A/N: I do not own Hot Wheels Battle Force 5, but I certainly own Cree and Lance. I keep on forgetting to add that disclaimer DX. Chapter 1 is in the process of being rewritten to a much shinier and polished version!
This chapter made me realize that I have no skillz in creating an awesome DJ name. I'm sorry if it burns your eyes.
"Good morning Nevada! This is WPRK at 8 am in the morning, bringing you the latest and greatest hit songs and breaking news all in one program. I'm your DJ DeMent, and we'll tackle the first song of the morning after the traffic report from our main man on the ground—"
Cree's hand slammed down the "off" button on her radio clock. She blinked slowly and wormed her way out of her cocoon of blankets. She stepped across pinstripe patterns of sunlight that came through her venetian blinds. She trudged into her brightly painted bathroom to take care of her hygiene. She stopped and checked herself in the mirror. A dark spot on the side of her neck caused her to lift her messy hair and inspect it. A small bruise had formed by her ear. She smiled and shook her head. Lance has a matching one too. She remembered when they left the mall and he was telling her over and over how he was on his best behavior. She had nearly forgotten about their deal after that yellow motorcycle went past them.
Cree lowered her head. That bike…
She sighed heavily and started her morning routine.
Cree walked out of the back door of her and her parent's house wearing a black t-shirt with two vertical green racing stripes on the front. Her cargo pants scuffed across the rough cement floor of the porch. Being from a family of early birds, Cree woke up bright and early, even on summer vacation from college. Lance and a majority of her friends thought something was wrong with her.
She looked up at all the trees that took up most of the family's property. There was a large clearing where the house was, but otherwise than that, the giant plants grew rampant. She passed the main garage where her parents' cars usually stayed, except they were away on a business trip for a couple of weeks.
A smaller, separate garage where her Jeep stayed was some distance away from the house. Cree withdrew a set of keys from her pocket and unlocked the mechanism on the front of the wooden garage door. She carefully lifted the creaking door up, noticing white paint chips falling down from the weather-worn surface. The rollers squeaked and protested until the door slid all the way up. The Jeep and an absolute mess of tools were on the other side of the garage door.
Cree began to step over some of the said tools when her cell phone began to ring. She fished out the small phone and looked at the screen. An unknown number was displayed. She let it ring for a few times before deciding to take the call.
"Hello?" She answered carefully.
"Hi, is this Cree?" An unfamiliar male voice asked.
"Speaking."
"I'm Vert Wheeler and, well, this might sound a little strange, but have you ever heard of something called the Battle Force 5?"
Cree's heart skipped a beat. The keys dropped out of her other hand and clattered to the floor. That's Impossible! H-how did they—
"Hello? Are you still there?"
"Ah, sorry, I was just… You… are the new leader?"
"Then you really are, I mean, were the original Hunter?"
Cree flinched at "were." "Yes, I was. How did you find out about me?"
Vert cleared his throat. "There was a photo way in the back of my closet. It had you and Lance on it, instead of Agura and I."
"Agura? Is she my… Is she the current hunter?"
"Yeah, her name is Agura Ibaden. Listen Cree, I know that this is happening fast, but can we see you? We all have a lot of questions to ask you about what happened and why you two left the team."
Cree sighed. She knew what he really wanted to say was to make sure he and Agura wouldn't end up like them. "I understand completely. I think everyone should know what happened to us and why we… did certain things."
"Good. Maybe we can get the Mobi and we can meet up with you guys."
"I'll have to talk to Lance first, but I have a question for you."
"What?"
Cree breathed deeply before asking him. "How's the team?"
"They're doing great. We even have two new team members."
Two new members. "That's wonderful. You sound like you're doing a great job as leader."
"I try my best."
"That's all I could hope for. Did you by chance happen to call Lance before me?"
"Uh, no. You looked like you weren't as confrontational as he did in the picture. I'm sorry if that offends you or anything."
Relief swelled within her. "Actually, you did the right thing by calling me first. By the way, you found the picture in your room right?"
"Yeah."
"Is your room closer to the Rec room or near the kitchen?"
"The Rec room. Is that Lance's old room?"
"Oh yes it is. I'll call you back in a couple of hours. There some errands I need to run first and then you can meet us."
"Okay. Thanks Cree."
"No prob."
Cree flipped the lid down then up again. She hit a speed dial number and waited for Lance to pick up his phone.
"It's only 9:45 in the morning. What do you want?" Lance's groggy voice filtered through the earpiece.
"Boy, are you in trouble."
"Huh?"
"Get your butt outta bed and get over to my place. We have a major problem."
"You're pregnant?"
"NO! How could I possibly be pregnant? Just get over here!"
That guy… Shaking her head, she flipped the lid down, ending the call. Cree opened the phone again and began to dial in a series of numbers. She studied the long string of digits before pressing the send button.
