Chapter 25: Positional Play
"
AN: Churned this out pretty quickly because I've had it planned for quite some time. This more of a 'put things in place' chapter than anything else, which are unavoidable from time to time, but it is possible to find a few key things subtly blooming here.
"
The Flamingo Room 11A, July 29th, 12:12 PM
"Well that's obviously ridiculous!" Serena buzzed in through the phone connection. "I was here fighting the negaverse, I have multiple witnesses who will vouch for that."
"I understand that, Serena," Amy replied, looking at the screen inside her suitcase laptop. "And yet, the evidence is overwhelming. Darien saw you here, and the recording from his camera indicates that you were here. You popped up on radar here for a few seconds, something that Artemis saw and the logs affirm. You disappeared on the radar back over there for a few seconds at the same time you appeared here. And, of course, you admit that you felt like you had appeared in Vegas for a few seconds."
"And this is Amy saying all this," Lita added, leaning over Amy's shoulder and looking at the screen. "Yeah, Serena, I'm looking at Darien's video feed right now, that's either you or a long lost identical twin sister."
"Yeah, I'm looking at the video too," Serena said. "It's me, it lines up with what I remember, but...I sure didn't do it. I wasn't even thinking about Vegas."
"Well, just keep thinking about it, we'll discuss it in better detail when we get back. Something's clearly changed with you, and I think it would be beneficial for us all if we could figure it out." Amy said. "We'll enjoy these last few days, keep an eye on the Bellagio, and fly back on the third."
"Alright, talk to you guys later. Have fun," Serena said. The phone connection went dead.
"She's just full of surprises, isn't she?" Lita said, eyes on the frozen frame of the video feed from Darien's camera.
"I'm rather...accustomed to the bizarre after all this time," Amy admitted.
Lita looked over Darien, who was seated on the foot of the bed, eyes closed and a tiny smile on his face.
"Hey, what do you wanna go do?" she asked.
Darien didn't reply nor acknowledge her question.
"Darien?"
His eyes opened and he looked over at Lita. "Sorry, I was just...imagining Serena with an identical twin sister."
"Eugh!" Lita recoiled away from him in disgust.
"Yeah." Darien gave a small chuckle. "Let's go check out the pool."
"Good idea." Amy stood up. "And remember, we're seeing Love on the second!"
"Wouldn't forget it," Darien replied. "You know, this is kind of going to be the first time I can remember actually celebrating my birthday."
"Birthday?" Amy asked.
"The third," Darien said. "I mean, obviously it doesn't perfectly line up, and...of course, sometimes I'd get a few things on my birthdays, maybe go to a baseball game or something, but this is the first time I've really...done something big that I can remember."
"Oh, well...good." Amy nodded. "You go on ahead, we'll be right down."
Darien got up and quickly walked over to the door, departing the room. The moment the door was closed, Amy picked up her cell phone and started tapping input into the screen.
"What's up?" Lita asked, eyes on Amy.
"I suspect a certain...someone might be interested to know that Darien will be returning home on his birthday," Amy said impishly. She set the phone back down. "And what's wrong with Darien imagining Serena having a twin sister?"
Lita pursed her lips. "Uh...Amy, I'm pretty sure he meant imagining Serena...with...a twin sister."
Amy bit her lower lip, eyes darting about in thought.
Finally, after a few seconds, her face went a dark crimson and her eyes went wide.
"Ew!"
"
Lita's Apartment, August 3rd, 6:23 PM
"I looook at you allll, see the loooove that's there sleeping...while my guitar, gently weeeeps."
Darien quickly tossed the salad up with the two large red scoops, mixing the assorted veggies together. Behind him, Lita was pulling massive pieces of meat off of a makeshift grill on her stovetop with a pair of tongs, placing the slabs onto a broiler pan. Both were sporting slight tans from their time so close to the equator.
"I looook at the floor, and I seeeee it needs sweeping...still my guitar, gently weeeeeps."
"Good show I assume?" Raye asked, laying down on the floor in the living room, wearing brown short-shorts and a white tanktop.
"Oh, the best!" Lita said. "Wish you could have been there."
"One day," Raye said.
