.Hey Capers! I've had a lot of trouble getting this chapter just right so I hope it doesn't disappoint. This one has a bit of action in it, as many of you know, action is not my forte, I did try to make it as well written as possible.
Thanks: IronAmerica, I Prefer Magneto, and XxDeath StarxX for their reviews last chapter.
Without further ado, I give you Secrets Chapter Four.
I do not own The Cape.
Secrets: Chapter Four- Compassion
Orwell hadn't been to her lair in a week. She hadn't needed to; the blogger had all of her gear with her in case a sudden want to work on her blogs.
It was all Vince's idea. He hadn't wanted her to go back to her lair just yet. He felt protective over Orwell. Seeing how fragile she had been lately, the Cape would never let her go back home at this rate. He didn't mind a roommate, especially one like the blogger. This gave him someone to talk to; he didn't know how lonely he was living alone until Orwell started staying with him.
Vince thought that everything was past. He thought that they had foiled yet another one of Fleming's plans.
About mid-afternoon, Orwell had went to get a shower, leaving Vince alone in the room. "How to kill time," the Cape pondered. He laughed to himself as he knew he had all the time in the world. If Orwell was anything like the other girls in the world, he would have at least an hour to himself. Vince sat down and put his arms behind his head. He closed his eyes and thought about being at home. He could almost hear Trip's outbursts at his videogames and smell his wife's cooking. He longed to go back, just for one day if that's as long as he could stay. He longed to set things right with his family, they needed to know that he loved them.
Then his mind traveled over to Orwell. The beautiful albeit mysterious girl he had become completely infatuated with. Oh the hell with infatuation, he loved Orwell. He knew he never should have kissed her, but he never regretted it. Vince was brought out of his reverie by the smell of lavender and the sound of quiet footsteps approaching.
The blogger sat down next to the Cape as she drug a brush through her long dark hair.
Vince smiled over at her to which Orwell asked, "What, do you want to brush this mane?"
The Cape arched an eyebrow to which he laughed, "You don't have a mane."
"Yeah? Tell that to my brush. It'll disagree in a heartbeat," Orwell said.
Vince chuckled and lightened the mood further. However, the mood became slightly dimmer at the sound of something outside.
"What was that?" Orwell asked.
"You never knew in this city," Vince responded as got up from his seat.
The blogger looked up at her partner. "Where are you going?"
"To see what's going on out there. You coming?" Vince asked, offering her a hand.
"Sure," Orwell said as she took a hold of Vince's hand.
They walked out of Vince's hideout to see a woman walking around, obviously in a fret.
The Cape and blogger exchanged glances to which Vince dropped her hand and told her to stay put.
"Miss?" Vince called out to the woman.
She turned around and stared at the Cape. It was Rayne heavily disguised as an older teenager. "Can you help me please? I've lost my dog!"
"Um, there is no dog here miss. Just me and a friend of mine." Vince said.
Rayne looked at the oddly shaped home and asked in her pseudo-voice, "Is this your home?"
Vince turned his head to glance at his hideout and his partner who hadn't left her spot at the hideout entrance. The Cape smiled at the blogger as he asked Rayne, "Is there any other way we can help you?"
Rayne jerked her head to stare at nothing in particular. When she met her glance back with Vince and Orwell's they noticed she had tears in her eyes. "Well, can I come in for a glass of water? I've been looking for my dog all day!"
Vince met his eyes with Orwell's to which she gave him an "Are you crazy" look. "I'll bring you a bottle of water but we have to be leaving soon," Vince said.
"Please, I won't take long. I just need to rest my feet," Rayne said.
"I'll be right back," Vince said going back into his hideout.
Silence clung to the air, and to make it seem less awkward, Rayne started talking to Orwell. "Do you think you could convince your boyfriend to let me come in to sit down?" she asked.
"Well we've got to get out of here soon. We're supposed to meet his parents at the airport. Long drive to the airport with four year old twin boys," Orwell lied coolly.
Rayne knew that they were lying, though. If she pressed further, that would just make her suspicious. She was going to introduce them to her favorite gun up close… but that's okay, there's always far away.
Vince came back and instantly felt the tension. He handed the bottled over to redhead so she could be on her way. The redhead smiled. "Thank you so much. You have a safe flight." She then walked away, letting them both sigh in relief.
"Flight?" Vince asked.
"Don't ask," Orwell responded.
*The Cape*
The Carnival of Crime were having their own Sunday night bash. Rollo had been the person to get the drink of choice that night. On his way to pick up the requested items for the night, Rollo stopped by Vince's hideout. It had been hours since the vigilante and blogger had their mysterious guest.
Once they were all back at the Carnival, everyone sat around in the room and joked to their heart's content. In more ways than one, the Carnival and Orwell were like an extended family for Vince. No, they weren't Dana and Trip, but they were as close to a family as he could get at the moment. Everyone looked out for each other, the way it should be.
