I don't own much of anything here. Andi, Kris, Ry, and Mitch are the only things that I can claim. Moving on, how do you lecture against stupidity? I don't know, but it looks like Zartan's gonna have to try.
Second Chances
Chapter twelve: The Blame Game
The living room had been turned into an interrogation room. All who had been outside when the neighbor's window was shattered were now lined up—no, scratch that, there wasn't enough room on the couch—facing Zartan.
"Let's run over this again." Zartan pinched the bridge of his nose. "How did this start?"
"We went outside to play catch and Andi told us to go on the roof!" Mitch said.
"No, I told you to leave me the hell alone," Andi corrected "you came up with the roof idea all by yourselves!"
"But you told us to leave!" Neal protested.
"I told you to go away!" Andi said. "I thought that you would go in the back yard!"
"But they ended up waking Kris up in the middle of her sleep." Regan said.
"I heard the stomping from downstairs." Zanya said.
"And you went out to investigate." Zartan said. "I can't say that I'm entirely shocked that you boys would try a stunt like this, but the rest of you are adults! You should know better!"
"But it was fun!" Torch wined. "I liked jumping off the roof!"
"Me too!" Buzzer chimed in.
"And I thought Firefly was a wuss." Andi commented.
"Ditto." Regan nodded.
"Hey!" Monkeywrench shouted.
"Oh don't be such a baby!" Andi said. "You had your damn fun and nearly blew our fargin' cover! What if that idiot had called the cops?"
"We would pay them off." Zandar said. "But that's not the point."
"Actually, it is." Zartan said. "Another close call like this one could attract a lot of undue attention for us. The last thing any of us needs is for the police to figure out who we are."
"I see it." Mitch said.
"I wanna go to jail!" Bryan whined. "I can see Gram- Gram there!"
"Ignore him." Andi replied. "He's been like this for nearly four years."
"Who is their grandmother?" Zarana asked.
"Daisy Mae." Andi answered.
"Her?" Buzzer blinked.
"I think you're gonna have to do more than smash a window to get where she's at." Zanya said.
"What if we tp'd the White House?" Bryan asked.
"That might do it." Zandar thought.
"Can we get back on topic?" Zartan groaned.
"Did we get kicked out?" Regan asked.
"What?" Zarana gave the telepath an odd look.
"Look, we all know that meeting today was about us." Andi said. "We just want to know if we're still running."
"Yeah, did we get ditched?" Mitch asked.
"You did not get fired." Zartan sighed. "It's more complicated than that."
"They won't let us run because of me." Andi sighed.
"Why would you think that?" Neal asked.
"It could have been any reason." Regan said.
"But you all have stable powers." Andi said. "That wasn't the first time I've passed out and had to be sedated because of a headache. They have my blood; they know by now. I'm too great a risk to send on a high-profile mission. Anything happens and we're outed for good."
"Just how many other—'attacks' have you had, Atlantis?" Zartan asked.
"Three, or maybe four. Could be more than that, those are just the ones I remember being that bad."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Bryan demanded.
"What was I supposed to say?" Andi defended. "Hey, I'm having drug-induced, head splitting migraines that make me bleed from my ears, cause me to throw up and completely lose control of my powers. Can you help?"
"Anything would have been nice!" Regan said. "You didn't have to keep quiet about this!"
"I didn't want to worry anyone." Andi said.
"Well, now you've got the entire Cobra medical staff worried." Zartan said. "They've agreed to let you kids go on some of the smaller missions on a trial basis. Prove you can handle it, and the difficulty will be increased."
"So this Commander of yours still wants us." Andi said. "That's a first. Usually we're on some kind of kitchen detail by this point."
"You've only been here a week." Zanya said.
"We know." Bryan said. "That's a miracle in itself."
"You did see our permanent records, right?" Andi asked.
"No." Zanya looked around. "Was I supposed to? You never told me that!"
"If you hadn't been in such a mood about getting a roommate, I would have mentioned it." Zartan said. "Besides, you're an assassin! You're supposed to do some things without being told."
"Why do you keep lecturing me about this?" Zanya snapped.
"Because you're still making too many rookie mistakes!" Zartan said. "You need to sharpen your mind, not just your fighting ability!"
"I don't see why." Zanya huffed.
"Then keep leaving clues for your enemies to find." Andi said. "If you aren't careful, they'll be the ones doing the assassinating."
"Oh f—k off!" Zanya growled.
"Language!" Zartan shouted. "We may be evil, but at least make an attempt to be civil!"
"Yes, Sir." Zanya rolled her eyes.
"I'm going to see if Kristen ever got back to sleep." Andi said as she got up.
"Why?" Zanya asked. "Why can't she just sleep at night like the rest of the world?"
"She's a vampire, Clover." Andi stated. "She ain't like the rest of us."
"And Kristen should never be awakened before five in the afternoon." Regan said. "Normally she can stay up for the sessions, but she has to change her schedule for it."
"Oh crap." Neal gulped. "We're bat chow aren't we?"
"Got it in one." Mitch winced. "I just hope that pig's blood does the trick this time."
This is the part where I grovel (note empty coffee tin beside me) for suggestions. My other two long fics are draining me of all my good ideas.
Toad pokes head around door) Toad: Hey! How come none of the rest of us are in this fic?
Because you're in the other monster crossover I'm writing. If any of the readers here are interested, it's under the Winx Club category (that's where my reviewers tend to congregate), under the title Mutants in Magix.
Toad: But why no Misfits?
Because this pre-dates the Misfits. At this point, the only teenaged mutants in Bayville were probably you, Four-eyes, and Miss Perfect.
Toad: Oh. Okay! Thanks for telling me about this thirteen chapters ago!
It's in the summary! Now go say hello to Abby and let me finish!
Toad: Okay! Toad hops away
And now I can write in peace! Wow. That little wart actually got my announcements done. That's great! Now my rant is finished. Reviews greatly appreciated!
