Like Clockwork (Part Four)

I didn't know what kind of preparing the Hellions needed to do. It wasn't like any of us had our team outfits to squeeze into for the sake of doing this crap. As far as I knew, Julian didn't have a Keller Family jet-o-doom the way the X-Men had the Blackbird, so what the hell were we hanging around for?

I was antsy. Laura was antsy. We both knew that the longer we stayed in one place, the more dangerous it was. Being behind gates, even in a public place like Beverly Hills wasn't going to keep someone away if they really wanted to get at us. The addition of six extra superpowered teenagers was a better deterrent, but even that wouldn't keep for long.

As Julian said, we wouldn't be allowed to hang out there all summer long. I didn't even want to in the first place. Damn his family's property though. When I peeked out the windows, I could barely see off of the property. The line of sight in this place was terrible. If anyone decent was sneaking up on us, I wouldn't know.

Giving up on spotting any sign of trouble for the time being, I left it alone. Walking through one of the parlor rooms where most everyone was gathered, I gave Kevin Ford a pat on the shoulder. He flinched, a lot like Laura used to, though it was because he was afraid he would kill me. Not with two layers of synthetic clothing between the skin on his arm and anything else. I said something about summer for Laura. Summer for this guy had to be god-awful.

"Are you sure your whole team is down for jumping into this mess?" I asked Julian as he lounged around with Santo and Brian on some couches.

Julian gave me a flippant look in return, "Hey, we're all in the same training program you are. Just because you get shot off to space with the X-Men to fight aliens doesn't make you better than us."

That hadn't been what I was getting at. Truth be told, none of us were qualified to be handling this ourselves, "I'm just saying, man. This is gonna suck. I don't want anyone to get involved if they really don't want to," I looked around and noticed a few absent members of the group – Cessily, Sooraya, and Laura, "What about Sooraya?"

I didn't talk to her much. A lot of opportunity for it didn't come up. We were the least acquainted out of the members of the Hellions. The Muslim girl was very passive and quiet. Comparably so to Laura, except that Laura had carte blanche to call me on my bullshit whenever she found it appropriate, and exercised that right.

Julian shrugged it off as an afterthought, "She didn't say she was against it."

"She didn't say she was up for it either," I rebutted.

This was of little or no concern to the guy in charge, "It doesn't really matter. I call the shots, and I say we're in."

This was a case study in the contrast between our teams. The Paladins and the Hellions ran differently. I knew this. Everyone that observed us for five minutes knew this. Our leaders and our teams were reflections of how we were put together and what we were meant to do in the first place.

For my team, I might have been the leader, but I listened to everyone else. If I gave an order that someone else wasn't onboard with, and it wasn't a matter of life and death, I heard them out. It had to work like that, because the way we were set up, there were a bunch of different uses for us. We could kick ass, or we could do more subtle things than that if it was needed. Versatility, people. We morphed according to the situation, so as a leader I had to be flexible and adjust.

With the Hellions, the buck started and stopped with Julian. As a team, their tactics weren't bad, but they weren't strategists. They were a shock team; students put together in such a way that they could and would overwhelm you quickly. They were the best when it came to direct combat, and that was where they were focused. With that focus, they were led by a single individual. Julian was the strongest of them, both in personality and with his powers, because that was what they needed.

For the sake of getting into a big fight, if I had to choose a team of students to back us up, there was none better. It remained to be seen how things would go if it wasn't that direct a solution for our problem, because I sincerely doubted Julian was going to fall in line behind me without a gun literally pointed to his head.

We all gathered out front, prepared to set out as a unit. Eight of Xavier's students and an A.I. originally built to hunt mutants. What a cluster.

I cleared my throat and addressed the lot of them, "Alright, friends, acquaintances, and whatever the hell Julian Keller is supposed to be-," I ignored the middle finger put up in my direction from said individual, "-We're heading to TIJUANA, MEXICO!"

Brian and Julian's eyes went wide as they looked at each other in surprise, "Awesome!"

I knew that would get a few of them stoked. Santo threw his bag a hundred feet into the air, not bothering to catch it. Hopefully nothing fragile was in there, "Fucking, arriba! I've turned the corner on you all the way, Marcher. I love your team."

He went to high-five Brian, which was a bad idea for the latter. Smacking solid rock moving your way as hard as possible, not a smart idea.

Off to the side, Kevin leaned in to speak to Saberwolf, "Does this kind of thing happen a lot?"

Saberwolf didn't mince words, "Yes. More than I expected when I agreed to stay with Bellamy."

