Past, Present, Future - Cable, Deadpool 2

4.

She looked pretty much the same, even dressed similar - that was the thing about Nina: while the times changed, she didn't. She always stayed her wonderful self with her kindness and warmth, wicked sense of style, and generous nature.

Nathan couldn't help the way his blood boiled watching her talking and laughing with the guy as they left the bar, even if he could tell there was nothing there but friendship between them.

He could hear her voice as she spoke to the guy, her heavy accent that drove him crazy, and even from over here he could see that sparkle in her eyes.

He watched from the shadows as Nina and the guy parted ways. He wanted to call out to her, to chase after her.

When he returned later that night to the place the locator on his arm led him to, once it was dark, it was just the guy who left the bar.

Weasel was just leaving after another day at work when suddenly something latched onto his arm with an iron grip and dragged him onto the shadows of the alley outside the bar's back door. Next thing he knew he was slammed against the brick wall of the building, a gloved hand clenched around his throat, lifting him up a few inches in the air.

His attacker was all shadows, a wide hood covering his face.

It took Weasel a moment to absorb what was happening and find his voice. "What the hell-"

"Yell, and I'll snap your neck." This threat was enough to shut him up. "What is your relationship to Nina Sum- Nova?" He just caught himself.

The other man's voice was deep and smooth. Weasel squirmed. "Whoa, dude, chill. What is this?"

"Answer me!"

"I-I don't know her well, she's a friend of a friend, okay. She's a nice person."

"Yes, she is." The man's aggressive voice softened, but only for a moment. "Well I need you to pass a message on to her for me for tomorrow night..." He raised his other hand, and Weasel flinched, only to see that the man held a small piece of paper out to him. "Can I trust you to complete this task?"

"Listen, asshole. I wouldn't mess with-" The hand around Weasel's neck tightened, shattering his burst of courage. "Uh - yeah, yeah no problem, I'll do it!"

"Good." The man let Weasel fall.

His hand immediately went to his throat. When he regained his breath, he looked down at the paper. It bore a hotel name, room and floor number, and a time. "Wait, who should I tell her it's from?"

But the man was already gone.

--------------------------------

Burned alive. That was how she died.

"CHARLES!" She skidded down the hall to his study door and pounded on it. "Charles I remembered something! I-I..." The weight of this knowledge and what it meant settled down on her slowly, a deep, uneasy feeling in her gut. Tears fogged her eyes. "I-I'm so scared."

"You don't have to tell me." Charles, always his gentle, patient self.

The call came the next morning after a nearly sleepless night on her part. Every time she closed her eyes all she saw was fire, and she felt the searing pain as the flames engulfed her, consuming her. And that was only the beginning.

"Nina, phone is for you!" Colossus bellowed down the hall. Nina found him using the old-fashioned phone they kept in the hall near the library.

She didn't feel like speaking or being with anyone at the moment. "I'm sorry, can you tell them I'm not well."

"I'm afraid it's urgent."

She nodded and took the receiver, at least welcoming the distraction. "Hello, this is Nina."

"Nina." It was Weasel's voice.

"Oh hi, Weasel. Are you alright, you sound - shaken up." She noticed right away. She wondered if he could hear that her voice was off too.

If so, he didn't acknowledge it. He sighed heavily into the phone. "We have a bit of a problem down here... You need to get here A-SAP. And bring the suit."

This was how, less than half-an-hour later, all suited up minus her hood and scarf, she found herself back at the bar.

Weasel smacked down a little square of paper onto the counter. "A man cornered me in the alley last night just as I was leaving-"

"Were you mugged?" She was about to say that this was really more a problem he should take to the police, but he launched into a ramble before she could.

"Naw. He must have seen us together before, cause he knew we knew each other, though he seemed pretty pissed off by the fact. And he asked me to pass this on to you." He slid the piece of paper across the bar counter towards her.

She picked it up, reading the scratchy scrawl: a hotel name, floor and room number, and time, eight p.m. that night. "A rendezvous." Weasel was nodding, eyes wide behind his glasses. "Did you see what he looked like?"

"Naw, he had this whole hood-and-cape thing going on, and I didn't recognize his voice or anything. But he seemed to know you and wanted me to tell you to meet him there tonight."

She nodded, absorbing all this. Being an X-Man seemed to make you encounter some strange folks, like Wade for example. And this guy, whoever he was. Sometimes this had positive results, and other times it didn't. "Did he say what this meeting was about?"

"No, didn't tell me any facts, just gave me the note."

"And I'm guessing he threatened you should you not deliver this message, and should I not show?"

"Yeah..." Weasel nodded again, and judging by the look in his eyes the threat had been pretty bad. "But I don't know, Nina. I mean, that place is a shit-hole." He tapped the name of the hotel on the scrap of paper. "You only stay there if you're trying to lay-low."

She nodded distantly. "I'm sorry this has happened, Weasel. Leave it to me, I'll sort it out." She hated nothing more than when someone threatened or hurt someone she knew to get to her.

This new mission proved to be a good distraction from her current crisis, just what she needed, something to keep her busy. She just hoped the vision wouldn't distract her during this mission.

Boy was she wrong, in so many ways.

(Nina and Cable will finally meet in the next chapter I promise (so excited!) Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed - and thank you so much for the 100+ reads! :D)