The Elephant and the Orchid

-o-o-o-o-o-

Mayhem had left his henchmen in the hall outside of Miss Wu's office while she sold him another treasure inside...this one a battered piece of parchment so frail it had been placed with some permanence under glass. Rax picked up a Chinese magazine from the side table and flipped through the pages. Dagger kept looking at the pictures along the corridor, in particular at a portrait of none other than the proprietress herself. "Do you think she's married?" he asked.

Rax groaned. Dagger was so dense sometimes. "I don't know. Why don't you ask Miss Wu yourself."

"Oh...heh...I get it." He laughed at his own cluelessness. "I guess she isn't."

"I guess not." He tucked his nose back into the magazine. He couldn't read it, but the pictures were nice enough.

"She is kinda pretty, if you like Asian women."

Rax looked up again and over at Dagger. He was still staring up at the portrait of Miss Wu. Whatever had gotten into his head?

"I should ask her out to dinner."

"Yeah, you should. Good luck with that."

Mayhem and Miss Wu emerged eventually, and the four of them made their way toward the front of the building. Dagger lingered, walking a bit slower, and then pausing at the top of the stairs. She noticed that he had stopped, and turned back. "Is there something wrong?" she asked softly. Her almond-shaped eyes, painted with turquoise eyeshadow today, peered quizzically at him.

Rax paused on the landing and stood silently. This was going to be good.

"Um...Miss Wu." Dagger's self-doubts suddenly began to rise.

"Yes, Mr. Dagger?" She peered up the stairwell at him.

"Um...I was wondering if you would like...um...to go out to dinner tonight?"

Rax turned away, trying not to laugh. This was so wrong.

"Oh. Mr. Dagger. That is a kind offer, but I already have a prior engagement for tonight."

Rax was still fighting laughter and the urge to sing out "I told you so." Dagger was so far out of Miss Wu's league besides the fact that he was too much of a clumsy brute for her frail figure. Her 'prior engagement' had to be a genteel way of saying "Get lost, creep."

"But, if you would like, I do not have any engagements for lunch today."

"Really? We could go out to lunch together?" Dagger's face lit up with a genuine smile.

She nodded almost theatrically, her blue-dusted eyelids closing with the motion.

"Okay. I'd like that too."

"I'll lock up the shop and meet you in the park across the street."

Seriously? She did want him to take her out? How could an intelligent, delicate thing like that want to be in the company of a lunk like Dagger? This was still so very wrong. Maybe she was going to stand him up for some sadistic pleasure...tell him no at the last moment, or simply leave him sitting, waiting in the park like the idiot he was.

But as Rax discovered a minute later, there was no cruel streak in her intent. She said her goodbyes to Mayhem at the door, locked up the shop, and then met Dagger in the park. She took his beefy arm and they walked off along the street together, her diminutive stature contrasting almost jarringly with his overly muscled one.

Rax shook his head. Incredible. Dagger had discovered that there was hope out there for men everywhere.

-o-o-o-o-o-

M.A.S.K. and all related concepts, characters, worlds, and events are property of DIC Enterprises, Inc and Kenner Toys. Original characters and story elements are property of E. Potter, writing under the pen name of Miratete.