Summary:Brian Freeman and his family go with the X-Men for their own safety. Log Info:Storyteller: Wade Wilson |
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The address provided for Colossus will lead his team to a hostel in a shady part of the Bowery. Deadpool and this mysterious Spider-Woman (who has yet to be proven not to be some weird cosplay thing Deadpool has going on) are nowhere to be seen, at least from street level; that's because they are seated together on a rooftop overlooking the hostel, keeping watch on the building and waiting for the boy band to show.
There's a new arrival on the scene - one of the Blackbirds belonging to the X-Men. It was the fastest and easiest way for Piotr to transport the two women with him. When Kitty asks him the question of the moment, Piotr sighs as he shifts into his metal form, the three X-Men in their costumes. "His name is Wade Wilson." he explains. "He is.. mercenary. Soldier for hire. He has done things I do not approve of. But I have assisted him with better things in past." he explains.
"He is not what you would call.. stable. But he would not lie about an issue with a child. We will look into this. And if the child needs to be taken to the school - I will take responsibility." He hasn't exactly put together he's about to introduce his huge crush to well..
"There is a name he goes by in the field. We will use code names. His .. Deadpool."
He doesn't know if it rings bells in the other two, but the Blackbird starts to lower towards the hostel roof, before a landing ramp extends. It's not much of a boy band.. just the seven and a half foot tall metallic man - and two women that may be barely out of their teens.
It's true that Mercury is still young, but now Colossus doesn't look so out of bounds in his metallic nature. And, he has someone to contest that 'Metallica' name of his that Deadpool has assigned, because while Mercury is wearing a traditional X-Men uniform, the short sleeves, exposed midriff and shorts that show legs all indeed show a shiny silver color of unmistakably metal as well. The only thing remotely human about her is her form, and the shock of long red hair off her head.
"Got it," Mercury agrees to Colossus without any issue. She looks around for the welcoming party.
As the Blackbird arrives, Spider-Woman stands to watch it lower, and its occupants disembark. She stays close to Deadpool as the three make their way off the plane and across the roof. "They don't…don't exactly look like a boy band…" she whispers. "I mean I'm definitely no expert on boys but those don't look like 'em." She is a little apprehensive, still, watching and waiting to make sure that these are, in fact, the droids they're looking for.
The arrival of a strange and clearly high tech aircraft has some passersby looking on with surprise, awe, maybe a touch of concern or fear. With rumors of SHIELD activity in the region having picked up, there's an understandable bit of tension in the community. Those coming and going either scatter, or they huddle together near bus stops, store fronts or the nearby subway station for a touch of perceived safety.
As for Wade, he looks on with hands pressed against his hips. "Jesus," he mutters to Spider-Woman, "Maybe I should've told him to be subtle." He then looks toward Gwen and one of the white eyesockets on his mask is decidedly smaller than the other one. "They're called the X-Men. Kinda sexist, but, I mean whatever. Guess I'm the world's first woke merc." Reaching out, he pats the woman on the arm encouragingly. "Come on, let's go."
Deadpool approaches the edge of the rooftop, then looks down, then across the way toward the rooftop where the X-Men have landed. "Tell me you have super strength and we can, like, totally swing in together because that would be so kick-ass!"
He's about ten second away from either prancing up and down like an excited schoolboy, or straight up wetting his spandex.
There is a frown as Deadpool is not immediately noticable. The largest of the group frowns and scans the skies. "Where are you?" Piotr asks none too quietly. Though the longer that it takes Wade to show up, the more that Piotr is starting to consider that this could have been a trap after all. "Be on your guard." he tells the other two. "I am not sure why he has not appeared yet."
Picking up his voice, he calls out. "We are here. Where is child? Where are you tovarish?"
On Piotr's arm, tap, tap, tap, tap. Metal clicks on metal, and then Cessily is pointing towards where Deadpool is. She's not looking at the skies. She's looking at the curious Spider-Girl in the pretty costume, and the weirdo who could only be Deadpool from all the hushed and whispered stories about his adventures with the X-Men that goes around the students from year to year.
Cessily waves, in friendly fashion to the insane, but generally well meaning, death dealer. "Hi. I'm Mercury." Having spotted said Deadpool, Cessily clearly does not think it a trap. But at least she follows the whole 'codename' rule Piotr set down.
