mouthy_merc | The Preserve, Late Friday Night

	This wasn't over. This was far from over. Mary sneaked back into the Preserve during the night. Nothing but the deer and sky for company. She'd get her assets back right. She'd start again. She'd almost gotten there. Almost. Confidence returning, she strode grinning past a tree.
	And then there was a rustling up above. Like leaves, bending to some external force.
	Mary's head shot up instantly, eyes trained on the dark leaves. She reached for a knife that wasn't there. "Baby baby, who's my baby?" she hissed.
	A flash of light pierced the darkness. A familiar one. A flash, in fact, that could only come from one place - one eye. "Mary, Mary, quite contrary," Cable spoke from the darkness, sitting on his haunches in a sturdy tree (and dressed in a black spandex uniform, of course), "We need to talk."
	There was no sound to herald Arashi's appearance behind Mary. His ANBU mask compltely covered his face. "We need to more than talk, Babe."
	Mary snarled, swinging back to smash him in the face with her elbow. "Like you can stop me."
	Arashi could handle it. Thud went heavy black boots on the ground. "No," Cable said, his voice without any question, no possibility of escape, "'Talk' will do."
	Arashi was expecting something like that and quickly caught Mary's arm, twisting it up behind her back, painfully. "Then start talking," he frowned.
	"Nothing to say to you, little wifey. You reek of him. Do you think he thought of me?" She taunted, struggling in his grasp.
	"You're going to leave this island and never come back." There wasn't a single thing even close to a question about it. It was just calm. Steel hidden beneath the conversational tone. "Your role has been played, Typhoid. I suggest you accept that and move on."
	Arashi frowned at Nate, but didn't loosen his grip on Mary. Did he actually think that this... thing (Arashi didn't deem her worthy to call a person) would just leave and never bother them again. He was more naive than Wade made him out to be. He somehow didn't think Nate's words were going to sink in.
	"You gonna make me, Nathan?" She laughed, head tilted back coyly. "You and the little woman here?"
	"It wasn't a request," Cable spoke. His mouth pulled up into a smirk. "It's already done." He'd made a few phone calls.
	That wasn't good enough for Arashi. He jerked Mary's arm up, sharply. "I don't think that's wise Cable." His voice was low, and the fact that he had called him Cable just showed how not happy with this he was.
	"Yes Cable. Better listen to wifey-poo."
	"You're going to get an interesting new leash, Mary," Cable responded, blatantly ignoring the both of them. "Make the most of it." Then he leaned forward and whispered something in her ear. Just a little message to carry her home. He leaned back. "Or I'll throw you into the ocean," he said. Pleasantly.
	Arashi frowned more and pulled the mask up. "What the hell are you pulling here Cable?" He asked, not letting go of her yet.
	Mary snarled at Cable's threat. Oh yes, she had heard of what he did to Creed. "Trouble in paradise?" She asked, glancing back at Arashi.
	"Nothing that concerns you," Cable told Arashi, his arms crossed. He stepped back. "We're done here."
	Arashi pushed Mary away from him with a disgusted look, and just glared at Cable. "If it concerns Wade, it concerns me!"
	"Uh-oh! Mommy and daddy are fighting." Mary giggled, taking a few steps backwards to get away from the pair. "Daddy's keeping secrets, isn't he?"
	"Wade has nothing to do with it," he said, barely paying any attention to Mary. That matter would be handled soon enough.
	Arashi shook his head. "I apologize then Cable, but I can't just let this go," he shrugged and bit his thumb hard enough to make it bleed as he drew the summoning symbol on the grass. Instand later a gigantic frog/toad towered over them, smoking a pipe while Arashi sat between it's eyes. "Gamabunta, I need you to take someone out for me." Gamabunta, puffed on his pipe a moment, blowing clouds of smoke over the preserve. "Eh? Someone, must have really ruffled you Arashi, to have called me. I'll expect the full story of this later, with lots of sake!" It demanded in an voice that sounded more like it belongs to an old Japanese mobster than a frog. "Of course," he nodded, frowning, while he searched for Mary through the trees.
