The world tilted in a roar of screaming metal. On the ground, Angel Dust had Colossus pinned, a steel bar pressed hard against his metal throat. Before Lin Yu could act, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, her body erupting in furious orange flames, launched herself into the air. She came down like a meteor, and a powerful shockwave exploded out from her.
The force of the blast threw Angel Dust and Colossus apart. It also slammed into the already damaged hull of the massive, abandoned aircraft carrier. With a deep, groaning sound, the enormous structure gave way. A large section of the carrier's side broke apart and began to fall, a crashing avalanche of steel and debris.
"Hey, Warhead! I will handle it!" Lin Yu yelled. He acted fast, his mind focusing. Two large, shimmering shields of psychic energy appeared. One covered the Pyramid. The other snapped into place over Colossus, Warhead, and the stunned Angel Dust just as the wreckage threatened to crush them.
Holding the two mental shields firmly, Lin Yu lifted them, along with everyone inside, and flew them all quickly out of the path of the collapsing aircraft carrier. They landed safely a good distance away, turning to watch the final, thunderous fall of the giant ship.
"It is really spectacular," Lin Yu sighed. Seeing it in a movie was one thing. Seeing it with his own eyes was something else entirely. The scale of the destruction was breathtaking.
On the deck of the carrier, everything had become a sliding, chaotic mess. Containers and iron frames screeched as they fell. Deadpool and Francis, still fighting, tumbled down the steeply tilting deck amidst the chaos.
When the dust finally settled, Deadpool crawled out from under a pile of twisted metal. He looked at the destroyed landscape around him. "Oh my God," he exclaimed, "this scene is really!"
He was cut off as Francis, bursting from another pile of rubble, tackled him. The two men rolled down a slope of wreckage, landing hard at the bottom and immediately locking into their final, desperate struggle.
Lin Yu and the others walked over, forming a loose circle around the two men. They watched as Deadpool, fueled by anger and relief, pummeled Francis without mercy.
"It is indescribably cool!" Deadpool shouted, finally pinning the bloody and beaten Francis to the ground. He pressed his pistols against Francis's head. "How about it? Feel my luck! Is there anything else you want to say?"
Francis looked at the circle of faces surrounding him. His eyes lingered on Lin Yu, whose power seemed without limit, and on the giant, silent robot behind him. He knew he could not escape. He raised a trembling middle finger at Deadpool. "My name is Ajax!" he snarled, putting all his remaining hatred into his last words. "Fk, you!"
Deadpool cocked his pistol, his finger tightening on the trigger.
"Wade, wait!" Colossus said, his voice urgent. "There are only a handful of opportunities."
"What did you say?" Deadpool asked, confused.
"There are only a handful of opportunities like that," Colossus repeated, stepping closer.
"Opportunities for what?" Deadpool still did not understand.
"To be a hero," Colossus said, beginning his earnest speech. He was a teacher at heart. "People think that your daily life is to be a hero. Every day when you wake up, when you brush your teeth and wash your face, when you go to work. That is not right."
"In a lifetime, there are only a handful of such moments. At this time, you will face choices. You make sacrifices. You overcome your flaws. You make friends." Colossus's voice was deep and full of feeling. Even Lin Yu felt moved by his words. "And you let go of your opponent. In these moments, everything else does not exist. It does not matter how the world looks at us. We are our true selves."
"Bang!"
The gunshot was loud and final. Deadpool did not listen.
Just as Colossus was speaking with the most emotion, sure he was getting through to Deadpool, the trigger was pulled. The sight of the fatal head shot made Colossus, who was in the middle of his passionate speech, instantly sick. He turned away, vomiting. Between heaves, he asked Deadpool in pained confusion, "Why?"
"You are like a broken record," Deadpool said impatiently, pointing at the dead Francis. "If wearing a superhero uniform means letting go of psychopaths, maybe I should not be a hero. Not everyone is like you, Captain Morality."
"Then you promise me..." Colossus began, pointing a metal finger.
Deadpool cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Okay, I will pay attention to this situation next time. Maybe."
"Okay, okay, it is over," Lin Yu said, clapping his hands together to break the tension. "And we should go back."
"This big guy is really handsome," Deadpool said, his mood shifting instantly. He walked over to the Pyramid and hung onto the robot's massive leg like a small dog. He looked up at its face. "Can you send me off? Big guy, do you have a jj?"
"That cannot be done," Lin Yu refused. "He is my old friend."
"..." The Pyramid very much wanted to kick away the pervert in the red suit who was rubbing against its leg. But out of respect for Lin Yu, it held still, looking down at its master for help.
Lin Yu could only shrug his shoulders, returning a look that said he was just as helpless.
"It is amazing, Lin Yu," Colossus said, his nausea forgotten as he looked up at the Pyramid's six-meter frame. "Is he a Transformer?"
"Almost," Lin Yu replied. "He is a silicon-based life form."
"Then is he an alien?" Warhead asked. "Also, what is his name?"
"No," Lin Yu said. "He was created by my ability. His name is Pyramid."
"You created it?" Colossus and Warhead asked together, shocked.
"I really cannot figure you out more and more, Lin Yu," Colossus said, looking at him with deep thought.
"I am not a bad person anyway, am I?" Lin Yu said with a friendly smile.
"Wow, Pyramid, what a handsome name," Deadpool cooed, still clinging to the leg. "I really want to hug you and sleep."
"No," the Pyramid's synthesized voice rang out, sounding panicked. "You do not want to."
"Do not be shy," Deadpool insisted.
"..." With a sudden, sharp movement, the Pyramid shook Deadpool off its leg. Then, in a flash of shifting parts and a loud "kukukukiki," it transformed back into the white Wuling Hongguang S van, refusing to stay in its robot form any longer.
"What a shy little guy," Deadpool said with a weird grin, picking himself up from the ground.
"You scared him," Lin Yu said, amused.
"No, I just want to get close to him," Deadpool said, walking towards the van as if to pat its hood. The van quickly reversed several meters with a beep.
"Stop making trouble, Deadpool," Colossus scolded. He bent down and heaved the still-unconscious Angel Dust over his shoulder. "Let us go back."
Lin Yu nodded. With a wave of his hand, the Pyramid vanished, returned to its portable space. He then opened a new space door, shimmering with light, that led directly to the halls of the Xavier Institute.
The four of them, plus the unconscious Angel Dust on Colossus's shoulder, stepped through the portal and found themselves back in the quiet, safe school.
"Wade!" Vanessa cried out the moment they appeared. She rushed across the room and threw her arms around Deadpool.
Then they kissed, a deep, loving kiss that shut out the rest of the world.
"..." Lin Yu, caught off guard by another wave of affection, simply shrugged at Colossus and Warhead. "I think I will come back to visit you in a few days."
"Well, I think the Professor and the others will welcome you," Warhead said. Colossus, still carrying his burden, nodded in agreement. "Goodbye."
"Goodbye," Lin Yu said with a final wave. Then, he simply vanished from the spot.
After Lin Yu was gone, Deadpool finally broke the kiss. He looked at the empty space where his mysterious friend had been, a thoughtful look in his eyes. "I hope we see you again, my friend," he muttered to himself.
---
Lin Yu stood on the peak of a snow-covered mountain, looking out at the vast, frozen world. The air was crisp and thin.
"It is past eleven o'clock. I am a little hungry. I still want to eat," Lin Yu said, checking the time on his bracelet. He gazed at the distant horizon for a moment longer, then turned his head. He was not surprised to see a white-haired old man standing there as if he had always been part of the scenery.
"What about you?" Lin Yu asked. "Mr. Stan Lee?"