Heart Quakes
"All right," Duke said to himself as he went to his office. "Let's mold this little punk into a man."
He walked in, expecting Avalanche to sit there slacking off. His jaw dropped at what he saw.
"Avalanche reporting for duty sir!" Avalanche saluted with a grin. "I took the liberty of sorting your files, sweeping your office and watering your plant sir!"
Duke stood there shocked. Avalanche rarely did anything without being told to. And even after he was told sometimes he still didn't do it. This and the silly grin on his face meant only one thing.
Avalanche was happy.
And a happy Avalanche was a lot worse than his usual sullen self.
"Uh…" Duke gulped. "Good job…Avalanche…"
As Avalanche beamed the ground shook violently, reflecting his happiness at the simple complement. Immediately nearly everything in the office was knocked over, including Duke. "Oops," Avalanche gulped as he scratched his head. "Sorry about that."
"No problem," Duke looked around at the wrecked office. "Accidents…happen."
"I'll be more careful sir! Really! I promise!"
"I believe you! I believe you," Duke stood up quickly. "You're…in a good mood this morning. Why?"
"Well…I just want to do well sir."
"No seriously why? Oh no…did you drink any of BA's coffee this morning?"
"Maybe I had one or two cups," Avalanche laughed nervously.
"I'm going to go take a walk now," Duke decided to leave. "Why don't you clean this place up a bit." Duke could not get out of that room fast enough. "Okay now I gotta go kill BA for serving him coffee. And odds are the rest of the Misfits are wired up as well. This is gonna be such a fun day."
He stormed into the cafeteria and saw an odd sight. BA and several other Joes were in front of a huge betting board. "Okay place your bets, place your bets," BA called out.
"What is going on here?" Duke asked. Then he noticed that there were donuts everywhere as well as other pieces of food. "Okay why is this place a mess?"
"I have no idea," Falcon said calmly. Of course he and the Blob had food splattered on them.
"Oh really?" Duke glared at them. "Sure you can't guess why?"
"No but we could really use your help," Falcon said. "Are you and Scarlet going to have another fight soon?"
"And if you do can we tape it?" Blob asked.
"NO!" Duke shouted.
"Was that a no to the first or second question?" Blob asked.
"BOTH OF THEM!" Duke shouted.
"Uh oh, sounds like Duke's a little testy," Sci Fi remarked. "I got him fighting with Scarlet at 9:30 this afternoon!"
"Make it noon for me!" Snow Job called out.
"I got dibs on anytime between 6 and 8 p.m.!" Falcon shouted.
"Good I'll write it down," Blob did so.
"I know you people are betting on my love life but could you at least have the decency to wait until I'm out of the room before you do so?" Duke shouted.
"Where's the fun in that?" Snow Job snickered.
"Okay before I sentence you all on KP duty for life is there any reason why you served the Misfits coffee this morning?" Duke snapped.
"Hey you wanted them fully functional and alert for the day," BA shrugged. "Okay new bet, how long do you think it will be before Duke snaps?"
"From what? The Misfits or lack of action in the bedroom?" Snow Job asked.
"Good question," BA said.
"We can make that part of the bet," Blob suggested.
"Great idea!" Falcon beamed.
"I COULD COURT MARTIAL ALL OF YOU FOR THIS!" Duke screamed.
Falcon snorted. "Yeah, right. Duke even the General and Beach Head are in on this. Which reminds me, Beach Head wins ten bucks because you threatened us with court martial for finding out about this."
"Rats!" Tunnel Rat snapped his fingers. "I was so sure you'd threaten to use us for target practice."
"That's it!" Duke stormed away. "I am out of here! All of the sudden spending the day with a hyper mutant teen-ager doesn't seem so bad anymore!"
Duke stormed into his office only to find the door closed and locked. "What the…? Avalanche?"
"In a second!" Avalanche called out. "I'm on the phone. No Kitty I am listening."
"AVALANCHE YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO USE THE PHONE TO CALL YOUR GIRLFRIEND!" Duke shouted. "AVALANCHE! AVALANCHE OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW! IF YOU DON'T OPEN THIS DOOR SO HELP ME!"
Nothing happened. "FINE! I'LL JUST KICK IT DOWN!" He tried to but he ended up hurting his foot instead. "OW! Of course…I put in that extra strength lock when I discovered Shipwreck was sneaking into my office looking for donuts."
Then there was a scream and a loud tremor that knocked him to the ground again. "OKAY AVALANCHE NOW YOU ARE GOING TO GET IT!" Duke shouted as he got back up. "I TRIED TO BE NICE! I'M WARNING YOU! THAT'S IT THE WARNING IS OVER!" He took out his gun and shot the lock open. "All right mister now…"
Duke stopped cold. His office was ruined and there were several huge cracks in the wall and ceiling. But what really stunned him was the sight of Avalanche. There he was sitting on the floor bawling his eyes out. "We had a fight…" He looked at him with tear stained eyes.
"Oh god…" Duke rolled his eyes.
"I can't help it," Avalanche sniffed. "Have you ever been totally in love with someone? So crazy about a person it made your heart physically hurt? But then things go wrong and you get blamed and there's nothing you can do about it?"
"Well yes," Duke admitted.
"And then this other guy comes along," Avalanche went on. "Not just any guy, a guy she has some kind of 'special bond' with. A guy who not only saved her life a few times but is part of some weird clique or gang they both belong to."
"Oh yeah…" Duke said. "Been there."
"And of course you're left out of the group," Avalanche went on bitterly. "Which makes it hurt all the more. And all your friends are betting on when you'll break up. Your so called friends are enjoying your pain for their own twisted amusement!"
"Uh huh…" Duke's eyes glazed over.
"Then the next thing you know you're the butt of every stupid joke going around. All you want to do is do your best and get the girl but it never happens! Something always comes up or some misunderstanding happens and she thinks you're to blame and then goes running to the other guy while everyone's laughing at you right to your face."
"Any dignity or authority you have ever had is shattered and all you can do is take it!" Duke shouted.
"Yeah you sound like you know what I'm going through," Avalanche blinked. "You know I feel better now. Still hurting. Sorry about loading all of this on you Duke. Duke? Are you…crying?"
"Kid…" Duke sighed. "Move over and pass the tissues."
Next: A certain couple is acting childish. And Toad and Wavedancer end up watching the spectacle and playing referee! Or are they fueling the flames? But what's the fight about? And what wackiness will happen next? It's up to you!