Project 2512125: The Crusade of a Team of Heroes

Chapter 4: You Hurt Billy, I Hurt You Back

One day your life will flash before you eyes, make sure it's worth watching

A/N: I don't know how Kate is going to put a pool in the building, but hey? We can imagine right? Ohhh Teddy is pissed off alright. Maybe a bit too much...so ignore the slight OOC of Teddy when it does happen to occur. After all, he loves Billy.

"Ouch." whimpered Billy in slight pain as the hard contact of Belle's fist hit him in the stomach. His hand slowly pulled up his shirt to show a already forming purple bruise. "Ow, that really hurt."

Belle looked shocked at one punch to the poor witches stomach did. Her on and off super-strength could be fatal, and this is why she was so unsure to do Boxing in the first place. But as usual, Billy being the guy he was, refused to back down from a challenge. But, Belle warned him, and so it pretty much his fault. "I'm sorry. Really, really, really sorry. I-" she stuttered, flailing around nervously like she had killed someone.

He touched the bruise and groaned as a searing pain soared through him. "You hit like the Hulk."

She crossed her arms for a second. "That's like the worst insult there is. Can't you do better? Like 'you hit like Captain America' or something? Cause I don't like being compared to as the green guy on the Avengers, not that I don't like him, it's just-"

She shut up for a second when she realized she was rambling, (personality switch, probably one of the bubblier Avengers) and one of her team-mates, who had a teen-hulk for a boyfriend, was hurt, thanks to her.

"Teddy's going to kill me." she took off her boxing glove and rushed to the fridge. She returned quickly with a bag of ice. "Take your shirt off." she ordered.

He rolled his eyes and obliged, removing his shirt quickly and threw it on the couch. She handed him the ice-pack and he winced when the cold ice met his skin. "Ugh, it's too cold." he shivered.

"It's ice, Billy." she said bluntly, "That's kinda the point."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but don't worry Belle, Teddy won't kill you. I hope."

"Not funny." she muttered. "Teddy is very unpredictable. Especially when it comes to you."

Billy smiled and checked his watch, his other hand was pressing the bag of ice to his stomach. The whole team was training, hard. Every 40 minutes they changed partner and activity. They did this for at least 4 hours in the morning and then 4 in the afternoon. And that's how they spend their weekends. Training hard. Despite their parents claims that they should all pack bags and join Tony Stark and his bunch of fame-seeking heroes. Billy and Tommy were grounded (not like they listened. She just made some excuse to ground Billy, and for Tommy wasn't that hard to find some reason.)

"20 more minutes," Billy sighed, "Put those gloves on again Belle- just don't hit so hard."

One, two, three, breathe, Tommy chanted to himself as he swam quickly down the length of the pool. Teddy was a good 5 or more laps behind him.

The sound of feet splashing and calm breathing of him and Teddy was quite eerie. Kate had totally redone the building. They even had a a tech room, which was pretty cool, it was almost like their own homes. They all had rooms, for when they wanted to stay over or take a break from the 'real' world. Billy and Teddy naturally shared one together, unknown to both their parents, and the others were all down the hall from each other.

As soon as Teddy had finished his respected laps, he jumped out of the water and headed for the showers without a word. He was just was dying to see Billy, someone to keep him from strangling the witches twin. Tommy, who had done double the laps because of his superspeed, waited very impatiently for him to finish.

See, Tommy is impatient, and he has a very devious mind- one that right now had though of some plan to prove he was still the same Tommy the team had broken out of Juvie. In reality, they didn't need to be reminded- people like him never change.

Slyly, he quickly went inside the bathroom and grabbed Teddy's clothes...and towel. Making sure there was nothing for him to cover himself with (excluding the shower curtain. There was no way in hell he would pull that down, despite how fast he could run away)

Quickly, without making a sound- he bolted for Billy's room. Placing them purposely on Billy's bed, he bolted back; only having been gone for 3 seconds. He hid behind the door, waiting for his plan to unravel.

The dripping of the shower stopped. You could hear the curtain slide slightly before hearing a groan. "Tommy."

But Tommy had already waltzed off. So Teddy had no other choice- he ripped the curtain down, wrapped it around his waist and headed for Billy's room. He wasn't going to walk through HQ naked was he? Who knows what Avenger could be walking through the corridors. And he knew exactly where Tommy would hide it. The speedster had no imagination at all.

Huffing, he found his clothes lying innocently on Billy's bed. Tommy had even gone to the extremes of folding them in a neat pile. He sighed and started to get dressed. He was nearly finished, about to put his shirt on when he heard something:

"Oh-" someone squeaked behind him. "Teddy?"

Teddy turned to see a skeptical looking Billy holding a ice-pack to his stomach. Billy's dark hair was all sweaty and stuck to his forehead, making him look hotter than usual.

