Willie, Maya, & Wade | Late Friday Morning

[x-deadpool.livejournal.com]

Wade meets up with an old friend and gets a little bit more than he bargained for.


It was a Mom and Pop diner off the side of a semi-remote road mostly frequented by truck drivers and other transient populations. The kind that served good solid food but nobody thought twice about.

"Dad, can I have the pancakes?" Maya signed, still subdued from her normal self by the nightmare from this morning. She sat with her back facing the main part of the diner, playing idly with the salt and pepper shakers.

"Sure." Willie Lincoln signed back to his daughter with a smile. He reached across the table, brushing an errant lock of her hair back into place. "Anything you want," he continued, sparing a glance down at a menu. "Maybe some pie too? I'm feeling like something sweet."

"You sure?" Maya signed back, biting her lip. She knew they didn't have much money, but she really wanted some pie too. "And did you actually go to sleep last night?"

"Did you?" Willie raised an eyebrow as he signed, but he looked more amused than anything else. "I slept plenty enough for me. You get older, you don't need as much. You, on the other hand..."

"I'm fine," Maya signed sharply with semi-glare that softened into a worried look. "I know I'm having problems with the car and all but a little lost sleep isn't going to make me slow us down."

"Well, you shouldn't lose any more sleep worrying about me," he signed back, his features still soft. "Trust me, I—" Willie looked up as their waitress approached, a heavyset woman with teased blond hair that seemed out of another time. He smiled at Maya, then ordered her pancakes, his steak and eggs, and a cup of coffee.

"Neske'e says you work too hard and don't pay enough attention to your health," Maya signed with a smug look. Her father might not listen to her, but her Grandmother was another matter. Always go to a higher authority when trying to win a discussion. "And don't forget my milkshake."

"I'll get it when she comes back," Willie continued to look amused. "But only after you've eaten real food, and only if you don't bring Neske'e up again."

Wade had gotten Clarice to drop him off behind the diner and he checked himself to make sure everything was in order weapon-wise before walking around to the front and entering. He took in everyone there, checking sight lines and exits before moving over to the booth where Willie had set up shop with his daughter. Pulling up a chair, he sat it at the end of the table and plopped into it, leaning with his elbows on the table, mouth opening to start asking questions.

He didn't get the chance.

Maya had been startled by the sudden appearance of a stranger, but what happened next was far more frightening. Her hand reached for the butter knife that had been placed in front of her upon her order of pancakes and drove it toward the throat of the stranger in front of her.

Sitting back, reacting more from muscle memory and experience than anything else, Wade deflected the blade itself and used a simple twist and jerk of his hand to disarm the girl sitting beside him. "Holy shit, Willie, what the fuck - you're training her up early, aren't you?" He glanced from his friend to the girl again as he laid the butter knife on the table near Willie.

"That was..." Willie glanced at Wade, unsure what to say. A nervous smile was on his lips as he glanced from the mercenary to his daughter. "That was unexpected," he admitted. The waitress approached, her hands shaking slightly as she put the coffee down. The liquid sloshed out of the top and the corners of the mug. "Thank you," Willie sighed, watching her scurry away. "I need to add a vanilla milkshake to that order," he called after her.

It was then that he turned his attention to Maya. "Honey," he signed to her, "this is Wade. He's a friend."

Maya's face had paled, and her hands shook slightly as she signed a hello to Wade, unsure as to what just happened. It was like her body moved of its own accord.

"Dad," She signed, pausing as she tried to think of what to say. "I don't know how I did that."

"Maya," he signed her name back, his hands moving slowly. Then he reached out, taking her smaller hand into one of his larger, more weathered ones. He used the other to take a sip of his coffee. He sat there like that, quiet as he considered his next words carefully. "Maya," he began to sign back to her, but he also spoke aloud - though not too loud - for Wade's benefit. "I'm not sure either. I mean, I've done it before, but I've never seen you..." He shrugged. "I don't know. But it seems... I mean, not that different from everything that's happening with you lately? You know?"

