Chapter 75: Behind the mask, part 3

It's funny. I came here to free Bobby and Gwen, and instead I'm leading a manhunt for them. At least I have an opportunity to intervene if things start to get out of hand. I still hope it doesn't come to that, though. Fury gave clear instructions: not to use lethal weapons, to take the fugitives alive and unharmed as much as possible. Of course, this order only applies as long as the superheroines themselves adhere to the "no-kill" policy. That's a very sensible approach on Fury's part. I suspect she would have liked to recruit the girls for her notorious initiative, but the mayhem they caused when first encountering the base's security systems made that difficult. After all, Fury, though she wields enormous power, is still part of the system. She, too, has her own superiors, duties, and responsibilities, including the girls' actions obliging Fury to find good reasons not to imprison them, much less trust them as Avengers candidates.

By the time we reached the supposed location of the fugitives, I'd more or less managed to coordinate with the other squads involved in the raid. No one was able to provide correct information on how the escape had been accomplished. All the operatives knew was that the two fugitives had somehow escaped from their confinement cells and the approximate direction in which they were trying to escape. That was exhaustive information, nothing to say. Also, it's unclear how they even managed to get out of the Shield cells, designed to contain creatures with superpowers, with Bobby being separated from her symbiote and Gwen not yet fully recovered from her injuries.

Speaking of Bobby and her symbiote. Something tells me the girl isn't going to leave it as a gift for the Shield biologists.

"Sarge," I continue to play the part of Phil Colson, "the first thing to do is block the known escape routes. I'm going to have to set up checkpoints and block the passageways to the hangar they used to get into the base, check everyone, and don't let anyone through."

Of course, I didn't say anything that my subordinates wouldn't have guessed to do on their own, but that's the job of commanders ninety percent of the time. If that's not the case, it's likely that either the commander or his subordinates are simply not competent enough to do their job. But still. They wouldn't really try to retreat the same way they came into the base...

If I want to intercept the girls myself, I should go to the lab that's holding the symbiote. I'm betting Bobby will come back for it, he just can't leave her, and neither can Gwen.

"Sir," the sergeant calls out to me, deciding it's her duty to accompany me.

"I need to check a hunch, you don't need to be distracted from your tasks," I try to get away from her.

But the woman does not think to leave me alone, together with a group of soldiers, she follows me. She is restless. I can think of no other way to throw my "assistants" off my tail, because what happens is exactly what I feared, or what I hoped for, it depends on how you look at it.

My spidey sense had malfunctioned. It had happened before. I had long noticed that this part of my powers had one peculiarity: if my attacker was a person who would never consciously try to kill me, my spidey sense worked, to put it mildly, flawed. I once missed a blow to the head with a cane from Aunt May, who mistook Spider-Man for one of the criminals in the dark... it was surprisingly painful, by the way.

It was like that now, too - I'd quickly reverted to my old habits, so I'd missed the blow that Wanda, disguised as a S.H.I.E.L.D. employee, had met me with. Not fatal, of course, but not pleasant.

"Look at that, a tough nut to crack," Wilson whistled, rubbing her bruised elbow.

So that's how they escaped-they were saved by Wanda! I didn't see that one coming. I'd written off the mercenary in recovery from cancer. I should have known that Deadpool wouldn't just sit back and wait for the situation to resolve itself. But how did she end up here? Maybe she, too, picked up a false trail left by my captors and got herself into this base that way. Most likely. Impressive, though. To sneak into a top-secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facility with no powers and no fuss, and even to save her friends. Except, it's all a bit of a bad time.

Seeing that I'm on my feet after the sudden blow, Wilson moves resolutely in my direction, with the most obvious intentions. My gut is still silent, but at least she's not trying to shoot me... that's reassuring.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Gwen and Bobby - both, like Wanda, in borrowed agent uniforms - engaging in hand-to-hand combat with my escorts. The sharp bend in the corridor, where I'd been caught, helped them get close to the operatives, preventing them from taking full advantage of their weapons. And, with the protective formations on his arms, Venom easily fends off shots, and the Spiderwoman glides so quickly and unpredictably through space that it's no easy task to hit her.

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I manage to roll away to the side, and the heavy army boot, which someone should replace with more standard shoes for lab technicians, with a rumbling sound crashes into the wall.

I look around quickly, trying to get as much detail as I can. There are still too many witnesses, and a couple of cameras are functioning properly, recording our confrontation. So I shouldn't reveal my disguise just yet, or it would be too hard to face Fury again. However, neither agents nor fugitives are going to kill each other... I decide to let my friends spare us some of the prying eyes. All we have to do is dance a little with Wanda, and it wouldn't hurt to get rid of those cameras.

"Hold still, honey, it won't hurt!" After another unsuccessful attempt, Wilson grinningly blows a loose strand of hair out of his face, "I'll try to do it gently."

She's enjoying it! I block a left jab, and my attempt to block the mercenary's arm from her with a trick I'd seen before fails. On the contrary, as if to continue my own movement, Wilson throws me into the wall, performing an intricate underhook. She didn't teach me that... but I'm not the same. I was able to get my bearings and get my fall under control, thanks to the fact that I had no complaints about my vestibular apparatus, my reaction speed, or my spatial orientation. And now it was no longer me, but Wanda, who had to regroup to avoid injuries from the fall.

I was about to take out the gun borrowed from the agents accompanying me in order to "casually" disable the cameras in the corridor, when my attention was drawn to a previously unnoticed detail. Until this moment, the technicians had not been able to detect the exact location of the fugitives, and this was probably not the first fight in which they had to take part!

"You've disabled the cameras?!" I get it.

"That's right, smart guy, there's no help to be had!" Wanda leaps deftly to her feet "which is too bad for you, because you're forcing me to be a little serious."

Oh, I got her all fired up. The eyes are burning, the hair is ruffled, and there's an anticipatory smile on her lips, but... what's that thing around her neck?

During the scuffle, the high collar of her blouse slid down, revealing to my eyes the ugly scar on the girl's neck. The last time I saw her, it wasn't there! "And she's not wearing a collar!" - I notice only now. It turns out that the healing process is over, but something went wrong. Either the girl's body still rejected the blocker gene, and the infection is gradually returning, taking over Wanda's body, or it's something else. That seems to hold for now, though. I have to get them out of the base first, how long will they keep messing around with those agents?

I do manage to exchange a few more pleasantries with Wanda before Bobby and Gwen put the other agents to rest. Fury's soldiers were professionals, of course, but what could they do against two full-fledged superheroes? But behind the taunts and quips that came pouring out of Wilson's mouth, you could already detect a note of concern. For, in spite of all her chatter, she was trying to knock me out in earnest.

"Hurry up!" Bobby hastened Wanda, glaring at her savior disapprovingly, "Stop playing with him!"

Gwen had just knocked out her last opponent, and she, too, stood still, waiting for our fight to be over. Judging by their flight path, they assumed they were retreating in the same fashion as they had used to break in. How naïve of them, they were already waiting there with open arms! At least I didn't do it all for nothing and personally interfered in the interception.

"Yeah, I just..." Wanda muttered without a hint of mockery, and attacked me again.

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