A Break From it All

"All right all of you lunatics!" Sarge shouted. "Ten Hut!"

The older kids stood at attention. Sarge inspected them. "All right kiddies. Playtime is over! Its time you all learned how to work as a team! You're going to learn to become soldiers and learn soldiering! Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir! Sgt. Slaughter sir!" They all shouted.

"You kids need to shape up and look mean!" Sarge growled. Then he looked at one of them. "Uh Scarlet Witch, not that mean!"

Pietro snickered. "Something funny Quicksilver?" Sarge got into his face.

"Well yeah," Pietro said. "When is the Scarlet Witch not psychotic?"

"YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT YOU CREEP!" Wanda screamed, lunging at him.

Pietro sped off. "Can't get me!"

"GET BACK HERE PIETRO!" Wanda chased after him firing off hexbolts.

"Not again," Sarge groaned putting his head into his hands. "Al…Wavedancer get those two under control!"

"Why me?" Althea asked. The sound of explosions rang off in the distance.

"Because you're the team leader that's why!" Sarge snapped. "You're the only one here with an ounce of maturity! The rest of you practice fighting with the Renegades!"

"Goody!" Fred grinned.

"Oh lord," Mercer groaned when Sarge left shaking his head.

Sarge staggered into the kitchen. Roadblock and Shipwreck were there. "Three days," Sarge moaned. "It's only been three days and already they've destroyed half the training equipment!"

"They can get a little hyper can they?" Shipwreck quipped.

"A little hyper?" Sarge yelped. "I have trained some baaaaddd recruits before, but this is the first time that I have ever had doubts I could do anything for them!"

"Sarge I know that you're under a lot of duress," Roadblock said. "But for these kids this is progress! They're already fighting better than they ever have before. It's just training and discipline they need more! They just need to learn to work together as a team, and then it will be a dream."

"Well at least Althea helps in that department," Sarge noticed as he looked out the window and saw Althea dragging Pietro by the ear.

"Wavedancer," Shipwreck told him. "Remember?"

"I can't believe your little girl has a codename already," Sarge shook his head. "How did she grow up so fast?"

"With a father like Shipwreck it was necessary," Roadblock quipped.

"Har har," Shipwreck said drolly. "How are the Triplets doing?"

"Cover Girl is teaching them about engines again," Sarge sighed. "She seems to have a knack with those three."

"They always did like her," Shipwreck said. "I'm glad they came here. I didn't want the kids to part with each other. It was hard enough to leave Polly behind."

"Yeah I thought it was a little quiet around here without that bird's squawking," Sarge said. "What happened to him?"

"He had a slight run in with Wanda before we left," Shipwreck told him. "The docs say his feathers will grow back in no time."

"Oh brother! The older kids really need a lot of work," Sarge grumbled.

"Well at least their fighting skills are getting better," Roadblock pointed out the window. Outside Fred was wrestling with all three Renegades and winning easily.

"Yeah but I'm really concerned with how they work as a team," Sarge groaned as he watched Todd and Lance help Wanda and Althea gang up on Pietro.

"Let's just say that they have a lot of issues," Roadblock sighed. "What are we going to do with them? Every time we seem to make some progress, they revert back to fighting four year olds."

"We need to do something to get the kids to work together and bond some more," Shipwreck sighed. "Something drastic."

"Spirit's going over his psychiatric books to think of something," Roadblock said. "I tell you one thing, it's gonna take a lot more than something simple as them hating us if we punish them severely. I don't know what we have to do, but we gotta do it soon."

Tauros sailed through a window shattering glass everywhere. "Sorry!" Fred shouted.

"Hey Tauros," Shipwreck said. "Want a cup of coffee?"

"Does it have any vodka in it?" Tauros moaned.

"I think we're out," Shipwreck sighed.

************************************************************************

That night three figures snuck out of the Slaughterhouse. "I can't take any more!" Mercer grumbled.

"Yeah," Red Dog groaned. "I never realized how rough parenting is! Makes basic training seems like child's play!"

"I have consulted the Spirits," Tauros said. "They tell me it is time to get plastered!"