Shadowcat emerges, wearing a costume of black with a bit of yellow down the middle. She looks about for signs of the mercenary. Piotr's phone was passed back to him during the flight. As she hears Mercury, the young woman turns to follow her gaze over towards where the pair are waiting. She crosses her arms, appearing comfortable with staying quiet and letting Colossus do the talking for the moment. Though she does give a nod towards Deadpool as if in greeting.
"I can swing you over as long as you don't weigh over twenty thousand pounds, or so," Spidergwen replies. She wraps an arm around Deadpool. Just hold onto me." She thwips out a web to a steepled spire atop the building next to the hostel, and takes Deadpool with her, swinging down to land directly in front of the Xmen, and lets Deadpool go just as soon as she is sure he has his bearings.
"Whoooo hoooooooo!" So much for subtlety. Deadpool might as well be riding Kingda Ka or something. He releases Spider-Gwen upon landing, and is laughing aloud; an odd sight for a man with two blades strapped to his back and at least two visible sidearms on his belt. "Oh my god, isn't she great!?" he exclaims, and literally gets into his knees before Spider-Gwen, bowing in true Wayne's World-style worship. "We're not worthy! We're not worthy!"
Coming to his feet, he gestures from Gwen to Colossus and his wards. "Spider-Woman, meet…. the X-Men." He looks then to Shadowcat and Mercury, shrugging helplessly, before walking over and banging his hand against the massive Russian's hip. "Look at you, huh? You never told me you were a DADDY!" He turns to Mercury, saying, "I know, I know, he's a total hardass and a massive dick, but he's got a heart of gold. Well, tungsten, maybe. And you." He turns to Shadowcat. "You must be either like, the bestie or the other daughter or MY GOD if you're his wife I don't even want to know how that works!"
A large palm grabs Deadpool by the top of the head, as if palming a basketball. "Nyet." comes Piotr's sharp tone. His voice goes firm and flat. There's a glance at Gwen, and he gives the nod of long-suffering that have survive the Wade Wilson Experience featuring Jefferson Airplane. "This is Mercury. She is a new member." that to the metallic redhead. "And she is Shadowcat." A glance to the brunette in black and yellow.
Wife isn't far off the mark, Wade's surely heard Piotr mention Shadowcat one or two (dozen) times in the past.
"Where is child?" he asks, trying to keep the red and black vigilante on task.
Cessily seems about to speak up that she is not, in fact, Piotr's daughter though, certainly, she can see /why/ Deadpool might make that claim. From a cursory glance, it does, afterall, make sense. However, Piotr's actions seem to suggest something of a 'I got this' vibe, so she lets him deal with Deadpool for now.
"Love your costume," she tells Spider-Woman with a shiney thumbs up. Nobody said they couldn't be friendly, right? Then she looks back to Piotr and Deadpool, her expression turning more thoughtful, serious. She nods, the girl is why they came here. "We can help," she adds, finally.
Shadowcat watches as the pair swing over, the webs getting a look of interest. She might not play the role of Garth to Deadpool's Wayne, but Shadowcat appears impressed by the mobility that comes with the display of spider webbing. "Spider-woman, it's a pleasure," the young woman says, giving a nod of her head in greeting. Shadowcat glances over towards what continues with Deadpool and Colossus.
A small nod is given as if suddenly all sorts of stories that seemed too much to be believed, have suddenly struck her as true. "Yes, if we're able to help out, we'll do what we can," she agrees, glancing about the area again briefly before turning her attention back to Deadpool.
"The child and his family are here in the hostel," Spider-Woman interjects into the conversation, to defuse the seemingly rising angst of a large metal man that Gwen would NEVER endeavor to anger. She turns to Mercury and gives a little curtly and a playful, "Thanks! Ohh you're so SHINY!" But their reason for being there and the reason she and Deadpool were there in the first place…well, that is waiting inside the hostel. "We're…We're just hoping we can find a way to learn if there are others. This is a five year old boy. There could be more. There was already one other that we /know/ of. I'm sort of afraid this Snake Guy is gonna come looking for the kid, and a lot of people could get hurt. They ripped Deadpool in half!" Well, that's /half/ true.
Deadpool freezes, but his eye sockets seem to be going from Shadowcat, up to Colossus, back down to Cessily, back up to Colossus, back down to Shadowcat, and then off into space.