Teddy didn't even try to explain why he was half-dressed (or half-undressed) in Billy's room. "Tommy." was all he said like it was a known fact that that one word explained everything.

Billy nodded. This sounded like something his twin would do. What wouldn't he do? He's blown up building's like it doesn't matter, so these were tiny innocent acts compared to that."Don't get too angry at him." he advised as he quickly rushed forward and pecked Teddy on the lips, lingering a centimeter from his face, his cool breath washing over Teddy.

Teddy was going to reply with some smart ass comment when he realized his boyfriend was holding a ice-pack to his bare chest. "What happened?" he asked, all suddenly protective.

Billy slowly took off the ice, suddenly fearing for Belle's safety. Teddy's eyes widened at the sight of the purple bruise in the centre of his boyfriends chest.

He growled.

Billy flinched.

If he could send a 'run for your life.' mental message to Belle, he would of.

"Was it Eli?" Teddy asked calmly, taking a look at it. He ran his finger along his skin, making Billy's stomach flutter at the contact.

Billy decided to tell the truth. "Uh, it was actually Belle-" Teddy's eye started to twitch. "-But it was an accident. She can't control her strength. Teddy, don't do anything stupid-"

"I'll just talk to her." Teddy said soothingly. He spun on his feet, and then started to head outside. "And then kill her." he muttered to himself as he headed for the pool.

2 Minutes Ago {Billy and Belle}

Billy lay down on the floor in defeat. Belle was good, really good

"What do you have next?" Belle asked the half-dead looking Billy.

"Laps, with Tommy. How unfair is that? Why does he even have to do laps, we all know he'll do a billion more than I can." complained Billy, re-applying the ice to his chest.

Belle smiled at his ranting. "Kate and I have swimming. I can't believe she managed to get a pool in here. You know, she kinda reminds me of Tony- funding the team."

"Yeah," agreed Billy, "Difference is that she isn't some crazed guy in tin metal."

"True." said Belle. She walked over to the couch and grabbed her swimmers and towel. "See you later, good luck with Tommy." she headed for the stairs, waving goodbye to the near-dead Billy on the floor.

"Thanks." he groaned, too much in pain to even raise his hand to return the gesture.

As soon as Belle had reached the bottom of the stairs, she was greeted by a very suspicious looking Tommy who was just in his board shorts, his white hair dripping water all over his body and the floor. Kate wouldn't be happy, she'd have to clean that now.

"See you later." Tommy winked. He grinned mischievously and headed off to his room.

Right, Belle thought , I'm going to pretend I don't know what's happening.

She kept on walking until she reached the bathroom. By the looks of it, Kate had yet to arrive so she quickly got changed into her swimmers, peeling off her clothing and slipping the thin black material of her swimmers on.

Sue and Johnny had been here this morning, much to Billy's joy, at when they dropped off at least 5 whole, massive duffel bags of clothing for her. Sue had gone a little crazy, making sure Belle finally had the chance to live a normal life, not the one where she was kept in a controlled room, being tested, probed and experimented on at a daily basis. They even slided a small chunk of the Fantastic Four funding to her as well. This morning Belle spent a whole hour dividing her clothes into piles. One which was the one she was never going to use, and that pile mostly consisted of skimpy lingerie which Belle threw across the room without even thinking about whether she was going to wear it or not.

As soon as she had finished getting changed, she pulled her dark hair up into a pony tail as she tiptoed to the pool. At the edge, she slowly dipped a toe in, feeling the warm water tickling her skin. She stood up and dived in.

[Current Time]

Teddy was angry. How dare she punch his beloved Billy with superhuman strength? That was his job, and it was to hit his arrogant twin. He'd never hurt Billy. Ever. Never even crossed a slither in his mind.

As he reached the pool, he watched in admirance as Kate and Belle yet again dived in the pool in unison, and swam perfectly, each stroke perfectly smooth. Both their dark hair colours showed out vibrantly in the water. But now wasn't the best time to be admiring the girls hair colour.

He stood at the edge of the pool, waiting for Belle to finish her lap. She had quite a lot of explaining to do.

Belle knew Teddy was there. And she knew exactly why. She actually thought it was cute how Teddy overreacted. As she finished the lap, Kate, who was next to her, tumbleturned. She spotted Teddy, but didn't think much of it. Belle stopped and looked at the over looming Teddy.

It looked like he was going to pick her up by the neck, so she created a forcefield around the pool. She wiped her hair from her face and looked up at him.

She grinned. "Hey Ted! Shouldn't you be training with Eli?"

"Belle. Remove the force-field now." he warned. He was slowly losing his patience with her.

