Sometimes you find yourself just wondering what it all means. Why things happen the way they do, and how you got to where you are. Usually, when you had a lot of down time to just think, and when you did, that line of thought just braided, to the point that you were dead to the world.
You normally didn't get a choice of when or where this sort of thing happened. It could happen anywhere, including inside of Men's Warehouse in the mall at 4 in the afternoon.
Eddie snapping his fingers in my face got me to break out of my internal musings, "You alright, Sol?" He asked, "You look like you're searching for all of life's answers in that rack of ties."
I looked from Eddie to the aforementioned ties that I seemingly found the face of God in, "I... am very confused."
"About what?"
The breakup with Megan. The vision of the explosion at Field Day that didn't happen. Jay being a weirdo, and Laura's warning about him. Laura coming onto me.
"Let me make you a list," I muttered. There were too many things occupying space in my mind. I turned to my friend only to freeze once I saw him in full, "...What the fuck are you wearing?"
Eddie grinned and struck a pose in his peculiar outfit, "Dude, this leather suit is so choice. I look slick."
I gave him a once over, eyebrow raised skeptically, "Sure, if you dig looking like Eddie Murphy from 'Raw'." I said, reaching out to touch the fabric of the suit, "Can't imagine that thing breathes very well. Good luck trying to get lucky when you're smelling like a sweaty wreck by the end of the night."
Eddie's smile quickly fell, "...I see your point, and value your input," He glared at his suit and then at me, "See? This is why you need be paying attention while we're picking suits! Colossus would have just let me walk out of the store with this thing without a word!"
Mister Rasputin frowned at Eddie's projection of blame for his own fashion decisions, "Is your choice. I cannot tell you what to wear... even if I think is awful."
Eddie continued to complain about his suit, wishing to switch it out with a more normal one before it was too late, and I couldn't focus back on my own b.s., thus putting me in a sour mood, "Why am I here?" I eventually said.
Eddie stopped rifling through suits long enough to spare me a glance, "The girls are getting dresses. We're getting suits. Duh."
That wasn't what I meant, and I knew he knew it, "It's common knowledge I don't want to go to the goddamn Homecoming dance. Why did you all get me for this?" I was literally dragged off of campus from my room by the entire squad just to go to the mall.
"Team bonding," Mister Rasputin cut in, setting his large hand on my shoulder as he smiled down at me, "I know you're down, Bellamy, but is not good to shut yourself away. I already commit to pay for outfit for you all, but... is still your choice."
That certainly put me in quite the situation, "...Thank you," I groused.
It was all I could say in return, given that I had proper home training, and that was what you said when someone did something nice for you, even if you didn't really want it. Something thoughtful like paying for your entire suit for Homecoming. How a nice guy like Mister Rasputin got stuck being the chief male role model for two scoundrels like Eddie and I was a marvel.
So, there it was. I was going to be press-ganged into attending the dance. Eddie would easily be able to get Hisako and Ruth onboard into getting me there. To fight it would be an exercise in futility, "...This is going to be miserable. Pixie's gonna be there, surrounded by her chick bodyguards, and half the school thinks I'm a philanderer."
Eddie rolled his eyes at my doom-bringer soothsaying, "Sol, the place is going to be packed full of kids, all shapes and sizes, with loud ass music and weird lights. What are the chances that you and Pixie get anything more than a glance at each other?"
Clearly, he hadn't been paying attention to our collective fortunes thus far in our friendship, "You want to put money on that?"
Eddie backed down slightly from his certainty that things at the dance would go smoothly, "No, because I don't put it past you to find her yourself just to win the bet."
"Look at it this way," I said, trying to make light of a situation I didn't want to be in, "Either you win five dollars, or the money you lose goes toward your entertainment for the evening when I either, a) get punch thrown in my face, b) get punched in the face, or c) get thrown into punch."
When presented with that logic, Eddie couldn't turn it down, "Alright, bet then," We both shook hands, sealing the deal.
"Just don't let punch stain suit. Is rental," Mister Rasputin quipped. I turned and stared at him until it felt uncomfortable, "...Is not funny?"
"I thought it was funny," Eddie said in his support.
"Right," I said with a sigh, waving the whole affair off to walk out of the store. After all, my suit was already picked out, "You guys get Eddie a suit that won't get animal blood thrown on him by PETA. I'm gonna go... somewhere."
"Go check on the girls, would you?" Eddie called out as he went back to browsing the choices on the rack for something that suited him, "This is a delicate process. I've really gotta take my time and choose wisely, you know? Need to look GOODT for Saturday night!"
Something told me that if the store had something with sequins or lights, he would have picked that over anything sensible. But hey, I wasn't the one who would be wearing it. Eddie was a big boy, and could make his own decisions.
I sauntered off to the store where I remembered us splitting off from Hisako, Ruth, and Laura. To my surprise, I didn't find them still trying things on. They seemed to be done, ringing up their purchases at the front of the store. Upon noticing my presence, Ruth waved at me. Laura had known I'd been approaching the entire time. Being the subject of her stare as she watched me get closer left me wary.
It reminded me of a cat staring down a bird in a cage. I was the bird. The bird was me. I tried to ignore how that made me feel.
"How the hell are you guys already done?" I asked, walking up to the trio of girls. Ruth and Laura were already holding theirs, covered up to keep random crap from dirtying them up. The bags also had the secondary effect of keeping me from seeing what they had.
Hisako raised an eyebrow at me, "Are you done already?"
I tried to catch a look at what she'd gotten, but Hisako pulled my hat down while the cashier finished squaring the dress away, "Yes, but I don't care about any of this. Forgive me for stereotyping, but I thought you guys would take longer than 45 minutes."
