mouthy_merc | Sinister's Secret Underground Laboratory, Monday Evening (Reply)

	As soon as Nate's consciousness left, Deadpool fell like a marionette that had its strings cut. There was a blankness there for a long pause before Deadpool once more took control of his body, wincing at the angle he fell. "Well that sucked," He muttered to himself, rubbing the back of his head and standing back up. "Emma! Nice to see you again, how are things? Nate out of my head for real-real not for play-play?" Deadpool asked, snagging his glove and putting it back on.
	Emma rubbed her forehead. "Yes, for real-real. You may go save the day now," she added generously. "And get me a tylenol or five."
	"Soon as we get out of here, you have yourself a deal!" Deadpool replied with a grin, drawing one of the many hidden guns on his person. Just... don't ask where it was hidden. Now all they needed was to find Aly and Arashi and to bodyslide the heck out of here.
	There was, for the moment, no reaction from the prone clone body of Nathan Dayspring Askani'son; inside, Cable was finding connections, nerves, beginning to flex synapses like muscles, pulling into shape slowly-- There was a noise, increasing, like a rumble, or rather like feet: danger coming right up ahead. Someone had been alerted to the disturbance.
	Which was good because Aly and Arashi both tumbled into the room with an ominous thundering of Dark Rider feet behind them. "Oh, hey," Aly said, taking in the sights. "We have trouble. How are y'all?"
	Deadpool waved as he noticed them, peering around the pair toward the oncoming Dark Riders. "My spleen is safely still in my body and Nate is out of my mind! I am fine and dandy like sour candy!" He replied with a bright grin.
	Arashi grimaced as he stumbled coming into the room. "Oh good, about damn time we found you all." He paused. "That's a lot of Nate clones...."
	Having no respect for a bonding moment, a front line of footsoldiers charged in at that very instant, blades to the fore-- ready to strike their first blows. Only to come up empty as all four inhabitants of the room were lifted high up towards the ceiling, out of harm's way. "SINISTER!" a voice growled; and then there was the form of Cable, wearing a - to Wade - no doubt familiar uniform. He was glaring right at a patch of darkness, where a man stood watching. "You should know by now there's no army that could hold me back!" The footsoldiers had no time to look surprised (if Dark Riders could look surprised at all): the front line disintegrated within an instant, the rest held by the door as if by magic.
	Aly would have appreciated the sexy uniform except that she was too busy trying to adjust her eyes to the overwhelming and blinding glare of the power emanating from him. The lifting almost went unnoticed in the face of the glare except for when Aly ducked her head to realise the magic-power-whatever encircled her as well "...I'm hoping this is a good guy," she murmured, just trying to keep her eyes protected and hit the floor well if she was dropped.
	Arashi grimaced as they were lifted up to the ceiling. "That... I'm pretty sure is Nate."
	Deadpool looked down at the Dark Riders, waving to the ones in the doorway. "Yup. At full power too. This could be fun!" Then peered over at the shadowy form of Sinister, sticking his tongue out at him. Yes, he was aware of the mask. Shut up. "Someone's gonna get their ass kicked," Deadpool sang cheerfully. Well, as cheerful as he could with a damn near blinding headache starting up behind his eyes.
	"I see you have adapted as always, Cable," Sinister remarked idly. "It doesn't matter. The damage has already been done; all continues as planned."
	Within moments, Cable had pulled a katana from Wade's back with his telekinesis. Sinister found it pointing at his chest. "What are you getting at?" he demanded. Then his eyes widened. Slightly. "The Marauders. The X-Men. You weren't looking for information - you were taking out threats."
	"Hey now! You break that, you bought it!" A beat. "Though if it happens in the course of givin' Sinister there a whoopin' I might be more lenient."
	"I allow your friends to enter; I provide you with a new body, a new leash on life -- is this the gratitude I can expect?" Sinister did not appear to be particularly worried about the blade resting inches away from his chest.
	"You planned this." That much was certain, and it only added to his rage-- "From the Hecatomb on. I've rejected every offer you've ever given me, you manipulative bastard, and now you'd force one on me again?!" Cable lashed out with force, his objective simple - except it didn't work quite as planned. The force shield blinked like an old, damaged fluorescent lamp; the forces keeping the others away from the floor fizzled out entirely. Cable stumbled back with a growl.
	"Sonnova--!" The sudden lack of a telekinetic floor holding them all up wasn't expected. Deadpool landed hard on his back, frowning over at the Poccy Pals that were no longer being held back. "Well, this can't be good." But, on the plus side, his head didn't want to explode now.
