Summary: Set during "Learning to Breathe". Zandar fills Heart-Wrencher in on some of the finer details of dealing with Shadowatch after everyone else has gone to bed. One-shot.
Disclaimer: The Dreadnoks belong to Hasbro. Regan and Neal (Lady Mastermind and Thunderbird, respectively) belong to Marvel. Any other characters mentioned in passing are my own creations, but are not the centerpiece of this story.
Commiseration over Coffee
Most of the lights in the hallway were dark, turned off for the night. Only the soft glow from the bathrooms and kitchen area illuminated the living quarters of the compound. Although she should have been asleep, Heart-Wrencher just couldn't seem to settle down enough to doze off. Figuring that a glass of… well, whatever they had at this point might help her get to sleep, she made her way into the kitchen, not realizing that someone else was already there.
"Kid, go back to bed." An Australian-accented voice commanded, making her gasp. "Oh, it's just you." The female Dreadnok had to restrain herself from jumping when she realized that the voice was Zandar's. For a guy with such bright hair, he certainly managed to blend in with his surroundings. "I was worried one of the kids was sleepwalking again."
"One of them sleepwalks?" She asked, noticing the smell of freshly made coffee lingering in the air. She followed her nose to the coffee pot and poured herself a mug.
"Usually she sleep-flies, but I wouldn't put sleep walking past her." he shrugged, taking a sip from his own coffee mug. "Although I hear Sharra's gotten worse about that business lately. Usually he just sets the sheets on fire, though."
"Must be some wild nightmares." The dark-haired mechanic shook her head, wondering just how someone could do something that crazy in their sleep. She debated on whether or not she wanted to take the seat across from Zandar at the table for almost a minute before finally deciding he wouldn't bite and sitting down in front of him. "What's the story with this group, anyway? Not many kids I know willing to move in with folks like us." Granted, she might have done it in her younger years, given the chance. Would have been better than staying home.
"To be honest, I don't know most of it." He stated. "Zarana could tell you more. She was there when Zartan hired the original team. But I get the feeling most of them were too scared to stay back home, after what happened. Can't say as I blame them for it. I'd be scared too."
She raised a curious eyebrow. "What happened?" No one had explained the finer details of what the team was like to her yet. All she really knew about Corona was that the girl had been a runaway working the streets when the other kids found her and offered her a spot on the team. That, and she was having nightmares like most of the others. Heart-Wrencher wondered how many of them would wake up screaming tonight.
"Sorry. Keep forgetting you're new around here." He looked away, acting almost embarrassed. "Everyone else already knew…" Or, they'd known after the affair with the body-controlling mutant called Locust. None of the Chicago crew knew anything about it beforehand. And since 'Ren didn't sign on until a few days ago, it seemed no one had filled her in yet.
"It's not your fault." She reassured. "Everything's been crazy here, lately. And you and your sister only got here a few days ago, so…"
"Somebody still should have filled you in before now, though." The pink-haired man pointed out. "If you're going to be working with them full-time like this, it's crucial information."
"And that 'crucial' information would be what, exactly?" She raised an eyebrow as he took a draught of his coffee. "What's the deal with these kids?"
"Ren," He sighed, looking wearily up at her, "the kids…about half of them came out of a lab before they found their way here. That's what most of the nightmares are about, actually. None of 'em wants to talk about what happened, but every so often they'll all get this haunted look. And the medical records," He whistled, "we haven't gotten Corona's blood work back yet, but I figure she's as messed up as the rest of them are."
"Define 'messed up'." She stared at him. "Are they sick?" If so, that was downright terrible.
"No…well, most of them, anyway." He corrected himself. "Each of them has pretty unique drug cocktails in their systems. No two are alike, and some had more stuff going on than others."
"Poor things." She looked down at her coffee, trying to imagine just what kinds of torture some of the teenagers down the hall must have seen. Sufficiently disturbed by what her imagination came up with, she decided ask a question that had started nagging at her as soon as he mentioned that they were too scared to stay with their folks. "But why would they be too scared to go back home? Wouldn't they be safer at home with their families?"
"They were kidnapped not far from wherever they were living, apparently." Zandar explained. "All from different parts of the globe. Andi and Kris were running with a damn circus when they were snatched up. Regan was taken on her way to her dorm room at her Italian boarding school. I believe Neal went missing after being sent out on some errands for his folks. After that, I can't imagine home felt safe anymore. Besides, from what I've seen of them, there's no way they could function in a 'normal' setting once they did return home."
"That why none of them are enrolled in school?" Heart-Wrencher had been meaning to ask about that. Aside from home tutoring (usually centered on things such as world history, chemistry of smoke bombs and other helpful devices, and literary classics), the kids received no formal education. Then again, they did have a tendency to be a bit…destructive. Good for a potential Dreadnok, she learned, but probably bad for the public school system.
"We tried that. Didn't work." He shook his head. "They're all on different grade levels in different subjects, and they drove the principal out in a straight jacket before we pulled them out. Mind you, this is after one of them fell in with a pack of druggies and tried to kill herself…"
"What?" He had her full attention now. "Which one? Why?"
