Mission: Comfort and Cuddles
Title: Mission: Comfort and Cuddles
Fandom: something like the Marvel Universe, more specifically the MSV branch
Rating: 18 and up
Warnings: lots of fire and language, anything else i can toss in. Dare in a skirt and heels.
Disclaimer: the recognizable characters and places contained herein are the property of Marvel. i'm merely borrowing for the sake of entertainment. no money is being made from this venture. Haley belongs to dazzledfirestar Dare belongs to me and you can't have her. trust me. you don't want her. the concept and title of The Mary Sue Virus are used with permission from Dazzledfirestar.
Author's Notes: the idea behind this was a cracky one. Gin is working on something in which Dare kind of likes to cuddle. yeah... i'm having a hard time seeing it. so this idea sprang up because of it. Dare has to go back into time to four young men's darkest days and get them to willingly hug her. and she has to hug them in return. yeah... so its kind of serious, kind of cracky. enjoy.
The shattered hulk of a building provided her with some cover, but not as much as she'd like. Not with eyes in the sky keeping an eye out for her. Not with a couple of sharp noses sniffing out her scent. Broken bits of glass and concrete littered the ground, forcing her to keep her position without shifting. The crunch of either under the sole of her thick boots would give her away. But crouching under a twisted sheet of steel and pitted bricks wasn't her idea of a good time. If the cover wasn't so damned necessary...
She couldn't remain here long, but she didn't need to. She was just waiting for word from Faye before making her next move.
This was not her idea of a good time. Not by a long shot. Her uniform clung to her skin, sticky and damp with sweat and streaked with concrete dust and splotches of dirt. Her hair stuck to her face and no amount of shoving it back behind her ears kept it from falling into her eyes. One of these days, she'd put it in a fucking pony tail so she didn't have to fuck with it.
Damn but this place was a fucking mess. She hadn't been able to believe it when she'd first seen it. It had looked like someone'd dropped some giant fucking bombs in the middle of a city. The burnt out, twisted frames of cars were shoved into walls that rose up toward the sky like the reaching hands of supplicants begging the gods for something. Fingers of metal and concrete pointed accusingly to those same gods for not answering the calls. Dust cling to every thing, puffed up whenever she put her foot down. There were pebbles, stones, rocks, boulders scattered over the streets, fallen out of what had once been buildings. Street lights and lamp posts were knotted like pretzels and she was sure she'd seen a few bones poking up out of the rubble. It was a really fucking depressing plateau and she wanted the fuck away from it. Like yesterday.
God damn it, she wanted this done. Shit like this always left her cranky and in need of a drink. As if that was luxury she could afford anymore. She'd have to settle for a hot shower to work the kinks out of her muscles and the scent of dirt, sweat and smoke from her skin. And then she'd fall into bed and die for the night. Cos she was going to be fucking tired. Trying out new, mad skills always did that to her.
A hand on her shoulder let her know that Faye was there. Dare turned to look at her. Faye nodded her head, lifted three fingers and then pointed in three different directions. Dare got the message and gave her a thumbs up. Then Morgan's double was gone and Dare was calling up one of those new tricks she'd taught herself.
Walls of fire rose up in three different places around the rubble, one in each spot that Faye had indicated. And then, with a good deal of concentration behind it, the flames started bending over to form a tunnel. Those three tunnels were meant to be ruses, to keep their opponents occupied while she made a run for another location. While she attempted to knock one of the mentioned opponents out.
She was going to an awful lot of trouble to try and take down Logan. So that the girls could have a night out on the town without men and without kids. Because, of course, the men all wanted to go out on the same night and no one could be bothered to change their plans. It didn't matter that Dare and the rest of Purple team had made these plans months ago. The guys thought they needed to go out and drink or some shit. Or maybe it was a ball game. She didn't know. All she knew was no one could come to a decision about who deserved to get out of the fucking place for just a few hours, so they were having a competition in the Danger Room.
Last team standing won.
It was bullshit. To be honest, Dare would love nothing more than to hit the local bar in town and play some pool. Apparently that wasn't to be. Because the girls needed to do something together, something adult. Something girly. Ugh. She twisted another wall of flame into a tunnel and started through it toward the other end. Faye had given her a view of Logan's location and, while sneaking up on him wasn't easy, the added support of the flames around her and eating at some wood near him would help.
Something buzzed through her brain, bringing her feet to a halt only seconds before a pair of cards passed right before her nose. The distraction brought the cover of flames down to show her that Remy was coming straight at her with more cards in his hand. He whipped them at her before she could even change directions, forcing her to the ground with her arms over her face to avoid being hit and to avoid the spray of rubble that rose when the cards hit and exploded. It wasn't his normal strength, but it would have definitely knocked her on her ass.
When she peeled her arms away, he was standing over her with another pair of cards caught between his fingers. There was a grin on his face, letting her know that he thought she was down for the count. "You give up, cher?" he asked her, the cards in his hand glowing pink.
"Don't count on it, Rem," she replied. With practiced ease, she rolled onto her stomach and swept a leg at him at the same time. Her foot connected with his ankles and threw him off balance. Remy crashed to the floor, the force of impact jarring the cards from his grasp. They sailed through the air and hit high up on the wall behind her.
Remy was on his feet in a second. "Dare. Move!"
She glanced up in time to see the wall giving way, tumbling straight at the ground. Right where she happened to be standing. Time slowed as she turned to run. A few small pieces of concrete hit her shoulders and drove her to her knees. That was when a slightly larger piece slapped against the back of her head and the entire Danger Room spun around her. Remy's hand caught hold of hers and dragged her to her feet, dragged her away from the cascading fall of rubble that landed where she'd just been kneeling.
"You okay, cher?" Remy asked, voice flooded with concern. One hand had a death grip on her arm while the other rose to check her shoulders and the back of her head. She winced when his fingers made contact with a seriously tender spot. She hissed, vaguely aware that the war ravaged plateau had melted away and that everyone else was heading in their direction. Remy paled when he got a look at his hand.
Dare reached up to rub at the sore spot, mildly surprised to feel something wet and sticky coating her palm as she did so. "Fucking hell, that hurt."
"Dare? You okay, darlin'?" Logan asked.
"I'm fine. Why do you keep asking that? Hey. Did we win?" she asked and pulled out of Remy's grasp, intent on hitting the showers now that the whole thing was done with. Only the ground wanted to have a meet with her and pulled her face first toward it. The sounds of people shouting were muffled and darkness was swirling around her and her head hurt and, hell yeah, a nap sounded really good...
~*~
The sharp sting of antiseptic hit her nose and dragged her from the darkness. Fucking infirmary. She was starting to hate this place. How many times had she woken up here with no idea how she'd gotten in a bed? It was becoming painfully repetitive. And holy shit! Who the hell trying to drill for oil on the inside of her skull? She wasn't sure if her head could pound anymore, but she sure as shit didn't want to find out. Groaning, she forced her legs over the edge and sat up. Her hands rose to her forehead in the pitifully stupid attempt make her brain stop trying to spin out of her ear like a fucking Tilt-A-Whirl put into overdrive.
A glance showed her that Henry was in his office, obviously caught up in some paperwork. "Henry!" she called softly, knowing that he'd hear it even at such a quiet level and that any louder would see her head revolting by going into hyper drive. Big Blue never looked up. "Hey! Beast!" she called again, louder this time. Still no reaction. "What the fuck is this shit?"
"He can't hear you, mortal." The voice was masculine, coming from right behind her. Muttering a curse, Dare turned to find a tall man wearing green and yellow. He had giant fucking horns on his head. Okay, then.
"Great. I got hit in the head harder than I thought. The fucking freak squad is out in force." Dare dropped her head gingerly into her hands and counted a slow ten. When she looked up, the horny fucker was still there. "And someone has me on really good drugs."
"This is no illusion, girl. I'm here with you. No one but you can see or hear me."
"That really doesn't reassure me, buddy," she snapped.
"Buddy? Do you not know who I am, child?" Arrogance lanced right into her head and made it pound like a mother. Dare muttered a curse under her breath and shot him an ice cold look.
"Of course I do. You're my fucking hallucination. No doubt brought about because Remy fucking dropped a shitload of bricks on my head." She wobbled her way to her feet and immediately regretted it as someone pretending to be Lars Ulrich began playing double bass and high speeds inside her skull. "Fuck. This is worse than blowing out my powers. Aspirin. Morphine. Jack Daniels. I need something to kill the pain."
