A Hate Triangle

"You guys have anything to say for yourselves?" Tabitha shot chastising looks between Lance, Pietro, and Todd.

"Ketchup." Pietro said.

"Purple." Said Lance.

Todd opened his mouth to say something, stopped. "Ah screw it. I got nothing."

Tabitha paced back and forth. "You three are so childish, so idiotic, so…"

"What's your point?" Pietro asked impatiently.

"You wrecked the house!" She bellowed.

Lance shrugged. "Yeah, so what else is new? We destroy it on a weekly basis."

"And by the sound of it you almost killed each other."

Pietro nodded. "Sounds about right."

Todd shook his head. "Man, when Tabitha's the voice of morality you know something's wrong."

Tabitha turned to face them. "Alright then, tell me one more time what happened."

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"I can't believe how stupid you were!"

Lance and Pietro had just gotten home from the trip to the police station. Lance, having no transportation, had been forced to hitch a ride to the police station to pick up Pietro. When Lance tried to explain the situation to the officer he ended up losing his temper and nearly got throw into jail himself. If it hadn't been for a group of vigilantes tying up almost the entire police force, Lance probably would have never been able to get Pietro out without collapsing the entire building. They ended up hitchhiking back home since Pietro was still too out of it to use his super speed. Lance had yelled at Pietro the entire way. Needless to say, it had not been a fun ordeal.

"STOP YELLING AT ME!" Pietro yelled at the top of his lungs which brought requested silence. He took several deep breaths before collapsing into a chair. "I'm so sick of you… yelling at me."

"Well I'm sick of you doing stupid things and acting like a total jack ass!" Lance shouted at him. "The first few times were understandable but it's just getting to the point of being completely ridiculous!"

"What do you mean by that?" Pietro snapped.

"You're always causing trouble for anyone else!" Lance grimaced. "You can't do anything right!"

"Once again Pietro you have messed up!"

"Dad… I'm sorry."

"Can't you do anything right?"

"Dad please…"

Lance didn't really mean that. But at that moment he was just too frustrated to keep his cool. There was a blur and the next thing Lance knew Pietro was pressing a cold knife blade against his throat. Lance swallowed hard. "Take that back," Pietro hissed.

"Pietro!" It was Todd. He was standing in the kitchen doorway looking both shocked and furious. At that moment he wanted to beat the crap out of the skinny teen, but he remained calm for Lance's sake. "Just calm down," He edged slowly towards them.

Pietro pressed the blade slightly harder against Lance's throat. "Don't come any closer." Lance winced slightly as a small trickle of blood ran down from where the point pierced his skin.

"That's enough!" Todd yelled. He whipped out his tongue and grabbed a knife off the counter. He took it in his hand and held it at Pietro's throat. "Don't push me," Todd growled. "If this is what it takes…" Pietro cringed slightly as he felt the icy cold iron against his skin. "Just put the knife down," Todd ordered him.

Suddenly Todd felt something cold against his throat that sent a small chill through him. He looked to see that Lance had pulled out his switch blade and was know holding it against his throat. "You put your knife down," Lance said in a deadly voice.

There they were, the three of them, locked in a deadly triangle, each resenting the other, one move away from…

"Wh-why are you two doing this?" Todd asked them shakily, trying to buy some time.

Pietro spoke first. "This guy here thinks he's better than me." He indicated Lance. "He thinks I'm no good. He thinks I'm a screw up. He called me a jack-ass."

Todd remembered what he saw in the alley way and his insides boiled. "You are a jack ass." Todd growled. "You stole Serena away from me."

Pietro looked at him confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't lie to me!" Todd snarled. "I saw you together!"

"It's no more than you deserve Toad," Lance glared at him. "That's what you get for cheating with Kitty behind my back."

Pietro laughed. "Serena? Kitty? Like Toad could ever be good enough for either of them.

This was a very low blow. Todd could no longer keep himself together. With a roar like an animal he leapt on top of Pietro who was too surprised to react. His knife slpiied from his hand and slashed Lance across the cheek. It dropped to the floor followed by drops of blood. Todd meanwhile was trying to as much damage to Pietro as he possibly could. Pietro somehow managed to kick Todd of him and into Lance and quickly scurried out of the kitchen. Todd picked up his dropped knife and followed him into the living room.

Pietro was leaning against an arm chair nursing his darkening eye. Todd gave another cry and leapt at Pietro with the knife. Pietro sped out of the way and Todd's knife plunged into the arm of the chair, tearing it open so that pieces of foam fell out. Todd was about to make another lunge at Pietro when something flashed past him and Lance's swith blade buried itself into the wall. Todd turned to see Lance looking livid. Pietro picked up a nearby lamp and threw it at Lance. Lance barely had time to duck and it shattered against the wall.

"Hey guys," Fred walked in. The three of them stopped to stare at him. Fred suddenly realized what was going on. "Oh, you're fighting."

"We're fighting!" Pietro snapped. Todd took advantage of the distraction and dove into Pietro and the two of them crashed through the window. Lance followed them jumping through the broken window.

Fred stood there dumbstruck. "Did I miss something?"

It was an all out melee. Pietro dashed over to hit Todd but Lance's tremors caught him off balance and he ran into a tree instead. Todd spat slime into Lance's face and he stumbled blindly over a rock. Pietro had recovered and kicked Todd onto the ground and body slammed him. Todd retaliated by rolling Pietro onto his back and began strangling him. Lance had grabbed Todd's legs and attempted to pull them out of his sockets. Pietro was kicking anything his legs could reach including Lance's stomach. Then a little glowing ball landed right next to them.

They froze and watched at it as it grew brighter. They didn't have time to move before it exploding blasting the three of them apart. They landed a few feet away from each other. When they looked up they saw Tabitha standing there in a black outfit wearing sunglasses. The sight of her made them momentarily forget their aggression towards each other.

Todd looked at her quizzically. "What's with the get up, yo?"

"Yeah, you look like you just came from a strip bar," Pietro said looking her up and down.

"Hey my jeep," Lance noticed his jeep parked behind her.

Tabitha crossed her arms. "I think you three better tell me what you've been doing this whole time I was gone."

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"And that's what happened." They finished.

"Okay it's obvious what's going on here." She said rubbing her chin. "You're drunk, you're high, you're crazy, and I'm tired. Good night." She headed towards the stairs.

"Wait Tabby!" Todd caught her before she leave. "Tabitha…. I saw him with her."

"Todd, that's ridiculous. I know she would never cheat on you. You should know that too."

"I know but…" Todd thought of reasonable explanations. "What if she was drunk or something?"

"She'd have to be really drunk, and the odds would still be pretty low."

"Still…"

"Look, what you saw was probably a figment of your imagination. There is no way that she would ever cheat on you, especially not with the guy who split you two up in the first place. She loves you." She lightly pinched his cheek. "Now get some sleep. I think we've all had a rough day."

"Okay." Todd conceded.

He looked back at the other two. Pietro's eye was now fully bruised. He started looking sick and rush to the kitchen. Seconds later violent sounds of vomiting could be heard. Lance was dabbing the cut on his face with a cloth. Todd looked down at the palm of his hand where a cut had appeared. He hadn't noticed it until Tabitha had broken up their fight. He supposed he had got it when he had dropped his knife on the front lawn. It was his battle scar. They all had one.

(sniffs) Sad sad chapter. (sob) And guess what? It's gonna get worse. How, you ask? You'll find out soon enough. Stay tuned!