The New Exiles
By The Uncanny R-Man And Agent-G
Shout Outs-Winblades: Yeah I know when I was trying to think of a leader of lethal killers I couldn't think of anyone else that could lead them. Well you'll see how April feels and as for Vincent, I think he might take it well.
X-Over: They may meet the Sliders later on and the Kro-mags later on too. You'll see more of Guardian's past in the next chapter.
Chapter 18: Dinner With DareThe Complex-
April was strolling through the Complex. She was bored and was on the lookout for something to do. It wasn't that she didn't like her teammates, far from it; it was just the fact that she was closer to some people than others. Take Vincent for instance; back in her reality they were almost like brother and sister together. Then there was Dare, April wasn't sure what to make of her. Sometimes April would catch her stealing glances at her. They were the kind of looks that Morph would give her whenever she walked past. But that couldn't be the case, could it?
April simply shrugged it off as she walked into the rec room. August was always on at her to watch something called 'Kill Bill.' Frankly, April didn't have any idea what it was about. Seeing that she spent most of the early years of her life under the service of Hydra, there weren't many opportunities for recreation.
Unusually for a room that sees as much use as the rec room, the room was actually empty. There would always be two or more of April's fellow Exiles chilling out, either watching movies on the huge plasma screen or just sitting down and chatting.
"At least I'll have my privacy." April thought out loud as she sat down on the sofa and began to rifle through the collection of data crystals. Upon finding the appropriate crystal, she popped it into the player and sat back to enjoy it.
April's relative peace wasn't to last as Dare was also on the lookout for something to do. The crimson-clad Exile almost missed the rec room altogether until she heard the sounds of the Bride slicing up some random evildoers. She peeked into the rec room, careful not to disturb whoever was in there. A small smile spread on her face as she saw April sitting on the sofa all alone.
'Perhaps she could do with a little company…' Dare thought to her self as she silently crept into the room and sat down beside her.
"Didn't think you could escape form us that easily, did ya?" Dare smirked. April yelped in surprise and leapt up form the sofa.
"H-how did you get there?" April gasped as she put a hand to her chest, her heart beating rapidly.
"Ninja training, kiddo." Dare replied with a proud smile. "You learn a few things when your mom's one of the premier ninjas in the business." April's heartbeat slowly began to go back to normal as she sat back down.
Dare propped up her feet on the coffee table in front of them. It was obvious who had been in the rec room before them, as they had left a small pile of porno magazines behind.
"Morph should really clean up after himself." Dare said as she picked up one of the magazines and started to flick through it. Once she got to the centrefold, she opened it up and cocked her head, as she looked it over.
"You don't really like porn do you?" April asked innocently.
"Meh, you gotta get your kicks somewhere, I guess." Dare shrugged as she tucked away the magazine for future use. "So, you enjoying the movie? It's one of my favourites."
"It's… okay, I guess." April replied. "It's not really my thing, all the violence I mean."
Dare nodded in understanding. If Dare was a servant of Hydra and was responsible for some of the kind of things April did, she wouldn't be all that big on gratuitous violence either.
"Remind me to show you the wonders of Winnie the Pooh sometime." Dare said. "I dunno whether you're into Disney but it'll be a change form all the testosterone-fuelled movie nights that the guys hold."
"Or those… chick flicks Heather likes." April added with a small smile.
"Oh, I agree." Dare nodded. "Bridget Jones, bleh! So not for me."
Later-The movie was pretty much forgotten as the two women began to talk. April soon found her opening up to Dare, she just felt comfortable in her presence.
"Well I first found out that I liked women when I was five." Dare explained. "There was a news broadcast on TV; the Avengers were fighting the Wrecking Crew in Times Square. The moment I saw the Scarlet Witch in action, I just wanted to carry her off in my arms."
"But you were five." April replied. "How would that work?'
"I didn't say it would be easy." Dare snickered. "Listen to me gabbing on, why don't you talk about yourself?"
"There's nothing really to know." April replied saddly. "I can't remember much of my childhood, the only memories that I can remember are those from Hydra and a bit of the Project…I'd rather not relive those. I don't know how Vince can do it, living with a photographic memory of that…" She trailed off feeling both sad for her and him.
