DISCLAIMER: Derrick Bolris is mine. Althea Delgado/Wavedancer belongs to Red Witch, and so does the Misfitverse that this fic is set in. Everything else belongs to Marvel.

Chapter 6: Cloak and Dagger Tactics

A day later, Derrick sat in another alley, staring at the cars speeding along the outside highway. With a sigh, he stood.

"As if the X-Men, Magneto, and the Misfits weren't bad enough," Derrick muttered to himself. "After yesterday, I might have the Avengers on my tail, too."

He looked down at a cat digging through a trash can.

"Well, I did need to make sure that Ultron nutcase didn't start imitating the Sentinels," he continued, "and if I saved some non-mutants in the process, so what? I'm not exactly going to make a career out of it, like the X-Idiots."

Derrick wandered out of the alley, but atop a rooftop, two figures watched him leave. One was female with blonde hair, and wore a slightly immodest white body suit. The other was almost completely shrouded in a dark cloak, though a dark-skinned face was visible underneath the hood.

"That's him, right?" asked the girl.

"I am certain of it, Dagger," replied the hooded man. "The darkness emanating from that boy is strong. I can feel it."

"He's almost as moody as you are, Cloak," Dagger joked.

"It's like I told you when we first met the Misfits," Cloak said. "I'm a living shadow, it goes with the territory."

"Okay, whatever," Dagger shrugged. "Let's just go make sure he won't blow up the world or something."

Dagger stepped into Cloak's now-billowing shroud, and the two vigilantes phased through the roof, reappearing in front of Derrick.

"What the hell?!" the mutant cried, charging his hands with electricity.

"Calm yourself, Derrick," Cloak advised.

"Yeah, we're not associated with any mutant group," Dagger added. "Give us a sec, we'll explain everything."

****

"Some nerve that walking battery has," Althea grumbled as she left the Pit's infirmary.

"Althea, he didn't know any better," pointed out Lina Chakram, alias Dragonfly. "Remember how my brother acted when he took Cover Girl hostage? He thought I was being held prisoner here. Derrick probably thought the same thing about the rest of us. He's scared of the Joes."

"Yeah," Althea said with a nod. "I remember how everyone in the Pit gave my Toddles the creeps when he first got here. Either way, Derrick still had no right to talk about G.I. Joe that way."

"You mean, the way we talked about them when we first wound up here?" Pietro quipped. "I don't see a whole lot of difference."

"Shut up, Pietro," Wanda snapped, promptly using a hexbolt to launch her brother into a wall.

"Derrick's going to need a little time," Fred advised. "When I get angry, and I can see Derrick was really angry, I need a little time alone. Derrick's going to need a lot of time alone."

"Yeah, Fred's right," Lance agreed. "That's probably why he was screaming for everyone to leave him alone. We'll probably have an easier time of recruiting him if he's a little calmer."

"Point taken," Althea nodded. "Okay, we'll give him a wide berth for now, but he starts causing trouble, we'll recruit him whether he likes it or not."

****

"Let me get this straight," Derrick said to Cloak and Dagger. "The two of you got mutant powers through drugs."

"Right," Dagger nodded.

"Which means you don't have X-Genes, right?" Derrick asked.

Cloak shook his head.

"We do, actually," Dagger said, "the Mutant Growth Hormone just woke them up."

"So what does this have to do with me?" Derrick asked.

"There is a powerful darkness in you," Cloak said.

"Yeah, I'm ticked off 24/7," Derrick rolled his eyes. "Blame everyone and their grandma trying to recruit me."

"We saw your skirmishes with Magneto and Ultron," Dagger said. "And we heard what you think about the X-Men. We know about a mutant team that—"

"If you're going to recommend the Misfits, don't," Derrick interrupted. "I already turned them down."

"Oh," Dagger said. "Why, though? They don't seem that bad."

"Oh, don't get me started on them, Dagger," Derrick growled. "They might seem like ordinary mutants, but they're just G.I. Joe's pet super-soldiers. Not much more than that. Plus, they're out of their freaking minds. They went to Los Angeles once, and ended up completely decimating a street while taking on some random gang. Seriously, do you think I would want to join up with insane people like that?"

Cloak and Dagger looked at each other for a moment.

"This is an…interesting revelation," Cloak remarked.

"They actually seemed nice when we met them," Dagger added. "Wavedancer and Toad are dating, you know."

"Really?" Derrick asked, genuinely confused. "I thought army people were trained to have no emotions whatsoever, especially towards fellow soldiers."

"It seems you were wrong," Cloak pointed out.

"Learn something new every day, right?" Dagger smiled. "Well, we'll be on our way now. Nice meeting you, Derrick, even though you won't talk much about yourself."

"Trust me," Derrick said, "the less you know about what I've gone through, the more likely you'll be able to sleep at night."

"There is no amount of torture I can't endure," Cloak said.

"We shall see about that," a voice said from behind Cloak and Dagger.

Derrick looked behind the two and saw something that made his eyes narrow. The two vigilantes turned to see it as well, and while Dagger's eyes widened at their visitor, Cloak's hooded face showed no expression.

Magneto was floating a short distance away from the trio.

"Hello again, Derrick," Magneto smirked. "I did say I would return."