Uh oh, Doc trauma!! :)

But what happened while he was unconscious?

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"What was that?" Alex asked quietly, not looking up from their unconscious friend.

"... the Creeper. HYDRA must've found us... we're not safe here." Ren moved to pick up Doc.

"Wh- We can't bring him with us! What if he tries to kill us again!?" Bdubs rushed over, his feet finally unglued from the concrete.

"He won't. Just... I promise I'll explain everything- But that- that wasn't him. He didn't have a choice..."

"He's in pain..." Joe said quietly. The others all looked at him, confused. Joe immediately realized he said that out loud, "I- I don't know. I just- I can just feel it. He's scared- We can't leave him here. Besides, I'm sure he can help explain once he's awake, right?"

Hesitantly, Bdubs agreed that they should bring Doc back. Alex and Xisuma rushed ahead to gather everyone else and make sure they were all okay while Joe, Bdubs, and Ren tried to find a place to lay low and set down the cyborg.

"So why did he want to murder us?" Bdubs demanded.

"... well..."

And Ren explained. As more people came back, confused, Joe filled them in on the horrific things Doc and Ren had gone through. Even if the werewolf didn't go into detail, even just the vague bits of description made them all shiver. Bdubs' look of distrust slowly melted away, replaced with an invisible, heavy weight on his chest.

Doc wasn't tense and on edge because he was planning something. He was worried he was putting them all in danger.

He looked down at the unconscious cyborg as Ren talked, trying to carefully get the gas mask off of his friend. Bdubs, for once, took a good look at the scars. The ones on his face, along his cybernetic half, the scratches on his more human side that peeked over the mask, the ones on his human arm. An even heavier wave of guilt hit him.

Bdubs looked down at his own arm, where Joe had healed the gash best he could (he wasn't fully focused, but it had stopped bleeding so Bdubs didn't complain). Doc was still an annoyingly tall jerk, but...

"Ren.. I'm sorry. Neither of you deserved any of that." Iskall said softly, putting a hand on Ren's shoulder. Mumbo nodded a bit, at a loss for words.

Tango nodded. "That sounds awful... no wonder Doc's so para- .... So alert."

He didn't want to say paranoid, that didn't fit in this context. Impulse nodded too. The Voids both exchanged worried looks, then everyone found themselves looking at Doc and Ren.

"... let's get that mask off him. The last thing he needs is to wake up with that." Xisuma said quietly. Ren nodded a bit, gently lifting Doc's head to try to find the clip.

"Damn- it's locked on, maybe I can cut the straps off..?"

'That looks more like a muzzle than a mask...' Iskall thought, frowning. Poor Doc... this is what he'd been dealing with? Zed and Impulse moved to help move the mask so Ren could get it off without hurting Doc or waking him up. Ren was surprised at how unresponsive Doc was- Xisuma hadn't hit him that hard, right? No... it was probably his brain resetting from the... programming.

When Doc woke up and remembered what had happened, it took a moment to calm him down and stop the cyborg from just running away. He needed some convincing, but Doc agreed that he'd wait until...

Well, that didn't matter.

Sitting in silence, nobody dared speak for a few minutes. Despite the calm, stone-faced expression Doc had, he was shaking. From the returned adrenaline, mixture of emotions, and anxiety. He hated waking up from that. He always did, and he always woke up with a deep feeling of regret, even if he couldn't immediately remember what he did.

But somehow this felt worse. Despite everyone assuring him nobody was killed and the worst injuries were already taken care of, he still felt physically ill from guilt. What did they all think of him now? Everyone here had only treated him with understanding and kindness (except maybe Bdubs), and he'd returned it by trying to kill them. Alex and Xisuma had gone above and beyond to try helping him adjust and keep him comfortable, Tango had endlessly provided warmth and laughter (even if Doc was still working on showing that openly), Ren knew the kinds of things he'd done before and still thanked him for the bit of good he'd done and had been so patient-

"Doc...?" Cleo's voice, which was unusually gentle, snapped the German out of his spiraling thoughts. He looked up a bit to show he'd heard her, but couldn't make himself look at anyone.

"Hm."

"Are... you okay?" Ren whispered, his hand slowly resting on Doc's shoulder. The cyborg tensed. He didn't deserve this. He wasn't safe to be around.

"No. Listen- I-" He cringed at how much his voice shook. As he forcibly held back tears and tried to regain his composure, he didn't notice the worried looks being passed around the group.

With a sigh, Bdubs spoke up first. "Listen, Doc..."

"If you need me to leave, I get it. Especially after this."

Frowning at the response, Bdubs shook his head. "No, you idiot- I can't believe I'm saying this but... I think you should stay. Especially after that."

Doc's head jolted up in surprise to stare at Bdubs in shock, and he wasn't the only one. Alex had planned to be the one to ask Doc to stay, but- hey, if Bdubs had it.

