Insert song: Van Halen - Black and Blue
Aoi brought me to the same cottage I came out from earlier. I deactivated my Iron Spider suit and took off my Spider-Man mask underneath. Aoi resumed on hugging me, he buried his face on my shoulder. I hugged him back, burying my face on his hair. I touched his cheek, moving his face to face me. He knew what I wanted us to do. He caressed the hair which covered a part of my face, smiling as he looked me in the eyes. I went forward and kissed him. I turned his body and pushed him against the wall slowly. I released every worries and longings of him.
"Why are you wearing hospital uniform?" I asked between our kisses.
"It's a long story," Aoi giggled, "Do I look ridiculous?"
"It's your color, so it suits you, kind of."
I lifted him off the ground and changed the positions. I leaned on the wall and sat down, putting him on top of my lap. I didn't know why, but my legs grew tired and wanted to rest while making out.
"Come home, Aoi," I said to him when we pulled away from each other, "Come home with me."
"...I can't," he refused, "For now, I can't."
"Why? I miss you! Don't you miss me?"
"It's... co-"
"Complicated?"
"Confusing and convoluted, but yeah, you know what I meant," he avoided my eyes.
"It doesn't have to be! Are you maybe afraid of being caught?" I asked, "You know I'll fight for you!"
"This is exactly why I don't want to come home!" he became furious, "You, putting yourself in trouble because of me."
"Then you rather stay here forever and join the criminals?"
"They are not criminals, Peter. They literally helped save the universe last time."
"They released dangerous criminals from prisons. They are technically considered as criminals now."
"Well I also did it," he pointed out, "So does it make me a criminal too?"
"No. God, no. You were forced into doing it," I opposed, "You are not one of them."
"Actually, Peter, I wasn't forced," he revealed, "I accepted their offer. Does it change your opinion about me now?"
I became speechless. I was shocked when he said the real reason he helped BoM.
"Tell me you are joking," my voice became shaken, "It's a lie, isn't it? You are just messing with me."
"It's not," he shrugged, "Mr. Erik came to me on Saturday night and picked me up. I voluntarily accepted it."
"W-why? I thought you felt bad about what you did on the mission last time?"
"I still feel bad about it. But I'm also scared of being arrested. Mr. Erik offered me protection and security from the government. He promised me, he won't let them get me. But in return I also have to free my fellow mutant people."
"But you are freeing prisoners! They are caught for a reason, Aoi. They are not some people you should let to walk freely. They are dangerous."
"Yeah, like me," he shot back, "I am dangerous. I killed people too last week. In fact, I think I killed more people than those people did. I should be put into the Ice Box too, right? Is that what you mean?"
I was stunned. I couldn't argue with what he told me. He did kill people too, even when it wasn't intentional.
"N-no, of course not!" I stuttered, "What you did was an accident."
"Accident or not I still killed those people," he didn't buy my lame reasoning, "You should go home now, Peter. Leave me here, and go back. Please."
"I'm not leaving without you," I refused, "If you're not coming home, then I won't."
"Why are you so stubborn?"
"I won't leave empty handed," I insisted.
"Even when you know I did all of those?" he asked.
"Yes. I don't care if it wasn't in tune with what I believed in. If you're not coming home with me, I'm staying."
I meant what I said. I maybe a firm believer of not hurting anyone, good or bad, but Aoi is above all of it. I had him on my sight. I couldn't let him disappear from me again. I would rather be a criminal too than living with the fact of him being one and me not doing anything. I really didn't want the visions to come true. If I leave him, he could die. And it would partly be my fault. Aoi got visibly annoyed.
"Either you come home or I'll stay and join the BoM too," I emphasized.
"I told you, I'm not-"
"SPIDEY! OPEN UP! SOMEONE IS COMING HERE," Deadpool screams cut Aoi's sentence.
I put on my mask and turned on the Iron Spider suit. I went toward the door, opening it for Deadpool.
"I was strutting through the garden and I saw several of them walking here," Deadpool panted, "Hmm? Who might this be?"
"I'm Aoi...," Aoi smiled awkwardly, "And you are... sir?"
"Call me Deadpool," Deadpool shook Aoi's hand, "I can see why Spider-Man fancy you. Ah well... I thought I had a chance."
"A chance of what?" Aoi got confused.
"We have to leave from the garden, FRIDAY noticed three people coming in this direction," I told them.