Maya bit her lip, glancing over at Wade. She'd seen the words on her Dad's lips, which meant she should start speaking out loud unless the man knew sign.

"Could I be one of them?" She signed after a long moment of contemplation.

Everyone knew about mutants, but it wasn't something people spoke openly about. If you were one of them, you were a danger to everyone around you. She didn't want to be a danger to her family.

Wade looked from Willie to the girl. Turning his head so she wouldn't be able to read his lips, he said, "Willie, if this is a pick-up, that's fine. I've... got people now. The ones I told you about when you called. But I'm gonna need some more background one what's been going on with her." Looking toward the girl again, he signed, "Hi, it's nice to meet you."

"I can hear you, you know," Maya verbalized, glaring at Wade.

She always had her implants turned on when they were in public, mostly because people like this guy were extremely bad at remembering to face her when they were talking. It pissed her off, and it's why she almost exclusively signed unless there was a reason not to. Let them wonder what she was saying.

"He's an asshole," she signed to her Dad.

Willie practically guffawed at that. "He is," the man signed to her, glancing at Wade for a second, "but," he continued, "he's a well-meaning asshole. Done a lot for me, too. So be nice."

The waitress returned, the more jovial mood doing nothing to make her any less jumpy. Wordlessly, she placed the food on the table, dropping the milkshake far from Maya and avoiding eye contact. A few napkins fell from her hand to the table, and then she was off. Willie smiled gratefully at her, watching her depart for turning his head to Wade.

"Where to begin?" He murmured, picking the cup of coffee back up. He wrapped his hands around it, drumming the left set of fingers on the handle. "A little while ago," he said, his voice still quiet, "we were driving home from the hardware store. I had to pick up some boards to build a shelf. Doesn't matter. Point is, we were driving home. And my car blew up." His voice grew harder, and he tightened his fists around the mug. "My pickup," he repeated, "blew up."

"Sorry," Wade said to the girl, expression mildly chagrined. Then he sat back so everyone could see everyone else clearly and frowned. "Okay. Obviously it didn't kill you." Looking back toward Maya, he asked, "Is that when weird stuff started happening with you?" Given what he'd learned while at the mansion, that'd make sense - stressful situation, teenaged kid... bam, manifestation.

"I guess, I mean I got out without being hurt but we figured it was just Dad since he saw what the pickup was gonna do and told me to get out," Maya replied verbally.

She was slower at speech, enunciating carefully - half hearing and half remembering how words were meant to sound.

"Granddad says the spirits like me but that's not what you're talking about."

"Hang on, back up," Wade said, squinting a little. "Willie, gimme a rundown of what you saw and what happened before the explosion." He gave his friend a significant look. And what you know about the people who did it, cause I know you've got some idea of who it was.

"I didn't notice it until we'd were well on a way," Willie glanced down at his food, in the hopes that avoiding Wade's stare would make the unasked questions go away. "Something wasn't right. I shifted, and the car made this noise, and the shift was kind of clunky. And, you know..." He shrugged and looked back up at Wade. "Well," he said in rapid-fire Spanish, "I know the signs of a bomb, Wilson. Made enough of 'em."

The milkshake had been sat untouched at the edge of the table. Willie caught it in the corner of his eyes, and so he picked it up and placed it in front of Maya. "So, I had a feeling. Tried to keep the speed steady, and I undid her belt and kinda..." He shifted, his discomfort visible. "I got her out of the car. All I could think to do - figured it was the safest thing. And then I jumped out too."

Maya knew her Dad liked to keep that part of his life separate, she'd heard enough arguments between himself and her grandparents to know they wished he'd find some safer way of making money but even though she could follow the words on her father's lips, she didn't understand the language he was speaking.

She pulled the milkshake toward her with a huff, taking a sip as she waited for them to tell her what was going on.

Pulling his phone from his pocket, Wade shot a text to Marie-Ange about the hit out on Willie even as he quirked an eyebrow at his friend and replied in Spanish, "So you're gonna handle hunting down the maker and the asshole who hired him to blow you up. You want me to take your kid."

