( Von veek later)

[ Could you not] Yellow snapped.

( I'm telling them it's one week later.)

[ Well you can do it in a non weird Russian accent alright.] Yellow retorted.

" Would you both stop?" Wade snarled at the two.

After the whole scenario that played out after Wade got home, Peter had ghosted him for two days. Of course, Wade knew what it probably meant and just started living his life normally like the stopwatch thing never happened. He had been filling his time tracking down a target someone wanted out of the way.

His promise of peace towards Peter hadn't counted towards his livelihood. It was just for patrolling. He didn't deal in everyday low life criminals like the hero, his work was not merciful.

Initially, Wade had been given little information about the target aside from the basic where and who. The price over the guy's head wasn't huge, but enough to catch Deadpool's attention. The client only told him that the man needed to be taken care of, so he assumed this to be some personal vendetta when the man wouldn't go into details. It was curious so Wade did his own digging and came to the conclusion the man needed to be unalived for several reasons that even he felt personally obligated to pursue.

And it was with people like this that it blew his mind that Peter assumed everyone deserved a second chance. He didn't have any desire to disclose to his fans just what these atrocities were, but the were unforgivable.

 He silently dropped down from a rafter. Waiting a second to see if the targeted would notice him. He didn't, but the target's victim did an she looked past her attacker with pleading eyes as the mercenary approached silently like a large cat stalking its prey. She was sobbing through a gag, snot and tears streaming down her face. She looked young, maybe a junior or senior in high school which made a knot in Wade's stomach.

Her attacker moved to turn around but she screamed and began to thrash in her bindings, drawing the man back towards her, probably trying to Wade a few more seconds to act. In reality, he wanted the piece of shit to turn around and get away from her so he had to jump into action to make sure he had him stuck in place before he could lay his hands on the girl again. He pulled one of his pistols and raised it towards the man, stepping into his peripheral vision as he cocked the gun.

The man froze, eyes darting toward Wade's direction.

The girl stilled, body relaxing and she gave in to hand from her wrists. She was still crying but she wasn't fighting anymore now that Deadpool was stepping in between she and her attacker. He could see the fear in the man's eyes, the desire to flee despite there being nowhere to run.

Wade forced him back, dragging him aside to shove him into the nearest wall a fair distance away from the girl so she didn't take in too much of what he was about to do. 

"You know, there is something completely disgusting about people like you that I just can't wrap my head around. And believe me, I know what disgusting is. I see it every day when I look into a mirror, but you surpass me." Deadpool hissed, letting their little chat stick between he and his target while he rested his gun against the side of the man's skull. "I don't see the appeal," he growled, purposefully pressing the man into the wall, their chests pressed together. He wanted the piece of shit to connect with the people he'd hurt, to feel what it's like to be pressed down my someone much stronger. Someone who had full intentions of hurting him. Killing him. 

The man had the audacity to struggle, but the firm press of the bold barrel against his temple encouraged him to still. 

"What's so fun?" Deadpool continued, talking sickeningly soft as he leaned his forehead against his predator's reaching with his free hand to give the man's belt a tug. "What's so fun about them powerless? Forcing them to feel worthless? To give a wound that will never heal?"

The man wrinkled his lip, angrily thrashing his head away. Wade took that as a sign to move along. he took the man by the collar and threw him into the ground, the man's skull making a satisfying clack when he hit the concrete ground. He wasn't dead yet though, having just enough life in him to try and pick his body up and crawl away. Wade painted teh concrete with his brains before he could get very far.

He wasn't satisfied, that disgusted knot still heavy inside him, making him feel disgusting. And he wasn't even someone who had been hurt by the monster. He slid his weapon back into its holster before turning back towards the girl.

"Don't hurt me." She begged quietly, her voice muffled by the cloth in her mouth.

"I'm not going to hurt you." he promised her. "I'm going to cut you down with a knife, alright?" he pulled out the tool to show her before reaching up to cut through one of her bonds before cutting away the saliva-soaked gag. She sighed as her shoulder was allowed to relax and watched him as he moved to cut her other wrist free. While he did a few bright red numbers against the black face of her counter caught his eye.

0:0:14:47

Fourteen minutes, forty-seven seconds.

[ Jeez ]

(Thank God we got here at this time. Could you imagine how much worse this could have been to meet her soulmate after or during something like that? ) white said with a rare not of seriousness.

