Anguish
Her screams echoed through the trees. Birds flew in all directions, the sound waves too strong for them to weather. Glass shattered around her, her car taking the brunt of most of her anguish. The air around her goes silent, then another scream, louder and more pained than the rest. The trees shake, the ground below her absorbing the vibrations that her screams create. More silence as her voice failed her. Sniffles and sobs shake her body. She’s clutching herself, wrapped around her torso in a sort of embrace. She wants to scream, she wants to curse out, she wants to tell God just how fucked his plans for them are.
“Should we stop her?” A male voice breaks the silence, nasal in tone, a perpetual sense of laughter behind his words.
“She’s not hurting anyone, let her mourn.” This voice is rough around the edges, with tinges of exhaustion that are in stark contrast with the first male voice.
Another scream breaks their concentration. This one is even more guttural than the last two. A tree cracks near her, the sound waves having finally broken something other than all the glass on her vehicle. The rough voiced man watches the path of the tree, his one mechanical eye analyzing the angle and trajectory. “Fuck.”
He sprints out from behind the tree, leaving the other man to gape. His cybernetic enhancements power him forward, knowing that the woman in the clearing isn’t in the right mind. She’s not going to see the tree in time. He’d promised the team and that annoying man who he was unlucky enough to call his partner, that they’d bring her in alive.
They’d been watching her for months. For all intents and purposes, she was just your average twenty five year old. She was working on a PHD program in psychology, dating around as one did at this age. She still lived with her parents, knowing full well that it didn’t make sense to stretch a budget to fit school costs and a separate living situation.
Nathan Summers, or Cable, as he was known to his team, sat at the coffee shop across the street from the college campus. The woman, Krystine Evans, was chatting animatedly with a professor. Cable could’ve eavesdropped if he’d wanted, but it was probably more about drug interactions and mental health. He’d never been a big academic. He enjoyed physical work, military planning, only relying on his technological enhancements when on missions.
His thoughts were interrupted as Krystine made her way across the street to the coffee shop. That was something out of the ordinary for her. Normally her schedule only allowed for a brief chat and then it was on to whatever exciting thing Wade got to observe for the next few hours.
Cable had brought the newspaper closer to his face, hoping that the change in routine was not a result of his unabashed watching. He knew he stuck out like a sore thumb. He’d been able to cover most of his metal parts, but his face was significantly harder to camouflage.
“Excuse me?” Her voice had a melodic tone to it. He knew she was in the choir, and the voice lined up with that knowledge. “Excuse me sir?”
He’d peered over the top of the newspaper, lowering it slowly to see a set of blue eyes gazing unwaveringly at him. “Can I help you?”
The girls blush had been startling. The way she’d carried herself with the professors and other students had been so confident, so poised. “W-well. I’d noticed you here the last couple of days. You always seemed to be keeping an eye on me. Thought it was strange.” That hadn’t been the whole truth. One of her professors had pointed it out. That was actually what the man had stopped to tell her. She’d decided that she’d had enough of her admirer, or stalker as the professor had so deftly put it, keeping his distance and had decided to make contact.
“Not sure what you’re talking about ma’am.”
She’d snorted and shook her head. “Now I’m not the most aware. But even I know that you do not look like anyone I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t have remembered you if I hadn’t seen your…” She’d paused, as if she hadn’t known how to politely mention his ‘enhancements’.
The tree was too close now. Wade was behind him, narrating the scene to whoever he saw that the rest of them couldn’t.
“Will Robocop save the siren? Find out in the next few minutes. Stay tuned.”
“Shut up Wade.” Cable’s words came out as a muttered growl. He didn’t care that at this point he was too far away for Wade to actually hear him. All he could focus on was just how close the tree was getting to making this girl a part of the ground beneath her.
“And he goes in for the tackle, will he make it in time! Go Robocop go!”
Cable growls, launching himself off the ground. He wraps his arms around the trembling woman, pulling her with his momentum out of the path of the tree. The tree lands with a crash on top of her SUV, caving in the roof with a dull crunch.
Krystine found herself pinned under the metal man she’d met only a week ago. He hadn’t told her his name, continually denying any sort of stalking or admiring. At this point, it didn’t matter. He’d saved her. Saved her from a tree that her anguish had nearly brought down on her. She tries to thank him. Her words swallowed by another sob as her body shakes underneath his.
