Hank & Wade | Tuesday Morning

[x-deadpool.livejournal.com]

Hank's got Wade's test results they aren't exactly what Wade wanted to hear, but then not much would have been. A course of action is decided upon and Wade begins mental preparation.


Wade jumped down the last could steps on his way toward the elevator, then punched the button and waited as patiently as he was able as it whirred and then finally dinged. The doors opened and he stepped inside, heading down to the medlab for either another round of tests - which he'd come to expect, or some discussion of what the other test results were - which would, quite frankly, surprise him. He was used to getting bounced from doctor to doctor, lab test to lab test. He knew his cancer was hairy, he knew the healing factor kept him from dying, he just didn't know what the hell else was going on.

While he was hopeful that these people, with their expertise and their big machines and their excellent taste in music as well as snack food, might be able to help him, he wasn't going to hold his breath. It was kind of a last-ditch effort. One he hoped would garner some results. But if it didn't, he wouldn't be heartbroken.

The elevator door opened and he stepped out, heading for Osmosis Joe's office, though he did stop to see if Hot Doc Jean was in. She wasn't, so on his way he went. The jaunty ratta-tat-tat on Hank's door was all the announcement Wade needed, so he stuck his head in and raised his eyebrows. "I don't think I'm a whole day early this time, doc."

The blue doctor was reviewing Wade's test results while dangling from the ceiling, he looked up with a sincere smile and did a half flip to the floor, landing on his feet before motioning Wade into the room. "And how are you feeling today, Mister Wilson?" Hank asked politely as he took his lab coat off the hook next to the bookshelf behind his desk and pulled it on.

"Peachy," Wade said, smiling back. "I mean, I got run over by a twelve year old and then I went ice climbing, so I'm kinda bruised up, but they've mostly healed, so I think we're good. Had a rough spot with some exhaustion after swimming too much, but I blame Vanessa Carlysle for that, because she distracted me and I forgot to pace myself better."

Hank nodded in understanding, "I'll have to discuss why running inside is a bad idea with Miss Hayes, but I'm glad you are little worse for wear." The doctor pointed a large blue finger at the file he'd set on the desktop, "Your test results are rather...interesting, to say the least."

"Nah, the half-pint's fine," Wade said, grinning. "I mean, I just had to teach her how to properly go about running somebody over." He glanced at the file folder and sat down, figuring he might as well. "So what do they say, then, doc?"

The fact that he had trained Molly to do even more damage gave Hank pause as his mouth hung open slightly. Realizing how silly he must have looked, he shook it off, filing the fact away for later discussion. Shaking it off, Hank pressed on, "They, being your test results, state- quite clearly- that you have Hairy Cell Lukemia. This means your bone marrow is infected and is effected in such a way that it doesn't produce an immunological response in the form of white blood cells. Fortunately, your healing factor is counter-acting this, but given the aggressive rate of growth your cancer has now sustained, your healing factor has also had to increase itself in order to maintain your life.

"The good news is that HCL is very treatable- with a ninety-five percent success rate and variety of options. The bad news, however," Hank paused, but only for a moment. "The bad news is that your healing factor may over compensate once the cancer cells are eradicated- leading to it spiraling out of control and destroying vital body systems. Of course, we could power dampen you while you're undergoing treatment, but that has inherent risks in itself and given the aggressiveness of your particular HCL...there's no guarantee you would live through the first day of treatment."

"Okay, so wait. Rewind a sec - the other doctors, they didn't say anything about my healing factor overcompensating or... whatever. Increasing itself. I get that mutations change and stuff, but I don't feel any different now from when I did... a long time ago. I'm just really tired of being tired. So your tests are saying the healing factor's... getting bigger or something? Can you like. Tell me how that's happening?" Wade knew it was kind of stupid to lie to his doctors, so he wasn't lying. He just hadn't really mentioned Weapon-X. Not that those doctors had told him anything, anyway. They'd just stuck him with a million needles, hemmed and hawed, and then tried to get him killed.

"I mean, I'm not saying I don't believe you, Doc, but I never understood things to begin with, so I'd kind of like to understand them now, y'know?"

"The other doctors may not have been able to spot the differentiation due to the fact your cancer was not as advanced as it is now. And you wouldn't be the first person to have their mutation shift on them half-way through their life," Hank put a hand on Wade's shoulder. "Essentially, it's my theory that your mutation is growing in response, and concurrently, to the growing cancer cells. If we get rid of the cancer, you should stabilize out."

"Okay," Wade said, rubbing at the back of his neck for a moment. "Okay, so... you said my hairy cancer's really treatable, but that it's also really advanced. What're my options? Lay it on me, OJ."

"Well as you know, there are no magical cures for cancer," Hank smiled, "however, there are a number of treatments that have been proven to work toward ridding your body of the cancer ridden cells. The most common process we use in these sorts of situations is called Chemotherapy, more commonly known simply as chemo. The process is incredibly uncomfortable, and involves flooding your system with toxic chemicals that would counteract the cancer cells progress."

"So you're putting toxic stuff in to get rid of the natural bad stuff... OJ, you know toxic things don't exactly work on me." Wade frowned, then shook his head. Then he straightened up and shrugged. "But hey, if you think it'll work, we'll give it a shot - what's the worst it could do? Kill me?" He quirked a rueful sort of smile. That wasn't really the worst thing that could happen to him, so far as he was concerned.