Alright guys I'm back. I want to give a shout-out to my friend morgn, who wrote a large section of this chapter while I was recovering from surgery. I recommend checking out her story "Volatile" if you want to read a really good story. Also the heroes refer to each other by their real names in private.

"Have any of you seen Predator?" asked Squirrel Girl. She stood in front of what should have been Predator's cot on the Helicarrier med bay, confronting a surprised orderly.

"That would be the… New armored fellow, right?" Asked the orderly.

"Yes," said Squirrel Girl. "Now, where is that grumpy tin can? Isn't he supposed to be resting?"

"Ah, 'Predator' checked himself out a few minutes ago," said the orderly. "I believe he was headed towards the gym."

"What, really? In his state?" blustered Squirrel Girl. "Why I oughta...Tape his legs together an' sandwich him between two beds... And then pelt him with walnuts!" Squirrel Girl ranted as she marched through the halls of the Helicarrier. There! The gym door!

Squirrel Girl stomped through the door and cast about, searching for Predator. He was across the room, lifting weights. His armor was standing next to him, letting him lift the weights himself.

"Andrew!" she yelled.

"What- urk!" distracted by her call, Andrews's arm slipped, and he ended up trapped under his weights, where he groaned in disgust. "Little help?" His empty suit of armor stepped in and easily lifted the bar off him with one hand.

"What are you doing out of the infirmary?" raged Squirrel Girl, moving towards him.

Andrew sat up, rubbing his chest. "I'm fine. I came here to exercise."

"But you got shot in the leg!" insisted Squirrel Girl.

With a completely straight face, Andrew said, "I heal fast."

Squirrel Girl squinted at him. "I'm pretty sure you don't have a healing factor, mister," she said, "but at least you're not making bad Skyrim jokes about it."

"I don't," Andrew said as he stretched his formerly injured leg, rubbing the back of his knee. "Service-issue medical nanobots. They can patch up just about anything in a few hours."

"Where'd you get medical nanobots?" asked Squirrel Girl.

"Nowhere important," Andrew replied. "Say, would you mind helping me with something?"

"You're trying to change the subject," accused Squirrel Girl.

Andrew sighed. "Please just leave it," he said.

(Huh,) thought Squirrel Girl. (Does this have something to do with his dog tags?) Out loud, she said, "Alright, then. What do you need help with?"

Andrew looked down, almost shamefacedly. "I need help moving my stuff here from my old apartment."

"Really?" asked Squirrel Girl, surprised. "Why ask me?"

"Well..." said Andrew, if possible, now even more shamefaced, "I don't really know anybody else here."

"What about White Tiger?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure if I trust her," said Andrew, looking down. "You've done all you could to help me. White Tiger... To be honest, she said hello by punching me in the face."

"Well, okay then," said Squirrel Girl. "I'll help!"

Predator looked up. "What, really? Argh!"

Squirrel Girl grabbed him by the wrist and hustled him towards the gym door. "C'mon! Let's go! Where do you live, by the way? We need to program it into the Quinjet..."

Andrew found himself wondering if asking Squirrel Girl for help was more trouble than it was worth.


"AndImeanreallyhowcanyoustandlivinghereitslikeapigstye–" Squirrel Girl whipped around

Predator's apartment at blinding speed, getting a good look at the place. And critiquing how he lived while she was at it.

"It's efficient," said Predator, standing with his arms crossed, just a few feet from the door.

Squirrel Girl poked her head around a doorway to peer at him quizzically. "Efficient? How do you call keeping your dirty clothes on your bed efficient?"

Drat. She had called his bluff. "Fine," admitted Predator. "I'm not here much, so I don't do much cleaning."

Squirrel Girl narrowed her eyes at him and gave a hammed-up, "HMMMMMMMM..." Then she disappeared back around the door in a blur of speed to continue her scouting.

Once out of Squirrel Girl's gaze, Predator relaxed. Good thing she hadn't asked about the–

"Oh my goodness! When did you last clean out your refrigerator?!"

–fridge.

"Well it was probably-." he began before she cut him off.