"Wait- but- what-?" The German stuttered hoarsely.

"I think this proves you shou- .... You need to stay with us. From what Ren's told us, you... you've been alone with... those guys for a long time."

Doc gave a confused nod.

"Well. Not anymore." Bdubs stood up and offered a hand to Doc. "You're stuck with us now, buddy. Good luck getting rid of us."

As the cyborg stared, Ren finally broke the silence with a laugh. "Yeah, you're not gonna get away from any of us that easy, dude."

"It's gonna take much more than Nazi brainwashing to make us leave you alone." Cleo added with a grin, making Joe chuckle.

Doc was at a complete loss for words, looking around at the group. From Ren, to the nodding ZIT trio, to Bdubs (who firmly kept his hand out), to the Voids. The brothers seemed to be smiling at him.

"But- You-"

"We know what we're agreeing to, mate." Xisuma assured softly.

Hesitantly, Doc took Bdubs' hand and let him help him up. "... Thank you. All of you. It... this is more, so much more than I de-"

"Nuh uh-" Zed interrupted. "You deserve the very best, my friend. Especially after the BS you've already had to go through."

A defiant tear finally managed to slip down Doc's cheek as he looked at Zed in a mix of confusion and disbelief.

"We're all gonna be with you until the end of the line, man." Ren grinned, standing up to tackle the crying German into a hug. Something about that- the words mixed with the simple action- broke Doc's heart in... a good way? There was a weird rush of relief as he finally broke, burying his face in Ren's shoulder with a small sob. Ren's ears flattened a bit at the sound, but didn't flinch or let go of his friend.

"Do... you need a minute?" Impulse asked softly, standing up too. Doc nodded, hugging Ren back as tight as he could without hurting him by accident.

"We'll be in the bookshop down the street. Okay? Go there when you're ready." At Alex's statement, the others got up and left, with the exception of the cyborg, Ren... and Bdubs. Ren held Doc a bit tighter, the two slowly moving to sit down. Bdubs sat in front of them, earning a bit of a confused look from Ren.

"I... I want to say that... I'm sorry. For how I treated you. You didn't deserve that." Bdubs grumbled a bit. Ren really didn't want to laugh (he knew Bdubs didn't like admitting when he was wrong), but his expression did make the attempted apology kinda funny.

Doc looked over, just a bit.

"I- I guess you weren't trying to put us in danger- the opposite actually- it was kinda dumb of me to leap to dumb conclusions like that, you didn't deserve that or need that at all-" Bdubs rambled, crossing his arms a bit and messing with the upper part of one of his sleeves.

"Hey- I- It's okay. Really." Doc got out. "I... I'm just... glad you want me to stay. Thank you."

Joe and Xisuma separated from the rest after a bit to get some food and water. If Doc had been crying the whole time since they'd left (Xisuma half hoped he hadn't, but if he did, then at least the cyborg was getting it out), then he'd need the hydration and energy.

"You see anything yet?"

Joe shook his head. "Nothin' that wouldn't cost more than we got."

"Dang it..." Xisuma looked around again, then noticed a small cafe. "Maybe there?"

"May as well check- if we can see any of the prices on the menus." Joe shrugged, going over to a crosswalk. He'd seen countless people just run across the street, but he didn't feel like being run over or yelled at today, thank you.

X followed, and the two were quiet again, still thinking about earlier events.

Opening the door for his friend and two other passersby, Joe glanced at the counter and the menu above it. He had to squint to read the lettering (either he needed new glasses or he desperately needed to properly clean these ones... probably the last one. Hopefully the last one.)

"Okay- the prices don't look too bad compared to most places." Joe muttered to Xisuma as he walked over. "Judging from the portions people are getting, I think we can get away with one meal per two people?"

"Good- I don't want to starve everyone, but..."

"Don't worry 'bout it, Suma. We all get it, we don't have all the money in the world, and definitely not enough to properly feed everyone three times a day." Joe assured, "Just as long as we have enough to keep going, we'll be fine."

Xisuma nodded a bit. "Right- Should we-? Wait-"

He noticed the person at the counter talking with someone else, someone who clearly wasn't ordering. Joe noticed too and shrugged a bit, pulling X closer to them.

"Wh- hey- Joe, we can't just-"

"Shush- listen-"

The two men were talking about the apartment spaces upstairs.

"Yeah- the one above us is still blocked off from that alien nonsense. Heard the people who used to live there had to shove their stuff out the window, toss it into the alley." The man behind the counter chuckled, grabbing a rag. "World's crazy."

"I keep telling you, it always has been- but yeah, I don't think anyone's moving here for a bit, unless they're crazy."

"Crazy to pay these prices? Along with the crime, and now aliens? Yeah, people are still gonna see this city as the 'land of opportunity'. Probably even more so with the tourist attractions."

"You mean where people nearly died?"

"Same difference, you know how people are."

