It's profile time once again, and since the last installment, I've received many compliments on my oneshot "Drinking Buddies". Please, if you read a story, leave a review. I thrive on feedback. It makes me write faster.

Anywho, it's profile time again! (yay) This time we get to meet a character I borrowed from L1701E, the one and only demented Toad-hating genius, Virus!

Virus

Real name: Vincent James

Nicknames: Virus, Vince

Age: 15

Birth: March 30 Sign: Aries Element: Fire Planet: Mars

Hair: brown. Kinda long and tied in a ponytail.

Eyes: Green

Family: Father- unnamed

Powers: Virus has the ability to possess electronic devices and make them do what he wants. In order to do this, he physically merges with the device. His body turns into a shadow-like form covered with green binary coding, and then melts into the machine. He also has an intuitive inventive talent like Forge, and a genius level IQ.

Personality: because of his intelligence and the fact that Zartan himself recruited Virus, Vincent feels far superior to all his new teammates. The only person he actually respects is Atlantis, who he views as a goddess. He has an obsession with hydrokinetics, and dislikes animals. Unfortunately, this has done him no good, as the object of his affection once aspired to be a vet and owns a dog and a pig. He thinks the Dukes brothers and Leathersuit are just dumb muscle; Lady Mastermind a super-powered slut; Vampira an Anne Rice throwback, and Thunderbird a weak link.

Learning to Breathe

57. Homecoming

Inside the media room, a group of teens lounged around on sofas and chairs. Four boys were playing a video racing game. A larger boy with messy brown hair and gray eyes controlled a blue car that currently ranked third. His name was Mitch Dukes, and he could turn his skin into rock, giving him the codename of Golem. The boy next to him, with black hair and a ruddy complexion, groaned at his last-place finish. Neal "Thunderbird" Sharra was a Bangladesh native with the ability to fly and generate super-heated plasma.

"Hey, he cheated!" The dark-skinned boy shouted at another kid not far from him. The accused "cheater" had messy longish brown hair tied in a ponytail, green eyes, and was dressed like a metalhead. Vincent James, a British mutant, could possess electronic devices and invent anything he thought of. He was also incredibly arrogant and annoying, thus earning his codename: Virus.

"You just can't accept the fact that I'm superior to you." Virus gloated.

"You wanna feel pain, nerd-boy?" A boy with green scales and a tail glared. He had yellow eyes and black hair with neon green streaks. He was Steve Garrett, a wrestling superfan who wound up working for his Dreadnok uncle Gnawgahyde after his parents kicked him out of the house. He was dubbed Leathersuit because of his super-tough reptilian skin. "because I can bring on the pain."

"Again." Mitch added.

"For a genius, he sure walks into a lot of traps. You'd think he'd learn." The only female in the room observed. She was beautiful, with shoulder-length blond hair and vibrant blue eyes. A second generation psychic and illusionist, Regan Wyngarde hailed from Italy and chose the codename Lady Mastermind because she and her father, Mastermind, shared the same abilities.

"He's book smart, not street smart." Mitch shrugged as a dark haired man entered the room. Known only as Zartan, the leader of the Dreadnoks possessed the mutant ability to camouflage himself and alter his voice. He also kept a watchful eye over his other team—a group of teenage mutants called Shadowatch.

"I hope you all don't mind having a visitor over tonight." He said as he entered. The five teens looked up at him.

"Depends on who's visiting." Neal shrugged.

"If Destro's pissed off his girlfriend and needs a place to stay, he's out of luck." Regan stated.

"She's not a Cobra employee." Zartan stated.

"Wait." Steve broke in. "A girl? Why would a girl want to stay here?"

"No way!" Regan exclaimed. "They found her? Is she okay?"

"Corona is fine." Zartan said. "She just needs a place to sleep tonight."

"Where did they find her?" Neal asked.

"In an alleyway on the Eastside." Zartan said. "And before anyone gets too excited, you should know that she's not going to be the same girl you remember."

"Why not?" Mitch asked. "Why wouldn't she be the same?"

"Uh oh." Regan realized. "Please don't say she's been doing what I think she's been doing."

"I'm afraid I can't do that." The adult replied. Regan groaned.

"Just great!"

"What?" Steve asked. "I don't get it."

"Neither do I." Neal said. "What's going on?"

"Our dear friend has entered into the world's oldest profession." The telepath stated. The boys' jaws hit the floor.

"What?" Neal blurted out.

"No way!" Steve shook his head.

"Is that legal in this state?" Mitch asked.

"It doesn't matter." Zartan interrupted. "She's staying here tonight and I expect all of you to be on your best behavior!"