Cable’s arms don’t move yet. He should’ve let her go as soon as he’d saved her. But the pain in her face, the sobs that shook her body, they awakened something in him that he’d thought gone long ago. “It’s ok babygirl. You’re ok…” His words still hold that rough quality, but they’re soft, tender. She clutches at his ragged shirt, her sobs coming out in between hiccups. She’d taken his words the way he’d hoped, as an excuse to get them all out.
“Well look at you. If this isn’t a Daddy daughter moment I don’t know what is!”
Cable removes one arm from around the woman’s waist, his mechanical one specifically, landing a direct punch right in Wade’s solar plexus. The skinnier male goes flying, his words cut off with a coughing spasm and then a sickening thud.
The thud brings Krystine back to reality. She looks up into the face of the man from the coffee shop. Her eyes find their way over his shoulder, widening as she realizes the state of her car. “Did I - -?” Cable’s not sure how to respond, so he simply nods.
“Can you stand Krystine?”
Her eyes widen. “I never told you my name.”
Wade’s back on his feet, sauntering over to him. Clearly the hit hadn’t been hard enough to keep him down for long. “See that’s the benefit of being a part of the X-Force. We just know things. And do stuff with those things. And oh the things I’d like to do to you little Siren.” His smirk is teasing, but it sets her on edge.
“Siren? Is that what this is about?” She pulls away from Cable’s embrace. Her fists clench at her sides. “Is this what they teach at the X-Force? Catch them while they’re down and suffering? Because if that’s how your little organization fucking works, I want no part of it.”
Cables eyes widen. He hadn’t been expecting her to have a mouth either. “She sounds like you tin can man! Maybe you’re cut from the same cloth… or from the same technologic?” Wade snorts at his own joke, completely ignoring the growls from either party. “Everyone’s a critic. I’m going to go report back to the big metal man in the sky, so if you’ll excuse me…”
Krystine crosses her arms over her chest. Its raining softly now, staining the ground beneath their feet. “How am I going to get home now…” The tears are threatening to start again. She wants to scream, she wants to hit something. “Why didn’t you let that tree hit me?”
The soft, broken tone catches Cable off guard. “They said to bring you in alive. Fucked by a tree doesn’t exactly count.”
Krystine chokes out a laugh. “Bring me in alive? I’m some sort of fugitive to you then. Is your boss a freak collector? That would explain the two of you wouldn’t it.”
Her words dig into him, his fists clench at his sides at the insults. “For some reason our team thinks they need someone like you. Fuck if I know. But orders are orders.” He approaches her and her stance changes.
“I don’t give a fuck about your orders. I want to go home. I don’t want to go to some stupid fucking daycamp for mutants where I’ll never see my damn family again!” Her eyes flash with the lightning strikes above them. She opens her mouth to scream again, but only a feeble screech comes forth. “Just my fucking luck.”
Lady luck seemed to be smiling at them. Quite literally, as Cable could see Domino waving at him from the shadow of a tree branch. He growled, taking the moment of weakness to charge at the woman and toss her over his shoulder.
“I’ll scream!”
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Krystine had known better than to fight the man. He was larger, stronger and the cyberkinetic enhancement gave him an unfair advantage. She was still livid. She could’ve defended herself if she hadn’t been too busy grieving and being mad at “god” and the universe for slowly taking her father from her. The memories from earlier in the day came flooding back and the tears that she’d thought dried out, returned with a fury.
“I turned in his license plate today.”
The words had seemed to freeze time around her. “You what?”
Her mother's voice sounded tired, the words coming out in a nervous jumble. “I transferred the ownership today. I had to turn it in Krys. ok?” The ok had come out in a nervous sing song. It was a tick her mother had when things were uncomfortable.
“Don’t sound so fucking happy about that. There wasn’t anything you could do so we could keep it?”
Her mother’s brown eyes had flashed with hurt and anger. “I’m not happy. I wasn’t happy yesterday when I did it. The lady at the DMV was no help, looking at me like I’d grown a second head. I was grieving and she was about as comforting as a damn brick wall. You don’t get to speak to me like that. You don’t know half of what goes on around here.”
“You don’t tell me half the shit! You keep things from me. Why I don’t know, but I don’t fucking like it.”
“That right there is exactly why!” Her mother sighed exasperatedly. “You fly off the handle and expect the rest of us to just deal with it.”
Fly off the handle? Because she’s mourning the slow loss of her father and who he used to be. True he was much more pleasant now than he had been when she’d been younger. But know he’d lost his license, lost his ability to use money on his own, and now he was losing on the license plate that had been a defining feature of him as a person… it just made everything much to real.
“Why don’t you give her some more of that Daddy love. You know the girls love that shit right?” Wade’s voice grated against Nathan’s ear drums.
