Disclaimer: See Chapter One ;)
Summary: Everyone must look good for an awards show.
A/N: This was the original ending wanted, sort of. Although I have spent months working on perfecting this chapter it needs HELP. As many of you may notice the first half is very similar to the previous version (which is still included with this story), but it does eventually separate. I've changed some descriptions and wording in this version compared to the previous and it seems to flow better. Hopefully some of you will review and give me a couple pointers.
(Reuploaded with minor corrections and to hopefully fix strange letters that appeared.)
by Barbara C.
Part Seven: Elastic
The ballroom occupying the top floor of one of London's most exclusive hotels was an extraordinary sight. Modern touches blended with old world charm to give the place an elegant, yet comfortable atmosphere. A large stage with a podium on top of it was set up along the north wall. The floor to ceiling paneled windows that flanked the room on three sides were curtained behind the stage, but along the south and east walls the vast expanse of London could be seen twinkling against the night sky. Three sets of large oak doors lined the west wall leading out into a lounge of sorts and the elevator banks.
Currently three hundred or so of Acceleration Games' contributors, sponsors, athletes, select fans, and their dates were meandering between the dozens of tables set up beneath four glittering crystal chandeliers that lit the enormous room. Another hundred guests were expected to arrive shortly in order to attend the awards banquet that was being held there in less than an hour.
Alex stood alone along the south wall of the ballroom, away from the stage and the chaos of people trying to find their seats, not to mention the doors on his right that more people were streaming in through. As he stood there, he tugged awkwardly at the bowtie that had come with the tux and came to the conclusion that tuxedos and everything that came with them were overrated. Fidget had tied it well, but tight. He paused in thought, why had he let Fidget tie it for him? In fact, she had tied all their bowties tonight. His, Grinder's, and Rikki's even though they were all capable of tying the stupid things themselves.
Speaking of Fidget, he thought. Where was she? He thought back to their conversation earlier in the team's hotel suite. After she'd played mother hen to the three men, she'd gathered up an armful of things and wandered into the bathroom. Then, never came out.
"Fidget, it's time to go," Alex had complained as he and the others waited outside the bathroom door of their shared suite.
"But I'm not ready yet!"
"You haven't been ready for the last hour! How long does it take to throw on some clothes?"
"Get over it! I'm doing the girly thing tonight."
Alex and Grinder looked at each other quizzically mouthing 'girly thing' to one another.
"Look, Alex is up for a bunch of awards and needs to be there early, so just leave without me. I'll be there in twenty."
"Look, we can wait-"
"No," the voice from the other side of the door commanded. "Alex needs to be there early. Besides," the voice paused, "don't you all have dates that you're picking up or meeting or something?"
Panic raced across Rikki's face, as Alex responded, "Diana's meeting us there."
The team manager, however, began backing up toward the door. "Candace is going to kill me! Bye, see you guys there!"
The sound of something either rather heavy or very forcefully being put on the counter echoed out from the bathroom. "What did he say?!"
However, Rikki was already out of the room and Alex and Grinder weren't about to repeat his last words. "Couldn't say for sure," Grinder responded.
Alex was quick to add, "He looked panicked when he left, probably forgot to pick up his date."
"I swear I heard the name Candace," she accused. This was followed by a long pause and then. "He has a date?" The question was more an incredulous exclamation than a true question, as though Rikki having a date was somewhere between being hopeless and being a miracle. Another pause, then, "I definitely heard my sister's name. Tell me he is not bringing my sister. If she finagled her way... ow!"
Both Grinder and Alex asked if she was all right.
"Fine, fine. I'm fine. Get going so I can finish getting ready. I'll meet you upstairs in twent- eighteen. Now get outta here."
And here he stood, waiting. Diana had been prompt about her arrival time and was currently mingling. He could see her across the room, her white pantsuit making her stand out among the black and jewel tone evening gowns other women wore. Rikki and Fidget's sister, Candace, were making contacts with other party goers but passed by every so often to see if "Agnes" had shown up yet. Grinder was somewhere doing something, Alex hadn't seen the mechanic since their arrival, and Fidget still had yet to appear, she was late.
Several minutes later and after a quite a bit of small talk with fans, Alex felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, Alex felt his heart jump. Standing in front of him was a petite redhead with vibrant blue eyes. Her hair was loose to her shoulders and she wore the tiniest black dress he had ever seen. He would have asked for her name immediately if not for one thing; he knew her. Their little Fidget had grown up sometime over the last hour into a bombshell.
"Fidge?"