Belle looked at him like he was crazy. "Uh, no. So you can strangle me?" he purple eyes glinting.

"No I'm not going to strangle you-"

"Yeah you are."

"Belle-" he said, "Remove it now."

A sulky looked crossed her face. "Aw, don't be like that. It was an accident. I didn't know I could hit that hard! Besides, Billy can heal himself anyway, he's just sucking up to you."

Teddy considered that. It was possible and most probably true. But he was still angry at her. "I'll go and get Tommy." he threatened.

Laughter escaped from her lips. "Seriously Teddy. What will Tommy do to me? That has to be one of the worst threats ever." she sighed, "Fine." the force field disappeared and her eyes went back to green. "Happy?"

Teddy's form slowly shifted to green and he went down a grabbed her by the neck. Anger was pulsing through him, despite his attempts to shove it back down again. Belle coughed from the lack of air. Belle could have burnt Teddy but she didn't want to hurt anyone else.

"Let me go." she choked out. She was dripping wet and her face was slowly turning pale. "I'm sorry I hurt you damn boyfriend. You're overeacting."

Teddy heard a bow stung. Kate was behind them, her Hawkeye bow strung. She kept it with her at all times. "Teddy what are you doing? It's Belle for godsake."

A whist of air blew around the three of them. The blur stopped and revealed Tommy in his tank t-shirt, joggers and shorts, looking at the scene. "Let go of her!" he said forcefully. "Teddy, what's wrong with you?"

Then Eli and Billy stormed in after. Billy looked shocked at what Teddy was doing. "Let go Ted." he said softly. "This isn't you."

Teddy heard Billy's voice and he realized what he was doing, like a punch to his face. Shit. He let go of Belle, shifting back to his original from. Kate gasped as she saw him drop her, lurching forward.

Tommy, before Belle hit the ground, caught her swiftly in a nano second with his quick reflexes. Teddy was frozen on the spot and he quickly rushed out of the room. Belle was pale, breathing, but clearly unconscious. "Belle?" he checked for her pulse. It was still beating, but very fast.

"What's wrong with Teddy?" Billy said as he joined Tommy. Eli motioned for Kate to put her bow down and they all went over to Tommy.

In Tommy's arms was a limp, and now unconscious, Belle. Tommy looked up at Billy. "Billy, go find him. I'll put her in her room. You guys can continue training. We still have half an hour left."

Kate nodded. "One thing first-" she said. "How did you know to come here? It was extremely lucky cause I wouldn't shoot Teddy, never. I'd never bring myself to do it."

"I noticed Teddy wasn't training with me," said Eli, "So naturally I asked Billy, he cast some locating spell and Tommy rushed off."

"I'll be back in a minute." announced Tommy as he headed out the door with Belle. Teddy has some explaining to do.

As he reached her room, Belle started to rouse. Her eyelids flickered and her body tensed at the unfamiliar hands holding her.

"Shhh..." he soothed, opening her door and shutting it behind them. "It's okay, it's only me."

She opened one eye and peeked at the speedster, "Tommy? Ugh, what happened. And why are you carrying me?" she asked as he placed her on the bed. He eyed the pile of lingerie in the corner of her room, and raised an eyebrow at it.

"You passed out," Tommy informed to her, his eyes dragging away from the pile, "And I was taking you back here until you woke up."

She leaned forward and quickly pressed a kiss to his cheek. Not a 'I love you' gesture, but more of a 'Thank you for saving my ass' one. "Thanks, Teddy's hands hurt." she rubbed her neck, which was adorned with red strangle marks.

Tommy was silent, still shocked from the kiss. He blushed slightly, the colour odd when compared to skin and white hair. "It's okay." he mumbled and turned away, embarrassed at his reaction to someone giving him a quick peck on the cheek as a thank you.

Oh my god, she thought. Kate would crack up if she saw a blushing Tommy.

He nodded to her and slowly headed outside her room, leaving her to rest.

But before he could reach the door, in 5 seconds Belle threw a pair or cotton shorts and a singlet over her swimmers, flashed in front of him before he left the room. She stood before him, arms crossed.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked, "If you're going back to the pool. I'm coming. I'd like to apologize for my snaky attitude to Teddy."

"He's in his room, probably with Billy," replied Tommy, opening the door for her. "We have 15 more minutes until lunch. Apparently our parents don't want us at home, since their sick of us going back and forth, so we're all spending the night here."

"Is Eli-"

"Ha, god no. Pizza today." he laughed. He motioned for Belle to walk forward. "Go and talk to Teddy."

"Maybe later," she muttered as they both headed down the corridor. "I'm going down to the pool to get my stuff." she put her hand on Tommy's shoulder. He turned at the sudden contact. "See ya at lunch." she said as she headed downstairs.