	"It wasn't Mr. Essex brilliant idea to go here, I might remind you." Emma rubbed the side of her nose. She'd got the lack of telekinesis a split second before everyone else and had landed neatly in diamond shape. "Does everyone remember when I said how very bad an idea this was? Because I don't mind repeating it."
	The waves of light barely clued Aly into what was going on as the force field and she landed with a thump on the floor. "...ow?" she murmured. "Not good at all."
	This is where years of ninja training came in handy. When Arashi felt the force holding them up gave way, he compensated and was able to land at least somewhat gracefully.
	"You have an enviable habit of returning from the dead," Sinister expositioned, "I felt it would be prudent to be certain it worked in my favor. Goodbye, Cable..." He strolled past the incoming Dark Riders, "I'll call when I have need of you."
	As Sinister left, Cable felt his powers seeping quietly back in -- but not fast enough, not enough enough. "We need a distraction," he growled, "Wade--"
	Deadpool sighed, cracking his neck as he got back to his feet. "Next time you need to get resurrected, have a clone stashed away in a resort in the Caribbean! With massages and pampering! Maybe some of those drinks in coconuts. I love those things." He pulled a gun and lunged for one of his swords. "Bodyslide by two."
	"Bodyslide by two!" It just wasn't a Cable & Deadpool bodyslide if there wasn't chorusing of the phrase. It would just be wrong. They reappeared a short distance away - but right behind the Dark Riders, who turned as one, finding the most important target to be-- not quite where they expected. There was no sign of Sinister-- but there were more bad guys coming up ahead.
	Of course there was no sign of Sinny. He was off pulling the evil villain routine and escaping in a futuristic pod. Or something. "You gonna fizz out on us again here?" Deadpool asked, decapitating one of the Dark Riders that got too close. "Because that just sucked."
	As always with evil villains, his nefarious plot would, no doubt, be revealed one day. Just not now. "I don't think so." The crackle of Cable's telekinesis was returning, but not as fast as he'd like. With a series of quick moves, he disposed of three and quite literally disarmed a fourth. "I hate being surprised," he muttered.
	"You get surprised?" Deadpool asked, the exaggerated shock in his voice might be real. It was hard to tell. He shot a few of the minions, spinning to stay at Cable's back. After taking out another with his sword, Deadpool shook his head at the sudden wave of dizziness that hit him. "Can we get the heck out of here now? As much as I like these things, I think I don't think the others are having as much fun. Maybe we should take 'em to Disney World!"
	"Not by anything that can't be fixed," Cable replied, ripping through two of the creatures with Wade's katana. Just another minutes, maybe half-- he'd be back on full strength and more than capable of getting them out of this. "I'm--" he punched off a head, "Working on it..."
	That wasn't a pout over the head punching at all. Deadpool could so do that! If he wanted to. Which he didn't. Shut up. "They get hurt, I'mma be so very upset." Pause. "Oh, and Emma. She shouldn't get hurt either. If we can help it."
	"Scott would appreciate it, yes." There was somewhat of an art to this. A little. Maybe Cable was enjoying it. A punch here, a sword there. It was easy. It just wasn't-- really what he was trying to accomplish. "The Dark Riders are interested in me, not them. I'm almost done."
	"Everyone's interested in you," Deadpool muttered, stumbling back from a hit he had failed to block. What the hell? They were cannon fodder! There wasn't supposed to be any actual hitting going on here! "Just let me know when."
	He was turning another set of attackers into dust when he felt the mental spike - Cable's eye flared up brighter and he smirked in the face of his enemy. "How about-- NOW?" There was a blast of energy and the Dark Riders Nate had been facing were reduced to piles of nothing, crumbling before his eyes. It should've been a victorious moment, but as always there were other things troubling him. What was Sinister planning? How long until his powers burned out again? Would they take him with them? There were other things, too - but he cast them all aside for the moment, turning to face Wade and pulling up a force shield.
	Once the Dark Riders were taken care of, Deadpool bent over, holding his head from the blinding pain there. Was that blood? He hadn't gotten hurt by anything, right? "Curse my addiction to cocaine, causing me to get a nose bleed--" He stopped as the forcefield went up, toppling over and coughing up yet more blood. He was relatively sure that he hadn't gotten stabbed in the lungs so this was more than a bit strange.
	Cable didn't notice until he'd disposed of the rest of them - which, considering the fact that he could literally make them go away with just a thought, wasn't very long. "Wade?" he frowned, before an unreadable expression wandered onto his face instead. "Sinister must have tampered with your healing factor," he ~~expositioned~~ said. "This is all a little too convenient..." Nathan Summers knew plotting when he saw it.
