Backstab

"Killed an angel?"

Charlie —Deadpool's real name—paused, caught off guard by the shocking news. Images of the angel being destroyed flashed through his mind, replaying how Iron Man and Thor had blasted the angel out of existence with his command.

Wait... he thought, could they actually mean that angel?

"Shocking, huh?" Claire said, noticing Deadpool's silence. Mistaking it for stunned disbelief, Claire kept talking. "I mean, it's absolutely insane. Who would even think of killing an emissary? And they think they can get away with it? Ridiculous!"

Charlie considered this for a moment.

The angel was indeed killed while fighting off the Cantel army. Charlie had fired the shot himself, but somehow, the story had morphed, placing the blame on the Cantels. And from what Claire was saying, it sounded like the news had spread fast—possibly across the entire star realm. Could this mean Earth's coordinates, or even its existence, might also be exposed soon?

"Are you sure it's true?" Charlie asked, trying to sound casual. "I mean, how'd you hear about it?"

Claire gave him a strange look. "Sure it's true. It was the Third Emissary of the Golan Starfield, you know. Even the lights in the temples went out. How could that be fake?" he said. "Nobody's released all the details yet, but rumors say the emissary was last seen traveling with a Cantel guerrilla group. 

"After the angel's death, someone claimed they saw the Cantel commander in Krafal just yesterday. They reported it right away, and the guy ran for it the second he caught wind of it. I mean, if he wasn't guilty, what's he running for? Now the authorities put a huge bounty on his head, and everyone says he's the killer."

Claire went on, ranting about the situation, but Charlie was deep in thought.

As strange as it sounded, it seemed like the Cantel commander was in a tough spot. Even if he hadn't actually killed the angel, he was being held responsible. Maybe that was why he was hiding. If he kept on the run, this whole scandal might be delayed from spreading.

But if the commander got caught, he might spill the details about what really happened, which could end up exposing Earth's location. 

The best-case scenario, Charlie thought, would be to find this commander before anyone else and handle the situation quietly.

"We're here," Claire announced, stopping in his tracks.

Charlie snapped out of his thoughts to see a large, irregular object parked in front of them. From a distance, it looked like a massive stone or small mountain. But as he got closer, he realized it was something else entirely.

The material reminded him of the floating islands the Cantels had used to travel to Earth. He figured this was the ship Claire had mentioned—or at least what Green Lantern's ring translated as "ship." In their language, it probably meant some kind of spacecraft.

The outer layer looked like rock, weathered and cracked, almost like a giant meteorite. Charlie guessed this material was common for interstellar journeys, tough enough to handle the stresses of space.

Standing below the ship was another alien, similar in appearance to Claire but far bulkier. This one was massive, with muscular arms that looked like the twisted, thick branches of an old tree.

"Claire?" The other alien looked over, surprised. "Thought you'd been fed to those beasts by now."

"Hah, it was close," Claire laughed, pulling Deadpool forward. "If I hadn't run into this brave warrior, it might have been."

Claire quickly introduced Deadpool and the other alien, Bruen, the guard he had mentioned earlier.

"His skills are incredible," Claire said, nodding to Deadpool. "I think the boss might want him to join us…"

"We'll talk about that later," Bruen replied, smiling as he sized Deadpool up. "Claire doesn't hand out compliments easily. I'd like to see what you're made of sometime."

Other crew members were also waiting near the ship, and they all seemed to be from Claire's race. Judging by how they greeted him, it looked like Claire held some sort of high status among them. They were polite and didn't seem bothered about letting Deadpool hitch a ride.

"Too bad they're all just a bunch of rough dudes," Deadpool muttered to himself as he climbed aboard. "Was hoping to run into at least one tentacled alien lady."

Deadpool continued to ramble in his usual, offbeat way, but Charlie was used to it by now and let it slide.

Inside the ship, he noticed that, while the walls were made of the same dark material as the Cantel ships, this one had a natural, cave-like structure. The walls turned temporarily transparent when someone pressed a button, allowing him to see the dark corridors and different rooms, each roughly carved out of stone.

"We're heading toward the stargate that leads to Krafal," Claire explained, glancing at his device. "Should take us about three hours and twenty-eight minutes."

Charlie raised an eyebrow. Most people would round that time off, but then he realized it was probably because the Green Lantern ring had translated it into a human time format. 

Since they had some time, Charlie put Deadpool into "auto-hack" mode and switched back to handle other business on Earth. Time was precious, and there was no sense in wasting hours of interstellar travel.

After about an hour, while Charlie was dealing with tasks elsewhere, Friday sent him a message.

"Sir, it seems someone on the ship is looking for Agent Wilson."

Deadpool's full name was Wade Wilson, so Charlie knew Friday was referring to him.

"Oh?"

He'd already completed most of his current tasks, so Charlie set his other devices to auto-mode and switched back to Deadpool's view.

It was Bruen, the bulky alien guard, waiting for him.

"What's up? Ready for that sparring match?" Deadpool asked, raising his eyebrow.

"We'll save that for later," Bruen replied, gesturing for Deadpool to follow him. "Right now, there's something I'd like to show you."

Curious, Charlie had Deadpool get up and follow Bruen.

They walked through the narrow, dimly lit hallways of the ship, where the walls were dark and almost bony, giving the place an eerie feel, like the ship was watching them. Charlie couldn't help but wonder why the ship was designed to look so... menacing.

"Right in here." 

They stopped in front of a room, and Bruen stepped aside, motioning for Deadpool to go first.

Deadpool, never one to hesitate, strode in confidently.

"Just letting you know now," he started, "if you're into me because I'm this ridiculously handsome, you're out of luck. I mean, I'm all for dating aliens, but I prefer ladies, you know? And tentacles are cool as long as they're attached to—"

Thud.

A sharp pain shot through him.

A blade had pierced right through Deadpool's back, and blood gushed out in a shockingly bright spray.