Chapter 4
Slowly, Nathan opened his eyes, blinking in the sun light. He was lying in what had to be the softest bed he had ever slept in, so different from the thin mattress he remembered.
Frowning, the 6 year old tried to remember what had happened to get him here. He remembered running through the Askani Camp with the other children from the clan before making his way back to the Dayspring shack at the edge of the town.
He remembered taking an evening meal with Redd and Slym before the after dinner lessons began, hand to hand combat with Slym followed by meditation with Redd. He remembered Redd putting him to bed and both of them wishing him a good night and then…
He remembered waking up in the arms of that unknown woman, in a room he had never seen before.
Remembering his training with Slym, Nate had immediately found the nearest weapon and put distance between himself and the strangers in the room, protecting himself from any possible attack.
Nate had seen some incredible things in his short life. He had lived thought Apocalypse’s attack on the Clan Askani and had seen Slym shoot lasers from his eyes and Redd move objects with her mind and talk in his head. But he had never seen people like these ones.
The large male who had approached him, skin turning to metal when the male had gotten too close and Nate had been forced to defend himself, and the other man in red with the swords who had shouted nonsense at him.
Nate remembered wanting his knife back, only to find it flying into his hands. He remembered feeling people approach the room, even before he could see them, so like when Redd reached into his mind to talk to him.
He remembered seeing another group of people enter the room and being forced to protect himself again with Slyms training. And then he saw them. Slym and Redd standing behind the man in the chair. They had looked younger, cleaner but it was them.
Nate didn’t know how he managed to stop the knife in mid-air, the feeling as if he was holding it in his hand, even as he could see it at the other end of the room. He remembered wanting it back and then it was in his hand again.
And then Redd and Slym had approached him. He could feel the hesitation in Redd’s mind as she stood behind Slym, letting him take the lead in approaching Nate. And he remembered Slym saying that he was his…dad?
Nate had always been told that Redd and Slym were his carers, sent by Mother Askani to protect him as the prophesised ‘Askani’son’, the hope for their clan. He had always thought of them as guardians but never allowed himself to think of them as his actual parents. He didn’t have parents. The idea was foreign to him.
And yet, Nate couldn’t help but believe them, once he had slipped into Slym’s open mind to see if he was telling the truth. Although he had only had minimal training with Redd with telepathic powers, he had found it surprisingly easy to do so, far easier then only a few days before when Redd had talked Slym into letting Nate practice his control with him.
Nate could feel that something was not right. As happy as he was that Redd and Slym had found him and didn’t seem angry with him, Nate could tell that something was very wrong. Apart from the fact that he had gone to sleep in his home and woken up in a strange new world, Nate had the distinct feeling that a lot of time had passed. But he couldn’t remember what had happened.
He also felt powerful in a way he had never felt before. So used to having Redd’s voice in the back of his head, muting the constant pain from the TO virus, it had taken Nate a while to realise that the voice was no longer there. And yet, the pain was still muted. And Nate realised, he himself was the one muting the pain.
The realisation had caused a wave of exhaustion to roll over Nate, worse than any of his more intense training sessions with his guardians. Because of that, he didn’t protest when Slym had picked him up, despite being far too old to be carried around like a baby, although he had found himself waking up a little when the crazy red man had approached. For some reason, Nate had felt compelled to reach towards the red man who had seemed overjoyed at Nate’s attention, giving him a whistle and a surprisingly nice hug before giving him back to Slym who had then placed him in this luxurious bed to sleep.
Now awake, Nate slowly pushed himself into a sitting position. A shirt and a pair of pants which should be roughly Nate’s size were on the bed. Probably Redd’s work. She would often leave clothes for him if his training with Slym went too long into the night or left him too tired to do it himself before going to sleep.
Detangling himself from the soft blankets, Nate crawled over to the clothes and pulled them on before climbing off the bed, his bare feet padding across the soft floor.