	"Convenient, my ass!" Deadpool continued to clutch at his head until Nate had stopped destroying things with his mind. The pressure eased and the blood flow stopped. "Where the hell is Sinny? If I have to go find the Hulk to fix this again, I'mma kill him!"
	Cable, however, was far more interested in testing a hypothesis right about now. He lifted Wade's katana with his powers for a moment.
	And Wade clenched his jaw in pain, trying not to double over again. "Oh for the love of..." Well isn't science fun, kids?
	"My telekinetic powers are tied to your cancer." Cable may have been gritting his teeth a little. If the past was anything to go by, that meant that within no time at all, they would both be utterly at the whims of his powers. Which really left him with only one option... He contemplated Wade for a moment.
	Deadpool looked back at him, face unreadable. "Well this day just gets better and better, doesn't it?"
	Unreadable expressions, approaching death and a nigh-stifling silence: felt just like old times. Nate's eyes narrowed ever so minutely. "It's been a while since the last time I performed surgery like this," he said. That would've been the brain surgery he performed on the very same person over two years and a half ago. It would've seemed like an eternity if he was inclined to consider his past.
	Wade hadn't liked it then. A kid shouldn't have had to make a decision like that, didn't matter if it was Nate's all grown up brain. "You were also about twelve then. Do you think you'd survive it again?"
	Nate just smirked cryptically. "Pull my finger," he said. And then reached in.
	"Oh no! I'm not falling for tha--" Deadpool stopped talking, clutching his head and falling to his knees in front of Cable, clenching his teeth to keep from screaming in pain as it started again.
	It was worse than he thought - failing systems everywhere, cancer growing beyond its bounds with every beat of Cable's powers. He reached in further, hitting failing DNA, binding nucleotides back to their original positions-- --There was a barrier there. He frowned, mental fingers searching out its limits. It linked directly to him like a deranged chain given life, spiking into the surrounding tissue. Pushing might have-- very bad results. Or it might save the both of them. He pushed. On the outside, Cable screamed: full of old wounds and new slights, pounding an insane beat on his consciousness as he did what had to be done.
	What had to be done. Always that. Deadpool could no longer support himself, falling over completely now and unable to keep the scream from happening. The last time this happened, he'd been tied down and somehow that seemed like it had been a very good idea considering the twitches and convulsions that now wracked his body. Pain that reminded him of that curse. He could hear Nate's scream, barely, just touching the edges of his consciousness. Didn't like it then, didn't like it now.
	His focus was sharper than a knife, piercing its way through the pain. Access was easier now, the old knack returning even as he felt the energy fading from him-- -- he pocketed a little, shuttling it off somewhere all of this couldn't reach, just tiny enough not to be noticed -- and found the source of the disturbance, forcing it back into its original shape, pulling from the surrounding tissue until it all made something approaching to sense again (what had Sinister done?). And then it was over. He crashed backwards against the wall.
	Once it was over, Deadpool went still. Peaceful almost. Had the previous five minutes not happened, one might think he was sleeping.
	Well. That was a little more-- complicated than he'd anticipated. Cable pushed himself away from the wall, still feeling disturbingly weak and shaking. Never the less, he pulled himself into the closest thing to 'just fine' he could manage. "Don't let him bodyslide out," he told the audience he had - until then - paid no attention to. Sparing one more glance at Wade, he began to move - too many unanswered questions, too many dangers, too many -- yes. He stumbled against the wall for a moment, but pushed himself back away again, resuming what posture he could manage.
	Aly moved to Wade, glancing up at Cable and half-standing to steady him instead until she realised that he wasn't blazing in her Sight anymore. The afterimage of the brightness earlier and what had just transpired with Wade still burned into her eyes, but the man that stood before her was dim, almost negligible in power. "We won't let him bodyslide," she agreed. "What about you? You can barely stand."
	There wasn't even as much as a gesture in response, except the slightest tightening of muscles in Cable's back, pulling him a little further upright. With one hand trailing the wall occasionally for support, he walked onwards into the darkness of the hallway, Wade's katana dangling between the fingers of his other hand.
	Arashi had a very hard time not running over to Wade once he saw that his husband was in real pain, but something about Cable stopped him in his tracks. That however didn't stop him from rushing over once they seemed to be done and support Wade, looking at him worriedly. "What happened...?"
	Cable slid mostly soundlessly out of the hallway and into parts unknown, or at least unexplored-- in search of Sinister and answers. If only his mind wasn't buzzing like it was... the static was breaking up his concentration and that was the one thing he couldn't afford right now. He was... Far too vulnerable. And gone.
	Emma was quiet for a moment, testing the boundaries with her mind, then she shook her head and sighed. "Summerses. Can't live with them, can't get rid of them."