"You know, this is absurd," Amy said, seated at the counter, wearing similar light clothing and bearing a light tan of her own, watching Lita lift the broiler pan up and bring it over to the oven. "You had to travel thousands of miles for work, you just flew back into town...Serena, Raye and Mina should be cooking dinner for you! At worst, we should be going out to eat!"
"Come on Amy, you know me," Lita said, beckoning over to Darien. He came over and pulled the oven door open. "I want to relax, and nothing relaxes me more than preparing london broil."
"Ooooohhhh," Raye moaned as the wave of heat from the oven spread through the room. "The one thing that could make it hotter."
"Yeah," Darien agreed. "Barely need to put that thing into the oven, could almost leave it on the counter and it'd cook."
Lita placed the large pan into the oven, pushing it into the back of the chamber, and Darien closed the door.
"Oh, and Lita..." Darien pointed around the kitchen. "Is this saltillo tile?"
"Yeah," Lita admitted begrudgingly.
"Girl, you gotta redo this kitchen," Darien said.
"Yeah, it's...it's really porous," Lita said.
"And mexican whorehouse-y," Darien added.
The front door swung open, Serena and Mina walking in, each carrying a large plastic bag. Mina quickly ran over to the fridge, opening the freezer door and throwing her bag in.
"Alright, we've now got plenty of ice cream for later!" Mina announced, gratefully standing in front of the open freezer for several seconds. "Which we're certainly going to need, Christ on sale."
"Definitely," Serena agreed, opening her bag and withdrawing a large giftwrapped jar. She went over to Darien and tossed it up in the air, allowing him to catch it. "Happy birthday."
"Eh?" Darien stared at the package for several seconds, blinking stupidly.
"You're supposed to open it," Serena said, patting him on the back. "You know. Undo the wrapping paper?"
"Uh, Serena, it's...it's fine, I don't really—"
"Well, I already lost the receipt, so either you take it or I throw it away," Serena said quickly.
Darien glanced over at Serena. "W-well, thank you, but...I already got to see Cirque De Soleil for my birthday, and technically, you got that for me, given that...you're the reason we have that money in the first place, so—"
"Darien, just open it!" Lita said.
Darien looked at the wrapped parcel. "How'd you even know? I don't remember telling—"
"Amy texted me," Serena said.
"Oh, Amy, you...you didn't have to do that—"
"Gosh, it's like pulling teeth with you," Amy chided. "Just open it and accept it."
Finally, Darien slid his thumb underneath the tape on the crease and unwrapped the gift. It was a massive jar filled with foiled wrapped treats. Frangos, specifically.
"Andrew said they're your favorite," Serena said as Darien looked the jar over.
"They are," Darien said. "Wow, this is a lot...thanks, Serena." He looked at Lita. "Can I stick this in the fridge?"
Lita nodded, and Darien quickly went over to open up the chilled chamber. He bent down to look for a space.
"Come on, Darien. New phase in your life. You only get one birthday a year, real friends don't let that day pass by without at least acknowledging it." Raye said, still laying down on the ground. "You can open my gift later."
"Alright, cool. Thanks." Darien closed the fridge door. "As long as it's not a sweater or something, I think I'd puke looking at heavy clothes right now."
"Yeah, pretty boiling," Serena agreed. A playful little smile appeared on her lips. She pointed at Darien. "Hey, you should take your shirt off."
"Huh?" Darien stared at Serena.
"Yeah, it's hot, you should take your shirt off," Serena repeated.
"Uh...that's okay, no thanks," Darien said uneasily as Lita brought the large bowl of salad over and started distributing it into little bowls on the counter.
"No, come on, take your shirt off," Serena goaded, coming over and grabbing at the bottom of the shirt and tugging it.
"Serena, no, that's...I don't need to—"
Suddenly, in a blur of motion that Darien could barely register, his white tanktop was pulled up over his head, his limp arms getting yanked above his head to allow it to slip off. He stood there, stock-still for a second, looking down at himself.
"How'd you—"
He turned around, Serena having moved behind him to pull it off. She flashed a couple of dull colors and transformed back into her regular human form, holding Darien's shirt in her right hand.