"But she's probably got some gross disease!" Virus protested.

"Not one word." Zartan snapped at the boy. "You will treat her with respect. Got it?"

"Yes, Sir." The kids chorused.

"I can't believe he's on the side of some common harlot!" Virus fumed.

"Hey! That 'harlot' is still our friend!" Neal shouted.

"Since when do you have such a backbone?" Virus asked.

"Since my friend is being threatened for something she had no choice in."

"It doesn't matter if she chose it or not!"

"It makes all the difference!"

"Does not!"

"Does too"

"Hey, let me put it this way." Regan interrupted. "Andi's kind of the unofficial leader of our dirty-dozen. You mess with Rona, you piss Andi off. Kinda like that supermarket thing yesterday afternoon."

Virus paled visibly in memory of the pain he'd suffered at the hands of his goddess and her new lackey Iguana-boy. "Fine, I'll be good. Just don't expect me to like it." (&)

"when do you like anything that's not electronic?" Mitch asked.

"Speaking of which, you oughta check out the smoke detector in the store." Steve said. "It's been beepin' when there's no fire."

"I don't take orders from you!" The English mutant snapped.

"No, but Burn Out asked for someone to look at the damn thing and he's your superior while we're here." Steve said. "Whether you like it or not."

"Dammit!" Virus exclaimed. A door slammed somewhere behind him and the three other members of the team entered with a girl he didn't recognize.

The first inside the room was the dhampire and mutant Kristen "Vampira" Mortisson, her new short spiked haircut swooshing a little as she sped in. She looked at them all, her ice-blue eyes sparkling.

"Hey, look who we dragged in!"

The other teens entered in a group, with Bryan "Chaos" Dukes leading the way. His codename, in all reality, had little to do with his mutant abilities. Sometimes he fried electronic devices, but no-one ever figured out quite why. His actual mutation granted him invulnerability, flight, and superhuman strength. He was conversing with the two other females: a golden-eyed brunette with a deep tan, and a blue-and-gold eyed blue-scaled girl with strawberry blond hair that was blue-black at the bangs. The blue teen was Andrea "Andi" Creed, aka Atlantis, acting leader of Shadowatch with the abilities of hydrokinesis, gills for breathing underwater, and shapeshifting. She was also the daughter of Sabertooth and (unknown to all but Kristen) Mystique.

"Hey, they found her!" Mitch grinned.

"Uh… hi?" The brunette girl waved timidly, unsure of what was happening. "I'm Corona."

"You got a real name?" Steve asked.

"Not one I care to remember." The girl shrugged. "Who are you?"

"Okay, you remember Neal and Regan, right?" Kristen asked. The taller girl nodded. "Good! Okay, the guy with the short brown hair is Bryan's brother Mitch; the alligator-dude is Steve, and the loon scowling in the corner is Vincent."

"Lots of men." Corona observed, not meaning to be rude.

"I thought you'd enjoy it?" Vincent teased. Regan and Kristen sent him a tandem mental slap. "Ow!"

"Shut up!" They chorused.

"Yeah, the team and our handlers are mostly guys." Andi said. "Zarana's the only adult female Dreadnok we've met, and she's back in Miami looking after the base we left behind. Don't worry, though. The only uncool ones are Virus and Thrasher."

"Who's out on a bender again." Regan said. "He won't be home until like noon tomorrow."

"Like I said, don't worry." Andi said. "Reg, you two are close to the same size. Can you dig up some clothes for her so she can take a shower?"

"Sure." The older blond smiled. "We need to catch up anyway."

"Good, get her out of my sight." Virus said. "I feel like I'll get some kind of disease by looking at that wen---Aiiieeee!!!" He screamed as Neal swiftly set fire to his trousers.

"Nobody insults a friend like her and gets away with it!" He said. "She didn't have a choice."

"Neal, calm down." Corona said. "You don't need to defend my honor. I can do that myself." She grinned evilly and fired a blast of multicolored energy at the burning British mutant, knocking him into a wall. Andi, not wanting to burn down the base with Virus's burning pants, created a sphere of water and doused the flaming boy.

"There. Now I won't have to explain how the rec room burned down." She straightened her jacket up. "And if you don't control your mouth, Virus, you will be peeling yourself off the bottom of the pool. Is that understood."

"Yes, my sweet." He gazed at her in love-struck awe.

"Whatever." Andi groaned. "Just shut up so Rona can shower in peace."

