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Miracle (Original Female Character x Cable Fic)

Chapter 3

Word Count: 14.8k

Inspiration song: Miracle - The Score

Disclaimer: All characters mentioned except my own are owned by 20th Century Fox/Disney. All songs and lyrics described and used in this story are owned by their respective writers/producers/performers.

Warnings to cover the whole fic: Graphic depictions of violence, use of weapons, mild to strong language, mentions of rape, mentions of pregnancy and miscarriage, referenced torture and psychological abuse/manipulation, nightmares and night terrors, sexual humour, sexual content.

Author’s Note: The Italics used is this piece is sometimes in reference to Russian or foreign language used by characters. Please enjoy and let me know what you think!

“Daddy, promise you’ll come back soon?” Hope asked, wrapping her hands around his neck and hugging him as tightly as she could.

“I promise sweetheart,” he held the back of her head gently and then placed a kiss on the top of her head, he moved away and smiled at her, “I could never forget about my favourite girl.”

Her saddened face quickly turned to a grin and she kissed him on the cheek and gave him one last squeeze.

“Come on Hope, sweetheart, we need to get going,” his ex-wife said from where she stood a distance away, “Your Dad is waiting for us.” She rested one hand on her hip, while the other was placed on her extended belly.

“Coming Mommy!” she glanced at her mother and then looked back at Nathan, “He could never replace you Daddy,” Hope whispered, before running over to her mother, “I love you!” She blew him a kiss and waved her hand happily at him.

“I love you too, sweetheart!” he called out, returning the wave eagerly. His ex-wife nodded her head as a means of saying goodbye and they headed towards the door.

Hope flung her garish coloured backpack over her shoulder and her teddy bear fell out onto the floor, he quickly stood up and ran to pick it up and called out to his daughter, “Hope!”

“Mr. Hugglesworth!” she gasped and grabbed the teddy from her father, “Thank you, Daddy!” she squeezed the bear close to her chest.

“Anytime sweetheart,” he smiled down at her, brushing her hair carefully with his human hand.

“Let’s go,” her mother gestured Hope to go out the door and was about to walk out, when she stopped and turned to look at Nathan, and for a second he felt his yearning return, “Try not to get her hopes up will you?” she asked, not waiting for an answer as she closed the door.

He looked down at the floor, wishing the throbbing pain in his chest would stop, as he rested his forehead against the door. “Fuck, I miss you,” he whispered.

He clenched his hand in anger, wishing his heart would stop giving him optimism where none was needed, his eyes burned as a hot tear slid down his cheek. He took several deep breaths and tried to focus on the grain pattern in the wood of his door, but his mind wasn’t allowing him to move past the aching thoughts.

I know you’ve moved on, that you’re with him now. But I can’t stop thinking about us, even though you’re starting a new family together. I… Fuck it, I still love you, Aliya. I just wish everything would go back to how it was before, before I screwed up everything and lost it all.

He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat and hit the door with his fist, making a large dent in the old wood, before pushing himself away and throwing himself down on the couch. He leaned over, placing his forehead on his palms and cried.

His tears fell onto the bear, causing small dark spots to start covering the light brown fluff, as he sat hunched over it on the edge of his bed he gently brushed its head. He could hear his daughter’s giggling as if she were in the room with him, and he remembered that smile she used to have when she came to visit him on the weekends, and a familiar ache burned in his chest.

Nathan squeezed the bear tightly and inhaled deeply, the faint smell of her made him feel both better and worse. He stood up and placed the bear carefully on the bedside table before he walked over to his bathroom.

He gave himself a stern look in the mirror, leaning over the sink with both hands on the side and shook his head.

Keep it together Cable. You’ll see her soon enough.

He opened the tap and let the water run for a minute before he cupped his hands and let the cool liquid fill them, he raised them to his face and smothered it with the water, and it splashed and ran down his face.

He let out a breath feeling a bit more relieved and awake, he switched the water off and dried his face and then went back to his room to change into his regular clothing. It had been barely a week after he had been captured and tortured, and he found that sometimes the pain would creep up on him just doing basic things, but he refused to admit it anyway, believing that he deserved it.

Once he was done he made his way downstairs to the kitchen, and nearly hesitated to go in when he saw Hayden seated on one of the high chairs in the breakfast nook, she was scrolling through her phone idly.

“Sup?” She greeted.

Nathan only nodded and gathered the ingredients for his protein shake from the fridge, after putting everything in the blender he couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable as if someone was watching him, and he turned to see Hayden staring at him with a frown, “What?”

“Something’s wrong. What is it?”

“Nothin’s wrong.” He said too quickly and he knew it from the raise of her brow.

“Ah, something’s definitely wrong. Firstly, you normally grunt a half-decent ‘mornin’ when I greet you; and secondly, you put three whole eggs, shell and all, in your shake,” she pointed.

He hurriedly turned the machine off as it made a high pitch noise, and picked up the blender to examine the contents, crushed eggs shells were mixed throughout. He sighed and put the blender down on the counter, “So what? I’m tired, that’s all.”

“That’s a shit excuse and you know it,”

“What do you want from me, huh?” he slammed his hands on the counter angrily.

“What I want,” she slammed her hands down on the counter and leaned closer to his face, “Is for my team members to be on some level of okay, and clearly you’re not.” He huffed through his nose, knowing she wasn’t going to drop it unless he told her.

He stepped back and licked his mouth, avoiding eye contact, “I miss my little girl... Alright? Is that what you wanna hear? I just want to go back, see her, hear her, and hold her, just one more time. I never got to say goodbye,” he slowly raised his head, “I didn’t think I’d have to say goodbye,”

She sat back on her chair, taken back, “Oh.”

“And besides the fact that I used up the last of my fuel, I can’t find the damned thing. I had it in my drawer when I first arrived and it’s been missing since the day after,”

“Missing… Wait a minute,” her eyes widened and she stood up, looking up at the stairs, “Wade!” Nathan stepped back from the unexpected yelling and frowned heavily. “Wade, get your ass here now!”

“Jesus, do you have to yell?” He covered his ears irritably.

“Whassup?” Wade bounded into the room eagerly.

“A few weeks ago, when you told me that you went back in time to try and kill baby Hitler… That wasn’t a hallucination of yours, was it?” she asked, giving him a suspicious look as she crossed her arms.

“Uh-” he paused when he realised that Nathan was also in the room, and then it flickered back to her nervously, “I’ll tell you everything you need to know. I’m more scared of you than Nathan,”

“Excuse me?” he asked, looking insulted.

“Wade fucking Wilson-” she shoved him firmly, “Not only did you steal a time travelling device, but you somehow got it fixed and didn’t fucking give it back?”

“Oh fuck,” Wade squeaked, his eyes widening as he took a step back.

He froze. I can go back and see my Hope again. He smiled to himself.

“Fuck is right mister,” she rolled up her jacket, grabbing him by his shirt collar and lifted him off the ground, her eyes not even changing a shade as she glared at him. “Now where is it, before I fuck you up worse than you could imagine.”

“It’s in my room, please don’t hurt me or my dick I need that!” he raised his hands in a panic.

She lowered him to the floor, before grabbing his neck in her hand and choking him hard. She spoke to him softly, “If you ever get in the way of that man being able to see his daughter again, I’m going to do more than this, got it?”

Wade barely managed to choke out a ‘yes’ as he clung onto her hand in some attempt to loosen the grip on his neck, she released him and he gasped for air desperately. Nathan cocked his head wondering why she was going to such lengths for him; but he dismissed the thought just as quickly and walked over to the two.

“Where?”

“It’s best that I bring it, there’s a lot of… Stuff in my room,”

“Thirty seconds, Wilson,” Hayden said as she looked down at her watch, “Twenty-nine-”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” Wade ran up the stairs, tripping several times before he actually disappeared out of their sight.

“Not that I don’t appreciate your help, but why?”

“If I could go back to see my mom, I’d do it in a heartbeat,” she paused as Nathan raised a brow but she shook her head, “Wade, you have exactly five seconds to-!”

“I’m here, fuck me,” Wade ran to them and fell to his knees panting heavily, he propped himself on one knee and held the device proposal style to Nathan.

“Wade, don’t do what I think you’re-”

“Cable, will you time travel with me?” he asked, she let out a breath and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I hate you,” she muttered.

“That’s the last thing I’d ever fucking do,” Nathan grabbed the device and shoved Wade’s shoulder so that he toppled over onto the floor, he looked over the device, “How’d you fix it?” he asked.

“Ask Ellen the Teenage Warhead,” Wade shrugged as he stood up, “As for baby Hitler, he ended up having a diaper change, funny story I was actually going to call Cable since he was so keen on killing Russel, I thought this would be like taking candy from a baby, if that means replacing it with a bullet that is,” They both stared at him. “What? It’s the truth!”

“You wanted to murder baby Hitler?” Hayden asked. “Wade you’re such an idiot, you know that? Changing history like that could make it worse, what if someone worse than him- you know what I’m wasting my breath,” she raised a hand and took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment

“Now that’s the truth,” he said as he examined the device, a smile worked its way to his face.

“Holy shit, Cable you’re smiling?” Wade’s jaw dropped. “Quick, someone take a picture!”

