zane bennett.

Thea looked around at the pile of destruction in front of her. “What the fuck happened?! I was only gone for like a week!” 

" Isn't it obvious? The place crumbled without you here, it’s entirely your fault, you left and BOOM destruction,” Zane cracked a half smile, joking in the wrong situation always a defense of his. “ Maybe with you returned, it’ll magically go back to the way it was, huh? Who knows?” 

“You know, we haven’t had an attack like this since we found this place,” Walden said. He attempted to pick around the larger parts of the rubble littering the back half of the compound. It was finally warm, the cold front having been broken the previous night, and Walden had long since discarded his shirt in the interest of keeping cool. The sun shone off his back muscles and sweat dripped into his eyes. His side was still marred by bruises, but it didn’t feel as awful as it had before, even if it sure did look it. He threw a piece of rebar into the forest with a grunt. “Now we’ll have to find another easily fortifiable abandoned building to stash our cache of fugitives. No big.”

With a single nod, the male glanced back at Walden, brows knitting together in frustration. He hated that there were no signs, that the most they had for a lead was the newcomers arriving just before the lock down.  “ We couldn’t expect to live this good for too long, I guess,” Zane couldn’t help but stifle a small, ironic chuckle. He was far from amused but somehow it still managed to slip out. “ The important thing now is we band together, do our best not to let things get worse, and by worse, I mean riots and chaos within the compound, I’m honestly surprised no fights have broken out yet. But,” he paused, glancing around at the mess, doing what he could to clean up. “ It’s only a matter of time.” 

Arden was trying her best not to get to know anyone, she wasn’t planning on staying long but with nothing working the way she wanted to she decided to at least make herself useful. “Oh, that’s quite the shower song. I’m glad I wasn’t here for it.” She cringed laughing a bit. “Yet being the keyword, right? In exchange for your help, I’ll do my best to keep supplies out of your room, and myself.” She teased nodding as she turned towards the door. “I’ll wait outside.” 

" My voice isn't the worst, if I say so myself, so maybe it wouldn't have been so bad, but I'll save another song for my first attempt at karaoke in front of a beautiful lady.” He flashed a giant grin at her. “ You never know when they’ll be in need of an expansion on the storage department, but they’d be a fool to put any food in my room and expect it to stay untouched.” With a small shrug, he started to find his clothes. “ If you insist, though if you promise not to look, I won’t force you to wait on the other side of the door.” 

ruby lifted the bottle of champagne to scarlet lips .      she’d always preferred something stronger to forget ,      but the last few bottles she’d had of bourbon were long gone with the amount she’d been drinking since the lockdown had begun .      champagne however ,      she’d always kept on hand .      ❝      if you want a sip ,      don’t be afraid to ask .      ❞

“ i was hoping you had a spare bottle, not just a sip. but i’m not opposed to sharing. what exactly are we cheering to, might I ask? ” 

“Why does everyone ask me that? Am I really that tense?” He asked, looking at Zane. “I’m sorry dude. Did not mean to be.” He admitted. “Um probably not since before this whole lockdown business started.” He said. “But I don’t think anyone is relaxing much? Oh yeah, I’m not a serial killer.” 

"Honestly, dude? Yeah, and we're just worried is all, at the end of the day we’re a team, you know?” Zane replied, words genuine. “ It’s fine, just make sure you’re taking care of yourself once in a while, okay?” He added. “ No, maybe not, but we can’t allow ourselves to be stressed 24/7 if we want to keep the rest of the lot calm.” 

“Maybe get one of those people with those wavy light things. The ones that people who work in the airport have. Might help you out,” Trinity joked. She felt him looking her over and she playfully glared at me. “Something wrong? You’re looking at me that way again,” She asked, not use to any one giving her attention, especially the way James gave her his time. “Really? You have a ton of people who like you. But I guess sometimes it’s tiring,” She explained. “Is that so?” She liked that she could hang around him .She felt him sitting close by her, peeking her eyes over him and seeing some of the scars. She let him take he book and smiled. “They used to say that. The people I created. I didn’t think I was good you know. My parents used to tell me I was and they had to cause they loved me. And then the illusions… they said I was good. And you’re real so I believe it,” She said with a soft smile.

" Might have to consider it, though I'm afraid the others might complain about it drawing attention towards us," Zane replied in a tone of mild mockery directed at the other founders. With a playful shrug, the male couldn’t help but laugh at his being caught. “ Nothing’s wrong, you’re the one walking into my room looking like that.” He challenged with a half smirk. “ People can be exhausting, they always have something that needs to be done, needs to be fixed, as much as I’d like to believe I am Superman, I’m not. BLACK PANTHER, maybe, but even that might be stretching things.” Zane chuckled. “ It is, you seem to actually enjoy being around me, and it’s a nice change.” He insisted, glancing back at the drawings for only a split second before his gaze fell back to Trinity. “ I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t so, heck, if you want me to get the REAL tough critic of the family, I can send Isabel to rate all your artwork, but I can assure you, she’d love them all and she’s brutal.” 

“I am not a cougar, my dear. I am not interested in dating twinks” she told him with a smirk as she let out a soft sigh. “I feel bad for my fellow women over fifty. We rarely get a second look, you know? Especially from people our age” she added and shrugged. “But it is what it is and I don’t need no man or woman to make me feel better about myself” she nodded to her own words. As she listened to him talk, Lea sighed and shook her head. “I don’t want to think about people losing their lives. It’s too much for me to handle. Especially not all of these younglings who haven’t even lived their lives yet” she looked at Zane and rolled her eyes. “But this is how it’s gonna be, isn’t it? Fear, heartbreak, death?” 