The redhead rolled her eyes at him. "What? Have I been gone so long that you've forgotten what I look like?" she asked placing her hands on her hips.
There was a long and uncomfortable pause before the sports star replied. "Um. You look...different." His eyes never left hers, though he motioned to her hair and waved his hand downward. It was another moment before Fidget looked like she was going to respond. She looked upset, like she wanted to strangle someone. "In a good way," Alex added hoping that the comment would cool her ire.
"In a good way," Fidget mimicked sarcastically while glaring at her friend. "Look," she confessed. "None of this was my idea. I mean well, sort of, I needed help so I went to Candy. She was the one that made me get this stupid thing," she tugged at the hem that fell mid-thigh. "And I already had the stockings and stilettos," she motioned down to her nylon encased legs and leather bound feet. "Don't ask," she waggled a hand at him. "They were the only things I owned that went well with the dress." Fidget then paused trying to think of something else to say.
Was she nervous? Was that the reason she was rambling? Was she rambling, even? If so, why then was she nervous? This was Alex she was talking to; her buddy, her friend, one of the hottest guys on the planet. A man that any woman except her, and maybe Diana What's-her-face and Asazi, would kill for. Well, Asazi would kill HIM, not for him, but that was beside the point. It had to be the dress, it was stupid and short and uncomfortable. The whole outfit wasn't her, so why was she wearing it?
Peer pressure. "The hair was her idea too," the redhead accused. "She thought it was more stylish this way." Move the conversation away from the clothes; smart move, she thought. She brushed her fingers through the shoulder length bob. The style was similar to Candace's, though slightly longer and naturally red, rather than artificially blond. Actually, Fidget would have been the first to admit she liked wearing her hair this way on occasion. She would sometimes get headaches from having her hair up all the time. This was also a more grown up look. Though, she wouldn't want to wear her hair loose often, it would get in her face and in her line of work that would be bad. But at rare events like the AGA she would be willing to let it down in the future.
"Oh." He looked away.
He didn't care about her fashion faux pas or her hair issues. She seethed internally. 'Oh?' What the hell kind of response was that?
"It looks good on you. I mean, you look fantastic."
Was that a compliment? That was a compliment. What was she supposed to do, she had never been complimented on her clothing before.
"Oh. Thanks."
Lame! "We should find our seats, they're about to start." It only took the two a few moments to find their seats. Team Xtreme and their dates had a table all to themselves close to the stage. The four members of Team Xtreme and their dates sat around the circular table. As soon as Candace wasn't occupied with Rikki, Fidget leaned over and quietly laid into the blond sitting beside her.
As Nick Masters began what would inevitably be a long and boorish ego-trip, thinly veiled as a welcome to all, Alex looked at the sniping pair seated beside him. The twins had taken sniping to a new art form. He heard the quietly hissed accusations and denials being hurled back and forth; but unless one was paying close attention a person likely wouldn't know they were viewing an argument.
This was quite different from the only other argument he'd seen them have, things had threatened to get physical in that altercation. The subtlety of this argument likely had to do with the setting, but their eyes told the story. If looks could kill, well, it wouldn't be pretty.
Speaking of which, Fidget did look nice tonight. Really nice. Alex frowned. In a protective big brother sort of way, he amended and then looked over at his date. Diana beamed a smile at him and affectionately patted his arm. She was a great woman, InterCEPT had a keeper...but did he? He returned the smile and then turned his attention back to the two sisters.
Their conversation halted abruptly when they realized they had a spectator. "What?" the redhead beside him demanded quietly. Candace had a smirk pasted across her face, while Fidget looked...none too happy.
"Uh?"
"What?" the redhead asked again. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I uh...like what?" Alex really wasn't sure why he had been looking at her. And 'like what' he knew even less.
Leaning past Alex, Fidget whispered an apology to Diana about having to borrow the agent's date for a few minutes. The others at the table were slightly confused by the actions taking place but seemed to accept it. The redhead then grabbed the sports superstar by his bowtie and slowly rose from her seat.
Fidget hadn't even straightened her posture before several windows on the east side of the ballroom exploded inward! Screams and shouts erupted from the award show attendees as glass and wood splinters showered down upon them. Moments later, the ever so unpopular Council of Doom stepped in through the remnants of the wall, their airship was visible floating beyond. Nick Masters let out a crude expletive before diving for cover behind the podium. Many of the AGA guests dove for cover beneath their dining tables, while even more had chanced fleeing through the doors. The scene was one of complete chaos and, if his cackling was any indication, Dr. X seemed to be enjoying every moment of it.