Joe snorted quietly, then thought.

"Anyway- nice seeing you, hope the wife's well."

"Thanks- hope your kid gets into that college he wanted."

The guy behind the counter crossed his fingers with a smile, then noticed Joe and Xisuma. "Oh- sorry, kids- you need something?"

"Uh, yeah-" Xisuma nodded, confused on why Joe wanted to listen in on that. The two ordered, Joe lost in thought the whole time. As they waited, the poet dragged Xisuma outside.

"Where are we going?? What was that for?"

"You'll see- I think I have an idea-"

Joe went into the alley beside the cafe and grabbed a small box that was nearby, chucking it at the fire escape. It took a try or two, and when he did hit it, it came down loudly. Fortunately, the traffic around them was just as loud.

"That... wasn't as cool as I envisioned it but I can work with this." Joe chuckled, offering to help boost X up. The Brit snorted, still not sure what was happening as he got up to the ladder, helped Joe up the best he could, and followed his friend up the metal stairs.

"Here- I think this was the place-" Joe tested to see if the window was unlocked (it was), then opened it up. "Jeez- Maybe- just wait a moment and let this air out before we head in-?"

"Okay-? OH- Joe- I can't tell if you're a genius or if this is a horrible idea-"

After peeking around the abandoned apartment and letting the remaining stale smell air out, Joe and X headed back down for their food, and to tell the others of their findings.

"Good news! We have food, and possibly shelter!" Joe announced, doing his best to balance the to-go boxes. Bdubs looked up from his game of sticks with (to X's surprise) Doc, and grinned.

"Wait, really??? How-??"

"You'll see-"

Tango scrambled up to his feet from Impulse's lap, helping the brunet up as he spoke. "Seriously! Please tell me it's, like- inside inside-"

"It is- can someone please help-?" Xisuma sighed in relief as his brother and Zed walked over to help with his boxes. Iskall and Ren then went to help Joe, and the group (while trying to not look overly suspicious) made their way to their new home.

While the apartment wasn't perfect, it was better than what they had before. A steady roof, insulation, some level of privacy, a home base.

"If we somehow steal a mini fridge- hell, even if we just get a cooler and some ice, we can actually have leftovers for once- and stock up on food without worrying we're gonna leave it behind or have it be stolen!" Tango cheered, flopping onto the carpet.

"I might never have to use a trash bag as a pillow again-" Impulse joked, crawling into Tango's lap. "I've never loved carpet burns so much."

"How would we get stuff up here though?" Ren wondered, leaning against the wall with his hoodie off (he could actually do that now, without the worry of someone seeing his more wolf-like features).

"Well- I could try to make a pulley system? One we can remove and put away-" Mumbo offered. Cleo jumped a bit.

"Jeez- sorry- I- I forgot you were here-"

And Iskall started laughing. While Mumbo was the youngest of the group, he was also the tallest. And the quietest (sometimes). He and Doc had a similar tendency to accidentally sneak up on people, thanks to their oddly silent footsteps, when just trying to get around and talk.

"Sorry! Uh-"

"It's fine- but that's actually a good idea-" Cleo chuckled, moving to look through her bag. "If we actually had the parts for that sort of thing."

"I mean, I don't think it'd take much- even just a rope and a bucket could do, theoretically. That'd be a bit boring, but-" Mumbo smiled awkwardly.

"Maybe that for now, and if you come up with something cooler, you can make that." Alex patted Mumbo's shoulder as he passed, having just.... Acquired some blankets for the group and set them in a heap in a corner. Bdubs looked over at the heap, huffed, and stood up to go fold them.

"I- what are you doing?" Doc asked without thinking.

"Folding these- it's gonna drive me crazy if they're just left in a freaking PILE on the FLOOR- we're homeless, not animals!" Bdubs' rant made the group (including Alex and Doc) laugh. "Oh hush, all of you!"

Still, the small boy couldn't help but smile a bit. It did feel nice to have a more stable shelter to call home, it felt more.... Normal. More safe.

"Come on, let's finish the rest of our food then try to get some sleep. We can worry about making this place more hospitable later." Xisuma chided.

"Look at me, I'm Egg-suma and I use big fancy words." Doc muttered lightheartedly under his breath, having watched Alex do something similar earlier in a way that made the others laugh.

"Pffft-" Alex got an annoyed look from his brother as he snickered.

"Look what you did. You're a bad influence on him-"

"I don't know what you're talking about. Egg-suma."

The room burst into giggles, and the cyborg grinned with just a hint of pride in himself.

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Well pluck my nose hairs and send me to Alaska

Hope you enjoyed that- XD 

We're very proud of this chapter, the scene after Doc wakes up in particular. So, I do want to ask: what's one scene YOU'VE written that you're proud of?

Have an amazing and wonderful day, evening, and night. Goodbye <3

- CinnabonSys (is on a roll)