Her imaginary friend gave a long sigh of suffering, bringing her gaze back to him. One hand was lifted to pinch the bridge of his nose. Yeah. She had that effect on a lot of people. Finally, he sighed again and made an abortive motion with his hand. "No matter. Your ignorance doesn't change the fact that I've come to you with a mission of grave importance."
"Missions go through Haley. She's team leader. You need to go whisper in her ear. I need to go find something to stop the drumline in my head," Dare replied and wobbled a few steps from the bed before her hallucination was just suddenly standing in front of her. She wobbled back the few steps she'd taken and landed on her ass on the bed. The hallucination moved closer and pointed a finger at her. "Okay. I don't need to find anything to stop the drumline in my head.
"This is a mission for you and you alone, mortal. None other can undertake it."
Dare rolled her eyes up to his face and shook her head, albeit as gently as she was able. "Those things look stupid. How do you keep them on your head? Are they heavy? They look heavy. And stupid."
"By Odin's blood, you'd make Baldr go mad. Focus, girl. You don't have much time before you must undertake your mission."
"I'm about as focused as I'm going to get. Head injury. Hello?" she snarled, not at all pleased by his snotty tone. A glance at herself told her that someone had stripped her and put her in a fricking hospital gown. "And I'm really not dressed to go on any missions. My ass is probably hanging out of this thing." She paused and gave consideration to the words, to where he'd been standing earlier when she'd risen from the cot, and what he could have possibly seen. Her eyes narrowed on him dangerously. "You better not have been looking at my ass."
He rolled his eyes. "The thought never crossed my mind, I assure you."
"Why not? What's wrong with my ass? Why didn't you want to look at it? You're not gay, are you? If you are, this mission had better not involve anything made of silk, lamé, or involve Barbra or Liza. Cos that shit totally ain't happening."
He leveled a look on her that reminded her of that one time she'd accidentally set Logan on fire. He'd looked ready to commit murder and this... Yeah. This was the same kind of look. One finger pointed at her and it was menacing. She didn't know how a finger could be menacing, but it was. "Another word, mortal, and I promise you'll live to regret it."
Okay. That sounded like a really real threat. Dare pressed her lips together and mimed turning a key in a lock before tossing the imaginary key away. Horny guy gave her the hairy eyeball for a second, as if he didn't believe her, then finally let some of the tension out of his shoulders and crossed his arms over his chest. After several more seconds, he began speaking. "You are in desperate need of softness."
Softness? He thought she needed softness? What the holy fuck was this? Someone's idea of a sick joke? Only he was a hallucination and that meant her brain had conjured him up. Stupid brain. It couldn't even conjure up someone hot to look at. No. It gave her the freak squad. What the fuck was up with those horns? Was this her brain's way of telling her that Haley was right and she needed to girlify her life a little? Actually, Haley's suggestion had been that they take her to a spa and leave her there until she came out looking more human and acting more feminine. Okay, so it had been in jest, but still. Was she that nongirlie?
"You have children. You have lovers. You have people you call family. And yet, you're hard as stone." She opened her mouth to make a smart assed comment about Haley being hard as stone, but promptly shut it when he gave her the hairy eyeball again. "You need to learn softness and compassion if you're ever to... Ever to..." He stopped and really looked at her, his eyes searching her face for something. Dare frowned and narrowed her eyes at him, then let a single flame spring to life in her palm. It walked from her hand to her elbow and back. He waved a hand that was meant to erase his previous statement. "No matter. You need to learn softness for others."
"So you're my fairy godfather. Emphasis on fairy?"
He sighed but didn't rise to the bait. "I'm going to send you to four people who need the touch of a caring hand. Compassion. Gentleness. And it will be your duty to give it to them. You will not be able to leave and return here until you have completed this task. Fail this task I'm giving you and you'll be stuck elsewhere."
Dare blinked at him. "Who the fuck are you? Jacob Marley? It isn't fucking Christmas. So what's with the Christmas Carol shit?" It was his turn to blink, as if he had no clue what the hell she was talking about. "Fuck me. You're serious about this shit, aren't you?"
"I am," he nodded. Dare glared at him.
She glared at him menacingly. The look seemed to bounce right off him. "And just how will I know who these four people are? How will I find them?"
"Trust me. You'll know. And you have to give them real comfort before moving on to the next assignment. Each comforting gesture gets you closer to home. Remember that." He leveled a serious look on her. She let it affect her as much as her glare had affected him.
"Fine. What the fuck ever. I've had enough of this Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol shit. And if the Ghost of Christmas Future shows up, I'm going to torch his sorry ass." Dare waved a hand in his direction. "Now get the fuck out of here, dick."
"Your mission starts just beyond that door," the hallucination motioned to the door to the infirmary. Dare glanced at it and snorted. Just beyond that door? What the fuck was he on, anyway?
"There isn't dick beyond that door but the sub basement. What the fuck is this shit?" she asked, turning back to him. But he was gone and there was a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Well, shit. Now what?
She stared at the door, wondering what she should do. It was obvious that the horny guy had been a really fucking freaky weird hallucination brought on by getting hammered in the head after the fake but not so fake wall in the Danger Room had exploded thanks to Remy's cards. She was kind of surprised that her brain would come up with such an elaborate hallucination. It was obviously scrambled like eggs. And she was sure that Big Blue would move any minute now, that he'd see her standing and come out to chew her ass for being out of bed. Dr. McCoy did always take his job and his patients' health seriously.
Except Beast didn't look like he was moving any time soon and she had to admit, she was really fucking curious about this mission to find her inner girl. Apparently having two kids didn't qualify. She could give Dee and Liam hugs just fine. In fact, they squealed and giggled and wanted her hugs. And it kind of gave her a warm, squishy feeling deep inside when she wrapped her arms around them and squeezed them tight. Just because she didn't go around giving hugs to everyone didn't mean she didn't know how to be gentle or soft.
Laughter echoed in her head at that thought, obviously finding fault with her reasoning. Even her own brain was ganging up on her. She shot a glare around the room. "Everyone's a fucking critic."
Right. Fine. Obviously she was supposed to open the door and step out into the hallway of the sub basement and pretend to do whatever the fuck it was her brain thought she needed to do. This was all a bunch of shit anyway, right? None of it was really real because she was just hallucinating it all. Yeah. A hallucination. And it wouldn't stop unless she got to it. Heaving a sigh, Dare headed for the door and grasped the knob firmly. "Hey, Big Blue! I'm leaving the infirmary. I hope you don't need me for anything else because I'm gone."
Beast's head never lifted from his paperwork. Dare turned the knob and opened the door...
And stepped out into a hallway bustling with activity. Her nose was assaulted with the sharp scent of dirt and industrial cleaner. The linoleum floors were weathered and worn, smudged and scuffed with the passage of hundreds of feet. The sounds of laughter and chatter, high pitched and childish, rose up all around her. The walls were painted some shade that could have been green, grey, blue, brown, or puke, but were so old and covered with hand prints, finger painted images, water colors on paper, and marker that it was hard to tell. The light was dim and the corridor long, with doors opening up off of it at regular intervals the entire length.
Great. What the fuck was she doing here? And just who the hell was she supposed to visit? No one seemed to notice her even though she stood stupidly in the middle of the hall. That prompted her to glance down and horror rolled through her. She was wearing... It was a nightmare. Her hallucination had gone all out and put her in a crisp, feminine suit in dark blue. Complete with jacket and skirt. The shirt underneath was soft, pale pink and the hose... The hose! She was wearing panty hose, for fuck's sake. And sensible pumps in blue. Her hair was done up in a twist, giving her a professional look. Allowing her to blend in, as if she was some kind of administrator.
She was so fucking glad none of her friends could see her.
A quick peek around the door she'd just stepped through showed her a closet. There was no going back. Well, fuck. This was some strange ass dream. And since she couldn't go back, she had to go forward. With a muttered curse and a sense of purpose, she started forward and thanked God that Morgan had taught her how to walk on low heels years ago. Otherwise she'd have taken a spill, broken her ankle, and done something very undignified and unladylike.
Staff and visitors alike seemed not to notice her as she clip clapped her way along the hall, wondering just what the hell she was supposed to be doing. She didn't even know where the hell she was, despite the sounds of children boiling up all around her. The horny guy had told her that she'd know when she found whatever or whoever the hell it was she was here for. But she wasn't sure that wasn't just a crock of shit. Because nothing had set off any kind of radar so far.