“Funny asshole, say it again and I’ll show you a real smile,” he raised his fist.

“Aha… I’m good,” Wade laughed nervously, taking a few steps back and then running away as quickly as he could.

Nathan placed the device in the compartment on his arm, before tuning it he paused.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know what I’m gonna do when I get there, what the hell am I gonna say?” He lowered his arm.

“For starters you remind your daughter that you love her, and then, take her out just the two of you and do something together, I guess,” she shrugged.

“What the hell do kids even like to do?”

“You’re really asking the wrong person here Cable,” she shook her head, his shoulders dropped and she thought hard for a moment, “Oh, I have an idea, I heard there’s a carnival in town, maybe you can take her there?”

“Carnival? Those are travelling, fun-fair things right?”

“Well yeah, what, don’t you have them in the future?”

“‘Fun’ isn’t exactly a priority in the future,”

“Really?” she asked surprised and he nodded, “Then you really should bring her, give her a proper childhood experience.”

“You think she’d like that?”

“Trust me, she’ll love it. Besides, does it really matter if you get to spend time with her?”

“I suppose you’re right,” he nodded as he continued tuning the device.

“Of course I’m right,”

“Appreciate it, wish me luck,” he smacked his hand down, flashing into a ball of light and disappearing before she could say anything.

Nathan knocked on the door to the house, wondering if his ex would actually open for him, when it did he was greeted by her new husband.

“Oh Nathan, good to see you,” he attempted a smile and Nathan cleared his throat.

“Uh yeah, likewise,” he nodded and walked into the house, “I’m here for Hope-”

“Daddy!” Hope leapt into his arms and he hugged her so tightly that she squirmed and giggled, “Daddy you’re squeezing me too tight!” He let her go slightly and kissed her several times on the head.

“Sorry sweetheart, I just missed you, a whole lot,”

“I missed you too, Daddy,” she let go and he did as well, rather reluctantly.

“I’m just going to talk to your mom real quick sweetheart, don’t you go anywhere, alright?” he smiled and brushed her hair from her face.

“Alright Daddy,” she grinned and watched as Nathan walked away to her mother standing a few feet away, an infant wrapped in a blanket rested in her arms.

For a moment he was taken back, but he remembered what he was here for and spoke to her, “I’m taking her out so don’t you try come back and insist that there’s something important with you and Chet so that you can take her, this is my weekend with her and I intend to spend every minute I can with her,” he said with an air of confidence that he didn’t know he had.

“Nathan you can’t just-”

“She’s my daughter too, I have the right to see her,” he strode over to his daughter and scooped her into his metal arm and grabbed her packed bags with the other.

“Yay weekend with Daddy!” she cheered, he smiled as he flung the bags over his shoulder and opened the door before slamming it behind him.

Hayden paged through one of the ‘Guns and Ammo’ magazines that Nathan had left in the kitchen, she sat up, feeling that something was about to happen when a loud pop sounded and a flash of light temporarily flared just ahead of her.

“Jesus Christ.” Hayden placed her hand on her chest as Nathan popped into the room unexpectedly with a small girl and bags in his arms.

“Hope, this is my friend Hades,” he said as he lowered her to the floor carefully.

She stared up at Hayden with excitement, “That’s such a cool name! My Daddy told me you’re taking us to a carnival, we heard about them in school, are they really fun?”

“Um…” she looked dumbfounded as she stared at Hope.

“Hope, sweetheart, why don’t you go have a seat over there for me?” he pointed to the couches, “I’ll join you in a minute,”

“Okay Daddy,” she bounded off and hopped onto the nearest couch, looking around at the rest of the room curiously.

“Wow, a kid. She’s, uh, yours,” she stood up, looking at her perplexedly.

“She’s beautiful isn’t she?” he smiled.

“Uh- yeah, yeah. Me taking you, carnival?” she asked stupidly, looking between him and his daughter in confusion.

“Yeah- about that, I meant to ask if you could join us before I left. I’ve no idea what carnivals are like, and having someone more socially adept around will make things a whole lot easier for me,” he said sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck.

“I- well,” she shook her head, “Yeah, yeah I’d love to, except I’m not that good with people,” she admitted.

“Great,” Nathan smiled again, “Well, you’re probably better than I am by a long shot,”

“Maybe,” she nodded, “I have one condition though, I’m bringing Wade along as well,” she said, which made him sigh, “Only because he’s going to whine worse than an actual child about not going to a carnival, he loves them.”

“Fine, just keep him in check and make sure that trap of his doesn’t curse around my little girl, and you’ve got yourself a deal,”

“It’s a deal,” she stuck out her hand and they shook in agreement.

After an hour they were ready to go, they decided to walk as it wasn’t very far and the weather was lovely, Wade and Hayden had been leading until the banners and flyers came into view, that’s when Hope had pulled her father along behind her eagerly.

Wade was grinning at her, and she looked at him, “What?”

“I mean, I’m pleased as punch that we’re going to the carnival and all, but-”

“But what?” she squinted at him.

“I don’t understand how it was Cable who convinced you to go,”

“He didn’t convince me, he asked me,”

“Okay... So I don’t see why you’re making me third-wheel on your date,”

She elbowed Wade in the ribs, “It’s not a date idiot, his daughter is here too,”

“That’s exactly why it is a date my dear sis- Haydes,” he corrected himself as she gave him a look, “Single parents have to take their kids with them on dates to see if the relationship has potential, depending on how well they get along with their kid,”

“That’s crap, you just made that up right now,” she pushed him slightly.

“It’s so not!” he argued

“Hey! Are you two coming, or what?” Nathan called to them, his daughter Hope standing at his side, she was looking all around her trying to take the colourful scenery in.

“Cool your jets old man we’re coming,” Wade said as he walked through the entrance.

She stared up at the entrance banner, it was bright and colourful and inviting, and she turned her gaze to the inside, taking in the scene before her. It was very noisy and overcrowded, something she would normally avoid, but today for some reason she felt safer than she had been in a long time.

“Haydes?”

“Yeah, I’m coming,” she smiled and walked over to Wade, they caught up to Nathan and Hope, she was bouncing on the spot impatiently.

“So, where to first?” Nathan asked Hayden, she looked to Wade for help.

“Uh, why don’t we start over there and work our way around?” he pointed to a water themed booth.

“Alright,” he agreed, and Hope turned to see where Wade was pointing and ran to the booth, Nathan followed after her worriedly. Hope’s hands held the edge of the booth that was named as ‘Aqua Snipers’ and she peered over, the attendee smiled and leaned over to talk to her.

“Hope, don’t run away like that, there are too many people here, I don’t wanna lose you.” he chided.

”Daddy, the man says that it’s five dollars to play a game,” she looked at him sweetly.

“Alright,” he pulled out a few crumpled notes from his pocket and placed it on the table, “How do we play?”

“Why it’s simple sir, all you have to do is aim this here plastic gun at the clown’s mouth over there, and once the balloon attached bursts you win,”

“Seems easy enough,” he shrugged but Wade grabbed the money on the table.

“Hold on Carnie, what’s the catch?” Wade pointed at him.

“No catch, just a two minute time limit,” he held his palm out for the money.

“Hmm, fine,” Wade placed the money in his hand sceptically; the attendee closed it quickly and put the money in his tin, “Let’s kick some butt.” He cracked his knuckles.

They were each given a plastic rifle that was attached to a tank of water, Nathan guided Hope on how to hold the toy properly and then the attendee started the game. The three of them were easily filling the balloon given their experience with guns, however, Hope was struggling to hold it with it being so heavy and shooting pressurised water, and they managed to pop their balloons before the game ended, while Hope’s balloon fizzled out.

She put the toy gun down, looking very disappointed as she stared at the ground. Nathan quickly rubbed her backside, “Hey now, it’s okay that you didn’t get it the first time, you can try again,”

He put more money on the table, helping her steady the gun and she focused on aiming it, while Nathan secretly helped her by tilting it in the correct position with his finger, and this time she won and she grinned happily.

“Thank you Daddy!” she giggled as she walked holding her new stuffed panda, the others each holding their own stuffed toy that they had won.

“Don’t thank me Hope, you did it all by yourself,” he ruffled her hair, before pulling her to his side as they walked on.

“I think my heart just grew three sizes,” Wade teased with a hand covering his heart, “And here I thought you were always a hard- butt. Hard-butt,”

”Nice save.” Nathan grunted, and Hayden nudged Wade in his side.

They played the Basketball Bonanza next, the adults playing before Hope so that she could see how the game worked, when she tossed her first ball she missed by a great distance. Nathan didn’t want her to be discouraged, so he lifted her up in his arms and winced briefly enough for Hayden to notice, and with the added height Hope was able to score and won another stuffed animal prize.

After dominating the Ring Toss Extraordinaire with use of some super abilities and calculative cyborg vision, they defeated the Milk Bottle Slammers, they’d agreed that whatever they’d won that Hope could have it. Unless it was a unicorn, those were exclusively for Wade. Hope was overwhelmed with all the toys that she now had for her collection, and although she hadn’t been very good at the games herself she enjoyed watching them play.

