"What are you talking about?!"
The porcelain shatters before the words have even finished leaving his lips.
A once-pristine teacup lies in fragments at the HYDRA branch leader's feet, splattered with drops of still-steaming liquid and trembling rage.
The subordinates around him stand frozen. No one dares speak. The temperature in the room has dropped several degrees, not because of the air, but the death hanging heavy in the air.
"FAILED?! That the freak didn't kill Dr Macaluso and worse, Electro is gone?!"
No one answers. They don't have to. Their silence is the confirmation.
Bang!
A shot echoes across the cold metal walls. One of the trembling agents crumples to the ground, blood pooling beneath his slumped corpse. The HYDRA leader lowers the smoking pistol, chest heaving.
"Useless cowards... That mercenary cost me a fortune. We saved Electro, built the perfect Super Soldier Project around him! He was meant to wipe the board clean!"
He slams a fist onto the reinforced steel desk, denting it slightly.
"That bastard ruined everything!"
He takes a moment to breathe, ragged, angry breaths. He wipes the blood spray off his sleeve with irritation.
"Soren Macaluso of the Everlife Medical Center… He's a threat to the entire future of HYDRA!"
Then his eyes narrow, the fires of vengeance already rekindling in his mind.
"Come! Someone clean this up and~"
THUD. THUD.
The leader freezes.
Two heavy impacts echo from outside the command room. But no footsteps follow. No one enters.
"Where are my men?!" He snarls, face contorted. "Are they all DEAD?!"
He reaches for the intercom, but before he can, the door creaks open with a long, theatrical squeeeeak.
The figure standing in the doorway is unmistakable.
Red suit. Katanas drawn.
Blood dripping from the twin blades onto the polished floor.
"You…" The HYDRA leader breathes, momentarily stunned.
And then, relief floods his face.
"Deadpool! Just the man I needed. I want to hire you again. To kill that doctor. No matter the price."
Deadpool says nothing. He simply walks in slowly.
The smell of blood follows him like a shadow. As he steps forward, his boots squelch slightly against the floor, sticky with crimson from bodies just outside the door.
"Wait, why aren't you?" The leader starts, then stops.
He's just noticed the blood on the swords. Fresh. Wet. Still dripping.
His gaze darts to the floor... then to Deadpool's mask... and then to the empty hallway behind him.
"Where are my men?" He asks, already knowing the answer.
Deadpool twirls one katana lazily.
"They're playing musical chairs with Cerberus. Spoiler: There were no chairs."
The HYDRA leader pales.
"Okay, okay, listen. Whatever they paid you, I'll double it! No, triple it! I'll even throw in a yacht and a private island with bikini ninjas! Don't do this."
Deadpool cocks his head, as if considering.
"Mmm… Bikini ninjas? Tempting. But no."
The leader's hand, trembling, slips beneath the table, pressing a hidden red button with his index finger.
The panic button.
"You always forget to install a second layer of security. Tsk-tsk."
The red lights above cast a hellish glow, pulsing in rhythm with the blaring alarm. The HYDRA leader's eyes gleamed with a flicker of hope as the sound rang out.
"Heh… That's it. Hold him off… Just a minute more…"
But Deadpool didn't even flinch. He stood perfectly still, his silhouette almost ghostly in the alarm light.
"No need to stall, Bossman. There's no cavalry coming."
The HYDRA leader froze.
"What?"
Deadpool tilted his head and walked a step forward, dragging one bloodied katana across the floor behind him. The metal screeched against the tiles.
"I said… there's nobody left alive in this base but you and me."
"Your agents, your guards, your patrol bots, your lab geeks, hell, even the poor janitor. I was thorough."
The leader's breath caught. His lips moved, forming a wordless denial, but no one came. The alarms continued screaming, unanswered. It was true.
"Impossible…" He muttered. "This base is a fortress…"
Deadpool shrugged, twirling his blade lazily in one hand.
"A fortress, sure. But you gave me the blueprints."
"Well, your systems did. Should really stop putting all your security protocols on outdated Windows 98 servers."