Dare nodded sadly. Sure, she had had her share of crappiness, what with her eye being gouged out and all, but it was nothing compared to the stuff that April had seen. "You must have at least one happy memory." She said.
"Well there was this one time…" April began.
"It didn't happen at band camp by any chance, did it?" Dare asked with a cheeky smile. April just looked at her with a confused expression. "We have to get you up to date with your pop culture references." Dare sighed with a kind-hearted shake of her head.
April continued with her story…
"It was in a clear, open space. A park or something… No, it was a forest. There were lots of really tall trees about. I was with two people, one man and one woman. I think they were my parents. We could have been on holiday."
"Was this when you were a baby?" Dare asked, leaning forward on her hands in interest.
"I think it must have been." April replied. "They were really big and I was strapped into a pushchair. It was beautiful, I just felt at peace. But after that, nothing…"
Dare sighed sadly and gently placed her hand on top of April's in comfort. She looked into April's green eyes and it was almost as if there was a spark.
April noticed this also; a small tingle ran up her spine.
Dare slowly began to inch closer to her.
April's heart began to beat faster once more as she breathed in Dare's scent, cinnamon and rose oil. It was intoxicating. April inched closer to the other woman, her senses starting to go wild. There lips were mere inches away when Morph burst into the room.
"Who's stolen my porn?" He yelled angrily. "I bet it was Vince again! He always acts like the good little Catholic boy but we all know that he's got a deep, dark lust for jumbo hooters!"
Dare glared daggers at him; really pissed that he had ruined the mood. "Here's your damn porn!" She hissed as she flung the magazines at the shapeshifter. "And in future, it would be greatly appreciated if you cleaned up after yourself!"
"Geez, the way you're acting you'd think that I interrupted a make out session or something." Morph sniffed as he picked up his magazines. "Well you're off my Christmas card list."
Once Morph had gone, Dare turned back to April. 'God, I was so close to belting him, I swear.' Dare groaned.
April just shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I-I have to go now…" She said, her comfort in the other woman's presence now gone.
Dare stood up and took her by the hand, preventing her from leaving. "What do you say we have a girls' night in tonight, just me and you?"
"I-I don't know…" April replied as she tried to avoid Dare's gaze. "Maybe, I don't know…"
Dare sighed reluctantly as she let her go, so much for progress.
April's room-April felt like crap. She was that close to telling Dare how she felt, and Morph had to barge in and screw it up. Dare most probably hated her for it too. Dare seemed so sure and worldly wise, and what did she go and do, run off like a scared little bunny rabbit. There was only one way she could fix it, she was going to go over and tell Dare how she felt, teammates be damned.
April walked up to the control panel built into her wall and pressed the button to speak to Alfred.
"Alfred, do you know where Dare is? I need to talk to her."
"Ms Murdock is in her quarters." The sentient AI replied. "Do you wish for me to bring her to you?"
"No, that's alright." April replied. "Just tell her that I've decided to accept her offer and I'll be over right away."
"I will tell her right away." Alfred said as he signed off. April then looked around her room to try and see something that would be suitable to wear.
Dare's room-Dare had just received the message from Alfred and to say that she was excited would be an understatement.
Dare was presently brushing her hair in front of her mirror in preparation of April's arrival. She was dressed in a slinky red dress with a slit up one leg. She also had on a matching eye patch. She decided against styling her hair and put it in a simple ponytail. Just as she finished her preparations, somebody knocked on the door.
"Umm, Dare. It's me, April…"
"Just be a second!" Dare called as she did some last-minute touches.
Upon reaching the door, Dare gathered herself before opening it. This was it, it was now or never. She pressed the button to open the door. She gaped as she saw how April was dressed. She was dressed in a dress similar to hers but green and a more conservative cut. She also had her hair piled on top of her head.
"Wow, you just look… wow." Dare said, lost for words.
April just blushed slightly at the compliment. "You look great too."
"Come on in." Dare said as she got out of the way. "Make yourself at home. I asked Alfred to cook us up something nice. He's got the cook bots on it right now."
April stepped into the room as the door swished shut behind her. It was rather different to hers. It was messier for a start. It had obviously been tidied in a hurry. Her attention was caught by an array of weapons displayed on the wall.
"Ah, my collection of weaponry's caught your attention, I see." Dare said as she walked up beside April.