" maybe not, but perhaps with the right person, you could be. not saying that’ll ever be me, just saying, everyone has someone that’ll make them break their rules.” he shrugged. “  that’s not true, Sofia Vergara is definitely someone I wouldn’t say no to if she was standing right in front of me...though not to keen on getting into a fight with her husband, he might actually be a match for me.” Zane winced at the thought of having to fight the male, assuming he was at least double his size. “ Why limit yourself to just men, when woman are usually so much better at satisfying? And I mean that as a compliment.” He assured her with a soft chuckle, though it diminished at the thought of death. “ Unfortunately I can’t promise you we’ll save them all, but we’re going to our damn well best to make sure we try, this may be a small community, but we’re offering them a new start, a new beginning, there’s hope in the underground.” 

does the mirror count? 

“Oi! I am not that old and I am not a cougar” she said as she looked at him, wiggling a finger in the air before she chuckled and leaned back against the wall. The frown made it’s presence known and she shrugged. “I am worried about everyone. I feel like something bad is gonna happen and I can’t do anything to shake that feeling off. It’s weighing me down, for some reason” she mused and then rolled her eyes. “Ridiculous, I know”

" You're older than Jennifer Lopez, you can pull the cougar card and hey, don't let it get you down, there's plenty around that I’m sure would be more than up for it. I’m surprised they don’t have an app for it yet.” He couldn’t help but carry on with a grin, amused by her reaction. That however vanished at the mention of her worries. “ Something bad is always happening, we’re always at stake, but the most important thing is that we’re a UNITED group, and that’s something we’re working towards building every day. At the end of the day, everyone here knows what lies beyond the walls, eventually we’ll be ready and unfortunately we won’t be able to save everyone.” 

Sybil shot him a sarcastic look. “Real funny, Bennett. I just need clearance to leave the compound to get some more medical supplies. We’re running dangerously low on aspirin and I figured that I’m one of the only unrecognizable mutants in this place. Unless you want to take Chelsea’s ridiculous Mercedes to get the blood cleaned out of the backseat too?”

" Hey, can't blame a dude for trying, being on lock down gets lonely,” he chuckled, glancing back with a sass-ridden expression. “ Yikes, that’s a hard call to make, on one hand we need those supplies, but we’re still on lock down. I don’t want to send you out alone, what about one of the other non mutants? I hear there’s a new guy that just arrived.” Zane would’ve offered himself, but with everything, he figured his face was one they had a photo of. 

“Zane I understand you think you’re attractive and I might agree, but we have bigger problems than me trying to sneak a peek,” Maria said, crossing her arms. “After you get dressed would you mind helping me with something?” 

" THINK ? Oh, I know you don’t think you’re fooling anyone with trying to deny this tension we have going on. We always have bigger problems, doesn’t mean we can’t have the occasional rendezvous, keep us entertained.” Zane chuckled, a small smirk lingering. “ Depends on what you need help with.” 

Stella’s cheeks turned bright pink. “I’m sorry. Sorry. So sorry. I heard something and I was curious. I’m sorry.” She said, shielding her eyes. “I’m not in trouble right?” She asked. 

" That might've been me singing in the shower, terribly sorry you had to suffer through that, I thought these walls were more sound proof.” He half joked with an amused grimace. “ No, definitely, at least not with me. ” 

“I did not need or want a show. I was told to come get you because you’re needed.” Adrien said. “But if you’re busy I’ll go try and find Maria or TD." 

" But from the amount of anger in your voice, it sounds like you're in need of a show from SOMEONE, even if it's not from me. When’s the last time you relaxed?” the male chuckled, pulling a shirt over his head. “ I’m not busy, just wasn’t sure who was opening the door. Guess I should be glad it was you and not a serial killer, huh?” 

“There was a memo,” Trinity asked, feeling embarrassed that she didn’t knock. She wasn’t use to figuring people needed their privacy since she was only around her parents. She was learning it though. But she had been used to being around Zane so she figured she was invited whenever she wanted to be. “I mean I’m sure there a memo about your abs but I don’t think I got that one either. Just forget I said anything about that one,” She explained. “Oh, i was just gonna show you something…” She said, moving to sit on his bed without much of care. She opened her sketchbook to the drawing she had showed him before that she remembered he liked. “Here,” She said, moving to put it down on the bed. “I finished it,”

" Guess next time I'll have to work on getting a bulletin board with blinking lights, think the suppliers would be down to add that to the list?" A soft chuckle escaped, his eyes glancing over and shamelessly giving Trinity a one over. “ Guess I shouldn’t be too disappointed, just worried you might’ve been someone else, even I need a break from some of the people around here at times.” Most the time, he was a people person, but he’d lose his sanity if he spent too much time out and about with everyone. “  Isn’t there always?” he joked, not trying to sound cocky, despite how it might’ve come off. “ You’re one of the few people I don’t mind seeing around here, just so long as I’m not asleep.” He assured her with a flash of a smile, settling down on the bed, not caring enough to find something decent to put on as he picked up the book. “ It’s beautiful,” he said aloud as he flipped open the page. “ It’s a shame your talent is all cooped up in here, you know?”