Maybe if she peered into the doors and took a look at what was behind them, that would help. So she took a peek into the first room she came to with an open door. And nearly fell when it became apparent she was in some kind of group home or orphanage. The room was decorated gaily, but not by whoever ran the place. Instead, the walls were plastered with pictures and paintings done in a childish hand. It was obviously a room for girls, because the images had balloons and clowns and horses and princesses and shit like that. It reminded her of Dee's room, with its pale lavender walls and huge collection of stuffed unicorns. Only this room housed at least six girls, if the beds were anything to go by. Six girls crammed into a tiny little space.
The realization staggered her. But nothing in the room seemed to be important enough for her to stay, so she happily skipped on to the next room. And the next. And the next. It hurt to think of all those beds and the children that filled them. Children who didn't have a home or a mother and father or even an aunt or grandparent to love them. Because all she could think about was Dee. Liam. They had both of their parents and tons of love and... Wait a minute. Something about that last room was odd. It had given her a tingly kind of feeling.
Retracing her steps, she found there was only one boy in the room. He was alone, the only child in a room meant for more, sitting facing the window that showed sunshine and blue skies pressing down around the building. His clothes were cheap and well worn, probably used many times by many other children. Hand me downs that had belonged to some other unwanted child. A mop of rich brown hair fell down around his ears and his throat worked convulsively, like he was trying to swallow down tears.
She knew, somehow, that this was her first... First what? Victim? Huggee? She didn't know what to call him. But she knew that this was where she was supposed to be. Glancing around her showed that no one seemed to be paying her any mind, so she slipped inside the room and quietly closed the door. No one, not even people she didn't know, was going to witness her humiliation. No one.
"I'm not hungry and I don't want any visitors. Go away," the boy said, not bothering to look her way. Well, that was rude. It almost brought a smile to Dare's face. But she stomped down on the urge and finished crossing the room. There wasn't another chair, so she settled on the edge of a small desk that had been crammed into the room. "I just want to be left alone."
"Sorry, kid. I can't leave until I give you a hug." Her words brought his head around so that he could stare at her. Moisture glistened in his big brown eyes, but the tears didn't fall. He looked lost and alone and thoroughly pissed off at the world. And he looked like he wanted to do nothing more than smack her for daring to disturb him. Damn. It was almost like looking at herself when she'd been younger. There was something oddly familiar about the boy's stare, some sense of haughtiness or arrogance that she felt she should know. But she was sure she'd never seen the kid before.
He made a noise and turned back to the window, staring at nothing and everything. He obviously had a sad sad story to tell if he was in this place. And the look on his face suggested he would hit her for asking him about it. She wondered at his lack of alarm. He should be worried about being approached by a stranger. But he acted like strange people walked into his room all the time. How the hell was she supposed to handle this? All he needed was a hug, right?
"Look, I don't want to be here anymore than you want me to be here. So just give me a damn hug and we'll call it good."
He turned to regard her with all the disgust and horror a boy his age could muster. Turns out there was a lot of both in his gaze. It was a gaze much too old for such a young face. The boy couldn't be any more than ten years old. There was still enough little kid in his voice to make her think that he hadn't hit puberty yet, though she thought it might not be far off. "Are you for real, lady?" he asked, petulance heavy in his tone.
"No. I'm your freaking fairy godmother," she snapped, already at the end of her rope. "Of course I'm serious. Get your butt up out of that chair and get over here so I can hug you. Soon as I do, I'll be on my merry way and you'll never have to see me again."
"Did Child Services send you to check this place out or what? Is this some kind of trick?"
"Aren't you a snotty one?" She asked the question of him instead of answering him. He glowered at her. The sound of laughter rose up from outside of the building. She motioned to the window. "Why aren't you out there playing with everyone else?"
"Because no one likes me."
Dare rolled her eyes. Yeah. That was a surprise. "Maybe if you weren't such a grumpy gus," she said, trying for a light tone. When she realized what she'd just said, she could have slapped herself. That sounded like something that her mother would have said to her when she was a little kid.
"They don't like me because they think I'm a freak," he snapped at her. That took her back. Because she understood exactly how he felt. Even worse, she could remember feeling every single emotion that crowded his voice. Anger, confusion, sadness, self-loathing. That and so much more. Hadn't she felt that way all her life? The only time she'd ever felt normal during her childhood was when she was with Morgan.
"They're all idiots," she replied softly. Dismissively. The boy blinked at her, obviously surprised by her words. Then the surprise leaked away and left only wariness behind. He crossed his arms over his chest, once again reminding her of someone she thought she knew. She could swear she'd seen that posture before. If only she could think...
"How do you know? You're just a girl. No one teases the pretty girls." The petulance made her want to singe his shorts. Just a little. But she held on to the urge and caught up with the conversation. The pretty girls. He thought she was pretty? Maybe he needed his eyes checked. She'd never been pretty.
"I used to get called a freak, too. All the time. People made fun of me for being shy. For having a boy's name. For being different and strange." She saw him look her over again, as if trying to see what it was she was talking about. "All it takes is one good friend to make all of those things seem far away and stupid. The minute you find that friend... All of this?" She motioned around the room with one hand. "It'll be like it never existed."
"I hate it here," he admitted. His jaw clenched in that familiar action again, then he turned wide eyes her way. "Can't you take me with you? I promise I wouldn't be any trouble."
"I wish I could, kiddo. But I can't. I'm just here to dispense hugs. And maybe a little advice. The next time the kids are a bunch of d--orks, ignore them. Pretend they don't exist. Pretty soon, they'll give up on it because its no fun for them anymore."
"Really?" The kid sounded hopeful. Dare raised a hand and gave him a smile.
"I promise. And if they don't, kick them in the nuts. That should see them backing off."
He stared at her for a few seconds, weighing something silently in his head. Then he got up and crossed to where she sat perched on the desk. "Thanks. I don't remember, but I'd like to think that my mom was like you. That she'd give me advice and give me hugs even when I said I didn't want them. You'd be a good mom."
Before she could reply to him, the kid threw himself at her and wrapped his arms around her tight. Dare was so shocked that, for just a moment, she could only blink. Then she curved her arms around him and hugged him back. If she heard the boy sniffle a little bit, she said nothing. And when he wanted to pull away, she let him go without a fight. He gave her a look that said she'd better not tell anyone about this, then returned to his seat.
Dare stared at the back of his head for a few minutes. "So... This is good bye then?" she asked, unsure what was supposed to come next. The boy shrugged his shoulders. He obviously didn't care what it was. He'd had his moment and now he was going to go back to being all angry and masculine. God, didn't she ever get away from people like that? He almost reminded her of...
She took a good look at him. Nah. There was no way. Shrugging the sudden sense of familiarity off, she slipped out of the room and into the hallway. To find herself standing in a medium sized shed filled with small bits of machinery and tools. A radio played in one corner, filling the shack with the lovely sounds of guitar rock. Shelves hung on the wall, holding tools and mechanical things and plans and... Hell, she couldn't put any names on what most of the stuff on the shelves. The only thing she was sure of was that it looked like the shed belonged to a budding mad scientist.
Said budding mad scientist was bent over a work bench, hands moving as he did... something. She didn't know a socket wrench from a screwdriver (except when being used as tools to break into a place), so she couldn't say what he was doing. But he was working on some little project or another. And he seemed totally oblivious to her presence. Right. She could fix that. Reaching out, she rapped a couple of knuckles against the wooden door of the shed and watched as his head came up with a jerk and turned her way.
Blue eyes that were as big as saucers blinked at her owlishly through the magnifying lenses of a pair of goggles. Or something. An unruly mop of dark hair crowned his head and he was wearing a nicer shirt than the pink one the horny guy had provided her with. His gaze flicked over her dispassionately, as if he was used to strange women just popping up out of nowhere. "If you're looking for my father, he's up at the main house. I don't know how you got in here, but..." the boy trailed off and blinked at her again. "Um, you aren't here to see my father, are you?"
Wow. This was some freaky ass hallucination. "Kid, I don't think your father wants to see me. Why are you hiding out here?" At least she assumed he was hiding and out here. Where ever here was.
The boy regarded her with serious eyes. Sad eyes. The blue of them was deep and rich, almost a physical presence despite the fact that the kid was probably around the same age as the last one she'd visited. There was a smudge of dirt on his cheek where he'd absently brushed his skin with filthy fingers. It looked like he was playing with some kind of circuit board and she knew enough to know that he was holding a soldering iron in one hand. Okay. That explained why she was here. The kid would rather spend his time hiding in a shed, doing the kinds of things geeks did, than get out and enjoy the world. "You're sure you're not here to see my father?"
