Ren and Doc do a little yoinky yoinky-

Doc and Mumbo do a little makey makey.

Xisuma and Alex are sure there's something up with the gift Iskall got(ty gotty /j)

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HYDRA had quickly become the Avengers' main focus over the past few months. With so much uncovered, there was no way they could ignore what they'd been up to. Clint could see Natasha especially hated what they'd done to the kids they'd kidnapped... It reminded her too much of the Red Room. And it reminded him of that too.

Taking down the bases was admittedly the easiest part. It was finding them, searching them... and processing what they'd found that was hard. They'd stumbled upon some truly gruesome things, ones that proved just how much HYDRA needed to put stomped out again.

Thor stopped to pray for every fallen victim they'd found, asking for Vahalla to accept these brave souls that didn't... that never got the chance to reach adulthood. He'd seen how they'd fought, either on the walls as ghosts of what had been, in files on the "defective rebellious" ones, or over the pieces of video Stark had managed to scrape out of the bases.

Bruce could barely imagine what it was like to go through that as a kid. He could barely handle when he'd signed up willingly for something similar as an adult...

Even Tony's usual snark dropped a bit every time he visited one of the bases. He nearly had a heart attack when he saw a kid that looked like Harley (a kid who'd helped him after his house got blown up by terrorists), and all he could think of was parents waiting for their kid to come home... only for it to never happen.

The empathy and sadness they all felt each time just fueled their fire to end this. So no other kid would die young, thought of as just another experiment or soldier.

Nobody deserved that fate.

-------------------

Doc really liked being around Cleo: she was one of the few who got what it was like to not have anything to go back to. And she scared him a bit, which he couldn't help but find interesting about her. It wasn't even the undead part, it was just how clever and somewhat vicious she could be. He'd seen when the wrong guy got on her bad side, either by being too cocky (that usually just ended with him losing) or trying to... touch her in ways she didn't ask for. That Doc never understood why those guys would do that, and it was satisfying to watch them run from rat and possum corpses.

No matter the reason, that zombie was scary and he respected that.

But... they had their calm moments together too.

Doc and Cleo sat on the fire escape, while everyone else was either napping or out trying to get some money. It was about noon, so they figured someone would come back with lunch sometime soon. They were talking about scam ideas that wouldn't be too obvious (to the ones being scammed and to Xisuma) or too mean (in case Xisuma did find out), trying not to laugh at the more ridiculous ideas they shared from the other Hermits.

"I dunno, I like Zed's idea. It'd be impractical as hell, but entertaining enough to get people to sign up even if they know they aren't getting that money back." The cyborg chuckled, watching Cleo cackle and kick her feet.

"Honestly? I think that's one of the few scams I'd be totally fine losing to!"

Doc nodded a bit, then jumped at feeling something soft brush against his human arm and nearly smacking his head against the railing. The cat that'd snuck up on him just meowed in confusion, making Cleo giggle.

"Aww- You okay?"

"Yeah-" Doc cleared his throat a bit, embarrassed.

"I meant the cat."

Despite it clearly being a joke, Doc gave her a bit of a glare.

"What are they doing up here..? How-?"

"I dunno, it's a cat. They do whatever they want." Cleo shrugged, watching the black cat start to crawl into Doc's lap. The German froze, unsure of what to do. "Pfft- awww, they like you!"

So it seemed, based on the soft purrs coming from the kitty. After a second, Doc relaxed a little bit. The cat sniffed his hand and nuzzled against him, seeming unaware of the scars. It didn't want to hurt him, just... wanted some affection. Cute. He found himself smiling, and Cleo reached over to offer her least decayed hand to the cat. It sniffed her a bit, before moving to nuzzle against the hand with a louder purr.

"Huh." Doc chuckled softly. "Can... Can we keep this one?"

-------------------

Joe usually wasn't pranked. Simply because he healed everyone up, and every little scrape he healed drained some of his energy for that day. So it was courtesy to leave him out of that.

But... he'd been feeling a bit left out, and a few people overheard him saying this to Cleo. So, Iskall and Ren teamed up for a harmless little surprise. Which included a lot of balloons.

So... so many balloons.

