by Perri Smith
"How can someone so runty weigh so much?" Deadpool groaned, rolling Wolverine onto his back at Delphi's order. He slumped back against the wall, closing his eyes.
"How can someone so dumb talk so much?" Wolverine answered before his voice strangled on a gasp of pain.
Delphi didn't look like she was paying attention to either of them, already checking Siryn's leg. "Damn, you're bleeding all over the place."
"Sorry," Theresa answered foggily.
"Don't apologize, that's our job," Delphi said, bitterness coating every word. She laid her hands on Siryn's leg and closed her eyes.
Warmth spread from the wound through her body, and the pain dimmed, then faded to a dull ache. The fog faded with it. Siryn sat up, hardly able to believe it. "What did ye do?"
"Stopped the bleeding and convinced your nerves it doesn't hurt anymore." Delphi finished ripping off one sleeve from her shirt and tossed it at Siryn before starting on the other one.
Siryn caught the fabric and started tying it around her leg in an improvised bandage. "How'd ye do that?" It was only one of many questions that had started coming to mind.
"It's one of the things I can do," Delphi answered impatiently, finishing with the other sleeve. She stretched out her own legs, and started wrapping up a nasty hole in her left calf. "Unfortunately, I can't do it to myself, so you get to carry me the rest of the way." She tied off the tourniquet and started to get up. Halfway to her feet, she stopped and sank back to her knees, face white with pain.
"Stay down, willya!" Deadpool said without lifting the back of his head from the wall or opening his eyes. "Jeez, we've got a few minutes before they manage to track us down; actually, we've probably got a few hours, considering the clowns Tam hired. Not that she had much choice -- it's bad business to hire anyone smarter'n yourself, as The Amazing Wilson and Raines just proved."
"Maybe Raines and Wilson have time, but Logan doesn't." Delphi pulled herself to her knees with obvious effort and crawled the few feet to Wolverine's side. She used one hand to prop herself up and laid the other on his chest, closing her eyes in concentration again.
Siryn watched her for a moment, worried about Wolverine, but those questions nagged at her. She turned her attention to Deadpool. "What the devil is goin' on, Wade? I thought ye were working for that bitch."
"I was," he shrugged, still not opening his eyes. "What can I say, the benefits are lousy and the retirement plan sucks, but the pay is great."
"Why the change o' heart then?" she asked in disgust. "Won't helpin' us have a detrimental effect on your paycheck?"
"Hey, it'll have a detrimental effect on my life -- they know how to execute people on Genosha, once they catch up with them. Which she won't 'cause, hey, who's better than me?"
Theresa was something less than impressed. "How'd ye get yerself inta somethin' as stupid as assaultin' the mansion, anyway?"
He shrugged again. "It wasn't supposed to be an assault, just checking the place out, see if maybe we could buy it, do some remodeling, set up a summer house. . . ."
"Dammit, Wade, this is not amusin'! I'm tired o' listenin' t' ye make this into a joke! Ye attacked me and m' home; kidnapped me an' m'friend! This is not funny!"
"You weren't even supposed to be there, Terry!" Deadpool yelled as his eyes flew open, losing all semblance of cool. "Tam wanted to get into the computer files Xavier keeps, his records on all of the mutants. And she wants to get the crazy crew that took on Genosha in the process! I wasn't in on the recon, I didn't know X-Force had decided to hang around there -- last I heard, Cable would rather die painfully than have anything to do with the X-Men!"
"Things change," Theresa answered at equal volume. "And good luck gettin' the files -- m' dad destroyed them when the Phalanx took over the school a few months ago!* And would you have cared that Cable and the others are my friends, if I hadn't been here t' remind ye? Or would ye have just sat back and watched that madwoman and her goon squad try to kill them?"
Deadpool's answer was controlled and quiet. "It was a job, gorgeous. That's all. Just a job." He looked away. "I wouldn't have let them hurt you or Banshee."
Theresa's voice was even lower. "That's not enough, Wade. Not nearly enough."