He's actually looking right at your computer or tablet or cell phone screen, whatever MU client you are using right now, and somehow there is a DUBIOUS expression on his face paired with a thought bubble. . o o O (Really, now, it's like I just swung into the candy shop of jokes. Gwen totally paged me that, by the way. And it's so true. Anyway, let's get on with this nonsense).
"Right," he says, and turns his attention back to Colossus. "The kid. Follow me, X-Men!"
He looks to your computer screen again, and shrugs.
Moments later, Deadpool is leading them into the hostel via rooftop access. He glances at the elevator dubiously, then shakes his head and makes for the stairwell. "Brian Freeman's his name," he tells the group as they descend the stairs, adding to Spider-Woman's exposition. "Family's from bum-fucking Egypt up in- okay, that's totally racist AND either sexist or homophobic so I'm gonna back that up and say 'bufu'." He stops momentarily, sighs deeply, then keeps going down the stairs. "It's on the Canadian border, and they're like… probably the kind of people who would suck Newt Gingrich off given the chance and you do not wanna know what I had to do to convince their dumb asses to come hide out here, but whatever. Point is, they're here, and the asshat is going to come back for him, and that kind of shit is way above my pay grade, so hopefully we can come up with some kind of a game plan." He asides to Cessily and Kitty with a stage whisper, "I'm really bad at plans," before exiting three floors down.
Coming up on a door, he stops, looks at the motley crew with him, then sighs. "Twenty bucks says one of them has a coronary," he says, then lightly raps on the door. "Helllooooo, room service!" he announces in falsetto.
Releasing Wade's head when he drifts off into space, Piotr reaches up and rubs a hand over his face before moving to follow after the others. However, the observant will notice that he does brush his hand against Shadowcat's as she passes by, before his attention returns to the hostel. "It may be better for the two of you to go in and check on child." He knows he can be more than a little intimidating to a child like this.
"I will stay with Blackbird. Make sure noone takes it." he promises the pair, as he turns his attention to the plane.
"They'd have a hard time hurting any of us," Cessily is bold enough to say. But, she's not saying it too boastfully. It's -very- hard for someone to hurt her through ordinary means. And Piotr is probably tougher than her, when he's metal'd up. And Shadowcat has that whole 'I Can Just Stand There And Watch You Whiff' thing going on. "We'll keep him safe," she promises, earnestly, to Spider-Woman. Mercury, clearly, is very much behind helping people.
She nods to Piotr, "Alright." Then, she glances to Shadowcat. "You should probably go first. I - I don't want to scare him." Maybe that's why Piotr left? She worries at her bottom lip. Someone still has Some Isssues with their mutancy.
The description of things is digested by Shadowcat. "So it's one person with snake tattoos that come to life? When you say 'them' you mean the snakes, not multiple bad guys?" Kitty confirms. "Any other details on who he is, or what he is doing to the kid? How he came to focus on the kid?" she asks quietly as they go down the stairs. "And his family as well, I gather?"
Shadowcat glances about the hospital as they descend, pausing to glance through the window in one of the stairwell doors to see how crowded the halls are. Once they make it down onto the right floor, she's on alert. "If worst comes to worst I'll grab the family and get them to the plane," she says, laying out a simple contingency. Just in case Deadpool really /is/ bad at plans.
Spiderchick just sort of hangs back in case she needs to web anyone who tries to flee due to the mutant invasion and their questionably scary masked buddies. Including herself. "There were a bunch of armed guards," she explains. "And the guy with the snake tattoo can summon ice snakes. They are rounding up kids and giving them those same kinds of tattoos…making them go all World of Warcraft and stuff…So yeah…I'll hang back and watch our tail."
"One guy," Deadpool confirms, "but he kept talking about this 'Plotka', calling him some kind of god. He did something to Brian, I think…" The goofiness is all gone by this point, as the subject matter of messing with children does not sit well with him. "Changed him somehow." He nods to what Spider-Gwen says. "Messed up shit."
With a sigh, Deadpool considers that the Freeman's know his face. This is not how he pictured meeting Piotr's new friends. Reluctantly, he removes the mask from his face to reveal a hairless, deformed head that is certainly not an easy thing to look at.
The door opens, and Mister Freeman is there. His wife, a 12 year old daughter, 10 year old son, and the 5 year old Brian Freeman are huddling together at the far end of the tiny hostel room, clearly all of them anxious. Brian himself has a blank stare on his face; reminiscent of the thousand yard stare that no one should have, much less a child.
