Chapter Text
"Home sweet home." G-Man said as the group finally emerged from the dark tunnel into their secluded section of the Tube. As everyone dispersed, Jerry headed toward the generator to crank it up. Once the generator roared to life and the remaining, dim overhead florescent lights finally kick on to reveal the platform that had served as their home for a few months.
"At least it better than where we used to live." All nodded in agreement as their new member looked at her surroundings curiously from Terrance's arms. The group had just returned to London from the long trip from the country with the return trip becoming quite amusing with the young girl tagging along. Her reactions to seeing new things spoke volumes of her naïveté and child-like wonder with the world around her. It also reflected her experience within the lab itself, especially when just as they entered to city the way her eyes watched the dawn approach. To the boys it seemed as if it were honestly the first time she ever saw the sun the way she paused in her incoherent rambling to turn to the western horizon and focused intently at the sky as it turned from pink to orange and finally sky blue with every passing minute. Her expression as she watched was completely serene yet sad as the dawn seemed to remind her of something long forgotten and buried deep within her mind. The rest of the drive was relatively silent as she studied the sky as they continued through the city.
After pulling into a back alley, everyone filed out of the car with Terrance carrying the girl as to avoid her falling and stepping in filth. The streets were still deserted in the early morning hours so they had no trouble slipping around the barricade that blocked off the underground entrance to their home. There had been an untold amount of damage from the Nazi invasion five years prior and the Underground hadn't been an exception. Reconstruction continued everyday but due to a lack of funds the country could only focus on essential portions of the tube system which made it the perfect hideaway for the wayward teens as they used their torch lights to navigate around cave-ins and left behind materials from construction crews that were pulled from more important, higher paying jobs throughout the decrepit city.
As the motley crew continued deeper into the darkness of the underground, Terrance noticed with every step the girl seemed to become more restless in his arms, occasionally whimpers escaped her clenched teeth as she pulled herself closer to him. In hopes of calming her nerves he started talking quietly to her about where they were and told her about everyone in the group. After a while the topic of conversation shifted to many things which seemed to calm her down as his voice soothed her, eyes watching him in the dim unsteady light until they finally reached their destination.
He picked her up and placed her on the platform. Taking in her new surroundings, the girl stood, and like a toddler, took unsure steps around their makeshift home. Everyone else had either scrambled to their designated areas, to the restroom, or to the food storage for a quick bit to eat, leaving Terrance to close his eyes and pinch the bridge of his nose over what he just witnessed.
"Hey, Gregory," The teen began trying not to fall apart.
" 'eah mhat?" The sibling answered through a mouthful of crackers, knowing by the fact that his brother used his real name that Terrance was serious.
"Could you please find a pair of extra shorts for our guest? I've been flashed enough for one day." At that instant G-Man had just taken a sip of water to wash down his snack before he started laughing hysterically. While cackling like a hyena, some of the water had gone down his windpipe causing him to start choking but that didn't stop him from laughing even harder. Before long he was on all fours by the time Troy came over to pat him on the back with Terrance all the while giving his brother his signature 'G-Man- and-all-of-his-foolishness' glare.
As his laughing fit died into snickers, G-Man was wiping the tears from his eyes when he finally found the girl in front of him with the most curious look she had worn that night. She sat on the pavement with her knees drawn to her chest, observing him as if he were the odd one of the bunch. Everyone watched as she reached forward cautiously to touch his cheek, seemingly fixated on the single tear that had escaped his hoodie's sleeve. She started to speak softly in that strange babbling of hers, almost as if she were trying to comfort him while she wiped the moisture from his face.
"At least she seems to have a maternal instinct," Troy began as he took in her actions before her eyes turned to him. It was already unnerving that her eyes were a vibrant orange and it certainly didn't make it any better that she was staring at him so coldly as she moved toward him. Slowly moving backwards in hopes of putting some space between them, Troy nearly jumped out of his skin as she suddenly started shrieking at him in her unintelligible language. If he hadn't have accidentally slipped in his retreat, the tech savvy juvenile would have received a brutal punch to the face. Acting quickly, Troy was able to roll out of the way just as she tried to attack him again. This time her fist connected with the floor but this didn't seem to stop the angered female as she swiftly rose to her feet to follow him off the platform, by this time Terrance without a moment's hesitation jumped between the two, blocking her advance. She tried multiple times to side step the boy, but he stayed toe to toe trying to talk some sense into her— for what good that would do since they spoke two different languages.
