Deadpool slowly turned his eyes toward Kakashi without moving his head. "Well," he whispered, "I'm guessing this is Wolverine."
Kakashi's eye remained fixed on the reflection.
"Yes."
Logan heard him.
"And with those weapons with you," Logan growled, "you must be one of those people taking the mutant kids away. If you're here because you want me, then you've made a mistake."
Kakashi immediately understood that something was wrong. Logan wasn't interested in giving them time to explain themselves.
His claws moved. There was no warning as the blades swept across both their throats.
A spray of blood erupted from Deadpool's neck as his head separated from his body and rolled across the bar counter. His body remained upright for a moment before collapsing sideways onto the stool.
The entire pub fell silent. Logan's eyes narrowed.
Kakashi thought was still sitting at his position. The claws had passed through his neck without touching him.
Logan stared at him. Kakashi slowly turned his head toward the mutant.
"This Wolverine is surprisingly a feisty one," Kakashi said calmly.
Logan's expression shifted from suspicion to genuine confusion.
Then a voice came from the floor.
"Would anyone mind putting my head back onto my body?"
Logan looked down. Deadpool's severed head was staring up at him. The head blinked twice.
"I am really not in the mood to grow a whole new body from scratch today," Deadpool complained, his voice completely normal despite the fact that his head was several feet away from his body.
"And considering the size of my head, I'd probably end up growing something ridiculous. I could become ninety percent forehead. Nobody wants that."
Logan stared at the talking head. Then he looked at the headless body.Then he looked back at Kakashi.
Logan slowly reached for the bottle of whiskey sitting on the bar.
He lifted it. Then, Logan took the bottle and drank straight from it.
He swallowed several mouthfuls, lowered the bottle, and stared at Kakashi and Deadpool as though he had just discovered that the universe had personally decided to make his life even more complicated.
"So, can we talk now?" Deadpool asked as Kakashi crouched beside him and calmly picked up his severed head from the floor.
He held it by the back of the neck as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world before placing it carefully against Deadpool's body.
The flesh immediately began knitting itself back together, muscles reconnecting and skin closing over the wound within seconds.
Deadpool rolled his shoulders once the regeneration finished and looked at Logan with mild annoyance.
Logan, however, had apparently decided that conversation was an unnecessary luxury.
The claws on both of his hands snapped outward again. Kakashi's Sharingan caught the movement, but Logan was already lunging across the bar.
The patrons screamed as chairs were knocked over and glasses shattered against the floor. One man practically threw himself through the front door while another crawled beneath a table, desperately trying to avoid the fight.
Logan's claws slashed through the chair where Kakashi had been sitting, splitting the wooden frame in half before his second strike swept across the bar table and carved a deep line through the thick wood.
Deadpool jumped backward and raised his hands defensively. "Okay, I understand you're angry, but I feel like we're skipping several important conversational steps here. Usually people at least buy me a drink before trying to remove my limbs."
Logan ignored him and attacked again. Deadpool twisted away from the claws, but Logan changed direction halfway through the strike and caught Deadpool's forearm. The claws sliced cleanly through his hand.
Deadpool looked down as his severed fingers hit the floor. "You know, I was actually starting to like this hand. It had sentimental value. Mostly because it belonged to me."
Kakashi appeared between them before Logan could strike again. His hand caught Logan's wrist, and the two stared at each other.
Logan's claws remained extended inches from Kakashi's chest. Kakashi could feel the mutant's strength even through the brief contact.
Logan suddenly twisted, attempting to break free, but Kakashi released him rather than escalating the confrontation. "Listen to us," Kakashi said firmly as he stepped backward. "Your life is in danger, and so is the future of this world. We aren't here to hurt you. We're trying to keep you alive."
Logan's expression remained hostile. He glanced toward Deadpool, whose severed hand was already regenerating.
Then he looked back at Kakashi. "Oh yeah?" he growled. "And why exactly am I supposed to believe you? You two mask freaks walk into a bar looking for me, ask questions about where I've been, and then expect me to believe you're here to save me. You look exactly like the kind of people who would kidnap someone and disappear before anyone could find them."
Deadpool raised his newly regenerated hand. "To be fair, only one of us looks like a mysterious masked stranger. I look like a mysterious masked stranger with excellent comedic timing."
Logan's eyes narrowed. Deadpool slowly lowered his hand. "I realize that did not help."
Kakashi studied Logan carefully. The mutant wasn't listening because he had already decided they were enemies.
Every explanation was simply giving him another opportunity to attack. Kakashi could continue dodging, but that would accomplish nothing. They could overpower Logan, but that would make the situation worse. They needed him to understand the truth before Essex found him.
Kakashi lowered his hands and deliberately stopped fighting.
Logan saw the opening and immediately charged.
Kakashi's Sharingans spun. "Tsukuyomi."
The world vanished.
Logan suddenly found himself standing in darkness.
Logan looked around cautiously, claws still extended. "Where the hell am I?" His voice echoed into the darkness. He turned in several directions, trying to locate the source of the illusion, but nothing moved.
Then Kakashi appeared several meters away, standing calmly with his hands inside his pockets.
Logan immediately raised his claws, attacked Kakashi but nothing happened a athe claws just passed through him.
Kakashi looked at him calmly. "This is a genjutsu. A technique that allows me to control your perception. I could hurt you here if I wanted to, but I have no reason to do that."
Logan glared at him. "Then why the hell am I here?" Kakashi answered, "Because you weren't willing to listen outside."
The darkness changed. Suddenly Logan was standing inside a different scene.
He saw Kakashi and Deadpool entering the Avengers Tower.
He saw Deadpool arguing with Kakashi. He saw the Ancient One. He saw the portal opening.
Logan watched as Kakashi and Deadpool stepped through the gateway into another universe. He saw the laboratory where they discovered Essex's experiments. He saw the bodies inside the tanks. He saw the files detailing mutant cloning and genetic instability.
Logan's expression slowly changed.
Kakashi stood beside him inside the illusion. "We aren't from this universe. At least I am not. And Deadpool is from the future of this universe. We want to protect you from this Essex guy who wants your DNA."
Logan's expression hardened. "Why does he want it?"
"Because Essex can reproduce his own genetic structure extremely well. He has created hundreds, perhaps thousands, of copies of himself. But other mutants are different. Their mutations interact with their unique biology. His attempts to recreate them result in genetic instability."
Logan looked at the deteriorating clones.
"And my healing factor fixes that."
"Yes."
Kakashi further explained, "Your healing factor continuously repairs cellular damage. Essex believes your genetic structure can stabilize the mutant clones he creates. That's why he's looking for you."
Logan's jaw tightened. "I finally know who is behind hunting me down. I have been attacked multiple times in the past year. Some of the mutants that I have been protecting also have been disappearing," he finally said.
"Kids with mutations. Some of them don't come back. The ones who do are usually terrified. I've been trying to find out who's behind it."
Kakashi nodded. "Now you know."
Logan looked toward him. The Tsukuyomi began dissolving.
Logan found himself back inside the pub.
The screaming had stopped. Most of the patrons had fled.
Deadpool stood nearby, examining his regenerated hand.
Logan looked at Kakashi and said, "So what do I gotta do?"
"Congratulations," Deadpool said, raising his newly regenerated hand. "You've officially joined the weirdest team-up in the multiverse. And judging by the amount of stabbing that happened before we got here, I'd say we're already bonding beautifully."
-----Author Notes---------
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