The moment Joe opened the cabinet they'd been keeping their snacks in, dozens of balloons spilled out, making him jump a bit before just laughing. "Oh my god- really?"

The two guilty parties grinned at each other from across the room while the others just laughed, having been warned of the balloon avalanche. The Voids stared at the pile, slowly bobbing out and flowing onto the floor.

"Whoever did this has to clean it up." Alex sighed, his mask hiding an amused smile. Ren paused before grabbing a balloon and rubbing it on Doc's head.

"Huh-?" Doc looked very confused until he felt the top of his head, where most of his hair was now standing on end and stinging his human hand with static. "WH- Really??"

He held back confused laughter while Ren cackled.

-------------------

The Hermits had to clean their clothes somehow. Even if it meant a bit of stealing in order to afford to do it properly. And walking all across the city, carrying boxes and bags of clothes.

If they could manage to afford it, they tried to do it... what, at least once a month? That was the plan, especially since Xisuma had no clue how long they'd have to be doing this. Alex just loved having clean and soft clothes every once and a while, especially since he was tired of cleaning his mask in sinks at random bathrooms he'd... snuck into. Being in a dark bathroom alone was creepy, even if he was sure it wasn't haunted.

Impulse was helping collect clothes to be cleaned, and was helping Zed get out of the borrowed hoodie and into his favorite brown sweater (sorry, jumper). Them and Tango were comfortable enough with each other to do this (especially since Zed kept getting stuck in his own clothes), but... Impulse had never noticed the lightning scars on their collarbones before.

He stopped mid-sentence, going from an amused smile to confusion, to realization, to horror. "I- Zed..."

"Huh-? What, do I have something on my face..?" Zed processed his friend's tone and expression, changing his own tone to speak softly. "Impulse? You okay?"

"You- You didn't tell me..." Impulse stared at the thin branches of scarred tissue across the Brit's chest. Zed raised an eyebrow, then felt around his chest.

"Oh- Uh... I'm gonna be honest, I forgot about those. I don't think I told you about them before so you wouldn't freak out, But..." Zed shrugged a bit. "Do they look cool though?"

"Zed! I- I hurt you!" Impulse went to protest. "D-Do Tango have them too? Do-"

"Eh- Nuh uh, mister-" Zed interrupted as his friend went to guilt ramble. "I'm fine. Remember when I accidentally chucked a sharp rock at your head?"

"... and you cried for five minutes? Yeah- ... oh, I see." Impulse held back a sad chuckle. "That's different-"

"No, it's not! If I can't feel guilty, you can't either- I'm sure you have a scar under all that lovely hair from that, so we're even! If I can't feel awful, neither can you!" Zed grinned, going to hug him. "Deal?"

"Pfft- ... fine... this goes for Tango too?"

"Absolutely. None of us can feel bad for accidents- Besides, it's not like we're Doc-level scarred." Zed joked lightly...

Unaware that the German was right behind him. "Uh... you two okay..?"

The two jumped as Doc awkwardly stood there, wearing a spare hoodie.

"Doc! Uh- sorry, we thought everyone was out-" Zed scrambled to put on his spare shirt. Impulse looked up at the cyborg, clearing his throat.

"Um- Do you need any clothes cleaned?"

"Yeah. Sorry, I didn't mean to walk in on- this-" Doc quickly threw the shirt in his hand into the bag before rushing out. Is that how the others saw their own scars..? He'd never really thought about his before. Impulse looked so guilty and freaked out, but Zed... he seemed so calm about it. And yet...

He could almost feel one on his back burning, one they had given him on purpose. Like tagging an animal- no, Zed's were different. He said it himself, he hadn't meant to...

He remembered seeing Bdubs' bandaged arm. Had that left a scar? Should he feel the same as Impulse? At least in that case, it was just powers out of control, but for Doc... he'd meant to hurt them all. Maybe it was the brainwashing, but...

No. No, Ren had talked him through this. Don't think about it.

Doc hugged himself a bit before taking a breath and going to try finding someone else. That'd help him. It usually did. He could talk to someone about the scars later, for now... try to find something happy. Yeah. Happy place.

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:] 

I think many of you will like the next chapter.

Have an amazing day, evening, and night everyone! G'bye <3

- CinnabonSys (has been... ahead????)