“You’re a dumb fuck.”
“You’re not denying it. It seemed to help earlier. You saw it to right Dopinder?” Wade’s words break the indian taxi drivers concentration and he jumps. “Looks like you were on another planet. Maybe the writer sent you there to join a league of taxi drivers?”
“No sir Mr. Pool, just focusing on the road ahead. What was I supposed to have noticed?”
Nathan snorts, the hurt on Wade’s face evident. “I’m hurt Dopinder! You’re supposed to be the brown panther to my deadpool. What am I to do if you don’t have my back?”
“Anyway. I still think your daddy love will help her. Besides, you’re actually back there with her. Another plot point from our lovely writer!”
Nathan has no idea what he’s talking about, turning his attention to the woman in question. Her breathing has evened and she’s leaning against the door in sleep. He sighs, knowing Wade won’t shut up until he at least tries. He can’t fight him today. He wraps his non metallic arm around the woman’s shoulders, gently shifting her to use his shoulder as a pillow instead. Her breathing hitches for just a moment, her eyes twitching behind her eyelids. Then she settles again.
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Krystine had woken up only when they’d arrived at the X-Mansion. It had taken her a moment to come to her bearings, but when she had, she’d nearly tried to scream again. Nathan had slammed his metallic hand over her mouth. “Oh for fucks sake.”
“Don’t scream or this will become a permanent fixture.”
Krystine resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Like my voice is the only dangerous thing.” She had a point. The file they’d compiled on her didn’t have a whole lot other than her mutant ability. And even that had been scarce information wise.
“Aww look at Cable exploring his daddy kink!”
“Sounds like their might be a better use for your hand. So if you could…” Krystine pushes the metallic hand away from her, sliding out from the taxi with grace. Her phone, long forgotten in her jacket pocket, dings with a notification.
Nathan’s eyes narrow. He’d thought they’d taken all of that from her. If she tried to contact someone on the outside, her family, the police… There would certainly be complications. He watches her. “Do you know how creepy that is?”
Her baby blues find his eyes again. “It’s just my mom. They found my car in the clearing. Guess Wade’s call to the wreckers alerted the authorities. Am I at least allowed to let her know I’m ok?”
Nathan knows what it’s like to be a concerned parent. The memory’s of his daughter tug at his heart. He finds himself nodding before he can stop himself. Krys smiles shyly at him, mouthing a quick thank you before turning and walking away with her phone.
“Mom. I’m here. I’m ok.”
“What the hell Krys? They found your car with all the glass shattered and a tree crushing it? Why didn’t you tell me where you’d gone? You were supposed to be home hours ago.”
Had she really been gone that long? She’d headed to the field to get her scream on, but hadn’t thought it had been more than thirty minutes at the most. “Sorry, some… friends found me out there. Actually saved me from turning into a pancake. The tree nearly hit me. I sort of lost… control.”
Her mom’s face on the other side of the phone paled. “You didn’t… you know you’re not - -”
Krys’s throat tightens at the disapproval on her mother's face. “I know. But I just… the dad thing set me off and I’ve been trying to avoid letting it out but…” Tears warmed her face again.
“I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt.” Her mom’s face flickers with confusion, as wade’s voice suddenly starts again.
“Good call robocop! Missing the cellphone? Did the mention of her parents make you go all soft? I mean that happens to me too so I get it.”
Krys resists the urge to slap her forehead, instead groaning. “Sorry Mom, my friends are being fucking stupid. I’ll call you in a little while ok?”
“Will you be home tonight?”
The question hung in the air. She glanced at the group of mismatched mutants behind her. “I can’t make any promises mom. I don’t know when we’re going to be done.” She wasn’t even sure what they were here to do. But she wasn’t going to worry her mother with the uncertainty.
“Alright, I’ll let your dad know. Just… be careful alright sweetie? I’m glad you’re not hurt. I love you. We’ll figure out the car thing when you get home.”
The phone call ended, the screen going dark.
“Alright siren, that was your get out of jail free call. Gonna have to take that now, so if you would - -” His gloved hand reaches for her phone. Her eyes narrow and she pushes out one last scream, sending him across the grounds and into a tree.
“Like hell you will. You want willingness? Well I get to keep my phone. You’re just going to have to trust me.”
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Krystine was still shocked they’d let her keep her phone. They’d walked her through the mansion, introducing her to so many new people that she’d barely been able to keep track of names. The man in the full body suit was Deadpool, or Wade as the others had called him. The man with the cybernetic enhancements who’d finally admitted to being her shadow over the last several weeks was Nathan, or Cable. No last names had been given for those two. Probably a security issue or something.