Before Team Xtreme knew what was going on, Diana already had their table on it's side as cover and her weapon drawn. Grinder deftly ducked down to seek cover behind the overturned table, while Rikki and Candace dove for cover beneath a nearby table. Fidget had wisely let go of Alex's bowtie and was crouched using him as a human shield, while he in turn had slid out of his chair to duck down below the table, using it for cover.
Screams and shouts continued as X and his goons continued into the ballroom.
Taking a chance, Alex peeked over the table to assess the situation. Asazi, Tempest, Gangrene, and Quake were all standing some fifty feet from Alex's position picking off patrons with what seemed to be wireless tazer guns, while Dr. X stood behind and watched the devastation. Most of the fleeing audience members were heading for the doors or had sought cover beneath various tables. What little security was present in the room was definitely outmatched and were somewhat useless unless they wanted to chance taking out a few guests as well as the Council. What confused Alex about this situation was that none of the Council members shouting their usual threats. It wasn't a televised event and no threats of world domination or enslaving the human race had been voiced, so what was going on?
It was at that moment that Alex noticed the odd contraption attached to Dr. X's right arm. The invention looked like laser gun of some sort that fit over the hand and forearm up to his elbow. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.
"Why does X have a super-soaker attached to his arm?" The question had been posed by a certain redhead who had popped her head over the edge of the table to see what was going on.
"Two guesses," Alex grimly replied.
"He's going to use it to turn people into his mindless mutant slaves and...he wants kill you, er, us with it." Fidget scrunched her nose in distaste after relaying the likely options.
Grinder then reached up a hand to shove her head down below the edge of the table. "Stay down," the Brit commanded. Then he grinned. "After all the time it took you to get ready, wouldn't want you to get mussed up now."
As chaos continued to run rampant, X gave orders to his subordinates to proceed further into the ballroom. Next to Alex, Diana was holding her shot waiting for the right moment. "It's too crowded, I need to get closer." Alex reached out a hand to stop her but stopped himself when she shrugged away from his grasp and glared at him. "Stay put while I do my JOB," she hissed at him and began making her way toward the criminals using tables as cover.
Seconds later, her voice sounded above the din. "Freeze, X!"
X's attention turned away from the chaos and centered on the InterCEPT agent. Leveling the thing on his arm at her, he must have pulled a trigger; it fired.
The blast missed her by mere inches, but sent her sprawling to her belly. A very good thing it did miss, since all that was left of the table she had been hiding behind, and a chunk of the wall behind her, were splinters and blue acidic ooze, the remainder of which sparked and sizzled as though it were electrified.
"What the heck is that thing?" Fidget demanded loudly to Alex as she peaked above their table again. She knew full well he wouldn't know, but maybe it would get him to spring into action.
"Something to kill us with!" Grinder shouted stating the obvious, while keeping his head low.
It wasn't Fidget's exclamation or Grinder's reply that prompted Alex, it was the fact that he knew Diana was about to be pasted. She was recovering from her spill as X leveled his goop gun on her again. So, Alex did what he did best, he amped it up. In the split second he had to comprehend all the details of the situation, a plan formed. Starting with the hint of a garter peaking from beneath the hem of Fidget's dress, he next noticed a steak knife lying on the floor next to him, then the chandelier a few feet to X's left. After that the tray of champagne, miraculously untouched by the devastation surrounding it that was sitting on a table beside X.
If the knife could sever the electrical cord in the chandelier, it should spark on the metal rings holding up the piece, making it unstable and causing it to fall. The glass shattering would be a reasonable distraction, but the chandelier hitting the tray at just the right angle would cause the champagne bottles to break and spill over X's new toy. A short-circuit would take care of everything else. Knowing X and his goons, they'd all retreat.
And sure enough that is how things happened, not including an undignified squawk from Fidget as Alex reached beneath her dress for more intimate apparel. After a brief struggle, not included in the plan, he managed to acquire the item. The knife flew at an amazing speed, it's accuracy perfect. With the cord severed, the dangling wires had metal to touch causing electricity to arc and the light fixture to lurch and bulbs to shatter. Finally, the metal rings holding it up couldn't take the stress anymore and split open seconds later. The angle was perfect as the chandelier crashed feet from X. The scientist instinctively brought his arms up to protect his face from flying debris, which meant the gun attached to his arm caught the full brunt of unexpected liquid that splashed over him.
The gun sparked and fizzled. Angered, X looked up to see his nemesis and leveled the goop gun on Alex. The action man promptly ducked low and pushed a still protesting Fidget's head down too. Milliseconds passed by and nothing happened. He could hear the screams of guests still trapped in the ballroom and the occasional shot from Diana, there was also the horrendous laughter from the Council members. Until a single shout shut them up.
