Like Clockwork (Part Three)

After my shower, I felt more refreshed, but no closer to thinking of a way to solve my troubles.

The entire team of the Hellions was out at the pool, hanging out in their swimsuits, sans Sooraya and Kevin. Sooraya, because she wouldn't show her body in front of men for religious reasons. Kevin, because if he touched anyone with his bare skin, they would die.

In my opinion, both were perfectly reasonable reasons to keep from partaking in pool activities.

"Hey, Marcher really is here!" Santo pointed out from the pool, being the first to see me come outside. I waved to everyone I hadn't seen yet, "Yeah! Another party! Let's go!" He demanded, thrashing his arms about.

"No more parties, you idiot," Julian replied from where he was lounging in the water, covering his face from being splashed, "Marcher, the clone, and the robot are in trouble."

Cessily swam up to Julian and gave him a swat on the arm, "Her name is Laura, Julian. Don't be rude."

"And I am an A.I.-" Wolf specified out of annoyance, relaxing safely away from the water with Sooraya and Kevin, "-Not a robot."

"What's this about you being in trouble?" Brian asked, finally listening to what any of us had to say, "And you came here? Dude, we're not that close."

I knew that. I didn't need the reminder, "We didn't exactly have a lot of options," I said, shooting Brian a dirty look, "We're not even going to be here long. We just came to ask for help. If you say no? Well, that's it and we're out of here. We'll figure out something else."

"Wait," Santo demanded, climbing out of the pool to walk up to me, water sliding off of his rocky frame, "You're actually asking us for help? You? Mister 'Fuck-Everything-In-Eyeshot-With-A-Light-Bullet'?" He asked in mock disbelief, "I didn't think I'd ever see the day."

"It's more like beams of light than bullets," I said, before getting sidetracked in thought. Could I shoot bullets? I could make grenades. Would it make any difference if I could? None of that crap mattered, "…But yeah. I need help."

"I'm not loaning you any money, dude," Julian deadpanned from his spot in the pool, keeping himself just on surface of the water with his telekinesis, "I'm on thin ice with my parents already. I've got to try and keep my head down for the vacation."

"We do not need money. There is someone trying to kill us," Laura declared sternly from the side of the water, "Well, kill Bellamy and Saberwolf. They would prefer to capture me."

Everyone looked over at her in surprise, then back to me in shock, "Something's trying to kill you again?" Santo said, "Man, and I thought we got into our share of crap."

They may have gotten in more trouble, but our trouble was usually bigger, "It's a long story."

"Cliffnotes version, if you don't mind," Cessily requested, pulling herself out of the pool as well, now that things were serious, "Short and sweet seems to be the best way to tell us about this stuff."

Alright. If Laura could be blunt, I could absolutely match her on that front, "The short version is that mean, nasty people are after her. I shot the bitch in charge in the face. It didn't hurt. She shot me back with a gun. It REALLY hurt. We've been running for the last day trying to figure out a way to deal with her."

"Can't you just beat her up and leave her for the cops?" Kevin pointed out from the comfort of shade, "People say you've done stuff like that before."

I gestured his way, as he would have had a point had it not been for something I'd already brought up, "Note the 'shot her in the face' part. We can't keep her down," I jerked my head Wolf's way, "He dropped a helicopter on her and we're not sure it did the job."

"The helicopter in question also exploded," Wolf chimed in from close to Kevin's feet, "We are still skeptical that the mercenary known as Kimura is dead."

If I didn't have Julian's attention, I sure did now. He looked impressed, as though he were seeing Saberwolf in a new light, "How did you drop a-?"

"Julian! Cliffnotes!" Cessily was the team member that had her eye on what was prudent. Namely, what they may or may not have been getting into, "Do you have anything else, Bellamy," She said sweetly.

The least I could do for her cordiality was keep to her parameters. Per the metallic girl's prompting, I wrapped it up, "Add onto the fact that she apparently has a bunch of fuckers with automatics at her beck and call... after what happened last night, the next time around she's probably gonna try and hit us even harder. That's all I've got for you."

