22 More people, more fun.

-At a military base in the Middle-East somewhere near Afghanistan.-

Frank Castle maneuvered through the base's prefabricated housing and tents in a calm pace so he wouldn't arouse suspicion.

As of this moment there is no one he can trust in the base. Any one of them could be pawns in the drug scheme that is operating inside the military's confines.

He slightly patted the pocket of his military BDU that contains the flash drive with incriminating evidence. To him it felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

Frank approached a small building off to the side of the cluster of the complex array of houses and tents. This building is different than the others as it is a branch of the C.I.A.'s operations.

Every base has its own branch as they get their information on targets and enemy movements from the C.I.A.'s hidden resources and spies.

He opened the metal door and entered the main room as several intelligence analysts look over at him and stopped typing at the same time.

The room entered an awkward silence as all eyes were on Castle.

Frank ignored their gazes as he reminisced on what the mysterious person said as he was about to leave his tent.

[Find agent Johnson and give the evidence to him. He will handle it appropriately. Some Army Majors and military court judges in central positions have been "convinced" not to cover up the situation.]

Whatever method was used to convince them, Frank would rather not know.

"I'm looking for an Agent Johnson."

One of the analysts pointed towards a door before going back to whatever work he was doing. The rest also followed suit.

Frank strode over to the office door and knocked on it rather than opening it directly. One thing he learned about government spooks, never piss them off. They could find your deepest darkest secret and plaster it everywhere just for shits and giggles.

"Come in." The gruff voice came from behind the door.

Frank opened it and entered the small office.

The room was sparse due to the fact that they were in the middle of a desert without a store nearby to buy office supplies. The desk was stacked with files that had 'top secret' stamped onto them as if the man behind the desk didn't care if anyone would steal them.

Any thought of that being the case was thrown out the window as Frank sized up the agent behind the desk. Most spooks would have a slim build with barely any muscle, however this man blew that stereotype out of the window.

The living mountain of muscle looked up from one of the documents and gestured to the cheap plastic chair sitting across from him.

Frank just nodded and sat on the chair while the agent observed his actions like a lion would a mouse that entered its den.

Frank Castle felt for the first time the hair on his body stand on end. Even facing down a terrorist with a bomb vest on didn't make him feel as nervous as he was right now. This man was a genuine cold-blooded killer without an ounce of morals.

After observing the soldier across from him, Agent Johnson spoke neither fast nor slowly,

"What can I do for you, soldier?"

Frank thought of the bullshit lines he was going to say before he entered; about how he was assigned to covertly infiltrate Cerberus Squad because of military intelligence that said some suspicious actions were being taken.

However, after seeing Agent Johnson he could only swallow the lies and speak truthfully while leaving some information out,

"I received intel from an anonymous source that gave evidence of a heroin smuggling ring operating within the military that had ties with several drug lords in the Middle-East nations. My squad is at the center of the whole operation and the colonel is one of the backers. I came to give you the information in hopes that you could send it to the right people so they could punish those responsible."

Agent Johnson scrutinized Castle's micro-expressions and behavior before responding,

"That sure is convenient, isn't it? An anonymous source chose you instead of someone with higher access and ability? Let's skip over the fact that you are obviously hiding something and dive right into the evidence. If you are complicit in any of this, we will find out anyways."

Frank nodded and reached into his pocket to give the flash drive to Agent Johnson.

Johnson grabbed the flash drive and then reached into his desk drawer to take out a standard dirt and dust resistant laptop that wasn't connected to the military's network.

The next 30 minutes consisted of the agent scrolling through the digital files while occasionally watching the explicit videos. The whole time Agent Johnson's face was inscrutable, never giving any hint as to what he thought.

After he was done, Johnson looked at Castle,

"This is one hot f*cking potato you've got here, soldier. Do you realize how many leaders this implicates? This is a promotion and a headache wrapped up into one for me. As of now, you are going to be a target for the rest of your life. I'd congratulate you on turning in the biggest scandal in the military to date, but I feel like it would be rubbing salt on an open wound. You and I are going stateside immediately before the people here wise up to what is happening. Follow me."