Reaching the door, Nate poked his head out into the larger room, looking for any signs of life. There was no one there. After a moment’s thought, Nate ducked back to the bed. On a small table next to the bed was the small silver whistle the red man had given him. Grabbing it, Nate slipped it into his pocket before heading back into the larger room.
Quickly, Nate searched the larger room, locating a small blunt knife in the draw of a desk as well as an electrical device which seemed to be some sort of communicator. Seeing it, Nate raised his metal arm to grab it. He almost jumped in surprise as holographic screen appeared, showing the workings of the device before getting his head back into the game like Slym taught him to. After a minutes study, Nate was able to take the back off the device and move some of the wires around, repurposing it. He then lowered his arm, blinking as the hologram disappeared.
Calm once again, Nate slipped both the device and the knife into the pockets of his pants before making his way to the opposite side of the room where another door was closed. Pushing it open, Nate slipped into a long corridor. There were windows lining one side of the hall. Standing on tiptoe, Nate was able to look out into a green garden below. It was neat, so unlike the forest he was so used to. Groups of teenagers were milling in the grounds, some running around, others sitting. No one was on edge, no one waiting for an attack. Everything was calm.
In the distance, Nate could hear voices. Pushing away from the window, he reached into his pocket to grip the knife, making his way towards the voices.
As he drew near to a closed door, Nate could make out two males and a female talking. One of the males was speaking in a gruff, low voice, almost a growl and the other was a higher pitch, excitement evident. The female also sounded excited.
“So you weren’t kidding. Scott and Jean have a kid and he’s here?” The female voice asked.
“Yep. Seems like Slim and Red actually managed to produce offspring in the future.” The lower voice grouched.
“Well tough luck for you Logan. Guess this proves that Jean isn’t going to leave Cyclops and run away with you.” The younger male voice stated.
The older voice growled.
“Unless it wasn’t Jean you were planning to run away with. You gotta admit, Scott has a great ass.” The male added.
There was a metal sound before the male gave a yelp of surprise.
“Come on! It was a joke.” The male stated.
“Stop it Bobby.” The female voice said. “So what’s the kid like?”
There was a brief silence before the gruff voice answered.
“Something isn’t right about him.” The gruff voice said. “Someone has worked on that kid. And not in the nice way.”
“You think he was tortured?” The female gasped.
“I know a lab rat when I see one.” The gruff voice replied.
“Poor kid. I heard he’s really powerful for just a kid. You think he was another of Styker’s victims?” The younger male asked.
“Nah. According to Chuck, he’s from the future and unless some of Styker’s minions are still out there, that whole shit storm should be over.”
“So what do you think happened?” The female asked.
“Dunno. Don’t think the kid even knows.”
“It must be terrifying, waking up suddenly in the past with no one you know around you.” The female said. “He must be so scared.”
“He seems to know Red and Slim alright. Besides, he threw a knife with extreme accuracy. He can take care of himself.”
“He’s six, isn’t he?” The young male asked.
“Like I said, can take care of himself.”
“Never become a parent Logan. You would suck at it.”
There was a pause before Nate heard a sudden inhale of breath.
“What is it?” The female voice asked.
“Alright kid. Come on out.” The gruff voice stated, seeming to ignore the female.
It took Nate a second to realise the voice was addressing him. The gruff voice knew he was close by. For a second, Nate considered retreating back to the room but decided against it. The voices hadn’t sounded hostile and Nate was armed. He could protect himself if needed.
Straightening his shoulders, Nate reached up and pushed open the door, stepping into the room to see the three people standing there.
The gruff voice Nate recognised as the male who had been standing with Redd and Slym when Nate had first met them. He was standing with two younger people. A man with dark blond hair and a woman with dark hair and white bangs. Both of them were smiling at Nate.
“Well hi there Sugar.” The woman said, taking a step forward towards Nate. Suddenly the gruff man’s arm shot out, blocking the woman.
