Wade Wilson’s eyes sprung open as he came back into consciousness, groggily attempting to get a feel for his surroundings. The bars in front of him indicated that he was currently imprisoned in some sort of holding cell. Beyond those bars, everything appeared to be topsy-turvy, as if the room was purposefully flipped upside-down.
“Oh great, the entire room looks like how I feel right now.” Wade grumbled as he looked around and noticed he was not in the cell alone. On each side of him were one of his allies. On the right, the weary eyes of his best friend and self-professed tech wizard, Weasel, stared down at him. On the left, the massive frame of his other best friend, the mutant time traveler known as Cable. Both had been chained, hanging by their arms. It was then that Deadpool noticed the chains attached to his feet, keeping him suspended as well.
“Hey, wait a minute,” Deadpool said, slowly putting together his situation, “if you guys are…then I’m…”
“Upside down, yeah, I was hoping you would have figured that out a bit faster,” Weasel replied. “Now, look down, I got a bet with Cable for how you’ll react.”
Curiosity caused the mutant to follow that suggestion and, to his annoyance, he noticed a large pit of spikes that threatened to be their new home should any of them attempted to break free. “A pit of spikes?! Did we end up back in the 1940s? There are better ways to prevent prison escapes.” The chained merc nervously rattled on.
“That’s anxious quipping, you owe me ten bucks.” Weasel proudly proclaimed.
Cable remained quiet, staring straight ahead to the cell across from them, where Peepers and a bandaged Pete Wisdom hung, also chained by the arms. Wisdom’s dress shirt hung on his shoulders, filled with singe-marks and holes. His bare chest was exposed, and his mid-section had been bandaged.
“Okay, why am I the only one upside down?” The mutant angrily asked. Another glance around changed his tune as he noticed someone missing from the group. “Wait, where’s Theresa?”
“No doubt getting patched up just like they did to Wisdom. They were pretty close to that final cannonball when it hit.” Cable replied, grimacing as he looked at the battered Englishman.
“Cannonballs, right,” Deadpool recalled the last events before he blacked out, “so much for bringing the boat back safe and sound.”
“Alright, Wade is awake again, what about us breaking on out of here, huh?” Weasel added, eager to get out of the current predicament.
“It’s gonna be tough, the cells have power dampeners running through them and if I just pulled myself off with my strength it might send both of you into the pit.” Cable responded, “If we each try to create enough momentum before I break free though, it should launch us past the trap.”
“Should is a very dangerous word when giant death traps are involved.” Weasel worriedly retorted.
“It should be fine, and if it isn’t I’ll be here to be your pin cushion to freedom.” Deadpool gave a thumbs up to Weasel, unaware that it looked more like a thumbs down in his current position. “Tonight, there’s gonna be a jail break!”
“Oh great, the entire room looks like how I feel right now.” Wade grumbled as he looked around and noticed he was not in the cell alone. On each side of him were one of his allies. On the right, the weary eyes of his best friend and self-professed tech wizard, Weasel, stared down at him. On the left, the massive frame of his other best friend, the mutant time traveler known as Cable. Both had been chained, hanging by their arms. It was then that Deadpool noticed the chains attached to his feet, keeping him suspended as well.
“Hey, wait a minute,” Deadpool said, slowly putting together his situation, “if you guys are…then I’m…”
“Upside down, yeah, I was hoping you would have figured that out a bit faster,” Weasel replied. “Now, look down, I got a bet with Cable for how you’ll react.”
Curiosity caused the mutant to follow that suggestion and, to his annoyance, he noticed a large pit of spikes that threatened to be their new home should any of them attempted to break free. “A pit of spikes?! Did we end up back in the 1940s? There are better ways to prevent prison escapes.” The chained merc nervously rattled on.
“That’s anxious quipping, you owe me ten bucks.” Weasel proudly proclaimed.
Cable remained quiet, staring straight ahead to the cell across from them, where Peepers and a bandaged Pete Wisdom hung, also chained by the arms. Wisdom’s dress shirt hung on his shoulders, filled with singe-marks and holes. His bare chest was exposed, and his mid-section had been bandaged.
“Okay, why am I the only one upside down?” The mutant angrily asked. Another glance around changed his tune as he noticed someone missing from the group. “Wait, where’s Theresa?”
“No doubt getting patched up just like they did to Wisdom. They were pretty close to that final cannonball when it hit.” Cable replied, grimacing as he looked at the battered Englishman.
“Cannonballs, right,” Deadpool recalled the last events before he blacked out, “so much for bringing the boat back safe and sound.”
“Alright, Wade is awake again, what about us breaking on out of here, huh?” Weasel added, eager to get out of the current predicament.