"For once they have the right idea!" Mercer said as they went towards their vehicles. Tauros and Red Dog to their motorcycles, Mercer to a truck. "I'm taking the truck! I have a feeling we need to bring back a few things. Beer, Scotch, whisky…"

He opened the door and saw Shipwreck in the front. "What took you so long?" He asked.

"Get out of here Shipwreck," Mercer yanked him out.

"Yeah it's because of your brats we're losing our minds!" Tauros cried out.

"Some of us already lost them before they got here," Red Dog said.

"Okay we all need a break," Shipwreck said. "How about the four of us go into town to blow off some steam?"

"This is a Renegade party," Red Dog snarled. "Why should we let you in? What makes you think you're tough enough to hang with us?"

"Hello?" Shipwreck pointed back to the base. "Five kids! Remember? Not to mention all the other little darlings I've been watching lately! You ever try separating the Scarlet Witch from Quicksilver when they're fighting? You'd have an easier time separating a crocodile from its dinner!"

"He has a point," Tauros said.

"Come on," Mercer motioned. Shipwreck climbed into the truck. They took off. Little did they know they had some extra passengers. They drove into the nearest town, which was nearly an hour away. The four men parked their vehicles at the convenience store and left off to their own devices.

A certain white haired teen poked his head out. "They're gone!"

"Come on!" Lance said. "Let's follow them!"

"I can't believe you all talked me into this!" Wanda snapped.

"Well you wanted a break too!" Fred said. "Ooh! They have Slushies!"

"Too bad Althea and Toad decided to stay behind," Lance sighed.

"They didn't want to get in trouble," Fred said.

"Get in trouble? Ha! They wanted some time to make out!" Lance snickered.

"Jealous?" Pietro snickered. He dodged Lance's swipe. "Come on! Let's see what they're up to!"

"They're probably going to get plastered," Lance groaned. "Right Blob? Blob? Where'd he go?"

"Tree guesses," Pietro pointed to the convenience store.

"Oh man!" Lance slapped his forehead when he saw Fred munching down on some food straight from the shelves. "We are so busted!"

"Does anybody have any money?" Wanda sighed.

"I thought you had some?" Lance said.

"No!" She snapped. "Why would I have any money?"

"None of us has any cash!" Pietro said. "See ya!" He took off.

"Pietro!" Lance snapped.

"Figures," Wanda sighed. "Come on, we'd better find one of the adults and face the music. We're gonna need some responsible adult to talk to."

"That won't be too hard," Lance pointed to a nearby storefront. There was Tauros riding a mini mechanical horse.

"YEEHA!" Tauros was having the time of his life.

"A grown man riding on a kiddie ride," Wanda groaned. "Oh yeah, he's the right one to talk to." They headed for him. "Tauros!"

"What are you kids doing here?" Tauros yelped.

"We could ask you the same question," Wanda said pointing to the horse. "Our answer is that we were bored and wanted to follow you guys to see what the town was like. What's your answer for this?"

"I like rides!" Tauros snapped.

"Look we need your help," Lance said. "Blobs eating his way through an entire convenience mart and if we don't stop him soon…"

"I get the picture! Well it will have to wait until after my ride!" He kept going.

Wanda used her powers to make the horse shoot out from its frame and fly halfway around the parking lot. "Ride's over!" She snapped.

"Okay…I'll get off now," Tauros said in a funny voice.

Little did they know already someone was on the scene. Mercer and Red Dog had turned back to get something to snack on at the convenience store when they saw Fred munching on every potato chip he could find. Pietro had returned and was now tormenting the store's owner by rearranging all the items.

"This goes over here! No wait! I like it better here!" Pietro zoomed around. "I'll put this here! Or maybe here! No! Here! No! Here!"

"Somebody help me!" The shop owner moaned. "This one is driving me crazy and this one ate all the doughnuts!"

"Mmm," Fred licked his lips. "Sprinkles."

"What are you kids doing here?" Mercer growled.

"We just wanted to see the town," Fred told him.

