Ten Years After C-Day

The heavy door clicks and swings open. Through it walks the dirty boy.

I pull down the scarf from the lower half of my face and remove my shoulder's burden.

"Here, old-timer."

I hand the man back his unused dart rifle.

"Couldn't get a proper shot. Sorry."

The once loud and harsh voice is now...well, it is still harsh but it is a softer volume.

I sling my own rifle over my shoulder and approach the group.

"Wade...is-..is that really you?.."

It is more of use as a stepping stone to what happens next than an actual question.

Upon hearing his name called, Wade turned around and glanced at the person who recognized him. It was that marauder from earlier - the one who had started this whole mess by shooting at him. The man squinted his eyes. Now that he could see him up close, the marauder seemed kind of familiar... A few seconds later, Wade finally figured out who it was.

'Well, will you look at that. This is turning out to be a real high school reunion' he chuckled. 'So what are you up to, Veach? Shooting folks and taking all their stuff? And by the way, no one calls me Wade anymore'

[You beat Satoshi to it, dammit.]

I approach the group.

"No...I'm with a larger group of Yamaku survivors in the hills."

That question bugs me a little, to be honest...

There have been instances where...the needs of many outnumbered the needs of the few and that generally ended with the barrel of a rifle.

My rifle...

All for a better chance of surviving. Surviving so we can all just die later.

Sometimes I wonder if it was worth it...those men...

"It actually feels like a little piece of the past with the achievements we've made."

"Each person has their own job and can pick up a weapon, if need be."

"Oh, and by the way..."

My hand clenches into a fist as it is thrown into Wade, or 'Deadpool's' gut. It is a quick strike, not intended to do more than inflict pain and shortness of breath.

To be honest, I have personally been planning to do that to him the first time I saw him when I was free from captivity but things got...complicated.

"Ten years ago-you used me and then had the nerve to talk down to me."

Then, as quick as I sent my underhanded blow, I rest my hand on the man's shoulder.

"But now your dept has been repaid."

I smirk. The joy of seeing someone I assumed to be dead for ten years apparently outweighs the transgression of not telling me that I was going to have a gun pointed at me, get knocked out, and be imprisoned for two weeks in utter filth and despair before being let in on the plan in a manner that kind of resembled a father talking to his whiny son.

There must be something wrong with the both of us if Wade did not ready his swords when I showed my face up there and I did not try to pummel him into the ground, regardless of the clear gap in survivability in this world between myself and DEADPOOL.

There must be something especially wrong with me since I just uppercut someone with two, outrageously-sharp katanas and stayed in place like I were petting a friendly, little, stray cat when I am actually petting a lion.

But then again, maybe I really do know exactly who I'm placing my hand upon...

"She's plan B..." Hawke murmurs as Satoshi walks in through the door.

Debt?

"Whattup, Satoshi." Hawke grins as a wave of relief rolls over him.

'Plan B? What does that even--' Wade's question was cut in half by the sudden and quite unexpected blow to his stomach, causing him to yell out and lean forward, breathless. He was usually quite tolerant to pain - after dying so many times, he kinda started seeing it as an inconvenience rather than the deterrence it was meant to be. However, he still preferred to brace himself for anything that was going to hurt rather than just take it blindly and out of nowhere. Deadpool growled - first Satoshi shot at him, then he refused to help him in the fight and finally punched him in the gut?!?

'Oh ho ho...' he grinned after finally regaining his composure. 'Now you're dead'

The man reached back and quickly pulled both blades out of their sheaths. No more bullshit - this time, he was going to impale Satoshi, or at least cut off a limb or two. Wade was going to try and be careful not to kill his old friend, but he wasn't exactly going to mourn if he died by mistake. However, just as he prepared to attack, the ground began shaking beneath his feet, with the ominous screech of metal coming from beneath. Deadpool stepped back in order to retain his balance before looking around, trying to discern the cause of this event.

'What the hell... Another earthquake?'

*Zap*

Wade going for his swords for something as trivial as a single punch, after I tried backing him up in the fight and let his sins upon me go for a much smaller fee than it entitled me to, do not put me in the best of moods either. My smile quickly fades.