“It’s gonna be tough, the cells have power dampeners running through them and if I just pulled myself off with my strength it might send both of you into the pit.” Cable responded, “If we each try to create enough momentum before I break free though, it should launch us past the trap.”
“Should is a very dangerous word when giant death traps are involved.” Weasel worriedly retorted.
“It should be fine, and if it isn’t I’ll be here to be your pin cushion to freedom.” Deadpool gave a thumbs up to Weasel, unaware that it looked more like a thumbs down in his current position. “Tonight, there’s gonna be a jail break!”
Issue #9
by Liam Goncet July 2019 Deadpool
Cable
Weasel
Peepers
Peter Wisdom
Siryn
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"Stay Low"Try as he might, the mutant known as Peepers could not stop looking down into the pit that he perilously dangled over. Having been the only one not knocked unconscious in the cannon fire, Peepers had to endure the humiliation of being blindfolded and drug into the prison he currently resided in. His attention turned to his new cellmate, Peter Wisdom, as he slowly regained consciousness.
“Where…” Wisdom muttered before pausing, looking down and then, looking side-to-side as he took in his surroundings. “Well, this is a load of shite. Where’s Siryn?” Wisdom asked his cellmate. “I don’t know, they just recently dragged you in here. I asked them if I could use the bathroom, but they just laughed and closed the cell.” Peepers answered. “Right, I take it powers don’t work in here?” Wisdom asked, glancing up at his hands as his standard hot knives refused to appear. “Yeah, we might be stuck in here for a bit.” Peepers said, nervously looking back down at the pit. “There’s gonna be a jail break!” Proclaimed the voice of Deadpool as Wisdom took notice of the trio in the cell across from them. “Oy hurry up with it then!” Wisdom shouted back, “Just got to give them a little incentive.” He smirked to Peepers before a loud crash down the hallway caught his attention, “Sounds like company, stay sharp.” A man stood and looked out the window of his ornate office. A large collection of various artifacts was organized in different sections of the room. Ancient statuettes stood in one section, a collection of instruments from cultures long forgotten in another. A terracotta pig sat on the man’s desk, still in need of inspecting. The man, his blue cape draped over his shoulders and a sword holstered at his side, sighed as he looked out at the island that he called his home. Night had begun to fall on the island and he knew that he had much work ahead of him with the prisoners they had gathered. A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. “Come in,” the man instructed, his accent holding an air of British aristocracy. Two armed guards entered wearing bright yellow body suits, a mustard colored mask covering all but their eyes and lower jaw. “Sir, one of the prisoners has escaped. The one known as Taskmaster. He incapacitated all the guards in his path and is making his way to the courtyard.” The man smirked, “I should have expected as much, the other prisoners probably won’t be far behind. What of the one in the gasmask?” “He hasn’t been seen since escaping capture during the initial attack.” “Hmm, no matter, go and prepare the weapon at once.” The man turned to face his soldiers, putting on his nearby mask, a powder blue piece that covered the top half of his face. “They will soon learn to never trifle in the domain of The Plunderer!” “Okay, get ready,” Cable coached, already starting to sway back and forth. “The chain will probably snap on the next- “ He was immediately proven wrong as the chains holding the trio broke loose mid-swing. With the most momentum, Cable landed with a heavy thud on the other side of the pit. Deadpool was a bit farther away than Cable but could easily stick the landing with his, surprisingly adept, acrobatic skills. Instead, noticing that Weasel was never going to make it on his own, Deadpool grabbed his hand. “Hope this works,” the motor-mouthed mutant launched his roommate towards Cable, who just got back on his feet before being barreled over by the arrival of the human into his unexpecting arms. Cable hauled Weasel back up on his feet and the two looked around but found no sign of Deadpool. Their eyes turned to the pit when they heard alarms start to sound off. Weasel moved closer to the death trap that he had narrowly avoided, afraid of what he would find by looking in. The black-gloved hand of Deadpool gripped onto the side of the pit as he made eye contact with Weasel. “Oh…hey Weaz…are those alarms?” “Sure are, we need to jet.” It took all his effort to help the mutant mercenary up onto stable ground, but he managed to do it. “By the way, thanks for saving my life.” “You’re in this mess because of me, it’s the least I could do.” The two nodded at one another, in full agreement for the first time in ages. “Wade, you didn’t die…that’s good.” Cable muttered back from across the hall as he worked on opening the cell containing Peepers and Wisdom. “Help me get these two down.” The chains could easily be lowered and drug away from the pit by anyone not currently captive. “About time,” Wisdom snarked, “fuckers took my cigs so, I’m a little on edge.” “We need to make our way out of here, the guards can’t be far with these alarms blaring.” Cable explained. “I saw that skull-faced prick, Taskmaster, run past right before the bells went off.” Wisdom informed the group, “He took a second