By the time Corona had cleaned up, the girls decided to throw an impromptu slumber party in her honor. Nail polish fumes, hair care products, and the contents of every girls' closet were strewn across Andi's room. Laredo sought refuge in Bryan's room, while Brownie had crawled under the bed and tried to sleep amid the squealing.

"I feel sorry for Brownie." Rona said, looking at the crack under the bed. "I hate to invade her room."

"And it's okay to invade my room?" Andi asked. "I never said you could all take over."

"You never said we couldn't." Kristen said.

"And you have the biggest room." Regan added. "How did you swing that, by the way?"

"I picked the first one I liked?" The blue eyed girl shrugged. "I don't see how it matters to you, since all the pets are staying in my room."

"Point." Kristen said. "So, what do you think of our base?"

"It's large." Rona replied. "Like living in a palace. I still can't believe I get my own room."

"You'd better start." Regan stated. "You'll be thankful for it after training tomorrow."

"Who said I was staying that long?" the brunette raised a brow.

"Well, unless you plan on leaving before 6am, you're gonna." Kris answered. "But I don't think he'll make you get up with us anyway, since you're not 'official'."

"Lucky." Andi grumbled.

"Ninja training giving you fits?" Kristen teased. Since about a month after Shadowatch's arrival at the Dreadnoks' base, Andi had been thrown into intensive ninja training alongside Zartan's daughter Zanya. When Zanya left a few weeks earlier for an undercover assignment in New York, Andi became the only protégé left, and thus had to do a lot more work.

"I don't know why he couldn't have picked you for this." Andi said. "The whole stealth and shadows thing practically screams Kristen."

"I guess it's because you're the leader." Regan said. "Who knows?" Kristen yawned loudly.

"I know that my nails are dry and I'm going to bed." She said. "it's after two-thirty."

"Damn." Andi groaned. "I guess we all need to turn in."

"If we have too." Regan said, standing up.

"We do." Andi said. "I've got stuff to do today."

"By 'stuff', she means Razor." Kristen grinned. Andi whacked her with a pillow.

"You of all people should know I don't do stuff like that!"

"Then what are you going to do with the rocker tomorrow night?" Regan teased.

"Leave her alone." Rona hit Regan in the shoulder with another pillow.

"Ow!"

"It's just a pillow!"

"Ha! Now I've got the pillow!"

"Bat-breath! You better give that back!"

"PILLOW FIGHT!!!"

A few minutes later, the four girls were lying around the room.

"Can we do this every night?" Corona asked.

"Will you stay around?" Andi countered.

"For a while." Rona said. "Just to get on my feet."

"Yay!" Kristen squealed.

"Ow! My ears!" Regan groaned.

Outside the room, Zartan overheard the conversation amongst the girls. He let out a strangled groan. "How the hell did I go from having one kid to nine?"

"Good lord, it sounds like they're killing some small animal down here." Gnawgahyde groaned as he stumbled down the hall. "What are you doing awake?"

"How does anyone sleep with this racket going on?" The ninja asked. "And to think I told Zarana we wouldn't need her here."

"how do the other Dreadnoks put up with all these kids?"

"Either join in the chaos or go get drunk. Which happens more often since Virus moved in."

"I see. How many of them have found the stash?"

"One, and it hasn't happened again. Thank God. If she didn't have that healing factor, she'd be dead or comatose now. And on that same note, don't ever let them near the coffee."

"Coffee?"

"Just trust me." Zartan sighed. "At least they're getting along."

"Yeah, about that." Gnawgahyde started. "Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea if Steve trained with the other kids for a while. I'll go with him if chaperones are an issue, but I think he'll learn more from other kids than he would with me teaching him."

"Zartan considered this. "I don't see a problem with him working with the rest of the team. Actually, I think this will work out for the better. Andi's been in a much better mood since those two met."

"Yes, they do seem to get along well." The other man mused. "And with their powers, they'd make a perfect pair."

"Not yet." The first man shook his head. "Neither one of them are ready for any kind of serious commitments yet. Let them get to know each other better and we'll see how things pan out from there. Besides, she has a date with that Razor punk tomorrow."

"Which is today." The second stated. "Do you think this is really a good idea?"

"If it gets Razor off our backs, it's worth it." The first replied. "Who knows? Maybe she'll be able to get some information out of him?"

"So long as his agenda's not the same."

"It' not information he's after."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh. Hopefully, the hormonal idiot can keep his hands to himself or he'll wind up missing one."

& Read the new chapter of "The Problem with Pigs".

Next chapter, Andi and Razor go out, but will they be able to enjoy each other's company? Will they be alone? Will Virus wind up trapped in a bubble? You'll have to wait until next time! R&R please.