Bring The Heat

6. New Kid!?

A crying family. A vase, falling, then breaking on the floor. A small tornado tearing through a bedroom. Flames spreading. The silhouette of a child watching a house burn down in the woods. Wren felt blood gushing from her face...

She awoke violently and clasped her hand to her jaw. There was nothing there... just her old scar. How she got it was just another mystery... maybe she had some fighting experience? It would explain how she had won yesterday.

Wren got out of her bed. She took a moment to admire her new place. Past the hangar, the building seemed very futuristic; the hallways and rooms were lined with sleek orange and white striped metal walls, with bars of light built into them. There also seemed to be some kind of heat regulation which made the whole place very comfortable to be in. It was like something from a spaceship, in old movies. Well, that's what happens when you have the smartest man alive and an expert engineer teaming up to make a base of operations.

Wren yawned, staggering out of her room. She was pretty hungry; she couldn't even remember the last time she ate. With the cool steel beneath her feet, Wren wandered the halls looking for food. She passed by the hangar and saw Cece welding again. Wren waved, but didn't get a response, and ultimately decided not to bother her. She also remembered what she said last night, and decided she should probably find a shower or fresh clothes first.

Wren realized that this was not, in fact, an astute observation, as she still didn't know where the kitchen OR shower was in this place. Wandering a little further down the hall, she finally found BM and Rebound in what looked to be a kitchen. At last! And there was a wonderful smell in the air... BM was washing the dishes, and Rebound turned around holding a steaming plate of churros. This place just kept getting better and better!

"Oh, hey, rookie. They're reheated. You should really set some alarms... wait, do you even have a phone?" Wren couldn't even answer the question. Her mouth was already stuffed with churros. It was glorious.

"We're gonna see to that, once you're ready," BM turned and said to her, "and we're getting you some fresh clothes too."

"Oh, yeah. You reek, by the way." Rebound jeered, with a cheeky grin on his face. BM sighed.

"We've got perfumes and deodorants in the bathroom. Feel free to take one or two for yourself. You could shower, but you'd best do it once we've got the clothes. Besides, you don't smell too-" BM sniffed the air, and stopped in his tracks. "You... you could shower first if you want to..." Rebound laughed.

"Yeah, ok, I GET IT, I'll just put on my other clothes after." Wren said defensively, annoyed and embarrassed. Rebound smirked.

"Uh-huh. Sure. White on white... is that a fashion statement or something?" he replied, like it was obvious that you don't wear white on white to someone who had no memory. I mean... she had eyes, and a brain... but still.

Wren was taken aback. All this fashion talk didn't seem to fit with the rest of his vibe. Eh, whatever. She was glad she didn't have to live with some surface-level asshole. Wren wandered off to the shower. It was one of those huge ones, taking up half the room with a glass divider. Next to the shower handles were two buttons; one said 'Lights', which seemed to rotate the lights outlining the room between being on, off, dimmed, and flashing like a party strobe. The other button. The other button said 'BM's playlist' which seemed to play an assortment of 80's American classics through speakers in the walls. Wren giggled, thinking about BM dancing in here.

Exiting the shower, she noticed a green light on the lid of the hamper that she had put her clothes in. Checking inside, Wren found her gross, sweaty battle uniform... perfectly clean and steam dried!? BM and Cece really were incredible... She dried off, got dressed, and put her hair back up into a bun. On her way out, she opened the mirror cabinet and grabbed a deodorant and perfume for her room.

She threw on her bomber jacket, and left her room, finding BM waiting outside.

"Back in Black, huh?" he asked, grinning. Wren was confused... was he talking about her clothes. BM started to hum a tune. Wren froze up with embarrassment, recognizing it as the last song that was playing in the shower. "I've got the, uh, app on my phone." he continued, showing Wren his music app that had tracked the progress of the playlist. BM seemed to be thriving off of her embarrassment.

"It's good music..." Wren muttered. BM's eyes sparkled.

"You think so? It's one of the top-selling albums of all time, y'know. AC/DC will, and mostly already have, definitely go down in history as one of the best bands of all time-" he started rambling, and probably could've gone on for a couple more hours or so, had he not noticed Wren's concerned expression, and realized she had no idea what he was talking about. He composed himself quickly.

"We'd best get going before the stores close. Whilst we're out, we'd better grab some clothes for the new kid Cecelia's gonna be training today."

"New kid!?" Wren asked, shocked. She had really expected things to go a lot slower around here... and then she wondered what Cece would call her now that she had lost her 'new kid' status.

"Yeah. He's a real nice boy! I think you guys'll be friends in no time. Now c'mon, let's get going."