to laugh at you lot before moving on, didn’t have any of his weapons though.” “That means he’ll be looking for them, he can lead us right to ours.” The silver-haired mutant added. “Well, that’s all good and everything, but I’m going to find Siryn. Peepers mentioned seeing me get taken in from the hall down here.” Wisdom gestured to the right of their current position in the hallway. “I figure she’ll be down there.” “I’m coming too…uh, we can’t leave anyone behind.” Deadpool chimed in, attempting to obscure his actual reasons for wanting to find his former love. “Weaz, you and Little Bo Peeps go with Cable. I’m trusting you with getting my katanas back.” “What an honor,” Weasel sarcastically replied. This was lost on Deadpool, who gave a thumbs up before following the, already departed, Wisdom. “I knew I could count on you!” “How did I get stuck as the babysitter?” Cable spoke to himself, but did not attempt to lower his voice, uncaring if his comrades heard. “Hey, I’m not exactly thrilled about it either. We’re tracking the guy who attacked our boat in a prison made by the people who blow the damned thing up.” Weasel snapped back, “This whole situation blows big, fat chunks.” “Don’t worry, Jack, Cable is one of the best. He’ll make sure we’re safe.” Peepers attempted to reassure his friend. Cable waved a hand in the air to silence them both. “Someone’s coming.” The trio had made their way to the ground floor from the dungeon they had been captive in. At least half a dozen unconscious guards had been strewn across the steps leading up to ground level. Cable surmised that Taskmaster made quick work of them. Listening closely, he could hear footsteps approaching their location at the top of the stairs. He waited for the sound to draw closer before making his next move. “Stay here and don’t move until you hear me speak.” He told the other two before moving out into the corridor. Four guards moved up and down the corridor looking for any traces of the escapees. Two of the armed patrol had moved down to where the path split into three separate passages. One of the guards looked at the other two, expecting a response on what they found down there, leaving only one facing Cable as he moved towards them. “H-hey s-stop,” was all the sole guard could say before Cable quickly overpowered him. Taking his pistol and using his metal arm to quickly put the man in a chokehold, crushing the man’s windpipe not long after. Cable made quick work of the other guard with a clean shot to the head. The two guards down the hall noticed the imposing presence of the semi-metallic man and quickly opened fire. Cable blocked the shots with his arm before striding towards the duo, throwing one into a wall and grabbing the other by the collar of his shirt. “Taskmaster, where is he?” The guard laughed, “You don’t know what hell you’ve wrought here today.” As Cable began to choke the life from the man, he noticed the arrival of a dozen more guards. Filling in from each of the three paths he had not yet traversed. “Oh…this was a bad time to come out of hiding.” Peepers said as he and Weasel made their way into the open. “We heard you speak, but we weren’t sure if that counted or not.” Cable grimaced as he quickly sprung into action. He pushed back the quartet of guards straight ahead of him, briefly preventing any clear shots from the others. They maneuvered around to get a better line of sight as he quickly subdued two of the attackers in front of him. The, currently suppressed, telepath took a shot to his back, grunting as the gun connected with the flesh portion of his body. Expecting more as he battled the remaining guards in front of him, what he heard instead was the sounds of struggle and surprise from the other guards. Fearing that Weasel and Peepers had foolishly decided to enter the battle, Cable whirled around just in time to see one of the guards impaled with a sword as another two were pushed backwards with a shield. “God, who trained you idiots?” Taskmaster questioned as he took out two more guards with a swift kick to the chest and a slash of his blade. “You guys have the reaction time of a couple two-bit thugs and you expect to stop me?” The mercenary and trainer made eye contact with Cable before cutting down another guard. “Oh, so you did manage to escape. It must be hard not having those powers you rely on so much or any of those big, scary guns of yours.” Cable finished off the two guards in front of him before moving towards the brash man in the skull mask. He threw his metal fist in the direction of Taskmaster’s face, but the mercenary blocked with his shield and pushed the telepath back. “Do you really want to do this now?” He asked, gesturing to the remaining guards, who had gathered around them preparing to open fire. Cable sighed before whirling around and delivering a brutal clothesline to the nearest guard, instantly knocking them out. Taskmaster responded in kind by giving a roundhouse kick to the guard on his side while impaling the other guard next to him. The mercenary’s photographic reflexes made his attack showier than Cable’s and he took a moment to rub it in. “Still got one left, I see.” Cable quickly fired a shot from his stolen pistol into the final guard’s skull before turning back and aiming at Taskmaster. “Just you and me now.” Two shots were fired in the swordsman’s direction, but the shield quickly stopped them. Skillfully moving across the bodies that had littered the hall, Taskmaster made his way to the exit before Cable could fire