"I'll hold them off, you guys go hide," Aoi suggested.
Aoi went out first from the cottage. He checked if the way was clear and nodded after he made sure of it. Deadpool and I sneaked behind the trees waiting for Aoi's signal to move forward. We were almost at the exit of the garden when three of BoM members appeared. One was a lady with green hair and costume. One was a hunchback looking guy. The other one was a massive looking man.
"Aoi, we've been waiting for you at the lab," the lady spoke to him, "Is there something which makes you change your mind?"
"I'm about to go there actually," Aoi lied, "Just want to prepare myself."
"Hmm... We'll wait for you until you're ready," she seemed to buy Aoi's lie, "Don't take too long."
"Okay," Aoi nodded.
The three mutants left him and disappeared into the garden. Aoi looked at our directions and gestured us to quickly made our way out and hide among the buildings. Deadpool rushed out of the garden and I followed from behind. I stopped my tracks suddenly.
"Why are you stopping, we need to get the hell out of here," Deadpool said, "I don't think messing with them is a good idea. I'm not ready for my glorious ass to be flattened by one of them."
"Is there something you forgot?" Aoi asked me from a distance.
I turned at him. I walked to where he stood, grabbing his hand while touching his ring.
"There is... It's you," I sighed.
"Stop playing around, Peter!" Aoi whispered, "You don't know how dangerous those guys are."
"I really don't want to leave without you," I rested my head against his.
"Hey, just hide first, then we'll talk about this again, okay?" Aoi cupped my cheek.
"Guys... I don't think this is the right time to do soap opera," Deadpool called, "Pause your hormonal pull for a sec, young bloods!"
"Give me some moments, please, Pool?" I requested.
Deadpool threw his hands, didn't believe I would do this considering we were in danger at the time.
"You promise you'll come with me?" I made sure Aoi would come home with me.
"I can't promise you, but I will meet you again..."
"I won't move from here until you give me your words."
"I told you it's complicated!" he finally got mad, "You need to hide, fast!"
I didn't budge, holding my stance and kept grabbing his hand.
"Fine! I'll think about it," Aoi gave up, "I'll meet you again and give you my final thoughts. For now, stay away from this place, Webs!"
"It's all I wanted to hear," I messed his hair, "See you later, Blue!"
"Freakin' finally!" Deadpool exclaimed.
"Sorry for the hold up!" I approached the impatient merc.
"Isn't he coming with us?" he asked.
"He promised me he'll join us later," I answered.
"He better be! I didn't get my butt roasted only to get stood up by my rival."
"Rival of what?"
"Of getting you, my sweet sugar!" Deadpool wrapped his arm against my shoulders.
"I thought you've realized your chances against him?" I said, "Also, weren't you annoyed by my 'ass-crack moral compass'?"
"I can work it out," he replied, "I mean, you got a point. And as long as you don't see me stab- I mean, poke people, I could still do whatever I want with these triple swords of mine."
"Triple? You have another sword?"
"The grandest one of the three," he presented his 'package' proudly.
"Right... Why didn't I see it coming?"
"Why are you so attached to Aoi anyway, Spidesy?" Deadpool asked out of nowhere, "I mean I can see he's one cutie of a boy, but... why did you fight so hard to save him?"
"Aoi is... someone I know I can count on. He didn't look or act like he is dependable, he cries easily, refuse to do any physically straining activity, very sensitive emotionally, but he has saved me several times before," I confessed, "His face is something I want to see every morning after I wake up and every night before I sleep. I might sound overdramatic and helplessly needy... It's hard to explain. I can't imagine someone else's face to replace his when I daydream. Sure, he's just a boyfriend and I have a lot of other people I cared about, but I don't know what I would do if someday he'll leave me. Haha... Sorry for causing you to puke."
"Not gonna lie but I didn't know you are a sentimental type of a guy," Deadpool teased, "Should have seen it coming with the 'no harming enemies' way of life you had."
"Whatever, man," I laughed.
We were already half of our way through the abandoned city when my body suddenly couldn't move. I tried hard to move forward but I couldn't make my body to.
"Wow, what happened?" Deadpool looked back at me.
"I-I don't know! Probably my suit is acting up or something," I panicked, "FRIDAY, what is going on?"
"An enemy is spotted above you, Peter," the AI informed.
"Wha-?" I looked up and saw the lady from earlier came down slowly.