"Let me guess, the last time you where here." She said.

"Pretty much." Andrew replied with a defeated tone,

"When was that by chance?" she asked.

"I'd say about two months ago." he answered carefully. Truth be told he couldn't remember the last time he had set foot in his apartment. SG finally came out of the kitchen with an annoyed look on her usually cheerful face.

"It's going to take us hours to get this done with just the two of us." She said while crossing her arms in annoyance.

"Who said there was just two of us?" Andrew said with a smirk as he pressed a button on his wrist. The armor responded to his command by opening up, allowing him to step out of it. Once had vacated himself from the armor, he pressed a button on his watch and the armor closed back up. "Get to work." he said out loud, and SG started to open her mouth to protest the order he had just given, but held her tongue upon realizing that the order was directed at the now empty Predator Armor.

The armor responded by walking behind a wall and disappearing into the kitchen out of sight.

"Well that's efficient." SG approved with a small laugh.

"Let's take care of the bedroom." Andrew said with a small groan.


About three hours later, the two could be found packing up the last box in Predator's now clean bedroom. "Well, that's the last box," Predator said with a yawn.

"Thank God," SG said while also letting out a yawn, "I've never seen a boy with more boxes in his room. Also why won't you let me see what's in that particular package?" she asked while pointing to an oddly shaped package.

Predator sighed in annoyance. She had been bugging him all afternoon about that package since she had dug it out of the back of his closet. "I already told you SG, it's private." he answered her.

"Remember how I said that at the academy we know things about each other that nobody else knows about?" She asked him while turning to face him.

"I do. Why do you bring that up?" He asked her. He was most curious as to why she had brought that particular conversation up.

"Because it also applies to your personal life Andrew. You got to trust us. Now look I respect your privacy, but I'm just as curious about you as the others are." she lectured him, the whole while looking him in the eyes.

"Alright." He answered in a defeated tone as he made his way over to the package in question. When he reached it he removed the covering and removed a nice looking guitar.

"That's what you were being so secretive about?" she asked him with a small laugh. Andrew, unknown to her, had tuned her out as he tuned the fine instrument. He had many memories from this wooden instrument.

"Andrew did you hear me?" she asked him.

"I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention, SG." He said with an apologetic glance in her direction.

"I asked if that was really what you were being so secretive about?"

"I'm kind of embarrassed to admit it, but yea." he replied with a shy smile.

"Why would that make you embarrassed? I think it's cool that you play an instrument. Would you mind playing some for me?" She eagerly asked him.

"Not today SG, but there is something I need to know, and I want an honest answer from you," he stated in a serious tone.

"Shoot," she simply answered while continuing to look at the guitar.

"I think I've earned the right to know your real name. You know mine is Andrew, so what's yours?" he asked her.

SG hesitated for a minute. Did she really want to do this? Then again he had trusted her and opened up a little bit. (What the heck,) she thought. "Doreen. My name is Doreen Green." she answered him with a friendly smile.

"Nice to meet you, Doreen." Andrew replied with a friendly smile. "Hey, as a way of thanking you, how would you like to go out and hang out tonight? I know a nice little place down the road where I always used to hang out with friends. It's a nice place," he offered her with a friendly smile.

"Sure!" she replied eagerly as she jumped up and headed out of the bedroom.

"Don't you think you should change?" he called at her. She turned to face him and saw he was pointing at her jump suit. "I'm sure nobody would notice if Squirrel Girl just walked into where we are going." he said in a sarcastic tone, which earned a giggle from her.

"I don't suppose you happen to have girls' clothes in one of those boxes," she joked right back at him.

"Afraid I don't Doreen, but I know a few places down the street where you could start," he answered.

"I'll be back in 15 minutes," she said while turning to walk out the front door.

"Don't you think I should go with you?" he asked.

"Want it to be a surprise," was her simple answer as she quickly exited the building. Once she had left he ordered his armor into look-down mode so it could recharge.