"You certainly have a… passion for weapons." April said looking at a pair of nasty looking knives.
"I just like pointy things, I guess." Dare replied with a smirk.
"How did you get them all?" April asked, as she looked the weapons over.
"Well, the sai are form my mother." Dare replied. "She's pretty much retired from the hero biz so she gave them to me. The machetes originally belonged to Typhoid Mary. Before she was turned into a vampire, of course."
"Is that a real lightsabre?" April asked as she spied the familiar weapon of the Jedi.
"Nah, of course not." Dare replied. "That's just one of the props form the movies. I brought it on eBay, y'see. Although I am thinking of asking Guardian if he can get me a real one, I'm dying to try the real thing." She grinned to herself, ever since the Star Wars universe she wanted to get one for herself.
"You certainly have more stuff than I do." April said as she looked around. "All I've got is the stuff that I brought in the city."
Dare sat down on her sofa and looked back at April, still browsing over her things. April stopped in front of a photo of Dare pre-eye patch and an attractive redhead dressed in a red and blue costume. They seemed rather close together as Dare had her arm around the other girl's shoulders and was licking her cheek. April wasn't familiar with the sensation that she felt in her gut, how could she compete with the redhead in the picture.
"That's May." Dare said as she walked up beside her. "She was my first and only love."
"Was she your girlfriend?" April asked, curious to hear more.
"Yeah, we first met in junior high." Dare replied. "I wasn't totally into other girls then, I did have a boyfriend too. It wasn't anything serious, I was just curious to see what kissing a guy was like. Wasn't for me in the end…"
"Where is she now?" April asked. "Is she… dead?"
"Nah, she's still alive." Dare replied. "She's living in LA now, I think. The last I heard, she was a model or something, just like her mother."
"It must be difficult, staying with a somebody that you love that's on the other side of the country."
"Don't I know it?" Dare replied with a sad sigh. "We broke up when she accepted the modelling job. May was always headstrong; she'd never back down form an argument. That's why I loved her I guess, she was just like me."
April noticed another photo next to it. This time it was Dare, May and two other people. One was a guy with short blonde hair while the other was another redheaded girl.
"That's May and me with our best friends, Franklin and Rachel. He was the son of Mr Fantastic and the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four and she was the daughter of Cyclops and Phoenix of the X-Men. We were inseparable, until we all went our ways, that is. The last I heard, they were living in Florida."
"You've got a much more interesting life than me." April said. "I can't even remember my parents, or my friends, if I even had any."
"Why don't you ask Guardian to look in your head?" Dare asked. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind."
"I did think about it." April replied and was silent for a moment remembering her thought on that at one time. "But if I could remember my parents, it would just remind me of something that I lost." She hung her head slightly.
Dare squeezed her shoulder gently in comfort. "At least you've got the rest of us." She said. "We're your family now. Sure, it's messed up, but what family isn't?" Another small smile spread on April's face as she thought that over.
After dinner-April and Dare had both finished their dinner, and they were stuffed. The cook bots had really outdone themselves that time, the meal was fantastic! They had lost count of how many courses there were. Some of the food wasn't even form Earth!
April got up with a bloated grunt. "Ohh, I shouldn't have ate that third helping of fudge cake."
"But it did look awfully appetising." Dare replied as she rubber her stomach. "Man, I have to ask Alfred for the recipe."
"I really have had a great time, Dare." April said. "You're wonderful company."
"No problem, kiddo." Dare replied with a wave of her hand. "And call me Karen, it is my name."
"Thanks for inviting me… Karen." April said with a shy smile. "Perhaps we could do this another time?"
"I'm counting on it." Dare replied as she stood up from the sofa.
There was then an uncomfortable silence as neither was sure how to say goodbye. Dare didn't want to scare April off by putting it on too string and April was afraid that she would be disappointing. They settled on a friendly hug.
"See you in the morning, okay?" Dare asked.
"Yeah, see you in the morning… Karen." April replied with a happy smile.
Dare gave her a little wave before closing the door. That just left April on her own. She gave a little squeal of excitement before putting her hands on her heart and sighing dreamily. "I think I'm in love…"
TBC…Next: Pain of the Immortals
Take a look at what being an immortal is like andthe team may learn more then they wanted to know.