"Where are you going, Spider-Man and...," she glanced over to Deadpool, "Wade Wilson! Ha. The mutt."
"Haha! Really funny, throwaway," Deadpool snapped back, "How's your daddy issue going? Whoops, it's still there, isn't it?"
"I'm gonna rip your mouth off, Wilson," she got visibly angry.
"Unoriginal. I heard it a lot," Deapool replied while shooting at her.
"If you notice, bullets never really hit me," she mocked, stopping the bullet before it could hit her.
"Yeah, but it's enough to distract you a bit," Deadpool lunged towards her.
The lady was caught off guard and was about to be hit by Deadpool's feet.
THUUD! CRAAASH!
But the massive guy came, ruining Deadpool's moment, running at him like a bullet train, and sending him to crash into a wall.
"Youch...," Deadpool said, lying on top of the bricks.
I used the chance and threw web grenades to both the lady and the huge guy. Both of them couldn't move momentarily and tried to break free with no avail.
"The lady controls metal?" I asked Deadpool.
"Yeah, Lorna had similar powers to Magneto, just much flashier," he explained.
"What about the mammoth guy?"
"Blob is immune to most attacks and can't be moved when he is on his feet, unless he wanted to," he continued, "... and he is coming here."
Deadpool jumped at the guy and tried to slice his arm, but didn't work.
"I thought you won't stab or slice when I'm around," I reminded him while I wrapped Blob's body with web strings, to make him lose balance.
"As you can see, none of it works!" Deadpool yelled, "...Except for his eyes."
Deadpool was about to stab the now fallen on the ground Blob in the eyes when his sword was snatched by a disgustingly long tongue.
"Crap, it's yucky Toad," Deadpool landed after he failed his attack.
"You look horrid yourself beneath your costume, Wade," Toad replied while freeing Lorna.
"Gimme back my katana, arse-licker," Deadpool went towards him with his other katana.
"I'm taking both of them," Lorna controlled the katanas and took them from Toad and Deadpool, "Have you ever been stabbed by swords, Wade?"
"Isn't it too sensitive to ask, Lorna?" Deadpool said while punching the hell out of Toad, "I mean I would love to give you the details."
"Don't sweat it," Lorna refused and began to direct the swords to him.
I managed to catch it with my webs and threw it away.
"Dammit, Spidey!" Deadpool yelled, "Why do you have to throw them so fucking faraway?"
"Sorry, dude! Didn't calculate it," I apologized.
"I forgot there's two of you... You both look too similar," Lorna remarked.
"I have the spider logo, if you haven't noticed," I said, "And I have some blues and golds and these spider legs, and I shoot webs. There's a lot of difference there, lady!"
"If you haven't noticed, I don't care," Lorna said, controlling my suit again.
At the same time, Blob broke free and jumped. He intended to land his body on me to crush me flat to the ground. When he was midair, his body weirdly got sent several miles into the forest.
THUUUUUUMP!
The sound of his huge body crashing into the ground sent chills to my spine, imagining how it would feel if he landed on me instead. I wondered who rescued me and saw from some distance, Aoi came running towards me and Lorna.
"Why am I not surprised," Lorna smirked, "I've expected you to betray us, just wondered when."
"Yeah, he is my boyfriend you are about to crush," Aoi came beside me, "Are you hurt?"
"Uh, nope! ...Thanks for sparing me from being stomped," I answered, "But my suit is still controlled by her."
"Let him go, Lorna," Aoi told her, "He didn't do anything!"
"Then what is he doing here?" Lorna asked.
"To bring me back home," Aoi revealed.
"Yeah sorry, but he trespassed. So I will capture him and take him to father," Lorna began to pull me to her while she lifted some sharp metal scraps to stab me, "Dead or alive."
"No, you won't," Aoi lifted the grounds to form a tall vertical wall and push it towards Lorna, sending her away and releasing me.
"I think it'd be wise to turn off your Iron Spider suit, Webs. You wore another suit inside, right?"
"You're right! Why didn't I think of it?" I deactivated my Iron Spider suit.
"Let me hold onto the nano-suit container," Aoi held his hand out, "They won't expect me to have it."
"Here." I took off the container from my chest and gave it to him, "Better not lose it!"
"I won't," he laughed.
"Oh hey, male Ramona," Deadpool approached us, "Where's Blob?"