"I'm in," Julian barely let me finish briefing them before he volunteered himself to help us, "Oh, yes. Yes-yes-yes, I'm so in."

Brian kept floating around in the pool, even when Julian levitated himself out to dry off, "Julian, I thought you said you were trying to keep us from making a scene or causing any trouble," He said.

Julian scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, trouble around here, like in Beverly Hills. The kind of trouble that could get back to my parents. I never wanted us to stay cooped up in the mansion all summer," He said to his teammate, "They're never even gonna know about this! And even if they did, so what? This is superhero stuff! Who would be embarrassed by their kid kicking ass like the good guys?"

Kevin's expression changed. The boy who brought death with a touch liked the sound of being a hero instead of something for people to watch out for, "We are the good guys in this, right?" He asked to make absolute sure, "I don't feel like getting tricked into doing villain stuff."

Laura seemed offended at the possibility that the Facility could ever be on the side of right, "Our enemies kill for hire and perform unethical, illegal experiments on humans and mutants. No. They are definitely not the 'good guys'."

That was all Julian needed to hear, "You heard the clone! Which means we, by default, are! The good guys, I mean."

Cessily didn't have pupils for me to be sure, but I was certain that she had rolled her eyes. Body language was everything, "Nice, Julian. Way to translate for us," She said sarcastically.

Julian tried to appeal to her sense of accomplishment, "Come on, Cess, this is what the Hellions were made for. You can't seriously want Marcher to get all of the glory for this too."

I took offense to that. I didn't look for all of this to keep happening to me. It just did, and it just so happened that my only two options were to roll over and die, or fight it, "What glory? Jerks keep trying to kill me, and I would prefer that didn't happen."

Santo grabbed me by the shoulder and gave me a good, hearty shake. He almost took it out of the socket by accident, "Whatever. Don't act like all of the stuff you've been doing didn't get you laid."

"It did not."

"So you and Pixie didn't hook up?"

Ol' Rockhead had me at a loss, because that did happen. And more people were privy to it than I first thought, "...Not because of that!" I argued back, "We're students, not celebrities. Take that stargazing bullshit somewhere else."

Laura, of all people, came to my rescue, "That is not a concern," She said, a sharp tone in her voice that got everyone's attention, "There are more important things to deal with right now."

Julian agreed, and made to whip his team into fighting form, "Right! Hellions, get ready to roll out! We've got to help Marcher, otherwise he'll get himself, the robot, and the clone all killed."

"I am an A.I./Oh, fuck off," Wolf and I both said to Julian, overlapping each other before staring across the pool at each other as the Hellions all started to vacate the pool area to prepare themselves. That left me and my cohorts to do the same.

I went to head back inside when Laura grabbed my arm to stop me. When I turned to face her, she had a troubled look, "What's the matter?"

"Do you remember when you asked me to tell you when I feel upset with you?"

"Yeah?"

"I feel upset with you."

And with that, she passed me by without looking back. I was stunned. This again? I couldn't believe it. At least this time she had the courtesy to tell me about it. As Wolf padded over to me, I shook my head, "What in the blue hell did I do now?"

"Perhaps it would be best if you left the matter alone for now," Wolf suggested, "There will be plenty of time for you to sabotage your personal relationships with others once we survive our current ordeal."

Why did none of my friends respect me? Seriously. I needed to know.

I shoved Wolf from behind with my foot, but he didn't budge very much, "Metal son of a bitch," I cursed.

Wolf, ever the smartass, didn't miss a beat, "Your insult is ineffective. I do not have a conventional parentage, therefore am no one's son. Nor do I have a mother who can be construed as a 'bitch'."

I wished Wolf wasn't as good as he was at disarming my slights and insults, because I could almost never do it back to him. And could he teach Laura about casual conversation and banter in my place? Because apparently, she was goddamn mad at me again!