"No. I'm not here to see your father," she shook her head. So horny guy thought she could be of help to buddy geeks? Well, at least she had the tits for it. He continued to stare at her, as if wondering just why she was there. "I'm here to see you, kid."
The boy blinked and obviously gave her words some thought. "Me? Why me?"
Dare made a point of letting her gaze move around the room and land on pretty much everything in it before allowing it to come to rest on the boy one more time. His own stare, filled with confusion and a sense of innocence that seemed wrong on him, tripped around the room and looked at everything it contained before returning to her. And she could see there that he didn't get it at all. Sighing, she shook her head. "Why are you hiding out here? Why aren't you out playing with other guys your age? Baseball or football or something like that?"
The look he gave her suggested that she was off her rocker. "And who am I supposed to play with?" Great. Another one with an attitude and arrogance. She watched as he removed the magnifying goggles, then set the soldering iron down in its holder. One hand reached absently for a rag laying on the bench. He wiped his hands on it, completely failing to remove the smudges on his fingertips, then gave her a good once over. The look he gave her when she was done suggested that the suit Horny Guy had put her in was cheap as hell.
Everyone was a fucking critic.
"Gee, I don't know. What about kids in the freaking neighborhood?" she suggested with a hint of temper coloring her words.
The boy stared at her for a few seconds then shook his head and crossed his arms over his thin chest. "Just how dumb are you, lady? There are no kids in the neighborhood. This is the neighborhood." One hand motioned at everything in their general vicinity.
"Then play with your dad," she shrugged. It seemed a logical, simple solution to her. The boy snorted at her, letting her know that it wasn't that simple after all.
"My father is more interested in drinking than doing anything fun with me. Any time he spends with me, its to tell me that I have to push myself to be the best at everything I do."
"Over achiever, huh?" she asked, trying to be sympathetic. "I was never that into education and doing my best."
"That's blatantly obvious," the kid remarked dryly, his gaze raking her up and down almost clinically. "Let me guess. You wanted to be an underwear model when you were younger and that fell through. You do look a little too thick around the middle to be a model."
She made a very not nice face at him. "Excuse you! Rude much? You don't talk to women like that."
"And how do I talk to women?" the kid asked. He sounded for all the world like he really wanted to know.
"Women like to be complimented. Treated with respect. Made to feel special." She eyed him from head to toe much like he had her. "They like men who are confident and charismatic. Well dressed and well spoken."
"What about handsome?" he asked curiously.
"Yes. Women like handsome men. Handsome is a plus," she chuckled. "Most women don't go for geeky guys."
He frowned at that. "What's wrong with being geeky?"
"There's nothing wrong with being geeky, as long as you aren't geeky in public. Be suave. Debonair. Smooth. Like I said. Being well groomed goes a long way." She paused and waited for the lightning to strike. When the hell had she become Dear Abby for the prepubescent set? First the orphan boy and now the budding mad scientist. Someone was laughing at this hallucinogenic jaunt through the lives of juvenile delinquents. "Girls like guys who are good with their hands. Like being able to work on cars."
His eyes took in the things that crowded around them. She grinned. "You're on the right track there, kiddo."
"My father wants me to do something important with my life. Solve the world's problems. Be somebody," the boy told her. The tone of his voice suggested he didn't want to do what his father wanted of him. She couldn't blame him for that.
"Your father can take a flying leap." That statement brought the boy's deep blue gaze up to her face. It was almost as if he'd never even considered thinking such a thing. She smiled at him. "Seriously, kiddo. You're the one in control of your life. Not your dad."
The surprise fled, was replaced by a small touch of fear. "He's scary when he's drinking." Some of the maturity that came with his obvious intelligence leaked away in the face of memories and the fear that belonged to all young children. She wondered if the boy's father needed to be smacked around some. But he didn't act as if he was afraid of being hit. Just... afraid. Of being wrong. Of being a disappointment. Of being a failure. Of not being whatever it was that would make his father proud of him.
The boy was aching for someone to love him.
Time to give the boy's ego a big boost. "You're a smart guy, right?" she asked him. Those too blue eyes rolled at her like she was asking a stupid question. Probably she was. "Right. Since you're so smart, that means that you can do anything you put your mind to, right?"
"Yeah. I guess." The boy didn't sound so sure on that one.
"Hey. You're smart enough to do whatever you put your mind to, kiddo. If you want to build a freaking space ship and fly to Mars, you can do it. And because you can do anything you want, that means you don't have to do what your father wants you to."
The boy frowned at her. "That doesn't make any sense."
"Fine. Try this. How smart are you?"
He stared at her and considered it. Then smiled. She thought she'd seen a smile like that before, but she couldn't remember where. "I'm going to be going to high school next fall." High school? She blinked at him. High School? How the hell was he going to high school? He was like... a baby. Suddenly, she felt as stupid as many of the people at Xavier's had accused her of being.
"Okay. So you're really, really smart." She leveled him with a look. "That means you can do anything you want. Anything. Don't let your father make you something you don't want to do. With brains and money, you can do whatever makes you happy."
"What about good looks?" he asked, a playful grin on his face. How a little boy could look so grown up was beyond her, but she smiled and shook her head at him.
"With good looks, you can get away with doing anything."
The humor faded away to leave a confused little boy in its wake. It was quite the change from the self-assured young man who had just been there. Dare watched him as he gave something deep, serious thought. "You're sure? You're sure I can do anything?"
"You put your mind to it, kiddo, you can rule the world."
He gave her a look, an utterly mad scientist kind of look. "Hmmm. I don't know if I want to rule the world. But I'll consider it. And thank you for talking to me. Even if you are kind of strange."
She grinned at that. "Kiddo, you don't know the half of it."
Silence fell between the two of them then. Dare stood there and stared at him. The boy remained where he was, staring back at her. He was waiting for her to leave. She was waiting for the hug that would send her on her way. Of course, he didn't look like he might be all that willing to give a hug. Despite his youth, there was that sense of maturity that prevented him from sharing a small emotional display with just about anyone. "Um... The door's just there." He motioned toward the door behind her.
"Yeah. About that..." she drawled. "See, I kind of need a hug before I can go. I won't go into long explanations that are bound to bore you. I just need to do the hug thing. Then I'm out of your hair for good."
"You need a hug? Before you can leave?" He was trying to puzzle it out. She could tell by the look in those pretty blue eyes of his. Eyes like those were going to be lady killers when he was grown. She was sure that he was going to have women falling at his feet. "Have I missed something?"
"No. That about covers it." She shrugged a shoulder at him. "I know it isn't the best situation. But it is what it is. And if you want me out of your hair... Yeah. Come give me a squeeze."
He slid from his stool and stared at her for a moment, his eyes bright as if he was trying to puzzle her out. She said nothing, knowing that he would decide or not on his own. But if he didn't... Well, fuck. She was in a world of hurt then. She mentally crossed her fingers and stood waiting. Pressuring him wouldn't do her any good. Either he would hug her or he wouldn't. But if he didn't, she was going to strangle the little fucker for leaving her stranded her. She had a sneaking suspicion that Horny Guy wouldn't do anything to help her.
Because it was all a fucking hallucination.
Why the hell couldn't she have hallucinated laying on the beach in Hawaii or the Bahamas or some shit? Or looking at crumbling old castles on the moors or something? Why did she have to hallucinate about this crap? Was someone punishing her for something she did in her youth? Was she...
She was brought out of her thought by the sound of a clearing throat. She looked down at the boy curiously. "Thank you. For all your advice. And for pretending to be interested in what I have to say. Most adults don't do that." The boy held out his hand. Dare smiled at him, trying hard not to show him that she was gritting her teeth in frustration, and lifted her hand so they could shake. The boy grinned and tugged her into him for a hug.
Christ, he was almost as tall as she was. His head was pillowed on her tits and the smile he wore suggested he was more than pleased by this. But she put that thought out of her mind as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight. A sense of relief flooded her and she returned the hug. It was quick, but heart felt, and when he stepped back, his eyes glimmered with some inner joke. Dare nodded at him and turned to go.
Her hand was on the knob, the door swinging open with the small amount of force she put against it, when she realized something wasn't quite right. The strap across her back was loose and... Son of a bitch! The freaky little mad scientist perv had undone her bra!
