A Family of Flaws

Chapter Nineteen; A Masked Friend

  The man gasped dramatically and clutched at his chest. "You don't know who I am?" He asked in offense. "And here I was, doing my research so I could talk to you!" He said indignantly.

  "Um... sorry?" Peter stammered, feeling at a loss for words at the strange man and his sporadic mood changes. "But uh... I still don't know your name?" He said awkwardly, wincing at himself.

  "Oh, of course! Silly me!" The masked man said, doing a spin and bowing to Peter. "You can call me Deadpool!" Peter stumbled back, nearly tripping off the building, and stared at the man. He was Deadpool? The mercenary? And he was just talking to Peter like this was completely normal?

  Taking a small step back, he would have taken a larger one if he wasn't standing at the edge of a rooftop, Peter prepared himself for a fight. This man was dangerous, deranged, and completely okay with murdering people in the blink of an eye. "Ah... um... I-I think I should get going..." He said nervously, about to swing away.

  "Already? But I'm bored and I wanted to talk to you!" Deadpool whined, acting like a pouting child. "C'mon, I've been dying to meet you and you're just gonna swing off without even talking to me? No fair, Spidey." Once again confused by the mercenary, Peter stopped his hasty escape and paused, wondering if the man was truly as dangerous as everyone said he was.

  Cursing himself, Peter nearly slapped himself. Of course he was as dangerous as everyone said! Deadpool was accountable for hundreds of deaths— and even if they were villains, it was still murder!

  "Oh— you're probably freaked out by the news." Deadpool said suddenly, face palming. "You see, I only kill bad people." He explained slowly, moving his hands around as if that would help explain what he was trying to say. "But you're fine, Spidey! You're, like, not evil or crazy at all!" Deadpool burst out, wrapping an arm around Peter's shoulders.

  Instantly, Peter flinched and tried to get away from the man. His Spidey Sense went haywire, but not because of the man. Instead, it was because suddenly he was no longer on the roof with the mercenary, but instead he was in a free fall, heading straight towards the ground.

  In a moment of desperation, Peter threw his arm out in a random direction and fired off a web, hoping it would catch a wall. Thankfully it did and he caught himself barely five feet above the ground. Using his momentum, Peter swung towards the closest building and landed in a panicked state, staring at his shaking hands, taking in large breathes. That had been the closest he had ever been to falling to his death. Even his healing couldn't bring him back from death.

  Peter was no longer on the roof he had been standing on with Deadpool, but that didn't particularly upset him. He was quite honestly grateful to be away from the man, even if he seemed very friendly and almost nice, Peter wasn't ready to trust a known mercenary.

  Unfortunately, Deadpool seemed to be able to teleport or something, because suddenly two feet that looked suspiciously similar to Deadpool's were within his sight range. Lifting his eyes from his hands, Peter nearly groaned as he was met with the wide eyes of Deadpool (seriously, how did his mask do that).

  "Whoa— that was awesome, buddy!" Deadpool exclaimed, clapping his hands in excitement. "But I don't think that was very smart, pal, you looked pretty close to the ground." Once again, the man's mood changed incredibly fast and he was suddenly completely different.

  Peter took in a deep breathe and tried to suppress his fear, he was still freaked out by what just happened, and he was having trouble calming down. His body was still trembling and his breathing was rather sporadic.

  Standing up, his legs nearly buckled as he continued to shake. Hoping the mercenary wouldn't notice, Peter tried his best to act like Spider-Man, who was funny, witty, confident, and everything Peter Parker wasn't.