again. Still, the skilled marksman attempted one more shot only to find he was out of ammo, cursing under his breath. “Go get your weapons and next time we can fight for real.” Taskmaster snarked before exiting the complex. Peepers and Weasel, sensing that the battle was over, made their way towards the seething mutant. “I know that didn’t go the way you wanted, but you looked very cool, Mr. Cable.” “Why do you call him ‘mister’ like you’re a sad orphan?” Weasel joked. Neither of the responses seemed to alter Cable’s mood as he clenched his fists. “Peepers, Weasel, you two go that way and get our weapons.” He pointed to the left, the direction Taskmaster came from. “There shouldn’t be any guards left now so, you’ll be fine.” “Weren’t you supposed to be keeping us safe?” Weasel rejoined. “Just do it! I’ll be damned if I’m letting that bastard get away.” Cable yelled as he moved out towards the exit. Leaving Peepers and Weasel to share a very uneasy glance to one another. “I think the coast is clear.” Deadpool quipped as he looked around at the various bodies strewn about the hallway, most dead. “Looks like old Taskie gave these guys more trouble than they were expecting.” “First and last time I can say I’m happy he was around.” Wisdom responded as he quickly moved forward. “Pretty sure the infirmary is this way, Theresa should still be there.” “Boy, you sure are determined.” The masked mercenary added as he followed along. “I don’t remember you doing this for me anytime I’ve been captured.” “Well, it was hard to save you when you were doing secret ops in Madripoor.” The British mutant said, “Besides, Siryn is a good teammate.” “Teammate…right,” Deadpool added as thoughts started to swirl in his head. He had found Siryn’s distance since the ship ride odd but struck it up to nervousness about the mission. Maybe something else was afoot. “So, there’s nothing else going on?” Wisdom sighed, “Look mate, don’t get weird about this please. Theresa and I are together. She told me you might get bothered by that, but frankly, I don’t have time to worry about hurt feelings on a mission like this. This isn’t going to be a problem, right?” There was a silence as Wade took in the news. Numerous thoughts swirled through his mind. How could he be such an idiot? Of course, she had moved on, it had been years since they were a thing. As reality began to slowly snap back into place he spoke. “Oh yeah, no problems here,” he bluffed. Wisdom stared back at him, clearly not buying the lie. Before he could respond, however, there was a loud crash from the next hall. Running to see the source of the sound, the duo found the doors of the infirmary broken open as two medical personnel had been thrown through them. Near the battered entrance, Siryn fought off the three remaining guards as they attempted to restrain her. “Theresa,” the two said in unison before sharing an incredulous look. She looked to be in better shape currently than Wisdom, only minor bruises on her face and her costume was mostly intact save for her gliderwings, which were in tatters. Still, her movements were clearly slowed due to injury. The duo jumped into the fray and, despite their currently dampened powers, were quickly able to dispatch one of the guards each. Leaving the final one for the Irish mutant, who knocked them out with a punch to the jaw. “My heroes, coming to my aid right when I needed them.” Siryn joked. “One of the guards was blabbering about a prisoner escaping and that seemed like the perfect chance to strike.” “Glad you’re safe.” Wisdom said, glancing over to Deadpool. “Let’s go find Cable and the others before more trouble shows up.” Nathan Summers, the one-time mutant savior, made his way out into a courtyard already beginning to be littered with the dead and dying bodies of those who stood in the way of Taskmaster. In the distance, a beach could be seen as well as a dock that appeared to hold a few boats. Not wasting any time, Cable grabbed a pistol off the nearest body and opened fire on Taskmaster as he battled through the quartet of guards that remained. Unaware of Cable’s presence and with his back turned, the bullet hit the mercenary in the shoulder as he fell forward in pain. “Can’t believe you were stupid enough to follow me.” Cable fired another shot, taking out one of the remaining guards as he cleared the distance. The other soldiers scattered away from the two combatants. He could feel the telepathic powers that had been dampened inside the complex slowly coming back to him. Not that he was going to use them on his next attack. His metal fist collided with Taskmaster’s shield, narrowly blocking the intended target of his face. As Taskmaster pushed the hulking man back and got to his feet the two stared each other down, the swordsman smirking. “Looks like even the guards want this showdown to happen.” He gestured to the seemingly empty courtyard. It soon became clear why the square had become abandoned however as the center of the yard opened and, arriving on an elevator from below, a tank appeared. Guards began to flood out from the elevator as well, aiming their weapons at the duo. The tank looked to be an old WW1 model, retrofitted to include more advanced weaponry, such as a laser cannon. The hatch opened to reveal the masked form of The Plunderer as he laughed at his prey. “You thought you could move through my waters and not pay the price?” The man proclaimed. “You have something I want and as everyone on the sea knows. The Plunderer always gets his treasure!” To Be Continued… |