Fandom: something like the Marvel Universe, more specifically the MSV branch
Rating: 18 and up
Warnings: lots of fire and language, anything else i can toss in. Dare in a skirt and heels.
Disclaimer: the recognizable characters and places contained herein are the property of Marvel. i'm merely borrowing for the sake of entertainment. no money is being made from this venture. Haley belongs to dazzledfirestar Dare belongs to me and you can't have her. trust me. you don't want her. the concept and title of The Mary Sue Virus are used with permission from Dazzledfirestar.
Author's Notes: the idea behind this was a cracky one. Gin is working on something in which Dare kind of likes to cuddle. yeah... i'm having a hard time seeing it. so this idea sprang up because of it. Dare has to go back into time to four young men's darkest days and get them to willingly hug her. and she has to hug them in return. yeah... so its kind of serious, kind of cracky. enjoy.
The shattered hulk of a building provided her with some cover, but not as much as she'd like. Not with eyes in the sky keeping an eye out for her. Not with a couple of sharp noses sniffing out her scent. Broken bits of glass and concrete littered the ground, forcing her to keep her position without shifting. The crunch of either under the sole of her thick boots would give her away. But crouching under a twisted sheet of steel and pitted bricks wasn't her idea of a good time. If the cover wasn't so damned necessary...
She couldn't remain here long, but she didn't need to. She was just waiting for word from Faye before making her next move.
This was not her idea of a good time. Not by a long shot. Her uniform clung to her skin, sticky and damp with sweat and streaked with concrete dust and splotches of dirt. Her hair stuck to her face and no amount of shoving it back behind her ears kept it from falling into her eyes. One of these days, she'd put it in a fucking pony tail so she didn't have to fuck with it.
Damn but this place was a fucking mess. She hadn't been able to believe it when she'd first seen it. It had looked like someone'd dropped some giant fucking bombs in the middle of a city. The burnt out, twisted frames of cars were shoved into walls that rose up toward the sky like the reaching hands of supplicants begging the gods for something. Fingers of metal and concrete pointed accusingly to those same gods for not answering the calls. Dust cling to every thing, puffed up whenever she put her foot down. There were pebbles, stones, rocks, boulders scattered over the streets, fallen out of what had once been buildings. Street lights and lamp posts were knotted like pretzels and she was sure she'd seen a few bones poking up out of the rubble. It was a really fucking depressing plateau and she wanted the fuck away from it. Like yesterday.
God damn it, she wanted this done. Shit like this always left her cranky and in need of a drink. As if that was luxury she could afford anymore. She'd have to settle for a hot shower to work the kinks out of her muscles and the scent of dirt, sweat and smoke from her skin. And then she'd fall into bed and die for the night. Cos she was going to be fucking tired. Trying out new, mad skills always did that to her.
A hand on her shoulder let her know that Faye was there. Dare turned to look at her. Faye nodded her head, lifted three fingers and then pointed in three different directions. Dare got the message and gave her a thumbs up. Then Morgan's double was gone and Dare was calling up one of those new tricks she'd taught herself.
Walls of fire rose up in three different places around the rubble, one in each spot that Faye had indicated. And then, with a good deal of concentration behind it, the flames started bending over to form a tunnel. Those three tunnels were meant to be ruses, to keep their opponents occupied while she made a run for another location. While she attempted to knock one of the mentioned opponents out.
She was going to an awful lot of trouble to try and take down Logan. So that the girls could have a night out on the town without men and without kids. Because, of course, the men all wanted to go out on the same night and no one could be bothered to change their plans. It didn't matter that Dare and the rest of Purple team had made these plans months ago. The guys thought they needed to go out and drink or some shit. Or maybe it was a ball game. She didn't know. All she knew was no one could come to a decision about who deserved to get out of the fucking place for just a few hours, so they were having a competition in the Danger Room.
Last team standing won.
It was bullshit. To be honest, Dare would love nothing more than to hit the local bar in town and play some pool. Apparently that wasn't to be. Because the girls needed to do something together, something adult. Something girly. Ugh. She twisted another wall of flame into a tunnel and started through it toward the other end. Faye had given her a view of Logan's location and, while sneaking up on him wasn't easy, the added support of the flames around her and eating at some wood near him would help.
Something buzzed through her brain, bringing her feet to a halt only seconds before a pair of cards passed right before her nose. The distraction brought the cover of flames down to show her that Remy was coming straight at her with more cards in his hand. He whipped them at her before she could even change directions, forcing her to the ground with her arms over her face to avoid being hit and to avoid the spray of rubble that rose when the cards hit and exploded. It wasn't his normal strength, but it would have definitely knocked her on her ass.
When she peeled her arms away, he was standing over her with another pair of cards caught between his fingers. There was a grin on his face, letting her know that he thought she was down for the count. "You give up, cher?" he asked her, the cards in his hand glowing pink.
"Don't count on it, Rem," she replied. With practiced ease, she rolled onto her stomach and swept a leg at him at the same time. Her foot connected with his ankles and threw him off balance. Remy crashed to the floor, the force of impact jarring the cards from his grasp. They sailed through the air and hit high up on the wall behind her.
Remy was on his feet in a second. "Dare. Move!"
She glanced up in time to see the wall giving way, tumbling straight at the ground. Right where she happened to be standing. Time slowed as she turned to run. A few small pieces of concrete hit her shoulders and drove her to her knees. That was when a slightly larger piece slapped against the back of her head and the entire Danger Room spun around her. Remy's hand caught hold of hers and dragged her to her feet, dragged her away from the cascading fall of rubble that landed where she'd just been kneeling.
"You okay, cher?" Remy asked, voice flooded with concern. One hand had a death grip on her arm while the other rose to check her shoulders and the back of her head. She winced when his fingers made contact with a seriously tender spot. She hissed, vaguely aware that the war ravaged plateau had melted away and that everyone else was heading in their direction. Remy paled when he got a look at his hand.
Dare reached up to rub at the sore spot, mildly surprised to feel something wet and sticky coating her palm as she did so. "Fucking hell, that hurt."
"Dare? You okay, darlin'?" Logan asked.
"I'm fine. Why do you keep asking that? Hey. Did we win?" she asked and pulled out of Remy's grasp, intent on hitting the showers now that the whole thing was done with. Only the ground wanted to have a meet with her and pulled her face first toward it. The sounds of people shouting were muffled and darkness was swirling around her and her head hurt and, hell yeah, a nap sounded really good...
~*~
The sharp sting of antiseptic hit her nose and dragged her from the darkness. Fucking infirmary. She was starting to hate this place. How many times had she woken up here with no idea how she'd gotten in a bed? It was becoming painfully repetitive. And holy shit! Who the hell trying to drill for oil on the inside of her skull? She wasn't sure if her head could pound anymore, but she sure as shit didn't want to find out. Groaning, she forced her legs over the edge and sat up. Her hands rose to her forehead in the pitifully stupid attempt make her brain stop trying to spin out of her ear like a fucking Tilt-A-Whirl put into overdrive.
A glance showed her that Henry was in his office, obviously caught up in some paperwork. "Henry!" she called softly, knowing that he'd hear it even at such a quiet level and that any louder would see her head revolting by going into hyper drive. Big Blue never looked up. "Hey! Beast!" she called again, louder this time. Still no reaction. "What the fuck is this shit?"
"He can't hear you, mortal." The voice was masculine, coming from right behind her. Muttering a curse, Dare turned to find a tall man wearing green and yellow. He had giant fucking horns on his head. Okay, then.
"Great. I got hit in the head harder than I thought. The fucking freak squad is out in force." Dare dropped her head gingerly into her hands and counted a slow ten. When she looked up, the horny fucker was still there. "And someone has me on really good drugs."
"This is no illusion, girl. I'm here with you. No one but you can see or hear me."
"That really doesn't reassure me, buddy," she snapped.
"Buddy? Do you not know who I am, child?" Arrogance lanced right into her head and made it pound like a mother. Dare muttered a curse under her breath and shot him an ice cold look.
"Of course I do. You're my fucking hallucination. No doubt brought about because Remy fucking dropped a shitload of bricks on my head." She wobbled her way to her feet and immediately regretted it as someone pretending to be Lars Ulrich began playing double bass and high speeds inside her skull. "Fuck. This is worse than blowing out my powers. Aspirin. Morphine. Jack Daniels. I need something to kill the pain."
