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Chapter 004 The Dead Fox ──────────────────
"Two anchor beings coming right up! One conscious, and one unconscious, baby girl!"
As if walking into a treacherous portal for the first time wasn't enough, Wade didn't tell Solana where they would end up. She truly thought going through this portal meant death. She didn't even notice Logan, passed out on the ground.
Weirdly, Sol grabbed onto Wade's hand as if it was instinct. She covered her eyes with her left hand and while reciting a prayer of forgiveness if she were to wind up in Hell. Was it too late? Probably. Did she give a damn? Take a wild guess.
Please don't let me be in Hell. Please don't let me be in Hell. Please don't let me be in Hell. Sol chanted. Looking through her index and middle fingers, she realized she was either not in Hell or that the devil was a white man with a broken nose. She genuinely could not tell.
"I'm in Hell, aren't I?"
Wade darted his head to the left. "Not much of a difference, huh?" he mumbled, snatching his hand away once he noticed his palm was enclosed with hers.
Wade went on and on as usual, and Sol tuned herself out once she noticed the endless rows of mini TV screens, each displaying a different, unique video. She recognized every superhero she saw. Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Hulk—she was lost in the diverse nature of the timelines. She wanted to be part of that, somehow.
There was a way about watching a superhero be important that made her want to be important. She had no idea who any of these incredible individuals were, but guessing by their costumes and their impossibly fit-looking bodies, she knew these 'Avengers' meant something to Wade's world.
"Holy shit."
After watching Thanos snap his fingers with Mjölnir in his chest, she shifted her thoughts back to what was happening before her.
"Besides the fact he's a lonely motherfucker, this Logan is the same. And—bonus—this is the Orphic. The anchor being of her universe."
Solana lowered her brows at the sudden information. Orphic. She liked the way that sounded. It made her feel important. Like she was needed, she didn't believe the whole—" anchor being" schtick until that word stuck with her.
The man with the broken nose squinted, laughed, and almost toppled over. This went on for a few more unneeded seconds, and Sol's patience was now thinner than a string of angel hair. She froze when the man walked up to her and introduced himself, holding out his calloused hand for a shake. "Hi. Paradox. Nice to meet you. How are you?" He chuckled. He could have sworn he was slyer than a fox, but besides the fact he held her hand for far too long, Solana noticed the strange up-and-down movement of his eyebrows.
"Solana. And, I'm fine." She responded flatly, escaping from his grip. She would have smacked the smirk off of his face if she didn't feel bad enough for his bruised nose.
With his cockiness somehow intact, Paradox continued: "Good, good. Hope the trip here was as painful as they say it is—you do know you were our last choice as our universal savior, right?"
Sol tilted her head quizzically. Was she being lied to this entire time? Was she really here just to get laughed at by men who think they know better than her?
Paradox guffawed. "I mean, you were married to this... drunk hunk of shit!" The man directed his arm to Logan, who was still passed out, amidst the yelling. "Think about it: What timeline would choose a couple who practically killed their child as its anchor beings?"
Sol scoffed as Nikki popped into her brain again. She just wished she had her brass knuckles on her.
"Not only that, but he ruthlessly slaughtered innocent civilians unapologetically. You would think that after your daughter died, he would give it a rest, but, Ms. Colby, this Wolverine let down his entire world after you left him."
"Oh, screw t hat, raccoon eyes!" She shouted, stepping towards Paradox menacingly. She almost stood above him. As she continued to speak, she poked at his chest, making him stumble onto the ground and towards the desk behind him. She cornered him, leaving him no way of escaping, no matter how many times he looked at his colleagues for help.
"He let me down! I don't give two shits if he killed his friends or the most innocent of civilians. He is the reason my daughter only made it through a week of high school!" She croaked, a tear falling to the shiny floor. "If he would have resisted—if he would have just let me handle my shit, then I would be sending her off to college instead of being in the presence of..." Sol looked around her, trying her best to describe the people around her. "...this fucking shithole! And he didn't just let me down...He. Let. Nikki down!"
Paradox begins to shudder. "A true hero sacrifices what they love for the safety of the people."
"My daughter was not part of 'the people.'" Sol clarifies. "She was all I cared about."
Lies, lies, lies. Nikki was not all she cared about. She still cared for Logan, but now that she's been alone for so long, she convinced herself that there wasn't a need to fall into the footsteps of love again.
"Tell him, queen." Wade encouraged. "To put it simply, I'm about to lose everything I love because that hairy thunder-cunt from down under cunt finally dies, and he's standing right behind me, isn't he?"
Yes, Logan was standing behind him, looking as if he was ready to either cry at Solana's words, or to slaughter Wade alive.
"Welcome to the MCU, by the way." Wade looks back to clarify his insult. "You're joining at a bit of a low point."
"Okay, enough with your dumbass clichés." Sol groaned. She stirred her attention back to Paradox. "Listen, I don't care how many people I have to go through, or, better yet, kill to get to where I need to be." She gave Wade a little shove. "This closeted homosexual is going to leave this place with a guaranteed universe to live in, and as for me and Logan?"
Logan's gaze softened slightly at his name.
"We're getting our daughter ba—"
Without a warning, Sol's entire view of Hell was no more. The last thing she saw before blacking out were her hands turning into sparks of electricity. As if she doused her hands in a bathtub with a toaster.
She didn't know where she was, but when she woke up, all she could see was a wasteland, decorated with an overly-sized golden figure cemented into the ground.
20th Century Fox. Sol read in her head. If the fox is that old, it's probably dead.She laughed to herself. I should write that down.
Oh, yeah. I'm in Hell. Who has paper in Hell?
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🎱 Author's Note.
publishing this unedited will probably come back to bite me in the ass buttttt
i apologize for any grammatical errors if there are any !! my glasses are deadass getting fixed rn i CANNOT do this.