He stretched lazily, hands reaching to touch the midnight-peppered sky as they walk, Andrew now dressed in a dark t-shirt and jeans, looks over towards SG (who he'd learned was called Doreen), who was dressed in a black tank top, sprayed with a picture of her signature tail that she'd obviously bought from a superhero-appreciative store, dark jeans which she had her tail tucked into, and a pair of white heels, paired with her white jacket that hung over her lithe frame. Andrew noticed, for the first time since he'd met her, that Doreen was actually pretty - with her crazy hero makeup swiped from her ivory skin and replaced with smoky black eyes and red lipstick, with her short, chopped hair down around her shoulders, but the illusion was shattered as she crazily jumped around, throwing her arms in wide, open gestures as she talked. His hands fell back behind his head, crossing at the neck as he listened to her ramble. "This is gonna be so cold! I mean, I've never been to a night-club before, I've seen it on TV, and my friends have talked about it being pretty awesome, but this is freaking amazing! I'm totally gonna request my favorite song to the DJ and - "

His deep chuckle caught her off. "SG, are you even legal?"

She wrinkles her nose like ripped paper. "I'm eighteen, not eight, but this is gonna be so fun, I wonder if they sell cola here, do you think they sell cola?"

Her round, doe-like eyes stare up at him, her sharpened nails gripping his shirt, and he almost laughed at the child-like expression that donned her round cheeks. He pulled a hand from its perch across the wasteland that sits across his shoulders, and patted hers, as if reassuring her. "Like you need to be more hyper."

His answer is a raspberry to the face as they rounded a corner, and he can practically feel the bubble of laughter in his abdomen. She bounced on her toes as the line of people seem to already thrum with the life from the club and although she pulled back slightly, shying away from the curious eyes, Andrew huffed and wrapped a tight hand around hers, dragging her past the line and towards the front.

Her eyes widen as she stares at the mountain of muscle that guarded the door, lip jutted as he tiredly searched through a list and pulls his gaze upwards. The stoic expression that had sat on the bearded man's face seems to split with a blinding grin and the list is forgotten, shoved into the hand of some teenage girl, claiming she's a member. "Andrew! Man, you haven't been here in forever!"

A rare smile tugged at his mouth, and Andrew played the part of coaxing the girl under his arms, showing she's with him, "Jake, I got a job, you know that. Can't be round here all the time man."

"Well, looks like you need a break. We've missed you here, kid," he said, and stepped aside, back to the line of people, and he threw open the door, which yawned with music and thrumming life in its mouth and Doreen's eyes widen at the shock. Andrew tugs her forwards with him, high-fiving the bouncer, who sends the girl a soft wink, "and welcome to you too, darling. Have fun."

"We will! T-Thank you!" Doreen waves over her shoulder as she detaches from Andrew, and the bouncer's gaze softened before the door is closed again, and she was momentarily plunged into darkness before thick and blinding lights penetrated her gaze. Her fingers, sharp and pointed, curled into Andrew's arm in excitement as she stared around the club, littered with ascending floors and swirling lights and she misses the soft, inexplicably rare look of contentment in Andrew's gaze at the sight of her eagerness. "A-Andy, this is so cold!"

"Don't you mean cool?"

"Yeah, that. Oh, thank you so much. W-What do we do first?" the innocence of a child leaks into her gaze and Andrew has to blink away the urge to brush the stray hairs from her eyes and he winds a protective arm around her shoulders, casting looks to the lingering stares that sent them whirling away.

He huffed and pulled her through the thrum of people. "Well, first, I'm in need of a drink, so you're in need of a drink," he murmured lowly to her as they weaved and dove through the dancing bodies, Andrew having to physically dip back into the pit of dancing when she got caught between heavily tattooed arms. A relieved laugh broke through her lips as she clung to him, and Andrew's smile never wavered as they made their way to the bar.

The bartender gave them a soft smile, wavering between adult and friend to the teenagers as they approached, and Doreen leaned forwards, a charming smile on her soft features, ready to charm the bartender into lowering the price of their drinks, but a shrill, ringing noise shattered the world around them from Andrew's pocket and he dug into the pocket to pull out the offending object - his phone. A sigh tugged at his mouth and he turned to the bartender. "Give her whatever drink she wants, watch her and put it on Steele."