Her imaginary friend gave a long sigh of suffering, bringing her gaze back to him. One hand was lifted to pinch the bridge of his nose. Yeah. She had that effect on a lot of people. Finally, he sighed again and made an abortive motion with his hand. "No matter. Your ignorance doesn't change the fact that I've come to you with a mission of grave importance."
"Missions go through Haley. She's team leader. You need to go whisper in her ear. I need to go find something to stop the drumline in my head," Dare replied and wobbled a few steps from the bed before her hallucination was just suddenly standing in front of her. She wobbled back the few steps she'd taken and landed on her ass on the bed. The hallucination moved closer and pointed a finger at her. "Okay. I don't need to find anything to stop the drumline in my head.
"This is a mission for you and you alone, mortal. None other can undertake it."
Dare rolled her eyes up to his face and shook her head, albeit as gently as she was able. "Those things look stupid. How do you keep them on your head? Are they heavy? They look heavy. And stupid."
"By Odin's blood, you'd make Baldr go mad. Focus, girl. You don't have much time before you must undertake your mission."
"I'm about as focused as I'm going to get. Head injury. Hello?" she snarled, not at all pleased by his snotty tone. A glance at herself told her that someone had stripped her and put her in a fricking hospital gown. "And I'm really not dressed to go on any missions. My ass is probably hanging out of this thing." She paused and gave consideration to the words, to where he'd been standing earlier when she'd risen from the cot, and what he could have possibly seen. Her eyes narrowed on him dangerously. "You better not have been looking at my ass."
He rolled his eyes. "The thought never crossed my mind, I assure you."
"Why not? What's wrong with my ass? Why didn't you want to look at it? You're not gay, are you? If you are, this mission had better not involve anything made of silk, lamé, or involve Barbra or Liza. Cos that shit totally ain't happening."
He leveled a look on her that reminded her of that one time she'd accidentally set Logan on fire. He'd looked ready to commit murder and this... Yeah. This was the same kind of look. One finger pointed at her and it was menacing. She didn't know how a finger could be menacing, but it was. "Another word, mortal, and I promise you'll live to regret it."
Okay. That sounded like a really real threat. Dare pressed her lips together and mimed turning a key in a lock before tossing the imaginary key away. Horny guy gave her the hairy eyeball for a second, as if he didn't believe her, then finally let some of the tension out of his shoulders and crossed his arms over his chest. After several more seconds, he began speaking. "You are in desperate need of softness."
Softness? He thought she needed softness? What the holy fuck was this? Someone's idea of a sick joke? Only he was a hallucination and that meant her brain had conjured him up. Stupid brain. It couldn't even conjure up someone hot to look at. No. It gave her the freak squad. What the fuck was up with those horns? Was this her brain's way of telling her that Haley was right and she needed to girlify her life a little? Actually, Haley's suggestion had been that they take her to a spa and leave her there until she came out looking more human and acting more feminine. Okay, so it had been in jest, but still. Was she that nongirlie?
"You have children. You have lovers. You have people you call family. And yet, you're hard as stone." She opened her mouth to make a smart assed comment about Haley being hard as stone, but promptly shut it when he gave her the hairy eyeball again. "You need to learn softness and compassion if you're ever to... Ever to..." He stopped and really looked at her, his eyes searching her face for something. Dare frowned and narrowed her eyes at him, then let a single flame spring to life in her palm. It walked from her hand to her elbow and back. He waved a hand that was meant to erase his previous statement. "No matter. You need to learn softness for others."
"So you're my fairy godfather. Emphasis on fairy?"
He sighed but didn't rise to the bait. "I'm going to send you to four people who need the touch of a caring hand. Compassion. Gentleness. And it will be your duty to give it to them. You will not be able to leave and return here until you have completed this task. Fail this task I'm giving you and you'll be stuck elsewhere."
Dare blinked at him. "Who the fuck are you? Jacob Marley? It isn't fucking Christmas. So what's with the Christmas Carol shit?" It was his turn to blink, as if he had no clue what the hell she was talking about. "Fuck me. You're serious about this shit, aren't you?"
"I am," he nodded. Dare glared at him.
She glared at him menacingly. The look seemed to bounce right off him. "And just how will I know who these four people are? How will I find them?"
"Trust me. You'll know. And you have to give them real comfort before moving on to the next assignment. Each comforting gesture gets you closer to home. Remember that." He leveled a serious look on her. She let it affect her as much as her glare had affected him.
"Fine. What the fuck ever. I've had enough of this Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol shit. And if the Ghost of Christmas Future shows up, I'm going to torch his sorry ass." Dare waved a hand in his direction. "Now get the fuck out of here, dick."
"Your mission starts just beyond that door," the hallucination motioned to the door to the infirmary. Dare glanced at it and snorted. Just beyond that door? What the fuck was he on, anyway?
"There isn't dick beyond that door but the sub basement. What the fuck is this shit?" she asked, turning back to him. But he was gone and there was a very bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Well, shit. Now what?
She stared at the door, wondering what she should do. It was obvious that the horny guy had been a really fucking freaky weird hallucination brought on by getting hammered in the head after the fake but not so fake wall in the Danger Room had exploded thanks to Remy's cards. She was kind of surprised that her brain would come up with such an elaborate hallucination. It was obviously scrambled like eggs. And she was sure that Big Blue would move any minute now, that he'd see her standing and come out to chew her ass for being out of bed. Dr. McCoy did always take his job and his patients' health seriously.
Except Beast didn't look like he was moving any time soon and she had to admit, she was really fucking curious about this mission to find her inner girl. Apparently having two kids didn't qualify. She could give Dee and Liam hugs just fine. In fact, they squealed and giggled and wanted her hugs. And it kind of gave her a warm, squishy feeling deep inside when she wrapped her arms around them and squeezed them tight. Just because she didn't go around giving hugs to everyone didn't mean she didn't know how to be gentle or soft.
Laughter echoed in her head at that thought, obviously finding fault with her reasoning. Even her own brain was ganging up on her. She shot a glare around the room. "Everyone's a fucking critic."
Right. Fine. Obviously she was supposed to open the door and step out into the hallway of the sub basement and pretend to do whatever the fuck it was her brain thought she needed to do. This was all a bunch of shit anyway, right? None of it was really real because she was just hallucinating it all. Yeah. A hallucination. And it wouldn't stop unless she got to it. Heaving a sigh, Dare headed for the door and grasped the knob firmly. "Hey, Big Blue! I'm leaving the infirmary. I hope you don't need me for anything else because I'm gone."
Beast's head never lifted from his paperwork. Dare turned the knob and opened the door...
And stepped out into a hallway bustling with activity. Her nose was assaulted with the sharp scent of dirt and industrial cleaner. The linoleum floors were weathered and worn, smudged and scuffed with the passage of hundreds of feet. The sounds of laughter and chatter, high pitched and childish, rose up all around her. The walls were painted some shade that could have been green, grey, blue, brown, or puke, but were so old and covered with hand prints, finger painted images, water colors on paper, and marker that it was hard to tell. The light was dim and the corridor long, with doors opening up off of it at regular intervals the entire length.
Great. What the fuck was she doing here? And just who the hell was she supposed to visit? No one seemed to notice her even though she stood stupidly in the middle of the hall. That prompted her to glance down and horror rolled through her. She was wearing... It was a nightmare. Her hallucination had gone all out and put her in a crisp, feminine suit in dark blue. Complete with jacket and skirt. The shirt underneath was soft, pale pink and the hose... The hose! She was wearing panty hose, for fuck's sake. And sensible pumps in blue. Her hair was done up in a twist, giving her a professional look. Allowing her to blend in, as if she was some kind of administrator.
She was so fucking glad none of her friends could see her.
A quick peek around the door she'd just stepped through showed her a closet. There was no going back. Well, fuck. This was some strange ass dream. And since she couldn't go back, she had to go forward. With a muttered curse and a sense of purpose, she started forward and thanked God that Morgan had taught her how to walk on low heels years ago. Otherwise she'd have taken a spill, broken her ankle, and done something very undignified and unladylike.
Staff and visitors alike seemed not to notice her as she clip clapped her way along the hall, wondering just what the hell she was supposed to be doing. She didn't even know where the hell she was, despite the sounds of children boiling up all around her. The horny guy had told her that she'd know when she found whatever or whoever the hell it was she was here for. But she wasn't sure that wasn't just a crock of shit. Because nothing had set off any kind of radar so far.