"Oh." Darien smiled. "Okay, funny, give me that back." He held his right hand out towards her.
"Nope." She quickly sidestepped out of the kitchen, backing away from him, holding the garment behind her back.
Darien advanced on her. "Come on, seriously, give me that."
"Nuh-uh," she said, shaking her head, backing towards the couch across the room.
"Serena, give it back," Darien insisted, still smiling, slowly walking towards her.
"You're not my supervisor," she replied haughtily.
"Yes, that would be me."
Serena looked behind her at the small table in front of Lita's couch. Luna and Artemis were laying down in the middle of it, Luna looking up at her expectantly.
"Now please give Darien his shirt back," Luna asked.
As soon as the words were out of Luna's mouth, Serena zipped out of the room and out the front door, creating a sudden breeze. Two seconds later, she sprinted back in, turning back into her human form as she screeched to a halt in front of Darien. Her hands, now empty, were held out in front of her.
"What shirt?" she asked.
Darien's shoulders sagged slightly, but he still couldn't stop smiling.
"Hey...hey Luna," he bent down next to the coffee table, looking at the black cat. "Are you head of human resources for the scouts?"
Luna looked around the room silently.
"I mean, I know you're a cat, but...you're H.R., right?" Darien asked, suppressing laughter.
"Oh, definitely," Artemis nodded. "She's good at it too. She's such a great listener."
Luna rolled her eyes.
"Okay, well...I need to file a sexual harrassment complaint against Serena," he said, grinning. "Because...because she took my shirt and won't give it back!"
Luna shook her head. "Sometimes I really miss the Silver Millennium."
"Hey, Luna." Artemis looked over at his fellow feline, Luna turning to meet his gaze. "Why do you hate fun?"
Luna stared at Artemis for several seconds, then finally gave a little sigh before turning back to Darien.
"Well...the incident took place outside the company facility, so I'll have to get specialized paperwork to file the report."
"
Lita's Apartment, August 3rd, 6:48 PM
"So anyway, Serena, I've wanted to make you a little offer." Darien looked over at her.
The group was gathered around the dinner table, all enjoying the fruits of Lita's entire day of labor preparing the meat dish. Darien still hadn't gotten his shirt back, having given up on that until he had to leave later.
"Shoot," Serena replied.
"Well, obviously it's still...five weeks away or whatever, but...I was thinking. School. Now, don't take this to be some sort of backhanded...insult at you or anything like that, I swear I don't mean it like that. But...I was thinking, would you like me to help you with preparation for the school year?" Darien asked.
"Preparation for the school year?" Serena repeated. "That's a thing?"
"I approve!" Amy said loudly. "Serena, this school year represents a chance for you to hit the reset button on your...academic follies of the past, and I believe you're well-positioned to do just that. This might help even more, great idea Darien. Serena, please accept."
"Hm." Serena nodded. "So, Amy...you wouldn't be offended if—"
"Not at all, Serena," Amy interrupted. "Perhaps Darien will be able to reach you more than I have."
"What do you have in mind?" Serena asked, grabbing her fork again and started to slice a piece of meat off of her slab.
"Well...and if you're not comfortable with this, we can do something else, but...what if you just came by my place, few times a week, and we'll just start working through some stuff, help...prepare you for what's coming. And then school starts, and of course I'll be busy, but maybe we can still...make time here and there, we'll see how it goes." Darien nodded. "If...if you want to, of course."
Serena glanced about for a moment, pulling a piece of meat away from her plate and putting it in her mouth. "Well...as much as I'd rather not be seen in that dreadful apartment—"
"Actually, I've really been working on improving that," Darien said. "Really."
"...well, okay, we can try that," Serena relented. "Sure, why not?"
"Wow." Lita stared at Serena blankly. "Did...did Serena just agree to take on extra studying during the summer?"
"Yeah," Mina agreed. "Talk about the danger zone—"
"Button it!" Serena said, pointing over at Mina. "Alright, Darien, we'll do that."