Tommy waved back, "Bye." he muttered as she watched her bolt downstairs at superspeed.

Belle quickly grabbed her towel and bolted back to her room. She came to a stop as she noticed Teddy and Billy's room. The door was slightly ajar, and she thought she better talk to him now, then make it really awkward at lunch. Her hand grabbed the cold door knob, opened the door, took a look, and then shut it hastily again.

"Where's Belle, Teddy and Billy?" asked Eli. He slung his arm around Kate as he brought a piece of pizza to his mouth. He cast a look over at Tommy who shrugged, clearly having no idea.

"Probably sorting out what happened back at the pool." suggested Kate, "Did you see how angry Teddy was? I was worried that I was going to have to shoot him." she added, horrified at the possibility of shooting her own team-mate. It might not of killed him, but the thought still made her feel uneasy inside.

Tommy went in to grab another peice of pizza...that now wasn't there. "What-" he looked to his left to see Belle perched on the couch, his peice of pizza in her mouth. "Hey, start without me?"

"Sorry," apologized Eli. "Tommy couldn't help himself." Tommy grinned.

Kate looked around them, looking for the remaining team members. "Are Billy and Teddy coming?"

Belle choked her pizza and Tommy patted her on the back. She received looks from the team. "Oh. Their coming in a minute." she shivered involuntarily.

"You okay?" he inquired as he reached forward and grabbed another piece.

She stuttered nervously, "Yeah...I'm fine."

"Are you feeling okay?" Kate said worryingly, "You were unconscious before."

Belle was going to answer when the door creaked open to reveal a happy looking Billy and Teddy. But when weren't they not happy?

"Hey Belle," Billy said cheerily as he plopped down on the couch , followed by Teddy who cuddled up next to the witch.

Belle averted her gaze. She jumped up and muttered; "Drink of water." and she left the room.

"What did you do to her?" Tommy asked them.

"Nothing, we were in our room-" Teddy cut himself off as he hit his head in his hands. "Oh no, you don't think she-"

"Please tell me she didn't walk in on you guys." Kate groaned, "I told you before, you gotta lock the door when you do that."

"She'll be scared for life." Eli sighed, "I knew I was. Tommy, go and talk to her."

"Why me?" protested Tommy. "I'm hungry," he whined, "I'm a speedster with a extremely high metabolism, I need to eat."

Kate, Eli, Billy and Teddy looked at Tommy like he was stupid or something.

"Fine." he sighed as he trudged for the kitchen.

Kate rolled her eyes as she kissed Eli on the cheek. "Is he blind?"

"Yeah." Billy, Teddy and Eli replied in unison, grinning.

Belle was sitting on the kitchen counter, drinking a glass of water, drowning the image she had seen. She'd have to drink a lake to rid the image of Billy and Teddy, writhing around, sweating..kissing...

She heard someone enter with her superhuman hearing. Scared that it was Billy, or worse, Teddy; she quickly, put her hands on the wall, feeling the familiar gripping sensation as she climbed the wall, ending up on the roof, to see whoever entered the room.

Tommy walked into view, but Belle didn't realize it was him until her hunting instincts came into play as she jumped down and tackled the unsuspecting Tommy to the floor, landing on top of him; their bodies pressed together. A flame burst from her hand and it disappeared just as quickly as she looked at the guy beneath her.

"Tommy, oh shit." Belle swore as she jumped off the surprised and now bruised, speedster laying on the floor. He looked up when she offered him a hand as she grinned awkwardly, "Sorry," she whispered as Tommy grabbed her hand and hoisted himself up. "You scared the hell out of me. Heightened senses do that to you."

He rubbed his arm, "You were on the roof?" he exclaimed, glancing at Belle who had returned to the bench.

"Spiderman." she shrugged. "Are you alright?" A look of worry spread over her face.

"Yeah." he said. "But, question is, are you okay? You seem kinda...skittish."

She looked away. "Nothing." she tugged at her sleeves.

"You walked in on Teddy and Billy doing it didn't you?" he laughed, his laugh died down as he remembered when he himself had done that. He never looked at the witch the same again.

"I'm scared for life." she stated. "I don't want to even talk about it."

"Who topped?" Tommy suddenly said with a burst of curiosity Belle hit him in the arm.

"Tommy!" she exclaimed, appalled. He had one of the most perverted minds. "He's your brother! You're disgusting."

"But that's what you love about me isn't it?" he grinned cockily, "So come on, answer my question."

She shook her head in disagreement with Tommy's attitude towards the issue. She jumped off the bench and headed back outside. Before she left, she looked over her shoulder and called out. "Teddy."

"Mmm, I thought so. Billy's to innocent-"

"Why don't you go and ask them. I'm sure they'd happily answer that question."

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