Maybe if she peered into the doors and took a look at what was behind them, that would help. So she took a peek into the first room she came to with an open door. And nearly fell when it became apparent she was in some kind of group home or orphanage. The room was decorated gaily, but not by whoever ran the place. Instead, the walls were plastered with pictures and paintings done in a childish hand. It was obviously a room for girls, because the images had balloons and clowns and horses and princesses and shit like that. It reminded her of Dee's room, with its pale lavender walls and huge collection of stuffed unicorns. Only this room housed at least six girls, if the beds were anything to go by. Six girls crammed into a tiny little space.
The realization staggered her. But nothing in the room seemed to be important enough for her to stay, so she happily skipped on to the next room. And the next. And the next. It hurt to think of all those beds and the children that filled them. Children who didn't have a home or a mother and father or even an aunt or grandparent to love them. Because all she could think about was Dee. Liam. They had both of their parents and tons of love and... Wait a minute. Something about that last room was odd. It had given her a tingly kind of feeling.
Retracing her steps, she found there was only one boy in the room. He was alone, the only child in a room meant for more, sitting facing the window that showed sunshine and blue skies pressing down around the building. His clothes were cheap and well worn, probably used many times by many other children. Hand me downs that had belonged to some other unwanted child. A mop of rich brown hair fell down around his ears and his throat worked convulsively, like he was trying to swallow down tears.
She knew, somehow, that this was her first... First what? Victim? Huggee? She didn't know what to call him. But she knew that this was where she was supposed to be. Glancing around her showed that no one seemed to be paying her any mind, so she slipped inside the room and quietly closed the door. No one, not even people she didn't know, was going to witness her humiliation. No one.
"I'm not hungry and I don't want any visitors. Go away," the boy said, not bothering to look her way. Well, that was rude. It almost brought a smile to Dare's face. But she stomped down on the urge and finished crossing the room. There wasn't another chair, so she settled on the edge of a small desk that had been crammed into the room. "I just want to be left alone."
"Sorry, kid. I can't leave until I give you a hug." Her words brought his head around so that he could stare at her. Moisture glistened in his big brown eyes, but the tears didn't fall. He looked lost and alone and thoroughly pissed off at the world. And he looked like he wanted to do nothing more than smack her for daring to disturb him. Damn. It was almost like looking at herself when she'd been younger. There was something oddly familiar about the boy's stare, some sense of haughtiness or arrogance that she felt she should know. But she was sure she'd never seen the kid before.
He made a noise and turned back to the window, staring at nothing and everything. He obviously had a sad sad story to tell if he was in this place. And the look on his face suggested he would hit her for asking him about it. She wondered at his lack of alarm. He should be worried about being approached by a stranger. But he acted like strange people walked into his room all the time. How the hell was she supposed to handle this? All he needed was a hug, right?
"Look, I don't want to be here anymore than you want me to be here. So just give me a damn hug and we'll call it good."
He turned to regard her with all the disgust and horror a boy his age could muster. Turns out there was a lot of both in his gaze. It was a gaze much too old for such a young face. The boy couldn't be any more than ten years old. There was still enough little kid in his voice to make her think that he hadn't hit puberty yet, though she thought it might not be far off. "Are you for real, lady?" he asked, petulance heavy in his tone.
"No. I'm your freaking fairy godmother," she snapped, already at the end of her rope. "Of course I'm serious. Get your butt up out of that chair and get over here so I can hug you. Soon as I do, I'll be on my merry way and you'll never have to see me again."
"Did Child Services send you to check this place out or what? Is this some kind of trick?"
"Aren't you a snotty one?" She asked the question of him instead of answering him. He glowered at her. The sound of laughter rose up from outside of the building. She motioned to the window. "Why aren't you out there playing with everyone else?"
"Because no one likes me."
Dare rolled her eyes. Yeah. That was a surprise. "Maybe if you weren't such a grumpy gus," she said, trying for a light tone. When she realized what she'd just said, she could have slapped herself. That sounded like something that her mother would have said to her when she was a little kid.
"They don't like me because they think I'm a freak," he snapped at her. That took her back. Because she understood exactly how he felt. Even worse, she could remember feeling every single emotion that crowded his voice. Anger, confusion, sadness, self-loathing. That and so much more. Hadn't she felt that way all her life? The only time she'd ever felt normal during her childhood was when she was with Morgan.
"They're all idiots," she replied softly. Dismissively. The boy blinked at her, obviously surprised by her words. Then the surprise leaked away and left only wariness behind. He crossed his arms over his chest, once again reminding her of someone she thought she knew. She could swear she'd seen that posture before. If only she could think...
"How do you know? You're just a girl. No one teases the pretty girls." The petulance made her want to singe his shorts. Just a little. But she held on to the urge and caught up with the conversation. The pretty girls. He thought she was pretty? Maybe he needed his eyes checked. She'd never been pretty.
"I used to get called a freak, too. All the time. People made fun of me for being shy. For having a boy's name. For being different and strange." She saw him look her over again, as if trying to see what it was she was talking about. "All it takes is one good friend to make all of those things seem far away and stupid. The minute you find that friend... All of this?" She motioned around the room with one hand. "It'll be like it never existed."
"I hate it here," he admitted. His jaw clenched in that familiar action again, then he turned wide eyes her way. "Can't you take me with you? I promise I wouldn't be any trouble."
"I wish I could, kiddo. But I can't. I'm just here to dispense hugs. And maybe a little advice. The next time the kids are a bunch of d--orks, ignore them. Pretend they don't exist. Pretty soon, they'll give up on it because its no fun for them anymore."
"Really?" The kid sounded hopeful. Dare raised a hand and gave him a smile.
"I promise. And if they don't, kick them in the nuts. That should see them backing off."
He stared at her for a few seconds, weighing something silently in his head. Then he got up and crossed to where she sat perched on the desk. "Thanks. I don't remember, but I'd like to think that my mom was like you. That she'd give me advice and give me hugs even when I said I didn't want them. You'd be a good mom."
Before she could reply to him, the kid threw himself at her and wrapped his arms around her tight. Dare was so shocked that, for just a moment, she could only blink. Then she curved her arms around him and hugged him back. If she heard the boy sniffle a little bit, she said nothing. And when he wanted to pull away, she let him go without a fight. He gave her a look that said she'd better not tell anyone about this, then returned to his seat.
Dare stared at the back of his head for a few minutes. "So... This is good bye then?" she asked, unsure what was supposed to come next. The boy shrugged his shoulders. He obviously didn't care what it was. He'd had his moment and now he was going to go back to being all angry and masculine. God, didn't she ever get away from people like that? He almost reminded her of...
She took a good look at him. Nah. There was no way. Shrugging the sudden sense of familiarity off, she slipped out of the room and into the hallway. To find herself standing in a medium sized shed filled with small bits of machinery and tools. A radio played in one corner, filling the shack with the lovely sounds of guitar rock. Shelves hung on the wall, holding tools and mechanical things and plans and... Hell, she couldn't put any names on what most of the stuff on the shelves. The only thing she was sure of was that it looked like the shed belonged to a budding mad scientist.
Said budding mad scientist was bent over a work bench, hands moving as he did... something. She didn't know a socket wrench from a screwdriver (except when being used as tools to break into a place), so she couldn't say what he was doing. But he was working on some little project or another. And he seemed totally oblivious to her presence. Right. She could fix that. Reaching out, she rapped a couple of knuckles against the wooden door of the shed and watched as his head came up with a jerk and turned her way.
Blue eyes that were as big as saucers blinked at her owlishly through the magnifying lenses of a pair of goggles. Or something. An unruly mop of dark hair crowned his head and he was wearing a nicer shirt than the pink one the horny guy had provided her with. His gaze flicked over her dispassionately, as if he was used to strange women just popping up out of nowhere. "If you're looking for my father, he's up at the main house. I don't know how you got in here, but..." the boy trailed off and blinked at her again. "Um, you aren't here to see my father, are you?"
Wow. This was some freaky ass hallucination. "Kid, I don't think your father wants to see me. Why are you hiding out here?" At least she assumed he was hiding and out here. Where ever here was.
The boy regarded her with serious eyes. Sad eyes. The blue of them was deep and rich, almost a physical presence despite the fact that the kid was probably around the same age as the last one she'd visited. There was a smudge of dirt on his cheek where he'd absently brushed his skin with filthy fingers. It looked like he was playing with some kind of circuit board and she knew enough to know that he was holding a soldering iron in one hand. Okay. That explained why she was here. The kid would rather spend his time hiding in a shed, doing the kinds of things geeks did, than get out and enjoy the world. "You're sure you're not here to see my father?"