"Excellent!" Amy enthused. "I'd recommend you two start as soon as possible, we should have at least a few weeks before Malachite can gather the resources to enact a new plan." She cleared her throat. "Now, Serena, I didn't want to talk about business too much tonight, but I'm curious...has anything occurred to you in the last few days?"
Serena bit her inside cheek, looking down at her plate. "Well...nothing concrete. Only one thing strikes me, but it doesn't really make any sense—"
"Go ahead," Raye insisted. "Whatever it is, just say it. We need a little bit of a lead, even if it ends up being nothing."
"Well...I mean, this is just sort of a vague feeling I have, it certainly can't be proven. I guess things started happening right after my cast came off, at least externally, but really...that day I came back here for the first time after getting out of the hospital, that was when things really started to feel different. Like...I just felt more comfortable."
"Go on," Amy prompted.
"Like...I just sort of felt, relaxed, and not because of the painkillers," she continued. "Things got settled. I felt...I don't know, like things were settling into place." She shrugged. "Can't prove anything with something like that, so I know that doesn't really help, but that's all I got. I've been much more at ease ever since that day, and ever since then, these things have been happening. Something just started to feel familiar about...us, the group. Like this was how it was...supposed to be."
"Hm." Amy slipped a carrot slice into her mouth. "Okay, I suppose that makes some sense, we'll file that away and revisit it when the opportunity presents itself, and in the meantime be grateful for it. Now, let's all take tomorrow off, I need a day to fight off this jet lag, and then we'll try to come up with a counter to this new negaverse invention." Suddenly, she looked over at the corner of the room, finding a large bookbag. "When you're done eating, Darien, I have my own birthday present of sorts for you, you'll want to go have a look."
Darien, curious, stood up from the table and looked over at the large red bag. "O-oh, I'm actually pretty much done, can I—"
"Go right ahead," Amy said.
Darien quickly went across the room, over to the bag, and grabbed the two handles. He pulled the bag apart, revealing a rectangular metal lockbox. Darien's eyes widened as he pulled it out onto the floor.
"Had you forgotten the finer details of our arrangement?" Amy asked.
"Oh, totally," Darien said sarcastically. "I completely forgot that you literally had my balls in a vice."
"Figuratively," Amy corrected.
"Just didn't want to...bring it up. Not exactly the...smartest thing I've ever done, signing this." Darien reached into the bag and pulled out a small silver key. "Actually, maybe the...second dumbest."
"In light of recent developments, I think it's time we trusted each other without blackmail." Amy nodded as Darien stuck the key into the slot on top of the box. "Code is niner-three-eight-nine."
Darien tapped the four digits into the small keypad on top of the box, then turned the key. There was a click, and then his cell phone started to vibrate. He ignored it, smiling as he popped the lid of the box open to reveal a stack of papers.
"You may review the documents to make sure they are all present, if you feel the need to do so," Amy added as Darien picked the open box up.
"Hey. You said it's time we trusted each other, didn't you?" Darien said, carrying the box over to the sink. "I'll spare you all the additional heat of me setting this on fire..."
He set the box down on the counter, turned the faucet on full blast, and then placed the stack of papers underneath the stream.
"This should do nicely." The papers were rapidly soaked in water, the ink mixing together, making the writing illegible and the paper useless. "I'm free!"
"
Headquarters, August 5th, 9:33 AM
Amy carefully opened the little silver box, having finally figured out where the contraption came apart. It was held together by strong magnets, a rather futuristic design that she found aesthetically appealing, and the cover could only be removed by causing the attraction between the two plates to discharge.
"Got it!" she shouted proudly. Darien and Serena, sparring over on the mat, stopped and looked over at her. Raye, Lita, and Mina, who were gathered around and watching the two go at it, also turned around. "Although..."
The inside was surprisingly simple. There was a single tab that looked like a microchip, and a bulb filled with a thick liquid that took up basically the entire device. The microchip was positioned at the base of the bulb, the tip just touching what looked to be the lid.
"Hm, very...simple design," Amy muttered. Everyone came up behind her to look down at the opened device.
"Well, easier to examine I guess," Raye said.
"If I had to hazard a guess..." Amy examined the components. "The chip sends some sort of...activation current through the liquid, which causes the effects on our powered forms. Highly flawed design, Malachite was no doubt hoping that he'd be able to get all of us at once. It's elementary to fry the chip, which deactivates the entire device."