They seated themselves on the outskirts of the carnival that was made into a makeshift hay-bale courtyard for the food booths. Hope was attempting to suckle down on a large candied apple, Wade happily chewed down on his seventh chimichanga while Hayden opted for the classic caramel popcorn, and Nathan settled for a corndog (only after Wade insisted that it was a must-have for ten solid minutes).

“So did you enjoy your first carnival?” Wade asked after swallowing another bite.

“It was awesome! The games were so fun, and the people are so loud and everything is really fun here! I wish it was like this back home,” Hope said and gave her candy apple another lick.

“Oh, that’s nice Hope,” Wade looked down at her and then looked back up again, “But I was actually asking Haydes,”

Nathan turned to Hayden, “This was your first carnival too?”

“Well, yeah,” she admitted.

“That’s why you insisted on bringing him along, because you didn’t know what to do?”

“Sue me for not having a normal childhood, I suggested it because Wade had bi- complained about it. And I just wanted to know what the big deal was,” she stuffed her mouth with a few more pieces of popcorn.

“And?”

“With you two idiots and Hope, I think I could tolerate it a few more times over,” a smirk played on her mouth.

“She’s a lot more fun than Mommy,” Hope said with a grin, she looked at Nathan, “I like her.”

“Well thank you, I like you too, Hope,” she smiled down at the girl.

“Hope, it’s not nice to say mean things about your mother,” Wade chided making the other two turn their heads, “On the other hand, your father-”

“Daddy is the best Daddy in the whole wide world, I could never say anything mean about him!” she seemed shocked by the idea, “But Chet-”

“Who’s Chet?” Wade asked, taking another bite of his snack.

“Chet is… My ex-wife’s new husband,” Nathan explained, with a hint of bitterness.

“You’re divorced?” Wade asked surprised, “The way you talked about her- I’m sorry man.”

“And I hate him,” Hope continued, swinging her candied apple around. “He always tells me what to do, and sends me to my room all the time so he can be alone with Mommy and the baby,”

“Hope-” Nathan started.

“No, no, let her talk it out,” Hayden said, glancing at him before looking at Hope with full attention, “Hope?” They waited patiently.

“Mommy loves the baby more than me,” she spoke quietly, “I don’t think she wants me anymore,”

“Sweetheart, your mother still loves you, they’re just excited that the baby is here,” Nathan assured her.

“But I’m here, they’re replacing me.” A tear fell down her cheek, and he crouched down to her level.

“No one could ever replace you,” he touched her face gently, “Do you understand? A lot of attention is gonna be towards the baby now that it’s here, because it’s too small to take care of itself. Not like you though, you’re my big strong girl aren’t you?” he wiped away her tears.

“Yes,”

“Look at me,” he lifted her chin, “Your mother and I still love you, we just don’t love each other anymore, but just because we don’t love each other anymore doesn’t mean we’re leaving you behind, alright sweetheart?”

Hayden felt unconvinced about Nathan not loving his ex-wife anymore, as he had emphasised the ‘we’ a little too much for her to believe.

“Alright Daddy,” she managed to smile.

“Aren’t you glad I suggested she talk it out?” she asked smugly, “Hope, don’t you ever be afraid of telling someone you trust how you’re feeling, alright?” she looked at her again, “That way you can get the help you need,” she looked at Wade who smiled with a mouthful of chimichanga and nodded.

The carnival was closing up for the day and the group knew it was best to head back since it was getting dark. Nathan walked ahead with his daughter Hope holding his hand all the while swinging it slowly between them, on his back he carried a large bag of stuffed animals that could easily cover a bed, while Hayden and Wade fell in behind them.

“I felt like I had a real family outing today,” Wade spoke to her, “You and Cable were the Mommy and Daddy, Hope was your little girl and me well, I’m practically the weird family dog that humps everything,”

“I disagree with everything, except the part about you, you definitely hump everything,” Hayden shook her head smiling, and he suddenly looked serious.

“Why do you have to deny your feelings for Cable?”

“Why do you have to assume that I have any feelings for Cable?”

Nathan turned his head slightly hearing his alias spoken for the third time, “Why is it I keep hearing my name back there?”

“It’s nothing- we’re just saying, it’s strange seeing how sweet you are with your daughter,” Hayden quickly said.

“Very convincing,” Nathan said sarcastically, turning his attention ahead anyway.

Wade elbowed her, “Nice cover up dweeb,”

“Shut up mudak,”

“Ugh I hate it when you talk Russian, don’t you come with subtitles?” he poked her in the ribs.

“Nyet,” she smiled.

“Hades?” Hope called out suddenly.

“Yes Hope?” Hayden walked over to her side, Nathan raised a brow and looked at Hayden who shrugged she was just as confused as he was.

Hope’s free hand reached up to grab onto Hayden’s and she giggled and smiled up at both of them. “Swing me?” she asked sweetly.

“She wants us to lift her from the ground and swing her,” Nathan explained when he saw her confused face.

“Oh, I knew that,” she avoided looking at him.

“C’mon, I wanna swing!” Hope tugged on their hands, they lifted her slowly and began to swing her as they walked, and she giggled happily.

After a good ten minutes Hope grew tired of the initial excitement and they walked normally the rest of the way home, well as normal as it could be as she still held both of their hands in her own, with Wade trailing awkwardly behind like a lost dog.

They crashed on the couches once they reached home, tired from the day’s activities and the walk both to and from the carnival. Hayden on the other hand seemed unaffected as she walked over to the kitchen, grabbing one of her sodas and drinking from it as she returned to the rec room.

Hope was cuddled, and already asleep, against Nathan; his thumb was brushing over her backside, and he had the biggest smile on his face. Wade was stretched out on the opposite couch, with one leg hanging to the back towards the wall awkwardly; his breathing was deep as he slept peacefully.

“It was good for you to spend the day with her, you know,” Hayden spoke up suddenly, grabbing Nathan’s attention, she sat down on the armrest of the couch that Wade was sleeping on and she looked amused about his ridiculous position.

He nodded, and remembered their conversation earlier, “So your mother, how old were you when she uh-” he struggled to find the right word.

“I was about four, and she was murdered.” she only realised what she had said when Nathan’s eyes widened slightly, “Shit, I didn’t mean to tell you that last part.”

“Well it’s out now,” he watched her as she started to fidget with her hands, “You wanna elaborate or-?”

“Maybe when these two aren’t around,” she looked at both of them, “He doesn’t sleep for long, and I really don’t need his commentary,”

“Right,” he nodded, “I’m holdin’ you up to that. I remember someone said we all have to be on some level of okay,” he hinted at their conversation from earlier in the morning.

“Fine,” she rolled her eyes, “But for the record, it’s not holding me back like your problem was.” She went quiet for a moment, watching him holding his daughter fondly.

“She’s incredibly sweet, I can see why you missed her,”

“She’s a real angel,” he smiled down at her and looked at Hayden, “You know, she doesn’t even let her step-father hold her hand, in fact I’m not entirely sure if she even speaks to him much. But she seems really fond of you from the get-go,”

“That’s supposed to be a compliment, right?”

“Yeah, yeah it is,” he chuckled lightly.

“Well, alright then.” she nodded, “You see this is what I was talking about when I said I wasn’t good with people,”

“You’re doing just fine,”

She nodded, “So, this Chet guy, he’s the new man in your ex’s life?”

“Yeah,” he sighed.

“You still love her, don’t you? The way you spoke about her earlier-”

“She was my first love, it’s hard to forget that everytime I see her. It’s like a wound that keeps opening,”

She nodded, and cleared her throat lightly, “Well, you know, sometimes moving on is the only thing that helps to ease the pain,”

“Speaking from experience?” he asked, a little surprised.

“Unfortunately yes, but I had to move on otherwise I wouldn’t be here, if I had fixated on something I knew I couldn’t change,”

“I know that you’re right, but I’ve no clue where to start. It’s more complicated than just pushing past it,”

“Well if it helps you’re off to a good start,” he frowned at her, “Talking about it to someone else,” she explained, he nodded, “And if Wade could help me, then it’ll sure as hell be a piece of cake for me to help you,” she stood up. “I’ll make a list.”

Hayden went to the kitchen, taking the list that was stuck to the fridge, tearing the first page off and throwing it away. She took the pencil out and started writing, and after a few moments she tore the page off and then handed it over to Nathan.

He read the list. ‘Step One: Talk to someone. Step Two: Identify your feelings. Step Three: Take care of yourself. Step Four: Take your mind away. Step Five: Be positive.’

“Five steps. That’s supposed to help me recover?” he questioned.

“Believe it or not, and technically you’ve got four steps left,” she smiled.

He carefully moved Hope so that she lay on the couch and stood up slowly so as not to disturb her, he looked at Hayden. “Is it possible to do this in one night?” he asked as he looked at the paper again.

“If your mind is insanely configured, then sure but-”

“What are we waiting for then?” Nathan grabbed her wrist, and despite her confusion she let him guide her up the stairs.

Wade in a half-asleep state felt his brain short circuit, “What the fuck?” he whispered. “I knew it! Go get that bone you dog Nathan. Wait that’s backwards- this metaphor took a derailment to shits-ville very quickly,” he shook his head.