"No. I'm not here to see your father," she shook her head. So horny guy thought she could be of help to buddy geeks? Well, at least she had the tits for it. He continued to stare at her, as if wondering just why she was there. "I'm here to see you, kid."
The boy blinked and obviously gave her words some thought. "Me? Why me?"
Dare made a point of letting her gaze move around the room and land on pretty much everything in it before allowing it to come to rest on the boy one more time. His own stare, filled with confusion and a sense of innocence that seemed wrong on him, tripped around the room and looked at everything it contained before returning to her. And she could see there that he didn't get it at all. Sighing, she shook her head. "Why are you hiding out here? Why aren't you out playing with other guys your age? Baseball or football or something like that?"
The look he gave her suggested that she was off her rocker. "And who am I supposed to play with?" Great. Another one with an attitude and arrogance. She watched as he removed the magnifying goggles, then set the soldering iron down in its holder. One hand reached absently for a rag laying on the bench. He wiped his hands on it, completely failing to remove the smudges on his fingertips, then gave her a good once over. The look he gave her when she was done suggested that the suit Horny Guy had put her in was cheap as hell.
Everyone was a fucking critic.
"Gee, I don't know. What about kids in the freaking neighborhood?" she suggested with a hint of temper coloring her words.
The boy stared at her for a few seconds then shook his head and crossed his arms over his thin chest. "Just how dumb are you, lady? There are no kids in the neighborhood. This is the neighborhood." One hand motioned at everything in their general vicinity.
"Then play with your dad," she shrugged. It seemed a logical, simple solution to her. The boy snorted at her, letting her know that it wasn't that simple after all.
"My father is more interested in drinking than doing anything fun with me. Any time he spends with me, its to tell me that I have to push myself to be the best at everything I do."
"Over achiever, huh?" she asked, trying to be sympathetic. "I was never that into education and doing my best."
"That's blatantly obvious," the kid remarked dryly, his gaze raking her up and down almost clinically. "Let me guess. You wanted to be an underwear model when you were younger and that fell through. You do look a little too thick around the middle to be a model."
She made a very not nice face at him. "Excuse you! Rude much? You don't talk to women like that."
"And how do I talk to women?" the kid asked. He sounded for all the world like he really wanted to know.
"Women like to be complimented. Treated with respect. Made to feel special." She eyed him from head to toe much like he had her. "They like men who are confident and charismatic. Well dressed and well spoken."
"What about handsome?" he asked curiously.
"Yes. Women like handsome men. Handsome is a plus," she chuckled. "Most women don't go for geeky guys."
He frowned at that. "What's wrong with being geeky?"
"There's nothing wrong with being geeky, as long as you aren't geeky in public. Be suave. Debonair. Smooth. Like I said. Being well groomed goes a long way." She paused and waited for the lightning to strike. When the hell had she become Dear Abby for the prepubescent set? First the orphan boy and now the budding mad scientist. Someone was laughing at this hallucinogenic jaunt through the lives of juvenile delinquents. "Girls like guys who are good with their hands. Like being able to work on cars."
His eyes took in the things that crowded around them. She grinned. "You're on the right track there, kiddo."
"My father wants me to do something important with my life. Solve the world's problems. Be somebody," the boy told her. The tone of his voice suggested he didn't want to do what his father wanted of him. She couldn't blame him for that.
"Your father can take a flying leap." That statement brought the boy's deep blue gaze up to her face. It was almost as if he'd never even considered thinking such a thing. She smiled at him. "Seriously, kiddo. You're the one in control of your life. Not your dad."
The surprise fled, was replaced by a small touch of fear. "He's scary when he's drinking." Some of the maturity that came with his obvious intelligence leaked away in the face of memories and the fear that belonged to all young children. She wondered if the boy's father needed to be smacked around some. But he didn't act as if he was afraid of being hit. Just... afraid. Of being wrong. Of being a disappointment. Of being a failure. Of not being whatever it was that would make his father proud of him.
The boy was aching for someone to love him.
Time to give the boy's ego a big boost. "You're a smart guy, right?" she asked him. Those too blue eyes rolled at her like she was asking a stupid question. Probably she was. "Right. Since you're so smart, that means that you can do anything you put your mind to, right?"
"Yeah. I guess." The boy didn't sound so sure on that one.
"Hey. You're smart enough to do whatever you put your mind to, kiddo. If you want to build a freaking space ship and fly to Mars, you can do it. And because you can do anything you want, that means you don't have to do what your father wants you to."
The boy frowned at her. "That doesn't make any sense."
"Fine. Try this. How smart are you?"
He stared at her and considered it. Then smiled. She thought she'd seen a smile like that before, but she couldn't remember where. "I'm going to be going to high school next fall." High school? She blinked at him. High School? How the hell was he going to high school? He was like... a baby. Suddenly, she felt as stupid as many of the people at Xavier's had accused her of being.
"Okay. So you're really, really smart." She leveled him with a look. "That means you can do anything you want. Anything. Don't let your father make you something you don't want to do. With brains and money, you can do whatever makes you happy."
"What about good looks?" he asked, a playful grin on his face. How a little boy could look so grown up was beyond her, but she smiled and shook her head at him.
"With good looks, you can get away with doing anything."
The humor faded away to leave a confused little boy in its wake. It was quite the change from the self-assured young man who had just been there. Dare watched him as he gave something deep, serious thought. "You're sure? You're sure I can do anything?"
"You put your mind to it, kiddo, you can rule the world."
He gave her a look, an utterly mad scientist kind of look. "Hmmm. I don't know if I want to rule the world. But I'll consider it. And thank you for talking to me. Even if you are kind of strange."
She grinned at that. "Kiddo, you don't know the half of it."
Silence fell between the two of them then. Dare stood there and stared at him. The boy remained where he was, staring back at her. He was waiting for her to leave. She was waiting for the hug that would send her on her way. Of course, he didn't look like he might be all that willing to give a hug. Despite his youth, there was that sense of maturity that prevented him from sharing a small emotional display with just about anyone. "Um... The door's just there." He motioned toward the door behind her.
"Yeah. About that..." she drawled. "See, I kind of need a hug before I can go. I won't go into long explanations that are bound to bore you. I just need to do the hug thing. Then I'm out of your hair for good."
"You need a hug? Before you can leave?" He was trying to puzzle it out. She could tell by the look in those pretty blue eyes of his. Eyes like those were going to be lady killers when he was grown. She was sure that he was going to have women falling at his feet. "Have I missed something?"
"No. That about covers it." She shrugged a shoulder at him. "I know it isn't the best situation. But it is what it is. And if you want me out of your hair... Yeah. Come give me a squeeze."
He slid from his stool and stared at her for a moment, his eyes bright as if he was trying to puzzle her out. She said nothing, knowing that he would decide or not on his own. But if he didn't... Well, fuck. She was in a world of hurt then. She mentally crossed her fingers and stood waiting. Pressuring him wouldn't do her any good. Either he would hug her or he wouldn't. But if he didn't, she was going to strangle the little fucker for leaving her stranded her. She had a sneaking suspicion that Horny Guy wouldn't do anything to help her.
Because it was all a fucking hallucination.
Why the hell couldn't she have hallucinated laying on the beach in Hawaii or the Bahamas or some shit? Or looking at crumbling old castles on the moors or something? Why did she have to hallucinate about this crap? Was someone punishing her for something she did in her youth? Was she...
She was brought out of her thought by the sound of a clearing throat. She looked down at the boy curiously. "Thank you. For all your advice. And for pretending to be interested in what I have to say. Most adults don't do that." The boy held out his hand. Dare smiled at him, trying hard not to show him that she was gritting her teeth in frustration, and lifted her hand so they could shake. The boy grinned and tugged her into him for a hug.
Christ, he was almost as tall as she was. His head was pillowed on her tits and the smile he wore suggested he was more than pleased by this. But she put that thought out of her mind as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight. A sense of relief flooded her and she returned the hug. It was quick, but heart felt, and when he stepped back, his eyes glimmered with some inner joke. Dare nodded at him and turned to go.
Her hand was on the knob, the door swinging open with the small amount of force she put against it, when she realized something wasn't quite right. The strap across her back was loose and... Son of a bitch! The freaky little mad scientist perv had undone her bra!