"So much for cunning," Darien commented.
"If he were to apply these devices in a more practical way, they'd be very deadly," Amy mused. "We need to try concocting something that can reverse it without just pulling it off, perhaps something that prevents it from working in the first place." She grabbed the bulb of liquid and slowly eased it out of it's slot inside the device. "I need to carefully examine this liquid, I'm going to need the proper tools."
"Right, so, we need to go buy some...chemistry stuff?" Lita asked.
"Perhaps," Amy replied. "But for now, I just need basics. I have a kit at home we can use. Darien, if you would be so kind, might we drive over there and pick it up before my mother gets home? After that, you and Serena are free to go to your place and begin going over school things."
"Sure thing." Darien stood up from the couch.
"
Headquarters, August 5th, 10:20 AM
Amy quickly slipped a pair of latex gloves on her petite hands, then pulled a collection of sealed beakers and test tubes out of a plastic garbage bag in front of her, setting them down on the table. Most of the small containers contained various colored fluids.
"Memory lane," Amy muttered quietly to herself, Darien looking over her shoulder.
"What's all this?" he asked.
"The remains of my last experiment," she answered. "Seven years ago."
"You didn't clean this stuff out?" he asked, picking up a beaker and holding it up to the light.
"I couldn't bring myself to do it," she said. She grabbed another plastic garbage bag and started carefully pulling out some small plastic bottles with faded labels.
"Why? What was your last experiment?" Serena asked, she and the three others crowding around her.
She paused, giving a tiny sigh, before turning around and pointing at Serena. "You can't laugh, okay?"
"Of course." Serena nodded.
"None of you, okay? Promise you won't laugh."
"Amy, nobody's going to laugh, you can tell us," Lita insisted. "Go on."
Amy turned back to the table, picking up another garbage bag and setting it down on the table without opening it. "When I was seven, my parents were going through their divorce, and I was really lonely. I had a hard time making friends at school, so...I...tried to...grow a friend." She bowed her head.
Darien glanced away. "That's...wow, I'm really sorry," he said sympathetically. He put his hand on her shoulder. "Why would anyone laugh at that?"
"Well, more accurately, I tried to clone a friend," Amy added. "But I didn't have access to the equipment I would need for actually cloning someone, so I had to make do with trying to grow a clone. And I wanted it to be someone I felt I could...connect with and relate to, so..."
"So..." Serena goaded.
"Remember, you said you wouldn't laugh," Amy reminded her. "Please don't laugh."
"Yes, Amy, I won't laugh, cross my heart," Serena said comfortingly.
"I...I tried to clone Leonardo Da Vinci," she said meekly, going red.
"Holy crap," Lita muttered, looking the beakers and tubes over. "I—"
"I know it's stupid, okay!" Amy said, turning around to glare at Lita. "I was seven, and really lonely!" She bent down to pick up a final garbage bag and opened it. "The experiment ended in...total failure, and I haven't used this stuff since." She pulled out a small notebook from the bag. She clutched it to her chest. "I spent eighty-three days trying."
"Huh," Raye quietly mused. "If I may ask, how did you get your hands on Da Vinci's D.N.A.—"
Amy reached up and pressed her index finger to Raye's lips, silencing her. "Shhhhhhhhh." She glanced around furtively. "You don't want to know," she whispered.
"So, that notebook..." Darien pointed at it timidly.
"My lab report journal, yes," she said, reluctantly handing it to Darien. "I documented everything."
Darien started flipping through the pages. "Well, Amy, I can absolutely relate to being...lonely, so..." he trailed off, eyes widening with each page of the book he looked at. "Holy crap!"
"Yes, Darien, it's true, once upon a time I really was that foolish," Amy moaned. "Laugh at me if you really feel you can't contain yourself, I...deserve it."
"N-no!" Darien gasped, slowly turning one of the pages of the notebook out towards the group. It had a bunch of handwritten text on it and a couple of polaroid pictures taped inside. The pictures showed what appeared to be bloodied chunks of meat in petri dishes. "It's just...it looks like you kinda...got really freaking far!"
