But… It’s me! The real Spider-Man!

The stupid Deadpool joke about the refrigerator box, the gag, and the dildo flashed through my head again. But she couldn't really do that, could she? There has to be a limit to her craziness! But here was the box, and the bed, which had been specially dragged here for the last tenant, was empty...

However, my doubts were rather quickly dispelled. No, I didn't find Osborne in the state the mercenary was describing, it was a joke after all. In fact, Wanda was just a little overprotective: twisted like an illusionist preparing for an unleashing trick, Norma was also chained to the wall, and in such a position that she could not even see the people who entered the room. Though the gag, obviously purchased at a sex shop, was present, so Wilson was half-true.

As if taunting her captive, Wanda laid out her confiscated equipment, including all the arsenal we'd found in Osborne's secret hideout, in full view of the powerless woman. Had she been able to break the restraints or somehow get out of them, she would immediately have had a chance to get even with her abusers, but despite all her physical strength, almost as brute as Captain America, the chains were still indestructible to the captive.

I noted in my mind that Wilson, for lack of fear of death, acted somewhat recklessly in leaving Osborne and her weapons in the same room. It's not just playing with fire, it's some kind of manic tango in the mouth of a volcano. There's a whole arsenal and tons of TNT equivalent explosives! I can't even imagine what Norma would do if she broke free!

"Holy shit!" Gwen couldn't contain her emotions, "how much stuff... is this from her lair?"

"Exactly," Wanda was all excited about her new toys, "look at this, it's so cute!"

Deadpool grabbed a pumpkin bomb from the nearest shelf and shoved it right under Gwen's nose. Or rather, it used to be a pumpkin bomb. Now what the mercenary was holding in her hands could have been called a Deadpool Exploding Head or something like that. She'd actually heeded my advice and repainted some of the ammunition to her liking. Instead of the poisonous orange coloring, the bombs now sported miniature images of a Deadpool mask, and it wasn't a marking, but a handmade one, because each bomb had a unique expression. The one Wilson was holding showed Gwen's tongue sticking out. A teaser bomb?

"You should have gone into animation," I pointed out to Wanda's obvious artistic talent.

"Get that out of my face!" Stacy shrieked, recoiling.

It was then that Osborne intervened in our altercation. She might not have been able to say anything with the gag in her mouth, but her mad grin and angry growl were very eloquent. Norma glared at us with such a crushing look that I wondered if she was going to bring out some spontaneous mutation in herself to vent her rage outward.

"Let's do what we came here to do," Bobby said as if she could read my mind, releasing her tentacles.

I nodded as she glanced at me to ask permission to begin the process.

"Wait," Gwen interrupted, "can I talk to her first?"

I looked at the girl with an examining glance. It was in order to let Stacy see in person that the woman we caught was yesterday's criminal that I had invited her here and was stalling, instead of going straight to the procedure. In a way, I was even proud of her. Yes, she had just questioned the truthfulness of what I said, but wouldn't I have done the same thing myself in her place? Ha, I'd dig my nose into the ground to find out Peter Parker's secrets if I were in Gwen's shoes! It's nice to see Stacy thinking with her head instead of relying blindly on other people's opinions, it gives me hope that she won't let herself be led around by the real criminals. And trust... I'll have time to gain her trust.

By the way, I wasn't the only one who thought that way. Bobby and Deadpool didn't object to the girl's request either, though the mercenary couldn't help a half-approving chuckle. Stashing the bomb in the pouch on her belt, Wanda flicked a knife near her captive's face, deftly cutting the rubber band that held the gag in place.

Osborne immediately spit the foreign object out of her mouth and launched into a series of filthy curses, caressing, characteristically not her mother's but her father's, each of the girls present, with special attention to Gwen. How nice of her. Believing that Spiderwoman had acted in tandem with us from the start, Norma didn't even try to play the victim card, bewildered as to how she found herself in this situation. As she vented her rage, Osborne realized that she could achieve nothing in this way and tried to sneak around and make a mess of our company. She chose Wanda as her target, promising the mercenary the moon for her release. Needless to say, her hopes were in vain. Leaving aside the decency aspect of Wilson, what could Osborne have offered her to outbid the reward I had promised? All the money in the world wouldn't have been enough for that.

For the first time, I was glad it was the female version of the chatty mercenary beside me. Because if the other Deadpool were here, I wasn't so sure that a healthy appearance would be as desirable to him as it was to Wanda.

The mercenary didn't miss the opportunity to show off, though. Turning in our direction and standing so as to shield the prisoner from us, Wilson pretended to think. She was obviously determined to play on our nerves, and she succeeded. Gwen tensed visibly, seeing that the mercenary was seriously considering a proposal, even Bobby, who knew the stakes I was holding in this game against Osborne, got nervous. A tentacle emerged from her back, unnoticed by Wanda and Norma, the symbiote prepared to attack.

Wilson doesn't know yet that I've already begun working on a solution to her problem, nor does she know that I not only have a hypothetical chance of beating cancer, but that I'm going to do it soon. It was as if she was waiting for me to start convincing her not to betray me.

But I'm not going to do that. I'll just show my insecurity and get a few negative reputation points in her eyes. Holding a leadership position in a team made up entirely of adult women when you're a sixteen-year-old in a world where women are the stronger sex is hard enough as it is. She must understand that once my word is given, it does not require any further affirmation.

I didn't even prepare, like Gwen and Bobby, for a possible fight. Wilson would have noticed right away. Instead, I just arched an eyebrow, silently asking:

"Are you really seriously considering this offer?"

After a couple of long seconds, Wanda charged the hilt of her dagger into Osborne's forehead without turning around, decisively cutting off this unstarted bargain.

"Well, now we're talking," Wilson sneered, then turned to Stacy as if nothing had happened, "You seem a little jumpy tonight, Spidey."

Gwen, who'd taken the mercenary's abrupt movement for the start of her attack, was already sitting on the far wall.

"Do what you have to do," the rather embarrassed girl muttered as she returned to her original position. Even the costume that concealed her entire body from prying eyes didn't help Gwen's shameful hiding from our eyes.