My attempts to get the masses pumped were thwarted by Laura who grabbed my arm and shook her head, "No. Not Mexico."

"What? What do you mean, 'not Mexico'?" I asked, "You said they had a base in Mexico."

Laura's brow furrowed in discomfort as she wondered how to say what she wanted, "I... have been thinking. That was a trap that Kimura set for us," She said, just loud enough for me to hear, "The only reason she did not attack us when we went to cross the first time was because we traveled from San Francisco quicker than she had anticipated."

I needed a moment to take stock of what I had just heard and process it all, "Wait. So, she fought you the first time, trying to get you to take a red herring to go to Mexico, so she could ambush you again."

Someone was clearly playing 4D chess while the rest of us were playing checkers.

Laura dissuaded that line of thinking, "No. She did not intend for me to escape the first time. She planted intelligence I would try to use on the off-chance that I would get away," As she told me all of this, she sounded miserable, "...She knows me very well. Better than anyone."

I gave her a poke on the forehead, "Another reason why doing this yourself would have been dumb," I couldn't help but add while I thought of our current situation, "So I can't pick your brain," Anything she knew had been stuffed into her head by Kimura, and if it hadn't been, Kimura likely knew the same operational procedures Laura knew.

"As far as trying to determine a course of action, probably not," She admitted, her head down, "I am sorry."

No. There was no need to apologize for that. She didn't do anything wrong. It only served to reason that someone who spent most of your life beating the piss out of you and dishing out orders to you would have a good idea of how you would react in certain situations.

But in that same vein, Kimura didn't know a fucking thing about the rest of us and what any of us would do. That much was clear when she thought I'd cut and run back at the border.

"It's okay. We'll handle it," I assured Laura before turning back to the crowd. It was here that another problem reared its ugly head, "So, how are we getting around?"

The sight of all of the Hellions looking at each other in confusion was a bad sign, "Wait, what do you mean?"

I drew back, not expecting that response, "What do you mean, 'What do I mean?'" I replied, "What are our wheels looking like?"

Julian walked forward, arms crossed obstinately, "You came here to get us. What do you got?"

I had nothing. We had ditched the van we'd come to L.A. with hours ago, and even if it hadn't been found by police yet, I was done pushing our luck with that stolen vehicle.

I held my hand over my face. I could feel a migraine building, "You're telling me that we have to walk like a bunch of chumps?" I snapped, "You're rich! Don't you have a stretch hummer or a private jet or something to take us all somewhere?"

Granted, that wasn't exactly discreet, but it would definitely fit us all. Beggars couldn't be choosers.

My attitude wasn't appreciated by my 'host', "Lay off, Marcher! I told you, I'm on thin ice with my parents!" Julian quieted down and looked away for the next part, "...Besides, they took the jet to go on vacation."

I threw my hands up in defeat, "Great! So, I'll just call an Uber for all eight of us!"

"You're the one that wanted our help!"

Before we could get deeper into our worthless argument, Cessily pushed both of us apart, "Both of you, cut it out already!" She turned to me, "Bellamy, how did you guys even get here?"

I jerked my thumb in Laura's direction, "She stole a van that we rode all the way to Mexico and back up here."

"Could she do that again?"

"Cess!" Kevin exclaimed, not wanting to play party to a crime.

Cessily turned toward him and shrugged it off, "It's not like we have much of a choice if we want to go anywhere. Julian can't fly all seven of us to wherever we're going."

"Boo," Santo complained, "This sucks. Can't you transform into a motorcycle or something?" He said to Wolf, who again, was not a robot.

Wolf batted his tail around in annoyance, "No. And a motorcycle would only carry two people at most."

Fine. We were serial car thieves now, it seemed, "Laura, take somebody with you and go get us a ride of some kind. We'll be... not here when you do."

We didn't need to pick up the Hellions in a stolen car in front of his parents' house if he was already in hot water.

Santo perked up and raised his hand like he was in class, "Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! Pick me!" He wanted to be a part of a felony.

She ignored Santo's attempt to lobby his way into helping, "I would rather bring someone more inconspicuous," Big, green eyes turned to me hopefully, "Bellamy?"

Goddamn it. I was such a sucker for girls, it wasn't even funny. I melted immediately.

"Right," I agreed, "Well, I didn't see how you did it the first time, so I might as well."

Laura didn't even do it on purpose either. If she ever learned how effective that look was, I would be in trouble. It would get me every time. And hadn't she just told me she was mad at me? It hadn't been an hour. What happened to that?