"Oh great!" Red Dog growled. "Even when we're running off they follow us!"

"Uh how much did he eat?" Mercer said taking out his wallet.

"Over 2000 dollars worth of groceries!" The shop owner moaned. Mercer slid the wallet back into his pocket.

"Okay here's what we do…" Red Dog looked like he was ready to hit the owner from the back.

"RED DOG!" Mercer snapped. "No! We don't do that anymore! We'll have to put it on a credit card!"

"But the only one of us with a charge card is Shipwreck," Red Dog said. "He could be anywhere."

"This is Shipwreck remember? I think I have a pretty good idea where he is," Mercer grumbled. "We'll have to leave the kids here until we find him."

"NO!" The shop owner yelled. "Look, I trust you! You can all go! Pay me later! Don't pay me! I don't care! Just get them out of here! Please! For the love of all that is holy please take them!"

"We'll be back," Red Dog said. "Move it kids!" They shoved them outside.

Mercer made sure he held on to Pietro. "What were you doing in there?"

"Well I got bored painting the town," Pietro told him.

"Painting the…?" Mercer looked around and saw many of the buildings were covered in multi colors of paint. "Oh no!"

"Yeah I found all this paint lying around over there and I figured the place could use some color and…" Pietro said.

"And here I thought that was just an American figure of speech," Tauros came over with Wanda and Lance.

"Why did you little twerps follow us?" Mercer snarled. "Now we have to go back!"

"Why?" Tauros asked.

"We came to get away from their bickering lamebrain!" Mercer said.

"Yeah we needed a break from you kids killing each other!" Red Dog snapped.

"We don't always mean to fight," Fred fidgeted with his fingers. "It just happens."

"We don't really hate each other," Lance said. "Sometimes we just remember things and get angry."

"Yeah," Pietro shrugged. "I guess we've all acted like jerks towards each other at one point or another."

"Some of us more than others," Wanda folded her arms.

"Come on," Mercer grumbled as they went off to search for Shipwreck. "Let's find the sailor, pay off the damage you've done and get out of here before the Sarge has all our hides! Now where could that lunatic be?"

Lance looked over to a nearby bar just in time to see a biker being thrown out violently though the window. "I think I found him," Lance called out.

"Oh great," Mercer grumbled. "I don't know which of you lot is the most trouble! I swear!" He stormed into the bar. There was Shipwreck was taking on nearly the entire bar.

"Hey! Shipwreck's in trouble!" Fred shouted.

"Let's get 'em!" Wanda charged into battle. The other kids yelled and followed suit.

"Oh what the hell?" Mercer shrugged. "Come on guys! Let's get in a few hits before the cops arrive!" They joined the fight as well. It wasn't long before all the bikers were knocked out cold.

"Hey that was fun!" Fred said cheerfully. "Let's do it again!"

"What are you kids doing here?" Shipwreck snapped.

"We followed you," Fred told him. "We wanted to go with you."

"I thought you said you wouldn't run away!" Shipwreck snapped at Pietro.

"I didn't run away," Pietro told him. "I followed you. If I were running away I would have run away from you guys. But I didn't. I tagged along for the ride. There's a difference."

"Yeah as long as we're with you guys it's okay!" Fred said.

"Oh well that's a wonderful piece of logic," Shipwreck groaned.

"Uh," Tauros heard the sound of sirens. "I think my friends it is time we leave. We have overstayed our welcome."

"Yeah this town is a dump," Shipwreck shrugged. "I've had better bar fights." They went outside. "WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO ALL THE HOUSES?"

"Quicksilver," Lance pointed at Pietro.

"Actually it's a nice touch," Red Dog said.

"Come on let's move it!" They ran back to the vehicles. "Is Althea and Toad with you?"

"No they decided to stay behind so they could be alone," Wanda said.

"Oh well that's…WHAT?" Shipwreck yelled. "We gotta move out! Fast! I'm driving!" He jumped in.

"Oh great," Mercer groaned. "So much for a nice quiet evening out!"

So what's happening back at the Slaughterhouse while the others are away? Stay tuned to find out!