“Ah well, goodnight everyone,” he mumbled and shuffled on the couch until he was satisfied and went back to sleep.

Nathan opened the door to his room and released his hold on her, she stood in the doorway and frowned before shaking her head and slowly walked inside. “What the hell was that about?”

“I wanna get this shit over with,” he waved the paper in his hand and sat down on his bed.

“What, right now?” she asked, she glanced at his door and wondered if she should close it, when she looked back at him he was watching her. “Oh, okay then,” she quickly closed his door.

He patted the space next to him and she sat down next to him, their knees touching each other, “So step two is supposed to be identifying feelings,” he read out, “Is that really necessary?”

“Yeah, yeah it is,” she looked at him, “Look Cable are you sure-”

“If I wasn't, would I have dragged you here?”

“Alright, just checking,” she raised her hands.

“So how do I do this?”

“You just have to think about what you’re feeling,” he grunted, “Look if you don’t want my help-”

“No, no I’m just, thinking,”

“You grunt when you think?”

“Hey are you here to help, or insult me?”

“Sorry, you’re right,” she kept quiet and watched as his face screwed up in concentration.

“I suppose, I’ve been feeling…. Sadness… Anger… and guilt?” he cocked his head, “Huh yeah. So that’s supposed to take all night?” he scoffed, “Seems easy enough if you ask me,”

She chuckled, “That’s because you’ve listed them idiot, now you have to get to the nitty gritty and explain why you feel those emotions,”

“Damn, I knew there was a catch,”

“You know you can do this whenever, right? Nobody but you is making you talk right now,” she lifted a leg, wrapping her arms around it as she rested her face against it, and looked at him.

“No, no it’s fine,” he insisted, shaking his head, “If I want to move on, I’ve gotta do this.” He took a breath, “I’ve already wasted four years,”

“If you’re sure...” she looked at him with concern.

“I’m sure,” he nodded and took another deep breath before exhaling loudly, “I guess that I’m sad because... She was the first woman to treat me like a real person instead of some monster. She was always so caring and now, now she hates me.” Hayden listened intently.

“And I’m sure she hates me because I was always working; putting my job ahead of the family, keeping them safe.” he grumbled, “I guess that’s also what makes me feel guilty. I used to keep her out and that must have pushed her away...” he hung his head.

“And what’s making you angry?” she asked as she lightly touched his leg, which made his head spin momentarily when he raised it.

“What’s making me angry?” he blinked several times as he looked at her, coming out from his trance, “Everything.”

“Specifics Cable,” she gave him an encouraging squeeze.

“It is everything,” he sighed irritably, “I’m angry at myself for letting her feel that unloved that she went and found another man- I’m angry that I couldn’t win her back- I’m angry that she’s started a new life as if I was never a part of hers once, and most of all I’m angry that Hope has to suffer in all this.”

“Why do you think Hope is suffering?” Hayden gently pressed, her head tilted as she looked at him.

“She’s probably wondering if she has to pick a side when she doesn’t, and I know she’s getting bitter at her mother because I’ve been replaced and she feels like she’s been replaced too. I’m angry that I can’t do more for my little girl, that I get to spend so little time with her,” he clenched his fist suddenly and she moved her hand from his leg to hold it, his hand relaxed at the contact and the rest of his body loosened as well.

“It’s absolutely normal to be feeling that way Cable, but you can’t hold onto it, it just gets worse the longer you do,” she said sincerely, when he raised a brow at her hand she quickly pulled it back.

They were both silent for a moment, when he cleared his throat and looked at her again, she realised his cyborg eye was glowing. “And you’ve felt all those things too, with your mom?”

“Not with my mom, but yeah, I did. And Wade made things easier by letting me talk through it with him,”

“You were married before?” he frowned.

“Thank God not,” she laughed the notion away, “I um, I was in love once, at least at the time I thought it was love,” she turned her focus to his bedroom wall, trying to determine the shade of grey it was, “As it turns out I was just being used. But I still felt things, the unfortunate cons of being human,” she chuckled and his eyes softened slightly.

“And years later I’m here tonight, failing rather pathetically in helping you,” she gave a lopsided smile.

He shook his head, “You’ve no idea how much I needed to get this shit off my chest,” he placed a hand on her shoulder, “But don’t tell Wade alright? Fuck knows how much he’ll annoy me about having emotions,”

“Hey I know he’s an asshole most of the time, but he’s really nice when he wants to be,” she moved her leg off the bed and he moved his hand away, “I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true.”

He nodded, “Thank you,” he mumbled.

“You’re welcome,” she gave him a small smile, she got up and walked towards the door, “Night,”

“Night,”

Nathan got up from his bed and went back downstairs, Hope was still fast asleep on the couch, he managed to scoop her up and carried her upstairs to his room and tucked her in.

He brushed her hair back gently and she shuffled, her eyes opened and she blinked at him sleepily, “Oh I’m sorry sweetheart, I didn’t mean to wake you,”

“It’s okay,” she smiled, “Daddy?”

“Yes Hope?” he smiled back at her.

“Can we hang out with Hades again next week?” she yawned and rubbed her eyes, “She’s really fun.”

“I’m sure she won’t mind,” he brushed her cheek, “Get some rest sweetheart,” he leaned over and kissed her forehead.

“I love you Daddy,” she whispered.

“I love you too, Hope,” he pressed another kiss on her head, and she got herself comfortable.

He eventually got into bed and wrapped his arms around her, smiling to himself as she curled up against his chest and went into a deep sleep. Until he finally fell asleep himself.

It had been a week since their outing to the carnival, and Nathan, Hayden and Wade were gathered in the kitchen, Nathan had gotten up earlier than the others and had already prepared himself an omelette, while Wade had just finished plating up breakfast for Hayden and himself.

“Hey Wade, what happened to that kid, what’s his name?” she spun her fork in the air trying to think.

“Russel?”

“Yeah, Russel, that’s it,” she nodded and stabbed her fork into her eggs, taking a mouthful and looking at him.

“Baldy McWheelchair decided that he could join the school, said it’d be good for him to be around other kids and have a more normal life than the purification shithole he was stuck in before.”

“Oh good,” she took another bite of her food and then pulled a face, “Wade I’m sorry, but your cooking is absolute shit,” she stood up, taking her plate and then tossed the rest of food in the garbage.

“Really? Tastes fine to me,” he finished off his own food quickly, and when he got up to put his plate in the sink Nathan caught a sly smile on his face.

“I’m surprised you even tried it,” Nathan said before taking another mouthful of his own food, eyeing Wade suspiciously, “I wouldn’t trust the dipstick not to do anything stupid,”

“Well, I do have the advantage of not dying on my side,” she shrugged and turned to Wade, “But seriously, how the hell did you manage to ruin scrambled eggs and toast this badly?” she placed her dish in the sink, before placing her hands on her hips.

“I don’t know!” He insisted, “I followed the recipe perfectly! Two eggs, a quarter cup of vodka, salt and pepper-”

“Vodka? You put eggs and vodka together? What the hell, Wade!”

“Hey, I thought you could use a buzz to start your day right, and nothing says buzz like the hard Russian stuff,”

“You were hoping to get her drunk, weren’t you?” Nathan gave him a look.

“Okay, you got me!” Wade held his hands up, “I’ve always wanted to see her drunk,” he gestured with his thumb and looked at her, “I thought it might loosen you up a little, ya know?”

“What, I’m too serious all the time?”

“Well… Sometimes, yeah,” Wade rubbed the back of his neck, and her face became angry as she approached him.

“First of all, I told you that I can’t get drunk, it’s just impossible and I’ve tried,” she stood inches from his face now, “And second of all, screw you,” she shoved him hard and he hit the kitchen counter with his backside firmly, she stormed out, leaving them alone.

“Nice going asshole,” he nodded, and then shook his head, “You just love to push her buttons don’t you?” he walked over to the sink and turned the tap on, “You know one day she might just snap because of you,” he added dish soap and started washing the dishes.

“Yeah right,” Wade chuckled, patting him on the shoulder, “In your dreams maybe,”

“Oh it’ll happen soon enough, I’m sure of it,” he smirked, “And I’ll be there laughing my ass off while I record it,”

“He’s going supernova!” Deadpool yelled eagerly, he turned to Cable who frowned at him, “I’ve always wanted to say that.”

“Not if I can help it,” Colossus bounded towards the towering orange flames as they were transforming into a hotter blue.

“Colossus, wait!” Hades called after him, but a cold hand grasped her shoulder and yanked her back, she looked at him incredulously and shook his arm off.

“He can handle it, Hades,” Cable assured her.

They waited with bated breath for their friend, their anxiety growing by the second, when they heard a maniacal laugh and Colossus came running back in a blind panic.

“Bozhe moy!” he screamed and stopped short of them, his skin was bright red compared to the usual silver and he turned to glance back at the fire, shaking his head, “Is too hot, even for me.”

Cable’s cyborg eye glowed and he looked at the others, “His temperature is gonna reach cosmic levels and soon, if we don’t stop him,” he frowned heavily at the flames, realising the asphalt around the mutant was beginning to melt.

“How hot is that? Some of us were high school dropouts,” Deadpool asked.

“So hot, it’ll actually kill your fucking ass,” Cable said seriously.