"I want my family to be safe," the other man replied, in English this time. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I don't – Wilson, I don't know what I can do. We got away. I have a safe house. We're there, and we haven't been followed, but things aren't okay. And..."

Willie looked at his daughter, a smile appearing on his face as he watched her eat, then saw her scowl at him. He decided to flip back to Spanish again. "She needs help, Wade." He turned to the other man, the gravity of the situation all too clear from his expression. "Seriously. Help I'd have to come out of hiding to get. Getting her in a car isn't easy. The nightmares, the... everything. You know what that's like."

"Yeah," Wade said, not bothering with Spanish. "Yeah, I do." Tilting his head to look back at the girl again, Wade quirked an eyebrow. "So, you wanna go to this school or what, kid? I swear, I'll keep my asshole-ish tendencies to myself as much as possible."

Maya coughed, pushing her drink always as she looked at Wade.

"You understand sign?" She signed.

"Yes," Wade signed, nodding.

"Shit," Maya said aloud and then glanced at her Dad. "If you promise not to tell Neske'e I swore, I won't tell her I caught you smoking the other day."

She studied Wade for a time, trying to figure out what it was her Dad trusted about him. He seemed like a pretty average white guy to her. More interested in burgers and football then anything else.

"What kinda school?"

Signing now, Wade answered, "The school that you'd be attending for things like English and Math is for baseline humans but you'd be living at the Xavier Institute. That's for mutants. You'd learn how to control your powers, if that's what this is. And if you're not a mutant, you'd just be hanging out until things are safe for you to go back to your grandparents."

"Would you all be safer if I went with him?" Maya signed to her Dad, biting her lip again as she tried not to think about leaving her family.

Willie was silent and his hands were still, but the pained look on his face said volumes. That his daughter even had to ask such things broke his heart, and the conflict he felt in that moment was all too clear. Without a word, he grabbed one of Wade's hands and moved it in front of the man's eyes.

"Honey," he signed back after a bit more silence, "things aren't dangerous because of you. Don't think that for a second - and don't think for a second that I want you to go." He shook his head to emphasize the last point.

"But Maya, I want what's best for you. And I want you to be safe. And," he added as an afterthought, "so does Neske'e, and so does Shi'choo. And it's going to be hard not having you around, but it's not safe for you with me. Not right now."

Maya glanced at Wade for a long moment and then sighed, taking a sip of her drink as she signed.

"I guess I can go with the ve'ho'e. You'll still write to me though when you can?"

"Of course," Willie signed back. "And we can video chat, and I'm sure I'll be able to come visit." Though he smiled at her, trying to be the very picture of reassurance, some of the heaviness of the moment was still evident on his face. "Besides," he signed, this time speaking aloud for Wade's benefit, "he's not so bad. And his friends are probably even better."

Dropping his hand so he could look at the two of them again, Wade offered them both a smile before shooting off a couple more texts to people at the mansion. "Are we going to be picking up anything? Do you guys want a day or something to get everything figured out? Packed up? Or are we ready to go?" Switching to Spanish, Wade raised an eyebrow at Willie and said, "I've got some people who'll look into the explosion from a couple different angles. I'll give you my work number, you call me if you need anything. I'll keep you updated on anything that we come up with. Don't die, alright?"

"That's the idea," Willie fired back in Spanish. He finally picked up a piece of toast that arrived with his food and took a bite. "I think," he signed as he chewed, "we need a little time. Can't leave without saying goodbye to Neske'e." He swallowed.

"She'd make Shi'choo call the spirits on you," Maya signed back in agreement. She looked over at Wade with raised eyebrows. "Is the place we're going far? I don't think I can handle a long car trip."

Wade grinned. "No cars necessary, actually," he signed. "One of the benefits of knowing mutants with cool powers. I've got a friend who can just open a portal for us. Just let me know when you guys are ready. We can meet wherever, just give me the GPS coordinates."

"Don't call us, we'll call you," Maya signed back, lips twitching slightly upwards to show the joke.