The bartender nodded, recognition flashing in his eyes and as Andrew walked away to deal with the phone call, he turned to Doreen expectantly. With an unwavering smile of curiosity, she blindly picked out a drink, which was placed in front of her in minutes, which she filled whilst talking to the bartender.

"Thanks! So anyways, as I was saying, he's not the friendliest when you first meet, god knows, but - urgh!"

Warning flashed across the bartender's face as she scrunched up her features crudely. "What's wrong?"

"Sal, what kinda soda is this? It's so weird, and my nose felt like I snorted fizz!" Amusement filtered through the bartender's eyes and he strode forwards, ready to take the drink from Doreen's outstretched arms. A hand beat him to it, long fingers effortlessly sliding over the rim of the drink and pulling it from her hands.

Bewilderment played a tune on her cheeks and she turned to find a blond boy smiling down at her, brown eyes watching her like a predator in the wild as he plucked the drink from her fingers and sat it back on the tabletop, smoothly situating himself against the counter. He turns to the bartender, who narrows his eyes at him and flashes a shark-like grin as he pushes the drink towards him. "Give her a four, she'll love it."

The bartender tossed an unsure look to Doreen, who nodded her head and turned unsuspectingly to the blond, who had suddenly gained two new friends, another blond with dark blue eyes and brunette with the same color and an upturned nose. They gathered around her, and the blond sank himself into the seat, trailing a hand down her shoulder to her elbow. "Sorry, I didn't have time to introduce myself. My name's Leo. What's yours, babe, because I'm sure if you'd told me, I would've remembered."

She paused at the hungry stares of the boys, and the drink was dropped in front of her, and before she could cast a worried glance to the bartender, he was called away to another area. She sighed around her teeth and plasters a smile on her cheeks towards the boys, silently tucking her arm away. "D-Doreen."

"Well, that's new. You look more like an Amelia to me," the guy commented, and his friend brushed a strand of hair away from her cheek before latching onto another girl around the waist, which she giggles at. Leo looks mildly annoyed and presses further. "But anyways, sweetheart, you're here for some fun, right? I can show you that."

She flinches back from the soft touch across her cheek and stood, stumbling back into the hold of his friend, and he wraps his arms around her waist and she wondered if S.H.I.E.L.D. had embedded a knife in her heel or not. "I-I'm not here for that kinda fun, really. Just for a night out with a friend."

"Well, I don't see any friends, so why don't you stop bluffing to me and come with me," he murmured in her ear, snatching her from his friend and forcefully pulling her to his body, breath fanning over her ear. "Are you a virgin, love? Is that why you're so jumpy?"

"Excuse me," a voice brittle and anger laced across his teeth when the words hit the air spoke, and Doreen was pulled back from the prison-arms she'd been caught in. She breathed a sigh of relief when abnormally soft blue eyes looked her over, analyzing every corner of her person, before they were snapped away to stare needles the size of lightsabers at the blonde, who rose a shaved eyebrow.

Andrew stepped between Doreen and the shark. "Now, I'm gonna give you one chance to walk away and leave her alone, or I'll break your perfect nose, and I promise you, I will not regret it one bit."

The blond snorted, ugly and deep, and his friends gathered around him, preparing to terrify him into cowardice, but Andrew straightened himself, and even if his armor was tucked away somewhere else, his skin seemed to harden in anger. "Seriously, kid? Aren't you a little young to be in a club like this?"

"That isn't your concern; leave her alone or I swear - "

"Who the heck are you, her boyfriend?"

Andrew set a flame-wreathed glance at his shorter brunette friend, who shrinks slightly under the fire as he spits out, "Yes, I am." Doreen sent him a slightly wide-eyed glance, but the smirk that curled at the corner of her mouth told her to shush and play along. "So get away from her, or I'll tear out whatever guts you have and feed them to you."

The blond looked shaken by the pretend-confirmation, but he stood his ground and squared up to the boy, crossing his arms and giving his hungry smile. "Sure you will, I'd like to see you try, kiddo."