"No I didn't," Amy lamented. "Most of the specimens died within two minutes." She hung her head. "One of them survived two weeks and was almost six inches long when he died. Really thought I had something with him."
Darien stared at Amy with an open mouth and wide eyes, taking an unconscious half-step back from her. "Uh..."
"Even if he did survive, I doubt he would have had even...sixty percent of Da Vinci's intellect," she sulked. "Stupid childhood science experiment, nothing more."
"But most of us just pull an egg out of the fridge and sit on it to see if we can get it to hatch!" Lita said. "You—"
"Whoa!" Darien gasped, staring at one of the pages. "What happened to this one?!" He turned the notebook towards Amy, showing her a picture of a meat blob with a massive green growth emerging from the left side.
"I messed up the ratios of fluid on him," Amy mourned. "He would have had a giant, malignant tumor on his neck. I had to put him out of his misery." She reached forward and touched her right hand on the picture, bowing her head and closing her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Leonardo number twenty-three."
"W-wait," Darien said, pointing at the one sealed garbage bag. "So, that bag, in there, that's—"
"Leonardo's one through twenty-seven and twenty-nine through thirty-seven, yes," Amy finished. "Twenty-eight's corpse kept expelling nerve gas at random intervals, I had to get rid of him."
"You...kept them, all this time?" Darien questioned, staring at the bag.
"I got attached to the little guys," Amy said glumly. "I didn't have the heart to throw them out. So I just...sealed the bag really good, stuck it in the back of my closet, and sprayed it with febreze every week. But I...think it's time." She looked around at the table. "Well, thanks for the help. You and Serena can go study, I'll take care of all this for now."
"Wait wait," Mina said, pointing at the garbage bag. "What's in there?"
Amy frowned glumly. "Oh, just...shattered dreams...and a young girl's crippling loneliness," she said wistfully, closing her eyes.
Mina pulled the mouth of the bag open slightly. "Whew! It smells like rotten meat," she said, waving her hand in front of her nose.
Amy looked up at the bag. "Also yes."
"
Darien's Apartment, August 5th, 2:45 PM
"The best thing you can do is talk to your teacher about his or her particular opinion, this is something that varies pretty wildly," Darien said. He was sitting upside down on his couch, head hanging a couple inches above the ground, legs propped up on the couch backrest. "I know that's not the most useful answer, but it's for the best. Obviously, Judaism is a religion, there's not much disputing that, it's...a belief system and culture that you can choose to subscribe to, but some treat it as if it's an ethnicity too. Which is occasionally contradictory. Like, you have the whole Atheist Jew thing."
"Atheist Jew?" Serena repeated. She was seated on the fat chair adjacent to the couch, a tablet in her lap.
"Yeah, you've heard of that?" Darien looked over at her. "It's basically...you were born into a Jewish family and might even observe Jewish culture, but you don't have the Jewish faith. That implies it's something your born with, like a nationality. Kinda confusing, because that implies it's not something you can decide to join."
"So...there's no wrong answer?" Serena asked.
"Depends on the teacher," Darien answered. "Technically, Judaism is a religion that people can choose to partake in or not. It's not like all white people are Christian automatically. But the whole Atheist Jew thing is pretty big, so it's worth it to ask how the teacher feels." Darien cleared his throat. "Billy Joel's an Atheist Jew. Woody Allen. Rob Reiner. Stanley Kubrick. Ayn Rand."
"I kind of like the shades of grey though," Serena mused. "Something definite like math, not really my thing, I like the debatable nature of things like this."
"In my opinion...Judaism is a religion and Israeli is a nationality, but not everyone feels that way." Darien slowly rotated around so he was laying down on the couch.
"Man, you've got all this stuff...memorized?" Serena looked over at him.
"Mostly," Darien replied. "I remember religious studies, honestly this stuff is pretty easy. I've always taken academics pretty seriously." He gave a tiny sigh. "For a guy like me, it's...the only way out. And I got a pretty good memory for this sort of thing. Not that the stupid child psychologist at the orphanage encouraged it."
"Huh?" Serena raised an eyebrow.