The leader's knees buckled slightly. He stumbled back, eyes haunted.
"Why…?" he whispered. "Why would you do this? We paid you!"
Deadpool's voice turned serious. Too serious.
"Because I'm a mercenary. And mercenaries do clean work. Someone else paid for a cleanup job. You just happened to be the mess."
A blade slash flicked to the side. Blood sprayed the side wall as Deadpool flicked his katana, spraying off what little remained on the blade.
The leader stood frozen, hands slowly rising. "Then… at least tell me who. I deserve that much."
Deadpool tilted his head, considering. His other hand reached behind him, pulling out a compact mirror.
"Normally, I don't snitch on clients. You know, honor among degenerates and all that jazz."
SHNK.
Deadpool's sword opened the man's throat in one clean cut.
The HYDRA leader gasped, clutching his neck, but the blood poured too fast. He collapsed to the floor, twitching… dying.
Deadpool crouched beside him, whispering into the dying man's ear.
"But you're technically dead now… so I guess it's fine."
He leaned closer.
"The guy who hired me? His name's Soren. Everlife Medical Center, New York."
"You remember him. The guy you tried to turn Electro into a weapon against. Bad move."
"Oh, and the fee he offered? Triple yours. Plus dental."
The HYDRA leader's eyes went wide in one last burst of realization and then faded into dull glass. The light was gone.
Deadpool stood and sheathed his blades.
"That's the problem with evil organizations. Y'all don't respect the refund policy."
He stepped over the corpse and vanished into the dark.
Inside a serene office filled with soft incense and old books, Soren sat in quiet contemplation, sipping tea.
The moment Deadpool stepped through the sliding glass door, the air shifted. Blood reeked from every inch of his suit.
Soren didn't look up.
"You tracked blood across my floor."
"Sorry. Carpet cleaner's expensive. So's murdering a hundred guys in a bunker."
Deadpool pulled off his mask with one hand. The other trembled slightly, not from weakness.
"It's done. The little house of horrors? Burnt to the ground."
"Now… about our deal."
Soren finally looked up. His gaze was calm, yet powerful.
"Yes. You've upheld your end. Come."
He stood and led Deadpool into a room glowing with soft bioluminescent lights.
Ancient symbols lined the walls. In the center, an ornate treatment bed and floating needles suspended in magnetic fields.
"Lie down. This will only hurt… immensely."
"Great." Deadpool said, laying back. "Remind me never to get a massage from you."
As Soren's hands moved through the arcane-advanced instruments, magic and science fused. A shimmering mist began to wrap around Deadpool's body. His skin rippled, boiled… and began to heal.
Flesh reformed. Scarred tissue faded. The cancerous mutations retreated.
In just minutes...
Deadpool was whole.
He looked at his reflection in a mirror hovering beside the bed.
"Holy $#%&... I look like a bombshell."
[Congratulations to the host, healing the A-level character Deadpool]
[Wade Wilson: Deadpool]
[World Tier: Class A]
[Abilities: Regeneration Lv 9, Teleportation Lv 8, Optic Energy Blast Lv 7, Swordsmanship Lv 7, Firearms Mastery Lv 7, Hand-to-Hand Combat Lv 7]
[Ability is drawn right away, congratulations to the host for getting Regeneration Lv 9]
[Treat A-level characters, increase the mission points by 7 points]
[Current 293/300]
Soren blinked as the surge of power pulsed through his body.
Regeneration Lv 9.
"Incredible." He muttered. "Even if I'm torn apart or burned alive... I can walk again. Fight again."
He turned to Deadpool, who was still admiring his face like a narcissist in a cologne commercial.
"You've been paid in full."
Deadpool gave him a finger-gun.
"Pleasure doing bloody business, Doc. Let me know if you ever need someone to murder an evil clown cult or, I dunno, assassinate a sentient blender."
Soren smiled faintly, already turning back to his tea.
"I'll keep that in mind."
꧁𓊈𒆜༺⚜༻𒆜𓊉꧂
Dare you peek into my other tales? The opening three chapters of select stories are free to all.
PhantomDream