"Hey, remember me?"
"Yes. Did something happen?"
"They found out."
"What? How?"
"Blame the old Crimson One. Do you think you can come over her and discuss this problem with us?"
The person sighed heavily. "I'll be there."
"Thanks and I'm sorry about this."
"I knew he was trouble."
The line went silent.
Cree flipped her phone down and shoved it in her pocket. Now she had to explain this all to Lance and him. She got the feeling that things weren't going to go over well from the former.
And they didn't. When he arrived and Cree spilled about what happened, Lance's face changed from nervousness to rage. He stomped around her kitchen staring angrily at her.
"I CANNOT believe you," He spat.
Cree leaned against the stove and shrugged. She had once been scared when he got into this kind of mood, but she had learned that he only relied on his size and voice to intimidate and Cree was becoming immune to it.
"They have to know." She said simply.
Lance was slowly stepping closer to her. "I thought all that running around trying to erase everything of our and that thing's existence was so that they would never, ever find out."
"What if they repeat history?"
"What did I just get done telling you? We made sure it wouldn't happen."
"There's still that chance."
Lance growled as he approached her. It made him even angrier when she looked so nonchalant about things. Cree saw his eyes widen as if realization had dawned on him. His eyes instantly narrowed again with a nasty snarl contorting his features.
Lance's hands wove past Cree and hit the stove. His face was inches away from hers. "This is because you want to make up for putting them through what we absolutely had to do. You don't care about our orders as long as it will make you feel better."
Cree's eyes instantly turned to green fire. Usually it took a lot for her to get enraged, but that was uncalled for. "You arrogant snot! Don't you dare try to pin me with all the blame. They found the picture in your room and they were the ones that called me. I just answered. "
"How do I know that you didn't put the picture in there in the first place?"
"I wouldn't do something like that!"
Lance's forehead was nearly touching hers. "You weren't exactly in the same frame of mind when we were leaving."
"Lance, I didn't do it! I still have my copy of the picture in my closet! I never printed another one."
"Fine, but you could have not answered the phone or faked something, but no, you got all sappy after seeing that freaking bike yesterday because it looked like Zoom's stupid Chopper!"
Cree pushed him away. "Don't you have any remorse for what happened to them? To what we did to those guys? They were our friends, Lance! And what we did to them is the things that only happen in horrible nightmares. They were absolutely terrified. And all we did was walk away when they were yelling for us to help them. Their screams—"
She stopped short and looked away from Lance's eyes. He watched her as she studied the floor, her breathing starting to become ragged. Lance's rage died down and he drew her into a hug. He had felt horrible for that event too, but his mind was locked onto Cree's crying when they abandoned the team. No matter how many times he told her everything was going to be fine and kissed her, the tears wouldn't stop. That was the first time he had ever seen someone so strong with her heart broken in pieces right in front of him. To him it was worse than what happened to the team, because unlike them that had no memory, the image of an inconsolable Cree was burned into his memory forever.
He squeezed her gently. "I'm sorry."
She looked up at him through misty green eyes. "I'm sorry too."
"You know, I'm not standing out here for my health." A deep voice sounded from her cargo pants' pocket. The two jumped.
"Why are your pants talking?" Lance asked.
Cree giggled as she dug her cellphone out and flipped it open. "Uh, hello?"
"Where are you at? I don't have all day."
"Sorry! We were just discussing something. We're coming out there."
"Impatient as always," Lance said.
Cree led him out the door and behind the house. The trees grew denser in the back of the property with several small clearings that were excellent at masking any outside visitors.
Lance looked up at the distant leafy foliage. "I'm sorry for blaming you for the picture."
"It's okay Lance."
He sighed, "I'm sure he won't forgive me for screwing everything up."
"Humans make mistakes and he knows that. I think you'll be fine," Cree said.
"If you say so… Hey, how about when we're not expecting anybody to be running around your backyard, you and I could... sort out our differences on this picture issue. That is, if those stupid squirrels don't pelt nuts at us again."
Cree laughed, "I told you throwing the walnuts back at them would get them mad. And until that day I always thought that only old men could get into arguments with squirrels."
Lance looked at her, exasperated. "They're little conspirators. I know it."
"Humans sure take their dear sweet time. You two lovebirds aren't the only ones in the Multiverse that I have to attend to, so make it quick." A deep voice announced ahead of them.
Cree and Lance both whirled around to see the Eternal Equalizer resting against a tree.
Cree smiled at him. "Hello Rawkus."
A/N: Yes, Cree knows how to reach Rawkus. This chapter signals that this story is reaching the halfway point! And sorry again to the Vegura fans. Hopefully there are some scenes with the much-loved couple in the next chapter . Thanks for reading and reviewing!