Deadpool whistled, “Damn,”

“I don’t like the look of this,” he grunted and stepped further back, the others except for Hades followed suit. “Hades, c’mon, what’re you doin’?”

“What I should have done sooner,” she glanced back to see their puzzled expressions, “I’ve got this one,” she nodded, her eyes changed colour and her scars became clear.

“What?”

Colossus raised a hand as she started moving forward, “Hades, it is too strong-” she ignored him and started running towards the chaos.

“Hey, wait! Are you crazy?!” Cable tried to run after her but she was engulfed by the blue flames, Colossus grabbed him by the back of shirt and pulled him back, narrowly letting him avoid the sudden surge of the fire.

They all winced, covering their eyes with their hands, from the intense heat. Despite their distance, they were sweating immensely, and they tried to see where their teammate had disappeared to.

A male voice boomed from within, “It's too late! You can't stop me, nobody can stop-”

Silence.

The flames suddenly dissipated to black smoke, revealing the asphalt surrounding the mutant that had burned away, leaving the ground underneath exposed. It was cracked and dry as if it had seen no water in the last thousand years, and there Hades stood, towering over the figure of an unconscious man.

They were all relieved to see her unharmed, and even better, alive, and slowly approached the scene as the ground was still hot. Cable cocked his head when he had a better look at her, under all the black soot he could see almost triple the amount of scarring than before and he couldn't understand why. He shook his head, thinking his eyes were just playing tricks on him, until he realised what was actually wrong and he stopped dead in his tracks.

“Best knuckle-sandwich I ever gave,” Hades beamed at them, she stopped glowing and the scars disappeared with the rest of the soot that covered her body, they were all gawking at her for a moment and she stared at them in confusion. “What?”

Colossus cleared his throat, “Um- Hades- you’re- uh,” he quickly removed his X-Men’s jacket, leaving his chrome chest bare, and handed it to her while looking the other way. “Take this.”

“I don’t understand-” she looked at the jacket, then at herself, and her eyes widened immediately, “Oh my God,” she grabbed it from him, putting it over her exposed body as quickly as she could.

Colossus was still looking away, rubbing the back of his neck and coughing awkwardly; Deadpool wolf whistled, while Cable swallowed hard before shaking his head and glancing down at the ground.

“Thank you, Colossus,” she looked embarrassed.

“It’s official, you can’t be my sister anymore, not after I’ve seen you naked because damn,” Deadpool remarked.

“Wade, that's disgusting,” she scrunched her nose in distaste, and then frowned, touching her head in confusion. Her hair was singed off, but it was already starting to grow back, leaving her with a five o’clock shadow of sorts.

“Also Comrade Titties, I’ve never had more of a hard-on than I do right now, you should do all your missions shirtless,” he teased a finger down Colossus’ chest and he moved away looking uncomfortable, “That way you can seduce the bad guys into surrendering,” Deadpool winked at Colossus and he shuddered.

“The way I’ve already surrendered myself,” he commented to an unknown audience.

Hades walked over Deadpool, looking him dead in the white eyes, “If you say anything else I will castrate you, and force feed you your own dick, got it?” she didn’t blink as she spoke.

He raised his hand to his mouth and spoke to Cable, “You think she’s still angry about earlier?”

“Yes I am, asshole,” she shoved him and he nearly stumbled onto his ass, she walked away in a huff.

“Gee, I can only imagine why,” Cable replied sarcastically, “Maybe it’s because you’re annoying as fuck, or maybe it’s because you put alcohol in her breakfast,” he suggested, “Oh wait, maybe it’s because you basically called her a kill-joy? It’s a mystery really,”

“Someone had an extra dosing of sass today,”

“Wade, where did you find alcohol to tamper with food?” Colossus asked in alarm, “We do not supply such things.”

“Exactly why I got a guy on the outside-” he said off-handedly, ignoring him as he looked at Hades, “Is Cable right Haydes? Are you really still mad at me because of this morning?”

“You know some days you’re thicker than others,” she sighed, and turned her attention to Colossus, “You have the collar right?”

“Da,” he handed her the collar that had been dangling from his back pocket.

She managed to crouch down next to the unconscious mutant, in spite of the huge jacket she was wearing, and placed the collar around his neck before activating it. She then lifted him up and over her shoulder, making her way to the X-Jet, and they all stared at her in amazement, when she turned around again suddenly.

“What?” she demanded, her eyes flashed violet and her hair sprouted further out as she stared at them, it was now as long as a boy’s haircut.

“Nothing.” They answered in unison, which made her roll her eyes.

“Look, let’s just get Johnny Storm here on ice, and head back home, huh?” she sighed, placing the mutant into one of the seats further back and buckled him in.

“Johnny Storm,” Deadpool snickered, “Nice one.” Hades glared at him and he kept quiet.

“Da, that is good idea.” Colossus headed inside the jet and sat himself down into the pilot’s seat, strapping himself in and flicking several switches that started the engine.

Cable and Deadpool took their own seats, and the group sat in silence for the long trip to the Ice Box.

When they arrived Colossus looked at her apprehensively, “Are you coming with me?”

“You’re joking right?” she scoffed, “I’m wearing nothing but your jacket, and you’re gonna go in there shirtless,”

“I do not see the relevance, we apprehended him together, do you not want them to know?”

“Seriously, you don’t see the relevance?” she raised a brow, “I’ll explain then,” she glanced behind her and leaned forward, speaking in Russian, “Americans like to assume that if a woman wears a man’s clothes, that she is his lover. Do you understand now?”

His eyes widened slightly and he nodded, “Da, then you stay here, I will go alone,”

“Hey what about us?” Wade complained as Colossus got out of his seat, unbuckling the still unconscious mutant.

“You really want to go back there, after we wrecked the place a few months back?” Nathan looked at him, “You really are stupid,”

“Hey, last time I checked it was your grenade that exploded a huge fucking hole in the side of it,”

“And who pulled the pin out dickhead?” He grabbed Wade's suit and held him a few inches from his face.

“Hey, will both of you just shut up?” Hayden half yelled and Nathan released him, shuffling into his seat grumpily. “Colossus is going in by himself, discussion over,”

“I will try not to be long,” he said as he carried the mutant out of the jet.

It was silent as they waited, until Wade spoke up, “So what were you telling my chrome cutie just now?” He was already unbuckled, and now leaned over the top of her seat and looked down at her.

She crossed her arms, ignoring him, and he walked around to her side, leaning as close as he dared before he poked her cheek playfully.

“C’mon Hayden, what did ya say huh?” he poked her again, “Trying to be sneaky speaking in your little language of love,”

She slapped his hand away, “Fuck off,” he poked her again and she grabbed his wrist, “I’ll break your wrist if you don’t stop, you know I can,”

“Ah but the question is, will you?” he asked, “So, c’mon, what dirty little secrets were you sharing with him?”

“I was telling him Americans are fucking stupid, and you’re just proving my point,” she shoved him away and he hit the wall of the jet.

“Ow, Jesus, no need to be so aggressive,”

“You had it coming, now sit down and shut up, I’ve had enough of your shit today,”

He sat down and rubbed the back of his head, he saw Nathan smirking next to him, “What are you smiling about Robo-Cop?”

“I told you, you’d piss her off again, and you did,”

“Yeah, well, you’re ugly,” Wade blew a raspberry at him and winced as something hit him firmly on his forehead, “Ow! What the fuck?” He picked up a manual for the jet from the floor, and looked up to see Hayden glaring at him.

“I told you to shut up,” Hayden sat back down in her seat and folded her arms, Nathan chuckled and sat back in his seat, smiling broadly as he rested his hands behind his head.

When they had reached the mansion they walked in on Ellie and Yukio having a conversation in the kitchen, they stopped once they saw the others, with the men leading and a disgruntled Hayden trailing behind.

“Damn, what the hell happened to you?” Ellie asked.

“Fire mutant versus normal clothing, guess who won?” She said bitterly, “Colossus here was kind enough to give me the literal shirt off his back, no thanks to these two,” she gestured to the others and they bowed their heads ashamedly.

“Well, at least your hair is growing back,” Wade noted, as her hair was now bob length, Hayden glared at him.

“I don’t understand, why didn't you just ask Colossus to get you a uniform?” Ellie asked.

“You do know I’m not part of the X-Men right?” she looked at her.

“No duh,” Ellie rolled her eyes, “You can still get something more official, since you are part of the X-Force,”

“I’m listening,” Wade popped his head in front of Ellie’s face, and she frowned at him.

“You have a uniform, douche,” she pushed his face away, “What I’m saying Hades, is that you can get a uniform that won’t get wrecked so easily. Right, Colossus?”

“NTW, I am uncertain Professor Xavier will be very impressed if I used facilities for other parties,” Colossus rubbed the back of his nervously.

“Oh come on Colossus, do you wanna have to give her your clothes every time hers gets destroyed? It’s very inconvenient and you know it,” she lathered the last bit on sweetly. “It’d be much more efficient to have her own uniform than to strip in front of Wade,”

“Fine, you have convinced me.” Colossus sighed as he glanced down at Wade, who was busy shining his chest with scented oil. “Wade, enough, please.” He gently moved the man away from him. “I will be back once I am appropriately dressed.” He walked down the corridor away from the rec room.