"Wow, wow, calm down," he tried calmly. Unfortunately, with her attention on the boy who watched her before deciding whether or not it was necessary to flee further into the safety of the darkness tunnel and both the ridiculously high bird like squeals and incoherent language she was emitting, she couldn't hear him at all. As she kept advancing Terrance was forced to back up toward the edge of the platform, but in a last attempt to calm her, he waved off Jerry who was creeping up behind her. Praying that she didn't finally decide to shove him out of her way, the teen grabbed her firmly by the shoulders and shouted to get her attention. Seeming to have finally reached her, her vibrant eyes finally connected with his chocolate orbs but not without her staring at him in confusion and speaking in an unbelievably fast pace.
"Calm down, he didn't hear him; he was trying to help him! Help him." He reiterated slowly for her to pick up this meaning. After a few moments of her eyes bouncing from the terrified boy and him, Terrance began to doubt that the feral girl understood him until her posture began to relax. After coming to rest flat on her feet and tension finally eased out of her body as Terrance continued to talk to her, the female's attention was now drawn to his mouth. Soon after watching him, she opened her mouth and began making a sound as if she were trying to dislodge an object from her throat.
"Hhh," she tried to sound out, the rest of the word falling short as her tongue failed to grasp the new language. Terrance and the rest of the boys, especially Troy, were taken aback as she tried to sound out an actual word they could understand instead of continuing her normal speech.
"Help. He-l-p," he sounded hopefully as Troy began to silently sneak back from the pitch black area that had swallowed him onto the platform while she was distracted. Unfortunately, she saw him before Terrance did and she immediately locked eyes with him before the bespectacled boy could even pull himself up. Instead of reading his friend's 'do-you-want-to-die/are-you-an-idiot' glare, the perplexed boy continued to watch her while wordlessly mouthing 'what the Hell'. Turning back to the girl, the leader noticed her eyebrows had come together, her look pensive as she watched irritating boy. Never turning her head from him, her eyes returned to the young man in front of her.
"Hhh…?"
"Help." He said firmly and with a single nod. Slowly, she turned to observe the others present. All were watching her intently, their bodies alert but not threatening; Jerry was still shadowed her—she wasn't even surprised by the stealthy giant—Jason stood closer to G-Man, with the steel bat that had once rested against the wall, firmly in his grasp by his side. Her main concern, G-Man had his back firmly against the wall and had risen into a crouch, ready to push off and run in an attempt to draw the girl away from the rest. A slight look of fear had entered his eyes as he regarded her. After looking to him to figure out what she should do, she once again looked toward Terrance to meet his eyes briefly before dropping her head and turning from him. She slowly made her way to G-Man who rose further up the wall; everyone slowly started to drift after, Jason bringing the bat up to swing at a moment's notice. Just as she was a few steps in front of him, the girl moved to kneel beside him, her legs drawn under her as she claimed her place beside him. Though she knew everyone was watching her, the only person she cared to look at was G-Man as she noticed his position on the wall. She stretched her hand up to softly take his and after locking her timid gaze with his, smiled apologetically and once again turned to Terrance and nodded softly.
After a few seconds of her starling remorsefully into her lap, G-Man moved down the wall to sit beside her. Watching carefully, he tightened his grip on her hand giving it a reassuring squeeze eliciting another smile from her and getting her to rest her head on his shoulder for three seconds before removing all physical contact from him. Everyone released their held breath and moved to settle themselves exhaustedly around the area while Troy cautiously made his around her to get to his sectioned off space and disappeared for the rest of the night. Seated in the chair that outside the attendant's booth with his elbows resting on his knees, Terrance withdrew the hand that had covered over his face to look over at the protective teenage girl who had preoccupied herself in the heavy silence by pulling her legs straight out in front of her to bump her bare feet together and draw them apart repetitively as any small child would do.
Bringing his hand back up to cover his face in anguish, the elder brother called out to his younger. "Gregory," the boy lifted his head silently.
"Please, go get those shorts."