Laughter echoed through the room as Max told a story; their attention was on him and him only. No one ever suspected a problem would come out of it.
*The Cape*
Rayne was getting seriously annoyed. She had searched everything there was to know about the masked vigilante and it still was to no avail. The redhead was at square one and she wasn't budging.
She sat in her apartment and surrounded herself in the work. Files upon files were scattered around that went into detail about the Cape. The redhead scoffed when she found out he was a former police officer. It made sense that her dog plan didn't work, but it was still damn annoying.
She looked from her computer to the papers that she had around. Rayne blew out an over exaggerated sigh as she went through the files yet again. Only, this time around, something clicked that hadn't before. According to those documented words, the Cape supposedly hung around Max Malini's Carnival in Trolley Park. If she could get herself in there unnoticed by any other carnie, she probably would have a chance of annihilating the vigilante for good.
The redhead couldn't help but smile in spite of her plan, it was time to go visit the circus.
*The Cape*
Oblivious to what was to come, Vince, Orwell, and the Carnival were all doing their own things on the ring. Raia was teaching Orwell some of the skills she knew as a Carnival acrobat. The brunette was a natural, to which Vince couldn't help but admire just how graceful she was.
Of course, to the other Carnival members, they could see just how much he cared about Orwell.
"Yo Vince, if you stare any harder your mouth would drop to the floor," Rollo said as he walked up to the vigilante.
Vince did a double take back at the shortest of the bunch. "Huh? Yeah, sure."
"Exactly my point," Rollo added.
The Cape ignored his friend and just watched as his partner followed the blonde's steps. He was in awe really. She stretched her limbs and twirled, a faint smile formed onto her face as she did so.
Orwell could tell she had an audience, more importantly, she had Vince. She looked across the room and met with the cool blue eyes she knew all too well.
As if he was a young kid being caught with his hand in the cookie jar, the vigilante slowly waved at the blogger and grinned sheepishly.
Rollo elbowed Vince in the gut and said, "Vince man, you're not the most subtle guy in the world are you?"
Again, not even bothering to look at his friend, Vince replied with, "What did you say?" When he looked down at Rollo, the other man just shook his head and walked over to Raia.
The Cape shrugged and met up with Orwell. He looked down at her and neither of them could keep smiles off of their faces.
"You don't stare much, do you?" Orwell asked.
"Not at all," Vince dismissed.
Even the Carnival knew what was going on between Vince and Orwell, it wasn't very hard to see the affection they had for one another.
The Cape and blogger stared at each other in silence. There was so much tension behind Orwell's eyes, so much she needed to say to him. Unfortunately she feared she would never find the right moment. The blogger gently took Vince's hand in her own and watched as their fingers laced together perfectly. "Vince- I-" she began dryly.
In the same instance, the sound of a gun being fired echoed through the ring. Orwell watched in shock as Vince fell to the ground nursing a stomach wound.
The blogger dropped to her knees and pulled Vince closer to her. She inspected the wound closer and tore away a thick strip of her cover-up to tie around the vigilante's waist. She started in a wary tone, "This will slow down the blood loss."
Vince tried to get up only to have Max call after him. "Do you want to get yourself killed?"
The magician gave Raia and Rollo glances to which the acrobat knelt down next to Orwell and Rollo went with Max to see exactly who was intruding in their home.
The blogger looked back down at Vince and cradled his head in her lap. Raia quickly got up and ran for the med kit the Carnival had stored for safe keepings.
"Orwell you have to let me go," Vince started in a muffled tone.
She frowned. "You've got to be kidding me."
"No I'm not. Max and Rollo need my help," Vince said with a grunt.
"I'm not letting you go Vince. That bullet needs to come out," Orwell spoke in a concerned tone.
"You kinda have no choice," Vince said as he slowly got up. When he did get to his feet however, coughs wracked his body.
"No choice huh?" the blogger called out to him.
"I'll be fine," the Cape added in a perseverant tone.
"Vince, don't do this," Orwell said as she went to stand in front of him. "Please," she continued, this time with tears in her eyes.
The vigilante sighed, scrunching his face while doing so due to the pain he was in. "Alright Orwell. I'll stay."
The blogger gave him a tiny smile and quietly turned her head as she felt tears cascade down her cheeks. Vince looked at his partner and tilted her head to look at him. "I'm going to be fine, okay?"
Orwell stared back at him with watery eyes. "I know Vince, I just-" she breathed out a bit and started to walk away.
"Where are you going?" Vince asked.
The blogger stopped in that moment. Still with her back turned to him, she said, "To see what's going on."
She could hear his breath hitch a bit. "Okay. I love you, Orwell."
Orwell's shoulders shook as silent sobs coursed through her body. Barely audible, she spoke, "I love you too."
Without another word being said, the blogger walked further away from him. She carried down the hallway and tried to make the least bit of noise. She did her best to dry her tears but it was extremely difficult. Orwell saw Max and Rollo from a far right before she was grabbed from behind and turned around in a whirl.