Agent Johnson stood up and walked towards the door swiftly without looking to see if Castle was following him.

Both men left the C.I.A. branch building and walked towards the helicopter pad as Johnson radioed the pilot who is another agent.

Both could almost feel the penetrating gazes from the surrounding soldiers as they entered the helicopter that was ready to take off.

Frank spotted Billy Russo who was playing basketball with the other squad-mates for R&R. Russo looked at Castle with narrowed eyes, probably thinking something unpleasant. He turned around and walked towards the command building with quick strides.

As the helicopter took off the only thing on Frank's mind was his family that was waiting for him back home.

The fact that the anonymous person said there was protection around his family was only somewhat setting him at ease.

That would not be the case if he knew exactly who was protecting his family.

----

"I'm telling you, I got this great idea that's been bouncing around in my brain lately that could make me big money! Have you ever been to Louisiana and tried this food they call gumbo before? It's an amazing dish with rice and sausage made into a soup. Now just imagine a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet that has food on board for its passengers, and they introduce gumbo the main dish. Then they could name the airplane Gumbo Jet instead of Jumbo Jet! If I trademark it I could be rolling in cash!"

Inside a beat-up taxi sat two people, one man who from India who spoke with an Indian accent and another in a red and black suit with two katanas on his back.

The Indian man spoke with a slightly complaining tone,

"That sounds great Mister Pool but I can't stay here all day, I still have to make some money. Or maybe if I could join you as a sidekick I could make some money and we could be heroes! I've just started trying this new workout routine lately and I can really feel my biceps starting to grow."

The other man, "Mister Pool", waved his hand distractedly,

"Not now Dopinder, I'm on a job right now. As a merc for hire, it takes a lot of skill for what I do."

Dopinder looked at a certain house on the street they were parked at,

"Is your job peeking at married women?"

"No, that's just a benefit."

-Rewind to 24 hours earlier-

Inside a bar called 'Sister Margaret's School for Wayward Children' a certain mercenary was drinking beer as the others in the bar looked at his scarred face with fascination.

Deadpool looked at all of the gawkers with pride,

"Like it? It's because of a new skin-care product that just came out, I can introduce it to you. Maybe your girlfriends will like it, every person has different tastes?"

Everyone rolled their eyes or shook their heads and returned to drinking and being rowdy.

Until the door opened, and a new unfamiliar face walked in. The whole place went silent as the newcomer entered the bar.

One of the merc's shouted out while grabbing a switchblade from his vest,

"Nice threads you got there, I think I'll look better in them though!"

The newcomer, Heath Zod, looked at the man who was holding out his blade, then decided that strength speaks loudest.

A ray of red lit up the bar as it melted the metal blade and burnt the mans hand while he tried to throw it away.

Everyone instantly grabbed a pistol from their belt or wherever they had it stored on their bodies and aimed it at Zod.

Zod noticed most of their hands were shaking.

He turned his gaze towards the bar area and saw the person he was looking for also looking at him with amusement.

Zod spoke calmly,

"I'm looking to hire Wade Wilson for a job."

Everyone turned their gaze to Wade as Wade pointed towards himself in surprise.

Zod nodded and walked towards him while the bartender, Weasel, dispersed the tense atmosphere with a loud, "I'm adding 300 bucks to the pool for Wade!"

Zod sat next to Wade and shook his hand while speaking,

"I'd like to have you on retainer for the future, there are some jobs I think you might be interested in."

Wade smiled,

"One question! Can you make your laser eyes rainbow color?"

Zod's eye twitched.

"No. I can fix you though."

Without letting go of Wade's hand, Zod employed his reality warping field, slowly turning Deadpool's skin on his arm back into a normal person.

Wade, and Weasel who was eavesdropping nearby, both gasped in surprise.

Wade's eyes even started to water as he imagined himself going home to Vanessa a normal looking person if slightly, okay, way more handsome than the average person according to him.

Zod smiled slightly, feeling a rare generosity rising in him. After all, it doesn't take much to fix him.

"I can return you back to normal, all you need to do is be available when I need you."

Wade looked up from his arm to Zod,

"When do I start?"