“Aw Colossus, wait!” Wade yelled after him, “You smell great!”

“Nyet, Wade!” They heard heavy footsteps as Colossus clearly ran away from Wade, as well as laughter, moving further away in the mansion.

“Well I better get dressed too,” Hayden cleared her throat, “Where're we gonna meet up?”

“I’ll tell Colossus to come back here,” Ellie suggested.

“Cool,” Hayden nodded before she left.

Nathan’s eyes followed her as she walked up the stairs, forgetting for a moment that he was not alone, until Ellie cleared her throat loudly and he jerked his head to look at her, Yukio giggled.

“What’s so funny?”

“Been a while since you boned someone, huh?” she asked, while crossing her arms, with a smirk on her face.

Yukio elbowed her softly, “That’s not appropriate!”

“But it’s true, isn’t it Cable?” she cocked her head to the side, the smirk growing bigger.

“Teenagers.” Nathan grumbled, Ellie grinned knowing that he was flustered.

He plopped down on the couch and started paging through one of his magazines, trying his best to ignore the looks they were giving him, even though he couldn’t actually focus on anything in particular.

The girls left and he let out a big sigh, Ellie was right, it had been a long time since he’d had sex, not that it was his fault. He sighed again and tried to read another article on the open page, bouncing his foot impatiently to distract himself and ignore the sudden itch he felt.

After half an hour they gathered together again, with Hayden and Colossus decently dressed, she handed him his jacket.

“Thank you,”

“You are most welcome,” Colossus smiled, “I will lead you to our other facility,” he cocked his and they all followed him further into the mansion.

“Hey sweet pea,” Wade spoke in the silence, “I’ve been wondering why we’re living in the furthest wing of the mansion, care to explain?” he latched onto his arm and looked up at him with big eyes, the man only glanced briefly at Wade as he shook his head.

“Why wouldn’t the school want the most destructive mutant in the world, that’s also a sexual deviant and a pain in the ass, to live closer to its students, I wonder?” Hayden said with as much sarcasm as she could muster.

“Exactly! She gets me,” he gestured at her.

“Da. That is precise reasoning that Professor Xavier had in mind,”

“But I’m an angel!” he protested.

“An angel that wields katana, guns and switchblades,” she shook her head, “Not to mention the weird stuffed unicorn fetish you have going on,” she added which made Colossus frown.

“You leave Cinnamon out of this!” he pointed at her and she raised her hands, making Wade ease up.

“I do not understand, what is this, you say… fetish?” Colossus asked Hayden.

“Aw come on, don’t you start talking Russian too,” Wade whined, “It’s annoying enough when she does it,”

“I’ll explain in a minute. How long have you been away from home? You sound a little rusty,” she asked, making Wade groan and fall back from them.

“About fifteen years at least, if not more,” he thought for a moment, “I have lost track of time, but I do not regret leaving. And you?”

“Going on seven years soon,” she said, “It’s nice to talk to someone in my mother tongue for a change,” she smiled up at him.

“Ugh, this sucks balls,” Wade grumbled next to Nathan.

“For once I can agree with you,” Nathan grunted.

“It makes for a nice change of pace,” Colossus agreed, “You still have not explained to me what I asked earlier?”

“Oh, da,” she shook her head with a smile, “You see it’s uh… it’s a sex thing. When someone gets satisfaction from something specific. And with him, it’s a stuffed unicorn,” she gestured behind her and the men looked at each other, Wade shrugged and Cable grunted.

“When you say ‘satisfaction’, does that mean what I think it means?”

“Yes, unfortunately,”

Colossus shuddered, “That is most unfortunate,”

“Which district did you grow up in?”

“Siberia,”

“Siberia? I also grew up there! Whereabouts?”

“Very out of way, in a farmland in Ust-Ordynski,”

“You grew up on a farm?” She looked at him in surprise, “I would never have guessed,”

“What about you?”

“I lived further North in a small village, until I was taken to the Hydra facility in the mountainside,”

“Anywhere I might know of?”

“I'm not sure, the last I saw it was in ruins, the town was called Usoluga,”

“I heard of that place, my family told me that it was destroyed by terrorists, but it was Hydra, wasn’t it?” He asked, looking disappointed.

“Yes, they took the children for their experiments and killed the rest, I later learned from Wade that none of them survived.” She looked forward grimly, “Well everyone except me.”

“And today you are preventing that from happening to others,”

“I suppose you are right,” she smiled slowly, without realising.

“I know it can be hard to find the good from bad times, but it is important to always make the best of a circumstance, no?” He gave her a small smile and she nodded.

They walked in silence the rest of the way, and after what felt like forever in the seemingly endless passageways, they finally entered a large completely white and empty room. The three newcomers looked around, confusion evident in their expressions, and turned back to Ellie, Yukio and Colossus.

“This is the Trial Chamber,” Ellie explained, Colossus only nodded and crossed his arms slowly.

“Here we can create different scenarios from control room, and you must use abilities against them,” Colossus explained, “Then we can develop a suit adapted to your needs based on what results are recorded,” Hayden was eyeing the room, not paying attention.

“Hades, did you hear him?” Ellie asked.

“Haydes, you alright?” Wade put his hand on her shoulder.

“What? Yeah, I’m fine,” she shrugged his hand off, “Just hits close to home is all.”

“You and me both,” Nathan agreed.

“Well let’s not get into details about the world’s saddest childhoods just yet; we need to get you a suit, Haydes,”

“That is correct,” Colossus nodded, “However, I think it is good idea for Cable to join too,”

“What?” Hayden and Nathan said together, they both frowned at each other.

“Is very simple, both Hades and Cable will be in chamber, computer will record results and we will have suits for both in no time.”

“Uh, wouldn’t it be easier to do the trial one at a time?” she asked.

“Computer is very smart, it can record many results at one time, and is time-saver for all of us.”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t say that,” Nathan sighed, they shared a look with each other.

“No offense.” They both said.

“Okay, can we stop the Grady twin thing that keeps going on here?” Wade pointed between them.

“I agree with Douchepool, and it’s true, it would save us a lot of time,” Ellie argued.

“Also it is good training as team, Hades you and Wade are already familiar with each other, but you two without Wade are not,”

“Alright we get it; there are more pros than cons. Let’s just get this over with,” Nathan sighed again.

“Agreed,”

“Then we must not waste any more time,” Colossus nodded and the girls followed him to a hidden door, it opened slowly and they walked into a different room.

Wade covered his mouth and whispered into Hayden’s ear, “Now’s your chance to get Cable’s balls, or get your own and fess up, this is the perfect opportunity, either way you’d be left with a handful of balls and that’s a win.” He winked before following the others.

“Wade you absolute ass,” she muttered, watching him close the door with an evil chuckle, Nathan raised a brow. “He’s just being an asshole,” she shook her head, following with a big sigh, Nathan nodded.

“Welcome to the Trial Chamber, Hayden Jones and Nathan Summers,” a robotic female voice spoke, they both huffed at hearing their names, knowing Wade was behind that factor, “Initiating Stage One, prepare yourselves.”

The white walls and flooring seemed to stutter and vibrate and they morphed, the floor turned to asphalt and the walls became buildings, parked cars and rubble were scattered around them. An entire city street setting formed within a blink of an eye, and upon touching a nearby hydrant Hayden was surprised to feel how solid the object was, considering moments ago it had not existed.

The brick walls from the buildings nearby lifted up and a gang dressed as typical thugs emerged, upon seeing the two they charged forward and yelled, Hades and Cable held their fists up ready to fight.

Hades landed a swift punch to a woman’s face and she fell to the floor, her eyes were glowing their familiar hue, and she looked up to find that a camera was tracking their movements.

“Nanobots?” she asked as she stomped on the body and it caved in, it separated into millions of tiny pieces, and seemed to sink into the floor.

“Well we would certainly not use real people,” Colossus’s voice sounded over the speakers.

“I wasn’t expecting this high-tech stuff here of all places,”

Cable threw a man over his shoulder and he disintegrated into the floor. “How’d you know they were nanobots?” he asked, punching another figure in the stomach and elbowing the next in the face.

“I ate a lot of carrots as a kid,” she said sarcastically, “What do you think?”

“We get enough sarcasm from Wilson, thanks,” he glared at her for a second before returning his attention to the fight, and she looked at him slightly confused.

They fought off the wave of robots for another ten minutes before the two walls opened again and they disappeared into it almost like a cloud of dust, a green light lit up briefly and the walls closed, the voice sounded through the speakers once again.

“Stage One, successfully completed, please use this time to catch your breath, and prepare yourself for the next stage,”

“Is it me, or does she sound like Colossus?” she asked out loud.

“I guess,” he shrugged.

“She sounds like me because I was part of group who programmed her, dialogue is all me.” Colossus answered for her, “And this is unwise use of time to prepare for next stage.”

“Yeah, yeah we know we have to be efficient with what we do with our time, God. Do you have an off switch for that?” she rolled her eyes, making him smirk.

