Normally the U.S. Senate doesn't call emergency sessions on a whim. Bills, hearings, subpoenas — those take weeks.
Tonight was different. One broadcast from Axville had set the country on fire.
Families of the soldiers killed in the raid were marching. Town halls filled. Channels screamed. Trust in the government was cracking like old paint. The emergency session ran three hours straight and, in the end, senators decided the visible option: double down. Don't concede. Don't admit fault. Show strength.
They also approved the Secretary of Defense's plan — a new Avengers team.
What the senators didn't know: the Secretary was already a husk, puppeteered by the Abomination, Emil Blonsky. They didn't know the "new Avengers" vote was stamped with a monster's grudge.
Blonsky stood in a deserted warehouse, concrete and rust and the smell of old oil. He had been broken once by the Hulk, rebuilt by crude science, bullied by experiments, caged, and drained. The military took his blood and marrow, tried to breed obedient Hulks. It didn't work. It gave them a vengeful monster.
"So where is that little loudmouth?" Blonsky snarled into his comm. Then he heard the warbling, irreverent whine of someone who never took anything seriously.
"Deadpool!" he barked, and the mercenary answered like a punchline.
Deadpool lounged in the gloom like chaos in a hoodie, blades slung, sarcasm prepped. Blonsky closed the distance in two heavy steps and had two pistols leveled at Wade's chest before the merc could react.
"You know where the muzzle goes, right?" Blonsky growled. "One pull and you'll lose your kidneys. Speak plainly — why'd you come here, idiot? Speak up or I'll pop you like a piñata and piss on what's left."
Deadpool tilted his head. "Do you know who I am?" he sang.
Blonsky spat, "The last man who asked me that is dead."
Deadpool shrugged, ridiculous and fearless. "What's the point of my life, then? I'm hunting someone who can actually kill me."
Blonsky's eyes snapped. "There is such a man."
"Really?"
"Ryuuto."
"Ryuuto? Weird name. Is that, like, foreign? Exotic?" Deadpool grinned.
"Yes. He's now the captain of the X-Men."
Deadpool's mask crinkled as if laughing. "Captain, huh? Cyclops is gonna love this. Count me out of your new group, bub—Wade likes to freeload." He hopped away from the pressure like gravity had no say.
Blonsky scowled. "I will build the Dark Avengers. Everyone else becomes an enemy. Join or be used."
Deadpool rolled his shoulders, unsheathed twin katanas, all charm and buzzsaw. "Nah. I work for fun and chaos. If you want me to join, bribe me with—oh—about five million and I'll consider. Till then I'll stab your good mood into a sculpture."
Blonsky's laugh was a wet, dangerous rasp. "You won't bargain. You'll die."
"Do it!" Wade sang. Then, with bizarre momentum, he kicked Blonsky upward. The Abomination crashed and roared. Deadpool danced forward, fingers poised, taunting like a man at the circus.
"You know what I'll do with you?" Deadpool crowed, lipless grin audible. "I'll slice you into a hundred tiny exclamation marks and feed your bits to the guard dog. I'll stream it for charity."
Blonsky ripped open his shirt, muscles swelling, veins rising like cables. "I was caged and ground for three years! They will pay. I will be bigger. Stronger. Banner—Hulk—wait for me. I'll kill you alive!"
Wade cheered like a crazed fan. "Oooh—Abomination's glow-up! I thought you were dead. Live rematch? Sign me up. If you kill me, that's tragic. If you don't, I'll murder you into a paste. Win-win!"
The transformation finished. Bone and muscle reformed, the lab scars receding under a rush of gamma-blessed fury. The warehouse shook as Emil went full monster.
Deadpool clicked his twin blades against his shoulders, eyes glittering under the mask. "Let's dance, green guy. I brought snacks."
Somewhere else, in a fragile chain of events set off by a speech and a stolen scepter, the world had just leaned into a darker direction. The Senate stamped legitimacy onto a plan seeded by a puppet. The Abomination had the crown of ambition. And a mercenary who loved chaos was already in the wings, grinning like an omen.
Ryuuto's broadcast had lit the match. The country had answered with oil. The next flare would be worldwide.