Then there were a couple of girls, Yukio and… Deadpool had only referred to her girlfriend as Ellie the teenage warhead. Krystine wasn’t sure where that nickname had come from but knew better than to ask such a prying question right off the bat. After all the meeting and greeting, they’d deposited her in one of the spare rooms. A king bed and an antique desk were her only company for the moment. She’d kicked off her shoes, flopped onto the mattress and found herself crying again.
Outside her bedroom door, Nathan hesitated. Wade had asked him, practically begged him, to go check on their new “ward”.
“You’re the only one she responds to Cable! She has to have a daddy kink.”
He’d growled, not bothering to dignify that with a response.
“Oh come on, I’ve heard you in your sleep, calling someone princess, talking about yourself as daddy in the third - -” Cable’s hand had found its way around Wades throat, crushing the mans windpipe before he could finish.
Somehow he’d still ended up outside the locked bedroom door. Somehow, he’d still found himself concerned for the woman’s well being. He could hear her sniffles through the wood. “Krystine?”
“What the fuck do you want?” Her words were muffled by the pillow she’d buried her face into.
Nathan sighed, running a hand through his silver and black hair. “The others… sent me to check on you. Said you seemed to only respond to me.”
A choked cough rang out. “Like they really care. They just wanted to make sure their precious siren got back to bossman in one piece.”
“I’ll fucking leave you locked in here then. That what you want?”
Krystine moved the pillow off of her face, the sting of his words taking the wind out of her sails. “I want to go home.”
The words halt the tide of Nathan’s anger. Her small voice and simple plea reminiscent of how he’d felt when he’d first got here. He’d never voiced it like that, instead letting the feeling of hopelessness fester in the back of his mind.
The lock on the door clicks open, Krystine having crossed the distance to let him in. “Just don’t take my phone alright. Do your little check, make sure to tell everyone how joyous I am at being recruited for this lovely cause and then let me cry in peace ok?”
Her outbursts were starting to lose their bite. There was an exhaustion behind her words. She was lashing out in a way that Nathan had seen before, a way that his wife used to lash out at him before… “You know, you remind me of my wife.” He’s leaning against the door frame now. “She always struggled. But she was funny… and filtered her pain through the prism of humor. Something I could never master.”
“You? Not a master of humor? I had no idea.” Krystine rolls her eyes, childishly hugging the pillow to her chest again. She’s resumed her flopped position on the bed, not bothering with eye contact. “Does your wife know you kidnap women in your spare time?”
Cable growls, his hand tightening into a fist at his side. “She’s dead.”
Krystine goes silent. She realizes that she knows nothing about any of these people. They probably knew more about her at this point. “Nathan… Cable… I’m sorry.”
“Nathan’s fine.”
“Fine. Nathan, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. I don’t know what you’re going through, not the exact thing… I…” Her words trail off, her teeth kneeding her bottom lip. “Do you know why I was out in that field?”
Nathan’s silent.
“My mom transferred my dad’s car into her name today. Had to turn in his license plate and everything.”
More silence. Her eyes search the dimly lit room to confirm that he’s still leaning against the door frame. “He’s not dead. But…” Her voice catches in her throat. The tears are spilling down her cheeks again, staining the pillow case. Nathan has crossed the space between the bed and the door, wrapping Krystine in his arms again, just as he had in the field.
“I’m losing him Nathan. I’m losing him and there’s no way to save him and I don’t know what I’m going to do.” She buries her face into his chest. He does his best to rub her back, calm her, but he’s rusty. He hasn’t had to do this in so long. Krystine pulls her head away, rubbing the tears from them in frustration.
“What am I doing. You guys just kidnapped me and I’m pouring my heart out to you. That thing about your wife… was that just a ploy to get me vulnerable? Cuz that’s a fucking shitty thing to do.”
His steely gaze stops her. “It wasn’t.”
Krys is back to kneeding her lower lip with her teeth. Nathan’s eyes are drawn to the motion and they narrow as she draws blood. “Of fucking course.”
The moment between them is broken. She shoves out of his arms, standing now, trying to make her way to the door. “You can’t go out there.”
“Like hell I can. I need to ice my lip and I need to fucking pee. Do I really need a chaperone to do that?”
Nathan stands too, coming to stand beside her, a hand on her arm. “Yes. You do. Until we can trust you. Someone’s got to keep an eye on you.”
“And just my luck, it has to be you.”