"Let's get you out of here okay?" Deadpool says carefully trying to help her stand.

"You killed him." She said as she glanced at the dead man. She didn't seem upset by it. She stared with a kind of fascination. The mercenary wasn't sure if he should be proud or concerned. 

"Yes,"

"Where do you need to go?" He asked, adjusting the seam of his suit arm. His skin was beginning to buzz with irritation. He couldn't tell if it was a remnant of the ick or something else.

"W-What?" She asked.

" Home? Dorm? Apartment? Do you want me to bring you to the police? If he did something to you, you should go to a doctor. Actually, you should go to a doctor regardless. I should bring you to a doctor." He decided. "There's a hospital a few blocks away, are you strong enough to talk there?" He asked, looking her over as they moved. She was walking steadily, nervous but she wasn't going into shock or anything. He kept an eye on her countdown as her arm swung while they went.  

0:0:12:42

0:0:09:07

They arrived at the Hospital and walked the campus to the Emergency entrance.

0:0:07:23

He led her inside and they stood in line.

0:0:04:12

They were stared at, Wade drawing more attention then the teenage girl wanted, but she didn't ask him to leave. He walked with her until they were up next in line. There were a lot of people at the ER tonight.

0:0:01:01

He wondered if she knew. Had she noticed? Didn't she care? He would admit to being neglectful of his timer, but that was as an adult.

0:0:0:0

Someone shoved into them from behind, pressing Wade forward but not actually moving him. The hand that had fallen into the girl's back shoved her stomach first into the reception counter, face into the acrylic window of the nurse station. A boy's head fell between their feet face to the floor. 

The boy erupted into a pained wail that quickly transformed into a series of explicit. The boy's watch face read:

0:0:0:0

"Hey, that loser is your soulmate." He patted the girl's shoulder and pointed down at their company.

"Huh?" the teen boy looked up at him, offended and in tears.

"Look's like he's going to be a handful but at least you have a good story to tell." Wade hummed, sliding the paper work across the counter back towards the nurse. The girl had filled out as much as she could. She was staring back at her soulmate while three other boys carefully picked their friend up, supporting him as he favored one of his legs.

"Who are you?" the Nurse grabbed his attention with a curt wave to get him to focus on what he supposed was more important.

'Well, how nice of you to ask.'

(This is a very overused scene.)

"Not Spider-Man," he smiled, sensing it was the last smile he'd be able to muster for a while. The sensation from earlier was getting worse.

The nurse sent him a snide look, far from amused.

"Well, I'm clearly not her Mother, ma'am." He sassed in return. But he did stick around until her mother did arrive, and he didn't stay a second longer, having no business answering any questions that were sure to come.

__________

He'd been right about the smiling part. 

Three days later he found himself stuck in bed, unable to move, unable to sleep, and unwilling to eat. The boxes were deafening, their intensity picking up in tandem with the spike in his cancer. or at least that's what he assumed was happening. 

It flared up every once in a while and it sucked when it did. His whole body ached and stung. Nothing wanted to work, he couldn't walk without excruciating pain, and his eyes hurt when he used them for too long. He couldn't really focus on anything when he did try to use them anyways. He had a feeling it was also connected to the boxes, a brain tumor pushing on different parts of his nervous system.

He laid in bed all day except for when he needed to pee, but that didn't happen very often since it hurt to drink. It was easier to suffer than to relieve a parched mouth that would bring more discomfort than it would attend to. 

He drifted in and out of sleep, balancing on the edge of consciousness. He didn't hear the soft thud of a body dropping to the ground.

" Wade?"

" Hm?" He hummed reflexively, his brain taking far longer to catch up to the fact that there was someone real talking to him. 

"What are you doing?"

He tensed, the pulling of his skin sending waves of burning sensations through his body as he turned to look over his shoulder at the source of the sound. He didn't know how to answer.

Special thanks to Patron Jade for their pledge. Their support has brought to you this edited edition of Stopwatch. If you would like to see more of Stopwatch edited in the future, consider pledging $1 to my Patreon. Link in bio. Your support could bring the edited edition to your screens all the faster.

https://www.patreon.com/Narloch

(Originally published Aug 06, 2016, officially edited 2022)

Until next time

~ Shadow-Assassin

original note:

Trying to stay awake as I write this. Holy are you spoiled. It's 1650 some words and was supposed to be longer. Not long compared to some people's chapters but long for my book. Hope you enjoy.