As she tried to struggle free, she felt a gun being pressed to her head.
Against gritted teeth, the brunette asked, "What do you want?"
"Honey, if you make one sudden move, I promise I will put a bullet through that pretty little head of yours."
Orwell turned her head to see the fiery red head she saw hours before. "You set us up."
"Damn right I did. Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way, Jaime," Rayne purred into the blogger's ear.
Orwell blew out a frustrated breath. "You don't know my name."
"I beg to differ sweetie. I know everything there is to know about you and your boyfriend. If you take me to him, I won't hurt you. I'll even tell your dear ol' dad that I found his long lost daughter. However, if you don't listen. Well," the red head paused, "Dad will never see your face again. No one will." She pressed the gun further into her head and continued, "Now, tell me, where did your lover go?"
There was a tense silence. Orwell bit at her bottom lip and prayed for someone to find them, preferably before her brains were splattered across the walls.
"Okay peaches, you wanna play like that, we'll play like that," Rayne started.
The next thing either of them knew, the notorious black fabric stretched to knock the gun out of the red head's grasp.
The blogger elbowed Rayne in the face and knocked her into the ground in one swipe. "Say hi to my father for me, I'm sure he'll love to hear that yet another one of his plans have failed," she added in disgust.
Orwell looked ahead to see Vince staring back at her. Rollo came up from behind him and made his way to the red head's toppled form. "You know I don't normally hit girls," he started as he knocked the girl unconscious. "You sure are an exception."
The Cape walked around Rollo and Rayne to get over to Orwell. He then called over his shoulder. "Get rid of her."
The shorter man nodded and began to drag the woman haphazardly out of their home. Of course, he wasn't alone, the moment the other carnies saw this, they too had a helping hand in seeing the woman out. The Police were notified and came to pick the girl up shortly from a desolated location.
Vince presided with caution as he looked over his partner. She was so still that it almost caught him off guard when she practically leapt into his arms. Vince couldn't help but smile as he hugged the blogger back tightly.
Orwell nuzzled her face into the Cape's chest and replied., "I'm so glad to see you."
Vince placed a kiss on the top of her head. "Believe me, I'm glad to see you."
The blogger backed away a bit and lifted his shirt. "How's your wound?"
Vince placed his hand over hers. "It's been patched up. Raia took out the bullet for me."
Orwell traced the bandage idly with her opposite hand and smiled against her eyes which had begun to water over again.
"Hey dry those tears, okay?" he dropped her hand and pulled her closer. "I'm right here," Vince whispered into her ear.
The blogger stretched onto her tiptoes and held the Cape in a kiss that lasted as long as they could hold their breath. They couldn't get enough of each other; Orwell and Vince were in love and nothing else mattered.
Max and the other carnies had made an attempt to come into the room to make sure they were both okay. Of course, when they saw them kissing, Max decided now wasn't the very best time.
The Cape and his sidekick paid no attention to the outside world. They just surrounded with the love that the other needed.
*The Cape*
The next day, Orwell took the time to nurse Vince back to health as his wound healed. They were going to stay at the Carnival until then, but the Cape wanted to be at his home away from home. During this time the both of them only grew that much attached to one another. On that night, the blogger had Vince lying down on his bed as she stood at his desk and fiddled with her blogs.
Vince turned on his side and stared at his partner. "So what are we doing, Orwell?" he asked.
The blogger spun around to face him. "Watching surveillance shots from when ARK troops arrested Rayne last night."
The vigilante sat up and climbed out of his bed. He padded over to Orwell and looked over her shoulder to see exactly what she was talking about.
As the video went on, the blogger turned back to face the screen and continued, "She was brought to Owl Island early this morning where she is going to be spending the next 5 years."
Vince watched as the glow from the monitor reflected off of Orwell's face. He hardly had heard what she said.
"Are you even listening to me, Vince?" the brunette blogger snapped.
"I'm listening," the Cape started with a gentle look.
"Mhm," Orwell paused and turned around to face Vince. "You," she started, pressing her finger into his chest. "Need to go lie back down."
Vince wrapped an arm around his partner's waist and gave her a light peck. "Will you come with me?"
The blogger kept her hand on Vince's chest and responded, "I suppose so."
Despite the pain in his stomach, the Cape picked up Orwell and carried her with him. She was light anyway, why did it matter? As he gently placed her on the bed, he crawled up behind her, taking the blogger in his arms as he did so. She laced her hand with his and lied her head on his chest. Vince smiled at Orwell once more before he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. The brunette blogger found comfort in the sway of the rise and fall of his chest. Orwell convinced herself almost a year ago that she would never find herself falling in love with Vince. However, now that he had stolen her heart, she wouldn't take it back for anything in the world.
So yes it did take me a while to finish this but I hope it was worth it. How did I do everyone? This is Orwell, signing out.