Dick woke in the late hours of the night. Listening intently heard the shifting of the floorboards, the rustling of the curtains and, the calming lull of the waves. No reason to wake up. Nothing wrong. Nothing he could see anyway. So, why did he wake up? Sitting up he strained to listen, looking around. There was a light in the hall. Quietly, he stood, the blanket falling to the floor as he moved from the couch. The light was coming from Avalon's bedroom.
Why was she awake? What was she doing?
Peering through the crack in the door he was trying to see what she was doing but he couldn't see anything.
Silently he opened the door, careful not to make noise.
Avalon sat at her desk, all three computer monitors doing something different.
"Stop staring,"
he froze.
"Go back to bed"
"I thought you only had a laptop?"
"Please," she sighed, "Go to bed, I wanna be alone and you need to sleep,"
Hands raised in surrender he quietly exited the room. Shutting the door behind him.
…...
Move aside, Penelope! Avalon laughed to herself as names, dates, and locations scrolled across her screen, the computer searching for a match. Something to link both her parents to Italy. A landmark or treasure her mother might have stolen while her father was a VILE operative. She all but cheered when the computer flashed with a result.
"A stamp? Really, Mom?" she found herself asking, "I'm sure there was a bigger picture but still!"
Next, she checked whether her mother still had the stamp in her possession or if it was on display somewhere.
"Mom still has it tucked away somewhere so where was it displayed?"
Five minutes later she had an answer.
…...
"WAKE UP AND PACK YOUR BAGS WE'RE HEADED TO VENICE!"
"Avalon," Dick groaned, "It's four in the morning,"
"So?"
"Have you slept at all?"
"No,"
"Then how do you expect to fly to Venice?"
"Autopilot of course,"
"Can't we wait-"
"MY MOTHER COULD BE DYING AND YOU WANT TO WAIT?!"
He sat up, grabbing her by the shoulders, "I want you to sleep,"
She glared.
"Please,"
The glare continued.
"Okay, okay," he yawned, "I'm up,"
"Let's go!"
…...
Just as before, Dick woke upon their descent finding Avalon reading a newspaper.
"Another home?"
"No," she said flipping pages, "We're here to investigate not vacation,"
"So where are you going to put the jet?"
"Do you ever stop asking questions, Bird Boy?"
"Nope,"
Avalon rolled her eyes.
"Here's another question, why don't people recognize your mother's plane?"
"Are you sure you were trained by the world's greatest detective because you ask a lot of questions," Avalon snorted, "I'll let you figure that one out yourself,"
Dick slumped in his seat, staying quiet but only for a moment.
"Hey, those aren't your hearing aids,"
She didn't reply until they had disembarked and the jet was handed over to some henchmen for safekeeping.
"They help me understand and communicate with people who speak other languages, they also work like hearing aids,"
"I thought you were multilingual?"
"I can speak french. Period. Unless you're counting ASL"
"Oh, so..."
He trailed off, watching Avalon hand the plane off to two of her mother's nameless guys in blue. One handed her a set of car keys.
"But you have an American-"
Her driver's license changed before his eyes, alias in place of her real name and though he only saw it briefly he could've sworn the last name was Quinnzel.
"Let's go," she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to the waiting convertible.
Shrugging off her hand, he slid into the passenger seat, glancing at the skies, "You might want to put the top up, seems like it's going to rain,"
"Right, now, NO MORE QUESTIONS, just civil, question-less conversation,"
"Yes, ma'am,"
…...
"Avalon, what are we supposed to be looking at?" Dick chanced, minutes later as they exited the car.
"There was a museum here, this was the only lead I had,"
There was nothing before them except a large dirt lot.
"It burnt down two weeks ago,"
Avalon whirled finding none other than Zack and Ivy watching her and Dick with curiosity.
"Do they know how the fire started?"
"Arson, why?"
"We're investigating Carmen's absence,"
"Why?" Zack asked, wasn't ACME the only agency tasked with capturing Carmen, "Who are you? You aren't with ACME,"
"I'm a private detective, hired by a fan of Carmen's"
Dick found himself marveling at how quickly and easily Avalon was able to weave a story about a shut-in billionaire who's only entertainment was tracking Carmen and had hired her out of desperation, even flashing an ID which was no doubt the same card as her driver's license.
"Maybe we should team up?" she finished, "The sooner I wrap my case the sooner I go on vacation,"
"That's not a bad idea," Ivy agreed passing her a note with a number scribbled on it, Avalon doing the same, "We'll take it up with HQ and call you,"
"Sounds good, I'll be waiting,"
With those parting words, Avalon dragged Dick back into the car and sped away as the skies finally opened and rain poured down.
…...
"You're going to knock me out again? Aren't you?" Dick asked.
"Why would I do that?" she asked cryptically as a mail truck drove up.
"Because-whoa!"
A ramp extended from the back of the truck and after making sure no one was looking Avalon drove in. the door shut briefly encasing them in darkness before the lights kicked back on, revealing a giant screen in front of them. Avalon was able to control it from the dashboard of her car, turning on a movie and reclining in her seat.
"Sit back and enjoy the show, Bird Boy,"
Silence fell between them and though Avalon kept her eyes on the screen Dick could tell she was antsy and worried.
"How did you sell that story?" he questioned.
"Does it matter?"
"C'mon tell me how you did it?"
"You're talking to someone whose mother was the best detective in ACME history, has fifteen different aliases, and can talk circles around just about everyone and you want to know how I was able to craft a story so quickly?" she arched an eyebrow at him.
"Is there anything she didn't train you for?"
"No, she covered all her bases,"
"So, how does your school day work?"
"Half a day for regular school subjects, the latter half is dedicated to more specialized training,"
"You're really into it? Like, you really want to take over VILE?"
Avalon nodded eagerly, "If I didn't Mom wouldn't train me. She asks me 'are you sure?' at least four times a month,"
"Nothing can change your mind?"
"Nope,"
"Not even me?"
"You can try," she snorted.
He grabbed her without warning and kissed her
She pushed him away with a scowl, "Do not do that again!"
"I thought you liked me?"
"As a friend!"
"But Tim said-"
"Just shut up and don't do it again!"
He slumped in his seat defeated and confused.