"Dude, lets go out. I feel like kicking some bad guy butt before meeting the others."
"Sure. You want pick-up?" Billy asked.
"That'd be good."
"See ya, give me five minutes."
Billy hung up and started pulling on his tights. His parents were out for the night at some psychologists conference and the brats were at his aunts. He draped his cloak over his shoulders and opened his window wide, stepping onto the ledge and rising into the air.
It took under two minutes to get to Teddy's, and once there he tapped on his window three times before it was flung open and flew in.
Teddy was just doing up his vest and morphing into his hulk-like state.
"Ready?" Billy asked.
"Yeah. Let's go."
Billy hovered outside the window and waited until Teddy was standing on the ledge where he grabbed the neck of the vest and rose to higher altitudes.
"You're sure I'm not too heavy?" asked Teddy worriedly.
"Hulkling, you're fine," reassured Billy. "And I think I'm finally getting the hang of this flying thing."
"You have no idea how happy I am to hear that."
"Hey!" said Billy, poking Teddy in the ribs; Teddy just laughed. "Do you really think Kang'll show up?" Billy was scared of the almost certain arrival of an enemy that, as a fanboy, he knew was almost impossible to defeat. Iron Lad had been insistent recently that they prepared for the possibility of his arrival.
"God, I hope not," Teddy replied.
"You don't think we're ready?"
"Do you?"
Teddy remained silent so Billy continued,
"I don't think we can afford to lose Patriot."
"We wont. What's he gonna do? Go solo? He's not ready for that. I mean, the guy's stubborn, but he's not -"
Teddy was cut off by the screeching of tyres and loud cursing. They turned to see a huge 4x4 screaming down the road. With Patriot hanging onto the front,
"- an idiot" finished Teddy.
They watched in slow motion as the man in the passenger seat fired at Patriot.
"Patriot!" yelled Teddy, running to catch him before he hit the tarmac. "How you doin', super soldier? Still bullet-proof?"
"They're getting away," Eli replied weakly.
"Don't worry," said Hulkling. "Asgardian's on top of it."
Asgardian definitely was on top of it. He soared above the vehicle and struck it with a well placed lightning bolt. They fired at him, but none of the bullets hit its mark.
"You guys are gonna want to drop the guns and get out of the car," Billy said. "Trust me on this one."
They continued to fire at him, but it didn't last long. Seeing his boyfriend being shot at, Hulkling had put Patriot gently down on the sidewalk, lifted up the car and shaken its occupants onto the road.
"That's the problem with kids today. They don't listen." Billy quipped from above.
Billy descended and saw Patriot on top of one of the shooters, about to beat him.
"What if I shot you, man? Where do you think you'd end up?" growled Eli.
"Yeah," Teddy added. "These guys aren't as scary without their guns -"
"Hulkling, behind you!" Billy yelled as he saw a man come at Teddy with a knife. "HULKLING!"
"Aaagh!" Teddy roared as he knocked the man half way across the street.
"You okay?" asked Billy, laying a hand on Teddy's waist where no one could see.
"Yeah, almost healed," Teddy replied, moving into Billy;s touch.
"The Incredible Hulkling," Patriot said dryly.
"That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt," he retorted.
"Tell me about it. I just got shot in the chest."
Eli moved, causing Billy to have to move his hand.
"So, who are these guys?" he asked.
"Dealers," Patriot replied. "I caught 'em selling MGH in the park."
"At the risk of sounding dangerously unhip, what's MGH?" Teddy asked.
"Mutant Growth Hormone. It gives normal people powers for a while," Eli replied.
"What do we do with it?" asked Teddy.
"Take it to the cops?" Billy suggested.
"And get arrested for tearing up the cathedral? I don't think so."
"So what do we do with the dealers," Teddy continued.
"Leave 'em here, I guess," said Patriot.
"With a note saying, 'from you friendly neighbourhood young avengers'? Because that'll stand up in court," joked Billy.
"You got a better idea?" asked Patriot.
"Gee," responded Billy, draping his staff over his shoulders. "Let me check my superhero manual. Oh wait, it's in my other tights."
"Iron Lad was right," Teddy said resignedly. "We're not ready for this."
"Iron Lad doesn't know any more about this than we do," Patriot tied up the men as he spoke.
"He knows better than to go off by himself and get shot," Billy cut in, though some part of him did believe that Iron Lad knew more about Kang than he was letting on. "What if we hadn't been here Patriot?"
"What do you want me to say? 'Thanks'?"
"That'd be a refreshing change of pace."
"We want you to say you're still on the team. Because if Kang does show up," Teddy said. "We'll need all the help we can get."
Patriot stayed silent, frustrated, but not stupid enough to take it out on someone with super-strength.
"We should get to the mansion," Billy said, to cover up the awkward silence. The others grunted agreement. "All aboard," he said, creating a glowing blue platform for the others to step onto.
"Hey," said Teddy as the platform soared into the sky. "Since when could you do this?
"A while now," he replied, not sure whether he should blush or grin at his obvious attempt to touch Teddy as much as possible as shown by their previous trip.
"Really?" Teddy said, cocking an eyebrow in a way that Billy thought was just too adorable.
"God guys, get a room," complained Eli.
"What?" asked Billy, genuinely shocked.
"Just 'cause you two finally realised... Christ, the vibes were bad enough before this..."
Billy and Teddy exchanged glances.
"You know?" Billy almost whispered.
"Asgardian, anyone who has even been in the same room as you and Hulkling knows. You might wanna land."
"What? Oh," Billy stuttered; and he thought they had been so good. What made it worse was that people knew about them before even they did.
"Dude, who the hell are they?" demanded Hulkling.
"Asgardian, if you would," asked Patriot.
Billy drew back his hand and sent down a lightning bolt a few paces in front of the two intruders, causing then to jump back.
Patriot stepped forward, "I don't know how you kids got in here, but you're going to have to leave."