3

an offer

Joe didn't really like cars. They were intolerably close to the ground - low, slow, and unexciting. In the sky, one did not get stuck in traffic, or have to follow any roads. On the ground, the solid, unmoving ground, one did. But right now, he was in one. He tilted his fedora back on his head, leaned forward, and stared down the long stretch of street, so unlike the free air above.

"You should get her some flowers."

"Dex, no," Joe sighed, exasperated. Dex fell silent and chewed his gum noisily for a few moments before saying, "You really should. Ladies like that."

"Oh, and you know what ladies like, do you?"

"More than you, Cap," Dex said, staring absently out the window. Joe muttered something nasty beneath his breath and suddenly braked. Before Dex could make any comment on his poor driving, the pilot had thrown open the door and hopped out. He crossed the street and approached a small flower stand.

"Those, please," he said, pointing at a bouquet of red roses. He fumbled for change, and as he did so he failed to notice another car stopping behind his own, and another man climbing out. With his hat pushed forward to shadow his brown eyes, the stranger watched Joe pay for the flowers before saying, with a slight accent, "Nice flowers. For who?"

Joe turned, startled. "A lady." His eyes narrowed in a suspicious scowl. The man was Asian with deathly pale skin, a little shorter but older than Joe. His features wore an expression of smugness but beneath it lurked a keen alertness.

"Sky Captain, we have an offer for you. There would be wealth beyond your wildest dreams if we succeed."

"Who's 'we'?" Joe asked. The man merely smirked. With one white-gloved hand he pulled a card out of his coat and handed it to the pilot. Joe examined it carefully. One one side were some pictographs - Chinese characters - on the other was a stylised drawing of an Oriental unicorn. Joe's brow knit in confusion.

"I can't read this," he said, looking up. But the Asian man was gone, as well as the car behind his own. All there was left was an impatient Dex, tapping his watch.

"What took you so long?" he asked after Joe climbed back into the car. The pilot threw the flowers carelessly onto the backseat and handed Dex the card.

"A man gave me his card," he said shortly as he started up the car. Dex was still carefully looking at the card as they pulled out onto the road.

"It's Chinese," he announced. Joe raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't realize that, Dex. Thank you for clearing that up."

"You're welcome, Cap" Dex said, ignoring Joe's sarcasm. He stuffed the card into his pocket, and gave it no more thought.

xxx

"You're half an hour late," Polly said. Joe pecked her cheek.

"I have a good reason."

"Oh? And what is that?"

"I got you flowers," Joe said, smiling broadly. Dex trotted up on cue and delivered them into Polly's hands. The reporter stared for a moment and then said, "Dex suggested them, didn't he?" Joe nodded, but Polly simply laughed and threw her arms around her shoulders as well as she could with a bouquet in her hands. "It's nice to see you again too, Joe." Behind her, facing Joe, Dex simply winked and grinned.

"How was the ride?"

"Nicer than a Warhawk," Polly said, releasing Joe and extricating some thorny, stubborn roses from his hair. "I met the new pilots at Gotham. Here's Benjamin Harker..." Benjamin Harker, still in his flight jacket, now emerged from the crowd of awed men behind Polly. Joe held out his hand and Harker shook it slowly and reverently.

"It's an honor to meet you, sir," he said. Joe simply smiled, but not too friendly. He was his subordinate, after all. Another man came out from behind Polly, carrying her luggage and in civilian clothes. But nothing would hide his strong resemblance.

"And this is Charlie - Charles Lufferbee," Polly said.

"Lufbery," Joe corrected. Lufbery took Joe's hand and shook it with just as much reverence as Harker, but twice as much nervousness. He never was a very outgoing person, and standing here, just two feet from Sky Captain himself, was incredible.

"Distant cousin?" Joe asked. Lufbery merely nodded - his lips seemed to be cemented together, and everything he had rehearsed to say to Sky Captain now seemed foolish and unsuitable. "It'd be a blessing if you were just half as good as your relative, Mr. Lufbery."

"Thank you, sir," Lufbery croaked. Joe studied his features as well as he could without appearing to. It was uncanny. Though Charles had a slightly narrower face and looked, by far, younger, he appeared to be almost a brother, not even a distant cousin, of the WWI flying ace.

"You can release my hand now, Sergeant Lufbery," Joe said. Lufbery did, grinning sheepishly.

"Of course, sir."

The other new men followed after him eagerly, all shaking Joe's hand with youthful vivacity and nervous amazement. Joe smiled to each of them in turn, said a brief welcome, and at last when his hand was free he turned to the reporter.

"Now, Polly. How was the layover in Iceland?" Together they walked out from the crowded airport. Harker and Lufbery lugged their baggage behind them with the other pilots, Lufbery's face turning redder by the moment.

"I think I'll be able to fry an egg on your cheek any time soon," Harker said laughingly. "What's wrong?"

"I...oh, never mind," Lufbery sighed. He was nervous enough on the ground with Sky Captain - how would he rise up to the occasion in the future with the legend looking on?

Starlight1534: It IS short, ain't it? Well, most chapters I've wrote (respectively) take up two pages on my program. :o I thought that was enough until I posted it—now I see it isn't. But I really don't think my muse could hold up under such lengths, so to compensate I'll just try to update more often.