A/N: Whoo-hoo! It's good to be back. I apologize for the long (unplanned) hiatus. First year at university has effectively squished my creative muses. Now, on to the story, and today's profile. Let's all give a warm welcome to the Dreadnok's ace mechanic, Burnout!

Burn Out

Real Name: Walter O. Jones

Function: Dreadnok Mechanic/Shadowatch handler

Class: Human

Birthplace: Catskill, New York

Bio: Burn Out could have achieved a mechanics degree in college, if he hadn't left school before the orientation lecture started. Rather than continue his education, Burn Out began to work as a mechanic and eventually opened his own bike shop. Which is how he met the Dreadnoks. Burn Out has shown an interest in disguise techniques and sometimes gets to go on infiltration missions. And like any good Dreadnok, he enjoys causing mayhem and destruction wherever he goes.

At some point, Burn Out and a few other Dreadnoks wandered up to Chicago and opened a motorcycle repair shop. When the Chicago group asked for help dealing with visiting Cleveland Ohio superhero Kid Razor, he met the teenage mutant team called Shadowatch. Despite his "whatever" attitude toward the team in general, Burn Out actually likes the kids, going so far as to take responsibility for half brothers Chaos and Golem as if they were his own kids.

Disclaimer: Spike Freeman, Lady Mastermind, and Thunderbird all belong to Marvel. The Dreadnoks belong to Hasbro, and Virus belongs to fellow Misfitverse author L1707E.

Learning to Breathe

65. Moving Pictures

The first day of filming dawned with an incessant ringing of the doorbell and a scrambling to get dressed for the teen terrorist team Shadowatch. It also brought a slight casting change for their producer, Spike Freeman.

"No." He shook his head, deliberately ignoring Laredo and Brownie while speaking to their owner. "Absolutely not, I do not work with animals!"

"You work with this team." Andi crossed her arms and glared at the man. "That means you work with them too."

"No!" he said. "No way, no how! No animals!"

"Yes animals." The blond shapeshifter stated. "They're a vital part of our household. You wanna film what really goes on around here? You gotta include them too. Heck, Brownie works in the shop!"

"Oink!" The little brown pig declared. Burnout nodded his agreement as well.

"Think of them as mascots. They'd be a big hit in merchandise."

The brunet human sighed, looking none too happy with how his first day of filming was starting off. "Fine. One scene. But if they cost me time, they're done!"

"Rwoo." Laredo whined, looking plaintively up at his master.

"They won't." Andi said firmly. "Just you wait and see."

Smash!

Crash!

"Cut!" Spike shouted as Bryan toppled over one of the motorcycles yet to be repaired. "That's the tenth time you've ruined that shot!"

"It's the lights!" Bryan protested. "You've got too many of them, and it's blinding me!"

"Just turn the damn things off." Burnout groaned. "We don't need 'em anyway."

"What do you have to lose by it anyway?" Regan shrugged, inspecting her manicure.

"Money!" Spike hopped up and down in his director's chair.

"Uh, no." Andi put in. "You're actually losing more on the electricity bill than you are on wasted film, so just cut the lights off before I have Virus short them out." At the delight of being noticed by his favorite water-goddess, Virus let out an effeminate squeal.

Spike continued to glare at the team. "Why can't you brats just do what I tell you?"

"Why don't you trust our judgment?" Neal countered. "We've been a team unit for over a year now. We know how to get the best from one another."

"You know nothing about film!" Freeman protested.

"We have the best damn acting teacher on the planet!" Kristen smirked. "So let us do our thing our way, and stop trying to dictate everything!"

"Yeah, the only ones allowed to boss us around are Andi and Zartan!" Golem stated.

"What about Cobra Commander?" Leathersuit whispered to Regan, who shrugged.

"Eh, what about him?" She asked as Spike broke a pencil in two by clenching it in his fist.

"Anarchy on the set!"

"Deal with it!" Zartan shot back, finally deciding to intervene in the argument. "You wanted them in their natural environment, and you got it! Either let them do it their way, or get your shit and get out of here!"

Spike growled. He was not happy about the way this was going. Not happy at all.

"You know, this doesn't look half bad." Mitch commented as the group looked over the final production footage. "I didn't realize you had a girl working for you, Burnout."

"You never asked about my other employees, kid." The man chuckled. "Besides, Ren ain't one of us."

"The guy with the orange socks was funny!" Kristen chirped. "What's his handle?"

"Socks. He ain't earned a different one yet." Thrasher barked.

"Poor guy." She shook her head. "Having a crappy codename like that."

"He's certainly not full Dreadnok material, that's for sure." Zartan said. "This 'Ren' on the other hand. What do you think of her?"

"Wait. You want to bring in a GIRL?" Thrasher growled. "Your crazed sister and spoiled brat daughter are bad enough! We are not hosting another broad!"

"Funny, considering you had no problem shacking up with my absolutely insane ex-wife." Zartan growled. "We will interview this 'Heartwrencher'. If she makes a good impression on the rest of the gang, she can stay." In truth, he'd actually considered recruiting another woman for a while. The opportunity to bring another member on AND spite Thrasher in the process was too good to pass up!

The kids, for the record, had been unusually quiet since the discussion began. No-one was quite sure why the discussion became so heated or what the hell went on in the past. They just knew it was wise to shut up and let the adults argue.

"Why bring in another girl now, though?"Monkeywrench asked. "I mean, shouldn't Zarana…"

"Zarana's going to need help." The master of disguise replied. "Just Zanya was wearing her out. Then you add in the other three, and now Corona…we just need more of a female touch around here."

"Um, why is 'Rana staying here and not you?" Neal asked. "I mean, you're the boss!"

"He's just swapping places so he doesn't have to get dragged through the lingerie section at Macy's again." Regan snickered.

"I can't blame him." Andi glared at the blond across the room. "I didn't want to be dragged around the store either!"

"Oh come on, we made that trip just for you and Corona!" Kristen protested.

"No, you made the trip so you could spend his money." Andi shot back. "Two totally different things."

"Although you have to admit, you did need some help…"

"And this is why Zarana needs to come here ASAP." Bryan broke into the conversation, hoping to bring it to a more man-friendly topic.

"So…when do you think we'll get to see ourselves on TV?" his brother put in, further de-railing the former conversation topic.

"Soon as they get the next episode filmed, which could be a few weeks." Zartan replied, feeling extremely relieved to be off the subject of the group's latest shopping misadventure. "Let's all hope Cobra Commander sees this as a good thing."