“Hang on.” He said to her before turning to look Nate up and down. “Ok Bub. Turn those pockets out.” He ordered.
“Logan!” The woman hissed but the man held her firm.
“Come on!” The younger man said. “Don’t harass the kid.” But the gruff man ignored him, staring at Nate. After a short stare down, Nate decided to relent. The gruff man was clearly a friend of Slym and Redd and Nate could feel that he wasn’t a danger. Slowly, Nate pulled his hand out of his pocket, showing the knife and the altered communication device to the group.
The younger man gave a sharp laugh.
“Holy shit! What did he do to Cyke’s phone?” He asked aloud.
“Language Bobby!” The woman snapped before turning to smile at Nate. The gruff man had dropped his arm and she took the opportunity to approach Nate. Nate let her draw near, watching her carefully. She was wearing green gloves and Nate noticed, most of her skin was covered.
She help up a gloved hand to Nate.
“I’m Maria. You can call me Rogue. What’s your name Sweetheart?”
Nate looked at the offered hand before looking back at her face.
“Nathan.” He replied, avoiding touching the woman. Although the woman looked normal, all of Nate’s senses were telling him that it would be a bad idea to touch this woman. The woman dropped her hand but didn’t seem to take offence at Nate’s refusal.
“Nathan. It’s very nice to meet you. I am a friend of your mum and dad. So is Bobby here.” She pointed to the younger man who snorted something which sounded like ‘only when I cover their classes’. The woman ignored him, pointing to the gruff man. “And you already met Logan.”
Nate nodded, sensing that this was the right thing to do. He didn’t have too much experience meeting new people who weren’t trying to hurt him.
“We also have Kitty and Piotr. Kitty is prepping for her next class right now but I am sure she will love to meet you and…I don’t know where Piotr went.” The woman looked around, as if expecting the person in question to appear.
“They already met.” The gruff man, Logan stated.
Rogue turned to give him a questioning look. Logan gestured towards Nate.
“Cable here threw a knife at him.” He stated before walking away from Bobby, whose mouth was open in shock. “Told you the kid could take care of himself.” Logan shot over his shoulder before leaving the room.
------
The warehouse was as grimy as Wade remembered as the X-Force team made their way inside, dank with that funny stale urine smell the Merc was so familiar with. But there was an added smell since the team’s last visit. A weird smell that Wade couldn’t quiet recognise.
“Well here it is.” Wade said as he reached the middle of the giant room, spinning dramatically with his arms spread as Colossus walked up behind him. “This is where the magic happened.”
“This is where Cable got shot?” The Russian asked, looking around at the dusty walls.
“Well, when you put it that way, it was less magical and more, wanna kill some fuckers but yes.” Wade replied as Domino followed behind the pair. Russell had been left behind with Dopinder to go back to Weasel and talk to him about the initial job.
It had been a strange request which had come through the bar, seemingly the perfect job for X-Force.
The card had said that handover was going to take place between two mobsters. Something to do with radioactive matter and plans to use it near a crowded population.
Their employer had offered a shit tonne of money for the team to retrieve the matter and hand it over to them instead. Wade hadn’t really cared about the money. Radioactive matter generally meant cancer causing and Wade was more than willing to get that shit away from the population. He would have been willing to do the job, maybe not for free but totally for less than his normal fee. Cable, of course, with his crusade to save the world, was also for the job and Dom was bored and thought her luck would be useful. Firefist just wanted to blow shit up.
It should have been an easy job.
But in hindsight, easy jobs normally meant traps which was exactly what this one was.
The X-Force had arrived, not finding two mobsters, but three minor X-Men villains. Of course, they had monologued for a bit, proclaiming the name of their team and their nefarious plan. Usual bad guy shtick which Wade ignored before the fighting started.