"If you insist," Andrew remarked and in one quick move, his head snapped forwards and head-butted the leader in the forehead, sending him stumbling into his friends and in a flurry of movements before he spun and smiled almost excitedly at Doreen. He turned her, pressing them into the crowd and threading them through, hands on her shoulders. The fire escape door came into view, and as they reach the door, Andrew turned to find the group following them, throwing dancers and half-drunk young adults out of the way as they followed them.

"Why're we running? We can take these guys!" Doreen asked.

Andrew's grin widens as he looks down at her, shouting over the music, "We're not running - we're baiting them!" He pushed her through the fire exit, into the bite of the air and laughs as he waited for the door to fly open and yawn out the revenge-filled group.

Beside him, however, Doreen shrieked and pulls at her jacket. "Andrew!"

"What?! Are you alright?!"

"They got that stupid red drink all over my jacket!"

"So?"

"It's white!"

Andrew held out a hand for the jacket, and she place it in his hands, leaving her in her black tank-top, and he draped it over a clean-looking hook on the wall, and only peered upwards when the door was thrown open and the agitated blond spilled out, spearing a glance towards the two as Andrew raked a hand through his hair. Doreen lowered herself into a crouch slightly, and pulled off her heels, falling down a few inches. Leo smirked and stood straighter from where he'd crouched into the night, hands curled into fists and soon regained the same confident stature, tugging at his jacket tighter around his frame.

"Thought you ran off with your girl, dude. Looks like you've got a few balls."

The brunette snorts, shadowing Doreen and shrugging. "It's a few more than you and your buddies have combined, so I'm taking the compliment," Andrew replied calmly, although Doreen could hear a touch of venom in his voice.

A growl permeated the air, and when his group circled around him, challenge seemed to flare in Andrew's eyes, and that was all it took for Leo to fly forwards and land a punch squarely in his jaw. Knocking Andrew back a few steps, he took the moment to throw a fist towards his stomach when his head snapped back, but just before it made contact, a hand grasped his. Confusion showed on his face and Leo peered up, only to find Andrew's fist coming for his face.

Behind him, Doreen felt arms ensnare her waist and she cried out, turning back to the leering face of the brunette as he held her off the ground, pinning her arms to her sides and threatening to throw her over her shoulder. The girl wasn't taking the offer, and instead, as his other friend came to grasp her legs, she made her own offer. She kicked her shoeless toes into his chest, knocking the other into Leo as he ducked under Andrew's fist, and throwing herself over the other and out of his arms.

Disappearing over his shoulder, the blond turned to grab at her again, only gaining a kick to the face as she did a no-handed round-house kick. He flew back, knocked out, past the shorter brunette that threatened to knock her out. Doreen cracked a wide smile, and threw a fist into his chest before kicking a knee up into his jaw, cracking it and elbow his face into the wall, making him slump against it. "Sweetheart, you don't mess with a girl when you've ruined her night. She'll kill you, seriously."

Suddenly, her feet were knocked out from beneath her, and she fell back, screaming when Leo's face peered down at her, pinning her shoulders down with one arm and the other grasping her thigh and fear shot through her chest like a hot pin as his hand inched further up the fabric of her jeans. He chuckled lowly and blood dripped from his nose into his mouth, but he hardly seemed to mind as he poked his tongue out to lick at the dripping liquid.

"If you don't shut up right now, this isn't gonna be so bad. Your boyfriend can't save you, so don't even try calling for him. You're mine now, Doreen, so get ready for -"

Suddenly, Leo was flying back away from her as a foot knocked into his chin, spraying blood, and his head cracked against the concrete, consciousness flying from his eyes and he lay in a heap a few feet from Doreen's heavy form. It took a few moments, but noise filtered into her mind again as Andrew's voice pulled her back into reality, smoothing away her hair and uncharacteristic worry pulling from his eyes.

"Doreen, you alright? I should go knock him one again in the crotch for when he wakes up."

She coughed around her words as he helped her sit up. "If you are, put on my heels for that. It hurts way more."