It seemed, X's newest gismo of annihilation was ruined. Chancing a glance, Alex peaked his head above the table. He was unable to determine if the shout was one of pain or of defeat. The place was littered with glass and metal. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with the scientist being electrocuted, the athlete noticed. With another roar, Dr. X called a retreat. Ropes, jetpacks, and hover discs carried the members of the Council of Doom back to their airship as Diana laid down cover fire hoping to take down at least one of them. As soon as they were out of the range of her pistol, Diana pulled out a cellphone and called it in. However, before she could give the location of the airship it vanished from sight. It was a frustrating loss for the InterCEPT agent.
Between the damage inflicted on the room and frazzled nerves, the awards banquet was a lost cause. It needed to be cancelled or rescheduled. Masters tried to laugh it off and salvage things by saying it was a planned stunt, until hotel management said they'd go after him for every penny he owned. He quickly reneged his statements.
Diana apologized to Alex and left right away to file her report with the agency. Candace was onto the biggest news story of her career and busily interviewing "survivors", though only minor cuts and bruises were reported. Rikki followed Candace around to make sure she was all right. Grinder split shortly after the festivities were over, mentioning something about not being able to take much more of them; the festivities, that is. This left Alex alone to take what Fidget had to dish out.
The redhead was fishing through a sea of glass, metal, and wood in search of her missing garment when he found her.
"I'm not speaking to you," she hadn't even looked up to see who it was.
"Look, Fidge."
"Nope, not speaking. Not even listening." She turned around to glare at him. He shivered at that glare. "Speak to the hand." She held out her right hand, palm out and fingertips skyward.
He sighed staring at her. She ignored him and kept looking around with her hand out between them. It looked stupid. "Fine, I'll talk to the hand," Alex gave in hoping to unnerve the red head. "I'm sorry I-"
"Stripped me? Molested me? In front of a room full of people! It was embarrassing! You could have just said, 'Fidge gimme your garter,' or something! But nooo, Mr. Action Jock has to do everything himself!"
Alex cringed at her use of 'Action Jock' it was Tempest's favorite nickname for him. Oh yeah, she had left 'upset' in the dust a while back and was proceeding toward 'pissed off'. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted something peeking out from beneath the champagne tray that lie wrecked on the floor. Black and lacy, he noticed, unlikely Dr. X's. "I'm sorry," he mumbled then he reached down next to the girl in front of him. As he pulled the elastic garter from beneath the tray a small corner of his mind noticed that the stockings she was wearing had survived. Straightening, he smiled and handed her the wet fabric. "Here. Safe and sound. Friends?" He pasted on an earnest grin hoping to appease her.
The hand that had been out between them dropped to take the garment from Alex's outstretched hands. Alex's grin faded into a true smile, glad she wasn't very mad at him. As the fabric left his fingers, he found that feeling to be short lived.
SMACK!
He hadn't noticed her free hand flying at him. So much for the Amp Factor, he scowled and rubbed his cheek.
Pausing, Fidget looked down at the wet fabric in her hands and then up to scowl back at Alex. Grinding her teeth and clenching her jaw, she bit out, "I'll think about it." The look in her eyes told him she'd noticed him looking at her legs. 'Bad move, Mann,' he scolded himself. She turned and took two steps before turning back around. "Are you going to be okay?" He could tell that she was still angry, but guilt tinged her words.
"I'll be fine." He paused. "Fidge, I mean it I'm sorry. Things just happened so fast..."
"Shut it." The redhead's voice was clipped. "So long as this is never brought up again," she stared hard at him. "Ever. Then I suppose all will be forgiven." She turned away.
If not for his incredible hearing, he would have missed the small sound she uttered seconds later. "Eventually." What the sports star did miss was the truly evil smirk plastered across the redhead's face.
This is the last chapter, the following chapter is actually the previous version of this chapter. That chapter will remain either as a non-inclusive chapter within this story or as a separate story all together.
Now for my fussing... As of right now, I believe everything from the 'amp' to the end is a bit shaky. I tried to make things as fluid as possible, but I think the end just slowly drifted away from me. I tried to change things numerous times but this was the best and most solid that I could come up with. The thing I'm most uncertain about is the summarization and final scene between Alex and Fidget. While "cute", for lack of a better description, it seems stale and OOC.
Suggestions would be most helpful, reviews and critiques are welcome as well. Thank you for your patience, I hope you enjoyed this story start to finish; if not tell me where I went wrong. :)