“According to results so far... You are both lacking team skills, luckily next stage will fix this problem,”

The female voice spoke once again, “Initiating Stage Two, on the platform that is rising up behind you, you will find a weapon that will help fight your enemies. Prepare yourselves.”

They turned and saw the platform rise up, only one weapon lay on it, they looked at each other and then back at the weapon, neither making a move for it. The walls opened up and a wave of robots flooded out, this time they were armed with batons, nunchucks and other arrays of hand-to-hand combat weapons.

“You know what, why don’t you take it? I don’t need it,” she said, before she ran towards the robots and started to attack them, taking on more than one at a time.

Cable shot her a glare but grabbed the Bo staff from the platform nonetheless, before running forward and using it to knock the robots down. It was easy for the pair to take down the robots on their own, but the number of enemies only grew, and they ended up being forced back to back trying to cover each other.

He looked over his shoulder for a second, and without thinking asked, “What were you and Colossus talkin’ about?”

“What?” she turned and looked at him for a second, taken back.

“I said, what were you and Colossus talkin’ about?”

“Why is that any of your business?” she questioned, “Besides, is now really the time?” she kicked another bot down, looking quite annoyed.

“Yeah I think so,” he stated, “Seeing as how I was the topic of interest,”

“What are you talking about?”

“I think you know exactly what I’m talking about,” he grunted, almost taking a hit to the head from another bot.

“No, no I really don’t,” she shook her head, “Would appreciate it if you could enlighten me.”

“You tellin’ me you didn’t hear NTW’s remark earlier?”

“About what?” Hades grabbed a baton from an enemy once she had knocked it down, but it disintegrated in her hands immediately. “Hey! What the hell?” she protested, glaring at the camera.

“It would be far too simple if you could use enemies’ weapons, this is a team building exercise,” Colossus sounded amused.

“Fine,” she looked over her shoulder at Cable who was still using the staff. “Cable, could I borrow the staff?”

“If you admit you were talking about me, sure,”

“What the hell are you talking about? I was talking about Wade and his disgusting unicorn fetish, not you, dickhead!” she argued, “Now would you give me the damn staff?”

He scowled at her, “If you think you can use this stupid stick better than I can, go for it.” He threw it at her without giving her a second glance as he turned around.

She rolled her eyes, before smirking as she began twirling the staff in her hand like a pro, then swinging and beating away their enemies. Cable stepped away and watched as she worked the weapon with ease, and then she unexpectedly darted towards him with the staff pointed directly at him.

“What the hell-”

“Duck!” she warned and he crouched down just in time for her to stab an enemy in the chest. “Nice reaction time,” she offered her hand to help him to stand up again.

He took it, but still looked exasperated, “Didn’t really feel like getting impaled today,”

“Yeah, sorry Olaf,” she said. They looked up when they heard Wade laughing over the speakers.

He grabbed the staff from her and she furrowed her brows as he raised the weapon before yelling, “Duck!” and swung with great force, making the enemy bot explode on contact.

“Stage Two, successfully completed,” the walls closed and the robots disappeared once again.

“See, not so hard to work as a team.” Colossus said smugly.

“Whatever tin man,” she sighed, “Nice swing by the way, you have a good arm,” she nodded to Cable.

“Thanks, you’re not so bad yourself.”

“Your final stage is coming up, and then we will have results ready to start on your suits,” Colossus said.

“Initiating Stage Three. By the way Colossus you have a fine ass,”

“Bozhe moy, Wade I told you not to touch computer, what are you doing?”

“Relax Rasputin Russia’s Greatest Love Machine, I just played a little with the dialogue,” Wade said as innocently as he could, “Haydes remember what I said about balls? Now go get ‘em!”

“Bozhe moy indeed,” she palmed her face and rolled her head back in annoyance.

“Balls? Never mind it involves Wade, I don’t think I even want to know.” Cable scrunched his nose at the thought.

“What did NTW say earlier?”

“What?”

“You said I must’ve heard what she said earlier, what was it?” she repeated.

“Nevermind about that, we got work to do,”

“You brought it up man,” she turned her head the other way, hearing something that he did not, “You’re off the hook, for now.”

A platform rose behind them once again, this time an array of guns, knives and other weapons were displayed across it, Hades quickly grabbed two small handguns and hung them into the space of her belt and jeans and she armed herself with two daggers as well.

Cable’s cyborg eye glowed and the large gun hovered from the platform and moved into place on his backside, he winced slightly at the contact, and his grip tightened around the staff he was still holding in his hands.

The platform disappeared and the panels opened to release a flood of robots, this time armed with similar weapons to their own; she stood with her almost pressed against his, and turned her head slightly over her shoulder.

“Ready?”

“Always.”

She shot down the robots that were coming in on her side and Cable knocked down those on his own side, soon they were surrounded to the point of suffocating their movements.

Cable grunted in effort as they were hitting him from all angles. Each hit pained from the torture he had endured only weeks earlier, becoming almost unbearable as he moved and bent his frame in different directions to fight. He turned his head noticing that Hayden was glowing brightly, she crushed the robots’ heads in her hands and others she snapped the necks of, the masses were lessening around her but increasing around him.

“Cable, behind you!” she yelled without turning around, he was confused but ducked and managed to avoid the hit from a robot that had tried to attack him.

He decapitated it with the staff, “Thanks,” he muttered, taken back a little.

It took some time to finish the final stage as he was struggling with the pain shooting through his spine out to the rest of his body, so she had to do most of the work, while guiding him to destroy the other bots.

When they were finally finished Nathan had a glistening forehead and his hair was damp from sweat, he was bent over and breathing heavily, Hayden on the other hand looked as if she just came from a morning stroll.

The scene changed back into the white room it was prior and the control room door opened. “Trial completely successfully, you may now leave the chamber.” The voice announced, and the main doors opened as well.

“Thank fuck,” Nathan breathed out, resting his hands on his knees, his face looked pained but he didn’t seem ready to admit it, “I thought that would never end,”

“You alright old timer?” she asked, her hand rested gently on his shoulder as she leaned over to look him in the face.

“Just my spine, I’ll live,” he stated, trying to straighten himself but wincing as he did.

She lifted his shirt, startling him, she looked over the scarring along his backside, brushing her hand along it as softly as she could. The muscles twitched and appeared to be swollen and deep purple in colour.

“You need to lie down, you’ve nearly opened your wound up again,” she lowered his shirt and soothed the material down. “C’mon,” she wrapped an arm under his shoulder, helping him ease up from his bent position.

He didn’t argue when she headed out of the chamber, the others exchanged worried glances at each other as she led him out, she supported most of his weight easily and he was silently thankful.

They finally reached his room and Hayden lowered Nathan carefully to sit on his bed, she said nothing as she disappeared into his bathroom, he managed to lift his legs up on the bed and lay back and it was fine until a shooting pain carried through his body and he pulled a face just as she returned. She held a small pill bottle in one hand and a glass of water in the other; she set the glass down and quickly popped open the bottle, letting a couple of pills fall into her palm before hovering it in front of him.

“Take these for the pain, they should kick in within an hour,”

“Thanks,” he mumbled, taking the pills from her and swallowing down with a mouthful of cold water.

She nodded, heading towards the door to leave, but stopped short as she held the door, and looked at him curiously, “What made you think I was talking to Colossus about you?”

“It’s nothin’, really I was overreacting,” he shook his head, “Forget I said anything,”

“Alright.” She didn’t seem convinced, “Guess I’ll leave you to it then,” she lifted her chin, leaving his room and closing the door behind her with a soft click.

He moved his head back and closed his eyes slowly, and then groaned loudly, grabbing one of his pillows and pressing it firmly into his face in frustration. “Why did I have to say anything? She had no clue,” he mumbled into the pillow, and then threw it next to him on the bed.

He blinked several times at the ceiling, and then decided to close his eyes again, focusing on his breathing so that he might be able to sleep. Soon enough his body caved in to the drugs and exhaustion, and he fell asleep within minutes.

“I didn’t think your computer would be very accurate, but it actually works very well,” Hayden said approvingly as she paged through the paperwork from their trial half an hour ago.

“We have many impressive things in X Mansion. Only problem is we do not have access to materials directly, those must be ordered from outside sources. And as for design, I will be helping you to make one,” said Colossus, she cocked her head at him. “I am fairly decent at drawing,” he shrugged.

“He’s being modest, he’s crazy good,” Ellie spoke up and then she took the papers from Hayden and riffled through them, “Colossus, I think you should start working on the design, we’ll search for where we can get the materials.” Yukio grinned and they walked out together, linking their hands as they did.

Colossus led Hayden down a few passageways, with Wade secretly tailing behind them, a mischievous grin plastered on his face.

Nathan opened his eyes and sat up groggily, by his estimation he’d been asleep for a few hours already, the pills had done their job and the throbbing pain had ceased. At least for now.

He swung his legs over the bed to the floor and stood up slowly, he wasn’t fully awake yet, but something in his mind nagged him to see what was happening with the others. He washed his face and quickly dabbed it with a towel, before heading downstairs, feeling a little more awake.

It took him fifteen minutes to finally find them, he heard Hayden laughing and peaked around the library’s door frame to see her standing next to Colossus who had a sketchpad in front of him and was sketching at one of the tables. He felt something akin to anger from his gut, as saw her hand touch Colossus on his broad metallic shoulder, he shook his head ignoring his thoughts.