"When I was like...eight, I was just...memorizing stuff. I remembered...all the American Presidents, the Kings of England, Japanese Emperors, Latin phrases, the periodic table...lots of stuff, could recite it backwards and forwards. The quack who worked at the orphanage thought I had autism. Jackass."
Serena blinked a couple times, giving a small frown.
"Sorry, sorry, off topic, I...anyway, what else do you got?"
"Uh..." Serena looked down at her tablet screen, quickly trying to shake off what Darien had just said.
"Love the tablet, by the way," Darien commented.
"Yeah, my parents got me a bunch of stuff after the injury." Serena ran her finger on the screen. "Uh, French."
"Oh, nice," Darien sat up. "French."
"Yeah, language of love." Serena nodded. "Could be fun."
"Let's stop for a second," Darien got to his feet, cracking his back to the left and right. "Been at it for awhile."
"I struggle enough with my native tongue sometimes," Serena mused quietly. "This is gonna be tricky."
"You'll do fine." Darien gave a small smile. "Hm. French. Hey, Serena, you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France?"
"Royale with cheese," Serena quickly answered, leaning back in the cushioned chair and closing her eyes. "Because of the metric system."
"Wow." Darien nodded. "Nice."
"Mmhmm. Quick question, Darien, while we're taking a break." Serena's eyes popped back open. "The stuff Amy's set up, with the money, it's...all in your name, correct?"
"Yep," Darien answered, rolling his shoulders back. "Everything's tied to me."
"Okay." Serena nodded. "And...do you understand everything she's set up? Are you...aware of everything she's done?"
"Pretty much had to be," Darien replied. "And recently, she's been laying out everything for me in detail. You know, if something...happens to her, I could take over, everything doesn't have to just go to waste. So, yeah...pretty sure I know everything she's got."
"So...you could...do things with the money on your own, without Amy being involved?" Serena asked.
Darien thought for a moment, sitting back down on the couch. "I mean, she'd know as soon as the money was out of the account, she watches all that closely, but...yeah, I can access the accounts and do things without her. Why?"
Serena looked around the room for a second, then slowly sat up. "So, Darien, here's the thing. Obviously, this could be a couple...months down the road, I'm just trying to get a feel for my options, but...I want to reward the team when we take down Malachite. Get them something nice."
Darien shrugged. "Okay, I...think Amy might understand that, you could probably talk to her—"
"I kind of want it to be a surprise for them, including her," Serena interrupted. "So...I was wondering if I could go through you instead."
Darien glanced about. "You sure that's a good idea? I mean, in my experience, Amy kind of likes...being in control of things."
"Oh, absolutely. But this isn't exactly Amy's specialty," Serena said. "I'd rather just handle it without her. You know, of course...I love Amy, obviously, but I just don't think she's big on the whole rewarding thing. She tries, of course, but...after we killed Zoicite, she did the Cheesecake Factory and I dragged her kicking and screaming to the carnival thing. It was a nice thing for her to do, but I want to do more when Malachite goes down."
"We didn't kill Zoicite," Darien chuckled. "You did."
"Well, yeah, but still—"
"And...I guess I helped a little," Darien added.
"I'm just thinking...bigger than that, maybe bigger than Amy's comfortable with. And that's fine, but it wouldn't be fair for her to get to have final say in how we handle that. If it's you doing it...she understands that you're very smart, she knows you're capable of smokescreening purchases and not compromising us, same way she does it, she'll accept it eventually. But I want it to be a surprise. And I don't want to stress her out more, she's already got a ton of stuff on her plate right now. School's gonna start up again, all the stuff she does for us...I don't want her to worry about this too. So...if you're okay with it, when the time comes, do you think that's something you can do?"
Darien nodded. "I...suppose so. Shouldn't be a problem. You just...let me know what you're thinking later down the line, I'll take a look at it, and I'll see what I can do. We play it right, Amy won't see it coming, we can give her a nice surprise. It's a nice thought, buying the team a reward, I can get behind that."
"Okay. Thanks. Just...trying to figure out the best way to do it, thank you," she said. "Alright, let's...let's talk a little French."