pointing down towards the street, "Not sure where Masuda-san is. I think he's in that building over there." Hawke swivels his finger and points his finger at a building further down the street, praying that he get Hideyo as far away from the cyborg as possible. He'd seen Hideyo... manipulate, the girl before, and it didn't seem too difficult.

Toshiaki felt reality fall out from beneath his feet, only to reappear in an instant shifted several meters away.
So that's what it's like.
I'd heard of powers like hers, but… this is something else entirely.
I wonder, with that sort of power… could it really be done?

He grabbed his gun from the dirt, slung it over his shoulder, then made his way over to the alleyway to fetch his broken motorcycle.

THE HELL WAS THAT?!

I peak out from the side of the rifle's sight at the cyborg and then look back through it.

Did he just-?...

I have never seen anything like it.

Some back at the hideout have told a story about something similar happening to them but we all just assumed they stumbled on a few mushrooms that some wild cattle happened to take bathroom breaks on in the past and dismissed it.

But...I have never touched anything like that in my life. Am I somehow hallucinating?

I'm looking through multiple optical lenses. I know for CERTAIN that that cyborg was in one place and then another.

I need to report this when I have the chance. Something is causing...hell-I don't know what it is causing, but something is causing inexplicable events...

Kanna takes a few steps forward and peeks down towards the streets, seeing no sign of Hideyo there. Instead, the girl gets a clear look of the cyborg standing exactly at the spot that Hawke pointed to. She gasps from surprise and quickly takes a few steps back, as if hoping that if she can't see the machine in front of her, it won't be able to see her either.

'Hawke-san, that's a robot!' she exclaims before turning towards Tiberius, with worry in her eyes. 'Masuda-san told me that humans and robots can never be friends!'

Toshiaki continued away from the store, down towards the alley. He scowled when he was called a "robot" again.

He soon encountered Wilson heading in the opposite direction. He stopped and raised his black-and-red mask, baring his scarred face. Both the cybernetic eye and the blind organic were narrowed in anger.

"Whattaya know, they do understand words after all," he spat. "Unlike some people."

'Shut the fuck up, cyborg' Wade scoffs as he approaches the machine - the assumption that he actually listened to an enemy's advice for no reason disgusted him to his very core.

'I only let her go because I don't want any more problems. All I care about right now is a jet that can take me to Jump City. Give me one, and we can part ways as friends' he lies.

"I oughta put a slug in your skull for even daring to think of hurting her.
I would, but I know you still wouldn't take a fucking hint.

"Do you still not get it, Wilson? The only reason your lousy ass is still alive is because of your goddamn immortality. We 'mere mortals' have to be able to trust each other if we want to stay alive. And you sure as hell haven't been earning any."

He sneered at Wilson's mention of a jet to Jump City.

"Of course that's all you want. All you've ever fucking thought of is yourself, what you want.

"I'll tell you again, going there is meaningless as long as Takeshi still stands. If he kills us here, he'll move right on over to America. And then your sweet little Rose will be dead too. Because you were an egomaniac with the moral development of a spoiled toddler.

"Friends? Not a chance in hell.

"Allies? I swear I'd shit a brick house if you turned yourself around and thought of anyone else for once in your life. And I don't even have any goddamn intestines anymore, thanks to you."

A devilish grin crossed Omega's face.

"You're pissed off.
You want to hurt me again.
You want to kill me.
Do it. It won't change a damn thing for you.

"You want to get your life back?
Prove me wrong."

Wade squeezes his fists while listening to Omega's words, barely resisting the urge to just grab the katanas and strike at the person in front of him. His blood keeps boiling and boiling as Deadpool's main focus shifts from listening to the cyborg's words to just trying to keep himself calm. A few times, he considers detonating the EMP grenade in his pocket, but ultimately decides against it.

That cybernetic monster's pushing my buttons... He wants me to attack. Can't let that happen, not until I'm absolutely sure I can kill him

'You think I don't want things to be the way they used to be? You think I don't miss my niece's voice every single day? You think I don't have nightmares about the night a cyborg just like you stormed into her home and murdered her because she wasn't 'compatible'? You think I wouldn't do anything to change that? I swear to you, if someone came up to me right now and told me to chop my own head off to get her back, I would do it without even thinking about it. But she's gone. Everyone's gone. My family's dead, cyborg. And they weren't murdered by Sentinels, or by humans. Every single one of them died because of your kind' Wade raises his eyes to look directly at where he thinks his opponent's are.

'So yeah, killing one more cyborg probably isn't going to change anything. But letting you live means that someone else is going to lose someone close to them because of you, and that's not something I can allow. So here's what's going to happen - you're going to tell me how I can get to Jump City. After that, I'm going to kill you and go there. After finding my cousin, I will make absolutely sure she remains safe as I go and pull Takeshi's mechanical entrails out of his body while he watches helplessly. And after that, I will hunt down and destroy every single cyborg that remains. And when this entire thing is over and the world stops being a pile of shit, I'm going to die. But there's a lot of time before that. Far more time than you've got. So I'll ask again...'

'Where is the jet?'

"Go to hell."

Toshiaki stood there, glaring right back at Wade.

"I just told you, asshole.
You can't just force your way through everything. If you would try dealing with someone on a human level for once in your godforsaken life, you might get somewhere.

"Until then, I'm not helping you."