Then he realised if Wade hadn’t been there that the two would have been alone, as this wing of the library was clearly not used much, he walked over slowly and eyed them curiously. They were chatting away in their own language, until Hayden caught his movement and looked up at him, she had a big smile on her face as she greeted him.

“Hey, you’re up!”

“Yeah, what’s goin’ on?” he looked around at the scattered crumpled papers, pencil shavings and for some reason, crayons.

Nathan was surprised that Colossus had not tidied the mess up, until he realised most of the chaos surrounded Wade who had seated himself happily on top of the table like a naughty child, with his legs crossed and a sketchpad rested on his lap as he drew in silence.

“We’re designing my suit,” she said with a note of eagerness.

“I’m helping!” Wade said excitedly, Hayden shook her head and mouthed, ‘He’s not’, which made Nathan smirk. “See, I’m already done, Colossus is so slow. Take a look, it’s awesome right?” he asked, shoving the sketchpad in her direction.

She took it and looked over the picture, her smile quickly turned to a frown and she threw the sketchpad back at him, it hit him on the arm instead of his head as intended as he managed to deflect it, and it landed onto the table in front of Colossus.

“Wade, you’re disgusting. And what universe are you from where you think you of all people would see me wearing that of all things?” she crossed her arms.

Nathan glanced down and saw a childlike drawing of what he presumed was a sexy woman wearing what looked like the skimpiest lingerie possible.

“You’re a pig Wilson,” Nathan scrunched his nose.

“Da,” Colossus agreed after seeing the sketch, covering his eyes and pushing the notebook away from him.

“Everyone’s a critic,” Wade sighed and grabbed the sketchpad, “I won’t sit here and take this any longer!” he awkwardly stumbled from his position on the table and then stood up dramatically, clutching the item to his chest.

“Where’re you going?” Hayden asked.

“I’m gonna have a meeting with Cinnamon about how rude you all are,” Wade said and Nathan rolled his eyes.

“Translation: You’re off to mast- pleasure yourself,” she glanced at Colossus, “Sorry,”

“It’s sad that you know me that well,” Wade shook his head, “Oh well, you’re stuck with me, forever.” He whispered the last part and then promptly left the room.

“I’m still waiting for the day where I can convince myself that saving his ass was a good idea,” Nathan shook his head, watching Wade leave.

“That would be an eternity, and then some,” she nodded her head sideways.

“Is ‘cinnamon’ new slang term I do not know of?” Colossus asked, frowning between them.

Hayden looked apprehensive and Nathan almost chuckled, “You better tell him, cause I’m not,”

“It’s his uh… unicorn plushie,” Hayden explained.

“Bozhe moy,” Colossus shuddered, “Is best I do not learn anymore of Wade’s… Past times,”

“You and me both bud,” she patted Colossus’ shoulder and leaned over, “This is looking pretty good. I mean if I could see the rest under your hand-”

“Oh, da, it is ready.” He moved his hand away, sliding the sketchpad in front of her carefully.

“Wow, Colossus… It’s great.” Her mouth hung open for a moment and then she smiled brightly, “Thank you,” she leaned to the side, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, hugging him to her side.

Nathan felt his cyborg eye twitch involuntarily, seeing how her face pressed briefly against the giant man’s face, before she moved away.

“I’m going to show NTW so that she can order the right colours for the materials,” she took the sketchpad in hand and bounded out the door, leaving the men alone for the first time today.

He crossed his arms, eyeing the metal mutant, “Why are you always so nice to her, huh?” His voice was deeper than usual, more menacing, as Colossus shuffled in his seat and looked at him with wide eyes.

“I’m sorry?” He meant it to be an apology, but he was genuinely confused at Nathan’s sudden hostility.

“Look you can drop the innocent act, just don’t ever talk about me behind my back again, or we’re gonna have a problem. Got it?” He warned, he didn’t wait for an answer as he stormed out of the library.

“Bozhe moy... What did I do wrong?” he asked himself, completely stunned.

“I’m glad we’ve sorted all that out, thanks for this NTW,” Hayden gave her a smile.

“Not a problem, and by the way, you can call me Ellie,” she said, “I just don’t like it when Douchepool does, but you’re cool,” she gave her a small smile.

“Well, thanks Ellie. Uh, I’m not sure why Colossus disappeared, but could you thank him for me?”

“Sure,” she nodded, “Oh boy, here comes trouble,” she cocked her head up and Hayden looked up to see Wade running towards them from outside the mansion.

“Haydes! We have a situation so drop whatever the fuck you’re doing, this is more important-” Wade panted heavily once he reached them.

“What is it now, Wade?”

“I fucked up big time.” He looked scared.

“Um, don’t you always?”

“Wow, just rub salt in the wound it’s fine I have regenerative healing, right? But seriously just-” he stopped speaking when he noticed Ellie.

“I’m leaving Douchepool, whatever you broke now is not my problem,” she rolled her eyes and left the room.

Wade looked around the room and pulled Hayden closer to him, “Cable’s going to kill me.”

“You actually messed around with it when I told you it was a bad idea, didn’t you?” she pinched the bridge of her nose, “God Wade, do you only have two brain cells? I swear if you do, one bounces around idly in there while the other masturbates in a dark corner with a unicorn.”

“Pretty much yeah,” he admitted with a shrug of his shoulders, “I can’t help myself.”

She slapped the back of his head hard, “Idiot.”

“Ow.” He rubbed the back of his head, “Save my sorry ass? Please?” he asked, trying to give the biggest sad eyes he could muster.

“Fine, where is it?” she sighed.

“Hey, has anybody seen my gun, Hades, Dickhead?” Nathan asked, suddenly appearing from around the corner.

“Shit fuck,” Wade then whispered, “He knows.”

She spoke quietly to him, “Wade, would you relax?” she turned back to Nathan, “Nope, we haven’t seen your gun Cable, you sure you didn’t leave it back in the weaponry when you were cleaning it the other day?” she asked in a convincing innocence.

“Yeah I guess so, I’ll check again,” he rubbed his head and frowned, thinking it over in his head as he walked away.

Wade took the opportunity to run out the door leading to the nearby woods outside, “Shit fuck, shit fuck, shit fuck, shit fuck-”

“What’s the tool’s problem now?” Nathan turned around, frowning heavily.

“I think the only two brain cells he had left just killed themselves,” she shook her head, Nathan chuckled.

“I’ll uh, see you around,” he nodded, leaving her behind.

She ran out in the direction that Wade had gone to, debris from destroyed trees lay all around the area, in the centre of it all he was crouching on the ground with pieces of Nathan’s gun in panic as he picked up one not knowing how he was going to fix it.

“God, what took you so long?!”

“I would have been with you sooner, had you not run off like a complete shithead! I had to explain your weirdness because he was asking, I didn’t want him to get suspicious.”

“Okay, fine. Now help me put this fucking shit back together before Cable-”

“Before Cable what?”

“Fuck me.” Wade said in a shrill voice.

“He just might. And what are you so worried about anyways? You’ve got regenerative healing moron,” Hayden said nonchalantly.

“That just means Cable can fuck me over as many times as he likes,”

“I did tell you not to play with it,” she said in a matter of fact tone.

“What in the actual fuck?” Nathan stopped just a few feet before the scene. “Not only did you lie, but you also broke my gun?” he clenched his jaw, his cyborg eye beginning to glow.

“Cable, please don’t hurt me,” he choked out.

“Oh I’m way past hurting you,” he cracked his knuckles on both hands and twisted his head to let his neck click. “I made that gun myself, and you played with it like it was some toy? You’re fucking dead.”

“Haydes? Can I get a little help, please?” Wade nervously gulped and looked over his shoulder; she paid him no attention as she crouched on the ground.

“Reap what you sow bitch,” she commented as she raked through the leaves, collecting some of the smaller pieces of the gun.

“Oh this is going to be very fun,” Nathan pounded his fist into his other hand and a wicked grin spread across his face.

“Spoiler alert: no faces will be pounded on today,” Hayden spoke up and Nathan whipped around, looking at her in confusion. She stood up and handed him his gun fully intact.

“How did you-?” he faltered, staring at the gun in his hands.

“Go ahead and fire it, I made it better than it was before it was broken,” she said confidently.

Nathan lifted the gun and aimed it at Wade, it was on a lower setting and he fired the blast, it sent Wade flying backwards into a faraway tree.

“Ow, my ass!” Wade yelled and Hayden snorted.

“It’s even better than before, how’d you-” he eyed the gun, “How’d you manage to ease the recoil so much?”

“It wasn’t that difficult, it’s a fairly basic weapon that you made with what you could get your hands on.” She shrugged, “So now you can’t pound Wade into the ground, I think him breaking his ass on that tree was punishment enough.”

Nathan stared at her in awe as she made her way over to Wade, he said something to her that made her roll her eyes and then she scooped him up bridal style from the ground, he nuzzled his face under her chin.

She walked past Nathan and Wade wrapped his arms around her neck, “Love you sis,”

“Yeah whatever idiot,” she sighed as she carried Wade towards the mansion.

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