"Remember what I said about medications?" Zandar reminded. Ren nodded. "Andi got the short end of the stick. Started hearing things, which she tried to ignore. Then she started seeing things, and decided that taking stuff might help it go away. When it didn't, she just…snapped." He shuddered, remembering the sight of her right after Zanya found her. "By the way, if she starts acting depressed or erratic, hide all the sharp objects. We don't need a repeat performance of that mess."
"But…she seems so normal now…" Ren blinked, trying to reconcile the new information with what little she'd seen of how the girl acted.
"First off, she's a damn good actress when she wants to be." He informed her. "Had us almost convinced that she had everything under control when it all went down. Second, we got her off the stuff that was messing her up and onto the right meds. Nightmares still bother her, but she's not as suicidal now." He ran a hand through his hair, making a mental note that he would need to cut it soon.
"You really do care about these kids, don't you?" She observed, catching him completely by surprise. "You pretend like you don't give a damn and you don't want to be here, but you worry about them just as much as the rest do."
Zandar sat in thought for a moment. He hadn't realized that she'd noticed that much about him in such a short span of time. "Pretty observant, aren't you?"
"I told you before; it's hard to miss someone with hair that bright." She smirked, repeating the comment she made the first day they met. She had to stifle a laugh, recalling the utterly shocked expression on his face when he realized she was the new Dreadnok on the team. Apparently, he had assumed another man to be taking that spot. It wasn't a bad assumption, parse, but it was still a wrong one.
"You'd be surprised how many do." He chortled.
"Must get old, being ignored like that." It was a shame it happened that often, she thought. He made much more civilized (and attractive) company than Thrasher or Gnawgahyde.
"I think you might be the first person around here to tell me that." He stated simply. She gave him a look that said 'oh, surely not!' prompting him to continue. "No, I'm not joking. The others pretty much ignore me no matter what I do. Well, aside from Zartan and Zarana, but they're family. That's different."
"Again, that must really get old." She locked eyes with him. He actually had very beautiful brown eyes. "I couldn't stand being ignored like that."
"I bet you couldn't." He smiled amusedly. "You'd probably whack someone over the head for trying."
"With just my hand? Oh no, that's not enough." She grinned mischievously. "I'd bash their skull in with a pipe wrench. Or throw a screwdriver at them. Either way, they'd regret not noticing me. Maybe you should get a little more violent about it. Definitely couldn't say they didn't notice you, then."
"Nah. Jumping out from behind doors and scaring them into wetting themselves usually gets me quite enough revenge." He shook his head. "I'll keep that suggestion in mind though." Cor, it was nice having someone to sit and talk to; especially someone who could hold up an intelligent discussion. The fact that she was a pretty woman…well, it was an added bonus.
"So you're a jump out and yell 'Boo!' kind of guy." Her brown eyes sparkled with amusement. "Those are always fun too. Bet you'd be a real hit at a haunted house." That statement got the gears in Zandar's head turning.
A haunted house. Now there was a potential money-making scheme. He filed that idea away for future consideration. They might be able to make that one work. "Wouldn't know. Never worked in one." He shrugged. "Besides, most girls don't like being scared like that." He'd done it to his sister once and only once. She'd hit him so hard that he was walking funny and squeaking when he talked for a few hours afterward.
"Most girls don't like the kind of thrills I get off on, either." Ren laughed, getting up to pour herself another mug of coffee. It didn't look like they'd be sleeping tonight, if they were already talking this freely at well past midnight.
"Obviously. You wouldn't be here if you did." He really hoped she didn't hit him for how that sounded when it left his mouth. He'd meant it as a compliment!
She glared playfully at him. "You're damn lucky you're cute and easy to talk to."
Huh? "You think I'm cute?" Zandar blurted out. Girls never thought he was cute. Hell, girls rarely noticed him at all.
"Under that crazy war-paint, of course." She amended her earlier statement. "You know, I don't think there's really a need for orange face paint inside our own base…especially if you're gonna have to wear a disguise tomorrow morning anyway."
"I happen to like my face paint, thank you very much."
"Maybe, but there still isn't a need for it indoors, in our own home. Right?"
"…I'm still not taking it off tonight." He frowned.
"I never said you had to. I just said you'd be more attractive without it." She shrugged her shoulders, as if his little outburst hadn't potentially killed the mood.
Zarana was going to kick him in the head when she found out about this conversation, he just knew it. "I…" he groaned softly, trying to find the best words for what he wanted to say, "Look, Ren, I didn't mean…"
"I know." She was standing beside him now, whispering in his ear. Damn, how had a conversation about the kids turned into…well, whatever this was?
The kids, it seemed found a way to weasel their way back in, though. A stifled scream sounded from the girls' section of the hallway. Ren sighed. "I'll go see who's up."
"Yeah." He looked down at his empty mug, debating on whether or not to call it a night. "Hey," He called to her as she was about to walk out into the hallway, "Lunch? Tomorrow?" Like, date lunch…he really hoped she would say yes, and then chided himself for acting like a kid in high school.
"Uh, sure." She paused a moment. "I gotta go." She took back off down the hallway.
Back in the kitchen, Zandar got up out of his chair and went to put the used mug in the dishwasher. "Cor," he muttered, "what did I just set myself up for?"