As I clearly see the threatening motion, my right hand goes to my lower back and I undo the velcro that keeps my tonfas in place. However, as the handles fall into my hand I find my feet unable to clearly find the surface underneath them, sending me off balance, into some backward steps, and a collision with the side of the rooftop entrance. My left-handed tonfa falls and clanks against the surface.

What the hell? Is this another one of those events?!

Hawke's eyes widen in surprise as Satoshi lands a punch square in the gut of Wade. It reminds him of the time that Hawke once separated Satoshi's lower intestine from his higher one in revenge for a surprise attack, although this punch seemed much lighter, more intended for surprise than pain.

Before Hawke can step in to intervene in the oncoming fight, he is suddenly thrown to the floor by another earthquake, "What the hell was that?!" He shouts as the dust settles around them, making a thin frosting upon the people on the roof.

'Okay...' Wade said as he put his swords back in his sheath, looking around. The last time an earthquake happened was when he was attacking Toshi, and Deadpool didn't believe in coincidences. Someone, or rather, something, was observing him and trying to undermine any of his attempts to start a fight... But what could possibly be able to do that, and more importantly, why?

'We're most likely being watched. Someone is responsible for those quakes, and I've got a feeling they're after me. Tell me where the airport is, and then we should split up'

A rather dusty Hideyo appears in the doorway, coughing into his hand.

"Not so fast, Deadpool." He croaks out as he stumbles towards the group. The journey is most likely painful to watch, Hideyo limps towards the group at a snail's pace, and blood drips from his nose at regular intervals.

"We need you here to end this, once and for all." The man announces when he finally reaches the group, leaning heavily on Hawke's shoulder while he massages the right part of his ribcage with his opposite hand.

As soon as she heard Hideyo's voice, Kanna raised her head up, her wet eyes immediately locking on the bleeding, beaten mutant.

'Hideyo-san!' the girl exclaimed loudly, bolting up from her seat and immediately running towards him. A few seconds later, the girl wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his chest. Chiharu was an important friend to her, so her comfort was certainly much appreciated, but Hideyo was her safety blanket. He was the one who was being nicest to her at the facility, and he was the one who had saved her life and cared for her all those years. And despite his condition, and the obvious discomfort she would cause him with that action, the girl simply couldn't resist hugging the man as soon as she saw him.

Upon noticing the weird girl's reaction, Wade simply sighed. 'You two wanna get a room or something?' he asked while scratching the back of his head through his hood. Deadpool couldn't even remember the last time he had made a joke, any joke. It had probably been about ten years. Unfortunately, his questionable sense of humor was one of the casual of the war.

'And what do you mean you want me here, anyway? Unless you're planning to lure Takeshi here, what good am I to ya?'

"A girl?"

But...she looks to be younger than ten. Herp-derp.

I look over at Hawke, and then Masuda, for answers.

[Satoshi, Kanna is >20 now...]

Hideyo grits his teeth as Kanna bulldozes into his chest. The bruised muscles on his ribs and stomach spasm in pain when she wraps her arms around him, but he ignores the pain in order to comfort the only thing keeping his life steady at this point. The connection between the two was stronger than most father/daughter relationships were before the world went insane, being together 24/7 for ten years does that to you. In order to comfort the girl, Hideyo raises his hand and strokes her hair from crown to shoulder, which he would often do when she was a child to help her restless mind calm and go to sleep.

"You went to Yamaku... right?" Hideyo asks Wade, frowning slightly, looking him up and down.

'A lifetime ago, yeah' Wade answered. 'What of it?'

['He looks over his shoulder, and puts a smile on his face, moving down onto one knee and throwing his arms out wide, "Hey Kanna! Thought you were sleeping?' Okay-thanks for clearing that up. I became very confused when Tiberius had to get down on his knee. XP]

I use this opportunity to bend down and pick up my other weapon before putting the two back into their canvas holder.

"I had an... idea." Hideyo says mysteriously, then gestures towards the stairs.

"Care to join me in the labs? I'd like your opinion on a few things." Hideyo stumbles towards the door, rotating his shoulder joint to try to work away the dull pain.