"Because we're girls?" Hisako asked challengingly.
"Yes," I deadpanned shamelessly in return. I'd already said I was sorry in advance for the stereotype.
Hisako realized that my preemptive apology was the best she was going to get and sighed before explaining her position, "Neither of these two are any good for feedback on clothes, seeing as how Ruth can't really see, and Laura is Laura."
Both fair points, given who we were talking about. However, that also stood to inquire how Ruth picked her own dress without proper sight. That was a question for later, "You could have waited for me, or better yet, called me so I didn't have to listen to Eddie give play-by-play of his selection process. It took me fifteen minutes to get fitted."
"So now you're hoping to sneak a peek, you big perv?" Hisako said. Someone was certainly overestimating herself in certain regards.
"Oh, please," I said, "I'd rather not get banned from the mall just to get a look at your collective goodies. I'm pretty sure that would get me put on a few lists too," If I really wanted to see something naked while I was in public, I had a phone in my pocket with internet access.
It didn't take much longer before they were all ready to leave. From there, I planned to check back in on Eddie and Mister Rasputin. All I really wanted to do was get some food and go home. Laura had other plans, though.
She grabbed our attention before we could start back toward the suit store, "I have to show you all something before we leave," She said, walking off to presumably lead us to whatever she was talking about.
It wasn't as though she'd left us a lot of choice in the matter, so we followed along, "Uh..." She led us right to a mall service entrance, and other than sparing a glance to see if anyone was watching, cared nothing for heading right inside. Hisako, Ruth, and I scrambled in after her, decidedly less gracefully.
Things didn't get much more graceful than that. We almost fell over each other when we stopped and saw what Laura had wanted us to see.
Ten armed men and women strewn about the corridor, weapons and blood on the floor and walls. There were even a few dismembered limbs. A telltale sign that Laura had been at work at some point in the afternoon.
Hisako had to hold back a yell for multiple reasons, "When the hell did this happen!?" She hissed at Laura in a harsh whisper, "You were with us the whole time!"
Laura surveyed the scene of her making coolly, "Remember when I left for eight minutes and fifty-two seconds to head to the bathroom?"
Hisako blanched upon realizing what Laura was getting at, "Don't tell me you were dealing with these guys instead."
"Yes, and no," Laura said, "I spent three minutes and ten seconds fighting. The rest of the time was spent using the bathroom... and cleaning the blood off of my hands."
As gruesome as the sight before us was, let it never be said that Laura wasn't efficient. Sometimes terrifyingly so. Thankfully, Ruth couldn't see all of the blood and dismembered body parts. Hisako could, and seemed to be having trouble with it. She kept her distance and looked very close to throwing up.
I nudged a stray arm out of the way with my foot and tried not to stain my shoes by walking in blood. I just wanted to get close enough to see who was after us. A group of heavily armed humans lying in wait to pick us off sounded familiar.
This crew wore hockey masks and dressed in olive drab, tan, camouflage... basically the colors of any would-be urban commandos trying to make their fantasies a reality.
"These aren't the same guys from when we were in New York, are they?" I asked Laura who shook her head.
"They are not Purifiers," She confirmed for me, pointing to a hunting rifle one person had been armed with, "Their weapons and equipment are more crude. Many of them are armed more like they're hunting animals than going after mutants."
That in of itself was an insult. At least groups like the Purifiers and the Reavers were willing to put forth the capital to pay for a tactical advantage.
"Well, as gross as it is to be compared to animals, a bullet is a bullet," I said. And a well-placed bullet would splatter most of us all over the wall just as easily as anything else, "Did you at least keep one alive this time?"
Laura gave me an annoyed look, "You say that as though you didn't kill all of our enemies right alongside me the last time."
Her annoyance did nothing to deter me from making my point, "I wasn't judging or accusing, I was asking a question. We have mind-readers for interrogation, you know," I kicked the one that seemed the least harmed. A groan of pain told me all I needed to know, "Cool. This one's breathing. I'm calling Mister Rasputin."
Hisako put a hand on my arm as I went to grab my phone, "Don't you think Ruth should read this guy's mind before then?" She asked, still looking a tad green.
I spared a look at Ruth, and then at the armed contingent that lay bleeding on the floor, a scowl crossing my face, "I don't want her getting near these ogres until I'm sure they're totally unarmed and shackled," Ruth, apparently, didn't hear any of that, and walked forward, "Ruthie, what did I just say?"
She'd heard me just fine. She just had her own ideas on the matter, "No. They will be arrested after Bellamy calls Mister Rasputin, yes," Without fear, she stooped down by the living person that I had originally singled out, "Yes. They will be arrested, and we will never get to question them."
"The police will do it," Hisako tried to offer as a solution, only for all three of us to stare at her in disbelief, "...Okay, the police probably won't do it. S.H.I.E.L.D. then?"
I shook my head. S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't give a damn about us. I learned that much when I called in that favor with S.W.O.R.D.'s Abigail Brand for help in dealing with the Facility. The amount of arm-twisting that had to go into getting that done was absurd, even when we were serving up a major contributor to international troubles on a silver platter, just because in that particular case they were targeting mutants.
I didn't like it. But Ruth was allowed to make her own decisions. If I could endeavor to do dumb shit for the sake of furthering our aims, she could as well, and I had to trust in her, "If I see him even twitch for a gun, or to blow himself up, or whatever the fuck these guys do, I'm lasering some body parts off of him," I threatened/assured everyone within earshot.
Despite his uncomfortable wounds, the defeated terrorist didn't move. After Laura had taken the lot of them to the slaughterhouse, he thought better of trying the guy that she and the rest of them seemed to listen to.
Good. At least some of the fuckers could learn.