"Ramona? Oooooh... okay! I get it! Ramona from Scott Pilgrim," Aoi understood the reference late, "I've sent him to I don't know where. Ugh... Your arms don't look comfortable, Mr. Pool."
"Eh, this happens all the time," Deadpool casually moved his broken arms, making me and Aoi to cringe.
A few seconds later, Toad and Lorna got back on their feet, now absolutely angered after what we've done to them.
"Hand them to me, while I'm still nice, Aoi," Lorna hovered, nearing where we stood.
"Aren't you the one who said I am 'the key' to do your mission because the rest of you weren't good enough to do it by yourself?" Aoi taunted, "If I were you, I should have known my place."
"I know I can't lay a finger on you, but I can... to them!" Lorna said while throwing a utility pole at me and Deadpool.
"You won't touch them either," Aoi wished the pole to fly in the same direction to where he sent Blob at.
Toad then captured Aoi with his tongue. I pulled his tongue away with my webshooter and catapulted him. Aoi whimpered with saliva covering his entire clothes. Right at that moment, a steel water tank was hurled at the three of us. I caught Aoi and jumped to avoid it, but Deadpool didn't react fast enough and was struck down. I landed on top of one of the buildings.
"Why am I always the one who got fucked up by these mutants?" Deadpool complained.
"Thanks, Peter," Aoi grinned.
"Anytime," I replied.
"Are you okay, Mr. Pool?" Aoi became concerned after remembering Deadpool's condition.
"Yep. All good here!" Deadpool loudly answered.
"If he's still talking, he's probably fine," I joked.
"But it must have hurt," Aoi pouted, "I'll make the green witch pay for this."
Aoi stood up and went closer to Lorna. He opened up a deep hole at the ground, deep enough to bury someone. He wished Lorna to fall into the hole and get buried until the neck. Lorna couldn't do anything since she can't control earth. I carried him back down to the street. I lifted the water tank and tossed it to somewhere else then helped Deadpool to stand up.
"You really need to go, now!" Aoi ordered.
"What about you? I thought you said you'll think about it and catch up to us," I reminded him about his promise.
"It was only five minutes ago!" Aoi pointed the fact that he didn't even get to go back to Magneto yet, "I'll meet you at like, tomorrow noon."
"Can I keep your words?" I made sure he wouldn't change his mind.
"Yes!"
"Alright, see you tomorrow," I finally said while lifting Deadpool up about to run.
"Those other fangirls are going to be mad if they see this," Deadpool giggled.
"What fangirls?"
"Oh, it's nothing, hon! Just a fansite I actively joined," he answered.
"See you both later!" Aoi waved.
I bridal carried Deadpool and rushed to where we landed with the quinjet earlier. Deadpool took his chance and rest his head on my chest. I didn't say anything to it like I probably would in other times, knowing he was wounded. The whole fake scenes Mysterio sent played on my head again. It was as vivid as before, probably even more. I fell down on my knees and tried to put Deadpool slowly, not dropping him. It was so painful I couldn't even say anything. The sudden attack of the visions made me panicked. It seemed real I thought it really happened this time. While Mysterio's was kinda dramatic since he put himself in it, this one was more realistic. Aoi appeared in it and ran towards me.
"Peter!" Aoi shouted, "Don't leave me! I know I've messed up real bad, but don't leave me alone! Please!"
"I'm not leaving you, what do you mean?" I rushed to him.
"But you did! And now it's too late...," his face got dark and he was shot by multiple bullets shot by the army, "If only... you forced me to go back home... they wouldn't have..."
Aoi's face were pale and lifeless. His eyes were directed at me but they were empty. I couldn't respond. I lifted his dead body up and tried waking him up. I held him close, I cursed and yelled at everyone who were just standing there, watching him as if he deserved it.
"No-no-no please... Aoi, answer me, please...," my voice croaked, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please say something! Aoi!"
The visions were gone the second I blinked. I was back to reality again. Deadpool was in front of me, yelling at me to snap out of it.
"That's enough, Wyngarde," a voice commanded, "Let the boy breathe."
"Shit... Magneto and Mastermind," Deadpool got panicked by what he saw, "They must have put something in your brain. They are not real, bud! He was just fucking with your head!"
"Aoi is... he's... where... his body...," I spoke like an idiot, confused of which things were real and not.
"Pardon for the inconvenience, but both of you are coming with me," Magneto said.
He ripped electrical wires from nearby pole and tied us both. He lifted our bodies and brought us to his headquarters.