Collateral Damage (DeadpoolxOC)

XXIV - The Anchor Being

This chapter is a bit of a gut punch. It's raw, serious, and hits hard with the war vibes. If you're not here to feel all the feels or dive deep into the heavy stuff, you might want to skip it. I had the urge to crank up the emotional volume.

Don't sweat it though—we'll bounce back to Deadpool's usual chaos and jokes soon. Less gloom, more boom. You've been warned.

**

The Nissan X-Trail roared through the muddy wasteland, wheels spinning uselessly in the thick, dark sludge that stretched for miles. Rasputitsa. The spring thaw. It wasn't just mud—it was a nightmare of liquid earth that swallowed everything. The roads were gone. If you didn't have the wheels to make it, you walked—or waded. And if you were bleeding out in the back seat? Well, you bled faster.

Kate sat in the back, her fingers pressing down on a piece of S.H.I.E.L.D. tech—a high-tech patch that was supposed to stop the bleeding. But here they were, and the soldier beneath her hands wasn't going to survive without a miracle.

"Just hold it, Kate!" Damian, the Polish medic, growled from the front seat, his hands gripping the steering wheel with white-knuckled force. "We're almost there!"

They both knew the truth. The soldier in the back wasn't 'almost' anything. The patch was cutting-edge, a miracle of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s research division. It should've been enough. But the soldier—he was too far gone.

Blood poured from the gaping wound in his leg, seeping through the high-tech dressing faster than it could clot. His breathing was shallow, rattling in his chest, the pale sheen of death creeping up his face.

"Live, you fucker, live!" she spat through clenched teeth, as if she could will him back to life. She could hear his breath getting fainter, could feel the pulse weakening beneath her fingers.

Damian slammed the steering wheel, trying to drive the X-Trail through the sea of mud, but it was a losing battle. The vehicle lurched again, wheels spinning helplessly. "Come on, you bastard!" he shouted, the frustration palpable as the car sank deeper into the muck.

The X-Trail groaned, engine roaring as it struggled against the mud. The stabilization point was just ahead, but it didn't matter if they couldn't make it in time. And they weren't going to.

Kate knew it. Damian knew it.

Just when it seemed like the car would be swallowed whole by the sludge, the tires finally caught some traction. With a violent jolt, the X-Trail surged forward, mud spraying in all directions. Damian let out a grunt of relief as they powered through the quagmire, the vehicle struggling but moving.

"Hold on!" he yelled, his voice filled with the desperation neither of them wanted to acknowledge.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of mud and blood, the stabilization point came into view. A makeshift building barely standing under the constant shelling. Damian slammed the brakes as they skidded to a halt, the X-Trail sinking deep into the muck again just as they reached the entrance.

But it was too late.

"Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!" Kate slammed her fist against the seat, the patch still in her hand, slick with blood that was no longer pumping. Everything they could wasn't enough. It never was.

Damian turned slowly, his eyes meeting hers in the rearview mirror. Neither of them said anything. There was nothing to say.

They had lost him. The S.H.I.E.L.D.'s tech had failed. For all its advanced engineering, it couldn't save a man who was already half-dead when they strapped him in.

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s tech had failed also when they reached the forward position. The boys there looked like they were sleeping, rifles still in hand, bodies lying in place as if they had just closed their eyes for a moment. But they weren't sleeping. A thermobaric bomb had hit them. The blast wave had crushed their lungs, boiled their blood, and left them as hollow shells, looking whole but utterly destroyed.