At first, it looked like X-Force was going to wipe the floor with those assholes. And then the big guns had been drawn, literally. (Ok, they weren’t as big as Cables gun and certainly not as sexy but still. Big guns)
Wade had managed to dodge the first blast, as did the rest of their team, all of them returning fire with their own weapons (or in Russell’s case, his fists. And god did that sound dirty)
Wade had been having fun, shouting puns and firing at the Marauders. He hadn’t expected Sabretooth, that sneaky bastard, to manage to get behind him until he had already fired. Wade had turned, bracing for the hit, when Cable had decided to play the hero and stepped in front of the blast, the force sending him shooting backwards, crashing into Wade and knocking them both into a wall.
Wade had taken a few moments to come to his senses before he realised that Cable wasn’t already on his feet and kicking ass. It was then that he realised that he couldn’t see his metal armed friend. Climbing to his feet, Wade had drawn his gun and sent a few rounds towards Sabretooth as he stumbled towards the last place he had seen Doc Brown’s gym junkie alter ego.
The first thing he had found was Cables drama cape lying forlornly on the ground (Seriously had Pricilla never seen the Incredibles? Edna Mode would have a field day with him) then, when he had pulled the cape aside, he had seen…well, you know the rest. An unconscious blond soldier who seemed to have lost about 70% of his height and at least 90% of his muscles.
Wade explained as much to Colossus as the T1000 wannabe walked around the room, looking at the damage caused by their little meeting the night before. The metal man seemed lost in thought as he pushed aside debris and searching though the mess.
“Who owns this building?” He asked eventually, appearing to be lost in thought.
Wade shrugged, crossing his arms across his chest.
“No clue.” He said cheerfully.
“And who were these mobsters you were supposed to be stopping?”
“Mobster 1 and Mobster 2.”
“And who hired you?”
“Keyser Sozi.” Wade laughed.
Colossus shot him a look.
“You did no background checks?” Domino asked from the other side of the room where she was kicking though a pile of dust.
“Hey! I get the card, I do what the card says, I get paid. That’s how the system works.”
“No wonder you didn’t see it was a trap.” Domino muttered. She narrowed her eyes, staring at the ground. “Hang on…”
Wade and Colossus both turned as she knelt down, drawing out a knife. Expertly, she slid the blade between two seemingly identical bricks.
With a grunt, she pushed her weight on the side of the knife, pulling up one of the bricks. Both Wade and Colossus made their way over to her as she reached into the hole left behind and pulled out an object covered in plastic wrap.
“Very lucky you saw that.” Colossus stated as Domino shot a triumphant glance at Wade, who pulled a face under his mask.
“Luck, shumck.” Wade muttered as Dom pulled the plastic wrap away, revealing an old book. She opened it, scanned a page and then closed it, an odd look on her face.
“What is it?” Colossus asked as Wade sat down, cross legged next to Domino and made grabbing hand motions at the book.
Domino stared at the book for a moment before looking at the two men.
“It’s the attendance log from my orphanage.” She replied.
“Now how in the fuck do you know that?” Wade asked.
Domino rolled her eyes before opening the book to a random page. Without looking, she pointed at something.
Wade squinted at the neat handwriting.
It was a list of numbers and names. Some of them had the letter ‘M’ written before it and each name had a date.
“Neena Thurman.” Wade read the name Domino indicated to. “And that is?”
“It’s me, you ass.” Domino replied. “That date is the day I arrived at the orphanage.”
Wade shrugged.
“Could be a co-incidence.” He replied. Dom rolled her eyes and without looking, opened to another page. She showed it to both men, pointing at another name,
“Russell Collins.” Wade read. “Ok. Maybe there is something here.”
There was a few minutes silence before a strange noise filled the space.
“Hang on.” Wade stated, fishing thought his belt before pulling out his sparkly pink flip phone. He opened it. “Ghostbusters, Waddaya want?” He said.
There was a moment’s pause before Wade closed the phone and stood up.
“Weasel thinks he found something. Let’s go kiddies.”