Cessily has seen that look before, and she can't hide the expression on her features as her heart nearly breaks for the boy, even as she brings up the rear. She doesn't speak, just yet, though. She doesn't even try and change shape to entertain and lend some levity and warmth to the situation to diffuse the tension. She steps up, behind Kitty, and lets Kitty do the talking. Because Kitty is more human than her. More relatable. She's just a metal girl, who cares an awful lot.
The mention of Plotka brings a visible wince from Shadowcat. "Plokta," Kitty corrects quietly before the door is opened. "Not entirely sure who or what he, or it, is. But we helped stopped him and a bunch of demon minions from being brought into our dimension recently. I'm not sure what the goal was as we put a stop to it very quickly and those involved fled through their portal with him," Shadowcat says, her tone grim.
That expression is washed from her face though before the door opens. The Freeman family will see only a warm, friendly smile from the young woman who walks in alongside Deadpool. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Freeman?" she asks. "We understand you've been in a bad way. We'd like to offer you somewhere safe to stay, where there's protection," she tells them. She looks over the children, giving them friendly smiles as well. "Some of us have fought what you're facing before," she offers as way of giving them hope.
Before retreating to the back of the group, SpiderGwen watches Deadpool remove his mask. She reaches out and gives his bicep a squeeze, just to make sure he knows she's with him in this, and she moves to the back of the group. No family should ever be so terrorized - so endangered. She heaves a heavy sigh and watches for anyone suspicious who might approach them from behind. More suspicious than they themselves probably are, anyway.
For reasons unexplained, Deadpool is all but staring at Shadowcat when she divulges such information about this Plokta. With his mask off, it's not difficult to see the conflict in his eyes, the concern and anger and… something else. Desire would be the wrong word, but temptation might be a better one. Eyes turn forward a moment before the door opens, and he's suddenly all business… Gwen's encouragement was certainly a factor in that.
"Who," Mr. Freeman is about to go off, but Kitty's face is disarming to him. Seeing Wade Wilson brings a flash of anger, but even he has come to realize that maybe… maybe trusting the ugly man is in fact a smart idea. "Who are you?" he asks Kitty, then arcs a finger at Wade. "What the hell is it now?"
"Hey. Asshole." Wade's expression isn't entirely pleasant. "I only put a gun in your face to get you to pull your head out of your ass. I wasn't gonna shoot you." He looks toward Kitty, giving her one of those 'trust me on this one' looks. "These are good people," he says, and motions to Kitty and Cessily. "Hell of a lot nicer and smarter than me, so if I were you I'd shut up and listen."
The man looks from Wade to the others, "What protection?" he asks Kitty, before looking past her toward Cessily and the masked Spider-Gwen. "What, what fighting? I don't believe any of this." The woman is comforting her son, while the older siblings sit next to each other, arm in arm. "Look, I'll give you whatever you people want, we just want to go home!"
Cessily worries at her lip, momentarlly. Then, sho looks to the family. "We want you to go home too," she says, quietly, and earnestly. Because /she/ wants to go home, too. Only her parents … well, they don't suck as much as other parents. But they don't want her back. Not until she's 'fixed'. That's not happening anytime soon.
"We might even be able to help your son. We want to try. And, while we try to help him, we're going to need to keep you safe. Because the one who did this to him did it for a reason. And he's probably going to come back. I don't want to scare you. Not really. But."
Then, her silver-arm, bare, turns into metallic fluid and at first turns into a rather large shield that one might see a knight of the cross carrying. Then, her other arm turns into a sword to match.
"We can defend. We can fight. And we will. Because ti's the -right- thing to do. Because if we don't? We can't look ourselves in the mirror. Because we want a better place for everyone, Mr. Freeman. For us. You. And your family." Her arms shift back, into regular arms. Hands. "Please. Let us help you."
Shadowcat looks back over her shoulder, giving Spider-woman an encouraging smile, and one for Wade as well before turning back to the Freeman's. When Mercury has given the family a demonstration of what she can do, Shadowcat says with a motion that indicates Mercury and herself, "Mercury and myself are members of the X-men. I'm Shadowcat. We can take your family somewhere out of the way that we can keep some of our people around you while we figure out how to help your son," she says.