	... There was a giant frog in the preserve. "The toad came home..." Mary had seen a number of strange things in her life, but this was a new one. "There was panic in the parlours and howling in the halls," She sand softly, running for the causeway.
	"Askani preserve me," Cable muttered, staring up at the toad. "This is bigger than you, or Wade, or her. Maybe you can afford to keep your ambitions so narrow, but I don't have the luxury!" And he broke off into a run, heavy boots smashing against the grass.
	Arashi glared down as Nate as he watched him run off. "Gamabunta, I hate to ask this of you, but can you bring Nate up here as well?" Gamabunta's eyebrows furrowed and he growled slightly. "You'll owe me more sake for that you know..." he grumped and moved to grab the strange half metal human, picking him up by the leg and staring at him a moment. "Hmmph, too big for his own britches," he said at Nate and blew out a puff of smoke before tossing him up next to Arashi on his head.
	He landed well, of course. And snapped his gaze over to Arashi almost immediately. "You're not going to kill her," he informed the ninja, securing his old calm again - with a measure of frayed nerves. "This is important. I won't let you ruin it because you're itching for revenge."
	"Then explain to me why!" Arashi demanded back, not backing down at all from him. "I like to think of myself as a reasonalble man. Explain to my why it's so important!" Gamabunta just rolled his eyes at the humans arguing on his head, which made it momentarily unsteady for him as he moved to grab for the woman Arashi called him in to hunt. He grabbed a hoold of her easily and peered at her, blowing smoke of course. "She doesn't look so important to me."
	"My species is going extinct," he said, staring out over the side of the frog. ... Frog. "Or so we thought. Now it seems we aren't as doomed as we all thought." Cable pushed himself further up, steadying himself where he was seated. "I won't let that escalate into a war." Just because he was stuck on this damn island...
	..... "So you're not human, and you need her around so that your species won't go extinct? Nate, don't take this the wrong way, but do you really want her chromosones in the gene pool?" It was a good sign that he was calling him Nate again. Gamabunta snorted out smoke as he listened and held onto the flaily, woman... thing. Even Jiraiya wouldn't like this one.
	"I'm a mutant," he responded. With all due deadpan. "This is not about her. It's not even about the species." Cable glanced over at where she was flailing. "I need her to do what I expect she'll do."
	"Then what is it about?!" He frowned and demanded. Unlike Wade he wasn't as easily distractable. "Tell me the truth! Unless you think my tiny non-mutant brain can't handle it."
	"Does everything have to be about feeling superior or inferior with you?" he asked, vaguely annoyed. Cable got on to his feet, judging the distance down to Mary. "I don't have the time for this."
	Arashi started as Nate snapped at him. Not realizing himself that he'd been like that. Had he? Gamabunta glanced up at Nate and pick him up, letting him stand free on his flat palm as he peered at him. "Heh, you seem to know what you're doing. I see a lot of how Arashi used to be when he was Hokage in you. Just for that, you only owe me one bottle of Sake to take the woman with you," he said and blew a puff of smoke at Cable.
	Barely blinking at the smoke, Cable crossed his arms. Eyed the frog. And then smirked. "It's a deal," he said. "Mind putting me down?"
	"Heh, better make it a big bottle,"Gamabunta smirked back as he set both Cable and Mary down as he ignored the protests of the ninja on his head.
	"Thank you," he said, with honesty, then turned to Mary. His head tilted. Eye flashing dangerously. But still smirking. "Run along now, Mary."
	Rather than respond verbally, she snarled at him, and dashed out into the night. Towards the Causeway.
	Arashi watched silently from the top of Gamabunta's head until Mary was gone down the Causeway. He jumped gracefully from the giant frog and walked away silently. There wasn't anything for him to say.
	Nathan stood silent in the grass, watching her retreating back. He stayed even after she was gone. Glancing up at the dark night skies.
	"You sure about this?" Gamabunta croaked as he puffed on his pipe. "I can still go after her," he chuckled.
	Cable smiled a slightest hint of a smile, his back to the frog. "Haven't you heard?" he asked, almost but not entirely able to keep a hint of self-deprecating resignation from his voice, "I'm always sure."