Red Witch: Here's your more.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank several people. Goofn1, you crazy Lance-lover, you inspired much of the Lance content of this story, which was originally supposed to focus on Todd. Oh, well. That's what sequels are for. c-wolf, thanks for your reviews, It's nice to have such a prolific writer compliment me. RogueFanKC, I don't think it's too much to say that you were the wind beneath my wings. Thanks for all your reviews and support. And last but most definitely not least, I'd like to thank Red Witch both for her support and for creating the Misfits in the first place. Without you, we'd never be able to read and write all these cool stories. And now, I give you the last chapter of Misfits In Time!
Chapter 20: Back to Normal, Relatively Speaking
It was three days later, and still Lance hadn't spoken to anyone. The others were worried. Very, very worried. So, they decided that it was their job to cheer him up.
"Lance?"
Kitty poked her head through his door... literally. He looked at her for a second, then looked down.
She came the rest of the way into his room, and sat on the bed, resting her hand on top of his.
"Will you be okay?" she asked softly.
He shrugged, but remained silent. She decided to try a different approach.
"You know, Piotr took me on a date yesterday."
No response.
She sighed. "Lance, please say something," she pleaded. "We're all really worried about you."
Silence.
"Fine," she sighed. "But when you're ready, let me know, okay. I miss you, and you're not even gone."
She stood, and exited the room, leaving him stretched out on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
"How is he?" Althea asked as Kitty walked down the stairs of the Misfit house.
"He's not saying anything," the other girl replied. "He didn't even say anything when I told him Piotr took me on a date."
"If that didn't work, then I don't know what will," Todd commented sadly.
"Maybe if I squeeze him?" suggested Blob.
"We'll call that 'Plan B'," Althea told him drily.
Pietro ran in. "Hey! Guess what we found!"
Wanda followed. "It's really cool."
"What is it?" Todd asked.
"Guess!" Pietro cried excitedly.
"A fire extinguisher?" asked Althea.
"Nope!"
"A puppy?" asked Todd.
"Nope!"
"Emeril?"
"Blob, remember our talk about why we don't let you play guessing games with us?"
"Sorry."
"Well?" asked Althea.
"Show them," Pietro exclaimed.
Wanda held out what looked like a rock.
"So?" asked Todd. "It's a rock."
"Look more closely," Wanda told him.
The other four examined it more carefully. "Is that... writing?" Althea asked.
"Yeah!" Pietro almost shouted. "It's a message to Lance. I'm gonna go give it to him!"
He zoomed upstairs. A few seconds later, he zoomed back down. "Now we wait," he told the group.
Several long minutes passed. Then they heard footsteps on the stairs. They all watched as Lance walked down.
"Hey," he greeted them softly.
"Lance! You're back!" exclaimed Todd happily.
"How are you?" asked Althea.
"Better," he replied. "Still not best, but better."
"What'd the rock say?" asked Pietro.
"You didn't read it?" Todd looked at him.
"It was too small," Wanda told him.
"Maybe I'll tell you someday," Lance replied. "But for now, let's just leave it at 'I'm better.'"
"Works for me," grinned Kitty, as she gave him a huge hug.
Something occurred to Althea. "Where are the Triplets?"
"Double, double, toil and trouble," cackled Daria.
"Fire burn and cauldron bubble," cackled Quinn.
"How come I don't get any cool lines?" asked Brittany.
"Because you're the one who has to hold the porcupine," answered Daria matter of factly.
"And why do I have to do that?" asked Brittany, squirming uncomfortably.
"Because you're the one that let the last porcupine escape," Quinn told her.
"I did not!" glared Brittany.
"You did so!" exclaimed Daria.
"Did not!"
"Did so!"
"Did not!"
"Did so!"
"Did not!"
"Did so!"
"Did not!"
"Enough!" Quinn shouted, exasperated.
Daria and Brittany stuck their tongues out at each other.
"Look," said Quinn. "Let's just give it the juice."
"All right," Daria agreed happily. She took a small vial of pink liquid. "Open wide!"
Brittany held the porcupine's mouth open, and Daria poured the liquid into its mouth.
"How long is this going to take?" asked Brittany, as she set the porcupine carefully in its cage.
"It should be almost instantaneous," Quinn told her.
They watched the porcupine avidly.
Suddenly, pink started to crawl up its spikes, then down along its face. Within a minute, it was entirely pink.
"Success!" crowed Daria.
"What do you wanna do now?" asked Brittany.
"Wanna make dynamite?" suggested Quinn.
"All right!" cheered Daria.
"Well," Low Light said as he joined the other adults, "sounds like everything's back to normal."
"Relatively speaking," agreed Cover Girl, as a nude Xi ran through the room clutching a box of cookies, Todd and Fred chasing after him. A nude Pietro ran the other way a second later, chased by an irate Wanda and Althea. Arcade ran through after that, being chased by some sort of robot.
"I miss the nice, quiet war," groaned Roadblock as the boom of Wanda hexing Pietro rang through the house.
"Need some headache medicine?" asked Low Light.
"Fifty-proof," agreed Cover Girl.
Next time: There is no next time. However, there are two more parts to this trilogy, each being twenty chapters long. While they won't be as timely as this story, they will hopefully be longer and better. So, check them out as they come!
And before I forget, I'd like to encourage you all to read some of my other stories as well, most notably in my Stan Lee's X-MEN series.