Shadowcat pulls out her phone and pulls up a story on the attack on Pier 57. "From what I have heard, it sounds like those responsible for this attack, are responsible for your family's troubles. We were part of stopping them on the pier. We'll do our best to keep you safe. And when it is safe for you to go home, we'll help you get there," offers the young woman who's likeable demeanor is one of her more noticeable traits, if not a super power.
She looks over towards Brian. "When I was young, older than your son, but still young, the X-men came and stopped someone bad from getting their hands on me. I'd like the chance to pay that forward, to your family," she says, Shadowcat turning and taking a look at all four heroes, as if including them in that desire even if it were a personal issue for her.
"Don't mind me, I'm just keeping watch to make sure nobody sneaks in to surprise us before we can get you to safety." Gwen gives a little salute to the father, and hops up onto the wall behind everyone, clinging there to keep watch over all.
Mrs. Freeman rises to join her husband, leaving Brian in the care of his older siblings. When she is shown the news article, she visibly trembles and grabs hold of her husband's arm. "Honey," she whispers. "Oh dear Lord Jesus."
Mr. Freeman seems touched by Cessily's display. He may be a country man with conservative values, but he was never raised to look at people with prejudice, and the display of a sword and shield speaks to his own desire to keep his family safe. The paranoia and harshness in his demeanor fades at her display, and there is a flash of respect to be seen.
As for Brian, he looks up to Shadowcat with tears in his eyes. His hands are nervously rubbing at the tattoos on his arms, the ones which lay dormant but give him nightmares when he sleeps. However, when Spider-Woman hops up on the wall, it reminds him of the YouTube videos his older brother showed him time and time again of the Amazing Spider-Man. His little voice suddenly speaks up with power, a voice that hasn't been heard outside of weeping ever since he was rescued. "Mommy, I want to go with the X-Men and the Spider-Mommy."
The misspeak brings a nervous laugh from the entire family. Brian's older sister clings to his chest and arms with a hug, and Mr. Freeman clings to his wife with a sudden and very visceral sense of helplessness. "Okay," he says softly. "We'll go with you."
Deadpool, for his part, is staring off into space, chewing at his bottom lip. He seems uncomfortable, and for once, he isn't talking.
"We'll do our best, by you," Cessily says, looking a touch relieved that her display worked, and didn't scare them off. She smiles more warmly, now, feeling accepted rather than a liability - she really should learn to trust herself more in these situations, she tells herself. But it's a work in progress. "Come on. We got a pretty cool jet, and everything. Even has a fridge with sodas," she tells the kids.
Her silver eyes flash up Mr. and Mrs. Freeman. "Our friend is waiting in the Blackbird. He's a bit bigger, and just as shiny as me when he wants to be. Probably has the biggest, softest heart you'll ever meet. His name is Colossus. Let's go meet him, and get you somewhere a lot more comfortable."
Shadowcat smiles warmly and laughs along with the family at the boy's new name he's dubbed Gwen. And in front of Deadpool, yet. That one's probably never going away.
Shadowcat smiles and reaches a hand over to Mercury's back, the touch a subtle congratulations on the reassurance she gave the family. "It's just upstairs," she agrees of the airplane. "Let's get you up there and on our way, and we'll make some arrangements while we're en route. Is there any immediate needs your family has? Any medicines or anything like that?" Shadowcat asks as she motions the way to the door. "Spider-woman, do you want to lead the way?" she asks.
"Right-o!" SpiderGwen moves along the wall, across the ceiling, and down by the door, to lead the family upstairs, once they are ready to go. She opts to take the stairs as any normal person would, because after all, she's Spider-Mommy now. She has the little ones to think of.
"Well, Stephen has a peanut allergy," Mrs. Freeman begins telling Shadowcat, "And Rebecca is diabetic, but we brought all of our supplies with us for that…" Ask a mother a question like that, and you'll be getting an earful all the way upstairs.
Wade takes up the rear, and makes it a point to walk near Mr. Freeman. "Seriously, man," he tells the father. "No hard feelings about the gun thing. There really was no way I was gonna-"
"Shut up," the father grumbles.
With narrowed eyes and a quiet sigh, Wade begins putting his mask back on. Just before lowering it over his mouth, he sticks his tongue out toward the back of Mr. Freeman's head, then keeps a hand on one of his pistols, as if expecting trouble.