A soft chuckle pulled from his mouth and he brushed her hair from her face tiredly, swiping away the blood from a cut that had split open on his cheek, and his hands fluttered across her jaw, seething. "He bruised you."

Her hand covered his, shaking her head, before she pulled away and stood up, staring at the carnage around her - the unconscious bodies of the boys littered around them, and Andrew handed her, her jacket, silent and stoic, as usual. Pride surged through her and she looked up to Andrew as he crossed his arms, glaring at the slumped form of Leo. "We really showed them what happens when you mess with S.H.I.E.L.D. trainees, yeah? Where'd you even learn to fight like that, Andy?"

"United States Marine Corps." He said curtly.

"Huh," said Doreen. She narrowed her eyes at him. "How old are you?"

"Nineteen," said Andrew, becoming cagier.

"Really? And you were in the U.S. Marine Corps?" She asked.

"Yes." By now, Andrew's eyes were like cold iron. He didn't like where this conversation was going.

Doreen sighed, and then looked around the bar, thinking of something to say. "Well, this wasn't really what I was expecting from a night on the town," she said, laughing nervously.

Andrew relaxed. "No. I just hope that Fury doesn't find out about this."

"Find out about what?"

Doreen and Andrew jerked in surprise and turned to see Nick Fury standing behind them.

He was like a one-eyed ninja who sounded like Mace Windu from Star Wars. Fury looked about the alley. Three unconscious men, two bruised S.H.I.E.L.D. trainees, and blood on the dirty ground. He glared at Doreen and Andrew. "Both of you, with me. Now."


Ten minutes later, Doreen and Andrew stood, back at the apartment. In front of them, Fury paced back and forth. "I presume that both of you know what exactly you did wrong," he said. "Anyone care to elaborate exactly what happened in that club?"

Andrew stepped forwards. "I fixed a problem, sir."

Fury stared at him. "Care to elaborate?"

"Some sharks decided that Doreen was on the menu," he said, pointing a thumb at his female friend, "I changed their minds for them." Fury sighed and put his face in his hands. "Admittedly sir, that was a bad joke," said Andrew, "but I don't understand what the problem is."

Fury looked back up at the two of them. "You misappropriated time for you to move out of your apartment to go to a nightclub, and disturbed the peace, destroyed property, and severely beat three men. This is not the kind of activity we endorse at S.H.I.E.L.D."

Andrew snarled, "Then what should I have done? Let them have their way with Doreen?" He didn't bother saying that they were hardly 'men' in his opinion.

"You should have not gone out the nightclub in the first place," Fury said. "The reason you were here was to clean out your possessions from your apartment, so you could move to New York, not go play hookie."

"You gave me the night off to do what I needed to do!"

"Follow the spirit of the law, Predator, not the letter," Fury pointed at him. "You know full well that you were here to clean out this apartment- which, if I do say so myself, could do with a good cleaning up. Why did you even go to this night club?"

Andrew looked down. "As a way to say thanks to Doreen. Besides, the place used to be better."

"Your apartment or the club?" Fury said wryly.

Andrew covered his eyes and sighed in frustration. "The club."

Fury nodded. "Very well then. As much as I hate to do this, I'm going to have to suspend the two of you for the next week."

Andrew jerked in surprise and said, "No, sir! This was my decision, not Doreen's."

"Regardless, she knows better than to go for 'nights out' at the local nightclub that has seen better days," Fury said. "The two of you are getting one week's suspension, and that is final." With that, Director Fury turned and walked out of the kitchen.

Andrew sighed and looked at Doreen. "Sorry."

Doreen put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Andrew, I'll be fine. It's not like the rest of us don't get in trouble."

"Still, I wanted to pay you back for helping me," Andrew looked away. "Now, look what's happened. Those guys tried to rough you up, we trashed the bar, and we've got a week's suspension."

"Hey, we still had fun, right?" Doreen grinned mischievously, "What's better than teaching some no-good punks a lesson?"

Andrew chuckled halfheartedly. This might not be so bad after all.

Little did they know that Fury wasn't the only one who watched them battle. "Still the same as ever…"

Edited by Darkest Nightmare's Dread