He closed his mask and walked past Wilson, down the alley.

Wasting pearls on swine.

Just as Toshi starts walking past him, Wade draws his katana and presses the tip against Omega's throat.

'I think I know why we're having a little misunderstanding here. You seem to believe you're human and not a murdering machine'

"Yes, I have blood on my hands.
But only one of us has the blood of innocents.

"At least I give a damn about everyone else."

He grabbed the katana in his hand.

"And in case you've forgotten already, steel can't cut this carbide.
Shall I snap your little toy?"

'I'd love to see you try' Wade puts one of his feet back slightly, assuming a more versatile stance before placing his hand on the EMP grenade in the front pocket of his jacket, ready to push the button and detonate it in an instant.

Kanna, who has been quietly observing the scene from the roof, looks back towards Hawke.

'We need to do something! That man is going to get himself killed!'

"He'll be fine." Hawke says flatly, a dark look crossing his face. "He's survived far worse than that prick."

The tales of Deadpool were ones told around every campfire the whole world over, humans revered him as their saviour, cyborgs feared him as their demise, and the mutants had a healthy dose of both fear and reverence.

"Seen a guy with a rifle?" Hawke asks the girl, not taking his eyes off the standoff in the street below.

Toshiaki snickered.

"You're hopeless."

He pushed the sword away and walked on.

Wade growls out and puts both of his blades away. He's not ready to kill the cyborg. Not yet. But he really needs the location of that jet. After taking a step forward, the man swings and punches Omega in the back of the head with all his strength, completely shattering his hand in the process. Of course, the attack isn't enough to damage the cyborg, but it proves an excellent point.

'What the fuck do you want from me?!? Ever since you wandered here, you've been a gigantic contradiction! You say you want to work with me, and at the same time you insult me and blame me of killing your friends. I can kill you right where you stand, but I really need that jet, so I'm going to give you this one single chance to explain yourself. Let me ask again - what the fuck do you want from me?'

He kept walking, not bothering to turn around.
"I told you a dozen times already.

"I want those monsters Takeshi created stopped.
I want him dead, if that's what it takes.
I want nobody else hurt.
I want this goddamn war to be over.

"I don't want to fight and maim and kill.
But I'll do what I have to do to end the war. To protect everyone else.
Because I am stronger. Because I can bear the pain.
Because becoming a mutant and a cyborg has not robbed me of my humanity.

"It made me stronger.
And the strong should protect the weak.
You of all people should know that.

"So you? Either help me, or stay out of my way."

Wade never smiled. Not since Ellie died. But if he did, that would have certainly been a smile-worthy situation.

'So that's it, then? You just came here to try and, what, recruit me for your little resistance? I've got no intention of joining anyone, much less a cyborg. I'll kill Takeshi myself. And trust me, there's nothing I'd love more than for you to get out of my face. But I need that jet. Takeshi will be dead before the year's over, don't worry about that. So if that's the only thing you wanted from me...'

"Fine. Go to the goddamn airport then."

He continued walking away.

You're the last person I would allow to kill Takeshi.
This isn't about revenge.
This is about survival.
Moving on from the past and protecting the future.

But you're still stuck in the past.
You're still the same brat who had everything handed to him, and whenever someone else has something you don't, you throw a fit. Isn't that right, you "ugly shit-eater"?

If you can't understand that, you're a danger to everyone here, and you need to just go.

'The airport, huh... Thanks, that's all I needed to know'

Swiftly, Wade reaches inside his inner pocket and pulls out the EMP grenade handed to him by Chiharu earlier. He pushes the button on the top before throwing it right at Toshi's feet, causing it to explode about a second later. The EMP charge doesn't cause any noticeable damage - hell, from the looks of it, Omega doesn't appear to be affected at all - but at the very least, Deadpool knows that the electric blade is now a thing of the past.

There won't be any cheap shots this time...

A second later, Wade has already pulled the other katana as well. With a yell, he swings both of them straight at Toshi's head. While his bleeding wrist still hurts, most of the serious damage has already been healed, making it strong enough to fight.

The EMP appeared as a bright flash in the low end of his suit's external eye's visible spectrum, followed by darkness.

You dumbass. You only killed the suit's external systems.

You really think I wouldn't isolate the systems that are keeping me alive? The laminar construction acts like a series of Faraday cages and protects all the internals. Not that you would have ever paid enough attention in science class to learn anything about EM shielding.

The motorcycle wasn't shielded, of course. It wasn't made for such a situation.
But I am.

He took a long drop-step forward and raised his faceplate. Without the mask blocking EM radiation, his cybernetic eye could see again, just in time to watch Wade slash at the empty space behind him.

Pathetically predictable.

"Done yet?"

Without verbally responding to Toshi's taunt, Wade yells out and lunges at him once again, swinging both blades in his direction.

Toshiaki turned, stepped back, and blocked with his own blade.

Telegraphing everything. No discipline.

He followed with a left uppercut to Wilson's chin.

Wade steps back, narrowly avoiding the strike, but losing his balance in the process. He's forced to take another step back in order to regain it. While doing so, he keeps his blade horizontally in front of him in order to deflect any potential attacks.

Toshiaki stepped back, holding his own blade at guard.

"Just what the hell do you think you're going to gain by fighting me?"

Can't believe I thought for a minute that he might actually be useful.